Tag: international

When word got out earlier this year that Vietnam’s head coach Alfred Riedl, 57, needed a kidney transplant, 80 Vietnamese soccer fans offered to donate one of theirs. A compatible donor was found, and the popular Austrian is recovering well. "I was really touched when I saw that so many people wanted to help me," Riedl told FIFA.com. "Vietnam now is even more a part of me.”

[VIDEO ] Peruvian-born Andres Vasquez, 19, scored an unbelievable goal for Swedish club IFK Gothenburg in a 4-0 win over Oerebro on May 7. The long-range goal came with what in Spanish is called a rabona, whereby the player moves one foot behind the other to shoot. Vasquez, who moved to Sweden as a young child, has played for Sweden’s U-21 team in unofficial games but the goal has given him major publicity in his home country, prompting Peruvian coach Julio Cesar Uribe to promise him a national team call-up. “I’ve seen videos of Maradona shooting like that many times and I wanted to copy him,” said Vasquez of the goal.

Midfielder Michael Bradley was an 82nd minute sub for Heerenveen in its 1-0 win over Ajax Amsterdam in the semifinal first-leg of the Dutch playoffs for a spot in next years European Champions League.

The J-League has suspended Kazuki Ganaha six games for shooting garlic up his veins (more or less). Ganaha used an intravenous drip to take a non-banned substance to combat cold symptoms. The supplement shot that is reportedly popular among Japanese athletes is known as a “garlic shot.” But any kind of intravenous infusion is banned by FIFA and, as of this season, the J-League.

In the Netherlands, Heerenveen (Michael Bradley) finished in fifth place, which is good enough for a UEFA Cup spot but also puts it into the playoffs for Champions League qualification. Heerenveen faces Ajax Amsterdam in the first-leg of the semifinal qualifying playoffs on Wednesday. In Denmark, Nat Borchers scored in Odd Grenland’s 2-1 loss to Viking. In Mexico, Edgar Castillo and Santos Laguna’s first-leg quarterfinal game against Pachuca will be televised on Azteca America at 7 pm ET. Last weekend in Chile, Chase Hilgenbrinck was named man of the match for his 90 minute effort for Nublense in its 1-1 tie with Cobresal.

[VIDEO] Illinois product Chase Hilgenbrinck scored the gamewinner for Chilean First Division club Nublense in its 1-0 victory over O’Higgins, which hadn’t lost at home since April 2006 and had never lost to Nublense. Hilgenbrinck, who at Clemson University was teammates with Oguchi Onyewu, has started 13 of Nublense’s 14 games this season, mostly at left back until he was moved to left midfield to fill in for an injured player.

Santos could have broken the Libertadores Cup record of eight straight wins it shares with Vasco da Gama by beating Caracas FC in Venezuela on Wednesday night but tied, 2-2. In a battle between the only two Argentine clubs left in the competition, Boca Juniors beat Velez Sarsfield even though Martin Palermo missed his second penalty kick in four days. Palermo is famous for missing three penalty kicks in one game while playing for Argentina against Colombia in 1999.

A burglar without the foresight to bring a flashlight broke into the stadium clubhouse of German amateur club Germania Freund at 3 am. He flipped the first light switch he could find, which turned on the stadium floodlights. Local residents, realizing a game at that hour was unlikely, called the authorities, who made the arrest.

PSV won the Dutch Eredivisie title for the 20th time when it beat Vitesse, 5-1, on Sunday and edged Ajax for the championship on goal difference. Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) and Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) also clinched titles as the European season begins to wind down.

Ivica Supe of Croatian Third Division club Zagora FC was given a gift for each of the goals he’s scored this season from the team’s sponsor, a shepherd. “It was a surprise, I just don’t know where I will keep them,” Supe said about the 16 sheep he now owns. “And I am expecting to […]

Five-time Libertadores Cup champion Boca Juniors headlined the final qualifiers for the knockout phase of the South American club championship, whose group stage ended Thursday night. Toluca also went through, leaving all three Mexican clubs still alive in the competition.