Ozren Podnar reports FIFA rejects use of technology again FIFA's president Joseph Blatter explained in a letter the motives why his organization opposes the use of technology to analyze uncertain plays, emphasizing the game has to be played under the same conditions whether it takes place in a village or in a modern stadium. FIFA studied two proposed systems of establishing whether the ball crossed the goal line, one including a chip inside the ball and another similar to the technology used in tennis, but neither convinced them. According to Blatter, "one of FIFA's principal objectives is protecting the universality of the game of football. It means that the game must be played in the same manner everywhere in the world," said the president. "If one coaches a group of youths in a small village of the planet, they will be playing by the same rules applied to the professional players shown on TV." FIFA's concern is that the cost of the technology would prevent its implementation in poorer regions. "The implementation of modern technologies can be very costly and due to that it could not be used everywhere in the world. Around 900 World Cup qualifying games were played and the same rules have to be applied to all the matches within the same competition," concluded a non-technologically minded Blatter. Guerrero overcomes his fear of flying The Peruvian international Jose Paulo Guerrero spent several months in his homeland, unable to return to Germany, where he plays for Hamburger SV, due to an intense flying phobia. A few weeks ago the Germans sent him a psychologist whose task it was to treate Guerrero's phobia and the move seemed to pay off. Last Thursday Guerrero took a trip to the airport in the company of his mother Petronila Gonzalez and boarded a KLM flight to Europe, where he is continuing a treatment for an injury he suffered early into the season. Previous to the psychologist's intervention, Guerrero did not manage to board a plane, alleging the phobia caused him gastric disturbances. It was even speculated he might travel back to Europe by boat, but finally he mustered courage and overcame the disorder that used to plague Arsenal's Dennis Bergkamp. Brazil's president against Ronaldinho's call-up The Brazilian president Inacio Luiz Lula da Silva is a recognized soccer fan and frequently speaks his mind on his favourite sport. His last rant was about Ronaldinho Gaucho, who in his opinion should not be included in the team for South Africa. "He is a player of great talent, but that is not sufficient. It is necessary to look at how each player fits into the national team's scheme. It's something that goes beyond a player's individual quality, it's a question of the group. Ronaldinho does not deserve to go to the World Cup. He played few good games for Brazil and he was never decisive," Lula said to Associated Press. Lula must have forgotten about the 2002 quarterfinals against England, when Ronaldinho beat David Seaman from a 35-yard free kick and gave Brazil a famous 2-1 win. Dunga apparently shares Lula's opinion since he has not picked Ronaldinho since April 2009 and does not look like he will call him again any time soon, or ever again for that matter. Chinese authorities put refs in a camp in a bid to make them confess Corruption in soccer has became such a concern in China that the sporting authorities have rounded up hundreds of referees and coaches in two camps, one near Beijing , another in Canton province, in order to "reeducate" them and make them confess their offences. According to reports in the South China Morning Post , these camps are the "last chance for them to own up to their crimes in exchange for lesser sentences." The Chinese FA chairman Wei Di warned that those who fail to confess during the "grace period" will be severely punished. Last year the country's communist president Hu Jintao expressed concern over the moral fragility in Chinese soccer, making the soccer officials fair game. Rarely does a week pass without news of new coaches, players, directors and referees being involved in illegal betting and match fixing. The observers believe that soccer has become a testing ground for the national campaign against corruption at large. If the tactics involving concentration camps prove to work, they may be applied to the accused in other industries. Raul among the unwanted for Real's fans Real Madrid's elimination by Olympique Lyon in last week's Champions League round of 16 second leg match set off rumours regarding some serious turnover in the roster and the technical staff. The Spanish leading daily Marca invited its readers to name the players who should be transferred next July and among those singled out was the skipper Raul Gonzalez. Over 100,000 votes were cast indicating the six undesirables in the following order of unpopularity: Christoph Metzelder, Fernando Gago, Mamadou Diarra, Royston Drenthe, Raul and Jerzy Dudek. Raul attracted no less than 63,000 votes from fans who do not want to see him in Real's team next season, which may mean the team followers are fed up of the player who has worn the white shirt since 1994. On the other hand, the most respected players have turned out to be the keeper Iker Casillas, the defender Raul Albiol, the midfielder Xabi Alonso and Cristiano Ronaldo. Didier Drogba voted best in Africa Chelsea's Didier Drogba was voted the African player of the year for the second time in his career and was awarded the trophy at a ceremony in Accra, Ghana. The Ivory Coast striker, who already won this distinction in 2006, on this occasion edged Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon and Michael Essien of Chelsea. The ideal African eleven, as voted for by the national team coaches, included five players from the Premiership, including Fulham's John Pantsil, Portsmouth's Nadir Belhadj and Arsenal's Alexander Song. Tags Soccer News football

