Salvadoran referee stalwart Ortiz dies

January 19, 2010

El Salvador – Carlos Ortiz Cardoza, a referee for 20 years in his native El Salvador, died Monday from complications after a recent illness. He was 62.

Ortiz was a member of the FIFA referees’ committee for seven years and its CONCACAF counterpart for eight years. He also was president of the El Savadoran Football Federation’s referees panel for six years and was chairman of the Central American (UNCAF) referees committee for the past eight years.

“Carlos has been a very important part of the very positive developments in refereeing in CONCACAF and most significantly in Central America over the past eight years,” CONCACAF President Jack Warner said “Our hearts go out to his family and the football family which will miss his guidance and direction which we have come to count on.”

SAN SALVADOR

Concacaf

Tags: Carlos, carlos ortiz, Central America, Central American, concacaf, counterpart, El Salvador, fifa referees, football family, football federation, guidance, hearts, jack warner, president jack, President Jack Warner, referee, refereeing, San Salvador, seven years, six years, uncaf

Czech midfielder Berger hangs up his boots

January 6, 2010

Sparta Prague’s former Czech international midfielder Patrik Berger has announced that he is retiring because of recurrent injuries, his team coach said on Wednesday.

Sparta Prague coach Jozef Chovanec said that the 36-year-old had informed him of his decision on Tuesday. “Patrik told me yesterday ‘It’s over. My knee can no longer hold up’,” said Chovanev.

Berger started his career as a Sparta Prague trainee before before joining city rival’s Slavia Prague aged 18 years. He then moved to Borussia Dortmund in Germany followed by seven years at Liverpool, then Portsmouth, Stoke City and Aston Villa.

He rejoined Sparta in 2008 but rarely featured because of health problems, playing his final match on August 8 last year.

Berger was capped 44 times and scored 18 goals for the Czech Republic between 1993 and 2001.

PRAGUE (AFP)

Tags: 18 years, Aston, aston villa, august 8, boots, chovanec, czech international, czech republic, dortmund, final match, Germany, health problems, jozef, Liverpool, midfielder, patrik berger, Portsmouth, PRAGUE, seven years, slavia prague, sparta prague, Stoke City, team coach

Fletcher sets sights on psychological edge over Chelsea

November 5, 2009

Darren Fletcher believes Manchester United can claim an important psychological edge over Chelsea with a win in Sunday’s showdown between the Premier League’s top two.

But the Scotland midfielder, who returned to action in Tuesday’s 3-3 draw with CSKA Moscow after a month out with an ankle injury, insists the title race will remain wide open, regardless of the outcome at Stamford Bridge, where United have not won in seven years.

“Sunday is a massive game. Games against Chelsea always are,” Fletcher said.

“It is not going to be make-or-break who wins the league by any means, although it is an important benchmark.

“Maybe psychologically it might have an effect. But Chelsea are a top-class side and we will respect them.”

Fletcher will expect to start at Chelsea given the importance the United manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, attaches to his defensive qualities, which were badly missed as United went down to a 2-0 defeat at Liverpool last month.

Even once-sceptical fans have come to recognise what Fletcher brings to the United mix although he insists he is not getting carried away with his growing reputation as a player for the big occasion.

“I take the compliments with a pinch of salt,” he said. “I enjoy these matches as much as anyone and I put pressure on myself to perform more than anyone does.

“The challenge of playing against the top-class players that Chelsea have is one I look forward to and I will be doing my best to win the match. But I am not going to make-or-break games like this.”

Fletcher admitted that his latest lay-off had taken its toll on his match sharpness.

“It is nice to get back into the team and get 90 minutes under my belt because I have not played for a while,” he said.

“I felt fine, which was the most important thing, although I was not 100 percent with my touch and awareness on the pitch. But the game will help and, if selected, I should feel the benefit on Sunday.”

United left-back Patrice Evra meanwhile is determined to steer clear of controversy as he seeks to claim bragging rights over Chelsea strike duo, Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba, two of his best friends in football.

Evra was banned for four matches after a post-match altercation with a Chelsea groundsman in April 2008 and still feels that he was treated harshly over an incident he insists he did not provoke.

“It is unfortunate that when I play against Chelsea, something always seems to happen,” the France defender said. “First it was the ground-staff, then last year I had a bit of an argument with Michael Ballack. This year I have to make sure nothing happens because we need to get a result.”

