Ronaldo facing long rehab after surgery

Three-time player of the year probably will be unable to train full-time for at least nine months and questions whether he'll ever play again.

Ronaldo, Brazil's two-time World Cup winner and three-time FIFA world player of the year, said Friday that he was resigned to a lengthy rehabilitation after undergoing surgery on his left knee. He expressed some doubt whether he would ever play again.

Speaking in Paris, where his knee was operated on last week, the AC Milan forward said he did not know what his long-term future would be.

"My heart tells me to play again but my body is sending me signs of fatigue and suffering," the 31-year-old said. "It's been a real knockout blow, both physically and mentally."

Ronaldo, who has played only sporadically since the Germany '06 World Cup, in which he became the tournament's all-time leading goal scorer, said his focus for now had to be on rehabilitation, not on playing.

"If I'm OK at the end of that, then of course I'll play again," he said. "If there's another ending, it will be a difficult and sad decision. I know exactly the bridges I have to cross. I have experience of recuperating from injury."

The surgeon who operated on Ronaldo said it would be at least nine months before the forward could begin full-time training.

Ronaldo's contract with AC Milan ends in June and it is unlikely that the reigning world and European champion will offer him a new pact.

What is possible is that Ronaldo will consider an offer already being made by the Brazilian club Flamengo, which tried to sign him in January before the player's latest injury setback. "The dream of having Ronaldo with us is still alive," Kleber Leite, Flamengo's vice president, said earlier this month.

Ronaldo, who won the World Cup with Brazil in 1994 and 2002, has indicated a desire to finish his career in his native land. "My dream is to finish my career with Flamengo," he said today.

With Ronaldo sidelined indefinitely, AC Milan already is causing rumblings in the transfer market, with Adriano Galliani, the team's vice president, identifying Chelsea's Didier Drogba and Andriy Shevchenko, Arsenal's Emmanuel Adebayor and Olympique Lyon's Karim Benzema as possible targets.

http://www.latimes.com/sports/soccer/la-spw-soccer23feb23,1,7190738.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

Trophy Tour reaches Rio de Janeiro

The UEFA Champions League trophy visits the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro this weekend on the latest stop of a two-month tour of four Latin American countries to celebrate Europe's premier club competition. The Trophy Tour is presented by Heineken.

Latin America first

Last weekend, the most coveted trophy in European club football was on show in Sao Paolo, where 12,000 fans visited the exhibition to have their photo taken with the trophy, and to have autographs signed by former Brazil stars Bebeto, Mauro Silva and Paulo Sergio.

Bebeto and Elber

This time around, the stars on show at Rio's Jockey Club will be Bebeto – a FIFA World Cup hero for his country in 1994 – and Giovane Elber, who played in 69 UEFA Champions League games and scored 24 goals for FC Bayern München and Olympique Lyonnais. Elber experienced the joy of winning the trophy with FC Bayern in 2001. Fifteen goals in seven games for Brazil also represents an impressive national-team haul.

Maracana temple

Rio is the home of the impressive Estádio Maracana, one of the largest football stadiums in the world, and considered a temple by football enthusiasts. It was opened in 1950 to host the FIFA World Cup. Since then, the stadium has mainly been used for matches between the biggest football clubs in Rio de Janeiro, and has also hosted a number of concerts and other sporting events. Some 174,000 spectators watched the deciding game of the 1950 FIFA World Cup between Brazil and Uruguay, which Uruguay won 2-1.

Trophy on display in Rio

The UEFA Champions League trophy will be unveiled at Rio's Jockey Club by Bebeto, Elber and Paulo Sergio in the presence of local celebrities. The trophy will then be the centrepiece of a display, together with signed football memorabilia, a historical movie of the greatest moments in European Cup history and other football activities, including the exclusive chance for invitees to be photographed with the trophy.

Full schedule

Following the Rio de Janeiro leg, the UEFA Champions League Trophy Tour moves to Buenos Aires, Argentina (6 March); Santiago, Chile (15/16 March); Mexico City, Mexico (5/6 April) and Monterrey, Mexico (12/13 April).

