Polish football faced its latest crisis Monday. After the national federation was suspended by its court-appointed chief for allegedly failing to tackle corruption in the domestic league. The move raised further questions about Poland’s ability to co-host the 2012 European Championship with Ukraine. The governing board of the Polish Football Federation was suspended after a [...]
Juventus will be looking to break out of its scoring slump. When it visits Champions League newcomer BATE Borisov in Belarus on Tuesday. Juventus was held to a 0-0 draw by Sampdoria on Saturday and hasn’t scored more than one goal in a game since beating Slovakian side Artmedia 4-0 in Champions League qualifying on [...]
Tottenham fans had every reason to think their team would contend this season. Few would have imagined that after six games their team would be last in the Premier League and off to its worst start in 53 years. Manager Juande Ramos had strengthened his League Cup-winning squad with such players as Luka Modric, Giovani [...]
Juergen Klinsmann, feeling the heat early in his first season as Bayern Munich coach. After the club’s worst domestic start in 31 years, will be hoping for a return to form against Lyon in the Champions League. After two straight losses, one a 5-2 thrashing at home by Werder Bremen, the German champions are in [...]
Real Madrid is looking to end its poor away record in the Champions League by beating Zenit St Petersburg on Tuesday. The nine-time champion has not won in seven matches on the road since beating Steaua Bucharest 4-1 in Romania in October 2006. “It’s difficult to play on the road,” Real Madrid coach Bernd Schuster [...]
Goalkeeper Gregory Coupet compares playing for France. To a form of “dictatorship” in which coach Raymond Domenech forbids players to say what they think. Coupet, who has had tense relations with Domenech since being dropped in favor of Fabien Barthez for the 2006 World Cup, says Domenech’s stringent regime means players are effectively gagged. “The [...]
Rafael van der Vaart scored three goals to help defending champion Real Madrid. Trounce last-place Sporting Gijon 7-1 in the Spanish league on Wednesday. Raul Gonzalez added two more at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, while there was also a goal apiece for Gonzalo Higuain and Arjen Robben in Madrid’s third straight victory that kept it a [...]
Seven-time defending champion Lyon is already opening up a gap on its French league rivals. And the team will look to improve on its four-point lead against Nancy on Saturday. Lyon strengthened its squad with several new players, and with others coming back to form or returning from injury, the team is perhaps even stronger [...]
FC Cologne has little time to regroup after its disappointing elimination from the German Cup. Next facing Bundesliga leader Schalke. Cologne’s 3-1 loss at second-division FSV Mainz followed defeats against Bayern Munich and Arminia Bielefeld. “We are certainly in an absolutely critical phase,” said Cologne coach Christoph Daum, whose job is not yet in danger [...]
Chelsea cruised into the fourth round of the League Cup with a 4-0 win at Portsmouth on Wednesday. While Tottenham began its title defense with a 2-1 victory at Newcastle in a meeting of the Premier League’s crisis clubs Championship side Queens Park Rangers ousted five-time champion Aston Villa 1-0 after Damion Stewart planted a [...]