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A superb goal eight minutes into extra-time by Maxi Rodriguez sealed Argentina’s 2-1 win over Mexico here Saturday and a mouthwatering clash with Germany in the World Cup quarter-finals next Friday.
   Regulation time had finished 1-1 after two goals in an action-packed first quarter of the game, but it was a moment’s brilliance from Rodriguez that ensured Mexico would not make their third ever World Cup quarter-final.
   The Atletico Madrid midfielder chested down an innocuous Juan Sorin pass on the edge of the area, swivelled and fired a looping left-footed volley into the far top corner beyond the reach of diving goalkeeper Osvaldo Sanchez.
   The early pressure of an entralling match, however, had been all Mexican as the Argentinian midfield struggled with the pace of the game and
   it paid off in the sixth minute.
   Captain Rafael Marquez lost Gabriel Heinze to come rushing in to the far post unopposed to drive home a Pavel Pardo free-kick that had been headed superbly on by Mario Mendez from the near post.
   Argentina responded immediately, pressure from Hernan Crespo forcing Jared Borgetti, who was returning after missing the last two games through injury, to head Juan Riquelme’s swirling corner into his own net in the 10th minute.
   Lacking the incisive passing and running of Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez, both benched by coach Jose Pekerman despite their outstanding display in the goalless draw against the Netherlands, Argentina looked one-dimensional against the more dynamic Mexican side.
   Borgetti, who scored 14 goals in Mexico’s qualifying run, was a constant threat to Argentina, whose strikers were continually thwarted by the stout defending of the outstanding Marquez, Carlos Salcido, Ricardio Osario and Andres Guardado.
   Last-ditch defence by West Ham defender Lionel Scaloni deflected Borgetti’s header in the opening minutes, Heinze was forced into a sliding block on a vicious shot after 14 minutes, and goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri then tipped a blistering 25-yard shot over the bar.
   Marquez was on hand in the 18th minute of a gripping game to parry a shot by Crespo after a slicing through ball from Esteban Cambiasso. The first-half ended in controversy when Heinze, who put in for him a rare sloppy performance in the first-half, miscontrolled a simple pass from Abbondanzieri and gifted the ball to Francisco Fonseca before hacking down the striker.
   Swiss referee Massimo Busacca doled out a yellow card for the Manchester United defender but it could easily been red. Fonseca had a clear chance in the 54th minute, failing to control a ball with just the Argentine keeper in front of him.
   Straight up the other end, Sanchez beat away a shot from Rodriguez, largely outmuscled until then. And Sanchez made the save of the match a minute later, showing great reflexes to parry a well-driven Javier Saviola shot around the post.

Germany took one step closer to their dream of lifting a fourth World Cup crown after the hosts defeated ten-man Sweden 2-0 here on Saturday to book their place in the quarter-final.
   Germany got off to the perfect start with Lukas Podolski scoring twice in the first 12 minutes - making it three goals in his last two outings - as Sweden’s defence fell apart.
   Defender Teddy Lucic was sent off for a second bookable offence in the 34th minute giving Sweden a mountain to climb. Henrik Larsson had the best chance to get his team back in the match but missed a penalty at the beginning of the second half, blazing over.
   It was a fourth straight World Cup win for Germany who are now just two games away from matching manager Jurgen Klinsmann’s target of reaching the final in Berlin on July 9.Germany will face the winner of the Argentina v Mexico tie - taking place at 1900 GMT in Leipzig on Saturday - in next Friday’s quarter-final in Berlin.
   For Sweden it was more second-round disappointment - they crashed out of the 2002 World Cup to Senegal at the same stage.
   Sweden manager Lars Lagerback started with three strikers, including the returning Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but the bold move backfired as Germany struck early.
   With just four minutes gone Miroslav Klose surged through on goal. Sweden goalkeeper Andreas Isaksson stopped him in his tracks but the ball fell kindly to Podolski and his shot went in off the hapless Lucic. It was Podolski’s second goal in a row and the third was not long in coming.
   In the 12th minute Podolski, who will play on this ground for Bayern Munich next season, accepted a pass from Klose and curled a left-footed shot in for 2-0.
   German goalkeeper Jens Lehmann had hardly made a save in his first three matches but was called into action to stop a smart turn and shot by Ibrahimovic.
   Eight minutes into the second half Sweden were then handed a lifeline when Larsson was felled by Christoph Metzelder in the penalty area.
   But Larsson, winning his 93rd cap, hammered his spot-kick over the crossbar to the dismay of the Sweden fans.
   Germany captain Michael Ballack then saw a fantastic drive tipped onto the post.
   The new Chelsea man was shooting at will and could have had a hat-trick but he was left still searching for his first goal at these finals.
   Sweden created chances but with their numerical disadvantage they never looked like overturning a buoyant Germany.
   The home fans left the turnstiles in high spirits as their team continue to ride the World Cup wave.

The Netherlands are confident they can break a 15-year hex and avenge their Euro 2004 semi-final defeat by sending Portugal crashing out of the World Cup today.
   The Dutch have not beaten Portugal since 1991 but Marco van Basten’s remodelled team believe destiny is on their side ahead of the second-round clash.
   ‘Portugal beat us two years ago, but the next game is something completely different. This is a new, young team, and we have new ideas,’ said Ruud van Nistelrooy.
   Two years ago, goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Maniche broke Dutch hearts on a frenetic night in Lisbon. Previously, Portugal wrecked the Netherlands’ 2002 World Cup qualifying campaign with an away win and home draw.
   But the Netherlands have not lost a competitive match since that semi-final after van Basten took over from Dick Advocaat.
   ‘Now, up against Portugal, we have to forget about the trauma of Euro 2004,’ said Phillip Cocu.
   ‘Don’t look at the past, but only think about playing a good match.’
   The Netherlands will be under no illusions about the size of the task, with World Cup-winning coach Scolari masterminding a Portuguese record of 17 matches unbeaten.
   But despite Portugal’s quality, and Scolari’s unmatched World Cup pedigree, van Basten remains quietly confident.
   ‘Now we’re up against Portugal. We know they’re excellent but we’re also not bad,’ he said.
   ‘Preparations will not change. If we’re lucky, we’ve got four finals to go, matches where you can make no errors because you cannot go back on them.’
   Van Basten can turn to Giovanni van Bronckhorst and Chelsea flyer Arjen Robben, who were rested for the final group match with Argentina.
   The former Dutch great may also bench van Nistelrooy in favour of Feyenoord marksman Dirk Kuyt after aiming criticism at the Manchester United man.
   ‘Ruud has not been good. He hasn’t been on form in the first matches,’ van Basten said. ‘He has to give us a lot more.’
   Goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar is expected to win his 113th cap, beating Frank de Boer’s Dutch record.
   Scolari, meanwhile, goes into the game on a record 10-match World Cup winning streak, including seven as he led his native Brazil to the title in 2002.
   Wins against Angola, Iran and Mexico saw Portugal through Group D with maximum points and minimum fuss, with the Brazilian even able to rest five first-team players for the final match.
   Lisbon scorers Ronaldo and Maniche were both on target in the first round as Portugal reached the knock-out stages for the first time since 1966.
   ‘It’s only the second time Portugal has qualified for the second round in 40 years but we have to look at it game by game,’ Scolari said.
   ‘All the teams are very balanced and very even, they’re in good condition. There are five or six teams which I believe are the best, they might be playing very well but one day they can have an off-day and be eliminated.’
   Portugal will welcome back Ronaldo, Deco, Pauleta and Nuno Valente, who were all stood down against Mexico as a precaution against them getting a second yellow card.
   The Netherlands were losing finalists in 1974 and 1978 while Portugal’s best performance was third place in 1966.

Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann said his players were singing and dancing after knocking out Sweden with two Lukas Podolski goals to reach the World Cup quarter-final on Saturday.
   ‘The mood in the dressing room was brilliant. They were singing and dancing - I am so proud of them,’ Klinsmann beamed after the win in Munich set up a meeting with either Argentina or Mexico.
   ‘We played at a great tempo and were very decisive. We got the tactics right, especially in the midfield.
   ‘I was delighted with the early lead,’ he added after Podolski struck twice in the opening 12 minutes to
   knock the stuffing out of the Swedes.
   ‘We are not surprised. The team really took on board everything that we asked them to do.
   ‘Everything is working fantastically with the team from a medical and physical point of view.
   ‘After six weeks’ work, we have 23 players fit. We are really happy as a group,’ he added, saying team spirit was a major factor behind the strong showings which suggest Germany have a realistic chance of a fourth title after 1954, 1974 and 1990 - when he himself was in the team.
   Klinsmann said the first-half sending-off of Sweden’s hapless Teddy Lucic had actually made life more difficult for the Germans as the visitors dug in doggedly to ensure they were not humiliated.
   He admitted he shifted uneasily in his seat until Henrik Larsson blasted a second-half penalty over the bar.
   Klinsmann saluted an ever more dangerous German forward line of Podolski and Miroslav Klose, who turned provider on Saturday but has four goals to date to his sidekick’s three.
   ‘They need games together to cement their partnership. They are coming together and looking to get on each other’s wavelength,’ Klinsmann said.
   ‘We have tried to keep calm throughout, get the tactics right. Now the players believe we can do something.
   ‘However, a great obstacle is now approaching,’ said Klinsmann in allusion to Argentina, who were strong favourites to move past the Mexicans later Saturday.
   ‘We have no fear - but instead, respect. We are absolutely capable of getting to the semi-finals.
   ‘We have a blend of youngsters who are finding their feet and more experienced players such as (Michael) Ballack and Bernd Schneider, who help and motivate them.
   ‘There’s a good feeling in the squad that something good is brewing,’ Klinsmann concluded.
   Meanwhile, Germany’s two-goal match-winner Lukas Podolski said the hosts were growing as a team and in confidence.
   Podolski scored in the fourth and 12th minutes after linking up with strike partner Miroslav Klose. The German pair look as lethal a partnership now as any in the tournament.
    ‘We knew it would be a difficult match—we scored the goals and then we grew in confidence,’ Podolski told reporters.
   Germany’s only worrying moment was in the 53rd minute when Sweden striker Henrik Larsson blasted a penalty over the bar after being tripped by Christoph Metzelder.
   ‘We were lucky with the penalty (miss) but in the end it was a deserved victory,’ Podolski continued.
   ‘Since we started working in preparation for the World Cup we have grown as a team. I contributed to winning but it was the team that won, not me.’
   Asked about his previously-criticised partnership with Klose, Podolksi said simply: ‘You saw it today.’
   Sweden coach Lars Lagerback said he was still proud of his team but they had never really recovered from losing
   Teddy Lukic in the 35th minute with a red card for two bookings.
   ‘It is difficult to beat anyone with 10 men, especially a team like Germany but my players showed a lot of character,’ Lagerback told reporters.
   ‘I’m very proud of the way they played in the second half but we let in two easy goals at the beginning. After that it was very difficult for us.

Former Manchester United favourite Eric Cantona has bucked the general trend amongst pundits by backing England to go all the way in Germany.
   Sven-Goran Eriksson’s side have failed to impress, despite topping Group B, and are under pressure to click into gear against Ecuador in the knockout stages on Sunday.
   The Stuttgart showdown provides The Three Lions with a chance to show their bite and Frenchman Cantona, one of the greatest players ever to grace The Premiership, surprisingly told Sky Sports News that he expects the team to continue to progress in the tournament.
   ‘I’m really liking England from the beginning,’ he said.
   ‘I like the manager. I like all the players. I see something very positive between the players.
   ‘The team plays passionately because it’s got experience now – wonderful players with experience.

It’s good to see France finally reach the second round leaving behind all the misfortunes that followed them in the last couple of weeks. Without them the World Cup would have lost some its colours, more importantly Zinedine Zidane, the best player in Europe for 50 years. He certainly deserves to be there and I thank the French players – they did not let their hero down.
   I heard some experts said the absence of Zidane in the crucial Togo match was a blessing in disguise for France. He had a squabble with some of his team-mates in the first match and also showed his anger in the following match after being substituted at the fag end. For gossip-mongers these may be a big issue, but to me it all reflected his feelings towards the French team. It’s unfortunate some people make a story out of his sentimental outbursts. As long as he is fit, Zidane is an asset for France, not a burden.
   Alongside France, I expected South Korea would make it to the second round from Group G. But to my sheer disappointment they failed eventually. What was more disappointing was the reaction they showed after the second goal. Having been in the World Cup finals since 1986, they should know the referee’s decision is final and until he blew the whistle no one can stop play. Referee has the authority to ignore his assistant’s call and that was exactly what the Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo did.
   The goal and the controversy surrounding it certainly extinguished the spirit of the Koreans and unsurprisingly they failed to bounce back in the end. Referees always do some mistakes as we all know they are also human being. However, it does no necessarily mean I support the referee’s decision in this case.
   Refereeing definitely has not been outstanding in this World Cup. What gives me pain in this tournament is the frequent use of cards in almost every match. That person is considered a good referee who blows the whistle less and allows the game to get into momentum. In some cases they easily could have cautioned a player verbally rather than showing the card, which sometimes prevent a player from playing his normal game.
   Forget about rest of the tournament, I expect at least they will not do it on Sunday in the Holland-Portugal match, which has a chance to be the match of the tournament. Both sides are equal in strength and have the ability to entertain the supporters with their attacking style of play. I will give Portugal a slight edge in this match because of their coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, who is certainty more experienced than his counterpart Marco van Basten.
   About England-Ecuador match, I must say it is a question of motivation. Ecuador had two good games in the first round before being thrashed by hosts Germany. It is now the duty of their coach to motivate his boys again, which could be instrumental for their desired upset of the English side. England also need to be motivated. They have a number of stars and if coach Sven-Goran Eriksson can motivate them properly, Ecuador should not be match for them.

