Random news from around the globe 2012 [R]

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Here is what [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
had to say, in the press conference after the game, when asked why he
had waited on the pitch to speak to the referee Damir Skomina following [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]'s
3-0 defeat of Milan at the Emirates last month, the one that wasn't
quite enough to repair the damage of the 4-0 defeat in the first leg at
San Siro.

"I was not happy with the referee because he gave them
many free-kicks in the centre of the park," the Arsenal manager said.
"Every time a player went down it was a free-kick to them. The [Milan]
players sensed that very quickly on the pitch and used it well."

And here is what the manager of [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
Vítor Pereira, had to say about Mario Balotelli being subjected to
racial abuse, ie monkey noises so loud they were picked up by viewers
watching on television, when substituted late in the game Manchester
City won 2-1 at the Estádio do Dragão in February. "I think there might
have been a misunderstanding," Pereira and other club spokesmen
insisted. "The crowd were chanting Hulk, Hulk, Hulk."

Hard to know
why they would do that in the 78th minute of a game when the Porto
striker had just been switched from the centre of the attack to the
wing, but that is not the point at issue. The point at issue is that [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]
(£33,100) fine for his conduct regarding Mr Skomina, and ordered to
serve a three-match touchline ban in Europe. Whereas Porto, for what
appears a much graver offence even without the club excuses that
insulted everyone's intelligence, [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

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The Legends Classic, a match featuring several of the greatest
players to play for the US and Mexico is scheduled to take place at the
Home Depot Center on April 15th at 9pm EDT. According to former Chivas
USA captain Mariano Trujillo, who is scheduled to play for Mexico, the
lineups are predominantly made up of players from the 1990s and the
early 2000s.

Currently confirmed for the US squad are World Cup veterans Alexi
Lalas, Eric Wynalda, Marcelo Balboa, Clint Mathis, Paul Caligiuri,
Thomas Dooley and Cobi Jones. Also expected to participate are John
O'Brien, who appeared in two World Cups for the US; Cle Kooiman, a
defender on the US' 1994 squad as well as former MLS stars Roy
Lassiter, Ted Eck, Jovan Kirovski and Christopher Sullivan.

The Mexican roster is led by former Chivas USA standouts Francisco
"Paco" Palencia, Ramon Ramirez and Claudio Suarez as well as former MLS
stars forward Luis Hernandez and goalkeeper Jorge Campos. Also included
are Alberto Garcia Aspe, a veteran of three World Cups and Club America
great Zague.

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Thousands of fans filled the streets of Bergamo on
Thursday to pay their final respects to Piermario Morosini, the Livorno
midfielder who collapsed and died after suffering cardiac arrest during a
soccer match last weekend.

About 600 people packed the Church of San Gregorio Barbarigo for the service, while thousands watched on big screens outside.

Morosini's coffin was draped in his Livorno shirt as well as an
Atalanta top bearing his name and the No. 8. Adorned with wreaths and
flowers, it was also covered by several soccer scarves. Cleats and balls
were placed next to the coffin.

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Having [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.],
I was now in the second year of my quest to become a professional
soccer player. I spent most of 2007 in San Francisco, playing in the
United Soccer Leagues [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], a minor league circuit equivalent to Class AA baseball, and then working out for some lower-division clubs in England.

Now I was in Brazil, in January 2008, thinking, realistically or not,
that if I could stay focused and work hard and show some promise, I
could have an entire soccer career in the hotbed of the sport. The worst
case was that I would come home with some valuable credibility as a
player and sign with an M.L.S. team for the 2008 season. I was ready for
my adventure, even if I could barely speak a word of Portuguese.

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Women's pro soccer may be struggling in the United States, but it's
growing in Europe. A record crowd of 50,212 at Munich's
Olympic Stadium -- more than any WPS team totaled for the entire 2011
season -- watched Lyon repeat as the UEFA Women's Champions League
champion with a 2-0 win over 1. FFC Frankfurt.

Guys, you're in luck.

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Hope Solo is looking for love.

That's not us talking. That's direct from the U.S. soccer goalie who was the recipient of multiple marriage proposals and [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] during the women's World Cup last summer.

In an interview with dating-advice site [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.], Solo said her schedule is crazy as she prepares for the Olympics but can make time for other interests, including romance.

"I can't be all soccer -- go, go, go, go -- I need a social life,"
she said. "I need a life outside of soccer. So I very much welcome, you
know, new love interests and dating and friends and family."

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Goal-line technology will be tested in an international
match for the first time, when England take on Belgium in a Euro 2012
warm-up, FIFA said on Thursday.

The system, developed by British firm Hawk-Eye, will be put through
its paces during the match at Wembley on June 2, after a previous trial
at an amateur league cup final on England's south coast earlier this
month.

FIFA is currently testing two goal-line technology systems -- the
other is the German GoalRef, which was recently used in two Danish
league matches -- with a view to its introduction after a series of
high-profile disputed refereeing decisions.

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This is going to be difficult for soccer traditionalists to swallow, but here goes.

Formations in soccer don't matter. Not anymore. Their chief function nowadays is to justify coaches' salaries and make TV commentators sound smart.

