World Cup News and Other Soccer Capsules: Rooney, Ronaldo, now Messi - stars misfire
CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) — Rooney, then Ronaldo and now Messi.
They were supposed to light up the World Cup after scoring a total of 114 goals for their clubs this season, but left South Africa with only one goal in 13 matches.
Wayne Rooney huffed and puffed but failed to score before England was sent packing by Germany. Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo scored — once, in garbage time — but didn't run much at all before being eliminated by Spain. Argentina's Lionel Messi couldn't produce the magic when it counted, against the Germans in the quarterfinals.
All 25 or younger and considered three of the world's best players, they were the World Cup's biggest disappointments.
For Rooney, it seemed a case of fatigue or injury — he had knee, ankle and groin problems over the last two months of his club season. Whatever the cause, rarely did the 24-year-old Manchester United striker storm past defenders with a typically powerful run after a season in England in which he scored 34 goals to make up for Ronaldo's record transfer to Real Madrid.
Ronaldo's lone goal — against North Korea in a 7-0 rout — was little solace for a player hyped in a well-publicized commercial as Portugal's savior.
Even with the captain's armband, the 25-year-old forward did little to inspire his team. He rarely tracked back in defense, lost the ball when dribbling and looked a shadow of the player who was selected as the world's best in 2008.
That title went to Messi last year after he led Barcelona to an historic series of national, European and world club titles, and he continued his stellar performances with an astonishing 47 goals for his team in the 2009-10 season. The 23-year-old forward has often been accused of failing to reproduce his best form for Argentina, and will have done little to erase that charge in South Africa.
Diego Maradona has called Messi his heir apparent. But in his second World Cup, Messi failed to find the target and never conjured the magic of Maradona when his nation needed him, fading out of the match as Argentina was thrashed 4-0 by Germany.
"To see Messi cry in the dressing room, whoever says that he doesn't feel pride for his shirt is stupid," Maradona said.
Rooney, Ronaldo and Messi weren't alone.
From Brazil, there was Kaka. The 28-year-old playmaker was voted the world's best player three years ago, but was coming off a disappointing season after a lucrative move to Real Madrid, forced to play a deeper, more defensive role behind Ronaldo.
Back in his favored position just behind the strikers with Brazil, Kaka was sent off in the group match against Ivory Coast.
He came back for the round of 16 match as Brazil beat Chile 3-0, and nearly scored for a two-goal lead in the quarterfinal against the Netherlands. But when the Dutch came storming back in the second half to win 2-1, Kaka went quiet.
Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o and Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba have won five of the last seven African player of the year awards. With the weight of a continent on their shoulders, neither player could lift his team.
Eto'o, after moving from Barcelona to Inter Milan, was coming off a second straight season in which his club won everything possible — a triple crown of titles in the domestic league and cup, and the Champions League. He scored twice in three games in South Africa, but Cameroon was the first team eliminated.
Drogba broke a bone in his right arm just before the tournament and had to wear a soft cast to play. He missed a late chance to break a 0-0 draw against Portugal but scored a late consolation goal against Brazil. However, the damage was done — and even a solid 3-0 win over North Korea couldn't rescue a talented Ivorian team's tournament.
There have been others hampered by injury. Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon played only half of a match in Italy's poorest World Cup showing since 1974, while Franck Ribery failed to follow in Zinedine Zidane's footsteps for France after an injury-blighted season at Bayern Munich.
Spain's Fernando Torres still has a chance. The 26-year-old striker has struggled since undergoing knee surgery in April, but his team has reached the semifinals. That's been largely due to the scoring prowess of David Villa, who leads the World Cup with five goals.
"It's been a difficult tournament for me because my fitness is bad, but I'm improving every game," Torres said.
Diego Forlan has also cemented his status among the world's best marksmen. He scored a vital free kick to keep Uruguay alive in the quarterfinals against Ghana before tucking away his penalty as his nation prevailed in a shootout.
Another striker who has starred is Miroslav Klose, who seemed washed up after a season on the substitutes' bench for Bayern Munich. The rest has done him well, as he's already scored one more goal in the World Cup — four — than he did all season in the Bundesliga.
A new group of talented youngsters have also made their mark on the world stage. The Netherlands has been aided by 22-year-old wingback Gregory van der Wiel, while 23-year-old striker Luis Suarez has scored three times in Uruguay's run to the semifinals.
