Archive for the 'Soccer' Category
David Beckham will leave Real Madrid and join Major League Soccer side LA Galaxy at the end of the season.
Beckham said: “This week Real asked me to make a decision regarding their offer to extend my contract.”
“After considering several options to stay in Madrid or join other major British and European teams, I have decided to join LA Galaxy.”
The £128m deal is understood to comprise his salary, existing sponsorship contracts, merchandising shirt sales and a share of the club profits.
In a statement, Beckham continued: “I would like to thank the supporters and people of Madrid who have made my family and I feel so welcome in my time here, making this an extremely difficult decision to make.”
“I have enjoyed my time in Spain enormously and I am extremely grateful to the club for giving me the opportunity to play for such a great team and their amazing fans.”
“I am proud to have played for two of the biggest clubs in football and I look forward to the new challenge of growing the world’s most popular game in a country that is as passionate about its sport as my own.”
“For the rest of this season I will continue to give 100% to my coach, team-mates and fans as I believe manager Fabio Capello will bring this club and its supporters the success they truly deserve.”
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Italy’s recent World Cup failures - from a 1990 semifinal loss to Argentina, the ‘94 title game heartbreaker to Brazil and the ‘98 quarterfinal setback to France - all were forgotten by jubilant Italian soccer fans celebrating their country’s fourth World Cup title Sunday night.
As the World Cup’s championship game crawled into a penalty kick tiebreaker Sunday evening, the final, inevitable step in cracking a 1-1 tie between Italy and France, the Azzurri’s unceremonious past in shootouts swirled around Olympic Stadium like ghosts that have haunted Italian soccer since its previous title 24 years ago.
History provided painful reminders — the 1990 semifinal loss to Argentina, the ‘94 title game heartbreaker to Brazil, the ‘98 quarterfinal setback to France.
This time, however, everything felt different. Italy had been the best team in this tournament over four weeks, suffocating opponents with its composed defense and utilizing a world-class midfield to mold a comfortable attack. And on this night, France had lost its captain and superstar midfielder, Zinedine Zidane, ejected late in overtime after viciously head-butting an Italian defender in the chest.
In the shootout, when David Trezeguet clanked France’s second attempt off the crossbar, the Azzurri’s championship awaited them. They did not let the opportunity pass, coolly converted all five kicks, including the clincher by Fabio Grosso, the overtime hero against the Germans five days earlier, to touch off celebrations from the grandstands of this historic arena to the piazzas of Rome.
“We had fear of the penalties,” midfielder Gennaro Gattuso said. “Our history was not great.”
Penalty kicks are “like the lottery,” midfielder Andrea Pirlo added. “Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose. This time we were better than them.”
It had been a long time since the Italians were better than anyone at the sport’s premier gathering, stretching back to 1982, when they defeated West Germany. But by winning a fourth title, they moved within one of all-time leader Brazil and helped bring joy to a soccer-mad nation staggered by a match-fixing scandal in its fabled professional league.
Long before his ejection, Zidane had given Les Bleus the lead in the seventh minute on a penalty kick, but his late-game nemesis, Marco Materazzi, tied it in the 19th with a six-yard header.
It was a promising start to a match that many feared would be a grueling, defensive struggle — two early goals, vibrant French attacking, Italian resiliency.
French forward Thierry Henry, back to his senses after taking a shoulder to the jaw in the opening minute, headed the ball into the box for Florent Malouda, whose dash was cut short when Materazzi slightly clipped him.
Referee Horacio Elizondo awarded a penalty kick, and Zidane took it. He took a subtle approach, chipping the ball as Gianluigi Buffon dived to his right. The floater hit the crossbar and spun down, clearly crossing the goal line before bouncing back up and off the bar again.
It was the first goal yielded by Italy since its second game of the tournament, a 1-1 tie with the United States three weeks ago on Cristian Zaccardo’s own goal. The Azzurri had been attempting to tie a World Cup record for five consecutive shutouts and to set the overall record of six clean sheets in one tournament.
Undeterred by the early deficit, Italy responded quickly. Pirlo served a corner kick to the top of the six-yard box. French goalkeeper Fabien Barthez had come forward and then retreated, so when Materazzi outjumped Patrick Vieira, Barthez could only wave desperately as the header passed under the crossbar.
In the 36th, Italy nearly struck again off another corner kick by Pirlo; this time 6-foot-4 Luca Toni snapped a header off the crossbar.
