Paraguay’s Valdez takes tough road to Cup

Martin Rogers
Yahoo! Sports/JOHANNESBURG

Soccer has provided Nelson Valdez with wealth, success, an impressively swanky home in an upscale suburb of the German city of Dortmund and a chance to shine on soccer’s biggest stage of all.
But before the big pay checks kicked in and World Cup dreams came true, the beautiful game also gave Valdez a makeshift place to live and an escape from homelessness.

Child rescued from Haiti rubble is orphaned again

Rukmini Callimachi
Associated Press/Port-Au-Prince, Haiti

Time was up, not 10 minutes into the visit. The social worker went to pull the 3-year-old orphan out of the arms of the woman he calls "Momma."

The boy turned his face and dug his hands into her clothes. He kicked his legs. He screamed as they carried him away.

Tamara Palinka covered her mouth to hold back the sobs. The 37-year-old Canadian volunteer aid worker did not know when - or if - she would get another glimpse of the child she was desperately trying to adopt.

Dunga's way, more sombre than Samba

Brian Homewood

JOHANNESBURG

Dunga is the Portuguese name for Dopey, the smallest of Snow White's seven dwarfs, but for many people it would have been more appropriate if Brazil's coach had been named after Grumpy.
Real name Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri, Dunga often seems as if he would be more at home with a dour European team rather than the flamboyant five-times champions, who many neutrals look to for World Cup inspiration.

Uzbek refugees who fled from Kyrgyzstan seen in a refugee camp on the border at the Uzbek village of Erkishlok, Tuesday, June 15, 2010. Many thousands of refugees have fled the pogrom that began last week in southern Kyrgyzstan. (AP Photo/Anvar Ilyasov)

Uzbek refugees seen in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh, near the border with Uzbekistan, Monday, June 14, 2010. Some thousands of refugees have fled the pogrom that began last week in southern Kyrgyzstan. (AP Photo/Faruk Akkan,CHA

An Uzbek soldier directs Uzbek refugees in the southern Kyrgyz city of Osh while waiting to cross the border into Uzbekistan, near the border with Uzbekistan, Monday, June 14, 2010. Some thousands of refugees have fled the pogrom that began last week in southern Kyrgyzstan. (AP Photo/Faruk Akkan

Ethnic Uzbeks gather near the Kyrgyz-Uzbek border in southern Kyrgyzstan, on Saturday, June 12, 2010, trying to seek refuge in Uzbekistan from mobs of Kyrgyz men attacking the minority Uzbek community. The country's second-largest city, Osh, slid into chaos Friday when gangs of young Kyrgyz men armed with firearms and metal rods marched on Uzbek neighborhoods and set their homes on fire. Thousands of terrified ethnic Uzbeks were fleeing toward the nearby border with Uzbekistan.(AP Photo/D. Dalton Bennett)

South Korea supporters pose for photos before the World Cup group B soccer match between Argentina and South Korea at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, June 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)

South Korea head coach Huh Jung-moo, left, shouts instructions to his players as Argentina head coach Diego Maradona, right, looks on during the World Cup group B soccer match between Argentina and South Korea at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, June 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)

Argentina's soccer team coach Diego Maradona kneels while speaking to a journalist after a practice in Pretoria, South Africa, Tuesday, June 15, 2010. Argentina play in group B of the World Soccer Cup. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

Deva ju Piala Dunia

Argentina head coach Diego Maradona reacts as South Korea head coach Huh Jung-moo, is seen in background at right, during the World Cup group B soccer match between Argentina and South Korea at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, June 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Referee Frank De Bleeckere from Belgium, center, shows a yellow card to South Korea's Lee Chung-yong, left, as Argentina's Nicolas Burdisso, right, gets up during the World Cup group B soccer match between Argentina and South Korea at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, June 17, 2010. (AP Photo/Ivan Sekretarev)

The June 2, 1986 file photo shows Spanish referee Victoriano Sanchez, center, showing the yellow card to South Korean player Jung-Moo Huh for fouling Argentina's Diego Maradona, left, during the first half of the Football World Cup match between South Korea and Argentina in Mexico City. Argentina defeated South Korea 3-1. 24 years later both face each other again as coaches of the national soccer teams of Argentina and South Korea playing their soccer World Cup group B match on Thursday, June 17, 2010 in Johannesburg. (AP Photo

Argentina head coach Diego Maradona celebrates during the World Cup group B soccer match between Argentina and South Korea at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, June 17, 2010. Argentina won 4-1. (AP Photo/Frank Augstein)










Argentina head coach Diego Maradona, right, and Argentina's Lionel Messi, left walk off the pitch after Argentina won the World Cup group B soccer match between Argentina and South Korea at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, June 17, 2010. Argentina won 4-1. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Argentina head coach Diego Maradona, right, reacts with his players after they won the World Cup group B soccer match between Argentina and South Korea at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, June 17, 2010. Argentina won 4-1. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

Argentina head coach Diego Maradona reacts during the World Cup group B soccer match between Argentina and South Korea at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, June 17, 2010. Argentina won 4-1. (AP Photo/Matt Dunham)

A banner portraying Nelson Mandela, left, Diego Maradona and Che Guevara is displayed before the World Cup group B soccer match between Argentina and South Korea at Soccer City in Johannesburg, South Africa, Thursday, June 17, 2010. AP/Lee Jin-man