Sehwag, Kartik in one-day team
Mumbai, May 15
Delhi batsman Virendra Sehwag and Railways spinner Murali Kartik were among the five new players named in India’s one-day team to play five one-day matches against West Indies starting on May 25.
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16 cricketers shortlisted
New Delhi, May 15
Batting icons Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar, G Vishwanath, Mohd Azharuddin, all rounder Kapil Dev, legendary spinners Bishen Bedi, B.Chandrasekhar and Anil Kumble are among the 16 players shortlisted for the Wisden Indian Cricketer of the Century award.

Wales shock Germany 1-0
Cardiff, May 15
Germany’s World Cup preparations were given a rude jolt as Wales recorded an upset 1-0 win over Rudi Voller’s men.
Robert Earnshaw of Wales celebrates his goal against Germany with a somersault during their World Cup warm-up game in Cardiff's Millenium stadium on Tuesday. Wales beat Germany 1-0. — Reuters photo

Chandigarh, May 15
If I were to select the ‘‘man of the match’’ of the drawn fourth Test between India and the West Indies which concluded at St John’s, Antigua, yesterday my vote would undoubtedly go to India’s spinner Anil Kumble. And this is in spite of the fact that in a match where the bat dominated the ball there were as many as five century-makers in the two contesting teams. The bowlers of the two teams together could not claim 20 wickets in five days of play.

No, it is not his performance in the match which makes him stand out. On the contrary it is his commitment to the game and his team that came to the fore as he entered the ground with a heavily bandaged jaw — fractured by a rising delivery from paceman Mervyn Dillon during his innings of six on the second day of the match — which makes his performance so outstanding. And it is this which makes him the best candidate for the ‘‘man of the match’’ award in an otherwise forgettable match.

So grievous has been the injury that he has retuned home for corrective surgery. Not only will he miss the fifth Test but also the five one-day matches between India and the West Indies which follow the Test series. If all goes well, Kumble will probably be fit again for the tour of England in June.

After being hit on the jaw Anil Kumble spent a sleepless night with severe pain and nobody would have said anything if he had not joined the team when they travelled to the ground the next morning. But then so strong is his commitment to the team that he took the trouble of getting ready to join the team at the ground. Once there he saw irregular spinner Sachin Tendulkar getting a lot of turn and this inspired him to try his hand with the ball. Since he was injured during play he was allowed to bowl straightaway after he entered the ground with his jaws strapped together to lessen the pain. ‘‘I knew that I had to go back home because of the injury so I thought I’ll give it one last try. At least I’ll go back home having thought that I tried my best,’’ Kumble was quoted as saying.

It was this effort which should have been rewarded by the match referee when he sat down to select the ‘‘man of the match’’. That he did not only proves that he has no sense of history being made by the Indian spinner.

A well-taken goal by Wales debutant Robert Earnshaw just after half-time yesterday settled a scrappy match which again cast doubts on Germany’s chances at the World Cup. Voller’s side were surprisingly sluggish throughout at the Millennium Stadium and struggled to respond after Earnshaw raced past a static defence before firing home on 46 minutes.

Germany, who play the Republic of Ireland, Cameroon and Saudi Arabia at the World Cup, were hampered by the absence of four Bayer Leverkusen players — including midfielder Michael Ballack — on European Cup duty.

Speaking after his fifth defeat in 20 matches as Germany’s manager, Voller blamed a lackadaisical approach from his players for the defeat.

“We started to play well too late in the game and we were too friendly and uncommitted. Some of the players were coming back from injury and we could see they were not in great form,” Voller said.

“It would have been better to have put in a good performance but I don’t think this is a drama.”

Skipper Oliver Kahn said it was not a time to panic. “We played well in the final quarter-hour but we did not really show commitment in the tackles.

Cardiff forward Earnshaw had a dream start to his international career. A long ball from Mark Delaney found the head of John Hartson who sent the ball into the box. Earnshaw got the better of German defender Christoph Mtzelder before firing the ball past Kahn. His skill did not end there — he celebrated with a back flip before being mobbed by team-mates.

Facing him, an unfamiliar sight —1,000 Japanese watching in rapt silence along with their emperor, whose father Koreans never forgave for Japan’s brutal colonial rule.

