SPAIN'S Euro 2008 hero Fernando Torres has spoken of Raga Benitez's relentless demands at Liverpool.

"There are days when you think: 'My God, this guy doesn't let you breathe!' At times like that you don't realise all he wants is for you to improve," Torres tells the latest Champions magazine, the official magazine of the UEFA Champions League.

"When you are in a team where things are going mostly well, players tend to relax.

"But you must always push yourself; never become complacent; try to do your best every single day.

"At a club like Liverpool you can't sit back after scoring 20-odd goals and say 'Well, that's it.' After you score 20 Benitez is at you during the next training session and stays on top of you all day, all week.

"He tells you to go off on your own and do new exercises. I want to progress in life, not relax, not be complacent and you need someone close to you telling you to keep at it.

"It is impossible to do it otherwise. ...

Round 13 – Super, Premier & State Leagues

SUPER LEAGUE

Adelaide Galaxy 5 (T.Nelson 2, J.Fusco, E.Metanomski, P.Karittevlis) Croydon 1 (M.Brooks) (HT 4-0
Best – Galaxy (T.Nelson, E.Metanomski, J.Fusco) Croydon (Croydon did not provide)
Res – Galaxy 1 Croydon 1
U19 – Galaxy 2 Croydon 0

Para Hills 2 (M.Muscroft, S.Stam) White City Woodville 0 (HT 0-0)
Best – Para Hills (N.Orr, A.Goulding, S.Tobias) White City (C.Marwe, K.Dimopoulos, M.Keens)
Res – Para Hills 2 White City 0
U19 - Para Hills 3 White City 1

Raiders 2 (M.Saric, A.Westervelt) MetroStars 2 (S.Tunbridge, T.O.G.) (HT 0-1)
Best – Raiders (D.Hain, D.Menechella, R.Alagich) MetroStars (D.Barisic, M.Matricciani, I.Karlovic)
Res – Raiders 1 MetroStars 4
U19 – Raiders 1 MetroStars 2

Modbury 2 (R.Devlin, N.Day) Campbelltown City 0 (HT 2-0) ...

The announcement of the Australian Under 23 squad going to the Olympics has turned into a fiasco with coach Graham Arnold omitting rising stars Nathan Burns and Bruce Djite.

Burns, in particular, was a stunning omission from the squad. Arnold could find no room in the Olyroo squad for one of Australia's most promising young players. Yet Arnold was able to find a valuable overage age spot for another striker - the average Archie Thompson.

In the face of resounding criticism of his decision to omit Burns, Arnold produced what must go down as one of the lamest excuses of all time. Arnold claims that Burns can not handle playing in hot conditions. Is Arnold for real?

If Arnold is fair dinkum about adapting his team to play in the heat then why has he selected a squad filled with players that are accustomed to playing in the cold winter climates of Europe? Has Arnie forgotten that Burns has spent his last two summers playing in the Australian A-League? ...

Team Lists

Round 13 – Super, Premier & State Leagues

SUPER LEAGUE

Saturday 5th July

Adelaide Galaxy vs Croydon Kings

3:00pm – Con Makris Park, Corner Saratoga Drive and Morphett Road, NOVAR GARDENS

***5RTI 531AM Broadcast***

Galaxy have not won since Round 7 and could slip out of the top 5 for the first time this year with a loss at home to the Kings. Croydon mathematically can avoid relegation to the Premier League, but will need to gain maximum points from the majority of their remaining matches to stay in the Super League.

Join Rob, Tony and Jono as they Broadcast this match LIVE on 5RTI 531AM, and can also be listened LIVE on www.5rti.com.au.

Round 4 Result: Croydon 0 Galaxy 3

Referee: Cetrangolo

Assistant Referees: Keen & Boehm

Galaxy: Torresan (GK), Iandiorio, Karittevlis, McGreevy, Nelson, Hagias, Rutter, Doyle, Kounavelis, Vlassis, Grelli, Metanomski, Fusco, DeGiovanniello, D.Skull, Crombie (RGK). ...

Australia face a difficult route to the 2011 Asian Cup finals after being drawn in a qualification group which includes Oman and Kuwait.

The draw for the qualifying tournament, held at the Aspire Dome in Doha on Thursday, placed the Socceroos in Group B with the two Gulf sides and Indonesia.

