“Oh how it hurts. … Even Los Machos cry, especially when they lose to the USA.”
— Mexican daily Esto on El Tri’s Gold Cup final loss to the USA.
“They deserve to be the No. 1 team in CONCACAF. They played well, but we had a number of chances. We just didn’t take advantage of our opportunities.”
— Mexico striker striker Cuauhtemoc Blanco after the USA’s 2-1 win in the Gold Cup final. (AP)
"We did things to put ourselves in that position, whether it was a bad call or not. We dug ourselves a hole."
— Canada goalie Pat Onstad takes it easy on the linesman who nullified Canada’s last-minute goal in the 2-1 loss to the USA. But Canadian midfielder Dwayne De Rosario said, "It was definitely a goal. No question." (Houston Chronicle)
“Wherever you can make love, you can play sports.”
— Bolivian President Evo Morales, who is leading the charge to get FIFA to reverse its ban on games at above 2,500 meters (8,200 feet). The ban would prevent Bolivia from hosting games in its capital, La Paz (11,811 feet). (The New York Sun)
“If you want to win, you have to pay up to £100,000 [$200,000] a week to a player who can hardly read or write and he earns four or five million pounds [$8 or $10 million]. It’s crazy.”
— Mohamed Al Fayed, the chairman of English Premier League club Fulham. (BBC)
“There’s this delusion that if it’s English then it’s great. But a whole world exists outside of England. … You know, there’s no accounting for bad taste. The fact that a segment of the world worships an inferior product in the Premiership is their business.”
— Los Angeles Galaxy president Alexi Lalas lashes out at Brits who say David Beckham is “going into semi-retirement” by coming to MLS. Lalas added that “the Premiership has become so skilled in presentation. They took a page out of American football and now have Saturday Showdowns and Super Sundays. I love it. This is high-caliber marketing: taking an inferior product and improving it through packaging.” (The Guardian)
“It’s been an incredible experience but all I remember now is the great things. Winning this tonight now puts to bed everything else.”
— Los Angeles-bound David Beckham after winning the Spanish La Liga title with Real Madrid, which he joined in 2003. The 2007 league title was Real Madrid’s first major trophy since Beckham arrived. The team went through six different coaches while Beckham was with the club. (Associated Press)
“I haven’t been in good shape this season. I can work much harder and I want to make sure that I’m at the same level as the rest of the team next season.”
— Brazilian superstar Ronaldinho acknowledging that he let his Spanish club, Barcelona, down because of his lack of fitness.
“I’ve worked hard the last couple of years to earn this opportunity to get back on the national team.”
— D.C. United star Jaime Moreno, who has ben called up by Bolivia to play in the Copa America. He had not played for Bolivia for five years until a recent appearance in a friendly game against Ireland in Foxboro, Mass. The 33-year-old Moreno has scored three goals this season for United to tie Jason Kreis for MLS’s all-time goalscoring record with 108 goals.
“If you want to play sports, it’s possible to play sports at any altitude in the world.”
— Bolivian President Evo Morales, winded but smiling after scoring the winning goal against a team of local mountaineers in a match that was played on icy boulders 19,700 feet high in the Andes but lasted only about 15 minutes, including the time spent recovering the ball after it skittered away down the slope. Morales set up the game as a show of national unity to protest FIFA’s decision to ban games at altitude. (AP)
“Mexico is the best team in the area, the best team in CONCACAF, and it is going to the Confederations Cup. To go to the Confederations Cup means you have to win the Gold Cup. There can be no excuses. We have to win the Gold Cup, and [Coach] Hugo Sanchez and all the players know it.”
— Justino Compean, president of the Mexican soccer federation, a day after the Tri’s 2-1 loss to Honduras, its first defeat ever to a CONCACAF team in group play at the Gold Cup. Compean also revealed that Mexico would meet the USA at Azteca Stadium on Sept. 9. (La Opinion)
“There is no intention of getting out of the Galaxy deal, or reneging on the Galaxy deal.”
— Simon Oliveira, David Beckham‘s agent. Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon was quoted as saying he would try to persuade the England star to stay with the Spanish team in Spain, using an escape clause in Beckham’s Galaxy contract to back out of the deal. (Galaxy President Alexi Lalas said there is no escape clause in Beckham’s contract with the MLS club.) (AP)
“We adhere to FIFA’s rules and regulations regarding the release of players. If David continues to be called up we’ll drive him to the airport.”
— Los Angeles Galaxy president Alexi Lalas on future call-ups of David Beckham to the England national team, which might conflict with the Galaxy’s MLS and friendly games. Lalas added that MLS fans understand that “the bigger picture is important. (BBC Radio Five Live)
“I will take out the song … ‘We will rock you’. Why play that song? So the players kill each other? Whoever wants [to hear] devil’s music should not come to my stadium.”
