Real buy Brazil youngster Casemiro
MADRID: Brazilian midfielder Casemiro has signed a four-year contract with Real Madrid with the Spanish club saying on Monday it had exercised an option to buy the youngster who had been on loan from Sao Paulo. The 21-year-old played on loan for Real’s B team Castilla in the second division for the second half of last season but also debuted with the senior squad under Jose Mourinho. Local media reported the deal was worth 6 million euros (Rs 46.48 crore). Real also said on their website that their France striker Karim Bezema had undergone minor surgery to remove a cyst from his right knee on Monday. Benzema underwent the procedure at the Centre Orthopedique Santy in Lyon, France, and was attended by Real’s medical services, the club said. Local media reported the 25-year-old was expected to be fit for the start of pre-season training at Real on July 15. (Reuters)
Pele asks Brazilians not to boo team
SAO PAULO: Football great Pele appealed to Brazil’s notoriously fickle fans on Tuesday to get behind their team during the upcoming Confederations Cup. The only player to win the World Cup three times was dismayed by recent games in which home fans barracked Brazil’s players and their manager Luiz Felipe Scolari. “This is a team that is under construction, this is a 15-day tournament, so let’s not boo them,” Pele said to applause at a promotional event in Sao Paulo. “Let’s support the players, even if things don’t work out because this is us preparing for the World Cup.” The eight-team Confederations Cup takes place in Brazil from June 15-30 and is considered a major test run for next year’s World Cup, both for players and organisers. More than 80 percent of the tickets have been sold for this month’s tournament and it promises to be the most successful ever commercially. Brazilian fans have a reputation for colour and flamboyance when overseas, but at home they are demanding and fickle. As the only team to win the World Cup five times, Brazilian supporters are unforgiving when their expectations are not met. In last week’s 2-2 draw against England it took fans just 12 minutes before they were hounding their own players. They also greeted Scolari’s second-half substitutions with chants of “Donkey, Donkey”. Fans were more positive in Porto Alegre on Sunday when Brazil overcame a France 3-0 in a friendly. But Pele warned the team were not the finished article and said they must improve if they are to win next year’s World Cup on home soil. (Reuters)
Lebanese referee jailed for six months in Singapore
Singapore: A Lebanese referee was sentenced to six months in jail here on Tuesday for accepting free sex in return to fix an Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup match involving Indian club East Bengal. Ali Sabbagh, 34, and linesmen Ali Eid, 33, and Abdallah Taleb, 37, were accused of accepting sex paid for by Singapore businessman Eric Ding Si Yang before the April 3 match between East Bengal and Tampines Rovers of Singapore. They were pulled out before the start of the match and were remanded on April 4. The linesmen were sentenced to three months each in jail and were released from prison on Monday as their sentencing was backdated to the date they were remanded. They were to be deported to Lebanon later on Tuesday. The judge said Sabbagh was sentenced to six months in jail because of his greater culpability. “You were not only cultivated by Ding, you also in turn went on to cultivate, or included, the co-accused linesmen as potential corrupt international football officials,” he said. The businessman Ding was arrested too. He faces three corruption charges as well as one charge for obstructing police investigations. He has claimed trial for corruption. Ding is believed to be linked to an international match-fixing syndicate. Singapore authorities have boosted their efforts and worked closely with the Interpol headquarters in France to fight match fixing. Another Singaporean businessman, Dan Tan Seet Eng, has been reportedly a mastermind behind the international match fixing syndicate that had been active in Europe. (IANS)
