Some things get better with age, but soccer players are generally not among them. Claudio Pizarro may be an exception. Despite only starting nine games in all competitions this season and making most of his appearances off the bench, Pizarro has been a crucial part of Bayern Munich’s successful and record-breaking campaign.
Pizarro, a 34-year-old striker, was initially brought in on a free transfer from Werder Bremen to provide cover for Mario Gomez and the newly signed Mario Mandzukic. Bayern officials were adamant about bringing him back to the club for a second time; he had already enjoyed a spell in Munich between 2001 and 2007. The hope was that his experience would add much-needed depth and competition to the roster and that it would give Jupp Heynckes with additional options in a congested schedule.
Before the start of the season, instead of flying to Peru for an international match, Pizarro decided to stay in Munich to work on his fitness. Bayern’s sporting director, Matthias Sammer, said the veteran striker still had a lot of work to do to regain his form. Some were skeptical that a player who was then approaching 34 would be able to help a team with the ambitions of a treble. Heynckes, though, was confident that Pizarro would add a lot to the team and give him an outlet that was lacking.
Pizarro worked himself back to full fitness and has improved as the season progressed. His form in the last month has been impressive. Pizarro scored four goals and assisted two in Bayern’s 9-2 dismantling of Hamburg in March. He added two more goals and assists in their 6-1 rout of Hannover this weekend. Against Hamburg, he became the first Bundesliga player since 2001 to be directly involved in six goals in one match, and his brace against Hannover was the 31st of his career, a record among active players.
Heynckes’ belief and trust in Pizarro have been rewarded.
“For me he is not only a great goalscorer but an excellent footballer, and he showed that today,” he told the German publication Welt earlier this week. “He is going to help us a lot, especially in tight games when we need goals. We didn’t have an option like that last year in the Champions League final.”
Although he was brought in to back up Gomez and Mandzukic, Pizarro has turned into a contender to start key games and turned the striker hierarchy into a three-player competition for the sole spot up front. “There is no second choice for me,” Heynckes said before this weekend’s game against Hannover. “All three strikers are my No. 1s.”
But Pizarro is more than just another body Heynckes can throw up top to get goals. Earlier this season he accommodated Gomez by playing off him and in the “hole” that Toni Kroos and Thomas Müller have occupied over the years. Against Nürnberg, Pizarro started there and assisted a goal in a 4-0 victory. Against Hannover, Pizarro again started as the No. 10 and was directly involved in four of the team’s six goals.
And his pedigree goes beyond just the Bundesliga. He scored a hat trick earlier in the season against Lille in the Champions League group stages and came in against Juventus in the second leg of the quarterfinals, scoring Bayern’s second goal. With Mandzukic suspended for the first leg of the semifinals against Barcelona on Tuesday, Heynckes now has an important decision to make. But the fact that there is even a discussion speaks volumes about Pizarro’s ability to compete against younger strikers who have had more consistent playing time.
In 2010, Pizarro became the Bundesliga’s top foreign goal scorer. He is tied for ninth over all in career goals scored in the league — 166 in 350 appearances. He has overtaken legendary players like Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Rudi Völler and Uwe Seeler.
Quality in squad depth has been a key factor in Bayern’s ability to maintain a high level of performance and results this season, and Pizarro has been integral to that.
Pizarro turns 35 in October and signed a one-year deal last summer. Several clubs around the league have already expressed an interest in signing him, including Hamburg. Bayern officials said they would not make a decision about a contract extension until the end of the year, but another season with Pizarro would not be the worst thing for the club.
After all, Pep Guardiola needs options too.
Claudio Pizarro: Soccer's Best Third-Choice Striker - NYTimes-com
Anguilla is a tiny country tucked among a chain of islands just south of Puerto Rico. By soccer standards, it’s barely a blip on the CONCACAF radar.
But Anguilla’s soccer federation president was in the spotlight on Friday at the CONCACAF Congress in Panama, and his vote broke a 17-17 tie and enabled United States Soccer Federation President Sunil Gulati to edge Mexico’s Justino Compean and capture a prestigious spot on FIFA’s Executive Committee.
Gulati was elected to a four-year term and will join the 25-member body at the FIFA Congress, May 30-31 in Mauritius. Gulati replaces fellow American Chuck Blazer, who held the post since 1997 but stepped down after blowing the whistle on former CONCACAF president Jack Warner concerning kickbacks as well as other misuses of funds. A subsequent report accused Blazer of similar actions.
"It was a close election and the campaign was relatively short," Gulati said Monday via conference call. "Contested elections haven’t been the norm in CONCACAF so I think that’s a positive in itself."
The FIFA Executive Committee is made up of representatives from each of the six member confederations. Chaired by president Sepp Blatter, the committee meets at least twice a year and serves a variety of functions, including determining the place and dates of the final competitions of FIFA tournaments and the number of teams taking part from each confederation.
Blatter has been under fire for years about the lack of transparency in FIFA, an organization that has ruled with little interference for more than a century. Kickbacks, bribes, illegal gifts and buying votes have been the backroom norm. Fortunately, in an age where transparency is the growing trend, FIFA is begrudgingly moving, albeit slowly, into the 21st century. In the past year, people have been forced to resign, although Blatter has somehow escaped punishment, first by denying any wrongdoing and later punishing those who had. He has also promised reform, which has not come as fast as some had hoped.
"You’ve got an institution that has been here a long time that obviously has had a number of challenges over the last few years," Gulati said. "There is, at the highest level, a sincere effort to try to reform and change the organization. ... Clearly, there needs to be a lot more done. Hopefully some of that will happen in May and hopefully a lot more will happen beyond that."
