Chelsea Bid for Henry Is Halted
An audacious bid by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich to buy Arsenal’s French international striker Thierry Henry and move him to London neighbor and English Premier League rival Chelsea has been flatly rejected.
David Dein, Arsenal’s vice president, was quoted Saturday by As, a Spanish sports daily, as saying that Chelsea owner Abramovich had personally visited Arsenal’s Highbury home earlier in the week and had made a formal offer for the 26-year-old star.
British newspapers reported that the price talked about was between $64 million and $80 million.
“Look carefully at my lips so that there is no doubt over what I am going to say,” Dein told As. “Henry is not for sale at any price, not to Real Madrid, not to Chelsea, not to any club.
“What use is it to us if they give us 40 or 50 million euros for Henry? The money is only of any use if you can buy another player like Henry, but there is no one like him in the rest of the world because he is the best.”
Henry, along with French midfielder Zinedine Zidane of Real Madrid and Zidane’s Real Madrid teammate, Brazilian striker Ronaldo, are the three finalists for FIFA’s World Player of the Year award. The winner will be announced Monday.
Athens 2004
Maribel Dominguez scored four goals and Patricia Perez scored two as Mexico’s women’s national team, under Los Angeles-based Coach Leonardo Cuellar, routed Nicaragua, 8-0, Friday in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in a qualifying game for the 2004 Athens Olympics.
Mexico plays Honduras today, with the winner advancing to a final, eight-nation qualifying round in Costa Rica from Feb. 25-March 7 from which two teams will advance to the Olympics. Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the United States are the other seven participants.
Intercontinental Cup
Carlo Ancelotti, coach of European champion AC Milan, and Carlos Bianchi, coach of South American champion Boca Juniors, both were optimistic Saturday ahead of today’s Intercontinental Cup at Yokohama, Japan.
The winner of the annual game is generally regarded as the world champion for the next 12 months, and Bianchi, 54, is seeking to become the first coach to win the title three times.
He coached Boca Juniors to a 2-1 victory over Real Madrid in the 2000 Intercontinental Cup after winning the trophy with another Argentine club, Velez Sarsfield, which defeated AC Milan in the 1994 game.
“Milan are obviously a quality side but we have no reason to fear them,” Bianchi said. “We have been preparing for this match for five months. We are absolutely confident we can win.”
AC Milan will be trying to become the first club to win the trophy four times, having prevailed in 1969, 1989 and 1990.
“Boca Juniors are a very strong side, and it is going to be a very hard game,” Ancelotti said. “I don’t want to reveal my tactics, but I have a certain idea in my mind. When you play against a strong side like Boca, tactics are very important.
“We’ve made a good cake, and it’s time for us to put a candle on it.”
Quick Passes
Eduardo Rergis scored in the 32nd minute and Kleber Pereira scored in the 54th to lead Tigres of UNL to a 2-0 victory over Toluca to advance to the final of the Mexican league Apertura championship. Tigres won the two-leg series, 2-1, on aggregate and will face the winner of today’s other semifinal involving Pachuca and Atlante. Tigres forward Walter Gaitan suffered a left leg injury in the 76th minute and his status is unknown.
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World Cup winner Lothar Matthaeus of Germany resigned Saturday as coach of Partizan Belgrade amid reports that he today will be named Hungary’s national team coach.
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Ajax Amsterdam extended Coach Ronald Koeman’s contract through July 2006 and awarded 19-year-old Dutch international midfielder Wesley Sneijder a new contract through July 2007.
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Times wire services contributed to this report.
