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In the current Bangladesh lot there are not too many batsmen of his calibre, yet the selectors had dared to drop Aftab Ahmed from the playing eleven during the two-Test series against Sri Lanka in February-March.
   It has been argued that Aftab was actually punished for wearing unauthorised logo during the one-day series, although none of the team management had admitted it publicly.
   To justify the surprise omission they rather blamed Aftab for playing a shot too many, which does not go with Test cricket. ‘We found Aftab more suited to one-day cricket because of his tendency for stroke-play,’ chief selector Faruque Ahmed said before the first Test in Chittagong.
   Despite the blame, Aftab did not change his game for a while, which was evident in the subsequent one-day series against Kenya. Playing in all four matches, Aftab scored 154 runs with a strike rate of 116.66 suggesting he remained the same player as he was before the selectors dropped him from the Test team.
   It was not Aftab who changed his playing style, but the team management had to make amends by including him in the playing eleven of the first Test against Australia, starting today at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium.
   And now coach Dav Whatmore gave another idea why he had not been considered against the Sri Lankans.
   ‘We have always said it was not a permanent decision. He was out of the team temporarily to make him understand what is required in the longer version game and he has that time to think about it. He really batted well in the nets in the last six days,’ Whatmore said on Saturday.
   While many suggested Aftab could have been easily picked against Sri Lanka as a batting all-rounder, Whatmore and the chief selector Faruque Ahmed repeatedly said that they did not need him.
   Hence it was very surprising to see the Bangladesh coach lamenting for an all-rounder when asked whether the four specialist bowlers were good enough to contain the Australian batsmen.
   ‘The ideal make-up is to have an all-rounder which at the moment we haven’t. We are desperately looking for that player, who can help us change the format,’ said the Australian What a change in the way of thinking!

After enjoying a four-day rest a revitalised Palestine side take on a tired Kyrgyzstan team, playing their third match in four days, in the quarterfinal of the AFC Challenge Cup at the Bangabandhu National Stadium at 3:30pm today.
   Kyrgyzstan faced Macau on Friday in a match that was abandoned due to the seasonal storm and on Thursday they braved to beat Tajikistan. On the other hand, Palestine played their last match on April 5 and will be starting the quarterfinal with fresh legs.
   Palestine, who had never played in a final of an international tournament, have a strong intention to prove their superiority and to be crowned as the champions. Third position is the highest they have ever achieved and it was in the Arab Cup, held in Jordan in 1999.
   The Palestinians with a superior physical build and good combination will pose a strong challenge for the Kyrgyzstan booters, whose performance graph had a lot of ups and downs. Palestine have a strong striking force with Fahed Attal, the leading scorer of the competition with eight goals, and they are always ready to utilise any lapses of the opposition defence. Ahmed Keshkesh will be another threat for the Kyrgyz defence as he has fully recovered from injury. Ismail Al Amour will not be in the starting line-up as he is nursing a hamstring strain. Tireless works of Chile-based Francisco Atura are the motivating factor for Palestine.
   Kyrgyzstan will hope their efficient marksman Andrei Krasnov will do his duties in times of need. Roman Ablakimov and Azamat Ishenbaev are the other forwards to be marked by the Palestine defence.
   Ali Sabbah, the Palestine coach, was confident of his team’s success. ‘Kyrgyzstan are a good team but we came here to play in the final and we’re ready to play our best, we have adapted to the conditions well.’
   Kyrgyzstan coach Boris Podkorytov was a worried man. ‘We can only blame our luck, playing three matches in four days surely would affect our performances.’

Australia gave an early indication of how ruthless they can be on Bangladesh in the first Test of GrameenPhone Series after the side picked five specialist bowlers in the playing eleven.
   The decision to take five bowlers cost the place of all-rounder Andrew Symonds, who played in all three Tests in the recent series against South Africa and scored 101 runs at an average of 25.25.
   Paceman Jason Gillespie, middle-order batsman Michael Clarke and leg-spinner Stuart MacGill all were recalled while Symonds was demoted to 12th man.
   ‘We’ve gone with five bowlers rather than our usual four, having taken into account the workload on the three bowlers that were heavily used in the South African series and the expected conditions here,’ Australia captain Ricky Ponting said in a statement on Saturday.
   ‘Michael Clarke gets another opportunity at Test level, having been the twelfth man in South Africa. We believe he’s progressed in the last twelve months.
   ‘Stuart McGill has been brought back to exploit the conditions here in Bangladesh, which are likely to favour spin bowlers and Jason Gillespie has been rewarded after a summer’s hard work in domestic cricket.
   ‘He has been an outstanding performer in the past for Australia and will be looking forward to this Test match.’
   Gillespie has been selected to play his first match since being dumped during last season’s Ashes series loss in England while MacGill has been given the nod ahead of Symonds
   Mike Hussey is expected to replace Langer at the top order with Clarke, who was dropped from the Test side in November, filling Hussey’s vacant middle-order place.

Although one of the greatest teams of all time is in town, the spectators hardly showed any enthusiasm for the Bangladesh-Australia first Test match, which begins today at the Fatullah Cricket Stadium.
   Mohammad Badiuzzaman, the manager of The City Bank, Tanbazar Branch in Narayanganj, told the reporters that they
   only sold about 130 tickets on Friday, when it was made available.
   ‘It is very surprising. We had to struggle to control the spectators before the one-day matches against Kenya. 5,000 tickets were sold within a moment soon after we had started the sale,’ lamented the bank officer.
   Tickets for the first Test match are being sold from four branches of the bank in Dhaka and Narayanganj, but sources claimed the picture is not encouraging anywhere.
   ‘We too had sold 130 tickets on the first day. The other branch in Narayanganj sold at best five or six tickets on the day,’ claimed the manager of Tanbazar Branch.

