CZECHO’S SOCCER CORNER

Another twist to Cristiano Ronaldo’s soap opera with Real Madrid. Spanish sport’s daily Marca reported that the player is not going back to Manchester. He wont be at the negotiations today instead letting his agent do the talking for him. All that despite the fact that Man Utd’s coach Ferguson had met with Ronaldo in Lisbon last month and claimed that Ronaldo would likely remain at United next season. Real Madrid is reportedly offering around $140 million dollars for Ronaldo.

Real Madrid’s midfielder Wesley Sneijder injured himself during a friendly match with Arsenal in London. Coach Bernd Schuster told Spanish newspaper Marca, “Sneijder is not right, and we’re all frightened by his injury. Sneijder’s  MRI scan Monday reveled ligament damage in his left knee. He will be out for three months and the good news is he doesn’t need surgery. The 24 year old Dutch international joined Real last year from Ajax Amsterdam.

Netherlands striker Ruud van Nistelrooy told Dutch national team coach Bert van Marwijk that he has retired from international soccer. The 32 year old said, “The combination of Real Madrid’s competition, cup and Champions League games on the one hand and the Netherlands team on the other, would be too heavy a burden for me.” In ten years he has been playing for the national team van Nistelrooy scored 33 goals in 64 matches.

Arsenal striker Eduardo thinks he will be back on the field by Christmas as he makes good progress recovering from a broken leg injury. He suffered a double compound fracture of the left leg in a tackle from Birmingham’s Martin Taylor early this year. The Brazilian-born 25-year-old Croatian international underwent a battery of tests and he hopes for an early return.

Real Madrid paid $20 million dollars for Dutch international midfielder Rafael van der Vaart from Hamburg. “Last night everything came together, and I am now moving to Real Madrid,” said van der Vaart. The 25-year-old Hamburg captain joined the German club in 2005, scoring 29 goals in 74 Bundesliga matches.

Man Utd coach Alex Ferguson told a press conference today that Wayne Rooney will miss the start of the EPL season due to a virus. Rooney and several other players became ill after the pre-season club’s trip  to Nigeria. According to the team it’s not malaria, just a bad virus Rooney caught in Nigeria. Without Nani, Aderson and Ronaldo  Man Utd is running out of strikers and the club may regret sitting on sidelines this transfer season.

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This is the second time in a row that Cristiano Ronaldo has been named the Professional Footballers Association Player of the Year. The Young Player award went to Arsenal’s Fabregas. Ronaldo is having an exceptional season so far, leading the top scorers competition with 28 goals.

The fight which broke out between Manchester United players and Chelsea’s staff after their match is being investigated by FA. The FA is asking for CCTV footage of the incident. The fight started after Man Utd substitutes were on the warm down practice and refused to leave the field. According to the witnesses Chelsea staff provoked the fight with verbally insulting Patrice Evra.

LA Galaxy striker Landon Donovan recorded a hat-trick in the match with rival Chivas USA. The LA derby was won by Galaxy by a score of 5-2. Donovan is the MLS top scorer with eight goals and he contributes his success to having David Beckham as a team-mate.

AC Milan president Adriano Galliani hinted that the club may have to sell Kaka because of its debt. Milan needs 24 million euros to cover the debt and if they sell Kaka for 55 million they still have enough left to buy Ronaldhino. The Brazilian is supposedly on his way to AC Milan.

Chelsea may encounter some problems on their planned tour of Asia. The Muslim leaders in Malaysia are calling for a boycott of their match because of the two Israeli members on Chelsea’s team. Coach Avram Grant and defender Tal Ben Haim are Israeli citizens. Malaysia doesn’t have diplomatic relations with Israel and most of its population is Muslim.

The Dutch Cup was won on Sunday by Feyenoord who beat Roda SC by a score of 2-0. Feyenoord who missed the race for Eredivisie title this season will qualify for the UEFA Cup because of this. It’s Feyenoord’s 11th Cup trophy and their first since 1995.

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AS Roma’s main man Francesco Totti suffered ligament injury on Saturday. He underwent successful surgery on Sunday to repair the damaged knee. Roma’s club doctor believes four months of recovery time should be enough for Totti, based on previous cases that the club dealt with.

PSV Eindhoven won the Eredivisie Championship on Sunday for the fourth time in row. They beat Arnhemu by a score of 1-0 in the last round of the Championship. PSV’s biggest rival Ajax Amsterdam finished second only three points behind.