Germany has probably the two best youngsters to emerge in Mesut Oezil, 21, and Thomas Mueller, 20.
What's most startling about Oezil is how composed he looks on the ball, slipping passes left and right with startling ease. Add to that his darting runs into the box and he looks like a young Kaka, a description few Germans familiar with their team's typically stoic play could have imagined a few years back.
Mueller may be the star of the tournament so far. After only one full season as a Bayern first-team player, the attacking midfielder has had a series of match-winning performances, scoring twice as Germany hammered England 4-1 and another in the quarterfinal win over Argentina.
Mueller will be suspended for the semifinal against Spain after picking up his second yellow card on Saturday.
"It will be a great loss," Germany coach Joachim Loew said.
Mueller might not possess Rooney's vigor, Ronaldo's flashiness or Messi's natural elegance on the pitch. But there's hardly been a more dangerous player in the tournament.
Commentary: Maradona neither genius nor clown
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) — The World Cup proved that Diego Maradona is no coaching genius. Nor was he the clown that some expected.
True, there were times when it wasn't possible to observe the Argentine coach without humming the theme song to Benny Hill. Picture, for example, the Argentine training session where Maradona pretended to beat up a member of his staff and theatrically acted as a target for his players to shoot a hail of balls at. He came out of it furiously rubbing the back of his head. Ho-ho, what a jester!
But as Argentina's victories piled up, there seemed to be method in Maradona's madness. No other team had Argentina's swashbuckling flair. With Gonzalo Higuain and Carlos Tevez slotting in goals and world player of the year Lionel Messi supplying inspiration, passes and even leadership on the field, it was possible to ignore the holes in Maradona's defense and midfield. And not second-guess his decision to leave defender Javier Zanetti and midfielder Esteban Cambiasso at home.
Maradona's strategy, if it can be called that, was to outscore not shut out opponents. "Permanently on the attack" is how he lovingly described Argentina's style of play.
"We are here to give joy to the Argentines, to play as we like, in the way which makes us happy," he said.
What fun, but naive, too.
Maradona used enthusiasm to compensate for his inexperience as a coach. He smothered his players with hugs and kisses before and after games because he had little else to offer in terms of tactical wizardry. The instructions he barked in practice were of the "Come on! Look alive!" variety, not useful nuggets of strategic insight. He talked about the need for "sacrifice, blood and courage" from players, not about playing formations. His players, in turn, praised the value of his experience of having competed in four World Cups, not his game plans — if indeed there were any.
"Nobody ever told me where to play. So, I shouldn't have to tell Messi where to play either," Maradona said in the best example of his let-them-get-on-with-it approach.
He made no apologies for it. In fact, after three group stage wins, he was demanding apologies — "I'm not suggesting you drop your trousers, but it would be honest and great," he said — from critics who had predicted Argentina could only flop with the former cocaine addict in charge, and waste its best chance in years of winning the World Cup that Maradona lifted as a player in 1986.
The upside of Maradona hogging the limelight in South Africa with his large personality and entertaining and provocative news conferences was that he deflected attention from Messi and why the star forward wasn't scoring.
But the downside for Argentina was that Maradona failed, as he also did in World Cup qualifying, to make the most of Messi's goal-scoring abilities. Too often, Messi was stranded without the passes that help to make him such a match-winner for his club, Barcelona. That forced Messi to go hunting deep in the midfield himself for the ball.
Because of Argentina's defensive frailties and Maradona's lack of alternate plans B, C or D for when his A-plan — attack, attack, attack — failed to work, there was always the suspicion Argentina's exciting adventure could derail if its forwards couldn't score. Yet few suspected that Argentina and Maradona would be undressed quite so starkly as they were by Germany in the quarterfinals.
German manager Joachim Loew is his own greatest admirer. But it is also true that he thoroughly outthought Maradona, executing his game plan brilliantly — just as he did against the England side of Fabio Capello, a coach more experienced than Maradona. Messi's attacking runs broke against the rocks of dogged, organized German defending, while the Argentine defense and Javier Mascherano in midfield were overwhelmed by the speed of the Germans.
