Soccer Capsules: Monterrey keeper Ortiz tests positive
MEXICO CITY — Omar Ortiz, the back-up goalkeeper for Mexican club Monterrey, was suspended by the Mexican football federation Friday after testing positive for banned steroids.
The Mexican federation said it was giving Ortiz a provisional suspension for a positive test on March 6 following a match against Pachuca. It did not offer more details on the suspension.
The federation said the 34-year-old tested positive for the steroids dromostanolone and oxymetholone. In a statement, Ortiz said he did not know the substances were prohibited.
"It's a difficult situation," Ortiz said. "I didn't do it with any bad intentions. These are two substances they recommended to me and at no time did I think it would be harmful."
Ortiz said he took the substances to stay in the best shape possible.
"I always like to stay in condition, and so I go to the gym regularly to train," he said. "These supplements were to help me feel better, but without giving me an advantage. This really hurts what is happening. I didn't do it to give myself any advantage."
U.S. Soccer
Forward Salou Ibrahim signs with Red Bulls
CARSON, Calif. — Salou Ibrahim, a forward from Ghana who turns 31 next month, has signed with Major League Soccer's New York Red Bulls.
Salou, who played on trial in last month's exhibition win over Brazil's Santos, will be available for Saturday's game at Chivas USA, when New York tries for the first 3-0 MLS start in team history.
He has played for Germany's Wandsbek 81 (1998-99) and Duisburg (2008-09); Belgium's Turnhout (2000-04), Kortrijk (2004-05), Zulte-Waregem (2005-06) and Brugge (2006-08); and Denmark's Vejle (2009-10).
To clear a roster spot, New York waived midfielder Ernst Oebster, who played in three games after he was signed last July from sister club Red Bull Salzburg in Austria.
Red Bulls and Continental Airlines join forces
NEWARK, N.J. — Continental Airlines has signed a deal to be an official sponsor of the New York Red Bulls and Red Bull Arena, the 25,000-seat stadium the team opened last month in Harrison, N.J.
Red Bulls managing director Erik Stover said on Friday that "we expect that this will be the beginning of a long-lasting relationship."
Stover said the deal includes traditional sponsorship elements, as well as joint marketing promotions and access to Red Bull events made available to OnePass members on Continental’s OnePass Auction Web site.
DC United signs injured goalkeeper Andrew Quinn
WASHINGTON — D.C. United has signed Andrew Quinn to a developmental contract, one day after the 22-year-old goalkeeper had knee surgery.
The former Notre Dame goalkeeper, who is from Silver Spring, Md., was on trial with D.C. United this spring and tore a meniscus during practice on Wednesday. Following surgery by Dr. Chris Annnunziata, D.C. United said Quinn will be sidelined for five months.
"Andrew earned a spot on our roster with his play while on trial this preseason," general manager Dave Kasper said Friday. "Despite his recent injury, we’re confident in a full recovery and excited for his long-term development."
World Cup
500,000 WCup tickets unsold, empty stadiums loom
JOHANNESBURG — World Cup organizers say 500,000 tickets are unsold and fear "tragic" empty stadiums at soccer’s showcase event.
FIFA said Friday the tickets would go on sale over the counter to the general public in South Africa from April 15. Organizers will then have less than two months to sell nearly a quarter of the tournament’s total match tickets to avoid empty seats.
"I think that today there is one challenge that we definitely have to work on," FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke told The Associated Press. "It’s to make sure all the stadiums are full and that we are selling all these tickets."
Organizers conceded their initial online process was not suited to local fans, who are generally poor, do not have credit cards and are not used to buying tickets on the Internet.
Valcke said "There is always time to learn", while organizing committee chief Danny Jordaan said it would be "tragic" for the host country if stadiums were empty.
"If we do have empty stadiums, it will reinforce the idea that football is not supported in the country and that would be tragic," Jordaan said.
"The reality is that this is a football-mad country."
Sales have not reflected that. Jordaan urged fans to "go buy now" at the 11 World Cup ticketing centers and at supermarkets and banks.
