15 - 31 July 2002

14 JULY 2002

Real Madrid - Yes, We Have No Money

Real Madrid President Florentino Perez has claimed that the clubs lack of
activity in the transfer market is not due to a lack of funds but a lack of
quality players :

"The club's policy is to bring in genuine stars and there aren't many of them
about. There aren't many players like Figo, Zidane, Raul, Roberto Carlos,
Fernando Hierro, Fernando Morientes, Ivan Helguera. The stars are already
at Real Madrid and I say that with no arrogance."

Coaching Round-Up

Inaki Saez has replaced Jose Antonio Camacho as coach of Spain. Saez was
previously in charge of Spain's U-21, U-20 and U-17 youth teams.

Otto Baric has succeeded Mirko Jozic as coach of Croatia.

As expected Zico has been appointed coach of the Japanese national side.

Bruno Metsu (ex Senegal) has signed a 10 month contract with UAE club
side al-Ain.

Former French international Christian Dalger has replaced Polish legend
Henri Kasperczak as coach of Mali.


13 JULY 2002

Kennedy Fails Third Drugs Test

Maritimo midfielder Daniel Kenedy has failed a third drugs test. He was
dropped from Portugal's World Cup squad after testing positive for a banned
diuretic (slimming drugs).


12 JULY 2002

Real Madrid vs Roma in Giants Stadium

European Champions Real Madrid will play Roma at Giants stadium on August
the 8th in a friendly match to raise funds for the Global AIDS Fund. 

Chilavert - Fat Boy Slim

Strasbourg have sent Paraguayan goalkeeper Jose Luis Chilavert to a health
farm and told him to loose  "a few kilograms" before the start of the new
season. 


11 JULY 2002

Juninho's Move To Boro Breaks Down

"We have had friendly discussions but we will not be making a deal. I came
here for talks, but there has been no deal. The offer they have made is not
what we wanted and I will be returning to Brazil." - Juninho's father Osvaldo

UEFA Drop 2nd Phase of Champions League

UEFA President Lennart Johansson has announced that as from the 2003-2004
season the 2nd group stage of the Champions League will de dropped and the
competition will revert to a traditional knockout format :

"We believe this reduction in the size of the competition is in the longer term
interests of everyone involved, clubs, players, fans, broadcasters, sponsors
and European football in general."

The changes will ensure the two finalists will play at least 4 fewer matches
than under the current format.

Arsenal - Another Past-It Extends Contract

Arsenal's 36 year old defender Martin Keown has signed on with the double
winners for a further two seasons. 

Libya To Host Italian Super-Cup

The Italian Super-Cup, played between the winners of the league and cup, will
be held in Tripoli on the 25th of August. 

Tofting Charged With Assault

Bolton's Danish midfielder Stig Tofting has been charged with assault after a
fight in a restaurant in June. Tofting is accused of smacking the restaurant
owner on the head after a meal with his World Cup team-mates following
the teams World Cup exit. The trail will be held in October.


8 JULY 2002

Venables New Leeds Coach?

Leeds chairman Peter Ridsdale will announce the clubs new coach, thought to
be Terry Venables, to the stock exchange of Monday.


6 JULY 2002

Kahn Out For Six Weeks

Oliver Kahn is out for six weeks after tearing a ligament in his right hand
during the World Cup final.


5 JULY 2002

Friedel Extends Blackburn Contract

Blackburn Rovers' American goalkeeper Brad Friedel has signed a four year
contract with the club :

"I like the way the club is run and I enjoy the relationship with the fans. I've
made no secret of the fact that I am happier here than I've been with any
club and I am delighted with the new deal."

Tax-man Catches Up With Dutch Legends

Milan's legendary Dutch trio - Marco Van Basten, Ruud Gullit and Frank
Rijkaard have been given three months suspended jail sentences for tax
evasion during their time at the club between the late 80's and early 90's.


3 JULY 2002

Bouba Diop Robbed

Senegal midfielder Papa Bouba Diop was robbed during a presentation
ceremony in his hometown of Rufisque. A bag containing two mobile phones,
his passport, car keys and €460 was stolen. 

Ljungberg Out For Two Months

Arsenal's Swedish midfield Freddie Ljungberg is to undergo surgery this
weekend to repair a tear on the cartilage around his hip joint. Ljungberg
is expected to return to action in early September.

