[OFF THE POST] Iker the Octopus, Spain’s answer to Paul the Octopus, picked Real Madrid over Barcelona in Wednesday’s Copa del Rey final. The35-pound octopus, named after Real Madrid goalie Iker Casillas, correctly predicted a tie in Saturday’s La Liga match, the first of four matches between theteams, beating out his smaller rival, Iniesta the […]
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Posted inSoccer America Daily, Story
'Viva Las Vegas'
[OFF THE POST] A draw was a good as a win for players on third-tier English club Leyton Orient, who were rewarded with a (postseason) trip to Las Vegas by theclub’s owner after they held Arsenal to a 1-1 tie on Jonathan Tehoue’s 89th-minute goal in their fifth-round English FA Cup match. ChairmanBarry Hearn promised […]
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'Malaysiacheatlaser' trends high
[OFF THE POST] Malaysia beat Indonesia, 3-0, on Sunday in Kuala Lumpur before 85,000 fans, and afterwards Indonesians swamped Twitter with complaints about fansat the Bukit Jalil Stadium using laser beams to distract Indonesia’s goalie. “Malaysiacheatlaser” ranked No. 1 on Twitter’s global “Trending Topics” chart.“Curang,” Indonesian for “cheat,” and “Support Garuda,” (the Indonesian national team) […]
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Chest-thumping goalie celebrates prematurely
[OFF THE POST] Chest-thumping Khalid Al Askri, goalie for Moroccan powerhouse FAR, celebrated stopping a penalty kick byDriss Belaamri of Maghreb de Fes during the shootout of Thursday’s Moroccan Cup match. Well, he celebrated too soon … Al Askri walked away andonly turned back to see that the ball had spun across his goal line […]
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Saha's secret knee remedy: leeches
[OFF THE POST] Everton striker Louis Saha has worked his way back on the French national team after a four-year absence,and he revealed the secret to his return to fitness: leeches. The often-injured France international turned to leeches to cure the knee problems that have ailed him after visitingrelatives in Guadeloupe and discovering the leeches, […]
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Referee stabs player to death in dispute over foul
[BRAZIL] A referee who stabbed a player to death in a dispute during a soccer game in northeastern Brazil was being sought by police. According toa spokesman for the Ceara military police, referee Francisco Chaves killed 35-year-old Jose da Silva and injured hisbrother Francisco in a fight after he whistled for a foul against the […]
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A fishy goal celebration in Iceland
[OFF THE POST/VIDEO] Halldor Orri and his teammates on Icelandic club Stjarnan might be spending as much time choreographing goal celebrations as they areworking on their soccer skills. Here’s Orri and Co., after the winning goal in overtime against Fylkir:
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Donovan: 'It gets easier to win in Mexico …'
[VIDEO] Landon Donovan appears in its second Ganagol commercial, the sequel to his popular commercial touting theMexican lottery on Mexican television. The sequel doesn’t match the original in which Donovan appears at the border disguised in a pancho, sombrero and fake moustache, but he does get “ElPadrino” at the crowded Mexican bar riled up with […]
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Vuvu violence costs Dutchman his job
[OFF THE POST] Nels van Toor, a 44-year-old worker for Dutch railway company Nedtrain in the city of Haarlem, was firedfrom his job for sawing a coworker’s vuvuzela in half after being terrorized by the noise instrument. It was bad enough that coworkers brought vuvuzelas to work and blew them constantlyduring the Dutch games. Bu […]
Posted inSection 2 Around the Net, Story
Fate of Octopus Paul becomes international matter
German fans loved Octopus Paul when he correctly picked the results of Germany’s first five games at the World Cup, but they turned on him after he correctly picked — in an event televised live onGerman television — Germany to lose to Spain in the semifinals. There have been suggestions that Paul should be fried, […]