Durban, June 19
Wesley Sneijder was on target as Netherlands beat Japan 1-0 in a Group E clash on Saturday to put themselves on the brink of reaching the World Cup second round. Sneijder's fine 53rd minute strike deceived Japan goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima who misjudged the flight of the ball and could only deflect it into the back of the net.

However, the goal was reward for a much improved start to the second half by the unimpressive Dutch, who had been frustrated by the Japanese in a dull first period. "Everyone could see Japan do not have a bad team and then you have to be very patient," said Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk.

"We can do much better but with six (points) out of two (games) without conceding a goal you can't say you're not satisfied.”

Netherlands, who laboured to a 2-0 win over Denmark in their opening game, lead the group with six points and if Cameroon fail to beat the Danes later on Saturday the Dutch will become the first team to book a place in the second round.

Japan, who surprisingly beat Cameroon 1-0 in their opening match, had declared their intent to frustrate their opponents but they also attacked in numbers when they had the chance and will be aggrieved not to have got a goal.

"During the first half we were not only concentrating on the defence," said Japan coach Takeshi Okada. "We expected the Netherlands to be frustrated but defence alone was not enough. So I told our players to be very courageous and aggressive when we had the ball."

The first half was disappointing as Netherlands failed to exploit their possession and mustered only three shots with midfielder Rafael van der Vaart's late effort the only one to test Kawashima in the Japan goal. The Dutch came out firing after the break and Robin Van Persie had already wasted two chances before he seized on a loose ball in the penalty area. — Reuters

Cape Town, June 19
Algeria held England to a 0-0 draw and left one of the World Cup favorites on the brink of elimination with one game to go in the first round. With a sullen Wayne Rooney scoreless for a seventh straight match, England lacked heart and inspiration yesterday, struggling throughout against an opponent fighting to avoid becoming the first to be eliminated from the World Cup.

"We weren't aggressive enough," England captain Steven Gerrard said. "We never had the cutting edge." Coach Fabio Capello was aghast at what he saw. "This game I didn't see the spirit of the team," he said. "This is not the England that I know." The Italian acknowledged that many players had fallen victim to World Cup pressure.

"It is incredible, the mistakes of the players. When you are at the ball, when you control the ball, when you have easy passes - they miss, everything. This is incredible for the level of the England players," he said. The result set up a Group C finale on Wednesday with England taking on Slovenia and the United States playing Algeria. 

Slovenia leads the group with four points, followed by England and the United States with two each. Algeria has one point. "We got no excuses," Gerrard said. "We got to go and win the last game." Even Algeria coach Rabah Saadane was surprised at England's poor performance. "I thought they would be better," Saadane said. "They were not at their best."

Capello benched bungling goalkeeper Green and brought back 39-year-old David James to boost confidence in the defense. — AP

Rustenburg, June 19
Harry Kewell was sent off as ten-man Australia battled to hold Ghana to a 1-1 draw in an incident-filled Group D clash at the Royal Bafokeng stadium on Saturday. Striker Kewell, recalled after missing their opening game, was dismissed for a harsh-looking handball after only 24 minutes as the Socceroos were reduced to ten players for the second successive game following Tim Cahill's red card in their opening 4-0 defeat by Germany.

In an open and entertaining game, Australia took the lead after 11 minutes when Brett Holman made the most of a goalkeeping error by Richard Kingson, but a resurgent Ghana levelled after Kewell's handball on the line, when Gyan scored from the spot.

Ghana then went in search of a winner but despite creating a host of chances they were left frustrated as Australia defended bravely and went close themselves to stealing an unlikely win when substitute Joshua Kennedy failed to score with a smothered close-range shot after 72 minutes. Australia had made a bright start with Kewell giving 19-year-old Jonathan Mensah, drafted in to central defence, a torrid time in the opening minutes. The unfamiliar Ghana defence, in which Mensah was partnering Lee Addy, had a makeshift look and goalkeeper Richard Kingson looked shaky. — Reuters

Johannesburg, June 19
Brazil will face the Ivory Coast tomorrow with a chance to reach the second round of the World Cup with a game to spare in Group G. A victory against the Ivory Coast will be enough for Brazil to advance ahead of its last group match against Portugal on June 25. The Ivory Coast needs to beat Brazil to get into a good position to move on, or at least hold the five-time champions to a draw to keep its hopes alive before playing North Korea in its final match.

