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Brazil’s players seem determined to prove that the days when a place on the bench resulted in a sulk and public criticism of the coach is buried in the past.
   Earlier this month, coach Carlos Alberto Parreira announced his starting line-up to face Croatia when the world champions begin the defence of their crown on June 13.
   Unlike on numerous occasions over the years there has not been the remotest sign of complaint from the substitutes.
   In-fighting and sulking has wrecked Brazilian campaigns in the past, notably in 1990 when players used television interviews to promote their case for a place in the team.
   Two years later, Romario complained about starting a friendly on the bench and missed the 1994 World Cup qualifiers as a result.
   Brazil struggled through without him and only qualified in their last match when he was brought back by popular acclaim to score both goals as they beat Uruguay 2-0 in their last match.
   But Brazil appear to have learned from the past and this time, as in 2002, unity is the key word.
   The players even appear to have rehearsed their answers before facing the media.
   ‘I know that Cafu is the first choice,’ said Cicinho, who is reserve right-back to the Brazilian captain and has to fight for a place against a player who has appeared in the last three World Cup finals.
   ‘I don’t want to fight with him.
   ‘I just want to have my own space in the squad because I know that the team wins with this.’
   Midfielder Juninho Pernambucano, who would almost certainly be guaranteed a start in any other national team but is routinely on the bench for Brazil, was equally diplomatic.
   ‘I’m not worried about this,’ said the Olympique Lyon player. ‘Everyone has to be ready to play.’
   In attack, reserve striker Fred is also happy to wait in the queue behind Ronaldo, Adriano and Ronaldinho.
   ‘The team has been picked,’ he said. ‘It’s right that those guys play, they have been
   here for a long time. I’ve just arrived.’
   Even Gilberto Silva, who was ever-present in the triumphant 2002 campaign but now starts as reserve to Emerson, appeared happy with his lot.
   ‘You spend several days going through practically the same routine of hotel, practice and eating and if you
   haven’t got your head in the right place, you could go a bit mad,’ he said.
   ‘But it’s something everyone would like to be doing. The guys who aren’t here would like to be doing it and anyone who has played at the World Cup knows the importance of all this sacrifice.’
   ‘It’s understandable that I’m not in the team because I had a long time out with injury. If it was another national team my comeback would maybe be different.
   ‘With Brazil’s it’s different, first you have to get back into the group then fight for your place in the team.’
   Parreira said on May 3 that the world champions’ team would be the one that started the World Cup qualifier against Venezuela in October, Brazil’s last competitive match.
   The team was Dida in goal, a back four of Cafu, Juan, Lucio and Roberto Carlos, Emerson and Ze Roberto as defensive midfielders, plus Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Adriano and Kaka.
   After facing Croatia in their opener, Brazil will play Australia and Japan in Group F at the World Cup.

Real Madrid icon Raul is already playing catch-up in Spain’s pre-World Cup goalscoring and popularity charts with his cross-city rival at Atletico, Fernando Torres. While the duo prepare to help Spain surpass a quarter-final exit at the hands of South Korea four years ago, Torres has emerged as the man most likely to become Spain’s goalscoring hero.
   After decades of underachieving in football’s biggest rendezvous, a squad filled with youth and promise could finally end Spain’s reputation for choking in the crucial stages.
   The question is: can either Raul or Torres, or both, find the goals and match the anticipated performances of their magic midfield. While Torres, known as ‘El Nino’, is widely expected to play to his potential, a huge question mark is hanging over Raul.
   For the Spain skipper, the World Cup could be make-or-break time after this season’s nadir. A serious knee injury, a four-month lay-off and only five Primera Liga goals comes in the wake of two previous, mediocre seasons. But with 92 appearances and 42 goals for his country – a national record – Spain coach Luis Aragones is still counting on his talismanic skipper. ‘I know Raul and I know that he’s going to play well. The statistics, the goals and everything else tell me that Raul is the best,’ said Aragones.
   The steady erosion of Raul’s talents, however, has left many in Spain wondering if their emblematic captain can turn his fortunes around. And some sections of the Spanish press have been at pains to blame Raul’s knee injury, and current form on the number of years he has been playing at the top level. A professional since the age of 17, the 28-year-old’s woes prompted one leading newspaper to headline: ‘The years are beginning to weigh.’
   Raul responded by claiming that dropping back a notch in attack has reduced his scoring chances.
   ‘For the past few seasons I’ve been a lot further out from the goal, and no one realises the work I do. If you’re a striker, you have a lot more chances to score,’ said Raul.
   In past World Cups Raul has produced mixed results.
   In 1998 he failed to live up to the hype, but bounced back in 2002 scoring three goals before an ankle injury ended his campaign before the quarter-finals.
   With the days ticking down to Spain’s Group H opener against Ukraine, it is perhaps to Raul’s benefit that he enjoys the loyalty of both Torres and Aragones.
   ‘Our leader is Raul, there’s no doubt about it,’ said Torres.
   As one of the most exciting forwards to emerge from Spain in recent years, word of Torres’ striking talents has already spread and past rumours linked him with a move to the likes of Arsenal, Manchester United, AC Milan and Chelsea. For the time being, Torres appears to be happy at Madrid’s lesser known football club, for whom he has scored 13 goals so far this season.
   After the season Raul has endured, Spain will be looking to El Nino to blow the opposition away.
   And perhaps it is a sign of maturity beyond his years that Torres knows of the country’s expectations of advancing to the latter stages in Germany.
   ‘We’ve always had a team capable of going past the quarter-finals, but every time we get to that stage a lot of other factors come into play,’ said Torres shortly after being confirmed in Luis Aragones squad. Maybe, psychologically, we are thinking that the quarter-final match is a barrier, and that does us no good. If you want to be the champion you have to play against the good national sides and beat them. I don’t believe names matter in a World Cup. If you want to win, you have to beat everybody.’

