World Soccer News for week of 06/01 UEFA considers expelling Porto A four year old referee tampering scandal could cost Porto its participation in next year's Champions' League. The top Portuguese club were recently punished by their FA by a deduction of six points for the 2007/08 championship, which did not hurt them as their advantage over Sporting Lisbon was as many as 20 points. Unfortunately, UEFA have acquired an interest in the case, and the consequences could be severe. "As per UEFA's request, the Portuguese FA have submitted to our attention all the documents related to the sanctions imposed on Porto, and our Control and Disciplinary Body is studying them," said communications director William Gaillard. The scandal dates back to the 2003/04 season, when Porto attempted to bribe two referees to make sure of winning the league. Interestingly, the clubs involved in the European competitions are more prone to wrongdoings, arguably not wanting to risk domestic success because of their international efforts. Standard Liege bought a 1982 league game to ensure the Belgian title and calmly play the Cup Winners' Cup finals (which they lost to Barcelona). Olympique Marseille did a similar thing in 1993 just before the Champions League finals. They were later stripped of the French title, but at least they beat Milan 1-0 and won the European prize. Porto in 2004 won the double under the guidance of José Mourinho. Eduardo da Silva back sooner than thought? Arsenal's Brazilo-croatian striker Eduardo da Silva may be back in action sooner than even the biggest optimists had predicted. While his teammates in Croatia have had a hard time hitting the net without him, Eduardo's rehabilitation in Brazil is doing just fine, as shown by a video shot by TV Globo. The Gunner, injured in late February in a game against Birmingham, is already able to walk without aid, performing leg workouts in the weight room, riding a bike and kicking the ball with the previously broken leg! "I am very surprised by the speed of my recovery. Arsenal hoped I would go back to practice in December, but now the doctors say it will happen as early as July or August at the latest," said Dudú during the interview. Who knows, if Eduardo's progress continues in the same rhythm, it is not unimaginable that he will be fit to face England on September 10th at Zagreb's Maksimir Stadium in the World Cup qualifying campaign. Even though Eduardo's left leg is looking good, 49% of Arsenal's fans think Arsene Wenger should bring another striker to the squad. Barca's members take initiative against Laporta Almost 10,000 of Barcelona's paying members, the socios, have signed a petition for censorship against club president Joan Laporta. According to Barcelona's statutes, if 5% of the members with the right to vote (adults with over a year's tenure as members) sign the petition, then the club has to organize the vote of confidence in favour or against the president. In fact, by May 29th about 9% of the electorate supported the censorship. If two thirds of those who take part in the soon to be organized poll, then Laporta will have to step down. The spokesman for the opposition, lawyer Oriol Giralt, said that something needed to change very high up in the club, and there is no higher instance than Laporta, who was accused by some of his former associates of having introduced "dictatorship" at the Catalan club. Since winning the 2006 Champions League, Barcelona have only won one other prize, the little-valued Spanish Supercup. And that is precious little for the club's 117,000 members and millions of fans world-wide. Russia considering bid for 2018 World Cup Russia could submit a bid to stage the 2018 World Cup, said the Russian FA chairman and sports minister Vitaliy Mutko. "FIFA has not yet started the campaign for that Cup, but we are already considering the possibility of organizing the competition. Currently we are estimating the necessary investment. Out organizing potential is not in question in any way. Luca Toni voted top Bundesliga player The Italian striker Luca Toni has won the poll for the best player in the Bundesliga, organized by the official web page of the German soccer league. Toni attracted 29% of the votes thanks to his 24 goals and five assists in 31 appearances. His chief rival was his French team mate at Bayern, Franck Ribery, who won 27.7% of the vote. Third place went to Werder's Diego Ribas with 12.8% of the votes. The best-placed German (of sorts) was Mario Gómez of Stuttgart, incidentally born to Spanish parents. Moratti sacks Mancini, but how much will it cost? Kicking out a coach who has just won a third consecutive championship and played in a fourth consecutive national cup finals cannot be common, but that's what has just happened at Internazionale of Milan. Inter's trophy-winning coach Roberto Mancini has finally been sacked after several months of speculation that he would have to go regardless of the outcome of the Italian championship. Moratti's arguments were Mancini's own promise to leave after the Champions League loss to Liverpool in early March and the lack of European success throughout the coach's four-year tenure at Inter. A furious Mancini (43) has voiced dismay over the dismissal and advised Moratti through his attorney that he would have to pay him the remainder of the contract that was to run until 2012. Former Chelsea boss José Mourinho looks poised to take over and is already relishing the high profile opportunity. "It's easy to work with me. One just has to follow me," said Mourinho to a Portuguese newspaper. "I am not 'the special one,' as the English press called me. I'm just an excellent coach with no weak points. Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News

