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Messi shines, Heinze scores, Argentina win
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This is Germany’s moment of truth: Bierhoff
It’s all in the family!
India beat Zim with ease
Selection scandal during kabaddi World Cup?
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They did little to appease their detractors against the South Americans yesterday, with neither side able to take the early initiative in Group A after South Africa and Mexico drew 1-1 in the opening match of the tournament. France coach Raymond Domenech raised a few more eyebrows by leaving not just Thierry Henry on the bench but also Chelsea's Florent Malouda. Nicolas Anelka was tasked with the main goalscoring duties and Arsenal's Abou Diaby drafted in for Malouda. But they looked far from convincing at a packed Green Point Stadium. Both sides started lively with France having a great chance to take an early lead on six minutes when the dangerous Franck Ribery gave his defender the slip down the left. The Bayern Munich star sent a low cross into the box with Sidney Govou's outstretched foot sending the ball just past the post, a chance he should have buried. France came into the match under huge pressure after a string of average performances and they looked like they wanted to prove a point, with Diaby keeping the momentum going with a long range drive soon after. Uruguay were struggling to find their groove until Diego Forlan found space just outside the penalty area and curled in a shot that forced a fine save from Hugo Lloris. — AFP
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Messi shines, Heinze scores, Argentina win
He had a superb chip tipped over by Nigerian goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama for the corner, taken by Juan Sebastian Veron, from which left back Heinze put Argentina ahead with a diving header into the roof of the net from close to the penalty spot. Midway through the first half, in a trademark cut inside from the right, the little ace shot to the far low corner only for Enyeama to dive and turn the ball away. Messi threatened again near the end of the half, curling a lovely shot towards Enyeama's top right corner with the keeper leaping to tip the ball wide. Argentina's coach Diego Maradona attracted almost as much attention from the cameras, spending the entire game ranting and raving on the sidelines. Nigeria also had chances with striker Chinedu Obasi going close with the match less than two minutes old after one of a string of errors in defence by right wing-back Jonas Gutierrez. With 20 minutes to go left back Taye Taiwo hit a low shot from outside the box that beat Romero but went just wide of the far post. Argentina join South Korea, who beat Greece 2-0 earlier in Port Elizabeth, on three points at the top of the group. — Reuters
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South Korea script a Greek tragedy
Greece started brightly and could have gone ahead in the third minute when Vassilis Torosidis steered Giorgos Karagounis's corner past the post. But South Korea, unbeaten in qualifying, always looked dangerous though and punished Greece with slick counter-attacking and neat passing play that left their opponents outnumbered at the back. — Reuters
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This is Germany’s moment of truth: Bierhoff
Pretoria, June 12 "Philipp wanted to express his confidence and trust to his team mates. We have great potential with this squad but now is the moment of truth," Bierhoff told reporters. "Yesterday's World Cup opener between South Africa and Mexico was the starting shot and now it gets serious." Germany saw five key players drop out of the squad with injuries before travelling to South Africa, but coach Joachim Loew refused to call up any other players, putting his trust in the country's youngest World Cup squad in 76 years. Having breezed past Hungary and Bosnia in warm-up matches, Germany showed they were in good form but were hardly tested. With a backbone of players who won the European U-21 last year, the current team has never played together on the big stage, has never had to come back from a goal down in a competitive match and has not experienced the atmosphere of a sold-out World Cup venue. — Reuters
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Hamburg, June 12 Vladimir Weiss was already a well known in Slovakian football history, but the legacy grew in the buildup to South Africa 2010 as Weiss coached the nation to its first-ever World Cup appearance as an independent nation. Helping the coach - at 45 the youngest team boss in South Africa - was his 20-year-old son Vladimir Weiss, who plays for Manchester City. "I was warned because there were reports that I was doing him a favour. But everyone could see that he deserved his World Cup nomination," the coach said. The Weisses are not the only father-son combo at South Africa. U.S. coach Bob Bradley has in his ranks his son Michael Bradley of Borussia Moenchengladbach. "Michael is a professional player, and he understands as well as anyone how you earn respect in a group. When we're at work, that comes first," said father Bradley.
Honduras brothers Wilson and Johny Palacios will undoubtedly have heavy hearts despite helping the nation to its first finals since 1982. The pair's brother Edwin was kidnapped in October 2007 and held for ransom before eventually being confirmed dead in May 2009.
