TURKISH FOOTBALL(SOCCER) FEDERATION HAS A NEW PRESIDENT

The Turkish Football(SOCCER) Federation General Assembly elected Tuesday Mahmut Ozgener as the new federation president for the next period.

Ozgener who was the sole candidate in the elections, received 202 of the votes.

Speaking after the election, Özgener said he would not disappoint the people who put their trust in him and promised to strive for success of Turkish football.

Following the sudden death of former TFF President Hasan Do?an, Özgener was nominated with signatures of 173 delegates.

Former TFF President Do?an died of a heart attack in Bodrum town of Mu?la province in July.

The post of the federation presidency has been vacant since Hasan Do?an died from a heart attack on July 5.

Source: Turkish Wires

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Spartak Moscow v Dynamo Kyiv preview

In what is surely one of the most exciting of Champions League qualifying matches tomorrow, Dynamo Kyiv return to Moscow to face Spartak Moscow. Prior to the break-up of the Soviet Union, Spartak and Dynamo Kyiv were the two most successful clubs in the country and while they haven’t met in thirteen years, the rivalry is far from dead. FC Dynamo Kyiv President Ihor Surkis put it best: “We have to beat Spartak. The players have to understand that and give all they have to win.”

The last week has been a turbulent period for Spartak with Valeri Karpin assuming the duties of general director and long-time cornerstones of the club Yegor Titov and Maxym Kalynychenko moved out. However while it has been a bit of a stumbling period, they will be looking to go on the attack against their old nemesis. Both squads come in from weekend draws, Spartak’s 1-1 against Khimki and Dynamo Kyiv 2-2 against Vorskla Poltava and unquestionably had an eye towards this historic match-up.

While the lineups have not been announced I am expecting Dynamo Kyiv to come out with a very attacking 4-3-3 with Miloš Ninkovi?, Tiberiu Ghioane and Ognjen Vukojevi? in the mid-field and a striking trio of Oleksandr Aliyev, Maksim Shatskikh, and Artem Milevskyy up-front. Spartak will throw forward a very aggressive attack with Mozart and Vladimir Bystrov pushing forward from the midfield to sharpshooter Roman Pavluchenko and a rising star in the game, Nikita Bazhenov, at Striker. Interesting to note Dyiv will start Olexandr Shovkovskiy at ‘keeper who played the last time the clubs met.

There are a host of great matches tomorrow but one of the most exciting rivalries is Spartak Moscow versus Dynamo Kyiv. I will provide a full report after the match.

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Messi Scores One and Makes One in Opening Olympic Game

Doesn’t matter what Barcelona wants or what the Court of Arbitration for Sport says. Leo Messi played for Argentina against Cote d’Ivoire in the 2008 Olympics this morning and scored the opening goal (above).

Cote d’Ivoire equalized through Cisse, but in the 86th minute Messi (again) burst down the left and squared for Lautaro Acosta to score the winner.

Who knows if Barcelona will try and call Messi back for the Champions League Third Qualifying Round game next week now? But the little man has already made his mark on the 2008 Olympics.

UPDATE: Barcelona have struck a deal with the Argentinian Football Association to allow Messi to play in the Olympics:
1) If Messi get injured in China, the AFA will cover his salary and
2) Messi won’t be called up for any Argentina friendlies this season.

Here’s what Barcelona Sports Director Txiki Begiristain had to say:

“We took the decision last night before we flew back from New York to Barcelona after hearing the decision from CAS. Messi will play the Olympics.
“We spoke to the player first of all and with our coach Pep Guardiola.
“We have an agreement that there is an insurance that will cover the whole of the player’s salary if he is injured.
“We also have the word of the Argentina Football Association president that he will be released from having to play friendlies for the whole of the season.
“We wanted the player to be happy and he is.”

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Why Barcelona should let Messi stay in China

Spanish clubs are often cast as villains in South America. One minute they are refusing to release players to play for their respective national teams, the next they are accused of exploiting loopholes in transfer regulations to poach young talent without paying a penny.

Earlier this year, Vasco da Gama angrily accused Real Madrid of trying to make an offer to 15-year-old Philippe Coutinho behind their back. The club said that Real had offered a job to the player’s father and the chance to live abroad.

“They try to get around the law by taking those responsible for the player to live and work abroad,” said Eurico Miranda, club president at the time. “They offer a job to the father and take the player. But they’re not doing that here at Vasco.”

Last year, River Plate president Jose Maria Aguilar said FIFA’s rule that players could not be transferred internationally until they reached the age of 18 was routinely being broken.

“The way it happens is a club from a Spanish city contracts a woman to cook and by coincidence she has a 14-year-old football genius son,” he told Reuters in an interview. “They are stealing our players.”

Real Madrid also upset the Brazilian national team by refusing to release Robinho for Brazil’s pre-Copa America training camp last year even though FIFA’s international calendar was on the side of the South Americans.

The latest rift has involved Barcelona and Argentina striker Lionel Messi. Argentina picked Messi for their Olympic team, believing they were supported by FIFA’s rule obliging clubs to release under-23 players for the tournament.

Barcelona initially refused and took him off to a pre-season training camp in Scotland. Eventually, they allowed him to join Argentina in China, but appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against the FIFA ruling. CAS has now ruled in Barcelona’s favour.

Winning an Olympic gold is almost as prestigious as the World Cup for South American footballers. Messi has made it clear that he wants to play for his country and it certainly seems more appealing than facing Wisla Krakow in a Champions League preliminary round, which Barcelona should be able to stroll through in any case.

Barcelona have made their point and won their case. If they drag Messi all the way back to Europe, he is hardly likely to be in the best of motivation or physical shape and they are guaranteed to win themselves a reputation for being spoilsports.

Letting him stay in China would be a much-needed public relations coup for them and Spanish clubs in general.

PHOTO: Messi in training at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Shanghai, August 6, 2008. REUTERS/Aly Song

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REAL MADRID NEWS 2008: CRISTIANO RONALDO TO STAY AT MANCHESTER UNITED - AT LEAST ONE MORE SEASON

It´s the news NEWS FLASH of this evening. MANCHESTER UNITED
Portugues star CRISTIANO RONALDO has announced on Portugues
daily “PUBLICO” web site, that he will stay at Manchester United this
season, in an exclusive interview.

The player however repeats his wishes to play at REAL MADRID,
which raises speculation that a “behind the scenes” deal has been
done between both Clubs & player. The deal has been rumoured to
be that Ronaldo will play one more year at Manchester before begin -
promised - transferred to Real for next season.

You may think that this is confusing & its a contradiction with previous
statements, however it closely follows yesterdays comments from coach
Ferguson that the “Cristiano saga” had ended & that he would stay at
Manchester. It also follows comments yesterday by Real Madrid
President Calderon that the Van der Vaart signning may well be the
first & last signning for Real Madrid this season.

Football is full of distorted messages & changes quickly, this maybe the
case,but right now at this moment it looks definately like Cristiano
Ronaldo has “thrown in the towel” & accepted a compromise: just one
more season, please!
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