The way the election broke down surprised no one. The majority of the English-speaking countries supported Gulati, who received votes from Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, the United States and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Compean had the backing of the Spanish language countries, which included Aruba, Barbados, Belize, Costa Rica, Cuba, Curacao, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia and Suriname.
It was not a surprise to see Costa Rica side with Compean. Gulati says their federation presidents have been friends for years. Still, you have to wonder if last month’s World Cup qualifier in the Colorado snow, a game that likely should have been postponed, angered Costa Rica.
Last week, Costa Rica petitioned FIFA to change the location of its home World Cup qualifier Sept. 6 against the United States from the National Stadium to Ricardo Saprissa Stadium, an aging venue with artificial turf where the stands are extremely close to the field.
And that’s the gamesmanship that comes with home-field advantage. Ask veteran U.S. players their memories of the venue in Saprissa and they’ll tell you that batteries, coins and bags of urine hurled from the stands arrive the minute a visiting player steps on the field. And no one during the game wants to take a corner kick, for obvious reasons.
It was an intimidating place, and Costa Rica, looking to counteract the snow game with its own advantages, wants to use it again. And who can blame them? Mexico has the altitude of Mexico City, the United States has cold weather to freeze the Caribbean teams and Costa Rica has marksmen with bags of urine.
In the end, however, no matter what the conditions, it’s still about the best team winning.
On Soccer: U.S. Federation president Sunil Gulati to join FIFA executive committee | NJ-com
University of Miami women’s soccer coach Tom Anagnost was fired unexpectedly Tuesday morning after two seasons on the job.
The news release from the UM athletic department read: “University of Miami Director of Athletics Blake James has relieved head women’s soccer coach Tom Anagnost of his duties effective immediately. A national search for a new head coach has begun.”
The Hurricanes were 19-15-5 since Anagnost took over the team in December 2011. He came to UM after three seasons as head coach at Central Michigan University. He was twice named Mid-American Conference Coach of the Year and led the Chippewas to back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths. He was 40-12-7 at Central Michigan.
James, reached later by phone, said it wasn’t one incident that led to the firing and that the team’s win-loss record was “not a big part’’ of the decision.
“A variety of factors went into the decision,” James said. “We felt it was better to make the move now rather than move forward with him as the leader. We have been evaluating the situation for some time and just felt in the overall view of the program that we didn’t have the right person in that position, so why wait to make the change?”
Anagnost was unavailable for comment.
Assistant coach Jason Hamilton was named interim head coach while the school conducts the search. Hamilton, reached in his office Tuesday morning, said he didn’t know Anagnost was being let go and did not know the reasons for the dismissal.
Rowing
Former Miami crew coach Joseph “Okie” O’Connor died Saturday in a drowning accident in Tempe, Ariz. He was 56.
O’Connor, as passionate about his sport as he was gruff barking instructions through the megaphone, was instrumental in building a rowing culture in South Florida. He influenced many rowers with his tireless teaching on the water and his colorful personality off it.
“Whenever Okie’s name comes up, there’s always a smile, and behind those smiles, lots of stories,” UM crew coach Andrew Carter said. “He was a character. He was so bull-headed he’d argue with you until he won and then he’d go out and share a beer with you.”
O’Connor, who grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., and was coxswain at the University of Pennsylvania, became the first UM crew coach in 1986 when it was still a non-scholarship sport and recruited students on campus by tapping them on the shoulder and saying, “You have the body of a rower” in his crusty voice. O’Connor, named Southeast Collegiate Coach of the Year in 1993, helped propel construction of the Ronald W. Shane Watersports Center in Miami Beach and develop Indian Creek as a rowing venue.
“He created championship teams on a shoestring budget,” said former UM athlete Wynne Stallings. “He had his famous ‘Okie-isms,’ which are not for print. He had a way of inspiring you or making you mad enough to push to your limits. He was brash, loud, dropped F-bombs and drank tequila shots.
“But as hardcore as he was, he was very kind and empathetic, and as he mellowed with age he became more of a comrade. So much of what we learned from Okie carried over to real life.”
O’Connor coached at UM for 15 years and later became boating and aquatics coordinator at Tempe Town Lake, which is where he fell into the water and died.
“Rowing in Miami would not be where it is today without Okie,” Carter said.
Carter said the URowing Alumni group plans to gather and remember O’Connor this fall during the weekend when the UM football team plays Florida. Tributes to him were pouring into the row2K website.
LINDA ROBERTSON
Football
Suspended UM linebacker Gabriel Terry was tased during his arrest early Friday morning, moments after school police officers found the 19-year old freshman sleeping face down on the steps near the rear entrance of his dorm and with a 26.8 grams of marijuana in the left-side pocket of his shorts.
According to the arrest affidavit from the Coral Gables police department, officers woke up Terry and asked him several times to stand up and put his hands behind his back, but he would not comply. Terry then began to argue and pushed an officer away with his body before police shoved him to the ground in an attempt to handcuff him. Terry, who turns 20 on Sept. 21, was warned he would be tased according to the report, but didn’t comply and was able to standup before police used the Taser to subdue him. The report said Terry eventually cooperated.
Terry was charged with felony possession of cannabis and resisting an officer without violence. He was released Saturday after posting $6,000 bond.
His hearing is scheduled for 9:45 a.m. on May 20.
UM has taken Terry’s name off its roster and suspended him indefinitely.
Read more here: Miami Hurricanes fire women’s soccer coach Tom Anagnost - UM - MiamiHerald-com
Jonny Steele from County Antrim is hoping his eye-catching displays for the New York Red Bulls will attracts the attention of Northern Ireland manager Michael O'Neill.
Steele plays alongside star names like Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill, and recently scored his first goal in Major League Soccer.
Former Arsenal and Barcelona striker Henry and ex-Everton man Cahill believe the Larne man is worthy of an international call-up.
