Daily Headlines: February 16, 2011

Before we get to the headlines I want to take a moment to apologize for the lack of posts on Tuesday. Hopefully it won’t happen again today.

* Brazil: Ronaldo retired from soccer after an extraordinary eighteen-year career that included playing for several of the world’s top clubs, becoming the top goal scorer in World Cup history and being a part of Brazil's 2002 World Cup winning team.

* Latin America: Can ad campaigns in several countries make a significant dent in machismo culture?

* Nicaragua: A former member of the Contras turned criminal gang leader was shot dead on Sunday.

* Mexico: MVS radio rehired journalist Carmen Aristegui eight days after firing her over controversial comments on President Felipe Calderon.

Video Source – YouTube via Soccer by Ives
Online Sources- NPR, LAHT, MSNBC, CSMonitor.com

"Futbol": Maradona wins in coaching debut

Diego Maradona’s first game at the helm of the argentine men’s national soccer team started on the right foot. Maxi Rodriguez’ 8th-minute tally was the lone goal of the match in Argentina’s victory over Scotland in an international friendly.

In other news briefs from the world of soccer:

• Mexico is on thin ice and is obligated to win under what will be harsh circumstances in Honduras. A loss and a blowout win by Jamaica over Canada could force Mexico to embarrassingly miss qualifying for the World Cup for the fist time since 1990.
• Over a year ago, we wrote about soccer club Universidad de Chile who had fallen on hard times despite being one of the country’s most popular teams. Since then, the team’s fortunes have slowly changed and earlier this week the team raised nearly $15 million via an initial public offering. “La U” became the county’s second team to be on the Santiago exchange behind Colo Colo (a.k.a. Maegan’s favorite club!)
• Will Brazilian striker Ronaldo retire? The rumors that he will hang up his cleats intensified today after he rejected offers to play for mid-level Italian club Siena.
• Lastly, it’s never fun when the “beautiful game” becomes marred by violence yet that’s precisely what occurred in Uruguay on Sunday as fans of Danubio and Nacional engaged in fisticuffs:

Sources- The Latin Americanist, Bloomberg, Vivirlatino, YouTube, BBC News, Guardian UK, Los Angles Times, Reuters, FOX Sports