World Soccer News for week of 3/3/2010 Ozren Podnar reports Real Madrid top the earners chart According to the new ranking by Deloitte financial agency, Real Madrid are still the highest earners in world soccer and the first club clearing the 400 million euros mark. Barcelona came second with 365.9 million, edging Manchester United, the same team they beat in the last season's Champions League finals. Five more clubs register earnings in excess of 200 million euros – Bayern, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Juventus. Curiously, the Turin club are commercially more successful than their superior rivals Inter and Milan, sharing nineth and tenth place. England has the most teams to the top 20, seven in all, two more than Germany. England's strength is proved by the presence of Newcastle, placed 20th in spite of playing in the second level this season. In another ranking, compiled by the University of Navarra, Barcelona and Real Madrid are the most mediatic teams in the world, while Manchester United fell from first to third after losing Cristiano Ronaldo to Madrid. The Spaniards rose from fifth to second thanks to the string of strong summer purchases that included Kaka and Benzema. Barcelona's Leo Messi tops the individual chart ahead of Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney. TOP-20 highest earners Amounts are in millions of euros 1. Real Madrid 401.4 2. Barcelona 365.9 3. Manchester United 327 4. Bayern Munich 289.5 5. Arsenal 263 6. Chelsea 242.3 7. Liverpool 217 8. Juventus 203.2 9. Inter 196,5 10. Milan 196.5 11. Hamburger 146.7 12. Roma 146.4 13. Olympique Lyon 139.6 14. Olympique Marseille 133.2 15. Tottenham 132.7 16. Schalke 04 124.5 17. Werder Bremen 114.7 18. Borussia Dortmund 103.5 19. Manchester City 102.2 20. Newcastle 101.0 Amazon.co.uk Widgets Bridge ignored Terry's hand Wayne Bridge, who preferred to quit the England team to sharing the dressing room with John Terry, ignored the Chelsea's defender as Manchester City players shook hands with their hosts at Stamford Bridge. The two players became the center of attention after Terry had an affair with Bridge's former fiance, French underwear model, Vanessa Perroncel. After shaking hands with the referees, Bridge came to his one-time friend, gave him a quick look and proceeded to greet other Chelsea players. The second part of Bridge's revenge came during the game, as City ran riot at Stamford Bridge and defeated the Blues 2-4, ironically allowing Manchester United to come within one point of the leaders Chelsea. Zidane: Not apologizing to Materazzi Legendary French player Zinedine Zidane reminisced about the famous head-butting episode from the last World Cup and proclaimed he would never apologize Marco Materazzi for knocking him down in Berlin. "I would prefer to die than asking forgiveness from that bad man," said Zidane to the Spanish El Pais daily. "Of course I'm sorry for what happened, but apologizing would equal admitting what he did was normal. And for me it wasn't normal." Materazzi insulted Zidane by mentioning his sister in an offensive context, which Zizou could not stand. "If that had been Kaka, a normal guy and a good person, of course I would have apologized. But not to Materazzi. If i did that, I'd show disrespect to myself and the people I carry in my heart," added the Frenchman. Curiously, the Italian provocateur later said he did not mean to offend Zidane's sister and that in fact he had no idea Zizou had one, but this admission made no difference to the best French player in the last two decades. Atletico's coach calls his assistant 86 times during a game After being sent off in the match at Almeria ten days ago, Atletico Madrid's Quique Sanchez Flores was banned from coaching his team against Valencia on Sunday. Having opted to view the game on a TV set in the dressing room, he decided to stay in touch with his assistants on Atletico's bench. Quique used his mobile phone to call the goalkeepers' coach Emilio Alvarez, whose duty was to convey the orders to the assistant coach Francisco Escriba. As Alvarez confessed to Canal+, Quique called him 86 times during the game, won by Atletico 4-1. "I counted 34 calls during the first half and 52 more in the second half for a total of 86 brief calls, each in the duration of five to ten seconds," said Alvarez. Among the concise orders given by Quique was the one to substitute the injured Sergio Aguero immediately. Still, Escriba could not arrange for a quick substitution so Aguero was given time to score a goal before he was replaced. Nakata auctions off his boots for Haiti The former Japanese skipper Hidetoshi Nakata auctioned off the boots used against Croatia during the 2006 World Cup in order to rally funds for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. The retired midfielder collected over a million euros for the boots in an online auction for the 300,000 thousand casualties of the January 12th quake that devastated the Caribbean nation. The game against Croatia ended goalless and after the next match against Brazil, who smashed Japan 4-1, a tearful Nakata announced his surprising retirement. © Soccerphile.com Previous world soccer news Tags Soccer News football

