Berlin, June 20
Miroslav Klose struck twice to lead Germany to a 3-0 win over a half-hearted Ecuador today, sealing first place in Group A for the World Cup hosts.

Klose, who also scored two in the opening day 4-2 win over Costa Rica, swooped for his first in the fourth minute of a match played in stifling humidity at the Olympiastadion.

The Polish-born forward made it 2-0 just before the interval as Ecuador, who go through in second spot, showed little desire to scrap it out.

Fellow striker Lukas Podolski slid in the third in the 57th minute after a good cross from midfielder Bernd Schneider. The win ensures Germany will avoid the first-placed team in Group B, which will be England if they avoid defeat against Sweden in a later game on Tuesday.

Klose has now scored nine World Cup goals after a five-goal burst on Germany's route to the final four years ago.

It had been clear before the start that the match meant more to Germany than to Ecuador, who made five changes to the side that beat Costa Rica 3-0.

Klose grabbed his first when the Ecuador defence failed to clear a corner and the ball fell to Per Mertesacker on the left. He hooked it back across goal, Bastian Schweinsteiger laid it back and Klose pounced.

The goal seemed to resign Ecuador to their fate and Germany, the three-times World Cup winners, continued to create chances.

Schneider wafted a shot over from Philipp Lahm's cross and Klose got clear in the area but failed to make clean contact when he tried to chip the keeper.

Klose then shot too high from Schneider's clever ball into the box but he atoned with a fine finish.

Stuttgart, June 20
Late strikes from Raul and a Fernando Torres double saw Spain come from behind to claim a dramatic 3-1 win over Tunisia that clinched a place in the knockout stages of the World Cup.

Tunisia had looked on course for a shock Group H win over the much-fancied Spaniards when midfielder Joahar Mnari steered home at the second attempt after striker Ziad Jaziri had teased his way past three Spain defenders in the eighth minute.

The 2004 African champions looked as though they might keep Spain at bay as their defence deflected wave after wave of attacks in the second half.

But Spain skipper Raul and fellow substitute Cesc Fabregas turned the course of the match.

Raul pounced on the rebound after Fabregas’s low shot from the edge of the area was parried by keeper Ali Bomunijel to level the scores 19 minutes from time.

Five minutes later Fabregas fed a great through ball to the feet of Fernando Torres who rounded Boumnijel and steered the ball into the empty net.

Torres then grabbed his second goal from the penalty spot, and became top scorer at the tournament with three goals, when he fired home in the first minute of stoppage time.

The win leaves Spain top of the group with six points ahead of Ukraine on three after their 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia earlier on Monday. Tunisia and the Saudis have one point.

Spain next play Saudi Arabia while Ukraine take on Tunisia in the battle for the runners-up spot in the group.

Spain had been quick off the mark, with striker David Villa going close after five minutes when he fired a rasping shot into the side netting. — Reuters

Gelsenkirchen, June 20
Mexico are aiming to reverse a dreadful record against European opponents by beating Portugal to top Group D in their final first round match tomorrow.

Mexico need only a draw to make sure of the knock-out round but are keen to avoid a match-up with free-scoring Argentina, favourites to win the parallel Group C.

However, history is not in Mexico’s favour with just one win in their past 10 World Cup matches against European teams. In four of their five forays past the first round, their campaign floundered against teams from the continent.

They will also be playing without all-time leading scorer Jared Borgetti, who picked up an injury in the 3-1 win against Iran and will not return until the knock-out stages.

“There is no way he will be able to play against Portugal,” said team doctor Milton Graniolatti. “We hope to get him fit by the end of the week for the second round.”

With Portugal already qualified, Mexico can still be beaten into second place if they lose tomorrow and Angola beat Iran by three goals. Elimination would be a cruel blow for Mexico, who topped the group after the opening games.

They have had mixed fortunes here, matched for 45 minutes before subduing Iran 3-1 and held to a goalless draw by Angola last week.

But coach Ricardo Lavolpe has faith in a team, which has beaten both Brazil and Argentina over the past two years. “I think generally we have an idea about football. The team moves around very well. When we play against any team we need to focus on ourselves, not so much on the opposition,” he said.

Mexico will also be boosted by signs that Portugal will take a more relaxed approach to the match. “Against Mexico we can be calmer, we can rest some players and then we’ll have to see what happens in the last 16,” said their World Cup-winning coach Luiz Felipe Scolari.

But Portugal remain strong favourites for the match after an unbeaten run in competitive matches that stretches back to February 2005.

Right-back Miguel, a rising star under Scolari, said the Brazilian coach had worked to stamp out the fragility that saw them flop in 1986 and 2002. “Scolari gives us a psychological advantage,” he said. Under Scolari, Portugal reached the Euro 2004 final and wins against Angola and Iran have put them through to the knock-out stages for the first time since 1966.

New Delhi, June 20
The ongoing football World Cup in Germany has caught the fancy of sports lovers all over the country and the mega event has registered more eyeballs than the Indian cricket team’s current tour of the West Indies.

The opening match between Germany and Costa Rica on June 9 garnered a TV rating of 3.43 whereas the Test match could manage a TVR of just 2.8, ESPN-Star Sports claimed.

The network feels that the unique appeal of this once in four years tournament was behind the impressive ratings and hopes that the knockout phases will see the figures rise even further.

A notable feature was that the high figures emerged from not just traditional football hotbeds like West Bengal, Kerala and Goa, but also from unlikely states like 
Madhya Pradesh and Tamil Nadu.

The convenient timings of the matches are also a reason behind the phenomenon.

The network has undertaken an initiative to provide parallel Hindi feed and it is the first time that people in traditional markets are able to follow the matches in their own language.

