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Jurgen Klinsmann announced here on Wednesday that he was stepping down as coach of Germany and will be replaced by his assistant Joachim Loew. His resignation comes just four days after he led Germany to third place in the World Cup finals at home an achievement which had fans and players alike clamouring for him to remain in the job.
   ‘My big wish is to go back to my family, to go back to leading a normal life with them,’ the California-based manager said.
   ‘But another important reason is that after two years of putting a lot of energy into this, I feel that I lack the power and the strength to continue in the same way.
   ‘I quite simply feel burnt out. I want to give myself half a year’s holiday.’
   The 41-year-old Klinsmann, who won the World Cup as a player with Germany in 1990, took over as coach from Rudi Voeller after Germany’s poor showing at the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal.
   He struggled initially to improve performances with the low point being a 4-1 defeat to Italy in a friendly in March.
   But after introducing a group of younger players, the nation rallied behind the team and they topped their World Cup finals first round group over Costa Rica, Poland and Ecuador.
   They then went on to defeat Sweden and Argentina to reach the semi-finals of the competition where they lost to Italy 2-0 after an extra-time thriller.
   More than one million people turned out the following day in central Berlin to pay tribute to Klinsmann and his squad.
   The German Football Federation had wanted Klinsmann to stay on and prepare the team for the Euro 2008 qualification programme, but he has decided otherwise.
   Klinsmann said he felt he had left a legacy that could be built upon and that Loew was the best man to succeed him.
   ‘The only sensible option has been to ask Joachim to lead them further. I am very glad that he has taken up this challenge.’
   ‘I have always said that he was much more than an assistant trainer. He was always a firm partner. My role was perhaps that of a supervisor.’
   ‘I did not manage to reach all of the players last night. I will call them over the next few days to thank them for this incredible experience.’
   German Football Federation chief Theo Zwanziger said that although he had wanted Klinsmann to stay on, he nevertheless respected his decision.
   ‘This is how he feels and one cannot ask somebody to go against that. If you do, then things are not the same as before anymore.’
   ‘We have agreed that whatever happens, we will keep the methods and the play philosophy that has given us such attractive football.
   ‘We will walk this road with Joachim Loew. He has agreed to a two-year contract.’
   The 46-year-old Loew is a low-profile choice as national coach never having played for his country at the top level. Like Klinsmann he started off his career at Stuttgart before playing with several modest German clubs.
   His first coaching position was with Stuttgart in 1996 and he went on to take charge of clubs in Turkey and in Austria before joining Klinsmann as assistant national coach in August 2004.
   ‘I am delighted to continue with these players,’ he said of his appointment.
   ‘We have to make sure they do not fall into a hole, we want to help and hold them. We want to become the European champions.’

FIFA may strip disgraced French skipper Zinedine Zidane of his World Cup best player award, the organisation’s president Sepp Blatter has told Italian newspapers.
   Zidane was announced as the winner of the prestigious award on Monday morning, the day after the World Cup final which saw him sent off in the second period of extra time for head-butting an Italian opponent.
   Italy went on to defeat France 5-3 on penalties after the game in Berlin’s Olympic Stadium was tied at 1-1.
   FIFA has since launched an investigation into the sending off incident involving Zidane and Italian defender Marco Materazzi.
   Zidane claims he was reacting to insults aimed at him by Materazzi and is scheduled to give his version of events live on French television on Wednesday evening.
   Blatter said that before taking any decision on whether to strip Zidane of the best player award, he wanted to see the results of the FIFA investigation.
   ‘It’s not FIFA that decides who wins this award but an international committee of journalists,’ he told La Repubblica newspaper.
   ‘All the same, the FIFA executive committee has the responsibility of intervening when it is a matter of conduct which goes against the ethics of the sport.’
   ‘That is why I gave the orders to our disciplinary commission to investigate what happened.’
   Voting by journalists covering the World Cup for the best player award is by a deadline of midnight on the day of the final, but most journalists submit their votes earlier to better concentrate on their work during what is the busy climax to the competition.
   Blatter also said that Zidane’s head-butt had shocked him personally.
   ‘I’ve known Zidane for several years, his tremendous personality, the way he lives his life, his modesty and his love of his family.
   ‘To see him acting like that leaves me vexed, both for himself and for all sense of fair-play.’

Italy’s World Cup winning coach Marcello Lippi has decided to stand down from the job, the Italian Football Federation announced on Wednesday.
   ‘I believe that I have achieved what I set out to achieve as coach of the Italian team,’ Lippi said in a press release issued by the federation.
   He said his decision came at the end of ‘an extraordinary professional and personal experience.’
   ‘I want to thank the federation for the confidence it had in me during the last two years of work crowned by a result that will rest in the annals of Italian football and live on in the memory of our fans,’ he added.
   Italy won their fourth World Cup in Berlin on Sunday when they defeated France in the final 5-3 on penalties after the game had finished tied at 1-1 after extra-time.
   The 58-year old Lippi took over from Giovanni Trapattoni after Italy’s poor showing at the Euro 2004 finals in Portugal.
   Bearing a striking resemblance to Hollywood actor Paul Newman, Lippi won five league titles and a Champions League trophy during his two spells with Juventus from whom he parted company shortly before accepting the job as Italy coach.
   He was born in the Tuscan seaside town of Viareggio and enjoyed an unspectacular playing career, his most successful spell coming at Genoa club Sampdoria.
   His managerial career began in 1985 with third division Pontedera before taking the helm of top flight club Cesena four years later.
   After spells at Atalanta and Napoli, Lippi’s big breakthrough came in 1994 when he was given the job at Juventus and he led the club to the Serie A title in his first season in charge.
   He guided Juve to two more championships before enjoying Champions League success in 1996 when they defeated Ajax on penalties at the Olympic stadium in Rome. Lippi resigned from Juventus in February 1999 after a poor start to the season and took charge at Inter Milan for a little more than one season before returning to Turin.
   He won successive league titles in 2002 and 2003 before losing the Champions League final to Juventus on penalties last year.
   Prior to Sunday, Italy had not won a trophy since they lifted the World Cup in 1982.
   Lippi’s resignation had been expected and media speculation has said that among those in the running to take over from him are former players like Roberto Donadoni or Gianluca Vialli as well as the coach Alberto Zaccheroni.

Italy’s World Cup soccer win is a great marketing opportunity and should inspire the country to face tough challenges, Prime Minister Romano Prodi said in an interview published by La Repubblica on Wednesday.
   ‘The feeling of being a winning country helps you face challenges, gives you confidence and conviction, pushes you ahead,’ Prodi said.
   ‘It seems to me there is a willingness for a concerted effort, for trying together as we did previously to enter the euro currency, which seemed an impossible undertaking,’ he said.
   ‘It’s already a great marketing opportunity for Italy. Marketing of (its) passion, culture, politics ... economic too, if it is true that over a billion people watched the final on television across every continent,’ Prodi said.
   Economy Minister Tommaso Padoa-Schioppa said on Tuesday the victory could help the country’s economic growth but that it was impossible to quantify the impact.
   ‘On economic growth, we’ll see, I’d like it to,’ Prodi said, when asked if he thought the World Cup win could have an impact on the country’s gross domestic product.
   He said steps his government planned to liberalise markets — including changes to strict licence laws for taxis which triggered strikes — would help to spur the economy.
   ‘People have understood: they may be in agreement or not, but they know that we are putting collective interests ahead of those of the individual,’ Prodi said.
   ‘I want to hear in a few years people saying about the whole of our country what I have heard them say about the Azzurri (national soccer squad): ‘They have done it again. They are so surprising,’ Prodi said.

