All Entries in the "Soccer" Category
Napoli’s Walter Mazzarri unhappy with Edinson Cavani’s disallowed goal in defeat by Roma (Goal.com)
Napoli boss Walter Mazzarri felt his side had a goal incorrectly disallowed during Sunday night’s surprising 3-1 defeat at home to Roma.
Rout of Santos reaffirms Barcelona’s reputation (Yahoo! Sports)
Barcelona was officially crowned the best club team on the planet Sunday, but we already knew that. Securing the Club World Cup title with a 4-0 thrashing of Santos in Yokohama was mere confirmation of a widely accepted fact, and leaves Barca running out of trophies to claim. Likewise, as further proof that this is not just a great team of this era but perhaps one of the best ever, the soccer world is running out of platitudes to anoint Barca with.
Toronto’s Aron Winter invested in building a deep squad, not a sexy one (Goal.com)
Toronto FC’s Aron Winter doesn’t quite understand all of the criticism he received in his first year as head coach. “The roster wasn’t good enough when I started,” Winter explained to Goal.com. “There was a lack of quality, a lack of personality, lack of willing to be a part of the process
Universidad de Chile romp to Copa Sudamericana title (Reuters)
By Claudio Cerda SANTIAGO, Dec 14 (Reuters) – Striker Eduardo Vargas scored twice as a young Universidad de Chile team beat 10-man LDU Quito 3-0 on Wednesday to lift the Copa Sudamericana, their first international trophy. The Chilean league title holders won the two-legged final 4-0 having upset LDU 1-0 with a goal by Vargas, the competition’s top scorer with 11, in Quito last week
Universidad de Chile wins Copa Sudamericana final (AP)
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP)—Universidad de Chile won its first continental competition Wednesday with a 3-0 victory over Ecuador’s Liga de Quito in the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana final. Striker Eduardo Vargas scored two goals and Gustavo Lorenzetti found the other to give Universidad a 4-0 aggregate win after Vargas got the only goal in Thursday’s first leg. Vargas finished the tournament as top scorer with 11 goals
Big spending bypasses China’s grassroots (AP)
The rise of the Chinese Super League as a lucrative destination for high-profile footballers has done little to stifle concern about the underachieving national team or the grassroots development of the game in the world’s most populous country.
Cristiano Ronaldo is immense, says Real Madrid’s Miguel Pardeza (Goal.com)
Real Madrid director of football Miguel Pardeza has hit back at media criticism of Cristiano Ronaldo’s performance in Clasico by calling the Portuguese international ‘immense’. The former Manchester United attacker was guilty of missing several chances in the 3-1 defeat to rival Barcelona at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday. However, Pardeza has defended Ronaldo and is adamant Madrid will bounce back from the loss with a win this weekend versus Sevilla.
Carlos Tevez: I would like to rejoin Boca Juniors (Goal.com)
Unhappy Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez has revealed that he does not want to return to England and wants to join his boyhood club Boca Juniors.
Capital punishment for Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid as Barcelona shows it isn’t ready to be dethroned just yet (Goal.com)
Reportsof Liga champion Barcelona’s demise appear to have been greatly exaggerated after Saturday night’s Gran Clasico, won 3-1 by the Catalans, a come-from-behind victory over Real Madrid that has now lifted Pep Guardiola’s men back to the top of the Primera Division standings, albeit having played a game more than their arch rivals. At the full-time whistle, there were high fives all round among the visiting players, in stark contrast to their hosts, who looked dazed and confused, as if trying to work out where it all went wrong. This was supposed to be Madrid’s derby to win, with Jose Mourinho’s side oozing confidence on the back of a remarkable run of 10 straight league wins in a row, and 15 in all competitions
Real Madrid’s Sergio Ramos: It always hurts more to lose to Barcelona in the Clasico (Goal.com)
Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos has admitted that he is “hurt” after Barcelona claimed all three points with a 3-1 victory at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday evening. Jose Mourinho’s men started the match excellently, with Karim Benzema giving the home side the lead just 22 seconds into the match, but Barca rallied as the game developed, and a goal each from Alexis Sanchez and Cesc Fabregas, plus an own goal from Marcelo sealed the victory for the Catalan side.