The trio of Novy Kapadia, Ghaus Mohammed and Sunil Taneja are doing the Hindi commentary, which has been well received in North India, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra and Gujarat. — PTI

London, June 20
One of Britain’s national treasures has made it to Germany in time for the football World Cup.

Making the journey from Waterloo station to Cologne yesterday was the orange ball used in the 1966 World Cup final at Wembley when England triumphed 4-2 over West Germany.

The ball went on display at the German Sports and Olympic Museum in Cologne ahead of England’s last league encounter with Sweden. But its stint at the 2006 World Cup is short-lived and it returns to the UK tomorrow.

The ball was one of three chosen for the 1966 final but was the only one used. It had been kept for 30 years by Helmut Haller, who scored West Germany’s first goal in the match.

Haller handed it over to England in 1996 and it has been at the Preston, Lancashire museum since 2002.

In fact, Preston National Football Museum director Kevin Moore and museum curator Belinda Scarlett escorted the ball from Waterloo on a Eurostar train.

“The Germans were keen to put the ball on display and we thought it was a nice gesture to take it over. The ball is one of our most popular objects and we don’t like to take it out too often,” Moore was quoted as saying by the ‘Daily Mail’.

Kuala Lumpur, June 20
New Zealand were just two minutes away from a semifinal berth before Imran Warsi struck a penalty corner as Pakistan held the World Cup qualifying winners 3-3 in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament here today.

New Zealand took the lead thrice in what was a thriller but each time Pakistan fought back to equalise.

The scorers for New Zealand were Bradley Shaw (6th), Shea Mcaleese (37th) and Ben Collier (66th), while Pakistan scored through Muhammad Imran (10th), Muhammad Saqlain (44th) and Imran Warsi (68th).

St. Kitts, June 20
Coach Greg Chappell has hit out at criticism that India erred by going into the first two Tests against the West Indies with four bowlers, saying the team needed to make big scores on the benign tracks that were dished out in order to put pressure on the opposition.

The Australian also rubbished suggestion that the team management was trying to strengthen its batting at the cost of bowling. “We’re not 2-0 up so there is no point moaning about it. You can be disappointed and all those things but it is not going to help us. We played four bowlers because it was horses-for-courses kind of situation,” Chappell said.

“We didn’t want to protect batting. We needed to make big scores and we made it. We thought on those wickets that were our best chance to put pressure on the opposition. The way to do it is to put big scores,” he said after nets here yesterday.

Chappell jumped to the defence of his young bowling attack, which failed to take 20 wickets in both the Tests.

“Everyone is looking at our bowlers and saying we haven’t done this or we haven’t done that. What we have done is to win nearly two Test matches. You’ve got to look at what the West Indian bowlers have done.

“Talking to Lara the other night, he was very complimentary about our bowlers. He thought under the circumstances our bowlers did everything they could have done. It was a very good feedback for us.”

Chappell gave a clean chit to Harbhajan Singh and S. Sreesanth on fitness count and defended the lean patch of VVS Laxman and Yuvraj Singh.

“We do want players to go on but in each game it is only two-three batters who score and they are not the same in every match. Sometime ago, you were saying the same about Sehwag and Kaif. Now it is VVS Laxman and Yuvraj. But if we keep getting the wickets like the first two Tests, before the series is out, they would strike form. They are two very good players.”

The coach also had no bones about dropping Irfan Pathan for the first Test. “He was pretty much tired after the one-dayers and we thought he needed a break. The break has done him no harm and he would learn from the experience.

“One of the problems of playing so much cricket is you don’t get the downtime to reflect and build on what you have learnt. He needed rest and we felt it was in his best interest.”

Looking ahead at the third Test beginning here on Thursday, Chappell said he would like his team to watch out for Brian Lara, especially if the pitch was another belter.

“He is a player probably in the twilight of his career. Still, he has the capacity to pull out an innings of some quality. We would not rest easy till the series is finished. He is likely to play more good innings, particularly if it is a batting wicket. He is going to be a problem.”

Lara hit a match-saving century in the second Test in St. Lucia last week. — PTI

Kolkata, June 20
West Bengal Chief minister Mr Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee’s direct lobbying for the city police chief, Mr Prasun Mukherjee, in the forthcoming elections of the Cricket Association of Bengal(CAB) for its coveted presidential post, has surprised Mr Jyoti Basu.

Mr Bhattacharjee, who wants to get rid of Mr Jagmohan Dalmiya from cricket politics because of corruption charges against Mr Dalmiya, has insisted that this time Mr Dalmiya should not contest the CAB election and make room for the police chief.

He also wants that Sourav Ganguly should now play a more bigger role in the CAB’s activities for improving the cricket in Bengal.

Accordingly, Mr Bhattacharjee deputed the state Sports Minister, Mr Subhas Chakraborty, to talk to Mr Dalmiya and convey to him his wishes.

But till today, no such request was made to Mr Dalmiya officially or politically. There was also no word from the Sports Minister which Mr Dalmia himself conveyed to the mediapersons.

Mr Dalmiya said he had not decided if he would refrain from contesting the forthcoming CAB elections, scheduled in July end. But once the Chief Minister’s request reached him he would consult his friends and colleagues and other well-wishers and decide his future course of action.

Former Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, however, expressed wonder why Mr Bhattacharjee would be campaigning for a police chief for the post. “Prasun should be more active and attentive for improving the law and order problems, instead of spending times on the sports politics and the cricket,” the veteran leader remarked.

Mamata Banerjee and the former WBPCC(l) chief, Mr Somen Mitra, also expressed surprise why the Chief Minister should be involved in CAB politics. Has he not any other jobs to do as chief minister? asked both the leaders.

The Sports Minister admitted he had been asked by Mr Bhattacharjee to convey to Mr Dalmiya about his request, which he would carry out in a day or two. He, however, refused to make any comment on the CM’s request.