“I’ve always been a Milan fan and my idols were [Ruud] Gullit and [Marco] van Basten. If [Milan vice president Adriano] Galliani would call me, what would I do? I would reply with a ‘hello’.”
— Italy’s new star, American-born Giuseppe Rossi, telling Gazzetta dello Sport he’d love to play for AC Milan. His short career has taken him from Parma to Manchester United and Newcastle United in England and now Villarreal in Spain.
“I would like to dedicate my goals to my family who were watching from America.”
— Giuseppe Rossi, who was born and raised in New Jersey before moving to Italy at age 12, on the two goals he scored against the USA in Italy’s 3-1 win. (Goal.com)
“That was one of the most memorable games in my career. It gives me goose bumps just talking about it.”
— Landon Donovan recalls the USA’s 1-1 tie against Italy at the 2006 World Cup, which the Italians went on to win. Donovan and Co., face the Italians Monday in their Confederations Cup opener in South Africa. (USsoccer.com)
“You know what we eat for dinner and lunch? Professional players – what kind of food do you think? We eat from McDonald’s. Everyone eats from McDonald’s. No good food.”
— United Arab Emirates defender Saleh Obaid says UAE players’ fondness for fast food contributed to its failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. (The National)
“It was something I’ve been waiting for a long time. Something that I always dreamed about, playing with the national team and scoring with them. A great feeling.”
— Giuseppe Rossi, who was born in New Jersey and lived there until age 13 when he moved to Italy to join Parma’s youth system in 2000, on scoring his first goal for the Italian national team on Saturday in a 3-1 win over Northern Ireland. Rossi is at the Confederations Cup with Italy, which plays the USA on Monday. (New York Times)
“So far, there have only been speculations. There is nothing concrete and I haven’t received any offers. The only thing I can say is that Barcelona are a great team and everybody would love to play for them.”
— Manchester City’s Brazilian star Robinho. (Goal.com)
“I didn’t sleep last night. I’m not going to sleep probably tonight, and I expect them to be thinking long and hard about it.”
— Kansas City Wizards coach Curt Onalfo the day after his team fell, 2-0, at home to the Columbus Crew. (Kansas City Star)
“It was a little bit of, ‘Here we go again.’ But it was a good response from the team.”
— U.S. defender Carlos Bocanegra on the USA giving up an early goal against Honduras as it did against Costa Rica. But against Honduras, the Americans came back for a 2-1 win, with Bocanegra scoring the gamewinner. (Washington Post)
“[We’re] Disappointed with the result. I think the team played well against a very good team. We limited them to only a few chances and we created our own. I think that we created enough chances and entries into the attacking third but we couldn’t finish them up.”
— New York Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio, whose job security took another hit when his team fell, 2-0, at D.C. United. The Red Bulls, with only 9 points after 13 games, are last in the East and have a league-high eight losses. (MLSnet.com)
“As a group tonight, we came up short in every way. I don’t think there was any area at all where we were good enough to win a game against a good team. We were under pressure from the start. We fell short. We recognize that, and we have a quick turnaround for the next game.”
— U.S. coach Bob Bradley after his team fell, 3-1, to Costa Rica in World Cup qualifying. The USA returns home to face Honduras on Saturday.
“Soccer remains my first love and I don’t have any plans to even try dancing after this. It was a great experience for me, but that’s it. I won’t do any more reality shows.
— Bhaichung Bhutia, captain of India’s national team, confirms his dedication to the sport after his appearance on a televised celebrity dance competition, which he won, led to his departure from his club, Mohun Bagan, which questioned his commitment. (Reuters)
“I would think it will be a domino effect – when one goes, one comes in.”
— Bryan Gunn, manager of English club Norwich, not so familiar with dominoes. (BBC)
“I was disappointed in terms of our team’s focus at times. I thought we were overly concerned about the referee and were not concerned enough sometimes about our play.”
— Seattle Sounders coach Sigi Schmid points out his players spent too much time complaining about referee Michael Kennedy while tying the Columbus Crew, 1-1, at home. (MLSnet.com)
“On behalf of the coaching staff, we want to thank Peter [Nowak] for all of his efforts with U.S. Soccer. He is an outstanding coach and a great friend. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with him as both a player in Chicago and as a partner with the national team. I look forward to continuing our relationship.”