Sri Lanka thrashed injury-hit Chinese Taipei 3-0 to storm into the semifinals of the AFC Challenge Cup at the MA Aziz Stadium, Chittagong, on Saturday.
   Sri Lankan defender Mohamed Izzadeen scored the first in the 44th minute and Sanjaya Pradeep Kumara doubled the margin in the 70th minute.
   Substitute Jeewantha Dhammika Ratnayaka scored the third in the 90th minute to complete the rout.
   In the semifinal, Sri Lanka will take on the winner of the second quarterfinal between India and Nepal to be played today at the same venue.

Bowlers are getting away with illegal actions because umpires are afraid of calling them for political reasons, according to West Indian fast bowling great Michael Holding.
   Holding, whose copybook, but lethal, bowling action earned him the nickname of Whispering Death, said it was not difficult to identify chuckers with the naked eye.
   ‘Once you see something with the naked eye, you should be reporting it and having it assessed and measured properly,’ Holding said in an interview in the April issue of Mumbai-based ‘Cricinfo’ magazine.
   ‘The difficulty is in the politics surrounding it, with people afraid to report certain players.’
   Holding, now a respected television commentator at 52, hinted the Pakistani tearaway Shoaib Akhtar still does not have a clean action despite being cleared to bowl by the International Cricket Council.
   ‘When you look at Shoaib Akhtar and (India’s) Rudra Pratap Singh from the front, you see a bent arm with one and a straight arm with the other,’ he said.
   ‘Politics is preventing people from doing what they should.’
   Holding added the way out was ‘to get people in authority who have the backbone to do what is right, and not what is politically expedient.’
   Holding, who claimed 249 wickets from 60 Tests in the 1970s and 1980s, said excessive workload was to blame for the steady decline of quality fast bowlers.
   ‘Its the workload,’ he said. ‘I wouldn’t have coped. I wouldn’t have been able to play 12 years of Test cricket. It’s ridiculous how much they’re playing.’
   The West Indian great said the use of helmets and protective gear had made it easier for batsmen to face fast bowling these days.
   ‘In our time we didn’t have a lot of protection, so you would easily find out who didn’t have the guts to stand up and face the fire.
   ‘A lot of batsmen today, their technique is so faulty that if they were to have that 30 years ago, they’d be dead. They now take their eyes off the ball knowing that even if it hits them on the head, the helmet will protect them.’
   Asked which current batsmen faced fast bowling well, Holding said: ‘I would say (Australian captain) Ricky Ponting.
   ‘Sachin Tendulkar - up to three years ago but not now. (England captain) Michael Vaughan. (Indian captain) Rahul Dravid, to a certain degree. Venkatsai Laxman too.’
   Holding rated Australian Dennis Lillee and Pakistan’s Imran Khan as the best fast bowlers of his time.
   ‘They had pace and they could do things with the ball,’ he said. ‘Dennis was pretty much the all-round fast bowler; he could do anything with the ball.
   ‘Imran was another who could intimidate people out with his pace and also get them with movement, especially into the right-hander.’

The PCB sought to dispel the fears that it had conceded all marketing, sponsorships, media rights for offshore matches to the BCCI and said it would prepare a separate tender for the 15 India-Pak overseas matches.
   Zee Telefilms forked out 219.15 million dollars to bag the global media rights of the offshore matches featuring India for a period of five years. The deal includes lucrative 15 India Pakistan matches on neutral venues.
   ‘PCB has no link with the multi-million dollar deal and we will work with India together to prepare a separate tender
   for all marketing rights for off-shore series between the two countries,’ Board chairman Shaharyar Khan told reporters here.
   According to certain media reports, the PCB had conceded the marketing rights to its
   Indian counterpart for the five-year series and under that agreement the Indian board signed the media rights’ deal, unilaterally.
   ‘PCB has only conceded the marketing right of two ODIs for the earthquake victims because that proposal also came from the Indian board, but as far as the five-year plan is concerned no such agreement was signed,’ Shaharyar said.
   India and Pakistan are playing ODIs in Abu Dhabi on April 18-19 to raise funds for October 8 earthquake victims.

In a fresh charge against Jagmohan Dalmiya, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has alleged that its former president has failed to provide proper explanation for withdrawing about Rs 1.52 crore (Rs 15.2 million) of board money.
   In addition, the board alleges that Dalmiya withdrew Rs 585,000 without proper explanation, says a board document prepared after Dalmiya’s reply to the show cause notice on ‘misappropriation of funds’.
   All this is besides the Rs 21.74 lakh (Rs 2.17 million) of the 1996 World Cup money that Dalmiya has allegedly spent on travel and hotel expenses after laying down the office of BCCI president in 2004.
   ‘Huge cash withdrawals amounting to approximately Rs 1.52 crore (Rs 15.2 million from Indian Overseas Bank (IOB), Bhowanipore, Kolkata have been made for which no proper explanation is available,’ BCCI says in the document.
   ‘In particular, cash withdrawals of Rs 65,000 per month during the period April 2005 to December 2005 have not been properly explained by Dalmiya in spite of a specific mention in the show cause notice issued to him,’ it says.
   The document further alleges that Rs 1.28 crore (Rs 12.8 million) had been paid for Dalmiya and his family.
   ‘Telephone bills amounting to Rs 1.28 crore have been paid for M L Dalmiya & Co. and other individuals in Dalmiya’s family,’ it says.
   ‘Moreover, payments have been made for telephone bills to MTNL, New Delhi, amounting to Rs 12.62 lakh (Rs 1.26 million). Why should Dalmiya pay telephone bill for a New Delhi telephone No? The World Cup legal cases were only fought in Kolkata. This is obviously not related to BCCI/World Cup 1996.’
   BCCI says in the document that ‘enough material’ has been collected against Dalmiya that a second show cause notice could be slapped on him.
   ‘There is enough material for a second show cause notice based on the details furnished (so far).’
   The above allegations come on the heels of an investigation by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Dalmiya, former treasurers Kishore Rungta and Jyoti Bajpai, ex-secretary S K Nair, manager of IOB, Bhowanipore, Kolkata, where the account in question, No 1223, was maintained, and Dalmiya’s personal secretary K N Choudhury.
   After BCCI lodged an FIR with the Marine Drive police station in Mumbai last month, Dalmiya moved the Bombay High Court that gave them a reprieve till April 10, during which period the EOW officials quizzed the five in Mumbai and in Kolkata.
   The main charge against Dalmiya is that he has not provided satisfactory proof of Rs 2.17 million, taken out of BCCI’s A/c No 1223. He has told the media that he was entitled to reimbursement of this amount as per a resolution of the BCCI working committee.
   ‘However, in his latest reply he has come up with a totally different explanation saying that these expenses relate to travel and other expenses for attending meetings of special nature during the period after laying down office as president, BCCI,’ says the document.
   ‘This clearly shows that he is confused and is not able to come up with a satisfactory explanation for the amount of Rs 21.74 lakh spent out of this bank account,’ it said.
   The document further says: ‘Moreover, in his own reply to the show cause notice he had admitted that these expenses are not related to World Cup 1996. In other words, he admits to improper use of funds.’