Rooney hobbled, Togo argued, coaches ranted, the Czechs disappointed, fans sweated and by the end of it, the world’s deadliest striker with the bulging waistline had gorged on another record.
   If the first round of the World Cup was low on shocks on the pitch, it was high on controversy off it while reputations melted in the 30-degree saunas of 12 German stadiums.
   England’s bid to win the World Cup for the first time since 1966 was played out in hospital clinics as much as on the pitch.
   Wayne Rooney made an impressive recovery from a broken foot to play a bit-part against Trinidad and Tobago, then huffed and puffed when he was taken off against Sweden.
   Michael Owen’s World Cup ended after a minute of the 2-2 draw with the Swedes with knee ligament damage as England reached the second round in stuttering fashion.
   Skipper David Beckham also endured a less than productive opening stage with coach Sven-Goran Eriksson hinting the Real Madrid man was expendable.
   ‘I’m here as the England captain in a very good situation. We’re in the last 16, we’re very confident. I’m not sat up here to discuss my own form, that’s for you guys to do,’ snapped the former golden boy.
   By contrast, Ronaldo, condemned as an overweight, overrated has-been, rescued his reputation with one of the goals of the tournament, a dizzying exchange of passes which finished with a smart turn and drive to secure a 4-1 win over Japan.
   The 29-year-old striker now has 14 World Cup goals, level with German legend ‘bomber’ Gerd Muller at the top of the all-time list.
   ‘You have to keep working and not lose heart,’ said Ronaldo.
   Argentina, first round casualties in 2002, threw off the cynicism of old with a breathtaking display of attacking football which demolished Serbia and Montenegro 6-0.
   Juan Roman Riquelme and Lionel Messi look tough to stop.
   Germany too proved many wrong winning all three Group A matches to move into the second round.
   ‘It will help us get respect from opponents,’ said coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
   Australia boosted their reputation as a nation of battlers by reaching the second round with the much-criticised Harry Kewell grabbing the equaliser in a 2-2 draw with Croatia.
   ‘It’s the most important goal for me so far in my career,’ said the Liverpool star.
   Spain finally look like they now have the mental strength to add to their undoubted style while Ghana, making their finals debut, were the only African team to make the second round.
   They did it in some style too with Michael Essien and Stephen Appiah to the fore which was just as well in the light of the Togo fiasco.
   Togo’s players threatened to boycott their match against the Swiss over a long-running row over bonuses while coach Otto Pfister resigned and was then reinstated.
   France put Togo out of their misery with a 2-0 win which guaranteed Raymond Domenech’s side a second round spot.
   Biggest disappointments?
   The Czech Republic, ranked two in the world, found their ageing legs too heavy and despite the talents of Pavel Nedved and Tomas Rosicky, they are heading home.
   Also on an early flight are Serbia and Montenegro who arrived in Germany split by internal divisions and bickered from first whistle to the last.
   And by the end, Asia were in debt to Australia, the regional new boys, who made the second round after Saudi Arabia, Japan, South Korea and Iran were all left looking distinctly second-rate.

Switzerland’s Pascal Zube-rbuehler was delighted to prove his critics wrong on Friday, after becoming the only unbeaten goalkeeper in the World Cup’s opening group stage.
   Zuberbuehler, 32, kept a third successive clean sheet during Switzerland’s 2-0 win over South Korea to help send his team into the second round as surprise Group G winners ahead of former world champions France.
   It completed a remarkable turnaround for the FC Basel keeper, who just weeks ago was facing a media campaign by Switzerland’s best-selling tabloid paper calling for him to be dropped from the starting line-up.
   Highly critical of Zuberbuehler during Switzerland’s nerve-jangling World Cup qualifying campaign, the same newspaper has subsequently renamed the keeper ‘Superbuehler’.
   ‘I don’t need to answer the critics,’ Zuberbuehler said after the game. ‘I have given my reply on the pitch.’
   Zuberbuehler’s impeccable record at the tournament so far has certainly been helped by an impressive Swiss back line with young Arsenal centre-back Philippe Senderos and Zuberbuehler’s experienced Basel team-mate Patrick Mueller forming a particularly effective partnership.
   Zuberbuehler had to be alert on Friday to deal with a string of close-range strikes from a Korean side desperate for the win that would have kept them in the competition.
   ‘I’m proud of the team and above all I’m proud of us reaching the second round,’ Zuberbuehler added. ‘But being the only keeper to have not let in a goal is certainly a bonus.’

English referee Graham Poll may be dropped for the closing stages of the World Cup after his blunder in giving Croatia’s Josip Simunic three yellow cards against Australia, FIFA said on Saturday.
   The referees’ committee will meet on Wednesday to decide which officials will take charge of matches from the quarter-final stage onwards.
   Andreas Werz, a spokesman for the referees’ committee, said Poll’s mistake may rule him out.
   ‘Under normal circumstances, he would not take charge of any other matches at this World Cup,’ Werz said, explaining that the criteria would appear to count against the experienced English official.
   ‘The performances so far in the World Cup are the first factor,’ he said.
   Poll told the committee he had correctly booked Simunic in the 61st minute of the tense first-round game, but when the Croatian committed another foul in the 89th minute, he mistakenly wrote down the name of Australia’s number three, Craig Moore, instead of Simunic, who was wearing the number three shirt for Croatia. He therefore failed to send him off.
   It was only when Simunic committed another bookable offence in stoppage time that Poll showed him a red card.
   The head of the referees’ committee, Angel Maria Villar Llona, gave Poll lukewarm backing.
   ‘The experienced official is disappointed at having committed the error, the first such mistake in his 26-year career,’ a statement said.
   It added: ‘Graham Poll is an exceptional referee and a great sportsman, who would be able to overcome the situation thanks to his strong personality and love of the game.

Brazil’s evergreen captain Cafu said on Saturday he would be very proud to break the World Cup record for appearances and games won when the five-time champions play Ghana in a second round clash in Dortmund on Tuesday.
   The 36-year-old fullback will make his 19th appearance for Brazil in a World Cup finals, a national record, when he leads out the team and should they prevail over the classy African outfit break the record number of victories with 16.
   ‘To play 19 matches at the World Cup finals is a fabulous thing,’ said Cafu, who would be appearing in his fourth successive final were Brazil to make it to the July 9 climax.
   ‘And 16 wins. I will be proud of this record,’ added Cafu, who stands to become the first player to captain a side to two titles having led them to victory over Germany in 2002.
   Cafu revealed that he had been so keen to set the new marks that he had approached coach Carlos Alberto Parreira during the final group
   match with Japan, which he had sat out having picked up a yellow card in the 2-0 win over Australia.
   ‘I wanted to come on,’ admitted Cafu, who also won the World Cup in 1994 and was then on the losing side in 1998.
   ‘During the match, I sidled up to professor Parreira, and spoke to him.
   ‘I saw he was thinking about the substitutions. However he didn’t want to send me on as he did not want to take the risk that I be booked and be suspended.
   ‘He spoke about the record but he did not want to take any chances,’ added Cafu.

Saudi Arabia goalkeeper Mohamed Al Deayea and striker Sami Al Jaber both retired from international football on Friday after the 1-0 defeat by Spain ended their World Cup hopes.
   Al Deayea holds the world record for international caps with 181 for Saudi Arabia since making his debut in 1990. Both players are veterans of four World Cups and helped the Saudis reach the second round in 1994.
   ‘I am very proud. This was my fourth World Cup and it will have a great memory for me because I managed to score a goal (against Tunisia) and we played a great game against Spain today,’ Al Jaber, who has 163 caps, told Reuters.
   ‘It feels just like yesterday that I started in my first World Cup (in 1994). Hopefully Saudi Arabia will develop their level and I will be able to help them.’
   A spokesman for the national team confirmed that both players will continue playing for the Saudi club Al Hilal.
   Al Deayea and Al Jaber were both recalled to the national squad by Brazilian coach Marcos Paqueta during the qualification campaign, although Al Deayea did not add to his tally of caps at the finals in which Mabrouk Zaid played all three games.

Diego’s kiss
   Diego Maradona breached royal protocol when he planted a kiss on the lips of Maxima, the wife of Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands at the Holland v Argentina match. Luckily for the ex-Argentina striker, Willem-Alexander and Maxima seemed more amused than shocked.
   — New Age Desk
   
   Becks backs Ronaldo
   David Beckham is glad Ronaldo has proved critics wrong with two goals in Brazil’s 4-1 win over Japan on Thursday night.
   The England captain, no stranger to criticism himself, says his Real Madrid team-mate has been harshly judged on his fitness and weight.
   ‘I think some of the things that have been said about Roni are wrong,’ Beckham said. ‘Even the players in our team and players I’ve watched the Brazilian games with can’t actually believe some of the things that have been said.
   ‘It’s not the criticism of him as a player, it’s the personal criticism of him about his shape and things like that. I’m glad he showed people what he’s all about.’
   Ronaldo’s 13th and 14th World Cup goals tied him with Gerd Mueller as the competition’s career scoring leader. Not bad, considering Ronaldo failed to score and was substituted for in Brazil’s first two games. — AP
   
   ROK fan threatens to ‘blow up’ Swiss embassy
   A 44-year-old South Korean football fan was booked here Saturday after inquiring about the phone number of the Swiss embassy, saying he would blow it up, police said.
   The man, identified only by his family name Kim, called the emergency hotline used to report crimes and asked for the number after Switzerland beat South Korea 2-0 and knocked them out of the World Cup.
   ‘What’s the number of the Swiss embassy? I will blow it up,’ he was quoted as saying when he called the hotline.
   Police booked Kim without physical detention after tracing him with the help of the telephone directory service. He is expected to have to pay hundreds of dollars in fines. — AFP
   
   Smile more Thierry!
   Thierry Henry, along with Patrick Vieira a goalscoring hero of France’s 2-0 win over Togo, would be better off if he played the game with a smile on his face, 1998 winning skipper Didier Deschamps said on Friday.
   Speaking after Henry and former Arsenal team-mate Vieira helped lift France into the last 16, Deschamps told Radio Monte Carlo, ‘He has to have a smile on his face, he needs to laugh, to be happy, be communicative.’
   Deschamps added that Henry needed to be the lightning rod for the team.
   ‘Thierry is a leader when he is enjoying things, when he is happy out there on the pitch.’
   Of Vieira he said the Juventus star would always be on song if he was in confident mode.
   ‘If he feels confident there’s nobody better.’ — AFP
   
   Colombia uses WC to fight guerillas
   The World Cup has become the latest weapon in the Colombian government’s battle to crush guerrilla and paramilitary groups in the strife-torn country.
   They are taking advantage of the fighters’ obsession with football by broadcasting pleas during televised matches urging rebels to lay down their arms.
   ‘Be the champion, demobilise now’ says one of the messages which appears six times in every match.
   ‘We know that they are listening and in certain camps watching the matches,’ a government spokeswoman told AFP. ‘It’s a unique opportunity to get this message to them.’
   The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) have waged a long struggle against the Colombian government with the conflict claiming 200,000 lives in four decades.
   Other messages used during the games include ‘Score a goal against terrorism’, ‘Don’t allow yourself to be red-carded, for Colombia your life is important’, and ‘Play the best match of your life, make a pass for peace and drop your weapons’.
   The pleas are accompanied by telephone numbers on the screen offering information for those fighters who want to surrender.
   The campaign, which costs 387,000 dollars, finances the radio and telephone appeals although the government won’t know if it’s been a success until August or September.
   ‘The potential deserters must be given time to plan their escape,’ said the spokeswoman. — AFP
   
   Student fury after TV blackout
   Studies at a Kenyan secondary school have been disrupted following a three-day student riot over the banning of World Cup matches by their teachers.
   The trouble led to several buildings being destroyed and the school being closed indefinitely, authorities said on Friday.
   The students of the Catholic-sponsored Amasago Mixed Secondary School for boys and girls in Kisii, western Kenya have been at loggerheads with the school administration since Tuesday.
   They were denied the right to watch matches in the school’s dining hall instead of turning up for afternoon classes and preps.
   Angered by the decision, the students went on the rampage and destroyed an ultra-modern laboratory, built with the financial assistance of the European Union, rendering it out of use for the upcoming mid-year examinations.
   The students were ordered to leave the school by the chairman of the board of governors, said father Pancras Chuma, who also announced the temporary closure of the 40-year-old facility.
   However, the district education officials intervened on Friday and requested the students to return to the school and resume their studies on Monday. — AFP
   
   Fan dies of heart attack
   South Korean soccer fan died of a suspected heart attack Saturday while watching the country play a crucial World Cup match against Switzerland at a massive, pre-dawn street rally in Seoul, police said.
   The 25-year-old college student, identified only by his surname, Kim, collapsed abruptly around 5:10am (2010 GMT) while watching the country’s last game on large outdoor screens in downtown Seoul, said an officer at the Namdaemun Police Station.
   Kim was taken immediately to hospital, but died, the officer said.
   Police believe a heart attack must have been the cause of Kim’s death, because his father said the son suffered from high blood pressure, the officer said, adding that there was no sign of violence at the scene.
   Kim was among more than 100,000 red-clad fans gathered in front of Seoul City Hall.
   South Korea, who surprised the world by advancing to the semifinals in 2002, lost the game 2-0, failing to secure one of the 16 spots in the second round of the quadrennial showpiece, being held this year in Germany. — AFP
   
   Bibliophile Suarez
   Ecuador clearly came prepared for the World Cup, bringing their own cook, a spider-man mask for goal celebrations and what appears to be a small library for coach Luis Fernando Suarez.
   Suarez, who said earlier in the tournament he had been reading about former US military chief and secretary of state Colin Powell, has used books as inspiration for his team who face England in Stuttgart in the second round on Sunday.
   The Colombian-born coach ordered his players to read a fable from his country called ‘The Cow’ to avoid complacency ahead of their final Group A match against Germany.
   Suarez’s latest read is a philosophical self-help manual called ‘From Ignorance to Wisdom’ by Argentine author Jorge Bucay, he said.
   ‘I’m a great fan of reading...I also clear my mind by going jogging and enjoy playing tennis,’ he told reporters on Friday.
   Suarez denied suggestions from Ecuadorean journalists that the pressure of the knockout stages was getting to him.
   ‘I am criticised for being too serious but if I am not serious people ask why,’ he said.
   ‘There’s no need to worry. I have things to keep me occupied.
   ‘If you want, go ahead please take photos of me,’ he said before pulling a funny face and raising his hands. — Reuters
   
   Hiddink’s successor
   The head of Football Federation Australia says the team’s success at the tournament is helping drum up applicants for the coaching job that Guus Hiddink is vacating after the World Cup.
   ‘The further we go, and even as far we’ve gone already, quite reputable well-known coaches are approaching us,’ said John O’Neill, the federation’s CEO.
   O’Neill wants a high-profile coach to succeed Hiddink, who is leaving to take over the Russian national team.
   ‘There’s never been any doubt about the fact we need another Guus Hiddink. What a difference he’s made,’ O’Neill said.
   O’Neill also wants the next coach to spend more time in Australia, to follow the domestic A-League and help improve coaching and development programs.
   ‘Talks continue with former Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier and a few others,’ O’Neill said. ‘The coaching job won’t be decided until after the tournament,’ he added. —AP
   
