Bombings Postpone Matches
Thursday’s suicide bombings in Istanbul, Turkey, that killed at least 27 people and injured more than 400 others have caused the postponement of European Champions League and UEFA Cup matches scheduled for next week.
Italian champion Juventus’ Champions League game against Galatasaray of Turkey that was to have been played on Tuesday in Istanbul has been rescheduled for Dec. 2. Similarly, the UEFA Cup match between Maccabi Haifa of Israel and Valencia of Spain that was set for Thursday in the Turkish city of Izmir has been postponed. No new date or venue has been announced.
The decisions were made by UEFA, European soccer’s governing body, and were based on “the seriousness of the incidents that took place in Istanbul this morning and the current confusion on the ground,” according to Jacob Erel, UEFA’s director of competition operations.
Euro 2004 Seeding
Defending champion France and host nation Portugal, along with the Czech Republic and Sweden, were selected Thursday as the top-seeded teams for next summer’s European Championship.
The seedings for the June 12-July 4 tournament were announced at UEFA headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland, and also saw Spain, Italy, England and Germany seeded second.
The Netherlands, Croatia, Denmark and Russia were seeded third, while Bulgaria, Latvia, Greece and Switzerland were seeded fourth.
The draw to divide the 16 teams into groups of four for first-round play will be held in Lisbon on Nov. 30.
Galaxy Makes a Profit
The Galaxy this season became the first Major League Soccer team to realize a profit in the eight-year history of the league, Tim Leiweke, president of the Anschutz Entertainment Group that operates the Galaxy and four other MLS teams, said Thursday.
“This is the beginning of seeing soccer on a professional level make sense,” Leiweke told Bloomberg News, which reported that the Galaxy lost $3.5 million last season in its final year at the Rose Bowl but made $150,000 this season at its own stadium, the Home Depot Center in Carson, where it led the league with an average attendance of 21,893.
Coaching Roundabout
Colombia Coach Francisco Maturana has denied that he would quit, despite reports earlier in the week that he would step aside after failing to win any of four qualifying matches for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
“Tomorrow [Thursday] I will continue to be the coach,” he told reporters after a 1-1 tie against Argentina on Wednesday night left the team with an 0-3-1 record. “Afterward, I don’t know.”
Similarly, in La Paz, Bolivia Coach Nelson Acosta said he would not resign despite his team’s 1-3 record in qualifying. “I haven’t come to Bolivia for a summer holiday,” the Uruguayan-born Acosta said. “I’ve come to coach the national team and take them to the World Cup.”
In Europe, Nils Johan Semb stepped down as Norway’s coach after failing to take the team to Euro 2004. The Norwegians’ 3-0 loss to Spain in Oslo on Wednesday was greeted with a “Stop this rubbish!” headline in the Dagbladet newspaper Thursday, and even Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik commented: “I would have liked to see a bit more entertainment.”
Hungary Coach Imre Gellei said he will resign today in the wake of his team’s 1-0 loss to Estonia, which left him with a 7-12-4 record. “Looking at the faces and eyes of our players, I could tell they need a new coach,” he said.
Quick Passes
Mexico, ranked fifth in the world by FIFA, was tied, 0-0, by Iceland in front of an estimated 15,000 fans at SBC Park in San Francisco on Wednesday night. ....Japan and Cameroon played to a 0-0 tie in Oita, Japan.
Times wire services contributed to this report.
