The 27-year-old batsman slammed an unbeaten 124 yesterday to take India to 462 for six on the second day of the fourth Test, sharing a record 205-run unbroken stand for the seventh wicket with Ajay Ratra (93 not out).

“It was always my dream to score a hundred in the West Indies,” Laxman said. “I’m really thrilled that I achieved it.”

It was Laxman’s third Test century, following his 167 in Sydney two years ago and an Indian record 281 in Calcutta last year which inspired his country to pull off a stunning 2-1 home series win over Australia.

“Any century is very important. This is my third and luckily all of them have been good,” Laxman said.

India were struggling at 257 for six, having lost three wickets for 24 runs, when Laxman and wicketkeeper Ratra came together and the pair batted through the day.

“The most important thing was to stay at the crease because the situation we were in in the morning demanded me and Ajay to preserve wickets,” Laxman said.

“On top of that, the West Indies were bowling well — good line and length, not giving us easy deliveries to score off.”

It was Laxman’s fourth score in excess of 50 in the series.

He struck 69 in the first drawn Test in Georgetown before hitting half-centuries in both innings in Trinidad to clinch the ‘man-of-the-match’ award as India won by 37 runs to register their first win in the Caribbean for more than 26 years.

“I thought right from the start of the tour I was batting well,” Laxman said.

“It was just a matter of time. Once I was set, I thought I wouldn’t throw it away this time. The first two Test matches I was disappointed getting out after crossing 50, but those innings gave me confidence that I’ll get a big score.”

The Hyderabad batsman heaped praise on Ratra, who made his debut in Trinidad.

The 20-year-old wicketkeeper was almost left out of this Test after scores of 0, 2, 1 and 13 in his first two matches. But he responded with a gutsy knock under pressure to silence his critics. Reuters

The national team remain untouched by the situation at home, where football violence and the country’s economic troubles have plunged Argentine domestic soccer into an unprecedented crisis.

Argentina swept through the marathon South American qualifying competition with 13 wins in 18 games and are unbeaten in their last 14 outings — a record which goes back to July 2000 when they lost 3-1 to Brazil.

Marcelo Bielsa’s team played the same fluent, attacking football whether they were in the tropical heat of Venezuela’s oil capital Maracaibo, the thin air of Andean cities such as La Paz, the hostile surroundings of Paraguay’s Defenders of the Chaco Stadium or at home in Buenos Aires.

A midfield inspired by Juan Sebastian Veron, one of the world’s most complete footballers, and the snarling and seasoned Diego Simeone provides the ammunition for a lethal attack headed by Lazio’s Hernan Crespo, scorer of nine of their 42 goals in the qualifiers. Simeone was out of action for six months this season with a knee ligament injury.

Bielsa’s biggest problem may be deciding which of strikers Crespo and Gabriel Batistuta to omit. Bielsa appears to be convinced that the pair, two of the world’s best strikers, are incompatible and that one will have to take an unfamiliar place on the substitutes’ bench.

Batistuta, who says he will quit the national team after the World Cup, began the qualifiers as first choice but, after suffering a knee injury, lost his place to Crespo and was then unable to win it back.

The uncertainty is likely to continue until the start of the competition.

Batistuta has had an off-colour season with AS Roma and was not helped by a thigh injury which sidelined him for a month late last year.

The Argentines are nearly all experienced campaigners based with major European clubs, so much so that locally based players such as Boca Juniors’ sublimely gifted midfielder Juan Roman Riquelme have not even been able to force their way into the national team.

On Monday, veteran striker Claudio Caniggia was named in an initial squad of 12 provided he recovers fully from an knee injury sustained during the Scottish Cup final on Sunday.

There was no place, however, for Bologna striker Julio Cruz who is unlikely to make the 23-man squad even if Caniggia fails to regain full fitness with Barcelona’s Javier Saviola waiting in the wings.

