“With hindsight, I consider that my choice of words does not fit with the character of the Royal Netherlands Football Association.”
— Henk Kesler, director of the Dutch soccer association, apologizes for calling police officers “spoiled brats” for forcing the postponement of two top league matches. Police unions had said they would demonstrate at Dutch league matches to draw attention to their demand for a salary increase. (Sapa)
[VIDEO] Brazilian Kaka scored one goal and set up teammate Filippo Inzaghi‘s two goals to lead AC Milan to a 4-2 victory over Boca Juniors of Argentina in the final of the Club World Cup on Sunday in Yokohama, Japan.
Arsenal captain William Gallas was the hero for the Gunners in their victory in their much-anticipated showdown against his old club, Chelsea. Elsewhere in England, Liverpool’s problems against Manchester United at Anfield. Bayern Munich’s lead has evaporated heading into the German Bundesliga’s winter break. In France, another coach was ousted.
“Now, I feel really satisfied with what I’ve achieved.”
— AC Milan’s Paolo Maldini, 39, confirming, after helping AC Milan win the World Club Cup with a 4-2 win over Boca Juniors, that he will end his 24-year career at the end of this season. With Milan, Maldini has also won the Champions League five times, seven Serie A titles, one Italian Cup and the World Club Cup’s predecessor, the Intercontinental Cup, three times. (AFP)
Three days after tying the Chinese U-23 team 0-0, the U.S. U-23s shared six goals with the 2008 Olympic Games host to conclude a two-game tour. Robbie Rogers, Patrick Ianni and Charlie Davies scored in the first 32 minutes as the Americans built a 3-0 halftime lead, but a slew of U.S. substitutions at the break prompted a Chinese rally that left the teams tied, 3-3.
[AMERICANS IN BRITAIN] Goalkeeper Tim Howard and Everton celebrated a 2-0 win at West Ham, for which Jonathan Spector stayed on the bench. Keeper Marcus Hahnemann made several crucial saves in Reading’s 1-1 tie with at Birmingham. Fulham, with Carlos Bocanegra and Clint Dempsey going the distance, fell, 1-0 to Newcastle on a Joey Barton penalty kick. Fulham, for which Dempsey came close to scoring on three occasions, is in 18th place, one point inside the relegation zone.
[AMERICANS IN GERMANY] Hannover 96, with right back Steve Cherundolo making his 16th appearance of the season, fell one spot to seventh place with a 5-1 loss to second-to-last place Energie Cottbus. In the Second Division, 1860 Munich revived its promotion hopes with a 5-0 win over Erzgebirge Aue in which defender Gregg Berhalter scored from the penalty spot.
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Michael Bradley, coming off a hat trick performance last week, didn’t finish this weekend but helped SC Heerenveen to a 5-1 win over NAC Breda in the Dutch Eredivisie. In the Belgian Juliper League, Standard Liege, with Oguchi Onyewu, tied FC Dender to extend its season-long undefeated streak to 16 games. Freddy Adu played the final 11 minutes of Benfica’s 1-0 loss to Belenenses.
Political obstacles have delayed or tripped up several stadium projects in the 13-year history of MLS, but count Kansas City among the eventual winners. Banished to a minor-league baseball park for the next two seasons because of renovations at Arrowhead Stadium, if all goes as planned the Wizards will have their own home in 2010 and might never play at Arrowhead again.
Kaka pulled the strings and Clarence Seedorf scored as AC Milan beat Japan’s Urawa Reds 1-0 on Thursday to reach the final of the World Club Cup final on Sunday (TV: Fox Soccer Channel & Fox Sports en Espanol, 5 am ET).
[INTERNATIONAL HEADLINERS] It’s big weekend in the English Premier League with Liverpool-Manchester United and Arsenal-Chelsea on Sunday. In Spain, a rejuvenated Julio Baptista is finally enjoying himself at Real Madrid. In the Netherlands, the top-of-the-table clash between Ajax and PSV was threatened by a police strike.
