Polokwane, June 23
Lionel Messi marked his first match as Argentina captain with a win as they beat an ultra-defensive Greek side 2-0 and cruised into the World Cup second round as Group B winners putting the Greeks out on Tuesday.

Argentina broke Greece's resistance 13 minutes from time through centre back Martin Demichelis who blasted the ball into the net after his header from a corner was partially blocked.

Messi made the second goal for Martin Palermo who tucked away the rebound in the 89th minute after his skipper dribbled into the area and saw his shot parried by Alexandros Tzorvas.

Argentina completed their third successive victory to finish top of the group with a maximum nine points and will play Mexico at Johannesburg's Soccer City in the second round on Sunday.

South Korea, who drew 2-2 with Nigeria in the other group game in Durban, will play Uruguay on Saturday in Port Elizabeth.

They finished on four points ahead of 2004 European champions Greece with three and and the Nigerians with just one.

Argentina coach Diego Maradona, who made seven changes to the side that trounced South Korea five days ago including resting usual captain Javier Mascherano, as usual danced with delight at the end of the match in celebration.

Before making the second goal Messi, who became Argentina's youngest World Cup captain two days short of his 23rd birthday, had two efforts tipped away by Tzorvas who had a busy night.

The goalkeeper, who saved twice from Sergio Aguero in the first half, also stopped an effort from point-blank range by midfielder Mario Bolatti at a corner with 21 minutes to go.

Messi was kept in tight check by the man-marking of Socratis Papastathopoulos, and was rarely able to show off his skills.

Greece forward Giorgos Samaras had a good chance early in the second half on the left of the box but was wide of the far post with their first shot at goal after a sterile first half.

After almost 20 minutes of midfield sparring from the kickoff, a deep pass from Juan Sebastian Veron sent Aguero through and his shot from the left was saved by Tzorvas.

The corner was cleared to Veron who shot from 30 metres with the keeper again alert enough to tipp the ball over the bar.

Just past the half-hour, Aguero was close again when he met a right-wing cross but his shot was blocked by Loukas Vyntra.

Samaras then put a low ball through to Kostas Katsouranis running down the middle but he failed to reach it.

Sergio Romero had to fist away a free kick from Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis then Tzorvas had to save sharply again from Maxi Rodriguez and Messi, with his first effort of the match, just before halftime.

It was left to Demichelis to put Argentina ahead with his late strike but Messi was to play a big part in their second when he fizzed a shot goalwards from the edge of the area and

Palermo was on hand to convert the rebound and seal victory.

Now Argentina must prepare for a clash with Mexico, their opponents at the same stage of the 2006 finals when they won 2-1 after extra time in one of the best games of the tournament. — Reuters

Pretoria, June 23
The United States scored a last-gasp winner to beat Algeria and qualify for the last 16 of the World Cup after a pulsating and even match in which both sides had plenty of chances.

Landon Donovan got the vital US winner in the second minute of injury time.

The Group C match had its first chance within 12 seconds, but Karim Ziani's volley from outside the penalty box flew just wide of Tim Howard's goal.

Algeria came close again in the sixth minute with another volley, Rafik Djebbour taking advantage of a mistake by defender Jay DeMerit to send his shot crashing against the bar.

The Americans responded just moments later with a powerful drive by striker Hercules Gomez forcing keeper Rais Ouheb Mbouli to palm away for a corner.

The United States were frustrated when Clint Dempsey's 20th minute tap in from a Gomez assist was judged offside.

Dempsey threatened again on 57 minutes when a Jozy Altidore cross fell to him near the penalty spot, but his curling shot hit the post.

The United States looked the more dangerous side, but the Algerians gave them occasional scares such as Hassan Yebda's 68th minute fierce strike that went wide after a flowing counter-attack.

Donovan put the United States ahead right at the death and there was still time for Antar Yahia to be sent off for a second yellow card. — Reuters

Durban, June 23
South Korea drew 2-2 in a tense Group B match with Nigeria to advance to the second round of the World Cup on Tuesday.

Nigeria opened the scoring in the 12th minute when Kalu Uche nipped in front of Cha Du-ri to latch onto a cross from Chidi Odiah and shot into the corner of the goal. But the Super Eagles again threw away an early lead as they did against Greece.

South Korea equalised in the 38th minute when Ki Sung-yong curled a freekick from just outside the penalty area across goal and Lee Jung-soo stole in behind Rabiu Afolabi to fire low past the keeper at the back post.

Four minutes into the second half, Park Chu-young gave South Korea the lead, firing another freekick on the edge of the area around the Nigerian wall and into the far corner past a flailing and misplaced Vincent Enyeama.

In the 69th minute Yakubu Aiyegbeni atoned for wasting two golden chances by calmly slotting home a penalty to level the scores. Seven minutes earlier he had somehow skewed the ball wide while alone four metres in front of an open goal.

The Koreans should have taken the lead after just two minutes. Lee Chung yung intercepted a poor clearance from Rabiu Afolabi, played the ball out wide and was then sent clean through on goal, but scuffed his shot wide.