- Landon Donovan's return to the U.S. squad for June's World Cup qualifiers is no certainty as the country's all-time top scorer dropped down the pecking during his break from the game, coach Juergen Klinsmann said on Wednesday.
Donovan has already missed World Cup qualifiers against Honduras, Costa Rica and Mexico in recent months following his decision last December to take a break from the game.
The winger, who was an automatic choice under previous coaches Bob Bradley and Bruce Arena, returned to action with Major League Soccer's LA Galaxy in late March but Klinsmann feels other players now have a stronger claim.
"I'm not talking names but there are players clearly ahead of Landon Donovan right now," the former Germany coach told a small group of reporters.
"Things will develop over time, we will see how he will do in the next couple of weeks, months and we will look at the entire picture and make our calls."
Asked if there was any question whether a fully fit and in-form Donovan would return to the team, Klinsmann said: "There are a lot of questions. Looking back on the last two years that we have been in charge of the programme we have seen a lot of players coming through and making big impacts, showing they are a thousand percent committed to the cause and to the team and built themselves a very strong position."
Klinsmann said he has not spoken to Donovan since his return to action.
"We spoke at length at the end of January when he said he didn't know when to come back and then of course he made his choice to come back at the end of March when we were, of course, busy with Costa Rica and Mexico," said Klinsmann.
"I'm just glad to see him back on the field. Now he is catching up and is trying his best, I'm watching and observing and then down the road I will make my decisions in terms of who I see in front of him, the depth chart we have and in terms of where we see him right now within the roster and then I will decide whether to bring him in or not to bring him in."
After friendly games against Belgium and Germany, the U.S. face World Cup qualifiers in June against Jamaica, Panama and Honduras - three matches which will go a long way to determining whether the U.S. make it to next year's finals in Brazil. Klinsmann, who used Sporting Kansas City midfielder Graham Zusi in Donovan's usual slot on the right-flank during the April games, said the team had developed a chemistry over the past two years when Donovan, who has 49 goals in 144 games for the United States, was out with injuries and then his break.
"There is a chemistry being developed of a group and you have to feel where it is moving towards. He hasn't been part of the development of that team most of the time over the last two years, so chemistry is extremely important," he said.
"Most of the time, he was not part of that process, that was his choice and I totally understand that, it's no problem. But at the same time we are moving forward at our speed and therefore it is not down to one game when you score a goal and say now I am back in the team - it doesn't work that way.
"I've always said that we will observe him, like we observe all the other players over the stretch of a long period and then we decide whether he is part of that picture or not."
Soccer-Donovan has fallen down U.S. team pecking order-Klinsmann
Shock wins by German sides Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund over Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid have seen William Hill's UEFA Champion League odds change dramatically.
Leg One Recap
On Tuesday night, Bayern Munich dismantled Lionel Messi and the rest of the star-studded Barcelona lineup to record a shock 4-0 win. The following night, Bayern Dortmund continued the work of their countrymen, destroying Real Madrid 4-1 to take a big lead in that series.
Not all is lost, with the return legs still to be played. Barcelona will need to break some records if it is to overcome that four-goal deficit (keeping in mind that it failed to grab an all-important away goal) on May 1, while Real is in only a slightly better position for its home game on April 30.
William Hill odds
Following the first legs of the respective semi-final matchups, this is how William Hill Sports' UEFA Champions League title odds now look, ahead of the final to be played at Wembley Stadium on May 25: Bayern Munich, 4/6, Borussia Dortmund, 2/1, Real Madrid, 6/1, Barcelona, 20/1.
Hill has the complete list of wagers for the remainder of the tournament, including dozens of match and goal markets, plus a range of specials. The results of the semi-finals might seem like an almost foregone conclusion, but that doesn't mean you can't find other entertaining betting opportunities to keep it interesting. Odds at Bovada Sportsbook
Odds on Germans to Win Champions League - Entertainment - Onlinecasinoreports-com
The Nike Soccer Camps, part of the US Sports Camps network, welcomes the Aztec Soccer Academy at San Diego State University to its summer 2013 offering of camp locations.
San Rafael, CA (PRWE😎 April 26, 2013
Join Men’s Head Soccer Coach Lev Kirshner and his outstanding staff for four days of training “The A.Z.T.E.C.S. Way” at the Aztec Soccer Academy at San Diego State University.
The Residential and Commuter camp is designed to indoctrinate each camper with the training and philosophies of the Aztec Soccer program. Sessions are taken directly from Aztec practice regimens incorporating technical and tactical, competitive exercises to fully develop each player’s potential. The primary goal of the Youth Camp is to increase the camper’s love for soccer while increasing the individual’s skill and knowledge of the game.
“We are excited to partner with US Sports Camp/Nike as this will dramatically increase the branding and awareness of our camp enterprise as well as San Diego State Men's Soccer,” said Coach Kirshner. “We have already witnessed the professional nature this group bring to the industry and are certain they will be a great addition to our Aztec Soccer family.”
San Diego State University is the oldest and largest higher education institution in the San Diego region. Since it was founded in 1897, the university has grown to become a nationally ranked research university.
At Nike Soccer Camps, the goal is to stimulate a love for soccer in youth athletes by showing them how to accelerate their own progress and success. By partnering with NIKE and the great coaching staff, players receive an unforgettable growth experience no matter what the age or skill level. Every facet of the game is covered with an emphasis on fundamentals to help players become valuable team members.
About US Sports Camps
US Sports Camps (USSC), operator of the Nike Sports Camps, is headquartered in San Rafael, California. USSC has been in the business of offering sports camps for 37 years and is America’s largest sports camp network. Over those years, USSC has hosted over 500,000 happy campers. Its mission is to provide athletes with the tools to improve and to enjoy a sport for life.
