UEFA Cup Zenit's success triumph of soccer Ozren Podnar reports... A brilliant Zenit team became only the second European trophy winner for Russia after CSKA Moscow three years ago. Congratulations to Zenit, as their soccer was like a puff of fresh air: lightfooted, attacking and ambitious, unlike that of Glasgow Rangers, which reminded us of Greece from the 2004 Euro. And that should not be taken as a compliment. At the City of Manchester, Zenit crowned their brilliant European season in which they overcame teams from the biggest leagues: Villarreal (1-0 and 1-2), Marseille (1-3 and 2-0), Bayer (4-1 and 0-1) and Bayern (1-1 and 4-0). The first leg against Bayer in Leverkusen, where the home team were thoroughly thrashed, opened everybody's eyes to the Russians' potential, and the later demolishing of Bayern delighted the fans everywhere thanks to an inspired and fast-paced play reminiscent of the wonderful Dinamo Kiev of the seventies and eighties. In spite of the admiration for the Rangers' commitment and desire, the neutrals largely fancied Zenit, who did not allow the Scots to suffocate them as they had suffocated Panathinaikos, Sporting and Fiorentina with their 7-8 men defense. . Even without Pavel Pogrebnyak, this season's UEFA Cup's top scorer, the St. Petersburg team had enough explosive to penetrate the Rangers' stonewall twice. The first to do it was Igor Denisov after a nice interplay with Andrei Arshavin and the last bricks of the bunker were demolished by Konstantin Ziryanov in the last minute after a cross by Fatih Tekke. As far as the Rangers are concerned, the finals in Manchester evoked memories from Barcelona 36 years ago. There Rangers played their previous European finals against another Russian squad, Dinamo Moscow, but then they prevailed by 3-2. The Rangers fans then also "prevailed" against the police at Camp Nou, which ultimately cost the team a two-year ban from Europe. UEFA Cup finals City of Manchester Stadium Zenit vs Rangers 2-0 (0-0) Scorers: Denisov (72), Ziryanov (90) Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

Sretan ishod Kupa UEFA Čestitke Zenitu – i Istok ima "konja za trku" Sjajni sastav Zenita postala je druga ruska osvajačica europskog trofeja, tri godine nakon moskovskog CSKA. Obje su imale svog Hrvata, dapače Ivicu. CSKA Olića, Zenit Križanca. Svaka čast, i Križancu i Zenitu, jer njihov je nogomet poletan, ofenzivan i ambiciozan, za razliku od Rangersovog, koji nas je podsjetio na – Grčku s Eura 2004.! A o toj Grčkoj ne mislimo ništa dobra. Iako volimo bivšeg Rangerovca Dadu Pršu, naše su simpatije bile na strani Zenita, koji nije dao Škotima da ga zaguše kao što su ranije zagušili Panathinaikos, Sporting i Fiorentina: i bez Pavela Pogrebnjaka, prvog topnika Kupa UEFA, petrogradski je sastav imao dovoljno eksploziva da probije škotski bunker. Prvi je to učinio Igor Denisov u akciji s junakom navijača, Andrejom Aršavinom, a zadnje je "ciglice" bunkera srušio Konstantin Zirjanov u 90. minuti na dodavanje Turčina Fatiha Tekkea. Finale u Manchesteru donijelo je nekoliko zanimljivih podudarnosti. Prije 36 godina, Rangersi su svoje prethodno europsko finale odigrali protiv ruske momčadi, ali su tada bili bolji od moskovskog Dinama s 3:2; kao i rusku reprezentaciju, i Zenit danas vodi Nizozemac, Dick Advocaat, zvani Mali general. Zenitaši su protiv glasgowskih plavaca okrunili blistavu europsku sezonu, u kojoj su redom rušili momčadi iz najjačih liga: Villarreal s 1:0 i 1:2, Marseille s 1:3 i 2:0, Bayer s 4:1 i 0:1 te Bayern s 1:1 i 4:0. Sjajna predstava u Leverkusenu, kojom je potučen Bayer, otvorila je oči cijeloj nogometnoj Europi na Zenitov potencijal, a 4:0 protiv samog Bayerna, uvjerljivog njemačkog osvajača trostruke krune izazvala je oduševljenje nadahnutom brzopoteznom igrom Rusa, koja podsjeća na kijevski Dinamo iz sedamdesetih i osamdesetih. A kijevski Dinamo, da ne zaboravimo, najbolja je slavenska momčad u povijesti. Copyright Ozren Podnar & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

World Soccer News for week of 04/21 Standard Liege on top 25 years later An old glory of Belgian soccer, Standard Liege, have finally managed to win the domestic championship, their first in a quarter of the century and indeed the first piece of silverware after 15 years. It has taken a truly remarkable display throughout the season for Standard to emerge on top: a 31-game unbeaten run, which has culminated with a 2-0 win over the archrivals Anderlecht in the decisive match. This is the ninth League title for Standard, who also won five Belgian cups and played in the 1982 Cup Winners' Cup against Barcelona at Camp Nou back then in the times of Arie Haan, Benny Wendt and Simon Tahamata. PSV make it four in a row In the neighbouring Netherlands, PSV have not had a shortage of trophies over the past decades. The Eindhoven team have snatched their fourth consecutive