Injuries to key players were still proving a problem for both England and Pakistan just a day before the start of today’s first Test here at Lord’s.
   England are waiting on the fitness of seam bowler Matthew Hoggard while Pakistan have concerns over fast bowler Mohammad Asif and batsman Shoaib Malik (both elbow) although seamer Mohammad Sami appears to be fit after a knee injury.
   ‘We still have a bit of a problem with Asif,’ Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq said before the tourists’ training session at Lord’s here Wednesday.
   ‘He’s practising today and after that we’ll decide if he’s playing or not playing,’ added Inzamam of fast bowler Asif, who in his first five Tests has taken 25 wickets at just 20 apiece.
   ‘There is a also a little bit of a problem with Shoaib Malik, otherwise everyone is fit,’ Inzamam said. ‘Shoaib has an elbow problem but Sami is fit.’
   Asif had to have an injection into his right elbow during last week’s tour match against England A at Canterbury while Shoaib, who scored a hundred in Pakistan’s preceding match against Leicestershire, is struggling to throw.
   ‘If Asif doesn’t play tomorrow (Thursday) he will definitely be playing by the second Test (starting at Old Trafford on July 27).
   ‘But the batting is more experienced than the bowling and if we put a big score on the board we have a chance to win this game.’
   Pakistan, already missing spearhead quick Shoaib Akhtar (ankle) for this match and fellow seamer Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, who has already been ruled out of the whole tour with a groin problem, have summoned uncapped left-arm quick Samiullah Niazi as cover.
   Meanwhile England hope that Hoggard, an ever-present in their last 32 Tests, will be able to play after sustaining a bizarre injury to his right, bowling, hand when it was trodden on by Yorkshire colleague Tim Bresnan while the pair were warming-up during the A team’s draw against Pakistan.
   Hoggard, who had stitches inserted into his hand, bowled with a cricket ball during practice at Lord’s on Wednesday.
   But afterwards England stand-in captain Andrew Strauss said it was too early to say if the 29-year-old seamer would be fit in time for the opening match of a four-Test series.
   ‘He did some useful work in the nets today and every hour the hand is getting better. But we are going to give him as long as possible to prove his fitness.’
   The opening batsman, who will captain England for the first time in a Test when he leads the team out at his Middlesex home ground today, is without Ashes-winning pacemen Andrew Flintoff (ankle) and Simon Jones (knee), as well as reserve quick James Anderson (back).
   And Strauss was in no doubt about Hoggard’s value to an attack where, in the Yorkshireman’s absence, Stephen Harmison - England’s quickest bowler but not always its most reliable - will be expected to take the lead role.
   ‘We all know Hoggy’s done a very good job for the England team over the last 24 months and, certainly since the Ashes, he’s probably been the pick of our bowlers,’ added Strauss.
   Jon Lewis and Sajid Mahmood appear to be contesting the same place alongside Harmison, Liam Plunkett and left-arm spinner Monty Panesar in what is likely to a four-man England attack at Lord’s.
   Strauss is captaining the team because Flintoff - the man England want to lead them in Australia for the defence of the Ashes later this year after Michael Vaughan was ruled out with a knee injury - has still to regain full fitness, although the selectors hope to have him back in time for the second Test at the all-rounder’s Old Trafford home ground.

Ronaldinho has asked for help from Brazilian fans to make up for the national team’s dismal failure at the World Cup in Germany.
   The world player of the year and his ‘Selecao’ teammates did not sparkle as expected and were one of the tournament’s huge disappointments as they crashed out in the quarter-finals to France.
   ‘Many people were waiting for a brilliant performance from the team and especially from me, something which did not happen,’ said the Barcelona star on his personal website.
   ‘I regret having left the World Cup without showing our true capabilities.
   ‘There is nothing I can say to change the past. For this reason I want to say sorry.’
   Ronaldinho said he was taking a month off on holiday to be able to return fresh for next season to give his best for the national team, five-time winners who had started the tournament as favourites.
   ‘It is not this time that we claimed a sixth world title, but with your help, we will get over the mistakes of 2006 for the World Cup in South Africa in 2010.’
   Ronnie has borne the brunt of much of the fans’ criticism after failing to reproduce the form he showed throughout the season at Barca.
   A statue of him in a southern town was burned to the ground just hours after Brazil’s elimination by France as fans vented their anger at his insipid display.

Jurgen Klinsmann has broken the hearts of millions of adoring German fans who begged him to stay on as coach after he led his unfancied team to an improbable third-place finish at the World Cup.
   But those close to the unpredictable and unconventional coach were half-expecting Klinsmann would opt not extend his contract after a two-year roller-coaster ride in which he was loved, then loathed and then loved again in his home country.
   It was less a matter of Klinsmann wanting to go out on top after Germany’s fairytale run to the World Cup semi-finals and more an issue that he was simply fed up with the resistance, sniping, back-stabbing and second-guessing.
   ‘It was anything but an easy decision but one I had to make,’ Klinsmann told a news conference in Frankfurt on Wednesday.
   ‘My great wish is to go home to be with my family, to return to a normal life with my family,’ said Klinsmann, his voice quivering as he fought off tears.
   ‘A further important reason is that, in the wake of these two years, I’ve lost a lot of strength (dealing) with the functionaries and at this moment I don’t feel able to continue this work. I feel internally burned out. I owe it to myself to take a six-month holiday now. I won’t do anything else.’
   In the last two years the free spirit from Stuttgart did much to shake up the stuffy German football association (DFB) on his twice-monthly trips from his adopted home in California. His reforms caused great pain and losers were bent on revenge.
   The novice coach lifted a team humiliated at Euro 2004 off the ground with a refreshingly bold vow to win the World Cup when he was hired two years ago – after two other candidates turned down the job.
   Klinsmann’s critics were temporarily silenced during the World Cup. All 23 players urged him to stay and an unprecedented 95 per cent of the public told pollsters he should stay.
   But Klinsmann could not forget the DFB enemies who wanted him sacked after a 4-1 loss to Italy in March and the 60 per cent of the public who agreed – three months before the World Cup.
   He could also never forget the sniping from former German soccer greats such as Franz Beckenbauer and the powerful mass media campaign stirring up resentment over his decision to live with his family in California and commute to Germany.
   ‘At the end of the day the only thing that matters is the quality of the work you deliver,’ Klinsmann said in a Reuters interview last year as he sat blissfully anonymous at a California sidewalk cafe without anyone recognising him.
   ‘The world has changed with modern communications so it doesn’t matter where you are physically,’ he said. ‘Wherever in the world I am, I can stay hooked up to Germany. What difference does it make if I phone a player from California or Frankfurt?’
   But it did matter to the traditionalists in Germany, already upset by Klinsmann’s changes. They did not like the US fitness trainers he brought in, nor the Swiss scout he hired, and they were skeptical of his attack-style football.
   When Klinsmann wanted to hire Germany’s field hockey trainer Bernhard Peters to introduce new thinking into the DFB in February as sport director, his enemies drew the line. Peters was blocked and a Klinsmann rival, Matthias Sammer hired.
   Klinsmann asked Sammer not to attend the friendly in Italy in March over concerns it would fuel media speculation that Sammer would replace him on the bench. Sammer refused. It seemed to be a final straw for Klinsmann.
   Although he left open the question about whether he would extend his contract until Wednesday, Klinsmann was nevertheless sending subtle messages he might leave.
   ‘We’ve started a reform process that is independent of any trainer – me or anyone else. It’s a philosophy that will carry on no matter who is in charge,’ he said in Berlin last week.
   Coming from a man who is close to his family, cherishes his anonymous lifestyle in California and does not need the money, it seemed clear which way he was leaning. The open question was whether the huge tide of public frenzy might prompt him to stay.
   Klinsmann leaves with a record of 21 wins, seven draws and six defeats in his two years in charge.
   As a player, he won 108 caps and scored 47 goals. He won the World Cup in 1990 and the European Championship in 1996.
   Klinsmann was footballer of the year in Germany in 1988 and 1994. He won that honour in England in 1995.

The far-right vice-president of the Italian Senate stoked anti-French feeling in the country Tuesday, branding Italy’s World Cup final opponents ‘blacks, Islamists and communists’.
   Roberto Calderoli, head of the right-wing popular Northern League party, refused to retract earlier comments in which he hailed Italy’s defeat of France in Sunday’s World Cup final as ‘a victory for Italian identity’.
   ‘When I say that France’s team is composed of blacks, Islamists and communists, I am saying an objective and evident thing,’ Calderoli was quoted on Tuesday as saying by the ANSA news agency.
   His comment, in response to a complaint to the Senate by France’s ambassador to Italy, reiterated remarks made on Sunday in the aftermath of Italy’s World Cup victory.
   Italy’s all-white team, from a largely devout Catholic populace, had won against ‘a France team which sacrificed its own identity by lining up blacks, Islamists and communists to get results,’ Calderoli had said on Sunday.
   Members of France’s national team, composed largely of non-white players, returned to a heroes’ welcome on Monday despite their defeat by Italy in Berlin on Sunday.
   France captain Zinedine Zidane gave an unexpected twist to the match when he was sent off for head-butting Marco Materazzi, after the Italian player allegedly made racist insults.
   But Zidane – the son of Algerians – was backed by his country’s politicians. ‘France admires you and loves you,’ president Jacques Chirac told him on his team’s return from the tournament.
   France’s ambassador to Italy, Yves Aubin de Messuziere, denounced Calderoli’s earlier comments as ‘an unacceptable and contemptible declaration, meant to foment hatred’.
   But Calderoli refused to apologise.
   ‘France is a multiethnic nation, given its colonial past, of which I would not be proud,’ he said.
   ‘It’s not my fault if certain people were puzzled to see a team which lined up seven blacks out of 11 players... and if certain players prefer Mecca to Bethlehem.’
   Calderoli, former institutional reform minister in the government of ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi, has made a reputation for inflammatory comments and gestures.
   He resigned as minister in February after he was criticised for wearing a T-shirt lampooning the Prophet Mohammed, sparking deadly anti-Italian riots in Libya.

