Snak

Pepe Rojas removed from Chile’s national squad following drug controversy

José ‘Pepe’ Rojas is forced from the national team ahead of key qualifying match against Venezuela after ‘La U’ trainers administered a FIFA-banned painkiller.

José “Pepe” Rojas, star defender for Universidad de Chile and one of just four players from Chile’s domestic league to have been chosen for the crucial World Cup qualifier against Venezuela, will not take the pitch on Friday.

On Wednesday the veteran player was forced to remove himself from Chile’s roster for this current qualifying round after “La U” doctors gave him a substance banned by FIFA.

The move was made in order to avoid doping sanctions from soccer’s international governing body, FIFA. Rojas was given Cidoten Rapilento, an injection used to treat pain and inflammation that contains betamethasone — which is listed on the FIFA anti-doping agency’s list of banned drugs.

The medication was prescribed and administered by Universidad de Chile club doctors to treat the defender for back pain. According to a statement from ANFP, the Chilean governing body, Rojas reported to training camp with a medical report that listed the medicine in his treatment.

Furious with his club, Rojas is demanding a meeting with the president of the team’s parent company, according to local news source Cooperativa. His removal from the current “La Roja” roster will also exclude him from a friendly match against Spain scheduled for next Tuesday in addition to this Friday’s game

Meanwhile, a statement from the Universidad de Chile front office disputed the idea that the steroid’s use was banned in Rojas’ specific case.

“This medicine was used under an emergency medical circumstance to solve a momentary problem,” the statement read. “It was used locally and only one time … the medication’s use is authorized [by FIFA] in some forms and certain cases.”

Friday’s qualifier against Venezuela is a key match for “La Roja” as a win will place the team in a strong position to automatically qualify for a trip to Brazil for the 2014 World Cup.

A replacement for Rojas on the national squad has not yet been named.

så det er...

VM Kampprogram for Fredag/Lørdag...

Colombia - Ecuador 22.30 (FAS, Dibben, Kayokay

Paraguay/Larissa FC - Bolivia 00.30 (FAS(?),Dibben, Kayokay

Chile - Venezuela 02.30 (FAS (?), Dibben, Kayokay

Mexico - Honduras 03.30 (Kayokay (?) Dibben, Kayokay

Panama - Jamaica 04.00 (FAS(?) Dibben

Costa Rica - Gringos 04.00 (Dibben,

Peru - Uruguay/Abreu FC 04.30 (FAS, Kayokay(?)


Hola señores...

Må desværre melde pas til de "tidlige" kampe, drenge, men prøver at finde hjem til UB40´s. Har set alle deres hidtidige kval-kampe.

Beklager den megen fravær på det seneste, men får dog fulgt sitets bedste tråd fra arbejdet i ny og næ.
- ¡Bueno trabajo!

Lørdag nat vil jeg så sige, at der bliver fuld knald på den i Liga MX - El Tri må jo næsten sidde over så.
- Edit: hvilket de så ikke engang gør - tænk sig hvordan europæiske klubber pyldrer om tætpakkede programmer og landsholdsbold.

CF America - Monterrey

Tigres - Guadalajara

Sign me up...

så det er...

VM Kampprogram for Fredag/Lørdag...

Colombia - Ecuador 22.30 (FAS, Dibben, Kayokay

Paraguay/Larissa FC - Bolivia 00.30 (FAS(?),Dibben, Kayokay

Chile - Venezuela 02.30 (FAS (?), Dibben, Kayokay

Mexico - Honduras 03.30 (Kayokay (?) Dibben, Kayokay

Panama - Jamaica 04.00 (FAS(?) Dibben, FF17

Costa Rica - Gringos 04.00 (Dibben,

Peru - Uruguay/Abreu FC 04.30 (FAS, Kayokay(?), FF17 (?)


Hola señores...

Må desværre melde pas til de "tidlige" kampe, drenge, men prøver at finde hjem til UB40´s. Har set alle deres hidtidige kval-kampe.

Beklager den megen fravær på det seneste, men får dog fulgt sitets bedste tråd fra arbejdet i ny og næ.
- ¡Bueno trabajo!

Fint du hopper bare ind du ved jo hvor vi er, husk nu latinostilen for meget arbejde og Stress er ikke godt. Ellers godt at høre du giver lyd fra dig særlig med tanke på Valencias sæsonstart...

Lørdag nat vil jeg så sige, at der bliver fuld knald på den i Liga MX - El Tri må jo næsten sidde over så.
- Edit: hvilket de så ikke engang gør - tænk sig hvordan europæiske klubber pyldrer om tætpakkede programmer og landsholdsbold.