Graeme Smith has been cleared to lead South Africa in the first Test against New Zealand, which starts next Saturday at Centurion Park.
   Smith missed the final match of the recent home series against Australia after injuring a finger in practice. Jacques Kallis reverts to the role of vice-captain in an unchanged 16-man squad named by the selectors.
   ‘They deserve another opportunity against New Zealand,’ chief selector Haroon Lorgat commented.
   ‘We believe the experience (of playing Australia) will stand them in good stead.
   ‘We will, however, monitor performances carefully as we seek to build a successful Test team.’
   Squad: G Smith (capt), J Kallis (vice-captain), AB de Villiers, H Gibbs, A Prince, J Rudolph, M Boucher (wkt), S Pollock, N Boje, A Nel, M Ntini, B Dippenaar, A Hall, G Kruger, H Amla, D Steyn.

Having received 4-0 drubbing from the hosts in the ongoing seven-match One-day series, England bowler Matthew Hoggard on Friday conceded that India are at present the best One-day side in the world.
   ‘They are the best One-day team in the world and records prove it,’ Hoggard said at a press conference here.
   India on Thursday set a world record by registering 15 wins on the trot while chasing, erasing West Indies’ record of 14 consecutive wins batting second.
   The England seamer also expressed disappointment over not being able to perform well in the fourth ODI here yesterday, but put down his lack of performance to a ‘loss of rhythm.’ Hoggard, who did not take any wickets during his nine overs on Thursday while yielding 59 runs, said that he was not picked up to play in the first three ODIs and then selected for the fourth One-dayer, which led to loss of rhythm.
   ‘Yesterday, I could not bowl as well as I hoped. I was disappointed. I did not play in the first three ODIs at Delhi, Faridabad and Goa. I was picked up for playing in the fourth ODI.

Test veteran Neil McKenzie and promising youngster Jean-Paul Duminy punished the touring New Zealanders in an unbeaten fourth wicket stand of 248 for the Rest of South Africa on the first day of a four-day match at Willowmoore Park Friday.
   The Rest of South Africa reached 355 for three at the close, with both batsmen on 125 not out. It was hardly the warm-up the Black Caps were seeking ahead of a three-Test series against South Africa starting at Centurion on April 15.
   But it was the sort of performance pledged by McKenzie, the Rest captain, ahead of the match when he said his players would be seeking to force the national selectors’ hands and to get the New Zealanders’ tour off to a losing start.
   McKenzie, 30, has played in 41 Tests but hasn’t been selected for two seasons despite good domestic form in the current season.
   The left-handed Duminy, a week short of his 22nd birthday, has played in five one-day internationals and is regarded as one of the country’s most promising young batsmen.

Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho has rubbished reports linking him with a summer move to Italian side Internazionale.
   Inter have once again failed to come up to expectations and the pressure increased on coach Roberto Mancini in midweek when they slipped out of the UEFA Champions League to Villarreal.
   Mancini seems to still have the support of supremo Massimo Moratti, although club president Giacinto Facchetti would appear to be pinning the blame for the European exit at the door of the coach and the media believe he is on borrowed time and are talking up his successor.
   Mourinho is a hot topic of debate at present and the Italian media have been championing his cause for the Inter job, but the Portuguese chief, who seems set to add a second Premiership crown to the Stamford Bridge trophy cabinet, is content in West London and has no plans to seek a new challenge.
   ‘Last year I said in an interview that after having coached in England, I would like to move to Italy,’ he told Gazzetta dello Sport. ‘But that was a year ago and it is being talked about like I said it a week ago.
   ‘Someone also writes that I am going to Inter. It isn’t true.
   ‘I repeat, hoping to be clear, I have a contract with Chelsea until 2010 and I want to stay.’
   Mourinho also moved to dismiss speculation which claimed his relationship with Blues chief executive Peter Kenyon is at breaking point.
   The pair are reported to be barely on speaking terms, but the Portuguese has dismissed talk that he is on borrowed time.
   ‘According to certain press I have problems with everyone,’ he added. ‘With Kenyon, with the dog, with the cat.
   ‘If they want me to leave why are they letting me plan for next season?
   ‘Why are they allowing me to talk with players I want to bring to Chelsea?’

