World Soccer News for week of 06/13 European Championships: What does a good start mean? What's a thousand lawyers chained at the bottom of the sea? A good start, says a joke. At the Euros, a good start is essential for the ultimate win, says the history. The Netherlands, Spain and Portugal shone in their initial games, beating Italy, Russia and Turkey by an aggregate 9-1. Before 1980, only four teams played in the final stage under the cup system, so the champions necessarily had to win in the semifinals to reach the finals at all. Starting with Italy 1980, we notice that five out of seven champions won their first games, whereas only the Dutch lost 20 years ago and still went on to collect the ultimate prize. Germany and France on two occasions each plus Greece at the last Championship all won on their debut and kept the good form until the final moment. The Netherlands had a hard time qualifying for the semifinals after an initial loss to the Soviet Union in 1988, but two weeks later defeated the same rival in the finals to win their only big gold medal to date. Of all the winners, only Denmark achieved a draw in their first match in 1992. That was a goalless draw against England when no-one alive dreamt that the Danes could go all the way. Well, they did and that was the year of the Danish Dinamite. How the winners started 2004. GREECE vs Portugal 2-1 2000. FRANCE vs Denmark 3-0 1996. GERMANY vs Czechia 2-0 1992. DENMARK vs England 0-0 1988. NETHERLANDS vs USSR 0-1 1984. FRANCE vs DENMARK 1-0 1980. (W) GERMANY vs Czechoslovakia 1-0 Ian Wright duly slams greedy Ronaldo Former Arsenal's superstar Ian Wright was a speedy, cool finisher. And in his column for The Sun , he clinically finished off Cristiano Ronaldo over his irreverence showed towards Manchester United fans, teammates and coaches. "As a player, there’s no doubt what you’re capable of. As a man, you’re not showing any class whatsoever," Wrightie told the spoiled Ronaldo, who is still toying with the nerves of Alex Ferguson and United's millions of fans. The ex-Gunner reminds the Portuguese that Ferguson stuck with him in the first three seasons when he did not always play so amazingly, with all the diving and selfish dribbling instead of passing to an open team-mate: "I understand if it’s your dream to play for Real but you owe it to United to be patient — and that’s why you should stay. Doesn’t the affection of United’s fans and your team-mates mean anything to you?" Wright also touches upon the role of the "advisors", the obscure selfish individuals who thrive on displacing players just so that they could collect the commission, and the FIFA's leniency towards the clubs who so blatantly disregard contracts and regulations. And Real Madrid fits the profile better than any other club in the world. "It seems Real have again shown they have a disregard for other clubs and the rules of football. But they’ll continue to act like this, as long as they’re allowed to get away with it," concluded Wright his dissection of the "cesspit" today's football has come to be. Eto'o: Tottenham not good enough for me The Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto'o, recently involved in an incident with hitting a journalist, pointed a finger at the core problem that cost Barcelona trophies over the past two years: lack of physical fitness. "Technically, we have been really strong, but physically only average. In today's football, whoever does not run is lost. We were not prepared to run and that's why we suffered so many defeats in the last two seasons," said Eto'o to the Cameroonian television station, CRTV. In the same interview, Eto'o spoke of his future and the offer received by Tottenham. "May the English forgive me, but Tottenham is a midtable team, while I need more. I have a contract with Barcelona until 2010 and I feel well at the club. I cannot rule out the option with Inter, but I insist that I'm a Barca player." Maybe Eto'o will change his mind if the Spurs, now led by Luka Modric, climb among the top four in the Premier League? River Plate champs four years later One of the most famous American clubs, River Plate of Buenos Aires, returned to the Argentinian throne by winning the Clausura 2008, one of the two six-month championships played in this country. The "Millonarios" made sure of the trophy by beating Olimpo 2-1 on the penultimate day of the competition thanks to two goals by Diego Buonanotte, one in each half. River featured the unfortunate Ariel Ortega, the Argentinian Gazza, who alternates good displays with visits to alcoholism clinics. The decisive match was played at the Monumental Stadion before 58,000 fans, who cheered their players and the coach Diego Simeone. The former 100-cap international, famous for provoking David Beckham into getting sent off at the 1998 World Cup, already has two titles at his name. Since retiring as a player 27 months ago, Simeone led Estudiantes to the Apertura 2006, before repeating the success at River. With 90 minutes to go, River are four points ahead of their perennial rivals, Boca Juniors. Pelé against playing at high altitudes