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Thursday Kickoff: Rooney’s dad arrested, Chimbonda on trial with Impact & more

Jennings (Reuters Pictures)

Wayne Rooney's father is one of nine people who have been arrested in connection with a match-betting scandal, according to numerous reports from the United Kingdom.

The controversy surrounds the irregularities among bookmakers in bets that a player would be sent off in a 2010 Scottish Premier League match between Motherwell and Heart of Midlothian.

Motherwell player Steve Jennings, who was also arrested, received a red card late in that game for a foul and berating the official. He was sitting on a yellow card at the time of the foul, and his sending off is at the center of the suspicion.  

Here are a few more stories to kick off your Thursday:

CHIMBONDA ON TRIAL WITH MONTREAL

Pascal Chimbonda, a long-time Premier League defender and France/Guadeloupe international, is reportedly on trial with the Montreal Impact.

Chimbonda, 32, was released by Queens Park Rangers in the spring following stints with Tottenham, Blackburn, Sunderland and Wigan Athletic.

Should Chimbonda land a deal with the Impact, he would join former Inter Milan defender Nelson Rivas as the foundation of Montreal's MLS defense.

CARRAGHER: FOREIGN NATIONAL-TEAM COACH IS 'CHEATING'

Fabio Capello's time as England national team coach will end after next summer's European championships, and as the search for a new manager begins Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher has let it be known that he'd prefer an Englishman for the job.

"The next manager of England should be English," Carragher said to Sky Sports. "I've got nothing against Capello, I went to the World Cup and got to know him, but that's not what international football is. It's like saying if our keeper's not good enough we'll go and get (Gianluigi) Buffon from Italy. It's a form of cheating in international football, and it's a bit embarrassing."

PUYOL THOUGHT ABOUT RETIRING

Barcelona captain and centerback Carles Puyol admitted to contemplating retirement after dealing with a serious knee injury this summer.

Puyol, 33, underwent surgery in June and considered hanging up his boots while being held out of action, according to the Associated Press. 

Puyol is fit and is part of Spain's squad for upcoming Euro 2012 qualifiers against the Czech Republic and Scotland.

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What do you make of the betting scandal? Hope to see Chimbonda in MLS? What do you make of Carragher's remarks? Do you think it's "cheating" to have a foreign coach head up the national team? How many more good years do you think Puyol has left in his tank?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. It’s amazing how bad he has gotten. He made the EPL team of the year like five or six years back, and now he’s on trial with the Montreal Impact? How does that happen…

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  2. You don’t remember because no one had brought forth a quote challenging this practice.

    I half agree with Carragher. I think the purpose IS in fact to see what your country can produce and to me that means both players and coaches.

    That said, there’s no rule against bringing in foreign coaches and we’ve all seen the difficulty of defining a person’s nationality, since apparently a player born in the United States can decide that he is actually Italian (and a bunch of other people born in other countries can choose to be American, for all you people with eagle eyes for “hypocrisy”). It seems that it would be impossible to enforce such a rule.

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  3. Don’t many Olympians have foreign coaches? I don’t remember anyone saying the US gymnastics teams was cheating when they were coached by Bela Karoli.

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  4. I suppose you think that beating Spain in the Confederations Cup in the semi-finals was a disappointing result? Or going ahead 2-0 vs Brazil going into halftime in the Finals was due to a bad US player pool? Granted Brazil came back and scored 3 goals in the second half, but it was US players that got that far….

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  5. I actually 100% agree with Carragher. It’s like the Olympics – isn’t it supposed to be about what your country can bring to the table?

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  6. Which squad are you saying I think is podunk; US or Egypt? I’m saying, if he gets GREAT results with Egypt (winning the ANC, going deep into the WC), I would infer that, given good players, Bradley can do well. That would mean that people’s disappointment with the US performance had to do with a shallow pool to choose from, not from Bob’s deficiencies as a coach.

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  7. Well, considering bradley had some great results with the US squad I think it would confirm that he is a decent coach, who just overstayed his time as us Boss

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  8. I’m curious, why would you assume Norway?

    Bob has inherited a good young Egyptian side that’s hungry since they have not qualified for next Winter’s Cup of Nations, so it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if they win it all in 2013 especially since a few of the traditional African Powers like Cameroon, Nigeria and Cote d’Ivoire will most likely be on a down cycle in regards to younger players. Keep in mind that Cameroon has not qualified for next Winter’s tourney and it looks like Nigeria might be watching it with them.

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  9. I wonder what the effects of Bradley being named manager of Egypt will be. What if they win the 2013 African Cup of Nations? What if they qualify for the WC? What if they somehow make it to the quarter-finals? Is it possible that in 5 years, more Americans will be managing worldwide or specifically in Europe? I honestly thought Bradley might find himself managing a club in Norway or so

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  10. Carragher is such a talented player but he says some of the craziest things. He could have said the same thing but not used “cheating” and still got his point across. In such a globalized world such as today, of course foreigners will be managing each other’s NT. Perhaps he is annoyed no English managers are managing Italy or Germany

    Reply

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