Sporting briefs...

Australia WIN: Australia beat the Solomon Islands 7-0 in the first leg of their Oceania World Cup qualifying final yesterday. Captain Mark Viduka scored twice after Jason Culina opened the scoring to give Australia a 3-0 half-time lead. The second leg will be played in Honiara on Tuesday with the overall winner to play off against the fifth-placed South American team in November for a spot in next year's World Cup finals in Germany.

Dellas: Greek defender Traianos Dellas will be joining Lazio after leaving city rivals Roma. Dellas can sign for Lazio after the transfer window as he will be a free agent, but the club have not made the move official just yet. He has attracted attention from a number of top European sides, but decide to stay in Rome. Lazio are also waiting until they can secure young defender Felice Piccolo's loan move to newly promoted side Ascoli. Ascoli and Treviso have been granted an extension on the transfer window as they were only promoted into Serie A around three weeks ago.

Ronaldo: A regretful Ronaldo said he would never ask to be rested from Brazil matches again. Ronaldo missed the Confederations Cup in June at his own request, saying that he needed a holiday. But he got more than he bargained for when he was also omitted from the preceding World Cup qualifiers against Argentina and Paraguay. "I don't want to be rested again," Ronaldo told reporters. The question arose after it was suggested that Brazil could rest players from their last two World Cup qualifiers if they beat Chile today and book their place in Germany next year.

Torino: Urbano Cairo is the owner of the new Torino football club. He has to start from scratch in the Serie B and has targeted Demetrio Albertini, 34, as his first major signing. Albertini, who made five appearances for Barcelona last season, is currently out of contract. Negotiations are also in place with Lazio to bring in Simone Inzaghi and Roberto Muzzi, while Genoa forward Roberto Stellone is another alternative.