While the Super Eagles bossed the middle of the field for much of the first half, winning the high balls and snapping neat short passes through to the front line, their defence fouled the Koreans time and time again in dangerous areas.

The West Africans certainly had chances to win their first World Cup game in seven matches. Just before missing from four years out, Yakuba was clean through on goal but cut the ball back and became entangled with a defender. — Reuters

India’s Ashish Nehra bowls during a practice session in Dambulla on Wednesday. — AFP

Dambulla, June 23
India will aim to set right their woeful record in ODI finals and end a 15-year-old jinx when they take on Sri Lanka in the final of the Asia Cup tournament tomorrow.

Their pride pricked once again by a dominant Sri Lanka last night, India will also seek to avenge yesterday’s defeat where they slumped to a comprehensive seven-wicket defeat.

Mahendra Singh Dhoni struggled to explain the humiliating loss but the fact remains that India were completely outclassed by the Lankans.

That they have trounced India in three ODI finals since 2008, besides the victory in the Twenty20 World Cup, indicates that the inspired Lankans would be a hard bunch to be beat even if Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra return tomorrow.

Dhoni would also hope to end a 15-year title drought that followed India’s last Asia Cup triumph in Sharjah in 1995.

Yesterday’s defeat not only exposed India’s batting frailties but also raised questions about some selection issues.

With Sachin Tendulkar opting out of the series, India should have had an opening batsman in the reserves. But they chose middle-order batsman Saurabh Tiwary, while Rohit Sharma and Virat Kohli fight for a permanent slot.

It didn’t come as a surprise when the team management hurriedly flew in Dinesh Karthik as a replacement when regular opener Virender Sehwag suffered a hamstring injury.

Another startling gaffe by the team management was the inclusion of left-arm spinner Pragyan Ojha for the last match.

With Sehwag out of the tournament and Harbhajan Singh rested, Dhoni should have played R Ashwin as a replacement for an off-break bowler. But he chose to play Ojha when India already had a left-arm tweaker in Ravindra Jadeja.

Evidently, off-break bowlers have held sway right through the tournament but India chose to ignore this fact and paid the price.

On the other hand, Sri Lanka have been prudent in their team selection.

Dhoni conceded that India had come short in big events, but couldn’t put his finger on the actual problem afflicting the team’s performance.

“We are aware that our performance is not up to the mark when it comes to tournaments involving more than one team. It is really tough to single out one reason for the failures. But we are confident that we can do better this time,” said Dhoni. — PTI

Match starts 2.30 pm

London, June 23
Harsh Mankad’s Grand Slam debut ended with a first-round defeat as the Indian and his partner Ilija Bozoljac crashed out of the Wimbledon men’s doubles event after losing to Juan Ignacio Chela and Eduardo Schwank here.

The unseeded Indo-Serbian pair lost 3-6 4-6 2-6 to the Argentine team, last night.

Rohan Bopanna of India and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan defeated Indian Somdev Devvarman and Filipino Treat Conrad- Huey 3-6, 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (8/6) in the first round of the men’s doubles event today. — PTI

Patiala, June 23
Punjabi University, Patiala, wrote a glorious chapter in annals of history of university-level sports by clinching the prestigious Maulana Abul Kalam Azad (MAKA) Trophy thrice in a row.

The coveted sports trophy is awarded to a university that wins maximum number of medals in the All-India Inter-University Championships and by registering an overall best performance in the individual and team events held in one calendar year.

Punjabi University has claimed this honour with 14,755 points defeating their closest rival for this year Panjab University, Chandigarh, with a huge margin of 5,400 points.

According to the list by Association of Indian Universities, Panjab University is second with 9,355 points; Kurukshetra University third with 8,540 points; GND University, Amritsar, is fourth with 8,240 points; and Delhi University is fifth with 7,655 points.The university has won top three positions in 27 events. VC Dr Jaspal Singh, along with Dr Rajkumar Sharma, Director, Sports, Punjabi University and sportspersons, will receive the trophy from President Pratibha Patil on August 29.

Dambulla, June 23
All-rounder Farveez Maharoof claimed a hat-trick as Sri Lanka produced a near-perfect performance to beat India by seven wickets in the final round-robin match of the Asia Cup yesterday.

India, sent into bat, were well placed at 189 for four before they crumbled to 209 all out from 42.3 overs. They lost their last six wickets for 20 runs as Maharoof performed his hat-trick.

The right-arm fast-medium bowler trapped Ravindra Jadeja lbw, bowled Praveen Kumar, and had Zaheer Khan caught in successive deliveries in the 39th over.

He became the 23rd player to take a hat-trick in one-day internationals and the third Sri Lankan, after Chaminda Vaas and Lasith Malinga.

Maharoof was named man-of-the-match with figures of five for 42 from 10 overs.

Rohit Sharma was India’s top scorer with 69 off 73 balls. Sri Lanka lost openers Tharanga (38) and Dilshan (24) to stumble to 80 for two before a 104-run partnership between Sangakkara and Jayawardene guided them home.

Sangakkara scored 73 off 82 balls and Jayawardene finished on 53 not out, moving to his half-century with the winning boundary. — Reuters