MADRID, Spain -- Alfredo Di Stefano, the player Real Madrid has hailed as the most important component in its mid-20th century ascent to becoming a global football powerhouse, has died. He was 88. Real Madrid said in a statement that Di Stefano, its honorary president, died on Monday afternoon at Gregorio Maranon hospital, two days after a heart attack. Di Stefano turned 88 on Friday. The following day, he had a heart attack on a street near Madrids Santiago Bernabeu Stadium. Paramedics were able to resuscitate him after 18 minutes, but he spent the following days in a coma. Renowned for his speed, versatility and strategic grasp of the game, he helped Madrid attain five straight European Champions Cups and was voted European player of the year in 1957 and 59. In a career spanning five clubs in three countries -- Argentina, Colombia and Spain -- from 1945-1966, Di Stefano scored 789 goals in 1,090 matches. In the process he claimed top-scorer status once in the Argentine league, twice in Colombias league and five times in Spain. Only Raul Gonzalez has scored more goals for Real Madrid than Di Stefano, who is often recognized as the clubs first "galactico." However, as FIFA acknowledges on its official website, "statistics will show that Alfredo Di Stefano is one of the worlds greatest ever goal scorers, but the bare facts only tell part of the story." FIFA president Sepp Blatter said Di Stefano "was my favourite player." French great Michel Platini, now president of the footballs European governing body, said Di Stefano was "superb technically, possessed outstanding speed, and was a splendid goal scorer." "Together with his gifted teammates, he helped invent modern football." Those who Di Stefano recall a straight-talking character who believed success on the field came through physical effort and dedication. "I dont want to be idolized, I just want to play. And to do that you have to run and sweat," he said. His modesty in the face of overwhelming sporting success won him the admiration of many. "I think he was one of the greatest, if not the greatest, football player ever," England great Bobby Charlton said. Born July 4, 1926, in the Barracas suburb of Buenos Aires, near the port where British sailors introduced football to Argentina, Di Stefano learned the game in what he called "the academy of the streets." "In our neighbourhood we used to hold major football sessions that went on until it got dark, with everyone playing against each other," he said. "Pope Francis and I went to the same school," Di Stefano said when Jorge Mario Bergoglio was elected pontiff, adding the two likely played together as children. Di Stefanos father, Alfredo, the son of an immigrant from the Italian island of Capri, was a loyal fan of River Plate. De Stefanos mother, Eulalia Laulhe Gilmont, was of French and Irish ancestry. Having trialed successfully for River Plate, he turned professional in 1945, joining Colombias Millonarios six years later. He won six league titles for the two clubs. His turn of speed soon had fans chanting, "Help, here comes the jet-propelled blonde arrow," ("Saeta Rubia," in Spanish) a nickname Di Stefano retained all his life. He played in Spain for the first time in 1952 and dazzled the crowd at a tournament commemorating Real Madrids 50th anniversary, a fateful encounter. Barcelona signed Di Stefano in 1953 after agreeing a transfer with River Plate, but the move was thrown into doubt when Madrid also negotiated his transfer -- with Millonarios. Although the Spanish federation authorized Di Stefano to play half of his four-year contract with each club, Barcelona opted out, alleging pressure from the Madrid-based ruling military dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco. In his first season Di Stefano helped Madrid win its second league title, ending a 21-year drought. Within three years, he helped Madrid lift the inaugural European Cup by scoring in a 4-3 win over Frances Stade Reims. The arrival at Madrid of Hungarian great Ferenc Puskas in 1958 led to an attacking partnership of dynamic effectiveness which allowed the club to retain the European title through to 1960, a record yet to be beaten. Di Stefanos last final in 1960 saw possibly his finest match. Before 127,000 spectators, he scored three times in Madrids 7-3 demolition of Eintracht Frankfurt. The same year, he helped Madrid win the inaugural Intercontinental Cup between European and South American champions with a 5-1 aggregate victory over Uruguays Penarol. He topped the Spanish leagues scoring standings in five of his 11 seasons with Madrid. He scored 49 times in 58 European matches, a record in the competition that stood for more than four decades. Di Stefano left Madrid in 1964 to join Barcelona-based Espanyol for a two-year spell before retiring at age 40. "Football brought me so many beautiful moments. It built my life," said Di Stefano, who also played for Argentina and Spain. But World Cup glory eluded him. Argentina didnt play in 1950 and 54, while Spain didnt qualify in 1958. Di Stefano carried an injury to Chile in 1962 and did not play. So, his only international success was a 1947 Copa America victory with Argentina. In 1963, Di Stefano was held captive by a guerrilla group during Madrids tour of Venezuela. He was taken at gunpoint from his hotel room by the publicity-seeking National Liberation Army Front and released unhurt two days later. As a coach, he led Boca Juniors and River Plate to Argentine league titles, and won the European Cup Winners Cup, the Spanish league title and the Copa del Rey with Valencia. He also managed Madrid between 1982 and 1984. Madrid appointed Di Stefano honorary president in 2000 and erected a statue in his honour in 2008. A diabetic, Di Stefano fought ill-health in old age and underwent a quadruple bypass with a pacemaker implanted in December 2005 after a heart attack. In May 2013 his children asked a court to rule him mentally incapable after he announced plans to marry a woman 50 years his junior. "I dont care that my children are against it," Di Stefano, then 86, said of his plans to marry 36-year-old Gina Gonzalez. His interest in football never diminished. At 86 he still maintained a regular column in Spanish sports newspaper Marca. In it, he revealed that he had missed Pope Francis appointment. "I must confess that while everyone else watched the white smoke live," he wrote. "I was, as always, watching a football game." . Wheeler scored two goals, including the winner, as the Winnipeg Jets beat the Minnesota Wild 6-4 on Friday in a game that featured a seven-goal first period. . Moors, from Cambridge Ont., landed a double-twisting, double somersault in the layout position, en route to a score of 14.600 points in the womens floor exercise, more than a full point ahead of runner-up Pia Tolle of Germany.
