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Soccer - Brazil eye profit in Argentina's need
By Rex Gowar
September 4, 2009
ROSARIO, Argentina — Brazil can take advantage of Argentina's desperation for points when the great South American rivals clash in Saturday's World Cup qualifier, goalkeeper Julio Cesar said.
There are two reasons why Argentina, precariously placed in qualifying, could feel the pressure more than Brazil, Julio Cesar told a news conference on the eve of the match at Rosario Central's stadium.
"One, they are playing at home, and two, they need a result and that's positive for the (Brazil) national team," he said.
"Teams that go forward make it easier for Brazil to play their (counter-attacking) game.
"Brazil are enjoying a very good spell... Argentina's calendar is not very favourable," he added.
Argentina have two more tough matches, visits to Paraguay next Wednesday and Uruguay in October, in the run-in to the South American group, with only a home game against bottom team Peru a near guarantee of three points.
They are fourth, the lowest position for an automatic place in the finals, five points behind leaders Brazil. The team finishing fifth will go into a two-leg playoff against the CONCACAF's fourth-placed team.
SMALL WARS
Brazil's captain Lucio told the news conference that matches between Argentina and Brazil are like wars, often prone to rough play and niggling fouls and gamesmanship.
"Brazil-Argentina is always a war, we know it's a special match," he said.
"It's important to be balanced and calm and remain as 11 on the pitch.
"One's mental state is important to withstand the pressure," said Lucio, an experienced campaigner who has led his country to victory in the Copa America and Confederations Cup in the last two years.
Julio Cesar, asked to compare the teams' respective coaches, Brazil's Dunga and Argentina's Diego Maradona who were once great rivals as players, said: "Football is results.
"Dunga has very good ones. He won the Confederations Cup, the Copa America, he's been the national team coach for three years.
"Maradona has just started, he needs time to get to impose his philosophy. He's waiting for the time when he can realise what's in his head, to have the same success he had as a player."
The statistics of the two countries' football bodies differ slightly over how many times each has beaten the other in their more than 90 clashes since their first meeting in 1914, but in both Brazil hold a slight edge after their three wins and one draw under Dunga since 2006.
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Soccer - Race to stage 2018 World Cup toughest ever say England
By Mike Collett
September 4, 2009
LONDON — The race to stage the 2018 World Cup finals is going to be the most competitive ever, Andy Anson, chief executive of England's bid, said on Friday.
Playing down any idea that England were favourites to win the right to host the event, he said with 11 nations competing for the votes of just 24 FIFA Executive Commitee members, it was impossible to say who was likely to win.
As well as England, there are bids from Spain, Russia, Australia, the United States, Netherlands-Belgium, Qatar, Indonesia, Mexico, Japan and South Korea for either 2018 or 2022.
FIFA will announce the hosts for the two tournaments in Zurich in December next year and Anson told a news briefing in London that while England represented a safe pair of hands other countries also had selling points.
"There are 11 countries ultimately bidding and they are just as desperate to win as we are," he said.
"That makes it incredibly challenging and that's why we cannot be complacent. Any talk about England being favourites is slightly misplaced because it's so competitive.
"I don't think we are going to be the only ones who feel really passionate about winning.
"It's going to be an incredibly tough race and that's why we have to work extra hard to make sure our messages are very clear."
One message that England could put across was that they had "great infrastructure, great stadiums and the real passion of the fans," which would all guarantee a successful tournament, Anson said.
SOCCER CULTURE
He added that UEFA president Michel Platini was a great admirer of England's "soccer culture", which permeated into the very core of the national culture. Platini's stated ambition is to ensure the 2018 World Cup is staged in Europe.
Anson added that England, which last staged a World Cup in 1966, also needed to stress it could promise international development programmes as a legacy of a World Cup.
"We are a very attractive commercial proposition, we have great stadiums in this country, and an overseas legacy programme would have a huge impact," he said.
"A safe pair of hands can quite often be a negative thing but to be viewed as someone who is reliable with great facilities, great infrastructure, and great stadiums is a very positive thing.
"There are challenges with the next two World Cups. FIFA have been very adventurous in going to South Africa and Brazil and I think that we have the infrastructure in place where we can deliver a World Cup much more easily."
But Anson said any repeat of the hooligan violence which blighted West Ham United's League Cup match with Millwall last week could damage the bid.
He said: "It was incredibly disappointing. It seemed like an isolated incident and we certainly hope it was an isolated incident.
"Obviously if there was a repeat of it, it would be damaging, and I think everyone has realised it's not something we can let happen again.
"It has been recognised by FIFA and UEFA that England has done an awful lot to address this problem over the last few years."
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Argentina squad set for Brazil epic
August 31, 2009
Sebastian Dominguez have been given his first call-up to the Argentina national squad as coach Diego Maradona added seven home-based players to his party ahead of the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ qualifiers against Brazil and Paraguay.