German international goalkeeper Jens Lehmann has had to play second fiddle to Oliver Kahn for eight frustrating years but his patience was rewarded on Friday when he was named as first choice for the 2006 World Cup.
   Arsenal goalkeeper Lehmann was Kahn’s deputy at two World Cups (1998, 2002) and two European championships (2000, 2004) but has finally nudged him from the number one spot with Germany manager Jurgen Klinsmann confirming him as first choice on Friday.
   ‘I am delighted by the decision and will do everything to justify the faith shown in me,’ Lehmann enthused.
   ‘I have sat on the substitutes bench four times at World Cups and European championships so I know what it is like not to play.’
   The 36-year-old Lehmann has won just 29 caps since making his debut in February 1998 against Oman but that did not deter Klinsmann from picking him ahead of Kahn, who has 84 caps to his name.
   Previous German managers Berti Vogts, Erich Ribbeck and Rudi Voller had all favoured Kahn and Lehmann complained that it was almost impossible to take his place as he was also the team captain.
   Lehmann was given the opportunity to vye with Kahn, 36, for the number one jersey - with both shot-stoppers rotated in goal - and he grabbed it with both hands.
   ‘Almost a year ago, in August, Oliver was in front but Jens has played very well these last few months, since the start of the season, and now he is ahead of Oliver. We think he is a tiny bit better,’ said Klinsmann.
   Lehmann has had arguably his best ever season helping Arsenal reach the semi-finals of the Champions League while Kahn conceded five as AC Milan routed Bayern 5-2 in the last 16 of the competition.
   In the last four Champions League games against Real Madrid and Juventus, Arsenal did not concede a single goal on route to the last four. That was in no small part to Lehmann who expertly marshalled Arsenal’s inexperienced backline.
   Abou Diaby, 19, Mathieu Flamini, 22, Philippe Senderos, 21 and the 25-year-old Kolo Toure all looked up to the 36-year-old veteran Lehmann. Germany also have a young defence with Per Mertesacker, Philipp Lahm and Robert Huth all in the early 20s and Klinsmann admitted that tilted the scales in Lehmann’s favour.
   ‘We have confidence in him, we are convinced he will know how to organise our relatively young defence,’ Klinsmann added.
   Lehmann’s reading of the game and speed off his line were also said to be decisive factors with Kahn often preferring to stay on his line and trust his shot-stopping.
   Lehmann can have his crazy moments, reflected in his ‘Tarzan’ nickname, but Klinsmann seems convinced that he is mentally tough enough for Germany’s World Cup opener against Costa Rica on June 9. Ironically the match takes place in Munich on Kahn’s home ground.

Romario is one of the greatest goalscorers in soccer history. Miami FC is an expansion team in the second division of US soccer.
   And the Brazilian star says the two are perfect for one another.
   ‘I don’t worry about what other people think,’ Romario said. ‘I am happy with my decision.’
   Miami FC, which will begin play in the 12-team United Soccer League first division on April 23, formally introduced Brazil’s 1994 World Cup hero to South Florida on Friday. The 40-year-old Romario will be in the lineup when Miami opens its season against the Montreal Impact.
   The USL is the second-highest level of professional soccer in the US behind Major League Soccer.
   ‘This is going to be the last opportunity of my career to play for a team outside my country,’ Romario said during a news conference at Tropical Park, where Miami will play its home matches.
   For a player of Romario’s stature, the shift to a league composed primarily of undeveloped players after he graced the fields of Brazil, Spain and the Netherlands, seems peculiar at this stage of his career.
   Yet Romario is content with the move, even after leading the Brazilian national championship with 22 goals last season. And so are Brazil’s fans, according to Miami FC president Julio Mariz, who negotiated with Romario for several weeks before reaching a deal late last week.
   ‘The people came to the conclusion that it would be an important change for him,’ Mariz said.
   Romario reportedly has 964 career goals, and there is speculation that he’ll return to the Brazilian club Vasco da Gama if he nears the 1,000-goal milestone this season.
   ‘Today I have nothing else with Vasco, my contract is with Miami,’ Romario said. ‘I come here with two purposes - to help the team win and to be a goal scorer.’
   While in Miami, Romario will find the obvious contrasts between soccer-passionate fans at Brazil’s 150,000-seat Maracana Stadium and Tropical Park, which features two open bleachers and seats only 7,000.
   ‘I don’t like to talk about the past,’ Romario said. ‘I am sure the team here in Miami will be dedicated to win every game. And perhaps on this field, I will also score memorable goals.’
   His new teammates, many of whom were in early grade school when Romario began his career, expect a smooth adjustment playing alongside the superstar.
   ‘How can you not want him as a teammate?’ goalkeeper Chris Doyle said. ‘At first there might be some awe that he is your teammate. But we will get over that and will benefit from his presence on the team. The greatest players make the players around them better.’

Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would be welcome in Germany to cheer on his team at the World Cup but he would be taken to task for his anti-Israel comments, a German minister said on Saturday.
   ‘Naturally he can come to the matches,’ Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said.
   ‘It won’t be a simple matter because of the things that he has said in the past that are simply unacceptable. But my advice is we should be good hosts. We want to be better.
   ‘But I will certainly have a talk with him about the remarks he made,’ said Schaeuble during a podium discussion about the role of Germany’s soccer federation (DFB) during the Nazi era.
   The head of the Iran soccer federation said this week that his president, a keen soccer fan, was considering coming to Germany for the tournament which starts on June 9.
   Ahmadinejad has been criticised in Germany and around the world for inflammatory remarks about Israel, saying the country ‘should be wiped off the map’ and questioning whether six million Jews were killed by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
   Holocaust denial is a serious crime punishable with a prison term of up to five years in Germany.
   German Chancellor Angela Merkel has called Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust statements unacceptable but said she was against banning Iran from the World Cup, despite such calls from a number of German and Israeli lawmakers.
   Iran has also refused demands by Russia, China and Western countries to suspend activities that could be used to make nuclear weapons, insisting it has the sovereign right to a full nuclear programme.
   Iran play Mexico in their first World Cup match on June 11.

