Sunday, 18 May Urawa Reds top the J-League going in to the summer break despite a 3-2 home loss to Gamba Osaka in front of 50,000 spectators at Saitama Stadium. The match was marked by some of the worst crowd trouble in J-League history after Gamba fans pelted Reds players with plastic bottles following the final whistle and were in turn attacked by the Urawa hard core. The visiting fans had to be kept locked in the stadium for over two hours before they were allowed to leave. JEF United gave new coach Alex Miller a winning start with a 1-0 win over Oita but remain rooted to last place. J1 Sapporo Consodole 1 Nagoya Grampus 3 Urawa Reds 2 Gamba Osaka 3 Iwata Jubilo 1 FC Tokyo 2 Kyoto Sanga 1 Yokohama F Marinos 0 Kashima Antlers 1 Kashiwa Reysol 1 JEF United 1 Oita Trinita 0 Kawasaki Frontale 2 Omiya Ardija 3 Vissel Kobe 1 Niigata Albirex 1 Tokyo Verdy 4 Shimizu S-Pulse 1 Leading Positions Urawa P13 Pts 26 Grampus P13 Pts 26 FC Tokyo P13 Pts 23 Reysol P13 Pts 20 Frontale P13 Pts 20 J2 In J2, Sanfrecce are four points clear of Vegalta and Cerezo. Sagan Tosu 0 Sanfrecce Hiroshima 1 Cerezo Osaka 2 Shonan Bellmare 0 Vegalta Sendai 3 Montedio Yamagata 2 FC Gifu 0 Thespa Kusatsu 1 Tokushima Vortis 2 Roasso Kumamoto 0 Yokohama FC 1 Avispa Fukuoka 1 Mito Hollyhock 1 Ehime FC 0 Leading Positions Sanfrecce P13 Pts 29 Vegalta P13 Pts 25 Cerezo P13 Pts 25 Bellmare P13 Pts 24 Yokohama FC P13 Pts 23 Sagan P13 Pts 21 Previous week's J.League results and standings Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags J-League Results

World Soccer News for week of 05/19 Pompey celebrates 69 years later Portsmouth have finally won a piece of silverware thanks to the inspiration of their two Nigerians, Kanu and Utaka. A full 69 years after their first FA Cup the team coached by Harry Redknapp fulfilled the dreams of their fans by defeating Cardiff City at Wembley 1-0. The only goal was scored by Nwankwo Kanu, who took advantage of keeper Enckelman's blunder after John Utaka's cross. Pompey hardly showed their Premiership class against their Championship League rivals, but the result is what finally counts in Portsmouth and in...Croatia! The Croatian media devoted the FA Cup finals the same amount of space as to their own cup, which saw Dinamo Zagreb smash Hajduk Split by 3-0. The reason? Niko Kranjcar, of course. The 24-old midfielder has become the first Croat with the most prestigious national cup in the world, a distinction which is certain to increase his appeal among his compatriots. Inter "threepeat" the scudetto in high drama Internazionale have defended their Italian League title warding off a dangerous Roma assault in the last half hour of the competition. A 2-0 win at Parma guaranteed Inter's win regardless of what Roma did at Catania, at the same time condemning Parma to the Second Division. Both goals came from Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the 62nd and 78th minutes, snatching the title from Roma, who had laid their hands on the trophy when Mirko Vucinic brought them ahead after just eight minutes. In the end, after Zlatan's goals a demoralised Roma conceded the equaliser and the celebrations of Inter's fans in Parma, Milan and elsewhere could begin. The nerazzurri's joy after a third title in a row was doubled by the fact that their city rivals from AC Milan did not even make the Champions' League! The Italian representatives in the top club competition will be Inter, Roma, Juventus and Fiorentina, while Milan will take part in the UEFA Cup. The relegation of Parma, alongside Empoli and Livorno, on the other hand signalled the end of a famous 18-year spell of the former Parmalat's team in the top flight, during which period they won four European trophies and three Italian Cups. The bankruptcy of the gigantic dairy industry company finally ended up condemning a once glorious side to Serie B. Lyon's magnificent seven No team in the top European leagues can boast more than five consecutive League titles. Juventus and AC Torino have that in Italy, Real Madrid did the same, on two occasions, in Spain. Olympique Lyon on the other hand now have as many as seven French championships. Olympique Marseille also won the Championnat five times in a row, but their 1993 title was declared void by the FA for having fixed the match against Valenciennes. Lyon stretched their already record-breaking run on Saturday thanks to a 3-1 win at Auxerre, which was more than enough to keep them ahead of Bordeaux, who could only draw at struggling Lens. The 2-2 result saddened both teams, because it meant that the 1998 champions will have to play in the Second division exactly ten years after winning the League. They will be joined by Metz and Strasbourg, while Paris SG reached salvation owing to a good 2-1 win at Sochaux. Nantes on the other hand return to the top flight after just one season. Lens will certainly want to emulate them in the forthcoming campaign. Barcelona: 65 million for another trophyless season The era of rational business operations at Barcelona did not last for long. The disastrously extravagant era of the chairman Joan Gaspart, who spent hundreds of millions of euros on signings between 2000 and 2003 for zero titles, was interrupted by the first three years of Joan Laporta's mandate. Still, after the Champions League victory in 2006, the good old ways returned to Barcelona, which allowed Real Madrid to regain the pole position in Spanish soccer. Last summer Laporta's club signed players to the tune of 65 million euros and in return the team finished third, 18 points behind Madrid, while in the FA Cup and the Champions League the semifinals turned out to be an unsurmountable obstacle. Thierry Henry was brought from Arsenal for 24 million euros in order to be deployed in the wrong position on the left wing. Defenders Gaby Milito and Eric Abidal cost a mere 17 and 15 million euros respectively, while midfielder Touré Yayá's signing required nine million. On the other hand, this spring Barcelona saved 35 million euros in unpaid bonuses promised for the trophies the expensive players failed to win. The savings will no doubt be used in the next transfer window. How cleverly is another question. Dinamo Zagreb – a club that eats the coaches Incredible but true: Dinamo Zagreb have sacked or forced the resignation of no less than nine different trophy-winning coaches since 1996. Two of them were laid off twice, which means that there has been eleven departures of coaches immediately or soon after they led the team to one or more trophies! This must be the world record, but the fans are not at all amused. The last coach to go has been Zvonimir Soldo, who resigned minutes after his boys added the FA Cup to their 10th Croatian League title. Soldo, who had a supremely distinguished 10-year long spell at Stuttgart, refused to explain his reasons, but he did not need to. The fans and the media know that Soldo could not stand the attempts of the club's officials to interfere with his work, neither could he condone the continuous transfers of the club's best players. Midfielder Luka Modric's move to Tottenham for 21 million euros will soon be followed by Ognjen Vukojevic's transfer to Celtic and others. Since 1996, no amount of domestic success was able to keep a coach on the bench for more than 18 months. Among those who won stuff and then left were Zlatko Kranjcar (Niko's father) twice, Otto Baric, Ilija Loncarevic (twice), Marijan Vlak, Miroslav Blazevic, Nikola Jurcevic, Josip Kuze and Branko Ivankovic. Kranjcar and Baric, like Soldo, even won the double, while Ivankovic collected all three prizes – League, FA Cup and Supercup, winning 28 championship games in a row. He quit last January, fed up by insults directed at him by the club's power broker, Zdravko Mamic, over losing an utterly irrelevant indoor soccer game to Hajduk. However, Ivankovic is tipped to succeed Soldo as the quarrel with Mamic seems to be forgiven, if not forgotten. 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Argentinean and Manchester United striker Carlos Tevez may miss Argentina’s vital World Cup qualifier against Brazil.

