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.
