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Baros double fires Czechs into last four
Zidane undecided about future Santini fires last salvo
before leaving Saintly measures for Portugal |
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Euro captivates Wimbledon
Bhupathi-Mirnyi
in third round; Paes-Rikl crash out ‘Life beyond baseline vital’
Lacklustre India suffer 0-2 defeat Pillay confident of selection Pak lose
Memorandum against
Kartar
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Baros double fires Czechs into last four
Porto, June 27 Greece, who upset France 1-0 in their quarter-final, will have to find another level to halt the Czech juggernaut, which is threatening to take them all the way to their second European title following their success in 1976 as Czechoslovakia. After a tight first half of few chances, the Czechs burst into life early in the second when Koller powered home a header from a Karel Poborsky corner in the 49th minute. The goal was the result of poor defending, as the tallest man in the tournament was left unmarked and able to rise and choose his spot from 10 metres. Baros, who had scored a goal in all three group games, then took centre stage. In the 63rd minute, the forward ran on to a perfect Poborsky through ball and chipped past the advancing Thomas Sorensen for an exquisite goal. Two minutes later Pavel Nedved set him on his way and after driving forward to the edge of the box he lashed a fierce shot past the despairing keeper to take him to the top of the Euro 2004 scoring charts with five goals. The double strike knocked the stuffing out of the Danes, who had competed strongly in the first half without forcing Czech keeper Petr Cech to make a save and were similarly toothless in the second. The Czech Republic's victory takes their European Championship winning run to a record-equalling five. The Euro 96 runners-up also beat Denmark in their last group game four years ago. It also continued their dominance over the Danes, making it 12 wins, six draws and just one defeat in 19 meetings.
—Reuters |
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Paris, June 27 The 32-year-old told French TV station TF1 he would need more time but after another failed campaign to defend a title by France and with a new manager set to replace the departed Jacques Santini there would inevitably be changes to personnel — with immediate effect. Zidane like several of his fellow World Cup and Euro 2000 winning team-mates seemed a shadow of the player that he once was and was virtually anonymous in the shock 1-0 defeat by Greece in the quarter-final match on Friday. This has led to much speculation as to who of the ‘golden generation’ will stay or retire with captain Marcel Desailly at 35 and clearly on the wane looking certain to play his 117th and last match for Les Bleus against his country of birth, Ghana, in August in Rennes. However Zidane like his former Bordeaux team-mate Bixente Lizarazu said he had not made up his mind yet. “It is necessary to let the disappointment of the defeat pass, to digest it,” said Zidane, whose injury during the 2002 World Cup finals played a large part in their limp defence of that title. “It is true that is a lot to take, with the World Cup, the Euro... we will see, I don’t know yet,” Zidane said. “At a certain point one must know it is time to change the personnel. “It is, of course, imperative something changes and to change it one cannot wait till six months before the 2006 World Cup finals. “I have not decided yet, I do not know what I am going to do. I will think about it and afterwards we will see.” Zidane, who like fellow Real superstars David Beckham, Luis Figo and Raul have underperformed at Euro reflecting the dreadful slump their Spanish side had endured from January onwards, said regarding the new coach he had a favourite but was not going to reveal who it was. The favoured two candidates at the moment — though there are nine applicants — are former midfield great Jean Tigana, who coached Monaco to the 1997 title, and Zidane’s fellow World Cup and Euro winning team-mate Laurent Blanc. “I have my preference but I will keep it to myself,” said the ever discreet playmaker. — AFP
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Santini fires last salvo before leaving
Lisbon, June 27 coach before taking over ailing Premiership side Spurs, the 52-year-old accused the players of taking advantage of his being too nice to them which was just about the only thing he
accepted responsibility for. “I tried to protect the squad by not bawling them out in public,” said Santini, who took over from the hapless Roger Lemerre after the debacle of the defence of their world crown in the 2002 World Cup. “Why did I ignore the reality of what was
happening on the pitch? Because I am like that. Like one says I was too nice and they betrayed me by taking advantage of that. “I am going to say what happened, if the players wish too then they can. “I thought that when we got into the knock-out stages the players experience would tell but instead I think after we beat Germany 3-0 in a warm-up match that several of them became complacent,” added Santini, who had guided France to a 21-match unbeaten streak till the Greeks rudely dumped them out of the tournament. Santini, who had a distinguished playing career as a midfielder being capped by France and played in the 1975 European Cup final for St Etienne against Bayern Munich, rejected suggestions he had damaged morale by announcing before the tournament he was leaving - instead it was the players who got the blame. “There were maybe players who by the time they got here had already moved on from the era of Santini,” said the former Lyon coach, alluding to the fact several players didn’t really care how they played as he wasn’t going to be around afterwards. When asked had the team lacked leadership against the Greeks especially when they went 0-1 down in the 65th minute he declined to answer save to smile indicating he believed there had been no-one prepared to pull the team together. Santini put a large part of their failure to go any further down to the lack of technical skills of the players. “I have not been able to pin anything down as a reason in the few hours I have had to think about it. “We did not come here in too relaxed a manner or saying we were too good. “In order to justify our favourite’s tag we had to be
“And of course several players did not play to their
choice vis a vis Marcel was always clear,” said
Santini.
