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Weekly News 4 7 11
Weekly Soccer News, July 4, 2011
Brazil held by gladiatorial effort
Brazil missed a hatful of goalscoring chances in their Copa America opener against Venezuela at the Estadio Unico in La Plata.
Venezuela are the only South American country never to make it to the World Cup finals, and coach Cesar Farias was delighted with a battling showing against a Brazil team fielding Copa Libertadores-winning duo Neymar and Ganso from Santos as well as Milan pair Robinho and Pato.
"It's historic in terms of the Copa America. Brazil played well but we deserve praise for holding them," said Farias after the match finished goalless. "When we had the chance to play a bit we did and when we had to defend like gladiators we did that too."
The Brazilians had won all five previous Copa America meetings between the two nations, scoring 25 goals and conceding just one.
Green Falcons turn to Rijkaard
Dutch great Frank Rijkaard has been named coach of Saudi Arabia.
Rijkaard, the former Holland and Barcelona manager who has been out of work since leaving his post at Galatasaray in Turkey last October, had been tipped to be heading to the Premier League, with Chelsea and Aston Villa reportedly interested in his services.
However, the 48-year-old has agreed a deal until the 2014 World Cup in Brazil with the Saudi national team, with his first task negotiating the second round of the AFC qualifiers against Hong Kong at the end of July.
He said: "We have our goals. We hope this will be the kick-off of a very successful period.”
Dreams become reality for Palestine
Palestinian dreams came true over the weekend as the Middle Eastern state celebrated its historic first-ever World Cup qualification match on home soil with an aggregate victory over Afghanistan.
A 1-1 draw in the Faisal Al Husseini Stadium in the return leg of the first round AFC qualifier was enough to see the hosts through 3-1 on aggregate.
“For us to play in Palestine has long been the dream of every Palestinian,” captain Ahmed Keshkesh said afterwards. “FIFA made this dream a reality.”
Palestine take on Thailand in the return leg of their second round tie on 28 July.
Inter made to wait
Inter Milan must wait at least another fortnight to find out if they will be allowed to retain the 2006 Serie A title they won in the wake of the calciopoli match-fixing scandal.
Juve won the scudetto in 2006 but were stripped of the championship and demoted to Serie B, handing the title to Inter.
Juve officials have since tried to embroil Inter in the allegations, but lawyers from the Italian football federation have now decided not to take the case forward because the sporting statute of limitations had expired on any potential charges against Inter.
The federation’s executive committee will now meet later this month to finally decide on who will be recognised at 2006 Italian champions.
Compiled by Marc Fox
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