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Sunday,
May 26, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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First
match abandoned due to rain Final day’s play washed out US team pulls out
of World Cup series
Owen needs
to prove a point |
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Veron:
motor of Argentine team Injury-hit
England meet Cameroon Figo
still troubled by injury
Football legend Diego Maradona shares a laugh with former Miss Universe Cecilia Bolocco, who is currently the wife of former Argentine President Carlos Menem, during a TV show in Santiago on Thursday night.
— Reuters photo Where
World Cup Soccer comes a cropper Agassi
ready to rekindle magic
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First match abandoned due to rain Kingston, Jamaica, May 25 The second game of the five-match series is also due to be played at Sabina Park tomorrow. Though there was no rain today, overnight downpour rendered the outfield at Sabina Park unfit for play. The umpires nevertheless carried out an inspection this morning as a motley crowd hoped to catch at least some action. But that was not to be. Match-referee Mike Proctor of South Africa inspected the pitch with umpires Russell Tiffin and Eddie Nichols early today but decided against going ahead because of the wet outfield and sodden pitch. “The groundsman have been working hard over the last two days and had done a pretty good job but the heavy rain overnight left us with no option,’’ Nichols said. “We were definitely hopeful of getting some play today, even if not the full 50 overs. Now we can only hope for some sunshine ahead of tomorrow’s game.’’ One of the groundsmen said the outfield and the bowlers’ run-ups were the problem. “We need no more rain for sure if there is going to be any play tomorrow,’’ he added. The umpires said though the pitch could dry up later, the soggy, grassy outfield did not look like drying up and they could not risk players’ safety. With more showers predicted for today, chances of the second one-dayer, slated for tomorrow, being held on schedule also look bleak. There was no official word yet on rescheduling the matches. Vangipurappu Laxman was likely to be left out, while Rahul Dravid was expected to keep wickets.
PTI |
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Final day’s play washed out
Moratuwa, May 25 No play was possible on three days in the four-day encounter due to bad weather, with a full day’s game being witnessed only on the second day. Sri Lanka “A” were all out for 282 in their first innings and India “A” reached 55 for four. The first Test at SSC Stadium, Colombo, also ended in a draw. The teams will play their third and last Test at the Nondescripts Cricket Club stadium, Colombo, from May 28.
PTI |
US team pulls out of World Cup series
New Delhi, May 25 “I am shocked and surprised at the development,” India Women Hockey Federation Secretary Amrit Bose said here today. Bose said when she went to meet the US hockey team management they said they had received an advisory from their federation to pull out as “there is a war-like situation in the sub continent”. “The girls’ parents were worried and the team has left,” the management told Bose. “I told them that there was no war-like situation. Had it been the case our Prime Minister would not have been holidaying in Manali.’’ Asked what will be the fate of the series to be held in Australia later this year, she said: “We should qualify.’’ “We should be allowed to play as it was not our fault that the US team has withdrawn. We have lost sponsors, TV rights and ticket revenue,’’ she added. The US squad had arrived earlier this week for a three-game series which was scheduled to begin in the first week of June. “Yes, we are leaving tonight,’’ team’s coach Tracy Belben said. It was the second time the US squad has withdrawn from a qualifying event for the World Cup. The team pulled out of the qualifiers in France held shortly after the September 11 attacks in the USA last year.