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/news/kind=1/newsid=661978.html

Soccer-Ronaldo set to leave hospital on Friday

AC Milan striker Ronaldo is due to leave hospital on Friday after the three-times World Player of the Year had knee surgery last week in Paris.

The Brazilian will attend a press conference at noon (1100 GMT) on Friday, the French hospital where he is recovering said in a statement.

Ronaldo, 31, had an operation on a ruptured left knee tendon after being injured playing for Milan in a 1-1 Serie A draw against Livorno.

He will not be able to do any sport for eight to nine months, doctors said. He should join a rehabilitation centre after leaving hospital.

Milan have yet to commit to a new contract for the player, who was making only his sixth appearance in an injury-plagued season.

Ronaldo's deal runs out in June and, with question marks hanging over his career, the European champions are not guaranteeing him a fresh contract despite saying they hope he plays for them again.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldFootballNews/idUKL2129165520080221

A Brazilian education

'The Year My Parents Went on Vacation'

A little boy whom a fickle fate has cast into the care of a grouchy, religiously devout Jewish man finds himself locked out of the bathroom and needing to pee into the houseplant in a new drama/comedy set at the onset of the turbulent 1970s. Mauro's indiscretion exposes him to scrutiny over a far more grievous divide from his host Shlomo's point of view: between cut and uncut.

In The Year My Parents Went on Vacation, we follow the adult world through the eyes of a soccer-obsessed lad on the cusp of puberty. This 12-year-old boy (Michel Joelsas) is left behind when his Socialist parents flee Brazil's military dictatorship. Mauro waits outside the door of his elderly grandfather, a Holocaust survivor who, unbeknownst to his family, has died in his one-chair barbershop. Mauro is adopted by Sao Paulo's small community of elderly Jews. A Polish refugee, Shlomo (the late Germano Haiut, one of his country's leading actors, in a sublime swan song) blunders into surrogate parenthood by offending the boy with ghastly food, cold showers and a propensity for looking for gaffes in one's religious observance. Mauro's is his failure to be circumcised.

A young female friend introduces the boy to coming attractions when she guides him and other neighborhood lads to furtive peepholes carved into the ladies' dressing room of her parents' clothing store. Mauro learns to integrate himself into a neighborhood where Brazil's soccer fate is considered as dear as life itself. Photographed in a rich sepia tone that celebrates childhood memory, Cao Hamburger's haunting fable was strong enough to hold its audience after a PG&E crew cut off juice to the Castro Theatre during the recent Latino Film Festival.

In person, Hamburger is a charming man whose film contains an optimistic view of a nation still struggling with dire poverty and the highest drug-fueled homicide rate in the Western Hemisphere.

Cao Hamburger: Do you know Carl Jung?

David Lamble: You mean Jungian archetypes?

Exactly. We have a stronger archetype of a mother nation: we have good music, good weather, beautiful beaches, beautiful nature — it's a very warm mother. But the father side of our country is weak because we have dictatorship, corruption and social problems. We are orphans when it comes to fathers.

I loved the kids peeping into the ladies' dressing room.

The film is about putting your foot into the adult world. That scene is part of my co-writer's (Claudio Galperin) experience because he was raised in this [garment district] neighborhood. But is there anyone who has grown up and never peeped?

http://www.ebar.com/arts/art_article.php?sec=film&article=466

Soccer-Roundup-Ronaldo recovering well, says doctor

Soccer news in brief from around the world:

AC Milan striker Ronaldo is recovering well after knee surgery, according to one of his doctors at a Paris hospital.

"He is recovering well and there is no sign of inflamation," Yves Catonne told French sports daily L'Equipe on Wednesday.

The Brazilian had an operation on a ruptured left knee tendon last week.

