When soccer players Joanna Lohman and Lianne Sanderson came out in their early twenties, their families, friends and teammates were more than accepting.
“When I told some of my ex-teammates, they didn’t care,” says Lohman, 31, who now plays for the Boston Breakers with Sanderson, her partner since 2010. “They were like, ‘Whatever. That’s great.’ ”
Media: Mirror via TV Globo YouTube NEWS1lification
Posted: Wednesday October 30, 2013 @7:04 p.m. PST
A former professional footballer’s head has been severed and left on the doorstep of his home in a rucksack.
The horrified wife of Joao Rodrigo Silva Santos, 35, made the gruesome discovery as she left the house in Rio de Janeiro for work early yesterday morning.
The player’s eyes and tongue had been cut out and his head placed inside one of his own rucksacks, police said.
Mr Santos retired from football two years ago after a successful career playing for several teams in Rio de Janeiro, as well as for clubs in Sweden and Honduras.
He had recently set up his own business selling health foods and dietary supplements.
Police said today that Mr Santos is believed to have been snatched as he closed up his shop late on Monday night.
Witnesses said they saw several men bundling him into his car, a Hyundai i30, and speeding off just before midnight, a spokesman said.
Mr Santos’ brother-in-law, who didn’t want to be named, told Brazil’s Globo G1 website that the player’s wife, Geisa Silva, 31, stayed up all night after her husband failed to arrive home.
He said: “Every time a car passed by she would go to see.
“She was getting ready to go to work at around 5.30am when she heard a noise, opened the front door and saw his rucksack. When she opened it, it was his head.
“From what I know, he didn’t have any enemies and neither did his wife.”
Investigators are probing whether Mr Santos was murdered by a drugs gang because of Ms Silva’s work at a military police base in a local slum.
The ‘Police Pacification Unit’ in the Morro do Sao Carlos is one of dozens set up in Rio’s favelas to retake control of the city’s slums from violent drug traffickers.
However, according to police chief Rafael Rangel, Mrs Silva worked as a social worker in the base and didn’t patrol the streets or make arrests like other police officers.
He told Brazil’s O Dia newspaper the motives of the murder are still unclear.
He said: “Mrs Silva has no idea who would have done this.
“Neither she, her husband or any other member of the family have suffered any type of threat as far as she knows.
“There is nothing that would justify such a barbarous crime.”
He added that police have begun searching for the rest of Mr Santos’ body.
Chelsea’s John Terry has been banned for three matches for his dismissal in the Champions League semi-final.
UEFA have confirmed the Blues captain will miss Chelsea’s next two European matches following his red card in the semi-final second leg against Barcelona.
The defender sat out Chelsea’s victory over Bayern Munich in the final, as he served a mandatory one-match ban. UEFA’s disciplinary panel added two more games to the suspension, after ruling Terry was guilty of violent conduct when he struck his knee into the back of Barcelona forward Alexis Sanchez in the April 24 clash.
The centre-back is now ineligible for the Super Cup match against Europa League winners Atletico Madrid in August, as well as Chelsea’s first Champions League group-stage game in September. Terry and Chelsea have three days to decide whether to appeal against the decision.
Meanwhile, midfielder Juan Mata has vowed to improve next season despite shining for the Blues since joining the club last summer.
Mata, 24, moved to Stamford Bridge from Valencia last year and was a pivotal part of the side which ended the season with success in both the FA Cup and Champions League under interim manager Roberto Di Matteo.
He said: “My focus is to continue improving. I am young as a footballer and I have to improve my game and my statistics over the next year, this is what I will try to do. You cannot rest on what you have achieved, you must look to the future and hope for more success.”
He said: “Lifting the Champions League was an unbelievable experience – the biggest club trophy you can win – and, for me, winning the Player of the Year trophy makes me feel very happy, proud and grateful.” According to, The London Standard.
Photo Credit: Gary Cahill (London Standard) David Luiz (goalstage)
Posted: Tuesday May 15, 2012 @ 5:40 p.m
According to London Standard, Gary Cahill has completed his first full training session for three weeks ahead of Chelsea’s Champions League final and declared: “I will be fit.”
Cahill and David Luiz both appeared to come through unscathed as they stepped up their comeback from hamstring injuries just four days before Saturday’s showdown with Bayern Munich.
England defender Cahill, who suffered his injury during last month’s epic semi-final second leg at Barcelona, said: “I’m just happy that it’s healed quickly. We’ve worked really hard, all day, afternoons, and I’m fortunate enough to be back. Hopefully, I’ll be fit, I will be fit, and hopefully I’ll be out there if selected.”
It was a huge boost for Chelsea, who were in danger of going into the Allianz Arena clash without any recognised senior centre-backs.
Cahill added: “First full session with the boys today after my injury, so nice to get back out there and get running around and kicking a ball about. There’s some work to be done in two or three days now leading up to the game for me to get back into it.
“And if I need to do a little bit of other training, I’ll do that. But, touch wood, there’s no reaction from today and I felt fine out there.”
Cahill, who joined Chelsea from Bolton in January, admitted Saturday’s game would be the biggest of his life.
“I think it’s the biggest game for probably many of the boys,” he added. “We’re under no illusions how big the game is. It’s going to be a good night and, hopefully, it goes to plan.”
Cahill was desperate to hear the famous Champions League music one more time this season.
“It’s just like when the national anthem plays for England, isn’t it?” he said. “It is a sort of hairs-on-the-back-of-your-neck moment when you hear it and it gets you geed up and fired up for the game.
Video Credit: YouTube (BhamUrbanNewsUK) / YouTube (seajames)
Posted: Tuesday December 20, 2011 @4:49 pm PST
Topic: Luis Suarez -Patrice Evra
Liverpool striker Luis Suarez is accused of making racial slurs toward Manchester United’s Patrice Evra during a soccer game on October 15, 2011, a Premier League match. Evra claims Suarez made several racial remarks.
Evra is from Senegal says the cameras support his claim. The British media says he may have used the word “negrito”; however, the director of the Center for the Study of Race, Ethnicity and Politics at the University of California Los Angeles, Mark Sawyer says, negrito is not considered a racial slur in Latin America and Sawyer concludes with “It’s often a term of endearment,”
Suarez is suspended for 8 matches, fined £40,000 which is $63,000 US dollars while the incident is being investagated. Football Association said, Suarez has 14 days to appeal.
