31 December 2002 Scolari - Rivaldo Best Player In The World Cup "I always put the squad first but the success of a squad is only possible if great players help it. That was the case with Rivaldo who, for me, was the best player in the World Cup. Tactically as well as in his shots, he was very strong and I'm not mentioning his new frame of mind. He changed his approach to football." - Brazil's World Cup Winning Coach Luis Felipe Scolari Tax Rebates For Turkish Exports The Turkish government will classify monies earned from selling players or television rights abroad as foreign currency thus entitling clubs to tax rebates. Cardozo Latin America Player of the Year Paraguayan striker Jose Cardozo has been voted Latin America's Footballer of the Year in the annual poll conducted by Uruguayan newspaper El Pais. Cardozo scored 50 goals for Mexican club Toluca last year. Brazil's Luiz Felipe Scolari was named coach of the year. Spanish Leaders Lose Alonso Sociedad, currently top of La Liga, have been hit by news that influential midfielder Xabi Alonso could be out of action for six weeks after straining ankle ligaments in a friendly match last Saturday. 28 December 2002 Guilherme Charged With Manslaughter Corinthians striker Guilherme Cassio Alves has been charged with manslaughter. Two people were killed and another seriously injured on October the 5th when Ghuilhereme lost control of his BMW and hit an oncoming vehicle. Guilhereme denied he had been drinking and also denied that he had been speeding. Guilhereme claimed a truck was involved in the accident, a claim refuted by the surviving passenger. 26 December 2002 Milner Becomes Youngest Ever Premiership Scorer Leeds teenager James Milner beat the record set by Everton's Wayne Rooney as the youngest player to ever score in the Premiership with the equalising goal in today's 2-1 away victory over Sunderland. Milner is 16 years and 357 days old. Rooney was four days older when he set the record with a sensational winner over Arsenal on October the 19th. 24 December 2002 Arsenal 'Keeper Injured In Training Arsenal's reserve goalkeeper Rami Shaaban is out for months after breaking a leg in training. Middlesbrough midfield George Boateng will be out of action for several weeks after injuring his left knee in a collision with Giovanni van Bronckhorst last Saturday. Brazil All Time Club Rankings 2002 by Tomaz R Alves Here goes the 2002 version of the all-time Brazilian club rankings created by the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo (the biggest in Brazil) and adapted by me : (observations and scoring system are below) 1st. Palmeiras - 771 pts. 2nd. Flamengo - 743 pts. 3rd. São Paulo FC - 709 pts. 4th. Vasco - 616 pts. 5th. Corinthians - 598 pts. (up 3) 6th. Grêmio - 587 pts. (down 1) 7th. Santos - 585 pts. 8th. Cruzeiro - 573 pts. (down 2) 9th. Fluminense - 505 pts. 10th. Atlético Mineiro - 466 pts. 11th. Internacional - 455 pts. 12th. Botafogo Carioca - 416 pts. 13th. Bahia - 402 pts. 14th. Fortaleza - 304 pts. 15th. Ceará - 298 pts. (up 1) 16th. Coritiba - 292 pts (down 1) 17th. Sport - 279 pts. 18th. Vitória - 209 pts. 19th. Atlético Paranaense - 200 pts. 20th. Goiás - 197 pts. (up 1) 21st. Náutico - 195 pts. (down 1) 22nd. Portuguesa - 98 pts. 23rd. Criciúma - 85 24th. Bangu - 77 pts. 25th. São Caetano - 50 pts. (up 2) 26th. Guarani - 47 pts. (down 1) 27th. Juventude - 31 pts. (down 1) 28th. Bragantino - 25 pts. 29th. Brasiliense - 13 pts. (new) * Point distribution : Tournament Champion Runner-up State Championship (Rio or SP) 10 7 State Championship (others) 7 3 Brazilian Championship 25 15 Brazil Cup (defunct) 15 10 Roberto Gomes Pedrosa Tournament (defunct) 15 10 Brazilian Cup 15 10 Rio-São Paulo Cup 10 5 Other regional Cups 7 3 Conmebol Cup (defunct) 15 10 Libertadores Cup 35 20 Supercup (defunct) 10 5 Mercosur Cup 10 5 Recup (defunct) 5 - World Club Cup 30 - **  In order to enter the ranking, a team must have reached the final of a national level tournament (Brazilian Championship, Brazilian Cup, Brazil