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Jermain Defoe keeps World Cup hopes alive, can Toronto’s star forward make it?

By Joe Prince-WrightMar 18, 2014, 10:40 AM EDT
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With Jermain Defoe’s dream Major League Soccer debut for Toronto FC behind him, the clinical striker still has one huge aim on his mind: get into England’s World Cup squad.

Defoe, 31, scored twice on his TFC debut in a 2-1 away win away at Seattle over the weekend, but the former Tottenham Hotspur striker is still seen as having an outside chance of making England’s 23-man squad for the World Cup in Brazil.

Speaking to the English FA’s website, Defoe is keen to do all he can to get on the plane to Brazil. That means playing well and scoring goals for Toronto in MLS.

“I just need to play and score goals,” said Defoe. “To get in a World Cup squad you have to be playing. Throughout my career, people know I’ve scored a lot of goals. I think the most important thing for me is to play and score goals. I think that’s all I can do.”

(MORE: Defoe scores two goals in his first 24 Major League Soccer minutes)

And Defoe is very, very good at doing just that. Ask the Seattle Sounders defense, they found out about Defoe’s supreme poaching ability first hand on Saturday. But with MLS still looked down on by the upper echelons of English soccer and elsewhere in the world, will scoring a shed load of goals in North America be enough to get Defoe in Roy Hodgson’s squad? It should.

Being sharp, scoring goals and playing well for Toronto should definitely get Defoe in the initial 30-man squad for the Three Lions, and then the real challenge begins for the London born striker. Defoe’s competition is Wayne Rooney, Daniel Sturridge (both dead certs) and then a group of four strikers which include Danny Welbeck, Rickie Lambert, Andy Carroll and Jay Rodriguez.

Defoe has World Cup pedigree, something Welbeck, Lambert, Carroll and Rodriguez don’t possess as Hodgson will likely take a maximum of five strikers to Brazil. TFC’s leading striker scored the winning goal for England against Slovenia in the 201o World Cup, which put the Three Lions into the last 16 in South Africa.

Can Defoe make it? Only time will tell. But the fact that he’s so fired up to get to Brazil can only be a good thing for Toronto, as Defoe’s double against Seattle in their season opener is just the start of things to come.

Yaya Toure talks future, wants to play with Paul Pogba

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By Nicholas MendolaMay 23, 2018, 10:29 PM EDT
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There is very little debate: Yaya Toure is his own special case.

The longtime Manchester City midfielder does what he wants, flies his own flag, has the worst agent in the game, and is pleased or dismayed in unusual ways.

[ UCL: What would Real 3-peat mean? ]

Toure, 35, has been linked with a move to NYCFC now that he’s leaving Man City, but the Ivorian still wants to play two more seasons for a Champions League or Europa League club.

And he wants to get together with Paul Pogba. You can see where this is going… (from The Manchester Evening News):

“Pogba is the same size, power – but different in the way he wants to go. Technically as well, the ability to score goals as well. It is a player I want to play with, to be honest, just to teach him some things.”

That must mean both are going to Paris Saint-Germain because… Yaya at Manchester United? No way, right? Right? Even with last year’s reports from his — again — terrible agent that it was an option, that still seems too villainous.

“I don’t rule big teams out. The big teams are very important for me. What they want to achieve, the way they want to go, for me is very important. … I want to go somewhere I can win and achieve. It’s going to be hard one day to play against City, but I have to do that. It is part of my job.”

Toure later said he was “no good in an office,” which had us thinking, well, what if they properly celebrated your birthday, Yaya?

WATCH: Miami United midfielder unleashes Open Cup laser

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By Nicholas MendolaMay 23, 2018, 9:43 PM EDT
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Tomas Granitto, have yourself an extra plate at the postgame buffet.

The Miami United midfielder scored a gorgeous goal in Wednesday’s 2-0 win over fellow NPSL side Jacksonville Armada in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup’s third round.

[ MORE: 3 Key Battles for UCL Final ]

Complete with aesthetically-pleasing post-ping, the former El Salvador U-20 player laid into a 25-yard shot to open the scoring in Florida.

Granitto, 24, has played for Timbers 2, Swope Park Rangers, FC Edmonton, since leaving NCAA side Florida Gulf Coast.

Rondon wanted by Atleti, Inter Milan, and West Ham

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By Nicholas MendolaMay 23, 2018, 9:10 PM EDT
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The big boys are looking to Salomon Rondon as a bargain striker.

Yes, $22 million is a bargain in the striker market these days.

[ MORE: Napoli hires Ancelotti ]

West Brom’s Venezuelan international, 28, stands 6’2″ and has a relegation release clause that is reportedly interesting Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, and West Ham United.

Atleti and Inter are in the Champions League next season, but Rondon played for new West Ham boss Manuel Pellegrini at Malaga, posting 25 league goals in two seasons.

He’s scored 24 goals in three Premier League seasons at West Brom, almost a quarter of the 104 produced by the Baggies.

He also picked up three assists this season as the target man for Tony Pulis, Alan Pardew, and Darren Moore (and was fouled more often than any other Baggie (Baggy?)).

Rondon and Marko Arnautovic next to each other would be a real handful for PL defenses. Then again, maybe he’ll stay loyal to West Brom and set the Championship scoring record next season.

Three German organizers of 2006 World Cup indicted for tax evasion

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Associated PressMay 23, 2018, 7:35 PM EDT
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FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) Three German organizers of the 2006 World Cup have been charged with tax evasion linked to a payment to FIFA.

German news agency dpa reported that Theo Zwanziger, Wolfgang Niersbach and Horst R. Schmidt confirmed Wednesday they are indicted by Frankfurt prosecutors in a long-running investigation.

[ MORE: 3 Key Battles for UCL Final ]

They are accused of falsifying tax returns on behalf of the Germany soccer federation (DFB) in 2006. The DFB has already paid 19.2 million euros ($22.4 million) in back taxes. All three deny the charges, which were first reported by German daily Bild

The allegations are also being investigated by Swiss federal prosecutors and FIFA’s ethics committee. They have targeted German soccer great Franz Beckenbauer, who led the 2006 tournament organizing committee.

Beckenbauer, Zwanziger and Niersbach were members of FIFA’s executive committee in turn from 2007 through 2016.

In 2016, the DFB published an inquiry report into a complex payments trail including 6.7 million euros ($7.8 million) to FIFA in April 2005. Zwanziger and the DFB claimed the money was for a World Cup opening gala and therefore tax-deductible.

However, the payment went through FIFA and ended in a Swiss account belonging to former Adidas chief Robert Louis-Dreyfus, who died in 2009.

The inquiry report did not rule out, but could not prove, that votes were bought when Germany beat a Nelson Mandela-supported South Africa bid for the hosting rights in a 12-11 vote of FIFA executive committee members in 2000.

Swiss prosecutors said in 2016 they had opened a criminal proceeding against the four German officials the previous year, on suspicion of fraud, money laundering, criminal mismanagement and misappropriation. That case spun off from a wider Swiss investigation of suspected corruption linked to FIFA and World Cup hosting votes that is ongoing.

Niersbach lost his seat on FIFA’s ruling committee when he was banned for one year for failing to disclose possible unethical conduct.

The various investigations have tarnished the reputation of the 2006 World Cup that was a popular success in the host nation, which called it the “Summer Fairytale.”