Monday’s football news in brief

BIRMINGHAM City hope to complete a deal this week to appoint the former Hibernian boss Colin Calderwood as their new assistant manager. Calderwood, sacked by Hibs earlier this month, previosuly worked with the Birmingham manager Chris Hughton at Newcastle United. Hughton had wanted Calderwood to join him again in the summer, but Birmingham and Hibs could not agree a compensation deal. Now Calderwood could be in the Birmingham dug-out for Saturday’s match against Peterborough United.

RANGERS defender Carlos Bocanegra will win his 100th cap for the USA tomorrow when he faces Slovenia in Ljubljana. Manager Jurgen Klinsmann said: “It’s a remarkable achievement for Carlos. He is still in great shape and he will certainly be adding plenty more caps after this.” Bocanegra has been in excellent form for the SPL champions since his summer move from St Etienne. He made his debut for the USA in 2001, is now the captain of the team and has netted 12 goals.

Serbia’s footballers should learn from compatriot and world No 1 tennis player Novak Djokovic, the country’s Football Association (FSS) president Tomislav Karadzic said. Serbia - who are in Scotland’s World Cup qualifying group - failed to reach the Euro 2012 finals and on Saturday they lost 2-0 to Mexico in a friendly in Radovan Curcic’s first game in charge. “Djokovic is a shining example of how one should represent one’s motherland,” said Karadzic.

QPR manager Neil Warnock has already started turning his attention elsewhere after now giving up hope of signing David Beckham. Earlier this season QPR boldly threw their hat into the ring for Beckham, latching onto his desire to play for, and potentially captain, the Great Britain team in next year’s Olympics. Asked whether Beckham was still an option, Warnock said: “No, I can’t see that. We’re not there yet, we’re a team in the making. We’ve some very important signings to make in January which we are looking at now.”

CELTIC’s Victor Wanyama kept his World Cup dream alive when his Kenya side won 3-0 in the Seychelles - only their second away World Cup qualifying win in 57 attempts. Wanyama, delighted to help his nation - ranked 135th in the world - secure a rare win in the pre-qualifier before the African qualifiers start proper, said: “We were really good and controlled the game. We were all very confident because we prepared well and we have some good players. The second leg this week is now a formality, but we must be professional and prepare properly.”