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 week of 04/02 Czechs new European champions, says an analysis The Czech Republic will win the next European Championship by beating Italy in the finals, while France and Portugal will suffer dismal failure in the first round. This is the prediction of UBS Wealth Management Research, the company that accurately predicted Italy's win at the 2006 World Cup. The analysis is based on a complex model that takes into account the current estimated quality of the teams, their history in the competition, home field advantage and economic and monetary factors. After all the factors were weighed, UBS worked out that the Czech Republic and Switzerland would go through from the first group, Germany and Croatia from the second, Italy and the Netherlands from the third, Spain and Greece from the fourth group. Switzerland would then upset Germany, the Dutch would kick out Spain, the Czech Republic would take care of Croatia, while reigning champs Greece would succumb before world champs Italy. In the semis, Italy would see off the Netherlands and the Czechs would put an end to the Swiss hopes. Finally, Czech Republic will edge Italy with the narrowest of odds, 51% to 49%, which suggests that the winner will be determined in extra time or on penalties. Dinamo Zagreb closest to the title The month of April has barely begun and one country could already salute its soccer champions. Croatia's Dinamo Zagreb is a mere two points away from their third consecutive title since they are leading Hajduk Split by 19 points with seven games to go. If Dinamo defeat Inter Zapresic on Sunday, or if both Hajduk Split and Slaven Belupo fail to win, the Croatian league will already be solved as far as the top spot is concerned. In the past two seasons, the Zagreb Lions were also quite convincing. Two years ago, their final advantage over Rijeka was 11 poins, whereas last year Dinamo ran away from Hajduk by 20 points. Close to the title, but not just as close as Dinamo, are PSV Eindhoven in Netherlands and Rangers in Scotland. The Glasgow blues are four points in as many matches away of regaining the league after three seasons, while it will take PSV five points to make it four in a row. Finally, Porto will repeat the title if they collect six points in the remaining seven games. Malaysian laws to stop Chelsea's Asia tour Chelsea may cancel their summer tour of Asia if Malaysia does not allow their two Israelis to enter the country (and, presumably, guarantee their safe stay and return). Due to the absence of diplomatic ties between Malaysia and Israel, the midfielder Tal Ben Haim and the coach Avram Grant would not be able to be with the team during the preparations. "We are certainly not go on tour without our head coach. That mini tour is the key part of our preparations for the next season. There is no point of going there withoug the key man from our technical staff," said Chelsea's executive director, Peter Kenyon. However, should Chelsea fail to win a trophy this season then Grant would surely be sacked and then the Blues would be able to enter Malaysia with a non-Israeli coach. Mexico dumps Hugo Sánchez Mexican national team coach Hugo Sánchez has been unceremoniously dumped from his post by decision of the country's FA. "The FA's assembly unanimously voted to terminate our last coach's contract," said the secretary general, Decio de María. The official added that "Hugo Sánchez's tenure was a colossal failure", announcing Jesús Ramírez as the interim successor. Ramírez is the coach who took Mexico's U-17 team to the world title three years ago in Peru. Sánchez's undoing was the failure to win the qualification for the next summer's Olympic's. The greatest Mexican player in history was named coach in late 2006 and his contract would have normally ran out in 2010. Romário postpones retirement again One of the most venerable veterans, 42-year old Romario de Sousa Faria, has yet again postponed the retirement. The great Brazilian forward said this week that the claims of his imminent retirement were false. Curiously, the claims were made by Romário himself a day earlier. "I have not stopped playing. I am jobless and waiting for new offers," said to the Globo television one day after announcing his "adeus" to soccer in an interview to O Dia daily. Romario played his last game for Vasco da Gama last November, when he was given a four month suspension for using a hair-growth product containing an obscure banned substance. In the meantime, he worked as Vasco's coach, but quit the job as the club's chairman tried to interfere with his coaching decisions, including line-ups. Eduardo da Silva on the way to recovery Arsenal's Eduardo da Silva is doing fine in his recovery from a horrific ankle injury. He has had his cast removed and replaced with a protective air boot and now he is about to undertake the next stage of his rehabilitation in Brazil. After a check-up in a London clinic where the surgery had been performed on his shattered left ankle, the doctors informed the Croatian international that the traumatized tissue and the broken bone were healing well. Eduardo had worn cast for exactly five weeks after that misfortunate tackle from Birmingham's Martin Taylor put him out of action for a period estimated at around nine months. Raúl González makes history Who is the most effective Spanish forward besides Liverpool's Fernando Torres? Obviously Raúl. However, unlike Torres, Real Madrid's skipper is not in coach's Luis Aragonés's plans for the forthcoming Euro 2008. The irrational veteran coach does not appreciate the fact that Raúl last week scored his 16th league goal of the season, raising his career totals to 290 official goals for Real Madrid. The captain, who is having his best season after 2000/01, is currently the second all-time scorer for the royals, tied to legendary Carlos Santillana, but is only 26 goals short of the top scorer Alfredo Di Stéfano. Since Raúl is only 30, he will have plenty of time for overtaking Di Stéfano possibly by the summer of 2009. Incidentally, Raúl has played 475 games in the Primera división, scoring 205 goals. In 14 seasons, he has stayed unter 10 goals just in four of them. 