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Rafael Benitez feels the pressure in France

Eden Hazard’s 84th-minute free-kick from way out on the left evaded everyone in the area before sneaking inside the far post to give the Ligue 1 side victoryover the favourites for the competition.

Juventus outclassed Fulham to win 3-1 in the first leg of their tie in Turin. The Cottagers struggled for possession in the first half and went 2-0 downwithin 30 minutes thanks to goals from Nicola Legrottaglie and Jonathan Zebina.

Dickson Etuhu pulled one back, but David Trezeguet reacted sharply after his initial effort had come back off the post to make it 3-1 on the stroke of half-time.

Hamburg defeated Anderlecht 3-1 at the HSV-Arena. Goals from Joris Mathijsen and Ruud van Nistelrooy put the Bundesliga side two up before Jonathan Legear curled home a glorious free-kick in first-halfstoppage time for the Belgians. But David Jarolim guided a volley into the bottom corner from the edge of thearea in the 67th minute to restore Hamburg’s two-goal advantage.

Wolfsburg have the upper hand in their tie with Rubin Kazan after drawing the first leg in Russia 1-1. Zvjezdan Misimovic equalised in the 67th minute to cancel out Cristian Noboa’sopener just before the half-hour mark.

Atletico Madrid and Sporting Lisbon drew 0-0 in the Spanish capital. The visitors played for most of the game with 10 men following the 31st-minutesending off of Leandro Grimi for two yellow cards. And they were reduced to ninein the 89th minute when Tonel received a straight red.

Standard Liege enjoyed perhaps the most impressive win of the night with a 3-1success against Panathinaikos, who beat Roma in the last round, in Greece. Goals from Axel Witsel and Milan Jovanovic put the Belgians two up in theopening 16 minutes.

Loukas Vyntra pulled one back three minutes after the break, but Igor DeCamargo added a third for the visitors in the 74th minute and Pana’s miserablenight was complete when Simao was sent off in the 90th minute.

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Sporting’s Leandro trudges off after being sent off against Atletico Madrid

Second-half substitute Hatem Ben Arfa headed a 90th-minute away goal to earnMarseille a 1-1 draw at Benfica. Ben Arfa, who came off the bench in the 74th minute, canceled out MaxiPereira’s 77th-minute opener.

Juan Mata equalised for Valencia two minutes after they had been reduced to 10 men to earn a 1-1 draw at home to Werder Bremen. Torsten Frings put the Germans ahead with a 25th-minute penalty and thevisitors received another boost when Ever Banega was sent off 10 minutes after the break. But Mata levelled to give the La Liga side hope going into the second leg atthe Weserstadion.

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Hernandez, 19, has been linked with a move to England after his imposing style caught the eye in Italy. However, Vincenzo D’Ippolito insists the Uruguay Under-20 international, who has scored four goals in Serie A this season, is happy with life in Italy.

“There is no chance that the boy will leave Sicily,” he told Calciomercato. “The association with Arsenal is amusing [for Hernandez], Wenger has always focused on young players.

“Many clubs like Abel, but his will and the club’s is to remain in Rosanero. He’s going well and is very happy”.

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Robinho has impressed since landing back in Brazil.

Robinho returned to Santos in January, penning a six-month loan deal which isset to expire on August 4 and has been in impressive form since he joined. Having notched up five goals in eight matches, he puts his re-found goalscoring prowess down to his happiness.

”It was the right choice,” stated Robinho. ”I’m good physically and mentally. I hope to continue like this until the end of my spell at Santos. Where I have to be happiest is within the four lines of the pitch, and this is happening.

”I intend to continue for long. I hope that the board is already addressingthis issue. You just have to look at my face to see my desire to stay at the club.”

Robinho also leapt to the defence of compatriot Kaka who hascome under fire following Real Madrid’s disappointing Champions League exit atthe hands of Lyon.

”Kaka is a spectacular player, one of the ideal in the world,” he added. ”Unfortunately, at Real Madrid, when things do not go well, the foreign players are the most criticised. It happened to me and to all the foreigners who are there.

”But Kaka has to keep his head in the right place. I’m sure he will come out ontop and make a lot of success at Real. And I hope he can explode with me in the World Cup in South Africa, if we are there.”

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This year’s CAF awards comes in the wake of the tragedy at Angola and Togo’s subsequent suspension giving a somewhat farcical quality to the announcements. The CAF president, Issa Hayatou as has already been established does not seem to live in reality. But more on the awards, especially the crown title.

