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Evening Ticker: Liverpool pushing Rafa out, Serbia stumbles again and more

Rafa Benitez (Getty Images) 

In perhaps the biggest non-World Cup news of the day, Liverpool has put together a £3 million buyout offer for Rafa Benitez, signaling the likely end of his tenure as Liverpool manager.

Benitez is due a  £16 million payout if his current deal is terminated, but the shaky financial state of the club makes it al but impossible for Liverpool to pay that amount, which means Benitez will have to choose between taking the offere made by the club or staying on as manager of a club that doesn't want him and a club with limited resources to improve the roster.

With Benitez likely to leave, Liverpool's move could signal the likely departures of stars Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres, though there is still a chance the club is bought by an owner capable of revamping the team.

Wednesday features several World Cup tune-up matches. Here is a rundown of some of the top results:

Serbia's disappointing pre-World Cup run continued on Wednesday as the popular darkhorse pick settled for a scoreless draw against Poland in Austria.

The draw comes after Serbia suffered an embarrassing 1-0 loss to New Zealand on Saturday, a defeat that sparked major protests in Serbia.

In other World Cup tune-up action, Brazil disposed of Zimbabwe, 3-0, thanks to goals from Elano, Michel Bastos and Robinho. The Brazilians received a scare when starting goalkeeper Julio Cesar was forced to leave in the first half with a back injury, but the injury was deemed to not be serious.

Paraguay notched its first pre-World Cup win with a 2-0 victory against Greece. Argentine-born striker Lucas Barrios delivered one of the goals for Paraguay.

What do you think of these stories? Think Liverpool is making a mistake getting rid of Benitez? Starting to wonder if Serbia is doomed to disappoint at the World Cup?

Share your thoughts below.

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Comments

  1. man, i have the US playing Serbia in the second round. i was worried about that happening but now i am wondering if serbia will make it out of their group, well…at least in 1st.

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  2. Liverpool would hardly want another American. Besides, I heard M. Bradley. Liverpool are playing gladbach as well in a friendly this year. It’s plausible as he/anyone is better than Lucas as a def mid.

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  3. Liverpool is not heading the way of Leeds. It’ll be tough next season as they’re in the Europa League but they’ll find a way to finish 4th. Trust me. Benitez, 6 years and you’re gone. Thanks for the positives but sucks for the negatives.

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  4. John Walter’s “Benedict Rossi,” CLASSIC and sums it all up.

    On another note, I hope Benitez ends up coaching in the North Pole Waiter football league after what he has pulled at Pool. The situation they are in is a shame and he idd have decent results to keep people arguing about his management but no trophies and wasteful spending in a time of dire financial circumstances is finally going to flush this guy out. £3 million and get out Rafa.

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  5. Landon Donovan to Liverpool! You heard it here first!

    Makes sense. American Dollars from merchandising. Lots of Jerseys. American Summer tour with peeps crashing the gates to see one of our native sons.

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  6. As a huge liverpool supporter i really hope rafa is gone. yes he did bring us a european championship just 5 years ago but some of his recent signing have been terrible. also some of his squad selections have been aweful as well. it is time for him to go. also i would hate to see torres and gerrard leave.

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  7. Well if they had a decent academy they could be bringing players up that way, but they don’t. I don’t see how anyone can defend Rafa over there he paid some odd millions for Aquilani while he was injured then never played him, he’s an idiot. If they sell benayoun for 9 mill, sell Babel for 4 mill, I’m pretty sure there are others they could sell, and shorten their bench a bit they could find three quality 4 million type players, that could help them win. They will be fine, but they need players with heart and hustle not guys who whine that they arent surrounded by three world class players.

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  8. Liverpool on the Leeds, Newcastle track? Winning the Champions league in 2005 and runner-up in 2007. 2011 headed to the Championship? This team could implode this offseason and plummet to 15th-20th place if things don’t get better soon.

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  9. Do we know anything about the team actually playing? How many subs, how many starters, etc? They have a strong team and will show well. But I have seen some people say they will have trouble scoring…

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  10. There is always talk in American sports about how much time a championship (be it college sports or professional) should buy a coach, I guess 5 years is too long for ‘Pool.

    I feel like all of this is going to be “blamed” on the American owners, but as far as I’m concerned, Rafa has been very poor in purchasing players and getting the most from them over the last five years (Torres the obvious exception).

    Not that Spurs have a world-class track record of making good purchases, but you would figure the allure of ‘Pool and the money he was given–much more significant than he’d let you believe–that they would be competing for a championship year-in year-out.

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  11. pellegrini to liverpool?! torres to real madrid?? gerrard to…somewhere far away from real madrid please! i just dont think gerrard would fit at real. mourinho work on the DEFENSE!! not the attack! aint broke, dont fix it please!

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  12. Ever heard of the Ex-Cub factor? Well there is the ex-Yank factor — snub the USA after all it does for you, and let’s just say karma is a bitch. Neven made the Serbian team, so the Ex-Yank factor has not applied as dramatically to him as it has to Benedict Rossi. But I’m sure Subotic will come to rue doing business with the Serb team, which may be more influenced by organized crime than any World Cup finalist since Colombia 94.

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  13. I’m just starting to wonder if you and Grant Wahl are starting to wonder if Serbia is doomed, considering you two were the one’s to pick them as dark horses.

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