The 4-4-2, the 4-3-3, the 4-2-3-1 and all the rest no longer have any relevance after the referee's whistle is blown. "Formations are dying out," said Slaven Bilic, head coach of Croatia. "It's increasingly difficult to mark the movement of the players, with respect to the ball, just by assigning numbers to each line."

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Brazil's Corinthians won the Copa Libertadores for the first time, defeating Argentina's Boca Juniors 2-0 in the second leg of the final before an ecstatic home crowd of 40,000.

Corinthians late Wednesday prevailed 3-1 on aggregate as the two teams drew the first leg 1-1 in Buenos Aires last month.

The Sao Paulo side had never previously gone past the semi-finals of the Copa Libertadores.

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[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] has said his "dream has come true" after he completed his long-awaited transfer from [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] to the big-spending [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.].

The 30-year-old joins the Qatar-backed Ligue 1 club on a three-year deal for a fee reported to be €20m (£15.7m). He is reunited with his former Milan team-mate Thiago Silva, who joined PSG on Saturday.

Ibrahimovic, who had a contract with Milan until June 2015, was Serie A's top scorer last season with 28 goals, and becomes PSG's latest big-money signing as they try to win the Ligue 1 title for the first time since 1994.

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"What (Ronaldo) did helped the team to win something big and I don't think in the history of the Ballon D'Or, one player won it without winning a big thing.

"So I don't think Messi without winning the Champions League, without winning the Spanish League, how can he be the Ballon D'Or?"

Messi was La Liga's top scorer with 50 goals last season, four more than Ronaldo, and capped his season by winning a third Ballon d'Or title.

But [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] finished second behind [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.] who set records for most La Liga wins in a season with 32, most goals scored (121) and best goal difference (plus-89) en route to a first league title in four years.

Fun time!

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Before he joined beIN Sport, the ambitious soccer network that has been gobbling up U.S. TV rights, Ray Hudson would listen to music on the drive to and from work. Motown lifted his spirits, classical would ease his frayed nerves.

These days, Hudson enjoys silent solitude cruising to the Miami studio. He knows what awaits him.

“It’s just a hive of activity. What an operation,” he said in a phone chat this week. “I like listening to music in the car, especially when I’m on the Florida Turnpike with all of those maniacs, but I need some quiet before I get to the madhouse.”

UK government finally admits to mistakes in 1989 Hillsborough disaster investigation.

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British Prime Minister David Cameron said on Wednesday he was "profoundly sorry" for failures and cover-ups in the wake of the 1989 Hillsborough soccer disaster in which 96 spectators died after a crowd crush in the stadium.

He was speaking as an independent report found that police at the time had scrambled to deflect the blame for Britain's worst sporting disaster onto Liverpool soccer fans to cover up their own flawed response.

The victims died in an overcrowded fenced-in enclosure at the Hillsborough stadium in Sheffield, northern England, a tragedy that changed the face of English soccer and ushered in a new era of modern, all-seated stadiums.

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The Seattle Sounders became the first team to clinch a berth in the quarterfinals of the 2012-13 Concacaf Champions League when they held off Marathon of Honduras, 3-2, in San Pedro Sula thanks to goals from Sammy Ochoa, Eddie Johnson and Brad Evans. Fielding an entirely different starting lineup from the team that beat the Colorado Rapids, 2-0, on Friday night, the MLS champion Los Angeles Galaxy settled for a 0-0 tie at the NASL's Puerto Rico Islanders on Wednesday, a result that left it in good shape to win its group.

Honduran Mario Martinez set up Ochoa for a header and Andy Rose found Johnson for the second Seattle goal, but both times Marathon responded on goals by Mario Berrios from the penalty spot.

The Galaxy had beaten the Islanders, 4-0, with a "B" team at home but struggled in the return game at Juan Ramon Loubriel Stadium. Landon Donovan came on for the last half hour, while fellow DPs David Beckham and Robbie Keane were left at home.

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More than a third of Europe's professional footballers are not receiving their salaries in full according to Theo van Seggelen, the head of the game's international players' union.

Two weeks after the close of the summer transfer window, FIFPro boss Van Seggelen (pictured top) has called for a complete overhaul of the system and has criticised irresponsible club owners who, he says, are refusing to respect contracts and paying scant regard to the current economic climate.

"If the patient is sick, you have to give him some medicine," said Van Seggelen, whose organisation represents more than 50,000 professional players worldwide.

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The Houston Dynamo beat FAS of El Salvador for the second time in a month with a 4-0 victory on Thursday that moved it into first place in Group 3 of the Concacaf Champions League. The Seattle Sounders have won their group, and the Los Angeles Galaxy is also in first place with one game to play. Real Salt Lake is tied for first with Herediano of Costa Rica, while Toronto FC has been all but eliminated.

Cam Weaver led the Dynamo with a goal and two assists in its first Concacaf match at BBVA Compass Stadium before an announced crowd of more than 16,000 fans.

Giles Barnes, Bobby Boswell and Calen Carr also provided goals for Houston, which will host Olimpia of Honduras in their final group stage game on Oct. 23. They played to a 1-1 tie in their first game.