AT 100, Francisco Varallo remembers everything: the thud of the heavy leather ball, playing while injured because substitutions were not allowed and, more than anything, the g

It has started. Nobody is quite sure exactly when and where but the debate about whether Ahn Jung-hwan should play at the 2010 World Cup is well and truly underway. The striker, now 34, was the hero of the 2002 competition when South Korea made it to the semifinals, scored the winning goal in 2006 to give his country a first-ever overseas victory at the world’s biggest tournament and, now, he could be on course for a third consecutive appearance. He is about to return to the national team set-up for the first time in 20 months for March's friendly with Ivory Coast in London. Ahn's name featured in headlines around the world in that golden summer almost eight years ago. Just hours after scoring the goal that sent South Korea into the last eight of the World Cup and eliminated the much-fancied Italian national team, Ahn was fired from his Italian club team of Perugia. His header had greatly upset his club’s owner Luciano Gaucci. “He was a phenomenon only when he played against Italy. I am a nationalist and I regard such behavior not only as an affront to Italian pride but also an offense to a country which two years ago opened its doors to him," Gaucci told the Italian media. "I have no intention of paying a salary to someone who has ruined Italian soccer.” Unsurprisingly, Ahn left Italy in the summer of 2002. Since then, he has been something of a journeyman. He headed to Japan and Shimizu S-Pulse and Yokohama F Marinos. After those two successful spells, he has struggled to find the net. First he tried in France and FC Metz, Germany and MSV Duisberg and eventually returned home to Suwon Bluewings and then Busan I’Park. The ‘Lord of the Ring’ (nicknamed so for his goalscoring celebration that involved kissing his wedding ring) went to China last year to play for Dalian Shide. After a tough start in the chilly northern port city, he enjoyed a reasonable season. He is now being talked about in the terms of a World Cup ‘joker’, a player who could be introduced late into a game with the intention of making a big impact in a short time. Ahn’s winning goal against Togo in 2006 was his third World Cup goal, more than any of his compatriots have ever managed on the world stage. Those memories linger long. The thought of the wavy-haired striker doing so one more time against Argentina, Nigeria and Greece, has his fans excited. The player is keeping his feet on the ground. "Until now, I haven't thought about it," he told Ilgan Sports earlier this month. "But it will be an honour if I am selected. I am happy if the coach thinks that I am a player that the national team needs. "All football players want to play at the World Cup but the results of the national team have been good and I have hardly thought about going to the World Cup. There are many better players than me. I will just keep doing my best." The excitement was ratcheted up a notch late last week as he scored a goal in a friendly game between Dalian and K-League club Gangwon FC. The header was witnessed by South Korea’s assistant coach Jung Hae-sung. He had been dispatched by head coach Huh Jung-moo to check on the Chinese-based hitman. “I was very impressed with his attitude,” Jung was quoted as saying. “He appears to be ready to sacrifice himself for the good of the national team, even though he is a veteran. “He was not 100 per cent fit but still managed to play the full match and score a goal. His movement around the box could improve but overall he put on a good performance.” Huh said in January that he was keeping his, or at least Jung’s, eyes on Ahn and that the door is always open. The big test comes when the squad is named for the Ivory Coast match and according to the Korean media, the KFA have requested to Dalian that Ahn be made available. The Lord of the Ring looks like he may have the chance to complete his World Cup trilogy. Tags Soccer News football

World Soccer News for week of 2/19 Ozren Podnar reports Plague of injuries torments Barcelona An unprecedented wave of injuries and suspensions led to Barcelona's first defeat in the Spanish League and the first away defeat in all competitions this season. Four defensive players were injured and two suspended within a couple of days of the big match between Atletico Madrid and Barcelona at Vicente Calderon forcing Josep Guardiola to play winger Jeffren Suarez as the right full back. Without Alves, Abidal, Toure and Chigrinski due to muscular injuries plus the red-carded Pique and Marquez, Barcelona lost 2-1, allowing Real Madrid to close the gap at the top to two points with 16 matches to go. Not only did Barcelona lose the points but also two more players, as Keita and Xavi succumbed to – you've guessed – muscular injuries! The events led to an emergency meeting of Barcelona's medical staff in hope of ascertaining the causes of the players' muscles' fragility and preventing future casualties. Buffon under fire for blaspheming Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has upset the religious part of the Italian public for his alleged swearing during the Juventus vs Genoa game. The sports programs have employed lip readers in order to clarify if Buffon took God's name in vain. The public interest is due to the fact that in a couple of weeks swearing in soccer will become an offence punishable by a red card if the referee hears it, or with a ban if the foul language is captured on film. The rule, approved by the FA, has not yet entered into force, but Buffon's apparent blaspheming against God has turned into an experiment for the media. The question on everybody's mind is how the soccer authorities will prove what exactly a player shouted just based on his lip movement or facial expression. Buffon admitted that punishing somebody who offends God or the faithful may be the right thing to do, but failed to clarify what he himself said on the occasion and noted that the regulation would be hard to apply. "I wonder who will be able to prove whether a player said Dio (Italian for God), Zio (uncle) or Dino," Buffon was quoted as saying. Ovrebo and Hansson in action again UEFA's human resources department is due for some heavy maintenance after the organization's controversial decision to name Tom Henning Ovrebo and Martin Hansson for last week's Champions League matches. 