Chelsea have moved closer to getting a double deal for Michael Ballack and teenage sensation Freddy Adu this summer.
   Bayern Munich midfielder Ballack is available on a Bosman-style free this summer, and Ghanianborn Adu, 17, currently with US Major League’s DC United, is the biggest young prospect in the world.
   Meanwhile, Mourinho insists prospective signing Michael Ballack will not come to Stamford Bridge as Frank Lampard’s replacement.
   Of the Bayern Munich star, Mourinho insisted: ‘At the moment this is something without interest for us. He doesn’t know what to do - whether to stay in Germany at Bayern, come to Chelsea or maybe go to Real Madrid or Barcelona.
   ‘Every big club wants a player like him. But it looks to me that he is in doubt. He’s a player that I like and big players can play together.
   ‘The problem is bad players playing together. Then there’s a big confusion on the pitch!’

Manchester United owner Malcolm Glazer has told BBC Sport he is enjoying running ‘a wonderful franchise’ in his
   first interview with the British media.
   The American was speaking to BBC Radio Five Live in an interview that will be broadcast on Tuesday.
   Glazer, who took over the Old Trafford outfit last June, said: ‘We are enjoying it greatly. It’s a wonderful franchise and we just love it.’
   But he would not talk about fans’ concerns over the future of the club.
   The American, who was on his way to the annual NFL owners’ meeting in Orlando, was asked: ‘Do you want to reassure
   fans about the future of Manchester United? Some are quite worried.’
   He replied: ‘I don’t want to get into that now. I just want to say hello. I am here for a meeting.’
   Glazer, who also owns the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in American Football’s NFL, added: ‘We (Manchester United) are going to do just great. It’s a great franchise.’
   Many Manchester United fans fiercely protested against Glazer’s £790m buyout of the club last summer.
   Some were so disenchanted that they formed the breakaway club FC United.

Sir Alex Ferguson has warned Chelsea they will face increased competition from both Manchester United and Arsenal in the Barclays Premiership next season.
   While Blues boss Jose Mourinho has continued to delve deep into Roman Abramovich’s wallet to fund his pursuit of glory, Ferguson and Arsene Wenger have attempted to mould developing youngsters into an emerging side.
   United and Arsenal have lost one-time key men Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira, yet they are also starting to look stronger as a result. Although United would have loved to accompany Arsenal into the last four of the Champions League, they do already have the Carling Cup deposited safely in the Old Trafford trophy room and retain an outside chance of pipping Chelsea to this season’s championship.
   With only six games remaining, Ferguson acknowledges the Stamford Bridge outfit remain favourites to retain their crown.
   Yet he confidently predicts that United and Arsenal, who do battle at Old Trafford on Sunday, will prove far more determined foes next term.
   ‘Next season could be really exciting as far as the league is concerned,’ said Ferguson.
   ‘You can see promise in both ourselves and Arsenal. We cannot have the same expenditure as Chelsea, so we have to do things in a different way.
   ‘At Christmas it was difficult to know who was getting the most flak, Arsenal or ourselves.
   ‘But both Arsene Wenger and myself are too experienced to let it get to us. We trusted our young players and now that confidence is being repaid.’
   United extended their winning Premiership sequence to eight matches against Bolton last weekend and another triumph on Sunday would represent their longest sequence of victories in a single season since the 1999-2000 title-winning campaign. Of far more consequence to Ferguson, it would also get the hardest game United have to face until they tackle Chelsea at the end of the month out of the way, and put them in with a real chance of catching last season’s champions.
   ‘This is a major opportunity for us,’ said Ferguson.
   ‘Chelsea have dropped points and when your form starts to go in April, it is not easy to get it back. It is not liking turning the gas on and off.
   ‘Chelsea are still in the driving seat but the situation is not quite so settled as it once seemed. If we can beat Arsenal, I think we will be difficult to live with.’

Diego Maradona is considering the possibility of coaching the Argentine national team after the World Cup, and believes Ronaldinho is in a different class to other players.
   Maradona made the comments shortly after arriving in Brazil Friday night for an indoor soccer friendly between former national team players from Brazil and Argentina.
   ‘Yeah, I’m considering the possibility of coaching Argentina,’ Maradona
   said. ‘But it’s hard to talk about this
   right now, when we have (Jose) Pekerman on the job and just before the Cup. This is something for the future.’
   Maradona’s agent and former player, Alejandro Mancuso, confirmed the star’s intentions.
   ‘His name is always mentioned when there’s talk about the national team’s coach,’ Mancuso said. ‘He wants to do it, of course.’
   Maradona said Pekerman would likely secure his job for a long time if Argentina wins the World Cup in Germany, however.
   ‘Then I could become an option for the youth squads, or as a coordinator, we’ll see,’ Maradona said.
   The Argentine hailed Brazil midfielder Ronaldinho as the best player in the world and said he is playing at a different level to other players.
   ‘It’s a lot of fun to watch him play,’ Maradona said. ‘He does incredible things with the ball.’
   Ronaldinho, FIFA’s player of the year for the past two seasons, helped Brazil win its fifth world title in 2002.
   Maradona will join former national team players Mancuso, Jose Basualdo, Sergio Goycochea and Jorge Burruchaga for the friendly on Saturday night.
   Brazil’s players include Dunga, Bebeto, Zetti, Aldair, Careca and Muller.
   It will be the third match between the squads. Brazil won the first 8-4 in Brasilia, and the teams drew the second 7-7 in Buenos Aires.

Sir Alex Ferguson and Wayne Rooney have won the Barclays Manager and Player of the Month awards for March.
   Manchester United’s form last month saw them record an impressive five wins from five games and in the process close the gap on champions Chelsea to seven points.
   With 15 points accumulated after taking maximum spoils against West Brom, Wigan, West Ham, Birmingham and Newcastle, United were The Premiership’s form team for March and their success has now been recognised.
   Ferguson is no stranger to the manager of the month gong as this is his 16th in total, a record for any top flight manager.
   Rooney’s fantastic form will delight not just Ferguson but also England coach Sven Goran Eriksson as the World Cup looms on the horizon, with the precociously gifted striker having scored three goals and had many more assists in what was an excellent month.

