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Morning Ticker: Rossi lifts Italy, Aussies tie China, Boruc wants out

Giuseppe_rossi_ap_2 

Good morning all. Today is a busy day on the international soccer calendar as a full slate of matches are set to kick off, including USA-Poland, England-France, Spain-Italy and Argentina-Egypt.

Before we get to those games this afternoon, here are some soccer stories from today and Tuesday to tide you over this morning:

Rossi brace lifts Italy

American-born and raised forward Giuseppe Rossi scored a pair of goals to lift Italy to a 2-0 win against Azerbaijan in qualifying for the Under-21 European Championships on Wednesday. Rossi tapped home an easy set-up from Sebastian Giovinco in the 18th minute for his first and converted a penalty kick in the 63rd minute for his second goal.

Schwarzer saves Aussies

Australian goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer made an 89th minute penalty kick save to help the Australian national team salvage a 0-0 tie against China in World Cup Qualifying in Beijing on Wednesday. Schwarzer had caused the penalty after fouling Qu Bo in the penalty area.

Heerenveen names next coach

Norwegian manager Trond Sollied has been named Heerenveen’s next head coach, the club announced on Tuesday. Sollied will replace Gert Jan Verbeek, who is leaving Heerenveen at the end of the current season and is being rumored as a candidate to take over Feyenoord.

What does this mean for Michael Bradley? Not much. The chances of Bradley being back with Heerenveen next season are zero. He has one year left on his current contract and the club is sure to sell him this summer in order to avoid losing him for nothing after the 2008/2009 season.

Boruc ready to leave Celtic

From the "thanks for telling us what we already knew" department comes word from Polish national team goalkeeper Artur Boruc that he is ready to leave Scottish champions Celtic for a bigger club. Boruc has been linked to such clubs as AC Milan and Bayern Munich and appears a safe bet to transfer in the summer despite having recently signed a new contract with Celtic.

You can’t help but wonder if U.S. goalkeeper Brad Guzan is regretting his decision not to sign with Celtic during the winter transfer period (he wound up trying to move to Aston Villa only to be denied a work permit). Sources believe Guzan would have been able to secure a work permit with Celtic.

Atletico Madrid land Heitinga

Ajax defender John Heitinga has agreed to a contract with Atletico Madrid, though no transfer fee has been agreed to yet. According to Heitinga, his contract states that Ajax cannot ask for a transfer fee of more than $15.5 million, a fee Atletico Madrid is ready to pay.The 24-year-old Dutchman is regarded as one of the most versatile and skilled defenders in Europe.

Porto Prez faces bribery charge

Porto president Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa faces a trial on charges of attemping to bribe a match official. Pinto da Costa is accused of paying off referee Augusto Duarte before a 2004 match with an envelop containing 2500 Euros.

Comments

  1. F**k Rossi

    Posted by: Franny X | March 26, 2008 at 12:14 PM

    —————->

    So this what your parents taught you

    Shows your class

    Reply
  2. wow, didn’t mean to unleash such a torrent of rossi hatred with that earlier post. feel like i opened pandora’s box or something by suggesting we would have been better had he played for the U.S.

    i still think we would have, but it doesn’t matter now, does it…

    this stereotypes game is fun though, let’s do the irish next!

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  3. span, please don’t use words that you don’t understand. And can you please tell me how anything that I said in my post constitutes a “stereotype”? the guys on the train: actual italy fans from new jersey. My comments about the three italian players: all stuff that happened. Di rossi actually intentionally tried to crack mcbride’s head with an elbow. He got a straight red for it. Gilardino actually pretended play the violin (to show he’s a maestro or something, I guess) after he scored a pretty simple goal after eddie pope blew the offides trap. It happened; it was without a doubt dainty. Pirlo actually has ridiculous feathered bangs like those of bon jovi and farah faucet in their primes. I have no idea if bon jovi is italian. “Richie Sambora” sounds like it could be an italian name, but I always assumed bon jovi was a stage name. Nevertheless, even if jon is italian, he still is an actual person who actually sported the hair style in question. I don’t think that any of those statements are based on “stereotypes,” do you? They’re just facts about specific people. Would I, however, generalize and say that a guy who uses a word like “xenophobe” on this type of website is probably a douche? Guilty. You “lick balls,” retard.