Most importantly, the Germans played as a well-oiled team, finding each other with just the right pass at just the right time. Argentina, in contrast, looked like talented individuals who just happened to be wearing the same blue and white striped jerseys. As the German goals mounted up, 1-0, 2-0, 3-0 and finally 4-0, it grew increasingly clear that Maradona had no answer. He looked so sad on the touchline.
This World Cup would not have been as much fun without Maradona, without the sight of him pacing up and down as though he were still out on the field kicking every ball, living every emotion.
But it was always too much to expect that he would be the same genius as a coach as he was as Argentina's greatest player.
John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester@ap.org.
Argentina returns home after World Cup elimination
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's national team returned home Sunday amid high security after an exit from the World Cup that many fans felt was humiliating and premature.
The Aerolineas Argentinas flight arrived from South Africa, where Germany ended Argentina's hopes with a convincing 4-0 victory on Saturday.
Police took extreme measures to prevent fans from reaching the capital's international airport. Customs and immigration officials processed the players and coaching staff at the plane, and a bus took them directly from the tarmac to the Argentine Football Association's nearby headquarters without passing through the airport building.
Police also blocked the access highway, allowing only passengers, flight crews and airport workers to pass within 2 miles of the airport.
Thousands of people gathered nevertheless along the highway and outside AFA headquarters, many with signs of support for coach Diego Maradona. Several of the players have asked Maradona to remain as coach of the national team despite their frustrated bid for World Cup glory.
Dunga fired as Brazil coach
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Dunga is out as coach of Brazil's national soccer team.
The coach and his staff were fired Sunday, two days after Brazil was beaten by the Netherlands in the World Cup quarterfinals.
The announcement was made by the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF). The decision was widely expected after the 2-1 loss to the Dutch. Brazil led 1-0 on Robinho's first-half goal, but allowed two goals and had a player sent off in a dismal second-half performance in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
"With the closing of the work cycle that started in August 2006 and ended with the elimination of Brazil from the World Cup in South Africa, the CBF announces the dismissal of the Technical Commission of the Brazilian team," the federation said in a statement.
A new coach will be appointed before the end of the month, CBF said.
Former Brazil player Mano Menezes, AC Milan coach Leonardo and Wanderley Luxemburgo are being mentioned as potential successors to Dunga.
Luiz Felipe Scolari, who coached Brazil to its fifth World Cup title in 2002, had been mentioned as a successor, but he has signed a two-year deal to be with the Brazilian club Palmeiras.
The new coach and his staff are likely to face several exhibition matches in the next few months and then the South American championship — the Copa America — in 2011 in Argentina.
Dunga returned to Brazil with the team early Sunday and was met with applause and cheering by fans in his native Porto Alegre in southern Brazil.
Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014 for the first time since 1950.
Brazil returns home after World Cup elimination
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil's national squad returned home Sunday to a friendly welcome despite its surprise elimination from the World Cup quarterfinals, although Felipe Melo was insulted by a few fans after being sent off in that match.
The team's chartered plane landed first in Rio de Janeiro, where players including goalkeeper Julio Cesar and defender Juan were warmly applauded. Julio Cesar was seen crying as he embraced his mother.
Felipe Melo appeared nervous as some fans shouted insults at him and told him "go home." He walked quickly to his father's vehicle and left the airport.
The midfielder was partially at fault for one goal and was later sent off as Brazil was eliminated Friday by a 2-1 loss to the Netherlands.
The plane then flew to Sao Paulo for other players to stay there or take connections elsewhere. Coach Dunga flew south to Porto Alegre.
Some fans also gathered at Sao Paulo airport but the players could not be seen as they left through side doors.
Brazil doctor: Kaka was not at 100 percent at World Cup
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil's team doctor says Kaka was not fully fit to play at the World Cup.
Jose Luis Runco told Brazilian media Sunday the playmaker never completely regained his best physical condition following a series of injuries ahead of the tournament in South Africa.
Runco told GloboEsporte.com and other local media after arriving in Brazil that "in a different situation Kaka wouldn't even play." He said the Real Madrid midfielder's physical fitness "was at about 85 percent."
The doctor praised Kaka's "dedication" and said he did "all he could" to perform well in the tournament.
Brazil was eliminated by the Netherlands 2-1 in the quarterfinals, and Kaka did not score a goal in the three matches he played.
