European Coaches Sound Off
The merry-go-round of top coaches in Europe began spinning a little faster Sunday when Italian Claudio Ranieri, whose Chelsea team is in second place in the English Premier League and is in the semifinals of the European Champions League, said he wants a decision this week on his future.
Despite the London club’s success and the coach’s popularity among fans, Ranieri’s job has been debated ever since Chelsea was bought by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich in July.
“I love it, I love it a lot. I feel good at Chelsea, I’d like to stay,” Ranieri said Sunday in a BBC radio interview. “I think it’s important to close all the speculation.”
Ranieri’s agent, Jon Smith, said Chelsea has been hesitant about keeping Ranieri in charge.
“There wasn’t actually a straight answer,” Smith said.
“If he is going to be manager of Chelsea, which is what he wants, that’s great. If he’s not going to be, we want to bring this matter to a head so that we on Claudio’s side are able to talk to the other clubs.”
Meanwhile, Juventus Coach Marcello Lippi, who has led the team to five Serie A titles in the last eight years, told Italy’s Gazzetta dello Sport that he will make a decision on his own future shortly.
“I’ll reveal [it] soon and it will surprise you,” the newspaper quoted Lippi as saying. Gazzetta speculated that Lippi would take one season off and then become Italy’s national team coach.
If Lippi leaves Juventus, Gazzetta said his replacement might be France ’98 World Cup winner Didier Deschamps, who as coach of AS Monaco engineered the ouster of Real Madrid from the Champions League last week.
On Saturday, Deschamps told the French newspaper L’Equipe that he would like to stay with Monaco, but that would depend on the club sorting out its precarious finances so that it could retain its leading players.
“My intentions are clear,” Deschamps said. “The ball is therefore in their camp.”
Mandela to Visit
Nelson Mandela, the former president of South Africa, and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu will attend the May 2 CONCACAF Congress in Grenada, where they will seek support from leaders of soccer’s North and Central American and Caribbean region for South Africa’s bid to play host to the 2010 World Cup.
South Africa, Egypt and Morocco are bidding to stage the quadrennial event, with FIFA’s decision on a host nation scheduled for May 17.
Quick Passes
Dutch international winger Arjen Robben reinjured his hamstring during a 5-0 rout of Groningen on Sunday and will be lost to league-leading PSV Eindhoven for the rest of the season. “This was Arjen’s last match for PSV, but I think he will be fit in time for Portugal,” PSV Coach Gus Hiddink said of the June 12-July 4 European Championship. Robben, 20, will play for Chelsea next season.... Scottish champion Celtic stayed on course for a trio of trophies when it defeated Livingston, 3-1, Sunday to advance to the May 22 Scottish Cup final. Two goals by Chris Sutton and another by Henrik Larsson earned the victory for the league leaders, who also have reached the quarterfinals of the UEFA Cup.... Bayern Munich business manager Uli Hoeness said the German club would like to acquire striker Benjamin “Benny Bomber” Lauth from neighboring 1860 Munich, but would not approach the 22-year-old. “The day he says, ‘I would like to leave 1860,’ we will be among those bidding for him,” Hoeness said.... Iran international forward Vahid Hashemian is set to join Bayern Munich from VfL Bochum for a fee in excess of $2 million, according to the Abendzeitung newspaper. Hashemian is expected to replace Peruvian international Claudio Pizarro, who is said to be en route to Schalke ’04 next season.
-- Compiled by Grahame L. Jones