   Couch time for Bruce
   Now that the United States team has been eliminated from the World Cup, US coach Bruce Arena has some simple plans for the rest of the tournament.
   ‘Watch it on television and be like everyone else,’ Arena said. ‘Just criticise players and coaches. I’m going to have the time of my life.’
   Also on his agenda: ‘Lose a bunch of golf balls, just have a good ol’ time.’ — AP
   
   US-Ghana game fifth highest rated in ESPN history
   The United States’ 2-1 loss to Ghana that knocked the Americans out of the World Cup was the fifth highest-rated soccer game ever on ESPN.
   The network got a 3.2 rating for Thursday’s game, which was watched in an estimated 2.9 million homes. The most-viewed game in ESPN history was the US-Germany quarter-final in the 2002 World Cup, which had a 4.4 rating and was watched in about 3.8 million homes.
   Through Thursday’s games, ESPN is averaging a 1.5 rating, up 150 per cent from a 0.6 average in 2002, when the tournament was played in South Korea and Japan and most of the games were on television in the United States in the middle of the night or the early morning. ESPN2 is averaging a 1.0 rating through 28 games, 67 per cent higher than the 0.6 in 2002.
   Through two weekends of play, ABC is averaging a 2.5 rating, up 89 per cent from 2002. — AP
   
   Vote counters told not be put off by Italy match
   While most Italians will be glued to the first knock-out match of their World Cup campaign on Monday, officials counting votes in a national referendum have been told to keep their eyes off the TV and on the ballots.
   Ballots close at 3:00pm (1300 GMT) on Monday in a referendum on constitutional reforms that has held far less fascination for Italians than their team’s progress in Germany, and the Interior Ministry is worried the match could delay the vote’s result.
   ‘Shortly after, at 5:00pm, the Italy-Australia match will start, creating a “delicate” overlap,’ the Interior Ministry said in a statement on Friday, adding that it had sent a ‘courteous but firm’ message to election officials to ensure they get on with the job.
   ‘The message is to avoid any interference due to the – completely understandable – hope of the scrutinisers to follow the team and support the national side.’ — Reuters

David Beckham is determined to banish the memory of England’s timid 2002 World Cup exit as his team prepares to face Ecuador for a place in the quarter-finals here today.
   Beckham believes England may never have a better chance of winning the World Cup than this year, and is desperate to atone for what he sees as a missed opportunity four years ago in Japan.
   England were beaten 2-1 in the quarter-finals by eventual winners Brazil despite taking a 1-0 lead and seeing the South Americans reduced to 10 men early in the second half.
   The nature of England’s surrender on that sizzling hot day in Shizuoka has stayed with Beckham ever since – but he firmly believes that the 2006 finals offer a chance for redemption.
   ‘I was gutted after we got beat by Brazil in Japan because I did think that when we’d gone 1-0 up we’d put ourselves in a good position to go on and win it from there,’ he said.
   ‘But it wasn’t meant to be. Now this time is the best chance I feel we’ve had for many years.’
   While England struggled in the heat of Japan four years ago and had key players either missing or lacking full fitness, Beckham believes there can be no excuse for another failure.
   Even allowing for the tournament-ending injury to striker Michael Owen and the lack of match sharpness of Wayne Rooney, he thinks England are still strong enough to end a 40-year wait for a second World Cup victory.
   ‘There are no excuses this time,’ Beckham said. ‘In the past we’ve gone out of competitions at stages when we should have gone further. It’s up to us now – we’re the ones who can progress as a team.
   Beckham will win his 93rd cap on Sunday and though he has expressed his desire to continue his career beyond the World Cup, he realises that at 31, this is probably his last chance to win the greatest prize in football.
   ‘I think all the players in the squad who’ve been around for a while and played in World Cups before do realise that chances as good as this don’t come that often,’ he said.
   ‘We’re an English team, playing in Europe, playing in Germany, the weather’s been great for us most of the time. Everything is right.
   ‘That doesn’t happen very often. In four years time it’s going to be in South Africa, four years after that maybe Australia or South America and we’re talking about different climates. This is an opportunity we don’t want to waste.’
   Beckham has seen his place in England’s starting line-up called into question but is defiant in the face of the criticism of his performances so far in the tournament.
   ‘I’m not going to sit here and talk about my form because it’s not for me to sit here and talk about David Beckham.
   ‘It’s for me to sit here and talk about England going into the last 16 of the World Cup,’ he said.
   It is clear though that Beckham is irked by the suggestion that he does not offer the pace and width on the flank that other players such as Aaron Lennon does.
   Beckham makes no apologies for the fact that his strength is his delivery from set pieces and open play.
   ‘To get the best out of me you have to give me the ball,’ he said.
   ‘If I’m given the ball then 99.9 per cent of the time I’ll put it in the right space for people to score goals. It’s been hard to do that because I’ve had two players doubling back on me whenever we’ve played.
   Though England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has insisted that Beckham was not an ‘untouchable’ member of his squad, there is not even the remotest chance that the Swede will drop his captain from the starting line-up.
   What shape that line-up is remains open to speculation, with Eriksson reported to be preparing yet another new-look line-up with Michael Carrick introduced as a defensive midfielder.
   Tottenham player Carrick will sit in front of the back-four in a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Owen Hargreaves shunted to right-back despite excelling in the holding role against Sweden. Hargreaves will replace Jamie Carragher, who is expected to be demoted to the bench.

Zinedine Zidane’s glorious career was in danger of coming to an inglorious end before France came up trumps against Togo to extend their and his World Cup adventure.
   A moment of petulance in the dying minutes of the 1-1 draw with South Korea last weekend earned the French legend a suspension for Friday’s stylish win.
   And failure to qualify would have meant the last act of the former world and European championship winner would have been the throwing in disgust of his sweatband on the turf of Leipzig after his injury time substitution.
   But his team-mates’ sterling work against the west African minnows gave him a reprieve as he returns from that suspension for les Bleus’ last 16 game against Spain in Hanover on Tuesday.
   ‘I would have felt bad if Zidane had left like that,’ said French football federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes.
   Yet given the way the midfield sparkled on Friday night with Patrick Vieira slipping comfortably into an attacking role to feed twin strikers Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet there are some who are prepared to suggest what amounts to heresy in the French camp – that Zidane’s place could be under threat. Coach Raymond Domenech bristled when the suggestion was put to him at the post-match press conference, refusing to discuss the notion.
   ‘How many times do I have to say in how many different languages I have 23 different players, tomorrow we’ll prepare for the next match,’ he said curtly.
   Zidane arrived at the Cologne stadium with the rest of the side on the day he turned 34 but he chose to watch proceedings from the comfort of the French changing room rather than brave the dug out with Eric Abidal, who was also ruled out with suspension.
   ‘With all the pressure of this match we didn’t want to go out on the pitch, the best thing was to stay in the dressing room,’ said Abidal.
   ‘When the first goal came we didn’t shout, but we were impatient for it to come as we knew that it would act as a release for the team.’
   ‘Zizou’s going to stop playing, so it’s better that he finishes on a good note,’ added Abidal.
   ‘Now we’ve got two great birthdays to celebrate (Zidane’s and Vieira, who turned 30 also on Friday), but let’s hope we’ve got more candles to blow out on July 9 (the day of the final).’
   We can only guess what Zidane thought of his team’s performance as he declined to talk to the media after the game, shunning all questions as he made a beeline for the team coach. But Patrick Vieira, who took over the captain’s armband, said Zizou had played a part in the success despite his absence from the field of battle.
   ‘Zidane was really happy with the result,’ said the Juventus star who picked up the man of the match award after scoring the first goal and feeding Henry for the second.
   ‘He was in the dressing room before kick-off and gave his regular speech which he does before every game. He was thrilled for the team.’
   When the day eventually comes, whether in Hanover or later, Zidane will be bowing out from the France team he’s graced ever since bagging a double in a friendly on his debut on August 17, 1994 for a second time.
   And now Friday’s result in Cologne means his wish to sign off with a second world title is still on the cards. But the Spanish press reckoned Spain would ensure Zidane’s retirement came sooner rather than later.
   ‘We’re going to send Zidane into retirement,’ sports daily Marca declared on Saturday.

The last time Portugal got past the World Cup’s opening round was 40 years ago. Thirteen times the Portuguese have failed to qualify for soccer’s biggest tournament.
   This year, though, they have Luiz Felipe Scolari, the former Brazil coach who knows plenty about success on the sport’s biggest stage.
   Scolari took over as Portugal’s coach three years ago, one year after guiding Brazil to its record fifth World Cup title.
   ‘The mood in the Brazilian camp in 2002 and the mood here now is almost identical,’ he said Friday, two days before Portugal’s opening match against Angola in Group D. ‘Everyone is totally committed. That’s our biggest virtue.’
   And Scolari believes that can be an important factor.
   ‘Team spirit can alter the outcome of a game,’ he said. ‘And that can decide how you do in a tournament.’
   When Scolari became Portugal’s coach, he took charge of a team whose players were known as the country’s ‘golden generation’ but had no major victories to show for it.
   Buoyed by the experience he gained four years ago in South Korea and Japan, Scolari is hoping to change the Portuguese fortune this time around.
   He won’t pick which players will play against Angola until the day of the match, knowing that any player could pick up an injury in training and ruin his plans.
   The latest scare came when FC Barcelona playmaker Deco left training Thursday after colliding with Francisco Costinha. However, Scolari said Deco is expected to be fit to play Sunday.
   Portugal boasts players from some of Europe’s top clubs, including Inter Milan’s Luis Figo, Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo, and Paris Saint-Germain striker Pauleta, the top scorer in the French league last season.
   That talent kept Portugal unbeaten in its 12 World Cup qualifying games.
   Scolari was initially hesitant to tamper with an established lineup when he arrived in Lisbon. An opening defeat at home in the 2004 European Championship changed all that.
   He quickly removed longtime regulars Rui Costa and Fernando Couto from the lineup, and Portugal recovered from the loss to make the final, where it lost 1-0 to Greece. Scolari is now firmly established, coaching a national record 27th game when Portugal beat Luxembourg 3-0 last weekend.
   The country’s best World Cup result came in 1966, when a team led by Eusebio finished third. But in its last two appearances, 1986 and 2002, Portugal has failed to make it out of group play.
   ‘We reckon we can get past the first phase’ Scolari said. ‘That’s the minimum acceptable.’

French media were relieved after Les Bleus finally grabbed a berth in the last 16 of the World Cup but are still not convinced of their true potential.
   ‘That feels good’, was the main headline of sports daily L’Equipe on Saturday after France beat Togo 2-0 in their last group match. ‘It’s done’, said Le Parisien on its front page.
   ‘France save their skin and invite themselves to third week by the back door,’ commented Le Figaro.
   France needed to beat Togo by two goals to avoid an early exit after drawing 0-0 and 1-1 with Switzerland and South Korea.
   They finished second behind the Swiss in Group G and will next play Spain in the second round in Hanover on Tuesday.
   ‘The minimalist Bleus have done the minimum but they have done it. What a relief,’ wrote L’Equipe in its front page editorial.
   ‘Les Bleus had to wait for an hour to score two goals... We shall wait for a few more days until Tuesday to see if they are up to what we can expect from a French World Cup team... Spain will be a different opponent than Switzerland and Togo.’
   ‘...the saviour is named (Patrick) Vieira,’ said the sports daily referring to the midfielder who on his 30th birthday scored the first goal and set up Thierry Henry for the second.
   The Juventus player was handed L’Equipe’s best mark, 7.5 out of 10. Winger Franck Ribery was awarded 6.5, Henry six and the lowest mark, 3.5, went to fullback Mikael Silvestre.

Captain David Beckham said England were ready for a penalty shootout if needed in today’s World Cup second-round match with Ecuador in Stuttgart.
   England have a poor record in shootouts after being knocked out at the 1990 and 1998 World Cups, plus Euro 96 and Euro 2004.
   Though the team have been practicing penalties for weeks, Beckham told reporters on Friday: ‘You can prepare on the training pitch but once you’re in the stadium with 60,000 or 70,000 fans watching you, it’s different.
   ‘We’ve prepared enough, we’ve been practicing. Hopefully it won’t come to that, hopefully we can finish it off after 90 minutes.
   ‘But if it comes to that, we’re prepared.’
   Beckham has been replaced by Frank Lampard as England’s main penalty-taker after missing against Turkey in a Euro 2004 qualifier, against France at the finals and in their shootout defeat by hosts Portugal.
   But his record would not stop him taking another on Sunday.
   ‘I’d put myself up there,’ he said. ‘I’ve said all along I’d step up for a penalty whether I’m in the first five or not.’
   Beckham also paid tribute to the well-behaved England fans who have followed their team at these finals.
   ‘That’s what’s been one of the biggest highlights of this tournament so far, there’s hardly been any trouble and hopefully that continues,’ Beckham said.
   ‘The support we have got...is extraordinary and we thank them so much for that.

Around 100 England fans were detained here overnight after rampaging through the town center ahead of their team’s World Cup match against Ecuador, police said Saturday.
   The fans, many of whom had been drinking heavily, began taunting passers-by overnight and throwing bottles, glasses and chairs, a police spokesman said. No one was reported injured.
   German police officers, aided by British police familiar with the hooligan scene, attempted at first to calm the group and took individual trouble-makers into custody.
   But when the situation threatened to escalate, they surrounded the group and herded them into police vans.
   Hundreds of England fans had arrived in Stuttgart Friday ahead of Sunday’s game for a place in the quarter-finals.
   Deputy local police chief Michael Kuehner said the firm response was meant to show that ‘aggressive drinking, violence and harassment will be nipped in the bud with decisive action’.

Italy defender Alessandro Nesta has been ruled out of Monday’s World Cup second round match against Australia with a muscle injury.
   Azzurri team doctor Enrico Castellacci told reporters the central defender had undergone two scans to examine the muscle strain that forced him to limp out of Thursday’s 2-0 win over Czech Republic in their final group match.
   ‘It is not a big strain but he certainly won’t play against Australia on Monday. We will continue to evaluate him and try to get him back as fast as possible,’ said Castellacci.
   Nesta will almost certainly be replaced by Marco Materazzi, who filled in for him against the Czechs and scored the opening goal in the game which booked Italy’s place in the second round.
   Italy have no other injury worries but will be without midfielder Daniele De Rossi who is serving the second game of a four-match ban.

