CORNER KICKS
Five things happening around the world:
1. On the same day it was granted permission to build an $835-million, 60,000-seat stadium in Stanley Park, Liverpool on Tuesday scored the biggest victory in European Champions League history when it routed Besiktas of Turkey, 8-0, at Anfield, the club’s home for the last 115 years.
The five-time European champion got three goals from Israeli midfielder Yossi Benayoun, two from Dutch midfielder Ryan Babel, two from English forward Peter Crouch and one from Liverpool-born favorite son Steven Gerrard as it swept aside its Turkish opponent. The previous Champions League record was shared by Arsenal and Juventus, each of whom had recorded 7-0 victories.
Liverpool’s new home, set to open in 2011, is a few hundred yards from Anfield and will be expandable to 76,000 seats. “It will give us the revenues to make sure we continue to compete on the pitch,” said Rick Parry, Liverpool’s chief executive. “It’s not about building monuments, it’s making sure we’re competitive.”
2. Apparently under the assumption that owning a sleek black Ferrari is not enough, Czech international striker Milan Baros was clocked driving 168 miles per hour on a motorway near Lyon, France.
A member of Liverpool’s 2005 European Champions League-winning team but now playing for French champion Olympique Lyon, Baros, 26, had his car confiscated and his license suspended. He faces a three-year driving ban.
French police told a local newspaper that Baros had broken the local “record” of 154 mph set by an unidentified motorcyclist in 2000.
3. The death Monday of former Swedish great and four-time Italian champion Nils Liedholm at 85 has brought tributes from around the world. “A piece of the history of soccer has gone,” said goalkeeper Dino Zoff, a World Cup winner with Italy in 1982 and later coach of the Italian national team.
Liedholm won an Olympic gold medal in London in 1948 and helped Sweden reach the final of the 1958 World Cup, which it lost in Stockholm to a Brazil team inspired by a then-17-year-old Pele. Liedholm later won four Italian Serie A championships with AC Milan before embarking on a successful coaching career.
4. Angered by recent moves that saw coaches Ronald Koeman switch from PSV Eindhoven to Valencia and Juande Ramos from Sevilla to Tottenham Hotspur in mid-season, FIFA President Joseph “Sepp” Blatter told Italy’s Gazetta dello Sport he will attempt to restrict coaches from changing clubs outside the international transfer window that currently applies only to players.
5. The final round of regional qualifying for the men’s soccer tournament of the 2008 Beijing Olympics will be played from March 10-23 in Carson, Tampa, Fla., and Nashville, Tenn., CONCACAF announced Tuesday.
Already guaranteed spots in the tournament are the U.S., Mexico, Canada, Cuba and Haiti, with three more from among Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and El Salvador to take part.
The final round will consist of three doubleheaders at the Home Depot Center March 12, 14 and 16, three more at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, where the U.S. team will be based, and the semifinals and final at LP Field in Nashville. The two finalists will qualify for the Olympics.
--
--
EXHIBITION
Today
Galaxy at Vancouver Whitecaps
(7 p.m., KWHY-TV Channel 22, Spanish)
MLS PLAYOFFS
Thursday
Eastern Conference final,
Chicago at New England (4:30 p.m., ESPN2)
Saturday
Western Conference final,
Kansas City at Houston
(5:30 p.m., FSC, FSE, HDNet)
MEXICAN LEAGUE
Saturday
Club America at Monterrey
(3 p.m., TeleFutura)
Atlas at Cruz Azul (3 p.m., Azteca America)
Chiapas at Guadalajara (5 p.m., TeleFutura)
Puebla at Atlante (delay, 7 p.m., Galavision)
Santos Laguna at San Luis
(delay, 9 p.m., Galavision)
Sunday
Morelia at Toluca (10 a.m., Univision)
Tigres UANL at Necaxa (2 p.m., Galavision)
UNAM at Pachuca (5 p.m., Azteca America)
MAKING THEIR PITCH
Juan Carlos Osorio, Chicago Fire coach, on MLS officiating: “I just can’t hold it any longer. It’s really, really bad.”
STAT OF THE WEEK
WHAT TO WATCH:
Arsenal’s Emmanuel Adebayor, left, and Manchester United’s Nemanja Vidic compete for ball.
One billion viewers tuned in to see Manchester United and Arsenal play to a 2-2 tie Sunday in an English Premier League game that was screened live in 202 countries, according to the International Herald Tribune.
