Manchester United forward and World Player of the Year Cristiano Ronaldo has agreed a deal with Real Madrid President Ramon Calderon to join the Spanish champion in the summer, according to a “respected Spanish journalist.” Both Guillem Balague, writing on his website, and Spanish newspaper AS claim Ronaldo has agreed in principle to go […]
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Past winners
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Landon Donovan, MLS’s leading scorer last season, scored for Bayern Munich in a 3-1 friendly win over Saudi Arabia’s Al-Wehda on Monday.
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Palestine, Armenia, Turkey and women’s game honored
“I thought that the difference between Bayern and AC Milan was that at one club there was soccer and the other club was producing a movie, like in Hollywood. My job is to run a soccer club and not to make sure that Victoria Beckham has the best suite in the hotel. I don’t know why Milan accepted all these demands.”
— Uli Hoeness, the general manager of Bayern Munich, which shared a hotel with AC Milan in Dubai, offers his two pfennigs on David Beckham‘s loan deal to AC Milan from the Los Angeles Galaxy.
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Cristiano Ronaldo and Marta declared world’s best
[MLS] They look for size, they look for skill, and they look for speed, yet what most MLS coaches also want to see at the annual Player Combine – or any other scouting trip — are the two P’s: polish and poise. After a rest day Monday, the players will play one more set of games Tuesday, after which a lot of them and the MLS coaches and officials will head to St. Louis for the SuperDraft Thursday at 2 p.m. ET on ESPN2.
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Good guy goes out on top
[U.S. SOCCER] Move over, college basketball. The USA-Mexico qualifier Feb. 11 in Columbus, Ohio, is to be televised live on ESPN2 during its annual “Rivalry Week.”
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Pregnant Markgraf Will Miss WPS Season
[WPS] The The Los Angeles Sol signed the one player Women’s Professional Soccer needed to achieve international credibility when it reached an agreement with three-time FIFA World Female Player of the Year Marta. The Brazilian had played for Swedish powerhouse Umea since 2004, and her signing is a signal that WPS has the clout to compete with Europe’s major women’s leagues that have grown in prominence since the days of the WUSA.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Redknapp Needs Real Men For Relegation Fight
[FIFA AWARDS] Portugal international Cristiano Ronaldo is the first English Premier League player to win FIFA Men’s World Player award since its inception in 1991. Brazil’s Marta is the second player to win three straight FIFA Women’s World Player awards. For past winners.
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Peralta Leaves D.C., Frees Up Salary Space
[FIFA AWARDS] The FIFA World Player Gala 2008 that unveiled last year’s top players also included the awarding of the inaugural Development Award, the Fair Play Award and the Presidential Award, which U.S. national team forward Heather O’Reilly accepted on behalf of the “women’s game.”
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Szetela’s Quiet Progress At Brescia
[FIFA AWARDS] Cristiano Ronaldo, the 23-year-old Portuguese Manchester United star who scored 42 goals in all competitions as his club won 2007-08 English Premier League and UEFA Champions League titles, won the 2008 FIFA Men’s World Player. Marta, who dazzled for Brazil as it won the 2008 Olympic Silver medal, won her third straight FIFA Women’s World Player award. The USA, despite winning Olympic gold, did not place a woman among the top 5.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Mixed Reviews In Italy For Beckham’s Milan Debut
[MLS] There’s time enough to get serious before the season starts, even though January in MLS is much like the summer everywhere else, the so-called “silly season,” when groundless rumors and “done deals” that aren’t (done) dominate cyberspace. This January, though, is a bit sad, because one of the truly good guys has called it quits, a man whose love of the game always shone on his face and gleamed in his smile, a player who could look clumsy and graceful and labored and smooth all at the same time, a fierce fighter on the field and a genial giant off it.
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Did Maradona’s Cigar Help United Beat Chelsea?
“A few of them let out a big scream, which is a bit embarrassing because it is a man’s game.” Bolton Wanderers striker Kevin Davies criticizes Arsenal’s players for overreacting to tackles in an attempt to con referees into giving yellow cards. Arsenal beat Bolton, 1-0, on Saturday.
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World Player Award Just Another FIFA Love-In
“Although I won’t be able to perform on the field this season, it is my intention to do everything I can off the field to help the Red Stars succeed.” Chicago Red Stars defender Kate Markgraf, 32, announces she will miss the opening Women’s Professional Soccer season as she is pregnant with her second child.
