Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2015 i World Soccer

“In the future, I will not buy any player likely to play at the African Nations Cup. On that you can depend” Montpellier owner louis nicollin shows his frustration at losing the services of ivory Coast’s siaka tiene and Jamel saihi of tunisia To see video footage of these goals, and many more that we have selected, scan the QR code using any free QR reader that can be downloaded to your smartphone. You can also see the videos by logging on to http://po.st/AkfmW5 1 EZEQUIEL LAVEZZI Paris Saint-Germain v Rennes A superb team move of quick incisive inter-passing is finished from close range. 2 JOAO PEDRO Sao Jose v Internacional A looping overhead kick during the 4-4 draw in the Rio Grande do Sul state championship. 3 LEANDRO BENEGAS…

Vanishing spay will stay, whatever IFAB thinks Are those guys in Dublin for real? There surely ought to be an impish Irish grin built into this announcement from the FAI, but I detect no levity. Apparently they really mean it when they say they’ve decided not to let referees use vanishing spray. So, what’s good enough for the World Cup, the Champions League, the English Premier League, for all of South America, for Germany, Italy, France and Spain, will not be seen in the Republic of Ireland. This is the official thumbs down: “We will not be introducing vanishing spray into the SSE Airtricity League this season as we wish to carry out more research into its effectiveness.” The FAI has wandered into territory usually occupied by the International Football…

For every Martin Odegaard, there’s a Nii Lamptey Martin Odegaard made his international debut for Norway a few months ago at the age of 15 years and 253 days. A couple of weeks after his 16th birthday he signed professional forms with Real Madrid, having been courted by almost every major club in Europe. The European champions instantly named Odegaard in their 25-man Champions League squad for this season, even though the schoolboy had yet to play a single minute for his new club. Oh yes, the Scandinavian is the latest youngster to be launched into the unforgiving world of elite football, showered with praise and riches and great expectations when his peers are still in the classroom. Is he living the dream, the prince who can become the king,…

Romance is not dead Hallelujah! The FA Cup lives! This despite the ineptitude of a Football Association which hasn’t even managed to find it a sponsor. Have heads rolled at Wembley? What do you think? Bradford City’s astonishing victory over the supposedly unbeatable Chelsea and their flamboyant manager, after actually going two goals down, was historic, and by contrast with the subsequent defeat of Sunderland at Valley Parade, in a game in which no quarter was asked or given, was acquired through sheer fine football. The romance of Bradford City’s success has been embodied in the triumphs and the profusion of goals – at least one in every Cup match – of their centreforward, Jon Stead. Revenge is sweet and especially so for Stead, who in a previous unhappy spell…

GOALKEEPERS Mathieu GorGelin Age 24 (05.08.90) Joined the lyon academy in 2002 and made his debut in 2013. Signed a three-year contract extension in 2014. Anthony LOPES (por) Age 24 (01.10.90) French-born but chose to represent Portugal, the country of his family. Made his debut in 2012 and was first choice by 2014. DEFENDERS Henri BEDIMO (Cam) Age 30 (04.06.84) left-back who left his native country in 1999 to start a career in France. Joined lyon from Montpellier, where he won ligue 1, in 2013. Milan BISEVAC (ser) Age 31 (31.08.83) centre-half signed in 2012 from PSG. ruptured knee ligaments against Monaco in February and is out for the rest of the season. Mouhamadou DABO Age 28 (28.11.86) Senegal-born defender who can play on either flank. left Saint-etienne for Sevilla…