The defender of Argentinian champions Velez Sarsfield will join the Albiceleste along with team-mates Nicolas Otamendi and Emiliano Papa, Boca Juniors midfielder Sebastian Battaglia, Lanus star Eduardo Salvio, Estudiantes playmaker Juan Sebastian Veron and Huracan midfielder Mario Bolatti.
Bolatti made his international debut earlier this month, when Argentina defeated Russia 3-2 in a friendly match in Moscow. Veron, meanwhile, will join the squad even though he was substituted in the second half of the Apertura derby that Estudiantes won 3-0 over old enemies Gimnasia La Plata with a minor leg injury.
Maradona believes Argentina, currently in fourth place in the South American qualifying zone, will be virtually assured of a place at South Africa 2010 if they beat the Selecao in Rosario on Saturday.
He told Channel 7: "It will be as tough as all the matches we play against Brazil, but we beat them in illusion. We have the dream of playing the World Cup and we'll be almost in if we beat Brazil."
Newcastle midfielder Jonas Gutierrez has already left the squad due to injury. Argentina travel to Paraguay to visit the Guaranies four days after the Brazil match.
Argentina squad
Goalkeepers: Juan Pablo Carrizo (Zaragoza/Spain), Mariano Andujar (Catania/Italy), Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar/Netherlands)
Defenders: Javier Zanetti (Inter Milan/Italy), Nicolas Pareja (Espanyol/Spain), Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle/England), Gabriel Heinze (Marseille/France), Nicolas Burdisso (Inter Milan/Italy), Sebastian Dominguez (Velez Sarsfield), Emiliano Papa (Velez Sarsfield), Nicolas Otamendi (Velez Sarsfield)
Midfielders: Fernando Gago (Real Madrid/Spain), Javier Mascherano (Liverpool/England), Maximiliano Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid/Spain), Jesus Datolo (Napoli/Italy), Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes), Mario Bolatti (Huracan), Sebastian Battaglia (Boca Juniors)
Forwards: Carlos Tevez (Manchester City/England), Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Spain), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid/Spain), Diego Milito (Inter Milan/Italy), Lisandro Lopez (Lyon/France), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli/Italy), Eduardo Salvio (Lanus)
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Spain close gap on Brazil
September 2, 2009
The September edition of the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking sees Brazil unmoved at the top of the table ahead of Spain and the Netherlands. The Spaniards are gaining ground on the Brazilians, however, and they now have a significant lead over the third-placed Dutch.
World champions Italy (4th, up 1) have also made inroads and are now joint fourth with Germany. Croatia (9th, up 1) and France (10th, down 1) have also traded places. Mexico, who comfortably defeated the USA in the final of the Gold Cup to take the CONCACAF title in August, recently repeated the feat by overcoming the Americans in a FIFA World Cup™ qualifier, a victory that sees the Mexicans (24th, up 6) climb the world ranking.
Other teams to have seen off the challenge of higher-ranked teams to make progress in the table include Norway (43rd, up 7) and Chile (21st, up 5). Congo (79th, up 10), Angola (92nd, up 10) and Kyrgyzstan (143rd, up 17) have also taken significant leaps up the ranking. Australia (14th, up 2), Benin (78th, up 5) and Montenegro (89th, up 7) are all currently in their highest-ever position.
A total of eight 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers and 62 friendly matches were played in the past month, bringing the total number of "A" international matches played in 2009 to 509. Many more qualifiers will be played in the next few weeks, which will lead to considerable movement in the next edition of the world ranking.
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Soccer-S.Africa urges "football fever" ahead of World Cup
By Gordon Bell
Septermber 4, 2009
JOHANNESBURG, SA — World Cup officials, worried about a lack of enthusiasm over next year's tournament, launched a campaign on Friday to spark "football fever" by urging South Africans to wear soccer shirts to work once a week. Officials from world governing body FIFA earlier this year complained about a lack of buzz ahead of the World Cup, the most watched sporting event on the planet, which is being held in Africa for the first time starting next June 11. The local organising committee called on supporters to wear shirts of the national team Bafana Bafana every Friday until the tournament starts.
"An initiative that aims to build support and enthusiasm as the countdown to Africa's first FIFA World Cup gains momentum, Football Friday aims to encourage South Africans to wear the jersey of the national football team, Bafana Bafana, every Friday," the committee said.
It also called on South Africans to fly more flags and to learn the national anthem, a mixture of languages that many English and Afrikaans-speakers still don't know properly, 15 years after the end of apartheid.
Football is much more popular among black South Africans than whites, who still favour rugby, and the World Cup is seen by officials as a new opportunity to bring the races together.
