Maldini is Italy coach

Overseas round-up

Glenn Hoddle will pit his wits against Cesare Maldini next February when his England team takes on Italy in their World Cup qualifer at Wembley. Maldini, whose son Paolo captains Italy, was promoted yesterday from coach of Italy Under-21 to become coach with the full national side.

Maldini replaces Arrigo Sacchi, who resigned two weeks ago to return to coaching his old club Milan. Sacchi enjoyed his second successive victory in Serie A since his return to San Siro when Milan beat the bottom club, Reggiana, 3-0, courtesy of a hat-trick by Demetrio Albertini. That result moved them alongside their city rival, Internazionale, in fifth place, but they are well adrift of the leaders, Juventus. Alessandro Del Piero scored twice as Juve recovered from two goals down to beat Verona 3-2 and open a five-point margin at the top over Vicenza, who drew 1-1 with Parma.

They took full advantage of a similar turnaround that saw Inter beaten 4-3 at home by Sampdoria. Inter led 3-1 before Vincenzo Montella completed his second hat-trick of the season and Roberto Mancini scored the winner two minutes from time.

Kuwait knocked the defending champions, Japan, out of the Asian Cup, beating them 2-0 in the quarter-finals. The striker Jassem Al-Houwaidi scored in each half to put Japan out and earn his side a semi-final against hosts the United Arab Emirates. They beat Iraq 1-0, with a "golden goal", the defender Abdel Hussain scoring from a 30-yard free-kick in the 103rd minute.