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Czech international Milan Baros may be heading for Spanish Primera Liga. According to French newspaper L’Equipe club Betis Sevilla showed interest in Olympique Lyon striker. Baros was on loan to Portsmouth of English Premier League for the end of last season and may have a hard time finding steady spot on Lyon’s first team squad. He previously played for Aston Villa and had his best years so far in Liverpool.

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba put to rest stories about him leaving, by pledging to stay with Chelsea. When Jose Mourinho made his return to soccer, it was predicted that Drogba would follow him to Inter Milan. This is what the player himself had to said, “I have always said, I am always with Chelsea. It is a great team with great players and a great coach, and a president who has ambition.”

Russian sensation Andrei Arshavin is still confident that his move to Tottenham will go through. His desire to move to Barcelona is over for now since they signed Alexander Hleb and Tottenham is the only club left with a serious interest. Arshavin was unhappy with his club Zenit because they raised the price tag for him to $42 million dollars. He fears no club will offer that much and that will leave him priced out of the market. Some reports in the English press suggest that the player is on strike, refusing to play.

Sunday’s Community Shield match at Wembley between the league champion and FA Cup winner will pair Manchester United against Portsmouth. Man Utd coach Alex Ferguson is planning to use the players coming back from injuries like Nani, Gary Neville or Carrick while Harry Redknapp’s team will try to duplicate the success from the FA cup competition. This will be the first big test for Portsmouth’s new striking duo of Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe. “Sunday is going to be a really difficult match, but we will be fit and ready and hopefully we will give them a good game,”said Crouch.

The stadium of Portugal’s club Boavista was seized by the government and will go on sale for a starting price of $42.5 million dollars. Boavista club was demoted to second division after a match fixing scandal, in which FC Porto was also found guilty of bribing referres trying to influence the outcome of the matches. The club is in a deep finacial crisis and unable to pay players salaries plus their investment plan earlier this year fell through.

Chelsea offered around $40 million dollars to sign Brazil striker Robinho from Real Madrid. The 24 year old Brazilian international joined Real in 2005 became unhappy with his club lately, saying they treat him like a second-rate player. His agent Wagner Ribiero said, “Chelsea coach Luiz Felipe Scolari knows him well, calls him every day and is giving him the attention he needs.”

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The United States National team player, Freddy Edu is going to Ligue 1 Club Monaco on a 1 year loan.  Edu chose that move after Benfica’s coach Quique Flores said Edu doesn’t have spot guarantee on the first team roster. Edu made sporadic appearances for the club last season, scoring five goals.

2007 Uzbek league runners-up FC Kuruvchi made a serious offer to sign Barcelona’s star Samuel Eto’o. The signing will be short, for three or six months to help this club from Tashkent to win the domestic league and  the Asian Champions League. A spokesman for the club said that they should know by Wednesday if Eto’o accepts their offer.

A halftime brawl at a Columbus Crew match with West Ham United on Sunday gave U.S. fans a little taste of the European soccer environment. Fans of both clubs scuffled and threw punches during what was billed as a warm-up match for Thursday’s MLS All star game.  West Ham United beat Columbus Crew 3-1.

U.S. soccer star Abby Wambach had her first physical therapy  Monday, after surgery last Thursday to have a titanium rod inserted in her lower left leg. Wambach broke her leg during a match against Brazil last Wednesday and is going to miss the Olympics, but hopes to return for the debut of the new Women’s Professional Soccer league in the spring.

Bayern Munich coach Jurgen Klinsmann said that striker Lukas Podolski is not for sale. The 23-year-old has been linked with a move back to his former club Cologne. But Podolski decided to stay with Bayern and had this to say “I am concentrating now fully on the season. I am looking forward to it.”

The Russian national team sensation at the  Euro 2008,  Andrei Arshavin may be heading to the English Premier League to join Tottenham. Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane wish to leave the club and Arshavin would fill the void. His club, Zenit St Petersburg, has been contacted but Totenham said that Zenit’s asking price of 42.8 million dollars is too high a price for the English club.

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It took Jose Mourinho only one day in his new job before he started the cleaning process at Inter Milan. His list of players that will be put up for sale includes Hernan Crespo, Dejan Stankovic, David Suazo, Adriano and Nicolas Burdisso. Muorinho is planning to use the money from the sale to do a couple of big signings, one of them is rumored to be Frank Lampard from Chelsea.

