SOCCER WORLD

I see the SPL clubs are split over FIFA’s plans to limit a team’s foreign players to five. I’m not sure what Rangers’ view point is, but I’m all for it.

According to bbc.co.uk, only six of the SPL clubs are FOR the plans, while four are against it, and two are undecided. FIFA want to limit foreign players to five per club by the season 2013/14.

I think it would be a great idea, Rangers have already started to introduce more homegrown talent into the team, either via their own youth system or by bringing them in from other clubs, and for me it benefits tthe team because home grown players seem to care more for the team.

Rangers had only three non Scots in their run in the 1992/93 Champions League group stages and they came within 90 minute of the final that year.

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ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Football Federation (PFF) has sacked national soccer coach Akhtar Mohiuddin, a source told Daily Times here on Sunday. Source said the national teams blow par performance in the recently concluded SAFF Championship in Maldives was the main reason for the removal of the coach. The Pakistan team gave very shameful results in the international competition, he added. It is pertinent to mention that Pakistan lost their matches against Maldives, India and Nepal.

He said the PFF, despite its tall claims, was not able to field a talented team in the championship. The national federation failed to build a strong outfit after the national teams foreign coach Salman Shereeda was shown the door. The coach from Bahrain uplifted the standard of the game in the country and the team was giving acceptable performances against the high-ranking teams of the region, he maintained.

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The European Championship in soccer is sold out. All 1.05 million tickets for the 31-match tournament in Austria and Switzerland, which starts Saturday, have been sold.

• Conor Casey and Tom McManus scored and the Colorado Rapids ended the six-game winning streak against them of visiting teams with a 2-1 win Sunday. On Saturday night, Jorge Flores and Jesse Marsch scored first-half goals a minute apart, and Chivas USA beat the visiting Columbus Crew 2-0 in Carson, Calif. Columbus lost its second consecutive game after compiling a seven-match unbeaten streak. The Crew (6-3-1) have failed to score in their last three games.

• Cristiano Ronaldo plans to end the uncertainty over his Manchester United future by Wednesday. Braced for a potential transfer request, manager Sir Alex Ferguson warned that United’s American owners would banish marquee players like Ronaldo, the club’s leading scorer, to the stands rather than sell top players.

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Turkey will play the Czech Republic, Portugal and Switzerland in Group A in the Soccer Betting Euro 2008. Robbie Keane scored for Ireland as they defeated Colombia in a friendly. It was Keane’s 33rd international goal. He scored early when when his shot was deflected past goalkeeper Robinson Zapata by defender Elvis Gonzalez. Goalkeeper Dean Kiely was the star for Ireland in the match as he turned a number of good chances away. He made a great stop on Escobar and turned away Garcia and Perea in injury time. Ireland will now prepare for World Cup qualifying which begins in September. Receive up to 135% in Total Bonuses from SBG Global!

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NOTES: The Argos moved their afternoon practice from Erindale to an outdoor artificial turf soccer field at the nearby Hershey Centre. A morning rainstorm left the club’s original practice grass field too slick for workouts . . . Veteran defensive end Riall Johnson has changed his jersey number from 98 to 7 this year. Also, running back Andre Durie is wearing No. 25 – his number at York – after having No. 13 last year as a rookie. Veteran kicker Mike Vanderjagt, back with Toronto after spending nine seasons in the NFL, has No. 13, which he wore during his last stint with the Argos . . . Linebacker Kevin Eiben was scheduled to appear on MTV Cribs on Tuesday night. The segment was to feature a tour of Eiben’s home. The show has already aired a tour of Talbot’s residence.

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“Our goal is to win a World Championship,” he said. “We have a tough qualifier outside of Mexico City with heat, altitude and poor air quality. But this has been a great trip for us. Everybody in Clemson and Anderson County has been awesome, and I’ve seen this team come together.”

Although the majority of the roster is set, some changes still could be made before the qualifier.

“It’s crazy because we’re all fighting for a spot still but trying to become a team at the same time,” said forward Alex Morgan, a freshman at the University of California, who scored two goals Thursday. “We have to put our individual aside and say we have to win as a team.”

Stone, an assistant coach with the national team and head coach at Texas Tech, added that the national team needs a professional environment.

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Fractional misjudgments led to three Chelsea players striking the woodwork in Moscow. Got right, two of them could have been decisive, one of them definitely would have been. Enter Nicolas Anelka – whose interview a couple of days after the final affirmed that my sympathy at the time was entirely misplaced and that he, of all shoot-out missers ever, most deserves to be cast as the villain. Anelka, signed in January, was effective at times and, personality aside, should not be judged on one moment. But he and the other players who have joined since the end of 2006-07 – Florent Malouda, Steve Sidwell, Tal Ben Haim, Juliano Belletti, Claudio Pizarro, Branislav Ivanovic and Franco Di Santo – have shown few signs of becoming Stamford Bridge legends. The Champions League final was reached at last, but then lost at the last.

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FIFA lifted the ban on Thursday after Iraq gave written assurances that it had not dissolved the national soccer federation.

Verbeek said he expected Iraq to stack their defence and play for a draw on Sunday, fielding a lone striker and hoping to hit back with quick counter-attacks.

“They’ll wait and wait and wait for one or two chances and then if they can score one goal it will be good for them,” the Dutchman said.

“That’s what we expect – they will defend and we will attack and it’s our job to be alert, to concentrate so that we don’t give counter-possibilities away. The chances we create, we have to finish them, because we will not get many chances.

Verbeek has named Harry Kewell as captain in place of the absent Lucas Neill and said he had not seen the former Liverpool player so motivated.

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As part of the “community service” component of his travel soccer team, he served as a Special Olympics coaching training and camp instructor for the Traverse Bay Area Youth Soccer organization.

During his career, Suttons Bay teams advanced to the state semifinals twice, including this school year’s playoff season in which he earned conference, district and all-state recognition, ultimately being listed on the Regional Dream Team and first-team All State. He holds the record for most goals scored in a single season at Suttons Bay.

Allie Freed

Freed, daughter of Don and Deb Freed of Suttons Bay, will be attending the University of Michigan, where she received a Michigan Regents Merit Scholarship and a scholarship from the collage of Literature, Science and the Arts.

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The patriotically inclined millions thrill to achievements like pop star Dima Bilan winning the Eurovision song contest or St. Petersburg’s Zenit soccer team winning the UEFA cup or the Russian national hockey team taking the world championships. And new topics of conversation come up: in addition to soap operas, we have reality shows about domestic feuds and in addition to the Ice Capades, we have 1,001 new ways to consume constantly being presented on our television screens.

Potyomkin Progress

State radio and television have succeeded in pushing the matter of the country’s real standing in the Grand World out of the minds of Russians. And this work is being done just in time because the eight years of Vladimir Putin’s leadership have not gone smoothly in this regard.

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