CZECHO’S SOCCER CORNER

The semi-final match between Argentina and Brazil was attended by the legendary player Diego Maradonna, who said that he never saw Brazil play this poorly. According to Maradonna Brazil didn’t have a chance to turn the match around, because their offense was nonexistence and Ronaldhino was a loner without support. He also criticized Brazil’s coach Dunga for being too cautious when fielding the squad for the match. Dunga’s coaching position is already under scrutiny and there is strong possibilities he may get fire.

Zenit St Petersburg’s striker Andrei Arshavin won’t be joining Premier League club Tottenham this season. According Zenit’s website, Tottenham didn’t meet their demands. Tottenham agreed on personal terms with Arshavin but the deal apparently fell through because of the high transfer fee.

Presently injured Bayern Munich striker Luca Toni should be available for Bundesliga match with Borussia Dortmund this weekend. Toni who joined Bayern last season and scored 24 goals in 31 matches, said recently that he is happy in Germany but wants to end his career in Seria A. In an interview for a German newspaper he said: “I think I will end my career in Italy. I am stuck on 99 goals in Italy and I would like to reach 100 in Serie A, but there is still a lot of time.”

Toronto FC midfielder Maurice Edu signed a five-year contract to join Glasgow Rangers in Scotland. The Rangers will pay MLS $5 million dollars in transfer fees but the deal is subject to getting a work permit for Edu. The 22-year-old Edu would join another American DaMarcus Beasley who is with the Rangers since 2007. Edu made his international debut for the United States in October 2007, making six starts.

Brazil and the USA will meet again in the final of the Women’s Olympic Soccer Tournament. The teams met three times in the last two and half months and the US won all three of them. That makes the 2004 Olympic champions a slight favorite to win. But according to Brazilian striker Cristiane, her team is ready for revenge. She said: Yes, everything is falling into place for that to happen. It seems like someone has written this story just for us.” The final will be televised at 9:00 am EST on the USA channel with the bronze-medal match on MSNBC at 6:00 am EST.

The Czech Republic returned to Wembley Wednesday for the first time since they lost to Germany at the Euro 2006. They faced England for the first time under the leadership of new coach Karel Rada.  The Czechs had more possessions in the opening minutes and Milan Baros opened the score in the 22nd minute. England upped the tempo, got more chances and Wes Brown headed one in from Beckham’s corner kick in the 45th minute. The Czech team started the second half with a bang taking the lead from Marek Jankulovski’s free kick in the 48th minute. Once again England had more goal scoring chances but couldn’t finish them. The Czech defense made a terrible mistake in extra time and Joe Cole’s goal gave the poorly playing host team a draw at last.

CZECHO’S SOCCER CORNER

Another high profile European club was dumped out of the Champions League competition. Belarus Club BATE Borisov overcame 10-man Anderlecht in 2-2 draw on Wednesday. Yesterday the Glagow Rangers, this year’s UEFA Cup finalist, were defeated by the weaker FBK Kaunas from Lithuania. Rapid Vienna met the same fate, losing to unknown Cypriot’s Anorthosis Famagusta on 4-3 aggregate. Champions League will continue with a third qualifying round from August 12 to 27. The 16 winners of the third qualifying round ties join a similar number of automatic entrants in the 32-team group stage.

US Women’s soccer team lost their opening match at the Olympic Games to Norway by a score of 2-0. Norway scored two quick goals in the first four minutes Wednesday and never lost control of the match. The U.S. team, without injured leading scorer Abby Wambach, was sluggish and out of sync. They have two more games to go, facing Japan and New Zealand. The U.S. men’s team will face Japan on Thursday and you can watch the match on MSNBC at 4:55 EST.

The latest news from Cristiano Ronaldo’s camp confirmed his pledge Wednesday to stay with Manchester United for the coming season. But Ronaldo expressed his desire to join Real Madrid in future. Ronaldo said. “For some time what I wanted was for Manchester to have agreed to my transfer to Madrid,”  “Saying otherwise I would be fooling myself and others.” Alex Ferguson blames the Spanish club for too aggressive approach to the matter.