Most of the EURO 2008 matches are sold out and one way to get tickets is to bid for them on Ebay.com. The website has set up a special section where fans can bid on them. Asking prices vary anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars for single ticket to 12,500 dollars for package of four tickets for the finals.

Sven-Goran Eriksson is the seventh European to coach the Mexican national team. Just days after he was let go from Manchester City club, he got the vote of confidence from the Mexican Soccer Federation. Several of Mexico’s biggest stars were against his hiring, arguing they need someone who is familiar with Mexican soccer and who speaks their language.

FC Porto was banned by UEFA from competing in the Champions League next season. Porto was involved in the Portuguese Liga bribery scandal in 2004. Despite the fact that the club lost 6 points and was fined 15,ooo euros, they won the Liga’s title and qualified for Champions League.

The Italian national team suffered a blow before the start of the EURO 2008 after their captain Fabio Cannavaro injured his ankle during training practice. Cannavaro had successful surgery today, but is out of the EURO 2008 tournament. He will be replace by Fiorentina’s Alessandro Gamberini.

Mark Hughes became the new manager of Manchester City after his former club Blackburn agreed on a compensation package worth of 9.2 million dollars from Manchester. He will replace Sven-Goran Eriksson who was released by Manchester on Monday. The 44 year old Hughes who played for Barcelona, Man Utd and Bayern Munich among other clubs retired from playing in 2002 and became Blackburn’s manager in 2004.

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According to the Mexican Soccer Federation, Sven-Goran Eriksonn will be introduce as the new coach of the Mexican national team next week. He beat Portugal’s Luis Felipe Scolari for the job. Eriksonn is presently coaching Manchester City, but after poor second half of the Premier League season he fell out of the favor with team’s owner Thaksin Shinawatra.

The MLS team, Seattle Sounders FC didn’t have to look for their sponsorship too far from home. Today Microsoft and XBOX 360 announced they will be the team’s new sponsors for next five years. When the Sounders take on their first match they will wear jersey with XBOX 360 logo on it for which Microsoft payed the team 20 million dollars.

Czech international and AC Milan defender Marek Jankulovski became Czech Footballer of the Year on Wednesday. He finished ahead of Chelsea’s Petr Cech and Arsenal’s Tomas Rosicky. Jankulovski represented his country in 63 matches, scoring 10 goals.

UEFA is considering banning FC Porto from Champions League for the next season. The reason for that is Porto’s involvement in Portuguese Liga bribery scandal. In a similar case AC Milan was banned for the 2006/2007 Champions League but later had the ban overturned on appeal.

Lithuania received an official apology from the Czech Soccer Federation for playing Litvia’s national anthem instead of theirs before the match between the Czech Republic and Lithuania. The Czech Federation information director was fired and another official was fined because of the mishap.

The friendly match between USA and England saw the US being totally outplayed by the English team. The final score was 2-0, thanks to Steven Gerrard and John Terry goals. The US showed very little on Wednesday night and they are now 2-7, an all time record against England.

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Manchester United recorded their 17th league title on Sunday, finishing two points ahead of the second place Chelsea. Cristiano Ronaldo scored his 41st goal of the season and was voted United’s Player of the Year. Alex Ferguson became the most successful coach in English soccer history with 10 Premier League titles under his belt.

LA Galaxy lost to the NY Red Bulls at home, in a match where David Beckham had a couple of free kicks but couldn’t score. Galaxy tied the match in the 77th minute but New York answered back immediately with Juan Pablo Angel’s goal a minute later. Los Angeles coach Ruud Gullit was disappointed with the way the team started the match.

Porto’s defender Jose Bosingwa signed with Chelsea for a reported 31.75 million dollar transfer fee. The 25 year old Portugal international is regarded by many as one of the best right backs in Europe. He was born in the Congo and played in Boavista F.C. before joining Porto in 2003.

The Czech Gambrinus Liga title will be decided in the last round between bitter city rivals Sparta Prague and Slavia Prague. Sparta lost it’s second home match in a row on Sunday and fell two points behind Slavia. If Slavia win, it will be their first title since 1996.