Cup) at least once. *** I've made some changes from the original ranking published by Folha. Firstly, I've deducted the points they gave to Corinthians and Vasco for the FIFA World Club Championship (40 and 25, respectively). There are signs that this competition will be dropped by FIFA, what will turn the 2000 tournament meaningless. If the championship eventually becomes a regular competition, then the points should be counted. The second change is that I've added 25 points to Flamengo and 15 to Internacional for winning the 1986 Brazilian Championship (known as Copa União that year). For bureaucratic reasons, the Brazilian FA considers Sport and Guarani as being champion and runner-up of that year's competition (in fact, they won the second division), and Folha has followed their decision. However, everybody else in Brazil considers Flamengo as the true champions that year, so I think it's fair to award them the points. ****  Folha also awards points for the Champions Cup, but, since that meaningless competition will cease to exist after just three editions, I don't think it should be worth anything. Best regards and a happy 2003 to all!!! Tomaz R. Alves 20 December 2002 Lauren Retires From International Football Arsenal defender 'Ralph' Lauren has announced his retirement from international football.He gave no reason for his retirement. England Record League Goalscorer Dies Aged 76 Arthur Rowley who scored a record 434 goals in 619 league games in a 19 year career has died aged 76. Brazil 2002 Season Recap by Tomaz R Alves Hello everbody! With the 2002 season in Brazil finally coming to an end, it's time to recap all the meaninful champions in the country this year. But before some news - next yea, the Brazilian calendar is due for a major shake up (again). All the regional tournaments are gone (thanks God), as well as the freak 'Champions Cup'. The state championships are back, but they'll last just one and a half month. The rest of the year will be for the Brazilian Championship, which will, for the first time ever, will be contested in the traditional European league system (everybody plays each other twice; the team with more points in the end is the champion). Besides that, the only other national tournament will be the Brazilian Cup. It's not the ideal calendar yet, but it's much better the current one. Let's just hope that they don't throw it all through the window - there are some chairman favourable of bringing back Palmeiras and Botafogo,-'big' clubs that were relegated this year. If such a shameful thing happens, the whole calendar will have to be rediscussed. Without further ado, here's the list of the (meaningful) champions in 2002  : BRAZILIAN CHAMPIONSHIP CHAMPION : Santos RUNNER-UP : Corinthians RELEGATED TO 2ND DIVISION : Portuguesa, Palmeiras, Botafogo Carioca and Gama PROMOTED TO 1ST DIVISION : Criciúma and Fortaleza BRAZILIAN CUP CHAMPION : Corinthians RUNNER-UP : Brasiliense CHAMPIONS CUP CHAMPION : Paysandu RUNNER-UP : Palmeiras LIBERTADORES CUP CHAMPION : Olimpia (Paraguay) RUNNER-UP : São Caetano QUALIFIED TO NEXT YEAR'S LIBERTADORES CUP Santos, Corinthians, Grêmio and Paysandu RIO-SÃO PAULO TOURNAMENT CHAMPION : Corinthians RUNNER-UP : São Paulo FC SOUTH-MINAS TOURNAMENT CHAMPION : Cruzeiro RUNNER-UP : Atlético Paranaense NORTHEAST TOURNAMENT CHAMPION : Bahia RUNNER-UP : Vitória NORTH TOURNAMENT CHAMPION : Paysandu RUNNER-UP : São Raimundo MID-WEST TOURNAMENT CHAMPION : Goiás RUNNER-UP : Gama TOP 5 TEAMS OF THE YEAR IN BRAZIL 1. Corinthians - 45 pts. 2. Santos - 30 pts. 3. São Caetano - 20 pts. 4. Paysandu - 19 pts. 5. Brasiliense - 10 pts. (points awarded according to the importance of each of the titles mentioned above) Here's a brief summary of the feats of each of the top 5 teams : 1st : CORINTHIANS Although it was just runner-up in the Brazilian Championship (which is the most important tournament in the country), Corinthians is undisputably the team of the year. It won the two major titles of the first semester - Rio-SP Tournament and Brazilian Cup - and was just one step shy of becoming the first team ever to win the 'double' (Brazilian Cup / Brazilian Championship). 