JOACHIM LOW AGE 55 (03.02.60) PLACE OF BIRTH Schonau, Germany PLAYING CAREER Freiburg (1978-80) 74 games/18 goals Stuttgart (1980-81) 4 games/0 goals Eintracht frankfurt (1981-82) 29 games/5 goals Freiburg (1982-84) 68 games/26 goals Karlsruhe (1984-85) 26 games/2 goals Freiburg (1985-89) 120 games/39 goals Schaffhausen (1989-92) 105 games/25 goals Winterthur (1992-94) 64 games/15 goals Frauenfield (1994-95) 30 games/2 goals West Germany U21 (1979-80) 4 games/0 goals COACHING CAREER Frauenfield (1994-95) Stuttgart (1996-98) Fenerbahce (1998-99) Karlsruhe (1999–2000) Adanaspor (2001) Tirol innsbruck (2001-02) Austria Vienna (2003-04) Germany assistant coach (2004-06) Germany (2006-present) HONOURS Stuttgart German Cup 1997 Tirol innsbruck Austrian Bundesliga 2002 Austria Vienna Austrian Super Cup 2003 Germany World Cup 2014…

p32 All was not happy at reigning Italian champions Juventus. According to Keir Radnedge, they were in danger of losing their Serie A title to Roma and losing some of their star players as well. He wrote: “Life with the expensively constructed ‘new’ Juventus is proving such a let-down that Michel Platini may ‘retire’ to the NASL next year, Zbigniew Boniek might move to Bayern Munich, and Paolo Rossi – World Cup hero of last summer – could be sold to Milan.” Although Juve would surrender their league crown to Roma, the three stars stayed – and in 1985 helped the club win its first European Cup. p20 Uruguayan club Penarol had just secured a treble, adding the domestic league title to earlier Libertadores Cup success and Inter-Continental Cup victory…

He’s making a habit of this, Ange Postecoglou. Five years ago, he was fighting fires after a turbulent start to his reign as coach of Brisbane Roar. His brief back then was to reinvigorate a team that had lost both its way, and its coach, Frank Farina. He responded by clearing the place of experienced players such as Craig Moore, Danny Tiatto, Bob Malcolm, Charlie Miller and Liam Reddy. In their place came Erik Paartalu, Matt Smith and Kosta Barbarouses; hungry players who hadn’t quite made it elsewhere. At the heart of his team he put Thomas Broich – a midfielder whose lightness of touch on the ball had rarely been seen in the Australian domestic game. His potential had flagged under the weight of expectation back in his native…

KEY DATES LEAGUE STARTS March 6, 2015 LEAGUE ENDS October 30, 2015 Two league titles in the past five years might be enough to keep most clubs happy, but when you’re Shamrock Rovers that’s clearly not enough. Current Northern Ireland manager Michael O’Neill led Rovers to backto-back championships and became the first man to take the club into the group stage of the Europa League. But since O’Neill returned home in 2011, the Dublin club – who have been League of Ireland champions a record 17 times – have struggled Stephen Kenny was sacked rather hastily after just nine months in charge, in September 2012, and his replacement, Brian Laws, left at the end of that season after Rovers failed to qualify for Europe. Trevor Croly also missed out on…

The J.League’s four representatives in this year’s continental competition – Gamba Osaka, Kashima Antlers, Kashiwa Reysol and Urawa Red Diamonds – will be hoping to do better than last year’s Japanese entrants, none of whom managed to go beyond the first knockout round. Western Sydney Wanderers of Australia start their defence of the title in Group H, alongside Kashima, but they have struggled since last year’s triumph. After beating Al Hilal of Saudia Arabia 1-0 on aggregate in the Final, they lost both of their games at December’s Club World Cup and went 13 games before getting their first win in this term’s domestic A-League. KEY DATES Group games Feb 24/25, Mar 3/4, Mar 17/18, Apr 7/8, Apr 21/22, May 5/6 round of 16 May 19/20 & May 26/27 Quarter-finals…

The media is often accused of overhyping young players. But in the case of this month’s cover star, Harry Kane, the hype seems justified. Some pundits have called for caution, comparing Kane with his Spurs team-mate Andros Townsend, who is no longer an England regular after a spectacular debut. It has always been difficult for young wingers, whose main attributes are pace and trickery, to maintain consistency. Kane’s game, in contrast, relies on intelligence rather than speed. However, it is his background that makes his story genuinely deserving of a wider audience. His family roots in northeast London have engendered a valuable connection with fans at a time when the new Premier League television deal threatens to push football further out of the reach of ordinary spectators. It is far…