Ukraine and superstar striker Andriy Shevchenko break new ground when they face a young and hungry Switzerland in the last 16 of the World Cup here on Monday.
   The Ukrainians reached the second phase in their first appearance at the World Cup after staging a remarkable turnaround in fortunes.
   Outclassed 4-0 by Spain in their first group match, they looked to be heading for an early exit before Shevchenko, the team’s undoubted leader, recovered from a knee injury and drove his team to a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia.
   The 29-year-old who has just joined Chelsea’s star-studded squad in a deal worth 30 million pounds (43.5 million euros) showed all his experience in the 1-0 win over Tunisia which clinched the runner’s-up spot in Group H, winning a penalty even though there seemed to have been no contact with the defender.
   Shevchenko played down his contribution, saying the team unit would be the key to Ukraine reaching the quarter-finals where they would face either Italy or Australia, who also meet on Monday.
   ‘All the teams are strong at this stage. If the team shows heart then with our fans behind us we can hopefully go further,’ Shevchenko said.
   Ukraine coach Oleg Blokhin knows the worth of great strikers having been one himself for Dynamo Kiev and the Soviet Union, scoring 42 times in 112 international games.
   But while all eyes will be on Shevchenko, Swiss coach Kobi Kuhn has tipped the in-form Alexander Frei to be the goal-scoring surprise of the final stages.
   Frei, the former bad boy of Swiss football who was sent home in disgrace after spitting at England’s Steven Gerrard at Euro 2004, netted twice in Switzerland’s march into the last 16.
   The 26-year-old, who is hoping to wrap up a move from French club Rennes to Germany’s Borussia Dortmund, notched the first goal in the 2-0 victory over Togo and caused an uproar among the South Korean players when he slid the ball home from what appeared to be an offside position in the 2-0 victory as the Swiss won Group G on Friday.
   ‘He has come back from a long injury,’ Kuhn said. ‘He had two games with Rennes and then joined the national squad which gave him the opportunity to come back into form.
   ‘I think he can score more goals in the competition. Whether or not he will be the best of the strikers, I don’t know, but there is a chance.’
   Kuhn also singled out Pascal Zuberbuhler, the only goalkeeper of the first stage to keep three clean sheets.
   ‘No goals against us in three matches - I am grateful to the defence and the goalie,’ said the silver-haired Kuhn.
   One setback for the Swiss is the absence of Arsenal centre-back Philippe Senderos who scored the opening goal against South Korea but later fell and dislocated his shoulder.
   If they reach the last eight, Switzerland would equal their best ever performance at a World Cup and Kuhn said a country not known for football fever was getting behind its best team for decades.
   ‘Switzerland now has a way to express its national pride,’ he said.
   ‘We are growing in confidence and now anything is possible. We can beat Ukraine and advance further - why not?’

For a team nicknamed the Black Stars Ghana have certainly produced the brightest note for Africa at the World Cup finals.
   The sole survivors of the five challengers from the continent, the debutants have finally confirmed the talent that has been seen to good effect in many of their youth teams down the years but never been replicated on the world stage.
   Victories over the Euro 2004 semi-finalists The Czech Republic and 2002 quarter-finalists the United States has set up a mouth watering last 16 clash with five-time champions Brazil - no better test of a country’s footballing excellence than that.
   And the Brazilians will be well advised to wear extra thick shin pads given the comments of Ghana’s Serbian coach Ratomir Dujkovic.
   ‘Yes, they will suffer,’ said the shrewd 60-year-old, whose previous international footballing highlight was taking Rwanda to the 2004 African Nations Cup finals.
   ‘Any team who will face the Black Stars will have to suffer. You have seen the determination in the performance of the Black Stars,’ added Dujkovic, who has also coached among others Burma.
   Sadly the word suffer could be addressed to the remainder of the African sides and their supporters as one by one like their regimes in decades gone by they toppled.
   However both Angola and Ivory Coast could leave the World Cup stage with their heads held high.
   Indeed Angola’s coach Luis Olivieira Goncalves echoed those feelings after his ‘Black Antelopes’ had exited but with a proud record of two draws with Mexico and Iran and a 1-0 defeat by European giants and former colonial power Portugal.
   ‘We have every reason to be proud. We will leave with our heads held high,’ said the 49-year-old, who was the only Africa-born coach of an African side at the tournament.
   Frenchman Henri Michel admitted he had had enough of African football after being mercilessly mauled by the Ivory Coast press.
   And it was hard not to feel sorry for the battle-hardened coach as he ended his tenure having guided them to the African Nations Cup final - a penalty shootout defeat by hosts Egypt - and their first World Cup finals.
   With a bit of the rub of the green and better refereeing The Elephants might even have made it through to the second round but 2-1 defeats to two-time champions Argentina and two-time finalists Netherlands ended the adventure.
   However Michel and his gallant team got the thumbs up from the man himself, the head of FIFA, Sepp Blatter.
   ‘The best performance was from Ivory Coast,’ said the Swiss.
   ‘This was a strong team and in the game with the Netherlands I would say that in the decisive phase they were not always understood by the referees.’
   That was the relatively good side to the African campaign but the challenge of Tunisia and Togo was risible.
   Tunisia should do better with all their experience and money poured into the sport but even having hired former France coach Roger Lemerre they couldn’t break their record of never reaching the second round,
   Togo rubberstamped the overall impression of African football of chaos and financial promises being broken leading to open warfare among the squad.
   FIFA have vowed to take action against the federation but when the coach, Otto Pfister is reduced to sueing the secretary-general of the body that appointed him in the first place for claiming he was an alcoholic it does little for the image of Africa.
   Goncalves, though, believes that while there is work to do, African football is on the upward curve.
   ‘African football is progressing.
   ‘We know that we can do more than we are doing now and each time we take part in a tournament it shows that we have to improve our infrastructure, our organisation and our training of young players.
   ‘But one day the world will realise Africa has a name to defend and it will defend its reputation,’ he said.

Italy midfielder Simone Perrotta would rather have faced Brazil in the second round than Monday’s opponents Australia, he said on Saturday.
   The Azzurri finished top of Group E and now have to take on Guus Hiddink’s Australia side, who finished second in Group F behind the world champions.
   ‘Personally, I would have preferred to play Brazil,’ said Perrotta, ‘It would have been a fascinating game with all those stars on the pitch,’ added the Roma midfielder.
   The Italians are wary of Australia since Hiddink eliminated them at the World Cup four years ago in charge of South Korea and the Azzurri struggled against less fancied opponents here when they drew 1-1 with the United States in the group stage.
   ‘They are a similar side to the United States that is true,’ said Perrotta, ‘But I think they are stronger in terms of technique. Up front they have a very strong player in Mark Viduka and then there is Harry Kewell who spins off him and is also very dangerous,’ he said.
   ‘I heard someone describe Italy v Australia as like Juventus v (minor Serie A side) Atalanta but I’d say it is more like Juventus v Milan,’ added Perrotta.
   ‘I know that the fans have high expectations of us and that many Italians think we will go through easily but we need to be very careful,’ he said.
   Striker Alberto Gilardino said it was vital the Italians took the right psychological approach to the game.
   ‘We need to be as solid and determined as possible. They are a strong, physical side and we’ll be studying their approach more closely with the gaffer (coach) in the coming days,’ said Gilardino.
   ‘But you can’t change yourself physically in the space of three days —- so it is vital that we have the right attitude and the mental factor will be very important in this game,’ added the forward.
   Fullback Gianluca Zambrotta said the Italians needed to improve their approach to the early stages of games where they had been caught cold by opponents.
   ‘It couldn’t have really gone much better for us in the group stage—we won two and drew one from the three games, scored five goals and conceded just one.
   ‘But we need to have a look again at our approach to the game—in the early phase of matches we always suffer,’ he added.

The self-belief of Switzerland’s young World Cup squad has been swelled to new levels following Friday’s assured 2-0 win over South Korea.
   The victory, secured with goals from defender Philippe Senderos and top scorer Alex Frei, saw the Swiss finish surprise winners of Group G and moved Koebi Kuhn’s men within one match of equalling the country’s best World Cup showing.
   If they can beat World Cup debutants Ukraine in Cologne on Monday, Switzerland will be through to the quarter-finals for the fourth time - and for the first time in 52 years.
   ‘It’s certainly possible for this team to reach the quarter-finals,’ said Kuhn, whose side were unique in coming through the group stage without conceding a goal.
   ‘We can go into the next game with huge self-confidence, knowing that our opponents will also be taking us seriously now.’
   With just three days separating the South Korea and Ukraine encounters, Switzerland will have less time than usual to recuperate for their next challenge.
   Friday’s performance suggested however that the squad has plenty of strength in depth with teenager Johan Djourou once again proving a more than capable deputy for Arsenal club mate Senderos, who left the field in the second half after dislocating his shoulder.
   Valon Behrami, who can play right back or right midfield, should be ready to start if required on Monday after recovering from a groin injury to come on as a late substitute against Korea.

The hordes of beer-swilling men who have descended on Germany for the World Cup are proving a disappointment for the host nation’s sex workers, preferring to party in public rather than spend time with prostitutes.
   While some larger red-light establishments in host cities have seen their cash tills ringing, a lot of prostitutes say the anticipated boost for Germany’s liberal sex industry has failed to materialise.
   ‘The pent-up sexual demand of horny fans from around the world which has been widely anticipated has not materialised at all,’ said Karolina Leppert, president of Germany’s association for sexual service providers BSD.
   ‘Business is pretty dead, even the regulars stay away because of all the crowds and the hype,’ said Leppert, who has been working as a dominatrix in Berlin for eight years. More than a million foreign soccer fans are expected to visit Germany during the four-week tournament, many of them from nations where prostitution is illegal, like the U.S. or Sweden.
   In Germany, where it is legal and workers can join unions, get health insurance or a pension plan, expectations have been high that fans would visit prostitutes after a match.
   But already facing a steep bill for their World Cup trip, male fans are opting to spend time with fellow fans in host cities’ open-air party venues.
   ‘When they come they don’t want to pay entrance, they want cheap drinks and that doesn’t work for us,’ Antonio, working in a Berlin champagne bar, said declining to give his full name.
   Antonio said his city centre bar had seen only a 10 Per cent increase in customers, despite being just minutes walk away from the Brandenburg Gate, a Berlin landmark where some 700,000 fans watched Germany beat Ecuador on Tuesday on huge outdoor screens.
   Surveys put the number of those working in full or part-time prostitution in Germany at 400,000. Many expected more women from abroad to head to Germany for the occasion.
   Yet police in most host cities, like Frankfurt, said the number of sex workers had hardly changed. Only Munich police saw an increase and said 800 women now worked in legal brothels.
   ‘This is a 60 Per cent rise, but the expected run from customers hasn’t happened yet,’ said a Munich police spokesman.
   Only high-profile brothels said their business was humming.
   ‘The first few days have been a bit slow, but it has really picked up now,’ said a spokesman for Pascha in Cologne, Europe’s largest brothel, declining to give his name. ‘We are working at 100 Per cent capacity and could do more if we had more space.’
   Some 200 woman work on seven floors in saunas, private rooms and bars, and are busy around the clock—a workload normally seen on busy weekends or big trade fairs, said the spokesman.
   ‘For us, soccer and sex go very well together,’ he said. ‘In soccer there is always a winner and a loser. One needs a party, the other one needs consolation, and we can offer both.’

Switzerland defender Philippe Senderos will miss the rest of the World Cup after dislocating his shoulder in Friday’s win over South Korea, team officials said on Saturday.
   Doctor Rudolf Roeder said Senderos had suffered ligament damage in the incident.
   ‘He will be out for a minimum of two weeks. There is a 50 percent chance he will require an operation but the most important thing is rest for now,’ Roeder said.
   Senderos was part of a Swiss defence that has yet to concede a goal at the World Cup.
   ‘Of course, it is a big blow for us, but we have already seen his friend Johan (Djourou) standing in well in the defence,’ said Swiss coach Koebi Kuhn.
   ‘One of our strengths is that we can replace almost everybody in the team without losing too much strength,’ he added.
   Switzerland play Ukraine in the World Cup second round on Monday. The World Cup final is on July 9. Senderos scored Switzerland’s first goal in the 2-0 win over South Korea on Friday, sustaining a cut on his nose in the process which required stitches at halftime.
   He missed last month’s Champions League final between his club Arsenal and Barcelona because of a knee injury.

World Cup organiser Franz Beckenbauer, winner of the competition as player and coach, took time out to get married to Heidi Burmesteron Friday, mass daily Bild reported in its online edition Saturday.
   The paper said the pair had tied the knot in the village of Oberndorf near Kitzbuhel in the Austrian Tyrol where Beckenbauer has a home, several weeks after saying they wanted a quiet day ‘without any stress.’
   ‘They said ‘I do’ at half past midday’, Bild reported, adding that the new Mrs Beckenbauer wore a white silk suit.
   Franz Beckenbauer, world champion as a player in 1974 and coach in 1990, wore a dark suit.
   Beckenbauer has hardly missed a game but said there was a special reason for choosing the date of his third marriage.
   ‘Nobody thought we would tie the knot during the World Cup. But June 23 is my mother’s birthday.’
   His mother Antonie died in January aged 92.
   Beckenbauer and Heidi have a five-year-old son, Joel, and have been together for seven years.

Ukraine acknowledge they need to play a better class of football than they have shown in some group matches if they are to progress any further in the World Cup.
   A scrappy 1-0 win over Tunisia on Friday earned the Ukrainians a second-round match against Group G winners Switzerland, and although coach Oleg Blokhin was satisfied with the result, he was unhappy about the quality of the football.
   He said his team needed to do some serious thinking before Monday’s match in Cologne but was hopeful that Ukraine could progress to the quarter-finals.
   ‘Chances always die last,’ he told reporters.
   But to get any further they will need to do what no other team has managed in the tournament so far—score against Switzerland, the only side yet to concede a goal.
   That job will fall to striker Andriy Shevchenko, European Footballer of the Year in 2004.
   Shevchenko is by far the team’s most skilful and well known player, but Blokhin said football was all about the team rather than individuals.
   ‘I don’t ever single out one player (for praise or criticism) — the team either wins or loses,’ Blokhin said. The first European team to qualify for the finals, the Ukrainians came to Germany viewed as the dark horses.
   A 4-0 loss to group winners Spain raised questions about that, although they answered critics with a 4-0 win over Saudi Arabia. Even if Ukraine are knocked out on Monday, the team will still be pleased with their World Cup debut.
   ‘It’s the first time Ukraine have got to the tournament, the first time Ukraine have qualified from the group. I congratulate the whole of Ukraine, especially the fans, with this big achievement,’ Blokhin said.

