Snak

Italy call up Brazilian Romulo for World Cup training squad

Italy coach Cesare Prandelli has named Brazilian Romulo in an intiial 42-man training squad ahead of this summer´s World Cup, as the four time winners gear up for another shot at equalling Brazil´s five triumphs in the game´s biggest tournament.

As well as the usual mainstays like Andrea Pirlo, Mario Balotelli and Gigi Buffon, Prandelli sprung perhaps the biggest surprise in calling up Hellas Verona´s Romulo who, unti this juncture, had never even been close to a Brazil debut.

The midfielder´s versatility could work in his favour and he is enjoying a productive season with Verona, who have been performing above expectations in the Italian domestic game.

Romulo has previously played in his native homeland with Cruzeiro and Atletico Paranaense, leaving to join Fiorentina in 2011 and then Verona on laon for the current campaign.

30,000 tickets already sold for Carioca finale

Sunday´s second leg of the Carioca state championship final between Flamengo and Vasco da Gama has already sold more that 30,000 for what is sure to be a white-hot atmosphere at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro. Any fans from around the globe wishing to get a taste of the iconic stadium post-regeneration should try to access the game as these two fierce rivals go head to head to be crowned the best in the region.

After a 1-1 first leg stalemate, the two great rivals will be looking to win the final game before the national league kicks off in earnest next weekend. Indeed, Flamengo will be hoping to lift a second piece of silverware in the space of a matter of months; they won the Copa do Brasil last term to qualify for the Copa Libertadores in 2014.

Vasco, on the other hand, will be aiming to show that heir recent relegation to Serie B will be a short-lived affair.

Kommer slet ikke bag på nogen..

Adriano and Atletico Paranaense agree to mutual termination of contract

Former Brazil striker Adriano´s return to competititve football has been cut short after he and latest club, Atletico Paranaense, decided to go their separate ways following a short relationship.

Adriano, 32, had been at the Serie A side since January and had spken of a desire to lose weight and get back playing to as high a level as poosible; he scored his first competitive goal in over two years in ht eCopa Libertadores only last week.

It is believed there was a clause in his contract to allow either party to walk away during a certain period and the decision is thought to be a mutual one, Paranaense wishing the former Inter Milan player the best of luck in an official club statement.

Once a feared and prolific forward, Adriano´s fall from the limelight had been a steady one but the player still managed to chalk up 27 Brazil goals in 48 appearances for the Selecao.

Argentina - Primera División - Torneo Final

Quilmes x Estudiantes 1-3
Argentinos Juniors x Velez Sarsfield 2-1
Rosario Central x Belgrano 0-0
Racing Club x Olimpo 1-1
San Lorenzo x Lanús 1-4

Chile - Primera División - Clasura

O´Higgins x Unión La Calera 0-0

Colombia - Liga Postobon - Apertura

Once Caldas x Junior 3-0
Universidad Autónoma x Millonarios 1-0

Costa Rica - Primera División - Torneo de Verano

Carmelita x Puntarenas FC 2-0
Saprissa x Alajuelense 3-1

Guatemala - Liga Nacional - Clasura

Comunicaciones x Universidad SD 2-0

Mexico - Primera Divsión - Clasura

Cruz Azul x Pachuca 2-2
Veracruz x U.N.A.M. 1-1
Tigres x Tijuana 1-1
Chiapas x Monterrey 1-1

Paraguay - Primera División - Apertura

Rubio Nu x Cerro Porteno 3-3

Uruguay - Primera División - Clasura

Peñarol x Sud America 2-0

USA - Major League Soccer

DC United x New York 1-0
Dallas x Seattle 2-3
Los Angeles x Vancouver 1-0
Portland x Chivas 1-1

USA - North American Soccer League - Spring Season

Fort Lauderdale x Ottawa Fury 2-0
Indy Eleven x Carolina 1-1
Tampa Bay x Edmonton 1-1
San Antonio x Minnesota 0-2

Venezuela - Primera División - Clasura

Aragua x Lara 0-0

Why did the Chivas USA experiment fail? An insider´s perspective

Chivas USA proved to be a failure in cross-border marketing and branding, and is a franchise that MLS is looking to rectify and relaunch in Los Angeles.

Last week, Major League Soccer announced that Chivas USA, the much-maligned Southern California franchise, will soon cease to exist under that name. The league has purchased the team from Mexican owner Jorge Vergara, with the intent of installing new management and identifying fresh investors to keep a rebranded version of the club in Los Angeles.

Thus ends a bold 10-year experiment in cross-border sports branding, an experiment that ultimately failed to achieve its ambitious goals. It was also an experiment to which I had a front-row seat as Chivas USA´s director of communications during its first five seasons in MLS.
Having spent those thrilling and frustrating years promoting this innovative soccer brand in one of the U.S.´s biggest media markets, I can think of a few reasons why Chivas USA failed to live up to expectations.

