Soccer Shorts

A round up of today's other stories in brief

Woodgate leaves Tottenham

TOTTENHAM HAVE confirmed injury-plagued defender Jonathan Woodgate has left the club.

Woodgate joined Spurs in January 2008 from Middlesbrough but has been limited to just 65 appearances due to several serious injuries.

The former Real Madrid man has been dogged by back and leg injuries since his days at Newcastle and his latest setback – a groin problem – meant he was only able to play one game in the last 15 months.

Because of his injury problems, Spurs manager Harry Redknapp was only willing to offer the 31-year-old a pay-as-you-play deal, despite rating him as one of the best English defenders of his generation.

Those talks have collapsed and Woodgate has been released from his contract and is now a free agent. The centre back, who has eight England caps, has been linked with a move to QPR and former club Leeds.

Redknapp said in May Woodgate was still capable of performing at the top level.

One killed in stadium roof collapse

ONE PERSON was killed and a further 16 were injured after a section of the roof at FC Twente’s De Grolsch Veste Stadium in Enschede collapsed yesterday.

The incident occurred at 12.03pm local time and construction workers, involved in the redevelopment of the stadium, were initially trapped beneath the wreckage at the southern end of the ground.

Everyone involved in construction work at the stadium has now been accounted for.

The roof is reported to have collapsed after two support beams buckled, although the reason why this happened is not yet known.

Hoekstra said a representative from the Dutch public prosecution service, the Openbaar Ministerie, had been sent from nearby Almelo to launch an investigation

Two NK players are suspended

TWO NORTH Korean players have been provisionally suspended after failing doping tests at the women’s World Cup, soccer’s world governing body Fifa said yesterday.

Fifa named the players as Jong Sun Song and Sim Pok Jong and said the ban took effect before Wednesday’s match against Colombia. Fifa said it had received the results of the tests, taken after the team’s previous games, on Wednesday morning.

Fifa added that under anti-doping regulations, the whole North Korea team was subjected to a doping test after Wednesday’s game, which ended 0-0. “The target testing of the entire North Korea team was coordinated with (world anti-doping agency) Wada,” soccer’s governing body said in a statement.

On Tuesday, Fifa announced that Colombia goalkeeper Yineth Varon had been suspended after failing an out-of-competition doping test conducted in Leverkusen on June 25th.

Byrne takes over as Sunderland CEO

SUNDERLAND HAVE appointed 31-year-old Irish solicitor Margaret Byrne as the club’s new chief executive. Byrne has worked as the club’s legal director for the last four years and has played a central part in player contract negotiations during that time, writes Emmet Malone.

“Margaret has been a driving force at the club since her appointment more than four years ago,” said Sunderland chairman Niall Quinn yesterday, “and the fact that the club has made enormous progress on the pitch during that period is no coincidence.

“She has enormous passion for our club and as its CEO she will continue with the fantastic work that has gone before and play a key role as the club continues to grow.”

Zidane to 'direct' Real

ZINEDINE ZIDANE will start working as Real Madrid’s “director of football” from next week, the former France great said yesterday.

The 39-year-old, who was voted World Player of the Year on three occasions, has been working at the Spanish club as president Florentino Perez’s special adviser.

“We are going to start working in the role as director of football to the first team,” Zidane told reporters.

Messi a forlorn figure as Argentina struggle in Copa

LIONEL MESSI has become an even more isolated player for Argentina at the Copa America than he was at the 2010 World Cup, a forlorn figure missing the telling passes of his club-mates Xavi and Andres Iniesta.

Messi, mesmerising for Barcelona, has had limited influence in the hosts’ first two matches in Group A, a 1-1 draw with Bolivia and Wednesday’s 0-0 stalemate with Colombia.

Coach Sergio Batista preaches a game that is centred around Messi but it is not working in a competitive context in the way it appeared to flourish in friendlies. Argentina have been thwarted by two well organised sides, with Colombia’s Hernan Dario Gomez showing the extent of his nous as a coach in his near-flawless tactics against Batista’s. Had Colombias attack put away one of several chances, the game plan would have been perfect.