Soccer is known for knocking down many barriers, except for those
fortified in religious fanatism. One Baris Kaska, a Turkish lawyer
from Izmir, filed a complaint against UEFA with the local court
asking for the annulment of Inter Milan's 3-0 Champions'
League win over Fenerbahce on account that the "Italians
wore a red cross on a white surface." For Kaska, a clear symbol
of the Crusades.
"The cross reminded me of the bloody days of the past. In my
opinion, the design of the shirt openly suggests the superiority
of one religion," claims Kaska.
Naturally, the complaint has no chances of prospering since UEFA
approved the design of Inter's reserve kit, inaugurated on the occasion
of the Milan club's forthcoming centenary. Indeed, Inter had the
sensitivity to ask Fenerbahce whether they would object to their
using the crossed shirt at San Siro, and the Turks said no problem.
Barcelona, who sell tons of shirts in Islamic countries, have forestalled a possible customers' boycott by redesigning their coat of arms
in the batches intended for Moslem markets. Instead of the city's
patron saint St George's cross in the upper left corner, Barça's
coat of arms on sale in Islamic states contains an ordinary vertical
red line on the white surface.
"They don't tolerate crosses, be it Barça's or another
club's," said a Spaniard living in Saudi Arabia to the La
Vanguardia daily.
"Barcelona's merchandise sells well, but it would not be the
same if there was a red cross drawn within a white square."
Chelsea's captain and England international John Terry will spent
at least six weeks on the sidelines after sustaining an injury during the London derby against Arsenal. The team doctors confirmed Terry
broke three bones in his left foot.
The international defender tried to continue playing even after
Eboué's rough tackle, but the pain was too strong, forcing him to abandon the pitch. Eboué apologized to Terry for the
tackle before getting injured himself.
This has been yet another blow to the Blues, already without Ricardo
Carvalho since the early stages of the season.
The brave skipper could return to action against Birmingham in late
January and should certainly be ready for Fabio Capello's England
debut against Switzerland at Wembley on February 6th.
The journalists who determine the winner of the Golden Ball in
France Football's poll have a similar taste to that of the coaches
and skippers of national teams taking part in FIFA's contest for the world's best player.
As a consequence, the same player has won the Golden Ball and the
FIFA's award in the same season for the tenth time in 17 years.
This year's double winner is Milan's Kaká, the fifth Brazilian
to have unified the two most prestigious individual prizes in soccer.
That was not the end to Kaká's astonishing run of trophies:
by winning FIFA's World Club Cup, the 25-year-old attacking midfielder
has become only the second player to have won the set of soccer's
most distinguished trophies. Just like Marco van Basten in 1989,
Kaká has collected the Champions' League, the Supercup, the
World Club Cup and the Golden Ball. Van Basten could not win FIFA's
player of the year award simply because it was not given before
1991.
Here are the ten double-winners since 1991, when FIFA started to
award the prize for the top player of the year.
Golden Ball plus FIFA award
1992. Marco van Basten (Netherlands)
1993. Roberto Baggio (Italy)
1995. George Weah (Liberia)
1997. Ronaldo (Brazil)
1998. Zinedine Zidane (France)
1999. Rivaldo (Brazil)
2002. Ronaldo (Brazil)
2005. Ronaldinho (Brazil)
2006. Fabio Cannavaro (Italy)
2007. Kaka (Brazil)
Filippo Pippo Inzaghi has become the third European player to
have scored a goal in all three finals of club cup competitions
in the same cycle.
Before Pippo, only two Dutchmen achieved that distinction.
The first was Ajax' Johan Cruyff, who scored twice against Inter
in the Champions' Cup, twice against Rangers in the Supercup and
once against Independiente in the Intercontinental Cup in 1972 and
early 1973.
Eighteen years later, Milan's Frank
Rijkaard repeated the feat in the games against Benfica, Sampdoria
and Olimpia of Asunción.
AC Milan has joined for the third time the select group of the
elite European clubs who won the three most important international
trophies in one competitive cycle.