http://www.cheapcowboysjerseysonline.co ... sey-online. Maximilian Arnold put Wolfsburg ahead in the eighth minute, when the stationary Fallou Diagne allowed him to guide Patrick Ochs cross beyond the helpless Freiburg goalkeeper, and Ivica Olic doubled the lead three minutes later after Luiz Gustavo did well to set him up. . Despite Arsenals financial firepower, the 31-year-old midfielder was the only arrival in the January transfer window. Signed until the end of the season as injury cover, Kallstrom might not be fit until mid-March after arriving Friday at Arsenal having injured his back earlier in the week while training with Spartak Moscow. . Bale has had a successful debut season in Spain, and Ancelotti appears ready to reward him with a starting role on Saturday. Ancelotti says "Gareth had some problems at the beginning (of the season) but when he found good physical condition he scored a lot of goals, he had a good impact on the team. CHONBURI, Thailand -- Anna Nordqvist made two late bogeys at the rainy LPGA Thailand, leaving her a stroke ahead Friday after the second round. The Swede shot an even-par 72 to remain 6 under. Germanys Sandra Gal, Paraguays Julieta Granada and Spains Azahara Munoz were tied for second. The players got a break from the usual hot, humid conditions, with the temperature only reaching the 70s the first two days at Siam Country Club. "I think we all expected it to be warmer," said Nordqvist, also a stroke ahead Thursday after opening with a 66. "Today with a little bit of rain and overcast it felt like I still had a lot of the energy leaving the 18th green." Nordqvist bogeyed Nos. 16 and 18. She had three birdies and three bogeys. "There were some tough pins out there," Nordqvist said. "A lot of them were on ridges, and I felt like I hit a lot of good shots and kept spinning off the ridges. Not much you can do. Felt like I hit it solid. A little disappointed to finish with a bogey on the last. "Overall, been hitting it great. Today, I felt like all things were good. Just couldnt get any putts to drop." The 26-year-old Nordqvist is winless since the 2009 LPGA Championship. "This is a position I been practicing to be in," Nordqvist said. "Halfway through and there are 36 more holes, but Im happy with the way Im playing. Hopefully, can make a couple more putts over the weekend and that should take care of it." Munoz and Grranada shot 68, and Gal had a 70.dddddddddddd Granada had a bogey-free round. "I holed out twice with lob shots, so that was nice," Granada said. "It was very welcome." Gal had three birdies and a bogey. "I didnt change my game plan, but it was just playing longer," Gal said. "Some of the pins were quite tough today, tucked in corners where you usually you just would go for the middle of the green. And then on top of that, you would have maybe one or two putts more because you just dont get any roll." Americans Stacy Lewis and Michelle Wie were 4 under. The third-ranked Lewis had seven birdies and four bogeys in a 69. Wie shot 73. Light showers in the morning left the greens and fairways softer than usual. "Just had the rain to start and just changed the way the golf course played," Lewis said. "Kind of took me a couple holes to adjust to that. Once I did, I hit some good shots. You just had to be a lot more aggressive, fly back to holes we normally cant do that. Just played completely different than it ever has. ... "There were a lot of back pins today, so it was hard to get the ball to stay up on those back shelves and get yourself to fly them all the way back there." Top-ranked Inbee Park, the defending champion who is making her first start of the year, was 2 under after a 71. Second-ranked Suzann Pettersen and No. 4 Lydia Ko also were 2 under. Pettersen had a 73 and the 16-year-old Ko shot 70. ' ' '