Didier Drogba got a handy birthday gift when he was crowned African Footballer of the Year. This is his second time winning the honour having previously won in 2006. Drogba was instrumental in Ivory Coast’s World Cup qualification scoring five goals.

One of the criteria used is the player’s charisma and influence. There is no doubt that Drogba occupies a special place in the hearts of Cote D’Ivoirians, a vocal activist for unity, bringing together that fractious country. As captain of the national squad, he is very involved in operational aspects, for e.g., coaching decisions.

When the national association made contact with Guus Hiddink to ascertain his interest in coaching the team, Drogba took the initiative making a personal request to his ex-boss.

This aspect seems to have proved influential in winning him the title over the other front runner Samuel Eto’o, a three time winner but who has none of Drogba’s off field dynamism. Last year’s winner Emmanuel Adebayor was not even considered.

He also beat out his Chelsea team mate, Ghana’s Michael Essien, the Susan Lucci of nominations having never won. The other two nominees were Barcelona’s Seydou Keita (Mali) and Yaya Toure (Ivory Coast) rounding out the dominance of the European leagues. Only Mohamed Aboutrika in recent years has broken that mold with his Al Ahly and Egypt exploits. He is also the only one outside the West Africa stranglehold.

Drogba gained from the the World Cup qualifying countries that had no footballer of the year nominees. South Africa, Nigeria, and Algeria gave him their maximum three votes.

He also was the candidate of choice from wider swaths of Africa whereas Eto’o benefited from more North African countries. Essien landed up as mostly third choice nominee after countries split their vote between Drogba and Eto’o. A number of sub Saharan countries went for Keita and Toure. A notable exception was Sudan who gave no votes to the two front runners dividing their votes between Keita, Toure, and Essien.

Drogba was not around in Accra to receive his award. Instead it was picked up by an Ivory Coast Football Federation official.

Seriously, there is nothing more crass than a club that uses the lure of money to try and get everyone including Kim Jong Il on board.

So I am glad that Wenger came back forcefully:

“Leave me alone,” he said. “I am always going to go to the end of my contract. It is the worst moment to come back on this subject. I want to focus on the match against Hull City on Saturday. Maybe it’s less glamorous than Real Madrid, but they are much more important in my life.”

Good for him.

But guess who stole the show?

David Beckham’s return to Old Trafford, the stage on which he made his name, began on the bench. In the 63rd minute he replaced Ignazio Abate and barely restrained tears as the Manchester United fans chanted his name and rose as one to applaud their prodigal son. With Milan already 3-0 down, Beckham’s role was a cameo, and it was nearly perfect. In the 74th minute, Rio Ferdinand headed the ball to clear the penalty area and it looped towards a waiting Beckham, whose viciously struck volley was tipped over the bar by United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar. For everyone who saw it, it was obvious that he’s still got it.

And Beckham’s capability to make headlines is as indisputable as ever. The game’s most memorable moment took place after the final whistle was blown, as the Milan players skulked off and the home crowd bellowed Beckham’s name. Last from the field, the 34-year-old England star clapped with the crowd, grabbed a green and gold scarf hurled from the stands onto the Old Trafford turf, and wrapped it around his neck.

Dozens of cameras snapped furiously and the crowd went berserk. Did he know what he had done?

The green and gold scarf is currently the most political scarf in the world of soccer. It has become the emblem of the thousands of United fans who wish to see the control of their club wrested from the current owners, the Tampa-based Glazer family. With the club saddled with an astronomical debt, inherited when the owners of the N.F.L.’s Buccaneers purchased the club with more than £650 million of borrowed money in 2005, a vocal protest movement has emerged.

Spearheaded by the 130,000-member Manchester United Supporters Trust (MUST), the movement has been galvanized by news that a group of investors, the cryptically-named Red Knights, are currently lining up a bid for the club. The public face of the campaign is the green and gold scarf — the colors of Newton Heath, the founder club that morphed into Manchester United in the late 19th century.

The scarves are increasingly popular at United games and were being swung in the stands throughout last night’s game as the chant “love United, hate Glazers” echoed around Old Trafford. On banners unfurled in the crowd and on the T-shirts sold outside the grounds, the antipathy was consistent: “We’ll be green and gold ’til they die or fold… And we won’t wear red until Glazer’s dead.”

And now, perhaps, the campaign has its most celebrated patron.