Ovrebo made a name for himself last May when he singlehandedly stopped Chelsea from reaching their first Champions League finals by denying them at least three and possibly four good penalty claims against Barcelona. The Norwegian was also wildly wrong to send of Barcelona's Eric Abidal late in the second half. Still, good of UEFA to select him again to referee Bayern vs Fiorentina (2-1), where he showed that his eye for offside was just as acute as for penalties. With a minute to go, Bayern's Ivica Olic headed the ball forward towards Miroslav Klose deep in an offside position for the German international to score the home side's winning goal. Since Klose was about two meters behind Fiorentina's defense, it is not clear what Ovrebo and his linesman were thinking when validating the goal. Deep down south in Oporto the home crowd admired the performance by Sweden's Martin Hansson, the very same guy who denied Brazil a good goal in last year's Confederation Cup finals and overlooked Thierry Henry's handball in the World Cup qualifier between France and Ireland (1-1). This time Hansson allowed Porto players to execute an indirect kick before Arsenal's defense had any chance to set up a wall or perhaps even to realize just what the ref had ruled. The play produced the second goal for Porto, who will travel to Emirates Stadium with an undeserved 2-1 advantage. Hansson also failed to award a clear penalty to Arsenal for a blatant foul on Rosicky. And such a referee, inevitably, will be among the officials featured at the World Cup. Possibly because FIFA's human resources department belong to the same school of thought as their counterparts at UEFA. 
 Playoff to determine a CL berth in England? According to UK press reports, the Premier League is studying a change in the qualifying system for the Champions League. The change would affect the fourth berth for the prime soccer competition, which is currently automatically awarded to the fourth placed team. Under the proposed new regulations, the teams occupying the fourth through seventh position would play-off for the remaining spot in the Champions League. The playoffs would very much look like the post-regular season games in England's lower divisions between the teams placed from third to sixth in order to determine who goes up. According to the proponents, the modification of the qualifying system would give added hope of reaching the European elite competition to a few more teams beyond the classic "big four" of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. The Premier League apparently plans to discuss the measure at an assembly scheduled for April, while a spokesman for the organization declined to confirm or deny the reports regarding the proposed changes. 
Advocaat not replacing Hiddink in Russia Russia's debacle in the World Cup qualifiers against Slovenia put an end to Guus Hiddink's tenure as the national team coach, opening the floodgates to rumours as to who will succeed the Dutchman in one of the world's better paid jobs. The Russian press claimed it would be another Dutchman with knowledge of the local game, Dirk Advocaat. Still, the former Zenit Petrograd coach rejected the speculations saying no-one from the Russian FA has contacted him regarding the job. Even if they had, it would be highly unlikely that Belgium would release Advocaat from his current contract tying him to the Red Devils' squad. On the other hand, the Turkish FA announced they had reached an agreement with Hiddink and that the ex-Chelsea manager will take over Turkey starting next July. Previous World Soccer News © Soccerphile.com Tags Soccer News football

Manuel Pellegrini is a man constantly under pressure at Real Madrid. This pressure intensified after the 1-0 Champions League defeat to Lyon on Tuesday. The trouble is that Real's squad is so expensively assembled that the convenient solution to the club's ills is to replace the coach. Get rid of Cristiano Ronaldo because the team often play better without him? Never. Sell Karim Benzema because he hasn't made the expected impact since joining from Lyon? No way. Instead of attempting to build a team with more equilibrium, it is easier just to replace the coach.