UNI
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Tough task for miracle-working Milutinovic
Beijing, May 25 The vastly experienced Serbian coach was even able to joke that this team’s seeming inability to score in their warm-up games was a good thing. “I hope we wait to score against Brazil or Turkey once we get tot he World Cup,” said Milutinovic after a 0-1 defeat to Dutch side PSV
Eindhoven. Perhaps the defining feature of the 57-year-old’s outlook as a coach is that
whatever happens, he has seen it all before. China will be the astonishing, and record-breaking, fifth nation the man known throughout the country as “Milu” has managed at a World Cup finals. Still more amazing is that all four previous sides Mexico in 1986, costa Rica in 1990, the USA four years later and Nigeria in 1998 — reached the second round, with Mexico even getting to the quarterfinals. It was this reputation as a miracle-working footballing mercenary able to coax the best out of limited sides that led the Chinese Football Association to approach Milutinovic at the start of 2000. Previous coach, Englishman Bobby Houghton had been sacked for failing to guide China’s footballers to the Olympic Games, and the thought of following this with yet another failure to reach the World Cup was even more painful than Milutinovic’s substantial salary demands. The Yugoslav admitted later that taking
the helm at such a football-crazy nation with a four decades of World Cup qualifying failure was a risk. “It was a gamble, especially if you consider that China had never qualified before
and the passion that its people have for football,” he said. For a time, it seemed the gamble would fail. After China failed to notch up rugby-style scores against minnows such as the Maldives and Cambodia in the opening round of Asian qualification, China’s sports press called for Milutinov’s head. However, he kept his nerve, and guided a tightly drilled
team through to an automatic place in South Korea, where they also take on Costa Rica in a tough first round
group. Milutinovic, an engaging, sociable character whose reputation for eccentricity has perhaps been exaggerated by his imperfect grasp of a string of languages, is now revered as
a near-deity in China. He has cannily converted much of this adulation into cash. His beaming, shaggy-haired countenance now endorses a series of consumer goods on
billboards around China, a bonanza Milutinovic rather disingenuously insisted was undertaken to “popularise Chinese football”. The secret of his success is
throughness, coupled with the ability to fill his players with confidence. “As far as preparation is concerned everything is now important you can’t win unless you bring everything — tactics, physical conditioning, mental preparations — everything is important,” he told AFP ahead of the World Cup finals draw. China might struggle to progress — or even score — next month; but few now doubt the wisdom of calling in
Milutinovic. “Everyone connected with the Chinese side think it was the right decision to appoint Bora as team coach, especially when you have followed the team for as many years as me,” said veteran Chinese football pundit Ma
Dexing. Milutinovic is at times more modest, confessing once; “Frankly, I don’t know how we did it.”
AFP |
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Veron: motor of Argentine team
Paris, May 25 But some cynics prefer to regard him as the destroyer of something else this season: Manchester United’s trophy-winning credentials. While clearly one of the most talented midfielders in the world and instrumental in his country wiping the floor with their South American rivals in the qualifiers, Veron did not nearly live up to expectations following his record £ 28 millions move from Lazio to Old Trafford last summer. Serie A champion one minute, he was derided in some quarters as being anything from an unnecessary luxury to an expensive flop the next as United did their utmost to accommodate him. Veron, used to playing the game at an altogether different pace than the frenetic speed of the Premiership, has been at pains to deny that a move back in Italy is on the cards. But he admits that while happy enough in England this trophyless season has not been the best preparation for the World Cup. Now he has a dual goal at the finals. One is to provide Argentina’s teams of millions of soccer fanatics with a triumph which would represent a hefty, if nonmaterial, compensation for the fallout from their country's dire economic problems. But he also wants a medal to ensure that this year’s trophy cupboard does not remain bare. Veron, whose passing range and accuracy are almost without parallel-qualities which Sir Alex Ferguson moved swiftly to snap up at the end of last season — did not mince his words as he underlined the importance of the event — for his country, but he might just as well have been talking about himself. “For us it’s the World Cup or nothing,” he admitted to Rivadavia radio last week. “So many great hopes and expectations have been built up around this side, that we have no choice but to go out there and win the title. “Sport cannot resolve all our problems, but it can at least reunite us a little bit more,” he added in allusion to Argentina’s financial problems which have seen the peso become almost worthless after huge devaluations against the dollar. Veron’s Manchester United season ended early as he flew to Rome ahead of his club’s final Premiership match to join coach Marcelo’ Bielsa’s pre-final camp. And reading between the lines as he headed off it was easy to detect a note disappointment at a year of domestic failure, sentiment which has only fuelled his desire to lift the World Cup after Deniel Passarela and Diego Maradona before him. “It’s not been a great year for me or for my team, but you can’t win all the time.” That also goes for the World Cup, especially as France are a possible second phase opponent. For the English Premiership title there’s always next year — but with a four-year wait until the next World Cup finals Veron doesn’t intend to let this chance slip out of his grasp with the Argentina squad the best crop since the Maradona-inspired vintage in 1986.
