AFE calls for later games as summer kicks in

Romero believes he has pro fed himself after final

BARCELONA, May 27, (RTRS): Spanish soccer players’ union AFE said on Friday it had asked for an urgent meeting with the league’s organising body to ask that games in the summer months take place at night to avoid playing when temperatures are hottest.

The first tier La Liga season finished last week, but Spain’s second tier Segunda Division still has three weeks remaining and four play-off games. Play-off games in other divisions are also still to take place.

Temperatures will be as high as 33 degrees Celsius this weekend in Madrid and 30 degrees in Seville, where Segunda Division games are taking place in the early evening and mid afternoon.

“The time has come to see if the league is only committed to television operators or whether they also care about the health of those on the pitch and on the stands,” Xavi Oliva, managing director of AFE, told reporters.

Oliva said the organisation was also concerned about games at the start of next season in Spain’s hottest, asking that the organisers set kick off times according to likely temperatures where games are taking place.

The AFE has asked for the league and the Spanish soccer federation, the RFEF, to allow referees to stop play for water breaks, as occurred in the 2014 World Cup.

“By doing this we can be sure that the footballers and other actors in the sport can do their job safely and that fans can enjoy the spectacle of football in the right conditions.”

Romero

Sergio Romero has spent large parts of his club career sitting on the bench but after helping Manchester United win the Europa League, he believes he has shown he is good enough to be the club’s number one goalkeeper.

The Argentina No 1 has had to make do with only six Premier League starts in his two seasons with United since signing from Sampdoria, where he also had a limited role. But he spoke of his gratitude to Jose Mourinho for making him first choice in the victorious Europa League campaign.

“I chose to come here because of the type of club this is, one of the biggest in the world and an opportunity I couldn’t turn down even though I knew it might be a little harder here to play a lot,” Romero told reporters after United’s 2-0 win over Ajax in the final on Wednesday.

“With Louis (van Gaal) I played 12 games and I felt good and so I thought I had played an important role for the team despite not playing a lot. Then with Jose I’ve had a bigger role, I’ve been able to play a little more and I’ve been able to show I’m a goalkeeper that can play for this club.”

Romero played the first four games of his first season at United as David de Gea was expected to move to Real Madrid, a transfer that was derailed on the final day of the transfer window due to administrative reasons.

The Argentine did not feature again in the league in the 2014/15 season but with Real expected to move for the Spain No. 1 again this summer he could be in line to be United’s first choice keeper next campaign and committed to stay at the club.

“My intention is to stay. I could be the number one or number two again, it all depends on hard work, but hard work is something I have plenty of,” added Romero, who began his career with Argentine club Racing Club de Avellaneda.

His consistency in the Europa League, where he kept eight clean sheets in 12 games, was a rare instance in which he replicated his prominent role for Argentina, where he is the most capped goalkeeper in the team’s history, at club level.

“There were many moments when I returned home very happy, I’ve kept a lot of clean sheets and helped my team mates on a lot of occasions that’s given me enormous satisfaction,” Romero added.

“I have to thank the coaching staff for showing faith in me and my teammates who made a lot of effort to make me feel tranquil and ending with this trophy in our hands makes us doubly happy.”

Chan Yuen-ting, the first female coach to lead a men’s professional soccer club to a top-flight title, has resigned from her position as head coach of Hong Kong’s Eastern Sports Club.

Chan made headlines internationally after guiding the club to the Hong Kong Premier League title last season, but decided to stand down at the end of the just-completed campaign after Eastern relinquished their title to rivals Kitchee.

“Chan Yuen-ting has resigned as head coach, but will remain on the club’s coaching staff,” a club spokesman told Reuters.

“She will be studying for the next level of coaching badges with the Asian Football Confederation and will have to be out of Hong Kong a lot between June and December, so she decided she could not continue as head coach.”

Chan won the league title with Eastern last season before taking the club into the Asian Champions League for the first time.

Eastern, however, struggled in the continental competition, picking up just one point in the group stages and suffering two heavy defeats at the hands of Chinese Super League champions Guangzhou Evergrande.

Szeto Man-chung, who previously worked as team manager, will replace Chan as head coach.

Carlos Tevez may be reaping the rewards of China’s football boom, but believes standards in his new home fall well below the level he has become accustomed to in a glittering career.

The Argentine, who had spells at Manchester United, Manchester City and Juventus, joined Shanghai Shenhua on a then world record 38-million-euro ($40 million) salary in December.

However, despite the millions being ploughed into the Chinese game on the back of president Xi Jinping’s demand for China to become a world force, Tevez hasn’t been impressed with the quality of football he has seen.

“I don’t think they will be able to compete with any of the big European sides,” Tevez told Spanish TV station Movistar. “I don’t think they will get there in 50 years.” Tevez hasn’t done much to impress since arriving in the Far East, scoring just once from the penalty spot in four matches before being sidelined by injury.

“Without meaning to they can do you damage with a kick because they are clumsy.”

Yet, with the government cracking down on the number of foreign players each team is allowed to sign, Tevez expects big improvements from the new generation of Chinese players.

“Technically they are not very good, but I think with this new rule that the government have put in, the kids are going to have to start playing and that they will improve a lot.”

Watford have appointed former Hull City manager Marco Silva as their new head coach on a two-year deal to replace Italian Walter Mazzarri who left at the end of the season, the Premier League club said on Saturday.

The 39-year-old, who has also managed in his native Portugal and Greece where he won the title with Olympiakos Piraeus, quit his job at Hull against the club’s wishes on Thursday after they were relegated to the Championship (second-tier).

“His pedigree and promise speaks for itself with his achievements in top divisions elsewhere across Europe, as well as his work at Hull City last season,” Watford chairman and CEO Scott Duxbury said in a statement.

Silva was unable to secure top-flight survival at Hull but six home wins in 18 matches under him kept them alive in the relegation battle until the penultimate game of the season.