More than just a treat for culture buffs, the recent Korean music extravaganza in Tokyo attended by Emperor Akihito was a powerful symbol of how two of the world’s most rancorous neighbours are finally learning to live with each other.

Japan’s oppressive rule of the Korean peninsula early last century still casts a dark cloud over relations.

Diplomatic spats over everything from fish to school textbooks are tediously common.

But with the biggest double act of them all in the shape of next month’s co-hosted World Cup fast approaching, ties between the nations are closer than ever.

Where diplomats and politicians still struggle, musicians, actors and soccer players are succeeding in bridging the cultural and historical divide between the former enemies.

“The World Cup is a chance given by God to the two countries,’’ said Mr Kim Jong-Moon, Director of the Korean Cultural Service in Japan, which organised the concert as part of a series of cross-cultural events leading up to the June tournament.

“It has strengthened interest between the countries tremendously,’’ he said.

Even before the momentous decision to co-host a World Cup between the erstwhile enemies, grassroots ties were strengthening, as any visit to Tokyo’s youth-driven shopping districts would show.

Young Japanese have been flocking to Korean cloth markets, lapping up Korean pop music and food, queuing in droves to watch the latest Korean movies.

On television, one of Japan’s funkiest young stars — Tsuyoshi Kusanagi from the pop group SMAP - has been traversing South Korea, learning its customs and language in what has become a hit show.

Quite simply, Korea is cool — a sharp contrast to the old image of a backward country famous for little more than kimchi, or pickled cabbage.

Akihito himself has tried to get in touch with his Korean roots, commenting to general astonishment last December that an ancestor had come from there.

Japanese culture has been popular for years in Korea, despite lingering resentment over the past and a government ban on cultural imports that was eased in 1998, only to be tightened again when diplomatic relations soured last year.

But reminders of the bad blood that still flows between Korea and Japan are not hard to find.

Just a few clicks away from World Cup sites extolling the brotherly spirit of the tournament, several web sites in Korean and Japanese are still host to vituperative exchanges between the nationalities.

Mr Kim Myung-soo, a Japanese-born ethnic Korean who teaches sociology at Kyoto Koka Women’s University, says such sites have proliferated in recent years and represent the flipside of closer relations.

“There are some quite nasty exchanges on underground notice boards with discrimination against Koreans by Japanese and similar sites in Korean,’’ he said.

“Overall, relations have got better, but closer ties are bringing friction as well as improvements.’’

South Korea’s proposal for Emperor Akihito to attend the opening ceremony in Seoul has apparently been ruled out by Japan’s Imperial Household amid worries he would be greeted by angry demonstrators.

Only last month, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi’s visit to the controversial Yasukuni war shrine in Tokyo prompted former South Korean soldiers to hack a squealing pig daubed with the name “Koizumi’’ to death on the street.

That is hardly the image of brotherly love that organisers were hoping for.

Japan’s 35-year military colonisation of Korea from 1910 to the end of the Second World War left deep scars on its neighbour that have barely faded in the intervening half century.

Koreans were banned from using their own language and forced to adopt Japanese names. Thousands of Korean women were made to serve as sex slaves by the Imperial Japanese Army.

“There are a lot of nationalists, even among the young in Korea, who really hate Japan,’’ said Mr Kim. “Even if they are not particularly nationalistic, many younger Koreans still feel a grudge against Japanese because of the past.’’

Japan’s so-called “Korea boom” may prove as fleeting as the fashion fads that come and go every day in Tokyo, but many other changes - such as closer economic ties - seem here to stay.

Despite Japan’s worst post-war economic slump, its investment in its neighbour doubled between 1996 and 2000 to stand at 90 billion yen (700 million dollars), according to the Finance Ministry.

They call him the “Magical Coach”, the “Miracle Worker”.

As China prepare to face Brazil, Costa Rica and Turkey in Group C of the competition next month, fans are praying Milutinovic can work his magic again and conjure them into the second round.

At a high-altitude training camp in the southwestern city of Kunming, they line up in the hope of a smile, an autograph and a few words of broken Chinese from the most famous foreigner in China.

