|
|
|
|
|
Loew’s Germany aiming high
|
|
|
Balotelli cartoon raises racism storm
Nasri says sorry to fans over Euro outburst
AITA claim credit for Olympic wild cards
Bhupathi-Bopanna in second round
|
|
Loew’s Germany aiming high
Warsaw, June 27 "There is no such thing as an invincible side," said Prandelli. "Germany has that sense of knowing what they need to do. They are also physically strong and have players who have tasted international success at club level, so they are a side with the ingredients to go all the way. "But we will study them closely and work on the few weak points they have." Italy needed a penalty shoot-out to beat England 4-2 in Sunday's quarter-final in Kiev with the Azzurri failing to hit the net in normal play despite 68 percent ball possession and 35 shots compared to England's nine.
Germany's forwards shone in Friday's 4-2 quarter-final win over Greece and Prandelli is mindful of the risk of pushing too far forward against a German side with the pace to punish on the counter-attack. Manchester City's Mario Balotelli is one player the Germans have admitted they will pay close attention to after he spearheaded an Italian attack which had periods of impressive form against the Three Lions. With only a three-day turn-around between the quarter and semi, Prandelli has injury concerns over midfielder Daniele De Rossi and right-back Ignazio Abate, while Italy's other right-back Christian Maggio is suspended. Aside from a 1-1 draw in a friendly in February 2011, the last time the teams met in competition was the 2006 World Cup semi-final when the Italians won 2-0 after extra time as they went on to win the title. But coach Loew was defiant when asked about the lack of German success against the Azzurri over the years. “We can't turn back time, forget about about it, the past doesn't play a role in our planning," said the 52-year-old. "Another stat is that Germany has never won against Italy in a major tournament, but so what? "The situation is entirely different now and this is not an issue for us." But Italian playmaker Andrea Pirlo believes the Germans are running scared and the 33-year-old believes that history will give Italy the edge. "Germany are definitely scared of us, they know we can create difficulties for them given what's happened in the past and they will have to be careful to avoid a repeat of what happened in 2006," said the Juventus midfielder. Loew has developed a habit for pulling surprises at this tournament highlighted by changing three of Germany's six-man attack against Greece in axing striker Mario Gomez, plus forwards Lukas Podolski and Thomas Mueller. — AFP
|
||||||
|
Balotelli cartoon raises racism storm
London, June 27 "It is not the first time we have seen this sort of depiction of Mario and we think the media have a responsibility. How do they think they can portray him like that?" he added. Prior to Italy's clash with England in the Euro 2012 quarterfinal match, Gazzetta dello Sport published a drawing of a giant Balotelli atop Big Ben swatting away footballs, in the same way King Kong did aircrafts atop New York's Empire State Building in the film. The cartoon outraged the Balotelli camp while Gazzetta have issued an apology. "It wasn't our cartoonist's best product. In these times we need a bit more moderation, caution and good taste. But we have always fought against racism and condemned booing against Balotelli as unacceptable," the Daily Mail quoted the Milan-based newspaper, as saying. Not only the Balotelli camp, people in general all over Italy were left horrified after seeing photo depiction of the key player in Italy's team. Balotelli, wh o is now preparing for Thursday's semi-final against Germany in Warsaw, has previously said before the Euro 2012 that he would walk off the pitch if he was racially abused. — ANI
|
|
Nasri says sorry to fans over Euro outburst
Paris, June 27 The 25-year-old Manchester City star, who launched into a tirade of abuse at the journalist when he was leaving the mixed zone after the 2-0 Euro 2012 quarter-final defeat, said on Twitter that his argument was with certain journalists and he would explain more when he felt it was appropriate. "There are too many different accounts going around at the moment. I would just like to let the supporters and especially the children know that I sincerely regret that my words may have shocked them. "I love the EDF (French team), football and I have a deep respect for the public. As for the rest, it is a personal affair between me and several journalists. I will explain when the time is deemed appropriate." Nasri, who plays with Manchester City in the English Premier League, is expected to face disciplinary charges over the outburst next week. — AFP
|
|
AITA claim credit for Olympic wild cards
The three wild cards will help India field seven players in the London Olympics, which will be next only to France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain and the United States. Amongst the Asian countries, India will have the largest tennis contingent. Taking note of Sania Mirza’s diatribe against the association, AITA secretary-general Bharat Oza said: “Sania Mirza is a great Indian player like Leander Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi... The AITA believes that Leander and Sania together are capable of producing fantastic results in the Olympics.” Oza said the AITA applied for wild cards for Sania (both in singles and doubles), Rushmi and Somdev, as Sania would not have been able to play in the mixed doubles without a wild card. “With a combined ranking of 19, they (Sania and Leander) were placed 9th among the top 12 teams, to be eligible for mixed doubles, and this selection is purely on merit,” Oza added. He said the AITA added Rohan Bopanna (ATP ranking 12) and Mahesh Bhupathi (ranking 14) as the second doubles team, based on their combined ranking of 26. He said the final decision of the AITA has been conveyed to the Indian Olympic Association. The AITA has appealed to all the players to “unite together, shed off all their differences, stop going public (with their opinions) and join hands together in the best national interest of winning medals for the country and to bring glory to the nation”.
|
|
Bhupathi-Bopanna in second round
London, June 27 The seventh-seeded Indian combination got the better of Marcel Felder of Uruguay and Tunisia's Malek Jaziri 6-0 7-6 (1) 6-2 in an hour and 36 minutes at the All England Club here. The duo will take on the winner of the match between Russia's Mikhail Elgin and Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin and Spaniards Pablo Andujar and Guillermo Garcia-Lopezin in the second round. Bhupathi and Bopanna converted five of the nine break points they got, while their rivals failed to convert any of the five opportunities that came their way. The Indians also won as many as 101 points as opposed to just 66 won by their unseeded opponents. Dominating from the word go, the Indian duo took just 17 minutes to wrap up the first set after converting three of the four breakpoint chances. However, Felder and Jaziri managed to take the second set to the tie-breaker, even as Bhupathi and Bopanna double faulted thrice, besides making three unforced errors. Swiss Roger Federer, bidding for a record-equalling seventh men's singles title at the All England Club, outclassed Fabio Fognini 6-1, 6-3, 6-2, displaying his full repertoire of shots in front of an appreciative Royal Box. Samantha Stosur became the highest seed to fall at the championships when the Australian lost to Dutch player Arantxa Rus 6-2, 0-6, 6-4. — Agencies
|
|
|
|
|
| HOME PAGE | |
Punjab | Haryana | Jammu & Kashmir |
Himachal Pradesh | Regional Briefs |
Nation | Opinions | | Business | Sports | World | Letters | Chandigarh | Ludhiana | Delhi | | Calendar | Weather | Archive | Subscribe | E-mail | |
row after an Italian newspaper depicted him as King Kong in a deeply offensive cartoon in a photo-illustration. "Mario is such an important person in Italian football. Aspiring players in Italy who want to follow in his footsteps could wonder what support they will have when they get to his level when they see cartoons like that," a spokesman for the anti-racism organisation Kick It Out said.
London, June 27
Prandelli has said the Italians will have to be daring in order to beat Germany, who are on a 15-match winning run in competitive matches since losing to Spain at the last World Cup.
New Delhi, June 27