Nearly 1,600 people have been arrested in Thailand for illegal gambling during the month-long World Cup, involving some 22.2 million dollars in wagers, police said Wednesday.
   Police arrested 1,593 people across the country, including 770 in Bangkok alone, and they had collectively handled 845 million baht (22.2 million dollars) of illegal bets, police Lieutenant General Ajiravid Subarnbhesaj said.
   About one third of those arrested were bookies, he added.

France has a case of summer blues over its World Cup soccer defeat but captain Zinedine Zidane’s head-butt on Italy defender Marco Materazzi in Sunday’s final is already the subject of a song that aims to be a holiday hit.
   ‘Coup de Boule’, the French translation for head-butt, was written after France’s defeat by the three associates of Plage Records, www.laplagerecords.com, a small label specialising in advertising music.
   Zidane, widely regarded as one of the finest footballers of his generation, was sent off for head-butting Materazzi after exchanging comments with the Italian defender. Italy won the final after a penalty shoot-out.
   The label’s founders, brothers Emmanuel and Sebastien Lipszyc, and composer Franck Lascombes penned the Caribbean zouk-influenced song and its chorus ‘Zidane, il a tape’ (‘Zidane, the hit man’), as a cure to their post-defeat disappointment.
   But what started as a therapy and a prank to cheer up their friends could turn into a lucrative business.
   Initially e-mailed to some 50 contacts, the song has been
   posted on the Web, with French radio SkyRock putting it on its play-list and record labels and ringtone sellers fighting for its rights.
   Big labels could fork out as much as 100,000 euros for the rights, some industry sources estimate.
   ‘It just went incredibly fast and by Tuesday it was sheer madnesss,’ Sebastien told Reuters.
   ‘We are talking with four big labels and we could sign a deal tomorrow ... Yes, it could become lucrative but if we can make everybody dance to it this summer, it will give us a good laugh,’ he added.
   A poll published this week showed 61 percent of French people have forgiven Zidane for the outburst which earned him a red card. Zidane’s sponsors have pledged to stick with him.

Douglas Gordon recently made a film about Zinedine Zidane. The entire movie – Zinedine Zidane: a 21st-Century Portrait – focuses on Zizou as he prowls through a football match. There is Zidane the dancer, the casual stroller, the sprinter, the magician, and finally the transgressor, when he is sent off after a fracas. Despite receiving brilliant reviews at Cannes, and despite the fact that it has not yet been released in Britain, the movie is already past its sell-by date.
   Like many football fans, I have just made my own Zidane movie. It features seven seconds of footage from Sunday’s World Cup final showing the build-up to another sending off and it is currently being screened inside my head – again and again, often against my will.
   Unlike Gordon’s movie, mine ignores most of the match. It doesn’t even take in Zidane’s audacious penalty, the leaping header that almost brought a winner, the myriad passes he sprayed round the park, the shoulder injury that should have seen him off.
   It starts with a tweak of the nipples from the Italian defender Marco Materazzi – Zizou smiles enigmatically and walks off with him. They exchange words. Zidane jogs ahead, eager to get on with the match. Ten, 12, 14 steps. He stops, waits for Materazzi, pulls back his head and butts him with all his might in the chest. It is an act of ghastly, if elegant, violence. No matter how many times you see it, it continues to shock.
   The footage of Zidane is only part of the film playing in my head – the film within the film, as it were. In the bigger picture I have become a character – examining the footage again and again, desperately trying, and failing, to understand. Gordon’s film is arthouse; this is an action thriller. In the end it’s a snuff movie, as Zidane destroys himself.
   It reminds me of a real film I have seen – Michael Haneke’s brilliant Hidden, which also happens to have a post-colonial French-Algerian protagonist at its heart and perceived racism as its subject. More important, it is also about unknowable motives.
   In Hidden, Daniel Auteuil, who plays a middle-class television presenter, sent creepy surveillance videos of his house. The audience becomes a participant, watching and re-watching the videos alongside Auteuil, trying to work out whodunnit, and why.
   With Zidane, though, there is no such ambiguity about the perpetrator. We saw it with the help of the camera’s eye, even if the referee and his assistants didn’t. The ambiguity here is motive.
   Zizou, player of the tournament, was the coolest man on the pitch – think of the chipped penalty and those lovely, lazy passes. Even when he fell to the ground, his shoulder seemingly ripped from its socket, somehow he recovered and carried on, striving towards his destiny. He dominated the game and it seemed only a matter of time before his superiority would tell. And then the madness – the tweak, the walk, the jog, the stop, the butt. In Hidden there is one scream-aloud act of violence – it is so shocking because it comes without warning, just like Zizou’s head-butt.
   At least when Eric Cantona karate-kicked a Crystal Palace supporter, we could see a linear progress to madness as he moved towards his target. Going, going, gone. Here, there was nothing. Zidane even sold us a couple of dummies: the smile, the jog away. What made the attack even worse was the stage – the World Cup final – and the stage of the stage – 11 minutes to go till penalties, with Zizou as France’s penalty king. He looked set to leave the game as captain of a World Cup-winning team, but left as a crazy. Even the absence of remorse seemed chilling.
   What was said? Does it matter? There are numerous theories – including that he was called a ‘dirty terrorist’, which Materazzi has denied. What was Zizou thinking when the red mist descended? Did he think, ‘I’ve had this shit all my life and I’m not taking it any more, and I’m going to exact retribution in front of hundreds of millions?’ Did he think, ‘This is for my brothers and sisters in the banlieu?’ Did he think, ‘Ouch! My nipples hurt, you bastard?’ Did he think at all?
   Perhaps we’ll never know what was said or what he was thinking. Perhaps the greatest riddle of all is that in destroying his legacy as a sporting hero, he might have immortalised himself as the man who stood up to bigots, real or imagined, no matter the price.
   —The Guardian

French football skipper Zinedine Zidane is to give his version of the notorious World Cup final head-butt in an appearance on Canal Plus television later Wednesday.
   In a live interview to be broadcast at 8:00pm (1800 GMT), the captain is expected to explain the nature of the slur hurled at him before Sunday’s incident by Italian player Marco Materazzi.
   Materazzi, who was knocked to the ground by the extra-time butt to the chest, has acknowledged that he insulted Zidane – but denied that he called him a terrorist or impugned his mother.
   ‘It was an insult of the kind you will hear dozens of times and that just slips out on the ground,’ Materazzi told La Gazzetta dello Sport Tuesday.
   However, lip-readers consulted by British newspapers concluded that Materazzi called Zidane the ‘son of a terrorist whore’.
   The international football federation FIFA has launched an investigation into the incident, which resulted in Zidane’s sending-off shortly before France’s 5-3 defeat on penalties.

World Cup winners Italy have soared 11 places to second in the latest FIFA rankings although 2002 champions Brazil held on to top spot despite losing in the quarter-finals in Germany.
   France, beaten on penalties by Italy in Sunday’s final, rose four places to fourth while Argentina, knocked out in the quarter-finals, are up six places in third.
   Germany were also big movers, rising 10 places to ninth — their first top 10 placing for more than two years — after reaching the semi-finals.
   The first post-World Cup rankings were based on new criteria with more consideration taken of the importance of the match and the strength of opponents.
   The previous ranking system had long been criticised and was not helped by the first-round exits of the then second-ranked Czech Republic and fifth-rated United States in Germany.
   FIFA Top 10 Ranking (change of position in bracket) 1 Brazil (-) 2 Italy (+11) 3 Argentina (+6) 4 France (+4) 5
   England (+5) 6 Netherlands (-3) 7 Spain (-2) 8 Portugal (-1) 9 Germany (+10) 10 Czech Republic (-8).

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger on Wednesday told Real Madrid to forget about signing Spanish midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
   Real’s president Ramon Calderon recently revealed his club’s interest in Fabregas, but Wenger made it clear he will resist any attempts to sign the talented teenager.
   Fabregas, who joined Arsenal from Barcelona in 2003, starred for Spain during this summer’s World Cup and new Real manager Fabio Capello has reportedly made him one of his top transfer targets.
   But Wenger knows how important the 19-year-old is to his side’s attempts to challenge Chelsea for the Premiership title and he told the club’s webiste: ‘I would like to make it clear that Cesc Fabregas is not for sale and we will not be listening to any offers for him.
   ‘Since making his first-team debut nearly three years ago, Cesc has progressed remarkably well, with his performances rightfully earning him a place in the Spain World Cup squad.
   ‘At 19 years old, Cesc represents the future of Arsenal football club and we are looking forward to him being a major part of our plans for many years to come.’
   The north London team are reportedly close to adding to their squad, with Barcelona’s Argentina striker Javier Saviola likely to complete a four million pounds move in the next two weeks.

