Former France international Jean Tigana appointed new coach of Shanghai Shenhua

The former Lyon and Bordeaux playmaker will be united with fellow countryman Nicolas Anelka in another blockbuster signing for millionaire owner Zhou Jun

By Dan Orlowitz

Ligue 1 : Jean Tigana (Bordeaux)
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Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua officially announced the appointment of Jean Tigana as their new coach over the weekend.

The announcement came just days after the club unveiled the signing of former France international and Chelsea striker Nicolas Anelka.

Tigana's playing career spanned 16 years, most of them spent at Lyon and Bordeaux. He returned to take the reins at Lyon in 1993 and spent several years coaching Monaco, Fulham, Besiktas and Bordeaux.

"I could have gone to England or Turkey," Tigana said during Sunday's press conference with team owner Zhou Jun.

"I am privileged to be here. I found a new challenge here. This is not a financial choice - it is a sporting and life decision."

The 56-year-old looked forward to coaching fellow countryman Anelka, who one week ago was announced as the new face of the club.

"He is a very talented footballer who will bring a lot to the club," he said of the striker.

Tigana is the second high-profile manager to join the CSL this week, following former Japanese national team coach Takeshi Okada's signing with Hangzhou Greentown on Thursday.


 
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England 1-0 Belgium, Netherlands 2-0 Northern Ireland - follow all the international action LIVE! ahead of Euro 2012
With countries across the continent gearing up for their final warm-up games ahead of Euro 2012, join us for all the action from Saturday's friendlies. Get in touch with us via Twitter with your reaction.

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19:46 BST
Joe Hart has also been giving his thoughts after the Belgium game: "It was a really tough game, a good run out. I thought we played well, [but] we were a little bit bitty at times.

"But, we came through. Obviously there were a lot of changes so it's good to get the result.

"Belgium are a very, very strong side who are going to be really good in the future. Vincent [Kompany] told me about them and said that they were coming good and I totally agree with him."
19:38 BST
Here's Roy Hodgson's reaction to the result and some injury chat: "I'm very pleased, it's been a hard week and we've used a lot of players. There was a lot of disruption in the second-half with substitutions – some forced upon us, some we wanted to do. But it's still a very good end to the week playing against a good Belgian team here. Arguably even stronger than the Norwegian team we played last week and I've got to be more than happy that we've come out with another victory."

"[Gary] Cahill I suppose is slightly more of a concern for me because it is a jaw injury. We're desperately hoping the CT scan doesn't show any fracture and it's just going to be a bruising situation, which will be bad enough, but won't stop him taking part in the tournament. As far as John's [Terry] concerned he felt his hamstring a little bit. Again it wasn't a major thing when he came off but we still need to scan it just to be 100 per cent sure."

Suffice to say, if Cahill has broken his jaw, he won't play any part in the tournament.
19:35 BST
And another point from today: Eden Hazard wasn't great. Don't think you can judge him on one performance though. What do you think? Is it just a case of too much hype around the Chelsea-bound Belgian?
19:32 BST
We're getting plenty of people saying it was boring. PLENTY. But Spain scored seven goals in eight games at the World Cup and I didn't hear too many of their fans complaining. Or as Fran Stinchcombe points out on Twitter: "If we had lost but played free flowing attacking football would these people still have moaned?"
19:24 BST
No, no, no. I'll have none of that Emile Heskey shouting anymore! Hello, it's me, it's me, it's that D-O-Y-L-E. Yes, I'm Joe Doyle, and I'll be here for all the reaction to that England game. First things first, how did everyone see that game? Good performance? A touch boring? Let me know on Twitter.
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