Bulgaria Chooses Stoitchkov
Soccer legend Hristo Stoitchkov, who spent the last years of his career in Major League Soccer, was named coach of his native Bulgaria, replacing Plamen Markov, who quit after the team’s first-round loss at Euro 2004.
“The Bulgarian Football Union elected unanimously Hristo Stoitchkov to the post,” soccer federation spokesman Atanas Karaivanov said.
Stoitchkov, who led Bulgaria to the semifinals of the 1994 World Cup in the United States, was not immediately available for comment. Karaivanov said that he was not in Bulgaria and would be back by July 22.
Renowned for his fiery temperament, Stoitchkov, 38, was one of the world’s top forwards in the 1990s and the leading scorer in the 1994 World Cup. He won the Golden Ball as the top player in Europe in 1994 and was twice runner-up for FIFA world player of the year.
Stoitchkov spent his last four seasons in the MLS, playing in 51 games and scoring 17 goals in three seasons with the Chicago Fire. He played 23 games with D.C. United, where he was also the team’s assistant coach.
Last December, Stoitchkov retired and moved back to Spain, where he accepted an offer by FC Barcelona to help train the team’s junior players.
Beasley Transfer?
Chicago Fire winger DaMarcus Beasley could be part of a transfer deal as early as this weekend that would send him to PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch league.
Beasley, 22 and a U.S. national team mainstay, is in his fifth season with the Fire. If the move is made, Beasley figures to move into the spot on the left vacated by Arjen Robben, who left for Chelsea in the English Premier League.
“The potential for a transfer is imminent,” Fire General Manager Peter Wilt told the Chicago Daily Herald this week. “Discussions with PSV have progressed in the last week. There has been movement on both sides.”
Convey Moving?
Bobby Convey, another U.S. player, might be leaving for the English Premier League after all.
Last August, a transfer to Tottenham Hotspur fell through when the D.C. United midfielder couldn’t acquire an English work permit. That process was made more difficult because Convey hadn’t appeared in the requisite 75% of the U.S. team’s games during the previous two years.
Now, Convey has appeared in seven of the last nine for the U.S. in the same time frame and Tottenham is again his most likely suitor.
Quick Passes
Peru and Bayern Munich striker Claudio Pizzaro, who suffered a fractured skull in a Copa America game this week, had surgery in Germany and can resume training in about five weeks, doctors said.... Former England captain Alan Shearer, 33, said that he would retire at the end of the coming season, which would be his seventh with English club Newcastle United.... Chelsea’s Argentine striker Hernan Crespo is going to AC Milan on a one-year loan deal, the Italian club announced.... UEFA’s appeals body gave Swiss striker Alex Frei a three-match suspension at the international level for spitting at an opponent during the European Championship.... Mike Windischmann was elected to the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame, becoming the third member of the 1990 U.S. World Cup team to be chosen this year, joining Eric Wynalda and Paul Caligiuri.
-- Compiled by Jim Barrero