“His absence from the starting line-up in the last friendly against Ukraine was down to a specific thing of which I will not elaborate on. He can if he wishes,” added Santini. Santini said the team had lacked a competitive edge to it which was not just down to fatigue. “Fatigue is not the sole preserve of French players,” said Santini, who got the job on the back of delivering Lyon their first title. “We knew that to go further we needed to be more competitive than we had been in the previous matches. I think the squad had the necessary elements to achieve that but against Greece we only played properly for 45 minutes and that was not enough,” added the former French international. Santini said he had not noticed as some observers had several of the players smiling after the final whistle had gone on their Euro campaign. “If some people saw the players smiling that is their
“I don’t function like that. After the match I got the players and the staff together to speak to them. That is human nature which I attach a lot of importance to,” he said.
— AFP |
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Lisbon, June 27 Ricardo’s penalty save from Darius Vassell followed by his own winning spotkick propelled Portugal into their third semifinal and now he is going to take extreme measures if they can top that by finally landing a major trophy. By walking to the Our Lady of Fatima shrine in central Portugal, some 120 km from Lisbon. “If we are crowned champions, I will walk to Fatima,” said the Sporting Lisbon shot-stopper, who has become a national hero in Portugal for his exploits against David Beckham and company. “Faith moves mountains, now we must get past another obstacle, the Dutch, who will be just as difficult or even more difficult than England,” he added. The strongly Catholic Portuguese are invoking all the saints they can muster to look kindly on their Euro 2004 campaign. Skipper Luis Figo cradled an image of Fatima in his hands as he sat in the dressing room after being substituted against England, while coach Luis Felipe Scolari prefers Our Lady of Caravaggio, who reputedly appeared in 1432 to a farmworker named Joaneta in the Italian town of the same name. Scolari hails from the Rio Grande do Sul region of Brazil which has a strong Italian heritage, many of the inhabitants descended from in and around Caravaggio. Scolari won the 2002 World Cup as coach of Brazil before transferring his allegiance to Portugal - but he may find he doesn’t get all the credit should he lead A Seleccao to the title. After the win over England, one vistor to a fan website wrote simply: “Our Lady of Caravaggio Portugal thanks you. Amen.” — AFP
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Goalie’s experience FARO:
Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar learned from painful experience to put the Dutch into the Euro 2004 semifinals. “I knew I had to change something because the way I used to do it never worked out,” he said. The giant keeper brilliantly saved from Sweden’s Olof Mellberg and winger Arjen Robben then scored to take the Dutch into a semi-final against Portugal on Wednesday with a 5-4 win.
— Reuters
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Euro captivates Wimbledon
London, June 27 As Tim Henman smarted from England’s quarterfinal heartbreak at the hands of Portugal, so too did Americans Serena Willams and Andy Roddick who adopted David Beckham’s men. Williams described Swiss referee Urs Meier’s decision to disallow Sol Campbell’s goal as “total robbery”. “What am I going to do now? I’m not going to watch any more,” she said. “Obviously, I don’t want Portugal to win. I was really disappointed.” The women’s top seed also had something to say about Beckham’s miss in the penalty shootout. “I don’t know what it is about David Beckham and kicking,” she said. “I mean, he’s doing much better than what I would ever do. But it’s just — I just was disappointed.” Roddick admitted to “jumping up and down” and “going crazy” during the nail-biting match. “I think it’s unreal how almost a whole country can stop and just really support their team. I don’t know if I’ve seen something like that in the USA before.” Henman, who beat Ivo Heuberger in the second round, said: “Swiss referees. Swiss opponent today. Had to make sure I got some revenge.” Asked by a Portuguese journalist to rate the hosts’ performance in the match, Henman smiled: “You were pretty lucky. Is that honest enough?” He added, referring to the terribly worn penalty spot in the Lisbon quarterfinal: “They could get some better turf as well, that would be helpful.”
