“This is not just about football … this is more important than that. This has brought great happiness to a whole country. This is not about a team, this is about human beings.”
— Iraq’s Brazilian coach, Jorvan Vieira, after Iraq won the Asian Cup with a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia, bringing a moment of joy to war-torn Iraq.
“When they took over, the first thing Tom and George wanted to do was review the stadium both in terms of the design and the capacity. This is the immensely impressive result of their deliberations. We’re creating a stadium that not only the club and supporters can be proud of, but something the whole city can be proud of. Liverpool as a city is on the move and deserves world-class developments like this.”
— Rick Parry, the chief executive officer of Liverpool FC on American owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett, who scrapped plans for the 60,000-seat New Anfield and came up with plans for a 76,000-seat stadium at a cost of $600 million, thus ending talk that they weren’t willing to spend money on their new investment. (Independent)
“I know if I keep doing what I’m doing, there are going to be other opportunities for me, and some are going to come up that I can’t pass up.”
— Eddie Johnson, who has an MLS-leading 12 goals in 11 games, on rejecting a move from the Kansas City Wizards to Derby County of the English Premier League. (Kansas City Star)
“During the two hours of game time, I live in another world. I forget about the car bombs and feel human again, and what is more beautiful is that the team includes all sects — they are all Iraqis to us and they make me feel that we are united again.”
— Nawfal Hameed, an electric appliance shop owner in Baghdad, where the streets have been empty as Iraqis watch their national team on television in action at the Asian Nations Cup. (New York Times)
"This is no exhibition. This is a legitimate, athletic competition with serious prize money. It will ensure that the fans can enjoy a high-level, serious competition to see who, on a club level, will have the bragging rights in North America, at least between Mexico and the United States."
— MLS Commissioner Don Garber on the SuperLiga, a competition comprised of four MLS and four Mexican league teams with $1 million of prize money at stake. The SuperLiga kicks of Tuesday. (Reuters)
“He brings something special to the team. You notice in 75 percent of the times we got in the attacking third, it was through him that we created the better chances.”
— Chicago coach Juan Carlos Osorio on Mexican attacker Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who like fellow MLS superstar newcomer made his debut in a friendly against a British club. But Blanco spent much more time on the field than Beckham and scored in the 30th minute for the Chicago Fire in a 1-1 tie Glasgow Celtic. (USA Today)
“I’m sure [Celtic] will have 100 excuses, but to be honest, the game could’ve been 4-0 or 5-0.”
— Landon Donovan after the MLS All-Stars downed Glasgow Celtic, 2-0. (Houston Chronicle)
“It is a bit warm. There is no sun in Europe whatsoever. Trust me, I’ve been everywhere in Europe this summer and there is no sun whatsoever and then you suddenly come out here, wake up this morning and it’s 100 degrees. It’s unfortunate it will be a slower game, because … we try to play a quick tempo, but we are only human in these conditions.”
— Glasgow Celtic coach Gordon Strachan starts with the excuses ahead of his team’s game against the MLS All-Stars Thursday in Colorado. (AFP)
“They say money talks. This is obviously untrue, because if money were capable of speech we’d hear it shrieking ‘How much? You must be joking.'”
— Des Kelly writing in the Daily Mail about striker Darren Bent‘s recent $33 million transfer to Tottenham Hotspur. (BBC).
“The players were all really pleasant, thankfully. One of them came up to me — I can’t remember who it was now — and said: ‘Nice to meet you. What’s your name?’ That really broke the ice.”
— David Beckham on his first practice with the Los Angeles Galaxy. (Reuters)
“We came here to rescue the self-esteem of the Brazilian supporter — the worker [who] leaves home early in the morning and comes back at late night and whose only satisfaction is when Brazil wins.”
— Brazil coach Dunga after his team’s 3-0 win over Argentina in the Copa America final. (Reuters)
“To the extent that he creates so much curiosity from soccer moms and casual fans and can help generate some interest in MLS, it will work. However, the quality of play had better be up to their expectations, and the level of customer service had better be high. He’s going to drive them to the turnstile, but then it’s going to be up to MLS and its franchises to keep them coming back.”
— David Carter, the executive director of the USC Sports Business Institute on David Beckham, who arrived in the USA on Thursday. (Sports Illustrated)
“Uruguay made it very, very hard for us to establish any kind of rhythm and we struggled quite frankly throughout the game. But great teams find ways to win and I think our will power, the willingness to sacrifice, the willingness to go where it hurts, which we did, to go down and come back and eventually win the game and hold on for dear life, showed me the quality of the team that only through games you find out. You talk about being courageous and today they showed they’re a team [that is courageous].”