title, 21st in their history, by winning 1-0 at Vitesse. PSV needed just a draw in their last game to stay ahead of Ajax, who demolished Heracles by 5-1 in hope their rivals would trip up in Arnhem. The provincials have dominated the Dutch scene in the past nine seasons, winning seven titles and leaving just two to Ajax. Their successes include eight Dutch cups, seven Supercups, one Champions Cup and one UEFA Cup. Olympiacos continue to frustrate rivals Even more prominent than PSV's in the Netherlands is Olympiacos' rule in Greece, as the red and whites have just added the 36th league title into their trophy room at the end of an emotional season that saw them shrug off a serious challenge by AEK Athens. The crucial win for the Children of Piraeus came on the last day at home against Iraklis, well beaten by 3-1, only two weeks after Olympiacos got thrashed by AEK by 4-0 in the southern derby. This has also been the fourth consecutive championship for Olympiacos, the three previous ones having come with the help of Rivaldo. The famous Brazilian played in AEK this season, but his magic has not been quite enough to turn the balance in favour of the Athens side. How frustrating it must be for the rivals to know that Olympiacos, nicknamed Legend by their fans, have won eleven out of twelve championships since 1997/98. Luca Toni makes good of Kahns words Bayern Munich goalkeeper Oliver Kahn said on the eve of the German DFB Cup finals that Luca Toni must be one of the greatest strikers in the history of the club. Toni has been the major force in this marvellous season for the Bavarians who may still wrap up all four available trophies. After picking up the League cup early in the season, Bayern made it a cup double against Borussia Dortmund on Saturday and guess who scored both goals for the winners: Luca Toni. The only goal for the losers was scored by the Croatian Mladen Petric, the man responsible for England's failure to qualify for this year's European Championships. “He is one of the best I have ever seen playing here at Bayern in terms of striking qualities," said Kahn enthusiastically days after the 193 cm tall Italian had achieved another double to put his team through to the UEFA Cup semifinals in the epic clash against Getafe. “He is a predator and there are very few of those around. He is at home in the penalty area and he is always in the right place, so he doesn’t need many chances to score.” Of course, Toni also racked up 20 goals in the Bundesliga, a tally destined to grow in the remaining five matches in which Bayern is expected to clinch the third season's trophy. Eduardo da Silva continues rehabilitation in Rio Arsenal's Eduardo da Silva, currently recovering from the terrible fibula fracture sustained in February, has arrived in native Rio de Janeiro where he is expected to stay for about three months. According to the doctors, the Gunner's condition is satisfactory and his career is not in question. When exactly the naturalized Croat will be back in action is still early to say as only two months have passed since Martin Taylor's fateful tackle. "I would like to stay in Brazil, with my family, until the end of my rehabilitaton, but I am not sure whether Arsenal will allow me or if they will ask me to return to England in July," said Eduardo, whose injury signalled the beginning of a dreadful spell for his team. Five points clear of Manchester United before the incident quickly melted away as the Gunners managed to win just two Premier League games in two months. Croatia's coach Slaven Bilic and the fans fear that the national team might miss Eduardo just as badly as the final stage in Austria and Switzerland is due to start in six weeks. Nereida Gallardo is new Cristiano's sweetheart Her identity could not stay unknown for long. New Cristiano Ronaldo's girlfriend is Nereida Gallardo Álvarez and she is a Mallorca-born model. The reporters spent a long time searching for her identity and they received some help from other Manchester United players. When the 23-year old Portuguese scored against Middlesbrough, he waved to someone in the box of honour. Seated there was Ronaldo's cousin Nuno and a glamorous beauty who the others had thought was Nuno's fiancé. However, Ronaldo's mates indicated the reporters that the girl in question is in fact their number seven's girlfriend. She is a 25-year old brunette whose proportions read 94-62-94. It can hardly get any better and this may be the reason so many boys all over the world strive to become professional soccer players. The previous Ronaldo's lovers included tv-reporters Merche Romero and Carolina Patrocinio plus the British model Gemma Atkinson and the Colombian actress Mirella Grisales – a highly exciting quartet! Copyright Ozren Podnar & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