AFP |
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Owen needs to prove a point
London, May 25 Drawn against favourites Argentina, Sweden and Nigeria, much rests on the shoulders of the 22-year-old striker who scored one of the most memorable goals in World Cup history in the second phase against Argentina. Picking up a pass from team-mate David Beckham, the 18-year-old Owen ran from the halfway line and weaved his way past two defenders before crashing the ball high into the roof of the net. The goal was not enough to win the match for England, but it saw Owen’s market value soar and made him one of the most sought-after strikers in world football. The level of expectation rose dramatically after that incredible solo effort in St Etienne, but the Liverpool lad with the boy-next-door image went from strength to strength. His goals played a major part in Liverpool’s 2000-2001 treble success which saw them win the UEFA Cup, the FA Cup and the League Cup, and more importantly helped the Merseysiders qualify for the lucrative Champions League. But the Owen fairytale turned into a nightmare this season. The goals started to dry up and he spent more and more time on the treatment table. Plagued by troublesome hamstrings, Owen was in and out of the team so much that Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier signed Nicolas Anelka on loan from Paris St Germain as cover for his most prized asset. When he did play, Owen found himself up against defenders who had become wise to the player’s tendency to shift the ball onto his favoured right foot. There were glimpses of his lightning pace but all too often they were eclipsed by missed chances and indifferent performances. The thought of another tweaked hamstring appeared to weigh heavily on the mind of the golden boy of English football. Owen, now 22, has been philosophical about his loss of form. “Like every striker, you go through patches of scoring loads or not scoring many, or scoring in dribs and drads,” he said. “I’ve got my share although I’m not scoring a hat-trick in every game.” Owen hit back at fierce criticism in the English press by grabbing a glorious hat-trick for England in their 5-1 World Cup qualifier win against Germany in Munich. That display was the perfect response to those who had written Owen off, but one player who remains unconvinced of the striker’s international credentials is French World Cup winner Frank Leboeuf. “He’s good, but not a patch on Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet,” Leboeuf said. “Give him a yard and you’ll never see him again, but stick close and he’s often lost for ideas. He needs to prove he has more to his game than pace at this World Cup,” Leboeuf told The Independent. However, Liverpool goalscoring legend Ian Rush disagrees and believes Owen has what it takes to make a name for himself once again on the international stage. “Michael is a only a young man and I think he will go on to bigger and better things,” he said. “He is still learning, and more importantly, is one of those who want to learn. “Michael is a smashing lad and he keeps his feet on the ground.” Owen has a lot to prove, not only to England but also to himself.
AFP |
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Injury-hit England meet Cameroon
Kobe (Japan), May 25 Eriksson’s World Cup plans have been dogged by problems since the close of the English season, with injuries to his midfield stacking up rapidly. Danny Murphy was the latest to fall victim to the English injury jinx yesterday, the Liverpool player ruled out with a broken foot to be replaced by West Ham’s Trevor Sinclair. With skipper David Beckham, his Manchester United team-mate Nicky Butt and Newcastle’s Kieron Dyer already battling back from injury, Eriksson will be praying for no more casualties in tomorrow’s game. Cameroon, the reigning African champions, are renowned as a physical side and are led by the muscular Rigobert Song - the only player to be sent off at two World Cups. Yet despite the ‘Indomitable Lions’ reputation for taking no prisoners, Eriksson will not tell his players to take it easy, and plans to give most of his squad a run-out. “If you go into a friendly game and you are afraid of being injured the possibility of being injured is bigger, much bigger. “You have to tackle and you have to play as you normally do, without doing stupid things of course,” he said. Eriksson acknowledged the importance of the match to England’s World Cup first phase even though it had been devalued by the mounting injury list. He had originally hoped to use the match as an opportunity to bed down his starting line-up for England’s World Cup opener against Sweden on June 2. “A few weeks ago I was asked if I would field my strongest team against Cameroon and I said yes. Today I will say no- I can’t, it’s impossible,” he said. “We’re going to let more or less everyone play as we have done during all the friendly games because at this point that’s the only way to do it.” Eriksson and the England camp may console themselves with the thought that their troubled build-up pales into insignificance with Cameroon’s farcical preparations. Under respected German coach Winfried Schafer, Cameroon had slowly shed their reputation for chaotic organisation and haphazard planning. But all the old doubts re-emerged last week amid disputes over bonus money and flying permits. The Africans finally arrived in Japan late Thursday but only after a four-day delay. They had been stranded on the outskirts of Paris, refusng to leave France because individual payments of 45,734 euros ($42,000) had not been made. Their plane finally took off from Europe on Tuesday and arrived in Bangkok for an unexpected refueling stop after prolonged stopovers in Ethiopia and India. But by that time, the plane’s pilot realised he did not have permission from Cambodia, Vietnam and the Philippines to fly over their airspace, an official at Bangkok International Airport said earlier. The plane spent seven hours in the Thai capital before it was granted special flyover permission by the three countries.
