World Soccer News

World soccer news: For week of December 20th

Soccer Crusaders: Crosses on shirts upset Moslems

Soccer is known for knocking down many barriers, except for those fortified in religious fanatism. One Baris Kaska, a Turkish lawyer from Izmir, filed a complaint against UEFA with the local court asking for the annullment of Inter Milan's 3-0 Champions League win over Fenerbahce on account that the "Italians wore a red cross on a white surface." For Kaska, a clear symbol of the Crusades.
"The cross reminded me of the bloody days of the past. In my opinion, the design of the shirt openly suggests the superiority of one religion," claims Kaska.

Naturally, the complaint has no chances of prospering since UEFA approved the design of Inter's reserve kit, inaugurated on the occasion of the Milan club's forthcoming centenary. Indeed, Inter had the sensitivity to ask Fenerbahce whether they would object to their using the crossed shirt at San Siro, and the Turks said no problem.

Barcelona, who sell tons of shirts in Islamic countries, have forestalled a possible customers' boycott by redisigning their coat of arms in the batches intended for Moslem markets. Instead of the city's patron saint St George's cross in the upper left corner, Barça's coat of arms on sale in Islamic states cointains an ordinary vertical red line on the white surface.
"They don't tolerate crosses, be it Barça's or another club's," said a Spaniard living in Saudi Arabia to the La Vanguardia daily.
"Barcelona's merchandise sells well, but it would not be the same if there was a red cross drawn within a white square."

John Terry six weeks out of action

Chelsea's captain and England international John Terry will spent at least six weeks on the sidelines after sustaining an injury during the London derby against Arsenal. The team doctors confirmed Terry broke three bones in his left foot.
The international defender tried to continue playing even after Eboué's rough tackle, but the pain was too strong, forcing him to abandon the pitch. Eboué apologized to Terry for the tackle before getting injured himself.
This has been yet another blow to the Blues, already without Ricardo Carvalho since the early stages of the season.
The brave skipper could return to action against Birmingham in late January and should certainly be ready for Fabio Capello's England debut against Switzerland at Wembley on February 6th.


Kaká's double triumph

The journalists who determine the winner of the Golden Ball in France Football's poll have a similar taste to that of the coaches and skippers of national teams taking part in FIFA's contest for the world's best player.
As a consequence, the same player has won the Golden Ball and the FIFA's award in the same season for the tenth time in 17 years. This year's double winner is Milan's Kaká, the fifth Brazilian to have unified the two most prestigious individual prizes in soccer.

That was not the end to Kaká's astonishing run of trophies: by winning FIFA's World Club Cup, the 25-year-old attacking midfielder has become only the second player to have won the set of soccer's most distinguished trophies. Just like Marco van Basten in 1989, Kaká has collected the Champions' League, the Supercup, the World Clup Cup and the Golden Ball. Van Basten could not win FIFA's player of the year award simply because it was not given before 1991.

Here are the ten double-winners since 1991, when FIFA started to award the prize for the top player of the year.

Golden Ball plus FIFA award

1992. Marco van Basten (Netherlands)
1993. Roberto Baggio (Italy)
1995. George Weah (Liberia)
1997. Ronaldo (Brazil)
1998. Zinedine Zidane (France)
1999. Rivaldo (Brazil)
2002. Ronaldo (Brazil)
2005. Ronaldinho (Brazil)
2006. Fabio Cannavaro (Italy)
2007. Kaka (Brazil)

Inzaghi like Cruyff and Rijkaard!

Filippo Pippo Inzaghi has become the third European player to have scored a goal in all three finals of club cup competitions in the same cycle.
Before Pippo, only two Dutchmen achieved that distinction.
The first was Ajax' Johan Cruyff, who scored twice against Inter in the Champions' Cup, twice against Rangers in the Supercup and once against Independiente in the Intercontinental Cup in 1972 and early 1973.
Eighteen years later, Milan's Frank Rijkaard repeated the feat in the games against Benfica, Sampdoria and Olimpia of Asunción.


Milan's third hat-trick
AC Milan has joined for the third time the select group of the elite European clubs who won the three most important international trophies in one competitive cycle.
Before winning the World Club Cup by beating Boca Juniors 4-2, Milan collected the Champions' League at the expense of Liverpool (2-1) and the European Supercup against Sevilla (3-1).
The world's most successful club picked up their first two hat-tricks in 1989 and 1990 under the guidance of Arrigo Sacchi.
This elite group includes Ajax (twice), Porto, Juventus and Real Madrid.