Learn more about camp and register online at ussportscamps-com/soccer/nike or call toll free (800) NIKE-CAMP.
Read more: Nike Soccer Camps Announces New Camp with the San Diego State University Aztec Soccer Academy - SFGate
Australia's top-flight soccer competition has too many foreign players and their prevalence is hurting the national team, according to title-winning coach Graham Arnold.
Arnold, who guided the Central Coast Mariners to their maiden A-League championship last week, said he had prioritised using local players rather than imports in his side and suggested rival teams did the same.
"I think all other clubs need to follow suit because it's damaging the national team," Arnold told reporters on Sunday.
"The Socceroos, at the moment, if you talk to Holger, he has trouble picking any players because there's too many foreigners in the A-League, in my view," he added, referring to national head coach Holger Osieck.
"You've only got nine (Australian) teams in the A-League and one... New Zealand team.
"If every team has five foreigners, that's 45 field players that take the pitch every week that are foreign and only 45 Australians.
"It's not that many players for national teams to choose from."
Australia remain in the hunt for a third successive World Cup appearance at the Brazil finals in 2014, but have struggled to replace a golden generation of players that qualified for the 2006 finals in Germany and in South Africa four years later.
LACKING SHARPNESS
German Osieck has lamented the lack of a new wave of high-quality, young players to choose from, while complaining that the A-League season's early finish leaves potential candidates lacking sharpness for international duties later in the year.
Arnold, also a former head coach of the Socceroos from 2006-07, said outstanding foreign players like Alessandro Del Piero and Emile Heskey would be welcomed Down Under, however.
Former Italy and Juventus great Del Piero will play a second season with Sydney FC in 2013-14, while former England striker Heskey will stay on for another year with Newcastle Jets.
The pair, along with the Western Sydney Wanderers' Japanese recruit Shinji Ono, generated unprecedented buzz for the fledgling competition last year when their signings were announced in the leadup to the just-concluded season.
"Del Piero and Heskey, they've taken the league to another level," Arnold said. "Those type of players, they're welcomed in this country."
Australia, on six points, lie third in Asia's Group B of the World Cup qualifiers, seven behind leaders Japan, who they visit in June before closing out their campaign with home matches against Jordan and Iraq.
The top two teams qualify automatically for Brazil, with the third facing a playoff against a South American side.
* Independiente notch first win in eight matches (Recasts with Newell's win)
By Rex Gowar
BUENOS AIRES, April 28 (Reuters) - Maxi Rodriguez netted a fine late winner to give Newell's Old Boys a thrilling 4-3 victory over Racing Club on Sunday, sending his side three points clear at the top of the "Final" championship.
Independiente, battling to avoid relegation for the first time, ended a run of seven matches without a victory when they beat Argentinos Juniors 3-1.
At the Marcelo Bielsa stadium in Rosario, hosts Newell's were pegged back twice by Racing, teenage striker Luciano Vietto hitting a hat-trick for the visitors, while a player from each side was sent off.
The win put Newell's on 25 points from 11 matches, three points clear of Lanus, who can catch them on Monday if they beat Atletico Rafaela at home.
River Plate are third on 21 after giving away a late equaliser in a 1-1 draw at home to Quilmes.
Newell's raced into a two-goal lead in the opening half hour, Milton Casco opening the scoring before the championship's joint top scorer, Ignacio Scocco, converted a penalty to take his tally to seven.
Racing then had winger Diego Villar sent off for a bad foul on Casco but despite the setback Vietto scored either side of halftime, his first a neat lob, to pull the visitors level at 2-2.
Midfielder Pablo Perez restored Newell's lead in the 48th minute before the home team were also reduced to 10 men when Casco was sent off.
Vietto notched his third in the 61st minute to level the score at 3-3.
Newell's central defender Santiago Vergini hit the bar before Maxi ran onto a diagonal pass and steered a right-footed shot past goalkeeper Sebastian Saja inside the far post a minute into added time.
"We complicated the match ourselves," Newell's coach Gerardo Martino told reporters. "We had chances and we didn't finish many because we fell in love with our moves and didn't make sure with the final pass."
RELEGATION BATTLE
At the Monumental, River went ahead in the 54th minute as centre back Eder Balanta headed home from a free kick to notch his second goal in as many matches.
The home side enjoyed greater possession but paid for their failure to increase their lead when Quilmes' Martin Cauteruccio equalised a minute from time.
"Let's hope we finish the tournament with Quilmes in Primera (first division)," Cauteruccio said.
Former South American champions Independiente are in the bottom three of the relegation standings, a separate table based on teams' average points over three seasons, with three teams to go down. Quilmes are fourth from bottom.
Defender Leonel Galeano headed Independiente in front in the 52nd minute from a corner before Argentinos substitute Reinaldo Lemos fired a brilliant equaliser into the top corner 10 minutes later.
Midfielder Rolfi Montenegro restored Independiente's lead with a well-taken penalty in the 78th minute and less than three minutes later they made sure of the three points with a fine finish from young striker Adrian Fernandez.
Argentinos had Julio Barraza sent off in the 83rd minute for elbowing substitute Juan Caicedo in the box at a throw-in.
"What stands out for me is that we didn't slump after their equaliser," coach Miguel Angel Brindisi said after his second match in charge.
"From what I saw in previous matches as a spectator or trainer is that we'd fall at the first blow. Not this time. We didn't lose our shape, which is fundamental."
Major League Soccer's referees and their assistants are unionizing.
The match officials said Monday they had voted to certify the Professional Soccer Referees Association (PSRA) as their collective bargaining agent in a vote conducted under the rules of the National Labor Relations Board. Referees, linesman and fourth officials are included in the bargaining unit.