France’s Player of the Year award went to the 20 year old French international Karim Benzema. The Lyon’s striker has scored 23 goals in Ligue 1 and Champions League this season. “I never dreamt I would win this trophy, but I am absolutely delighted,” he said.

AC Milan just announced that the Brazilian striker Kaka extended his contract with the club till 2013. Kaka signed with Milan back in 2003. He is a devout evangelical Christian who wants to became a minister after his soccer career is over.

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Sunday’s match between Tottenham and Liverpool will be a possible farewell for several Tottenham players. Radek Cerny, Pascal Chimbonda, Ricardo Rocha, Paul Robinson and Dimitar Berbatov may be gone during the summer transfer window. Totenham’s coach Juan de Ramos would love to keep Berbatov in the club, but there is high demand for this player at major European clubs and he will most likely leave.

FC Porto was deducted six points on Friday as a result of trying to bribe referees during 2003-2004 season. Porto’s chairman Jorge Pinto de Costa was banned from the bench for two years. Also involved in this scandal was Boavista which was dropped to the second division and Leiria who was fined $62,000 dollars.

Bad news hit the Czech national team just weeks before the EURO 2008. Their captain Tomas Rosicky will have surgery next week to fix his hamstring problems and the recovery will take at least two months. According to soccer experts Rosicky will be hard to replace even with Pavel Nedved, who is deciding whether to return to the national team.

It’s official, Frank Rijkaard was fired after Barcelona’s second year in row without any kind of trophy. Rijkaard’s replacement is former Barcelona captain and present coach of their B team Pep Guardiola. Barcelona is in third place with 17 points behind Real Madrid with whom they lost 4-1 on Wednesday.

D.C. United lost to Chicago Fire on Thursday in what was D.C.’s fourth loss in their last five matches. Chicago opened the score with Justin Mapp’s goal in the 38th minute and Cuauhtemoc Blanco added one in the 62nd minute. This is Fire’s best start ever and with this win they moved to first place in the Eastern Conference.

AS Roma will meet Inter Milan in the final of the Italian Cup. Roma advanced there by a draw with Catania. In the 1-1 match Roma took the lead by a penalty kick but Catania tied two minutes later with a free kick. It’s a repeat of last year’s final when Roma defeated Inter.

Eindhoven/Philips Stadion

Fiorentina scored their 50th European competition win by beating PSV Eindhoven in their house.

Striker Mutu was the man of the match scoring both goals for Fiorentina. The first goal came in the 38th minute after a free kick from Liverani to Mutu who drilled it in with a powershot from 20 yards. The second goal from Mutu came in the 53rd minute when he struck the rebound just outside the box making it on final 2-0.

Fiorentina was a better team tonight and they advanced to the semi-finals where they will meet the Rangers Glasgow.

St. Petersburg/Petrovsky stadium

Zenit St. Petersburg started with a 4-1 advantage and they played according to that. Bayern Leverkusen at least managed to salvage a 1-0 victory after last week’s terrible loss at home.

Ironically it was Russian born player Dmitri Bulykin who scored the lonely goal for Leverkusen. Zenit could have leveled the score in the 85th minute, but Tymoschuk missed the penalty kick.

Zenit won 4-2 on aggregate and progressed to the semi-finals.

Lisbon/Estadio Jose Alvalade

On a rainy evening in Lisbon, host Sporting lost to the Rangers by a score of 2-0. Sporting put Rangers under constant pressure but it was the Rangers who opened the score in the 60th minute. Rangers striker Darcheville put one in from a cross by Davis.

Sporting’s biggest chance of the match came when Liedson hit the post in the first half.

The Rangers added a second goal in injury time by substitute Whittaker’s solo run from his own half.

The Rangers won 2-0 on aggregate and will meet Fiorentina next.

Getafe/Coliseum Alfonso Perez

A couple of late goals sent Bayern Munich to the semi-finals on away goals. Definitely the most exciting match of Thursday’s UEFA Cup action.

Getafe didn’t have good start to the match when they first lost Ruben De La Red to a red card in the 6th minute and a little bit later lost Uche to an injury.

Getafe regrouped and Contra put them ahead with a solo goal just a minute before halftime.

Just when home fans started to celebrate Bayern’s Franck Ribery equalised in the 88th minute.