Or maybe not. When questioned about the gesture after the game, Beckham distanced himself from the protesters: “I’m a Manchester United fan and when I saw the scarf I wanted to put it round my neck. It’s the old colors of United but, to be honest, it’s not my business. I’m a United fan and I support the club. I always will, but it’s got nothing to do with me how it’s run. That’s all to do with other people. I just support the team. I will always support the team.”

Across the British press, few purchased Beckham’s line, and the image was on the front cover of nearly every British newspaper this morning.  Oliver Kay, the Times of London soccer correspondent, didn’t think much of Beckham’s diplomacy. “I have no doubt he knew what he was doing. There is nothing wrong with what he did, in fact I was impressed because it showed some solidarity with United’s fans and the situation facing the club. But to make light of it and state it was just a yellow and green scarf was a bit strange. Either he lives in a bubble and doesn’t know what is going or, as I suspect, he just doesn’t want to get involved.”

The Telegraph’s Mike Norrish was certain of Beckham’s intent:

“David Beckham doesn’t do freebies. Whether he’s wearing sunglasses for Police, Y-fronts for Armani or generally mincing about for Pepsi, Beckham charges a hefty whack to front an advertising campaign. He does however, do mate’s rates. Which is rather handy for the Red Knights. Because, by wearing their scarf when he played against Manchester United last night, Beckham became the Red Knights’ new international poster boy. A green and gold Guevara, if you like. Faceless, until now, the Knights now have imagery”

So, what’s in a scarf? Was Beckham eager to lend his influence to a powerful, growing cause? Or was he just a tiny cold?

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Manchester United fans continue to protest against the Glazers’ ownership of the club

• Man United 4-0 AC Milan
• Richard Jolly at Old Trafford
• Harris: Rooney on brink of greatness
• Beckham hails Rooney impact
• Milan boss in awe of Rooney

Nomura will work closely with the Red Knights, the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust and other potential investors to “coordinate and formulate the proposal to be put to the Glazer family”.

The Nomura team will be led by Guy Dawson and Andrew McNaught, both of whomadvised the Board of Manchester United plc when the club was sold to the Glazerfamily in 2005.

Nomura is beginning its role by contacting the many expressions of financialsupport the Red Knights have received to date.

Whether that number includes David Beckham is not known but the former England skipper did the entire campaign a big favour by donning a green and gold scarf after AC Milan’s 4-0 Champions League defeat on Wednesday night. Protesters against the Glazers have adopted the green and gold colours and they have been highly visible at United matches in recent weeks.

“I’m a Man United fan. I saw the scarf there. I put it round my neck, it’s theold colours of Man United, that is all I knew,” Beckham said.

“To be honest it’s (the protest) not my business. I’m a Manchester United fan.I support the club. I always have done and I always will do. It’s nothing to dowith me the way everything is run, that is to do with other people but I’m a ManUnited fan and I support the team. I will always support them.”

With United over 700 million in debt, many now see the Red Knights as the onlysalvation for the Old Trafford outfit, even though the Glazer family insist itis business as usual and the club is not for sale.

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United progressed to the quarter-finals.

• Man United 4-0 AC Milan
• Richard Jolly at Old Trafford
• Harris: Rooney on the brink of greatness
• Beckham hails Rooney impact

Rooney, who scored twice in United’s 3-2 first-leg victory at San Siro, took his season’s tally to 30 with two more goals on Wednesday night as Sir Alex Ferguson’s team booked their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Leonardo was left in awe of the in-form England striker and claimed the 24-year-old would only get better.

“I think this year Rooney can grow up even more,”Leonardo stated following his side’s 7-2 aggregate defeat. “He’s the complete player; strong, fast and he works hard.”

“He does a lot of incredible movement and he is playing in a system that is perfect for him. United play at such speed and often on the counter-attack. That system, with Rooney, is incredible.”

Ji-Sung Park and Darren Fletcher finished the scoring at Old Trafford in a scintillating, attacking performance that left manager Ferguson in bullish mood.

“When we play like that we are very difficult to compete against,” Ferguson said. “With that team I’ve got, it doesn’t matter who we play next.”

The United boss added to the plaudits pouring down on Rooney and stated that new training routines had assisted his striker’s progress.

“He’s improved his movement in the box but he has also been practising a lot more this season than ever before,” Ferguson said. “He’s putting in extra work after training and I think you get the rewards of that. We try to encourage them all to do that. We’ve set tiny practices for a lot of players and they are responding to it.”

