Golden Foot award lifts Ronaldinho’s spirit

October 13th, 2009 LONDON - Mid-field striker Frank Lampard has said that England's players should never have been called'The Golden Generation', a nickname given by former FA chief executive Adam Crozier at the start of Sven Goran Eriksson's reign in 2001. "By calling us 'The Golden Generation' it was almost as if people were waiting for us to fail.

October 2nd, 2009 miJOHANNESBURG - Australian fast bowler Mitchell Johnson, who has been announced as the ICC Cricketer of the Year, was stunned with the feat that he has achieved, as he upstaged England captain Andrew Strauss and Indians Gautam Gambhir and Mahendra Singh Dhoni to grab the award. "I'm really blown away.

September 6th, 2009 LONDON - Coach Fabio Capello has warned his England players that they need to be at their best against Croatia on Wednesday night - and also for the rest of the season. The Daily Express quoted Capello as saying: "We have improved a lot since Croatia won at Wembley to prevent England going to the European Championships.

August 18th, 2009 LONDON - Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has hailed Arsenal's special team spirit after routing Everton 6-1 in Saturday's Premier League opener. The score proved Wenger's decision to sell striker Emmanuel Adebayor and centre-back Kolo Toure to Manchester City as a right one.

July 15th, 2009 LONDON - Former England coach Duncan Fletcher has claimed that Australian captain Ricky Ponting knows nothing about the spirit of cricket. Fletcher, who was abused by Ponting during the 2005 Ashes over the use of substitute fieldsman Gary Pratt, said England would have been delighted to get under Ponting's skin in the Cardiff Test.

July 12th, 2009 LONDON - David Beckham and Victoria are literally the 'golden couple', for the duo recently showed off their tanned muscle-ripped bodies while holidaying in Seychelles. osh and Becks were recently photographed enjoying a romantic ten-year anniversary cruise on the Indian Ocean.

July 11th, 2009 Gay sets year's best time in 100 meters at RomeROME — Tyson Gay of the United States has run the fastest 100 meters of the year in 9.77 seconds at the Golden Gala. Gay swept past Asafa Powell 40 meters from the finish on Friday in a time that would have been good enough to equal the world record less than two years ago.

July 3rd, 2009 Richards extends Golden League streakOSLO — Sanya Richards of the United States won the Bislett Games 400 meters in 49.23 seconds on Friday for the fastest women's time of the year. Richards, who has not lost a 400 in the Golden League since Zurich 2004, also tied the Bislett Stadium record that Czech Tatjana Kocembova set in 1983.

June 30th, 2009 Coach: Liu Xiang's return from foot injury on holdBEIJING — Liu Xiang's return to competition is on hold because of lingering problems with the Chinese high hurdler's injured foot, his coach said Tuesday. The 2004 Olympic gold medalist has already been ruled out of defending his world championship title in August, although he has resumed light training after surgery on his right foot in December in Houston.

June 29th, 2009 JOHANNESBURG - Brazilian midfielder Kaka was awarded the Golden Ball as best player of the Confederations Cup tournament Sunday. Kaka garnered most votes in a poll of accredited journalists organized by world governing body FIFA.

June 21st, 2009 Cooper's penalty kick lifts FC Dallas by CrewFRISCO, Texas — FC Dallas scored twice in the final 10 minutes, including Kenny Cooper's penalty kick in the 87th minute, for a 2-1 win over Columbus on Saturday night that snapped the Crew's nine-game unbeaten streak. Dallas (3-7-4) was awarded a penalty kick after Crew defender Chad Marshall was called for a reckless foul inside the penalty box on David Ferreira, and Cooper notched his seventh goal of the year by putting the penalty kick into the left corner of the net.

June 20th, 2009 Art Connoisseur takes Golden Jubilee StakesASCOT, England — Art Connoisseur has won the Golden Jubilee Stakes in an upset on the final day of racing at Royal Ascot. The 3-year-old colt burst ahead in the stretch and beat American-based entry Cannonball by a half length Saturday Cannonball is owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey and trained by Wesley Ward, who earlier in the meet saddled two winners in becoming the first American trainer to win at Royal Ascot.

June 17th, 2009 Bolt runs 9.77 at Golden Spike meet in OstravaOSTRAVA, Czech Republic — Olympic champion and world-record holder Usain Bolt has run the 100 meters in 9.77 seconds to win the Golden Spike meet. Bolt was aided by a strong tail wind of 4.7 miles per hour on Wednesday, but said he was "happy I got under 10 seconds" and that "I'm just happy I ran injury free." The Jamaican sprinter was cheered by the crowd long after his race, which he said he ran quicker than he thought.

June 15th, 2009 Golden Boy CEO: Mayweather has cartilage damageLAS VEGAS — The chief executive of the company promoting Floyd Mayweather Jr.'s comeback fight says the boxer has damaged cartilage in his ribs and will stop training until a doctor says it's OK. Golden Boy Promotions CEO Richard Schaefer told The Associated Press on Monday that Mayweather is in tremendous pain since suffering the injury in training last week.

June 9th, 2009 Danielle Lawrie of Washington wins Honda AwardNEW YORK — Danielle Lawrie of Washington has won the Honda Award as the nation's top college softball player. The junior from Canada helped send the Huskies to their first national championship.