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Spain suppress Russian revolution
Villa injury a blessing in disguise
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Ganguly Asian Batsman of Year
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Spain suppress Russian revolution
Vienna, June 27 Xavi Hernandez, Dani Guiza and David Silva scored a goal each late yesterday to give the Spaniards a shot at their second European title when they play Germany on Sunday at Ernst Happel Stadium. Spain, which won the 1964 European tournament, had ended its run of five quarterfinal defeats by beating Italy in a penalty shootout Sunday, but it confirmed its title aspirations with its penetrative passing on a slick surface in the pouring rain against Russia. "It was difficult, especially the first half. I think it was an extraordinary second half," Spain coach Luis Aragones said. "That's what we wanted, to be in the final. But there's an adversary called Germany, that is going to be interesting." Spain is likely to face Germany without striker David Villa, who was injured while taking a free kick in the first half. Villa, the tournament's leading scorer with four goals, limped off the field and was replaced by Cesc Fabregas in the 34th minute. "Villa will miss the final," said Aragones, who is reported to be taking over at Fenerbahce after the tournament. "It's not serious, but he'll miss the final because he has a pull." Xavi scored the first goal in the 50th minute after an exchange of passes with Andres Iniesta, who eluded one defender before crossing the ball into the box for Xavi to side-foot past goalkeeper Igor
Akinfeyev. Two Spanish substitutes combined to make it 2-0 in the 73rd. Fabregas flicked a ball over the top and Guiza finished with the outside of his right foot high into the net. Fabregas then slid a pass through for an unmarked Silva inside the box in the 82nd and he scored. "The team pushed on and I think we dominated the match. I'm very happy about being in the final," said Iniesta, who was voted man of the match. "It's a match that we want to win." Russia coach Guus Hiddink still has never taken a team past the semifinals, falling at that stage when leading the Netherlands at the 1998 World Cup and with South Korea four years later. "It was their plan that they were going to make us tired so we couldn't make a fist of it in the second half," Hiddink said. "However, we can be proud of reaching where we did and of coming third. We faced really strong opposition tonight and they deserved to win." Spain, which beat the Soviet Union 2-1 in the 1964 final in Madrid, had never lost to Russia in four previous matches, including a 4-1 win two weeks ago in the first round -- and it didn't look like blemishing that record from the start at Ernst Happel Stadium. Russia was without central defender Denis Kolodin and substitute Dimtry Torbinski from the 3-1 extra-time win over the Netherlands on Saturday due to suspension from accumulated cards. Kolodin was replaced by Vasily Berezutsky.
— AP |
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Villa injury a blessing in disguise
Vienna, June 27 His departure forced Spain coach Luis Aragones to send on supersub Cesc Fabregas earlier than expected and it tipped the balance of the game decisively in Spain's
favour. As he had done earlier in the tournament, the 21-year-old Arsenal player added new zest and momentum to the midfield. His natural desire, forged by five years of top flight football in England, to surge towards the opposition area forced Russia onto the back foot and helped create the spaces that gave his fellow midfielders the freedom to play. A liberated Xavi exchanged a neat one-two with the livewire Andres Iniesta and broke the deadlock with a classy finish to make it 1-0 to Spain five minutes into the second half.
Fabregas then set up substitute Daniel Guiza for the second with a sublime chip over the Russia back four and completed his masterclass with a slide rule pass to David Silva for the third, eight minutes from time.
Fabregas, who notched the decisive penalty in the shootout victory over Italy in the quarter-final, was typically understated in his assessment of the match. — Reuters |
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Rampaging India not to relax
Dhoni and his men pummelled minnows Hong Kong and mighty Pakistan with identical ruthlessness and Bangladesh would require a miracle of sort to halt the Indian juggernaut tomorrow. Sensing that a sense of complacency might creep in among the ranks, Dhoni has already warned his teammates not to lower the guard tomorrow and the Indian captain is not ready to underestimate Bangladesh either. "Cricket is a cruel game and you cannot afford to relax. We are here like the others to try to win this tournament as it is a big one from the Asian point of view," Dhoni said. "We have to win all our matches for we want to carry the momentum to the final. I'm happy with the bowlers' performance, while the batsmen too are on song," Dhoni said. For India, Irfan Pathan is still recovering from the side strain that saw him missing the first two matches and the left-arm seamer is likely to sit out tomorrow as well even though his absence was never felt. After thumping Hong Kong in the first match, India sent a warning to all by chasing down a 300-run target against Pakistan, which speaks volumes of the team's batting strength. Pakistan amassed 299 and hoped India would crumble under the pressure but with Virender Sehwag continuing to torment the Pakistanis and in-form Suresh Raina deciding to make up for his prolonged absence in the national team, India made it look like a stroll in the park and cantered to a six-wicket win. The big-hitting Indian batsmen already have developed a liking for the National Stadium track and Dhoni reckons 300 may seem a difficult target for others, but surely not for his team. "I always knew that a target of 300 here was always chaseable. The track was fantastic, one of the best in Pakistan. Maybe 340-350 would have been the right score," a confident Dhoni said. Irrespective of whether they are setting the target or chasing, India got off to flying start with Virender Sehwag and Suresh Raina continuing their red hot form. Though Gautam Gambhir followed up his fifty against Hong Kong with a single digit score against Pakistan, the attacking left-hander would definitely be tempted to go after the inexperienced Bangla attack on a batting-friendly track tomorrow. Sehwag has been his usual attacking self, while his aggression seems to have rubbed off on Raina as well as runs continue to flow from their blades. In contrast, the Mohammad Ashraful-led Bangladesh will bank on their limited resources to put up some semblance of a fight against their fancied opponents. Their bowling attack is decent and fielding is also reasonably good but the batting order sports a brittle look and the Indian attack would prove quite a handful when they take strike tomorrow.
