Yallop Is Canada’s New Coach
The Galaxy won’t have Frank Yallop to kick it around anymore.
On Tuesday, Yallop, 39, resigned as coach of Major League Soccer’s San Jose Earthquakes and signed a contract as Canada’s national team coach.
The decision will come as some relief to the Galaxy, which lost to the Yallop-coached Earthquakes in the 2001 MLS Cup final and in this season’s playoffs, which culminated in San Jose winning its second championship in Yallop’s three years in charge.
Overall, Yallop compiled a 41-25-18 record -- best in MLS over the last three seasons -- and produced teams characterized by good goalkeeping, solid defense and attractive, attacking soccer.
“It’s an exciting day for me and also a sad day,” Yallop said in a conference call from Vancouver. “I’ve had some wonderful times in MLS as a player and as a coach and I feel very sad to have to leave that.
“I just feel this [the Canadian post] is one job that was very difficult to turn down and not to be interested in because of the ties I have with Canada. Also, I think it’s a great opportunity to test myself at a different level.”
Yallop, who played 52 games as a defender for Canada between 1990 and 1997, said he would like to see his assistant at San Jose, former U.S. national team player Dominic Kinnear, take over as the Earthquakes’ coach.
“Me and Dominic have worked very closely with each other for the last three years,” he said. “He’s a big part of what I’ve achieved.... We get along well, we think the same. I think the players would be happy [if Kinnear was appointed coach].”
U.S. Women
The U.S. women’s national team, under Coach April Heinrichs, finished 2003 ranked second behind world champion Germany and just ahead of Olympic champion Norway in FIFA’s year-end rankings.
Sweden, the runner-up in the 2003 Women’s World Cup, was fourth, and China, which on Sunday selected Zhang Haito to replace Ma Liangxing as coach, was fifth.
Rounding out the top 10 were South American champion Brazil, Asian champion North Korea, Denmark, France and Italy.
Canada and Mexico, the U.S. team’s main rivals for a place in the 2004 Athens Olympics when the CONCACAF qualifying tournament takes place at Costa Rica in February, were ranked 11th and 30th, respectively.
Forget the Poor
Brazil’s soccer teams are taking a novel approach to attracting fans -- they only want rich supporters.
The country’s 24 first-division clubs voted Monday to raise ticket prices next season and said clubs that offered discounts would be fined.
“Poor people cannot afford to take the bus, pay for food or clothes, they live in misery,” Mario Cesar Petraglia, president of Atletico Paranaense, told Reuters. “We have to work with people who can afford to go to the stadiums.”
The clubs’ attitude was criticized by Agnelo Queiroz, Brazil’s sports minister.
“Brazilian football would completely lose its meaning without the presence of the masses,” he told Brazil’s Estado news agency.
Quick Passes
A 25-year-old man and a 7-year-old girl were killed when a car struck a group of fans among the tens of thousands who turned out at Buenos Aires to welcome home world champion Boca Juniors after its Intercontinental Cup victory over AC Milan at Yokohama, Japan.... The Dallas Burn acquired goalkeeper Scott Garlick, 31, from the Colorado Rapids in exchange for the Burn’s second pick in the 2005 MLS draft.... Goals by Patricio Urrutia and Neicer Reasco gave Liga de Quito a 2-1 victory over El Nacional in front of 50,000 at Quito, Ecuador, and the Ecuador league title for the seventh time.
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Times wire services contributed to this report.
