“I’ll ask you a question. There’s a greyhound going through a field and he sees a rabbit. The rabbit gets up and starts running. The greyhound fancies a bit of snap, but the rabbit fancies his life. Who runs the hardest? The rabbit, absolutely! That’s been my view on life.”
— Wolverhampton coach Mick McCarthy on being asked if the game between his first-place second-division club against relegation-threatened Plymouth would be easy. Plymouth won, 1-0. (Irish Times)
“I am sad, but he is a human being and it is possible to make mistakes. He knows he was wrong and was punished for that. I hope it is the last time, I already spoke to him about this.”
— Andres Sanches, president of Brazilian club Corinthians, which fined and suspended Ronaldo for breaking curfew. The 2002 World Cup champ, who is on the verge of returning to training after a long absence because of a knee injury, reportedly arrived at the team hotel at 5:30 am after being spotted at a nightclub. (BBC)
“You’re better off asking someone else about that because it doesn’t change me wanting to play at this club [AC Milan] and I’m sure it doesn’t change other people’s desire for me to stay and play for this club either, so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
— David Beckham on being asked whether he’ll return from AC Milan to the Galaxy when the loan deal ends March 9 once again reminds us how much enthusiasm he has for MLS. (AFP)
“My dugout is a special dugout because we have a door which gives me the chance to leave it directly. Yesterday I left a $400 bottle of wine in the hotel with a note saying we would meet each other after the game at Old Trafford.”
— Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho explains how he left San Siro Stadium after his team’s scoreless tie with Manchester United without shaking hands on the field with Man U coach Alex Ferguson. (Irish Times)
“There’s no discussion about the coach. He has our full trust.”
— Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge gives Coach Juergen Klinsmann a vote of confidence after Bayern lost three of its first four Bundesliga games since the winter break, a feat of futility the club hasn’t experienced in 34 years. Adding to the pressure on Klinsmann is that his choice of Landon Donovan to boost the offense has yet to pay dividends. Bayern faces Sporting Lisbon in a Champions League quarterfinal first-leg on Wednesday.
“American soccer is still years away from being able to compete with soccer on the world stage. [David Beckham is] obviously a global player. He obviously wants to play against the best and compete at that level. It’s a tough call, but him being a friend, I want him to do what’s best for him.”
— Los Angeles Lakers’ Kobe Bryant, a soccer fan from his childhood spent in Italy, backing Beckham and his desire to stay at AC Milan rather than return to MLS. (Los Angeles Times)
“I know that next week will be an important week. I want to remain with Milan, I’ve heard nothing from Galaxy, but when it’s like this you say it could be good news. … I love playing football and I want to remain here [in Milan].”
— The latest from the man himself on the Los Angeles-AC Milan tug-of-war with David Beckham, who played 90 minutes in Milan’s 1-0 win over Cagliari on Sunday. (AP)
“I’d be a very stupid person to say there will not be any effect on the World Cup from the global recession. The problem is we don’t know just how big an impact it will have on the World Cup. Early completion of stadiums will allow us to determine the exact number of tickets to be made available. For now, we have approximately three million tickets available.”
— David Will, chairman of FIFA’s World Cup ticketing committee, on World Cup 2010 ticket sales, which begin Friday. (BBC Sport)
“In the end, I really ate it and I clearly survived. Wouldn’t you do it, if they offered you 25,000 euros [$35,000]? You would, so that’s no big thing.”
— AC Milan’s injured midfielder Gennaro Gattuso, with clearly nothing better to do with his time than bet his teammates that he could eat a live snail. (Irish Times)
“[Landon] Donovan is an interesting player. But when you have [Miroslav Klose], [Luca] Toni and [Ivica] Olic [signed for next season as a free agent from Hamburg] already under contract, we think the fourth [striker] should really be a young player with prospects.”
— Bayern Munich president Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, telling the Munich newspaper TZ in an interview published Tuesday that the U.S. national team star was unlikely to stay with Bayern Munich on a longer contract once his loan deal expires in mid-March. (AP)
“I obviously think there is a big chance that the game over there will grow. I said it from the moment that I went over there that it will take more than five, 10 or 15 years and that’s not changed. I’m still committed as an ambassador, but for the moment I want to play my football here.”
— David Beckham, downplaying his impact on American soccer and clearly wanting a way out of his contract with the Los Angeles Galaxy so he can stay with Italian club AC Milan. (Press Association)
“I’ve said I want to stay here [in Milan] and if I do go back [to MLS] then it will be a bit difficult, but we’ll have to wait and see what happens.”
— David Beckham. (ESPN soccernet)
“There’s total support for Eriksson because we have a commitment with him to get to South Africa and we are going to be there. We fully stand behind Eriksson because our objective is to reach the World Cup. And we will be at the World Cup. There are 30 points at stake and we missed out on the first three.”