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Soccer Capsules: U.S. hosts El Salvador in World Cup qualifier
By DOUG ALDEN,
September 4, 2009
SANDY, Utah — The United States is not quite in second place and barely ahead of fourth as the World Cup qualifying stretch run begins.
Points are precious with only four games remaining and a very slim margin between being in or out of next summer’s tournament in South Africa.
The Americans host El Salvador on Saturday, clinging to one of the three guaranteed spots in the region with only three points separating the top four teams.
"None of us were under any illusions. We’ve known for a long time how difficult qualifying is — particularly in this last stage," U.S. goalie Tim Howard said. "It’s never easy."
The United States (3-1-2) is seeking a sixth straight World Cup berth. The Americans enter this round in third place in North and Central America and the Caribbean group, tied with Honduras at 10 points but behind in the standings because of goal differential. Mexico is in fourth, just one point behind, and Costa Rica leads with 12 points.
The top three teams qualify for the World Cup and the fourth-place team will have a chance to make the field for South Africa in a playoff.
The Americans play another qualifier Wednesday at Trinidad and Tobago. The standings next week will depend on what happens in the other qualifiers. Winning is the only way the United States can ensure it remains among the top three.
"We’re going in to this thinking we need two wins. That would set us up real nicely for qualifying," said defender Carlos Bocanegra, the U.S. captain.
Saturday’s game is a rematch of a 2-2 draw played in San Salvador in March that left players from both sides disappointed, feeling they had let two more points slip away. El Salvador led 2-0, but couldn’t hold off a U.S. rally in the second half.
"It’s a game we were winning, then the United States came harder and it ended in a tie," El Salvador coach Carlos de los Cobos said.
Howard had to sit out the first meeting to serve a one-game suspension for receiving his second yellow card in qualifying. The Americans felt they had a chance at getting a win and three points instead of just the single point for a tie, but played from behind most of the game.
The United States salvaged a point on goals by Jozy Altidore in the 77th minute and Frankie Hejduk’s score in the 88th.
"There were parts of the game where we felt we should have been better," U.S. coach Bob Bradley said. "We were certainly pleased at the end, given the challenge of being down two goals on the road and to fight back. That said a lot about the mentality of the team. That was the big positive."
Bradley has been using a younger, less-experienced lineup and stayed with that for El Salvador and Trinidad and Tobago. Several players impressed him during the U.S. run in the Gold Cup earlier this summer. Four players on the roster this week, including locals Kyle Beckerman and Robbie Findley of Real Salt Lake, have not played in a World Cup qualifier this cycle.
Although El Salvador (1-3-2) is stuck near the bottom of the group with five points, Los Cuscatlecos have been improving rapidly under de los Cobos. El Salvador is up to No. 85 in the FIFA world rankings after being ranked 169th three years ago.
U.S. defender Oguchi Onyewu is suspended for Saturday’s game after receiving his second qualifying yellow card during a 2-1 loss last month in Mexico. Even with the hole in the U.S. defense, the Americans are expecting a conservative approach from El Salvador in front of the hostile U.S. crowd that’s expected to pack Rio Tinto Stadium.
"They’ll be a different team here than the way they played there. They’ll probably be very defensive minded. Our job is to break them down, try to score a goal early," U.S. forward Landon Donovan said. "The longer the game stays at 0-0, the better it is for them."
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Chelsea ignored warnings about poaching talent
By John Leicester
September 4, 2009
PARIS — When Chelsea dangled its wealth and star players in front of him, Gael Kakuta did what any teenage footballing prodigy from a modest background might do: He lost his head. The contract he had signed with the French club that nurtured him from age 8 was cast aside. For that, Kakuta and Chelsea are now paying a very heavy price.
"He cracked, as one would crack for a pretty woman," says Eric Assadourian, who coached the preciously talented and swift Kakuta before Chelsea snapped him up at age 16. "He fell — quote, unquote — in love. It was a bolt of lightning."
"Meeting (Michael) Ballack, (Didier) Drogba and the others, it was his dream," adds Assadourian, referring to Chelsea’s star-studded lineup. "It was
very tough to hold him back."
In punishing Chelsea for allegedly luring the youngster away from French side Lens, football’s guardians at governing body FIFA are sending a powerful warning to the giants of the game in England and elsewhere that their wealth and clout doesn’t give them license to do whatever they please.
However harshly Chelsea feels it has been treated, the more important principle is that teams — from the grass roots up — must be adequately rewarded for the time and money they invest in rearing football’s players of tomorrow. Lens, a modest first-division club in France’s industrial north, spends richly on training young players and can’t afford to see them simply walk out the door.
Who, especially in these cash-strapped times, is going to fund football’s future if wealthy poachers can simply swoop in and entice away young talents? In that sense, the ruling Thursday from FIFA’s Dispute Resolution Chamber should work for football’s greater good.