Halftime seemed to rejuvenate France and especially Henry, who split a pair of defenders before shooting meekly at Buffon and later spinning his way deep into the box before having his cross cleared from danger.
In the 53rd minute, France made a legitimate claim for a penalty kick when Malouda accepted Zidane’s pass. Gianluca Zambrotta seemed to make contact with Malouda’s ankles, sending the French player to the turf, but play was allowed to continue.
Italy thought it had taken the lead on a restart when Toni’s running header beat Barthez. However, the offside flag negated it. Buffon came to Italy’s rescue a minute later, reacting to his left to push away Henry’s stinging bid.
The match began to slow, energy became a scarce commodity and extra time awaited.
In the first overtime, Franck Ribery watched his 17-yarder squirt fractionally wide, and Buffon turned in a spectacular punch save on Zidane’s 12-yard header — not the only time Zidane’s head made contact with something in the extra session.
In the shootout, with Zidane in the locker room, Italy was flawless.
“This is the most satisfying moment of my life,” Italy Coach Marcello Lippi said. “It takes a lot of determination and a lot of conviction in penalty shootouts; it’s not by chance. Our boys really wanted it, and that’s why they were able to put away all five.”
Said Gattuso: “Maybe it wasn’t pretty, but we were hard to beat.”
[WASHINGTON POST]
[YOUTUBE]
Gianluigi Buffon will establish a new mark of excellence if he keeps a clean sheet for the first 63 minutes of Sunday’s World Cup final against France but the goalkeeper admits the record will count for nothing if Italy fail to lift the trophy.
The Juventus star has not conceded a goal for 453 minutes, the second best run in the history of the tournament behind compatriot Walter Zenga, who went an incredible 517 minutes without being beaten at Italia 90.
“Of course I am interested in beating that record but only if it means Italy have not conceded a goal in the final,” he said.
“On Sunday, I want to make my dream come true, win the game and finally touch the World Cup trophy.”
Italy’s defence has been as strong as ever at the tournament, with Fabio Cannavaro proving to be a rock for the Azzurri in every game.
There have been moments when Buffon has been called into action, however, and he has been equal to the task.
But Buffon insists there are many redeeming qualities about this Italian side, besides the fact they have only conceded one goal in six games.
The biggest, he says, is the camaraderie.
“The team spirit is the secret for us to have gone so far,” he said. “Credit has to go to head coach Marcello Lippi who has the tactical quality to bring the best out of the players. He makes every player feel important.”
Despite the distraction of a football scandal back home which has landed the clubs of 13 of the national team squad in a corruption trial, Lippi has turned his players into a group of believers.
It was never more evident than the semi-final win over hosts Germany, who had been roared on by an entire nation and had knocked out one of the tournament favourites, Argentina.
“On May 22, I would have never imagined to have arrived here,” Lippi said. “Not because I didn’t believe in this group but because this is a long tournament and you need strength, quality and luck on your side to remain to the end.
“We have proved so far that we have strength and a united group.”
Meanwhile, France defender Willy Sagnol admits the final is likely to be a close encounter - but believes team-mate Zinedine Zidane could hold the key to the outcome.
Zidane was the hero of France’s 1998 success, with two goals in the 3-0 final win over Brazil, and will retire after the showpiece final.
Sagnol accepts the Azzurri are a solid outfit but the defender believes Zidane has the ability to cap his career with one more match-winning display.
“Italy have been playing very well,” said Sagnol. “They crushed Ukraine in the quarter-finals and then got to the final by beating Germany very well so it will not be easy.”
Asked who the best Italian player is, Sagnol said: “Their best player is their whole team.
“They have Buffon, [Fabio] Cannavaro, [Francesco] Totti and [Luca] Toni - they will be very difficult opponents for France, but France will be very difficult opponents for Italy.
“We will wait and see what happens on Sunday.”
The Bayern Munich star added ironically: “I suppose that if Italy score one goal more than we do that they will win, but with Zidane we have something extra.”
Sagnol also hailed the role Zidane plays off the field as a motivator for the rest of the team.
“Anyone can see that he is naturally a shy person but he’s still a natural leader,” said Sagnol.
“Like Lilian [Thuram] and Fabien [Barthez], they are guides for us and it’s very nice to follow in their footsteps.”
[ESPN]
Can’t get to Germany like these girls?
In fact you can’t even get in front of a TV today !
So here’s a live feed to watch the game: [France Portugal Live Feed]
[ESPN]