Soccer Capsules: FIFA: U.S. to play in Honduras despite turmoil

RIO DE JANEIRO — FIFA says the United States’ World Cup qualifier against Honduras will take place in San Pedro Sula next month despite turmoil in the Central American country.

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said Tuesday following an executive committee meeting that the crisis in Honduras following the ouster of President Manuel Zelaya on June 28 hasn’t caused safety concerns that jeopardize the match. He said FIFA’s stance can change if the situation worsens.

The United States (5-2-1), seeking its sixth straight World Cup berth, leads North and Central America and the Caribbean with 16 points. Mexico (5-3) is second with 15, followed by Honduras (4-3-1) with 13 and Costa Rica (4-4) with 12. The top three nations qualify for next year’s tournament in South Africa, and the No. 4 team faces South America’s fifth-place nation in a home-and-home playoff for a berth.

Mexico withdraws World Cup bid for ‘18 & ‘22

MEXICO CITY — Mexico is withdrawing its bid to host the World Cup in 2018 or 2022, leaving the United States as the lone contender from the Americas.

"The short-term prospects do not permit officials of the Mexican Football Federation, nor local or federal officials, to finance public works at the level this event requires," the governing body said Tuesday in a statement on its Web site.

Mexico hosted the World Cup in 1970 and 1986.

Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Netherlands-Belgium, Russia, and Spain-Portugal have also bid to host both World Cups, and Qatar and South Korea bid for 2022 only. FIFA’s executive committee will vote in December 2010.

England and Spain are viewed as the leading contenders to host in 2018, while the United States is viewed as a top candidate for 2022.

Next year’s World Cup will be in South Africa, and the 2014 host is Brazil.

U.S. Women’s

Pauliina Miettinen will coach Sky Blue FC

SOMERSET, N.J. — Maybe the newest coach of Sky Blue FC will stick around.

Former Finnish national team player Pauliina Miettinen was announced Tuesday by Sky Blue, the fourth coach for the franchise that won the inaugural Women’s Professional Soccer title.

U.S. national team captain Christie Rampone served as player-coach as the New Jersey-based franchise qualified for the playoffs and advanced through the postseason. With a baby due in March, she probably won’t return to the field as a player until June.

Miettinen had coached in the Finnish Premier League. She also worked at Florida State when the Seminoles reached the 2005 NCAA semifinals.

Sky Blue fired its first coach, Ian Sawyers, in May. Replacement Kelly Lindsey abruptly resigned late in the regular season.

"After I visited New Jersey and the Sky Blue FC organization, there was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be a part of this family," Miettinen said. "I am looking forward to coaching these dynamic athletes, and to working hard to prepare for the 2010 season and ensure the success of this team in the world’s most competitive women’s soccer league."

Miettinen was an assistant at Franklin Pierce College in 1999, helping her alma mater to its fourth national championship in five years. The Finnish native then joined the coaching staff at Barry University in Miami Shores, Fla., in 2001, where she assisted the soccer program to three consecutive NSCAA Top 11 finishes. She then became an assistant at Florida State in 2005 and helped the Seminoles to the NCAA semifinals.

"We decided our goal was to have a female coach since we are a female team in a female league," general manager Gerry Marrone said. "Pauliina is an experienced player at the highest level. Her successful versatility as a player is matched by her ability as a coach, having had success at both the American collegiate level and internationally in Finland. What’s more, she is a great communicator with a dynamic personality, supplemented by her training in psychology."

Rampone called Miettinen a wonderful person who comes highly recommended.

"Pauliina will bring a new style and flavor from her experiences as an elite player and coach in Finland, and I look forward to assisting her with knowledge of the league and our team," Rampone said. "The Sky Blue FC players adjust well, and I know we will achieve success together."

Intertional

Blatter says soccer safe in Olympic tournament

RIO DE JANEIRO — FIFA president Sepp Blatter doesn’t believe men’s soccer will be excluded from the Olympics because of discrepancies over age limits, and that sport’s world governing body and the International Olympic Committee can reach an agreement on the issue.

Blatter says FIFA has a task force discussing the eligibility criteria of players, but dismissed any concerns that a failed agreement with the IOC would keep soccer from taking place in the Olympics.

"I don’t think (soccer) will be excluded from the Olympics," Blatter said on Tuesday after a FIFA executive committee meeting. "I think there is a lot of common sense when speaking of the IOC. They have responsibilities toward the international federations and we have responsibilities toward the Olympics."

FIFA favors dropping the age limit to 21 instead of the current 23, or even abolishing the limit but barring all players with World Cup experience from participating. The IOC would like to keep the age limit at 23 except for three players, but Europe’s top clubs want FIFA to make the tournament an under-21 event. The IOC believes that would diminish the quality of the tournament.

Blatter said the task force will study both options, but did not rule out the possibility of another alternative to keep football in the tournament.

FIFA and the IOC have struggled to reach an agreement on player eligibility since current rules almost prevented Barcelona star Lionel Messi from leading Argentina to the gold medal in Beijing last year.

"Olympic (soccer) is very attractive for the Olympic Games," Blatter said. "We have a huge and large history in the Olympic Games. More than 100 years of participation. I’m sure we can (overcome) the difficulties which may have (surfaced) in the past."

The task force is expected to present its findings at FIFA’s December meeting in South Africa.

Women’s soccer is played at the Olympics without any age restrictions.

-- Tales Azzoni

Liverpool co-owners looking for outside investment

MANCHESTER, England — Liverpool’s owners confirmed Tuesday that they have asked two banks to find outside investment after a Saudi prince publicized his attempts to buy into the Premier League club.