The first, and most evident, was on the field. Yes, Chivas USA played exciting soccer at times, and prominent figures sported the club´s colors: from former Mexican internationals Paco Palencia, Ramón Ramírez and Claudio Suárez; to future U.S. standouts Brad Guzan and Sacha Kljestan; to a list of managers that included Bob Bradley, Martin Vasquez and José Luis "Chelís" Sánchez Solá.
But our beloved Chivas USA began life in MLS with a 4-22-6 record, leaving a bad taste in the mouths of local fans, many of whom were already skeptical to pronouncements that Chivas would teach the rest of the league to play "real" soccer. Nowhere was this more clearly expressed than in the club´s much-debated inaugural branding campaign: Adiós Soccer, El Fútbol Está Aquí ("Goodbye Soccer, Fútbol is Here").

Subsequent seasons saw improvement, and the team even made it to the MLS Cup playoffs for four years in a row, from 2006-2009. But as hard as we tried to play the "feisty underdog" role -- especially following David Beckham´s arrival in 2007-- Chivas USA became all too accustomed to playing second fiddle to the Galaxy in terms of star power, attendance and results.
But on-field performance was the least of Chivas USA´s problems. Sports brands are steeped in meaning and history, so even in the best of circumstances, the idea of "cloning" a team from one country to another was always a risky proposition. And perhaps no sports brand was less suited to this kind of experiment than Chivas de Guadalajara.

For more than a century, "Chivas Mexico" (as employees of both clubs called our Guadalajara brethren) has prided itself on fielding only Mexican players. It is even considered by some to be Mexico´s second national team: or, in the words of Vergara himself, as Mexican as tequila and mariachis.
So it´s understandable that many diehard Guadalajara fans -- originally envisioned to be Chivas USA´s core audience -- were unsettled by the idea of a second team out there sporting Chivas´ red and white stripes yet failing to share its identity. I remember accompanying Chivas USA players to appearances in Southern California communities like Lynwood, Bell Gardens, or Downtown Los Angeles. "Where are the Mexican players?" fans would ask. Or, when one of our Mexican players did come along: "When will you be signing more guys from Guadalajara?"

This was not the fans´ fault, of course: they were simply identifying a gaping hole between the "reality" of Chivas USA, and the expectations created by the "100 percent Mexican" essence of the Chivas de Guadalajara brand.

I should mention that I, like others in MLS, was a true believer in the idea of Chivas USA. I´d followed the league since 1996, and had developed a deep love for Latin American fútbol while living and working in Mexico, Brazil and Chile. So when the expansion club was announced in 2004, I jumped at the chance to move to Los Angeles and promote what I figured would be a breath of fresh air for MLS: Chivas USA would bring talent and resources from south of the border, while injecting passion and rivalry into a league that just two years earlier had eliminated two of its franchises.

But it didn´t take long to realize what a challenge we had on our hands. Our first-year squad was made up primarily of players from the parent club´s "B" team, supplemented by MLS SuperDraft and Expansion Draft picks. Our intended fanbase proved fickle, with Chivas´ original supporters group making it clear that they would not attend Chivas USA matches while Guadalajara was on television. I remember looking up in the stands as we played our curtain-raiser match against Javier Aguirre´s Osasuna in 2005, one week before our MLS opener, and seeing swathes of empty seats at the Home Depot Center.
Although times have changed, there are still important lessons to be learned from Chivas USA´s mistakes.

MLS has grown considerably since 2004, and the United States continues to be one of the high-growth-investment destinations of the global game, where the likes of Bayern Munich, FC Barcelona and many others see an opportunity to create new fans and -- in the case of New York City FC, co-owned by Manchester City and the New York Yankees, and David Beckham, who is spearheading the Miami expansion franchise project -- to open new teams.
But in so doing, foreign investors must always remember the importance of allowing a new team to grow its own roots and create its own history and identity. This is not just a question of establishing community ties (which Chivas USA certainly tried to do); it also means making sure that a new club doesn´t feel it is constantly living under the shadow of a parent or older sibling.

I´ve asked myself a million times: Could Chivas USA have worked? Done differently, perhaps:

• For starters, ownership needed to make it clear from day one that this was going to be a "multicultural" team, not just because MLS player rules demanded it, but because that was its vision for the club. That was not the case at Chivas USA.

• Secondly, the organization should have thought twice about the name Chivas "USA." Even our most ardent fans agreed -- and we heard this often -- that "LA" needed to be included somewhere in the official name (objections from the Galaxy notwithstanding) to underscore the club´s connection to its home market.

• Finally, threading the needle on this novel bicultural venture required a much clearer understanding of the complexities of Latino identity in the United States, and the fact that a brand or a team -- or an individual -- can be both Mexican and American, and does not have to choose between the two.
In less than two weeks, Chivas USA as we know it will kick off its final season opener under the bright lights of the StubHub Center in Carson, Calif. And in the coming year, MLS will begin the work of identifying new investors, who will in turn lead the process of rebranding the franchise.
MLS has had plenty of success launching and rebranding teams during the past eight years, and there´s reason to believe that a team with a new ownership group, a new identity and -- most importantly -- a home of its own, will have every chance to thrive in the Southern California sports market. After all, Los Angeles has always been a "soccer" town, no matter what its culturally diverse residents choose to call the game. And all available indicators point to an increasing relevance of the world´s sport to Americans, a fact that no doubt will be underscored by this summer´s viewership of the World Cup in Brazil.

