Reaction to the death of Miami Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez in a boating accident Sunday:---I saw a better talent than I was lose his life this tragic morning. -- Hall of Fame pitcher Pedro Martinez.---Jose and I trained together since I was 15. ... I talked to him probably about two weeks ago, actually. We were just talking about the offseason and, ironically enough, going fishing and stuff like that. -- Houston pitcher Lance McCullers.---Its so horribly sad on so many different levels that therell be no more of that, no more of him, therell be no more of that emotion on the mound, that skill set, that human being, that young man with such a gift, such a great smile. -- Pittsburgh manager Clint Hurdle.---The baseball family has suffered a loss. Its recognizable in the clubhouse today, very recognizable. Its a sad day. The show goes on for us, but its a sad day. His persona and how he performed on the field, just how he was, just reminds you of the joy that this game can bring you. -- Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell.---I dont have the words to describe the pain I feel. -- retiring Boston star David Ortiz, who asked the Tampa Bay Rays to cancel a pregame tribute they planned in his honor before his final game at their park Sunday.---I said, `You dont throw me any fastballs. And he said, `Why would I throw you any fastballs? We just started laughing. Thats the kind of guy he was. He had an infectious smile and a love for the game I hope every ballplayer could have. -- White Sox slugger Todd Frazier, recalling a pregame conversation he once had in the outfield with Fernandez.---One of those competitors you loved competing against because you know he was going to bring his best. He was one of the best pitchers in the game. What he did in a short amount of time was incredible. We just talked at the field. -- Yankees catcher Brian McCann, who got into a dustup at home plate after Fernandez hit his first big league home run in 2013.---It was probably that year at the New York sports writers dinner, he won Rookie of the Year. And he did it in Spanish and I think at the end he said, `Ill do this next year in English. And if Im not correct, his English is flawless. I just remember watching that and thought it was pretty cool. -- Cleveland manager Terry Francona.---When the first pitch left his hand, the first thought is, `Oh, wow, this is something special. ... This was not only one of the greatest pitchers in the modern game, but one of the finest young men youd ever meet, who played the game with passion and fun and enjoyed being out there. -- Mets manager Terry Collins. Fernandez was scheduled to start Monday night at home vs. the Mets.---He had Hall of Fame-level talent. It felt like Jose could last a long time, be a part of that for a long time, be the face of the Marlins a long time. -- Milwaukee manager Craig Counsell.---When I think about Josie, its going to be thinking about a little kid. ... I see such a little boy in him ... the way he played. ... Kids play Little League, thats the joy Jose played with. -- Miami manager Don Mattingly. Cheap Shoes 2020 . The 29-year-old Baines has established himself as one of the top attacking full backs in the country and was the subject of two bids from United during the last off-season. Everton manager Roberto Martinez says that keeping Baines at the club is a "massive boost and exciting for the future" because he brings "maturity and football knowledge in a very specialized position on the pitch" and an "infectious and positive influence to the rest of the squad. Cheap Shoes For Sale . Clarkson had been dealing with an elbow injury in early January and will be out of action for at least one week. 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BEIJING -- As coaches take notes, teenagers dribble footballs through a course of cones on Ritan Middle Schools gleaming artificial field in eastern Beijing, part of a massive program to promote soccer as a pillar of Chinas rise to global prominence.The 14-year-old boys and girls were being scrutinized under a newly added section of Beijings high school entrance exam, which beginning this year includes an elective football skills test in addition to such standards as Chinese, math, and English.While the skills tests comprise only a small part of the placement exam, the fact education officials tweaked a notoriously rigid standardized test is one sign of how thoroughly China is mobilizing under President Xi Jinpings drive to overhaul the game domestically and turn the Chinese team into a World Cup winner by 2050.The football revolution spans from schoolyards to the top professional league. Local officials tout how thousands of high schools are becoming government-designated football priority schools. Cities announce hundreds of football complexes being built every week.Chinese clubs are paying record fees to woo stars away from Europe and boost interest in the domestic league. And in the past year alone, Chinese investors have spent a staggering $3 billion to buy stakes in European clubs, with the stated aim of bringing football know-how back to China.Weve talked about football under several top leaders but until now, there has never been this will, said Pang Xiaozhong, former director of the Institute of Sport Science, an arm of Chinas state sports program. Its unprecedented.Boosting Chinas standing in the game is