One of the strangest family instances in World Cup history is the half-brother duo of Germany's Jerome Boateng and Kevin Prince Boateng of Ghana. Both have the same Ghanaian father with different German mothers. In fact Kevin Prince is the great-nephew of Helmut Rahn, who scored the winning goal for Germany in the 1954 World Cup final. The half-brothers' relationship went sour after Kevin Prince's foul against Michael Ballack forced the German national team captain out of the World Cup. In the aftermath, Jerome was not supportive of Kevin Prince, who then cut off all contact to Jerome and does not expect to talk to him until they square off on June 23 in Johannesburg. There was nearly another set of brothers in South Africa but Mexican coach Javier Aguirre decided against nominating top talent Jonathan Dos Santos of Barcelona, a move which heavily disappointed Galatasaray striker Giovani Dos Santos. Among the other family connections in South Africa are cousins Samir and Jasmin Handanovic of Slovenia and the Cameroon uncle-nephew duo of Rigobert and Alex Song. In addition, Argentina national team coach Diego Maradona is the father-in-law of Sergio Aguero while Dutch midfielder Mark van Bommel is married to his coach Bert van Maarwijk's daughter. With both Aguero and van Bommel making their national team bosses grandfathers, another generation of World Cup family connections could be in the works. — DPA
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Harare, June 12 Earlier, shaking off the tri-series rust, Indian bowlers showed discipline and restricted Zimbabwe to a meagre 111 for nine at Harare Sports Club here today. Paceman R Vinay Kumar (3/24) was the most successful bowler with three wickets while Ashok Dinda (2/27) and Pragyan Ojha (2/11) accounted for two victims apiece. During India's chase, big-hitting Pathan and youngster Kohli shared an unbeaten 64-run stand for the fifth wicket to rescue India from a precarious 48 for 4. Pathan's 23-ball knock contained two fours and three sixes while Kohli faced 22 balls with three fours and a six. India, like their opponents, began poorly as they lost openers -- Murali Vijay (5) and Naman Ojha (2) to paceman Chris Mpofu by the third over. Skipper Suresh Raina (28) played a good hand in the middle order to re-build the innings with Rohit Sharma (10). However, both of them returned to the dug out in the eighth over with spinner Ray Price (2/24) getting rid of them in the eighth over. It became jittery for India but Pathan and Kohli ensured that their side do not end up facing more humiliation. Earlier, Chamu Chibhabha (40) and Craig Ervine (30) stood tall amid ruins for the hosts, as their middle and lower order collapsed after a sound start. Opting to field, Vinay Kumar gave India a perfect start and landed the first blow to the hosts as early as in the fourth ball of the match when he got rid of Hamilton Masakadza (1), caught by skipper Suresh Raina at extra cover. Vinay was hit for a four and two sixes in his next over by Chibhabha and Brendan Taylor (15) but the paceman got his revenge when he caught the latter plumb in front of the wicket in the last ball of the same over. — PTI Scoreboard India:
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Ronjan wins gold at shooting World Cup
Ferozepur, June 12 Ronjan has been participating in shooting competitions since 1999, and has already won a gold medal at the ISSF World Cup in 2008. At that time he also equalled two world records. So far he has won Grand Prix Competition (Junior) 2000 Delhi Silver (Individual), Asian Clay Shooting Championship 2002 Bangkok Bronze (Team), 1st Afro-Asian Games 2003 Hyderabad Silver (Individual), Asian Clay Shooting Championship 2004 Bangkok Gold (Team), Asian Clay Shooting Championship 2005 Bangkok Gold (Team), Commonwealth Shooting Championship 2005 Melbourne Gold (Team) and Asian Clay Shooting Championship 2006 Singapore Gold (Team). He has also won Asian Games 2006 Doha Silver (Team), World Cup 2007 Santo Bronze (Individual), Domingo, World Cup 2007 Lonato IV, Asian Clay Shooting Championship 2007 Manila Silver (Individual), Asian Clay Shooting Championship 2007 Manila Bronze (Team), Asian Clay Shooting Championship 2008 Jaipur Bronze (Team), ISSF World Cup 2008 Kerrville V, ISSF World Cup 2008 Belgrade Gold (Individual), ISSF World Cup 2009 Belarus Silver (Individual), and ISSF World Cup 2009 Sanmarino VI. “It is the happiest moment of our lives as our son has brought laurels for the country again,” said Malvinder Sodhi and Gitanjali Sodhi, father and mother of Ronjan while talking to TNS this evening.
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Selection scandal during kabaddi World Cup?
Chandigarh, June 12 In a petition filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, Harjinder Singh of Tarn Taran and Ajit Pal Singh of Ludhiana district have, in fact, asserted: “Ones having political clout with high-ups, political linkage and ones who paid heavily to the sponsors of the tournament sports ministry and sports department of Punjab were selected and others were rejected or simply ignored”. The tournament was held from April 3 to April 12 at Patiala. Eight Kabbadi teams from USA, Australia, Iran, Italy, Pakistan, Canada, England and Spain participated. The cup was bagged by the Indian Team. Claiming to be initially a “part and parcel of the Indian Squad selected for participation in the tournament”, the petitioners have filed the petition against Punjab director of sports department Pargat Singh, World Cup Kabbadi managing committee vice-chairman Sikindher Singh Malooka, the state of Punjab and three other respondents. The petition was placed before the high court during the vacations, but stands adjourned to July after the courts reopen. In the petition filed through counsel Ashoak K Sainii, they have added: “Since its inception, the selection of team was not done transparently, but was done with monetary and political consideration with ulterior motives. “Even the usual international standards of the selection were not applied; and the whole affair was a shame transaction, full of political and monetary bias and extraneous considerations”. Sainii added: “In spite of best records of the petitioners in the game, they were joined in the Indian team squad, but were kept as reserves for the reasons best known to the respondents”. Elaborating on the reasons for filing the petition, Sainii indicated that the team made big money, while the petitioners were left with nothing. “It was declared that Rs 1 crore would be given to the winning team. Obviously, this was to be distributed among the players. It was never declared by the government of Punjab, the sports ministry or the sports department or for that purpose the managing committee of the tournament that the prize money or job benefits would not be given to the reserve players…. Even on asking, they have been flatly refused to be given any thing on the pretext that they were reserve players.
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The Koreans defended solidly against the aerial threat of the taller Greek players, who bombarded their opponents with lofted passes that yielded few chances for a country that has lost every World Cup game they have played in. The 2004 European champions, who have failed to score at a World Cup finals, struggled against a torrent of South Korean attacks, with European-based duo Cha Du-ri and Park Chu-young proving a handful for the Greek defence.
The World Cup also has seen its fair share of brothers in the past. And South Africa 2010 is no different. Kolo and Yaya Toure are playing for Ivory Coast and Paraguay have the Barreto brothers Edgar and Diego.
Italy’s Gattuso to quit after finals