CF America - Monterrey

Tigres - Guadalajara

Sign me up...

Præcis, det er derfor lidt af en joke når folk fremhæver kampprogrammet som speciel hårdt i EPL, vi når 2/3 runder af den brasilianske her i landskampspausen - 1 runde bliver færdig spillet i nat, så er der weekend kampe, en hel runde i den argentinske bliver det også til samt Copa Sudamericana retur mellem River Plate og San Lorenzo her i nat.

Romário and Maradona fight against CONMEBOL corruption

Former Brazil and Argentina internationals, Romário and Diego Maradona, have teamed up to expose the corruption they believe exists within The South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL).

They are critical of the organisation’s failure to pump money back into the game at lower levels, and both questioned where the money made by the confederation ends up.

Maradona believes that the organisations involved in running football are keeping the money for themselves, rather than letting it filter back down to clubs and fans. He commented:

"We have seen, with astonishment and great sadness, that football is for just a few. It doesn´t belong to the clubs, the supporters or the players. So we are going to form a commission to unmask these people who do so much harm to the game.

"It´s very serious, but thanks to all of us who are not afraid of those people - we are here so that we can have a more transparent football." said the Argentine.

Romário has been critical of football’s governing bodies in the past, and has aimed a lot of his complaints at the Brazilian Football Federation, but he believes CONMEBOL are even worse.

Romário said: "The situation is really much more serious than we imagined. What has been presented here is one of the biggest disgraces that I have seen. I couldn´t imagine that there was an institution which did so much harm to the sport.

"We have to get more people together. The clubs, the ex-players and the current players have to take the fight to CONMEBOL. It´s a movement for transparency and dignity in football.

“With this commission that we are going to form, we are going to see what has happened to all this money."

Nåh men vi kan lægge ud med at Trinidad OG Tobago var på banen i Riyadh - bag ud 0-3 men fik alligevel 3-3 mod Emiraterne inden man tabte på straffe.. i OSN - cuppen...

http://www.youtube.com/w…q3Ns8ofgMdc

Mexico has the urgency for win

MEXICO CITY -- It´s been a while since the stakes were higher for Mexico than Friday´s match against Honduras. You´d have to look back to the low points of Sven Goran Eriksson´s days, or even to June 2001, when Javier Aguirre had to swoop in to help beat the US with that goal from Jared Borgetti.

On that occasion "El Vasco" (The Basque) called up a good few Cruz Azul players, the runners-up of the Copa Libertadores. That was a sharp bunch, for which Aguirre mixed up his ranks, tapping his fresher fighters and benching the stodgier tenured ones. Perhaps Jose Manuel de la Torre should take a page from history this Friday and try his underdogs with the best current form.

Oribe Peralta has reignited after his injury, I can´t imagine a lineup without him. Chepo should consider benching Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez, he´s not a bad player by any means; but he´s played 18 minutes in the last two months (last Sunday versus Liverpool in the Premier League). Or Chepo can open with both players, I think they have the chemistry, but Peralta is a must.

Angel Reyna watched the Confederations Cup from the sideline. He´d have come in handy in the Gold Cup, going by his early league performance. The controversial player from Tiburones Rojos is arguably starting role material. And while Andres Guardado´s injury is healing ... he played against Barcelona on Sunday ... he´s been playing left-back; Mexico needs him several yards forward, as a midfielder.

Reyna or Guardado, or both? And Giovani dos Santos? He´s had a good start with the Yellow Submarine, aiding in all three league wins thus far. If he could stay consistent at the international level, he´d be a shoe-in to start.
I don´t doubt that Diego Reyes is a better player than Francisco Javier "Maza" Rodriguez. However, he has yet to debut for Porto in the Zon Sagres League. Who will flank Hector Moreno in mid-defense? Who will play right-back? The eternal dilemma of the current national team. Neither Severo Meza nor Hiram Mier play that spot in the four-man defensive line with Rayados.

Whatever the scenario, at least once, Chepo will have to break rank and try a fresh rookie. We´re at the point of no return, gentlemen ... now or never.

Mexico is playing against Mexico

MEXICO CITY -- Whether Oribe Peralta should have priority over Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez to start in attack for Mexico. Whether the midfield needs players with personality and creativity. Whether Andres Guardado should be positioned as a stopper and whether he should play with only one defensive midfielder. Whether the message from the coach and makeup of the team call for a much more aggressive style. All of the above seems crucial in regards to the Mexican national team, but the essential aspect has to do with what is happening upstairs, in the mind, what the players´ perceptions are at the moment of starting the game.

It should be as simple as this sentence: If you cannot defeat the Honduran national team in Azteca Stadium you do not have the capacity, or the right, or the shame to go to the World Cup. Period.