    Reply
  4. Joey — He didn’t have to settle with Italy if he wanted hair gel…. There is 5.6lbs a year used in jersey per person per year

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  5. i’d have to agree w/the anti-rossi sentiments here. i support dropping him from the americans abroad updates. he’s playing for italy. he’s no longer an american in my eyes.

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  6. Ives…please continue to ignore some people’s narrow definition of “American”. Besides, it is funny as hell to see the recycled bitterness every time you post a story on Rossi.

    joey and josh….nice stereotypes….lick balls xenophobes.

    Reply
  7. Guzan nevered wavered about where he wanted to go. He was lloking for the best deal for him AND Chivas USA.

    I know first hand that he is happy to be back with Chivas, but knows his time is limited. Chivas needs to get the most amount of money they can get from from a transfer. Brad knows this, too.

    Rossi is jerk. Ooops! Just kidding.

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  8. Why don’t you stop following that scum bag Giuseppe Rossi? He is a traitor…2nd generation American snubbing. His passport I hope has been revoked.

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  9. Why don’t you stop following that scum bag Giuseppe Rossi? He is a traitor…2nd generation American snubbing. His passport I hope has been revoked.

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  10. Rossi is just a man who has decided that his Italian heritage and family upbringing is more important then where he was born and raised…who cares…..Tab Ramos, Thomas Dooley, Preki, Adu…..

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  11. I wish that the US would play Italy at Giants Stadium. If Rossi made the Italian roster I would love the see the reception he would get.

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  12. Oh, and those two new jerseys, home AND away, both suck. I would buy one of the old jerseys but these are wretched. The home jersey looks like it was designed by LaCoste, and the other one looks like, well, let’s just say the care label probably says “whites? colors? who cares anyways.”

    Reply
  13. Chris, a brace generally means a pair of goals – two goals in a game. And, just like you can score a hat trick with three penalties, or by ungracefully falling on your a** three times and accidentally knocking the ball into the opposing net, style has nothing to do with it.

    Eric Abarca: according myp2p.eu, you can get the US-Poland match online via P2P or TVU – look here: http://www.myp2p.eu/broadcast.php?matchid=8764&part=sports

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  14. Brett, thanks for letting me know about the additional game air times.

    DCM, I have been to the US Soccer Store website. The jersey is grey, or some sort of slate blue, with navy and red trim. I’ve already seen the other uninspired home jersey that looks like a golf shirt…two bad jerseys! The website had originally said the new away jersey be debuted against Poland, but maybe they decided to wait until the England match. Honestly, I hope they get a lot of complaints and just scrap them…wishful thinking.

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  15. Rossi has sold his soul for hair gel, leather pants and a pint of marinara sauce. Wow, come to think of it, that’s probably the dream for anyone in New Jersey (B&T, y’all). Stop talking about him as an “American abroad” for whom we should feel pride. What about that American chick playing for the Brazilian U21 team? Should our hearts be bursting that, despite being raised in Chicago, her loyalty is for Brazil? Ives, let’s focus on AMERICANS, whose athletic loyalty is demonstrably for the US. I could care less for Americans who derive the benefits of citizenship and the US sports infrastructure, yet unceremoniously adorn themselves in another country’s flag when it matters.

    Reply
  16. wow Rossi scored against..Azerbaijan !!!!! fantastic news !!

    I am also really tired of hearing about this guy, can we stop talking about him already?

    Is there anyway we can have a poll..i am pretty sure most people will vote against any news on Rossi from now on.

    Reply
  17. Do me and Ives have different definitions of a “brace”? Becuase I would consider it a really good, hard hit goal, not a tap-in or a PK.