Kuwait beat Australia 2-0 during the qualifying tournament for the 2007 Asian Cup, while Oman were unlucky not to see off the Socceroos at last year's Asian Cup finals as a stoppage-time equaliser from Tim Cahill salvaged a 1-1 draw in Bangkok.

The top two sides in each group will advance to the finals, where they will join hosts Qatar, defending champions Iraq, 2007 runners-up Saudi Arabia and South Korea as well as the winners of the 2008 and 2010 AFC Challenge Cups.

The Asian Cup qualifying tournament is scheduled to begin in January 2009.

Adelaide United FC’s preparations for the Hyundai A-League 2008/09 Season will kick off next week, with The Reds set to play trial matches against two local Super League clubs.

United will take on Adelaide Galaxy at Camden Park on Tuesday July 8 before facing Para Hills at The Paddocks on Wednesday 16 July.

The trial matches will give United’s new look squad, which includes seven new signings, a chance to have its first competitive hit out since the start of pre season training.

Brazilian duo Cristiano and Alemao, former Bolton Wanderer Scott Jamieson and Qantas Young Socceroos member Daniel Mullen will hopefully have the opportunity to get some game time in an Adelaide United shirt, while 17 year old goalkeeper Mark Birighitti is also available having arrived in Adelaide over the weekend and joined the training squad last Monday. ...

The Australian Under 16 Football Team leave Australia on Wednesday to participate in an Asean Football Federation Youth Championship in Jakarta from 9-19 July. Three South Australians have been selected in the squad - Joseph Costa, Nathan Farrel and Chahine Noujaim.

Coach Martyn Crook, has named 18 players to take part in the five team tournament which also includes Bahrain, Malaysia, Singapore and host nation, Indonesia.

"This is an important part of our preparation for the Asian Football Confederation's (AFC) Under 16 Championships, and gives me a good opportunity to see the boys in action in conditions different from those they're used to at home," Crook said.

The AFC Under 16 Championships will be held in Uzbekistan in October.

"It is also the first time this group of players has played in a tournament against players of their own age. Past tournaments have been against older players, so this will be a very good test of just how we're doing at this age group." ...

The Qantas Under 23s played out an entertaining 1-all draw against the Chile Under 23s tonight in front of 1,780 fans at the Darwin Football Stadium. Kristian Sarkies opened the scoring for the Qantas Under 23s from the penalty spot in the 27th minute and Felipe Seymour equalised for the Chileans in the 67th minute with a clinical finish from inside the box.

Qantas Under 23s Head Coach Graham Arnold made 10 changes to the line-up for tonight's match with Mark Milligan the only player to start both games.

The match began at the same frenetic pace that was seen on Friday evening with the Chilean having the first attempt on goal in the 3rd minute, but five minutes later Kristian Sarkies had the Qantas Under 23s first shot which was expertly tipped over the bar by Gregory Saavedra in the Chilean goal.

The Qantas Under 23s continued to apply the pressure with Nikita Rukavytsya netting in the 21st minute but the goal was disallowed for off-side. ...

Matildas Coach Tom Sermanni has named an 18-player squad for the Matildas upcoming two match tour of China in July.

Having placed fourth at the recent AFC Women's Asian Cup in Vietnam and with a strong performance at the 2008 Peace Cup in South Korea earlier this month, Sermanni will use this tour to give a number of younger players valuable international experience against the Chinese women's National Team who are preparing for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

The tour will involve two matches on the 6 & 9 July at the Olympic Stadium in Tianjin, which is same venue in which the Matildas played Brazil in the Quarter-Finals of the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup.

"Only six players from last year's FIFA Women's World Cup campaign are involved in this squad that will tour China,"said Sermanni

"As a result, we have a large number of younger players who will be able to get much needed experience at an international level on this trip. ...

Football Federation Australia (FFA) and Zurich Australia today announced that the financial services company’s successful multi million dollar sponsorship of the Hyundai A-League football competition will continue for a further three years to the end of the 2010-2011 Season.

Zurich Australia’s sponsorship includes the Hyundai A-League match officials and FFA’s new Referee Development Program.

“We are delighted to announce that our partnership with our good friends at Zurich Australia has been extended for a further three seasons,” said FFA CEO Ben Buckley.

“Zurich was one of the first companies to join the then fledgling A-League competition in 2005 and they showed enormous confidence in the new competition, as well as an understanding of the importance of referees to the game. ...