"I don't think he wants to quit. I felt he was decided to work and motivated to go on. Even though his return will be a real challenge, because he won't be able to play for eight or nine months."

http://uk.reuters.com/article/footballNews/idUKSP3504620080220?sp=true

FIFA believes it can win the fight to keep soccer clean of match-fixing

With billions of dollars in illegal bets exchanged every year and allegations of match-fixing rife, the world's most popular sport is waging a battle to protect its integrity.

Working from a nondescript sidestreet in this European banking centre, Early Warning System GmbH has the task of trying to keep Asian crime syndicates and other gambling mafias around the world from fixing matches.

"More than 100 billion euros a year are bet," said Wolfgang Feldner, head of strategy for EWS. "We are responsible for matches in all different regions ... you never know where the next manipulation will take place."

In the past few months, reports have surfaced of wads of cash dangled before African players, police raids on illegal Asian betting dens and heavy, and late bets on obscure teams in low-level European leagues.

FIFA decided it had to act to protect the game from corruption after being shaken by recent match-fixing scandals in Germany, Italy and Brazil.

"That was the catalyst," FIFA spokesman Andreas Herren said. "We realized we had to be as sophisticated as the other side."

EWS, which was founded last year and hired by FIFA to look into match-fixing, has signed up more than 200 bookies and betting companies worldwide and is seeking more daily to serve as its eyes and ears, but also uses reports from journalists, police, soccer officials and players to assemble a detailed portrait of match-fixing forces.

At the 2006 World Cup - the source of more than 90 per cent of FIFA's revenue - the organization instituted a test program to make sure all 64 games in Germany were free of betting irregularities.

EWS is monitoring more than 900 qualifying matches for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, and will check the final tournament's 64 matches as well. FIFA says all 90 qualifiers played since August 2007 have been clean - but that doesn't mean the match-fixers haven't tried.

And since Asian World Cup qualifying began, the matter has taken on even more urgency. Gambling is a continental obsession and Asian soccer leagues have been battling match-fixing for years.

Last month, Interpol announced the results of a huge crackdown on illegal soccer gambling across Asia. Interpol Secretary-General Ronald Noble told a crime conference in Singapore that 430 people were arrested and 272 underground gambling dens handling US$650 million in illegal bets were shut down. More raids are being planned.

"The grey market in Asia - this is a big problem," Feldner said.

In contrast, Las Vegas bookies handled $92 million in bets for this year's Super Bowl.

Noble said illegal soccer gambling profits support a wide range of crime syndicate activities, from drug-smuggling to human-trafficking, prostitution and extortion.

Organizers at the French Open have decided to try to fight possible match-fixing by suing online gambling sites from offering bets on the clay-court Grand Slam. Yet with hundreds of professional soccer games played around the world every week, it's not a tactic FIFA or its soccer federations feel will yield any success.

"It's impossible to ban betting," said Feldner, who spent years working for the German betting company Oddset before coming to EWS.

Team sports are simply harder to fix, others say.

"The good thing about team sports is there are 22 players, four officials, two coaching staffs, substitutes - that's a high number of people you have to get at to fix a game," Herren said. "Plus, the more people you try to bribe, the more chances you have of being exposed."

But the more people you bribe, the more chances you have of the outcome you want.

"One person is not enough - you need to bribe three or four at least," UEFA spokesman William Gaillard said. "The games we have doubts about are never the big games - those are too expensive to fix. What are you going to offer a player who makes four million euros a year? It's always lower division games, maybe where two clubs have already qualified, a game that's not televised."

He should know.

UEFA recently told the European crime-fighting agency Europol it saw "unusual betting patterns" in 26 member games from 2005-07, 15 of them last year. Noble said crime lords may have made $5 million alone on one game in July 2007.

If UEFA gets a report about odd betting patterns, it shares that information with the clubs and the referees before the match and sends an observer to the game, Gaillard said. FIFA has never cancelled or postponed a match due to suspicions of match-fixing but would not hesitate in doing so, Herren said.

In this fight, it's all about the patterns.

Late bets, heavy bets, late and heavy underdog bets; high or low scoring; surprising draws; wide swings in the quality of play; odd or inexplicable referee calls - all of these can trigger monitors to take a closer look at a match.