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Lyon players celebrate qualifying in Madrid

• Real Madrid 1-1 Lyon
• Pellegrini has no plans to quit
• Pellegrini gets vote of confidence

Terms such as “failure”, “catastrophe” and “nightmare” filled the newspapers in the wake of Real’s 2-1 aggregate defeat to French side Olympique Lyon.

Despite Pellegrini vowing not to quit his job, and the club’s vote of confidence, Madrid-based Marca, the biggest-selling daily in Spain, believe his exit is imminent, with their front page announcing: “OUT. Goodbye Champions, Goodbye Pellegrini.”

It continued inside: “The same upset as every year. Madrid again go crashing against the curse of the last-16. Lyon join Juventus, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Roma and Liverpool in the list of executioners.”

Rival Madrid daily AS’s front page read: “Catastrophe. Madrid could not overcome Lyon not even in the Bernabeu.” Inside the paper discussed how the “failure” and “nightmare” continues for Madrid and how Lyon deserved to go through.

El Pais newspaper made reference to the large amounts of money that Madrid spent last summer following the return of Florentino Perez to the club presidency.

In a bid to take Madrid back to the top of the domestic and European game, the nine-time European champions spent in the region of 240 million on new players – including a world-record 80 million on Cristiano Ronaldo.

El Pais’s headline read: “Football has no price.”

It continued: “Lyon question the realism of the mega-project of Florentino Perez and Madrid, who ran out of steam in the second half, fell for the sixth successive season in the last-16. Titles are not bought, they are won.”

Barcelona-based sports dailies El Mundo Deportivo and Sport, meanwhile, both went with a large “KO” on their front pages.

El Mundo Deportivo twisted the knife by highlighting the possibility of Madrid’s arch rivals Barca defending their European crown at the Bernabeu in May.

“Madrid will not be in the Bernabeu final! Failure of Florentino’s project, incapable of overcoming the last-16 of the Champions League for the sixth successive year. Barca’s dream of winning their fourth European Cup in Chamartin (Bernabeu)grows.”

Sport added on their front page: “The great failure”, whilst underneath showing the photos of Perez, Pellegrini, Ronaldo and Kaka with captions alongside them.

The captions read: “‘Florentino, broken. 300 million thrown away’. ‘Pellegrini, sentenced. The Bernabeu calls for his head’. ‘Cristiano, humiliated. He promised every title and has already lost two’. ‘Kaka, the next problem. He left thepitch insulting the coach’.”

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A club boasting Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Karim Benzema, Xabi Alonso, Iker Casillas, Sergio Ramos, Rafael Van Der Vaart, and Gonzalo Higuain can’t count themselves as Europe’s elite. The salary and transfer fees of these players equals the annual pay packet of 4,000,000 Spaniards. It just boggles the mind.

But if you saw the match, it was built around the fragile hope of Cristiano Ronaldo’s early goal. That is all they had. Manuel Pellegrini can get all the brickbats but what does he have to do with Gonzalo Higuain’s criminal miss with an open goal waiting? How is a manager culpable for such a sin? In football, more than any other sport, the adage you are only as good as your players holds. The rest is relationship building.

Pellegrini does not deserve this and his players do not deserve him. Their performance in the second half was shambolic. He is being made a scapegoat. If Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo have an ounce of shame, they will own up to their responsibility for such a debacle and support their manager.

Full marks to Lyon. Their defense was iron clad when it needed to be and for that we can single out two players – Cris and Jeremy Toulalan. They were large as they stopped pretty much every Real attack in their tracks. Hugo Lloris did the rest. On the attacking end Lisandro Lopez, Cesar Delgado, Kim Kallstrom, and Miralem Pjanic took a buzz saw to the Real back line. Delgado especially was a thorn in their side and it was his industry that set up Pjanic’s goal.

An unhappy Kaka was removed by Manuel Pellegrini to make way for Raul Gonzalez. He later twittered his unhappiness to his wife who showed it to Diogo Kotscho, his communications director.

Kotscho blasted his own twitter showing what he thought of Pellegrini. He called his decision a joke.

” The manager is a coward and changed the player to divert attention from his competence.”

If you happen to be a forward for the Columbus Crew, a club that is weeks away from starting the 2010 Major League Soccer season, the answer to that question is a resounding yes.