— Following Mexico’s 2-0 loss to the USA on Wednesday, Mexico coach Sven-Goran Eriksson gets Mexican federation President Justino Compean‘s vote of confidence despite running a team with one win in its last seven games. (Reuters)
“My intentions to be here in this press conference is to ask for public forgiveness. I’ve already asked the same from my teammates, the coaching staff and the federation and now I want to apologize publicly to my fans, my country and the media for my conduct… I made an error and threw away all the hard work we had put in all week.”
— Mexico captain Rafael Marquez, who was red-carded in the 65th minute of El Tri’s 2-0 loss to the USA for kicking U.S. keeper Tim Howard.
“Every game is difficult and it’s going to be a very tough group. It’s a key match, for sure, but it’s not a final and there are other vital games ahead. We’ve got nine other matches and every one of them is crucial to our hopes. If things don’t work out for us in one match, then there’s no need to worry, as long as we pick up as many points as possible in the other games.”
— Mexico captain Pavel Pardo on tomorrow’s Hexagonal opener against the USA. The top three teams from the six-team final round group qualifiy for the 2010 World Cup and the fourth-place team plays off against South America’s No. 5.(FIFA.com)
“We made an offer to Galaxy and they didn’t accept it. However, there’s a willingness to talk. At the moment we’re very far apart but there is still a month left.”
— AC Milan general manager Adriano Galliani on negotiations to turn David Beckham‘s loan from the Los Angeles Galaxy into a transfer, as quoted by The Mirror, which reported Milan offered $9.5 million but the Galaxy is asking for $22 million.
“At the moment Milan are more important to me than the money. I want to think about football first and about my career. It’s important for me to be allowed to stay at Milan permanently so I can have the chance to play regularly and to be part of England’s World Cup 2010 squad. I haven’t spoken to the Galaxy yet, but someone is doing this on my behalf. I am really hoping that a deal can be reached.”
— David Beckham. (Il Corriere Dello Sport/Goal.com)
“I really didn’t have the opportunity to see the full context of his comments. However, we have been evaluating the situation. We are going to do in the end whatever is best for the Galaxy. There is always a contingency plan for everything. … At the end of the day we are going to do what we think is best for our team and continue to try to build the team to be a playoff contender.”
— Los Angeles Galaxy coach Bruce Arena on David Beckham‘s comments indicating he wants to stay with AC Milan instead of returning to MLS. (AP)
“I don’t know. AC Milan rang up yesterday with the same question. They’re obviously doubtful whether the Galaxy would let both go. But if I know my Americans, it probably comes down to the price.”
— Bayern Munich chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge upon being asked whether he could imagine the Los Angeles Galaxy allowing both Landon Donovan to join Bayern and David Beckham to sign for AC Milan. And German clubs don’t consider price when their players are courted? Bitte! (fcbayern.de)
“My wife cringes every time someone calls me Sir Alex or calls her Lady Cathy. She says to me: ‘I don’t know why you accepted it in the first place.'”
— Manchester United coach Sir Alex Ferguson reflects on his knighthood, bestowed on him by Queen Elizabeth II in 1999. (The Times)
“In the end we lost a bad third goal because of an individual error by the goalkeeper, but I’m not going to point the finger of blame at anyone for that.”
– Falkirk coach John Hughes’ version of sparing keeper Dani Mallo of blame after a 3-0 loss to Glasgow Rangers. (Irish Times)
“We’re desperate to sign him and I will keep hoping until the last possible moment.”
— AC Milan vice president Adriano Galliani, on David Beckham, who assisted on two goals in Serie A last weekend. Beckham’s cuurent loan deal from the MLS has him slated to return to MLS on March 9. (AFP)
“I think we have to try and score goals when we have the opportunity and create more chances.”
— Mexico coach Sven-Goran Eriksson reveals his strategy for getting El Tri out of a slump that, after Wednesday’s 1-0 loss to Sweden, has seen it win just once in its last six games. Mexico faces the USA in World Cup qualifying Feb. 11. (Reuters)
“It’s the abductor. We’ll have to see how it is tomorrow. I felt it before the game and then again just before halftime. I got to 20 minutes in the second half and I felt it a little bit more. It’s painful, but hopefully I will be fit for the game at the weekend.”
— David Beckham, who scored in his second straight game for AC Milan, then left the field in the 71st minute of his team’s 1-1 tie with Genoa on Wednesday with a sore groin. (PA Sports Ticker)
“It depends on what it is they’re looking to do. We think David has been an important part of our league and a great ambassador and I hope that he stays in Major League Soccer for an extended period of time. If it’s something that makes sense for him and the Galaxy we’ll certainly be supportive of that, but it’s way too premature to comment.”
— MLS Commissioner Don Garber on AC Milan’s desire to turn David Beckham‘s loan into a transfer. (Goal.com)
