Although Inter are again the runaway leaders in Italy, the fans
are fondly remembering José Mourinho's predecessor Roberto
Mancini. With the same level of success, he has a far more pleasant
personality.
Last summer Mancini was removed from the bench by president Massimo
Moratti despite winning seven trophies in four years. Mourinho was
brought in order to take Inter to international glory, but those
hopes lasted just until the visit to Old Trafford in the Champions
League round of 16.
After Mancini and Moratti met last week, the Italian press started
to speculate on a new personnel change in Inter's coaching staff,
but the old coach denied his return was among the topics of conversation.
"Moratti and I met for completely different reasons. I don't
believe Inter currently needs a new coach, although if I were to
be recalled I would have to accept since I still have three years'
contract with the club," explained Mancini, who claims to have
forgiven his boss for replacing him for no valid reason.
"I am proud of one thing, of having been the coach who put
Inter back on the winning track, and I am grateful to Moratti for
having enabled me to do that."
A seven-figure annual salary for not doing any work may also have
helped Mancini to forget the old grudge.
Rafael Benítez to stay at Anfield for five more years
The most successful Liverpool manager of the past two decades
is poised to work at Anfield for further four and a half years.
Rafael Benítez has extended his contract until 2014, ending
months of speculation which placed him, among other places, in Real
Madrid.
"My heart is with Liverpool Football Club, so I'm delighted
to sign this new deal," said the Spaniard, who took the Reds
to their first Champions League win in 21 years in his first season
at the club in 2005.
Should he complete his contract, Benítez will spend full
ten years at Liverpool, in the tradition of other long-standing
managers such as Bob Paisley and Kenny Dalglish.
Benítez's prolonged stay in the most successful English club
in history is said to have been enabled by the forthcoming departure
of chief executive Rick Parry, with whom the Spaniard fell out over
the failure to close several transfers deemed important by the manager.
In the following four and a half seasons Benítez's main objective
will be bringing the Premier
League title back to Liverpool for the first time since 1990,
back in the time when the English top flight was called the First
Division.
FIFA oppose all-year-round doping tests
World football's governing body FIFA is not happy with the World
Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) demand for surprise drug testing at
any time, asking for special treatment for soccer players.
FIFA announced it would demand footballers to be exempted at least
one day per week and in off-season periods. FIFA also opposes WADA's
proposed rule stating that every athlete should provide his or her
whereabouts for every day of the year. According to FIFA, only the
location of a team, rather than of individual players, should be
given to WADA.
FIFA's president Sepp Blatter said he was surprised by WADA's intransigence,
calling the new rules "a witch hunt" rather than an articulate
fight against doping.
UEFA's boss Michel Platini has joined Blatter in his resistance
against the anti-doping lords and other team sports like rugby also
defy WADA's exaggerated requirements.
Italian keeper concede a "physically impossible" goal
The third division game between Juve Stabia and Cavese will forever
be remembered in Italy because of an amazing goal taken in by the
local keeper Soviero.
The visitors won 1-0 thanks to a goal by Favasulli, even though
the left midfielder hardly planned to shoot on goal when he struck
the ball from about 35 meters close to the touch-line.
The ball launched by Favasulli took a steep rising trajectory and
looked very much as if it was going to end at the terraces behind
the ball. The keeper must have thought the same, because he turned
his back on what looked like a terrible cross and strolled slowly
along the goal-line.
He looked back only when he heard the characteristic sound of the
contact between the ball and the net: the ball suddenly plummeted
and landed in the right lower corner of the goal.
"I most certainly recognize my blunder, but this goal cancelled
out all the laws of physics. It was a paranormal goal," said
the goalie for whom the Juve-Cavese game was the first this season.
Maybe the last, too.
The footage of the goal can be viewed on YouTube:
Hiddink might return to Chelsea in less than a year
Guus Hiddink has been doing sensationally ever since he took over
Chelsea, but his tenure is not meant to last beyond the last game
of the season. However, the Dutchman may return to Stamford Bridge
within a year, depending on how Russia fare in their
2010 World Cup campaign.
In fact, he will be available to Chelsea as early as late November,
should Russia fail to qualify for South Africa. If they do, then
Roman Abramovich will have to wait until the end of the World Cup
final tournament, but not any further.
"My contract expires at the end of the 2010 World Cup. But
we also said that if we don't qualify and the Russian Federation
choose to go in a different direction, then we will talk about how
to end the contract sooner," said the Dutchman.
Another solution for Hiddink would be to agree to coach both Chelsea
and Russia for as long as Russia's World Cup campaign lasts, as
he did during the qualifiers
for the 2006 World Cup in Germany. Leading up to that tournament,
the Dutchman managed
both Australia and PSV Eindhoven. Still, those two jobs appear
a bit less demanding in comparison to working in the Premiership
plus trying to reach the World Cup through the minefield of the
European qualification zone.
Death threats shock Croatian soccer scene
Although the current championship race between Dinamo
Zagreb and Hajduk
Split can hardly be more exciting, with both teams level on
points, events off the field have overshadowed anything the players
could offer.
The recently sacked Dinamo coach Marijan Vlak revealed this week
that previous to his dismissal he had received an anonymous phone
call from a man telling him he would be assassinated if he did not
leave the club.
The experienced striker Tomo Sokota was also called and threatened
with death if he stayed at Dinamo.
Both Vlak and Sokota reported the incidents to the police who at
the moment have little clue as to the perpetrator, since it is highly
unlikely that the threats came from Dinamo fans.
Vlak has coached Dinamo in four spells, mostly with success, and
has been very popular with the fans ever since serving as a goalkeeper
in a championship-winning squad in the old Yugoslavia.
Sokota on the other hand is one of Dinamo's top scorers over the
last decade and is also held in high regard by the fans.
Any threat with violence against soccer players and coaches is taken
seriously in Croatia because over the past four years several of
them have been attacked and brutalized by local mobsters, apparently
for refusing to participate in illegal betting schemes.
In the said period, a noted soccer agent, Dino Pokrovac, was shot
dead by a gunman in Zagreb, Dinamo's coach Josip Kuze had his car
torched in the capital city, while Hajduk's coach Luka Bonacic was
beaten and severely injured by baseball bats wielding thugs in Split.
