The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

Players queuing up to join Maradona’s Al Wasl, says club CEO

Posted: 22 May 2011 08:52 AM PDT

DUBAI, May 22 — The Diego Maradona effect is already creating a buzz at Dubai-based Al Wasl, with players queuing up to join since the Argentine's appointment, according to the club's chief executive.

"We are all over the world right now," Al Wasl Football Company chief Ashraf Ahmed Mohammed told http://www.sport360.com website today.

"The coverage has been incredible. In the three years that we have been professional, many coaches have approached us with big CVs but I haven't seen anything like this.

"I think this is the talk of the world."

He added: "We've had a lot of calls from different players wanting to join Al Wasl, but we don't want our excitement to overshadow reality. We will need quality and not quantity."

Maradona, the 1986 World Cup winning captain, will take charge of the seven-times UAE league winners next month.

It will be his first coaching role since guiding Argentina to the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup and his goal will be to help them become the top team in Asia.

"For previous coaches we were only paying and not gaining, but with Maradona it's the other way around," Mohammed said.

"There has to be professionalism, everything has to be professional and in place. Maradona says he doesn't want to be No. 2, only No. 1, and we have to be optimistic and pragmatic.

"We know we want to be the best and must work towards that goal to be No. 1, not only in the UAE but in Asia as well."

Mohammed added Maradona would get whatever resource he needed to achieve that goal.

"We have to find the right tools and that will depend on him. We don't have an issue with him buying players or bringing his coaching staff along because these are some of the things he asked for before," he said. — Reuters

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United’s Van der Sar wobbled over future, says Ferguson

Posted: 22 May 2011 07:38 AM PDT

MANCHESTER, May 22 — Manchester United's 40-year-old goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar considered extending his career beyond the end of the season before getting over his late "wobble", Alex Ferguson said today.

Premier League champions United have been actively seeking a replacement goalkeeper for months and manager Ferguson backed the Dutchman's decision to stick with his original intention and step down after yesterday's Champions League final.

"Edwin decided he wants to go out at the top, though he did have a wobble last week," Ferguson told United's matchday magazine today.

"Edwin came to see me and told me he was thinking about changing his mind. He came back a couple of days later to say he would be sticking with his original decision to go, which I think at his age, 41 next birthday, is the right thing for him to do."

English media reported today that midfielder Owen Hargreaves would also be leaving at the end of the season.

Hargreaves has been cursed by injuries since arriving from Bayern Munich in 2007 and is out of contract at the end of the campaign.

"This has been a difficult decision knowing how hard the lad has worked to win back his fitness," Ferguson was quoted as saying.

"But we have made it in the hope he will be able to resurrect his career elsewhere." — Reuters

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Kredit: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com

Ahad, 22 Mei 2011

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

The Malaysian Insider :: Sports

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