— Gigi Becali, owner of Romanian club Steaua Bucharest, announces that only religious songs will be played through the loudspeakers at Steaua’s stadium, a ploy he says will combat on-field violence and hooliganism. Becali also announced he’ll fine players $3,000 to $20,000 if they make sad faces after being substituted. (Reuters)
“As I have said, winning the Gold Cup is our most important priority this year, and I believe we have assembled a team capable of doing that. We have a very good blend of talent, youth and experience.”
— U.S. coach Bob Bradley, whose team opens its Gold Cup title defense on Thursday against Guatemala. The 12-team CONCACAF championship kicks off on Wednesday. (Houston Chronicle)
“After completing an extensive review and discussion across the country, we feel that it is the right time for U.S. Soccer to lead a change in the sport at the youth level. We need to shift the focus of our young elite players from an ‘overburdened, game emphasis’ model to a ‘meaningful training and competition’ model.”
— U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati on the U.S. Soccer Development Academy, which will launch in the fall of 2007 for U-16 and U-18 boys.
“David Beckham‘s return to form, first for Real Madrid and now for England, has inevitably led to people questioning the wisdom of him signing to play not-so-major-league football in the home of Mickey Mouse.”
— Former England star Gary Lineker chimes in from the home of Benny Hill and Mr. Bean. (Sunday Telegraph)
“It’s fair to say that Las Vegas is a market that’s interesting to us. We think it would be very supportive of professional soccer, so it’s a market we’re looking at.”
— MLS President Mark Abbott after the Las Vegas Sports & Entertainment Group said it is ready to wire a $35 million expansion fee to the league. Group president Mark Noorzai says he’s assembled a financial group worth several billion dollars and plans include a $500 million retractable-roof stadium, an adjacent hotel and casino, practice fields and other amenities on 200 acres. (Las Vegas Sun)
“If Rafa said he wanted to buy ‘Snoogy Doogy,’ we would back him.”
— Liverpool’s American owner George Gillett, trying to demonstrate his support of Coach Rafael Benitez‘s offseason player shopping, creates a new rapper moniker. (BBC)
"He is the anti-Beckham. He is not handsome. He is not a millionaire. He is not married to a Hollywood star. He has a hunchback. He has a strange hairdo. But he is arriving in the perfect city at the perfect time for him. When he takes the field, the Mexicans aren’t going to say, ‘Look at the goal Temoc Blanco scored.’ They will say, ‘Look at the goal we scored.'”
— Jose Ramon Fernandez, a sports commentator for Grupo Monitor radio, on Mexican star Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who will join the Chicago Fire and is MLS’s second-highest paid “designated player” after Los Angeles-bound David Beckham. (Chicago Tribune)
“We didn’t have the luck to be born anywhere else. We have to play sports wherever we are.”
— Bolivian soccer fan Ruben Cuenca reacts to FIFA’s ban on international games at venues above 8,200 feet sea level. The ban prevents Bolivia from playing World Cup qualifiers in La Paz, which lies 11,800 feet above sea level, and prohibits games in the capitals of Colombia and Ecuador and in the hometowns of major clubs in Mexico and Peru. (New York Times)
“I feel comfortable saying that it’s more than a handful of players – about 8 to 12 – that includes both MLS and European-based players, knowing that there are factors that can change that number. Whether those factors are injuries, or having to return to a club team earlier than expected.”
— U.S. coach Bob Bradley on how many players will represent the USA at the Gold Cup and the Copa America this summer.
“Alecko Eskandarian is in shock. Just found out I got traded from TFC to Real Salt Lake. Definitely did NOT ask for this so I’m pretty devastated right now.”
— Alecko Eskandarian, breaking the news of his trade from Toronto FC to Real Salt Lake on his facebook.com page before the trade was even made public
“The feeling you get before doing a piano concert and the feeling before refereeing a big match are about the same, actually. You don’t quite know what awaits you, but you prepare yourself in the anticipation that everything will turn out all right on the night.”
— Herbert Fandel, the German concert pianist who will referee the European Champions League final between AC Milan and Liverpool FC in Athens on Wednesday. (uefa.com)
“The paintball guns will be one of the weapons the riot police will use in case of fan clashes. They have the double aim of stopping trouble because they are quite painful as well as marking violent fans.”
— Athens police spokesman Panagiotis Stathis reveals security’s secret weapon against hooligans at Wednesday’s European Champions League final clash between Liverpool and AC Milan. About 50,000 Italian and English fans are expected. (Reuters)