During his recent visit to Chile, the legendary Pelé confirmed he was against FIFA's decision to again allow playing of soccer games above 2750 meters, which it had banned last year because of the possible threat it poses to players' health. The Brazilian hero claims that playing at such heights is a factor of inequality, because it favours only those who live high above sea level. "Considering the equality and protection of players, I believe that each country should organize the teams in places at lower altitudes. That is more favourable for players' health," said the three-time World Cup Winner. When FIFA initially introduced the high-altitude ban, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia raised their voices crying "discrimination", although all of these countries have stadia far below the danger zone. "Although I played in La Paz, I would much prefer Bolivia choosing other cities for staging games," concluded Pelé. 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

EURO 2008: Portugal 3:1 Czech Republic (Deco 8', Sionko 16', Ronaldo 63', Quaresma 90'), Stade de Suisse, Geneva Portugal are in pole position in Group A after ousting the Czech Republic 3-1 in Geneva. Cristiano Ronaldo, widely touted to be the start of the tournament, was instrumental in all three goals. His dribble in the eight minute allowed Deco to hand Portugal the lead. He then followed it up with a solo strike in the 63rd and then turned provider for Ricardo Quaresma to seal the game with seconds remaining. The Czechs had drawn level through Libor Sionko, the first equalising goal of the tournament, but in the end, quality won through over hard graft. Following a quiet opening, Portugal sprinted into an 8th-minute lead through Deco. Cristiano Ronaldo on the left wing was the instigator, slipping between two defenders before playing a 1-2 with Nuno Gomes and almost rounding Petr Cech to score himself. Deco scooped up the loose ball and netted courtesy of a deflection off Marek Jankulovski. It took until the 16th minute for the Czechs to find some fluency, Zdenek Greygera finding Milan Baros with a curling centre, but the Portsmouth striker's header was too high. A minute later they were level with stunning simplicity: A whipped in corner from Jaroslav Plasil on the right and a textbook bullet header on the run from winger Libor Sionko. Italian ref Roberto Rosetti made few friends in the 30,000 arena, with both sets of fans whistling several of his calls at ear-splitting volume. Ronaldo played a quiet first half in cruise control. But his snap contributions were telling. It was his dribble which led to Deco scoring and in the 42nd minute, an impromptu missile from 25 yards was only kept out by an airborne Petr Cech, who also blocked his dipping free kick at the end of the first 45. The second half began slowly but eight minutes in, Nuno Gomes came to life with a pair of efforts saved by Cech. Portugal again threatened when Deco slipped Simao into the box in the 58th and Cech had to save with his legs. Three minutes after the hour their persistence paid off as Ronaldo ghosted in to meet Deco's precise cross on the edge of the box and rifled a grasscutter into the net. Portugal looked to be cantering to a win but almost conceded again when Milan Baros evaded marking for a free header in the 78th minute, directed agonisingly wide. With the 35 year-old giant Jan Koller also now stomping around up frontld, it was no time to count chickens, Portugal's national symbol. Five minutes later it was Sionko who exposed the Portuguese's slackening marking with another unmarked header, tipped over by an alert Ricardo in goal. But despite a couple of Ricardo interventions in the closing minutes and a couple of scares in the box, the Czechs failed to land a second killer punch and with their red shirts pushed upfield, Portugal added a killer third with seconds remaining. Ronaldo broke free and squared for Quaresma to slot home into an empty net. Portugal play Switzerland on Sunday almost assured of a place in the last eight, while the Czechs must look for three points in their final game against Turkey. Four years ago, the Czech Republic were the strongest team in Europe. But today in sunny Geneva, the game belonged to the scarf-spinning red and green thousands, who happen to be Switzerland's largest expat community to boot. Dreaming of more Ronaldo magic, Portugal steam on. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

