World soccer news For week of 04/18 Ferguson labels Benitez as "arrogant" and "contemptuous" War of words has intensified between Sir Alex Ferguson and Don Rafael Benitez in view of the decisive month in the Premier League The master of the psychological warfare, Ferguson has launched a furious attack at Liverpool's coach hoping it will destabilize the Spaniard further after a heroic, but ultimately futile battle at Stamford Bridge in midweek Manchester United manager accused Benitez of arrogance and contempt toward other Premier League managers, illustrating his claims with the way the Spaniard once qualified Everton and his dismissive attitude during a game against Blackburn

YOKOHAMA-Sir Alex Ferguson added another piece of silverware to his extensive trophy cabinet on Sunday with Manchester United’s 1-0 win over Liga de Quito of Ecuador in the final of the Club World Cup. The longtime coach of the Red Devils was delighted by the performance of his club and said the win will act as a springboard to better things ahead in 2009. Following are excerpts from his post-match press conference: Q: Defender Nemanja Vidic was sent off in the second half. How did that affect your play? A: It affected the penetration we showed in the first half. After his sending off we had to be more disciplined and make sure we didn't concede. And I began to wonder if we were going to extra time. To play with 10 men with that long to go would have been a long road. But in fairness we played with good expression and still tried to win the match and that's a measure of the ambitious players we have, so I was pleased with the performance. Q: Wayne Rooney was named player of the tournament, do you think that was deserved? A: Well I think he was the player of the game, there’s no doubt about that. I think he deserved it. Because I think he could have scored two or three times in the first half. It was a very, very good performance from him and a magnificent goal. I’ve seen him do that a lot, coming off the left side and bending it in with his right foot, and it was another example of that ability he has. Q: With all the talk of jetlag and fatigue, why does Rooney seem have this limitless energy when other players look slightly less energized? A: Well, people handle traveling differently. I was speaking to Edwin Van Der Sar this morning, and he said two day’s ago he a great sleep but last night he had a terrible sleep. Last night was the first night I slept more than two hours. Everyone’s different. You hope they all can handle it but that’s not the case. I think it showed in the last 20 minutes of the game on Thursday night when the game became too open for us. But tonight our discipline was very good and it had to be because you can’t leave gaps when you go down to 10 men. Q: Were you more concerned about the offense of Quito than that of Gamba Osaka? You made some changes to your lineup tonight. A: No, we made one change, Rafael Da Silva on for Gary Neville. I think that was the correct thing to do. At 34 years age, Gary needs more rest now, three days or so. You have to compliment Gamba for the quality of their game. I watched them again today and they could have scored 4 or 5 goals in the first half. Their quality, in particular Yasuhito Endo … nobody on Quito had the quality Endo’s got, for example. You have to admire their quality. Q: You created a lot of opportunities, especially in the first half, but couldn’t find the back of the net. What were you thinking substitution-wise in the second half? A: I felt we had to be more disciplined and not to concede. Had we lost a goal we would have lost the game. The important thing was to stay patient and hope either Cristiano Ronaldo or Rooney could do something special for us. I also thought extra time could have been a big possibility, which is why I didn’t make any substitutions until late in the game. Once we scored I could think about who could protect the lead and that's why I brought on Neville and Darren Fletcher. We've only scored 8 goals away from home this season, which is not good enough. But we've played with great expression and imagination and we have players who can entertain and in normal situations we can score goals. Hopefully that will change in the new year. Q: What does winning this competition do for you as a club? A: I think it will be a good springboard for us. We’ve come a long way. It may have been difficult for us to go to Stoke (on Boxing day in the Premier League) had we lost. I think it’s difficult to come back after losing a big tournament like this. But we’ve won it, so I think there will be a bounce at the club. It won't be easy, no games in the Premiership are. But it does give us a platform to start playing with a real purpose to our game now and to chase the leaders. For me personally, I said earlier it would be nice to look back in 30 years and see that Manchester United was world champion. I won't be able to enjoy this 30 years from now, but I will enjoy it next year. Q: After Vidic’s expulsion, I know you must have been concerned. But what was your mindset keeping Ronaldo and Rooney on and bring Carlos Tevez off? A: We’ve been in that situation before. Rooney has such great energy to play as an attacker, to defend as a midfield player