— PTI |
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Ganguly Asian Batsman of Year
Karachi, June 27
Sachin Tendulkar was named the Best ODI batsman while Gautam Gambhir grabbed the honour in Twenty20. Sri Lankan wicket-keeper batsman Kumar Sangakkara took away the best Test Batsman of the year award while compatriot Farveez Maharoof was chosen as the Best ODI Bowler. Pakistan's Umar Gul was named the Best
Twenty20 Bowler.
Sri Lankan spin wizard Muttiah Muralitharan, not surprisingly, took away the Best Bowler award.
But former Pakistan pacer Wasim Akram, who along with Sri Lankan batsman Sanath Jayasuriya and former India skipper Rahul Dravid picked the winners, said that Akmal was selected for his overall performances throughout the last two years. Though Ganguly was not present at the ceremony, his wife Dona took the awards on his behalf.
"I am proud and happy to be his wife. I don't think he needed to work so hard to prove himself. But he had a point to prove and when he wants to achieve something he does it. So these awards make me really proud of him as my husband," Dona told reporters after receiving the awards. She, however, refused to term the awards as redemption for her husband after his removal as captain and being dropped from the team in 2006.
"I don't see it that way. I just knew that he would achieve what he wanted. He is a introvert sort of person but my job was to be there to encourage and support him. As a family we were there for him always," she said. The Bengal left-hander also expressed his happiness on receiving the awards in a video taped message.
Akram said that Asian cricket had produced some great performers from Hanif Mohammad to Tendulkar and it was good to see them being recognised for their achievements in a systematic manner.
Pakistan greats like Hanif Mohammad, Zaheer Abbas, Asif Iqbal and Wasim Bari graced the ceremony that was hosted by Akram and Rameez Raja with all the teams, including associate member Hong Kong, in attendance. Hanif got a lifetime achievement award and said it was time for other companies and people to also come forward and recognise and reward the players.
— PTI
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Ivanovic loses, Federer through
London, June 27 The French Open champion struggled to keep the ball in play as she either sprayed errors off the court or scooped shots into the net with alarming regularity. The 133rd-ranked Zheng could hardly believe her eyes when Ivanovic shovelled a service return into the net to gift her the first set in 30 minutes. It was all over 42 minutes later when Ivanovic miscued a shot high into the sky on match point. Roger Federer successfully navigated the third round and the first week at Wimbledon, steaming past French challenger Marc Gicquel 6-3, 6-3, 6-1 on Friday. The world number one needs four more victories next week to set a modern era record of six men’s titles in a row and on Friday’s showing is in no mood to let the opportunity slip. He captured the first set with a booming ace and the second, after two breaks of serve, with a screaming forehand winner. Russian number four seed Svetlana Kuznetsova eased into the fourth round on Friday with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over fiery Czech Barbora Zahlavova Strycova who became enraged with the slippery court. Serena Williams convincingly won the battle of the former champions at Wimbledon on Friday, overcoming Amelie Mauresmo 7-6 6-1 in the third round. Sixth seed Williams, winner here in 2002 and 2003, came through an intense opening set before running away with the match. Lleyton Hewitt warmed up for a show-stopping fourth-round date with Roger Federer by hustling past Italy's Simon Bolelli 6-1 6-3 7-6 at Wimbledon on Friday. Paes, Sania advance; Bhupathi out Indians had a reasonably good day in the Wimbledon doubles competition with Leander Paes and Sania Mirza winning their respective matches but it was curtains for Mahesh Bhupathi, who was sent packing in the first round itself here. Paes, partnering Czech Lukas Dlouhy, advanced to the third round with a 6-3, 7-6, 6-3 win over the combination of American Eric Butorac and Australian Ashley Fisher last night. Sania made a winning start in women’s doubles and partnering American Bethanie Mattek beat locals Elena Batacha and Naomi Cavady 6-4, 6-2 in the first round. However, Bhupathi and Knowles, seeded fourth, lost 5-7, 2-6, 6-7 to the pair of Philipp Petzschner of Germany and Alexander Peya of Austria in their opening match. Another Indian in the fray, Davis Cupper Rohan Bopanna, and his Pakistani partner Aisam-ul-haq Qureshi, lost their second round encounter 2-6, 4-6, 2-6 to Spanish pair of Marcel Granollers-Pujol and Santiago Ventura. — Agencies
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Dr Bhardwaj elected AICF joint secy
Chandigarh, June 27 Other core office bearers of the chess federation elected are- president: N. Srinivasan; hony secy: D.V. Sundar; and treasurer: Bharat Singh. Bhardwaj has attained the title of ‘F.I.D.E. (Federation International De Echecs) Arbiter’ from the World Chess Federation. He has now submitted his norms for the title of ‘International Arbiter’ to the F.I.D.E., the world body of the game.
— TNS |
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Karachi, June 27