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Ferguson-Benitez Verbal War Intensifies
“We are in a relegation scrap. We need some men and some characters who want to get us out of it.” Tottenham Hotspur manager Harry Redknapp wants to start getting ugly to help his team retain Premier League status.
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Soccer on TV
[HERMANN TROPHY] Seniors Marcus Tracy of Wake Forest and Kerri Hanks of Notre Dame captured the 2008 Missouri Athletic Club’s Hermann Trophy. Tracy is the first Demon Deacon to capture college soccer’s top award, while Hanks, who won the Hermann Trophy in 2006, becomes just the fourth two-time winner.
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Fowler Rumors; Razov Roaming?
Argentine defender Gonzalo Peralta has left D.C. United after just one season and returned home to play for second division Union de Santa Fe. Peralta made $199,000 last season, but was seemingly not interested in playing for less this year. He made 18 league appearances (17 starts), scoring once, and missed much of the summer […]
Posted inSoccer America Daily, What They're Saying
What They’re Saying
One of the few young U.S. players getting regular starts in Europe is former Columbus Crew midfielder Danny Szetela, who disappeared off the radar somewhat after moving on loan from La Liga’s Racing Santander to Serie B Brescia in Italy. Despite suffering from homesickness, the player told Ravi Ubha that he hopes the move will […]
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Guadalajara nabs automatic bid
David Beckham‘s AC Milan debut in its 2-2 draw at Roma Sunday drew both praise and scathing comment from the Italian media. Gazzetta dello Sport gave Beckham a six out of 10 rating and said that there was “nothing to show as a replay for a Pepsi ad. However, he sacrifices, he crosses, he strikes, […]
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Bocanegra, Rennes extend streak
One might be skeptical of any story that goes under the label of “exclusive”‘ and appears in London-based tabloid The Sun, but this one is irresistible. After all, a story doesn’t have to be true to be a good story. And so we pass on the paper’s report that the fire alarm that woke Chelsea’s […]
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European Weekend Results
“The FIFA World Player of the Year gala in Zurich today will look like a Jay Gatsby house party in overdrive,” writes Sam Wallace. He says that the award is unnecessary given that we already have the “perfectly adequate” European Footballer of the Year award. The only disadvantage of that award, “in FIFA’s eyes, is […]
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Players begin comebacks at January camp
Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has been involved in word wars down the years with all of the Premier League’s top managers. Kevin Keegan was soundly trounced in the 1990s during his first spell at Newcastle. There seems to be a truce with Arsenal’s Arsene Wenger after several seasons of back and forth. Jose Mourinho […]
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Tracy and Hanks take top college honors
Names great and small are swirling about as MLS coaches and executives finish their duties at annual Player Combine in Ft. Lauderdale prepare for the 2009 SuperDraft next Thursday in St. Louis. Some prominent players are out of contract or have had their options declined, and of course, there’s no shortage of foreign players being linked to the American league.
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Snowball attack halts Atletico Madrid game
“Before the start of the game and when we were on the field home fans behind the goal defended by Bilbao threw numerous snowballs towards the goal, some of them hitting the goalkeeper.”
— Referee Cesar Muniz Fernandez‘s match report explains that the snow in Spain fell mainly on Athletic Bilbao keeper Gorka Iraizoz, forcing Muniz Fernandez to briefly suspend the Atletico Madrid-hosted Spanish La Liga game. The snow-ball launchers heeded a warning from the PA system and the and Bilbao enjoyed a 3-2 win. (Reuters)
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Embattled Scolari backs his Chelsea players
[INTERLIGA] After a frantic Friday night of eight goals concluded group play, Interliga 2009 served up another incredible doubleheader Sunday at Home Depot Center. Both of Sunday’s games were decided by penalty kicks, one of which required 13 rounds. In the other, Guadalajara defeated Morelia, 4-2, after a 1-1 tie to claim the automatic Interliga spot in the 2009 Libertadores Cup.
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Beckham enjoys surprise start
[AMERICANS ABROAD] Defender Carlos Bocanegra, who has started every French Ligue 1 game since joining Rennes last summer, celebrated a win as Rennes moved within two points of first place. For a wrapup of U.S. players in Europe last weekend. …
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High marks for Donovan on Bayern debut [VIDEO]
France’s Ligue 1 race tightened as seven-time champion Lyon tied Lorient, 1-1, and saw its lead over Bordeaux reduced to one point. Carlos Bocanegra‘s Rennes is third only two points behind Lyon. In Portugal, Benfica and Sporting Lisbon leapfrogged over Porto and are tied for first place. For all the weekend results and current standings …