Free Republic

The Hunt for American al Qaeda The United States is turning up the heat in the hunt for the California boy turned al Qaeda operative, Adam Gadahn, who has been charged with treason and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. If caught and convicted, Gadahn could face the death penalty. The State Department along with the Department of Diplomatic Security announced the beginning of a publicity campaign in Afghanistan urging locals to provide any information on Gadahn's whereabouts, with a reward if the information leads to his capture. Radio advertisements with information concerning the $1 million reward have...

Note: Orlando Sentinel material is excerpt only--that means no photos! I WILL ASK TO HAVE THE PHOTOS REMOVED IF YOU POST THEM Posted for informational purposes only. who? unknown what? 2008 CONCACAF Olympic Qualifying where? Raymond James Stadium; Tampa, Florida when? March 15, 2008 why? why ask? how? who cares?

HANGZHOU, China -- As they left the stadium, two Brazilian players were banging out samba rhythms on drums, a third was slapping a tambourine and the rest of their teammates were singing. They sashayed past Kristine Lilly, the last player still active from the teams who created the golden age of U.S. women's soccer -- an age that ended for good Thursday night, when the drums weren't the only thing Brazil pounded. "It hurts," Lilly said, referring to her psyche, not her eardrums. "It just hurts." Lilly has played in World Cups since the first in 1991, played with the...

Police officer killed in riots; all Serie A and B matches suspended Maria Sanminiatelli Canadian Press Friday, February 02, 2007 In this frame made from SKYTG24, fans clash with police outside Catania's Angelo Massimino stadium after the Italian first division soccer league match between Palermo and Catania, in Sicily, southern Italy, Friday. (AP/SkyTG24) ROME (AP) - A police officer was killed Friday when fans rioted at a Serie A game between Sicilian sides Catania and Palermo, prompting the Italian soccer federation (FIGC) to postpone all league matches this weekend and cancel next week's friendlies involving the national teams. Fans rioted...

... a black police officer seeking to protect a Jewish fan of a visiting Israeli team shot and killed one man and wounded another.Antoine Granomort, 32, rushed to the aid of a French fan of the Hapoel Tel Aviv club late Thursday after the Israeli team defeated Paris Saint-Germain ... About a hundred fans cornered the two men ... shouting racist and anti-Semitic epithets at them and making Nazi salutes ...Both victims were identified by the police as members of a far-right group supporting Paris Saint-Germain ...Overt racism is a common occurrence at the ... home stadium of PSG, with...

A supporter of the French football club Paris Saint Germanin was shot and killed by police Thursday night after a UEFA-cup game against the Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv. The tradgedy occurred outside the stadium Parc de Princes in Paris after PSG had lost against Hapoel with 2-4. According to police sources a lonely Hapoel fan was surrounded by 150 fans from the Parisian club on a street outside the areana. A policeman hurried tthere and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. He then fired two live rounds. Two PSG suporters were hit and one of them was killed....

ROME (AFP) - Italy defender Marco Materazzi has broken his silence over the verbal exchange that led to his violent World Cup final clash with French star Zinedine Zidane. Materazzi was sent crashing to the turf by a Zidane head-butt near the end of extra-time of the July 9 final in Berlin following a verbal altercation. Mystery has surrounded the exact nature of the abuse directed at Zidane by Materazzi ever since the incident, which subsequently earned the Inter Milan centre-half a two-match ban from world governing body FIFA. But in an interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport here Tuesday,...

2006 SIERRA MIST MLS ALL-STAR GAME Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Ill. Saturday, Aug. 5, 2005 (6:30 p.m. ET; Live on ESPN)

Berlin — Was it something he said? With France and Italy tied in extra time of Sunday's World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane head-butted Marco Materazzi in the chest and was ejected. France went on to lose on penalty kicks. The day after, still no one knew what the Italian defender might have said to the French star. "The Italians did everything they could do to provoke Zidane," France defender William Gallas said. Seconds before, Materazzi had grabbed a handful of Zidane's jersey just as a French attack on goal passed harmlessly by. The two exchanged words as they walked back...

