Million Ways to Motivate Chivas Team
Two of Mexico’s most storied teams, Chivas of Guadalajara and Cruz Azul of Mexico City, will stage a two-game, home-and-home playoff this week to earn the eighth and final place in the Mexican league quarterfinals.
For Chivas, there is more at stake than simply staying alive in the championship race. At the beginning of the season, new owner Jorge Vergara promised the team $1-million if it wins the title this year.
Cruz Azul can stay on track for two titles. It already has reached the quarterfinals of the Copa Libertadores in South America.
Meanwhile, defending Mexican champion Toluca rallied to defeat Santos Laguna, 4-3, Saturday and clinch its spot in the quarterfinals.
Paraguayan striker Jose Cardozo scored three goals in the victory, raising his season total to 21 and taking him to the 200-goal mark in the Mexican league.
Toluca will play UNL in the quarterfinals, while other matchups feature Monterrey against Atlas, Veracruz against Atlante and Morelia against the winner of the Guadalajara-Cruz Azul series.
Beckham & Mandela
David Beckham and the rest of the England team will fly from Durban to Johannesburg on Wednesday on the eve of their match against South Africa in order to meet former South African president Nelson Mandela, a huge soccer fan.
“Yes, it is unusual for a team to make such a journey the day before a game, but this is a one-off opportunity,” English Football Assn. spokesman Adrian Bevington told Reuters. “It is an historic fixture generating massive interest in South Africa, and Nelson Mandela is a man respected the world over.
“It will be a short visit but one of huge significance. No England team has ever visited South Africa before or met Nelson Mandela before. It is something everyone is extremely looking forward to.”
South Africa has named former New York Cosmo star Jomo Sono as temporary coach for Thursday’s match in Durban after the team’s coach, Ephraim “Shakes” Mashaba, controversially excluded most foreign-based players from the team to play England.
Mashaba’s long-term coaching future has not been decided.
Back in Argentina
Argentina will play its first match at home since last summer’s World Cup flop when it faces neighbor Uruguay on Wednesday in a match that will inaugurate the Estadio Unico in La Plata.
Coach Marcelo Bielsa, who has a 5-1 record in six away matches since Argentina’s first-round elimination at Korea/Japan ‘02, has called up only two European-based players for the game -- Lazio midfielder Lucas Castroman and Nantes defender Mauro Cetto -- as he rebuilds his team for Germany 2006 World Cup qualifying, which starts in September.
Quick Passes
Two goals by midfielder Ludovic Giuly helped AS Monaco defeat Sochaux, 4-1, in the French League Cup final and gave former 1998 World Cup winner Didier Deschamps his first trophy since becoming coach two years ago.... A first-half goal by Giorgis Georgiadis was enough to give PAOK Thessalonika a 1-0 victory over rival Aris in the Greek Cup final.... Former German international Stefan Effenberg has signed a one-year contract with Al Arabi in Qatar, and former French World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf has joined Al-Saad of Qatar, also on a one-year contract.... Trinidad and Tobago, whose national team failed to qualify for this summer’s CONCACAF Gold Cup, named Stuart Charles Fevrier as coach of both its national and Olympic teams.... Fans of the Czech team Bohemians ran onto the field and punched assistant referee Ladislav Talpa in the head moments after their team had fallen behind, 2-1, to Sparta Prague in a game that was then abandoned.