Despite a ruling by the Court of Arbitration for Sport, upholding an appeal from top European clubs, Liverpool said that they have no intention of recalling their players from China.  Liverpool’s Javier Mascherano, Ryan Babel and Lucas Leiva are at the Olympic Games in Beijing to compete for their country. Rafa Benitez knows that taking them out of the tournament would probably make them upset and unhappy. It’s not known at this moment what other clubs will do.

FC Barcelona won an easy match on Wednesday night beating the NY Red Bulls 6-2 at a friendly in front of 38,152 fans at Giants Stadium. Barca coming out of Sunday’s 5-2 victory against Chivas de Guadalajara opened the scoring in the 17th minute from Hernandez. Eto’o added two goals and Rafael Alverz Marquez, Jeffren Suarez, Pedro scored one each. Seth Stammler and Jorge Rojas scored for the Red Bulls. Barca coach Josep Guardiola made 8 substitutions compared to 5 by New York coach Juan Carlos Osorio. It was the last friendly match for Barcelona on their North American tour.

The latest world soccer rankings published by FIFA on Wednesday showed Spain still holding top spot. Germany climbed from third into second changing places with Italy. Brazil meanwhile fell to number six, their lowest ranking in 15 years. Argentina is seventh, France twelfth and England fourteenth. USA occupied thirty first spot, second lowest ranking since being thirty fifth in 1997.

CZECHO’S SOCCER CORNER

Zenit St. Petersburg confirmed their role as a favorite on Wednesday by winning the UEFA Cup. They beat the Rangers 2-0 in a match which they were dominating most of the ninety minutes. Zenit’s Denisov scored in the 72nd minute and fellow midfielder Zyrianov put one in at injury time. Zenit is the second Russian team to win the UEFA Cup in the last three years.

Czech international Milan Baros wants to finish his time with Portsmouth on a high note and win the FA Cup. He is on loan from Lyon till the end of this season. Portsmouth is facing the Championship team Cardiff and Baros and hopes to be a factor in Saturday’s finals and finally score a goal.

UEFA and the European Union launched an information campaign to help fans with variety of problems they may encounter during the UERO 2008. Fans can either go online: http://en.euro2008.uefa.com/ or use a free phone helpline in the EU (00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11) starting June 1st, which is available in all EU languages.

Celtic Glasgow’s former player and coach Tommy Burns died Thursday after a fight with skin cancer. He played for Celtic between 1975-89 and was the coach there for three years. He took leave from his coaching position early this year to fight the disease. He was 51 years old.

Bayern Munich goalie Oliver Kahn is retiring from soccer and will play his last game on Saturday against Hertha Berlin. It will be his 557th Bundesliga game, a record for goalkeeper. Kahn also played 86 caps and was voted the world best goalkeeper of the year three times.

Manchester United captain Rio Ferdinand extended his contract with the club till 2013. Ferdinand joined Manchester in 2002 from Leeds for a record breaking fee of 33 million British pounds. He said “It is a great honor to be part of this trophy winning team and to share in the success, which I am sure will continue for many season to come.”

Many Czech fans were hoping for Juventus’ Pavel Nedved’s return to the national team for the EURO 2008. Today’s nomination by coach Karel Bruckner left him out because Nedved decided not to play. He would have been a good replacement for the injured captain Tomas Rosicky.

Despite the fact that only 13,000 Scottish fans have tickets for tonight’s UEFA Cup finals, close to 100,000 of them arrived in Manchester City. Many fans were trying to get the tickets on the street where the going rate was close to 3000 dollars. Manchester City set up three fan zones where fans can watch the game on giant screens.

Barcelona striker Lionel Messi denied rumors about him moving to Chelsea. “I am a Barcelona player and this is what matters the most,” Messi told the Spanish radio La Red. He signed a contract which will keep him in Barcelona till 2014.