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Wimbledon, June 27 Second-seeded Roddick beat Taylor Dent, his teammate on the US Olympic team, 6-3, 7-6 (6), 7-6 (1). Dent took a 6-3 lead in the second set tiebreaker when Roddick hit a forehand return wide. Roddick then angrily slammed his racket to the grass, and the outburst apparently helped. He won the next five points, erasing three set points and closed out the set with a backhand winner. In the biggest upset so far on Day 7, Vince Spadea beat eighth-seeded Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 6-2, 6-3. Spadea, seeded 30th, had not gone beyond the second round in eight previous trips to Wimbledon. With tickets on sale on a first-come, first-serve basis, thousands of people who had camped on the sidewalk overnight and arrived at dawn started filling Centre Court for the first match. Federer was first on court. He broke Johansson’s serve once in each set, returning in hot form after yesterday’s wash out and hitting 44 clear winners. Federer took a 4-2 lead in the first set with a reflex backhand half volley that left Johansson, a former Australian Open champion, stunned at the net. He closed the first and second sets with aces. Court 1 was less than half full when seventh-seeded Jennifer Capriati beat Nathalie Dechy 7-5, 6-1 in the first singles match completed in more than 40 hours at Wimbledon. As the match progressed, Capriati said she sensed a difference in the crowd. “You can definitely feel a difference in the atmosphere,” she said. The Sunday crowd “really feel honored to be there almost”. Capriati moved into a fourth-round contest with 10th-seed Nadia Petrova, who beat her at the 2003 French Open. Out on Court 7, Wayne Ferreira’s record 55th consecutive Grand Slam event ended in a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1, 6-4 loss to grass-court rookie Florian Mayer. Mayer had upset third-seeded Gillermo Coria in the second round. “It’s a little disappointing that there weren’t many people out there. But what can you do about it?” said Ferreira. “I shouldn’t have lost the match. I think the reason I lost was more my doing than his.” Mario Ancic beat No. 25 Dominik Hrbaty 7-5, 6-3, 7-5. Ancic upset Federer two years ago at Wimbledon. In other women’s matches, Karolina Sprem returned from her upset over Venus Williams with a 7-6 (5), 7-6 (2) win against No. 32 Meghann Shaughnessy. Sprem needed eight set points for a 1-0 lead but won on her first match point when Shaughnessy sprayed a backhand wide. — AP
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Bhupathi-Mirnyi
in third round; Paes-Rikl crash out
London, June 27 Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi of Belarus won their match with
a straight set 7-5 6-3 win against Dutch pair Raemon Sluiter and
Martin Verkerk. Paes and his partner David Rikl lost their second
round match against Travis Parrott and Vincent Spadea of the USA 6-7
(6-8) 6-3. In the junior event, Russian Evgeniya Rodiva beat India's
Tara Iyer 6-1 6-3 in the girls' singles first round. In the boys'
singles, Tushar Liberhan was to take on and Viktor Troicki of Serbia
and Divij Sharan faced Chu-Huan Yi of Chinese Taipei. —PTI
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‘Life beyond
baseline vital’ LONDON:
Richard Williams is delighted that his tennis playing daughters have developed interests beyond the baseline. Nine-times Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova said in a newspaper column on Saturday that the sisters need to forget their outside distractions if they want to re-establish their dominance of women’s tennis. “Tennis is not everything and it never will be,” Williams said at Wimbledon on Saturday. “They are doing a lot of things right now and I think they are doing the right thing. “If that means they don’t play the type of tennis they once played, that is quite OK with the family.”
