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SAMUEL ETO'O TO SIT OUT FOR 3 MONTHS
:FC Barcelona striker Samuel Eto'o is expected to be sidelined for three months after undergoing surgery on his right thigh on Saturday.

Eto'o, who partially tore the thigh tendon during Barcelona's 5-0 friendly win over Inter Milan on Wednesday, is likely to miss virtually all the Champions League group stage. His team plays Lyon, Stuttgart and Rangers in Group E.
Doctor Ramon Cugat, who performed an hour-long operation on Eto'o, said the striker couldn't resume training for "at least two months", adding that he would remain in hospital until Monday and would need 10 days of complete rest.
Cugat said surgery was necessary because the muscle bore most weight when a player took a shot.

"A professional player cannot risk this muscle. Without it, he cannot function properly," Cugat was quoted as saying by news agency Efe.

The three-time African player of the year spent five months on the sidelines last season due to a right knee injury.

The Cameroon striker's absence will at least solve coach Frank Rijkaard's selection headache for a while.

Rijkaard has the task this season of deciding between a quartet of top forwards - Eto'o, Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi and recent signing Thierry Henry.

In Barcelona's opening game of the season against Racing Santander last Sunday, Rijkaard left Henry on the bench until he replaced Messi in the second half. The game ended scoreless.
Barcelona hosts Athletic Bilbao on Sunday.


DAVID BECKHAM INJURY:
CARSON, Calif. (AP) - So much for David Beckham's debut season in America. It's all but over now that the 32-year-old English midfielder is out six weeks with a sprained right knee, to go along with his famously injured left ankle.

His absence not only dampens U.S. enthusiasm for soccer - already on life support - but leaves England's national team without its former captain for a crucial stretch and threatens to deflate the Hollywood hype that elevated Becks and his Spice Girl wife to A-list celebrities.
"I'm incredibly disappointed to be injured again so soon after returning to play for the Galaxy," Beckham said on his Web site Friday. "It's been a year of amazing highs and frustrating lows, but I'm hopeful that I can still play a part this season."

The 32-year-old midfielder sprained his medial collateral ligament in a tackle during the Galaxy's loss to Mexican team Pachuca on Wednesday night. He was expected to be out about six weeks while he rehabilitates behind the scenes.

Beckham's right knee was in a brace Friday and he was ordered to rest for the next five days, Galaxy coach Frank Yallop said.




"We got to make sure he's doing the right thing from day one," he said. "Then his rehab will start and away he goes on both knee and ankle."

Beckham's extended absence deals a serious blow to the already slim chance the Galaxy had of making the playoffs. Its Major League Soccer record is 3-10-5 - last in the Western Conference.

If he stays out for six weeks, Beckham could return in mid-October, when the Galaxy would have three likely meaningless regular-season games remaining. He joined the team July 13 - well into the season.

For his time - 310 minutes in six of 12 possible games - Beckham earned $20,967 a minute from a yearly salary of $6.5 million. His minutes in three MLS games totaled 198, worth $32,828 a minute.

Beckham has been worth every penny, Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas insisted.

"Regardless of what we did with David, we were going to be second-guessed. We did what we felt was right for the organization, we did what we felt was right for the player," Lalas said. "Some of it worked out and some of it didn't. These are just moments that you go through. We'll get through this and he will, too."

Beckham's inability to play will impact everyone around him, according to marketing consultant Ryan Schinman, president of Platinum Rye Entertainment.

"The Galaxy, the stadium, the city, the concession stands, the merchandising will all be affected. And the networks showing the games," said Schinman, who works with music and sports celebrities. "You want the guy out there, where he's visible, every week."

But Brand Beckham - which includes his endorsements for fragrance and apparel - will hold up despite his setbacks.

"It's still too early to tell, but these injuries do add drama to his story line. People love soap operas and fairy tales and comeback stories," veteran Hollywood publicist Michael Levine said. "Very few sports heroes make it off the sports page. There's Muhammad Ali ... and David Beckham."

While Beckham is idled, his wife Victoria is moving ahead with her entertainment career. She will play herself on an episode of the ABC comedy "Ugly Betty" this fall, and she will be part of the Spice Girls reunion tour this winter. She also oversees her own line of fashion, fragrance and sunglasses.

"By his side, she props his star up," Schinman said.

Other than a star-studded welcome-to-Los Angeles bash thrown for the Beckhams in July by actors Tom Cruise and Will Smith, the couple has kept a low-profile on the Hollywood party circuit.

But they will always be targets of paparazzi, said Paris Hilton's publicist Elliot Mintz.

"Beckham's injuries have not altered the fact that he's an incredibly handsome and attractive man," he said. "These injuries don't impair how he looks when he's photographed."

Beckham's biggest success has been in moving merchandise and attracting fans.

Initial sales of his No. 23 jersey topped 250,000 and have skyrocketed from there. He gets an undisclosed percentage of every jersey sold, with MLS also sharing in the profits. The Galaxy only makes money if jerseys are bought at its team store at Home Depot Center.

He attracted 66,237 to New Jersey's Giants Stadium for his first MLS start, and the Galaxy enjoyed a few home sellouts in its 27,000-seat stadium.

"It's everything they could have hoped for," Galaxy midfielder Landon Donovan said. "It stinks that he's hurt now, but in the games he's played, they've been fun to watch."

Losing the world's most famous soccer player impacts more than just the Galaxy, though.

Beckham will miss England's two Euro 2008 qualifying matches against Israel and Russia in London in early September, and possibly two more in October.