“He must stop trying to do a Zidane. He’ll never be Zidane. He has to be less presumptuous when he plays and look to be more efficient” Sky Italia pundit Zvonimir Boban advises Juventus midfielder Paul Pogba (right) to keep his feet on the ground The Frenchman’s lucky white shirt may have been mostly covered by a pink bib that officials forced him to wear on the touchline during the African Nations Cup in Equatorial Guinea, but the 46-yearold still set a new landmark for the tournament by becoming the first coach to win the title with two different countries. And even though he has 18 months left on his contract, victory with Ivory Coast now sets up Renard for a return to his homeland and a chance to pursue…

“I’m a farmer’s son who came from nothing. I have football to thank for everything” Udo Lattek UDO LATTEK (1935-2015) Udo Lattek was an achiever, but an achiever whose low-profile preference secured him a public profile which shone far more modestly than other, far less successful coaches who projected themselves more assiduously. But that was the way he wanted it. He encouraged his teams to do his talking out on the pitch – which was one reason why his style worked so effectively in German football in the 1970s and 1980s but was spectacularly ill-suited to the magnified focus of Barcelona inbetween. The football limelight was a long way from childhood life on a farm in what was then Sensburg in Germany and is now Boze in Poland. The chaos…

Platini gets his way The Final of the Champions League this season takes place in Berlin on Saturday, June 6. Only once has the grand climax to the European club season been played deeper into the summer and that was all the way back at the inception, with the inaugural Final, played between Real Madrid and Reims in the old Stade de France in Paris, on June 13, 1956. That apart, only two subsequent Finals have even strayed into the first days of June. But the 2015 Final has to wait for a Saturday because that is how Michel Platini wants it. And he has his reasons. One of the misconceptions about Platini is that UEFA’s president is no friend of English football, but that is wrong. The Frenchman is…

“Along with Giuseppe Verdi, ham and cheese, this club is one of the symbols of this town and, as the latter is in trouble, we have a right to know what’s going on” Parma mayor Federico Pizzarotti looks on aghast as the former Cupwinners Cup and UEFA Cup holders stagger to the financial brink For the first time ever, a Serie a match was not played for bankruptcy-related reasons, with Parma’s home game against Udinese on February 22 postponed. With the Parma public prosecutor’s office calling for the club to be declared bankrupt at a hearing on March 19, this is just the latest development in an ongoing crisis which has dragged on all season. But, essentially, it has its roots in the $14billion crash of dairy multinational Parmalat Spa…

DAVIE SELKE (Werder Bremen) The word is that the striker will be the long-term successor to Miroslav Klose at the point of the Nationalmannschaft attack and it’s easy to see why. This season, his first full campaign as a Bundesliga starter, the son of an Ethiopian father and German mother has constantly caught the eye with his pace, strength, presence and composed finishing and was especially impressive against Borussia Dortmund in December, scoring in his side’s 2-1 win. He was the star turn in Germany’s triumph at last year’s European Under-19 Championship, netting six times to claim the top scorer prize. BENJAMIN JEANNOT (Lorient) Bought from Nancy for ¤1million last summer, the 23-year-old has made a remarkable start to life as a Ligue 1 regular, emerging as the Breton club’s…

JEAN-MICHEL AULAS President and businessman who indulged his passion for football by taking over Lyon in 1987. oversaw the most successful period in the club’s history, but still wrestles with debt as he moves them into a new era. BERNARD LACOMBE “Advisor to the president”, charged with overseeing player-recruitment strategy. Former Lyon striker and Ligue 1’s all-time greatest French forward with 255 goals. STEPHANE ROCHE The 44-year-old former Lyon midfielder has been in charge of the club’s highly rated academy since June 2011, having joined the coaching team from Caen the previous year PATRICK ILIOU Charged with making the ¤405million new stadium project a reality, the former auditor has been a close business associate of Aulas for almost 10 years. THIERRY SAUVAGE General manager for business and finance. Pinning hopes…