The Professional Referee Organization (PRO), responsible for managing match officials for MLS, will be required to bargain with PSRA over the terms and conditions of employment.
Lucas Middlebrook, a lawyer for PSRA, said the vote was 55-7 among 77 eligible voters. He said some referees had annual contracts for 2013 but that many referees and all assistants and fourth officials did not.
MLS spokesman Will Kuhns said PRO, which is independent of the league, was not certain whether it would have a response Monday.
Major League Soccer match officials unionize - Soccer- NBC Sports
Olympique Marseille will have extra motivation when they take on Bastia in Ligue 1 on Saturday (1500 GMT) as a win would boost their Champions League dreams while, at the same time, postponing Paris St Germain's capture of the title.
Second-placed OM trail leaders PSG by nine points, with a vastly inferior goal difference and four games left. A win against Bastia would delay their arch rivals' coronation as champions even if the Paris side beat Valenciennes on Sunday (1900).
Once again, Marseille will rely primarily on their sturdy defence.
They have not conceded a goal in their last seven league matches and have won 12 of their games by 1-0, equalling PSG's record from 2003-04.
"We have turned the screw," fullback Rod Fanni, who is doubtful because of an ankle injury, told the club's website (OM-net - Site officiel de l'Olympique de Marseille).
"Let's hope we will continue to hang in there because we have been suffering this year but it has been worth it."
"Not over yet but we'll need an almighty collapse in Paris," OM midfielder Joey Barton said on his Twitter feed.
PSG, whose Qatari investors have poured more than 200 million euros into transfers since they took over two years ago, will have a midfield problem against Valenciennes, however.
Italy international Thiago Motta is on a three-match ban while Marco Verratti and David Beckham will also be suspended after picking up red cards in the previous game at Evian Thonon Gaillard.
The PSG players are impatient to win the club's third league title, after 1986 and 1994.
"We need a victory, which we hope to clinch on Sunday so we can be champions at home," Argentine midfielder Javier Pastore told the club's website (PSG.fr - Site officiel du Paris Saint-Germain).
Third-placed Olympique Lyon are on 60 points, four adrift of OM, and, with the title out of their reach, will probably focus more on St Etienne's game against Girondins Bordeaux (1830) on Friday.
Fourth-placed St Etienne, on 58 points, will leapfrog them into third if they win as Lyon play on Sunday at Nancy, who left the relegation zone last month for the first time since September.
The top two teams in Ligue 1 qualify for the Champions League group stage while the third-placed team go into a preliminary round.
Nancy, who reached the December break with 11 points, now have 35 and sit in 16th place one point above the relegation zone.
"If we manage to stay up, which is not done yet, we will leave the Marcel Picot stadium by bicycle and climb the Col de la Schlucht (at the end of a 120-km ride)," president Jacques Rousselot told Reuters.
Bottom club Troyes will face almost certain relegation if they fail to beat 17th-placed Evian Thonon Gaillard on Saturday (1800). (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Clare Fallon)
A longtime Utah soccer referee is in a coma after being punched by a teenage player unhappy with one of his calls -- and his family says their only hope is for a miracle.
Ricardo Portillo, 46, has swelling in his brain and his recovery is uncertain as he remains in critical condition, Dr. Shawn Smith said Thursday at the Intermountain Medical Center in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray.
Police say a 17-year-old player in a recreational soccer league punched Ricardo Portillo after the man called a foul on him and issued him a yellow card.
The teen has been booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault. Those charges could be amplified if Portillo dies.
The attack Saturday wasn't the first time Portillo has been assaulted by an angry player while referring, said his oldest daughter, Johana Portillo. He's had his ribs and leg broken before.
Smith declined to speak about what caused the injuries or divulge Ricardo Portillo's prognosis due to the ongoing police investigation. But Johana Portillo, 26, said her father is on the brink of death.
"I know he didn't, he doesn't want to leave us," she said, crying. "We hope for a miracle that he will be ok."
Johana Portillo wasn't at the Saturday afternoon game in the Salt Lake City suburb of Taylorsville, but she said she's been told by witnesses and detectives that the player hit her father in the side of the head after he issued the yellow card.
"When he was writing down his notes, he just came out of nowhere and punched him," she said.
His friends who were there told her Ricardo Portillo seemed fine at first, but then asked to be held because he felt dizzy. They sat him down and he started vomiting blood, triggering his friend to call an ambulance. The referee has been in a coma since Saturday.
Johana Portillo said her father's passion is soccer, and he's been a referee in the recreational league for eight years. Five years ago, a player upset with a call broke his ribs. A few years before that, a player broke his leg, she said. Other referees have been hurt, too.
"People don't know it's a game," Johana Portillo said. "We're all there to have fun, not to go and kill each other."
His daughters begged him to stop refereeing -- his second job -- but he continued because he loved soccer.
"It was his passion," she said. "We could not tell him no."
The league is not affiliated with the Utah Youth Soccer Association or any city or town recreation department. It is called the Liga Continental, said the referee's brother-in-law Pedro Lopez, who also gets paid to referee in the league.
Johana Portillo said the family doesn't know the teenager who threw the punch, and they haven't heard from him or anyone in his family.
Friday is Ricardo Portillo's youngest daughter's 16th birthday, and the family was planning to leave on vacation Thursday, Johana Portillo said. Instead, they have set up a bank fund in case their father dies.
"If my dad doesn't make it, we want to make his last wish come true," Johana Portillo said. "To see his family again."
She said his sisters are trying to come from Guadalaraja, Mexico. The referee hadn't seen his sisters in the 16 years since he moved to Utah.
"It's just not fair," said Johana Portillo, holding back tears. "This person caused us a lot of pain. I want justice for my dad, and we're going to get it. ... If he spends time in jail forever, it's not enough. They are not going to bring my daddy back."
