Football Dispatch

Summer Football
12 July 2007
Sven-Goran Eriksson has set his sights on Arsenal midfielder Freddie Ljungberg. The new Manchester City manager is poised to offer 6M-pounds for the 30-year-old Sweden international -- scuttling a 5.5M-pound offer from Serie-A side Fiorentina. Eriksson, a fellow Swede, has long admired Ljungberg and hopes to make him the second, high-profile acquisition since being unveiled at Eastlands last week. Rolando Bianchi joined City from Reggina on Tuesday and is set to become half of a brand-new striking-combo. Right full-back Micah Richards has urged Eriksson to resue Jermaine Defoe from Tottenham Hotspur. The former England boss has upwards of 50M-pounds to spend before the season kicks-off on 11 August at West Ham.

Sheffield United have been fueled by word that Kia Joorabchian will reveal the complete documentation regarding last summer's transfers of Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. Joorabchian, an Iranian businessman and former prospective buyer of West Ham, brought the two Argentines to Upton Park from Corinthians, last September. And although the transaction reeked of irregularities at the time, the full extent of the illegality was not known until the winter. In truth, the details of the deal have never been fully disclosed. That may soon change. Joorabchian has alerted Blades chairman Kevin McCabe of his plans to reveal the complete documentation of the Tevez saga. Apparently, the Iranian feels the evidence would be enough to relegate Hammers to the Championship -- propelling Sheffield back to the top flight. Joorabchian's sudden wish for full disclosure is likely due, in some part, to a desire to inflict a measure of revenge on the brass at Upton Park. He was passed-over by the board of directors in his bid for the club's ownership last autumn.

Tevez, meanwhile, will participate in Sunday's Copa America final against Brazil in Venezuela. His teammate in the Argentina camp, left-back Gabriel Heinze, has been instrumental in convincing the 23-year-old striker to make the move to Old Trafford. Heinze, for his own part, has been the subject of rampant transfer speculation since the conclusion of United's title-winning season. Each of Liverpool, Real Madrid, and Juventus have made offers for his services. The presence of Tevez, however, may be enough to convince Heinze to stay and compete with Patrice Evra for his place in Sir Alex Ferguson's first-choice squad.

The Orinoco and Caroni rivers converge at Puerto Ordaz -- a carefully-planned city in the east of Venezuela. The largest body of fresh water in the country, Lake Guri, empties into the Orinoco at Puerto Ordaz before being dumped into the Atlantic Ocean at the Boca Grande delta at the north-eastern corner of the South American continent. And on Wednesday, 11 July, Mexico were dumped out of the Copa America by Argentina at Estadio Polideportivo Cachamay -- home to Puerto Ordaz' local football team, Mineros de Guayana.

Mexico manager Hugo Sanchez, celebrating his 49th-birthday, could have been forgiven for approaching the match with considerable optimism. After all, his squad brushed-aside Brazil in the group-phase before embarassing Paraguay 6-0 in the quarterfinal. And for much of the first half, Mexico went tit-for-tat with Argentina.

A Juan Roman Riquelme free-kick in the dying moments of the opening period changed all that. The Boca Juniors field-marshall floated the ball into the box where it was deflected past Mexican goalkeeper Oswaldo Sanchez by the left boot of Gabriel Heinze.

The Manchester United left-back was instrumental in Argentina's second goal as well. Heinze's superb through-ball fell squarely on the boots of Carlos Tevez before the latter passed to Lionel Messi. The Barcelona phenom proceeded to chip an out-of-position Sanchez with a brilliant effort.

Argentina, by now fully in control of things, proceeded to suck the life out of their opponents. On 65-minutes, just 4-minutes after the Messi wonder-goal, Tevez appeared to be tripped-up in the box. And although video-replays suggested that the former Corinthians marksman feigned contact, Chilean official Carlos Chandia pointed to the penalty-spot. Riquelme's successful conversion was his 5th-goal of the tournament and spotted Argentina an insurmountable 3-0 lead with 25-minutes to play.

It was too much for Mexico; and Argentina, pre-tournament favorites, will face Brazil in Sunday's Copa America final in Maracaibo. Mexico will remain in Puerto Ordaz for the third-place game with Uruguay on Saturday.