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

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

Jose Mourinho has quit his job as manager of Premier League Chelsea by mutual consent. The decision follows three consecutive poor results for Chelsea, the latest a 1-1 home draw for the Blues with minnows Rosenborg in the Champions League. Mourinho's relationship with Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich had deteriorated to such an extent that it seemed the Portuguese manager would leave at the end of last season. In the end he headed for the door with the new season barely a month underway. Abramovich's money and Mourinho's undoubted talent as a coach saw Chelsea claim two English Premiership titles under Mourinho as well as various domestic cups and the unique record of the side never having lost a home league game under the self-styled "Special One." Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football Premier League Mourinho Chelsea

Weekly World News Serie A Inter already champs for the bookies!? Last time around, Inter Milan were declared champions two months after the end of the season. This season, they have been sort of awarded the honour with four months to go. The Italian bookmakers Snai started to pay winnings to those who bet on Inter to win the 2006/07 championship...on January 30th. The bookies took the decision after Inter scored their 14th consecutive win at Sampdoria and kept their 11 point advantage over Roma. It is the first time a bookie has "declared" an Italian team champions just into the second part of the season. Inter's chairman Massimo Moratti has warned his players and coaches that the bookies' decision is totally irrelevant as to who will really win the championship.