Detlev Zenglein, in charge of competition analysis for EWS, said every case is different but patterns of manipulation are similar.

"Clearly, it's easier to lose a game than to win. From that, goalies and defenders are the more obvious targets to bribe," he said. "It also makes no sense to bet a lot of money on the favourite."

Most bets are made within four hours of a match, creating a crucial crunch time for EWS. But even volatile swings in betting do not automatically mean a game is being fixed.

"It's not always a manipulation: It can be a mistake by the bookmaker, or it can be a sporting issue. Maybe the team's top two strikers are injured and the bookmaker has not updated his odds," Zenglein said, noting that there are "lots of professional punters" on the world market, all looking for an edge.

Yet even as old-school bribery still goes on, new match-fixing tactics are evolving.

"The big market now is live betting - who scores the next goal, who gets the next yellow card. You can bet until the very end of the match," Zenglein said. "Things like goal differential is not that important on the market, but if you have a way to manipulate the match, then it's a way to earn a lot of money even if you bet on the favourite."

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has often pointed to referees as a possible weak link in the fight against match-fixing because they are the lowest-paid people on the field. Accordingly, FIFA will spend $40 million to professionalize the ranks of referees before the 2010 World Cup.

Herren said FIFA has an extensive monitoring system that evaluates referees' performances and removes those prone to error but notes that "not even the best ref is protected from making a blunder."

At the 2006 World Cup, security guards were posted outside the referees' hotel, no direct outside calls to their rooms were allowed, and FIFA doubled their tournament pay to $40,000. Herren expects refs to earn even more at the next World Cup.

Proving match-fixing, however, can be tough.

"It's easier to find abnormal betting patterns than to find abnormal players," Gaillard said. "When you don't have a smoking gun or a confession, these things are hard to prove."

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5h2WB9VN1XpRLcrZ1mQbGbhslvBjw

One man's magic is another's debacle in English FA Cup

Nowhere in the world does youth usurp adulthood quite so publicly as in the sporting arena.

On a bright, clear, frosty Saturday here, a 19-year-old Brazilian, known simply as Anderson, orchestrated an extraordinary 4-0 Manchester United victory over Arsenal in the FA Cup.

Anderson has been coming to the boil for quite some time. The folks in Porto Alegre have talked about him since he was five, and they began calling him "the new Ronaldinho" at 15.

United paid the price of a Goya masterpiece to get him, but, if his health is blessed and his heart and mind remain committed, he will more than earn the club that sum in the coming decade.

Yet sport teaches us to take nothing for granted.

As Anderson was striding across the English stage, his countryman Ronaldo lay in a hospital in Paris hoping and praying that yet another ruptured knee ligament has not brought a premature end to one of the most fulfilled careers in the game.

Ronaldo, the Milan player, the most prolific goal scorer of his era, had surgery in Paris where, eight years ago, almost identical repair work on the other knee enabled him to recover and then help Brazil win the 2002 World Cup. He then had comparative youth on his side; today he is 31. One hopes, for his sake and for the sake of soccer, that he comes back, but it is a challenge, he knows, that demands a young man's courage and will.

Should he desire an example, he need only look at Paolo Maldini, the captain of his club. Maldini on Sunday was to pass another milestone, the 1,000th match of his career. He is 39, he is hungry for one more Champions League winners' medal before the final whistle is blown, and he thanks his mother for everything.

So, on the grand platform of the multimillionaires' sporting life, we have Anderson, a teenager gifted enough to make the pinnacle; we have Ronaldo who has been there, done it, and needs surgical help to defy injury; and we have Maldini, the model of perseverance.

But the game is not only for the gods. On Saturday, not a 40-minute car ride from Manchester, two players were experiencing the day of their relatively unsung lives. Brian Howard and Luke Steele are not well known in English circles, much less the global platform that soccer commands. Yet Howard, by scoring the injury-time winner that gave Barnsley a 2-1 victory at Liverpool, and Steele making save after save against the renowned Liverpool strikers, savored one of the biggest shocks of FA Cup history.

