Soccer Capsules: Johnson: U.S. players not fully respected in England
LONDON (AP) — American players are still struggling to be respected in the English Premier League, U.S. forward Eddie Johnson said.
Since joining Fulham from Major League Soccer's Kansas City Wizards in January 2008, Johnson has spent time on loan at second-tier club Cardiff and Greece's Aris.
Johnson has yet to appear in a game for Fulham this season, but the 26-year-old Florida native can draw inspiration from Clint Dempsey, who has become one of the London club's stars since arriving at Craven Cottage in 2007.
"Being an American, it's tough to come over here and do well in such a big league where American players are still fighting for respect," Johnson said. "I know it was tough for Clint Dempsey when he first came over and he had to fight his way into the team.
"But the club took a chance on me, so now it's time for me to deliver. ... I'm at the stage where I should be playing regular first-team football and I feel like, after the loans I've had at Cardiff and in Greece, I'm ready."
Johnson hopes his fortunes will change with Mark Hughes now in charge after Roy Hodgson left Fulham to manage Liverpool in the offseason.
"With a new coach coming in my job as a player is to try and impress day in, day out, and I'm in a good environment to do that," Johnson said in an official Fulham magazine. "A lot of the boys such as myself like to express themselves and that's something that maybe we couldn't do as much with the style we played with Roy, which was more focused on being well-organized and playing a lot of one- and two-touch football.
"Our new coaches put the emphasis on attack and like players to express themselves. ... There are times in a game when you do need to take more than two touches."
World Cup
Blatter hails England's bid as inspectors arrive
LONDON (AP) — FIFA president Sepp Blatter calls staging the World Cup in England the easiest option because the stadiums and infrastructure are already in place.
Blatter's comments were published Monday, 101 days before FIFA's executive committee votes on the 2018 and '22 hosts and as FIFA's technical inspectors arrived in London to scrutinize England's bid.
"The easiest way to organize the World Cup is to go to England," Blatter was quoted as telling the Inside World Football website. "Everything is there — fans, stadiums, infrastructure — it's easy."
England is bidding to host the tournament in either 2018 or '22.
England's bid chief executive, Andy Anson, welcomed the inspectors to Downing Street by saying they will see "existing facilities available now to stage a first-class FIFA World Cup" during their four-day visit.
"You'll be able to see them with your own eyes — not just in your imagination," Anson said. "The combination of our passion for football, our technical excellence, our hosting experience, our established infrastructure and our commercial strength means that FIFA can be confident that we will deliver operational certainty, financial success and a fantastic tournament."
By contrast, Russia, which is seen as England's closest rival, was warned last week by Chilean soccer federation president Harold Mayne-Nicholls, who is leading the inspection tours, that it would have to start work immediately on constructing up to 10 new stadiums from scratch to be ready in time.
Russia, which is a growing power in soccer, has never hosted a major tournament and Blatter is keen to take the World Cup to new locations.
"You cannot deny Russia if they bid for something," Blatter said while at the Youth Olympics in Singapore. "They are more than a country. They are a big continent, a big power."
While Russia and England are bidding for both 2018 and '22, it is widely expected that the former will go to Europe, which also has joint bids from Belgium and the Netherlands, and Spain and Portugal.
The only non-European contender for 2018 is the United States, which is also vying for '22 alongside Australia, Japan, South Korea and Qatar.
None of the inspectors visiting London, Manchester, Newcastle and Sunderland this week is a member of the 24-man executive committee that votes in December.
But a poor technical report from the inspectors could derail England's campaign — as happened 10 years ago when the 2006 bid was ranked behind Germany and South Africa in terms of infrastructure.
"We promise you that we will do our best to have a very objective report," Mayne-Nicholls said.
-- Rob Harris
WCup organizers say Rio is safe despite gunfight
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — World Cup organizers have sought to offer reassurances the 2014 tournament will be unaffected by urban violence after 30 people were held hostage at a luxury tourist hotel following an intense gunfight in Rio's streets at the weekend.
