Football Dispatch

Thursday Football
14June 2007
Matchups for the quarter-final round of the Gold Cup were determined, yesterday, as Group-C wrapped-up in Houston. Carlos Pavon scored 5-goals within the opening hour as Honduras stunned Cuba 5-0. Armando Guerera rounded-out the scoring with his 90th-minute penalty-kick following the sending-off of Cuba's Cervantes 3-minutes prior. Honduras will face Guadalupe in one of two quarter-finals to be staged in Houston on Sunday.

The other will see tournament favorite Mexico tied to Costa Rica. The Mexicans finished with 6-points in Group-C after defeating Panama 1-0, yesterday. Carlos Salado scored the game's only goal on the hour-mark as side side secured 2nd-place in the group behind Honduras.

Foxboro, Massachusetts will play host to the remaining pair of quarter-final matches. Group-A winner Canada will face Guatemala in the early match and the United States will conclude the evening against Panama. Saturday's matches will be played at Gillette Stadium -- home to the National Football League's New England Patriots.

The Barclays English Premier League has unveiled its fixture list. Manchester United will begin their title-defense at home to Reading on Saturday, 11 August. Newly-promoted Derby will welcome Portsmouth to Pride Park while Sunderland will host Spurs and Birmingham City will visit Chelsea. Sam Allardyce will manage his first match at Newcastle away to former club, Bolton Wanderers. Manchester United and Chelsea will lock horns on 22 September after contesting the Community Shield on 05 August at Wembley.

Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood and Keith Edelman met with Stan Kroenke in New York City, yesterday. Kroenke already owns over 10% of the London club -- a stake for which he paid 65M-pounds in April. Hill-Wood and the board of directors, however, resisted the American's overtures for a greater holding at Emirates Stadium -- a reaction which brought about the resignation of David Dein. Apparently, it seems as though the board is doing an about-face. Dein's departure unleashed a furious backlash which brought into question the futures of Arsene Wenger, Thierry Henry, and Cesc Fabregas. It now appears that Hill-Wood, Edelman, and the board recognize the need for a significant influx of cash at Arsenal. The club has yet to make a significant transfer-signing; and Kroenke's money could go a long way in altering its financial reality.

Charlton Athletic have agreed a price with West Ham for striker Darren Bent. The deal is contingent on the 23-year-old's approval. He has been given until tomorrow to make up his mind. In all likelihood, Bent will trigger the move to Upton Park -- sending 16M-pounds and Haydon Mullins to The Valley. Hammers manager Alan Curbishley nearly saw the transfer hijacked by Spurs at the 11th-hour. He responded by doubling Martin Jol's wage proposal -- pushing Bent's new salary towards 70,000-pounds per-week.

The arrival of the twice-capped England forward is widely viewed as insurance against the impending departure of Carlos Tevez. Inter Milan have made a 35M-pound bid for the Argentine hit-man. However, because of Kia Joorabchian's third-party status in Tevez' contract, West Ham would stand to make only 100,000-pounds from the player's sale. The remainder would go to Joorabchian's MSI company.

Juande Ramos will not be the next manager of Manchester City. Instead, the 52-year-old has agreed a contract extension at Sevilla -- where he has won back-to-back UEFA Cups and earned Champions' League qualification. On announcing his decision to remain in La Liga, Ramos remarked, "I am happy in Seville because I have the chance to make the very most of my career." Before arriving at Sevilla in 2005, Ramos managed Malaga, Espanyol, Real Betis, and Rayo Vallecano. WIth Ramos out of the picture, Manchester City will contact both Chris Coleman and Sven-Goran Eriksson.

Fabio Quagbiarella is the latest striker to be linked with a move to Manchester United. The 23-year-old Sampdoria forward scored 13 league-goals, this term, and earned a call-up to the Italy squad for the last round of EURO 2008 qualifiers -- scoring twice against Lithuania. Sir Alex Ferguson recently watched him play in a Serie-A match against Palermo. At 8M-pounds, he comes at a relatively affordable price.

David Suazo has bolted Cagliari for Inter Milan. The 27-year-old Honduras forward scored 14-goals in the Serie-A last season as Cagliari finished at 16th-place in the league. With the futures of Adriano and Zlatan Ibrahimovic up in the air at present, Inter are keen to strengthen the depth at the striking position and are of the mind that Suazo is one of the foremost goal-poachers in Italy. Inter paid 10M-euros and sent 19-year-old Robert Acquafresca to Cagliari in exchange for Suazo.