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  18. i think it’s pretty stupid to report on rossi as an “american abroad” at this point. (i assume that’s why his news is here since there’s no other basis for reporting on a foreign youth national team game in absurdistan.) i’ve read ives’ past posts and explanation, but even he has to admit, and in fact did with his prior “(insert joke here)” comment, that it’s absurd to file this recent rossi news (which includes details of his performance with an ITALIAN national team) under “american abroad” (or some other similar category). yes, he is a US citizen. but this is a soccer site, and for soccer purposes, he’s italian. frankly, i’m tired of hearing about this guy. and why should he get to have his cake and eat it too? he can have italy and their fans (including the d-holes from new jersey that i had to listen to to AND FROM k-town in 2006). but i personally don’t give a sh!t about what he does from this point forward and think that all self-respecting US soccer supporters should shun him like a jilted lover (which is basically what we are). if he’s close to leading la liga in goals, scores in the champions league or for italy in a major competition, that’s newsworthy and could be reported. but this meaningless crap or any stories along the lines of de rossi teaching him how to throw elbows, gilardino’s lessons on dainty goal celebrations or pirlo passing on blow-drying tips picked up in bon jovi fanzines is just going to piss me off further. thanks.

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  19. Tim – The jersey you are describing is the new US home jersey. The new road jersey is on the USSoccerStore website. The website states that the new kit will be worn in the England match at Wembley (makes no mention of todays’ Polish match).

    For those who haven’t seen it yet, it is a simple dark navy blue shirt with some red around the collar and cuffs.

    http://ussoccerstore.com/us00m11110810.html

    Reply
  20. Tim- the game is being re-aired on fsc at 8pm et…. you could always see it then if you have access… or perhaps it could be on espn360?? dunno, but the options are there

    the away jersey’s dont bother me, but they do seem like they were just thrown together to make more $$$… a solid dark grey?? personally i dont mind the new jersey’s but id like to see a more classic US look…

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  21. RE: Rossi

    Other non-americans who scored in U21 yesterday included:

    Sami Khedira

    Mesut Özil

    Rouwen Hennings

    Barış Özbek

    Andrew Keogh

    Mijusko Bojovic

    Jurado

    Diego Capel

    Bojan Krkic

    José Callejón

    Just wanted to make sure those other non-Americans weren’t missed

    Reply
  22. I agree with WRC . . . taking it a step further, this meaningless game where he nets yet another penalty shot against a worthless team is not going to open the Italian Feds eyes to him.

    ugh.

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  23. Just because Rossi scores in u-23 matches against the likes of Azerbaijan does not mean he is what the US needs and from what it sounds like it is not possible at this point anyway. we need to focus being sure that Altidore makes the right steps in his career and doesn’t blow his chances like Landon Donovan.

    http://futbolinks.blogspot.com

    Reply
  24. Wish I could watch USA-Poland, but will be at work. Not quite our strongest side with Beasley and Convey out, but still a strong U.S. team. However, Poland fields a strong team as well, since it is a Euro 2008 prep match. Probably will be close.

    As a slight aside, we will be wearing our AWFUL new away kit. Another TOTALLY UNINSPIRED piece of junk from Nike. On the US Soccer Store website, it looks like it’s GREY!! (with red and blue trim)- ugh.

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  25. No hun propaganda, Boruc’s been eying the door for a bit now. It’s a shame. Hopefully the bhoys can land someone good and young in the window.

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  26. Rossi can only play for Italy. Once a player turns 21 and has played for a country’s youth team he is only eligible to play for Italy. Rossi and Altidore will never play for the national team together so stop dreaming. Rossi has made up his mind and its done.

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  27. i think until Rossi plays for the Italy MNT (and not just at the U level), he could still be eligible to play for the U.S. So the question is, how many of our women will we have to provide him with on a daily basis to convince him to do it… Rossi and Altidore up top would be nice in 2010. Appears he would rather be a role player for Italy than a star for the U.S.

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  28. Heitinga to Patletico Madrid? Eh, at least I can see him play on GolTV. I was hoping for a team I had more interest in.

    Could Guzan still sign with Celtic? What is his deal with Villa?

    I look forward to seeing where Bradley goes.

    Countdown to rants about Rossi 3..2..1…

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  29. ernie, go to www dot myp2p dot eu and click on sports, then football. you’ll have to install either sopcast or tvu player, but you should be able to find a stream easily.

    Reply
  30. Anyone know if the England v France match will be streaming online (for free)? I’m not sure if $25 for a soccer match would please my fiancee.

    Reply

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