“It’s a shame to go looking for a Swede or an Italian. It is as if you are saying to the English coaches: ‘You are in England, you are all rubbish and we are going to look elsewhere.'”
— France coach Raymond Domenech weighs in on England’s hiring of Italian Fabio Capello as national team coach. Capello replaces Steve McClaren, whose predecessor was Sven-Goran Eriksson. (AFP)
To many Americans, Italian Fabio Capello, whom England hired Thursday as its new national team coach, is best known as the coach who benched David Beckham, prompting the English star to leave Real Madrid for the Los Angeles Galaxy. But Capello, who — irony of ironies — will be the one who will decide if Beckham again plays for England and achieves his 100th cap, is one of the most successful coaches of the last quarter century.
England has hired Fabio Capello to replace Steve McClaren as national team coach. The Italian aims to become the second England manager to win a major title. For a history of England’s national team coaches in the last half century …
They hope to be in Beijing in eight months for the Olympic Games; to that end, the U.S. under-23s played the first of their two games in the host country Thursday and tied, 0-0, in front of 30,000 fans in Changsa, China.
Renovations to Buck Shaw Stadium, which operator-investor Lewis Wolff says will cost between $1 million and $2 million, won’t be completed until early spring, so the expansion San Jose Earthquakes will start their home schedule April 12 against Chicago at the Oakland Coliseum.
Lyon and Fenerbahce clinched the final two available spots in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League with wins on Tuesday in Matchday 6. For all the results and goal scorers …
Notre Dame’s Joseph Lapira, the 2006 Soccer America Player of the Year and Hermann Trophy winner, heads the initial list of 54 players invited to the 2008 adidas MLS Player Combine, which will be held Jan. 11-5 at Lockhart Stadium in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.
The 2007 NSCAA/adidas Girls Youth All-America Team features 80 players. Courtney Barg was selected for the fourth time, while Laura Heyboer and Teresa Noyola were recoginzed for the third time. For all the All-Americans …
A total of 80 players earned berths on the 2007 NSCAA/adidas Boys Youth All-America Team. Six of the players were also selected to the NSCAA/adidas Boys High School All-America Team: Chris Agorsor, Will Bruin, Michael Green, Thomas Meyer, Casey Townsend and Andrew Wenger. For all the All-Americans.
[UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE] After suffering an embarrassing 3-0 loss to Rangers at home that featured a goal by American DaMarcus Beasley, six-time French champion Lyon returned the favor and beat Rangers, 3-0, at Ibrox on Wednesday and clinched the second berth from Group E in the UEFA Champions League’s round of 16.
[MAKING A LIST] The 16 survivors from the group stage of the UEFA Champions League include all four English entrants. Italy and Spain are the only other countries with at least three teams in round of 16. The draw for the round of 16 takes place in Nyon, Switzerland, on Dec. 21.
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Yakubu Aiyegbeni scored a stoppage-time goal for Everton to give it a 2-1 over West Ham United in the English League Cup quarterfinals. Carlton Cole beat unrushing American goalkeeper Tim Howard to a long pass for West Ham’s goal. American defender Jonathan Spector stayed on the bench for the Hammers.
Thirteen months after being honored as MLS Defender of the Year, Bobby Boswell is leaving D.C. United. Boswell, who lost and regained his starting spot several times last season and sat out the conference semifinal, first leg against Chicago (a 1-0 loss) that eventually eliminated D.C., 3-2, on aggregate, is the newest member of the two-time defending champion Houston Dynamo.
“I had to set an example so everyone at Bayern knows how they’re expected to behave. Players criticizing their teammates must stop. Otherwise we become a madhouse. [Oliver] Kahn must know he has to set an example to the younger players and at the Christmas party he did not behave well. The captain can’t leave early.”
— Bayern Munich coach Ottmar Hitzfeld explains why he suspended goalkeeper Oliver Kahn from Saturday’s game against Hertha Berlin. Kahn criticized the performances of teammates Luca Toni and Franck Ribery. (Reuters)