Starting from there, as it nearly always happens, too much intense interest, nervousness and adrenaline burst in a game that under normal circumstances Mexico would deal with or would have to deal with without difficulties.

Prior events have an impact: Three consecutive games in the Azteca with three ties, three nil-all ties and an apparently tricky situation in regards to qualification has changed the relaxed scenario that the Mexican team normally has in CONCACAF. The reality is that although Mexico has insisted on being mediocre during this qualification process, it still has in its hands, under its absolute control, qualification for the World Cup.

Mexico has fought against its own "demons" in the qualifiers. It is neither normal nor logical that it wasn´t possible to score even one goal against Jamaica, Costa Rica and the United States on the Azteca´s playing field. It is not normal that the team has gone from a comfortable and confident condition to a desperate, overwhelmed and later injured state. Mistakes were made, many players lost technical and physical form, the coach did not direct the team properly, but mainly, Mexico´s problems, I am convinced, stem from their state of mind.

Honduras is not the main rival of the Mexican national team. I think that Honduras will come as they always do to Mexico City: to try to play their game, to position themselves well on the field, to keep their organization and try to take advantage of every error their rival makes. More than winning in Mexico for the first time in their history, Honduras would like the damage to be minimal so that they reach Tuesday with sufficiently high morale, where they will face a critical game for their World Cup aspirations against Panama.

Honduras will be as dangerous and ponderous as Mexico prefers. Honduras will be as daring and bold as Mexico allows them to be. Honduras will be close to causing a shock in Azteca if the Mexican players are not able to dispel, to free themselves from, once and for all, those terrible "demons" that have haunted them in these qualifiers.

It is not a game of life or death as many have insisted on calling it. It could not be a more normal game, a mediocre and not very spectacular game against a team that will entrench themselves in their own half and with a Mexican team that will again play amid the desperateness of a stadium that always has the right to demand more from the players.

Maradona: Me gustaría dirigir a Peñarol

MONTEVIDEO -- El exfutbolista argentino Diego Armando Maradona afirmó a una emisora de radio uruguaya que más adelante le gustaría dirigir Peñarol y comparó la rivalidad entre ese equipo y su eterno rival en Uruguay, Nacional, con la que existe entre los clubes argentinos Boca Juniors y River Plate.

"En un futuro me gustaría dirigir a Peñarol", dijo el astro argentino, que actualmente ejerce de embajador deportivo de Dubai, aunque luego aclaró que tiene "respeto por Diego Alonso, que es el profesional que está trabajando ahora" en alusión al actual entrenador del club carbonero.

Las declaraciones de Maradona fueron realizadas a la emisora de radio uruguaya Sport 890 desde Brasil, donde participó en una reunión convocada por el expresidente del equipo brasileño Corinthians Andrés Sánchez.

Maradona, de 52 años, apoya a Sánchez a llegar a la presidencia de la Confederación Brasileña de Fútbol (CBF) y al Comité Ejecutivo de la Conmebol.

En la reunión, un grupo de abogados uruguayos presentó un estudio jurídico que apunta que los clubes sudamericanos perdieron unos 120 millones de dólares en los últimos dos años y la Conmebol desperdició otros 430 millones en supuestos contratos oscuros y omisión de facturación en los libros contables.

"Nosotros con este proyecto estamos dando soluciones y, ahora, si ellos quieren ser cómplices del robo que está por detrás de la Conmebol es problema de ellos. Pero irán presos", afirmó Maradona en alusión a su presencia en Brasil.

En la entrevista con Sport 890 el diez argentino dijo que "la idea es repartir mejor la cosa", dentro de un fútbol sudamericano "más bien mediocre, donde a los 14 años los pibes ya tienen representante y se van".

"La pelota ya está manchada, pinchada y cascoteada por esta gente que se metió con el fútbol y le robó a la gente la posibilidad de tener a estos chicos en nuestras canchas", consideró.

El excampeón del mundo en México´86 expresó en agosto pasado su intención de ser "director técnico anímico" del Deportivo Riestra, un equipo que milita en la Primera D, la quinta división el fútbol argentino.

La semana pasada mostró también deseos de dirigir a su club de siempre, Boca Juniors, cuando pase la "Bianchidependencia y la Riquelmedependencia", en referencia al actual entrenador, Carlos Bianchi, y al delantero Juan Román Riquelme.

La carrera como técnico de Maradona incluye a los equipos argentinos Deportivo Mandiyú y Racing, a la selección nacional y al Al Wasl, de Dubai, pero en ninguno de esos conjuntos obtuvo buenos resultados.