Juan Roman Riquelme will snub a move to Manchester United - because he doesn’t speak any English.
   Villarreal’s play-maker is on Sir Alex Ferguson’s hit-list after he watched him twice recently in the Champions League.
   But a pal of the Argentine revealed: ‘Juan Roman is settled in Spain where he has his friends and can live comfortably and without fuss.’

Arsene Wenger will abandon his recipe for European success as he seeks a formula to wreck Manchester United’s challenge to Chelsea in the Premiership title race.
   Arsenal have advanced to the last four of the Champions League largely thanks to a system under which Thierry Henry is employed as a lone striker.
   But Gunners boss Wenger does not believe that kind of approach is the right one for his side’s first visit to Old Trafford since United ended their 49-match unbeaten run last season.
   ‘I believe we will play with two strikers because it is a game we want to win,’ Wenger said, indicating that Emmanuel Adebayor will partner Henry up front against a United team that is looking for a ninth straight win in the Premiership.
   While United are seeking to chase down Chelsea at the top, Arsenal are engaged in a tight battle with Tottenham and Blackburn for fourth spot in the table and Wenger admitted: ‘We are in a position where one point is not good enough.’
   With Arsenal having recently returned to the kind of form that generated that record unbeaten run, Wenger played down suggestions that he and his players would be on a revenge mission in Manchester.
   ‘The way our team plays at the moment, we are really back to our best,’ he said. ‘But it can also be strengthened by winning a game away from home.
   ‘Losing at Old Trafford last season was a big disappointment because it was the end of one and half years without losing a game. You never forget that.
   ‘But what is much more important to me is to look forward. We are in a new adventure with this team.
   ‘United are also coming back stronger and that is why it is an interesting game.’
   A positive result for Arsenal would be a major boost in their push to secure fourth place in the Premiership and guarantee a return to the Champions League next season. It would also effectively end United’s hopes of closing a seven-point gap on Chelsea at the top of the table.
   ‘The advantage Man Utd have is they will know the result of Chelsea’s game at West Ham,’ Wenger said. ‘Even if Chelsea win it is an advantage for them because they will be in a situation where they cannot afford to drop points.’
   There has seldom been a United-Arsenal fixture in recent years that has not proved critical to the outcome of the league title, with the two clubs going on to be champions in eleven of the 13 Premiership campaigns.
   And despite Chelsea’s emergence as the dominant force in the land under Jose Mourinho, Ferguson believes today’s Old Trafford encounter could be another turning point.
   The Scot believes a combination of momentum and belief are driving his players into the final month of the season, in sharp contrast to Mourinho’s claim that he is more worried by bird flu arriving in Britain than the prospect of United preventing his side from retaining the title.
   Ferguson said: ‘It’s got to be acknowledged that they (Chelsea) are still in the driving seat, but the outcome is not quite so settled as it once seemed, especially if we can rise to the occasion with a good result against Arsenal.
   ‘Indeed, I would go so far as to say that, if we can win the game, then I believe we are capable of going all the way.
   ‘I think we will be difficult to live with and we will see what Chelsea are made of on the last lap, especially when we go to Stamford Bridge almost on the finishing line on April 29. That game could become a decider.
   ‘Seven points is a lot of points to claw back, especially in the last few weeks of the season. But we lost a seven-point lead in 1992 when three defeats in four games cost us the title. It was a collapse that was very hard to take and it left us really sore.
   ‘I’m not analyzing every pass that Chelsea make, but you can’t turn your form on and off like gas. Fortunately, our form is good and it is good at the right time of the year. We have a chance of winning the title. If your form is good in April, then you have a chance.’
   Arsenal midfielder Alexander Hleb meanwhile admitted that Gunners would be arriving at Old Trafford with ‘no more margins for error.’
   ‘The Champions League and Premier League are equal priorities for us and, since we lost so many points in the first half of the season, we need to try to catch them up.’
   Wenger had admitted that he could recall fit-again Sol Campbell for today’s match—although the England centreback may have to wait until Wednesday’s Premiership trip to Portsmouth to start his first fixture since February 1.

Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari was reported Saturday to be still on the shortlist to replace Sven Goran-Eriksson as England manager after the World Cup.
   The Football Association this week whittled down their choice of candidates to just a handful of men, a group widely thought to comprise Martin O’Neill, Sam Allardyce, Steve McLaren and Alan Curbishley.
   After being initially linked to the post Scolari appeared to have dropped out of contention with the FA preferring instead to focus on findsing a homegrown manager to succeed the Swede.
   But on Saturday The Sun reported that the 57-year-old Brazilian was still very much in the race after the first round of interviews as a result of pressure from Arsenal’s David Dein, a member of the FA’s search party for the man to lead England to Euro 2008 and beyond.
   According to the paper Dein, who was a driving force behind the hiring of Eriksson five years ago, is a committed Scolari supporter.
   Last month Scolari was widely reported to have held informal talks with the FA about the post, reports that the man who guided Brazil to the 2002 World Cup title later denied. But when tackled on the possibility of taking charge of England ‘Big Phil’ said: ‘Working in England would be great. I am 57 and still have ambitions.
   ‘Dealing with all the Brazilian stars is tough work. It would be easier to manage the likes of Beckham, Owen, Rooney and Terry.’