Hat-trick of titles

1972. Ajax
1987. Porto
1989. Milan
1990. Milan
1995. Ajax
1996. Juventus
2002. Real Madrid
2007. Milan

Wanchope says goodbye in January

Paulo Wanchope, Costa Rica's top soccer export, will bid a final farewell on January 13th against Sweden in San José.
The gigantic striker, who announced his retirement last month, will play his final game at the national Ricardo Saprissa stadium, where he debuted for the national team back in 1996.
The former Derby County, West Ham and Manchester City player scored 45 goals in 73 appearances for Costa Rica and was the country's top scorer until Rolando Fonseca recently overtook him.

European leagues' top scorers

Kruno Lovrek, the leading scorer in the Croatian 1st Division, is the highest scoring player in all of Europe with 14 hits, a goal above a group of six players with 13 goals each. This group includes Celtic's Scott McDonald and Ajax' Jan-Klas Huntelaar alongside two other players from the Croatian League – Nikola Kalinic and Radomir Djalovic.
Only two strikers from the top leagues are present among the European top scorers: the French boy wonder Karim Benzema of Lyon and Juventus' David Trezeguet, both with 12 goals.
The Spanish number one is Sevilla's Brazilian Luis Fabiano with 10 goals, while both in the Premier League and Bundesliga the leading scorers are still within single digits.
Bayern's Klose and Toni, Hamburg's Van der Vaart and Werder's Diego have finished the first part of the season with nine goals on their account, like Arsenal's Adebayor, Manchester United's Ronaldo and Everton's Aiyegbeni.


1. Kruno Lovrek (Zagreb) – 14 goals
2.-7. Nikola Kalinić (Hajduk) – 13
Radomir Đalović (Rijeka) - 13
Jan-Klas Huntelaar (Ajax) - 13
Gheorghe Bucur (Politechnica T.) – 13
Scott McDonald (Celtic) - 13
Hakan Yakin (Young Boys) - 13
8-17. Karim Benzema (Lyon) - 12
David Trezeguet (Juventus) - 12
Oleksandr Hladki (Šahtar) – 12
Peter Graulund (Arhus) – 12
Juraj Halenar (Artmedia) – 12
Sanel Jahić (Željezničar) - 12
David Bunderla (Primorje) – 12
Dario Zahora (Domžale) – 12
Marek Zienczuk (Wisla) - 12
Pawel Brozek (Wisla) - 12

Argentina bought 1978 World Cup, says a mafioso

The former Columbian mafioso Fernando Rodríguez Mondragón has revealed new details of the scandal that allegedly took place at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina and that cost the Brazilians the title.
According to the ex-narco dealer, it was the then Argentinian vice-admiral, Carlos A. Lacoste, who masterminded the bribing of the Peruvian FA so that Argentina would beat Peru by at least four goals and qualify for the finals ahead of Brazil.
"My uncle and dad were called by the players' agent Carlos Quieto asking them to mediate between the Argentinian and the Peruvian FA's, since he was the Peruvian FA's president's friend," said Mondragón to terra.es digital newspaper.
"Two days before the key game, at the meeting in Lima, the Argentinian bought the favours of four players for 50,000 USD each, and their government gave Peru some grain free of charge," continued the infamous Guillermo Rodríguez Mondragón's son, promising to reveal all the names, amounts and other details of the scandal in his forthcoming book.
Lacoste was the chairman of the World Cup organizing committee, short lived president of Argentina and long-time FIFA vice-president.
Argentina won that World Cup by beating Peru 6-0 in the crucial semifinal group game and the Netherlands 3-1 in the finals.
All players involved have always rejected claims of foul play.

Copyright Ozren Podnar/Soccerphile

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World Soccer News

World Soccer News for the week of November 6th
Casillas considers Golden Ball “manipulated”

Real Madrid's keeper Iker Casillas does not believe that the European Golden Ball, awarded by France Football magazine, is a real reflection of a player's qualities.
"I have teammates who deserved to win it, but have never received it. For instance, Raul. On the other hand, it was awarded to some who does't deserve it. All of this seem to me a bit manipulated," said Casillas.
"Such awards are not objective and there are too many details which suggest that the players are not treated fairly. Personally, it would not mean much to me", said the international goalkeeper.
This year the award will be declared on December 2nd.

New case of corruption shakes Paraguayan soccer

The third corruption scandal in two weeks has pushed into turmoil the soccer scene in Paraguay, one of the leading South American nations in the sport.
Gregor Aguayo, Tacuary's defender, reported to the police an individual's attempt to bribe him on the eve of a game with relegation-threatened Guarani.
Police then arrested Marcelino Mendoza handing a 1000 dollars bribe in local currency to the player, after filming the scene.
"He told me he was giving me the money because Guarani was in need of points," said Aguayo to the police. The same intermediary was denounced by Tacuary's goalkeeper Victor Centurión, who was purportedly offered 1800 dollars.
Mendoza claims he worked independently, but there is evidence to suggest someone from the club was behind his actions.