In Soweto to unveil the official match ticket, with its unique barcodes to avoid forging and combat black market selling, tournament organizers could not avoid the biggest problem with the tickets: not enough people are buying them.
FIFA said 2.2 million tickets had been sold ahead of the fifth and final sales phase. Fans in the host country had bought 925,437, followed by the United States with 118,945.
But just 67,654 World Cup tickets have been sold in the UK, less than the number of fans who typically attend a Manchester United home game. Germany has only purchased 32,269.
And FIFA did not say exactly how many of the 500,000 tickets still to go were returned from commercial partners and affiliates. Football’s governing body only said it was "a significant number."
The global economic climate and safety fears in South Africa may have played a part in the disappointing foreign sales, but FIFA admitted it had made mistakes with local fans.
"Yes, definitely, the approach at the beginning by using Internet and by using computers was not the most friendly system for the South Africans," Valcke said.
So 120,000 category four tickets, the cheapest and reserved exclusively for South Africans, are still to be sold.
South Africans are being asked to pay $19 for a group game, not including the tournament opener. To watch South Africa play Mexico in the opener a local supporter will have to pay $67.
Soccer fans in the country rarely pay more than $2 for a ticket to watch a local game.
The average monthly income in South Africa is estimated at just over $372.
Valcke said FIFA would consider opening the category four tickets to neighboring African countries if they did not sell.
Organizers said the "positive" interest from U.S. fans was triggered by the country’s performances at last year’s Confederations Cup in South Africa. "After that the interest (in the United States) skyrocketed," Jordaan said.
But FIFA said it had seen "disappointing" sales in Europe.
"Maybe we are getting too much (soccer)," Valcke said of European fans. "We are getting whatever we want. We have football matches every day. Either the Champions League or the Europa League or the club league or the cups."
-- Gerald Imray
NKorea soccer star backs SKorea WCup bid
SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea’s national team star is enthusiastic about South Korea’s bid to host the 2022 World Cup and the possibility of promoting peace if some games are held north of the 38th parallel.
Striker Jong Tae Se, who plays for Kawasaki Frontale in Japan’s J-League, is known to fans as "The People’s Rooney" — a nod to England striker Wayne Rooney.
North Korea is preparing for its first appearance at the World Cup since 1966.
"It may not be easy politically to be united, but sport can make people united and can contribute to world peace, peace in East Asia and peace on the Korean peninsula," Jong told The Associated Press on Friday. "As a national team player of North Korea, I support the bid of South Korea for the 2022 World Cup."
Jong was born and raised in Japan but educated in the North Korean system and holds a North Korean passport. He believes that hosting the tournament would contribute to peace if, as has been suggested by the bidding committee, two or three games could be held in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang.
Jong is a popular player in the South and has appeared in television commercials along with South Korea’s Manchester United star Park Ji-sung.
The United States, Australia, England, Japan and Russia have applied to host either the 2018 or 2022 World Cup, along with joint bids by Spain-Portugal and Netherlands-Belgium. Qatar and South Korea are bidding only for 2022.
"If some World Cup matches could be held in Pyongyang, then it would be an historic occasion," Jong said. "It is beyond our wildest dreams and I would be happy and all Korean people would be happy."
The two winning bids will be chosen by FIFA, the soccer world governing body, on Dec. 2.
South Korea co-hosted the 2002 tournament with Japan and reached the semifinal.
-- John Duerden
FIFA: World Cup terrorist threat made
JOHANNESBURG — A FIFA executive says a terrorist threat has been made on the World Cup.
Secretary general Jerome Valcke commented Friday on an online magazine article that said "how beautiful" it would be if a bomb exploded at the U.S.-England game June 12 in the South African city of Rustenburg.
Valcke says World Cup organizers are working at the "highest level of security."
The comments appeared to come from a contributor to a militant online magazine called "Yearners for Paradise," not the usual sites used by al-Qaida and other groups to make threats. In the article, the author says he is not a spokesman for al-Qaida.
Zimbabwe hoping to attract more World Cup teams
HARARE, Zimbabwe — Zimbabwe says it is trying to "lure" national football teams from Brazil, Chile and Mexico for a pre-World Cup visit. Tourism minister Walter Mzembi says the countries, including five-time World Cup winner Brazil, had been asked to train in Zimbabwe.