But for Chivas USA, it will soon be time to say adiós. For me, and for the dozens of others who have toiled to bring this concept to life, it´s certainly been an adventure. Though the club´s name will cease to exist, its memory will live on -- if only as a cautionary tale for those looking to succeed where this particular experiment failed.

In one aspect, though, I have to say Chivas USA was right: El fútbol está aquí. And, as far as I can tell, it is here to stay.

Chivas USA ligger i øjeblikket på en 7. plads efter 6 kampe (1 sejr, 3 uafgjorte, 2 tabte). San Jose mangler at spille 3 kampe, så i princippet så ligger de 2. anden sidst i vest-gruppespillet.

Sambafoot Sunday: Brazilian Clubs´ Libertadores Numbers Game

"A disappointing performance from Brazilian teams in the Copa Libertadores group stage will be forgotten if Brazil takes home a fifth consecutive title."
-Sambafoot Sunday by James Nalton. The beat goes on...

Three Brazilian clubs will progress to the knockout stages of this year’s Copa Libertadores, but despite this, the group stages were widely considered to be a disappointment for Brazilian sides who should do better.

@Chris_Elastico
"Three Brazilian sides out in the Group Stage of the Libertadores, with Cruzeiro scraping through. A much needed wake-up call, if listened to"

@LitleDutchVA
"Only 3 out of 6 Brazilian clubs through in Libertadores. A poor return considering financial advantages over other South American leagues."

@scharlab
"Flamengo, Botafogo & AtleticoPR out—First time since 2000 that 3 Brazilian sides have exited at Libertadores group stage. MT @Rupert_Fryer"

Argentine clubs Indipendiente and Boca juniors are the most successful sides in the competition’s history, with six and seven wins respectively, but for the last four years the competition has been won by a club from Brazil.

The Brazilian teams are also catching up in terms of total wins, as they are now only five behind Argentina’s total of 22. However, the performance of some in the group stage this year means they now have a much lower chance of making up the ground on their neighbours.

Current Brazilian league champions and two time Libertadores winners Cruzeiro, stumbled into second place in group 5. They finished level on points with Universidad de Chile, but qualified for the knock-out stage thanks to a superior goal difference.

Grêmio and Atlético Mineiro were the most impressive of the Brazilian contingent, finishing their group four points ahead of their nearest rivals. They also finished their groups unbeaten, which is no mean feat in a tough continental competition.

The accusations of failure lie at the doors of Atlético Paranaense, Flamengo, and Botafogo who limped out of the competition. Atlético PR’s disappointing home defeat to Vélez Sarsfield, coupled with a final game defeat to The Strongest in the Bolivian altitude of La Paz saw them exit the tournament with three wins and three losses.

Flamengo were also undone by the altitude at La Paz’s Estadio Hernando Siles, as they went down to Bolivar, making it Bolivia 2, Brazil 0 at this particular venue. However, it was an inability to win their home game against Bolivar, and a late winner from Carlos Alberto Peña in their final home game against the Mexican side León, which was ultimately their undoing.

Botafogo were perhaps the most disappointing of the three departing Brazilian sides. Other than the first game in which they beat San Lorenzo at home in the Maracanã, they were far from convincing, scoring only five goals and winning only one more game after their initial triumph. A lack of firepower up front and absence of backbone in defence was summed up in the final game, when they fell to a 3-0 defeat away to the San Lorenzo side they beaten so well in the first game.

Whilst diversity is good for any competition, and there are some underrated teams in the smaller South American countries, the failure of Brazilian clubs in group stage shouldn’t be hidden.

The amount of teams in the final stages of a competition like this can be a good judge of a league’s depth, and Argentina’s four qualifiers trumps Brazil’s three. That said, the Brazilian trio are still favourites to take home their nation’s fifth consecutive title, and any earlier disappointement is likely to be forgotten if they do.

Robinho hoping for World Cup selection

Robinho remains hopeful that he will be called up by Brazil head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari for this summer’s World Cup.

Despite his lack of form with Milan, the 30 year-old was handed a surprise recall to the Seleção for the friendlies with Honduras and Chile at the end of last year.

Robinho´s selection for those games would suggest he is in Scolari’s thoughts, though the forward is taking nothing for granted.

“I want to be there,” he told Radio ESPN. “Scolari makes his choices and I hope to be there too.

“So far I have only been included in the Panini stickers, but I hope that I don’t just stay there!”

Jonas y Vinícius titulars!

Startdebut til Toulon-topscoreren fra Belo Horizonte.

Lokalopgøret er allerede kl. 17, hvis det skulle friste.

EDIT
FAS har vi nok også med på en kigger, da han er lidt "ilicitano" og lige har ferieret dernede igen.

Hehehe..

Tjekker ind kl. 17, det lyder fristende.