CORNER KICKS
Five things happening around the world:
1 Defending and seven-time champion AC Milan set out on the road to Moscow with a trouble-free 2-1 victory over Benfica on Tuesday in the European Champions League, thanks to goals in Milan by Andrea Pirlo and Filippo Inzaghi.
Inzaghi’s strike was his 60th in all European competition, moving him closer to the all-time record of 66 set three decades ago by former Bayern Munich standout Gerd “Der Bomber” Mueller.
Milan, which defeated Liverpool in last year’s final, is among the favorites to reach the May 21 title game in Russia.
Elsewhere Tuesday, Andriy Shevchenko also took his European goal total to 60, but the Ukrainian star’s lone goal was not enough as Chelsea was held to a surprising 1-1 tie at home by Norway’s Rosenborg Trondheim.
Also, five-time champion Liverpool played to a 1-1 tie with FC Porto in Portugal, and nine-time champion Real Madrid got its campaign off to a noteworthy start with a 2-0 victory over Werder Bremen on goals by Raul and Ruud Van Nistelrooy.
The game in Madrid was the Spanish champions’ 300th in European competition and Raul’s strike extended his record to 57 goals in the Champions League, formerly the European Cup.
2 With Chelsea already owned by a Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, another London club, Arsenal, moved a step closer in that direction Tuesday when Alisher Usmanov increased his stake in the Premier League team to 21%, making the Russian mining and media tycoon the club’s second-largest shareholder. Usmanov is worth $5.5 billion, according to Forbes magazine.
American Stan Kroenke, who owns the Colorado Rapids of MLS, has slightly more than a 12% stake in Arsenal.
3 Dutchman Guus Hiddink, who coached the Netherlands and South Korea to the semifinals of the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, respectively, has agreed in principle to stay on as Russia’s coach through the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Hiddink earns a reported $2.78 million a year in the post.
4 Egil Olsen, who coached Norway to its first World Cup victory, over Mexico in Washington in 1994, and to its most famous World Cup win, over Brazil in Marseille, France, in 1998, has been named coach of Asian champion Iraq.
Olsen, 65, has had little success at the club level since stepping down as Norway’s coach, but under his guidance the Norwegians rose briefly to No. 2 in the world rankings in the 1990s.
5 Canada’s recent 1-1 tie with Costa Rica in Toronto virtually escaped notice, but Houston Dynamo midfielder Dwayne DeRosario, who scored the tying goal for the Canadians, said Sunday that it boded well for Canada’s 2010 World Cup hopes.
“I said it, I think two years ago, that if we ever have a professional team in Canada, we’ll make 2010, and I’m standing behind that 100%,” DeRosario said.
“We have some great young talent coming up right now. It’s just nice to see Canada playing a high caliber of soccer. The chemistry is great. Everyone knows we have a great team, it’s just getting the Canadian Soccer Assn. to back us a little bit.”
Canada has not qualified for a World Cup since 1986.
--
MAKING THEIR PITCH
Marco Ballotta, goalkeeper of Lazio, who at 43 years and 168 days Tuesday became the oldest player to appear in the European Champions League:
‘For many people, when I make a good save, it’s because of my experience. When I make a mistake, it’s because I’m too old.’
--
STAT OF THE WEEK
* Toronto FC’s MLS-record scoreless streak is at 822 minutes and has prompted Coach Mo Johnston, above, to half-jokingly consider coming out of retirement to help end it.
