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| 25 MARCH
2001 Lazio News Marcelo Salas will be out for two months after damaging knee ligaments during training last week. Pavel Nedved has been given a three match ban for his murderous foul on Leeds defender Alan Maybury during Lazio's clash away to Leeds earlier this month. Brazilians In The Libertadores, Week 3 by Irineu de Carvalho In San Cristobal, Venezuela DEPORTIVO TACHIRA (Venezuela) 0-1 VASCO DA GAMA Goal by EULLER The Venezuelans from Deportivo Tachira came with a smart game plan to neutralize Vasco's greatest stars, striker ROMARIO and midget "meia" JUNINHO PAULISTA. Well done, they gave Vasco a hard time, with the Brazilians able to score only in the second half, through EULLER, after a subtle backheel assist by ROMARIO. VASCO now has 6 points after 2 away games. On April 5, they play at home against former Uruguayan giant PENAROL. In Mexico City, Mexico CRUZ AZUL (Mexico) 1-0 SAO CAETANO Goal by MORA Tough luck for Sao Caetano. Against their stronger opponent, away from home, in the altitude, they manage to put a good game together. Only for suffering a goal in the end of the second half, in a rare lack of defensive attention. Only for tieing the game a few minutes later - just to see the home-biased referee invalidate their effort. Now it is up to winning their last 3 games. Sao Caetano now has 1 point in 3 games, but will host Olmedo (Ecuador) and Defensor (Uruguay) at home and will visit Defensor. On April 6, the challenge starts with Defensor at Sao Caetano. Irineu 21 MARCH 2001 Hasselbaink Says Team Are Past It Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink made the following comments in Champions League Magazine, which is a great magazine by the way, highly recommend, especially as they printed a letter I sent last month! Anyway here are the quotes : "I'm 28 but I'm one of the youngest players in the squad and this is very bad.". "One year I play for a team that is relegated like Atletico Madrid and next year I play for a team that goes nowhere like Chelsea.". Hogh Retires 34 year old Chelsea defender Jes Hogh has retired after failing to recover from an ankle injury he sustained in training last April. Udinese Name New Coach Luciano Spaletti has been named new coach of Udinese, replacing Luigi De Canio who was fired after Sunday's loss at home to Parma. 20 MARCH 2001 Richards Extends Contract Southampton's awesome defender, Dean Richards, has extended his contract until 2005. Last week he had been linked with a £10 million move to Tottenham. 18 MARCH 2001 Brazilians In The Libertadores, Week 2 by Irineu de Carvalho In Lima, Peru SPORTING CRISTAL (Peru) 0-1 CRUZEIRO Goal by ALESSANDRO "Big Phil" Scolari's Cruzeiro debuted in the Libertadores with their right foot : a half-effort away victory with a goal by a debuting player, forward ALESSANDRO, former Santos and FC Porto. Cruzeiro now has 3 points in 1 games - their next match will be against Ecuator's Emelec at home, on April 3. In Cali, Colombia AMERICA CALI (Colombia) 0-3 VASCO Goals by JUNINHO PAULISTA, CLEBSON, EULLER (3 assists by ROMARIO) Easy start for Vasco : naive America exposed their backs to Vasco's lethal counter attacks, with extremely fast EULLER and JUNINHO PAULISTA, assisted by play-making old snail ROMARIO. Vasco could send their U-17 squad to the other 5 games of this first qualifying round of the Libertadores and they would qualify all the same. More fun to come on March 21, when they take on Venezuelan side Tachira away. In Lima, Peru SPORT BOYS (Peru) 1-4 PALMEIRAS Goals by TUTA, ALEX, TUTA, LOPES and JIMMY ASPRILLA (SB) Who needs Prozac when one's team is playing Sport Boys? The same PALMEIRAS squad that was humbled by SAO PAULO in the derby last weekend, the same squad hanging on the relegation zone in the Paulista league suddenly became an unstoppable supernaTUTAl force... Lazy-man FELIPE looked good with 3 assists, but so would I look against that bunch of drunk men. PALMEIRAS now has 6 points in 2 games, their next match is against treacherous CERRO PORTENO, in Paraguay, on April 4. In Riobamba, Ecuador OLMEDO (Ecuador) 2-1 SAO CAETANO Goals by MERCADO (O), AILTON (SC), FREDDY BRITO (O) In their first game away from Brazil ever, Sao Caetano was humbled by the Ecuatorian champions Olmedo, from small town Riobamba. MERCADO scored in the first minutes of the game, which made the Brazilians lose their north. In the second half, experient - former Libertadores champion with Cruzeiro in 1997 - AILTON scored in a masterfully executed volley, but in the 91st minute, lack of attention went punished with the strike by Freddy Brito. Sao Caetano now has 1 point in 2 games - their next match will be life or death against dangerous Cruz Azul in Mexico, on March 21. Irineu Hoddle Set For Spurs Expect Glenn Hoddle, currently coach of Southampton and former Spurs legend, to be named coach within the next week. George Graham was sacked on Thursday. Tottenham supporters never took to Graham because he previously coached their bitter rivals Arsenal and his defensive, safety first brand of football was against the 'traditions' of the free flowing football the London club built their reputation on. Despite being 'a cup team' (Spurs have only won two league championships) Spurs enjoy huge fan and media support. The tactically inept 'Wor Kev' Kevin Keegan is favourite to succeed Hoddle as Southampton coach. Keegan played for Southampton in the early 80's before ending his playing career at Newcastle. 16 MARCH 2001 Champions League Quarter-Final Draw Manchester United V Bayern Munich Galatasaray V Real Madrid Leeds V Deportivo Arsenal V Valencia Ties to be played 3/4 April 2001 & 17/18 April 2001. Champions League Semi-Final Draw Leeds/Deportivo V Arsenal/Valencia Galatasaray/Real Madrid V Manchester United/Bayern Munich Ties to be played 1/2 May 2001 & 9 May 2001. UEFA Cup Semi-Final Draw Barcelona V Liverpool Alaves V Kaiserslautern Ties to be played 5 April 2001 & 19 April 2001. |