CZECHO’S SOCCER CORNER
Getafe annouced the signing of Real Madrid striker Soldano. He was on loan at Osasuna and he was hoping to stay there on a permanent basis, but Getafe offered close to 10 million dollars and Real said yes. The 22-year-old Spanish international forward will be officially introduced as a Getafe player today.
Real Salt Lake extended its unbeaten streak at home by beating Toronto FC 2-1 on a late goal from Robbie Finley. Real opened the scoring at the 63rd minute with a header by Jamison Olave. Toronto answered back in the 84th minute when Amado Guevara’s free kick made it 1-1. This win gave Real a four point lead over second Dynamo Houston in the MLS Western Conference.
UEFA released some interesting statistics on EURO 2008. UEFA said turnover during three-week tournament in Austria and Switzerland was 2.04 billion dollars with net profit of 394 million dollars. The cost of organizing the tournament was 934 million dollars. The 31 matches were watched by at least 155 million people all over the world. EURO 2008 also employed 10,000 security personnel.
Manchester United veteran Ryan Giggs blames the player’s greedy agents for some of the recent transfer sagas. He is obviously referring to his teammate Cristiano Ronaldo whose transfer to Real Madrid will net millions for his agent Jorge Mendes. Giggs said: “Many players want to make as much money as they can and change teams for ten grand.”
Chelsea won their third straight match on their Asian tour by beating Malaysian XI 2-0 on Tuesday. They have an impressive 13-0 score from those three matches as they are heading for for the Railways Cup in Moscow. “It was a good tour though for me to see how players are on the field and to decide which players I need. 7-0, 4-0, 2-0—it was all training for us,” said coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.
Deportivo La Coruna’s Fabricio Coloccini is prepared to quit the club if they block his move to Newcastle United. According to the player’s agent Marcelo Lombilla after Newcastle met the club’s original asking price of $19 million dollars, Deportivo upped the price to $22 million. Coloccini has threatened to use FIFA’s article 17 which would allow him to buy out his contract.