Initially put in doubt by Morocco’s desire to postpone the finals due to fears over the Ebola virus, and then overshadowed by violence that left Africa’s showcase sports event sullied and bruised, it is fair to say that this year’s African Nations Cup had more than its fair share of problems. Yet even though they had only a little over two months to prepare themselves as substitute hosts, the tiny former Spanish colony of Equatorial Guinea came close to what would have been a remarkable success story, had it not been for the unfortunate scenes in the final week. With a population of less than one million, the previously reclusive and repressive country – rich in oil resources but clearly a rampant kleptocracy – came to the rescue of the…

A year ago all was rosy in the Japan garden and there was optimism about a possible quarter-final finish at the 2014 World Cup under the guidance of Alberto Zaccheroni. Instead, the team picked up a solitary point in Brazil and a lot of disappointment. While this year’s Asian Cup managed to provide that place in the last eight, that was as far as it went and an exit at the hands of the United Arab Emirates was another setback. That wasn’t, officially at least, the reason why Javier Aguirre was fired in February; the Mexican’s marching orders came as he is under investigation in Spain following match-fixing allegations. With Japan now looking for their third coach in the space of six months, the journey to becoming a major football…

After playing in a UEFA Cup Final with Celtic and winning the FA Cup with Wigan Athletic, what made you choose underachieving Chicago Fire? I have always had an ambition to experience a different country. I’ve played at the top level in Scotland and England. Everything just sort of happened in a whirlwind six days when I came to Chicago to look around. When I met the manager, Frank Yallop, and what he said about the plans, made me want to buy into what Chicago could become. How are you getting on with your new team-mates? We got the perfect chance to get to know each other when we went to England for our pre-season training camp. It’s the perfect scenario. You have breakfast, lunch and dinner together, and train…

D espite the many new and improved stadia that were built and upgraded for last year’s World Cup, an age-old problem still haunts the domestic game’s modern arenas: hooliganism. In Sao Paulo, traditional rivals Corinthians and Palmeiras both have new homes: Corinthians’ new complex in Itaquera, built for the World Cup, and Palmeiras’ Allianz Parque arena, which was not, but is seen by many as the best of the recent surge of Brazilian stadium-building. Yet these plush new venues have remained ugly battlegrounds in the conflict between rival supporters that so blights the Brazilian game. In July last year, in the first meeting between the two sides at the Arena Corinthians, visiting fans broke 250 seats. Fearing similar vandalism inside the ground and violence outside this February, Palmeiras tried to…

Just as football in Sierra Leone appeared to be edging towards normality, the game in the Ebola-hit West African nation has been plunged back into further uncertainty In the face of a medical disaster, the game had ground to a halt, but the crisis is easing. In January, Pujehun District was given the all clear after 42 days without a recorded Ebola case and March will see the national team play its first game for four months. However, the international friendly threatened to be overshadowed by a destructive internal row at the Sierra Leone Football Association (SLFA). Unable to meet in person, rebel members formed an interim body to run the game in the country until elections in June. When the interim body was recognised by the country’s sports ministry,…

Despite the farewells of several of its most prominent stars, there is much for Major League Soccer followers to look forward to in the competition’s 20th season. Landon Donovan, Thierry Henry and Tim Cahill may no longer be around, but MLS clubs have been busy during the off season, putting an impressive list of newcomers in place. And that, as much as anything, emphasises the global reach of MLS: with Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard from England, Sebastian Giovinco from Italy, David Villa from Spain and Kaka from Brazil. While these superstar arrivals are a diverse group in terms of their countries of birth, they do have one thing in common: they are all attacking, goal-scoring players. And that is something that faithfully reflects the intentions of MLS when it…