The match went into overtime and Getafe scored two quick goals in the 1st and 3rd minutes. When everyone thought it was over Bayern striker Luca Toni pulled one off in the 25th minute and struck again at the last minute giving his side the semi-finals.

Thursday’s UEFA Cup action brought us a few unexpected results.

Zenit St. Petersburg trashed Bayer Leverkusen by a score of 4-1 and is almost certain to advance to the semi-finals. The Russian team opened the score in the 20th minute by Arshavin who lifted the ball over Leverkusen goalie Adler. Bayer leveled in the 34th minute with their only goal. The second half saw a superb display from Zenit when they produced three goals in 20 minutes and the match was pretty much over.

Bayern Munich was picked to win this year’s Cup, but they have their work cut out for them after they just tied at home with Getafe. Bayern’s Luca Toni scored his eight goal of the competition, putting Munich 1-0 into the lead. The German team held the lead till the very last minute when Getafe’s Cosmin Contra equalized with close range shot. This tie gives Getafe a big chance to advance to the semi-finals.

Italian Fiorentina was held to a 1-1 draw at home by PSV Eindhoven. Mutu scored for Fiorentina and PSV’s Koevermans tied the match in 63rd minute. Just like the Getafe, PSV is a slight favorite for the next week second leg.

The city of Glasgow saw a hard fought battle where Sporting Lisbon held off the host Rangers to a scoreless draw. The 0-0 result reflected the mood of the match. Sporting may prevail next week because of the home advantage.

We saw four matches with four very interesting results. Three of the second leg matches could go either way and any of the six teams could advance and we should see some good action next week.

Fox Soccer Channel will show three games of the second leg next Thursday. We will bring you the exact schedule as soon as it is announced.

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AS Roma’s David Pizarro accused Cristiano Ronaldo of being an arrogant player. “He does certain spiteful things on the field” said Pizarro. But Ronaldo insists that those plays are just his way of interpreting soccer. He is a very talented player who likes to show off on occasions and some players (especially AS Roma players) don’t take that to well.

Real Madrid is having financial problems according to the Spanish newspaper El Mundo. Real asked bank La Caixa for a 30 million Euro loan for day to day operations. Hard to believe this is the same Real who made last year 351 million Euros, the most of all the world clubs.

The Czech Soccer Federation is thinking about adopting English style anti-hooligan laws for the Czech Gambrinus Liga after Monday’s violent outbreak from the fans. Prague’s derby between long standing rivals Sparta and Slavie lead to the destruction of a bus and damage to the stadium.

Jesus Ramirez is the temporary replacement for Hugo Sanchez who got fired on Tuesday. Sanchez who was the coach for the Mexican National Team was sacked after the team failed to qualify for this year’s Olympic Games. Sanchez had a storied career in the Spanish Primera Liga where he is the second highest goalscorer in its history.

New England Revolution striker Taylor Twellman will undergo arthroscopic surgery after he tore cartilage in his right knee. Twellman is schedule to be out for six weeks. This is a blow to N.E. Revolution who is considered to be one of the favorites to win this season MLS Championship.

UEFA Cup quarter-finals continue on Thursday with a couple of interesting matches. Getafe is traveling to Germany to meet Bayern Munich which is a favorite to win this year’s Cup. Fiorentina will try to repeat their high style tempo to overcome strong PSV Eindhoven. The other German team, Bayer Leverkusen takes on Russia’s Zenit St. Petersburg and the Rangers Glasgow host Sporting Lisbon at home.

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According to Italian newspaper Corriere dello Sport, Inter Milan offered Jose Mourinho to coach the club. Inter is having some internal problems and there are reports that Inter’s president Massimo Moratti will fire coach Roberto Mancini. Moratti however denied all this as rumors, so we have to wait till summer to see who was right.

Bayern Munich defender Luco expressed a desire to leave Germany for sunny Spain or Italy this summer. He said that he is happy in Bayern but it is time for him to go. According to the Italian press Juventus is very interested in signing Luco.

Australia recorded an important draw with China in the Asian World Cup qualifier on Wednesday. Australia was playing without many injured, Europe-based players. Among them Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka. The hero of the match has to be Australian goalie Mark Schwarzer who saved an 89th minute penalty and kept the score on final 0-0.