Howard and Steele will not thank me for pointing this out, but, at 25 and 23, respectively, they are in sporting mid-life. Most men, the Maldini inspiration apart, get a decade at the top of their form.

Some, like Howard and Steele, get one great night on which to carve their name. Howard, the Barnsley club captain, summed it up succinctly.

"This is fairy tale stuff," he said. "I'm going to enjoy it for a long time, the rest of my life in fact. People were ready to die for the cause out there, they were chucking themselves at everything."

His goalkeeper, Steele, certainly threw everything in the way of Liverpool. Yet Steele is a journeyman goalkeeper who has known rejection early in his time, and could not a week ago have dared share the dream of Howard.

The goalkeeper had once, half a career ago, been apprenticed to Manchester United. More recently, he has played lower league soccer and, indeed, he was only an understudy at that. On Wednesday, however, he got the call from Barnsley, a team in goalkeeper crises because its No. 1 was injured and its reserve, having played elsewhere, cannot play in the competition.

Steele got the strangest phone call of his life. Would he be interested in playing for Barnsley as a stopgap, a short-term loan deal? he was asked. Oh, and was he up for a game at Anfield, one of the homes of world soccer?

"I'd never been to Barnsley before, and I still haven't played there," Steele mused on Saturday.

That is why the FA Cup is sometimes described as one man's magic, another's misfortune. The result will have dire consequences for Liverpool's coach, Rafael Benítez, unless he can turn around his team and his reputation in the next match.

All he has to do is produce a master plan to beat Inter Milan, the team running away with the Italian league championship. The game is at Anfield on Tuesday, it is in the Champions League, and in part it is the reason why Liverpool was so vulnerable to the lower league team Barnsley.

Benítez had gambled and lost in the FA Cup. He thought he could leave out his goalkeeper, Pepe Reina, his driving force, Steven Gerrard, his goal scorer, Fernando Torres, and take good care of Barnsley. He failed, and the American owners of Liverpool, having already undermined the coach by offering his job to Jürgen Klinsmann behind his back, will be getting edgy feet.

The Americans may or may not be considering another offer from Dubai to buy out their ownership. But the price might go down if Liverpool is eliminated twice in one week from cup competitions.

Yet Benitez, a Spaniard, is more European than he ever could be English. He is a cunning tactician in the Champions League, as his record of taking Valencia and then Liverpool to three finals of the most lucrative tournament on earth demonstrates.

Somehow, the straight forward nature of England's competition, the sheer aggression allied to fighting spirit, seems complicated for Benitez while plotting a route to beat the best on earth comes within his radar.

What he lacks is a squad of proven reserves. What Saturday showed is that Manchester United has such depth, and it showed from the first minute.

That was when Anderson, full name Anderson Luis de Abreu Oliveira, brushed aside Cesc Fabregas, the Arsenal play-maker. It was a breathtaking moment: Anderson had the ball, Fabregas attempted to challenge him, and was brushed off like a fly.

So strong is Anderson, so gifted, and so adventurous that he was able to caress the ball with a deft flick of his foot while sturdily deflecting Fabregas's tackle. And Fabregas, remember, is the 20-year-old who is wanted by Barcelona, wanted by Real Madrid, wanted by just about any club in the big league of global buyers.

Such is their attention that Arsenal intends to renegotiate his contract. It reportedly pays the boy from Barcelona £50,000, or $100,000, per week, guaranteed until 2014. The new deal, expected to be inked this summer, would extend that to 2016, and increase the weekly salary to £80,000.

In the forum where a few big clubs are making tens of millions every week, Fabregas is more often than not quite fabulous in performance. But on Saturday, he was brush-stroked off the pitch by Anderson, and by the 21-year-old Portuguese winger Nani and the 22-year-old English bull, Wayne Rooney.