Other games in the United States and overseas are in jeopardy, too.

The Minnesota Thunder of the United Soccer League were set to host the Galaxy against an unnamed international opponent on Oct. 10 in the Metrodome.

Beckham's injury "is obviously an important issue for us in doing this game," said Manny Lagos, Thunder director of operations.


The Galaxy has MLS games at Chivas USA (which shares Home Depot Center with the Galaxy), Real Salt Lake, Kansas City and Columbus in September.

Real Salt Lake heavily promoted Beckham's presence for its Sept. 19 game and had 1,000 seats remaining Friday in its 25,562-capacity stadium. The team said it will not offer refunds.

Kansas City advertised Beckham's Sept. 27 visit as the "Midwest Sporting Event of the Year." As of Friday, 28,000 tickets had been sold. No decisions on possible refunds had yet been made, the team said.

The Galaxy has scheduled an exhibition match in Sydney, Australia, on Nov. 27. As part of the deal, the Galaxy promised to reschedule if Beckham was injured or unavailable.

Beckham's knee injury is the same one he had in February while playing for Real Madrid. He returned in time to help the team win the Spanish League championship and regain his spot on England's national team.

"I'm staying very optimistic," he said on his Web site.

[socceroni67]

GIOVANNI DOS SANTOS IS BEING CALLED UP TO THE MEXICAN FOOTBALL TEAM
Sanchez calls Giovani Dos Santos
Associated Press, Updated 1 hour ago







MEXICO CITY (AP) - FC Barcelona striker Giovanni Dos Santos earned his first selection into the senior Mexican national team, chosen Friday by manager Hugo Sanchez for friendlies against Panama and Brazil next month.

The 18-year-old Dos Santos will make his debut with El Tri Sept. 9 when Mexico plays host to Panama. The squad will travel to Boston to play Brazil three days later.
The son of Brazilian native and former Mexican league veteran Zizinho, Dos Santos was born in Mexico and was a key member of the Mexican team that won the Under-17 World Cup in Peru 2005. He also earned the "Bronze Ball" at the Under-20 World Cup in Canada in July.

Osasuna forward Carlos Vela, who also played for Mexico's 2005 U17 and 2007 U20 teams, likewise was called for the matches.

Dos Santos and Vela will be joined by European-based regulars Nery Castillo, Andres Guardado and Carlos Salcido.

However, other European-based stalwarts such as Rafael Marquez of FC Barcelona, Pavel Pardo and Ricardo Osorio of Stuttgart, Aaron Galindo of Eintracht Frankfurt and Guillermo Franco of Villarreal were not summoned.

The team announced Friday includes only one player over 27 years old, with Sanchez still testing players for Olympic qualifying.



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Roster

Goalkeepers: Guillermo Ochoa (America), Luis Michel (Guadalajara), Alfonso Blanco (Pachuca), Sergio Arias (Dorados).

Defenders: Omar Esparza (Guadalajara), Israel Castro (Pumas), Julio Dominguez (Cruz Azul), Edgar Mejia (Guadalajara), Jonny Magallon (Guadalajara), Hector Moreno (Pumas), Adrian Aldrete (Morelia), Fausto Pinto (Pachuca), Carlos Salcido (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands).

Midfielders: Emmanuel Cerda (Tigres), Jose Guerrero (Atlante), Jaime Correa (Pachuca), Patricio Araujo (Guadalajara), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul), Jorge Hernandez (Atlas), Gerardo Rodriguez (Pachuca), Edgar Castillo (Santos), Fernando Arce (Morelia), Andres Guardado (Deportivo La Coruna, Spain).

Forwards: Luis Landin (Morelia), Nery Castillo (Shakhtar Donetsk, Ukraine), Giovani Dos Santos (FC Barcelona, Spain), Cesar Villaluz (Cruz Azul), Carlos Vela (Osasuna, Spain), Juan Carlos Mosqueda (America), Juan Carlos Cacho (Pachuca).


ANTONIA PUERTA DIES
Sevilla's Puerta dies in hospital

Spain international Antonio Puerta has died after suffering a heart attack in his club side Sevilla's 4-1 win against Getafe on Saturday.
Defender Puerta, 22, collapsed in the first-half and medics prevented him from swallowing his tongue.

But he collapsed again after going off and was given cardiac resuscitation before being taken to hospital.

He was placed in intensive care and doctors said on Tuesday his condition had deteriorated before his death.

Puerta collapsed after jogging back towards his own goal 35 minutes into the opening league game of the season at the Sanchez Pizjuan on Saturday.

Team-mates and medical staff rushed to his side and were seen preventing him from swallowing his tongue as he lost consciousness.


He was able to walk from the pitch but doctors said that he collapsed again in the changing rooms and had to be given cardiac resuscitation before being taken to the Virgen del Rocio hospital.

Hospital director Gimeno Guerrero said Puerta died of "multiple organ failure, stemming from prolonged cardiac arrest."

Sevilla were due to play AEK Athens in the second leg of a third round Champions League qualifier on Tuesday but the match has been postponed until Monday 3 September.

As a consequence, the league match against Osasuna that was scheduled for next Monday has been postponed.

There will also be a minute's silence in tribute of Puerta before every La Liga match next weekend.

A league statement said: "The Professional Football League wishes to pass on its most sincere condolences to the family of Antonio Puerta.

"It has also declared the next day of league play to be one of official mourning and asked all its affiliated teams to observe a minute's silence before the games."

European football's governing body said: "UEFA and the entire football family extend their sympathy and sincere condolences to the family of Antonio Puerta."