part of Xis push to raise Chinas global prestige. With the national mens team ranked No. 78, a turnaround would be nothing short of cathartic. While the womens team has often found international success, Chinas men have qualified for only one World Cup, bouncing out of the 2002 competition without scoring a goal.Decades after Chinas government successfully created a Soviet-style sports juggernaut, emphasizing highly technical disciplines such as diving, the question is whether the sports-by-diktat approach can work for the worlds most popular game. Unlike sports such as gymnastics, in which elite state academies develop selected prospects from a young age, commentators say football success will require a huge player base and vibrant, structured youth leagues -- all of which China is trying to create practically from scratch.In May, the cabinet issued a 50-point plan that called on local and provincial governments to promote football by setting up school programs, creating amateur leagues, offering tax breaks for pitch construction and recruiting foreign coaches with the goal of establishing 70,000 new fields and producing 50 million school-age players by 2020.In a top-down system under which the ruling Communist Party still issues five-year economic plans, this state-led mix of infrastructure investment and mass grassroots mobilization is precisely what Beijing sees as needed to bring home a World Cup trophy.In China, the role of the government is always the biggest and most effective, Pang said. Football is something we can grasp if were methodic.Although the government has not released cost estimates for its development plan, analysts say hundreds of millions could be spent over the next five years on facilities alone.What has been made public, however, is the $300 million this year that Chinese Super League clubs have splashed out recruiting stars such as Ramires, Alex Teixeira, Ezequiel Lavezzi, Jackson Marttinez and former Arsenal striker Gervinho.dddddddddddd And that does not include the wages on offer at Chinese clubs, which are now some of the highest in the world.Clubs have also splurged on high-profile coaches, including ex-Real Madrid and Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini, former Brazil boss Luiz Felipe Scolari and one-time England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson.Jonathan Sullivan, director of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham, said theres no reason to doubt China could become a regional football superpower. But he warned there were similarities with the governments approach to economic planning that, despite its successes, can lead to inefficiency or graft. One example is the wave of interest that followed the 2002 World Cup run, which quickly fizzled out when the domestic league was hit by rampant corruption scandals.The leadership sketches a hugely ambitious and yet ambiguous vision and people lower down the chain -- government bureaus, provincial governments -- and those hoping to curry favor, especially in business, pick it up and run with it, Sullivan said. The problem is everyone often runs in different directions.Chinese football investors are already scrambling to buy into storied clubs such as Inter Milan and AC Milan, sometimes speaking of those deals as patriotic buyers.In a recent interview, Jiantong Tony Xia, who took over Englands Aston Villa in May, said a main objective was to eventually field Chinese players and establish academies.Its been proven that buying foreign firms with know-how and then bringing that back to the domestic industry has been the most efficient route, Xia said.As Chinas most powerful leader in decades, Xis personal influence on the promotion of football has been enormous.The president makes no secret of his love for the game which he picked up as a child playing alongside the scions of other Communist Party leaders at the elite Beijing 101 Middle School.A 1983 exhibition match between China and English club Watford was said to have left a particular impression on Xi. China was then just opening up to the outside world after decades of Maoism, and when Watford trounced the Chinese national team, Xi left the Beijing Workers Stadium fuming, childhood friend Nie Weiping recalled in an interview years later with state media.He felt hurt watching the match, Nie was quoted as saying. But hes continued to always follow Team China.Those presidential concerns appear to be having a direct effect at the grassroots.On the leafy Ritan Middle School campus, extracurricular director Xu Fuxing described how the public schools budget has risen 25 percent since Xis administration made sports an educational priority.The campus recently resurfaced an artificial field and Xu has hired youth football academy Huawen to train its students. Aside from offering traveling competitions that barely existed a few years ago, Huawen employs coaches such as Juan Varela, a former trainer with Atletico Madrid who moved to China earlier this year and works with help from translators.Speaking over Varelas cries of Spread out! Spread out! as eight-year-old kids swarmed after loose balls, Xu said the national plans key element is to encourage the formation of clubs and leagues to offer competitive experiences to young players.Even small measures such as Beijings new football exam have encouraged kids to try the game and, as Xu said, It symbolizes much more to come. ' ' '