The scary thing for watching opponents is that Anderson and Nani are newcomers to a squad that may not need their skills when they play the Champions League in Lyon on Wednesday. Arsenal, however, will need everything it has against AC Milan the same night.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/02/17/sports/SOCCER.php

Ronaldo Suffers Soccer Career-Threatening Knee Injury (Update1)

AC Milan striker Ronaldo, the top scorer in soccer World Cup history, suffered a knee injury last night that may put his career in jeopardy.

The 31-year-old Brazilian left the field in tears on a stretcher after rupturing his left kneecap ligament during a 1-1 draw against Livorno at the San Siro Stadium in Milan, his club said on its Web site.

Adriano Galliani, Milan's managing director, said doctors will know whether surgery is needed in the next few days. The Gazetta dello Sport said Ronaldo, who holds the World Cup record with 15 career goals, may be out nine months to a year, possibly ending his career.

``We're all very sad and worried about what happened to Ronaldo,'' Milan manager Carlo Ancelotti was quoted saying by the Web site. ``I don't want to say his career is over because only time can put the word end to his career.''

A three-time world soccer player of the year, Ronaldo joined Milan in January 2007 for 7.5 million euros ($10.9 million) from Real Madrid. He previously missed 17 months with a knee injury while playing for Inter Milan.

``When you break something in your knee it's very serious,'' said Milan goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac. ``He doesn't deserve this.''

Ronaldo had only been on the field for a short time when he went down in the penalty area as he attempted to jump for a ball. He was taken to the Galeazzi hospital in Milan, the team said.

``When Ronie cried, I hugged him, the tears fell on me too, but I told him we would stay close to him,'' Galliani told the Web site. ``Milan have already shown in the past they don't abandon players who suffer injuries, and the same will go for Ronaldo.''

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=agq84_FVK5MY&refer=latin_america

Pele, Copa Libertadores image

Former Brazilian soccer player Edson Arantes do Nascimento will be the visible face of Banco Santander and of the continental competition for the next five years.

Banco Santander, primary sponsor of the Copa Libertadores, believes signing 67-year-old Pele will help strengthen the name of the competition, as well as promote the brand and improve the market position of the bank in the region.

With almost 140 matches and with 38 teams coming from 11 countries, Copa Santander Libertadores is the main international competition of soccer clubs in South America and it accumulates almost 1,500 million spectators each season.

Pele is considered one of the best soccer players in history. Playing for Santos FC and Brazil, Pele won the most important titles and broke all the records.

The Brazilian forward registered 1,282 goals and claimed three world titles with Brazil (Sweden 1958, Chile 1982 and Mexico 1970).

http://www.sportsya.com/english/news.php/Pele_will_be_the_image_of_South_American_Copa_Libertadores_for_five_years.html?id_estruc=283&id=170809

Brazil's president sends get-well note to Ronaldo, urges him to return after injury

Injured soccer star Ronaldo was sent a get-well message Friday from Brazil President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

The AC Milan striker ruptured a tendon in his left knee during a 1-1 draw with Livorno in the Serie A on Wednesday. Ronaldo underwent surgery on Thursday and is expected to be out for up to nine months.

Silva, an ardent soccer fan, urged Ronaldo to persevere.

"Like me, millions of Brazilians watched with broken hearts your pain, your sadness and your suffering," Silva said in an official note. "And I join those millions of Brazilians to say to you: boy, keep going, resist, don't lose heart."

Ronaldo, 31, was named FIFA Player of the Year in 1996, '97 and 2002. He was a member of Brazil's World Cup winning team in 1994 and 2002.

Ronaldo was out for nearly two years with a similar injury to his right leg in 1999.

"Like our Brazilian people, I believe that you will return to the field and again be an example of courage and perseverance," Silva said. "And I'm sure, as a lover of soccer, that you will give all Italians and Brazilians the joy of seeing you make extraordinary plays and score the goals that brought us and will bring us so much happiness."

http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5iS_3NImc0DjjLn7xL7HDt9rTxJ3Q

Kaká: Ronaldo Is Second Only To Pelé In Brazil

AC Milan midfielder Kaká believes that his club team-mate Ronaldo is second only to Pelé in the list of great Brazilian footballers.