Know England's next rivals The chequered squad - Pride of Croatia By Ozren Podnar Manager Slaven Bilic, the former West Ham and Everton defender, usually deploys a 4-4-2 system with Pletikosa on goal, Corluka and Simunic as full backs, Simic and Robert Kovac as central defenders, Srna and Kranjcar as wide midfielders, Niko Kovac as a defensive midfielder, Luka Modric as an attacking midfielder, Petric or Olic as the second striker and Eduardo as the main striker. In the current Euro qualifiers Croatia have won eight, drawn two and lost only one game, on Saturday to Macedonia, after learning that they had already qualified thanks to the Russian defeat to Israel. It will be interesting for Steve McClaren to learn that their next rivals have never lost two qualifiers in a row, but then again a draw at Wembley would be just fine for both teams.

Phillip Cocu Kapetan koji ne stari Uobičajeno je da sportašima snaga opada s godinama, no Phillip Cocu ne spada u većinu. Nije on kao Romario da se šeće ispred kaznenog prostora štedeći energiju za onaj jedan završni sprint do gola, Cocu je igrač koji cijelo vrijeme sudjeluje u igri i to u solidnom prvenstvu kao što je nizozemsko. Točnije, činio je to do kraja netom završenog prvenstva, u kojemu je doveo PSV Eindhoven do trećeg uzastopnog naslova – postigavši presudan gol u zadnjem kolu. Takav je Cocu, s 36 i pol godina jednako dobar i rastrčan kao i prije 15, kad se za njega počelo čuti u Europi.