The suspension of midfielder Brett Emerton and a major blunder by goalkeeper Zeljko Kalac has left Australian coach Guus Hiddink with a serious headache ahead of Monday’s World Cup clash with Italy.
   While Australia’s players were celebrating with their supporters in the moments after making it through to the second round with a 2-2 draw with Croatia, Hiddink was already looking at how he can plug the defensive holes which almost sunk his team.
   Kalac is almost certain to be dropped for Mark Schwarzer after gifting Croatia a goal by fumbling the ball on his line but replacing Emerton is problematic.
   Emerton has been switching between midfield and defence with great success but is ineligible to play against Italy after being sent off for two bookable offences against Croatia.
   ‘It’s a big pity Emerton is out of this game. When you see him going all over the pitch, it’s impressive,’ Hiddink said.

Zinedine Zidane and France have avoided a nightmare scenario by booking a spot in the last 16 but still have everything to prove at the World Cup.
   Coach Raymond Domenech’s ageing team, who will face Spain on Tuesday for a place in the quarter-finals, did what they had to with a 2-0 win over Togo on Friday but a question mark remains over how strong they really are.
   ‘They have world class players and at a World Cup, you never know what can happen,’ said Togo coach Otto Pfister.
   ‘Look at Brazil. They started slowly and are looking good now. The same might happen to France.’
   At least France could lay to rest the ghosts of 2002, when they left the World Cup without a win or a goal from the group stage.
   ‘What happened in 2002 made it even more difficult,’ said defender Lilian Thuram, who won a national record 117th cap on Friday.
   ‘There was a risk we might have to go home and we didn’t want that happen. Now that risk will be there every match.’
   Midfielder Patrick Vieira, celebrating his 30th birthday, scored a goal and set up another to present France with their first World Cup win since they stunned Brazil 3-0 in the final eight years ago.
   The result meant Zidane, who also turned 34 on Friday and watched the game from the changing room, will probably be back for at least one match.
   The man who inspired France to their 1998 World Cup triumph was suspended after a second booking in a 1-1 draw with South Korea that would have been his last match had France failed to qualify. He will retire after the tournament ends.
   Two draws with Switzerland and Korea and a victory over debutants Togo which was not as straightforward as the score may suggest have done little to suggest France could go a long way in Germany.
   France looked sluggish in their first two outings and improved slightly against Togo in the first match they played with two strikers in Thierry Henry and David Trezeguet.
   It was far from perfect, however, with Trezeguet wasting many chances and France taming brave but limited opponents only in the second half with two goals in quick succession.
   Domenech is now expected to recall Zidane against Spain, a team the gifted playmaker knows well having played for Real Madrid for years.
   That means the coach, who always keeps his cards close to his chest with his tactics,
   could revert to his preferred system with just Thierry Henry up front but he has other options.
   France, who rely heavily on several players now past their prime, still have to show they can be competitive during the full 90 minutes after running out of steam from the hour in their three matches so far.

France midfielder Patrick Vieira celebrated his 30th birthday in style by scoring one goal and setting up another as France finally won a World Cup game.
   The French missed a hatful of chances before beating a brave but limited Togo 2-0 on Friday to set up a last 16 match with Spain. It was their first World Cup win since the 1998 final.
   ‘There’s a great potential in this team and I hope this qualification will help us play more freely because we aren’t bad at all,’ said Vieira, who can now enjoy his birthday.
   ‘It took time and it was difficult but in the end we proved competitive and reached our first goal which was to advance to the second round,’ added Vieira who scored after 55 minutes.
   The midfielder, who was named Man of the Match, also set up Thierry Henry’s goal after an hour with a brave downward header before being substituted following another bang on the head.
   ‘It’s true that, on a personal level, it’s a great satisfaction,’ said Vieira after a first Group G win left France as runners-up to Switzerland.’ I’m feeling better and better.’
   Coach Raymond Domenech paid tribute to Vieira, who wore the captain’s armband in the absence of the suspended Zinedine Zidane, who was also enjoying a birthday as he turned 34.
   ‘I always said that Pat could be one of the great players of this World Cup and he’s confirming that,’ Domenech said.
   ‘I’m happy for my players who did what they had to,’ added the coach, whose own future would have looked uncomfortable if France had failed to qualify.
   ‘It was not easy but they kept fighting.’
   France feared they might suffer the same fate as in 2002, when they went out after failing to score in the group stage.
   ‘It’s a great relief,’ said goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. ‘We’ve played many matches like this one and we know how badly they can go. It was nervous and really tough.’
   Togo coach Otto Pfister declined to say anything about his future at the post-match news conference following the team’s chaotic build-up to the finals involving a pay dispute.
   However, the German earlier said he was proud of the way his team performed against a French side full of talented players.
   ‘We played really well in the first half. The second half was more difficult because we were confronted by world class players and their class made the difference in the end.
   ‘Most of our players do not even play in top divisions and they played a great match. I’m not at all disappointed.
   ‘The pressure was clearly on France. They missed a lot of passes and wasted many chances but in that second half they were really better and deserved to win.’

Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira will experience a tinge of divided loyalties when his side step out for a last 16 encounter against Ghana.
   Parreira’s challenge is to become only the second man in history after Italy’s 1934 and 1938 champion Vittorio Pozzo to win the World Cup twice, having led the Selecao to glory in 1994.
   But standing in his way on Tuesday in Dortmund will be a country where he cut his coaching teeth more than 30 years ago.
   In 1967, he was a physical trainer who took over the reins of Ghana for the 1968 African Nations Cup, where they lost out to Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) by the only goal in the final in Ethiopia, having beaten the same rivals in the group.
   ‘I was coach of Ghana in 1967 and 1968. I especially remember this African Nations Cup which we played in Ethiopia. I have happy memories of that team.’
   Parreira’s presence in Ghana at the time was part of a sports development aid project which focused largely on football.
   He started his stint at club level there with SC Asante Kotoko, who promptly won the 1967 title and reached the final of the African Champions Cup.
   That showing was a decisive factor in his getting the national team post but in 1969 Parreira decided to return to Brazil, where he took up a backroom staff post with the Vasco da Gama club.
   After Brazil polished off Japan 4-1 in their final group game while Ghana were ousting the United States Parreira said he was looking forward to facing his former African employers.
   ‘I’m looking forward to it - they were the first national team which I coached.’
   Ghana are making their World Cup bow but Parreira said he could not understand why a country with so much talent had not qualified before.
   ‘Ghana should have been at the finals a long time ago. It was a lovely surprise to see them go through and fully deserved.
   ‘They played very well against Italy and are technically very strong. They are a power in the African game.’
   He added he did not expect the Ghanaians to adopt an over-cautious approach against the defending champions but go for the jugular.
   ‘I’ve not seen them hang back in this tournament - they like to go forward. They have their own style and won’t change it because they’re facing Brazil,’ Parreira forecast, but added ‘we will be prepared.’
   Parreira, 63, is one of the coaches with the broadest experience at the World Cup.
   As well as his multi-faceted Brazilian and Ghanaian experience he was in charge of Kuwait during the 1982 finals, while he led the United Arab Emirates at Italia 90.
   In 1998, he led out Saudi Arabia but was sacked after the first two games.
   Now, as he looks to make it six titles for the Selecao, the wheel turns full circle as he plots the exit of the African hopefuls where he started out on his coaching path.

South Korea’s World Cup dreams were shattered by a stingy Swiss defence and untimely French renaissance, while the luck that helped carry them to the semi-finals four years ago finally ran out.
   Needing a victory over Switzerland to assure themselves of a place in the last 16, the Koreans were down 1-0 to an early Philippe Senderos header but looked poised to strike back in the second half.
   Their hopes evaporated, however, when Argentine referee Horacio Elizondo overruled a linesman’s flag and allow Alex Frei to score a decisive Swiss second.
   The 2-0 loss in Hanover, coupled with a French win over Togo by the same score, sealed Korea’s early exit.
   ‘We were all looking forward to this World Cup so it’s a shock to go out like this,’ playmaker Park Ji-sung told Reuters.
   ‘We are all very sad but we lost 2-0 so I don’t want to blame the referee.’
   Defender Lee Young-pyo could not hide his disappointment after the match.
   ‘We all stopped when we saw the flag go up for offside,’ he said. ‘It was a very, very strange decision.’
   The team’s run the 2002 semi-finals was not without controversy, with beaten opponents Portugal, Italy and Spain complaining bitterly about key decisions going the way of the co-hosts.
   But South Korea coach Dick Advocaat grudgingly admitted referee Elizondo had been correct to allow Frei’s goal to stand as the ball ricocheted off a defender before falling to the Swiss forward.
   The Dutchman also insisted his team had nothing to be ashamed of and suggested that expectations in Korea had been raised unrealistically high after 2002.
   ‘The impression is that we are unbeatable in Korea,’ he told reporters. ‘We are proud we won one game - and that was a first.’
   South Korea’s 2-1 win over Togo in the opening group match was their first World Cup victory on foreign soil. They also held France to a creditable 1-1 draw in their second game.
   Sharper finishing against the Swiss, the only team at the World Cup yet to conceded a goal, could have taken the Koreans into the second round.
   ‘That’s why we are all so sad about this result,’ said Park. ‘It’s shocking.’
   As hundreds of thousands of ‘Red Devil’ fans sat sobbing on the streets of Seoul at sunrise, their idols trudged past reporters shortly before midnight in Hanover, shoulders slumped and visibly distressed.
   Coach Advocaat was in no mood to discuss his next move.
   ‘I am too upset to think about my own future,’ he shrugged.
   ‘I will take a few days and make a decision then.’

England may toil against South American teams but they will go into Sunday’s World Cup second round match with Ecuador knowing they have nearly always won such games under Sven-Goran Eriksson.
   Though England’s quarter-final exit to Brazil at the 2002 World Cup had keeper David Seaman in tears, they have won their six other matches against South Americans since Eriksson took effective charge in February 2001.
   It has very rarely been easy, with England often struggling to keep possession against sides who are confident on the ball and give little away at the back.
   Only two weeks ago, England needed an own goal by Paraguay captain Carlos Gamarra to make a 1-0 winning start to their Group B campaign in Germany.
   In their dummy-run for that game, England had snatched a 2-1 victory over Uruguay in March after trailing 1-0 until 15 minutes from the end. Winger Joe Cole only grabbed the winner in the third minute of stoppage time.
   Eriksson’s men also left it late last November when they were outplayed for long periods by old foes Argentina in a friendly in Geneva. Trailing 2-1 with three minutes to go, Michael Owen scored twice to snaffle an unlikely victory.
   Last year’s US tour yielded a less than emphatic 3-2 win over Colombia in which Owen, now back in England with a ruptured cruciate ligament, scored a hat-trick.
   If defeat by Brazil marked the low point of England’s 2002 World Cup, their highlight was a 1-0 group stage win over Argentina, courtesy of a penalty converted by captain David Beckham beneath the Sapporo Dome.
   Eriksson, whose preparations for Japan brought a morale-boosting 4-0 win over Paraguay, expects a tough game on Sunday from a well-organised side.
   But he told reporters: ‘I think and strongly believe we will go through.’
   The Swede is reportedly considering a marked tactical switch for the match in Stuttgart, bringing in Michael Carrick as a holding midfielder and dropping forward Peter Crouch to the bench.
   The move would leave Wayne Rooney as a lone striker, backed by a five-man midfield in which Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard would provide attacking support.
   Owen Hargreaves was tipped by the British media on Saturday to replace Jamie Carragher as stand-in at right back for the injured Gary Neville.

Sven-Goran Eriksson has hinted that untested teenager Theo Walcott could play a part in England’s last 16 clash with Ecuador, insisting he has complete faith in the Arsenal youngster.
   Walcott, 17, was a shock inclusion in the Swede’s World Cup squad having never played a Premiership match, but has so far been sidelined despite England having only three fit strikers.
   Eriksson was widely criticised for gambling with Walcott when there were injury concerns over Wayne Rooney and Michael Owen. But he said at a press conference here that he had no regrets.
   ‘I hope that you will see Theo Walcott in this tournament but I cannot guarantee it, it depends on the matches and things like that,’ he said.
   ‘But I think he is ready, that’s why I picked him.
   ‘Of course he has no experience at all on this level but he’s a very, very interesting boy.’
   Walcott became England’s youngest ever international when he came on as a substitute for Owen in England’s 3-1 World Cup warm-up win over Hungary last month.
   He was just 17 years and 75 days when he took to the field, 36 days younger than Rooney was when he made his debut against Australia in 2003.
   His elevation was all the more remarkable because he has not appeared in the Arsenal first team since joining from Southampton in January in a deal that could eventually cost the London club 12 million pounds.
   Eriksson said that even if Walcott did not play in the tournament, the experience of being at the World Cup would prove invaluable to England in the future.
   ‘If he doesn’t play, and I think he will, this will do very well for him in the next big tournament, extremely well,’ said Eriksson, who is leaving the job after the World Cup finals.
   ‘He has been here and he has learned, it is good.
   ‘You see, I am still working for England even when I’m not going to be here.’
   With Owen injured and out of the tournament, England are expected to start against Ecuador with Rooney on his own up front with Steven Gerrard acting as a second striker.
   It is possible Walcott could come on late in the second-half if England have victory sewn up.