"We gained confidence with the first victory and we need another one now to guarantee a place in the next round," Brazil striker Nilmar said. "We can do it in advance, so we need to try to go for it." Brazil began the World Cup with a hard-fought 2-1 win over the lowly ranked North Korea on Tuesday in Johannesburg, while the Ivory Coast was held to a scoreless draw with Portugal in Port Elizabeth. "If we defend well, we should be able to get a good result," Ivory Coast defender Emmanuel Eboue said. "(Brazil is) a great team, everybody knows this, but this motivates us and again we have to play at our best." It was unclear whether Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba was going to start on Sunday at Soccer City Stadium, but coach Sven-Goran Eriksson hinted the Chelsea striker could be in the starting lineup. Drogba broke his right arm in a warmup ahead of the World Cup, but he underwent surgery and came off the bench to play more than 20 minutes against Portugal.

"Every player feels very, very well and we've got confidence in ourselves," Eboue said. "If Drogba plays, it will be very great for us." The Brazilians are hoping Ivory Coast will not stay back on defense from the start on Sunday, creating the same problems that the defensive-minded North Korean caused in the opener. Brazil struggled to come up with scoring opportunities and needed second-half goals to earn the victory at Ellis Park. "Ivory Coast will come out playing more offensively and that should give us some openings," Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar said. "It's harder for us if a team plays only thinking about defending and not about attacking." — AP

POTCHEFSTROOM: Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas is not distracted by the pitchside presence of his television presenter girlfriend and is fully focused on his job, according to defender Raul Albiol. Casillas, who is in a relationship with Sara Carbonero, a Telecinco reporter covering the World Cup, was criticised for a lunging tackle that resulted in Switzerland scoring the only goal of Spain's Group H opener on Wednesday.

He had to explain himself in a live interview with Carbonero immediately after the match and the defeat prompted a British newspaper to suggest her presence at games was a distraction for the Spain captain.

"If Iker has anything, it's a lot of personality, experience and level-headedness," Albiol said at a news conference at Spain's training base in Potchefstroom on Saturday. "He knows what his job is and he is fully focused on winning the World Cup," Albiol added. "He knows he's the captain, a key player, and everything else is nonsense. We'll give him all the support he needs." — Reuters

Dambulla, June 19
Gautam Gambhir fought through testing times against the new ball, scored at a steady pace while his opening partner Virender Sehwag struggled, and almost single-handedly built a platform from which India could challenge Pakistan's total. For their part, Pakistan's bowlers kept India's top order quiet, but they were able to take only two wickets in the first 25 overs, setting up an enthralling finish to the Asia Cup's marquee clash.

Pakistan had to beat India to stay alive in the tournament and, after their batsmen posted 267, Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Aamer hustled Sehwag and Gambhir, combining tight lines and lengths with pace and bounce.

Earlier, Salman Butt (74) and Kamran Akmal (51) made contrasting half centuries before India made a remarkable comeback to bowl out Pakistan for 267. Butt was involved in two substantial partnerships at the start of the innings -- first a 71-run opening stand with Imran Farhat (25) and then shared 73 runs with Shoaib Malik (39) -- before three quick wickets in the middle overs put brakes on the Pakistani scoring.

Praveen Kumar (3/53), Zaheer Khan (2/41) and Harbhajan Singh (2/47) was the pick of the Indian bowlers, sharing eight wickets between them at the Rangiri International stadium. Opting to bat in the do-or-die match, Pakistan were crusing at the 144 for one in the 29th over and looked good to make a total in excess of 290 before Indian bowlers scalped three wickets in just 17 balls to storm back into the game. The wickets slowly but assuredly tightened the noose around the Pakistan middle-order, who failed to get going on a slow and low Dambulla wicket. — Agencies

Scoreboard

Pakistan:
Salman run out 74 (85)
Farhat c Sehwag b Harbhajan 25 (46)
Shoaib b Zaheer 39 (46)
Umar c Dhoni b Jadeja 21 (26)
Amin c Kohli b Harbhajan 5 (9)
Afridi lbw b Praveen 32 (25)
Kamran c Raina b Praveen 51 (41)
Razzaq c Dhoni b Praveen 3 (5)
Aamer run out 3 (7)
Akhtar not out 3 (5)
Ajmal c Nehra b Zaheer 0 (3)
Extras (b 1, lb 5, w 4, nb 1) 11
Total (all out; 49.3 overs) 267
Bowling: Praveen 10-1-53-3, Nehra 9-0-58-0, Zaheer 9.3-0-41-2, Harbhajan 8-0-47-2, Sehwag 3-0-19-0, Jadeja 10-0-43-1.

India:
Gambhir b Ajmal 83 (97)
Sehwag c Kamran b Razzaq 10 (32)
Kohli b Ajmal 18 (27)
Dhoni b Shoaib 56 (71)
Rohit lbw Afridi 22 (24)
Raina run out 34 (27)
Jadeja b Ajmal 6 (9)
Harbhajan not out 15 (11)
Praveen not out 3 (2)
Extras (lb 15, w 8, nb 1) 24
Total (7 wickets; 49.5 overs) 271
Bowling: Akhtar 10-0-57-0, Aamer 9.5-0-56-0, Razzaq 5-0-18-1, Ajmal 10-0-56-3, Afridi 10-0-41-1, Shoaib 5-0-28-1.

Dambulla, June 19
Tillakaratne Dilshan produced a terrific all-round show as Sri Lanka crushed Bangladesh by 126 runs to virtually qualify for the final of the Asia Cup cricket tournament here yesterday.

After scoring an intimidating 312 for four, the hosts bowled out Bangladesh for a mere 186 and collected a bonus point to take their points tally to nine from two matches at the Rangiri Dambulla International stadium.

Dilshan first scored a fiery 71 while opening the innings and then capped the successful day with a three-wicket haul.

India, who play Pakistan in a crucial match today, have five points from their six-wicket win over Bangladesh earlier in the week.

Pakistan, who lost their opener to Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh (two defeats) are yet to open their account.

Bangladesh were hopelessly outclassed in all departments of the game.

Tamim Iqbal top scored with 51 (52b, 5x4, 1x6) while Junaid Siddique made a gutsy 35-ball 38 before being superbly caught by a diving Nuwan Kulasekara at square leg off Muthiah Muralitharan (2/38).

The rest of the batsmen lacked the wherewithal to challenge the Lankan dominance.

Earlier, half centuries by Dilshan, Upul Tharanga (54) and Kumar Sangakkara (52) and a brisk 73-run partnership between Angelo Mathews (42 not out) and Chamara Kapugedara (37 not out) for the unbroken fifth wicket put Lanka in total command.

Sri Lanka galloped to 111 for no loss with Dilshan and Tharanga punishing the profligate Bangladesh new-ball attack led by Mashrafe Mortaza.

Mortaza conceded as many as 26 runs in two overs to set the tone for the Lankan rampage. — PTI

Scoreboard

Sri Lanka:
Tharanga c Rahim b Mahmudullah 54 (73)
Dilshan c & b Al Hasan 71 (51)
Sangakkara c Al Hasan b S Islam 52 (69)
Jayawardene c Al Hasan b S Islam 43 (35)
Mathews not out 42 (41)
Kapugedera not out 37 (30)
Extras (b 2, lb 3, w 8) 13
Total (4 wkts; 50 overs) 312
Fall of wickets: 1-111, 2-155, 3-224, 4-239
Bowling: Mortaza 8-0-70-0, Rasel 8-0-61-0, Islam 10-0-59-2, Al Hasan 10-0-49-1, Ashraful 4-0-19-0, N Islam 3-0-21-0, Mahmudullah 7-0-28-1.

Bangladesh:
Iqbal st Sangakkara b Dilshan 51 (53)
Kayes c Jayawardene b Kulasekara 3 (9)
Siddique c Kulasekara b Muralitharan 38 (34)
Ashraful lbw Dilshan 9 (29)
Al Hasan b Muralitharan 20 (26)
Rahim st Sangakkara b Dilshan 6 (12)
Mahmudullah c Sangakkara b Welegedara 9 (23)
N Islam lbw Malinga 15 (30)
Mortaza c Sangakkara b Welegedara 15 (15)
S Islam b Malinga 2 (7)
Syed Rasel not out 0 (5)
Extras (b 1, lb 4, w 11, nb 1) 17
Total (all out; 40.2 overs) 186
Fall of wickets: 1-20, 2-77, 3-104, 4-110, 5-126, 6-143, 7-167, 8-168, 9-186, 10-186
Bowling: Kulasekara 6-0-39-1, Malinga 8.2-0-35-2, Dilshan 10-0-37-3, Muralitharan 8-0-38-2, Welegedara 8-2-31-2.
Man of the Match: Dilshan

Singapore, June 19
Ace Indian shuttler Saina Nehwal is in line for a second Super Series title after scoring a come-from-behind victory over Lan Lu of China in the semifinals of the Singapore Open here today. The top-seeded Indian, currently ranked sixth in the world, rallied from a game down to beat her fourth-seeded opponent 8-21 21-17 21-8 in 49 minutes to storm into the final of the tournament at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

Saina, who bagged her maiden Super Series title in June last year by winning the Indonesian Open, will meet qualifier Tzu Ying Tai of Chinese Taipei in the summit clash tomorrow. Tai defeated Youn Joo Bae of Korea 21-16 21-18 in the other semifinal today.

In men's singles, however, India's Parupalli Kashyap lost to seventh seed Indonesian Sony Kuncoro 19-21 20-22 in a hard-fought semifinal match that lasted 48 minutes. — PTI