On Tuesday night in Ohio, the Crew, the 2008 M.L.S. champion, spotted Toluca of Mexico two goals before Steven Lenhart — and all of his blond curls — scored two second-half goals to tie the first leg of the Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal series, 2-2. The return match will played in Mexico on March 17, and even though the Crew did well to tie the match, Toluca goes home with two important away goals.

“Being down two goals, we just had to come out in the second half and pressure them, get after them,” Lenhart told Concacaf.com. “We didn’t want to go down to Mexico down a couple of goals.”

The Crew is the lone remaining M.L.S. club in the regional Champions League. Toluca, which is nine games into the Mexican Clausura, was the champion of the Apertura.

“For us, our next opponent isn’t the Columbus Crew, it is Cruz Azul,” the Toluca manager, Juan Manuel de la Torre, told Concacaf.com. “But with respect to the next game against the Crew, we will prepare the same way with the expectation that we should beat the Columbus Crew.”

Columbus, which opens the M.L.S. season against Toronto on March 27, was playing without four regulars because of injuries and suspensions — Guillermo Barros Schelotto, Frankie Hejduk, Chad Marshall (hamstring) and Jed Zayner (knee). Schelotto and Hejduk, who were both suspended for the game, will be available for the return match.

Toluca took a 1-0 lead 19 minutes into the match when Antonio Naelson tracked down a pass from Issac Brizuela and beat keeper Will Hesmer. Toluca appeared to put the match out of reach just before halftime when Vladimir Marin’s cross deflected off defender Eric Brunner. The ball bounded to Antonio Rios who cracked a rising half-volley that sailed into the top left corner of the net.

Lenhart, who usually comes off the bench for Columbus, gave the Crew life when, with his back to the goal, he took a pass from Emmanuel Ekpo off his chest, wheeled and scored in the 66th minute. Lenhart then knotted the match when he scored in the 84th minute.

• Fiorentina 3-2 Bayern Munich: Robben downs brave Viola

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Stevan Jovetic looks disconsolate at the final exit as Fiorentina’s exit was confirmed

Despite the Italians winning 3-2 in Florence, Bayern progressed to the quarter-finals of the competition on away goals with a 4-4 aggregate result. The Viola had gone into the encounter hoping to reach the last eight of the competition for the first time since 1970.

“I feel great bitterness,” stated Prandelli. “But I am proud to have guided the team to play this match. My players should not feel frustrated.

“They are working to become important players and these type of games show that they can compete against anyone. My players did well against Bayern and it’s a pity that Miroslav Klose’s goal in the first-leg turned out to be important.”

Klose had given Bayern a controversial 2-1 win over 10-man Fiorentina at the Allianz Arena despite being clearly offside when nodding the late winner.

Prandelli nevertheless believes his side leave Europe’s elite club competition with their heads held high. The Viola had registered five wins, including defeats of Lyon and Liverpool, on the way to finishing top of Group E before their meeting with Bayern.

“We can only be proud of what we have done this season,” Prandelli said. “We leave the tournament having won six of eight games.”

La Viola will now turn their attention to the domestic front, with Prandelli hoping his team will bounce back immediately against Napoli on Saturday.

“The campaign is not over,” Prandelli said. “We can end the season in the ideal possible way. We must recover positions in the Serie A standings and play good football. I am certain the team will come out stronger from this elimination.”

Prandelli’s side lie 11th in Serie A having won just one of their last nine league games and they are 11 points behind fourth-place Palermo, who currently hold the last Champions League qualifying spot.

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The decision brings an end to the club which has existed in some form since 1885, and comes after Chester City FC 2004 failed to settle its immediate debts of 26,125 with HMRC.

The club had earlier been put up for sale for just 1 and there was various media speculation linking Chester City to a takeover from a Danish consortium and other buyers – none of which materialised.

The club were expelled from the Blue Square Premier last month after being unable to guarantee that they could fulfil their fixtures, having pulled out of matches against Forest Green and Wrexham.

But David Evans of Chester City Fans United told Sky Sports News: “125 years of history have been extinguished this day but that is just the body of the club – its soul lives on.”

A new club, along the lines of AFC Wimbledon, is the group’s goal and Evans continued: “Today is the day to state to everybody that our club will be run in a professional way and be a credit to our city and to football.

“Our model is AFC Wimbledon or AFC Telford, where a new club has been run on a very prudent basis. We want to atone for the way the club has been run – we see this as our responsibility even though it was not our fault.”