At home, Ecuador plays its football at altitude. In Germany, they’re on a high having reached the World Cup second round for the first time and given a huge morale boost to their country.
   Ecuador has often been South America’s poor relation when it comes to football but will be in the spotlight on Sunday when they face England for a place in the quarter-finals.
   Brazil and Argentina are the undisputed continental kings and Ecuador, according to the much-maligned FIFA rankings, are only the sixth best side on the continent behind Colombia, Uruguay and Paraguay.
   ‘We have written history,’ said the team’s Colombian coach Luis Suarez who insists Ecuador are now the third force in South America.
   ‘We’ve achieved our first target. Now we need to do more. What we have done is good for the country. The big South American football nations are Brazil and Argentina but now Ecuador has the chance to join them.’
   At home, however, there is less confidence.
   The country, where the average gross domestic product is just 4,300 dollars, is enduring severe financial problems despite its position as the world’s largest exporter of bananas.
   ‘In the name of our country, we are united and proud and we are determined to follow your example,’ said President Alfredo Palacio who earlier this year was forced to introduce a state of emergency to quell protests against a US-Ecuador free-trade pact.
   ‘It’s a enormous effort which unites us all.’
   Newspapers have gushed over the team’s Germany campaign which has deflected attention from the troubled country which has seen seven presidents in power since 1996.
   There is also ongoing tension on the frontier with Colombia while a four-year border war was fought with Peru in the 1990s.
   The CIA describes Ecuador as a transit country for cocaine originating in Colombia and Peru as well as an ‘attractive location for cash-placement by drug traffickers laundering money because of dollarization and a weak anti-money-laundering regime’.
   Football was introduced to Ecuador in 1899 by a pair of brothers, Juan Alfredo and Roberto Wright.
   But they will have been perturbed by the manic enthusiasm the game has generated.
   In 2001, former national team coach Hernan Dario Gomez was shot in the leg in a hotel lobby.
   The incident was sparked reportedly because he didn’t pick the son of Ecuador’s former president for the national youth team.

Spain midfielder Cesc Fabregas put his former master Patrick Vieira in the shade last season when he helped orchestrate Arsenal’s victory over Juventus in the Champions League.
   The 19-year-old could get another chance to pit his skills against his old Arsenal team mate as well as current club colleague Thierry Henry when Spain take on 1998 champions France in the last 16 of the World Cup in Hanover on Tuesday.
   Although he started on the bench in Spain’s opening two group games, the young midfielder came on as a substitute in both and played a decisive role in Spain’s 3-1 comeback victory over Tunisia by setting up two of his side’s goals.
   He is one of the first players coach Luis Aragones has turned to on the bench and is almost certain to feature at some point in the France match.
   Joining Arsenal as a 16-year-old in 2003, he enjoyed a fast-track promotion to the first team following injuries to Gilberto Silva and Edu.
   He became the club’s youngest ever player and goal scorer in his first season and surprised many with a maturity and work ethic beyond his years.
   Last season he was set the daunting task of stepping into Vieira’s shoes after the Frenchman left for Juventus, but his vision, skill and mental resolve left the Highbury faithful with little reason to bemoan the loss of the influential midfielder.
   Fabregas has kept his feet on the ground and said on Saturday that he remains grateful to Vieira for the help he gave him when the two were team mates.
   ‘Patrick was really good to me. He helped me both on and off the pitch and I will always be grateful to him,’ he told reporters.
   Fabregas was in the starting lineup in the 1-0 victory over Saudi Arabia, but he knows that he is likely to begin Tuesday’s match on the bench.
   ‘We’ve got a young squad and everyone wants to be in the first team,’ he said after Friday’s match. ‘I’m working hard and ready to play whenever I’m needed.’

Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari on Saturday predicted a tight match with the Netherlands who he said were unrecognisable from the team Portugal ousted from Euro 2004.
   Scolari said the second-round clash here was most likely to be decided by a one-goal margin or penalties.
   ‘I don’t think we’re better than Holland—in 2004 we had a good match and better chances to score so we went through,’ he said.
   ‘Secondly this is a completely different Holland with a new coach, new tactics and new players, so I think that the two teams are very equal.
   ‘Probably one of the teams is going to win by the difference of one goal or maybe we will go to penalties to decide it after 120 minutes.’
   Portugal have not lost to the Netherlands since 1991 and last beat them 2-1 in the Euro 2004 semi-finals.
   But Marco van Basten’s new-look side are unbeaten in competitive matches since that loss two years ago. Scolari has won a record 10 consecutive World Cup matches including seven when he led his native Brazil to the title in 2002.

For the first time in a 32-team World Cup, all eight seeded teams advanced to the second round. France was the last seed to clinch a spot in the round of 16, but Les Bleus did what they needed to advance, beating Togo 2-0 on Friday night.
   After FIFA expanded the field to 32 nations before the 1998 World Cup, at least one seed failed to advance in each tournament. In 1998, highly touted Spain did not make it out of group play. In 2002, France, the defending champion, and Argentina crashed out in the first round.
   In the last two World Cups, a seeded team placed second in its group just once, when Italy finished behind Mexico in Group G in 2002. In this year’s tournament, two seeds placed second: Mexico in Group D and France in Group G. Both will have to face group-winning seeds in the next round. France plays Spain, while Mexico faces Argentina.
   The team scoring first in group stage games had a big advantage. Thirty-one times in the 48 games played did the team with the opening goal go on to win. The team that conceded the opening goal rallied for victory just six times, and forced a tie in six others. South Korea was the only team to accomplish both feats, rallying for a win against Togo in its opener, and forcing a tie against France in its second game.
   The Koreans, along with the Czech Republic, were the only teams to win their opening games, but fail to advance. Conversely, Ghana and Ukraine became the second and third teams, respectively, to advance to the second round after losing their opener, since the field was expanded to 32. Turkey accomplished the same feat in 2002 and reached the semifinals.

History has a habit of repeating itself and if omens are anything to go by, Italy could end up lifting the World Cup in Berlin on July 9.
   The Azzurri’s current campaign, which has so far taken them to the last 16, bears alarming similarities to the 1982 World Cup when they won the trophy for the third time.
   Twenty four years ago Italy arrived in Spain under a cloud after a match-fixing ring had been uncovered 24 months earlier.
   The scandal led to AC Milan and Lazio being relegated, while thirty players received lengthy bans, including Paolo Rossi, then the world’s highest paid player.
   Rossi completed his ban two years later, just in time to lead Italy’s attack at the World Cup. He ended up as the tournament’s top scorer with six goals and Italy were crowned champions.
   This year, Italian football is once again in the mire after another match-fixing scandal, this time on a far grander scale.
   On Thursday, just minutes after Italy beat the Czech Republic 2-0 to set up a second round clash against Australia, Juventus, AC Milan, Lazio and Fiorentina were all charged by the Italian football federation for their part in fixing matches in the 2004-05 season.
   Thirteen of the Italy squad play for the clubs involved, but none of the 23-man group or their coach, Marcello Lippi, are implicated.
   The four clubs could be relegated if found directly responsible for fixing matches.
   The Italian players have repeatedly been asked if the scandal has had a negative effect on them, but Gianluigi Buffon is adamant their minds are fully focussed on bringing home the trophy.
   ‘Every one of us is just thinking about the World Cup,’ said the Juventus keeper.
   ‘For a player to play at the World Cup is as good as it gets. It only happens every four years and we won’t let anything that’s going on elsewhere ruin it.
   ‘Just like every other country, we want to win it.’
   Two other portents that suggests Italy’s name is on the World Cup concerns own goals and previous results.
   Just before the 1982 tournament, Italy drew 1-1 with Switzerland in a warm-up friendly. Coincidentally they were once again held 1-1 by the Swiss in May as part of their preparations for Germany.
   Also in 1982, at the first round group stage, Fulvio Collovati put through his own net in a 1-1 draw against Peru. In Italy’s second group stage match against the United States last Saturday, Cristian Zaccardo scored an own goal in a 1-1 draw with the United States.

Since their introduction in 1982 penalty shootouts have caused some of the World Cup’s highest highs and lowest lows, making heroes of journeymen players while exposing the fallibility of superstars.
   Sixteen World Cup matches have been decided by the cruel but undeniably exciting tie-breaker, including three of the four quarter-finals in 1986, both semis four years later and the final in 1994.
   ‘Kicks from the penalty mark’ is an innocuous phrase that for some teams is a virtual passport to the next round while for others it is enough to reduce them to gibbering wrecks.
   The concept was introduced in the long-defunct Watney Cup in England in 1970 and the capricious nature of the beast was immediately apparent as George Best became the first man to score and his Manchester United team mate Denis Law the first to miss.
   The shootout has never respected reputations and the seemingly simple post-match act of beating a goalkeeper from 12 yards has proved too much for such luminaries as Diego Maradona, Roberto Baggio, Michel Platini, Socrates and David Batty.
   On the other hand, the careers of goalkeepers such as Ireland’s Packie Bonner, Argentine stand-in Sergio Goycochea and Spain’s Iker Casillas have been made by their saves.
   Germany lost the first major international shootout to Czechoslovakia in the 1976 European Championship final but have been imperious since, winning three out of three in World Cups and also beating England in the Euro 96 semi-finals.
   Argentina also have few fears when 120 minutes are up as they are also ‘three and o’ in the World Cup while Brazil have won five and lost three of their eight shootouts in tournaments, including one win and one defeat in Copa America finals.
   Brazil’s most famous shootout success came in the 1994 World Cup final after 120 goalless, gruelling minutes against Italy.
   Such was the magnitude of the event that Italy’s craggy-faced hard-man defender Franco Baresi was left a blubbering wreck after missing his spot kick.
   Roberto Baggio, who had almost single-handedly hauled Italy to the final and acquired the nickname ‘the divine ponytail’, then made the last, agonising contribution.
   He skied the decisive spot kick and stood under the gaze of a billion eyes, utterly alone.
   For Italy it was one of a trio of shootout heartbreaks that began when they lost to Argentina in the 1990 semi-finals on home soil—the South Americans having also beaten Yugoslavia in the quarter-finals the same way—and continued when they went out to France in the 1998 quarters.
   Italy did manage a penalties win in the 2000 European Championship semi-finals but that was against Netherlands, so it hardly counts.
   , their team losing four of the five they have been involved in including two Euro semi-finals and the 1998 World Cup semi against Brazil.
   They were particularly useless in the Euro 2000 semi-final against Italy when, having already missed two penalties in regulation time, they missed three out of four in the shootout.
   England’s record is similarly shocking, losing three out of four, including the semi-finals of Euro 96 and the 1990 World Cup, both to Germany.
   Such is the fear engendered by the shootout that several big names have declined to take the loneliest walk in the game and for those who step up and fail the scar never fully heals.
   Chris Waddle, who blazed England’s final kick over the bar in 1990, was asked recently if he still thought about his miss every day. ‘No, not any more,’ he said. ‘Sometimes it doesn’t kick in until the evening.’

Australia, who are in their first World Cup finals in 32 years, are the last Asian team still standing after South Korea and Saudi Arabia were turfed out on the last day of group matches.
   Few would have tipped such a scenario, with the Australians untested at this level while South Korea, Japan and Saudi Arabia have all made the second round in previous campaigns.
   Australia only qualified by beating Uruguay on penalties in a classic playoff encounter as an Oceania nation. They have since become a member of the Asian Football Confederation, and have signalled here that they are a force to be reckoned with.
   High hopes were held for South Korea, semi-finalists four years ago on home soil, but they were unable to cope with a rampant Switzerland in Hanover on Friday.
   Their 2-0 loss was compounded by a 2-0 win by France over Togo which consigned South Korea to an early plane home and left them despondant that they were unable to challenge, let alone match, their feat in 2002.
   Arsenal defender Philippe Senderos put Switzerland ahead in the first half before striker Alexander Frei killed the hopes of the Koreans with a hotly disputed goal in the 77th minute, which South Korea felt was offside.
   ‘Frei was offside - the goal just killed off the game,’ said a bitter Lee Young-Pyo, South Korea’s Spurs defender.
   Saudi Arabia’s chances of making the last 16 were always slim and their 1-0 loss to Spain in Kaiserlautern hammered the final nail into their coffin.
   Real Betis defender Juanito’s header in the 37th minute was enough to end their dream.
   The match proved significant as the last one for veteran Saudi striker Sami al-Jaber, who announced his retirement from international football after the game.
   The 33-year-old played 163 times and scored 44 goals. His strike in the 2-2 draw with Tunisia in the opening Group H game put him alongside Pele, Diego Maradona and Uwe Seeler as the only man to score in World Cups 12 years apart.
   ‘The decision is final. I have talked about it with the federation and they are right behind me,’ he said.
   Despite their early exit, Saudi coach Marcos Paqueta said it was good experience for his players who would learn from it and get better.
   ‘Playing in the World Cup has been a great experience for Saudi Arabia. Its a wonderful opportunity for the younger players to face strong teams and pick up valuable experience,’ he said.
   ‘We enjoyed a good qualifying campaign but we came up short in terms of international experience here, and that dented the confidence of the players quite a bit. We just need to keep improving our quality.’

Italy couldn’t care less if they don’t entertain like the Azzurri teams of old as long as they end up holding aloft the World Cup.
   Italy were once regarded as one of the most exciting sides in the world with players like Gigi Riva, Gianni Rivera, Sandro Mazzola and Roberto Baggio etching their names in the pantheon of football greats.
   And in the build-up to this tournament, the Italians displayed an exciting brand of attacking play which swept aside World Cup hosts Germany and Holland in friendly matches.
   But since arriving in Germany, they have reverted to a more defensive style, not ‘catenaccio’ but less easier on the eye, a move which has brought scathing criticism from the Italian media for whom entertainment is a requirement of the national side.
   Italy midfielder Simone Perrotta insisted the team were unfazed by the negative press reaction to their first round performances, which produced solid but unspectacular wins against Ghana and the Czech Republic and a draw with the USA.
   ‘I really don’t care how we play, the only important thing is to win,’ he said ahead of Monday’s crunch second round match against Australia in Kaiserslautern.
   ‘Everything else counts for little. The most talented team of all time was (Johan Cruyff’s) Holland and they’ve never won anything.
   ‘They may be remembered for the way they played, but they ended up with nothing.’
   Perrotta jumped to the defence of out-of-sorts striker and Roma team-mate Francesco Totti, who has only recently returned to action after breaking his ankle and looks off the pace.
   ‘He’s definitely not 100 per cent, but players like Francesco, with the quality he has even if he’s at 70 or 80 per cent, is a player who can make the difference in any moment of a match,’ Perrotta said.
   Asked if Totti was a luxury to have in the team at the moment, Perrotta replied. ‘Absolutely not.’
   Perrotta made the surprise admission that he would have been happy to face tournament favourites Brazil in the last 16 rather than Australia.
   ‘Australia may seem like the easier draw, but the game against the US proved that matches which seem easy on paper are often the most difficult ones,’ he said.
   ‘Paradoxically it might have been easier to face Brazil rather than Australia. Personally I would have preferred to have met Brazil, not because Australia are stronger, but because it would have been wonderful to play against them.
   ‘It would have been a fascinating match and if you feel that you have the quality to win the World Cup, you have to beat every team.’
   Perrotta used to be a fringe player for Italy but he has now become a key figure, starting all three of their group matches in his unfamiliar role on the right-hand side of midfield rather than in the centre.
   ‘I used to be think that it would always be who would be sacrificed when the team was announced, but now I think differently,’ he said.
   ‘I’ve had a good season and I’ve started every match here. I used to think that my role was only in central midfield, but now I’ve been given this new position which I really enjoy.
   ‘I’m playing well, but there’s always room for improvement.’

