Police Nab Terrorist Suspects
Manchester United tightened security at its Old Trafford Stadium on Tuesday after police arrested 10 suspected terrorists who were found to have tickets to Saturday’s match against Liverpool.
The 10, reportedly of North African and Iraqi Kurdish origin, were taken into custody Monday during raids across northern and central England.
“The plot involved several individual bombers in separate parts of the stadium,” Britain’s Sun tabloid newspaper reported.
It quoted an unnamed police official as saying, “If successful, any such attack would have caused absolute carnage. Thousands of people could have been killed.”
According to police, the nine men and one woman were held “on suspicion of being concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.”
United spokesman Phil Townsend, however, said the club had received no warnings from police and refused comment on whether the 67,000-seat stadium had been specifically targeted.
Portuguese Raids
In a series of dawn raids across the country, police in Portugal took 16 people into custody for questioning, including Valentim Loureiro, president of the Portuguese league, and Jose Antonio Pinto de Sousa, president of the Portuguese soccer federation’s council of referees. The raids, dubbed “Operation Golden Whistle,” are intended to root out alleged corruption, including match fixing and the bribing of referees.
Greek Bugging
Police in Greece are investigating allegations that one of the country’s leading clubs, Panathinaikos, currently in first place in the Greek league, bugged the locker room of rival Olympiakos, the defending champion, during the teams’ 2-2 tie over the weekend.
Olympiakos claimed microphones were planted in the locker room so that its coach’s instructions to the players could be heard. Panathinaikos said the wires in question were connected to a speaker for use in case of an emergency.
Galaxy Ties Tecos
The Galaxy and the UAG Tecos of Guadalajara, Mexico, tied, 1-1, in a charity match in front of 11,198 at the Coliseum in Nashville.
Midfielder Arturo Torres scored an unassisted goal for the Galaxy in the 41st minute, but forward Eduardo Lillingston earned UAG the tie when he headed in a goal in the 69th minute.
Earlier in the day, four Galaxy players -- goalkeeper Kevin Hartman, defenders Chris Albright and Danny Califf and forward Jovan Kirovski -- were named to the U.S. roster for an April 28 match against Mexico in Dallas.
Coach Bruce Arena called in only one foreign-based player for the U.S. team’s next-to-last warm-up before World Cup qualifying begins: Karlsruhe forward Connor Casey, who has scored 13 goals this season in Germany.
Quick Passes
Goals by Dado Psro, Fernando Morientes and Shabani Nonda gave AS Monaco a convincing 3-1 victory over Chelsea at the Stade Louis II in Monaco in the first leg of the European Champions League semifinals. Hernan Crespo scored for Chelsea.... Hail Kohistani, president of Afghanistan’s soccer federation, said the national team has been disbanded after nine of its players disappeared while in Italy for a charity game. One was later apprehended aboard a train on the Swiss-Italian border and six others were arrested in Germany. All were seeking asylum.... Former Scotland goalkeeper Ronnie Simpson, who played for Celtic when it defeated Inter Milan in 1967 to become the first British team to win the European Cup, has died at 73 after suffering a heart attack.... Diego Maradona, sedated and on a respirator, remained in intensive care at a Buenos Aires hospital, but doctors said his condition had improved. The former Argentine player, 43, has a heart problem and a lung infection.
-- Compiled by Grahame L. Jones