Many fans of Argentina’s most popular soccer team, Boca Juniors, pledge eternal devotion to the club. And with new Boca caskets on sale, they can put their money where their mouths are.
   Die-hard fans can buy their own coffins decorated in Boca colors and symbols for between 2,000 pesos and 2,500 pesos ($650 to $800), a small fortune for many of Boca’s working-class followers.
   ‘The coffin lets me express my feelings and show what happened to me during my life. And maybe it will bring a smile to someone’s face who remembers when we went to see a match together,’ said Hernan Marini, who works with a funeral home that offers the caskets to prospective corpses.
   Marini, 24, is buying a blue coffin etched with the team’s shield on its lid—the subtlest of three official Boca Juniors caskets made in a factory outside Buenos Aires.
   The idea is not entirely original. One of Boca’s soccer field chants says: ‘The day I die, I want my coffin, painted blue and gold, like my heart.’
   The coffin comes in two, flashier versions, one in a bright, solid blue and the other which is blue with a painted yellow banner ‘draped’ on the outside. Both sport the Boca shield.
   Marini said on Friday he didn’t want to go overboard with the colors and symbols.

Spanish giants Real Madrid and humble French second division outfit Reims may not have much in common these days but half a century ago it was a different story altogether.
   On June 13, 1956, the two sides met in the first European Cup final, with Real winning the match 4-3 in Paris.
   And to mark the 50th anniversary of that game Real have invited Reims to an exhibition fixture on May 9 to inaugurate their new training stadium in the suburbs of the Spanish capital.
   The stadium has been named in honour of Alfredo di Stefano, the legendary Argentinian player who led Real to five consecutive European titles between 1956 and 1960.
   Real vice-president Emilio Butragueno said next month’s game would serve to ‘unite us around the figure of di Stefano and recall a fixture that changed our history’.
   While his club have gone on to be crowned champions of Europe nine times the intervening years have not been so kind to their fellow 1956 finalists with Reims currently languishing in 11th place in the French second division.

Three-time World Player of the Year Ronaldo gave his biggest hint yet Friday that he will leave Spanish giants
   Real Madrid at the end of the season, two months after saying he felt unhappy.
   The Brazilian striker is in his fourth year at the club but his tenuous relationship with fans at the Bernabeu, which erupted in February when he lashed out at them in an interview after he was roundly jeered during a Champions League defeat to
   Arsenal, led him to admitting he was unhappy.
   Ronaldo shocked the club by saying he had never felt at home in Madrid, feeling that fans had never taken to him despite his goalscoring exploits.
   His comments prompted AS sports daily to opine in February that ‘the board of directors has initiated the transfer of Ronaldo.’
   Speaking at a press conference Friday he suggested that his spell at the nine-time European champions was coming to a close.
   ‘I am the last to decide - I have a contract with Madrid and I have my wishes,’ he said. ‘I’ve not taken any decision.’
   Turning his attention to his treatment by the fans, he added: ‘I don’t want to talk about my relationship with the Bernabeu fans - I said what had to be said.’
   Ronaldo was alluding to his previous comment that the fans never showed any patience with him, although he did accept that a good performance generally brought due praise from the crowd.
   ‘Goals are the solution to everything. When you score the fans are happier and there is less controversy,’ he said.
   Ronaldo, who has been linked with former club Inter Milan and their city rivals AC Milan, said nevertheless little had changed in his heart despite recent good form which included a goal that rescued a point last weekend at Barcelona.
   ‘I still think the same way but I don’t want to talk too much about it as anything you do say could make things worse. I am not sad but want to avoid a controversy.’
   Ronaldo, who arrived in Madrid fresh from 2002 World Cup glory, has won one Spanish league title but
   failed to land the Champions League he craves with the club continually flopping in Europe’s premier competition.
   He added that his status in the game meant it seemed there were ‘big repercussions around the world’ if he was off his game, but during such periods he felt as if he had the cares of the world to carry on his shoulders, despite being club top scorer with 13 in the league.
   This season, Real are set to make it three years without a trophy having been dumped out of the Champions League by Arsenal in the last 16 after failing to score in either leg and sitting 11 points behind Barcelona as the league enters its final strait.

American Chad Campbell upstaged golf’s biggest names by charging into a three-shot lead in the US Masters second round on Friday.
   Four strokes off the pace overnight, the 31-year-old Texan fired a five-under-par 67 in gusting winds at Augusta National to finish on six-under 138.
   Compatriot Rocco Mediate ground out a 73 for a share of second place with first-round leader Vijay Singh, who recovered from three double-bogeys to return a gutsy 74, and 1992 winner Fred Couples.
   Couples, 46, lipped out with a birdie attempt from eight feet at the last before signing for a 70 that allowed him to make his 22nd consecutive cut at Augusta.
   World number one Tiger Woods followed his opening 72 with a 71 to climb into a share of 10th spot at one under.
   Two more of the game’s ‘Big Five’ were lurking in a five-way tie for fifth at two under.
   World number four Phil Mickelson, the 2004 champion, bogeyed the last for a 72 while fifth-ranked Ernie Els carded a second successive 71.
   Fijian Singh’s recovery after a slide down the leaderboard that featured consecutive double-bogeys on four and five was one of the outstanding feats of the day.
   Left-hander Mickelson, one of the tournament favourites after romping to a 13-stroke victory at last week’s BellSouth Classic, was also satisfied.
   Three-times major winner Els, who finished in the top six at Augusta every year between 2000 and 2004, liked his chances over the weekend.
   Chasing his fifth green jacket, holder Woods slipped to one over for the tournament after the first seven holes but a solid finish left him in place to challenge for an 11th major title over the weekend.
   Twice winner Ben Crenshaw made his first Masters cut in nine years, adding a 72 to his first-round 71.
   The cut fell at four-over 148 with 47 players advancing into the last three rounds.