Spain coach Luis Aragones has vowed that his team will sharpen up when they face France for a place in the World Cup quarter-finals.
   Despite a 1-0 win over Saudi Arabia which preserved their 100-per cent record in Group H, it was a sluggish display by a much-changed Spanish team.
   ‘We would have liked to score more goals, but maybe we were just lacking the killer touch because we knew we were already qualified,’ admitted Aragones.
   ‘I believe we will get back to our best, as we were against Ukraine and then in the second half against Tunisia. That’s the kind of image we want to show.’
   France coach Raymond Domenech recognised that Spain are on a high and will be tough to beat in their second round clash in Hanover on Tuesday.
   ‘I would have preferred to have passed straight to the quarter-finals,’ said Domenech whose side ensured qualification only in their last match, a 2-0 win against Togo.
   But the French coach believes that veteran midfielder Patrick Vieira, who opened the scoring against Togo, will have a crucial role to play.
   ‘I have said at the start of the World Cup that he would be one of the stars of the tournament,’ he added.
   ‘I know Pat, I see his preparation, his motivation.’
   Spain, who had dominated Ukraine and Tunisia 4-0 and 3-1 respectively in their two previous encounters before Friday, lost their shape in a shaky second half against the Saudis who came close to levelling in the dying minutes.
   In the end, Spain held on to defend the 1-0 lead, from the head of Real Betis defender Juanito in the 37th minute, to finish top of the group with nine points.
   Aragones, who is bidding to take Spain past the quarter-finals for the first time in 56 years, put out a second string side for the Saudi Arabia match.
   But at half-time, he replaced Raul with Valencia’s David Villa, the scorer of two goals in the rout of Ukraine.
   Minutes later, he went on to also replace an indecisive Cesc Fabregas with Barcelona midfielder Xavi and Jose Antonio Reyes with Fernando Torres, who has three goals.
   Despite apparently having boosted his attack, Spain went mostly downhill, as changes made by Saudi coach Marcos Paqueta had the opposite effect.
   The ‘Sons of the Desert’, famously whipped 8-0 by Germany in the 2002 World Cup, had at least three scoring chances.
   Spain held on although Aragones held his head in his hands with frustration a stages throughout the match.
   ‘In the second half we fell apart basically. We were at our opponents’ mercy,’ he conceded.
   ‘The Saudis played an excellent game. They pressured us at the back and I think we could have lost the match.’

Arjen Robben believes Holland’s midfielders are also to blame for their lack of goals in Germany this summer.
   The Oranje bagged just three goals from their three Group C games, but it was enough to advance to the second round of the tournament as they yielded seven points in the ‘Group of Death’.
   Ruud van Nistelrooy and Dirk Kuyt have come under fire for their lack of goals output, even though the Manchester United hit-man did find the net against Ivory Coast, but Robben believes they are not solely to blame.
   With Holland’s strikers struggling, Robben wants their midfield to get forward as much as possible to support the forward line.
   ‘The lack of power is not just about the forward line, but also how they are supported by the rest of the team,’ explained Robben.
   ‘In some matches, you get one chance and you have to convert it. Dirt Kuyt had one in the first half, but the angle was tight.’

India at Stumps, day 2
   India fought back after Daren Ganga and Ramnaresh Sarwan scored centuries to put the West Indies in command on the second day of the third Test on Friday.
   The West Indies, who won the toss and chose to bat, were 420 for five at tea. Heavy rain that started during the interval then ended play early for the day.
   Ganga scored 135 while Sarwan made 116, and together they shared 203 for the second wicket.
   The attacking Sarwan faced 174 balls and hit 17 fours and a six, He celebrated his 26th birthday by becoming the first man to hit six fours in a Test over.
   South African Lance Klusener and Australia's David Hookes once each hit five fours in an over, but Sarwan is the first player to stroke six fours.
   West Indies captain Brian Lara claimed the world record for the most runs scored in an over when he smashed 28 off South African left-arm spinner Robin Peterson in a single over in Johannesburg in 2003-04.
   India took the new ball immediately it was due an hour into the day's play on Friday, but Ganga moved untroubled to his third Test century nine balls later when he put fast bowler Munaf Patel through the covers for four.
   Patel's next over proved a nightmare for him, and it started when Sarwan drove the first delivery through the covers for four.
   Sarwan hooked the second ball to the square leg ropes for another four and he drove the third uppishly through cover for his third boundary of the over.
   Patel was unlucky not to dismiss Sarwan with his next ball, which found the inside edge of the bat before scooting to the fine leg fence.
   Perhaps imbued by his good fortune, a daring Sarwan cut the fifth delivery between the slip cordon and gully for four.
   The shaken Patel was probably desperate to end the over, but his sixth delivery was ruled a no-ball - which Sarwan cut past point for four.
   Patel bowled the ball again and while he managed to send down a legal delivery he pitched the ball short and wide of Sarwan's off-stump.
   To Patel's relief, Sarwan played the ball gently to point. No run was taken.
   The run glut rushed Sarwan from 75 not out to 99 not out, and he reached his ninth century with the third ball of the next over when he took a single to midwicket off the bowling of fast bowler Shanta Sreesanth.
   Patel's woes were eased in the fifth over before lunch when Ganga pushed forward and edged a delivery onto his stumps. Two overs later he trapped Lara leg-before for 10.
   Sarwan was dismissed in the fourth over after lunch when he was trapped in front by Sreesanth, and the West Indies were 406 for five when Dwayne Bravo's thick edge to a ball from off-spinner Harbhajan Singh was well held by wicketkeeper MS Dhoni, who secured the catch at the second attempt to dismiss the all rounder for 21.

England (261/7) against Sri Lanka
   Ian Bell made 77 to salvage England's innings of 261 for seven against Sri Lanka in the third one-dayer at Durham's Chester-le-Street ground on Saturday.
   The touring side, seeking to wrap up the five-match series after their convincing wins at Lord's and The Oval but without match winner Muttiah Muralitharan, looked well short of their best, with only fast bowler Chaminda Vaas at the top of his game.
   England, carelessly threw away their best start of the series before Bell held the innings together during his 114-ball knock. The diminutive right-hander scored only three boundaries but anchored the innings as 89 were added during the final 10 overs.
   The home side's openers put on 62 after England opted to bat but soon captain Andrew Strauss, Marcus Trescothick and Kevin Pietersen had all gone to make it 92 for three in the 21st over.
   Strauss, having looked good for 32, played across Vaas and fell lbw. Trescothick, with 36 off 39 deliveries, played right over a straight one to give Vaas his second success.
   Then Pietersen, hampered by a bruised knee, lashed out at a short, wide ball from fast bowler Lasith Malinga and feathered behind after scoring just six.
   With Pietersen's fall, the innings lost momentum. Bell and Collingwood put on 53 with tip-and-run cricket but Collingwood became the third man to get out in the thirties, driving straight to short extra cover and falling to leg spinner Malinga Bandara.
   Bell, the anchor man, now had to open up. It took him 69 deliveries to score his first boundary, off Bandara, and he quickly added a second as he tried to inject some urgency after England reached 172 for four off 40 overs.
   Jamie Dalrymple contributed by hoisting the leg spinner over long on for the first six of the innings, then clattering Vaas for three fours off an over, the first two through extra-cover. His breezy 35 off 32 balls ended when he stepped outside off stump, aiming to sweep Malinga to fine leg. Instead, he helped the ball into his leg stump.

Fresh from cruising to her third French Open title, Justine Henin-Hardenne is in the mood to complete a full set of Grand Slam titles by winning Wimbledon for the first time.
   The Belgian may lack the power of defending champion Venus Williams or her Belgian compatriot Kim Clijsters, but her comeback from a debilitating illness has underlined that she has few equals in terms of determination.
   Her third French Open title was claimed without the loss of so much as a single set and Henin-Hardenne believes the mental strength that underpinned that performance can help her add to a tally of Grand Slam triumphs that also includes the 2003 US Open and 2004 Australian Open.
   ‘My goal is to win a few more and I believe I can actually win Wimbledon, which is a big passion of mine,’ Henin admitted earlier this week.
   ‘I think the mental side will be very important at Wimbledon. These championships, like the whole of women’s tennis right now, are wide open.’
   Lending support to Henin-Hardenne’s assessment is the fact that, with both Serena Williams and Lindsay Davenport missing because of injury, none of the women standing between her and a first Wimbledon title are in anything like their best form.
   Venus Williams missed nearly three months of competition earlier this year because of a run of injuries and was clearly short of sharpness as she exited the French Open at the quarter-final stage.
   But she was confident that she would be in good shape by the time the action starts on centre court on Monday, following some intensive practice in Florida.
   ‘I would have loved to have done better in Paris but I just need to practice and get stronger, especially on my serve. I think you’ll see me doing much better on that at Wimbledon,’ she said.
   World number one Amelie Mauresmo meanwhile saw her build-up wrecked by a shock defeat by close friend Nathalie Dechy in her first match of the year on grass, at Eastbourne earlier this week.
   But the powerfully-built Frenchwoman is convinced that a first Wimbledon title is within her grasp.
   ‘It is fun coming to Britain for me,’ she said. ‘There is not the same pressure I have in France and I like the grass. It takes time to adapt but I think it suits my game.’
   Maria Sharapova, the Russian who won in 2004, is equally bullish about her prospects, despite a shock defeat to unheralded American Jamea Jackson at the semi-final stage of her preferred warm-up tournament, at Birmingham last week.
   ‘I just need to practice a few things and keep working hard and I think I’ll be fine,’ she said. ‘It’s my favourite Grand Slam and I always get a buzz from going back there.’
   Also in the mix this year will be former world number one Martina Hingis, who will be appearing at Wimbledon for the first time in five years, and nine years after she became the youngest Wimbledon champion of the professional era by winning as a 16-year-old.
   The Swiss Miss has also twice experienced the ignominy of losing in the first round, losing to Jelena Dokic in 1999 and then to Spain’s Virginia Ruano Pascual on her last appearance in 2001.
   Her first round match will be her first competitive encounter on grass since that defeat but she is not too worried about the prospect of another shock early exit.
   ‘It’s been a while since I stood on a grass court but that is the same for everybody, because nobody really practices on grass,’ she said.
   ‘I don’t know what to expect but I’m looking forward to it.’

Andre Agassi said on Saturday he would retire from tennis after this year's US Open.
   ‘This Wimbledon will be my last and the US Open will be my last tournament,’ the 36-year-old told a news conference.
   The American, who has been struggling with a chronic back injury in recent seasons, won the first of his eight grand slam singles titles at Wimbledon in 1992 when he beat Goran Ivanisevic in five sets in the final.
   Agassi said he had made his decision to retire several months ago but explained: ‘I waited until now to say something as it is only right that I say it at the place it all started.’
   The US Open starts on August 28 in New York.

Zimbabwe A still trail the Bangladesh A by 129 runs on the first innings with two wickets in hand as they finished the second day of the second four-day match on 251-8 at the Mutare Sports Club on Saturday.
   Zimbabwe Test player Stuart Matsikenyerie scored highest 61 runs for them while Kasteni contributed 52 and Mufambisi added 44. Left-arm spinner Enamul Haque (Junior) was again the key performer for the Bangladesh A claiming 3 wickets for 60. Mohammad Sharif took two for 34 runs.
   Earlier, Bangladesh A completed their first innings on 380 adding 73 runs to their overnight 307-6 in the morning before being all out. T Garwe halted the high-flying visitors, who rode on two centuries from Mehrab Hossain Jr (120) and Alok Kapali (111).

Flamboyant wicketkeeper-batsman Mahendra Singh Dhoni has been voted as the MTV Youth Icon of the year 2006.
   Dhoni garnered maximum number of votes to win the honour ahead of five other heavyweights - Navjot Singh Sidhu (television), Abhijeet Sawant (music), Vijay Mallaya (business), President APJ Abdul Kalam (science), John Abraham (film).
   The votes were cast by youngsters aged between 15 and 24 from ten cities - Ahmedabad, Chennai, Chandigarh, Hyderabad, Indore, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi and Pune - via online and SMS.
   The Jharkhand cricketer now joins the elite league of former Youth Icon awardees like industrialist Anil Ambani, present captain of Indian cricket team Rahul Dravid and film star Shah Rukh Khan.

Australian cricketer Michael Clarke got into a bar room brawl with rugby star Tim Smith as the duo exchanged blows after a heated argument.
   Quoting onlookers, the 'Daily Telegraph' reported that Smith allegedly pushed Clarke after an argument leading to a fight which ended only after the bouncers threw out the rugby player. Clarke's manager Lisa Stallard confirmed the incident but played down any major altercation.
   ‘There was a bit of mucking around that got out of hand,’ Stallard was quoted by the daily as saying.
   ‘The bouncers weren't happy with it and Tim got the raw end of the stick and got thrown out,’ she said.
   But witnesses who saw the duo said the incident did get out of hands leading the bouncers to intervene.
   ‘They were in each other's faces. Then Smith pushed Michael Clarke and he got kicked out,’ a patron was quoted as saying.
   ‘There were a lot of people around. (Smith) was carrying on like he owned the joint,’ another eye-witness said.

Niranjan Shah, the Indian cricket board secretary, has said that an impressive showing in the County Championship in England could earn Sourav Ganguly a recall to the national team. However, he reminded that the decision rested entirely with the selectors.
   ‘If he plays and performs well in England and in domestic cricket [back home], it will be taken into consideration. But it is upto the selectors,’ Shah told PTI.
   Ganguly, representing Northamptonshire, got off to a disastrous start in his first outing, scoring 2 and 0 against Worcestershire which concluded yesterday. Dropped from the Indian team since the tour of Pakistan, he insisted that he had not given up hopes of making a comeback. ‘I want to put runs on the board and get back into the national team,’ Ganguly said. ‘I'm not here from a financial point of view - it's important to perform. I still feel I've got a lot of cricket in me and every run will be watched.’
   When asked about Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, the West Bengal chief minister, writing a letter to the BCCI requesting Ganguly's inclusion, Shah said that it was natural for people from various quarters to give their opinion on such issues.
   ‘Even Somnath Chatterjee [a member of parliament] has suggested for the inclusion of Ganguly in the national team. This is the normal thing.’