COLORADO RAPIDS Arrivals: Michael Harrington, Zac McMath, Marcelo Sarvas Departures: Edson Buddle, Nick LaBrocca, Brian Mullen, Danny Mwanga, Marvell Wynne DALLAS Arrivals: Kyle Bekker, Atiba Harris, Dan Kennedy Departures: Andres Escobar, George John, Adam Moffat HOUSTON DYNAMO Arrivals: Leonel Miranda, Nathan Sturgis, Erick Torres Departures: Omar Cummings, Andrew Driver, Tally Hall LOS ANGELES GALAXY Arrivals: Steven Gerrard Departures: Landon Donovan, James Riley, Marcelo Sarvas PORTLAND TIMBERS Arrivals: Dalron Asprilla, Nat Borchers, Adam Larsen Kwarasey Departures: Michael Harrington, Danny O’Rourke, Donovan Ricketts, Steve Zakuani REAL SALT LAKE Arrivals: Jamison Olave Departures: Nat Borchers, Robbie Findley, Ned Grabavoy, Chris Wingert SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES Arrivals: Leandro Barrera, Marvell Wynne Departures: Jon Busch, Atiba Harris, Jason Hernandez SEATTLE SOUNDERS Arrivals: Troy Perkins. Departures: Jalil Anibaba, Djimi Traore, DeAndre Yedlin SPORTING KANSAS CITY Arrivals: Jalil…

HOW IT WORKS Every month, journalists from each member of the European Sports Media group select their first Xl based on the best individual performances from Europe’s top competitions. For details of how each ESM member voted, visit worldsoccer.com/esm11 SEASON RANKINGS Cumulative votes through the season GOALKEEPERS DEFENDERS MIDFIELDERS FORWARDS ESM – EUROPEAN SPORTS MEDIA The members of ESM are: A Bola (Portugal), Elf (Holland), Fanatik (Turkey), Frankfurter Allegmeine Zeitung (Germany), Goal News (Greece), Kicker (Germany), Marca (Spain), Nemzeti Sport (Hungary), So Foot (France), Sport (Belgium), Sport Express (Russia), De Telegraaf (Holland), TIPSbladet (Denmark), World Soccer (England). More details of votes at worldsoccer.com/votes…

It was another black month in Egyptian football. On February 8, just before Zamalek were due to play ENPPI in the Egyptian Premier League, at least 20 fans lost their lives in a crush at the Air Defence Stadium on the outskirts of Cairo. There is still some confusion over the exact sequence of events, but this much is clear. The police had constructed a barbed wire-and-metal cage to corral the 10,000 expected spectators through a single entrance. A crush developed. Videos posted on YouTube by Zamalek supporters appear to show a riot policeman calmly firing round after round of tear-gas shells into the crowd. There was swift condemnation, but not of the police tactics. Zamalek’s outspoken president Mortada Mansour, as well as the authorities, immediately blamed ticketless fans for…

“It’s not normal that too many players didn’t have any desire” Real Madrid coach Carlo ancelotti feels compelled to target his superstars following the humiliating 4-0 derby loss to atletico Frank Borghi (1925-2015) A former catcher in the developmental system of Major League baseball’s st Louis Cardinals, he kept goal for the usa in their famous 1-0 victory over england at the 1950 World Cup. Rik COPPENS (1930-20150) Winner of belgium’s first player of the year award in 1954, he was the league’s top scorer in the 1952-53 and 1954-55 seasons with beerschot. scored 21 goals in 47 internationals. UDO LATTEK (1935-2015) see appreciation, opposite ION NUNWEILLER (1936-2015) Capped 40 times by romania, the defender won five league titles and three romanian Cups with Dinamo bucharest, and then led the…

“I can assure you, I’ve no links with this affair. I think my name was used to grab attention” Accused of depositing ¤1.4m in a tax-evasion scheme run by the hSBC bank, Uruguayan ace diego Forlan denies all knowledge of the matter The way Luis Figo tells his tale of the road to conversion, it was at the World Cup last summer that he was smitten with a realisation that FIFA is not all it cracked itself up to be. For 20 years he had lived, worked and played within the cosseted depths of the world-football machine: hero of Sporting Lisbon, captain of Barcelona and Portugal, lucrative galactico at Real Madrid followed by career-climax with Internazionale. Then, Figo started to come out into the real world. At the World Cup…

