16 June 2005 Milan and Chelsea Set for Battle in World Series Milan and Chelsea will meet twice in the second World Series pre season friendly tournament. The teams will meet on July the 24th at Foxboro and on July the 31st in the New Jersey Meadowlands. Milan beat Chelsea 3-2 in last years final. Both teams will play DC United and Chicago Fire in the 4 team tournament which will run from the July 24-31. Souness Fined Newcastle coach Graeme Souness has been fined £20,000 and given a suspended two-match touchline ban for criticising referee Barry Knight after Newcastle's match against Everton on May the 7th. Boca Sack Benitez Boca Juniors have sacked coach Jorge Benitez for spitting at Chivas player Audolfo Bautista during the 2nd leg of the clubs Copa Libertadores quarter-final clash against the Mexicans. Benitez spat at Bautista after he held up four fingers to the crowd (the score from the first leg was Chivas 4-0 Boca Juniors). A brawl then ensued, Bautista and Boca's Martin Palermo were send off before the match was abandoned after 79 minutes following crowd trouble. 15 June 2005 Birmingham Fans Don't Want Racist At Club Birmingham City chairman David Sullivan has revealed that the club have been forced to abandon their attempts to sign the racist Lee Bowyer from Newcastle following a petition by fans of the club : "'It looks like we are now going to lose out on a terrific player due to a small minority of fans, and I am absolutely gutted. English midfielders with his ability are so hard to find. Lee Bowyer would be a fantastic addition to our side. We are looking to build the best squad that this club has ever had and the signing of Lee would take us a long way down that road but the player has now said that he doesn't want to go to a club where he's not wanted." Rijkaard Warns Greedy Eto'o Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard has revealed he has no objections in top scorer Samuel Eto'o leaving the club after he demanded an improved contract : "I'm not quite sure what Samuel is asking for. I like for players at Barcelona to feel happy. If a player is not happy and another club will pay him more then it's better that he goes." 14 June 2005 van Persie Accused of Rape Arsenal forward Robin van Persie has been arrested after a women claimed he raped her on Saturday in Rotterdam. Prosecution spokeswoman Jei Chen de Graaf said : "He was arrested on Monday, he is at least going to be in custody until tomorrow. On Tuesday, we will decide if we are going to hold him for longer, although strictly speaking we do have three days. The investigation is in full motion right now. He is now a suspect and, according to the findings of the investigation, if we want to hold him for longer than three days we have to ask a judge, and then he could be held for a further 14 days." van Persie faces a maximum of 12 years in jail if found guilty. Finnan Arrested over Pensioner's Death Liverpool defender Steve Finnan has been arrested on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. In an incident which took place on January the 27th in Liverpool the player was involved in a collision in his Range Rover which resulted in the death of 81 year old Harry Nelson. Nelson suffered serious head injuries and died five week later in hospital. A spokeswoman for Merseyside Police said : "A 29-year-old man from Liverpool was arrested on April 11 on suspicion of causing death by dangerous driving. He was bailed pending further inquiries to appear at a police station on Wednesday June 29." Sukur Murder Suspect? Former Croatia striker Davor Suker has been questioned over the death of an associate, local football agent Dino Pokrovac. Pokrovac was shot on Saturday and was also the agent of Niko Kranjcar who left Dinamo Zagreb to join bitter rivals Hadjuk Split in January. Last year an attempt was made on Pokrovac's life when his car was set on fire. Police failed to the perpetrators. New Offside Confusion Set for Debut The re-worked interpretations of the offside ruling will come into effect from the start of the Confederations Cup on Wednesday. The rules are as follows : Interfering with play means playing or touching the ball passed or touched by a team mate. Interfering with an opponent means preventing an opponent from playing or being able to play the ball by clearly obstructing the opponent's line of vision or movements or making a gesture or movement which, in the opinion of the referee, deceives or distracts an opponent. Gaining an advantage by being in an offside position means playing a ball that rebounds to him off a post or crossbar or playing a ball that rebounds to him off an opponent having been in an offside position. 13 June 2005 Bladder Warns Against Liverpool Pull-Out FIFA President Sepp Bladder insists that Liverpool will not be allowed to pull out of the re-launched World Club Championship in December despite the clubs worries over fixture congestion : "They must play the Toyota Cup because it is binding for them for 2005. The cup is in Japan and they will have to travel. Do you think they won't play? They will play." 10 June 2005 Spurs Warn Chelsea Over Compensation "I will not be coerced into lodging a formal complaint to the Premier League (over Chelsea's approach for sporting director Frank Arnesen), in what is, in my opinion, an open and shut case that Chelsea will get points deducted. I will, however, not hesitate to take this route in the absence of fair and significant compensation." - Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy UEFA Give Liverpool Reprieve UEFA have bowed to public pressure and allowed Liverpool the chance to defend their ill deserved European Cup. A statement on UEFA's site read as follows : "Exceptionally, for the upcoming season, the UEFA Executive Committee today decided to allow the current Champions League title-holders to defend their title." The Executive Committee also decided that Liverpool would enter the competition in the first qualifying round, to be played on 12/13 and 19/20 July, The draw for the first qualifying round is scheduled to take place on 24 June. There will be no "country protection" for Liverpool, which means that they could be drawn to play another English club at any stage of the competition. English domestic champions Chelsea and Arsenal have qualified for the Champions League group stage, while Manchester United and Liverpool's neighbours Everton join the competition in the third qualifying round. In addition, Liverpool will be included in the English market pool share with the status of lowest-placed English club.