Eleven individuals do not make a team and one of Bielsa’s most important attributes is to have found his team base and stuck by it, instilling a close-knit atmosphere that would be the envy of many club sides.

Their unity will be needed from the start in the Far East when they tackle old foes England, Sweden and Nigeria in a daunting group F.

The fact that the vast majority of Argentina’s team are based abroad has meant they have been little affected by the strife in their own country.

Like all walks of life, football has been affected by Argentina’s political and economic crisis.

Players twice went on strike last year, saying clubs owed them millions in unpaid wages and bonuses. The Argentine Football Association has admitted it owes money to Bielsa, who said on Monday that he had never considered resigning.

This year, five persons have been killed in soccer-related violence and in early March the government considered suspending the championship if the situation did not improve.

On the plus side, Argentina, who won the World Cup in 1978 and 1986, appeared to have discarded the more unpleasant side of their game.

The infamous quarter-final against England in 1966, Diego Maradona’s ‘hand of God’ goal 20 years later and a tendency for violence and gamesmanship have often made them hugely unpopular with neutrals in the past.

When they hosted and won the competition in 1978, it was under the dark shadow of one of South America’s most notorious military dictatorships.

In 1990, they became the first team to have two players sent off in a World Cup final and four years later the team was rocked by the Maradona doping scandal.

Times have changed.

Apart from the theatricals of Ariel Ortega and the menacing presence of Simeone, a player who seems instinctively to know how much he can get away with without being sent off, Argentina are no worse than any other modern, professional team.

They even picked up the fair play trophies at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and the 2001 World Youth championships, which the country hosted and won in great style. Reuters

Muller’s 14 goals in 10 matches at the 1970 and 1974 finals remain a record, and explain why the man known simply as ‘Der Bomber’ struck fear into opponents.

His extraordinary goalscoring record says it all: 68 goals in 62 appearances for West Germany, 365 in 628 for Bayern Munich.

Short and stocky with powerful things, Muller’s build gave him explosive speed over short distances and the ability to shoot at goal with frightening velocity.

His low centre of gravity also enabled him to twist and turn his body quickly, allowing him to convert unlikely opening into goals.

“I have this instinct for knowing when a defence is going to relax, or when a defender will make a mistake,” Muller once said when asked to explain his gifts. “Something inside me says, ‘Gerd go this way; Gerd go that way’. I don’t know what it is.”

Born in 1945, Muller’s career might never have got off the ground had he heeded the advice of a coach at Munich club TSV while working in a textile mill as a teenager.

“You won’t go far in soccer,” the young Muller was told. “Better try something else.”

The coaches of Bayern Munich knew quality when they saw it however, and Muller was signed in 1964, quickly establishing himself as a goalscorer par excellence.

In October 1966 Muller was handed his international debut, launching a career that would see him finish as his country’s record goalscorer.

When he arrived at the 1970 Mexico finals he was scoring at a rate of close to one a game, and his prowess was confirmed when he finished the tournament as top scorer after netting 10 goals in six appearances.

Among his goals in Mexico was his hooked close-range volley in the 3-2 extra-time victory over England in quarters, a poacher’s finish that was to become Muller’s calling card.

Though Muller’s scoring feats for the Germans in Mexico were not enough to help his team beyond the semifinals, he was to prove just as lethally effective on home soil in 1974.

His four-goal haul might not have been anything like that of four years earlier, but among his efforts in Germany was the most important strike of his career — the winner against Holland in the final.

Having clawed their way back into the match after favourites Holland had taken as early 1-0 read, Muller was on hand to put West Germany 2-1 ahead shortly before half-time.

It was a goal that owned everything to Muller’s fabled ability to create something out of nothing. Rainer Bonhof crossed low form the right flank and the ever-alert Muller reacted quickest.

His first touch nudged the ball away from the Dutch goal, but with his second he changed his body position sharply and connected with a low right-foot finish past Jan Jongbloed.