“We all love Milu. He is like a hero to us,’’ said Han Xu, 19, as she waited by the side of the pitch, clad in a pink T-shirt with a large purple heart on the front.

“Although he is a foreigner, we think of him as Chinese.”

Known in Mandarin simply as “Milu”, the 57-year-old coach is a household name in a country of 1.3 billion people, displacing Canadian television star “Dashan” (Big Mountain) as the nation’s most loved and recognised foreigner.

Milu’s craggy face, topped by a shaggy George Harrison mop, beams out from myriad advertisements for everything from air conditioners and rice wine to electronic translation aids.

Chinese media hang on his every word.

Was he just a coaching genius or some sort of supernatural being, asked one reporter at a recent news conference in Kunming. Milutinovic shrugged his shoulders.

“My name is B-O-R-A, Milu in Chinese,’’ he replied with a chuckle. “I am lucky, I enjoy what I do. That is all.’’

But it took superhuman dedication — and a thick skin — to steer China on to the world soccer stage.

Early last year, Milutinovic looked sure to follow his two predecessors — German Klaus Schlappner and Briton Bob Houghton — on to the scrap heap.

Goal-hungry fans and media ranted about his laid-back coaching style and conservative tactics. They booed his team even when they won.

“I remember hearing the crowd chanting ‘Milu! Milu!’,’’ recalls Milutinovic. “Only later I knew they were saying ‘Sack Milu! Sack Milu!’.’’

Milutinovic came to China after guiding four national teams —Mexico, Costa Rica, the USA and Nigeria — into the second round of previous World Cups.

But coaching China was the biggest challenge of his career, he says.

When he took over from Houghton in January 2000, he found a team of under-achievers who regarded their national duties as a political yoke.

Determined to boost morale, Milutinovic preached a new creed of “happy soccer” - enjoy yourselves, he told his charges.

It was a bold move in a country accustomed to authoritarian sports coaches and strict, military-style training drills.

Chinese soccer officials adopted a rare hands-off attitude, giving the Serb leeway to overhaul the team.

But after a shaky start last year with only one win and two draws out of nine friendly matches, soccer media and fans began to bay for blood.

Frustrated by the constant criticism and sloppy performances just before the World Cup qualifiers, Milutinovic snapped.

“If this time China can’t make the finals, I will jump off the Great Wall,’’ he said.

Fortunately for him, he never had to take the plunge.

His tactics paid off with a convincing run of 12 victories, one draw and one defeat in the Asian qualifiers.

When China clinched a finals berth on October seven, jubilant crowds raised aloft his picture on Tiananmen Square.

His critics silenced, Milutinovic is now hailed as the secret weapon in China’s national squad.

His players speak of him as an inspirational father figure who united a fragmented team and taught them how to enjoy the Beautiful Game.

“I’ve always regarded him as an elder, like my father,’’ said top defender Fan Zhiyi, recently transferred from Crystal Palace to Dundee.

“His teaching is very good. If you have a question — not about football, sometimes about life — he will help you,’’ Fan said. “He is a very kind, very amusing old man but he is also a coach of high calibre.”

Captain Ma Mingyu credits Milutinovic for turning round a fractious and ill-disciplined team.

“His optimistic attitude rubbed off on all us players so now we can face all difficulties,’’ said Ma.

Watching a training session in the Kunming training camp, it is clear this is not empty flattery.

Milutinovic joins in a series of frenetic drills, shouting out instructions in a mishmash of Serbian, Spanish and English translated into Chinese by an interpreter at his side.

He rushes around the pitch with the energy of a man half his age. Relaxing after the session, he chats and jokes with his underlings who wrestle him playfully to the ground.

As well as boosting his team’s confidence and a nation’s sporting prestige, Milutinovic has attracted unprecedented international interest — and money — to Chinese football.

In the process, he has earned up to $ 3 million from his own sponsorship deals on top of an annual salary estimated at $ 800,000, according to Chinese football media.

If China reach their stated target of one win, one goal and one draw, there will be plenty more where that came from.

But the million-dollar question is what Milutinovic plans to do after the World Cup. Rumours have swirled about an invitation to coach Japan. And for any nation hoping to make its debut in the World Cup, he is sure to be the number one choice.