Manchester United said on Wednesday that their Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo was not for sale.
   The future of the Portugal winger has been the subject of speculation over the past three weeks, with the 21-year-old twice claiming he would like to move to Spain.
   Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester Unjited manager, was quick to indicate he wanted to keep Ronaldo at Old Trafford and those comments have been reinforced by the club.
   ‘Manchester United have noticed the increasing media speculation over the future of Cristiano Ronaldo,’ said a statement released by the Red Devils.
   ‘The club can confirm there is no possibility of Cristiano being sold.
   ‘Cristiano recently signed a new contract until 2010 and the club fully expects him to honour that contract.
   ‘The club will not listen to any offers for Cristiano.
   ‘Cristiano is one of the brightest young stars in world football, as demonstrated by his performances at the World Cup and Manchester United are not in the business of selling their best young players.’
   Ronaldo, who played for Portugal in the 3-1 World Cup third-place play-off defeat to Germany on Saturday, condemned Ferguson for failing to publicly support him in the wake of the furore which erupted over his involvement in Wayne Rooney’s dismissal in the quarter-final clash with England.

Chelsea are planning a £12-million swoop for Italy defender Alessandro Nesta.
   The Blues have already plundered AC Milan once this summer to sign £30m striker Andriy Shevchenko. Now boss Jose Mourinho wants Nesta, robbed of a place in the World Cup final victory over France by injury, to bolster his backline.
   Chelsea are monitoring the match-fixing case soon to decide AC’s fate next season. If Milan are relegated to Serie B, the Premiership champs aim to bag a bargain.
   A source close to the San Siro giants revealed, ‘Chelsea have made an enquiry. The deal would depend on AC Milan being relegated.’
   Basically, Chelsea have said, ‘If the worst comes to the worst for you, don’t sell Nesta to anyone else. We will pay more and definitely want him.’
   The Azzurri ace, 30, missed the last four games of the World Cup after damaging his groin in the final Group E match against the Czech Republic.
   Valencia have made an official approach for Chelsea’s £5.5m-rated left-back Asier Del Horno.
   Del Horno is recovering from a knee problem.

Poland’s football association (PZPN) on Tuesday appointed Leo Beenhakker to replace national coach Pawel Janas.
   The 64-year-old Dutchman is the first non-Pole to coach Poland’s national team. Janas led a disappointing World Cup campaign in Germany and resigned after their first round exit.
   ‘I am happy we managed to persuade such a respected and successful coach,’ said PZPN chief Michal Listkiewicz of Beenhakker’s appointment.
   ‘I believe Beenhakker will introduce a new quality to Polish football and lead us to the European championship finals for the first time.’
   Beenhakker, who has coached the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia, Real Madrid and Ajax Amsterdam, led Trinidad & Tobago to the World Cup finals for the first time in Germany.
   He said: ‘Poland have a long history of football and several very good results but Poland have never been in the European tournament and this will be a challenge for me.’
   Poland face World Cup semi-finalists Portugal as well as Belgium, Serbia and Finland in the qualifying group for the 2008 European championship.
   Poland’s conservative government has pressed publicly for heads to roll at PZPN since the Poles’ second exit at the World Cup finals’ group stages in four years.

Argentina international Javier Saviola is weighing up a potential move from Barcelona to Arsenal. The 24-year-old striker’s agent Alfredo Cabrera Brizuela said: ‘He will make his decision based on football and that points to the Gunners.
   ‘He will have no problem playing in England because he is world-class and will be successful in any country. ‘This week is very important because he wants to have a holiday knowing he has his future sorted out.’
   Saviola, who has 34 international caps and has scored 10 goals, made three appearances at the recent World Cup. The 1999 South American Footballer of the Year has made more than 100 appearances for Barcelona but has struggled to make an impression at the Nou Camp since moving from River Plate in 2001. He spent the 2004/05 season on loan at Monaco before returning to Spain last term when he helped Sevilla to UEFA Cup success.
   Saviola’s Barcelona contract is set to expire in 2007 and the European champions are keen to recoup some of the reported £15m they spent on the striker.

Lennart Johansson said on Tuesday he would seek re-election as president of UEFA, European soccer’s ruling body.
   The 76-year-old Swede has been president since 1990 and said after a UEFA executive board meeting he would ‘seek a further, and final, term of office’.
   Former France captain and coach Michel Platini is the only other man to have declared his intention to be a candidate for the next four-year term. The election is due to take place next year.
   Former Germany captain and coach Franz Beckenbauer, the president of the organising committee for the 2006 World Cup in Germany, said last month he would be interested in the UEFA presidency if Johansson retired.
   Beckenbauer is now unlikely to throw his hat in the ring. Johansson, who has suffered from prostate cancer, said in January it was time for him to step down ‘to go fishing’ but, three months later, he said he had been subjected to a persuasion campaign and was considering standing again.

Recalling the horrible experience of being put on diet before the 2003 World Cup, Pakistan skipper Inzamam-ul Haq said the 17 kg weight loss that followed only worsened his performance, frustrating him to the point that he thought of giving up cricket.
   ‘I will never do that again. Just before the World Cup I worked harder than I ever did and lost 17 kilograms!,’ Inzamam told ‘The Guardian’.
   ‘Can you believe it? It was too much. I didn’t score any runs without those 17 kilograms. And that’s when I got dropped from the Test team. It hurt me so much that I said I’m not willing to play again,’ he added.
   He said the ridicule he faced for being overweight and lethargic, and jokes on his slow running between the wickets hurt him immensely earlier but not anymore as he has become a calmer person now.
   ‘Those jokes hurt me – especially in the past. It is not easy when people laugh at you. I don’t mind positive criticism, but when it is negative and personal it is quite hard. But I feel more relaxed now,’ the Pakistan skipper told ‘The Guardian’.
   Inzamam, who once attacked a spectator for calling him an ‘aloo’ during a match, said he has matured with age and has stopped letting any criticism – either personal or professional – affect his peace of mind.
   ‘It is difficult because we have 150 million critics in Pakistan and whenever we play a series there are maybe five TV channels that cover the cricket. And each channel has five big experts telling us where we are going wrong. I try to ignore them,’ he said.
   Happy that new coach Bob Woolmer has put no such restriction on his diet and the strictness with the food is limited only to the playing season.
   ‘He takes it well, because he’s a very good human being. He understands us and so he does not try to change us in one day. He does make us think about our diet. We now know that during a series we cannot eat any curry because if you eat heavy curries it’s not so easy to perform,’ Inzamam revealed.
   The Multan player said he always enjoyed playing under pressure especially in front of his home crowd.
   ‘The pressure on me is always there. But I always do quite well when the pressure is big,’ he said.
   Enjoying his stint as captain of the side, Inzamam said leading the team gave him immense pleasure as he has faith in the ability of each and every member of the squad.
   ‘I get more confidence and happiness leading this team.’
   Inzamam, who has a career spanning 109 Tests at an imposing average of 51.34, admitted that he doesn’t spend much time in the nets and likes to keep things slow and simple.
   ‘I only do it for a short time, nice and slow,’ Inzamam said.
   Inzamam said religion had played a major role in uniting a team, which was known to have strong differences.
   ‘Like every Muslim we pray five times a day and this helps our spirit. If we have a problem we discuss it when we get together to pray,’ he said about the new unified Pakistani dressing room.
   A father of three, Inzamam said his favourite past-time during off days was to become a left-arm spinner for his son Ibtisam, who scores a lot of runs against him.
   ‘He loves batting and I have to do a lot of bowling. He is a very good left-hander. I bat right-handed but bowl left-handed to him.