The 1974 final was Muller’s last match for West Germany, though he continued playing until 1978 before a short spell in the USA. AFP

The death of a nephew of the Frenchman in a traffic accident puts a dampener on the Japanese team, whose big guns looked to have struck a rich vein of form in the closing stages of the European leagues this week, ahead of the start of World Cup finals on May 31.

The Frenchman flew to Paris from Japan’s camp in Madrid yesterday for the funeral after his nephew’s death the night before, according to Japanese press reports today.

That meant he missed flying with his team to Oslo for a friendly against Norway on Tuesday, following a humiliating 0-1 loss to a makeshift Real Madrid side during the week.

“He seemed to be bearing up against the shock of losing someone close to him,” Hideki Kato, a press officer for the Japanese Football Association, told reporters after seeing Troussier off at Madrid airport.

The Nikkan Sports daily speculated that the death could have a knock-on effect on the Japanese team.

“The psychological shock suffered by coach Troussier appears to be great and it is also feared to shake his players as well,” the paper said.

The Japanese had been enjoying a bumper week after Hidetoshi Nakata set up the goal that won Parma the Italian Cup on Friday, after Shinji Ono set up the winner in the UEFA Cup final on Wednesday.

Nakata’s performance in the 1-0 win against Juventus was a boost for Japan and a personal triumph after a disappointing season following his $26 million transfer from AS Roma, Italian champions last year. He also scored in the 1-2 away loss in the first leg of the final.

Fellow midfielder Ono set up the winner for Feyenoord in their 3-2 victory over Germany’s Borussia Dortmund to lift the UEFA Cup in Rotterdam.

Both Nakata and Ono, who moved to the Dutch club from J-League Urawa Reds last July, are returning to international duty for the first time in six weeks after powering Japan to a 2-0 away win over Poland.

“I have taken time in resting up,” Ono, 22, told Japanese reporters upon arrival at Oslo airport yesterday. “Playing for the country is a different story and I have to switch my frame of mind.” AFP

Many wondered whether the club had been wise to spend 12 million marks on a 17-year-old who had won star status in his country but did not seem tailored to the rigorous measurements of European soccer.

Now 20, the Paraguay striker, who immediately made it clear that despite his relaxed attitude he had not come to Bavaria on vacation, is making his breakthrough and looks like he might have been a bargain.

His contract runs until 2004 but his bosses, who have called him everything from a raw diamond to the new Marco van Basten, are already thinking about extending it.

“We have talked about it,’’ said Santa Cruz, who has now earned a place as an automatic starter. “I wouldn’t mind because I like it here.’’

The gifted forward could shine on the big stage at the World Cup finals if Paraguay can improve on the poor form they displayed in a 0-4 hammering by England in a friendly in Liverpool last month.

Paraguay’s preparations have been mired in controversy ever since coach Sergio Markarian, who had guided them through the qualifiers, was sacked last November and replaced with Italian veteran Cesare Maldini.

But if they can recapture the spirit that led them to the last 16 four years ago, when eventual winners France needed a golden goal to stop them, and if Santa Cruz lives up to his unique potential, they may survive a group also featuring Spain, Slovenia and South Africa.

During his first two years at Bayern and for most of the current term, Santa Cruz spent much of his time on the bench. “A lot of things go through your head when you’re not playing,’’ he said. “I was getting nervous because I wasn’t playing and I didn’t know why.’’

Five goals in his first season and as many the next one did not seem very many from a player widely described as an extraordinary talent.

But then he hardly ever played the full 90 minutes and more often than not, he did not come on at all.

He has hit another five goals in the Bundesliga this season but has set up many more. His skills are obvious, his class is showing and as a result, he is no longer a substitute.

“That’s how you build a world star,’’ said commercial manager Uli Hoeness, while Bayern limited company chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said it had been just a matter of time before Santa Cruz proved his worth. “We knew from the start that he was a superb player,” said Rummenigge. “All he needed was to play a few games to gain confidence. Now he’s exploding.”