Evra regards Chelsea as the main threat to United’s hopes of claiming a fourth consecutive Premier League title, particularly now that Drogba and Anelka are proving they can play together.

“I am not scared of them but I respect them and they are the most dangerous rivals,” he said. “I said it last year and the year before and I think it this season as well.

“Both Drogba and Anelka are good friends of mine. And I know they are both great players.

“All the defenders need to focus because keeping a clean sheet will be the key to winning this game.

“We need to be strong because Drogba and Anelka are two big strikers. They are both so quick and strong, although I do feel we have enough quality to do our jobs.”

Tuesday’s Champions League clash, in which United had to recover from a 3-1 deficit to claim a draw with a stoppage-time equalisier, underlined the defensive shakiness that has characterised the champions’ performances this season, and Evra admits an improvement is required.

“If you concede three goals at home, you can hardly say it has been a good performance from the defenders,” he reflected.

“We did well to come back, as we did against Manchester City. But we need to make sure we don’t concede three goals on Sunday because then it won’t be easy to get back.”

MANCHESTER (AFP)

Tags: alex ferguson, ankle injury, benchmark, CHELSEA, compliments, cska moscow, darren fletcher, game games, Liverpool, massive game, pinch of salt, premier league, psychological edge, seven years, sharpness, stamford bridge

Time to back Babbel, says Heldt

October 30, 2009

Stuttgart director of sport Horst Heldt has called on everybody to club together to help under-fire coach Markus Babbel lead them out of a crisis.

Babbel’s position as coach of the Swabians was confirmed on Wednesday despite defeat by Greuther Furth in the DFB-Pokal, but only a positive result against Bayern Munich on Saturday can save him from further castigation.

And after showing his and the board’s full backing for Babbel, Heldt has called on the whole club to get behind him.

“We can only get out of this crisis together,” he said. “We now need a community and that does not only mean on the field, but off it also.

“We need our fans to help us out of this difficult situation.”

Babbel would probably have preferred anybody but Bayern as opponents, but Heldt said the “name of the opponent doesn’t matter one bit” and that the “important thing is that the team does all it can to win again”.

Bayern appear to have left their own crisis behind them and have moved up to within four points of the joint league leaders Hamburg and Bayer Leverkusen.

However, trouble is always brewing at Bayern and this time it comes in the shape of central defender Martin Demichelis who has criticised coach Louis van Gaal in an interview with the Bild newspaper.

“I am not the only player who has been out for a long time, yet I have to fight for my place back in the team. That makes me angry and bitter,” he said.

“I am fit and am doing everything to help this team and I would have expected the same kind of support that other players who were making a comeback received.”

Demichelis was referring to Mark van Bommel and Bastian Schweinsteiger, who walked straight back into the team after injury whereas he has had to sit on the bench in the last few games.

But he has vowed to knuckle down and prove Van Gaal he is wrong to leave him out.

“I have loved and defended this shirt for seven years and it is like my second skin,” he added. “But I also know that a professional footballer cannot rest on his laurels so I will fight to the death.”

Demichelis will be given his chance in next week’s Champions League tie against Bordeaux, when Daniel van Buyten will be suspended, but Van Gaal is unlikely to make any changes to his side this weekend.

Abhimanyu Rajput

Tags: Bastian Schweinsteiger, bayer, Bayern, bayern munich, bild newspaper, Bordeaux, castigation, central defender, Daniel van Buyten, dfb pokal, furth, Hamburg, Horst Heldt, laurels, league leaders, louis van gaal, Mark van Bommel, markus babbel, martin demichelis, professional footballer, second skin, seven years, stuttgart, swabians, Van Gaal

Storrie: I won’t quit

September 27, 2009

Portsmouth chief executive Peter Storrie has confirmed he will stay with the club, and admitted it would be “daft and stupid” to sack manager Paul Hart.

Pompey missed a host of chances in a 1-0 home defeat against Everton yesterday – their seventh successive setback, and remain anchored to the foot of the table.

Today’s newspapers have suggested time is not on Paul Hart’s side, with former Celtic boss Gordon Strachan one of the names to be linked to the club.

However, Storrie believes Hart can turn things around.

He said: “It’s okay people saying ‘go and change things’ but look at the performance yesterday, and the support.

“It was a very strong performance we think we can build on for the future. You’d be daft and stupid to change it.”

Meanwhile, Storrie remains optimistic the spending power of new owner Sulaiman Al Fahim will soon make the squad stronger.