Results 10th June: Spain 4:1 Russia (Villa 20' 45' 75', Pavluchenko 86', Fabregas 90'), Innsbruck Sweden 2:0 Greece (Ibrahimovic 67', Hansson 73'), Salzburg Now we have seen all the teams, what have we learnt so far? Ibrahimovic's golazo against Greece was the most spectacular goal, Spain's 4-1 torching of Russia the most alluring and the Dutch's 3-0 thumping of Italy the stand-out result of the first slew of games. Fears that the Oranje would miss Arjen Robben proved groundless as they trounced the World Champions, defeating the Azzurri for the first time since Nottingham Forest were last crowned English champions. Italy has been awash with soul-searching today after such a clamorous capitulation. Italian back fours are supposed to be as compact as ranks of Roman legionary, not crumble like old Garibaldi biscuits left in the tin for too long. In midfield and attack too, the azure blues were decidedly off-colour as the Dutch sailed past them time and again, bagging three goals when it could have been more. All of a sudden, the in-vogue formation of 4-1-4-1 looked rather ropey. How fortunes change. Marco Van Basten is once again the Netherlands' poster boy after serious doubts were raised following his team's heavy weather in qualifying, while the blissful memory of the World Cup triumph in Germany has begun to fade. My suspicion is the Dutch are yet to prove they can be consistent so let us not get carried away. Remember how the Dutch steamrollered Yugoslavia 6-1 in the Euro 2000 quarter-final before grinding to a 0-0 draw and defeat on penalties against Italy in the semi-final. More recently, they began the 2006 World Cup at a canter, dispatching Serbia 6-0 in the first round before succumbing dismally 1-0 to Portugal in an ill-tempered game that produced four red cards and eight yellow cards. It was a Dutchman who coined the phrase 'sexy football' but it wasn't his countrymen playing the hottest soccer so far in the Alps. That award goes to Spain, who followed a stop-start 1-0 win over the USA in their final preparation match with a 4-1 mutilation of Russia and Guus Hiddink. How much should we read into Spain's deliciously simple pass and move soccer I am not sure. Russia were rubber in defence and, here comes my two cents, I could not imagine England being so outplayed had they qualified in place of them. Russia, let us not forget, were woeful 3-0 losers at Wembley in qualifying and also lost away to Israel, only scraping into the finals courtesy of England's self-destruction at home to Croatia in their final game. Guus Hiddink may be one of the world's top coaches, but his CV looked creased after Spain had finished with his latest team. Other sidesvmaking up the numbers are Poland and Turkey, who were utterly insipid losing to Portugal. And Greece, you might say, but I shall defend Otto Rehagel's team for providing some welcome entertainment. The sight of the Salzburg arena booing and whistling the Greeks for their negative play was wonderful theatre. Yes, we all want to be entertained and God forbid every team played like Greece, but I have a sneaking admiration for a team who managed to win Euro 2004 without any flair and who have the gall to turn up four years later with the same coach and same tactics! Plus we like to boo the baddie. The Czechs and French have yet to convince me while Sweden and Croatia's victories confirmed they will be tough nuts for any team to crack. Romania have yet to show what they are about, if anything while of the twin hosts, Switzerland could yet make it to the second round if results go their way. After, Holland, Portugal and Spain, the fourth and last team in the A-League thus far is of course Germany, who looked a much improved and more confident team than two years ago. That the Germans could be on the road to another final is demoralising on the one hand, but only to be expected on the other. There will be tougher tests than Poland ahead for Joachim Low's side, but there was an inescapable feeling during that game that we have been down this familiar road many times before. (c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

EURO 2008: Portugal 2-0 Turkey (Pepe 61, Mireiles 90') 31,000, Geneva Portugal established themselves as one of the favourites for the European Championship with an assured 2-0 win over Turkey in Geneva. Before Pepe fired in after a slick raid just after the hour, Cristiano Ronaldo once and Nuno Gomes twice hit the Turkish woodwork. Raul Mireiles secured the win at the death after Ronaldo had led a counter-attack. Turkey looked distinctly second best in all areas and lost the possession battle 60-40%. The Portuguese tackle fellow winners the Czech Republic in Geneva on Wednesday, while Turkey play Switzerland in Basel. (c) Sean O'Conor & 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

World Soccer News for the week of 04/11/08 Liverpool after "Croatian Cruyff", Luka Modric Dinamo Zagreb have received the first formal offer for their star midfielder Luka Modric. The offer came from five time European champions, Liverpool, according to leading Croatian daily, Vecernji list . The Croatian press recently published reports that Newcastle, Tottenham, Chelsea and Arsenal all expressed interest in the 22-year-old midfield schemer, but Liverpool seems to have made the first concrete move to seize Modric. The player carries a 23 million euros price tag, but Dinamo may be willing to offload him for a mere 20 million. Should the prospective buyers wait until the end of the European Championship, the price could rise in accordance to Modric's performance. The youngster bearing an uncanny physical resemblance to Johan Cruyff is a creative, goal-scoring midfielder who has won so far two League titles, one FA Cup and one Croatian