AFP |
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Figo still troubled by injury
Seoul, May 25 Figo, who has suffered from an ankle injury for most of the season, said he was unsure when he would be 100 per cent fit. But the Real Madrid star had an upbeat note for his fans. “My recovery is just a matter of time,” Figo told FIFA worldcup-com. “I’m happy to be able to tell you that my ankle is a lot better,” the inspirational midfielder said. Coach Antonio Oliveira is reportedly planning to rest Figo and AC Milan’s Rui Costa in the World Cup warm-up match against China being played in Macau. He said both players were struggling for full fitness ahead of the game in the former Portuguese colony close to Hong Kong. Figo explained that part of his problem had been caused by having to play so many matches every season. “There’s no doubt that every year we have more matches to play and less and less time to recover. That’s the way it goes. Recovery time has shrunk for everyone,” he said. Figo confessed that it would be disastrous if Portugal playing in group D with South Korea, Poland and the USA, failed to get into the final stages. “It’s 16 years since we reached the final phase of the World Cup. We are setting out with expectations sky-high. Falling at the first hurdle would be nothing less than a crushing failure. Our aim is to reach the final,” he said. “But we’ll be taking it one step at a time. Let’s get through the group stage first. After that we will see.” Portugal’s small pool of players is an advantage rather than a hindrance, Figo added. “The fact that we know each other so well playing together for several years now, it’s a tremendous advantage,” he said. The striker is licking his lips at the possibility of meeting Spain in the quarterfinals. “Playing at Real and knowing most of the Spanish national side would give the match a special edge. It really would be a great occasion,” he enthused. “Both teams have similar qualities and previous games between us have been fiercely competitive. If fate does bring us together I hope that it’s Portugal that wins the day this time, but we’re not there yet. There is a long way to go before the quarterfinals,” he said.
AFP |
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Maradona
denied Japanese visa Santiago (Chile), May 25 Japanese law forbids entry into the country by any foreigner with a history of drug-related offences. Maradona was arrested for taking cocaine in 1991. Maradona said Argentina had a fair chance to win the World Cup, but “it’s hard to pick a favourite.” “Argentina is very strong these days as it showed during the South American qualifying series,” he said. “This is the right moment for Argentina. Most of our players are in the right age and the coach we have is the coach we Argentines wanted”. Maradona appeared in a show hosted by former Chilean Miss Universe Cecilia Bolocco, who was accompanied by her husband, former Argentine President Carlos Menem.
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Where
World Cup Soccer comes a cropper Patiala,
May 25 The soccer extravaganza, that comes after a gap of every four years, has failed to enthuse the residents, many of whom don’t even know when it is going to start and where is it going to be played. There are no billboards, no advertisements, no banners that normally come up when such a high profile event is held. When the Cricket World Cup was held in 1999, scores of billboards surfaced overnight and several local companies came out with various packages. One cinema owner went a step further when he consigned regular Hindi films to the backburner and started screening the World Cup matches featuring India. Even cable operators here have yet to decide whether to air Ten Sports channel, which has exclusive rights for the event. And nobody, barring die-hard fans, is ready to dole out the meagre Rs 15 to the cable operators for watching the event. A sports psychologist reasoned that as far as football is concerned, residents are ‘comatose’ because of India’s abysmally low standing in world football. He said nobody is likely to be enthused when a nation is ranked as low as 122nd in the world and to top it, since India is not playing in the cup, nobody cares to watch. Showrooms dotting the main bazars of the town have not recorded any significant rise in sales of TVs, says Mr Antarpal Singh of Amar Electronics, one of the largest showrooms dealing in electrical and electronic appliances. “During the 1999 Cricket World Cup, sales of TV sets spiralled by nearly 30 per cent. However, not a single person has approached me to buy a TV for the Soccer World Cup”, he said. Similar are the sentiments expressed by owners of other showrooms, who are more content selling ACs than TV. Says a Punjabi University psychologist “Football is not the in-thing for people in this region. Barring people in