and he has such a great tenacity to do these things. Tevez was disappointed to have come off, but it was the only thing I could do. But as soon as I took Tevez off I though to myself, crikey, it could go to penalties and I've just taken Tevez off. But of course, Rooney scored the only goal so it didn’t matter. I thought we played sensible football compared to how we played in the first half. Q: What was the key to your victory tonight and what is your impression of Quito and the South American style of football? A: I think the collective spirit of the team won the day, particularly when we went down to 10 men . I think it's a fantastic tournament. We’re here because we won the European Cup and we’re here to represent England and Europe. At the end of the day you always expect to play a South American team. Maybe we’ve played against better South American teams in the past … I think we were comfortable winners today but when you get to a final, you have still got to win it. And you can lose games like that because the game was so slow in the first half and although we made chances you start to worry that one counterattack could cost us. And if we had went behind tonight it would have been very difficult for us because the South American mentality is different from other places in that they can defend, as we saw tonight many times. Copyright © C.G. Williams & Soccerphile.com 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 12/19 Ferguson labels Real Madrid as "the mob" It's more than rivalry. It's enmity. It's been simmering some time now and it has escalated this week over Cristiano Ronaldo. After learning of reports in the Spanish press that Manchester United had agreed to sell Cristian Ronaldo next summer, Sir Alex Ferguson slammed Real Madrid, saying he would never do another deal with "that mob". Spanish daily El Mundo reported that United and Madrid had reached a gentleman's agreement for Ronaldo's transfer to Santiago Bernabeu next summer. The agreement was supposed to be kept secret, but at least three Real's directors could not resist chatting about that with their acquaintances. Now Ferguson says there is no chance he will sell Europe's top player to the Spanish club because of Real's ungentlemanly conduct. "Do you think I would get into a contract with that mob. Jesus Christ, no chance. I wouldn't sell them a virus," he said in a press conference in Japan where his team reached FIFA's Club World Cup finals against Liga de Quito. "There is absolutely no agreement at all between the clubs." Still, could Manchester United's hierarchy have made a deal with Real's Ramón Calderón behind Sir Alex's back? Why not, since Ronaldo is eager to join one of the few clubs more glamorous than United themselves and the closer his contract due to run until 2012 nears the end the lower his price-tag will be. As early as next July, the Portuguese will be able to buy off his own contract at the price of his remaining salary of 120,000 pounds per week which must be less than what Real are ready to pay for a regular transfer fee. Beckenbauer calls Rensing an amateur for Stuttgart blunder Bayern Munich club president Franz Beckenbauer fiercely criticised keeper Michael Rensing for an error that led to the two point loss last Saturday against Stuttgart. Bayern were 2-1 ahead until the last minute but then conceded a goal because Rensing, according to Beckenbauer, failed to intervene in time and seize the ball. "When a keeper runs out from the goal, he has to catch the ball. The way in which he attempted to fist the ball away was amateurish," said the "Kaiser" after the match. "His criticism is a heap of nonsense. At least three or four players were straight ahead of me. I could not simply push them away. Furthermore, I was fouled and Jens Lehmann (Stuttgart's goalie) confirmed that with me that afterwards," replied Rensing, who succeeded the legendary Oliver Kahn at the start of this season. "Earlier I was a bit irritated by being criticised, but not any more. Everybody is trying to be clever after the game. In fact my goal is to be Germany's first choice keeper one day," admitted Rensing, brave for standing up to the authoritative Beckenbauer. Another Eto'os sweet revenge on Real Madrid The biggest club match in the world, the Spanish el clásico, allowed Barcelona to open a 12-point gap over Real Madrid and cost Bernd Schuster his job at the Bernabeu. Scoring the opener in the 2-0 win for the Catalan side, Samuel Eto'o showed he had not forgotten Real Madrid's debt for having disowned him on three occasions. In 1999, Madrid loaned him to Espanyol, in 2000 to Mallorca and then in 2004 refused to pay 11 million euros to the same club to buy out the other half of the player's contract. Barcelona paid the full transfer and carried the big prize, as Eto'o went on to score 94 goals in only 122 Primera división appearances and the equalizer in the 2006 Champions League final against Arsenal. Since arriving from Mallorca, Eto'o has scored four goals against Real, the first in 2004 at Nou Camp in a 3-0 win, the second the next year at the Bernabeu in a 4-2 loss and the third in late 2005 as Barcelona smashed Real by 3-0 in Madrid. Three years have passed since that night and Eto'o failed time and time again to