powerhouse with a long-awaited title at the 2008

MADRID, Spain -- Luis Aragones, the former Spain coach who shaped the teams rise from perennial underachiever to global powerhouse with a long-awaited title at the 2008 European Championship, has died. He was 75. The Spanish football federation announced the death early Saturday, saying Aragones died at a Madrid hospital. He had been battling leukemia. Federation president Angel Maria Villar said Aragones would be remembered as "very special" -- both for his contributions to Spanish football and as a person. "With him we have lived the beginning of an extraordinary phase in football as well as for Spanish society," Villar said. "This has been a painful dawn for our football." Aragones had a successful playing career as a sharpshooting international forward who earned 11 caps for Spain, and then spent the rest of his life as a much-travelled coach. However, he will mostly be remembered for what happened on June 29, 2008, when his team beat Germany 1-0 in Vienna to claim its first major title in 44 years. "Luis Aragones changed the history of Spanish football," Spain captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas said. "And for that we will always be thankful." The Euro 2008 triumph was the culmination of Aragones four-year reign as Spain coach, having taken over a team that for the last 20 years had earned a reputation for always coming up short in major tournaments. But Aragones instilled a new sense of belief in his players, even after losing to France in the second round of the 2006 World Cup. He also made the team adopt the quick-passing "tiki-taka" style of football made famous by Barcelona, and which his players came close to perfecting at Euro 2008. Led by Barcelona midfielders Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta -- and the goalscoring of David Villa -- Spain went undefeated through the tournament, but needed a penalty shootout against Italy to advance from the quarterfinals. While Aragones stepped down after the tournament, the team went on to win its first World Cup two years later and then added an unprecedented third straight major title at Euro 2012 under his successor Vicente del Bosque. "Without a doubt, our current run of success is a result of his legacy," Del Bosque said on Saturday, after paying his respects to Aragones family. "He had a long history of coaching experience and he had a special appreciation for the game." But Aragones time in charge wasnt without controversy. He made a racist slur about France striker Thierry Henry -- who is black -- during a training session in October, 2004, and followed that remark with an outburst about Englands colonial past. His comments were believed to have prompted ugly racist chants directed at Englands black players during a friendly against Spain in Madrid. The Spanish Football Federation refused to bow to pressure to fire Aragones, although it fined him 3,000 euros, a punishment which many felt was too lenient. Denying he was a racist, Aragones explained that his comment about Henry was an attempt to motivate forward Jose Antonio Reyes, and he received important backing from several black players he had coached previously. In February, 2007, Aragones won a legal appeal against the Spanish Committee for Sporting Disciplines ruling that his behaviour could have fostered "violent, racist or xenophobic acts." Spanish media also often complained about his grouchy demeanour and had regularly called for his dismissal during the two years before the teams triumph. There was another uproar toward the end of 2006 when he dropped the national teams all-time leading scorer and captain, Real Madrids Raul Gonzalez, arguing that he was past his prime. It proved a masterstroke. The team embarked on a 22-game unbeaten run which culminated with the 2008 title, making Aragones the oldest coach to win a European Championship title. Despite the victory, the Spanish federation made no attempt to persuade him to extend his contract and five days later he moved abroad for the first time to take charge of Turkish club Fenerbahce, a couple of weeks before his 70th birthday. "Im leaving because there wasnt more done for me to stay," Aragones said at the time. His playing career began 43 years earlier, when Aragones joined Atletico Madrid. He scored 123 times in 265 games for the team -- the second highest in its history -- and helped the club win three Spanish league titles and two Copa del Reys. It also reached the 1974 European Cup final, where it lost to Bayern Munich in a replay. Aragones, nicknamed "The Sage of Hortaleza" in reference to the Madrid suburb of his birth, was then appointed as Atletico coach and led the team to the 1975 World Club Championship, the 1976 Copa del Rey and the 1977 league title. He coached Atletico on a total of five occasions and he had two spells each at Mallorca and Real Betis. He was also in charge of Barcelona, Espanyol, Sevilla, Valencia and Oviedo in a career total of 757 games, a Spanish league record. Aragones is survived by his wife Pepa, five children and 11 grandchildren. Ryan Kalil Jersey . Goldeyes third baseman Ryan