Pakistan have not lost a series in England since 1982, a record unmatched by any other other Test-playing nation.
   Following is a brief summary of the four series played in England since Imran’s Khan’s 1982 side narrowly lost 2-1.
   1987
   Imran had brought discipline and order to a bunch of disparate individuals who often spent more time feuding with each other than fighting the opposition. After a career-threatening shin injury he had re-established himself as the world’s premier all-rounder. An athletic and hostile fast bowler whose classical batsmanship had flourished under the responsibilities of captaincy.
   Both of the first two Tests in a damp, cool summer were drawn with little more than 20 hours play possible over the 10 days. Imran, who had strained a stomach muscle early in the tour, did not bowl in the first Test and did not push himself in the second. In the third at Headingley, he was back to his irresistible best, taking three for 37 and seven for 40 as Pakistan won by an innings.
   Imran took six for 129 in the first innings in another draw at Edgbaston then played a leading role as Pakistan batted England out of the fifth Test at the Oval. Javed Miandad struck 260, Salim Malik 102 and Imran was run out for 118 in Pakistan’s first innings of 708. England captain Mike Gatting, dropped five times, ensured the draw with 150 not out.
   Result: Pakistan 1 England 0
   1992
   Imran had played a decisive innings as Pakistan defeated England to win the World Cup in Melbourne before pulling out of the ensuing tour with a shoulder injury, ending the career of the greaTest cricketer to represent his nation.
   His withdrawal mattered little. Imran’s apprentices Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis had learned from the master and they devastated England with reverse swing at high pace.
   The series was acrimonious from start to finish. Pakistan were unhappy with the standard of the umpiring and elements in the British tabloid press accused the Pakistan bowlers of tampering with the ball.
   Their accusations were misplaced. Wasim was the finest left-arm pace bowler in history, generating high pace and violent movement in the air and off the seam from a short run with a high action. Such was his versatility that he could bowl with equal effect over or around the wicket. Waqar, a magnificent sight as he sprinted to the crease, unleashed lethal inswingers with a low-slung action. After a decade of short-pitched violence from the West Indies’ pacemen Pakistan had brought a new dimension to Test cricket.
   Miandad proved a shrewd and canny captain and averaged 60.66 with the bat while Malik topped the averages with 81.33.
   Result: Pakistan 2 England 0
   1996
   This time Wasim was in charge of another team of all the talents who again outplayed the hosts in a three-Test series.
   Mushtaq Ahmed, a bouncy leg spinner topped the bowling averages, and wicketkeeper Moin Khan was the leading batsman with an average of 79.00.
   There were runs again from Salim Malik while Inzamam-ul-Haq, who had failed with the bat four years earlier after making such an impression at the World Cup, averaged 64.00.
   Result: Pakistan 2 England 0
   2001
   England under Nasser Hussain had given the all-conquering Australians something to think about at last by winning series in Pakistan and Sri Lanka.
   With the Australians due later in the summer, the home side made the perfect start in the first Test against Pakistan when Darren Gough and Andy Caddick bowled them to an innings victory at Lord’s with potent pace and movement.
   But in the second at Old Trafford, England’s old insecurities resurfaced after they were set 370 to win in 112 overs following sumptuous innings of 114 and 85 from Inzamam.
   At the close of the fourth day the home team needed 285 from 90 overs with all their wickets still in hand. After Pakistan closed down the scoring rate a draw then seemed the likeliest option before the England batting crumbled under the pressure. The Australians took due note and went on to win their series 4-1.
   Result: Pakistan 1 England 1

Denmark’s Michael Rasmussen could pick the Tour de France 11th stage to show who’s boss in the mountains and to underline his belief that pure climbers in the sport are not a dying species.
   The Rabobank rider last year won the polka dot jersey for the race’s best climber, and came close to a top three finish in Paris before a disastrous final time trial saw him crash five times.
   This year, the skinny 32-year-old is hoping to put that performance behind him, and show his fans he is worthy of following in the footsteps of the now deceased Marco Pantani and Claudio Chiapucci.
   ‘I’ve followed their achievements very closely, and I’ve been watching a lot of my climbing rivals to see how they behave and to look for signs of weakness,’ said Rasmussen.
   He added: ‘I know that the jersey is very popular.
   ‘Everywhere you look on the road the fans are wearing polka dot jerseys and waving polka dot flags. For me, it’s more popular than the green jersey or the yellow jersey.’
   Whatever the colour of the jersey, Thursday’s stage will guarantee plenty of pain and suffering after Wednesday’s relatively warm welcome to the Pyrenees.
   Instead of just three climbs, the 206.5km ride from Tarbes to Pla de Beret in Spain features five, and a total of 61.9km of going uphill.
   The peloton will ride less than 50km before beginning an 18.3km climb at an average of 7.7 percent to the unclassified summit of the Col de Tourmalet where the memorial to Tour de France founder Jacques Goddet stands.
   Having tackled that monster, a succession of three first category climbs, which are only slightly kinder on the legs than the unclassified ones, follow suit before the 13.5km climb to the summit finish at Pla de Beret.
   It is the race’s only foray into Spain, and could therefore feature some daring attacks by the orange-clad Basque Euskaltel team, who are normally assured of plenty of support in the Pyrenees.
   Euskaltel manager Julian Gorospe said their star climber, Iban Mayo could stake his claim for a stage win having regained some of his lost form with a stage win at the Dauphine Libere last month.
   ‘He didn’t have any problems in the first week of the Tour, so physically he’s feeling good,’ said Gorospe.
   ‘The mountains stages are always important for him, and he’s aiming more for a stage win than anything else.
   ‘If he does that it would allow him to jump up the general classification.’

New Zealand great Martin Crowe launched a thinly-disguised attack on Muttiah Muralitharan here Tuesday as he called on officials to make sure ‘chuckers’ were ‘chucked out’ of cricket.
   Changes to international regulations brought about by investigations into controversial Sri Lanka off-spinner Muralitharan’s action mean elite bowlers are now allowed a maximum of 15 degrees of straightening in delivery.
   But there is no room for manoeuvre under the Laws of Cricket and former Test batsman Crowe insisted that was right.
   ‘I have zero tolerance of “chucking’ in cricket”,’ said Crowe while giving the 2006 Cowdrey Lecture at Lord’s here Thursday. ‘I’m sick to death with the hypocrisy of the last 10 years.
   ‘I don’t care about talk of 15 degrees here or 10 degrees there... if with the naked eye a bowler is clearly chucking – even by one degree – he should be chucked out... To straighten your arm from any bent position is a massive advantage over other bowlers who bowl properly.’
   Then, in a reference to Muralitharan, he added, ‘Having been pinned in the head by “chuckers” over 15 years, having been dubiously bowled first ball in a Test by a certain Sri Lanka bowler, having tried to bowl a decent ball myself with a straight arm, I’ve had more than enough of this aspect of the game.’
   Only Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne has taken more than 34-year-old Muralitharan’s 635 Test wickets in the history of the game.
   But the Sri Lankan’s career has been dogged by rows over the legitimacy of his unique action, which saw him no-balled for throwing during tours of Australia in 1995/96 and 1998/99.
   Two years ago his ‘doosra’ delivery (a ball which turns away from the right-handed batsman, the opposite of a standard off-spinner) was reported by match referee Chris Broad, the former England opening batsman.
   That led to a general inquiry into throwing by the International Cricket Council which in turn sparked a relaxation of the rules governing Test, one-day and first-class matches after it was found that many bowlers were bending their arms in delivery.
   Meanwhile, in a wide-ranging speech, Crowe, who exactly 23 years ago Tuesday scored a Test century at Lord’s, called for the World Cup to be shortened and one-day games to feature two innings per side.
   He added minnows Bangladesh and Zimbabwe should be thrown out of Test cricket, saying they were ‘clogging up the works’.
   Crowe, now 43, scored over 5,400 runs in 77 Tests at an average of above 45 with 17 hundreds before his career was cut short by a knee injury which led to his retirement in 1995.
   The Cowdrey Lecture was inaugurated six years ago by Lord’s owners Marylebone Cricket Club in memory of the late England captain Colin Cowdrey.