UEFA Cup report ">Adios Getafe, only big guns remain After all, the UEFA Cup semifinal setup will be worthy of the illustrious tradition of this competition. After the elimination of Getafe, whose best-ever Spanish league standing was last year's nineth, only the teams worthy of European glory have remained. The big hit of the current edition are the Russian champions Zenit, who kicked out Villarreal, Marseille and Bayer Leverkusen in the past three rounds. Led by the respectable Dutch coach in Dirk Advocaaat and a handful of Russian internationals, Zenit reached their first European semifinals, and it is possible that they have not said their last word although their next opposition are Bayern. The ease with which they demolished Leverkusen Bayern, by far the winningest team of the last four, had not seen a semifinal action since 2001, when they eliminated Real Madrid on the way to their fourth Champions League title. Despite a certain anonimity on the continental field after that achievement, Bayern are still one of the world soccer giants with shelves packed with silverware: four Champions Leagues, Cup Winners' Cup. UEFA Cup, Supercup and two Intercontinental Cups. Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld says he sees Bayern in the finals, but after toiling so much against a modest side like Getafe, the Bavarians had better approach their next obstacle with more humility. Fiorentina and Rangers own just one European trophy, a Cup Winners' Cup each. The Italians won the first edition of the competition in 1961, beating who else but Rangers by 2-0 and 2-1. They were on the losing side in the following year's finals against Atlético Madrid and in 1990 they lost a UEFA Cup finals against Juventus. Their last appearance in the semifinal stage came eleven years ago when Ronaldo's and Figo's Barcelone proved too powerful for the Violets. Rangers collected their only continental honour in 1972, after losing two previous finals in 1961 and 1967. In the scandalous final held in Barcelona thousands of Rangers' fans fought with the police, which cost the club one year suspension. After that tarnished triumph, the Blues came close to a final game only once, when they finished second in the semifinal group of the 1992/93 Champions League, behind eventual winners Marseille. Since this year's finals is to be played in Glasgow, Rangers believe the trophy is destined to end up in their hands, but before that happens Fiorentina's in-form man, Adrian Mutu, will have to give his approval. UEFA Cup quarterfinals 2007/08 Bayer L. vs Zenit 1-4 1-0 Bayern vs Getafe 1-1 3-3 (a.e.t.) Fiorentina – PSV 1-1 2-0 Rangers – Sporting L. 0-0 2-0 Copyright Ozren Podnar and Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

World Soccer News - For week of 3rd February Bayern introduce code of conduct Bayern players had better behave. Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld personally compiled a code of conduct, obligatory for all the players at the Bavarian club. The introduction of the code was motivated by the captain's Oliver Kahn's recent outburst, a public criticism of his two new teammates Franck Ribery and Luca Toni. "A couple of newcomers must understand that two or three good games are not enough here. Bayern is not Marseille or Fiorentina," said Kahn, obviously referring to the French and the Italian. Bayern's board suspended the goalkeeper and fined him 25,000 euros, believing him to have violated the club's reputation. It will be intriguing to see whether the incoming coach Jürgen Klinsmann will observe Hitzfeld's code when he takes over on July 1st or will perhaps introduce modifications. Modest president refuses to have stadium named after him The Mexican president Felipe Calderón rejected a proposal of having his name given to the soccer stadium of Pachuca Tuzos. Calderón was presented with the idea on the occasion of the inauguration of a soccer academy in the Central Mexican city of Pachuca. "I'm honoured, but I cannot accept the proposal. We the politicians have to avoid temptations that could lead us to losing contact with reality. Streets and buildings should not carry names of current politicians at all," said the modest president. And his refusal had nothing to do with his support for Tuzos' rivals, Morelia Monarcas. "On the contrary. My son supports Pachuca and even asked Santa Claus to bring him (goalkeeper's) Miguel Calero's shirt last Christmas. I wish the whole of Mexico could make progress like Pachuca, who came up from the Second Division and joined the elite." Irony of fate: Kastrati had a testicle injured Bekim Kastrati, from Fortuna Düsseldorf, sustained a severe injury during a game against Bayern Munich...an injury seriously reminiscent of his name. In a collision with the mighty stopper Daniel van Buyten, Kastrati received a powerful blow on one of his testicles. Even though he somehow managed to stay on the pitch for a while, the