Mohamed Sissoko has emerged as the favourite to be named Liverpool’s player of the year after battling his way back from a horrific eye injury that had threatened to end his career.
   The 5.6-million-pound midfielder feared his playing days were over when he was temporarily blinded in one eye after being kicked in the face during a Champions League match against Benfica in February.
   But the Mali-born Frenchman has defied the odds to return to the Liverpool starting line-up, providing admiration and inspiration for his team-mates.
   ‘Sissoko has been one of the top performers this season, not just for Liverpool but right across the country, and he is only 21,’ said Liverpool’s England defender Jamie Carragher.
   ‘To come back from the accident he had in Lisbon has been impressive, and to come straight back into big matches like the derby says it all, he has been tremendous for us all season.’
   Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez knew all about Sissoko from his time at Valencia.
   ‘When the technical director at Valencia decided to sign him I gave him every support,’ Benitez recalled. ‘He was initially signed for the reserve team but in pre-season I said: ‘He will stay with us in the first-team squad’.
   ‘We were surprised to see how much energy he had and how hard he worked. He was so focused, is a good professional and a nice young man.
   ‘As a manager he is the kind of player you like to have when he is young because you can work and teach him, he is like a sponge.’
   Sissoko is expected to line up in midfield today as Liverpool take on Bolton at Anfield. Steven Gerrard will be alongside him after serving a one-match suspension for the red card he received in the derby win over Everton two weeks ago.
   Robbie Fowler, who is desperate to persuade Benitez to offer him a contract for next season, is expected to mark his 31st birthday by partnering Peter Crouch in attack.

Four of the biggest names in professional tennis history took the court for charity on the evening of Wednesday as The Mercedes-Benz Classic III rolled into the St Pete Times Forum in Tampa for the third consecutive year.
   The event fundraises for the Raymond James Courier’s Kids Foundation (RJCK).
   The event kicked off with former No 1s and multiple Grand Slam champions Jim Courier (the event founder) and John McEnroe battling it out in
   style, with Courier’s baseline game providing a heavy contrast to the net-rushing style of McEnroe.
   After splitting the first two sets, both of which went to tie-breaks, the players battled it out in a heated third-set super-tie-
   break, with the four-time major titlist Courier scrapping back from a 6-2 deficit to the seven-time major winner to clinch it 10-6.
   After a short break, the pair was joined on court by another former No 1, Chris Evert, and former Top 10 player Anna Kournikova for a mixed doubles match.
   Both Evert and Kournikova expressed how delighted they were to help Courier’s cause by participating in the exhibition event.
   ‘Jim was always there from day one when I had my charity event,’ said Evert, an 18-time Grand Slam champion.
   ‘Jim gives back more than any other player. He has like four, five events a year, and I just had the one. How can you say no?’
   ‘Jim’s a great person,’ Kournikova said. ‘I’m looking forward to playing in front of my fans again.
   ‘There’s absolutely no pressure. Also, kids have always been a passion of mine... something just happens to me when I am around kids.’
   Raymond James Courier’s Kids is a fund dedicated to providing opportunities and life alternatives to ‘at risk’ children.
   The Tennis Foundation of St. Petersburg is one of the outstanding programs that the foundation supports.
   This programme was recently responsible for saving a Florida inner city tennis facility that was scheduled to be torn down.
   ‘For kids with working parents, in certain areas, free time can be dangerous,’ Evert added.
   ‘I just think that tennis is a great sport. That’s the great thing about all of this. If these kids play tennis, that keeps them out of trouble and solves all of their problems.’
   The organisation began in March 2004 when a group of Courier’s friends came together to back his ongoing efforts to support underprivileged children.
   Former participants in the series include Andre Agassi, Jennifer Capriati, Andy Roddick and James Blake.

Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley ground down Max Mirnyi and Vladimir Voltchkov 3-6, 6-4, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5 to give Australia an unassailable 3-0 lead over Belarus in their Davis Cup quarter-final on Saturday.
   The Australian pair coped better with the blustery conditions at Kooyong, sealing victory on their third match point when Voltchkov sent a service return long.
   The Belarussians started well, breaking Hanley’s serve in the eighth game on the way to wining the opening set. Arthurs and Hanley then broke Mirnyi before levelling the match, but Voltchkov was the inspiration as Belarus again broke Hanley’s serve in the third set to edge ahead.
   Belarus scented victory when they created two break points on Arthurs’ serve at 2-2 in the fourth, but the left-hander dug in to hold and the Australians immediately broke Mirnyi again.
   Voltchkov then lost his serve in the 11th game of the deciding set and Hanley calmly served out to seal victory in nearly four hours.
   Chris Guccione and Lleyton Hewitt had given Australia a 2-0 lead with victories over Mirnyi and Voltchkov in the opening singles matches on Friday. Australia will play holders Croatia or Argentina in the semi-finals.

Chelsea may be wobbling at the top of the Premiership, with the champions’ lead now whittled down to just seven points ahead of their London derby against West Ham this weekend.
   But as far as manager Jose Mourinhos is concerned the threat to their hopes of clinching back-to-back titles posed by a resurgent Manchester United is as nothing compared to the risk of bird flu, which has become a talking point in Britain after a swan that died in Scotland was confirmed Thursday to be carrying the H5N1 strain of the disease, potentially fatal to humans.
   ‘Pressure? No. For me, pressure is bird flu. I’m serious. I’m feeling a lot of pressure with the swan in Scotland,’ Mourinho said.
   ‘You are laughing but I’m serious - it’s not far. I am more scared of the swan than football. What is football compared to life? For me the swan is the drama of the last two days. Maybe I have to buy some masks or something.’
   United have won eight games in a row to turn what had looked like a procession into something approaching a title race and Mourinho admitted it had been a ‘fantastic’ performance by Sir Alex Ferguson’s team.
   However, the Portuguese - who saw his side lose a West London derby against Fulham before being held to a goalless draw by struggling Birmingham in their last two league matches - insisted: ‘But to say I am concerned I don’t think is the correct word.
   ‘Of course I prefer to have 15 points lead than seven, but I also prefer to have seven than none,’ the Portuguese added Friday at Chelsea’s training ground.