Read more: Utah referee punched by soccer player in coma | Fox News
A Utah soccer referee who was critically injured and in a coma after being punched by a teenage player during a game died Saturday night, police said.
Ricardo Portillo, 46, of Salt Lake City passed away at the hospital, where he was being treated following an assault during a soccer game last weekend, Unified police spokesman Justin Hoyal said.
Police have accused a 17-year-old player in a recreational soccer league of punching Portillo after the man called a foul on him and issued him a yellow card.
"The suspect was close to Portillo and punched him once in the face as a result of the call," Hoyal said in a press release.
The teen has been booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault.
Hoyal said authorities will consider additional charges since Portillo has died.
He said an autopsy is planned.
Portillo suffered swelling in his brain and had been listed in critical condition, Dr. Shawn Smith said Thursday at the Intermountain Medical Center in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray.
The victim's family, which publicly spoke of Portillo's plight this past week, has asked for privacy as they deal with his loss, Hoyal said.
Last week, Johana Portillo, 26, spoke about her father's condition. She said that she wasn't at the April 27 game in the Salt Lake City suburb of Taylorsville, but she said she's been told by witnesses and detectives that the player hit her father in the side of the head after he issued the yellow card.
"When he was writing down his notes, he just came out of nowhere and punched him," she said.
His friends who were there told her Ricardo Portillo seemed fine at first, but then asked to be held because he felt dizzy. They sat him down and he started vomiting blood, triggering his friend to call an ambulance.
Read more: Utah soccer referee punched by player dies, police say | Fox News
The family of a Utah soccer referee who died after being punched by a teenager player called on soccer players worldwide to respect referees to prevent the same thing happening to somebody else.
Family and friends of 46-year-old Ricardo Portillo gathered at his house Sunday for a vigil. They wore white shirts and held signs that said, "In Loving memory of Ricky." A picture of him raising his arms in victory was on a table surrounded by flowers and candles.
Police have accused a 17-year-old player in a recreational soccer league of punching Portillo after he called a foul on him and issued him a yellow card. Portillo died Saturday after a week in a coma.
His oldest daughter, Johana Portillo, said Sunday that she hopes to forgive the teenager someday but that it's still too soon.
Read more: Family of soccer referee who died after being punched holds vigil | CTV News
Soccer's reputation as the nonviolent alternative to American football took a big hit this week when a referee in a youth game in Utah lost his life over a yellow card. A 17-year-old goalie is accused of punching referee Ricardo Portillo, who had charged the player with a foul for shoving an opponent after a corner kick.
The youngster is in juvenile detention and is expected to be charged this week. His team has been expelled from the league.
The incident happened on a middle school playground in a suburb of Salt Lake City, during regular play for La Liga Continental, which runs games for 4- to 17-year-olds. It was in some ways a freak tragedy, the result of a single blow to the head. But it wasn't the first time Portillo had been attacked by a player, or even the second. In his eight years as a referee, he's suffered broken ribs and a broken leg, according to his daughters.
Violence against field officials has become a big issue in Europe, where hassling the ref is part of the culture of soccer. In December, a group of Dutch teenage players beat a volunteer linesman to death after a game. In February, a 17-year-old officiating an adult match in Valencia, Spain was attacked by a 27-year-old player. Sports pages report that referees are quitting their jobs, or ducking tough calls.
Here in the U.S. we tend to think of soccer as something more benign. Many tykes get their first (and sometimes only) taste of organized sports in leagues run by the conspicuously wholesome American Youth Soccer Organization. Everybody plays, the score isn't supposed to matter, and if the blue team doesn't have enough players, then the green team will often send over a few subs to even things up. It's not unusual for the entire field to be ordered to take a knee while a coach jogs out to tie someone's shoe.
Parents are supposed to show up, yell "good try!" and bring snacks.
A lot of soccer moms (and dads) are grateful for the surging popularity of American youth soccer because there's no tackling and little physical contact between players. That's why the Utah incident resonates with those parents.
The truth is that anyone with a kid in any organized sport has likely witnessed an over-the-top encounter between an official and a parent, player or coach.
In December, a youth football coach in Florida was charged with assault after he rushed onto the field and knocked a referee to the ground. A year earlier, also in Florida, three football coaches and a 14-year-old player were arrested for attacking a referee. Both incidents were captured on video by spectators.
The father of a basketball player assaulted a referee in a seventh-grade church league in Omaha, Neb., in February. A Little League umpire in Indianapolis was head-butted by the losing team's coach after a game last June. An Alabama man who didn't like the officiating at his granddaughter's softball game last May was arrested for allegedly following the umpire to the parking lot and punching him. We could go on and on.
Given that there are many thousands of youth sports events on any given weekend, these episodes are clearly not the norm. We don't even know if they're increasingly common — maybe it's just that we're seeing so many of them on YouTube — but we're glad they're being publicized and glad they're met with near universal reproach. We hope they are cause for some introspection as well.
Sports are supposed to teach our kids about teamwork and effort, discipline and respect, winning and losing. But kids learn what they see. If parents or coaches can't restrain themselves when the calls go against them, how can we expect better from the players?
Now that the Legislature has rejected state funding, the backers of the push to build a $110 million soccer stadium in Orlando are frantically searching for a Plan B.
But Mayor Buddy Dyer said he's not willing to sacrifice quality.
Dyer was reacting to the notion of copying a Major League Soccer stadium now under construction in San Jose, Calif. It's being built for $50 million less than the one planned in Orlando. "We want to do a decent-quality stadium, not a cut-rate stadium," Dyer said. "We started building quality buildings here, with the Amway Center and the performing-arts center. San Jose is kind of like a high-school stadium."