Mzembi confirmed earlier this week that North Korea's national team will visit. He said Thursday the squad would be in Zimbabwe from May 22-31 and the troubled African country, which borders South Africa, would use the visit to "brand Zimbabwe."
Mzembi said Zimbabwe "did not get a positive response" to requests for the United States, England and Australia to stop off on the way to the World Cup. He said Zimbabwe had given up on convincing them.
Chilean President hoping for Brazil-Chile final
BRASILIA, Brazil — Chilean President Sebastian Pinera is hoping for a Brazil-Chile final in the upcoming World Cup.
Pinera was in Brazil on Friday and, in a meeting with his Brazilian counterpart Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said he hoped the two would meet again soon — on July 11 when the World Cup final is played in Johannesburg.
Pinera is probably too optimistic. Chile has never won the World Cup and is appearing at the event for the first time since 1998. Brazil has won five times and is the pre-tournament favorite along with European champion Spain.
"I hope the next time we meet it will be in South Africa and it could be a Brazil-Chile final," said Pinera, who is an investor in the popular Chilean club Colo Colo. "That would be historic."
"I want to remind you," Pinera said to Silva. "You have won it five times and Chile also aspires to win it."
Commentary: Soccer's silly season is in full swing
PARIS — What a fabulously rich week of soccer silliness. The sore loser prize, yet again, goes to Alex Ferguson.
"Typical Germans," the Manchester United manager fumed after one of the most delectable volleyed goals from Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben blew down the house of cards that Ferguson's once dominant squad risks becoming. It must be dawning on Ferguson by now that having Wayne Rooney alone does not make a winning team.
His World War II-era rant was directed at Bayern players he blamed for the 50th-minute sending-off of Rafael da Silva. "They got him sent off, everyone sprinted towards the referee," he said, as if his players would never, ever, do exactly the same thing given half a chance.
Typical Ferguson. Decades of success at United have earned him the right to do, if not see, things his own way. But the truth is that only one of the Bayern players, midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, who badgered referee Nicola Rizzoli was German. The others — Franck Ribery, Ivica Olic and Mark van Bommel — are French, Croatian and Dutch.
Had Ferguson plugged the weaknesses in his squad as quickly as he finds someone other than himself or his players to blame for their defeats, then United would likely still be defending the battered honor of English clubs in the Champions League, rather than staring at the prospect of a season with only the League Cup in the trophy cabinet.
Until the fullback's inexperience betrayed him, Rafael played well, hounding Ribery out of the picture. It was a big gamble for Ferguson to throw the 19-year-old Brazilian into such an important match against such seasoned opponents. Rafael might have better handled the high pressure had Ferguson played him more often, instead of 35-year-old Gary Neville.
Just as Arsenal's Arsene Wenger has placed too much faith in youth, part of Ferguson's undoing this season has been his slowness to pension off old-timers. The seeds of United's Champions League quarterfinal exit were planted by the jaded side he fielded for the first leg in Munich, where it tamely lost 2-1. Neville and Paul Scholes, also 35, both showed their age.
Besides, "typical" German, French or whatever means little or nothing now in a sport transformed in the 15 years since the European Court of Justice outlawed quota restrictions on European players. Can Arsenal's gritty 2-2 first-leg recovery against FC Barcelona be called "typically English" when there wasn't a single Englishman in Wenger's starting 11?
A question which leads us to this week's silliness prize. That goes to all those who huffed and puffed that English clubs are now in decline because none of them reached the Champions League final four for the first time since 2003.
That conclusion is flawed partly because it is based on a mistaken perception that English clubs were previously dominant. They weren't. They've been European club champions just three times in the past two decades (United in 1999 and 2008, and Liverpool in 2005). Real Madrid and Barcelona together won six times over that period, AC Milan won four times, and was a losing finalist another three times.