Sunday’s draw for the Olympic Games in China gave the US team pretty tough opponents. They are going to meet Holland, Nigeria and Japan in Group B. Nigeria won the gold medal in 1996, Japan qualified for the eighth time and Holland is the current Under-21 European Champion.

Bayern Munich won the German Cup for the fourteenth time by beating Borussia Dortmund 2-1 and guess who scored both goals? Yes, once again Luca Toni took care of the scoring. This was his fourth straight match in which he scored two goals.

Rapid Vienna won an unprecedented 32nd Austrian Bundesliga title. They won their very first Championship back in 1912. This make them one of the most successful teams on the domestic scene in Europe and possibly in the World.

London Donovan came through for LA Galaxy, scoring both goals in their draw with Houston Dynamo. David Beckham had assist on both of them. Galaxy was trailing behind till the 84th minute when Donovan scored the tying goal with a sliding shot. The tie means another precious points loss for LA Galaxy.

Standings in Premier League, Primera Liga, Serie A, Eredivisie, Ligue 1 and Bundesliga after the weekend of April 19-20. The Dutch Eredivisie played its last round on Sunday and was won by PSV Eindhoven.

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There is good news for all Ronaldo fans. According to his therapist, the rehabilitation is going exceptionally well and Ronaldo may be able to return to play before November. He does his therapy seven days a week and after the healing is completed he will start with running and bicycling.

Romario announced his retirement from soccer on Tuesday. He is 42 years old and said he won’t be playing anymore. Romario played for PSV Eindhoven, Barcelona, Flamengo and Vasco de Gama in his 23 year career and also claims to have scored 1002 goals. The last team he played for was Vasco de Gama where he was a coach and player at the same time.

Fans of Serbian teams Partizan Belgrade and Vojvodina Novi Sad clashed on Tuesday and one person was killed and several others were injured. This is a follow up of street fights on Sunday after the match between these two teams. Dozens of fans were arrested and one fan was stabbed with a knife. These fights are often used by nationalist parties for their propaganda and they are fairly common in Serbia.

Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb is a wanted man according to his agent. Inter Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus are all interested in him. The 26 year old Belarus international is having an excellent season and has firmly established himself as a key player for Arsenal.

Real Madrid’s poll to choose the 100 best players who played for the club was won by Alfredo di Stefano. In second place came Zinedine Zidane and third was Real’s captain Raul. Real started this poll on March 6, the day they were celebrating the club’s 106th anniversary and one million votes were cast. Real will hold a ceremony to honor all the players who were selected in the poll.

Chelsea’s goalie Petr Cech added one more piece of protection gear to his head. After sustaining an injury to his mouth which required 50 stitches, he will be wearing special mouth guard for a while. Miraculously Cech was back in the goal for Monday’s match with Wigan despite the fact some people thought the season was over for him.

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According to the Italian media AC Milan is closing on signing Ronaldhino from Barcelona. Milan offered Barcelona 32 million dollars but that may go even higher now since Inter Milan is also showing interest. Ronaldhino is out with a muscle injury for rest of the season and rumors suggest he is not happy in Barcelona.

The match between host FC Groningen and Ajax Amsterdam on Sunday had to be postponed because of a fire at the stadium. The fans started several small fires with toilet paper and the fire quickly spread to the plastic seats. Nineteen fans were injured and police is studying the security videos to find out who started the fires.

The Czech soccer fans will have a real treat on their hands during the EURO 2008 this summer. The city will install several giant TV screens in downtown Prague and will show all of the EURO 2008 matches. There will also be concerts and an artificial soccer field with live matches during the tournament.

A deserted Monumental stadium saw River Plate beat Tigre by a score of 1-0. Following fan violence during the match with Arsenal two weeks ago, River was banned from selling tickets for the match. As River’s coach Diego Simeone said”It was a strange match with a lot of wind and not too many people.” Only club members were allowed to attend the match.

AS Roma captain Francesco Totti returned from an injury to face Udinese. But it was not happy return. Totti was shown a yellow card and later was fined 1000 euros for swearing at the referee. The Roma striker was attempting to take a shot when referee Rizzoli accidentally got in his way. Totti swore at him, telling to go to hell.

The captain of the Czech National Team, Tomas Rosicky will continue medical care for his knee injury in Prague. He got permission from his club Arsenal after doctor’s said that he wont be able to play for the rest of the season. Rosicky has been out since January 19th and he is hoping to be healthy and fit for this summer’s EURO 2008 tournament.

This weekend’s standings in Premier League, Serie A, Primera liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Eredivisie.

This weekend’s standings in Premier League, Serie A, Primera liga, Bundesliga, Ligue 1 and Eredivisie.