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Podolski sees Germany through
Germany's Lukas Podolski (R) scores his second goal as Poland's Michal Zewlakow (L)and Artur Boruc react during their Group B Euro 2008 soccer match at the Woerthersee Stadium in Klagenfurt, on Sunday. — Reuters
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Poland rue yet another loss
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(From L) Romanian mildfielder Mirel Radoi, French midfielder Franck Ribery and Romanian forward Marius Niculae fight for the ball during their Euro 2008 Championships Group C match on Monday at Letzigrund stadium in Zurich. — AFP
Swedes not taking Greece lightly
Russia face tough task against Spain
India hope to get into ODI mode
PCB hints at probe under WADA rules
Asif stays detained
Santosh Trophy
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Podolski sees Germany through
Klagenfurt, June 9 Germany continued to threaten and made it 2-0 when Podolski volleyed home from 12 metres in the 72nd minute after the defence failed to clear. Victory extended Germany's unbeaten record against Poland to 16 games and secured their first win in the tournament since the final of Euro 96. Podolski was named Man of the Match but it was of little interest to the two-goal marksman. ''That doesn't mean anything to me,'' he told the German television station ZDF. ''It was important we played a good match today. ''We won 2-0. We did what we set out to accomplish.'' Podolski said he chose not to celebrate his goals because of his Polish roots. ''I was born in Poland. I've got a big family. It's a part of my heart,'' he said. The Poles, making their first appearance in the finals, were nearly punished for a rookie mistake in the fourth minute. Captain Michael Ballack set Klose racing through on goal with a perfect through ball. The striker chose to cross to Mario Gomez, who somehow failed to convert in front of an open goal. With 20 minutes gone Germany caught Poland again. Gomez set Klose bursting through and this time his decision to square the ball proved a good one as Podolski, playing as a left-midfielder, calmly converted. Germany keeper Jens Lehmann had nervously fumbled a cross from the right in the first minute but Jacek Krzynowek blasted the ball over. Lehmann continued to look jittery before finally getting down to make his first clean save from Wojciech Lobodzinski. Early in the second half Krzynowek raced clear on the right only to waste the chance with a poor cross before Ballack came close to adding a second with a rasping shot that was pushed away by keeper Artur Boruc. Ebi Smolarek had the ball in Germany's net in the 62nd minute but it was ruled out by a borderline offside decision. ''We were highly concentrated and didn't make many mistakes,'' said Ballack. ''We let them have control of the ball a bit too much but then made it 2-0 at the right moment. ''It's always good to start with a win. It gives us self confidence.''
— Reuters |
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Klagenfurt, June 9 Yesterday's Group B 2-0 victory for Germany, who have never lost to their neighbours, hinged to a large extent on Norwegian referee Tom Henning Ovrebo deciding that Lukas Podolski's opening goal should stand despite Polish claims of offside. Ovrebo then made the reverse decision, similarly marginal, denying striker Ebi Smolarek an equaliser just after the hour. Podolski, who was born in Poland, went on to rub salt into the wounds with his 72nd minute second. Beenhakker said the fact the first goal may have been marginally offside was ''killing'' for his team as it continued to weigh heavily on their minds long afterwards. ''If you have doubts about the goal then you feel it as a team and you take a bit of time to get over this moment and start again,'' he said. However, he praised their efforts for having largely matched their opponents for 72 minutes of the game. ''We are still in the tournament. You only have three or four days to recover, you have to do this in a physical and a mental way,'' Beenhakker said. ''Of course, everyone is a little bit upset now ... but they will start to build up again ... and they will be ready again.'' Poland will play Austria in Vienna on Thursday. ''We simply have to go out now and win our last two games,'' said Smolarek. ''We have to play Austria next and we must win that game if we are to have any chance and then we also have to beat Croatia and that won't be easy.'' Germany now top Group B on goal difference, followed by Croatia, who beat Austria 1-0 earlier in Vienna. Smolarek admired the strength of the Germans. ''Germany are now one of the favourites to win the tournament and we showed in this game that they are a very tough team to play against.'' — Reuters