Bayern president Uli Hoeness, gloating after the defeat of United, was right in his assessment that English clubs have felt the squeeze of the global financial crisis, tax hikes and the weakened British pound. But United, which this week announced the recruitment of Mexican striker Javier Hernandez, as well as Arsenal, Chelsea and newly wealthy Manchester City still have plenty of spending power. And the Premier League will be heavily represented by its players at the World Cup this June and July.
A Champions League final four from Italy, France, Germany and Spain is a slight swing of the pendulum away from the Premier League but nothing more. Hoeness' prediction, reported in London newspapers, that "English football will not play the same role as before" was wildly optimistic. One could almost picture Ferguson reaching again for his phrase book of typically German insults.
Finally, this week's prize for self-confidence goes to Real Madrid players for believing that they will beat Barcelona in their Spanish league "clasico" this Saturday and for claiming that their superstar Cristiano Ronaldo is at least as good with a soccer ball as god, a.k.a Barca's Lionel Messi.
As anyone who saw Messi's single-handed, four-goal destruction of Arsenal this week can attest, such comparisons are truly foolish.
John Leicester is an international sports columnist for The Associated Press. Write to him at jleicester@ap.org.
League News
Ancelotti, O'Neill facing very different problems
LONDON — Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti and Aston Villa's Martin O'Neill face very different selection problems ahead of their teams' meeting in the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday.
O'Neill is hoping central defender Richard Dunne and midfield lynchpin James Milner recover from Achilles' problems to play at Wembley, while Ancelotti has too many in-form players to fit into Chelsea's attack.
With leading scorer Didier Drogba set to start up front, Ancelotti has Joe Cole, Nicolas Anelka, Salomon Kalou and Florent Malouda all available for the two wide positions.
Premier League leader Chelsea beat Villa 7-1 two weeks ago, and that was with first-choice central defender Dunne in Villa's lineup.
That result severely dented the Midlanders' chances of qualifying for European competition and improved Chelsea's goal difference in the fight with Manchester United and Arsenal for the Premier League title.
But Ancelotti is taking nothing for granted.
"Martin O'Neill is a very good psychologist and a very good coach and they will play differently," Ancelotti said. "We must forget that last game. We played very well but Saturday will be different."
Villa only trailed 2-1 at halftime at Stamford Bridge following a 44th-minute penalty and the score was skewed by four goals in the last 28 minutes as the visitors tired.
"We conceded a couple of poor goals in the last half-hour of the game when it was effectively over," O'Neill said. "It put a damning light on things.
"There is no question that for a few days we were all pretty despondent after the Chelsea match. But the great thing about it is you get a chance pretty quickly to put things right."
Dunne pulled out of training Thursday but Milner should start after he was rested for last weekend's 1-0 win at Bolton.
"He feels a lot better and that is very encouraging," O'Neill said. "It was last week that he was feeling a bit sore so we thought we would rest him up for the game at the Reebok Stadium.
"So those extra couple of days that he got, and the missing out of the game against Bolton, has stood him in good stead."
The Villa players have already lost one final this season and are anxious to make it to another and win the club's first trophy since 1996.
Villa led Manchester United in February's League Cup final before losing 2-1.
"The FA Cup itself has enough magic attached to it that to be contesting the semifinal, with the chance of getting to Wembley for the third time in the season, is incentive enough for us," O'Neill said.
But while Villa is struggling with injuries, Chelsea has already shown how it can play without key players.
Drogba, who scored in last year's 2-1 final win over Everton and has 31 goals this season, was left on the bench for the team's Premier League meeting but Frank Lampard struck four goals and Malouda added two.
Tottenham and Portsmouth meet in the second semifinal on Sunday, with Portsmouth hoping to set up a shot at becoming the first club to win the cup and get relegated in the same season.
Middlesbrough reached the final in 1997 when it was demoted and, like Portsmouth, went down partly because of a points deduction.
Pompey is bottom of the Premier League and on the verge of relegation after its financial problems incurred the deduction of nine points.
Portsmouth's 2008 FA Cup title was its first in 58 years and anticipated by only the most optimistic fans. A repeat would be near miraculous after the small south coast club sold most of its top players in an attempt to pay off huge debts.
