Archive for the ‘Euro 2008’ Category
Valencia Start With A Swagger
MADRID: Spain’s European championship hero David Villa (pic) celebrated his contract extension at Valencia with a goal as his side routed Real Mallorca 3-0 on Saturday.
Villa, top-scorer at Euro 2008, was the subject of intense interest from Real Madrid in the summer but signed a new deal at Valencia until 2014 and struck on 34 minutes as he continued his purple patch in front of goal.
“We showed the Valencia of last year (that finished 10th in the league) is a thing of the past,” said Villa.
“The club wanted to keep me and I feel comfortable here so it is all fine. It is just nice to get back to scoring goals.”
Juan Mata added a second three minutes later and Vicente struck late on to give new coach Unai Emery a winning start and help Valencia forget about their nightmare SuperCup defeat against Real Madrid six days ago.
Goalkeeper Timo Hildebrand paid the price for his poor SuperCup displays with Emery leaving the German out of the squad and Brazilian Renan Brito made his debut between the sticks but had little to do.
Mallorca, who sold star striker Daniel Guiza in the summer, did hit the post but always looked shaky at the back.
Earlier Espanyol shrugged off the loss of departing first team stars Albert Riera and Pablo Zabaleta to defeat Valladolid 1-0 on Saturday in the curtain raiser of the 2008/09 Spanish league season.
Spanish international Riera is poised to join Liverpool while Zabaleta, part of the Argentina side that won Olympic gold, is bound for Manchester City in an E8 million (RM40 million) move.
Espanyol’s Luis Garcia, still recovering from the disappointment of being dropped from the Spain squad shortly before Euro 2008, had the honour of scoring the first goal of the new season a minute after the break.
It proved enough as Espanyol won their first league match since mid-March while new coach Bartolome Marquez enjoyed a winning start in his first match in charge.
“The team did well and we won so I am happy although we suffered far too much in the final few minutes,” explained Marquez.
Reigning champions Real Madrid start their title defence in a late match yesterday at Deportivo Coruna.
Brazilian Robinho has spent most of this week angling for a move to Chelsea and coach Bernd Schuster confirmed he had left the winger out of the travelling party.
Real are bidding for a third straight title but have not won at the Riazor since the 1991/92 season.
Barcelona were also away yesterday travelling to promoted Numancia in Pep Guardiola’s first league match in charge. — AFP
New Straits Times
Drop Beckham, Urges Robson
LONDON: Sir Bobby Robson says England coach Fabio Capello must make a stand and drop David Beckham from his starting line-up ahead of their upcoming World Cup qualifying campaign.
With England due to face Andorra on Sept 6 ahead of a tough meeting with Euro 2008 qualifier nemeses Croatia former England boss Robson says Capello must be more decisive.
“Fabio is meant to lead but the only place we’ve gone so far is round in circles,” Robson said in his Mail on Sunday column.
“It is time for the real Capello to stand up and start dictating to the players and the public exactly what he wants. Then he’ll find people will get behind him.”
Sir Bobby believes there is now little room for Beckham if England, who last week struggled to draw with the Czech Republic in a Wembley friendly, are to unearth a coherent system.
“It means picking vibrant wide players rather than starting with David Beckham when he can’t get forward as he used to. It means banging Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard’s heads together and getting them to play as a unit.
Because they can,” Robson insisted.
Only the qualifying group winners automatically qualify for the World Cup finals in South Africa.
That means the Croatians, who did the double over England in the Euro 2008 qualifiers, this time have to be sent packing.
Robson says Capello should have been more decisive in picking his skipper for the Czech encounter.
“The weeks of dithering about who should be England captain summed it up for me. I’m sure the intention was to give everyone a fair chance, but it made him look weak and indecisive.
“Steve McClaren could have told him two years ago that John Terry was the best man for the job.” — AFP
New Straits Times
Thuram Announces Retirement
PARIS: Lilian Thuram, France’s most capped player, announced his retirement from football yesterday at age 36, citing a heart condition that stopped him from moving to Paris Saint-Germain.
Thuram, who had 142 appearances for France, retired from international play after France were eliminated from Euro 2008 tournament without reaching the knockout round.
New Straits Times