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Argentine Pumpido takes charge as Veracruz coach
MEXICO CITY: Former Argentina goalkeeper Nery Pumpido was unveiled on Tuesday as the coach of Mexican club Veracruz.
Pumpido, who played in Diego Maradona's 1986 World Cup-winning Argentina side, replaces compatriot Pedro Monzon.
As a coach Pumpido steered Paraguay's Olimpia to victory in the 2002 Libertadores Cup and also trained Newell's Old Boys in the Argentine league and Mexico's Tigres UANL.
Van Nistelrooy return very important ,says Dutch coach
BANGKOK: Netherlands coach Marco van Basten said on Tuesday the return of disaffected striker Ruud van Nistelrooy would have a positive effect on his squad and he hoped they could put aside their differences.
"I hope he can be very important for us," he told a news conference. "We have other players who can also win games but I'm happy because we now have more possibilities for selection."
Asked if the pair's well-publicised disputes were behind them, van Basten, talking ahead of his side's friendly international against Thailand on Wednesday, said: "Yes, I hope so."
The Dutch coach announced on May 25 that Van Nistelrooy had agreed to return from self-imposed exile to play in the Euro 2008 qualifiers against Albania and Bulgaria in September.
Villarreal's Forlan and Senna come to blows in training
LONDON: Villarreal's Uruguay striker Diego Forlan and Brazilian-born Spain midfielder Marcos Senna had to be separated by teammates after coming to blows for almost two minutes following some hefty challenges during training.
"We had been having a go at each other and it ended up like that. We lost our tempers and that's it. We'll have a chat tomorrow and I don't think we'll have any more problems," Forlan told a news conference.
Villarreal are at home to Athletic Bilbao on Saturday and with two games to go in the Primera Liga are one point outside the UEFA Cup places in seventh.
Portuguese Peseiro named coach of Panathinaikos
Jose Peseiro has been confirmed as the new Panathinaikos coach after signing a two-year contract on Tuesday.
"I came to Panathinaikos to win titles, such a big team is required to challenge for honours all the time," the Portuguese coach, who steered Sporting Lisbon to the UEFA Cup final in 2005, told the Greek club's Web site.
Panathinaikos, who sacked Victor Munoz last month after finishing third in the league and losing the Greek Cup final, won their last honours in 2004 when they secured the league and cup double under Israeli Yitzhak Schum.
(China Daily 06/07/2007 page23)