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• Gerrard in hot water over Marriner incident

Empics

Steven Gerrard is at the centre of controversy

Gerrard appeared to flick a V-sign at Marriner after being booked for a foul on James McCarthy in a 1-0 defeat to Wigan on Monday night, but the FA confirmed the match official had seen the incident at the time, meaning retrospective action can’t be taken.

Manager Rafael Benitez stated after the game he had not seen the incident and after reviewing it on video believes there was no case for Gerrard to answer.

“Sometimes you move your fingers,” Benitez said. “It was nothing. We are not considering it, it was nothing. All the players know they have to behave on the pitch. I was more worried about the silly fouls we were giving to Wigan.”

Liverpool are struggling to claim fourth spot after losing a game many expected them to win, and Wigan chairman Dave Whelan was critical of the club following their surprise victory, describing the tenure of owners Tom Hicks and George Gillet as “a mess”.

That drew an angry response from Benitez, who urged the Wigan supremo to keep his attention on the affairs of his own club.

“I do not know what is going on,” Benitez said. “I do not speak about Wigan. I prefer to concentrate on my team. He (Whelan) should speak about his own club.”

Benitez is glad to they have an opportunity to get back to winning ways quickly as they face Lille in the Europa League on Thursday, with the Liverpool boss hoping the Wigan result proves to be just a blip.

“We had been working well in the last ten games, more or less,” he said. “Sometimes these things happen. Now we have to move forward. Hopefully there will be a reaction in Lille. This is an opportunity to put things right and try to get a good result.

“In football you sometimes prefer to rest but at this time it is good to have a match quickly after what happened at Wigan.”

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This was a game played with great intensity with some brilliant moments. It will be one of the more well remembered matches and for Viola fans, it will be one of pride as well as heartbreak.

At the Stadio Artemio Franchi, it was Fiorentina that looked the more attractive attacking team. Juan Vargas gave them the lead with a tightly angled shot after Butt spilled Marco Marchionni’s rasping shot straight to the Peruvian. It was 1-0 and things were looking good for the Violas on a 2-2 aggregate and an away goal advantage.

In the second half Gilardino’s exquisitely timed back heel found Stefan Jovetic whose smart finish gave Fiorentina a 2-0 lead as the Viola fans erupted in raucous celebration. They could taste the quarterfinals. Surely nothing could take it away now.

But Franck Ribery on the left who had a swarm of Fiorentina players descend down on him every time he touched the ball managed to wriggle free and pass it square all the way to the middle of the pitch. It arrived at the feet of an arriving Mark Von Bommel who lashed a nicely placed grounder to the right of Sebastian Frey. Parity was restored.

It was Jovetic, a livewire in attack who again gave Fiorentina the aggregate advantage. After a Gilardino header found him, he took off for goal managing to shoulder aside the heavier Daniel Van Buyten and place the ball past Butt.

But even before the fans had time to catch a breath, Robben who so far had been contained with great difficulty broke free moving inside and whipped in a 30 yard screamer with his left foot that seems to have caught a thermal on its way to goal. It capped a frenetic exchange of goals as Fiorentina redoubled their efforts to find another goal to no avail.

In the end it is Bayern going through and Fiorentina left behind undone by a travesty.

Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli:

(Reflecting on Miroslav Klose’s goal from the first leg) “We gave up a goal that shouldn’t have counted for anything, and instead we are here speaking about getting eliminated by a goal that was two metres offside.”

The league, the successor to the Women’s United Soccer Association, which folded in a sea of red ink after the 2003 season, endured a difficult economy in 2009 and returns to the soccer landscape in a busy year that includes the World Cup in June.

“We think it will be the opposite of getting lost,” W.P.S. Commissioner Tonya Antonucci stated in a telephone interview. “I think we’re going to get more attention because the focus is on soccer in this country among hardcore fans. We’re even more jazzed going into this year. We believe it’s going to be more exciting.”

In a way, the league has taken a few steps forward and one back. In the off-season, last season’s regular-season champion, the Los Angeles Sol, folded after the Anschutz Entertainment Group, which ran the club, surrendered its rights to the team when it was unable to find a new owner. That sent the marquee player in W.P.S., the Brazilian striker Marta, into the expansion draft and eventually up the California coast to F.C. Gold Pride in the San Francisco Bay Area.