FIFA yet to decide on action against Martino
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — FIFA has not taken action against Gerardo Martino following the Paraguay coach's comments about the ruling body's disciplinary code at the World Cup.
Martino said that the referee wrongly disallowed Nelson Valdez's 41st-minute goal in Saturday's 1-0 quarterfinal loss to Spain and made reference to FIFA's apologies to England and Mexico earlier in the tournament after errors contributed to their elimination.
"FIFA will apologize tomorrow and everything will be fine," Martino said sarcastically.
But FIFA spokesman Pekka Odriozola said Sunday that FIFA had received no report or complaint about the comments.
Paraguay was playing in its first ever World Cup quarterfinal.
Overall World Cup News
Report: SAfrican gov't agencies overspend on World Cup
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — Government agencies in South Africa have spent more than 110 million rand ($14.1 million) on World Cup tickets and related expenses, more than double the amount they had publicly admitted to spending, according to a newspaper report.
Eskom, the national power utility, spent about 12 million rand ($1.5 million) on football tickets for the tournament despite the threat of a strike from workers unhappy with their wages and housing allowances.
"They spent 17,000 rand ($2,200) per executive FIFA ticket," one employee who works in the finance department and has knowledge of the expenditures told The Associated Press. "The workers are incredibly emotional about managers getting enormous wage increases and housing allowances while they are seeing little of these benefits."
The person spoke on condition of anonymity because employees are not allowed to speak to the media.
Although the strike was averted Sunday, the National Union of Mineworkers, which represents about 16,000 of the Eskom staff, said employees were still upset with the amount of money spent on tickets.
"Only the executives and their wives and their children received tickets," NUM spokesman Lesiba Seshoka told The Sunday Times.
Seshoka said Eskom workers would get a 9 percent wage increase and a 1,500 rand ($190) minimum housing allowance for all employees.
"We will be taking up these two issues with Eskom to ensure that the workers are treated fairly in the future," Seshoka told the AP.
South African Airways is the biggest spender on World Cup tickets, spending 23 million rand ($2.95 million), according to The Sunday Times report. The national airline bought 1,749 tickets only two months before receiving a 1.6 billion rand ($2 billion) government bailout in December 2008.
Also, PetroSA and Transnet spent a combined 24 million rand ($3.1 million), and the Free State provincial government and the Mangaung municipality spent almost 22 million rand ($2.8 million).
According to the report, the total of 111.4 million rand ($14.3 million) could increase as more figures are released.
"It's the most selfish way of spending money and it is recklessness of the worst kind," said Zwelinzima Vavi, the general secretary of South Africa's biggest trade union federation, COSATU. "SAA is hardly recovering from disastrous years of bailouts from government. I don't think they are out of the woods yet, but they have the audacity to buy tickets."
SAA spokesman Fani Zulu said the airline gave out 1,633 tickets to tour operators, used another 20 tickets for staff, donated 28 to needy children and gave SAA sales teams and executives a further 68.
"SAA also used the hospitality packages to enhance its brand value, especially among tour operators, to enhance sales of flight tickets during the tournament," Zulu said.
Last month, the National Health and Allied Workers Union said that state entities, such as national broadcaster SABC, the South African post office and other government departments, should pay back more than 10 million rand ($1.3 million) that they have spent on World Cup tickets.
-- Mia Snyman
Football for Hope tournament starts in SAfrica
football tournament Sunday that brings together 32 teams of youngsters from disadvantaged communities worldwide.
Dubbed "Football for Hope," the tournament is taking place in the heart of Johannesburg's township of Alexandra, a maze of low-laying shacks spread on gently rolling dun-colored hills.
The tournament is an attempt to use and celebrate the power and popularity of football to enact social change by bringing together teams of boys and girls from all over the world, who are using the game to help their communities.
The participating teams received a rapturous welcome from the neighborhood kids and adults, who filled the makeshift stands and moved like a wave to the sound of music. Some climbed nearby roofs to catch a glimpse of the mini-spectacle.
Local dance groups, singers and other artists helped create a sense of celebration that the deprived townships like this rarely see. Only in 2008, anti-foreigner riots that started in this sprawling neighborhood left dozens killed, and displaced thousands.
Walking onto a makeshift field alongside FIFA president Sepp Blatter, Zuma told the roaring crowd of happy kids that they must remember that football is more than just a game.