He continued on Radio Five Live’s Sportsweek: “He’s said there’s £50million coming, publicly at a meeting to supporters on Friday night.

“Sulaiman showed the board documentation to say the money’s there. We hope it all comes to fruition in the next few days.

“We can only go by what he’s told the fans and what we’ve seen.”

Storrie has ended speculation he will leave the club, adding: “Making sure the club is sound and the finances come in has always been the main issue for me,

so I’m very happy to stay and continue being at a club I’ve enjoy being at for the last seven years.”

He appreciated Pompey fans singing his name at yesterday’s game, adding: “It makes you feel quite humble, to be honest – they didn’t need to do it but I appreciate it very much.

“If they feel like that I want to be there to continue to help and wouldn’t walk out on the club.

“It’s been a hard eight or nine months but I thought we played extremely well yesterday and were unfortunate not to win.

“Then the crowd chant your name – it makes you think ‘this doesn’t happen to many chief executives’.”

Storrie admitted the Hampshire club’s financial problems prevented the club from being able to replace quality players such as Peter Crouch, Sylvain Distin and Nico Kranjcar during the transfer window.

He explained: “There’s been a massive change and we’ve had to bring players in at the last minute but the performance yesterday was the best for some while.

“We’re confident the players will turn it around – and they are too.”

Storrie refuted suggestions the new arrivals are not good enough for the Premier League.

He explained: “All the players we’ve brought have either played in the Premier League, come from the Premier League, or played in top leagues in Europe.

And he remains convinced the club will maintain their top flight status, despite making the worst start in Premier League history.

He added: “We’re still hanging in there and hopefully this finance will mean the hard work over the last six or seven months will come to fruition and we’ll be strong.

“We’re confident – if you see players’ heads down you’d be worried or not creating chances, but we should have had something in five out of the seven games.”

Abhimanyu Rajput

Tags: al fahim, boss, chief executive, chief executives, crowd, Europe, friday night, fruition, gordon strachan, Nico Kranjcar, nine months, paul hart, Peter Storrie, pompey fans, Portsmouth, premier league, prob, radio five live, setback, seven years, speculation, spending power, sulaiman

South Africa star Fortune joins Doncaster

August 5, 2009

Former South Africa midfielder Quinton Fortune signed for English Championship club Doncaster on a short-term contract on Tuesday.

Fortune, 32, impressed during a trial with Sean O’Driscoll’s side and the former Manchester United player could make his debut in the season opener at Watford on Saturday.

The Cape Town-born star, who spent seven years at Old Trafford, played for Belgian club Tubize last season but opted for a return to England after being released.

“Doncaster Rovers Football Club are delighted to announce the signing of midfielder Quinton Fortune on a short-term contract,” a statement on the club’s website confirmed.

LONDON (AFP)

Tags: belgian club, cape town, debut, Doncaster, driscoll, England, football club, london, Manchester, manchester united player, midfielder, old trafford, Quinton Fortune, Sean O'Driscoll, season opener, seven years, South Africa, term contract, watford

Coleen Rooney Bump Update

August 4, 2009

Coleen Rooney’s baby bump is getting bigger by the day!!

Dressed here in a blue lepoard print summer dress, Coleen seems to be relaxing quite easily in to her first pregnancy.

But the WAG has recently revealed she onced feared she may not have children.

Coleen explains: ‘People take it for granted that they can have children but you can’t always. My mum tried for seven years to have me.’

She went through operation after operation and had me after taking fertility drugs and sometimes I thought that could have happened to me.’

Col continues: I just wondered if it ran in the family. So I’m just made up I’m pregnant now. I feel very lucky that I can have children and hopefully I’ll have a healthy baby.’

Well so far so good! Coleen looks bloomin’ lovely and is due to give birth in October.

Go to Source

Tags: bump, Coleen Rooney, fertility drugs, lepoard print, pregnancy, seven years, summer dress, wag

Toure relishing new challenge at Man City

July 30, 2009

Ivory Coast defender Kolo Toure admits he made up his mind to join Manchester City six months ago because he wanted a new challenge after seven years at Arsenal.

Toure completed a 15 million pounds switch to big-spending City on Wednesday after growing stale at the Emirates Stadium.

But the 28-year-old centre-back, who signed a four-year contract with his new club and follows former Gunners’ team-mate Emmanuel Adebayor to Eastlands, claims the move had been in the pipeline for some while.