World Cup top scorers on Friday after the conclusion of the first round group stage:
   4: Klose (Germany)
   3: Fernando Torres (Spain)
   2: Bosacki (Poland), Bravo (Mexico), Cahill (Australia), Crespo (Argentina), Delgado (Ecuador), Dindane (Ivory Coast), Frei (Switzerland), Gerrard (England), Henry (France), Maxi Rodriguez (Argentina), Ronaldo (Brazil), Rosicky (Czech Republic), Shevchenko (Ukraine), C. Tenorio (Ecuador), Villa (Spain), Wanchope (Costa Rica)
   1: Adriano (Brazil), Ahn Jung-hwan (South Korea), Al Jaber (Saudi Arabia), Al Qahtani (Saudi Arabia), Allback (Sweden), Aloisi (Australia), Appiah (Ghana), Bakhtiarizadeh (Iran), Barnetta (Switzerland), Cambiasso (Argentina), J. Cole (England), Cristiano Ronaldo (Portugal), Crouch (England), Cuevas (Paraguay), Deco (Portugal), Dempsey (United States), Dramani (Ghana), Drogba (Ivory Coast), Flavio (Angola), Fonseca (Mexico), Fred (Brazil), Frings (Germany), Gilardino (Italy), Gilberto (Brazil), Golmohammadi (Iran), R. Gomez (Costa Rica), Gyan (Ghana), Iaquinta (Italy), Ilic (Serbia-Montenegro), F. Inzaghi (Italy), Jaidi (Tunisia), Jaziri (Tunisia), Juanito (Spain), Juninho (Brazil), Kaka (Brazil), Kalou (Ivory Coast), Kalynychenko (Ukraine), Kaviedes (Ecuador), Kewell (Australia), Koller (Czech Republic), B. Kone (Ivory Coast), N. Kovac (Croatia), Lahm (Germany), Larsson (Sweden), Lee Chun-soo (South Korea), Ljungberg (Sweden), Maniche (Portugal), Materazzi (Italy), Messi (Argentina), Mnari (Tunisia), Mohamed Kader (Togo), C.A. Moore (Australia), Muntari (Ghana), Nakamura (Japan), Neuville (Germany), Park Ji-sung (South Korea), Pauleta (Portugal), Pirlo (Italy), Podolski (Germany), Raul (Spain), Rebrov (Ukraine), Robben (Netherlands), Rusol (Ukraine), Saviola (Argentina), Senderos (Switzerland), Simao Sabrosa (Portugal), Srna (Croatia), Tamada (Japan), Tevez (Argentina), Van Nistelrooy (Netherlands), Van Persie (Netherlands), Vieira (France), Xabi Alonso (Spain), Zigic (Serbia-Montenegro), Zinha (Mexico)

Defending World Cup champions Brazil has weak spots, including teamwork from their all-star lineup, that Ghana coach Ratomir Dujkovic said his Black Stars can exploit to pull off a second-round shocker.
   Superstar playmaker Ronaldinho, World Cup all-time goals co-leader Ronaldo, his Real Madrid teammate Roberto Carlos and AC Milan standouts Kaka and Cafu will lead Brazil against the African squad Tuesday at Dortmund.
   ‘I believe we can stop them because they are not doing so well as before with all these stars,’ Dujkovic said Saturday. ‘They have excellent individuality but as a team they are not doing so well as before.’
   The Brazilians have not looked as overwhelming as in their title runs in 1994 and 2002 or even during their run to the final in 1998, but they have improved with every match in quest of a sixth overall crown and fourth final in a row.
   ‘It’s better to face them now rather than in the final. In the finals, they can’t be beaten,’ Dujkovic said.
   ‘We don’t have options. It’s very difficult to stop all these stars for Brazil. We have to prepare a strategy to stop them and how to make some goals.
   ‘If you stop Ronaldinho, they have Ronaldo. If you stop Ronaldo, they have Roberto Carlos. If you stop Roberto Carlos, they have Cafu. So it will be difficult, very tough.
   ‘But our guys, they certainly have the capability to stop the Brazilian team.’
   Ghana was the biggest stunner among round-of-16 qualifiers, beating the second-ranked Czech Republic and fifth-rated United States to book a date against the tournament favourites.
   ‘They are dangerous tactically so we have to put pressure on them so they don’t do anything dangerous,’ 20-year-old Ghana forward Asamoah Gyan said.
   Ghana captain Stephen Appiah played against Brazil as part of Ghana’s under-17 program that produced two world champion teams. But it’s not like he has not been watching Brazil’s amazing lineup for years anyway.
   ‘A player sees these guys and gets excited. We have to be ready to play 120 percent,’ Appiah said. ‘They have players who in two seconds can change the game.’
   The Black Stars must face Brazil with star midfielder Michael Essien on the bench because of an accumulated yellow-card suspension. The Chelsea standout is as disappointed to miss playing Brazil as his teammates are not to have him.
   ‘He’s very sad. We’re all very sad,’ Appiah said. ‘Essien is a great player. Now that he is gone, we have to think about who is here. I’m sure the coach will find someone who can replace him.’
   Dujkovic admits that anyone he pulls off the bench will only fill Essien’s place on the field, not the lost skills he would bring.
   ‘Any player who comes on in place of Michael Essien will do his best, maybe not at the level like Michael Essien but I’m sure he can do it at close to this level,’ Dujkovic said.
   It’s that faith in his entire lineup that is at the heart of the 60-year-old Serbian coach’s conviction that Brazil can be defeated. Should Ghana pull off the big upset, it would match Brazil’s earliest World Cup exit in 40 years.
   ‘Any player for Brazil is dangerous,’ he said. ‘It will be very difficult to stop them. I believe and I’m confident that Black Stars can do it.’
   The Brazil-Ghana winner will advance to quarter-final next Saturday at Frankfurt against either Spain or France.

Referees are playing their part in creating a free-flowing World Cup by following strict instructions from FIFA on foul play.
   Russian referee Valentin Ivanov said a glut of red cards in the tournament did not signify out of control players but reflected officials clamping down hard on transgressors. The month-long extravaganza has so far produced 18 red cards from 48 matches, fast approaching the record of 22 from 64 matches in the 1998 finals in France.
   In two group stage matches—Italy against the United States and Croatia versus Australia—three players were expelled from each game.
   ‘If you speak about the tournament so far, the behaviour of the players is ok I think,’ Ivanov told reporters on Saturday after a training session.
   ‘Maybe because of these red cards it has not been a dirty tournament.
   ‘FIFA wish to see football, not fighting, on the field of play. That is why referees receive clear instructions, not because we hate players, but because we try and protect players and the game.’
   Ivanov, who will take charge of the last 16 clash between Portugal and Netherlands in Nuremberg on Sunday, said referees were not being overly tough on players.
   ‘No, we are not being hard. Our instructions were clear and we have to follow them... to be very strict in terms of tackles and time-wasting.’
   Referees have been quick to brandish cards for diving and Ivanov said officials had to remain vigilant.
   ‘Diving is a very bad thing which players do very well sometimes,’ he said.
   Slovakian referee Lubos Michel believed players had got the message loud and clear.
   ‘The players understand now how far they can go, they have got the message. We can be flexible with some small things but not with the serious things.’

Hundreds of thousands of bleary-eyed South Korean football fans went home dejected early Saturday after their Red Devils were knocked out of the World Cup.
   Nearly 1.7 million people—many of them sporting red t-shirts and horns in honor of the beloved national team—massed before large-screen TVs set up across the country to watch the do-or-die match against the Swiss, police said.
   But the team’s 2-0 loss, which included a controversial goal by Swiss striker Alexander Frei, left the fans in despair after a sleepless night.
   ‘Korea did well. But they failed to translate scoring chances into goals. I thought they would make it to the last 16 and cheered them really hard,’ said 25-year-old Sung Mi-Sun, barely holding back her tears.
   In the capital Seoul, some 170,000 fans crammed into a square outside City Hall, shouting ‘Daehan Minguk’ (Korea Republic) and cheering wildly before the crunch game began.
   Fans of the surprise 2002 World Cup semi-finalists had high expectations as goalkeeper and captain Lee Woon-Jae, one of the heroes of the 2002 campaign, made his 100th appearance for the national team.
   But they fell silent only moments later as a powerful header from Philippe Senderos gave Switzerland a 1-0 half-time lead in the Group G match in Hanover.
   The shock was short-lived and the loud, enthusiastic chanting soon resumed as the Red Devils attempted to create opportunities for a leveller.
   But the South Korean hopes were again dashed and cheering turned to raucous booing as Frei, called offside by the assistant referee, slid the ball home anyway and referee Horacio Elizondo allowed the goal to stand.
   As the final whistle blew on South Korea’s defeat, the crowd heaved a collective sigh, some shed tears and several expressed anger at what they called bad officiating.
   ‘They displayed their unbending spirit. They fought quite well,’ said Kim Young-Jin, a 50-year-old corporate worker.
   ‘But the second goal was just ridiculous. The assistant judge raised the flag and it was absolutely no goal,’ he said as he prepared to leave the square, picking up a copy of a newspaper he had sat on throughout the night.
   A dejected 20-year-old sociology student, with dyed bright yellow hair and one ear pierced, rested on the curb with his friend, refusing to return home.
   The country’s newspapers heaped praise on the players for their competitive spirit.
   ‘Lost but we were happy in June,’ said the Chosun daily above a front-page picture of the assistant referee flagging Frei for being offside.
   ‘The City Hall Square in tears... but we will dream again in 2010 in South Africa,’ the daily said.
   For the Dong-A newspaper, the national squad was a source of pride, despite not making it to the knockout stages of the tournament.

Spirit of ‘66
   The Germans - and the English - haven’t forgotten Geoff Hurst’s controversial goal in the 1966 final at Wembley.
   Various fan weblogs have sprouted for this year’s event and one, Wembleytor.de, is named after the moment which helped propel England to their only triumph to date.
   ‘The so-called Wembleytor ... is the collective trauma of the German footballnation,’ says the site, whose home page begins: ‘My dear English friends... now is finally the time to tell the English the truth.’
   The page shows a snapshot of the famous orange ball seemingly on the goalline.
   
   Roll over Beethoven
   Japanese supporters, who have invaded Bonn while their national team trained there during a brief World Cup campaign coached by Brazilian legend Zico, left a mark on the historical former west German capital.
   The visitors’ book at the Beethoven House, the birthplace of the 18th century composer, was full of messages in Japanese ranging from the witty to the straightforward.
   ‘The ‘Destiny’ of Japan’s national team will evolve from now. Let us sing the ‘Ode to Joy’ four years later,’ wrote a Takehiko Okamoto, referring to Beethoven’s famous oeuvre.
   But an unsigned message said bluntly: ‘Zico, you are finished as coach!’
   
   11 Lyons on their chest?
   Lyon coach Gerard Houllier must be licking his lips for next season with his French champions so well represented at the World Cup they could field a team of their own.
   And all of them have made it to the last 16. Goalkeeper Gregory Coupet and clubmates Eric Abidal, Sydney Govou, Florent Malouda and Sylvain Wiltord are with France, Cris, Juninho and Fred are on the Brazilian roster, Patrick Muller is with the Swiss, Tiago plays for Portugal and new signing Kim Kallstrom is with Sweden.
   Out to grass?
   Church authorities in the western town of Oberhausen have installed 300 square metres of artificial grass as the local priest tries to match worship with hero worship. Bernd Wolharn, 39-year-old pastor and known for original initiativess, says there is no contradiction between Christian joy and the joy of football.
   ‘Many of the older folk understand well the desire to attract the younger people to church,’ he says.
   
   Bin there, almost missed that
   A customer at a hotel in the western town of Muhleim-an-der-Ruhr who found five tickets for the Argentina versus Mexico match threw them in the bin thinking they were simple adverts.
   When the five Mexico fans who had come over specially for the game realised what had happened they tried to get them back without success. The five contacted the police and they were finally given permission to attend the game.
   
   Radicals tune in ‘Cup of Zionist hatred’
   Islamic radicals have denounced the World Cup as a plot to ‘turn Muslims away from jihad (‘holy’ war).
   A video placed online Friday denounced ‘pro-Zionist Arab media who are occupying themselves by showing the World Cup to turn Muslims from their religion and jihad.’
   The video shows three other ‘cups’ - ‘the Cup of Zionist and crusader hatred,’ the ‘Cup of submission and humiliation’ and the ‘Cup of glory and pride.’
   Tourism boom in advance
   Up to three million people were set to throng Germany across the World Cup but where Berlin is concerned the tourism boom happened in the two months leading up to the tournament, the Berlin Tourism Marketing authority says. The organisation says 616,739 people visited the capital in April, a 14.7 per cent rise on the same month last year.
   
   Where there’s a will ...
   Germany say their will to win can carry them all the way to a fourth title after a decade in the relative wilderness, a run to the 2002 final aside.
   The new confidence in the team is in stark contrast to recent events.
   Veteran defender Jens Nowotny said six years ago after a disastrous Euro 2002: ‘The future of German football is positive. Less commitment, willpower and readiness just can’t be.’ —AFP

Sven-Goran Eriksson is finally getting angry. Well, sort of.
   The normally mild-mannered Swedish coach of the England soccer team, who rarely gets out of his seat in the dugout at games, has shocked players with his more aggressive style of management in Germany.
   'The aggression has been a little bit surprising,' England defender John Terry said. 'I am not talking about shouting and screaming.
   'He is never going to knock tables over and scream in your face. He is not that kind of manager but he has certainly been raising his voice a lot more.'
   Terry said Eriksson was particularly upset at England's 2-2 draw with Sweden on Tuesday. England led twice, but defended poorly on set pieces to allow the Swedes to draw. It was the 12th time in 38 years that England has failed to beat Sweden.
   'He was pretty heat up and disappointed after the game the other night,' Terry said.
   The new Eriksson is also present in team talks and training.