International Roundup

Pele banks on Ronaldo to succeed at Madrid

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- Brazilian soccer legend Pele thinks worries about Ronaldo's fitness are unfounded and he expects the star striker to be very successful at Real Madrid.

"He will score a lot of goals for Madrid. His performance at the World Cup will have cleared the doubts of those people who claimed that he was almost lame before the tournament started. He scored goals and was a really important player in the Brazilian team," Pele told the media during a visit to the Spanish capital Monday.

Pele, considered by many to be the greatest player ever, added that Ronaldo's damaged right-knee, which dogged his five-year spell at his previous club Inter Milan, would not prove a handicap.

"It's clear that he will have to be a little more cautious than before he suffered the knee injury but his quality is obvious and there should be no doubts about him," he said.

Pele also defended Ronaldo, who joined Madrid for 45 million euro (US$43.7 million) earlier this month, from criticisms that he had shown a lack of gratitude to Inter, who had paid his wages and supported him while he was sidelined for most of the last three years.

"I don't understand the criticism. A professional can decide to go where he wants. Ronaldo has decided to participate in the fiesta that is Spanish soccer, which for a long time has contracted the world's best players.

"In Brazil we'd love him to playing there, but unfortunately administration problems have prevented clubs from having the money to attract great players," he said.

Ronaldo has remained in Madrid while the rest of Madrid's squad are in Italy for Tuesday's Champions League match with AS Roma.

News reports have said that the two-time FIFA Player of the Year is likely to make his Madrid debut in next Wednesday's Champions League game with Racing Genk of Belgium at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.

Spartak captain Titov out for rest of year

MOSCOW (Reuters) -- Spartak Moscow captain Yegor Titov will be out for the rest of the year after suffering a recurrence of a knee injury, the club doctors said on Tuesday.

"Titov has suffered ligament damage in his right knee and will not play this season," Spartak doctors were quoted as saying by Sport-Express newspaper.

He will undergo surgery in Germany on Friday.

The 26-year-old midfielder first injured his knee in a league game with Anji Makhachkala on August 7. Titov aggravated the injury in Spartak's 1-1 premier league draw against Lokomotiv last week.

Titov, who is also captain of the Russian national team, will also miss next month's European championship qualifiers against Georgia and Albania.

Spartak, who face Switzerland's Basel in a Champions League Group B opener on Tuesday, are also missing Ukraine defender Dmitry Parfyonov with a broken leg, while Russia striker Dmitry Sychyov is suspended by the league after refusing to honour his contract with the club.

Croatia's Boban prepares to bid farewell

ZAGREB (Reuters) -- Croatian international Zvonimir Boban said on Tuesday he would mark his departure from soccer with a farewell match between a Croatia side and an international selection in Zagreb on October 7.

Boban, 34, who led Croatia to third place at the 1998 World Cup in France, quit international soccer last year after a 17-year career.

The main event of the day will be a match between Croatia's 1998 team, coached by former manager Miroslav Blazevic, and a selection of current and former world players including Alessandro Del Pierro, Elber, Oliver Bierhoff, Marco Van Basten and George Weah.

The Croatian team will include Davor Suker, Robert Prosinecki, Igor Stimac, Slaven Bilic and Aljosa Asanovic -- most of whom are not longer playing.

Before that, two of Boban's former teams -- Dinamo Zagreb, where he started his career in 1985 and AC Milan, where he gained international fame -- will play each other.

Boban will play one half for each side and the entire game -- shortened to 45 minutes -- for the national team.

"I could not say which of the three teams I'll be playing for is my favourite," Boban said. "I've had great moments in all of them. I only regret that the Dinamo I played for did not win any championships or cups," he added.

Virgin Islands cancel season due to unplayable pitch

TORTOLA (Reuters) -- The British Virgin Islands have cancelled the 2002 soccer season because their only pitch is unavailable.

"For the first time in my history there'll be no football league on Tortola this year, because of lack of facilities," said British Virgin Islands Football Association (BVIFA) president Andy Bickerton.

Bickerton said the BVIFA had expanded the league to 12 teams and would need three months to play the competition.

But the pitch at the Valley Recreation Ground, which is also used for cricket, will be under renovation until November and is needed for cricket's Busta Cup from late January.

The British Virgin Islands are 160th in the FIFA rankings and were beaten 14-1 on aggregate by Bermuda in the qualifiers for the 2002 World Cup.

Their last competitive game ended in an 8-1 defeat by St Lucia in a CONCACAF Gold Cup qualifier in February.

Libyan soccer federation dismantles national team

The federation, which also fired Italian coach Francesco Scoglio after only eight months with the team, did not give an explanation for its action.

Federation officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that players from three clubs will replace the national team players in the African Nations Cup qualifying campaign. The African Cup finals will be staged in 2004 in Tunisia.

Al-Saadi Gadhafi, son of Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, left his post as head of the North African nation's soccer federation earlier this month, saying he wanted to focus on his playing career.

His team, al-Ittihad, or the Union, studded with African stars, will be among the teams replacing the national team.

The younger Gadhafi, 28, is a graduate of Libya's Military Engineering Academy and has the rank of a colonel.

 

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Reuters contributed to this report.