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France held to goalless draw Zurich, June 9 The 2006 World Cup runners-up, who will also face the Netherlands and world champions Italy in what is widely seen as the toughest group of the tournament, looked nervous and failed to breach a tight Romania defence. France started the match at the Letzigrund stadium without striker Thierry Henry, who received a knock in a warm-up game, and midfielder and captain Patrick Vieira, sidelined by a thigh injury. Neither side made any headway against some very tight defending, with only one shot on target in the entire match -- steered straight at Romania keeper Bogdan Lobont by France striker Karim Benzema. France coach Raymond Domenech said, “We know it is a complicated group and Romania are not there to do anybody any favours. We were nervous, we could not express ourselves fully, it’s often like that in the first match. “The situation we’re in now is that every match will be a knock-out round. If we play with too much caution, something will be missing at the end. There are two matches left and six points to take. I’m neither pessimistic nor optimistic.” Though his strikers fired blanks, Domenech was pleased with the untroubled time had by his goalkeeper Gregory Coupet. “The positive thing is that Greg did not have one save to make,” he said. “We managed to control the match, but we were not dangerous enough.” Romania coach Victor Piturca said, “Personally I would have wanted the three points since France may no longer be at the level they used to be. You could see that today. “Our goal was three points but in the end it was a fair result.” The first 45 minutes featured few highlights with Romania concentrating on defending and France dominating play but creating few clear chances. Nicolas Anelka, playing in place of Henry, shot just wide on nine minutes and headed the ball over the bar after the half-hour mark in two of France’s few threatening moves. France had another chance on 17 minutes, Lobont rushing out to deny Florent Malouda before Anelka fired wide with an angled shot from the edge of the box. Romania also showed signs of nerves, collecting three yellow cards in the first half, but stood firm at the back to keep alive their chances of making the quarterfinals. The second half started in more promising fashion for France with Malouda twisting his way past two defenders and racing into the box to shoot just wide with an angled shot. The pressure was back on Romania when Benzema fired at Lobont after collecting a Franck Ribery cross shortly before the hour. Romania kept their cool, though, demonstrating how they had topped their qualifying group ahead of the Netherlands and showing their determination to give their group rivals a hard time.
— Reuters |
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Swedes not taking Greece lightly
Salzburg, June 9 The Greeks, who sailed through qualification, are targeting at least a place in the last eight with tricky Group D games against Russia and Spain to follow. Coach Otto Rehhagel may decide to drop his tried and tested 4-4-2 system in favour of a three-pronged attack featuring Angelos Haristeas, Fanis Gekas and Yannis Amanatidis. Greece hit 25 goals in 12 qualifiers, more than double the total they scored ahead of the 2004 tournament. "I want to score but what is important is to win this game, to win our first match," Haristeas told reporters. "Both teams are similar. They are physical, quick and rely heavily on tactics," added the player who netted the winner in the final against Portugal four years ago. Every player in the squad is fit to play, including midfielder Giorgios Karagounis, who is over the knee injury that has been nagging him for two weeks, defender Paraskevas Antzas and goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis. Henrik Larsson and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are expected to start up front for Sweden although the latter has not scored an international goal since October 2005 and is unlikely to last the 90 minutes due to a swollen knee. Sweden coach Lars Lagerback sees a lot of similarities between the teams. "Greece are a very good side," he said. "They were one of the best teams in qualifying. "They are a lot like us in the way they play. They do the basics very well and are well-disciplined." The Swedes have been spending a lot of time practising set pieces behind closed doors but Lagerback said there may not be many goals in Salzburg. "You have to be very clever," he said. "Each game is a cup final so you have to be careful and not go all out on the attack." Sebastian Larsson, playing in his first major finals, looks likely to get the nod on the right wing ahead of Christian Wilhelmsson while Tobias Linderoth is poised to get a defensive midfield role despite questions marks about his fitness. — Reuters
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Russia face tough task against Spain
Russia coach Guus Hiddink has never failed to lead his team out of the group phase at the World Cup - the Netherlands in 1998, South Korea in 2002 and Australia two years ago in Germany. At his only previous European Championship, he led the Netherlands to the quarterfinals, where they lost to France on penalties. The Dutchman will have to extend his streak without his two key playmakers - the injured Pavel Pogrebnyak and the suspended Andrei Arshavin. Pogrebnyak, who scored 10 goals in Zenit St Petersburg's run to the UEFA Cup title, was ruled out of tomorrow's match at the Tivoli Neu stadium in Innsbruck with a left knee injury. Arshavin will also miss the next match against Greece due to suspension. "They are two players who can make the difference if a game is hanging in the balance, they've proved that at European level. It's like losing blood, a lot of blood," Hiddink said.