Brazil Fans Stone World Champions

Fans threw rocks a bus carrying members of Brazil's World Cup team after
the players left a victory parade. Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari and captain Cafu
told the fans that the players were tired. Some fans had been waiting
11 hours for the arrival of the newly crowned World Champions.

Many of the players abandoned the celebrations at Rio's Antoni Carlos Jobim
airport to fly home after an exhausting 30 hours which included the flight
back from Japan an award ceremony attended by half a million people at
the presidential palace in Brasilia. 

Zico Next Coach of Japan?

Japan Football Association president Shunichiro Okano admitted that Brazilian
legend Zico is one of the candidates for the coaching position left vacant by
Philippe Troussier :

"The technical committee has been examining several candidates. It is natural
that the committee has been negotiating with the person (Zico) which was
mentioned." 

Courbis Charged With Corruption

Former Marseille coach Rolland Courbis has been charged with alleged
corruption over transfers during his time at the club between 1997 and
1999.

Past-its Get New Contracts

36 year old Laurent Blanc has signed a new one year contract with
Manchester United. Liverpool's 29 year old, injury prone rubbish midfielder,
Vladimir Smicer, has been offered a new contract that will tie him to the club
until 2006.

Atletico Madrid Give Up On Riquelme

"We gave him (Riquelme) a date by which he had to respond and his time is
up and the deal is now off. He can now sign for Barcelona if he wants. We are
not going to enter into any auctions." - Atletico Madrid president Jesus Gil


2 JULY 2002

Why The World Cup Died On It's Arse

For 2 weeks this promised to be one of the best World Cups most of us will
see in our lifetime. There was some outstanding football, plenty of shocks,
controversy, goals and some classic matches most notably England vs
Argentina, France vs Senegal and Denmark vs Uruguay. However, once the
knockout stages got underway, traditionally when the tournament really
kicks off, the World Cup died on it's arse. You don't need many digits to count
the number of truly classic, earth shattering matches - South Korea vs Italy.
Only 16 goals were scored during the knockout stages, excluding the 5 goals
in the largely meaningless 3rd place play-off. In the last World Cup 42 goals
were scored during the knockout stages, again excluding the 3 goals scored
in the 3rd place play-off. So what went wrong? As the old saying goes be
careful what you wish for, you just might get it.

When France, Argentina and Portugal went home at the end of the group
stages, many of the best players in the World went home with them. Zidane,
Henry, Trezeguet, Rui Costa, Figo and Veron are capable of the rare moments
of utter brilliance that open up the tightest of defences. Holland and the Czech
Republic's failure to qualify was also to the detriment of this competition.
Portugal paid the price for an over-reliance on the individual brilliance of key
players and in the case of France and Argentina, they paid the price for their
poor squad selections. It's a valuable lesson and hopefully one these nations
will learn in time for 2006.

No one can deny that the likes of South Korea, Japan, Paraguay, Ireland,
Mexico and Belgium deserved their place in the knockout stages but come
2006 I'll be routing for the big boys. I'll be fully behind Argentina, France,
Portugal, Holland and the Czech Republic, should they qualify of course.

Gold Cup Moved To July

CONCACAF, the governing body of North American, Central American and the
Caribbean, have moved the Gold Cup forward to next July. The tournament
is usually played earlier in the year. Next years tournament will take place
between 12-23 July.

Bastia Coach Setps Up To International Level

Bastia's Robert Nouzaret has signed a four contract to coach the Ivory Coast
through the 2004 African Nations Cup and 2006 World Cup. 

Huge Champions League Pay-outs for Real Madrid and Bayern Munich

UEFA have distributed €523 million to the 32 Champions League participants
in last seasons (2001-2002) Champions League competitors, based on a
cash-for-win basis. Champions Real Madrid were paid €37 million, runners-up
Bayer Leverkusen €33.8 million followed by Manchester United (€32.3 million),
Bayern Munich (€31.9 million) and Nantes (€29.5 million).

Metz President Receives Death Threats

Metz president Carlo Molinari has received death threats following the
promotion of his club into the French first division ahead of Nice who were
'relegated' to division three, after gaining promotion at the end of last season
from division two, because they failed to provide financial guarantees to the
financial watchdog - DNCG.

