LISBON, Portugal — Freddy Adu, the American phenom who is one of the highest-profile stars of Major League Soccer, has agreed to play for Benfica and trained with the Portuguese club Tuesday.

MLS deputy commissioner Ivan Gazidis told The Associated Press that Adu’s agent Richard Motzkin had confirmed the deal.

The 18-year-old attacking midfielder arrived in the Portuguese capital Monday to negotiate terms. There were no immediate plans to introduce the player to the media.

“Freddy, when we signed him, was one of most talented young players in the world. I think, today, he still is one of the most young talented players in the world,” Gazidis said. “What we’ve struggled with is the expectations, not that we’ve placed on him, but that the media has placed on him.”

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Setanta Sports will launch a Canadian soccer channel with extensive rights to live English Premier League in partnership with Rogers Communications.

Shane O’Rourke, president of Setanta’s North American operation said it will be on the air in time for the start of the new season on August 11. The channel will show the bulk of Premier League content – a full Saturday schedule, plus Sunday and midweek matches.

Score Media acquired the Premier League right in Canada rights last year, but re-sold the package to Setanta, while keeping a Sunday morning game (Eastern time).

The third carrier of Premier League games in Canada will be Rogers Sportsnet, which has bought a Saturday morning game from Setanta.

Iraq won the Asian Cup for the first time Sunday, a beacon of hope for a nation divided by war. Iraq’s 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia on a 71st-minute header by captain Younis Mahmoud was an inspirational triumph for a team whose players straddle bitter and violent ethnic divides.

After the game, Mahmoud called for the United States to withdraw its troops from his nation. “I want America to go out,” he said. “Today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow, but out. I wish the American people didn’t invade Iraq and, hopefully, it will be over soon.” Mahmoud also said he will not return to Iraq to celebrate. “I don’t want the Iraqi people to be angry with me,” he said. “If I go back with the team, anybody could kill me or try to hurt me.” Iraq, whose only World Cup appearance was in 1986, dominated the Saudis, three-time Asian Cup champions.

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Ten Sports and Goal TV agreed a new multi year deal which will allow Goal TV’s exclusive football content to be shown to the 50 million households of Ten Sports and Zee Sports in the Indian sub-continent.

The agreement also sees the production of Goal TV’s two all-football channels shift to the Ten Sports headquarters in Dubai. Goal TV founder Thomas Kressner said “it is an excellent development for us to partner with the Indian sub-continent’s leading sports channel, with its huge daily audience and solid production experience”.

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David Beckham’s much-hyped debut with the Los Angeles Galaxy soccer team drew an average of 1.5 million viewers to ESPN, the largest audience for an ESPN telecast involving a Major League Soccer team , according to data issued Tuesday by Nielsen Media Research.

Beckham, struggling with an ankle injury, played for only 16 minutes during Saturday’s game against English club Chelsea, but ESPN’s telecast was the night’s most-watched program among men 18-49 and men 25-54.

LIVE LEAGUE ACTION BRINGS THE HEAT THIS SUMMER ON GOLTV

This weekend GOLTV brings you soccer action that’s hotter than the weather outside. Saturday kicks off with Schalke 04 taking on Bayern Munich LIVE at 12 pm ET.

Things get even hotter as GOLTV heads to down South America to bring you three more matches. Independiente Santa Fe and Colombian Apertura champions Atletico Nacional will no doubt try to prove the opposite when they square off LIVE Saturday, July 28 at 7:10 pm.

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Official site with video highligths and latest news during tournament, http://www.superliga2007.com

SuperLiga 2007 officially kicks off Tuesday at Pizza Hut Park when FC Dallas and Mexican giant CD Guadalajara — better known as Chivas — meet in their Group A opener.

Chivas come to Frisco having won their 11th professional championship last December, a record for Mexican soccer, while FCD enter the match looking to see how they measure up against the top team from south of the border.

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Sources for streamed games are almost exclusively pirated by hackers in China which then end up routed through servers in Israel. This means that the commentary for the games will probably not be in English; even so, it should be fairly evident what “GOOOOOOAAAALL!!” means.

Navigating the confusing myriad options of what player to use and where to find the streams can be a bit daunting. Here’s a way through the morass:

Download a P2P streaming player from the forum Football Streaming Info, which is stuffed full of links to downloads and tips if you get into technical trouble. TvAnts is a front-runner due to its ease of use — a big plus is that the channel menu is mostly in English, unlike many of the other players which seem to be in Chinese.

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From A Fan

Subject: referee at Chile -Argentina semi final

I am writing on behalf of all of my friends who had the misfortune to get together to watch this semi- final last night.

Unfortunately Wolfgang Stark was not up to the game. His refereeing appeared biased and designed to distress the young players. He turned what should have been a contest of titans into a farce. Although we are Argentine fans, and naturally wanted them to win, we felt that the victory had the shine taken off it.

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David Beckham is expecting to br present tonight as a guest of the Commissioner, with a special introduction to the crowd, and in a special interview by ESPN for the sold-out 2007 MLS All-Star Game tonight in Denver.
(ESPN 2 and Galavision)… live 9pm Eastern / 6 pm Pacific.

Though he could in theory be selected to play tonight as a Commissioner’s pick, he’s not expected to be, but will instead appear as an invited guest. (He has an aggravated swollen ankle, a left-over injury from the past Real Madrid season.)

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