pains forced him to call for help. He was urgently shipped to a hospital where the surgeons performed an operation on his ruptured testicle. The destiny of the misfortunate organ has not been made public, but doctors say Kastrati should be back in action in early March. Sevilla's president rants against Juande Ramos José María del Nido, president of UEFA Cup winners Sevilla, is not exacly an admirer of his former employee, Juande Ramos. Del Nido called the current Tottenham coach "a traitor" and that in Seville no-one follows his work at White Hart Lane. "Not a single Sevilla fan is interested in how he fares in England. I, for one, could not care less," said the president of the coach who brought five trophies to his club in the space of 15 months. On the other hand, Tottenham reached a major final after six years after beating none other than Arsenal by 5-1 in the League Cup semifinals. "It doesn't matter. Juande Ramos is history. He betrayed Sevilla and went to another club for more money," concluded the president. However, Juande is doublessly more concerned about what his current employers are thinking of him. Manchester United, champions of ugly? Wayne Rooney is the least attractive soccer player in the world, just ahead of Ronaldinho and Carlos Tévez according to a survey carried out on 2500 women. In the survey published on www.thepeoplesclub.com roughly a third of the participants voted for Rooney, humorously nicknamed Shrek after the ogre from the homonimous film. The Manchester United ace finished ahead of Barcelona's Ronaldinho with his cartoon character features and his fellow Red Devil Tévez, famous for his facial scars. The comic beampole striker Peter Crouch just missed out on the medals, while Ronaldo Nazario occupied the fifth spot even though (or maybe because) of his recently grown curls. "Our survey show that money can't buy you looks," said Carl Christensen, spokesperson of thepeoplesclub.com, in an interview to the Daily Star. "But money sure does help an ordinary guy get a good-looking girl. You have to look no further than Peter Crouch and Abbey Clancy." He is certainly right about that, since 20% of the surveyed women claimed they wouldn't mind dating the ugly guys from the list, because their star status and their attractive bank accounts more than adequately compensate for any aesthetic shortcomings. Top ten The top-20 includes no less than seven Manchester United players, which speaks about the local character of the survey more than the guys' true status on the beauty market. 1 Wayne Rooney (Manchester United) 2 Ronaldinho (Barcelona) 3 Carlos Tévez (Manchester United) 4 Peter Crouch (Liverpool) 5 Ronaldo Nazario Lima (Milan) 6 Luke Chadwick (Manchester United) 7 Robbie Fowler (Cardiff) 8 Darren Fletcher (Manchester United) 9 Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United) 10 Ruud Van Nistelrooy (Real Madrid) Torres best looking, say the men Probably inspired by the PeoplesClub's poll, the satirical website Chicken Dinner tried to find out about the best looking players in England. So they asked their male, presumably mostly heterosexual readers. The most popular with 35% of the votes turned out to be Liverpool's Fernando Torres, called El nino (The Boy). "Torres is prettier than my last girlfriend," said one of the participants. The Brazilian Kaká won a notable 9th place even though he does not even play in England. "I voted for him because Milan kicked out Manchester United from the Champions' League," explained a City supporter. The most attractive players 1 Fernando Torres (Liverpool) 2 Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham) 3 Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn) 4 David James (Portsmouth) 5 Theo Walcott (Arsenal) 6 Nani (Manchester United) 7 Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea) 8 Shaun Wright-Phillips (Chelsea) 9 Kaká (Milan) 10 Jeremy Aliadiere (Middlesbrough) Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

El delantero croata Ivan Klasnic, personaje del año en Alemania El futbolista croata Ivan Klasnic ha sido votado personaje del año el Alemania en encuesta de la revista Kicker, que publicó hoy los resultados. El delantero del Werder Bremen ha merecido este gelardón por haber reanudado su carrera deportiva después de sufrir una insuficiencia renal total y aguantar dos trasplantes de riñon, el segundo de los que, el pasado mes de marzo, resultó exitoso. Klasnic, de 27 años, volvió a entrenarse en julio y se ganó un puesto en el segundo equipo del Werder y luego en el primero, siempre con goles. El internacional croata, al que el seleccionador Slaven Bilic promete la inclusión a la expedición para la Eurocopa, sucede a Franz Beckenbauer, quien ganó este premio en el 2006 por su trabajo en el Comité organizador el Mundial de fútbol en Alemania. Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting