CZECHO’S SOCCER CORNER
Israel international Tal Ben Haim has joined Manchester City from Chelsea. The 26-year-old signed a four-year contract with City for an undisclosed fee. He said: ‘I spoke with my agent and even though we had some better offers I preferred to come here because I think it’s a good club with a lot of ambition. As I’ve said, we want to do better things here than over the last few years.”
FIFA could soon claim victory in dispute with major European clubs over releasing of their players for the Olympic soccer tournament. FIFA issued a statement which read: The single judge of the Players’ Status Committee, Slim Aloulou (Tunisia), decided today, 30 July 2008, that the release of players under the age of 23 for the Men’s Olympic Football Tournament Beijing 2008 is mandatory for all clubs. Previously, on 29 July 2008, the FIFA Emergency Committee also took a decision in the same sense.
Former US international striker Brian McBride signed with MLS team Chicago Fire until the end of the 2009 season. The 36 year old who is heading for Beijing Olympic soccer tournament as of one three over age players, played last for Fulham in Premier League. He joined Fulham in 2004 scoring 32 goals in 139 matches. He was often considered to be one of the best headers in the Premiership during his time there.
Bayern Munich midfielder Franck Ribery will have a metal screw removed from his left ankle on Friday. Ribery injured his ankle ligaments during this summer’s EURO 2008 tournament in a game against Italy. He is hoping to be fit by early or mid-September just like other big name stars Luca Toni, Franck Ribery, Tim Borowski who are all recovering from variety of injuries.
Dynamo Houston beat Mexican team Pachuca 2-0 to advance to the Superliga final. Houston had to wait for their first goal till the 77th minute when Bobby Boswell scored off a corner kick. Corey Ashe added a goal in the 87th minute on final 2-0. In the “all American Final” Dynamo will face New England Revolution who defeated Atlante of Mexico by a score of 1-0 on Tuesday night. The final will be played on August 5th at Foxboro’s Gillette Stadium.
Champions League continues with the first leg of the second qualifying round and we saw a couple of unexpected results.
Tuesday July 29
FC Baku (Azerbaijan) 1 Partizan Belgrade (Serbia) 1
Brann Bergen (Norway) 1 Ventspils (Latvia) 0
Drogheda United (Ireland) 1 Dynamo Kiev (Ukraine) 2
Wednesday July 30
Anorthosis Famugusta (Cyprus) 3 Rapid Vienna (Austria) 0
IFK Gothenburg (Sweden) 1 Basel (Switzerland) 1
Tampere United (Finland) 1 Artmedia Bratislava (Slovakia) 3
AaB Aalborg (Denmark) 5 Modrica (Bosnia) 0
Domzale (Slovenia) 0 Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia) 3
Anderlecht (Belgium) 1 BATE Borisov (Belarus) 2
Fenerbahce (Turkey) 2 MTK Hungaria (Hungary) 0
Beitar Jerusalem (Israel) 2 Wisla Krakow (Poland) 1
Rangers (Scotland) 0 Kaunas (Lithuania) 0
Panathinaikos (Greece) 3 Dinamo Tbilisi (Georgia) 0
Sheriff (Moldova) 0 Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) 1
