Zinedine Zidane, hero of France’s 1998 World Cup championship team, criticized former France team doctor Jean-PierrePaclet for his book “Implosion,” in which he claimed that “blood sample tests on several France players just before the 1998 World Cup revealed anomalies. Paclet’s suspicion wasbased on the fact that “some of the players are employed, notably the […]
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Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
World Cup ref caught smuggling heroin at JFK Airport
Byron Moreno, the Ecuadoran referee who officiated USA-Portugal and the incident-filled South Korea-Italy match at the 2002 World Cup, was arrested andjailed without bail on Monday night after he was caught carrying more than 10 pounds of heroin on his body at New York’s Kennedy Airport. In a complaint filed in federal court inBrooklyn, Moreno […]
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UEFA Champions League Scoreboard
[RESULTS] Spartak Moscow pulled the biggest upset in Wednesday’s action in the group stage of the 2010-11 UEFA Champions League when it beat Marseille, 1-0, onthe road thanks to an own goal by young Spanish defender Cesar Azpilicueta. Arsenal earned the biggest win when it crushed Portuguese club Braga, 6-0. For allthe midweek results … […]
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Cassano is toast of Italy
[EURO 2012 QUALIFYING] Antonio Cassano, kept out of the Italy team for the last two World Cups, celebrated his return tothe national team in competitive play with a goal and an assist to lead the Azzurri to a 2-1 comeback win at Estonia for their first win of 2010. Cassano scored on a header in […]
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Five on the comeback trail
[EURO 2010] Qualifying for Euro 2012 begins on Friday, and several major national teams have recalled stars who missed the 2010 World Cup. Here’s a look at fiveplayers on the comeback trail … ANTONIO CASSANO (Italy). The bad boy of Italian soccer was overlooked by MarcelloLippi for the World Cup but he’ll start up front […]
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Top deadline-day wheeler dealers
[TRANSFER WATCH] Europe’s summer transfer window closed Tuesday, and there was a flurry of action. Here’s the top 10 wheeler dealers on deadline day … 1. AC MILAN. Robinho joined his Brazilian buddy, Ronaldinho, at AC Milan, from Manchester City in a deal valued at a minimum of $29 million. Some of the money was […]
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Robinho seeks yet another fresh start
[ITALY] Robinho is happy to be at AC Milan, his fourth club in the last two years, and so are Italian fans. They crashed the Milan web site asnews of the 26-year-old Brazilian’s transfer from Manchester City became official. “I am delighted to have been given this opportunity and I want to prove my worth,” […]
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Inter Milan players sweep Champions League honors
[AWARDS] Argentine Diego Milito, whose two goals gave Inter Milan a 2-0 win over Bayern Munich in the final of the 2010UEFA Champions League was named the competition’s Player of the Year. He and his Inter teammates swept all the positional awards. Player of theYear: Diego Milito, Inter Milan Forward of the Year: Diego Milito, […]
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Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus are big spenders
[TRANSFER WATCH] Spain’s La Liga and Italy’s Serie A are the last two major European leagues to kick off their 2010-11 seasons this weekend. With only a fewdays to go before the close of the summer transfer window, most clubs have used caution. There have been only 10 eight-figure transfer deals in Spain and seven […]
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There's life after Ozil at Werder Bremen
Werder Bremen moved closer to returning to the UEFA Champions League group stage thanks to a 3-1 win over Italy’s Sampdoria on Wednesday, only hours after its star Mesut Ozil signed for Real Madrid. Clemens Fritz, Torsten Frings and Claudio Pizarro scored for Bremen, but Sampdoria, which played the last 23 minutes with 10 men, […]