A round-up of other soccer news in brief...
Calling for the culprit
ONE HAS to feel for the unfortunate Liverpool supporter whose ill-judged decision to bat a beachball in the direction of Pepe Reina’s goal resulted in Darren Bent’s shot deflecting off it and into the back of the net for the Sunderland winner on Saturday.
His face was a picture of regret afterwards and he is unlikely to be showing it in public anytime soon.
That's unless the Sunhas its way, however, and it appears determined to name and shame him on its pages.
“We want to talk to the mystery beach ball thrower. Do you know or recognise the lad? Give our newsdesk a call . . , an appeal read yesterday.
Now, the last thing you want to do if you've already angered your fellow Liverpool fans, is tell – or worse, sell – your story to the Sun.
Quotes of the week
“Dunphy, he should know better by now. He’s a skinny rat, a skinny little rat.”
– Ireland international and Hull winger Stephen Hunt responds to Eamon Dunphy’s description of Ireland’s 2-2 draw with Italy as “shameful”.
“One word was taken out of a 20-minute conversation, the word ‘shameful’. It’s not an appropriate word to use for the performance; what I was referring to was Andy Reid’s omission from the squad.”
– Dunphy takes a rare step back
“Technically Andy (Reid) is one of the best Irish players but there are other qualities. When he has the ball he is perfect. But how many times do we have the ball.”
– Giovanni Trapattoni explaining why the “perfect” Andy Reid has no place in a team that can’t keep the ball. We know.
I’m not sure what I should be apologising for, so certainly I won’t be doing that.”
– Andy Reid responding to Steve Bruce’s suggestion he should ‘say sorry’ to Trapattoni.
Becali in a spot of bother
REMEMBER Gigi Becali? He’s the former shepherd and current owner of Steaua Bucharest, who has sacked a coach for being “too Muslim”, believes women “have no more value” after childbirth and who commissioned portraits of himself as St John and Jesus.
Well, the European parliament member and Romanian presidential candidate has been charged with inciting his bodyguards to kidnap three men he alleged tried to steal his car last January.
Prosecutors say the men were bundled into the car boot by gunmen and were forced to admit in writing they had committed a crime.
Becali also faces charges in relation to allegations he tried to bribe Romanian rivals CFR Cluj to prevent them winning the league the season before last.
Incidentally, he’s currently sixth in opinion polls ahead of the presidential election.
Yet more quotes of the week
“I dont want security. I’m proud of what I achieved there. I’m not bothered about the idiots. I’m the best manager they ever had. If people are stupid enough to shout abuse they need their heads looking at.”
– Spurs manager Harry Redknapp on his personal safety returning to Portsmouth.
You know people hyped this up and I think they were a bit disrespectful to the Portsmouth fans . . . they were magnificent today.”
– Redknapp after a 2-1 win, complimenting the magnificent idiots at Portsmouth.
“I just thought it was like Obama getting the Nobel Peace Prize after eight months as president. Beckham gets the man of the match after 30 minutes here . . .”
– England manager Fabio Capello after substitute David Beckham was awarded man-of-the-match by Steve Bruce for his contribution in the 3-0 win over Belarus.
I don’t know how I got that. Thanks, Brucie. I played with him, of course.”
– Beckham. Of course.
“Steven, these are natural worries but I have to tell you that modern medicine and treatments are incredible, you have to have confidence in them.”
– Alex Ferguson offers some advice to Steven Defour in a “private” letter the promising Belgian midfielder decided to make public. Oops.
Insult to injury
BURNLEY fans were not happy yesterday, but one fan, however, must have been fuming before kick-off. He was ordered to join the queue for the visitors’ section 14 miles away at Turf Moor.
The problem? The Burnley season-ticket holder lives just four minutes walk from Ewood Park and was hoping to accompany his Rovers supporting grandfather to the game. Presumably he also had to accompany the Burnley supporters home too.
There's no place like home
ANDREI Arshavin’s not happy. Again. He scored at the weekend but, off the pitch, things still aren’t quite right.
England just can’t seem to do anything right. Last time it was the 50 per cent tax rate, now it’s the food. “What does ‘British food’ mean?,” Arsenal’s Russian maestro asked in the Telegraph last week.
“I heard about fish and chips but I do not eat it. I heard about ales! Ales! A special drink like beer but without gas! I’ve not tried it.” In fairness, if you haven’t tried it, Andrei.
“At home,” he continued, “I eat soups and Russian salads . . . there are lots of cut tomatoes, cut cucumbers and a few leaves. But here? Opposite way! There are a lot of leaves and one cut tomato and two slices of cucumber!”
If only London had a bit of variety, like Russia.