The global game’s administrators have long been promising action to stamp out the cross-border trafficking of young players from places like Africa that have talent but no money to those that have money but not enough homegrown players to keep them at the lucrative peak of football’s pyramid. The abuses — youngsters falling prey to unscrupulous middlemen, even young Africans abandoned on Europe’s streets when promises of a place in a club proved worthless — are a stain on the game.
By banning Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea from signing any new players before January 2011, FIFA is making an example of a major power in football and giving real teeth to its drive to better regulate transfers involving young players. Kakuta and Chelsea must also pay Lens $1.12 million in compensation and Kakuta is banned from playing for four months.
The London club is furious about being made to look so bad and it is preparing "the strongest appeal possible" against "this extraordinarily arbitrary decision."
Chelsea can’t say that it wasn’t warned.
Francis Collado, then a general manager at Lens, traveled to London in early 2008 to try to get compensation from Chelsea chief executive Peter Kenyon and Frank Arnesen, a former Danish international with a track record of finding young players brought in to save Abramovich millions in the transfer market.
Collado says he warned the pair that Chelsea could be severely punished for encouraging Kakuta to break his contract.
He says Kenyon offered Lens a paltry sum — Collado wouldn’t say how much but called it "ridiculous" — in compensation.
"They believed that FIFA would never apply the rules to a club like Chelsea," Collado told The Associated Press. "That is where they made a mistake."
He says Lens pours $8.5 million into youth training annually — an investment that can only be recouped by getting fair value for talents like Kakuta, who "come along once every two or three years."
Assadourian, a Lens youth coach was worked with Kakuta for a year before he left, says the youngster felt he was stagnating at the French club, which won its only Division One title in 1998. The chance to join English powerhouses such as Chelsea holds huge appeal for youngsters like Kakuta, a player who was far more interested in his footballing future than material wealth, Assadourian says.
But Collado alleges Chelsea offered Kakuta "very important amounts" of money, too, and started contacts with him before he turned 16 in June of 2007. Collado says the youngster’s uncle, a bar owner, played a major part in getting Kakuta to break the contractual agreement he had signed with Lens at age 14 and move to London.
Collado expects the FIFA ruling will now better protect sides like Lens. "This is going to send a big warning," he said. "All clubs will think twice now."
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Kaka: Messi best soccer player in world right now
By Tales Azzoni
September 4, 2009
SAO PAULO — Brazilian star Kaka remains hopeful he will be crowned the best soccer player in the world again. For now, he acknowledges Lionel Messi deserves that title.
"He is a player who makes a difference," Kaka said on Thursday, just two days before meeting Messi in a World Cup qualifier between South American rivals Brazil and Argentina. "I would vote for him for all he has done, leading Barcelona to all these titles."
Messi has never won FIFA’s Player of the Year Award but he is considered a front-runner for this year’s title. Kaka won it in 2007 and has always said his goal was to earn the prize again.
"It remains my objective to get back there and win it," the Real Madrid midfielder said.
Kaka dismissed the notion that a duel with Messi will unfold in Saturday’s qualifier at Rosario.
"The media always talks about a duel, that was the case with me and Cristiano Ronaldo, too," Kaka said. "But on the field it’s not like that. It will be Brazil vs. Argentina and both teams have several talented players on both sides."
Kaka, who will be making his 70th appearance for Brazil, said he sees himself with a little of the "art" of Argentina coach Diego Maradona and some of the "efficiency" of Brazil coach Dunga.
"I opted for a mix so I can be a complete player," Kaka said. "I’m not a great artist like Maradona was, I know my limitations and that talent alone is not enough. The ideal is to mix art and efficiency."
Kaka is one goal shy of tying Romario and Zico as Brazil’s leading scorers in World Cup qualifiers with 11 goals.
"It would be special to do it against Argentina," he said. "But there still are four matches left and hopefully I’ll be able to reach that mark, which would be nice because I’m not really a true striker."
Kaka said he was anxious about Real Madrid’s upcoming encounter with former club AC Milan in the group stage of the Champions League.
"It will be the first time I play against a former club, so I don’t know how it’s going to be," Kaka said. "It’s going to be a bit hard to play at San Siro (stadium), where the fans supported me for six years of my life and now they will be cheering against me."
Kaka said Real Madrid has a "very talented" group with "impressive" players in all positions, but it still needs to improve in order to play up to its full potential.
"We have to improve a lot," Kaka said. "We need these talented players to become a group and achieve good results."
Brazil leads South American qualifying with 27 points, one more than Chile and three more than Paraguay. Argentina is fourth with 22. The top four automatically secure a spot in next year’s World Cup in South Africa.
Brazil, a five-time world champion, can clinch a spot if it beats Argentina and Colombia beats Ecuador and Uruguay fails to defeat Peru.
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