Goa, Bengal and Kerala few Indians are interested in watching the event. Here people are fed on a diet of Bollywood trash and cricket. Cricket, however, takes precedence over films. For the children and youth, Shah Rukh Khan is wonderful, but they understand that his world is fantasy, with Sachin Tendulkar, it is different, his art is real”. A senior NIS coach puts the ‘lack of enthusiasm’ factor down to the fact that India has never reached the finals of any world cup. The world cup manages to capture the striving for excellence and the spirit of the global community. Strip the mega event of it’s commercial hype, and it still remains a riveting display of physical skill and strength. But when France take on Senegal in the opening encounter on May 31, Patialvis, for sure are going to be an inattentive and disinterested lot. |
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Agassi
ready to rekindle magic
Paris, May 25 So it shouldn’t surprise anyone that after winning one key French Open tuneup he decided to skip another, swallow a $40,000 fine and make an extra trip back to the USA before heading to Paris. Nor should it shock anyone that at the advanced-for-tennis age of 32, Agassi seems poised to make a strong run at an eighth major title when play starts on Monday at the French Open. And he likes his chances. “I find that as I get older, it gets more difficult, which increases the challenge of it,” he says, “which fuels the very thing that motivated me in the first place.” Having dropped below No 100 in the ATP Tour rankings in 1997, Agassi’s career renaissance started at the ‘99 French Open, when he began a run of four championships in a span of eight Grand Slam events. Now he’s ranked No 4, and nobody has been playing better tennis of late. Smacking balls over the net during a practice session at Roland Garros, Agassi looked little like the brash kid who made the French Open semifinals at the age of 18 and the final at 20 and 21. Back then, his “image is everything” days: streaks of blond in below-the-shoulders hair, day-glo pink cycling tights, dangling earring. Now, his “father knows best” days: shaved pate, monochromatic T-shirt and shorts, hoop earring. In 1990, the year Agassi reached his first Grand Slam final here, a 14-year-old Jennifer Capriati became the youngest French Open semifinalist. Like Agassi, of course, Capriati knows a thing or two about comebacks. The defending French Open champion is one of a handful of players with a realistic chance at the women’s title, including the Williams sisters and Belgians Justine Henin and Kim Clijsters. Of those five players, only Capriati has won the French Open. Martina Hingis, who’s won every major except this one, and Lindsay Davenport are injured. “I’m definitely playing better than last year,” said Capriati, who has won three of the past five majors. “At the French, I was playing really well, and I don’t know if I could play better than that. I think every year or every (tournament) I get better and better and stronger.” Agassi’s play has been superb since he returned from an early season wrist injury that forced him out of the Australian Open. He’s won 24 of 27 matches and three titles in 2002, including the Rome Masters Series event this month, his first championship on clay since the ‘99 French Open. He was just hoping to get some match-intensity work in Italy, but wound up smothering Tommy Haas 6-3, 6-3, 6-0 in the final. “You come here and you’re just hoping to get your clay feet, you know, and get used to it and hopefully get some confidence going and be ready by Paris,” Agassi said before facing Haas. “To be playing this well this early is a great bonus for me.” Feeling he was ready for Roland Garros, he bypassed the Masters Series event in Germany the following week and returned home instead. By contrast, some other top players have reasons to worry heading into the tournament: three-time champion Gustavo Kuerten is working his way back from February hip surgery, No 1 Lleyton Hewitt isn’t known for his prowess on clay and has only reached one final on the surface, Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson is concerned about burnout, and Pete Sampras has the twin burdens of a 27-tournament title drought and knowing he’s only once been as far as the semifinals in Paris.
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Nirmaljit
wins bronze Chandigarh, May 25 BATHINDA: A rousing welcome was given to Kushal Sayal, Sunita Rani and Neelam, on Friday night at the local railway station after they returned from Korea. They won one gold and two silver medals.
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England’s
hopes of progressing beyond the World Cup’s ‘Group of Death’
depend largely on the accuracy of Michael Owen, whose wonder goal at
France ‘98 catapulted the Liverpool marksman into the spotlight.
Paris,
May 25