add the fourth against his archrivals. It seemed that the drought would continue when the Cameroonian missed a penalty with 20 minutes remaining, but in the 83rd minute he made up for the miss beating Íker Casillas with a marvellously predatory strike. Ironically, new coach Josep Guardiola last summer thought of getting rid of the sometimes overly temperamental Eto'o, but changed his mind just in time when noticing the striker's commitment in the pre-season. And the African has repaid him with 15 goals so far in the Spanish league alone. And it's not even Christmas. Mourinho and Mihajlovic, forever friends Inter's coach José Mourinho has found an equally sharp-tongued rival in Sinisa Mihajlovic, new boss at Bologna. Their conflict flared up over Inter's player Adriano Leite, of whom Mihajlovic said he should not be allowed to practice with the first team on account of his frequent disciplinary breaches. Mourinho promptly replied to Mihajlovic, former assistant coach at Inter during Roberto Mancini's reign. "Everybody deserves a second chance. If Inter once allowed their player to practice with the first team even though he had spat at an opponent in the face, why shouldn't Adriano get a new chance?" The man alluded at by Mourinho was none other than Mihajlovic, who on one occasion spat on Adrian Mutu. The Serb coach responded vehemently to the Portuguese. "I cannot discuss soccer with Mourinho because he never played and he does not understand certain things. I did all sorts of stuff in my career which could not be justified and for which I got punished," said Mihajlovic. "By the way, his remark had nothing to do with what I said of Adriano." Now it was Mourinho's turn to make fun of Mihajlovic for not working at Inter anymore. "My assistant today is (Giuseppe) Baresi but Mihajlovic is speaking of Inter as if he was still working here." Mihajlovic left San Siro last summer alongside his friend, head coach Mancini, to make room for - Mourinho. Brazilian President happy: Ronaldo, welcome to my Corinthians Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, is thrilled that Ronaldo Nazario Lima has signed for Corinthians, the club that Lula has supported since childhood. "I was greatly pleased by the news. First, because he is a good chap and second, because he has done Brazil great service," said Lula to tv channel Bandeirantes. "It is true that he has reached the veteran stage (32), so he is likely to score fewer goals than before, but he can still be useful at the club level. I appeal to the fans to be patient with him if he does not start playing great right away." Somewhat less thrilled are Flamengo fans, who expected Ronaldo to join their team instead of their Sao Paulo "enemies". Some of the Rio team's ultras have even hired a witchdoctor whose job it is to conjure some black magic and prevent Ronaldo from triumphing at Corinthians. Some fans have even expressed desire to see the "traitor" break his leg so he could not make his debut for his new club! Riquelme on target for inciting violence Although an idol for millions of Argentinians, Juan Román Riquelme has been summoned to court to answer charges over inciting violence. Riquelme appeared this week at a misdemeanor court in Buenos Aires under charges of inciting disorder during a league game last November. The cause for the trial seems trivial indeed. During the Boca vs Rácing game (2-1), a spectator had shouted abuse and made rude gestures towards Boca's players. After volleying the winning goal, Riquelme ran 50 meters towards the stand where the abusive fan was sitting and showed him the finger. The public prosecutor claims Boca's midfielder "violated two rules, one concerning inciting disorder and other related to the progress of the match." If sentenced, Riquelme could be fined up to 300 euros or jailed for ten days. "The fan persistently insulted me and other players. One has no right to grab one's testicles and shout abuse to everybody coming close to the touchline," said Riquelme. His solicitor believes his client will be acquitted and next to appear in court will be the disorderly fan, a certain Agustín Pozzetti. 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

YOKOHAMA—A day after arriving in Japan to take part in the Club World Cup, Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson spoke to reporters on a range of subjects, from the team’s preparations to the Premier League’s controversial idea of holding a 39th round of matches outside of England. While Ferguson and his yawning retinue looked a little worse for wear after the 12-hour journey, the Scotsman was nevertheless in a jovial and talkative mood: Q: What is your impression of this tournament compared to the former Toyota Intercontinental Cup, which you won in 1999 by defeating Palmeras? A: We were the first British team to win (the Toyota Cup) in 1999, and we took great pleasure in it. It can be a great boost in prestige and that's why we want to win it again this year. It's a very difficult tournament and there are many good teams here. Our game against Gamba Osaka I think will be a very good game. It’s our first time in such a tournament. When we were here in 1999 against Palmeiras it was a one off. That's why I want to pick the right time for the first