Speaking to FIFA.com, Kaká did not shy away from expressing his appreciation for his team-mate and friend.

"Ronaldo is number one. In the history of the Brazilian soccer, he is only behind Pelé," he stated.

The midfielder was speaking after missing out on Brazil's narrow 1-0 victory over the Republic of Ireland on Wednesday and reiterated his desire to be part of the U-23 team that will go to the Olympics in Beijing later this year.

"I want to go the Olympics because Brazil has won almost everything, but have still not been able to win Olympic Gold in football. I never got the chance to play in them when I was the right age and therefore I hope to be included as one of the three players over twenty-three in the summer."

Kaká was asked about the tough regime that new England coach Fabio Capello seems keen to enforce, but did not feel that such an approach is always effective.

"In the World Cup in 2002, after each game we had one day of rest and before the departures we could tan a little in the sun. We could also use mobile phones and we were successful. We were clearly always very professional.

"In 2006, a different regime was adopted and we were only allowed out at certain times with more restrictions and the results were not positive."

Finally, Kaká was asked what being world club champions meant to AC Milan and the players.

"We are the world-wide champion of clubs and until December nobody can take that away from us.

"It would be wonderful to win another Champions League title so we can defend the trophy," he concluded.

http://www.goal.com/en-india/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=578731

Kaka wants to play in Olympic Games

Brazilian superstar wants to play in Olympic Games

Amazing AC Milan's striker and world player of the year Kaka says that he hopes to play for Brazil in the Beijing Olympic Games in August.

Kaka has won almost every club and individual honor there is in football except the one title, that of Olympic champion.

Indeed, it is the only title Brazil has yet to win despite being crowned world champions a record five times, Xinhua reported.

Speaking at a World Food Programme 'Fill the Cup' campaign, Kaka admitted he would like to be selected as one of the three players over 23 years of age permitted in each squad in China.

"I would like to [play] but I will leave it up to the CBF [Brazilian Football Confederation] and Milan to decide," he said.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=42210&sectionid=3510211

Brazil 1, Ireland 0 in soccer friendly

Robinho scores in the 22nd minute of the second half for the Brazilian national soccer team to beat the team of Ireland 1-0 in Dublin.

The team's head coach, Dunga, was unable to coach the team from the sidelines due to a one-game suspension from his expulsion in the friendly game against Mexico last year.

Jorginho took command of the team and was in constant contact with the coach by way of walky-talky, Xinhua reported February 6.

In the 22nd minute of the second half, Robinho received the ball on the right side of the field. The forward-midfielder of Real Madrid got control of the ball and located Ireland's goal keeper, Given. With a smooth stroke that went between the legs of Ireland's fullback, Carsley, the ball rolled past Given and into the goal.

The national team of the Republic of Ireland threatened to tie on two separate occasions.

Kilbane was able to dribble through two players, however, Leonardo Moura was able to send the ball out of bounds.

In the 42nd minute, Robbie Keane received the ball from a corner kick, but was unable to get a shot off before Brazil's goalkeeper, Julio Cesar, jumped on the ball.

Brazil's next match will be against Sweden on the 26th of March in London.

In other important friendly games in Europe, world champions Italy defeated Portugal 3-1 in Zurich and Spain beat France 1-0 in Malaga.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=42068&sectionid=3510211

Soccer-Brazil clinch 1-0 victory over Ireland in friendly

A second-half strike by Robinho gave Brazil a 1-0 victory over Ireland in a friendly on Wednesday.

A number of chances went begging on either side until Fabiano linked up with Diego who slipped a pass to Robinho in the 67th minute and the Real Madrid forward slammed the ball into the back of the net.

Both sides were missing key players through injury, with Brazil coach Dunga doing without world player of the year Kaka and the youthful Pato.

Winger Andy Reid and defender Joey O'Brien were absent from the home side, still without a permanent coach, but winger Damien Duff played his first game for his country for nearly a year following a foot injury.