The gunfight made headlines across the world, and the Brazilian football federation issued a statement on Monday saying it remained "confident" that local authorities will be able to quell the violence during the monthlong event in 2014.
The federation said it can "assure the sporting community that the host city of Rio de Janeiro will maintain the normalcy necessary during the World Cup."
Rio will also host the 2016 Olympics.
League News
Mehmeti scores twice as Malmo wins 2-0 at Halmstad
STOCKHOLM (AP) — Agon Mehmeti scored twice Monday to lead Malmo to a 2-0 win at Halmstad and top the Swedish league.
Mehmeti scored just before halftime and hit a second in the 66th minute in Malmo's fifth straight victory. Malmo has 45 points, two ahead of Helsingborg, which has played a game less.
AIK, the defending champion, lost 1-0 at third-place Orebro after Nordin Gerzic scored in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Also, Gefle and Mjallby drew 3-3, Atvidaberg won 2-1 at Kalmar, Hacken and Elfsborg drew 1-1, Djurgarden beat IFK Goteborg 2-0, and Gais and Brommapojkarna drew 1-1.
Poland behind in preparations to co-host Euro 2012
WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Poland's top auditor says the country is behind on preparations to co-host the 2012 European Championship.
The Supreme Chamber of Control says that half of the projects that it has examined are not on schedule. The chamber says some projects will probably not be ready before the start of Euro 2012, which Poland is to co-host with Ukraine.
The head of the chamber, Jacek Jezierski, says the biggest delays are in the building of roads, train stations, airports and rail lines.
Poland, a former communist country that joined the European Union in 2004, has seen impressive economic growth in recent years. But the country is still burdened by aging train stations and other infrastructure and a near lack of modern highways.
Elsewhere
Hodgson: Barcelona's Mascherano bid is too low
MANCHESTER, England (AP) — Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson says the difference between Barcelona's offer for Javier Mascherano and the Premier League club's valuation of the Argentina captain is significant, and indicated a transfer may not occur.
Mascherano wants to leave Liverpool and wasn't in the team that lost 3-0 at Manchester City in the Premier League on Monday.
"Javier isn't in the right frame of mind at the moment to play — his head has obviously been turned by the offer from Barcelona," Hodgson said. "But unfortunately, at the moment, the fee that the club thinks is the correct fee and the fee that is being offered is very far apart. Unless that can be resolved he might be unhappy for a long time to come ...
"We have quite a lot of clubs at the moment suffering from players being courted by other clubs and players therefore being unhappy at being required to fulfill their contracts. It has happened to us now. This matter has developed over the last three days."
Hodgson said he doesn't want Mascherano to be sold.
Liverpool is searching for a new owner to clear its debts, but says it doesn't need to sell its star players to raise funds.
Brazil's president praises Neymar for staying
SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is glad striker Neymar is staying in Brazil despite a huge offer from Chelsea.
Silva says it is "extraordinary" that Neymar decided to stay with Santos despite being the target of a €35 million offer from Chelsea because it's "important to have the great stars playing in Brazilian football."
Silva also congratulated Santos directors for working hard to pay Neymar and other young players enough for them to want to stay.
The president, who met with Neymar and playmaker Paulo Henrique Ganso on Monday, says other teams should follow Santos' example.
Last week, the 18-year-old Neymar extended his contract with the Brazilian club until 2015.
France playmaker Gourcuff set to move to Lyon
LYON, France (AP) — Lyon has reached an agreement with Bordeaux over the transfer of France playmaker Yoann Gourcuff.
The two clubs agreed Monday on a transfer fee of €22 million ($27.8 million).
If the 24-year-old Gourcuff passes a medical it will be the second major offseason signing for Lyon, which also recruited winger Jimmy Briand from Rennes.
The move for Gourcuff may have been influenced by Honorato Ederson's long-term injury. The Brazilian playmaker hurt his hamstring in a friendly between Brazil and the United States earlier this month and will be sidelined for several months.