Before winning the World Club Cup by beating Boca Juniors 4-2, Milan
collected the Champions' League at the expense of Liverpool (2-1)
and the European Supercup against Sevilla (3-1).
The world's most successful club picked up their first two hat-tricks
in 1989 and 1990 under the guidance of Arrigo Sacchi.
This elite group includes Ajax (twice), Porto, Juventus and Real Madrid.
Hat-trick of titles
1972. Ajax
1987. Porto
1989. Milan
1990. Milan
1995. Ajax
1996. Juventus
2002. Real Madrid
2007. Milan
Paulo Wanchope, Costa Rica's top soccer export, will bid a final
farewell on January 13th against Sweden in San José.
The gigantic striker, who announced his retirement last month, will
play his final game at the national Ricardo Saprissa stadium, where
he debuted for the national team back in 1996.
The former Derby County, West Ham and Manchester City player scored
45 goals in 73 appearances for Costa Rica and was the country's
top scorer until Rolando Fonseca recently overtook him.
Kruno Lovrek, the leading scorer in the Croatian 1st Division,
is the highest scoring player in all of Europe with 14 hits, a goal
above a group of six players with 13 goals each. This group includes
Celtic's Scott McDonald and Ajax' Jan-Klas Huntelaar alongside two
other players from the Croatian
League - Nikola Kalinic and Radomir Djalovic.
Only two strikers from the top leagues are present among the European
top scorers: the French boy wonder Karim Benzema of Lyon and Juventus'
David Trezeguet, both with 12 goals.
The Spanish number one is Sevilla's Brazilian Luis Fabiano with
10 goals, while both in the Premier League and Bundesliga the leading
scorers are still within single digits.
Bayern's Klose and Toni, Hamburg's Van der Vaart and Werder's Diego
have finished the first part of the season with nine goals on their
account, like Arsenal's Adebayor, Manchester United's Ronaldo and Everton's Aiyegbeni.
1. Kruno Lovrek (Zagreb)
- 14 goals
2.-7. Nikola Kalinic (Hajduk)
- 13
Radomir Dalovic (Rijeka) - 13
Jan-Klas Huntelaar (Ajax) - 13
Gheorghe Bucur (Politechnica T.) - 13
Scott McDonald (Celtic) - 13
Hakan Yakin (Young Boys) - 13
8-17. Karim Benzema (Lyon) - 12
David Trezeguet (Juventus) - 12
Oleksandr Hladki (Shakhtar) - 12
Peter Graulund (Arhus) - 12
Juraj Halenar (Artmedia) - 12
Sanel Jahic (Zeljeznicar) - 12
David Bunderla (Primorje) - 12
Dario Zahora (Domzale) - 12
Marek Zienczuk (Wisla) - 12
Pawel Brozek (Wisla) - 12
The former Columbian mafioso Fernando Rodríguez Mondragón
has revealed new details of the scandal that allegedly took place
at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina and that cost the Brazilians
the title.
According to the ex-narco dealer, it was the then Argentinian vice-admiral,
Carlos A. Lacoste, who masterminded the bribing of the Peruvian
FA so that Argentina would beat Peru by at least four goals and
qualify for the finals ahead of Brazil.
"My uncle and dad were called by the players' agent Carlos
Quieto asking them to mediate between the Argentinian and the Peruvian
FA's, since he was the Peruvian FA's president's friend," said
Mondragón to terra.es digital newspaper.
"Two days before the key game, at the meeting in Lima, the
Argentinian bought the favours of four players for 50,000 USD each,
and their government gave Peru some grain free of charge,"
continued the infamous Guillermo Rodríguez Mondragón's
son, promising to reveal all the names, amounts and other details
of the scandal in his forthcoming book.
Lacoste was the chairman of the World Cup organizing committee,
short lived president of Argentina and long-time FIFA vice-president.
Argentina won that World Cup by beating Peru 6-0 in the crucial
semifinal group game and the Netherlands 3-1 in the finals.
All players involved have always rejected claims of foul play.
