BLACKPOOL: Blackpool took advantage of two early red cards for West Bromwich Albion to win 2-1 and move up to ninth in the Premier League. The visitors were down to 10 men after only 10 minutes when Pablo Ibanez was harshly sent off for blocking D.J. Campbell in the area. Charlie Adam's resulting penalty kick had enough power to beat ‘keeper Scott Carson. West Brom's evening took another turn for the worse when Gonzalo Jara was red-carded in the 29th for a wild tackle on Luke Varney by the corner flag. Blackpool scored its second in the 62nd through Varney's tap-in from Elliot Grandin's cross, but Youssuf Mulumbu's finish set up a frantic final five minutes before Blackpool finally recorded its first top-flight win at home since 1971. Mallorca stays 7th Real Mallorca defeated Levante 2-1 to take 7th position in Spanish Football League. Levante stays at 17th place. Batista set to take over Olympic-winning coach Sergio Batista was poised Monday to succeed Diego Maradona and lead Argentina to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Batista has been interim coach since Maradona was refused a new contract after Argentina's humiliating 4-0 defeat by Germany in this year's World Cup quarterfinals in South Africa. The 47-year-old, a teammate of Maradona's in Argentina's 1986 World Cup-winning side, was grilled Monday by an Argentine Football Association (AFA) selection committee and is expected to be officially installed Tuesday. “The selection committee met at midday with technical secretary Carlos Bilardo at the AFA and Sergio Batista was called in to report on what has been done so far and his plans for the future,” AFA spokesman Andres Ventura said. He told reporters outside the AFA's downtown headquarters that the committee would report to AFA president Julio Grondona and the board would make its decision. Batista, who steered an Argentina side including Lionel Messi and Javier Mascherano to the country's second successive Olympic gold medal in Beijing in 2008, has a low profile that contrasts with Maradona. Maradona had refused to accept the AFA's wish to include Batista on his coaching staff.