Gunes Voted Best European Coach

Turkey's Senol Gunes was voted best European coach of the World Cup finals
by visitors of UEFA's official website, uefa.com. Guus Hiddink (South Korea)
finished 2nd in the voting with Rudi Voeller (Germany) 3rd, Jose Antonio
Camacho (Spain) 4th, Bruno Metsu (Senegal) 5th and Sven-Goran Eriksson
6th. Japan's Philippe Troussier only received 16 votes (out of 4000) and
Ireland's Mick McCarthy failed to receive a single vote.

Lemerre Sacked

France have finally sacker Roger Lemerde, the most incompetent coach to
ever manage a World Cup winning side. His successor will be announced at
the end of the month.

Keane Turns Down Sunderland

Leeds Republic or Ireland striker has rejected a move to Sunderland after
both clubs agreed a fee :

"I do not want to speak to any other club. I am happy at Leeds and am
confident that I can impress any new manager with my ability and
commitment."

Kahn Wins Golden Ball

Germany's Oliver Kahn edged out Ronaldo to win the FIFA Golden Ball -
awarded to the outstanding player in the World Cup finals tournament. In
a move which typifies FIFA's stupidity, the voting took place during the third
place play-off between South Korea and Turkey. The votes were cast by
147 members of the media. The top 10 is as follows :
 
Player Country Votes
Oliver Kahn Germany 147
Ronaldo Brazil 126
Hong Myung Bo South Korea 108
Rivaldo Brazil 93
Ronaldinho Brazil 54
Hasan Sas Turkey 26
El Hadji Diouf Senegal 15
Roberto Carlos Brazil 12
Michael Ballack Germany 6
Fernando Hierro Spain 5
     
Previous winners :

1982 - Paolo Rossi (Italy)
1986 - Diego Maradona (Argentina)
1990 - Salvatore Schillaci (Italy)
1994 - Romario (Brazil)
1998 - Ronaldo (Brazil)


1 JULY 2002

Saudi's Sack Johar

Saudi Arabia's FA have sacked coach Nasser al-Johar.

Legends Slam World Cup

Diego Maradona

"The final summed up the level of the tournament. It was a poor match.
Brazil are just a collection of individuals. They don't play as a team."

"Brazil were playing one of the worst Germany teams I have seen in my life.
They were lucky that they had a striker who hit top form at the right time."

On Ronaldo :

"It would be lie to say he (Ronaldo) has been the best player in the
tournament. He missed two easy chances in the final that showed his knees
are still not right. A Ronaldo with good knees has so many more options.
You could give it to him for his passion and heart but I think Rivaldo or
Roberto Carlos deserve it more." 

On Zidane :

"How can you expect the players to always be at 100% when they don't get
time to rest between competitions? Look at Zidane. There was so much
pressure on him to deliver but he was physically and mentally exhausted.
The players were at saturation point after a long season and then they come
to the World Cup. There is too much expected of them. No wonder you get all
these injuries. FIFA should do more to protect the players."

On Beckham :

"Fame is gauged on what you do on the pitch at the World Cup. People talk
about 'Beckham-mania' but I don't see David Beckham with the World Cup
trophy. Beckham scored a penalty that shouldn't have been a penalty but
England still went out in the quarter-finals. That's no reason to go out and
buy a Beckham shirt."

Johan Cryuff

"The 2002 World Cup is unmemorable. In August no-one will be talking about
it. There haven't been any real stars."

On the semi-finalists :

"Brazil deserved their win but they aren't a team. They play anti-football and
only took advantage of the mistakes of their opponents. The first goal wasn't
down to the brilliance of Ronaldo but as a consequence of the errors by the
German defence and Kahn. Despite winning the name of the Brazilian coach
won't go down in history because he was scared of the Germans. They
(Brazil) have set the standard for the rest of the World with their anti-football.
I hope that the Netherlands don't follow this example." 

"Germany are a good team with Oliver Kahn and a good mentality. The
collectiveness of the Germans was good however they lack a strong
personality like Franz Beckenbauer or Gerd Mueller."

"We should rejoice at the performances of Turkey and South Korea. Guus
Hiddink deserved a gold medal for nothing more than the extraordinary way
he represented the Netherlands."