Dyer and Orlando City Soccer Club President Phil Rawlins were unequivocal: Orlando will get a soccer stadium. "We're not going to let this one small setback stop us from bringing an MLS franchise to Orlando," Rawlins said. "We feel confident it's not going to stop us."
At the same time, Dyer and Rawlins said they don't yet have a backup plan.
The $110 million financing plan counted on $30 million in sales-tax subsidies from the state, along with $30 million from the team; $25 million in tourist taxes from Orange County; and $25 million in cash and land from the city.
Despite desperate lobbying from Orlando and a phone and email campaign by Orlando City Lions fans, Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, refused to bring the bill to a vote before the legislative session ended Friday.
Now stadium supporters have to figure out how to make up the difference.
Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs has said she wants to look at reducing the cost. The Jacobs administration also was interested in the $60 million stadium that will become home to the San Jose Earthquakes.
Dyer said it might be possible to pare down the stadium's price tag. But if there is too much cost-cutting, the facility could lose suites, video advertising boards and other features that would generate money needed to operate the venue.
Rawlins also did not rule out the possibility of lowering the project's cost, though he would not offer specifics.
"That's one of the alternatives," Rawlins said.
The Orlando Lions ownership group met Monday and will "harden up" its estimate of what the stadium will actually cost, Dyer said.
Jacobs also has raised the possibility of using an estimated $10 million to $20 million in projected revenue from naming rights — the money a corporation would pay to slap its name on the venue — to help pay for construction.
But Rawlins insisted that future naming-rights revenues should go to the team and not be part of the capital-financing plan, even in light of the lost state funding.
"I don't think those two issues are connected," Rawlins said.
Dyer said he and Rawlins have discussed the possibility of the team's increasing its $30 million contribution.
"That's certainly one of the ideas," Dyer said.
MLS Commissioner Don Garber has all but promised the minor-league Orlando Lions a pro franchise but has said a soccer-specific stadium is a prerequisite. The team's current home — the Florida Citrus Bowl — seats 65,000 and doesn't fit the league's model of an intimate, partially covered stadium.
The 18,800-seat stadium would be built in Parramore, a block west of the Amway Center at Church Street and Terry Avenue.
During the past several months, the Dyer administration has spent $8.3 million to buy land at that site. City officials are still after three remaining parcels, and if they pay the same price — $33 per square foot — those lots will cost an additional $3.4 million.
Jacobs, meanwhile, continues to wonder whether the team could continue to play in the Citrus Bowl, which is about to undergo a $175 million to $200 million renovation.
She also is in no hurry to rush a financing plan. And because she and the County Commission control how tourist taxes are spent, Jacobs would play an integral role in whether the project moves forward.
Orlando soccer stadium: Backers of new Orlando soccer stadium look for construction cash - OrlandoSentinel-com
Yesterday the BBC posted an archive video showing Sir Alex Ferguson standing on the Old Trafford touchline after his appointment as Manchester United manager in November 1986.
Behind him the stands look small and ramshackle, under a grey sky which would not be visible were the shot filmed from the same angle in the 76,000-seat monster Old Trafford is today.
Ferguson tells Barry Davies about his excitement at joining United, his sense of responsibility to their millions of supporters, and the importance of feeling in football.
What is striking is the deep seriousness of the man, the intensity of his stare. Many other managers arriving in a new job would try to turn on the charm, crack a joke. Ferguson never smiles. He wears a side parting, navy blazer and tie, but looks as though he would be equally comfortable in the black coat and wide-brimmed hat of a 17th-century religious fanatic.
There was much more to Ferguson than fanaticism, as the players he didn’t promptly boot out of the club were to discover. Ferguson could never have endured for so long, and won so much, if anger and intimidation were all he had to offer.
If they are the qualities most readily associated with him, that may be because the angry side was the one he often showed to the media, whom he came to regard as the least important group of people he had to deal with on a regular basis.
The people who counted were those on the inside of his club – the players, staff and supporters – and insiders in the game, such as the countless other managers who will not hear a bad word said about him. These people got to see the other sides of a man for all seasons.
What is extraordinary about Ferguson is the extent to which his personality combines a palpable urge to dominate with acute emotional intelligence.
Where many contemporary managers spend hours analysing video footage and examining data, Ferguson has always understood that the game is about people.
He saw that the sport was constantly evolving and his teams and methods evolved constantly to match, but he also knew that human nature was a constant in a changing sport.
Although famed as a ranter and a raver, he has never been a great phrasemaker. There have been memorable lines, like the one about “knocking Liverpool off their f***ing perch,” or telling a roomful of journalists “youse are all f***ing idiots,” but these tend to be vituperative outbursts rather than Cloughian aphorisms.
His most famous quote was on winning the Champions League in 1999: “Football, bloody hell!” What is essentially a statement of inarticulacy endures because it captures his childlike love of the sport. Bill Shankly shared that romantic enthusiasm – as the journalist Hugh McIlvanney wrote of him: “How else could a manager persuade grown men that they could glory in a boys’ game?”
Great talkers
Instead Ferguson is one of the great talkers. He built his empire on a million little conversations. He knew how to get into players’ heads, he knew how to get what he wanted from club directors.
He portrayed his meetings with opposing managers after each game as a simple ritual of sportsmanship, but you wonder at the depth of knowledge and influence he amassed in 26 years of casual post-match chats.
Some 26 years and seven months. A reign that long would have made Ferguson the third-longest-serving Roman emperor, behind Augustus and Constantine, and the third-longest-serving pope, behind St Peter and Pius IX.
Each of these left a legacy that lasted far beyond their own time. Augustus established the Roman empire. Constantine founded the city now known as Istanbul. St Peter began the papacy, and Pius dreamed up papal infallibility.
