Football News: Weekly Football News Roundup
5/10/08
Boavista relegated for corruption
The Portuguese League has demoted Boavista to the second division
and punished Porto with a six points deduction because of their
involvement in soccer corruption during the 2003/04 season.
Porto officials have been found guilty of having attempted to bribe
referees in two League games, but the six minus points will not
greatly upset the team, who lead Sporting by 20 points with a game
to go. In the meantime Porto's president Jorge Pinto da Costa was
handed a two year suspension.
Boavista of Oporto were punished by outright relegation for bribing
referees on three occasions during the same season. The former club
chairman Joao Loureiro was suspended for four years and fined 25,000
euros.
Five referees were found guilty of receiving bribes and were suspended
for periods between two and a half and five years.
José Mourinho's name was not mentioned in the procedure,
although he was Porto's coach in that season, culminating with a
Champions League triumph.
Why did Domenech support Liverpool?
Chelsea's win over Liverpool in the Champions League semis angered
the French national team coach Raymond Domenech because of the alleged
damage it will cause to France.
It is not that Domenech has anything against Chelsea. His preference
was due to the fact that Liverpool have no French internationals,
while the Londoners have three. Just like Manchester
United.
This means that six French players will be engaged with their teams
until May 21th, when they are scheduled to meet in the final in
Moscow.
Evra, Saha and Silvestre will be in action for Manchester, while
Anelka, Malouda and Makelele will be there for Chelsea.
Another inconvenient detail for Domenech is the French Cup final,
featuring Lyon and Paris SG, who provide 12 players to the national
team. Dramatically, the FA Cup final will take place only on May
24th, which will leave Domenech little time to prepare the French
national team for the European Championship.
Return of the King: Eriksson in Benfica for the third time
He may be somewhat despised in England, but in Portugal he is
the boss. Sven-Goran Eriksson reached an agreement with Benfica
to take over the team for the third time in his coaching career.
The first two times he was sensationally successful, as he won League
titles and took the Eagles to European finals on both occasions.
Former Benfica stopper Carlos Moser is said to have been designated
by Eriksson as the assistant coach. Eriksson himself will make a
reported 2.2 million euros per year, a sizeable cut compared to
the 4 million he earned at Manchester City.
The 60-year is one of the most successful active coaches, having
won the UEFA Cup with Göteborg, a Cup Winners' Cup with Lazio
and plenty of other national trophies with Benfica, Roma and Sampdoria.
England's fans did not appreciate the three consecutive quarterfinals
at major tournaments during Eriksson's tenure, but then came Fans mad at Flamengo's historic and a sense of nostalgia for the good old days with Sven.
Fans mad at Flamengo's historic shame
América of Mexico City achieved the seemingly impossible
by overturning a 2-4 home defeat against mighty Brazilian Flamengo.
In the return game at Maracaná, América scored an
amazing 3-0 win, which set the scene for a series of incidents carried
out by the local fans.
Some of them engaged private guards in and around the stadium, others
devastated property, and still others pelted the Flamengo team bus
with stones.
The coach Caio Junior, who took charge after the Copa Libertadores
round of 16 tie was surrounded by local hooligans and threatened
as if he had had anything to to with Flamengo's elimination.
"This is Flamengo, you are going to have to win the championship
now,"
shouted the angry fans.
In the history of international club cups only once had a team come
back from a 2-4 home defeat. The distinction was owned by the French
side Metz, who overturned such a defeat against Barcelona by winning
4-1 at Camp Nou.
Real Madrid rally behind Raúl
Raúl González has to play at the European Championship.
This is the unanimous opinion of Spanish fans and media alike who
are calling for Raul to be picked in Spain's
Euro 2008 squad. Raúl's teammates in Real have all spoken
in his support. The only opposition seems to come from the only
person that really matters: a stubborn, bigoted coach Luís
Aragonés, who for reasons beyond rational analysis refuses
to call on Spain's most capped player.
Real players have rallied behind their captain, calling for Aragonés
to change his position on the best Spanish forward in the domestic
game.
"We will try to help him improve his goal tally in the remaining
two rounds," said a member of the team that retained the title
last week with a win at Osasuna.
Ironically, two years ago, after his least convincing season, Raúl
was called up for the World Cup in Germany, while the current sensational
campaign does not seem to perturb Aragonés.
With two matches to go in La Primera, Raúl has scored 17
goals in 35 games, out of a total of 45 shots. He has also distinguished
himself in defensive tasks, having won 57 balls.
In 2005/06 his records were by far inferior, with a meagre five
goals in the League in a mediocre Madrid season. That seemed to
please the coach more than the current brilliant display by the
still only 30-year-old striker.
At the moment, his international record stands at 102 games and
44 goals, both of which constitute the highest figures in Spanish
soccer.
Steaua's incentive did not work
CFR Cluj have won their first Romanian championship amid controversy
involving Steaua's attempt to pay a substantial incentive to CFR's
last matchday rivals, Universitatea Cluj.
The team from Transylvania clinched the title by defeating local
rivals Universitatea 1-0, making Steaua's 5-0 drubbing of Gloria
Buzau irrelevant.
This is the first time since 1991 that the title has gone outside
of Bucharest to the provinces.
On the eve of the decisive match, police in Cluj arrested five men
carrying a bag containing 1.4 million euros, presumably intended
for the Universitatea players.
The money is suspected of belonging to Steaua's flamboyant boss
Gigi Becali, who promised it to Universitatea in case they drew
or won against CFR.
Becali cynically commented that his associates must have been to
Cluj in order to buy some property.
The law does not treat the incentives to win as bribes, but other
charges could be brought related to illegal monetary transactions.
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