With Portsmouth having lost twice to Spurs this season before being hit by its current rash of injuries and suspensions, Tottenham's biggest problem as it aims for a first FA Cup final since 1991 may be complacency.
"We can't relax on the pitch and think that we'll win anyway," Tottenham midfielder Luka Modric said. "That's not the way we need to think about this game.
"We know they can cause us problems if we don't play well and if we're not 100 percent. We know we are favorites but we have to go out there and win."
Tottenham could be lifted by the return of winger Aaron Lennon from more than three months out injured. He returned to training this week.
In the Premier League on Saturday, Hull hosts Burnley and West Ham hosts Sunderland.
On Sunday, Manchester United will again be without the injured Wayne Rooney as it tried to retake top spot with victory at Blackburn, while Liverpool hosts Fulham, Manchester City hosts Birmingham and Wolverhampton Wanderers hosts Stoke.
West Bromwich Albion can join Newcastle in clinching promotion to the Premier League if it wins at Doncaster in the League Championship on Saturday.
It would be the second-place Baggies' fourth promotion in nine years.
-- Stuart Condie
Madrid, Barcelona without key players for match
MADRID — Both Real Madrid and Barcelona will be missing key players for Saturday's match between the Spanish league leaders.
Madrid will be without Brazil playmaker Kaka, and Barcelona will be missing striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Kaka is still hampered by a groin injury while Ibrahimovic has failed to recover from a calf problem.
Both clubs have 77 points with eight games left to play.
Real Madrid coach Manuel Pellegrini has called on his team to show no fear as it looks to overturn a three-game losing streak against the defending champions.
"I consider Barcelona a very good team but I've never been afraid of anybody," the Chilean coach said. "A draw is always a bad result for my team. We've never speculated over a result and even less so at the Bernabeu where we still haven't lost. We've always gone out to attack our rival from the start and on this occasion it won't be any different."
If the teams draw and go on to finish the season tied on points, Barcelona would win the championship with a better head-to-head record due to a 1-0 win against Madrid in December.
Madrid is enjoying a 12-game winning streak and hasn't lost in 15 league games at the Bernabeu. But Barcelona has Lionel Messi, who is coming off a four-goal performance against Arsenal that put the team into the Champions League semifinals for the third straight year.
"The game won't be dependent on what Messi does," Pellegrini said. "Every player has an extra motivation when two such important teams meet in a match that transcends so much.
Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola wants his team to be "bold," while cautioning that last year's record 6-2 victory would be impossible to repeat.
"We have to get back to showing that we're capable of demonstrating and that we're worthy of being Spanish champions again," Guardiola said.
Guardiola, who has won all three games as coach against Madrid, will be missing left back Eric Abidal to a thigh injury, but can at least count on the return of center back Gerard Pique.
"I again want to finish the game with a very good feeling. The image we give is very important," Guardiola said. "Doing things a certain way has gotten us very far and now, more than ever, we have to do them again."
Moenchengladbach beats Frankfurt 2-0 in Bundesliga
FRANKFURT — Borussia Moenchengladbach ended Eintracht Frankfurt's three-game winning streak with a 2-0 victory Friday in the Bundesliga.
Marco Reus scored with a header in the sixth minute. Michael Bradley played a through ball to Raul Bobadilla, who chipped it over goalkeeper Oka Nikolov and Reus finished the move from close range.
Defender Dante rose above Frankfurt's defense to also score with a header in in the 56th.
The win ended Moenchengladbach's already fading relegation worries.
Elsewhere
Rooney to miss Man United match against Blackburn
MANCHESTER, England — Wayne Rooney will miss Manchester United's Premier League match against Blackburn on Sunday because of his ankle injury.
The England striker limped out of Wednesday's Champions League elimination to Bayern Munich in the 55th minute after aggravating the ankle problem he sustained eight days earlier.
Rooney damaged ankle ligaments in the 2-1 first leg loss in Munich and sat out the weekend Premier League loss to Chelsea before returning for the second leg of the Champions League quarterfinals.
Manager Alex Ferguson now hopes to have Rooney ready to face rival Manchester City on April 17.