Our correspondent finds out what may have caused a great player to lose his head in such spectacular style WITH his monkish mien backed by a sense of brooding menace, Zinédine Zidane has always been something of an enigma, so it is perhaps fitting that the final act of his career should be the source of such mystery. Just why did a man blessed with complete control of a football lose his head in such a violent manner at such a crucial moment, boring it into the chest of Marco Materazzi? As L’Equipe summed up the moment of madness with...

BERLIN (AP) -- Zinedine Zidane cut short his dazzling World Cup and closed his career with an ugly head butt -- and a loss. The France captain was given a red card for slamming the crown of his bald head into the center of Italy defender Marco Materazzi's chest after the two exchanged words while walking down the field in extra time. The game was tied 1-1 when Zidane was sent off, head bowed, in the 110th minute Sunday. Without their sharpshooting captain, France couldn't unlock Italy's defense and went on to lose in a shootout, 5-3. Zidane's strike was...

The World Cup Final will be held Sunday in Berlin at 2 p.m. ET (ABC). Germany will face Portugal to play for third place on Saturday in Stuttgart at 3 p.m. ET (ESPN).

Flopping, Diving, and Timewasting: The World Cup Way Mis amis footballeurs: How do we stop the madness? (In my best French accent...) In this World Cup, especially in the group phase and 2nd round, huge numbers of the fittest athletes known in team sports have apparently suffered more life-threatening injuries than in an entire season of ER. In an amazing coincidence, many of these mortal wounds occur near their opponents penalty area; the rest seem to occur to players (victims, really) on teams holding a one-goal lead. In fact, it seems every one of Italy's opponents was tought Pai Mei...

BERLIN (Reuters) - Police in Berlin said on Wednesday they had arrested two men on suspicion of placing cement-filled soccer balls around the city and inviting people to kick them. At least two people injured themselves by kicking the balls, which were chained to lampposts and trees alongside the spray-painted message: "Can you kick it?" Police said they had identified a 26-year-old and a 29-year-old and had found a workshop in their apartment where they made the balls. The two are accused of causing serious physical injury, dangerous obstruction of traffic and causing injury through negligence, police said. Berlin hosts...

Father William Maestri with the Catholic Archdiocese of New Orleans, Louisiana makes this damning (at least to soccer moms nationwide) remark in his latest column on The Clarion Herald, the Archdiocese's newspaper. The quote is just the proverbial tip of the iceberg as he rants in no uncertain terms against this sport which he mockingly calls "kickball". But then, what is the Padre's sport of choice? Not basketball, not football, not even "the national pastime" of baseball. It's tennis; Wimbledon tennis! The article is available only in .pdf format, so I urge fellow FReepers to access it through the source...

MOGADISHU, Somalia - Radical Islamic militia fighters in Somalia shot and killed two people who were watching a banned World Cup soccer broadcast, a radio station reported Wednesday. The hard-line Muslim fighters, who have banned watching television, opened fire after a crowd of teenagers defied their orders to leave a hall where a businessman was showing Tuesday's Germany-Italy match on satellite television, according to Shabelle Radio, an independent local station. It said the businessman and a teenage girl were killed. Hard-line Muslim fighters, who wrested control of the Somali capital from warlords in June, have forbidden people from watching television...

Portugal takes on France at 3 p.m. ET (ESPN) in Munich. Discuss.

Report: Manchester United to show Ronaldo the door, Rooney irate at teammate's role in sending off LONDON – Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo, criticized for his role in Wayne Rooney's sending off at the World Cup, won't be back at Manchester United and can expect payback from the star England striker in the future, a British newspaper said. Quoting an unnamed source, The Sun reported Monday that Rooney threatened to “split him in two” when the two next meet. Ronaldo may be wearing a different uniform when that happens. The British tabloid says United will show Ronaldo the door “because of...

The Germans and Italians meet in Dortmund on Tuesday (2:55 p.m. ET, ESPN) to play for the right to go to the World Cup Final on Sunday. The loser will play in the third-place game Saturday against the losing team of the other semifinal to be held Wednesday.

The quarterfinal round concludes with a pair of enticing match-ups. The day's first match pits England against Portugal (10:30 a.m. ET, ABC) in Gelsenkirchen, while a rematch of the 1998 final between Brazil and France (3:00 p.m. ET, ESPN) will wrap the Round of 8.