"It teaches (us) important lessons, things that at times are not easy to accept," Zuma said. "To be happy when you win, but to be ready to accept defeat with a smile.
"This has been a wonderful tournament," Zuma said of the World Cup. "Now, toping it up is 'Football for Hope.'"
Ubiquitous vuvuzela's provided the backdrop, just like in the big game.
The five-a-side tournament pitting young boys and girls from the Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, Oceania and the Middle East is played without referees.
It consists of teams who back home use the sport to help those who are disadvantaged: from mine victims in Cambodia, those raising HIV/AIDS awareness in South Africa and Kenya to others who combat drugs and discrimination from Latin American to British streets.
-- Fisnik Abrashi
Australia WCup bid spending query
SYDNEY (AP) — Football Federation Australia has denied claims it misled the Australian government over the use of taxpayers money in its bid to host the 2022 World Cup.
The federation said it had opened its books to government investigators after Australian newspapers reported last week that two European lobbyists stood to earn more than A$11 million ($9 million) in fees and bonuses if Australia's 2022 bid succeeds.
Also, world governing body FIFA has said it will investigate claims that FFA spent more than A$50,000 ($42,500) on gifts to FIFA executive board members and their wives.
Last week's reports suggested FFA may have kept two sets of accounts detailing its use of more than A$45 million in taxpayer funds ($38.8 million) set aside by the government to support the Cup bid. One set of accounts was for internal use and the other, less specific, was for the government, the reports said.
Football Federation Australia in a statement Sunday rejected claims of dual account-keeping and said the government accepted the document which formed the basis of the newspaper reports was "a informal planning document."
FFA chief executive Ben Buckley said suggestions of dual accounting were "outrageous and defamatory" and could damage Australia's bid for the tournament.
"We are involved in an extremely sophisticated and competitive process where we are trying to bring the biggest sporting event in the world to Australia but we have always said that we would play by the rules," Buckley said.
"All of our operations are in line with FIFA guidelines and our financial reporting meets our obligations under the funding agreement with the government and any suggestion otherwise is completely wrong and the government has accepted that.
"The eyes of the football world are on this bidding process and any misleading suggestions and or implications have the potential to cause significant damage to the bid, FFA and Australia."
FIFA's executive committee will decide in December which nations will host the 2018 and 2002 World Cups.
The 2018 event is widely expected to go to Europe, leaving Australia in competition for 2002 with the United States, Japan, South Korea and Qatar.
Nigerian soccer execs fired
ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The Nigerian Football Federation fired its two leaders Sunday, trying to appease the West African nation's president.
In a statement, the federation's executive committee said it fired president Sani Lulu and vice president Amanze Ugbulam, as well as a member of the federation's technical committee. The statement said the committee wanted apologize to all Nigerians over the team's lackluster performance at the World Cup
That performance prompted Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan to suspend the national team from international competition for two years.
We "passionately appeal to the president ... to reconsider the earlier action of government to withdraw all the national football teams from CAF/FIFA competitions for two years," the statement read. The federation also promised "to take urgent steps to address the 'maladministration' of football in the country."
A spokesman for Jonathan announced Wednesday the team would be suspended for two years after Nigeria left the World Cup with just one point, earned in a 2-2 draw with South Korea in its last game. Nigeria lost to Argentina 1-0 in its Group B opener and fell to Greece 2-1 in a game turned by the first-half ejection of midfielder Sani Kaita.
The suspension also follows corruption allegations that plagued the team before the World Cup. Presidential spokesman Ima Niboro said Wednesday that all funds directed toward the Nigeria Football Federation would be examined and "all those found wanting will be sanctioned."
FIFA has said it will suspend Nigeria unless the country's government overturns its ban on the national team by Monday.
The Nigerians haven't won a World Cup match since 1998. They had two losses and a draw in 2002 and didn't qualify for the 2006 tournament.
The team, nicknamed Super Eagles by loyal supporters and Super Chickens by dissenters, faced almost countrywide criticism after finishing third in the African Cup of Nations earlier in the year. Nigeria fired coach Shaibu Amodu in February and hired Swedish coach Lars Lagerback only about four months before the World Cup.
-- Bashir Adigun
No news on whether Mandela will attend World Cup final
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — World Cup organizers say they have no news on whether Nelson Mandela will attend next weekend's final at Soccer City.