Fiorentina captain Tomas Ujfalusi said he feels better than ever and is really enjoying his time in Fiorentina. Despite all this Ujfalusi could be leaving the club this summer when his contract is up. Several European Superclubs are interested at him and talks about his contract extension with Fiorentina are going nowhere so far.

The bribery scandal in the Portuguese Premier League claims its first victims. Porto’s president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa and referee Augusto Duarte will stand trial. According to the charges Pinto da Costa was trying to bribe referee Duarte before the match between Beira Mar and Porto in 2004. The investigation into this started after Pinto da Costa’s ex-girlfriend wrote a book where she claims that bribery in Porto happened many times.

Wednesday was a very busy day filled with many international friendly matches, but a few really stand out. USA beat Poland in their homeland by a score of 3-0 and had at least that many chances to score more goals. Romania trashed Russia in a match where according to coach Guus Hiddink, Russia played a naive match losing 3-0. Another surprise came from the tiny country of Montenegro where Norway was beaten 3-1.

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Liverpool’s defender John Arne Riise seems to be unhappy with Rafa Benitez’s rotation system and may leave for another team this summer. The 27 year old Norwegian player has been spending a lot of time on the bench lately and is clearly annoyed by the whole situation. Benitez is viewed by some as a ruthless coach and his rotation policy is hated by many including the players.

After months of speculations we have learned that David Beckham will reach his 100th start for England after all. Fabio Capello said that he will play Beckham on Wednesday but didn’t say if Beckham will start. He will be only the fifth player in history along side of Wrigth, Charlton, Moore and Shilton to reach that milestone.

Manchester United assistant coach Carlos Quiroz has been linked with coaching job at Benfica Lisbon in his native Portugal. He denies any contact with the team at this moment, but he has said that he is honored when a club like Benfica is interested in him. He already left Man Utd once for an ill-fated stint with Real Madrid which lasted one year and he was back with Manchester.

Spain who is facing Italy in a friendly match on Wednesday may have to do without striker Fernando Torres. After Raul was once again dropped by coach Aragones, the expectations for Torres were high, but Torres is nursing a bruised ankle and ribs and is questionable for the match.

Injured Arsenal striker Eduardo was invited to join Croatia’s National Team for the Euro 2008 finals. Coach Slaven Bilic thinks that it will help him and also boost the team’s morale. Eduardo is recovering from a horrible tackle where he suffered multiple foot fractures and that will keep him out of action for nine months.

The FC Barcelona Under Nine Club was used as a political tool at the International Tournament. The team was told to ignore the Spanish anthem and warm up instead, while the Portuguese team stood in line. It is unfortunate to mix politics and sport and it is even more unfortunate to use children for that.

Last Friday’s draw for the European second most treasured trophy, the UEFA Cup gave us some interesting matches.

Perhaps the most interesting of them all will be the one between the Spanish team Getafe and Bayern Munich. Getafe who is making their first start in the competition will have to deal with the strongest team in the quarter-finals. Bayern is consider by many as the favorite to win this year’s UEFA Cup. The Germans won the Cup back in 1996 and are one of the three former Cup winners in the competition.

Bayer Leverkusen, another former Cup winner will meet with Zenith at home in St. Petersburg. Zenith is one of the top Russian clubs and has been under experienced Dutch coach Dick Advocaat since 2006. Leverkusen’s sport director Rudi Voller said: “Our chances of progression stand at 50:50.”

The Rangers and Sporting have met before in the year when the Rangers won the trophy. They haven’t conceded any goals at home in the knock out stage and seem to be the favorite to advance.

Dutch Eredivise leader PSV Eindhoven takes on the fourth team in the Serie A Fiorentina. The Italian team will be without Alessandro Gamberini and Martin Jorgensen for the first leg after both players suffered thigh injuries. We can expect a tight game for these two equally strong teams.

The first leg of the quarter-finals will be played on April 3rd and the second leg on April 10th.

The final will be held at the City of Manchester Stadium on May 14 th. On Monday, last year’s winner Sevilla FC handed over the trophy back to the president of UEFA and he than handed it to the city of Manchester. The Cup will be put on display for the public to see until May 13th.

You will be able to watch most of the matches on Fox Soccer Channel TV. We will bring you the exact schedule as soon as it is announced.