“I think before Adebayor we knew. There was some talk about coming here. It’s from six months ago,” Toure said at his official unveiling on Thursday.

“I was the last one in the ‘Invincibles’ team (the Arsenal side that went a whole season unbeaten in the league in 2003-04) and I was expecting to leave Arsenal.

“I think Arsenal are a really good team, but it was the right time for me to move.

“First I thought I did not want to leave England, even though other teams came in for me. But it was important not to leave for me and my family.

“Manchester City are a really good team and want to do something. I am really delighted to be here, the future is big.”

Toure is City boss Mark Hughes’ sixth signing so far this close-season in a spending spree that is now close to 100 million pounds.

The centre-back is convinced City are ready to gatecrash the Premier League’s top four and could even win the title.

“Yes, I believe so, that’s why I am here. The quality is big, there are fantastic players here,” Toure said.

“I will give everything I have to make the club one of the best in England.”

While City’s spending shows no sign of letting up as Hughes chases Everton’s England defender Joleon Lesott, Toure says he is not concerned about competition for places.

“I’m just here to do my job and I just want the team to go forward,” he said. “I leave everything to the manager and the board to do what they want to do but for me, I’m delighted to be here and give my 100 percent to get the team on top.

“The team want to progress, the club wants to progress and everything the club does is to make sure we play at the top of the league and that’s a really good objective and I’m on board now and I will do everything I can for the team.”

Toure revealed that City had pulled out all the stops to persuade him to leave Arsenal and he was immediately won over by their determination to sign him.

“They showed that they really want me and I’m wholly happy,” he said. “When you love a woman and she gives you back the love you are really happy and that’s what I can see at City.

“They have given me the love and I’m really delighted to bring them back the love.

“With Arsenal I was there seven years and when you play somewhere for seven years sometimes you need a change in your life and that’s what I was thinking and then Man City came and they are the right club for me as they have a full project on view.”

MANCHESTER, England (AFP)

Tags: 100 million, chases, city boss, Eastlands, Emirates Stadium, emmanuel adebayor, England, everton, gunners, Ivory Coast, kolo toure, Manchester, manchester city, Mark Hughes, new challenge, pipeline, premier league, right time, seven years, six months, spending spree, team mate, unveiling

Toure signs, as Onuoha extends City stay

July 30, 2009

Premier League big spenders Manchester City have confirmed that Arsenal’s Kolo Toure is moving to Eastlands on a four-year contract, while defender Nedum Onuoha has commited his future at Manchester City by agreeing a new five-year contract.

The 28-year-old Toure arrives from Arsenal for an undisclosed fee following seven years with the north London club and the player passed a medical today before the necessary paperwork was finalised.

Manager Mark Hughes told City’s official website: “I am delighted to welcome Kolo to Manchester City.

“It is no secret that we have been looking to strengthen our defence, and in Kolo I feel we have recruited a world-class player. He brings a wealth of Premier League experience.”

Adn while City’s spending spree continues, the clubs 22-year-old academy product has committed his future to the Eastlands.

The player had been rumoured to be on his way out of the club as Mark Hughes makes a number of high-profile additions to his squad.

But Onuoha, who broke into City’s back four midway through last season, has pledged to fight for his place in the team.

And he knows that will guarantee him nothing in City’s new-look team.

“I was pleased by the way I played towards the end of last season but at the same time I don’t think that level of form will be good enough to get me into the side this time around,” he told the club’s official website.

By: Abhimanyu Rajput

Tags: adn, arsenal, CITY, Eastlands, kolo toure, league experience, Manager Mark Hughes, manchester city, Mark Hughes, midway, north London, north london club, old academy, onuoha, premier league, secret, seven years, signs, spending spree, Toure

Sun goes out at Sheffield United

July 7, 2009

LONDON (AFP) – Veteran Chinese international defender Sun Jihai ended a seven year spell in English football on Monday as he left Championship side Sheffield United.

The 31-year-old – who played for Manchester City for seven years before joining Sheffield United last year – had admitted to being homesick and opted to return to China.

Sheffield United manager Kevin Blackwell told BBC Radio Sheffield that Sun – who only started 11 matches for United – had missed his family

“Sun found it difficult to settle here. He was living with his mother and missed his family,” said Blackwell.

“He was a great professional and was a great example to the young players at the club. I wish him all the best.”

Sun – capped over 70 times – had initially come to England back in 1998 and stayed for a year with Crystal Palace before returning to China but then came back to England to join City in 2002.