Pogrebnyak's absence means Roman Pavlyuchanko should return to the lineup. The Spartak Moscow striker went a long way to helping the team qualify for Euro 2008 when he came off the bench and scored two second-half goals as Russia rallied from a goal down to beat England in Moscow last October. Sergei Semak, who had fallen out of favour with Hiddink only to be called back from a two-year hiatus, is expected to be captain after playing a key role in FC Rubin Kazan's surprise run to the top of the Russian league this season. With Fernando Torres and David Villa, who combined for 56 goals this season, leading the attack, there is little reason Spain should emerge without a victory. Villa, the Valencia striker, was the standout player in Spain's 2-1 warm-up win over Peru and has a better scoring rate than Torres at the international level -- 14 goals in 31 games compared to Torres' 15 in 49.
— AP |
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India hope to get into ODI mode
Dhaka, June 9 Pakistan routed Bangladesh by 70 runs in the tri-series opener last night to extend their unbeaten streak to 12 matches and it would be a tough task for Dhoni's young Indian side to halt the arch-rivals. Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson has already sounded the war bugle when he said that his wards would look to thump India by a bigger margin to make it 13 wins in a row.
India, severely under-strength because of pre-tournament injury woes, would be in for further trouble as opener Virender Sehwag is a doubtful starter due to high fever. Besides, the team is still awaiting the arrival of pacer S Sreesanth's replacement Manpreet Singh Gony.
With seniors like Sachin Tendulkar, recovering from a groin injury, and Harbhajan Singh, serving a ban for slapping Sreesanth during the IPL, not in the ranks, it would be anything but easy for Dhoni's young brigade against Pakistan. The team had a feel of the ground and the conditions yesterday and put in three hours at the indoor nets after rain prevented any outdoor practice session. The short tri-series, being seen as a warm-up for the Asia Cup late this month in Pakistan, is crucial for the Indians as it provides an opportunity for players like all-rounder Yusuf Pathan, spinner Piyush Chawla and Gony to show their worth in absence of the seniors. With the pitch at the Sher-E-Bangla Stadium likely to assist the batsmen, India's new-look bowling attack, to be spearheaded by Irfan Pathan and Ishant Sharma, will be severely tested. No doubt, the Indian team has the batting strength to score heavily on a strip like this but it remains to be seen how their bowlers contain hard hitters like Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan and Muhammad Yousuf. The much-anticipated contest faces a major threat from the weather gods. The opener itself was truncated because of intermittent drizzle and this match too could see rain interruptions. As for the Pakistani attack, medium pacers, particularly young talent Wahab Riaz, were impressive in last night's win over Bangladesh. But with Shoaib Akhtar and Mohammad Asif missing from the attack, it remains to be seen how Sohail Tanvir and his bowling colleagues fare against India's star-studded line-up. In the batting department, though Butt, Yousuf and Misbah looked in good nick, Pakistan's line-up still sports a vulnerable look and even Bangladesh, with their limited options in the bowling department, shot them out in 39.3 overs. Teams (from): India: Mahendra Singh Dhoni (C), Yuvraj Singh, Robin Uthappa, Gautam Gambhir, Virender Sehwag, Rohit Sharma, Suresh Raina, Yusuf Pathan, Irfan Pathan, Ishant Sharma, Praveen Kumar, R P Singh, Piyush Chawla, Pragyan Ojha and MS Gony. Pakistan: Shoaib Malik (C), Salman Butt, Kamran Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq, Yonus Khan, Muhammad Yousaf, Shahid Afridi, Fawad Alam, Umer Gul, Sohail Tanvir, Wahab Riaz, Nasir Jamshed, Sohail Khan, Rao Iftikar, Bazid Khan and Naumanullah. — PTI
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PCB hints at probe under WADA rules