LA Galaxy lost to Vancouver Whitecaps 2-1 in a friendly game on Tuesday. Alan Gordon’s header in the 43rd minute from David Beckham’s pass tied the match. Beckham had an another great opportunity with a 30 yard free kick but the shot missed the post by a few inches. Galaxy was without their leading scorer Landon Donovan who stayed home with a calf injury.

Tottenham’s former coach Martin Jol became the new coach of the Bundesliga team Hamburger SV. Their present coach Huub Stevens is leaving to be closer to his ailing wife in Holland. Martin Jol is a former professional soccer player who spent some time playing in England, but finished his playing days in native Holland.

Today’s EUFA Cup finals may be a little nostalgic for Zenit’s coach Dick Advocaat. He was the Rangers coach from 1998 to 2001 and won the Scottish Football Writer’s manager of the year award. He said”It is important that I don’t become emotional.”

Today the UEFA Cup will see the Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg taking on the Glasgow Rangers in Manchester City, England.

The Rangers started their journey in the Champions League second leg qualifying round and ended up 10 months later in the UEFA Cup finals. The team has been struggling with scoring goals lately, but rediscovered their scoring touch with a 3-1 victory over Dundee United last weekend.

Good news is also the return of DaMarcus Beasley after being out for five and half months and Lee McCulloch’s miraculous recovery from ankle injury. Coach Walter Smith has at his disposal one of the strongest defenses in all the Cup’s competition. He said that winning the Cup would be the pinnacle of his long career.

Having to travel only 200 miles the Rangers can take advantage of the fact that playing in Manchester will give them a home like feel. One hundred thousand Ranger fans are expected to come to Manchester despite the fact only 15,000 fans are holding the tickets.

The City of Manchester Stadium will welcome the Russian champions Zenit St. Petersburg as a favorite. Beating European super club Bayern Munich 5-1 on aggregate shows that the Russian club has what it takes to be the next UEFA Cup champ.

The big question is how much they will miss their top scorer Pavel Pogrebnyak. He won’t be playing in the finals because of his booking in the second leg of the semi-finals against Bayern.

Zenit’s coach Dick Advocaat said that Pobrebnyak’s absence is lost but they can find a worthy substitute for him. Advocaat will have at his disposal almost a full strength squad with Radek Sirl, Andrei Arshavin and Fernando Ricksen coming back from suspensions. Zenit was given a break from the Russian league to rest for this important match. The team went to the Netherlands to practice and make themselves ready for tomorrow.

Zenit will have to overcome the Rangers defense who allowed only two goals on the way to Wednesday’ finals.

The match will be shown on Fox Soccer Channel on May 14 at 2:30 pm EST.

What an exit for this year’s UEFA Cup favorite. Bayern Munich got run over by Zenit St. Petersburg 4-0 and 5-1 on aggregate. Zenit could follow in the footsteps of another Russian team CSKA Moscow who won the title in 2005.

The host opened the score early on from a free kick by Pavel Pogrebnyak. His shot from 23 yards went through the wall of defenders and past goalie Oliver Kahn. Pogrebnyak also scored the fourth goal in the 73rd minute. Konstantin Zyryanov and Victor Fayzulin added one each in the 39th and 56th minute.

Bayern’s Italian star Luca Toni saw his big chance cleared on the goal-line by defender Kim Dong-Jin. Coach Hitzfeld sent in Lukas Podolski and Christian Lell in the second half to reinforce the attack. It almost payed off. Podolski set up Toni but Zenit’s goalie Malafeev deflected the shot. Podolski got his own chance but sent the ball over.

Zenit showed maturity tonight with a very good defense and excellent striking power. Unfortunately they are going to miss their striker Pobrebnyak because of the suspension after getting yellow card. He leads the scoring competition with 11 goals.