supercup, and a third consecutive league championship is virtually secure, as well as a second successive place in the FA Cup finals. "I am truly honoured if it is true that Liverpool want me. I watched them break Arsenal. That was a magnificent game. Only the biggest teams can play so well against an opponent as strong as Arsenal," said Modric. Porto celebrate title, but is it too early? FC Porto have become the first team from a major European soccer league to have secured this season's title...unless the Portuguese FA strip them of six points as punishment for attempted corruption. Porto have already celebrated their third consecutive title after beating Estrela Amadora 6-0 last Sunday, but the celebrations could prove premature if the disciplinary procedure within the FA is finalized during the next couple of weeks. It seems that during the 2003/04 season Porto arranged for certain referees to direct two of their League games, which in the eyes of the FA constitutes an attempt at corruption. Maximum punishment for this is the subtraction of six points, but Porto are certain to clinch the title even without these points seeing that their advantage over Benfica and Sporting is so huge. The club's chairman Pinto da Costa on the other hand faces a two year suspension. Playing at high altitude could be fatal, say doctors The Brazilian side Flamengo of Rio de Janeiro claim to have collected evidence of the dangers of playing at high altitude. The red and blacks received a facsimile from a group of Bolivian and Mexican doctors who had concluded that playing high above sea level could prove fatal. The doctors reached this conclusion after studying the death of a 23-year-old soccer player last year during a game in the Bolivian mountain city of Potosí. The physicians performed all sorts of heart and blood tests on various players who had played at altitudes of above 2500 meters and determined that athletes indeed can die in such conditions. The Brazilian media claim the Bolivian authorities tried to prevent the publication of the said report since their country's FA is struggling to persuade FIFA to withdraw the ban on playing international matches above 2700 meters. Other countries involved in the struggle against FIFA are Ecuador, Peru and Colombia, while Brazil and Argentina largely support the ruling. According to the medical science, athletes should have to spend two weeks adapting to high altitude before playing a soccer match, which is impracticable due to the condensed playing schedule. Mijatovic tries to lure Cristiano Ronaldo to Madrid Real Madrid's sports director Predrag Mijatovic travelled to Manchester last week to discuss a possible transfer with Cristiano Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes. According to Spanish tv station Sexta, Real Madrid are prepared to play no less than 125 million euros for the magnificent Portuguese player, which is five million more than the Spaniards had previously offered. Last summer Manchester United were unwilling to accept 120 million euros, so it is unclear how five million more could make a difference. Still, Real Madrid hope Cristiano could be theirs for much less in two years time, when he would be able to invoke UEFA's controversial Webster ruling, allowing players over 23 to buy off their contract by simply paying the club their remaining wages. Getafe protests over favouritism towards Valencia Angel Torres, chairman of Madrid giant killers Getafe, is furious over the Spanish League's treatment of his team in view of the forthcoming Cup finals to be held on April 16th. What angers Torres is the fact that the League allowed Valencia to bring forward their League game against Rácing from next Sunday to Saturday. Curiously, the League also said it would allow Getafe to play against Zaragoza on Saturday, but that change of date would not mean anything to the Madrid team. In fact, it would complicate their life rather than make it easier. The reason is Getafe played their UEFA Cup quarterfinals second leg against Bayern on Thursday, so meeting Zaragoza on Saturday would be a terrible ordeal for them. "A solution would be fielding juniors against Zaragoza, but we are not going to do that in order not to hurt other clubs. Therefore we shall ask for the resignation of the League chairman José Luis Astiazaran," said Torres. Since Zaragoza is a relegation threatened team, Getafe vows to field a full team to guarantee the regularity of the competition. 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

Weekly world news for week of October 30th Thuram against DNA tests for immigrants The French international Lilian Thuram is known for his political and social commitment, notably when the interests of his race are threatened. Barcelona's defender has once again risen against a controversial move of his country's government by signing a manifest against the obligatory DNA analysis that the president Nicolas Sarkozy plans to have imposed on all foreigners wishing to move to France in order to reunite with their families. Such an obligation would according to Thuram be discriminatory and racist.