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 2/24 Martin Taylor shocks Arsenal and Croatia Arsenal's Eduardo da Silva saw his great season cut short as he was cynically mowed down by Birmingham's Martin Taylor on Saturday. The Brazilian's left fibula snapped under Taylor's irresponsible tackle and doctors say that the Gunner, operated the same evening, will be out of action between five and eight months. Arsenal's coach Arsene Wenger fumed over Taylor's dreadful tackle, pleading for a lifelong suspension. "This guy should never play again. It is horrendous and you cannot tell me he tried to play the ball first. It is unacceptable," said the Frenchmen, who hours later toned down his fury towards the Birmingham player. In Croatia, the news immediately grabbed all the headlines. Eduardo's former teammates at Dinamo were so shocked by their pal's injury that they lost the league game to Varteks (1-2), their first home defeat in 23 months. Croatia coach Slaven Bilic was close to tears as he lamented over Eduardo's misfortune. "He is like a son to me. We grew together, he as a player, me as a coach. Why did it have to happen to our best guy? To the Devil with the European Championship, what I care about now is his health. I hope he recovers as soon as possible," said the former Everton and West Ham defender. And Martin Taylor? For the Croatian fans he will forever remain a synonim for the brutality in soccer. Cruyff and Van Basten to return to Ajax While still a player, Johan Cruyff oversaw Marco van Basten's debut for Ajax in 1982. Later he coached the talented centre forward at the time when Ajax won the Dutch Cup and the Cup Winners' Cup. The two of the greatest European footballers of all time will reunite again in the following season, Cruyff as the director and Van Basten as coach. This has been announced by the current Ajax board of directors, who plan to retire at the end of the current season to make way for somebody who can hopefully turn the club's fortunes around and make it great in Europe again. Van Basten will coach the Netherlands until the end of the European Championships, while Cruyff will abandon his unofficial role of advisor to Barcelona's president Joan Laporta. Alternative weapon: brief history of spitting Atlético Madrid's Sergio Agüero has been banned for two games by the UEFA for spitting at Bolton's Matthew Taylor in their first leg UEFA Cup game. Agüero at 20 has already joined an illustrious group of soccer giants who also salivated their rivals or the nearby grass in the past two decades. Since the television cameras started to cover more attentively all the events on the pitch, the first notable spitting was performed by Real Madrid's Juanito in the direction of Uli Stielike of Xamax. The German had apparently incurred Juanito's grudge while they both played for Real. Stielike would have the last laugh though with a tremendous tackle on his Spanish foe later on in the game. The author of the most famous incident of this type was Frank Rijkaard at the 1990 World Cup, spitting several times at Rudi Völler. The latter had previously insulted him, possibly even on the racial basis. They were both sent off. Other famous spitters include Lazio's Serb Sinisa Mihajlovic, who soaked and stepped on Adrian Mutu of Chelsea in 2003, earning himself an eight-match European cup ban. A year later, Francesco Totti got sent off and suspended at the 2004 European Championship for spitting at Dane Christian Poulsen. Spectacular hommage to Hans Krankl in Vienna Austria is preparing a charming event to honour Hans Krankl, the nation's most prolific goalscorer after the Second World War. During the Euros, the streets of Vienna will be decorated by hundreds of plastic life size figures of the legendary Hansi. The organizer of the show, Peter Jöbstl, says that is the way Vienna will welcome numerous tourists who may like to pose by the figure of the cult soccer hero. After the Championship, the figures will be sold at an auction and during the event they will be fixed onto a 250 kg pedestal to discourage the fans from taking them home. The European Golden Boot in 1978, Krankl played in Rapid, Barcelona and Salzburg. Austria will always remember him for the winning goal against West Germany at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. Not a joke: lottery to help Brazilian clups repay debts The Brazilian government has presented a public lottery whose primary goal will be helping the clubs to repay their huge tax debts. The lottery, called timemania (team-mania) should raise 300 million dollars in the first 12 months alone. The winners will share 137 million dollars, while the rest will go to the clubs for the specific purpose of paying their debts to the Public Treasury. All in all, the clubs will have five years to pay off the debts which amount to 450 million dollars. Incidentally, the players will be required to write the name of their favourite club on the coupon and the club that gets mentioned the most times in any one round will get 2% of the revenue. All other professional clubs will get just 1% apiece. Since the most popular Brazilian clubs are Flamengo, Corinthians and Sao Paulo, the biggest share will probably end up on their bank accounts. Embarassment for the tabloid: Guti's "boyfriend" was his sister Knowing that Real Madrid's Guti is married to tv-presenter Arancha de Benito, the Spanish public must have been shocked by a series of photos showing the blond midfielder in a suspect position with another man, as it seemed at the moment. Spanish weekly Cuore spotted Guti in a restaurant and shot his "passionate" farewell kiss with a "man". The subsequent story titled "Tender Mr. Guti" effectively shed some doubts as to Guti's sexual preferences. A day later, the serious daily El País uncovered the true identity of Guti's "boyfriend": the other person on the photos was Guti's short-haired sister! "What happened in the restaurant was a family dinner during which the member's of Guti's family congratulated the girl on her second pregnancy," confirmed the player's manager Zoran Vekic. Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting