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Saturday,
May 11, 2002, Chandigarh, India  
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Career-best 86 by Jaffer Sporting, bouncy Test
pitches planned
Cole another Gascoigne? Beckham’s party Uphill task for African superpower Nigeria |
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Mexico — international football’s great enigma Bierhoff hat-trick inspires Germans Croatia aiming at knock-out phase
Blatter involved in ‘criminal offences’ Indonesia take unassailable lead Ghouse, Kirtane
to clash in final Kang to visit
Dashmesh academy Airlines, CRPF
record wins
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Career-best 86 by Jaffer
St John’s (Antigua), May 10 India lost opener Shiv Sunder Das only on 13 which raised fears of another batting collapse after West Indies skipper Carl Hooper had sent the tourists in to bat on a bouncy turf with four fast bowlers breathing down their neck. But Wasim Jaffer and Rahul Dravid put on an attractive partnership for the second wicket, which has so far yielded 140 runs, to prove Hooper’s decision wrong. Jaffer, who had made a fine 51 in the second innings of the previous Test, continued with his good form and had already improved on that score. He was batting on 80, his highest Test score, while Dravid controlled his sliding preformance in this series and was unbeaten on 67. Both batted comfortably throughout and added 80 runs in the post-lunch session during which the West Indies bowlers went wicketless. Earlier, Das’ poor run in the series continued when he was clean bowled by Pedro Collins for just three runs. Jaffer began with a square cut four off Cameron Cuffy in the second over of the day and took two more boundaries off the bowler subsequently. He then turned his attention to Collins, hitting him for four fours, all on the off-side as he raced into his 40s. Jaffer raised his second successive 50, off 88 balls, flicking paceman Mervyn Dillon to the square leg fence for four. He then drove Dillon to the mid-wicket fence and hit Collins through long-off for another of his 13 boundaries. Dravid played the anchor role initially by keeping the scoreboard ticking in ones and twos but cut loose after getting set. The Bangalore batsman, who had scored 144 in the first drawn Test at Georgetown, got into his groove driving Collins and paceman Adam Sanford down the ground for fours before pulling Sanford for two boundaries to the mid-wicket region. He raised his 50, off 138 balls, driving Collins through extra cover for his eighth four. After guiding Cuffy down to third man for his eighth four, Jaffer had a luck when his edge off Cuffy fell just short of Brian Lara. Jaffer had guided the previous ball through the slip cordon to the third man fence for his eighth boundary and was trying to emulate the shot. Earlier, West Indies captain Carl Hooper won the toss and elected to bowl first. The series is tied 1-1 with India winning the second test at Trinidad by 37 runs before the West Indies hit back with a 10-wicket win at Barbados. India have made one change to their team, bringing in leg-spinner Anil Kumble for off-break bowler Harbhajan Singh. Kumble, India’s most successful current bowler with 318 wickets from 69 Tests, had been left out for the last two matches as India went with three pacemen and Harbhajan as the lone spinner. The West Indies have brought in left-hander Wavell Hinds for opener Stuart Williams. SCOREBOARD India (1st innings): Das b Collins 3 Jaffer batting 80 Dravid batting 67 Extras (w-0, nb-2, lb-1) 3 Total (for 1 wkt, 60 overs) 153 Fall of wickets: 1-13. Bowling: Dillon 13-5-25-0, Cuffy 15-4-34-0, Collins 12-3-45-1, Sanford 13-3-31-0, Hooper 5-2-11-0, Sarwan 1-1-0-0, Hinds 1-0-4-0.
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Sporting, bouncy Test
pitches planned Kolkata, May 10 Mr Shahinformed that the BCCI would be taking the help from New Zealand based ‘Sports Turf
Institute’, known throughout the world for its expertise in preparing cricket pitches to make the wickets of all the 10 Test playing venues in the country sporting and bouncy. The 10 Test playing centres where the pitches would be relaid are: Eden Gardens in Kolkata and Barabati Stadium in Cuttack (East Zone), Firoze Shah Kotla in Delhi, Green Park in Kanpur, Mohali in Punjab (North Zone), M.A. Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai and KSCA Stadium in Bangalore (South Zone), Wankhade in Mumbai and Motera in Ahmedabad (West Zone) and Vidarbha Stadium in Nagpur (Central Zone). UNI |
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Cole another Gascoigne? London, May 10 That might be a bit of a stretch. But Sven-Goran Eriksson sees the 20-year-old midfielder playmaker as possible his new, somewhat secret weapon at this summer’s World Cup. Announcing his squad of 23 yesterday, the Swede said he had high hopes of the West Ham player, who has played just four times for the England team. “I think he has something special,” said Eriksson, whose team faces Sweden, Argentina and Nigeria in the opening round of group games. “He’s not that experienced and hasn’t played so many games in the premiership. But he has something. He can change things on the pitch if he’s coming on or starting the game. In a 23-man squad you have to take those younger, very talented players.” Cole, whose arrival at the World Cup has been likened to Paul Gascoigne’s competition debut at age 23 when England reached the semifinal in 1990, promised not to let Eriksson down. “I am obviously delighted to have been selected for the World Cup squad,” he said. “I have no doubts about my ability and I am sure that I can do a job for the team if selected to play.” One of the first people to congratulate Cole was Queen Elizabeth II, who visited West Ham yesterday as part of her golden jubilee tour — just hours after the World Cup squad was announced. “It’s been a great day,” Cole said after chatting with the Queen and Prince Philip. Cole has been playing top flight soccer since age 16 but his club has been careful not to unleash the youngster too early so that he doesn’t burn out or let success go to his head. His club manager, Glenn Roeder, said he was a rare talent. “At every World Cup you will probably find there was a young, fairly unknown player who had a starring role in the tournament,” he said. “If you go back long enough to the days of black and white pictures, you will find Pele first made an impression at the age of 17 in the 1958 finals in Sweden.” Cole is one of 12 players aged 24 or under and Eriksson’s squad likely will be the youngest of the 24 at the finals despite having goalkeeper David Seaman, age 38, defender Martin Keown (35) and Teddy Sheringham (36) also on the roster. The Swede described them as the “fathers” of the squad. David Beckham, at age 27 now considered something of a veteran, is the team captain and looks almost certain to have recovered in time from a broken bone in his foot. Manchester United teammate Gary Neville is ruled out because of an almost identical break while another Old Trafford star Nicky Butt has two weeks to recover from a knee ligament injury otherwise Liverpool’s Danny Murphy makes the trip. One notable exception is Real Madrid’s Steve McManaman, who plays for his Spanish club in next week’s final of European soccer’s most prestigious competition, the Champions Cup, against Bayer Leverkusen next Wednesday. Some of McManaman’s clubmates were surprised he’s not going to Japan and South Korea. Zinedine Zidane, captain of defending champion France, said he was disappointed for McManaman while Brazilian star Roberto Carlos and Spanish striker Fernando Morientes both said they were surprised at his omission. “As well as being a great player sometimes it’s good to have people like McManaman in the squad for morale,” Morientes said.
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Beckham’s party London, May 10 Posh and
Becks, as Britain’s premier celebrity couple are known, will throw open the doors of their luxury mansion to 400 guests for the charity extravaganza, which will have a Far East theme. The pair have invited the England team, whose World Cup squad was announced by manager Sven Goran Eriksson on Thursday, Beckham’s Manchester United colleagues and celebrity friends to the bash. This will take place in a specially built Japanese garden in the grounds of their palatial home in
Hertfordshire, central England, dubbed Beckingham Palace by the media.
AFP |
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Uphill task for African superpower Nigeria Lagos, May 10 Not only have Nigeria been drawn in the toughest group at the competition, battling for the top two places with Argentina, England and Sweden, but they also underwent a coaching change just three months before the finals. The failure of the team to reach the final at the African Nations Cup in Mali, where Nigeria finished third, led to the sacking of coach Shaibu Amidu and his replacement by Festus Adeboye Onigbinde, who last worked as a national coach 18 years earlier. But the new coach was unfazed by the challenge. “Who says we cannot win the World Cup?” Onigbinde asked in a newspaper interview. “I have set a target and the target is to win the trophy.” Nigeria had to watch for a second successive time as Cameroon won the continental championship in February. The Super Eagles made it through to the semifinals before losing 2-1 to Senegal, a result which cost Amodu his job. The change caused uncertainty over the role of many of Nigeria’s more prominent footballers, often accused of little interest in the national cause as they ply their trade with their clubs in Europe. Onigbinde made a raft of changes in the run-up to the World Cup, dropping top names Sunday Oliseh, defender and former captain, and Findi George. Nigeria’s team and players have consistently suffered from the pressure of an over-expectant public and demanding media, with controversy never far from the team. Even their qualification for the World Cup finals was mired in allegations of corruption with the admission last year by Ghana’s coach that he and his players had accepted cash gifts from a Nigerian state governor after Ghana had lost their last World Cup qualifier to Nigeria 3-0 in Port Harcourt. That result ensured Nigeria’s progress to a third successive World Cup finals appearance as they finished top of their group ahead of Liberia who had led for much of the group phase. Nigeria looked a spent force halfway through the qualifying group but were handed a lifeline when George Weah’s Liberian team suffered an unexpected home defeat and opened the door for the Super Eagles to slip through. Nigeria were long held up as Africa’s best hope for an eventual World Cup success given the fact that more than 200 of their leading footballers play at clubs in Europe. They showed their potential at the last two World Cup finals but then imploded after easing through the first round and into the knockout stage. Nigeria blew a 1-0 lead against Italy in 1994, giving away a last-minute goal before going out 2-1 in extra time. After finishing top of their opening round group four years ago, and eliminating highly fancied Spain, they were thoroughly outplayed by Denmark in the second round. Many of the key players from France 98 should return this time. Two-time African ‘footballer of the year’ Nwankwo Kanu is their leading striker and comes back to the World Cup campaign after helping his club Arsenal to win the league and FA Cup double in England. Africa’s most expensive footballer, Austin “Jay Jay” Okocha of Paris St Germain, is the midfield kingpin. But the team’s Achilles’ heel has always been the goalkeeping department, with this year being no exception. First choice is Ike Shorunmu, recently signed at Swiss club Lucerne following nine months out of the game after a contractual dispute with Besiktas of Turkey. His lack of form showed at the African Nations Cup finals with costly mistakes which ultimately saw the team fail to reach the final.
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Mexico — international football’s great enigma Mexico city, May 10 Yet the national team remains one of international soccer’s great enigmas. Although Mexico have taken part in 11 of the 16 World Cups, the side can boast nothing better than two quarterfinal appearances in the two tournaments they have hosted. Perhaps this time, Mexico can finally live up to their potential. Recent signs have been encouraging with Mexico twice reaching the finals of the Copa America, the South American competition in which they take part as guests, since their first invitation in 1993. Mexican clubs have also started doing well in the South American Libertadores Cup and Necaxa finished third — ahead of Real Madrid and Manchester United — in the inaugural Club World Championship, held in Brazil in 2000. Despite the familiar and lame excuse that the European clubs were not trying, it was a creditable performance which deserved greater recognition. Most encouraging of all was Mexico’s effort at the last World Cup when only their nerves preventing them from reaching the last eight. After qualifying from a first-round group which contained both the Netherlands and Belgium, Mexico were agonisingly close to beating Germany in the second round. They led 1-0 but missed chances and poor defending opened the way for the famed German powers of recovery and a 1-2 defeat. This time around, Mexico appeared to be coming into form at the right time after a traumatic period last year. Much will depend on striker Cuauhtemoc Blanco, who was their leading scorer in the qualifying campaign with nine goals despite being out of action for nearly a year with a knee injury. Blanco’s absence from the squad coincided with a disastrous run which included a humiliating 0-4 defeat by England in a friendly, followed by three straight defeats at the Confederations Cup last May. Back in the cauldron of the World Cup campaign, the Mexicans suffered early defeats against the USA, Honduras and Costa Rica, which left them on the brink of elimination. Their fortunes changed dramatically when Enrique Meza was sacked after the defeat by Honduras and replaced by Javier Aguirre, whose antics on the touchline provide a show in themselves. Aguirre made sweeping changes, kicking out stalwarts such as striker Luis Hernandez, eccentric goalkeeper Jorge Campos and his famous luminous kits, Pavel Pardo and Duilio Davino. Instead, he turned to players who had shone with Mexico’s less traditional clubs such as Pachuca and UNL but who had never been given a chance at international level. Mexico beat the USA in Aguirre’s first game, then Blanco, who plays for Valladolid in Spain, provided a spectacular return by scoring both goals in the 2-1 win away to Jamaica. A draw with Costa Rica and a 3-0 win over Honduras, with Blanco scoring two more, sent the Mexicans to Japan and South Korea with two points to spare. Blanco then stunned the nation by announcing he was quitting the team. After failing to turn up for a friendly in Spain, which Mexico lost 0-1, the charismatic striker gave a tearful interview in which he accused the Mexican federation of neglecting him when he was injured. The final straw, he said, came when he was sent an economy class ticket to travel from Spain to Mexico for the decisive match with Honduras. After public appeals from his team-mates and a lengthy chat with Aguirre, Blanco — inventor of a piece of skill known as the ‘Cuauhtemoc Hop’ in which he leaps between opposing defenders clutching the ball between his ankles — reconsidered. Aguirre ran into further trouble when Jesus Arellano, who has a near monopoly on creativity in the midfield, was banned for three games for his red card against Costa Rica, ruling him out of Mexico’s first two games in the cup. Gabriel Caballero, another Pachuca player, was picked for the friendly with Albania as a potential replacement but the move caused an outcry as Caballero was born in Argentina, moved to Mexico in 1995 and became a Mexican citizen at the end of last year. Whatever happens, Mexico, who face Italy, Croatia and newcomers Ecuador in the first round this time, will not want to settle a knock-out tie on penalties. Modern-day football’s infamous lottery eliminated the Mexicans in both 1986 and 1994. When Caballero missed a penalty for Pachuca two days after his controversial call-up, Aguirre joked: “You see, he really is Mexican.”
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Bierhoff hat-trick inspires Germans Freiburg, May 10 However, it was not a hugely impressive performance by the Germans, who were missing players from Borussia Dortmund, Bayer Leverkusen and Schalke 04 having been left out because of UEFA Cup, German Cup and Champions League commitments. “Everything was great tonight but one shouldn’t get too carried away as it was more like a training session tonight,” Bierhoff said. While 34-year-old Bierhoff’s form would have been encouraging to manager Rudi Voller he was delighted to see the great young hope of German football Sebastien Deisler mark his return to the international scene after a long injury absence with a goal. “I was satisfied with Deisler after being out for so long and he put up a good performance,” Voller said. “Of course though he still lacks some vitality but that will come,” he added. Voller said he was praying that the players like Bayer Leverkusen’s Michael Ballack still away with their clubs would remain fit. “It is vital they don’t pick up any knocks,” he said. There was also a goal for Carsten Jancker, perhaps Voller’s most contentious selection in his finals squad as he had failed to score a goal in the League this season while leading marksman Martin Max missed out, though he had missed numerous chances prior to that.
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Croatia aiming at knock-out phase Zagreb, May 10 Coach Mirko Jozic, who replaced Miroslav Blazevic in December 2000 after Croatia failed to qualify for Euro 2000, says he is not under pressure to match the third-place finish that Croatia secured four years ago. “We are going there to defend the image of our football... Our aim is to reach the knock-out phase,’’ said Jozic who will name his squad tomorrow. Unlike his charismatic predecessor Blazevic — who publicly stated ahead of the squad’s first big tournament, Euro 96 in England, that Croatia had the best players in the world — Jozic is much more cautious. This is reflected in his reluctance to write off older players despite public calls for a radical rejuvenation and in his distinctly defensive interpretation of Croatia’s traditional game, based on ball possession and control of the midfield. He keeps relying on veterans Robert Prosinecki, Davor Suker and Robert Jarni — the players he led to the youth world title in Chile in 1987 — arguing that he will not give up assets he has no replacements for. “We are not going to renounce the gold even if its shine has somewhat diminished,” Jozic said of the earlier generation. So far, relying on experience has paid off. It was the individual brilliance of the 32-year-old Prosinecki, now plying his trade with more than a modicum of success at English first division side Portsmouth after a glittering career at Red Star Belgrade, Dinamo Zagreb and Real Madrid, that decided the crucial qualifying game against Belgium in Zagreb in October. Prosinecki’s measured 40-metre pass found Aston Villa striker Bosko Balaban in the perfect position to serve Alen Boksic for the goal that secured Croatia a place in the World Cup finals. Jozic has managed to breath new life into the side after they missed out on the European finals two years ago. In the last 15 months they have acquired a toughness and stamina sometimes lacking under Blazevic. They conceded only two goals -the best defensive record in the European qualifiers — and were unbeaten in their eight matches which produced five wins and three draws. Jozic brought on five or six younger players, including Balaban, Hajduk Split goalkeeper Stipe Pletikosa and 23-year-old central defender Igor Tudor of Juventus. The 1.92-metre tall Tudor became a pivotal figure in Croatia’s tough new back line and Tuesday’s announcement that he would miss the World Cup because he needed to undergo surgery on an injured ankle was a big blow to Jozic. “His absence means we have lost some 20 per cent of our value,’’ Jozic said. “If we had some advantage over two of our World Cup rivals before, now I can no longer say that.’’
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Blatter involved in ‘criminal offences’ Paris, May 10 The five, led by European soccer chief Lennart Johansson, president of UEFA, said in an official communique they had reason to believe Blatter had been involved in ‘various criminal offences’. They also accused him of using FIFA money to buy votes in a bid to remain in power. Blatter is standing for another four years when the presidential election is held on May 29 in Seoul. He is being opposed by FIFA vice-president and head of the African Football Confederation (CAF) Issa Hayatou. The legal action was sparked by a confidential report delivered by FIFA secretary general Michel Zen-Ruffinen last week in Zurich. In the most explosive document ever delivered to a FIFA ruling executive committee, Zen-Ruffinen outlined allegations of a trail of deception, mismanagement, illegal payments and cronyism against the 66-year-old Blatter.
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Indonesia take unassailable lead Guangzhou, May 10 Singles star Marleve Mainaky got the champions’ defence off to the best possible start with a ruthless 7-4 7-4 7-2 demolition of Thailand’s Boonsak Polsana in only 20
minutes. Doubles pair Candra Wijaya and Sigit Budiarto made it 2-0 after a spirited encounter with Promote Teerawiwatanana and Tesana Panvisvas, world ranked number six, finally prevailing 8-6 7-0 7-2. But it was Hidayat who stole the show. The hero of Indonesia’s triumph two years ago in Kuala Lumpur only returned to action last month after a seven-month absence following a protracted row with Indonesian badminton authorities over his alleged desire to represent Singapore. He quickly fell two games behind and faced three match points before he sparked his game into life. The baby-faced star shook off the rust and a total of five match points, to unleash a series of thunderous smashes to finally overcome the challenge of Anupap Thananthiratham 1-7 2-7 8-7 8-7 7-0 and give the Indonesians an unbeatable 3-0 lead. Indonesia’s main rivals for top spot in group B, Malaysia, also enjoyed an easy ride in opening up a 3-0 lead over European debutants Germany. The difference in class and experience was evident as world-ranked five Malaysian Wong Choong Hann blitzed Bjoern Joppien. Wong tormented the German with nonchalant drop shots and won points at will with his fiercesome smash on his way to a 7-4 7-5 7-3 win. Chan Chong Ming and Chew Choon Eng then overwhelmed Thomas Tesche and Kristof Hopp to leave Hashim Muhd Hafiz B to clinch the tie for the second seeds in the elite eight team blue riband event. Meanwhile, in the women’s Uber Cup today, two-time defending champions and pre-tournament favourites China swept away brave resistance from an inexperienced German team happy to just make their first appearance in the prestigious event.
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Ghouse, Kirtane
to clash in final
Mumbai, May 10 In the semi-finals today, Ghouse playing a solid base line game sidelined unseeded Vinod Sridhar 6-4 7-6 (7-3) in one and a half hours while Kirtane subdued another unseeded player Raviv Volkovitzky of Isreal 7-5 6-4 in one hour 38 minutes. Ghouse looked much fitter and faster than his left handed opponent. Playing some blistering shots on either flank, Ghouse broke Sridhar in the fifth game of the first set and then served out the set at 6-4. In the second set Sridhar fought back. After breaking Ghouse in the fourth game he held his serve in the fifth to take a comfortable 4-1 lead. However, local lad Ghouse just hung in there and not only did he force three break back points in the seventh he managed to break Sridhar to trail 3-4 and then held his own serve to level at 4-all. With both players holding their serves, the match went into tie-break. Ghouse served and volleyed well in the tie-break to go 4-3 up and never looked back taking the last four games in a row to win 7-3.
PTI |
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Kang to visit
Dashmesh academy Chandigarh, May 10 About the new coaches absorbed from the Education Department the Director said the District Sports Officers have been entrusted to assign the coaches a target. The coaches would be rewarded for their performances. He, however, warned the coaches to devote themselves sincerely on sports only and not create indiscipline by spending their time in private sports academies and other business interests. On May 15, a meeting of the sport personalities will be held at Punjab Bhavan. Director Sports of neighbouring states, former directors of Punjab Sports Department among others will be present. He said that individual sports like table tennis, badminton, shooting, gymnastics, wrestling, weightlifting, tennis and team games hockey, football should be given preference over sports like handball, basketball, where many players remain in reserve and then get the same status as that of a playing member. |
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Airlines, CRPF
record wins
Mumbai, May 10 IA, who pumped in four goal in five minutes, crushed Tatas 6-2 after leading 2-1 at half time while CRPF rallied magnificently, after trailing by a solitary goal at the breather, to derail Central Railway 2-1. In the third match of the day, Western Railway crushed Madras Engineering Group, Bangalore 9-1 after leading comfortably 5-0 at lemon time to make it to the league stage. Central Railway’s Jamsheer Khan drew first blood in the 31st minute when he converted the third penalty corner. In the 50th minute CRPF equalised when their forward Tanveer Jamal scored off a goal-mouth melee. The match winner for CRPF came five minutes later when centre half J. Topno’s reverse flick was bang on target. Airlines-Tata match was totally one-sided. Altaf-Ur-Rehman put IA ahead in the sixth minute.
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BAGGIO’S BRILLIANT CAREER ENDS SCHOOL CLOSURE ROMARIO BAFFLED JEEV TIED 11TH |
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Five FIFA vice-presidents began
legal action against beleaguered FIFA president Sepp Blatter in Zurich today.
The five, led by European soccer chief Lennart Johansson, president of
UEFA, said in an official communique they had reason to believe Blatter had been involved in ‘various criminal offences’.
