31 July 2007
Schuster Hails End of Galactico Era
"Defeat is not something often seen at Real. The club is swarming with World Class players. Nevertheless the Galacticos like David Beckham, Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo have gone, thank God. I have felt in conversations with key people that the side's high-profile reputation hindered them, so I am glad a sense of normality has returned, as well it should be." - Bernd Schuster
29 July 2007
Qatar To Host 2011 Asian Cup
Asian Football Confederation (AFC) president Mohamed bin Hammam has announced that the 2011 Asian Cup will be held in his native Qatar.
Grella Rant At Asian Cup Experience
Australian midfielder Vince Grella has hit out at the poor sportsmanship displayed by Australia's opponents and opposition fans at the Asian Cup :
"We respected all our opponents but they had no respect for us. There were guys rolling around all over the place every time we played and all our opponents went out of their way to goad us. They all had a bad attitude towards us. I've written the names of Oman, Iraq, Thailand and Japan down, so it will be payback time when we meet again. I don't know what they all had against Australia but it was a joke. When Iraq scored against us they were jumping around like kangaroos and when Oman scored a goal they went and celebrated in front of our supporters that's taking the piss. Japan called us a bunch of wrestlers before the game. They were winding us up. As an honourable nation their people should be ashamed of the conduct of their team. It was totally unacceptable and disgraceful. They drove me insane with their remarks, I (wanted to) kill them before the game even started. The way they acted wasn't in the spirit of football. We have players in the best leagues in the world and I don't even know the names of half their team but I wouldn't have come out and said they were a bunch of nobodies."
Grella also hit out at Japan's Naohiro Takahara for his role in the midfielder's red card in Hanoi :
"I barely touched him yet he went down screeching as if he'd broken his leg. It was ridiculous. It was a challenge I've made 1000 times and I was surprised, to say the least, it got me a straight red card. Of course I feel responsible because that left nothing else other than (for Australia) to play for penalties but I also feel Takahara intimidated the referee."
And questioned the standard of refereeing :
"We all wore the fair play badge on the arms of our shirts but there wasn't much of that going around on the pitch. We were frustrated with the inconsistencies of the decision making. The referees let it all go. We need to remember these things and give these teams a hiding when they come to Australia in the future, but we're too nice. That's our mentality. The Asians saw us as arrogant but our organisation is humble and just wants to follow the rules of the sport."
22 July 2007
Premier League Hand Out €134 Million Euros
The Premier League will invest €134 million into the football league, youth development and community activities as part of a three year 'solidarity package'.
Football league chairman Lord Mawhinney welcomed the investment :
"We are very grateful. It was a generous gesture by the Premier League following a considerable number of weeks' discussion between Richard Scudamore (Premier League chief executive) and myself. All Football League clubs are going to benefit from this money, and we are very grateful. If you look at the position of the Football League today compared to four or five years ago, our sponsorship money is considerably up, our media contracts are significantly up. We now have a number of commercial partners that we did not have before. That's on the money side. On the sports side, for the last three years, we have had more than 16 million people through the turnstiles. Last season was the highest turnout for 47 years, and over 50 years in the Championship. It's easy to forget that the Football League has more customers through the turnstiles than any football league in Europe and, in financial terms, we are the fourth largest in Europe. More people watch our Championship, just the Championship (England's second tier), than watch Serie A in Italy. It is all relative. The Premier League is so big that not only does it dwarf all of the other leagues in Europe, but it makes us appear to be a very secondary league."
Barca To Police Players
In a bid to end the dressing room unrest that hindered last year's campaign, largely between loudmouth Eto'o and Ronaldinho, Barcelona have announced a body made up of sporting director Txiki Begiristain, coach Frank Rijkaard and president Joan Laporta would police the players. Begiristain said :
"Sometimes the three can't cover everything so we'll create a committee of five players who will be a group that hold sway over the dressing room but that doesn't mean that we'll assign a policeman on each player.
The main idea is that everyone turns up in the morning in prime condition and to allow players to know exactly what is permitted and what isn't."
18 July 2007
Ayala Announces International Retirement
Argentina captain Roberto Ayala, who scored an own goal in Sunday's Copa America loss to Brazil, has announced his international retirement :
"It's a decision I took a while ago and has nothing to do with what happened in the Copa America final. I just think cycles come to an end and mine has with the national side."
15 July 2007
Chelsea Sign Deal With Walt Disney
Chelsea have signed a four year partnership deal with the Walt Disney Company. Chelsea will now become
the official soccer club of Disney's Wide World of Sports and the sponsor of the Disney Soccer Showcase tournament.
2 July 2007
Vietnamese Referees For Match Fixing
Nine Vietnamese soccer officials which included FIFA referee Truong The Toan have been jailed for between four and seven years having been found guilty of taking bribes to fix matches.