AC Milan have told Brazil that they will not release star midfielder Kaka to take part in the Beijing Olympics football tournament in August.

Wayne Rooney wants Manchester United strike partner Carlos Tevez to stay on at Old Trafford when his loan period expires next year.

Russia´s coach Guus Hiddink said Monday that Zenit St Petersburg midfielder Igor Denisov had rejected his ivitation to join his squad in their preparations for the European championship´s finals.

Ghana defender Samuel Kuffour will be leaving Ajax Amsterdam after only half a season at the Dutch club.

Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund today announced the departure of manager Thomas Doll.

Blackburn Rovers will not be extending the contract of goalkeeper Peter Enckelman, who played the FA Cup final with Cardiff City last Saturday.

Rangers manager Walter Smith claims he will not be listening out for Celtic´s result on Thursday - despite the fact his side´s title aspirations depend on their rivals tripping up at Tannadice.

Two Portsmouth players have had their FA Cup medals stolen after Sunday's celebrations, following the FA Cup final a day earlier.

Mexico´s Javier Aguirre said Monday he turned down the possibility of coach his country´s national side again to stay on as Atletico Madrid manager next season after leading the club to the Champions League qualifiers.

Rangers manager Walter Smith claims he will not be listening out for Celtic´s result on Thursday - despite the fact his side´s title aspirations depend on their rivals tripping up at Tannadice.

Swiss international right-back Philipp Degan will join Liverpool on a free transfer as the first move in coach Rafael Benitez´ remodelling of his under-achieving side.

Goalkeepers Vincent Enyeama and Dele Aiyenugba have pulled out of Nigeria´s squad for a friendly against Austria on May 27 in Vienna because of club engagements.

Cristiano Ronaldo will not be allowed to leave Manchester United at any price according to the club´s chief executive David Gill.

Australian midfielder Harry Kewell on Tuesday dismissed criticism he was an expensive flop at Liverpool but admitted lingering regret that Reds´ manager Rafael Benitez never saw his best form.

Portsmouth defender Glen Johnson and team-mate Jamie Ashdown had their FA Cup winners´ medals stolen in the aftermath of the club´s victory celebrations.

Chelsea defender John Terry has vowed to give Rio Ferdinand a week to forget by beating Manchester United in the Champions League final and then reclaiming the England captaincy.

Frank Lampard´s agent insists there is no truth in reports the Chelsea midfielder is set to join Inter Milan after the Champions League final.