SOCCER NOTEBOOK: 32 WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS ON TAP WEDNESDAY
By Colin Stephenson
The Star-Ledger – NJ.com
October 13, 2009, 12:48AM
There are 32 World Cup qualifiers Wednesday, including the
U.S. vs. Costa Rica in Washington. … The draw for the European World
Cup qualifying playoffs will be Monday in Zurich. … The Galaxy is
looking to finalize DAVID BECKHAM’s offseason loan deal to AC Milan
as soon as possible. … D.C. United midfielder SANTINO QUARANTA
will be sidelined four to six months after breaking a bone in his
left foot in practice on Friday. … Toronto FC, in its third year,
has a franchise-record 36 points, but imagine how much better its
9-10-9 record would be if it didn’t lead MLS by allowing a goal in the
final 15 minutes 15 times this season. … The Montreal Impact beat
the Whitecaps in Vancouver, 3-2, in the first leg of the USL First
Division championship. The second leg, in Montreal, will be played
Saturday. … Brazil plays Costa Rica and Ghana takes on Hungary today
in the semifinals of the Under-20 World Cup in Egypt. Ghana is led
by 19-year-old winger ANDRE AYEW, the son of ABEDI PELE, a three-time
African Player of the Year. … ROBERTO DONADONI, hired by Napoli in
March, has been fired. He was replaced by former Sampdoria coach WALTER
MAZZARI. … CUAUHTEMOC BLANCO’s goal Saturday against El Salvador was
his 36th, leaving him two behind JARED BORGETTI as Mexico’s all-time
leading scorer. … Striker SALOMON KALOU signed a three-year contract
extension with Chelsea. … Former Chelsea coach AVRAM GRANT is the new
director of football at Portsmouth. … DIDIER DROGBA’s goal for Ivory
Coast on Saturday was his 39th in 57 games. … Birmingham’s takeover
by Hong Kong businessman CARSON YEUNG has been completed. … MIROSLAV
KLOSE scored his 50th goal for Germany in Saturday’s 1-0 win over
Russia. … Real Madrid forward CRISTIANO RONALDO will be out up to
four weeks after spraining his right ankle Saturday in Portugal’s
victory over Hungary. The injury, however, is not expected to affect
Ronaldo’s underwear modeling career, a deal he just inked with GIORGIO
ARMANI. … Juventus goalkeeper GIANLUIGI BUFFON will undergo surgery
on his left knee in December and will be out two months. He is waiting
until then so he can play against Inter Milan Dec. 5 and in Champions
League group play, which ends Dec. 8. … The doping case involving
Italy captain FABIO CANNAVARO has been dropped by the Italian Olympic
Committee after it was determined the positive test was a result of
using cortisone to treat a bee sting. … Bayern Munich striker IVICA
OLIC will be sidelined six weeks after injuring his calf playing
for Croatia. … AC Milan extended the contract of goalkeeper MARCO
STORARI two years, through the 2012 season. … Valencia striker
DAVID VILLA will be out three weeks with a muscle tear in his right
leg. … Striker HENRIK LARSSON broke a 50-year-old Sweden record
when he became the country’s oldest outfield player (38 years, 20
days) in Saturday’s 1-0 loss to Denmark. Goalkeeper THOMAS RAVELLI,
who played for Tampa Bay in MLS in 1998, was 38 years, 1 month,
29 days when he played his final international. That game was the
100th for Denmark coach MORTEN OLSEN. … Turkey, which reached the
semifinals of the 2008 European Championship under coach FATIH TERIM,
did not qualify for the World Cup, so Terim will step down following
tomorrow’s final qualifier against Armenia. … LEONARDO ASTRADA
is back for his second stint as River Plate coach following the
resignation of NESTOR GOROSITO. … Brazil’s 2-1 World Cup qualifying
loss at Bolivia on Sunday meant nothing in the standings, but Brazil
has not won at La Paz (elevation 11,800 feet) since 1997. … With
Finland out of the World Cup, tomorrow’s qualifier against Germany
may be the last for 38-year-old forward/midfielder JARI LITMANEN
(128 caps) and 36-year-old defender SAMI HYYPIA (102). … Former
Dutch winger JOHN VAN’T SCHIP will coach the expansion Melbourne
Heart in the Australian league next season.