“You never want to lose a team; the focus was acute for us because it was our first year,” Antonucci said. “We tried hard to find a solution. Los Angeles is a viable market and we could get back to L.A., perhaps as early as 2011.”

Antonucci acknowledged that most of the W.P.S. clubs lost about $2 million each last season, but stated the league and its clubs had secured additional sponsorship deals. League games will continue to be carried on the Fox Soccer Channel, and the W.P.S. Web site provides a superior match tracker for those without access to the cable channel. Antonucci stated that average player salaries would increase 3 percent this season to an approximate average of $32,000 a player for a seven-month contract. There will be 18 players on each team’s regular-season roster.

But the loss of the Sol may be softened by the arrival of two expansion clubs — the Atlanta Beat and the Philadelphia Independence. Atlanta will play in a new stadium on the campus of Kennesaw State  in Georgia.

For the ideal female players in the world, one year before the Women’s World Cup in Germany, W.P.S. has become the destination of choice. The league had players from 12 countries last season, a number that has increased to 19 entering the preseason, including three new players from England and four from Sweden.

In addition, the defending league champion, Sky Blue F.C., which will again play at Rutgers, hired a coach from Finland, Pauliina Miettien. Last season, Sky Blue used three coaches, winning the league title with the national team veteran Christie Rampone as the player/coach.

“That’s fantastic for us,” Antonucci stated of the addition of foreign players and coaches. “I think it signals that this league is the tops in the world. Even though there are older leagues in Europe, I think we’re appealing to the top international stars because it’s a way for them to make a name for themselves. And let’s not forget that the biggest appeal is to play against U.S. national team players on a regular basis.

“I think there’s a special allure to having the opportunity to be a professional athlete in the U.S. It’s an experience the players want to have, to combine the specialness and uniqueness of playing with and against the best.”

This season, the eight W.P.S. teams will play 24-game schedules, with the regular season concluding in the second week of September. Antonucci stated the league would monitor closely Major League Soccer’s decision to suspend its season during the opening round of the World Cup, and will decide during the off-season if a hiatus will work for W.P.S. next year.

“With international players like Marta, Kelly Smith, Daniela and Formiga, a top class of American college players and U.S. national team players in the league, it’s about the product on the field,” Antonucci said.

Notes

¶Everton of the English Premier League wants Landon Donovan to extend his loan deal with the club, and Donovan wants to stay through the end of the season in May. But Los Angeles Galaxy General Manager and Coach Bruce Arena will hear none of it. “We’re not interested,” Arena told MLSnet9.com before a weekend scrimmage. “Landon will be back here March 15. We’re being consistent with everything we’ve stated all along.” The Galaxy’s other marquee player, David Beckham, is now with A.C. Milan in Italy. He may not return to the Galaxy until after this summer’s World Cup, if he is named to the England national team roster.

¶Toronto F.C., which has had 56 straight sellouts at BMO Field, submitted a bid to host this year’s M.L.S. championship game, which will be played in November. The stadium’s artificial turf will be replaced with a grass field in time for the club’s home opener  April 15.

¶The Columbus Crew will have a head begin on its M.L.S. competition when it hosts Toluca of Mexico on Tuesday night in the first leg of a home-and-home quarterfinal series in the Concacaf Champions League. The return match is scheduled for March 17. Columbus is the only M.L.S. club remaining in the regional competition.

In the day’s other match, Arsenal made simple work of Porto, even without its captain, Cesc Fabregas. The English club won 5-0, and Nicklas Bendtner scored a hat trick, to see off Porto by an aggregate score of 6-2.

There are two sides of Fiorentina. There is the inconsistent Italian Serie A team that has won only three of its eleven games in 2010. And there is the European Champions League contender that won five of six games to finish top of Group E and qualify for the Round of 16.

Which group of purple-clad soccer players will take the field in Florence on Tuesday against Bundesliga juggernaut Bayern Munich remains to be seen, but Coach Cesare Prandelli is boisterously optimistic.

“Tomorrow night we’ll try to make history,” the Viola boss stated at a news conference on Monday. “At this moment we must detach completely and think of this extraordinary opportunity.”

“In the championship we have had an inevitable decline after making progress in the Champions League and Coppa Italia. It’s clear that Mutu’s absence has put us in difficulty, but some emergencies can help us grow as a unit,” Prandelli said. “If we put in a good performance tomorrow night it would be further evidence of our strength.”