Steve McClaren and Paul Robinson weren't the only Englishmen to get it all horribly wrong in Zagreb last Wednesday night. "Award-winning" Mirror hack Oliver Holt produced a tour de force of ignorance, malice and bias in his preview to the Euro 2008 qualifying game in Croatia's capital. Entitled "DANGER LURKS FOR MCCLAREN IN CITY OF HATE" Holt tries to whip up the xenophobia ahead of the game and justify his prolonged anti-Sven, anti-foreigner agenda. Here are a few gems from the piece: "THE last time I visited Zagreb, in the late Eighties when civil war was coming to Yugoslavia, the train from Venice arrived in the dead of night. The hard, searching faces that always haunt railway stations after dark stared out from the shadows and said silently that this was not a place to loiter." Actually Zagreb is well known for its safety 24/7, then and now; even children can "loiter" at low risk. "As we hurried away with our backpacks to try to find the address where we were staying, shapes followed us at a distance, only turning away when we rang on a bell and a door opened." Oliver is obviously a nervous traveller. "The England team are staying in a deluxe five-star hotel a couple of hundred yards from that train station, a hotel that wasn't there 18 years ago." The 81-year-old Regent Esplanade hotel, where the England team stayed, was around when Oliver last brought his backpack to Zagreb, but he must have missed it in his haste at being 'followed'. "But along with the battalions of new coffee shops that crowd the city streets, there is still a distinct edge-of-Europe feel to the Croatian capital." Ollie's a star at geography. Zagreb is slightly to the west of Vienna. "The faces are hardened by the pain of war now, smoking is still endemic, racism is rife and there is an underworld menace about the men who cluster outside the hotels in their black leather jackets." Olllie hits the nail on the head about smoking, but is off the mark on racism. Racism is an issue to be addressed in all societies, including the UK, and it is unfair to point the finger at Croatia. Has Mr. Holt heard of Stephen Lawrence and Anthony Walker? The Croatian FA is keen to promote its joint bid with Hungary for Euro 2012 and have implemented strict anti-racism measures at domestic games, the Croatian team carried an anti-racism banner on to the pitch before the match and there were no complaints of racist chants directed at England's black players, similar to those endured by the U-21 team in Leverkusen, Germany, the day before the senior match in Zagreb. "Zagreb still feels like a cloaked danger, a place tilting between light and darkness, a place that doesn't quite know which way things are going to go." "Somehow, that seems to make it the perfect venue for John Terry's England side to play a match which is absolutely pivotal to its hopes of putting the waste of the Sven Goran Eriksson years behind it." England lost 2-0, a worse result than any achieved under Sven Goran Eriksson in a qualifying match, there were no reports of racist incidents at the game and Croatia's opening goal was scored by a naturalized Brazilian. More and more Brits have decided on "which way things are going to go" in Croatia by returning to the Adriatic resorts in summer and buying up holiday homes there. The only trouble was seemingly caused by ticketless England "fans" trying to break through the security cordon outside the Maksimir stadium , followed by the abuse of the England players on the team bus by more disgruntled English supporters after the game. We're looking forward to Ollie's previews of Israel, Russia and Estonia -- no doubt Andorra will be more to his liking and John Terry's England might actually win there. Football News Guide to Zagreb Tags Euro 2008 soccer football Croatia Zagreb Oliver Holt football racism Daily Mirror

1/17/07 Beckham, The Best Hope Yet For Soccer In The USA A string of extraordinary players have attempted to make soccer big in the USA. Among them the King (Pele), the Kaiser (Beckenbauer) and the Prophet (Johan Cruyff), but it is David Beckham that may turn out the be the most telling signing a US team has ever made and crucial for the development of soccer in the USA. Many international stars have attempted to help the game take root in the USA but its popularity has always remained largely limited to the Hispanic or Italian communities.

Samuel Eto'o - Golgeter i pjevač Brz, snažan i direktan, Samuel Eto'o može se pohvaliti značajnim iskustvom, unatoč mladosti. Star je samo 24 godine, a čini se da je već "cijelu vječnost" na nogometnoj sceni. Kao najmlađi član kamerunske reprezentacije na Svjetskom prvenstvu 1998., pojavio se kao zamjena u dvoboju protiv Italije. Ubrzo je zaslužio stalno mjesto u reprezentaciji te je osvojio Afrička prvenstva 2000. i 2002. i Olimpijsko zlato 2000. Na Svjetskom prvenstvu 2002. odigrao je sve tri utakmice za Kamerun i postigao pobjednički pogotak protiv Saudijske Arabije. Dvije zadnje godine proglašen je najboljim igračem Afrike, a sezonu 2004/05 trijumfalno je završio kao najbolji strijelac prvaka Barcelone.

Juan Roman Riquelme Otpadnik u Barci, junak u Villarrealu Ozren Podnar Riquelme je godinama slijedio putanju Diega Maradone: Argentinos Juniors, Boca Juniors, Barcelona. Čak je debitirao u Boci ušavši umjesto Diega. Gledajući ga u dresu Argentine u kvalifikacijama i na Kupu konfederacija, shvatili smo da je pred nama savršen vezni igrač. Nikad nećemo znati zašto Barcelona nije razumjela njegovu umjetnost, no važno je da Villarreal i argentinska reprezentacija jesu, na vlastitu sreću i na radost milijuna koji ljube nogometne virtuoze. Dan prije no što će Argentina osvojiti prvo Svjetsko prvenstvo u Buenos Airesu rođen je Juan Roman Riquelme. Bio je 24. lipnja 1978. kad je skromna obitelj Riquelme dobila jedno od svoje jedanaestero djece.