— Reuters
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Lacklustre India suffer 0-2 defeat
Amsterdam, June 27 India, fresh from a three-week training camp in the USA, suffered the loss in their first match of the competition with the hosts scoring on either sides of the break through Teun de Nooijer (30th) and Ronald Brouwer (39th). The visitors, who came up with patchy performance, were undone by some close misses and failure to convert even once from as many as seven penalty corners. Poor marking also did no good to their cause as they finished the match on a losing note. The match, which saw the home side dominating for most part in overcast conditions, was India’s first game after their 21-day training camp at Tempe, Arizona, where they were given psychological as well as physical training. The improvement in their game was evident in the first few minutes of the match when they gave hardly anything to their opponents with some solid defence and purposeful attacks. The Indian defence held up firmly for most part of the first half before showing signs of cracks just before the half time, during which the Dutch score their first goal. A beautiful cross from the half-line from Taeke Taekama was neatly deflected in by de Nooijer, who was waiting inside the box unmarked. The next four minutes saw the home side coming close to extending their lead further taking advantage of some listless display by the Indian defenders. India were themselves to blame for not taking a lead early on as they they failed to convert any of the three short corners they earned through the brilliance of mercurial forward Dhanraj Pillay in the first 11 minutes of the match. —PTI
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London, June 27 “As long as I am fit and playing well, I am confident I will be selected. I assure you that I am 100 per cent fit and the training in the USA has benefitted me immensely. I feel fitter, my speed has improved and I have also regained some lost strength,” he said. Pillay, whose omission from the first probables list created a big controversy, was recalled into the Olympic probables team last month under pressure from former players and hockey fans. The 36-year-old former Indian captain also said eight-time gold medallists India will definitely qualify for the semifinals at Athens. “Mujhe dil se lagta hai ki 100 per cent hum semifinals ke liye qualify karenge (What my heart feels is that we will definitely qualify for the semifinals),” Dhanraj told BBC Hindi’s weekly sports magazine ‘Khel Aur Khiladi’ from Amsterdam. “Look at the last two Olympics where we came really close to winning a medal. With such an experienced team I am confident we will do it this time. Our main aim is to perform well in Olympics and win a medal.” Pillay was also confident of a good showing in the Four-Nation Hockey Tournament in Amsterdam, Holland. A 16-member Indian team along with eight stand-byes will be picked for the Olympics after the Holland meet. On the three-week American experience, where the Indian probables underwent rigourous training at the Athletes’ Performance Centre in Tempe, Arizona, Pillay said “the guys have used the opportunity well.” — PTI
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Pak lose AMSTERDAM:
Germany thrashed Pakistan 6-0 in the first match of the men’s four-Nations field hockey tournament here on Saturday.
It was Germany’s fourth win over Pakistan in two weeks, having won 3-1 and 2-1 in
Test matches in Berlin and 3-2 in Hamburg last Sunday. Sohail Abbas failed to convert four penalty corners and a penalty stroke while Germany took full advantage of defensive lapses by Pakistan to convert a high percentage of its scoring chances.
— AFP
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West Indies ease to
7-wicket win
London, June 27 The West Indies bowled out England for 147, their lowest ever one-day international total at Trent Bridge. Medium-pacer Dwayne Bravo did most damage with career-best one-day figures of three for 26. Only Andrew Strauss (43) and one-day debutant Geraint Jones (35), who put on 82 in 90 balls, made significant scores as the rest of England’s batting collapsed against disciplined pace bowling. The match was the first to be completed in the one-day tournament, which also features New Zealand, after rain forced the abandonment of the first two games. West Indies head the standings with nine points from two games. New Zealand are second on six with England third on three. Scoreboard
England Trescothick c Laba Vaughan c Sarwan Jones b Rampaul 35 Strauss c Jacobs b Bravo 43 Collingwood c Jacobs McGrath c Gayle b Bravo 9 Blackwell c Chanderpaul Clarke lbw b Smith 11 Gough b Lawson 13 Harmison b Lawson 2 Anderson not out 2 Extras:
(b-4, lb-5, w-8, nb-5) 22 Total: all out (10 wkts, 38.2 overs) 147 Fall of wickets:
1-0, 2-2, 3-84, 4-102, 5-104, 6-115, 7-118, 8-139, 9-145 Bowling:
Bradshaw 10-3-32-2, Lawson 9-1-36-2, Bravo 10-2-26-3, Rampaul 6-0-34-2, Smith 3.2-1-10-1. West Indies: Gayle not out 60 Chanderpaul b McGrath 20 D. Smith c Trescothick b Sarwan c Trescothick b Lara not out 32 Extras
(b-1 lb-3 w-13) 17 Total (3 wkts, 32.2 overs) 148 Fall of wickets:
1-62 2-71 3-93 Bowling:Gough 9-0-33-0 (w-3), Harmison 10-2-29-0 (w-3), Anderson 7.2-0-39-2 (w-6), Clarke 4-0-30-0, McGrath 2-0-13-1 (w-1).
— Reuters, AFP |
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Memorandum
against Kartar Chandigarh, June 27 The committee headed by Mr Darshan Lal, secretary, Chandigarh Wrestling Association, alleged that Mr Kartar Singh had brought bad name to wrestling fraternity. It may be recalled that a few days back, Delhi High Court had restrained Mr Kartar Singh and his associates, Mr Prem Nath, Mr MP Tiwari as well as the Indian Olympic Association from interfering in the functioning of the WFI headed by Mr Malik. The committee also charged Mr Kartar Singh with sending persons abroad by misusing the sport and also for embezzling the diet money of various wrestlers. When Athens Olympics were so near, why Mr Kartar Singh was vitiating the atmosphere by demoralising seven wrestlers undergoing training for the Olympics, the memorandum asked. |
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