"I don't think it's as serious as we said when he got the injury the first time, but I think he'll be ready for the City game," Ferguson said Friday. "We've got more time to work on it, anyway. Other than that, everyone else is fit."
The absence of Rooney, who has 34 goals this season, is likely to be just one of several changes to United's lineup as Ferguson tries to keep players fresh for the last few games of the season.
Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Gary Neville and John O'Shea could all come into the team.
"Given the nature of the game on Wednesday and the energy spent, we have to address the situation of freshness," Ferguson said. "We've got a a squad to use.
"Hopefully we can get the energy back in the team. If we do that we'll be all right."
Portsmouth appoints Lampitt as chief executive
PORTSMOUTH, England — Portsmouth appointed Football Association head of football integrity David Lampitt as its new chief executive Friday.
Lampitt will replace Peter Storrie at the Premier League's last-place club. Storrie resigned last month after becoming the target for fans' anger over the club's financial problems.
Portsmouth has sold almost all its top players to pay off huge debts and is on the verge of relegation after its poor finances incurred a nine-point penalty.
Lampitt joined the FA in 2003 and was involved in the regulation of agents and transfers.
"It is a great tribute to him that one of our oldest and most famous clubs should look to his expertise and personal character to bring it through a time of great difficulty," FA chairman David Triesman said. "Portsmouth's fans should take comfort in a wise long-sighted appointment and I wish David every success."
Lampitt is a qualified accountant and a member of UEFA's Club Licensing Committee. The body sets the governance criteria that teams must meet to enter European competitions.
Liverpool goalkeeper Reina signs 6-year contract
LIVERPOOL, England — Liverpool goalkeeper Pepe Reina signed a six-year contract Friday to extend his stay with the Premier League club.
The 27-year-old Spaniard joined Liverpool from Villarreal in 2005 and will be only three years short of club legend Ray Clemence's 14 seasons with the team if he stays until the end of his new agreement.
"It's probably the best news of my life that I'll be here for the next six years," Reina said. "Me and my family are really happy here."
Reina said that his children have started to speak with the northwest city's distinctive local accent.
"My kids enjoy it and they have picked up the scouse accent already," Reina said. "I am really proud of that."
Reina has played 177 Premier League matches for Liverpool and is set for inclusion in Spain's World Cup squad as backup to Real Madrid goalkeeper Iker Casillas. The club is out of contention for the title this season but has reached the Europa League semifinals.
Spain’s soccer players call strike over wages
MADRID — Spain’s soccer players association says it has called a strike over unpaid wages which will halt matches in the country’s top four leagues between April 16-19.
A spokesman for the players association told The Associated Press by telephone that the group is willing to continue talks with the Spanish federation and that a meeting has been set for Monday.
The pay disputes apply mainly to players in the lower tiers. The AFE says a majority of players supported the general strike, which would not affect "training sessions and technical activities."
If the strike goes ahead, it will disrupt 10 matches in the top division’s 33rd round of games, including Real Madrid vs. Valencia and Espanyol vs. Barcelona.
Alves resigns as Boca Juniors coach
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Abel Alves has resigned as Boca Juniors coach following a loss that dropped one of Argentina’s most popular clubs into 19th place in the 20-team Clausura tournament.
The move comes following a 3-0 loss to Colon.
Boca confirmed Alves’ resignation Friday. He is the third Boca coach in less than a year to leave the club.
Alves was the reserve-team coach when he took over in January after Alfio Basile quit following a loss to River Plate. Basile took over for Carlos Ischia, who left 10 months ago after Boca was knocked out of the final 16 of the Copa Libertadores.
Pedro Junior heading back to Brazil
OSAKA, Japan — Gamba Osaka striker Pedro Junior is moving to Brazil's Sport Recife on loan, the J-League club said Friday.
The Brazilian served a two-match ban for throwing his shirt down in protest at being substituted in a 0-0 draw with Albirex Niigata on March 20. Gamba manager Akira Nishino ruled Pedro Junior out of his plans following the incident.
The 23-year-old has scored 15 goals in 45 matches in the J-League first division since 2007.