Sifting the lasting from the temporary, balancing the old with the new in a sport steeped in traditions as deeply as cricket is a task of unremitting difficulty.
   It is a goal which has been achieved with unfailing mastery for 143 years by the Wisden Cricketers’ Annual, a publication without parallel in the sporting world.
   The familiar primrose-coloured cover holds a book chronicling all aspects of the game during the previous year from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.
   It honours the five cricketers of the year, carries pages of statistics possessing a significance rivalled only by those of baseball, and addresses the issues of the day in the Notes by the Editor.
   The latter, written by editor Matthew Engel, command a special authority also unmatched by any other sports publication.
   ‘Wisden is a unique institution,’ Engel said in a recent interview at Lord’s. ‘There’s nothing like it in any other sport.
   ‘There isn’t really anything like it in the world of books in that it is both a work of reference and also a respected and, occasionally, an influential source of comment on the game.
   ‘I take that responsibility very, very seriously. We have certain watchwords; accuracy, integrity and independence and I hope from that you gain authority.
   ‘A lot of people are kind enough to say as a book we have moved with the times without losing the timeless virtues that have enabled us to come out for 143 years in succession and that is precisely the same challenge that cricket faces.
   ‘Cricket is also doing well, very well in adapting itself to a changing world. It could have disappeared, it is in some ways stronger than it’s ever been.’
   The recent travails of the England side make last year’s Ashes win over Australia seem even more extraordinary. Engel’s conclusion in his editor’s notes about a series which gripped at least two nations is unequivocal.
   ‘Journalists still tended to write that we had witnessed Probably The Greatest Test (Edgbaston), Probably The Greatest Series and Probably The Greatest Crowd To Greet A Victorious England Side,’ he wrote. ‘There is no need for the nervous adverb. This was The Greatest.’
   Engel said the Wisden team had considered the merits of other memorable series, including the 1981 Ashes series in England when Ian Botham transformed the home side with bat and ball.
   ‘There has been nothing like it for sustained tension from the first ball until the last,’ Engel said. ‘Each game shifted with each ball, there were sub-plots the whole time.
   ‘If you look at 1981, which I think it is reasonable to say was the most theatrical Ashes series until this one, the first two-and-a-half tests were actually pretty mundane. It was a brief whirlwind which ran through the game.
   ‘This was something else, there is absolutely no question.’
   Engel cherishes Wisden’s independence from the cricket establishment and has often been critical of the International Cricket Council (ICC), the world governing body.
   He is sceptical, for example, about the ICC’s drive to extend the game beyond its traditional heartlands in the old British Empire.
   ‘They don’t want the world to see it as some obscure game only played in places that the British colonised,’ he said.
   ‘They don’t like being sneered at by the Europeans and the Americans.
   ‘Yes, it’s fine to spread the game wherever it’s possible but there has to be an element of commonsense about this.
   ‘Cricket is a game of vast appeal in a limited part of the world. I think the chances are that’s what it always will be.
   ‘Fine, let’s try and spread the word but let’s not spoil the game we have. It’s a great, great game and we mustn’t wreck it. That’s one way it can be wrecked.’
   One particular joy in the annual harbinger of the English spring is the Index of Unusual Occurrences, including this year’s ‘Test player’s parents menaced by eunuchs’ and ‘Man in Osama Bin Laden mask stops play’.
   Another is the section devoted to the varied and often excellent offering of cricket books, reviewed this year by a recent England Test player and coincidentally talented writer, Ed Smith.
   Linking the sections and their contributors is an unpretentious intelligence and a profound respect for the summer game of the British Commonwealth.
   Engel was the cricket correspondent of the Guardian newspaper during the mid-1980s, following in the distinguished footsteps of Neville Cardus and John Arlott.
   Cardus wrote about cricket and music when the paper was still the Manchester Guardian. Arlott, a one-time policeman and poet, wrote about cricket and wine and provided unforgettably evocative commentaries during the golden age of radio.
   Both men cherished cricket but never made the mistake of inflating the importance of a game which as Wisden itself puts it (History of Cricket, page 1402) is in essence ‘single combat, in which an individual batsman does battle against an individual bowler, who has helpers known as fielders’.
   It is an approach followed by Engel, who writes for the follower for whom cricket is a part, not a way, of life.
   He concludes his notes with the sorry tale of the seaside town of Tenby, where a newspaper report on Aug. 5 said plans to form a cricket club had been abandoned when only one elderly gentleman stepped forward.
   ‘August 5 happened to coincide with the Edgbaston Test match, the very start of the English cricketing revival,’ Engel observed.
   ‘Six months later, the good news still hadn’t reached Pembrokeshire: no one wanted the cricket club...let’s hope the good times last long enough for even Tenby to get the message.’

The Rolling Stones were joined on stage by Italy’s football champions Alessandro Del Pierro and Marco Materazzi as the band kicked off the European leg of their tour in Milan late on Tuesday.
   Lead singer Mick Jagger, a big fan of Italy’s World Cup winning football team, welcomed the 60,000-strong audience to the San Siro stadium in Milan with the words ‘Hello Milan, hello Italy, you are the world champions,’ spoken in Italian.
   The tour had had to be postponed after Keith Richards, the Stones’ guitarist, fell from a palm tree while on holiday earlier this year and had to undergo a brain operation.
   Italian daily Corriere della Sera said on Wednesday that Jagger was ‘not on great vocal form’ but had ‘swung his hips like in the good old days’.
   The four ageing rockers played old favourites including ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ and ‘Satisfaction’ during the concert, the first in a European tour that will take the Stones to 11 different countries. But it was the appearance of the two footballers that dominated coverage of the concert in Wednesday’s papers.
   Jagger delighted the audience with a quip about Materazzi, who was head-butted in the chest by French player Zinedine Zidane during the World Cup final on Sunday.
   ‘Materazzi and (Keith) Richards have something in common tonight – they both recently had head-related problems,’ he said.
   Richards, 62, was hospitalised in New Zealand last month with a brain haemorrhage and had to undergo an operation to drain blood from his brain following his plunge from the palm tree on the South Pacific Ocean island of Fiji.

Graeme Smith has been ruled out of South Africa’s tour of Sri Lanka meaning that Ashwell Prince will become the country’s first coloured captain. Smith tore ligaments in his right ankle when he slipped while running on Saturday in Knysna.
   After an X-ray and a scan as well as a consultation with the team physiotherapist Shane Jabaar, Smith was diagnosed with two torn ligaments. Jabaar said: ‘He will undergo a further stress X-ray later today with an ankle specialist to determine the full extent of his injury and the treatment required’.
   Haroon Lorgat, the convener of selectors, said Prince will lead South Africa in the two-Test series with the one-day squad and captain being named after the first Test and Lorgat admitted: ‘This is surely not an ideal way to start our season, but if we are to experience any misfortune during this year, I would rather have it now than later.’
   Jacques Rudolph, who had a successful tour of Sri Lanka with the A team last year and was surprisingly omitted from the original squad, has been named as the replacement for Smith.

The Bangladesh tennis team will fly for the Philippines today to participate in the Davis Cup Asia-Oceania Zone-3, to be held in the country’s capital city of Manila from July 17-24.
   The members of the Bangladesh team are: Shibu Lal, Amal Roy, Henry Prithul Mondol and Tazmul Islam, Samiur Razzak (manager) and Sheikh Moinuddin (non-playing captain). Shibu Lala, who is now on a personal visit to the USA, will join the team in Manila.
   Apart from Bangladesh, hosts Philippines, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Iran and Vietnam will play in the competition, where the matches will be held on clay court.
   Bangladesh team is expected to return home on July 24.

Bangladesh A team’s hopes for a fourth consecutive win against Zimbabwe A took a severe dent when they lost the penultimate game of the series by six wickets at the Kwe Kwe Sport Club on Wednesday.
   Tail-ender Mohammad Sharif scored highest 52 runs while skipper Tushar Imran made 37 as the visitors were all out for 179 in 42.1 overs.
   In reply, Zimbabwe A reached the target scoring 182 runs losing four wickets in 46 overs.
   Kasteni scored highest 73 runs while Rinki made 39.
   Alok Kapali took two wickets for 19 runs.

Leonine Open Women’s International Rating Chess Tournament, organised by Leonine Chess Club, begins at the hall room of the Bangladesh Chess Federation from July 20.
   The tournament is open for all women chess players and no entry fees will be required. Intending participants have been requested to enroll their names by July 18. The event will be held on Swiss-League basis and cash prize money will be given to the winners.

West Indies’ convener of selectors Joey Carew revealed on Wednesday he will not stand for re-election for the forthcoming two-year term.
   Carew had been nominated by the Trinidad Tobago Cricket Board but has sent a letter to TTCB president Deryck Murray asking not to be considered when the selectors for the next period are chosen at a special meeting in Barbados on Thursday.
   A series of recent disagreements with West Indies captain Brian Lara may have played a part in his decision.
   Lara had repeatedly asked for different bowlers to be added to his squad for the recent Test series defeat at home to India, but was not granted his wish.
   Carew has been involved with cricket in the Caribbean for the past 25 years, having previously represented the West Indies as a player and served as a selector for Trinidad Tobago and the West Indies.
   He played 19 Test matches and was vice captain of the West Indies team in 1971-72.
   Former West Indies fast bowler Andy Roberts may return to the selection panel.
   Current selectors Gordon Greenidge and Clyde Butts are likely to stand again, while Derrick Parry of Nevis and Dominican Sebastien Lockhart are new candidates.

