The Korea Herald

Messi rallies Barca with goals 300, 301

Feb 17, 2013

BARCELONA (AP) ― Lionel Messi scored twice to pass 300 goals for his career, extending his record-setting Spanish league scoring streak to 14 games as Barcelona rallied for a 2-1 win at Granada.Odion Ighalo put the host ahead in the 26th minute, and Messi tied it in the 50th when he scored on a rebound of Cesc Fabregas’ shot, Messi’s 300th competitive goal for Barcelona. Messi curled in a free kick in the 73rd for his 17th multigoal game of the season and needs two goals to reach 50 for the thir
Chelsea wins in Europa League

Feb 15, 2013

LONDON (AP) ― After the ignominy of a premature demise from the Champions League as defending champion, Chelsea’s quest to win the Europa League began by gaining a slender advantage at Sparta Prague on Thursday. On another miserable night for striker Fernando Torres, who has scored once in 13 matches, it fell to substitute Oscar to clinch a 1-0 victory in the first leg of the last-32 match. “We have to create more opportunities and the strikers will score more goals,” Chelsea manager Rafa Benite
Footballer Park Jong-woo finally gets his Olympic bronze

Feb 15, 2013

South Korean football player Park Jong-woo received his Olympic bronze medal on Friday, six months after he was denied the prize following his controversial celebration at the London Games, officials said.The Korean Olympic Committee (KOC) said Park was handed the medal by the KOC President Park Yong-sung at the KOC's headquarters in Seoul. Following a disciplinary hearing earlier this week in Switzerland, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) decided to award the player his medal, and Park
Cha Du-ri released by German club

Feb 14, 2013

South Korean footballer Cha Du-ri has been released by his German club, team officials said Thursday.Fortuna Dusseldorf of the Bundesliga, the top-flight German league, announced on its website that Cha’s contract has been terminated “by mutual agreement,” even though it expires in June 2014.Cha, 32, joined Dusseldorf from Celtic FC in the Scottish Premier League in June last year. In his first German season, he made 11 appearances, 10 of them as a substitute, without scoring a goal.Cha struggle
Korean soccer seeks to reinvent itself

Feb 14, 2013

For most, a 30th birthday is a time to think about settling down, starting a family and planning for the future. In short, it is time to grow up. Yet for professional football in South Korea, the start of its fourth decade is a time for a new and radical change.On the field, there seems to be little wrong with the game. The league produces plenty of good talent who then go on to play in top competitions such as England, Germany and France. In Asia, it is easily the most successful in club compet
Choi Kang-hee denies his uncertain future affects team

Feb 14, 2013

The head coach of the men’s South Korean soccer team on Thursday bristled at the notion that his uncertain future with the club has distracted his players, saying he will not talk about his status during qualifications for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.Choi Kang-hee, who has been coaching the national team since December 2011, said the country’s 4-0 loss to Croatia in last week’s friendly match had nothing to do with any lack of mental strength on the players’ part.“The players may have lost their con
Soccer faces epic fixing fight

Feb 13, 2013

ZURICH (AP) ― Soccer is falling under a cloud of suspicion as never before, sullied by a multibillion-dollar web of match-fixing that is corrupting increasingly larger parts of the world’s most popular sport.Internet betting, emboldened criminal gangs and even the economic downturn have created conditions that make soccer a lucrative target.Known as “the beautiful game” for its grace, athleticism and traditions of fair play, soccer is under threat of becoming a dirty game.“Football is in a disas
PSG, Juventus win in Champions League

Feb 13, 2013

Ezequiel Lavezzi scored in the 10th minute and Javier Pastore in the 43rd, giving Paris Saint-Germain a 2-1 win at Valencia on Tuesday night as the European Champions League’s second round began.Valencia’s Adil Rami scored off a free kick from Tino Costa in the 90th. PSG star Zlatan Ibrahimovic was given a red card during injury time for a challenge on Andres Guardado and will be suspended for the second leg of the total-goals series in Paris on March 6.At Glasgow, Juventus defeated Celtic 3-0 a
Ronaldo tops soccer rankings; Son enters top 10

Feb 13, 2013

LONDON (AP) ― Real Madrid’s Cristiano Ronaldo emerged from the shadow of Lionel Messi to top this week’s Associated Press Global Soccer Rankings.The Portuguese forward’s hat trick against Sevilla was not enough to prevent Barcelona returning to the top of the AP’s team rankings, with the Spanish league leader scoring six.Soeren-Mikael Hansen of Denmark’s Politiken newspaper said the hat trick was a message to Ronaldo’s old team.“Even though Barcelona performed best as a team, Cristiano Ronaldo m
Soccer faces epic fight against match-fixing

Feb 12, 2013

Soccer is falling under a cloud of suspicion as never before, sullied by a multibillion-dollar web of match-fixing that is corrupting increasingly larger parts of the world's most popular sport. Internet betting, emboldened criminal gangs and even the economic downturn have created conditions that make soccer _ or football, as the sport is called around the world _ a lucrative target. Known as “the beautiful game” for its grace, athleticism and traditions of fair play, soccer is under threat of
Footballer Park Jong-woo to receive long-awaited Olympic medal: IOC

Feb 12, 2013

South Korean footballer Park Jong-woo will be awarded his long-awaited Olympic bronze medal, following a ruling by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) over his controversial celebration at the London Summer Games, officials said Tuesday.After the Disciplinary Commission on Monday reviewed Park's action at the Olympics last year, the IOC decided to give the player the medal he had been barred from collecting for six months, a South Korean official explained."The IOC gave Park a stern warnin
Footballer Park Jong-woo awaiting result after IOC hearing on Olympic celebration

Feb 12, 2013

After attending an International Olympic Committee (IOC) disciplinary hearing over his Olympic celebration here Monday, South Korean football player Park Jong-woo said he will calmly await its outcome.The IOC's Disciplinary Commission held a meeting over Park's celebration after South Korea's 2-0 victory over Japan for the bronze medal in men's football at the London Olympics last year.Park hoisted a sign that read, in Korean, "Dokdo Is Our Territory," in support of South Korea's sovereignty ove
Man United opens 12-point lead

Feb 11, 2013

LONDON (AP) ― Manchester United opened a season-high 12-point lead in the English Premier League, defeating Everton 2-0 Sunday on goals by Ryan Giggs and Robin van Persie.The 40-year-old Giggs beat American goalkeeper Tim Howard in the 13th minute at Old Trafford to become the only person to score in every season of the Premier League, which began in 1992-93. Van Persie scored in first-half stoppage time, his league-high 19th goal this season. Seeking to extend its record for league titles to 20
FA fines Ferguson for implying official was biased

Feb 9, 2013

LONDON (AP) _ The English Football Association has fined Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson 12,000 pounds ($18,900) for implying a referee's assistant was motivated by bias.After a 1-1 draw at Tottenham last month, Ferguson was angry that linesman Simon Beck didn't award a penalty when United was leading 1-0. Ferguson claimed in a television interview that ``there was no way we were going to get a decision from'' Beck, citing Beck's 2010 decision to allow a goal by Chelsea striker Didier Dr
A work in progress

Feb 7, 2013

Korea flunks test ahead of WC qualifiers