SCOTLAND: SPL
: Rangers 2-0 Dunfermline
: St. Mirren 1-3 Celtic
During the week, both the Old Firm crashed out of the CIS Cup:
: Rangers 0-2 St. Johnstone
: Celtic 1-1 Falkirk (Falkirk win 5-4 on penalties)
ENGLAND: EPL
: Everton 0-1 Aston Villa
: Blackburn 0-1 Manchester Utd
: Chelsea 4-0 Watford
: Arsenal 3-0 Liverpool
: Middlesbrough 1-0 West Ham
: Reading 3-1 Tottenham (0-1)
: Reading 3-1 Tottenham (1-1)
: Reading 3-1 Tottenham (2-1)
: Reading 3-1 Tottenham (3-1)
ENGLAND: The Championship
: Luton 2-3 QPR
Mike Newell launched a scathing attack on assistant referee Amy Rayner and said female officials should be banned from the game after his team’s defeat by QPR at Kenilworth Road. The Luton manager said that the presence of Rayner — in her second year as an official — amounted simply to tokenism and political correctness. He said: “She should not be here. I know that sounds sexist, but I am sexist, so I am not going to be anything other than that. We have a problem in this country with political correctness, and bringing women into the game is not the way to improve refereeing and officialdom. It is beyond belief. When do we reach a stage when all officials are women, because then we are in trouble. It is bad enough with the incapable referees and linesmen we have, but if you start bringing in women, you have big problems. This is Championship football. It is not park football, so what are women doing here? It is tokenism, for the politically-correct idiots...”
: Sunderland 1-1 Southampton
: Leeds 3-0 Colchester
: West Brom 0-1 Norwich
SPAIN: La Liga
: Barcelona 3-1 Real Zaragoza
Barcelona look set to be without Lionel Messi until well into the new year after he suffered a broken metatarsal during the Spanish league victory over Real Zaragoza. “Messi has fractured the fifth metatarsal in his left foot. The treatment will be surgical and the expected loss is around three months,” said a medical statement on the Barcelona website...
He's back. The greatest linesman in the whole wide world ever has done it again. Rafa Guerrero, the 41-year-old from Leon with the sad face and a bubble-perm was the star of week 10 [in La Liga]. Rafa is, as one columnist put it, the Rafa-iest Rafa of all Rafas, the Phantom of the Opera, Brutus stabbing Caesar with a whistle, Spain's favourite figure of fun. Because there's nothing like a bit of controversy - and controversy and Rafa Guerrero go back a long, long way : The Guardian
: Osasuna 1-4 Real Madrid
: Athletico Madrid 3-1 Villareal
ITALY: Serie A
: AC Milan 1-2 Roma (1st Half Highlights)
: AC Milan 1-2 Roma (2nd Half Highlights
: Palermo 3-0 Torino
: Parma 1-2 Inter Milan
ITALY: Serie B
: Juventus 2-0 Pescara
GERMANY: Bundesliga
: Bayer Leverkusen 2-3 Bayern Munich
USA: MLS Cup
The finale to the US soccer season...
: Houston Dynamos 1-1 New England Revolution (after extra time)
: Houston Dynamos 1-1 New England Revolution (the penalty shoot-out)
The prospect of David Beckham moving to the United States to play in Major League Soccer has become more likely following the introduction of a 'designated player' rule. The MLS board of governors have approved the rule change, which will allow clubs to sign big-name players without breaking the competition's salary cap. The cap is set at $1.9 million (£1 million) and covers 18 players' wages. However, MLS will now pay up to $400,000 (£209,000) towards the salary of the designated player, with any additional cost becoming the responsibility of the club. Each club will receive one designated player slot, which can be traded between clubs, although no club is allowed to have more than two such players in their squad.
The introduction of the rule means that players of the calibre of Beckham, 31, who is in the final year of his contract at Real Madrid, will now have the opportunity to play in the top tier of club soccer in the United States.
"The designated player rule provides clubs an exciting mechanism to add tremendous value to their rosters," MLS commissioner Don Garber said. "Our fans have stated they would like to see more world-class stars in MLS, and the designated player rule allows us to sign more elite talent from throughout the world."
The rule change will increase speculation that Beckham will leave Madrid to join the American league. Reports have linked him with the Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls, with Galaxy president Alexi Lalas saying last week that they would be interested. Beckham has said in the past that he would like to finish his career in the United States, and he already has a football academy at the Galaxy's home stadium near Los Angeles.
AND FINALLY...
Jermain Defoe was not good enough to take to the World Cup, England should recruit a psychologist to help them prepare for penalties and the country overestimates just how good players pulling on the national-team shirt are, according to Sven-Goran Eriksson.
Speaking about his five-and-a-half years as England coach for the first time since quitting in July, the Swede has contradicted the widespread image of him as bland, evasive and uncontroversial by revealing a series of strong opinions about his time in charge - and a surprising passion for the job that was not always evident when he was in the dugout : Sven Talk
Comments