Prince Faisal bin Fahd bin Abdullah al-Saud said he has been working on a deal to buy all or part of the club for four months on behalf of Swiss investors and two unnamed banks.

Liverpool co-owners George Gillett Jr. and Tom Hicks need to find an investor to help reduce the club’s $390 million debt and fund a new 60,000-seat stadium. Construction was halted in August 2008 because of a global economic downturn.

"The owners have jointly retained Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Rothschild to evaluate the possibility of new investors injecting equity into LFC," Hicks and Gillett said in a statement. "However, the process is at an early stage, there is no agreement with any party."

Sports investment firm F6, which is chaired by a Saudi prince, had claimed that it had signed an exclusivity deal with Gillett to begin the process of examining Liverpool’s accounts. According to F6, the prince is only in talks with Gillett over buying all or part of his 50-percent stake.

Neither Gillett nor Hicks can sell any of their equal stakes without the other’s approval — a clause that inflamed tensions between the pair when Gillett’s attempts to sell to a Dubai consortium were blocked by Hicks in early 2008.

Hicks, who owns the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars, is looking to raise $159 million from investors in return for a 25 percent stake in the 18-time English champions.

The one aspect of the deal made public by both the prince and Gillett, who is also the majority owner of NASCAR team Richard Petty Motorsports, is the intention to explore building soccer academies and rolling out NASCAR in the Middle East.

Gillett recently sold the Montreal Canadiens, the Gillett Entertainment Centre and the Bell Centre back to the Molson family for a reported $580 million.

Hicks and Gillett bought Liverpool in 2007 for nearly $287 million, taking on about $73.8 million in liabilities. They have been criticized by fans for burdening the club with so much debt.

-- Rob Harris

French soccer fan attacked in Belgrade dies

BELGRADE, Serbia — A 28-year-old French soccer fan, brutally attacked in Belgrade by Serbian hooligans, died Tuesday in a hospital.

Brice Taton died of brain and other injuries he suffered during the Sept. 17 attack ahead of the Europa League match between Partizan Belgrade and Toulouse, the Belgrade Clinical Center said in a statement.

The attack with iron bars in a downtown pub left two other French nationals and a Serb slightly injured.

Ten people have been arrested and will be charged with first-degree murder, which carries a 40-year prison sentence, state prosecutor Slobodan Radovanovic said Tuesday.

French sports minister Rama Yade said Taton’s death "shouldn’t stay unpunished."

"This tragic event plunges European football in mourning," Yade said in a statement. "I’m calling for a reaction of the highest severity against the people responsible of this murder and I’m giving my support to Serbian authorities to make sure that this crime won’t stay unpunished."

Yade added that she will meet UEFA president Michel Platini in order to "evaluate the necessary means to protect football from this cancer that is eating it away."

In Serbia, Taton’s death drew widespread condemnation and calls for tough action against hooligans and other far right groups, which are believed to be behind a series of recent attacks on foreigners.

President Boris Tadic said "Serbia will react with greatest possible seriousness, in a strict manner."

Belgrade’s mayor proclaimed a day of mourning in the capital Wednesday, and marches against the surging violence on Belgrade streets were announced for this week.

Serbia’s prosecutor, police chief and justice minister promised tough action, including changes to existing laws.

Last week, Radovanovic requested a ban of two ultranationalist groups that have attacked foreigners and threatened a gay parade in Belgrade, which was canceled this month because of the threats.

-- Dusan Stojanovic

Iraqi soccer team to host Kuwaiti club

IRBIL, Iraq — A Kuwaiti soccer team will play in Iraq on Wednesday in the first sports competition between the countries since Saddam Hussein invaded his southern neighbor in 1990.

The match between Irbil and Kuwait Sports Club in the second leg of the AFC Cup’s quarterfinals will have extra security at the nearly 21,000-seat sold-out stadium in the Kurdish city of Irbil. The first leg ended in a 1-1 draw.

"Despite the huge number of fans expected to attend the match, we do not expect any trouble because these fans know that Irbil soccer team represents all Iraqi soccer teams," Irbil vice president Abdul-Khaleq Massoud said.

Iraqi athletes have competed against Kuwait in international tournaments, but the match in Irbil will mark another milestone in the gradual reconciliation between the two countries.

Diplomatic ties were restored after Saddam’s fall in 2003. In February, Kuwait’s deputy prime minister, Sheik Mohammed Al Sabah, visited Iraq as the highest-level envoy since Saddam’s 1990 invasion and occupation of Kuwait — which ended after Iraqi forces were driven out by a U.S.-led coalition in 1991.

But Kuwait has refused Iraqi appeals to reduce its demands for war reparations and forgive about $15 billion in Iraqi debt.

Iraq’s sporting successes have provided welcome distractions from the country’s violence in the past several years. In 2007, sectarian bloodshed paused as the nation celebrated after Iraq surprisingly won the Asian Cup.

In July, Asian soccer officials cleared the way for Iraq to host matches. Next year, Irbil will host Group C in qualifying for the AFC Under-19 Championship.

-- Yahya Barzanji

CONI clears Guardiola of doping charges

ROME — Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola has been cleared by the Italian Olympic Committee’s anti-doping court over alleged drug use in a case from his playing days eight years ago.

Guardiola tested positive for the steroid nandrolone not long after joining Brescia in October 2001. Italy’s soccer federation first suspended him for four months, then cleared him of all charges on appeal in May.

The CONI anti-doping prosecutor appealed the decision to the committee’s anti-doping court, which rejected the appeal Tuesday.

Guardiola has always denied doping.