“Such people are like animals and animals are difficult to tame” Borussia Monchengladbach sports director Max Eberl calls for prison sentences to be handed out after Cologne hooligans in boiler suits run amok at a recent Bundesliga game IN EUROPE SERGIO MARKARIAN, who has been in charge of Paraguay and Peru’s national sides in the past, was appointed coach of Greece. Former Czechoslovakia and Czech Republic midfielder PAVEL HAPAL was named coach of Slovakia’s under-21 side. TIM SHERWOOD replaced Paul Lambert as manager of Aston Villa after they dropped into the Premier League relegation zone, while CHRIS RAMSEY was named caretaker boss of QPR after Harry Redknapp quit. JOSE RIGA, sacked by English side Blackpool in October, was re-hired by Belgium’s Standard Liege. MARTIN SCHMIDT replaced Kasper Hjulmand as coach…

OCT 27, 2009 Gets first-team call-up and is on the bench for Spurs’ League Cup tie with Everton OCT 8, 2010 Scores two goals for England under-19s as they beat Albania 6-1 in a European Championship qualifier. JAN 7, 2011 Joins League One club Leyton Orient on loan for the remainder of the season. JAN 15, 2011 Makes his debut for Leyton Orient as a 73rd-minute sub in a1-1 draw at Rochdale. JAN 22, 2011 Scores his first senior goal, in Leyton Orient’s 4-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday. AUG 25, 2011 Makes his Spurs debut in a Europa League tie at home to Hearts, in which he earns a penalty but then misses the spot-kick. DEC 15, 2011 Scores his first goal for Tottenham, in a 4-0 Europa League win…

This, said Claude Le Roy, the coach of Congo and participating in his eighth African Nations Cup, was the most tactically intriguing tournament he had known – which sounded worryingly like confirmation of the theory that “tactically intriguing” is a euphemism for “low scoring”. External factors have to be taken into account, of course, and the extreme heat, humidity and indifferent pitches in three of the venues perhaps diminished the thrill of much of the football. But what Equatorial Guinea 2015 seemed to demonstrate was the ongoing “Renardisation” of African football. It was Joseph-Antoine Bell, the former Cameroon goalkeeper and now an outspoken radio pundit, who identified the trend. He pointed out that Zambia lost 5-1 to Cameroon in 2008 and 3-2 to them in 2010 and then, in 2012,…

The team groups of 1982 European Cup victors Aston Villa and Cup-winners Cup holders Barcelona adorned the front cover of World Soccer, accompanied by the headline: “Battle For The Super Cup”. And the word “battle” was something of an understatement, as three players were sent off before Villa triumphed 3-1 on aggregate in extra time. Charles Burgess wrote: “The referee was Alex Ponnet of Belgium, a respected FIFA official. His report minced no words. He had never refereed a game like it. Some of the Spanish tackling could have brought blood.” He went on to comment that “Barcelona defended with increasing savagery” and “the football became no better in extra time and the violence grew worse”. Elsewhere in this issue, Holland’s national team was very much in the spotlight, with…

CHRISTIAN ATSU Ghana The winger provided some telling input at crucial junctures. FELIPE OVONO Equatorial Guinea The goalkeeper’s technical deficiencies were overshadowed by dramatic saves. ANDRE AYEW Ghana His craft, guile and growing leadership role shone for the runners-up. SERGE AURIER Ivory Coast Exciting full-back who added an extra dimension to attack. CHANCEL MBEMBA DR Congo Protected the back four and controlled play intelligently. BABA RAHMAN Ghana The 20-year-old full-back was the best young player of the tournament.…

In the coach’s small office, tucked away under the stand at Eibar’s Ipurua ground, the walls are lined with pennants, running round the top of the room. One of them is from Real Sociedad, but pretty much all of the others are from clubs you have probably never have heard of: Sestao, Tudelano, Alfaro, Santutxu, Urduliz, Arenas de Armilla. These are clubs from Spain’s lower levels, mostly from the north, and the Basque Country in particular. Together, they mark Eibar’s journey and reveal something of their identity and the enormity of their achievement. Real Sociedad, over on the far wall, were the first team Eibar played this season – and the first team they had ever played in Spain’s Primera Division. It felt appropriate, somehow. Real Sociedad are the other…