Germany’s new coach Joachim Loew played a key role in Juergen Klinsmann’s drive to overhaul German soccer with innovative training methods and the introduction of an attractive, attacking style of play.
   As assistant coach for the two years that Klinsmann was in charge, Loew won a reputation as a clever tactician and organiser who was able to take inexperienced players under his wing and transform them into top-level performers.
   The 46-year-old Swabian, affectionately known as Jogi, helped Klinsmann fend off huge opposition to their progressive training methods and fitness programmes.
   ‘We were strong, and we were a very, very good team that learned how fruitful cooperation through communication, transparency and open criticism can be,’ Loew said last week in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.
   Flanked by Klinsmann at a news conference in Frankfurt on Wednesday, Loew said it would be a huge challenge to continue on the same path but that it was ‘unavoidable’.
   ‘That’s the only way we can achieve a lasting place among the very best in the world,’ he said. He has a two-year contract that runs until after the 2008 European Championship.
   At the time of their appointment in 2004, coaching novice Klinsmann said Loew would bring experience gained as coach of German clubs like VfB Stuttgart and Karlsruher SC, and Turkish sides Fenerbahce and Adanaspor.
   Klinsmann said on Wednesday Loew had never been merely an assistant and was more of a partner and a kind of supervisor.
   Under Loew, Stuttgart won the German Cup in 1997 and reached the final of the European Cup Winners’ Cup the following year.
   In 2002, he led Wacker Tirol to the Austrian league title. He left his coaching job at Austria Vienna in early 2004 after falling out with the club president.
   He was a midfield player in the 1980s with clubs including Stuttgart and Eintracht Frankfurt, scoring seven goals in 52 appearances in Germany’s top league.
   A man who favours dapper suits worn without a tie, Loew has said he gains most fulfilment from seeing a young player developing into one capable of competing with the very best.
   He singles out German central defender Per Mertesacker, who was heavily criticised for nervous performances at the start of his international career but showed at the World Cup that he is among the best in the world in his position.
   According to an unofficial fan Web site, Loew enjoys Turkish food, Italian red wine and his favourite film is ‘One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest’, starring his favourite actor Jack Nicholson.
   Loew was born on Feb. 3, 1960 in Schoenau in the south-western German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg near the borders with France and Switzerland.

The masters of the football universe will be kept waiting for a few more days before their futures are decided by a tribunal investigating Italy’s match-fixing scandal, an official said Tuesday.
   Thirteen of the 23 Squadra Azzurra members, who lifted the 18th World Cup on Sunday, play for Serie A clubs Juventus, Lazio, AC Milan and Fiorentina who face relegation and point deductions over sporting fraud charges.
   A panel of five retired judges probing allegations compliant referees manipulated several key matches in the 2004/05 season would probably hand down its judgement on Thursday, an Italian Football Federation (FIGC) spokesman said.
   ‘It will certainly not be today (Tuesday) and probably not tomorrow. Apparently it will arrive on Thursday,’ the official told AFP.
   Luciano Moggi, former general manager of the country’s most successful club Juventus, and Lazio president Claudio Lotito are among 25 officials, referees and linesmen who face lengthy bans from sports duties for their alleged roles in the scam.
   Although none of the Azzurri players are implicated, most are expected to jump ship if their clubs are kicked down to a lower division or hobbled by hefty point deductions.
   Amid the euphoria over Italy’s fourth World Cup, after the game against France went to 1-1 and was decided by a penalty shootout, some have even called for clemency, citing the national team’s victory as reason enough to tolerate the Italian system, warts and all.
   Italian justice minister Clemente Mastella has demanded ‘the judges calmly take account of the victory’ in their ruling.
   ‘The court should come to its decision taking account of a system that, despite its negative side, made Italy win,’ said the minister whose UDEUR party is close to the Forza Italia opposition led by AC Milan president Silvio Berlusconi.
   ‘The players are the sons of this system, our football is the expression of what existed,’ Mastella said.
   However, the centre-left government parties remain opposed to clemency, with sports minister Giovanna Melandri on Tuesday declaring that ‘any link between the Azzurri’s success and sporting justice would be unwelcome’.
   Defence lawyers have criticised last week’s trial as a kangaroo court aimed at making a quick decision to settle Italian league standings in time for the new season.
   European governing body UEFA on Tuesday set the Italian federation a deadline of July 25 for nominating clubs in next season’s European competitions.
   Meanwhile, the organisation hoped a FIFA ban on Greek clubs in international competitions would be lifted soon in response to the Greek government untangling legislation that encouraged political interference in the sport.
   The Greek parliament was due to pass an amended law on July 11, meaning the FIFA ban could be lifted in time to allow Larissa to play their Intertoto Cup game four days later, said UEFA spokesman Lars-Christer Olsson.

It is not only the Serie A clubs embroiled in the Italian match-fixing scandal who will be anxiously awaiting the verdict of their trial.
   Real Madrid are embarking on yet another attempt to rebuild their squad and hope to pick up top quality recruits at bargain basement prices if Juventus are relegated from Serie A.
   During Real’s presidential election campaign, winning candidate Ramon Calderon said AC Milan midfielder Kaka, Chelsea winger Arjen Robben and Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas were his key transfer targets.
   However, resistance from these players’ clubs and the arrival of Juve boss Fabio Capello at the Bernabeu has led Real to cast their net into the troubled waters at Juventus.
   Real are eyeing a trio of the Italian champions’ most experienced players in an attempt to revive their fortunes after three trophyless seasons.
   Italy’s World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro, fellow defender Gianluca Zambrotta and Brazilian midfielder Emerson now top Real’s target list.
   Capello believes the key to Real’s revival will be strengthening their much-maligned defence.
   ‘The problems that Real have had in the last few years have always stemmed from the back,’ he told Spanish sports daily AS on Wednesday.
   Real’s new sporting director Predrag Mijatovic has made no secret of his desire to make Cannavaro the foundation stone of a new-look back four.
   ‘Cannavaro played a decisive role in Juventus’s two ‘scudettos’ and in Italy winning the World Cup,’ he said on Tuesday.
   ‘Looking at what he has achieved in the last two seasons I would want him here until he was 40. Things are at quite an advanced stage and we are going to do all we can to bring him here. There will be some news in the next few days.’
   Real are unlikely to have it all their own way because a host of Europe’s top clubs are circling Serie A in the hope of rich pickings after the sports tribunal’s verdicts.
   These are expected later this week and AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio also face relegation.
   Barcelona are reported to be trying to sign Juve’s French defender Lilian Thuram and Zambrotta while Chelsea and Manchester United are unlikely to remain on the sidelines if talent becomes available.
   Real have been linked with more than 30 players since the end of the World Cup, including France’s live-wire midfielder Franck Ribery, Portugal winger Cristiano Ronaldo and Italy striker Luca Toni.
   With several of the Real squad likely to be shown the door to make way for the new recuits, it promises to be a busy few weeks at the Bernabeu.

France’s political class lined up in support of national hero Zinedine Zidane Tuesday, in tune with a French public seemingly ready to forgive him for head-butting an Italian player in the World Cup final.
   With speculation running wild over what could have sparked Zidane’s charge against defender Marco Materazzi, 61 per cent of the French public say they forgive him his outburst, according to a poll in Le Parisien newspaper.
   More than half said they understood his gesture – supposing that he was seriously provoked by the Italian – while only 27 per cent refused to forgive his affront, which cast a long shadow over the French squad’s return home.
   Echoing the public mood, French politicians were broadly sympathetic towards the player.
   ‘Zidane will always remain Zidane for the French people,’ prime minister Dominique de Villepin told reporters.
   ‘Some gestures are unacceptable on a football pitch, but that removes nothing of what makes the qualities of a man, of a player.’
   Zidane, who was playing his last ever competitive match on Sunday, received a hero’s welcome home on Monday, hailed by president Jacques Chirac as ‘a virtuoso, a genius of world football.’
   ‘You are also a man of heart, of commitment and of conviction. That is why France admires you and loves you,’ the president told him.
   For the centre-right former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin, Zidane’s outburst simply revealed his humanity.
   ‘Now we know that he is not perfect, he is not a God,’ Raffarin said on his weblog.
   Zidane ‘had become a demi-God. In this he showed that he is quite simply human,’ agreed France’s minister for overseas territories, Francois Baroin.
   Meanwhile, the deputy speaker of the National Assembly, Eric Raoult, called for Chirac to award the entire football team the Legion of Honour, France’s highest distinction, during Bastille Day celebrations later this week.
   In the opposition ranks, the response was equally mild.
   Socialist Party spokesman Julien Dray – though he said he was ‘shocked’ by Zidane’s gesture – said the player had ‘become a human being again, a normal person who can snap under pressure.’
   Former Socialist prime minister Laurent Fabius said Zidane was ‘blessed with extraordinary qualities, and yet at the same time was shown to be human’ – though he said Zidane should be sanctioned.
   Even on the far-right, National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen stressed Zidane’s responsibility as a role model, but said that ‘every sin deserves forgiveness’.
   After a month of euphoria, France returned home empty-handed from Berlin on Monday having lost the final on penalties, minutes after Zidane was sent off.
   Speculation on what might have provoked Zidane has focused on alleged racist remarks from Materazzi, who according to lip-readers called him ‘the son of a terrorist whore’ on the pitch. Materazzi denies uttering such a thing.
   Social affairs minister François Fillon called for the FIFA to launch an inquiry – which has since happened – to determine whether Materazzi had insulted Zidane on racist grounds.
   Other politicians – from social cohesion minister Catherine Vautrin to budget minister Jean-Francois Cope and communist leader Marie-George Buffet – also said they were eagerly awaiting Zidane’s version of events.
   ‘We need to know exactly what had happened,’ said Buffet.