Karachi, June 9 Asif was detained in Dubai on June 1 for alleged drug possession, while returning home after playing in the Indian Premier League. PCB chairman Nasim Ashraf today said the Board would carry out an inquiry against Asif once he returns home. "It is too early to say anything but yes our anti-doping regulations are now compliant with the World Anti-Doping Agency and in this particular case also we have to follow their regulations," Ashraf said. "We are hopeful he will be released and allowed to return home but since it is an incident involving drugs no matter how small the quantity, he could be suspended from playing cricket until the inquiry is conducted against him," he added. The PCB Chairman said the board has used all legal and diplomatic channels to get Asif back home. "I don't know if they decide to deport him or just send him back home. But at the moment our first priority is he is cleared of this case which is bad for Pakistan cricket," Ashraf was quoted as saying in the local media. "Our lawyer and official met with Asif in detention and he is keeping his spirits high but obviously this matter cannot end immediately," he added. |
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Asif stays detained
Dubai: Asif continues to languish in detention with the authorities today not taking any decision on whether to trial the Pakistani pacer for alleged possession of contraband drugs.
Senior Pakistan Cricket Board official Nadeem Akram, rushed by the PCB to bail out the pacer, told PTI today that he was yet to hear anything from the lawyers representing Asif. The pacer yesterday appeared before the prosecutors along with his lawyers following which the case was forwarded to the Attorney General of Dubai. "The chief prosecutor cross-examined the witnesses who were instrumental in finding the banned substance from the bowler," Akram said. He, however, did not disclose whether the prosecutors have levelled any charges on the player who was caught with contraband drugs at the Dubai airport on his arrival from Mumbai on June 1. Asif was going to Lahore after playing in the Indian Premium League for the Delhi Daredevils. The fast-bowler would face a minimum of four years in prison if charged and found guilty. Akram, meanwhile, told
'Khaleej Times' that Asif's lawyers have sought a meeting with the Dubai Attorney General. "Our lawyers have requested a meeting with the Dubai Attorney General but no time has been fixed as yet," Akram said. Chief Prosecutor Mohammed Rustom told the daily that a decision was expected any time this week. "If the case is referred to the court, what kind of charges will be pressed against him has still to be determined. We cannot anticipate the results of the ongoing investigation," Rustom said.
— PTI |
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Santosh Trophy
Srinagar, June 9 Highlight of the Punjab game in the second half was a brilliant hat-trick by Balraj Singh after Sakatar Singh scored the opener in the 10th minute of the half. Balraj scored three goals in a hurry within 12 minutes to outplay Kerala and Baljit added to the tally in the last minute to end the game 5-0 in favour of Punjab. Continuing their winning spree, Services overwhelmed hosts Jammu and Kashmir 5-2 to become the first team to reach the semifinals. Services won all their three quarter-final league matches to top the pool with nine points, while Jammu and Kashmir failed to win any of their league matches Services stamped their authority over Jammu and Kashmir from the word go as they forged ahead in the 9th minute when S Raleng put the ball into net. In the other match, Jammu and Kashmir got a number opportunities to equalise but failed. Down by a goal at interval, hosts went all out and attacked the Services goal. But they had to wait for the equaliser until 55th minute when Rohit Kumar scored a brilliant goal from the top of the
circle. However, the joy for the hosts was short lived as just five minutes later Shahji D Silva made it 2-1 for winners and S Raleng made it 3-1 in favour of Services when he beat the Jammu and Kashmir's goalkeeper 10 minutes
later. — Agencies |
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Klagenfurt, June 9
Neustift (Austria), June 9