Pineda drove in three runs and the pitching staff didnt allow an earned run, as Winnipeg downed Kansas City 6-3 in American Association exhibition action at CommunityAmerica Ballpark in Kansas. Donte Jackson Jersey .K. Subban has picked the right time of the year to go on an offensive tear. http://www.officialcarolinapantherspro.com/ . That still leaves a big hole.You dont replace the leadership, defensive co-ordinator Billy Davis said. You just dont. Leadership is something that is earned over time. Cam Newton Jersey . But that changed when he committed a five-minute major penalty and helped pave the way for a comeback by the Philadelphia Flyers. Vincent Lecavalier scored at 2:45 of overtime and the Flyers rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 5-4 victory on Sunday. Christian McCaffrey Jersey .com) - Even on the day his New Hampshire football team became the nations top-ranked team two weeks ago, coach Sean McDonnell conceded something about the team they replaced at No.DENVER -- Antoine Vermette made his 700th game special. Vermette ended up a goal short of his second career hat trick, Thomas Greiss stopped 29 shots in an emergency start and the Phoenix Coyotes beat the Colorado Avalanche 3-1 on Tuesday night. Jordan Szwarz also had a goal for the Coyotes, who won for just the second time in five games. Phoenix has struggled of late, going 3-5-2 in its past 10 games to slip to ninth in the Western Conference. Tuesdays win pulled the Coyotes within a point of Colorado. Vermette outscored the Avalanche on his own with two goals in a span of 7 minutes, 2 seconds to mark his milestone game. "Good timing," he said of his two goals. "If it happens this way, Ill take it." Patrick Bordeleau scored his fourth goal of the season and goalie Semyon Varlamov had 22 saves for the Avalanche, who have lost three of their past four. Despite a strong start to the season, Colorado is eighth in the Western Conference and has struggled to score goals lately. The Avalanche have just 15 in their past eight games. "We are going to have to find better ways to score goals," coach Patrick Roy said. "We are going to have to drive that net a little more. We are going to spend more time in front and might have to take more good shots. It might have to be ugly goals before the confidence comes back." After a scoreless first half of the game, the goals came quickly. Vermette got the first one when he scored on a give-and-go with defenceman Keith Yandle at 8:31 of the second period. "These guys make some great plays," Vermette said. "Yands on the first goal, great pass, good feed on his backhand." Szwarz made it 2-0 a little more than three minutes later when he scored on Jeff Halperns rebound. Colorado got back in the game briefly with a little help from the Coyotes. Bordeleau charged at defenceman Michael Stone, whose pass from behind the net clipped off Bordeleau and hit the back of Greiss skate and into the net. "I just left it," Greiss said. "I didnt see the other guy coming from the other side, but it just bounced off my skaate and went in.dddddddddddd" It was the only blemish for Greiss, who woke up Tuesday not expecting to play but was told he would start when Mike Smith became ill in the morning. Greiss responded with another solid performance against Colorado, and is 4-0 with a shutout against the Avalanche. "(Smith) was struggling this morning with illness and just felt like there was no use putting him in if hes not 100 per cent," coach Dave Tippett said. "Greiss went and played a great game for us." His teammates helped him out by restoring the two-goal lead. After Bordeleau cut the lead in half, Vermette quickly responded with his ninth goal when he scored off Oliver Ekman-Larssons rebound 1:05 later. "That was one you hate to give up, kind of a fluky one, but I like the way our guys stayed with it," Tippett said. Colorado had opportunities to take the early lead, but Greiss was sharp. He stopped centres Paul Stastny and Maxime Talbot close in and defenceman Andre Benoit on a breakaway. "We arent scoring enough goals," Stastny said. "Our guys have to do more to put goals on the board. Plain and simple." The Avalanche couldnt mount much of a rally early in the third. They had just five shots in the first 13 minutes of the period before putting pressure on Greiss. Varlamov came off for an extra skater in the final minute, but Colorado managed just one more shot. "Their goalie made some great saves" Roy said. "I think we need a bit of confidence offensively. The chances are there, its just a matter of time before they go in. During that time were going to have to find other ways to score." Notes: Vermettes only hat trick was April 3, 2008, when he was playing for Ottawa. ... Coyotes RW Shane Doan (illness) missed his second straight game. ... Avalanche C Alex Tanguay had a setback in his return from a knee injury and will likely miss more time. He was expected to return this weekend, but a hip injury will keep him out longer. ... Phoenix D Zbynek Michalek returned to the lineup after a nine-game absence because of a lower-body injury. 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