Ronaldo says critics are too harsh on Brazil for not winning the World Cup ‘even though we’re the best team in the world.’
   Favored to win a record sixth World Cup in Germany, Brazil was knocked out in the quarterfinals 1-0 by France, which was runner-up to Italy.
   ‘I’ve seen and heard the criticism, and it all seems very exaggerated,’ Ronaldo said at a news conference on Tuesday.
   He acknowledged the team didn’t live up to expectations.
   ‘Our performance was below expectations. We just have to accept it,’ he said. ‘I think it’s too much to look for a culprit for our elimination. Brazil won’t win every Cup, even though we’re the best team in the world.’
   Ronaldo, 29, has won the Cup twice, in 1994 and 2002, and nearly won a third time in 1998, when Brazil reached the final but lost 3-0 to host France.
   He compared the sullen mood in Brazil with the ecstasy of 2002, when the team defeated Germany 2-0 in the final in Japan.
   ‘Four years ago everyone was happy - the press, fans, politicians - everyone commemorating the fifth World Cup title,’ he said. ‘Now the losers are just the players and the coaching staff.’
   Ronaldo defended coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who led the team to the title in 1994 and was expected to repeat the feat this year.
   ‘The coach can’t be the only one guilty for the defeat of the national team,’ he said.
   The tournament was a personal success for Ronaldo, who scored three goals to eclipse former German star Gerd Mueller as the tournament’s all-time leading scorer with 15 goals. He also was the Cup’s third-highest scorer with three goals, two behind Germany’s Gold Shoe striker Miroslav Klose.
   Ronaldo confirmed rumors he was considering surgery on his left knee, and said he was consulting Brazil team doctor Jose Luis Runco.
   ‘We’ll talk with Runco and see what’s the best way to resolve this problem,’ he said.
   FC Barcelona striker Ronaldinho, twice voted the world’s best player, also apologized for the team’s disappointing play.
   ‘Many expected a brilliant performance from the team and especially from me. Which didn’t happen,’ he said in a statement on his Web site. ‘I regret we left this World Cup without showing our qualities, and what we’re capable of.’

Italy’s World Cup-winning coach Marcello Lippi resigned on Thursday, four days after leading the Azzurri to a penalty shoot-out win over France in the final in Berlin.
   Following are highlights of his career:
   n After a modest playing career with Savona, Sampdoria and Pistoiese, Lippi began coaching in 1982 with Sampdoria’s youth team. He worked his way through the lower divisions before arriving in Serie A in 1989 at the helm of Cesena.
   n Spells with Lucchese and Atalanta followed before his breakthrough in the 1993-94 season, when he led a Napoli side still smarting from the departure of Diego Maradona to a UEFA Cup place. The following season he was snapped up by Juventus, the start of a five-year reign during which he won three Serie A titles and the 1996 Champions League.
   n In 1999 Lippi moved on to Inter Milan. The club had not won the Serie A title since 1989 and his season there was the only failure on his CV. After watching Inter lose to Reggina in the first game of the 2000-01 season, a furious Lippi said his players needed ‘a kick up the arse’. He resigned days later.
   n A year out of work ended in July 2001 when he was recalled to Juventus. His second stint in Turin was almost as successful as his first - the club won two Serie A titles and finished runner-up to AC Milan after a penalty shoot-out in the 2003 Champions League final.
   n Italy’s group stage exit in Euro 2004 opened the way for Lippi to take over from Giovanni Trapattoni as coach of the Azzurri. His appointment was not universally popular with fans, many of whom associated him with Juventus. A 2-0 defeat on his debut by Iceland was hardly the ideal start but Italy qualified for the World Cup with a game to spare, the first time they had done so since qualifying for the 1982 tournament.
   n After Italy’s pre-World Cup wins over the Netherlands and Germany, Lippi was hailed as a tactical genius. Shortly before the start of the World Cup his son, Davide, was questioned by magistrates in Rome investigating sports agency GEA World. Briefly, it seemed Lippi might be forced to step down in the cull of leading officials touched by a match-fixing scandal.
   After receiving a vote of confidence from Italian Football Federation commissioner Guido Rossi, Lippi kept his job, leading Italy through a shaky start to victory in Berlin.

Six factors which probably influenced Jurgen Klinsmann’s decision not to extend his contract with the German football association (DFB) after two years:
   n Klinsmann was always unpredictable and unconventional during his playing career—he almost never stayed anywhere for more than two years and left some clubs, like Tottenham Hotspur, after just one season to move on.
   n He is close to his family and cherishes his anonymous life in California.
   n The DFB often clashed with Klinsmann during his two years in charge, challenging his decisions, denying several staff requests and hiring some executive personnel he opposed.
   n Klinsmann faced constant second-guessing and criticism of his California home base and tactics from newspapers.
   n He knows it will be hard to duplicate the success he has had in taking Germany to the World Cup semi-finals.
   n Klinsmann does not need the money.

Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika hailed Zinedine Zidane as a footballing hero Tuesday, as he revealed in London that he had sent a ‘consolation’ letter to the French side’s captain after his humiliating expulsion from the World Cup final.
   ‘I yesterday sent a personal letter to Zidane in my name and in the name of all the Algerian people,’ said Bouteflika at a Downing Street press conference with British prime minister Tony Blair.
   ‘It was a letter of solidarity, a letter of friendship, a letter of consolation,’ he said, adding that in his opinion, Zidane remains ‘the best player in the world’.
   Bouteflika, who arrived in London earlier Tuesday for the first official visit to Britain ever by an Algerian head of state, said Zidane was a footballing hero who had never lost ‘his human dimension’.
   What happened to him during Sunday’s final in Berlin ‘could have happened to any man,’ he said, adding that ‘our duty is not to judge; our duty is to understand’ what happened.
   ‘It is perfectly clear that he has our solidarity because he is of Algerian heritage and because he is the best (football) player in the world,’ the president said.
   To underline the point, Bouteflika – who spoke in French – then repeated three times: ‘He is the best player in the world, the best player in the world, the best player in the world.’

Brazil captain Cafu insists he will resist calls for him to retire from international football.
   The 36-year-old was unable to lead his country to back-to-back World Cup titles after Brazil lost to France in the quarter finals.
   Roberto Carlos has already quit playing for his country, but Cafu, despite his advancing years, is not planning to follow suit.
   The Milan full back is aware of the clamour for him to retire from representing Brazil, but he feels Germany was merely a blip for the national team.
   ‘I am not a thief,’ affirmed Cafu. ‘I feel that everyone looks at me as if I would have stolen something.
   ‘I am not the person they think I am. Cafu is a normal person that, unfortunately, has lost the World Cup.
   ‘I want to say to the supporters that the image that they should keep from me is the one they had in 2002, but the press is being very unfair with me and only shows the defeat we had this year. My career shows that I had more victories than defeats. What happened in Germany is only an accident.
   ‘I can’t resign from the national team after my first defeat, despite the fact many people are doing all that is possible to make me go.
   ‘I am going to keep on playing for Brazil each time I am recalled to the team.’

Gabriel Heinze insists no amount of Premiership medals can make amends for his World Cup heartache with Argentina.
   The defender was part of the Argentine side which lost to hosts Germany in a penalty shoot-out in the quarter finals.
   Argentina’s exit was also marred by a shameful brawl as the tournament favourites failed to fulfil their early promise.
   Heinze is still downbeat about his country’s demise and admits winning a string of honours with Manchester United will do nothing to ease his pain.
   ‘I doubt I will ever be able to get revenge for what happened,’ Heinze told The Sun.
   ‘This wound would never heal, even if I won a thousand championships with United, and lifted the most important club cups.
   ‘You can put things right the next weekend in the league, but you cannot do that at the World Cup. I hope I get another chance on the biggest of stages, but you never know what’s going to happen.
   ‘Every game is unique and unrepeatable. There is no opportunity for vengeance. I’m still angry inside. I feel a lot of pain and sadness.
   ‘I didn’t watch another game after we went out.’