Ferguson’s deeds may not echo through the ages like those of St Peter, but he too is concerned for his legacy, and that may be why United look likely to appoint David Moyes as his successor, rather than the serial winner José Mourinho.
It has been claimed that Mourinho was never a serious contender because he is too arrogant, aggressive and disruptive. Yet Ferguson’s contradictory personality shares many of those traits. He says he always puts the club first, yet he once sued United’s largest shareholders over a racehorse.
The problem with Mourinho is that while he towers over Moyes as a trophy-winner he is no club-builder, and that appears to be what Ferguson values most.
“In my early years,” Ferguson said yesterday, “the backing of the board, and Sir Bobby Charlton in particular, gave me the confidence and time to build a football club, rather than just a football team.”
Ambassador
There was Ferguson’s answer to those who suggest that by allowing him to remain at the club as a director and ambassador, United risk repeating the mistakes that followed the retirement of Matt Busby, who stayed on the board to overshadow a series of unfortunate successors.
Ferguson believes that he can be more like Charlton than Busby, lending his knowledge and influence as his successor struggles to establish himself and continue the work of building the club, not just the team.
Unlike Ferguson, Moyes will not arrive at United with trophies already won to reassure the doubters. But he has got the stare. We’ll soon see if he has got the rest.
Ferguson: a man for all seasons in soccer - Soccer News | Football Results, Fixtures & Tables | The Irish Time - Thu, May 09, 2013
As any good producer knows, a successful movie is all about the pitch. And by that measure, selling a soccer movie should be a doddle, especially when it's about one of the greatest players ever to grace the turf, footballing legend Pele.
The man who starred as a 17-year-old as Brazil stormed to its first ever World Cup final victory in 1958 is heading to Cannes to drum up interest in a feature film about his rise from the slums of Sao Paolo to the glory of three World Cup winner's medals. It's not clear if the story will also cover his more recent role in promoting erectile dysfunction treatments, but we expect the topic could pop up at some stage.
Pele will be an executive producer on the film, as will Brian Grazer, Ron Howard's production partner at Imagine Entertainment. Imagine appears to have developed a taste for sports films – Howard's next outing in cinemas will be Rush, set in the world of 1970s Formula One, with a focus on the intense rivalry between Briton James Hunt and the Austrian driver Niki Lauda.
Word of the Pele film, which is slated to start production in August, comes hot on the bootheels of news that another soccer biopic is in the works, about Argentinian star Lionel Messi, who has had a disappointing season with his Spanish club side Barcelona, but is widely considered a genuine rival to Pele in the impossible-to-settle-but-still-great-to-argue-about-at-the-pub "greatest player ever" debate.
Trade paper Variety reports that the Messi film, slotted for release next July to coincide with the World Cup in Brazil, is another rags-to-riches tale, "the story of a young boy from humble beginnings in Rosario, Argentina, who overcomes his physical shortcomings to become one of the greatest players of all time".
Intriguingly, both Pele – born Edison Arantes do Nascimento – and Messi are short (173cm in Pele's case, 169cm in Messi's). Messi was in fact diagnosed as a child with a growth hormone deficiency; Barcelona secured the talented youngster in part by paying for his medical treatment. Presumably he was too far away to attract Essendon's attention.
At any rate, all this focus on the world game prompts us to ponder the rather mixed history of soccer on the big screen. Here are some of the best, and worst, in no particular order.
Escape to Victory
Well, we had to start here, if only because Pele is in it. It's really a POW film, but with Bobby Moore, Ossie Ardiles and Mike Summerbee turning out for the Allied team against their German jailers, the football is a major (albeit unconvincing) plot point. Pity they all looked so laughably well-fed for a bunch of POWs on starvation rations.
Zidane
More a work of art than a narrative film, this 2006 doco follows France's Zinedine Zidane over the course of a single game, 17 synchronised cameras tracking every twitch of every muscle. A much better way to remember him than the 2006 World Cup final, when he was sent off for headbutting the Italian player who cast nasturtiums (as Pooh Bear would say) upon the nocturnal activities of his sister.
The Damned United
Michael Sheen is imperious as Brian Clough, the manager who moved from English football's unlikeliest champions, Derby County, to glamour club Leeds United (hey, it was 1974) and lasted just 44 increasingly miserable days in the job. Funny, brutal, moving – this is brilliant.
The Cup and Shaolin Soccer
One tosses in Buddhism, the other kung fu; both are charming cross-cultural hybrids.
Fever Pitch
More about fandom than the game itself, this adaptation of Nick Hornby's novel stars Colin Firth as the obsessive Arsenal fan whose dreams of a league title are finally realised as his team downs Liverpool 2-0 at the end of the 1988-89 season. Really, it's worth seeing just to relive that moment.
Goal
A trilogy of films, released between 2005 and 2009 to increasing apathy, which charted the journey of a young Latino player from LA to the 2006 World Cup, via Newcastle United. No, it's not the direct route, and given that the hero of the first two films is largely a spectator in the third, it's ultimately a little unsatisfying.
Heartbreak Kid
This Australian movie has Claudia Karvan as a young teacher and soccer coach who wishes her spunky young student and player (Alex Dimitriades) wouldn't stand so close to her. Things get steamy, natch, and messy, and the sequences on the pitch are just as convincing as those in the sack.
Plenty of talent on the bench
Gregory's Girl, Bend it Like Beck-ham, Go Now, There's Only One Jimmy Grimble
All quiet achievers with soccer as a bit-player, but an important one.
Lifetime achievement award
The Carlsberg Old Lions beer ad featuring a cast of former England players in a pub league match. A three-minute movie that's absolutely brilliant in its way.
Read more: Soccer films | Pele and Messi films in the works
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