The finals are on May 14 in Manchester and Zenit will meet the Glagow Rangers who beat Fiorentina in the other semi-final on penalty kicks 4-2.

UEFA Cup semi-finals second leg is showing on Fox Soccer Channel TV. All times are EST. Enjoy the show.

Ibrox/Glasgow

The Rangers survived the first half pressures from Fiorentina and managed a goalless draw at home. Fiorentina dominated the field but got only a few chances and could not score.

Mutu fired a couple of shots, but mostly from long distance. He also used his hand at one point to control the ball but escaped without a yellow card.

The Rangers’ biggest scoring opportunity came from Jean-Claude Darchutte, but his cross was deflected straight into Frey’s hands.

The second half saw the Rangers gain more ball possession, but once again Fiorentina was the one with more scoring chances. Mutu struck a kick from 30 yards, but Alexander saved that one.

Christian Vieri who came on in the 80th minute fired a shot from a free kick, but the shot was deflected over the crossbar.

Fiorentina went home with a precious tie, but the Rangers probably think they have a good chance to advance because of their away match record this season.

Allianz Arena/Munich

We saw a repeat of Tuesday’s Champions League match between Liverpool and Chelsea. Bayern Munich was leading till the 60th minute when Lucio’s own goal gave Zenit a big chance for the second leg in St. Petersburg.

Bayern who is the favorite to win the UEFA Cup this year surely started with confidence.

Franck Ribery opened the score with a penalty kick in the 18th minute. Zenit’s goalie saved the spot kick, but Ribery put it in on the rebound.

Bayern upped the tempo and put pressure on Zenit. But the visitors pushed Bayern back in the second half as the match progressed. Pogrebyak and Tymoschuk had couple of good chances, but the score stayed the same.

Bayern had the last chance by Podolski in injury time, but he put it wide after a free kick from Lucio.

Zenit have themselves good opportunity to reach the finals, but Bayern won’t give up so easily.

The UEFA Cup action continue on Thursday with the first leg of the Cup’s semi-finals. Fox Soccer Channel showing both of the matches. All times are EST. Enjoy the soccer show.

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.

CZECHO’S SOCCER CORNER

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.

CZECHO’S SOCCER CORNER

Real Madrid striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy had arthroscopic surgery on his right ankle and may be out for up to six weeks. He missed the last four matches with a swollen ankle and decided it was time to have a surgery. He is the leading scorer for Real Madrid this season with 12 goals.

Diego Maradona and Bolivian president Evo Morales played in a charity match in La Paz. They were trying to prove to FIFA that the ban on high altitudes matches is the wrong decision. Maradona scored three goals and played every minute of the hour long match.

D.C. United team advanced to the CONCACAF Champions Cup semi-finals after trashing Jamaica’s Harbour View by a score of 5-0. McTavish and Emilio scored two goals each and Fred added one in the 88th minute.

Premier League team Birmingham City was raided by the police looking for evidence about soccer corruption. There is an ongoing two year investigation about kickbacks in English soccer. Last July police searched the offices of Newcastle, Portsmouth and Rangers Glasgow. In November Portsmouth’s coach Harry Redknapp was briefly detained and questioned by police.

Getafe reached the Spanish King’s Cup after a draw with Racing Santander 1-1. It is another success for coach Michael Laudrup since taking over the club from Bernd Schuster last year. Getafe also reached the UEFA Cup’s semi-finals where they are facing Bayern Munich on April 3rd.

There is a 24 point difference between AS Roma and Lazio, but that didn’t stop Lazio from beating AS in the Roma derby. Roma was leading twice after they opened the score in the 31st minute by Taddei. Lazio’s winning goal came in stoppage time from Valon Behrami in the 92nd minute.

David Beckham denied rumors that he is not happy in LA Galaxy and is looking to leave. He said that he and his family are settled in Los Angeles and everyone has been treating them very nicely. “Not just on the soccer side of things, but the family side” Beckham said.