2nd : SANTOS With a very, very young and incredibly skillful team, Santos has won its first meaningful title in 18 years. In fact, it's their first nationwide trophy since the days of Pelé. It's not the team of the year just because of Corinthians' dominance during the first semester (compared to a paltry display from Santos). 3rd : SÃO CAETANO The new 'runner-up kings'. After twice finishing second in the Brazilian Championship, they did it at the Libertadores Cup. The title seemed in their hands when they finished the first half of the second leg of the final 2x0 up on aggregate, but then they spectacularly threw it away, allowing Olimpia to score twice and send the decision do PKs. It's a shame - it would have been very funny to watch these underdogs play Real Madrid in Japan. Nevertheless, a great season for such a young team (São Caetano FC was founded just 13 years ago). 4th : PAYSANDU The great beneficiary of Brazil's crazy calendar. They won the ridiculous 'North Tournament', which qualified them to the odd 'Champions Cup'. In this competition, they've played all (but one) of their matches at home, and were champions, what gave them a dream ticket to the prestigious Libertadores Cup. An excellent season for a team promoted to the first division just last year. 5th : BRASILIENSE And talking about dreams coming true, third-division Brasiliense was introduced to the national scene when they went all the way to the final of the Brazilian Cup, knocking out two first division teams in the way. To make things even better, they were promoted to the second division of the Brazilian Championship this year - watch out for them! 19 December 2002 Abreu Involved In Fatal Car Crash Uruguayan striker Sebastian Abreu has been hospitalized with head injuries and a fractured shoulder but his passenger died when his vehicle crashed into a telegraph pole. 18 December 2002 France vs. Brazil to mark FIFA's 100th anniversary European Champions France will play World Champions Brazil on 21 May 2004 to mark FIFA's centenary. 17 December 2002 Ronaldo Complete Hat-Trick of Undeserved Awards Ronaldo has been named FIFA footballer of the YEAR despite doing absolutely nothing of note for 11 of the past 12 months. Earlier in the week Ronaldo was named European Footballer of the year and last week World Soccer player of the award. During the calendar year Ronaldo has only played 17 games for his clubs, Inter and Real Madrid scoring 11 goals. Ronaldo scored 11 times in 13 appearances for Brazil. A spokesman for France Football claimed that the award was for a European based players performances Worldwide. Ronaldo awards have received much criticism from players and coaches alike  : "Ronaldo showed in the World Cup that he is a great attacker. He deserves it if the prize is judged on the World Cup alone but it is supposed to be for the whole year." Real Madrid legend Alfredo Di Stefano said Henry deserved the award. Rivaldo felt fellow Brazilian international Roberto Carlos was a more worthy winner due to his achievements throughout the year. New Four Year Contract For Silvestre Man United have tied up rapidly improving French defender Mikael Silvestre to a new four year contract. Silvestre would have been available on a free transfer at the end of  the season. 16 December 2002 Van Gaal Refuses To Quit Louis Van Gaal has refused to quit as coach of Barcelona following another league defeat which sees the Spanish giants in 13th place and a massive 16 points behind leaders Sociedad : "To resign is not a solution for Barcelona. The most important thing is that there is unity between the players and the coach and I have the impression that they are still with me. Those with the responsibility for getting out of this situation are the coach and the players. We have to work to put behind us this difficult situation, for the president and the club and above all the club."