British minister attacks "obscene" soccer salaries

Gerry Sutcliffe, the British Sports Minister, angrily criticized what he sees as an obscene rise of wages in the Premier League.
"Good luck to John Terry, but I think it is obscene to be on £150,000 a week. I understand that a footballer’s career is limited in time, but people in the street cannot understand salaries like that. Chelsea are £250 million in the red and they may be able to cope with that, but it's not the real world – £250 million in the red is not sustainable," said Sutcliffe.
However, Chelsea kindly pointed out that they were "only" £80 million in the red and that Terry's weekly wage amounted to no more than £130,000.
The Premier League is the soccer competition that has experienced the greatest growth over the last couple of years, particularly due to an enormous interest for tv rights and merchandise in Asia.

Bernd Schuster accused ref of nationalism

After his team lost at Sevilla by 2-0, Real Madrid's coach Bernd Schuster suggested that the referee Alvarez Izquierdo was to blame for the defeat, indicating that his Catalan nationality could have something to do with his refereeing.
"Where does the referee come from? He is Catalonian. One need not say anything else", said the German, while Madrid daily Marca gave ref a rating of two on a scale from one to ten.
Catalonia is, of course, where Real's archrivals Barcelona come from.
The Catalonian referees' organization immediately protested and called for sanctions against Schuster.
Izquierdo failed to award two penalties in Real's favour but also forgave Diarra a red card for elbowing an opponent.

Drogba's life on film

A biographical movie on Ivorian superstar Didier Drogba premierred in Paris this Monday depicting the player's life in his wartorn homeland, moving to France at the age of five and a hard-fought rise through professional soccer from the fifth-level Levalloise.
The film, directed by Cedric Derguson, also speaks about Drogba's attempts to reconcile the warring sides in the Ivory Coast, both of which idolize him.
Among the characters featured in the film are Drogba's former coach at Chelsea, José Mourinho, who occupies a prominent place.
"If I go to war and I could choose one person to go with me, I would choose Didier, because I know I would be with a fantastic man," said Mourinho of the player he brought from Marseille in 2004.

Dinamo Zagreb's amazing record: 34 wins in 35 games!

Croatian champions Dinamo Zagreb have registered an amazing achievement: since Branko Ivankovic took over as coach exactly one year ago, the team from the Croatian capital have won 34 of their 35 league matches, having lost just once, to Varteks in Varazdin by 3-4 (incidentally, to a goal in added time).
During the past 12 months Dinamo have scored exactly 100 goals in the league, having conceded just 24.
In the current season, last season's double winners have registered 14 wins in 15 games, which is the best-ever start to the championship season. The second best score also belongs to Dinamo: 13 wins in 15 matches achieved in the 1996/97 season.

Confusion in Brazil: who are the first five-time champions?

The Brazilian soccer association (CBF) is preparing to award new League champions Sao Paulo a honorary trophy for the first team to have won the Brasileirao competition on five occasions. However, Flamengo of Rio have called on Sao Paulo to refuse the trophy, claiming that they had won their fifth title back in 1992.
The confusion arose from Flamengo's controversial 1987 title, which the CBF does not recognize as that season's championship was organized by a group of the 13 biggest clubs attempting to secede from the CBF.
Among the players starring for Flamengo was Zico, who has been furious at the CBF's posture ever since.
"The claim that Sao Paulo is the first club with five titles is a sheer comedy. We won that 1987 title fair and square. As far as I can remember, Sao Paulo took part in that championship as well," said the legendary ex-international, today Fenerbahce's coach.
"We cannot accept Flamengo's proposal since we rule ourselves exclusively by the CBF's decisions," replied Sao Paulo's director, Mauro Aurélio Cunha.
It is no doubt ironic that Sao Paulo now fail to recognize the outcome of that championship since it was them who were the founders of the runaway "Club 13" that organized the controversial competition. Incidentally, the CBF recognizes Sport Recife as the 1987 champs.

Seven Boavista's players on auction!

The Portuguese tax authorities have put seven Boavista's players on public auction in order to collect the club's tax debt. In spite of opposition from the players' union, the interested parties will be able to purchase seven players, each estimated by experts at 140 – 580,000 euros plus VAT. They are Marquinho, Hugo Monteiro, Nuno Pinto, Ricardo Silva, Essame, Gilberto and Mario Silva.
The tax collectors have invited potential buyers to mail their bids in a sealed envelope by December 10th, when the highest bidders will be announced. A player, naturally, may refuse a transfer, but since Boavista's account is blocked they cannot expect to be paid by their current club in the near future.

Copyright Ozren Podnar / Soccerphile


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