— U.S. U-20 coach Thomas Rongen on his team’s 2-1 overtime win over Uruguay that sends the USA into the quarterfinals of the U-20 World Cup.
“It’s going to be a circus, but it is fun when the circus comes to town.”
— Los Angeles Galaxy president Alexi Lalas on the arrival of David Beckham, whom the Galaxy will present at a press conference at the Home Depot Center on Friday. (TIME)
“Certain teams complain about not having facilities, not having a stadium. We have everything here. These fans, they want this team to win. They want a championship team. We could do it, and we’re not doing it.”
— Colorado Rapids forward Herculez Gomez, whose team has scored once in its last six games. The Rapids’ 1-0 home loss to New York on Sunday extended their winless streak to eight games and they’ve won just twice in their new stadium, Dick’s Sporting Goods Park. (Denver Post)
“We all knew that Freddy was a talented kid and I felt that he was ready to wear the captain’s armband and take on a leadership role with this team. I couldn’t be happier with the way he has dealt with these circumstances. He had a superb performance against Poland and today, beyond his skill he always showed his desire, his heart. Great players succeed at the highest level and today was a great game for him, and he took the rest of the team with him today.”
— U.S. U-20 coach Thomas Rongen after Freddy Adu played on his second straight phenomenal game for the USA at the U-20 World Cup, leading it past Brazil, 2-1.
“In all three games, I think we had moments when we played well. We still must be more consistent over 90 minutes in order to move to the next level. As we have said over the last few weeks, it is a great challenge to play in back-to-back tournaments. You run into situations with the various clubs, and as a result we brought a younger team here. This is an excellent tournament. The atmosphere in the stadiums, the passion, is something that is very special. We greatly appreciate the opportunity to have played in the 2007 Copa America.”
— U.S. national team coach Bob Bradley after the USA exited the Copa America with its third straight loss, 1-0 to Colombia on Thursday.
“We like for the continent’s most important competition to be respected with the best players. [The USA] opted to send a team with some players who aren’t their regulars. That doesn’t please us.”
— Eduardo Deluca, the general secretary of the South American confederation [CONMEBOL] on the USA sending a “B” team to the Copa America, where the USA lost its first two games while being outscored 7-2. Deluca said CONMEBOL does hope for hopes for continued U.S. participation in the tournament. (AP)
“First off let me say how thrilled I am to be involved with the Brigade. The Brigade has the right vision of success and if it’s about making soccer better and doing it the right way, I’m in.”
— Eric Wynalda, 38, who’s coming out of retirement to play for the Bakersfield Brigade of the USL’s Premier Development League. The veteran of three World Cups, whose last MLS season was 2001, is set to make his Brigade debut Saturday against the LA Storm.
“I would score 49 out of 50 times. Unfortunately, it was the wrong time to miss it.”
— Drew Moor, whose otherwise encouraging debut at right back for the USA on Monday night was marred by a wide-open header right in front of the Paraguay goal he hit tamely straight to keeper Aldo Bobadilla with the score 2-1 in Paraguay’s favor late in their Copa America match. Minutes later, Paraguay put the game away with a third goal and won, 3-1.
“I think we impressed a lot of people for 60-65 minutes. The question is, can we do it now for 90 minutes?”
— Veteran goalie Kasey Keller, on his U.S. team that held Argentina even for an hour before collapsing and must put on a more sustained performance in Monday’s game against Paraguay at the Copa America in Venezuela.
“Losing a match doesn’t mean that everything is wrong, just as winning a match doesn’t mean everything is right. Brazil always has to win, that’s a fact. The pressure and the demands are something we have to get used to. We have to find a way to get over this.”
— Brazil coach Dunga, whose team lost to Mexico, 2-0, in their Copa America opener.
“We did not despair when we went behind and continued to look for goals until we secured the victory. We must not get carried away, though, as we have only won one game. They made things difficult for us. We had the ball, but we could not create chances. In the second half, we knew they would be tired.”
— Argentina coach Alfio Basile, whose team recovered from a one-goal deficit to defeat the USA, 4-1, the teams’ Copa America opener. (Ticker)
“I’m a little small, but I’m fast, I like to get a touch of the ball, I like my left foot and I like to make things exciting. I’ll make runs and hopefully my style of soccer will suit the fans, and I can repay them for all the good things they’ve been saying about me so far.”
— DaMarcus Beasley, the 5-foot-8, 145-pound U.S. midfielder, upon signing with Scottish power Glasgow Rangers. (Ticker)
“Young players are a little bit like melons. Only when you open and taste the melon are you 100 percent sure that the melon is good. Sometimes you have beautiful melons but they don’t taste very good and some other melons are a bit ugly and when you open them, the taste is fantastic.”
— Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho chimes in on youth development (Sky Sports)