Both Duff and captain Robbie Keane had scoring chances they failed to convert.

http://uk.reuters.com/article/worldFootballNews/idUKL0638268520080206

Lucio, Kaka, Pato dropped from Brazil's friendly against Ireland with injuries

AC Milan players Kaka and Alexandre Pato were dropped from Brazil's roster for its upcoming friendly against Ireland because of injuries.

Kaka sustained a blow to his left knee in his team's 1-0 win over Fiorentina in the Italian league on Sunday, while Pato twisted his right ankle in the same match, the Brazilian soccer confederation said on its Web site late Sunday.

Brazil coach Dunga had yet to decide whether replacements would be summoned for Wednesday's match in Dublin.

Earlier Sunday, Werder Bremen defender Naldo was called to replace injured Bayern Munich defender Lucio, who was injured in his team's 2-1 victory over Hansa Rostock in the German league on Friday.

Last week, Flamengo defender Leonardo Moura was summoned to replace Inter Milan defender Maicon, who also was injured.

Dunga has said he intends to test several newcomers against Ireland in preparation for the Beijing Olympics in August. Brazil has never won the men's Olympic soccer title.

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/02/04/sports/LA-SPT-SOC-Brazil-Injuries.php

Today, the White House. Tomorrow, the World Cup!

What do famous Brazilian soccer players and the Super Tuesday primaries have in common? If you guessed "nothing," you are 100 percent correct. But that doesn't mean we're not going to link the two.

Brazil has the world's best soccer players, and many have come to be known by one name: Ronaldinho, Ronaldo, Cafu, Kaka or, going back a few decades to the original uni-namer, Pele. Now there's a wonderful online name generator ( http://www.minimalsworld.net/BrazilName/brazilian.shtml) that will let you type in anyone's name and have it create a Brazilian soccer name for them.

Once we finished typing in names of our co-workers and friends, we moved on to the ever-shrinking field of 2008 presidential candidates. (And you thought you wasted time at work.) So here, undecided voters of America, is yet one more bit of information to add to your ballot-punching calculus -- assuming, of course, that none of these candidates has bailed since we went to press.

-- Joe Heim (Heincha)

Republicans

* Mike Huckabee: Huckabealdo

* John McCain: McCaincha

* Ron Paul: Paincha

* Mitt Romney: Mildo

Democrats

* Hillary Clinton: Clintardo

* Barack Obama: Obamiano

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/31/AR2008013103334.html

Kaka, Robinho, and Juan to the Olympics

Brazil's coach, Dunga, decided those three footballers should be a resource for the Under-23 team which will participate in the Beijing Olympic Games 2008.Ronaldinho is out.

According to the column Panorama Deportivo from the tabloid O Globo, Barcelona's boy will only be called to take part in a competition which the national team has never clinched only if Kaka, Robinho or Juan reject the offer or suffer an injury.

Dunga will be the first Brazilian coach to fill in the Olympic lineup with three players over 23 years old, just as rules authorize.

The aim of such resources is to increase the possibilities of clinching the gold medal, the only major trophy that the countless world champions have not captured.

According to Panorama Deportivo, one of the most renowned sources of sport information in the country, Dunga has already a mental lineup towards Beijing.

Such lineup will comprise Renan (Internacional); Rafinha (Schalke 04-GER), Juan (Roma-ITA), Breno (Bayern Munich-GER), Marcelo (Real Madrid-SPA); Lucas (Liverpool-ENG), Anderson (Manchester-ENG), Kaka (Milan-ITA); Alexandre Pato (Milan-ITA), and Robinho (Real Madrid-SPA).

The only doubt would still be the fourth midfielder, position for which Dunga wants one who is able to cover up the wings.

All the names included on the list, but for Juan, were called on by Dunga for the friendly match against Ireland on February 6th.

http://www.sportsya.com/english/news.php/Kaka_Robinho_and_Juan_will_be_the_older_one_to_play_for_Brazil_in_Beijing_2008.html?id_estruc=283&id=169981