match because we very much want to play in the final. We played the Urawa Reds twice in friendlies and we found them difficult because they were very energetic and technically sound. Clubs in Japan have made tremendous improvements in technical and organization ability. And their stadia are fantastic thanks to the World Cup. It's a young country in terms of football, but it's an up-and-coming country. They have made terrific improvements. I expect a very tough game on Thursday and it will hopefully be one we can navigate properly. Q: What is your assessment of semifinal opponent and Asian champions Gamba, and what is the status of your squad at present? A: I watched a video this morning of their game against Adelaide and we have a good idea of their game. It's always better to watch a competitive match like that rather than something with nothing on the line. (Goalkeeper) Ben Foster broke his finger on Thursday in training. But I brought a full squad of 23 and that's why we watch our opponents so closely--so we pick the right team. I can always pick the wrong team, but I hope not to. Q: There are many in the media who claim this tournament is a hindrance at this time of year. Your comments please. A: I think the media don't take it as seriously as we do. I think we first took part in the intercontinental competition in 1968 when it was a one-off game, and up until four years ago that was the format. But world football has grown and countries like Japan, Korea and China have developed. And a world championship tournament requires more teams. It's an extra game for us but the prestige attached to it now is far greater than in the past. Japan is a fantastic country, with fantastic facilities, a very comfortable hotel … everything is comfortable. Yes it's a 12-hour flight, but even that's comfortable. In twenty years’ time for us to look back and see that Manchester United were world champions is fantastic and that's why we've come here to win it. Q: Which Gamba players do you consider to be the biggest threat? A: (Midfielder Yasuhito) Endo is their star player. He scored their goal (in the 1-0 win over Adelaide United in the quarterfinals). And they changed his position from behind the striker to the left side but he was still influential. Also the Brazilian Lucas. He is tall and quick with his feet, which is unlike most Brazilian players. He's very effective. Two of their midfielders (Hayato Sasaki and Takahiro Futagawa) are also very good, but they will be missing due to injury and that will be tough on them. Q: What is your secret to managing such a talented and diverse group of players? The best way to judge it is that I have been at the club for 22 years and the experience is there. And once you handle one personality it prepares you for the next one that comes along. After a while it becomes quite easy. But the most important thing is that the manager's personality must be as strong as all the players. Q: How have your preparations been, and how do you deal with jetlag with a Premier League showdown with Stoke City scheduled for Boxing Day? A: Changing the body clock in such a short period of time is the most difficult thing. We had the players up at 7 a.m. on Sunday morning and made sure they didn't sleep until the plane ride here. We'll change back on Thursday to British time again. The medical side is taken care of the medical staff and I am confident we are doing all that we can. Q: So does the opportunity to play other clubs with other styles really outweigh the inconvenience of flying out here at such as busy time in the Premier League schedule? A: Playing different opposition doesn't do us any harm, but the main point is that this is a chance to win a world title. We can become world champions in December but we can't win the Premier League title in December. It is a little bit of a handicap but that's what happens when you are successful. We're here because we won the European Championship and we hope to be in Abu Dhabi (site of the 2009 Club World Cup) next year. The incentives outweigh anything happening in the Premier League. Q: If you had to play a 39th game in the EPL, which Asian city would you prefer to play it in? A: I don't think there will be a 39th game, sorry. I'm not in favor of it. If you look at our domestic program, with all those cup competitions, I think it’s impossible. If you ask me to pick a city I won't, because there are so many good ones in Asia and I don't want to offend anyone. But I don't think there will ever be a 39th game and I don't think there should be. Copyright © C.G. 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Weekly soccer news for week of Nov 28th Raúl: I want to play at the European Championship! Real Madrid's skipper Raúl González still hopes for a return to the national team in order to participate at the European Championship in Austria and Switzerland. The most distinguished Spanish player is not in coach Luis Aragonés's plans, possibly because he is a hard-core Atlético man who, also coached Barcelona. But, since Raúl has been playing great soccer after a brief slump for a long time now, so the fans are right to expect the coach to moderate his unreasonable position towards the all-time top scorer of the national team with 44 goals.