— U.S. head coach Bob Bradley on his assistant coach, Peter Nowak, leaving U.S. Soccer to take the head-coaching position of MLS expansion club Philadelphia Union, which begins play in 2010. (New York Times)
“We attacked, we defended and we won. We are the best team in the world. We wanted to say we played and were not cowards and the players have done a great job.”
— Pep Guardiola, who after Barcelona’s European Champions League final win over Manchester United became the first man to win the competition as a player and a coach with the same club. (ESPNSoccernet )
“And they [Barcelona] will win playing very well, which is how they played all season to get there. Yes, now is the moment in which I believe Barcelona has the best team in its history.”
— Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero chimes in on the Barcelona-Manchester United UEFA Champions League final on Wednesday (2:30 pm ET, ESPN). Zapatero is attending the game with Spain’s King Juan Carlos. (AP)
“He came up to me … and said: ‘Listen, you better start learning Spanish’ because I ain’t got a clue.”
— Toronto FC coach Chris Cummins after Honduran Amado Guevara scored twice in TFC’s 3-1 win over New England. The Englishman told Guevara before the game that if he scored two goals his next pre-game talk would be in Spanish.
“For us, they’re champions already. We needed an escape from so much violence, and from living behind closed doors.”
— Housewife Adelina Terrazas, a fan of Mexican First Division club Indios, which reached the semifinals of the Torneo Clausura despite having the league’s lowest payroll and playing in Juarez, which is embroiled in a drug war. Indios lost the first leg of their series with Pachuca, 2-0, at home on Thursday. (Reuters)
“If he were a young boy, I would tell him to go and play the flute or the piano, but give up playing soccer.”
— Franz Beckenbauer, during TV commentary, shares his opinion on VfL Wolfsburg’s Cristian Zaccardo. (Bild)
“The most painful thing was the feeling that I could have got the job done. I could have led the team to the championship. … We laid the foundations for the future. I still believe the team can become champions this year.”
— Juergen Klinsmann talks about his firing for the first time since he was let go by Bayern Munich on April 27. The defending champion trails leader VfL Wolfsburg going into the last weekend of the season. Bayern hosts third-place VfB Stuttgart and Wolfsburg hosts 10th place Werder Bremen. (DPA)
“I spoke with Tevez on the phone and the first thing he said to me was ‘That old man doesn’t like me. He’s not playing me and he is lowering my value.'”
— Argentina coach Diego Maradona relays what striker Carlos Tevez told him about Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson. Tevez had 18 starts and came off the bench 11 times, scoring five goals for EPL champ Man U this season. (The Sun)
“I’ll take that, that’s awesome. I did not know that. That’s really cool. I guess I made my way into the record book.”
— The Houston Dynamo’s Chris Wondolowski, whose goal in a 1-1 tie with the New York Red Bulls was the 7,000th regular-season goal in MLS’s 14th year history. It was Wondolowski’s fourth goal since debuting in MLS in 2005. (MLSnet.com)
“He’s been feeling his groin for a week now.”
— Newcastle coach Alan Shearer explains why forward Obafemi Martins was out of action. (BBC)
”Asian football is in safe hands.”
— FIFA President Sepp Blatter on the reelection of Asian soccer confederation president Mohamed Bin Hammam to FIFA’s executive committee after a 23-21 vote (with two other votes thrown out), that followed accusations of vote-buying and dirty tricks. South Korean Chung Mong-Joon, a FIFA vice president and political rival accused Hammam of ”acting like the head of a crime organization” and suggested he was “suffering from mental problems. I want to advise him to consider going to hospital.” (AP)
“I would be very surprised if we did not obtain a franchise.”
— Montreal Impact president Joey Saputo on the chances of obtaining an MLS team. Montreal’s bid to gain one of the two bids that went to Vancouver and Portland in March collapsed last fall over questions about how the expansion of Stade Saputo would be funded. Saputo is working with the Quebec government on a joint project to underwrite the cost of the stadium work. (ruefrontenac.com)