Adrian Mutu, the Fiorentina striker, is facing a possible three to four month doping ban after twice testing positive for stimulants.  (In 2004, the Romanian also tested positive for cocaine and may be on the hook for $24 million to his former club, Chelsea, for the recreational drug use.) With or without Mutu, the evidence in Fiorentina’s favor is questionable.

Fiorentina lost 2-1 to Juventus last weekend, and has managed only one win in Serie A since mid-January and have scored as many goals, 33, as its given up. The Viola are currently 10th in Serie A, the worst domestic position of any of the final 16 Champions League teams. The club is one of four teams who would not qualify for the premier club competition next season if the current standings held.  CSK Moscow, which plays Sevilla on March 16, Stuttgart, which visits Barcelona on March 17 and Olympiakos, which visits Bordeaux the same day, are also on the outside looking in.

(Perhaps Prandelli is distracted, his eye already on the Italy job he’s rumored to be up for after Marcelo Lippi’s final turn with the Azzuri in South Africa this summer.)

“We have to forget about what has happened until now and concentrate on this match,” the Fiorentina midfielder Riccardo Montolivio said. “We have to forget about the loss to Juventus and concentrate solely on this game with Munich. Bayern has a truly good team and won’t underestimate us.”

Bayern Munich’s coach, Louis Van Gaal, isn’t underestimating the Viola, and states he’s wary of the Italian club, but he’s not terribly worried either.
“I’ve always coached strong sides so we naturally try to dominate possession,” Van Gaal stated the day before the match. “It will be tough for them because we’re a team that scores a lot. It’s going to be an exciting contest I’m sure.”

The Dutchman’s confidence is built on a 2-1 lead after the first leg against Fiorentina and 18-game unbeaten streak dating back to November last year. The German Bundesliga leader is rolling over the competition, having scored 51 goals with a plus-30 goal differential.

“I think it’s going to be a beautiful match,” Van Gaal said. “We score a goal in nearly every game, so I’m sure it will be an pleasing match and provide the fans with a great spectacle.”

Further bolstering the Bayern coach’s confidence will be the return of Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, who both missed the team’s tie with Cologne last weekend, though Ribery is not certain for the match.

But Fiorentina’s desperation and recent injuries to the Bayern defense might aid the spectacle.

Also playing Tuesday: Arsenal will try to erase a 2-1 deficit against Porto without its captain, Cesc Fabregas, who injured his hamstring against Burnley last weekend. A day later, Manchester United will look to ride a 3-2 lead at home against A.C. Milan and Real Madrid will host Lyon at the Santiago Bernabéu, looking to rebound from a 1-0 defeat last month in France.

It is alleged that conversations between players and members of the coaching staff were taped ahead of the Wembley fixture and offered to national newspapers, none of which took up the story.

The Times details how the FA’s solicitors, Charles Russell, on Monday warned newspapers against publishing details of the recording which it is claimed was obtained illicitly.

England stayed at The Grove in Hertfordshire prior to the Egypt game but a spokesman told the Times the hotel was unaware of any reported security breach.

“We do not know anything about it,” stated the spokesman. “We have been hosting England for three or four years and provide a very high level of security for them. They also bring their own security team. It would surprise me if they had been bugged here.”

England have just two friendles remaining before they travel to the World Cup in South Africa with Mexico and Japan the opposition at the end of May.

Capello’s provisional squad will be named on May 16 and his final 23-man squad will be unveiled on June 1.

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Wayne Rooney has been in tremendous form this season

• Forum: Can United survive without Rooney?

Rooney, who scored two headers as Sir Alex Ferguson’s side won 3-2 in the first leg in Italy, missed United’s 1-0 win over Wolves at the weekend due to an inflamed kneecap tendon.

The striker sustained the injury after playing in back-to-back games at Wembley, first representing United in the Carling Cup final and then starting for England in their friendly victory over Egypt.

Ferguson was angry with Rooney after he played 86 minutes for his country and stated ahead of United’s 1-0 victory over Wolves at Molineux: “Why did not he come off? I cannot believe it.”

But Rooney, who has scored 28 goals in all competitions for United this season, is now in contention to begin the game at Old Trafford as United aim to secure a place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Fellow striker Mame Biram Diouf did not take part in the full training session while Ryan Giggs performed some light jogging separately from his team-mates.

Milan have their own injury concerns and while Brazilian forward Alexandre Pato has traveled with the rest of Leonardo’s team, he remains a doubt due to a hamstring problem.

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