At first Santa Cruz, who became an instant favourite with the club’s groupies, let his striking good looks do the talking. But soon the tall, brown-eyed, dark-haired youngster mastered the German language and when he does speak, he candidly says that he realises he is special.

“I know that I’m a great player and that I’m important for Bayern,’’ said Santa Cruz, who played before huge crowds in Paraguay while still in his teens. “You haven’t seen it all yet.’’

Those who initially thought he was too modest in a side full of big egos might have been proved wrong but it is a fact that he struggled to adapt. “The first time I played I wanted to show all I could do at once but I had cramp,’’ he said. “It is frustrating when you know you’re capable of great things but you just can’t show it.’’

Santa Cruz, who made his professional debut for Olimpia Asuncion at the tender age of 15, impressed Bayern chief scout Wolfgang Dremmler with fine performances during the world under-20 championship in 1997.

“When I first saw him play I realised straight away that he wasn’t ordinary,’’ said Dremmler. “He was extremely fast, dangerous in front of goal and at the same time, there was something fresh, spontaneous about the way he played.’’

Off the pitch as well, Santa Cruz has won many fans. “He’s a friendly, polite and well-educated young man,’’ Bayern midfielder Thorsten Fink said of his rising team-mate. “He wouldn’t hurt a fly.’’

Charming and unassuming, Santa Cruz still happily drove to training in a little Opel Corsa until a few weeks ago.

The Danes — spearheaded by All-England champion Camilla Martin — were beaten 3-2 by Hong Kong in a nail-biting Group A clash at the Tianhe Stadium.

Denmark’s defeat combined with the Netherlands’ 3-2 victory over Indonesia in the group’s other clash, left the 2000 runners-up dumped out in the first round.

Hong Kong’s Shanghai-born Wang Chen inspired the former British colony to victory, battling to a magnificent 7-5 1-7 7-4 7-2 win against Danish golden girl Martin.

Martin even suffered the embarrassment of tripping over her feet during one point as she desperately tried to fight off Wang’s relentless attack in a bid to prevent the Danes losing their second straight match.

After a closely fought first game, Martin exerted her dominance in the second to win 7-1 and looked set to run away with it.

But the former Chinese national player was made of sterner stuff and fired back acutely angled smashes and beautiful drops against an increasingly frustrated Martin.

Wang took the third and as Martin continued to rant and rave in the fourth game, Wang kept her cool to take it 7-2 and with it the match.

Hong Kong youngster Wang Ting Ling then dominated Christina Sorensen winning in straight games, leaving Koon Wai Chee to hold her nerve against Tine Hoy 4-7 7-2 5-7 7-2 7-4.

Although the Danes, beaten finalists in 2000, won the final two dead rubbers, it is Hong Kong and the Netherlands who will progress from group A to the semifinals.

The Netherlands assured themselves of a semifinal position after their second straight win in the championship over former power Indonesia.

Former Indonesia Uber Cup heroine Mia Audina had mixed emotions as she inspired her new Dutch team to a 3-2 victory and eliminated her native country.

Although the Dutch are missing their former Chinese star and European champion Yao Jie, who was prevented from playing due to visa problems, they were still too strong for the Indonesians.

World number six Audina outplayed Lidya Djaelawijaya racing away to a 7-2 7-4 7-2 in just 18 minutes to set the Dutch on their way and later pulled out a crucial doubles win.

There was more disappointment for Denmark in the men’s Thomas Cup, when their men were beaten 3-2 by China in Group A.

China’s coach Li Yongbo was left far from satisfied with the host nations performance in the doubles rubbers, both of which ended in defeat. “We could have won 4-1 but we ended up winning 3-2,” Li fumed.

“Our trouble was in the men’s doubles. Their performance was far from satisfactory and we will having a meeting about that later,” he added. AFP