What was billed as the last step in “The Journey” by Rangers just eight months ago has now become a tortuous path of uncertainty and the Glasgow club are facing an embarrassing reality that there might not be any Scottish top-flight football for them next season. With spectacularly bad performances on and off the pitch, an appalling Ibrox balance sheet makes just as bad reading as match statistics, with Rangers lurching from one crisis to the next. This season they were supposed to pass through Scotland’s second-tier Championship and reach the Premiership. You cannot say “return” to the top division because there are plenty of rival supporters – and not just those of Celtic – who point out that this is a “new Rangers” because the old club finished in…

This season’s J.League reverts to a two-stage tournament, although it will not exactly replicate the previous format, which was halted in 2004. The question of whether two stages are better than one divides opinion in Japan. Proponents see the season-ending play-offs as a crowd pleaser in the style of baseball’s Japan Series. Opponents, meanwhile, dislike the fact that the strongest team over the season might not win, or may not even make the play-offs – which happened to Kashiwa Reysol, the team with the most points over the entire season, in 2000. The Kashiwa experience won’t happen this time as the team with the most points overall will go straight to the Final, where they will meet the winners of the play-offs between the two stage winners and the teams…

CHICAGO FIRE Arrivals: Adailton, David Accam, Kennedy Igboananike, Shaun Maloney Departures: Robert Earnshaw, Benji Joya, Logan Pause, Gonzalo Segares, Florent Sinama-Pongolle COLUMBUS CREW Arrivals: Kei Kamara, Cedric Mabwati Departures: Bernardo Anor, Jairo Arrieta DC UNITED Arrivals: Jairo Arrieta Departures: Jeff Parke MONTREAL IMPACT Arrivals: Dominic Oduro, Nigel Reo-Coker, Bakary Soumare Departures: Mamadou Danso, Felipe Martins, Heath Pearce, Troy Perkins NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION Arrivals: Juan Agudelo, Tristan Bowen Departures: Andre Akpan, Shalrie Joseph, Patrick Mullins NEW YORK CITY Arrivals: Mehdi Ballouchy, Mix Diskerud, Ned Grabavoy, Jason Hernandez, George John, Frank Lampard, Patrick Mullins, Chris Wingert, Sebastian Velasquez, David Villa NEW YORK RED BULLS Arrivals: Sacha Kljestan, Felipe Martins, Sal Zizzo Departures: Eric Alexander, Tim Cahill, Richard Eckersley, Thierry Henry, Jamison Olave ORLANDO CITY Arrivals: Aurelien Collin, Estrela, Cristian Higuita, Kaka, Danny…

ASIAN CUP FINALS Played in Australia Group A Jan 9 - Melbourne Australia 4 (Cahill 33, Luongo 44, Jedinak 62, Troisi 90+2) Kuwait 1 (Fadhel 8) HT: 2-1. Att: 25,231. Ref: Irmatov (Uzb) Australia: Ryan - Franjic, Sainsbury, Spiranovic, Behich, Luongo (Bresciano 85), Jedinak, Troisi, Leckie, Cahill (Juric 65), Kruse (Burns 72). Kuwait: Youssef - Al Hajri, Fadhel (Al Matoug 57), Neda, Al Qahtani (Al Mutawa 75), Maqseed, Al Sheikh, Al Ebrahim, S Al Enezi, Zaid, Mashaan (Nasser 63). Jan 10 - Canberra South Korea 1 (Cho Young-cheol 45+1) Oman 0 HT: 1-0. Att: 12,552. Ref: O’Leary (NZ) South Korea: Kim Jin-hyeon - Kim Chang-soo (Cha Du-ri 19), Kim Ju-young, Jang Hyun-soo, Kim Jin-su, Park Joo-ho, Ki Sung-yueng, Lee Chung-yong (Han Kyo-won 78), Koo Ja-cheol, Son Heung-min, Cho Young-cheol (Lee…