Mandela was prominent at the 1995 Rugby World Cup but the 91-year-old former president has kept a low profile during the monthlong football equivalent.
Mandela was expected to attend the opening match on June 11 but made a late decision not to go following the death of his great granddaughter in a car accident on the eve of the game.
Organizing committee spokesman Rich Mkhondo said Sunday that Mandela has "an open invitation to attend any matches he wants to attend ... If he comes, we will be very happy. If he does not, we will understand."
The final is scheduled for July 11.
Other Soccer Capsules
Cristiano Ronaldo says he has a son
MADRID (AP) — Cristiano Ronaldo has become a father, his website said Sunday, although the mother's identity is being kept a secret.
The Real Madrid winger and Portugal captain said "it is with great joy and emotion that I inform I have recently become father to a baby boy. As agreed with the baby's mother, who prefers to have her identity kept confidential, my son will be under my exclusive guardianship."
No date for the birth was given.
The 25-year-old Ronaldo is not married, however since his signing by Madrid was announced he has often been photographed in the company of women.
"I request everyone to fully respect my right to privacy (and that of the child) at least on issues as personal as these are," he said.
Calls and e-mails to Gestifute, the offices of Ronaldo's agent Jorge Mendes, in Lisbon and Porto were not immediately answered.
Portugal was knocked out of the World Cup by Spain and Ronaldo had a disappointing tournament.
The announcement also appeared on Ronaldo's Facebook and Twitter sites.
Portuguese newspaper Correio da Manha reported on its Website on Sunday that Ronaldo's mother, Dolores, and his sisters Elma and Katia, were dealing with the paperwork necessary to bring the child to Portugal.
The paper reported that the baby's mother is an American national and gave birth to Ronaldo's son in early June.
During 2009 Ronaldo spent time in homes the player had in Los Angeles and Miami, the paper said.
"Gestifute confirms the veracity of Ronaldo's statement," Correio da Manha said.
-- Guy Hedgecoe
Dubai club Al Ahli signs David O'Leary as coach
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Dubai club Al Ahli said Sunday it had hired former Leeds and Aston Villa manager David O'Leary as its new coach.
The signing of former Ireland and Arsenal defender O'Leary came just weeks after Al Ahli agreed a two-year deal with former Juventus and Italy captain Fabio Cannavaro.
Al Ahli sporting director Mark Bell told The Associated Press that O'Leary has signed a contract to coach the club, and said further details would be released in a formal announcement later this week.
O'Leary, who couldn't immediately be reached for comment, has kept a low profile since being let go by Aston Villa in 2006.
He emerged as a contender to take over at Newcastle on a temporary basis in 2008 following the departure of Kevin Keegan, but turned the job down.
Word of O'Leary's appointment came as Al Ahli announced that Cannavaro will be the club's captain for the upcoming season.
Al Ahli said it hired the 36-year-old defender to improve its chances of winning more trophies, developing local talent and gaining new fans.
Cannavaro said he was looking forward to starting training with his new club. He announced his international retirement last month, following Italy's early exit from the World Cup.
"I have met my new teammates and am impressed by the direction the club is taking. Our first goal is simple: Win games," he said.
-- Adam Schreck
Rini Coolen to coach Adelaide
ADELAIDE, Australia (AP) — Rini Coolen, former coach of Dutch club FC Twente, has been appointed coach of Adelaide United in Australia's A-League on a two-year contract.
Coolen, 43, was chosen Monday from 60 applicants to replace Aurelio Vidmar who has become assistant coach of the Australian national team. The former Dutch professional won the role ahead of Vidmar's longtime assistant Phil Stubbins.
Coolen acted as a scout for national coach Pim Verbeek during Australia's World Cup qualifying campaign and favored a Dutch style of play with an emphasis on organization and technique.
Reports: Bojinov's move to Parma completed
PARMA, Italy (AP) — Italian news reports say that Parma has reached an agreement with Premier League team Manchester City for the signing of Valeri Bojinov.
The Bulgaria striker spent last season on loan at Parma, which finished 8th in Serie A.
Parma president Tommaso Ghirardi was quoted as saying "we have found an agreement with Manchester City," according to the Gazzetta di Parma, with more details at a press conference on Wednesday.
