Wither Rivaldo? Brazil Team Looks Most Likely
The ongoing saga of Rivaldo, a World Cup winner with Brazil in 2002 but released by European champion AC Milan in 2003, shows little sign of ending.
The latest twist in the 31-year-old forward’s search for a new team saw Mansour Al Balawi, president of the Saudi Arabian club Al Ittihad, state in a news conference in Riyadh on Saturday that Rivaldo had signed a six-month contract for $3 million.
On Sunday, that claim was rejected by Rivaldo’s agent, Carlos Arini, who told the Estado news agency in Brazil that FIFA’s 1999 World Player of the Year is far more likely to sign with a Brazilian team.
“The soap opera is close to a finish,” Arini said. “Rivaldo will be playing in Brazil at the start of 2004. He is not changing his plans because of more money.”
Defending Brazilian champion Cruzeiro appears to have the inside track on rival Botafogo in the quest for Rivaldo, especially since Cruzeiro has qualified for the Copa Libertadores and is coached by Wanderley Luxemburgo, Rivaldo’s mentor of old.
“The friendship between the two and the strength of the Brazilian champions are influencing the decision,” Arini said.
Rivaldo played under Luxemburgo for Palmeiras when it won the Brazilian championship in 1993 and 1994 and on the Brazil national team that won the Copa America in 1999.
Since being released by AC Milan from his $7.2-million-a-year contract on Dec. 1, Rivaldo has been linked with clubs in England, Scotland, Portugal, Spain, Brazil, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Arsenal on Target
Arsenal, seeking to become the first club since the Blackburn Rovers in 1886 to win the English Football Assn. Cup three years in a row, got off to a promising start Sunday by coming from behind to defeat Leeds United, 3-1, on goals by Thierry Henry, Edu and Robert Pires. Mark Viduka had given Leeds an early lead.
In other Cup games of note, Manchester United got two goals from Paul Scholes as it edged Aston Villa, 2-1; Emile Heskey and Danny Murphy scored as Liverpool overcame third-division Yeovil Town, 2-0, and Fulham beat second division Cheltenham, 2-1.
Devastating Effect
Sir Brian Mawhinney, chairman of England’s Football League, told BBC Radio 5 Live’s Sportsweek program that he will try to persuade FIFA to abolish the domestic transfer window that limits clubs to set periods in which they can transfer players.
Teams in the first, second and third divisions, immediately below the English Premier League, have been severely impacted financially by their inability to sell players year-round.
“It has had a devastating effect on Football League clubs in its first year,” Mawhinney said of the two-year FIFA experiment. “We are mounting a campaign and calling on others to join us in helping persuade FIFA that domestic transfer windows should disappear.
“‘We don’t want to challenge the international transfer window because we can see good arguments for having those arrangements. But there doesn’t seem to be any sustainable argument for having domestic transfer windows, and we hope to persuade FIFA of this.”
Quick Passes
English champion Manchester United confirmed that it would try to buy 19-year-old striker Arjen Robben from Dutch champion PSV Eindhoven. “We are interested in him. Nothing’s been finalized, but we hope to do business with PSV,” United Coach Sir Alex Ferguson told the Mail on Sunday newspaper.... El Salvador held Zimbabwe to a 0-0 tie in front of 20,000 in Harare, Zimbabwe.... Auxerre and French international striker Djibril Cisse, 22, the leading goal scorer in the French league, flew to Liverpool for a medical amid reports in France’s L’Equipe newspaper that he had signed a five-year contract with the English Premier League club.... Nacional of Uruguay named Santiago Ostolaza as its coach. Ostolaza, 41, was on the Nacional team that beat PSV Eindhoven on penalty kicks to win the Intercontinental Cup for the world club championship in 1988.
Times wires services contributed to this report.