Diego Maradona turned the clock back 20 years to score against England once again, but singer Robbie Williams had the last laugh by leading his pro-celebrity team to a 2-1 victory over a Rest of the World side in the UNICEF children’s charity match, ‘Soccer Aid’ on Saturday.
   Maradona, who received some good-natured boos from England fans still upset over his infamous handball goal at Mexico 86, got on the scoresheet for the Rest of the World at Old Trafford thanks to a somewhat ironic penalty award.
   The 2002 FIFA World Cup final referee Pierluigi Collina may be retired these days but the Italian’s trademark piercing eyes easily picked out a handball inside the area by England’s singing full-back, David Gray, following Maradona’s teasing cross.
   Maradona’s side-footed penalty was not enough to deny the home side, an unlikely collection of UK celebrities and ex-England internationals, guided by former national coach Terry Venables.
   England started brightly and would have gone in front early on but for the age-defying saves of Rest of the World goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.
   Maradona was one of no fewer than four past FIFA World Cup winners on show in front of 72,000 excited spectators in Manchester.
   He lined up with Marcel Desailly (France), Lothar Matthaus (Germany) and Dunga (Brazil) in a Rest of the World team which also featured such diverse talents as Rangers footballer-turned-celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay and the former Canadian sprinter Ben Johnson.
   Schmeichel played well in a 45-minute return to the home of his former club, Manchester United, though the 42-year-old Dane was left helpless in the 14th minute when England’s Italia 90 hero Paul Gascoigne crossed for striker Les Ferdinand to plant a firm diving header into the net.
   Gascoigne, who turned 39 on Saturday, cried theatrical tears as a near-capacity crowd sang ‘Happy Birthday’ to him before the game and he was also involved in England’s second goal after 20 minutes, supplying one of Soccer Aid’s organisers, English TV presenter and entertainer Jonathan Wilkes.
   The Rest of the World rallied in the second half when Italy’s Gianfranco Zola came off the bench.
   The one-time Chelsea playmaker went close to pulling a goal back when, Pele-style, he tried an outrageous shot from inside his own half which missed the outside of the post by a metre.
   Rest of the World coach Ruud Gullit made an unscheduled appearance on the pitch as injuries took their toll, but the Dutchman proved less than accurate with one thundering attempt that finished up curling out for a throw-in.
   Zola, seemingly still in his prime, looked the classiest ex-professional on show, though he was frustrated with himself for chipping over the bar after a timeless flowing move featuring Gullit and Maradona, who played for the full 90 minutes and suffered a few hefty challenges.
   Maradona’s penalty raised hopes of a late revival by the Rest of the World, but England held on to their lead.

Michael Ballack and Robert Huth are doubts for Germany’s next World Cup warm-up against fellow finalists Japan in Leverkusen on Tuesday.
   Ballack, the Germany captain, suffered a minor ankle strain in a practice game last Thursday and was forced to miss Saturday’s 7-0 win over Luxembourg in Freiburg.
   He had been expected back within a couple of days but
   he missed training again on Sunday.
   ‘It’s too early to tell whether he will be able to play against Japan,’ assistant coach Joachim Loew told reporters at the team’s training camp in Switzerland on Sunday. ‘We’ll decide on Monday at the earliest.
   ‘He came through some intensive individual sessions while we were in Germany and it’s a bit better but he is still feeling some pain.’
   Centre back Huth also came out of the Luxembourg game with an ankle problem, while striker Oliver Neuville has a less serious thigh strain.
   Philipp Lahm, first choice left back for the World Cup hosts, has yet to recover fully from the elbow injury he suffered on May 16.
   ‘The scan on Huth’s ankle revealed nothing dramatic,’ Loew said. ‘Thankfully there’s no tear but again, it’s too early to tell whether he can play.’
   Neuville’s thigh injury was ‘no real problem’, according to Loew.
   Ballack will join Chelsea after the World Cup, following his move on a free transfer from Bayern Munich.
   The injury news dampened the mood at the German camp following their enjoyable victory over Luxembourg.
   Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski led the attack with two goals apiece and Neuville came off the bench to score two in less than a minute of injury time. Torsten Frings got the other goal on his 50th international appearance.
   ‘Japan and Colombia are of a completely different calibre to Luxembourg,’ Loew said.
   ‘But of course we can be positive about the performance. It was nice to see that the players have learned a lot from the things we’ve been working on here in Geneva.’
   Germany leave Switzerland on Tuesday and head straight to Leverkusen for the game against Japan.
   They then set up camp in Duesseldorf for a couple of days before playing Colombia in Moenchengladbach on June 2.
   They play the opening match of the World Cup against Costa Rica in Munich on June 9, with further Group A games to come against Poland and Ecuador. The final is on July 9 in Berlin.

Forward Lionel Messi, who is recovering from a thigh muscle injury, does not expect to start Argentina’s opening World Cup match against Ivory Coast.
   ‘Today, I don’t think I’ll be in the team,’ the gifted teenager said on Saturday.
   ‘I haven’t played much, I’ve been out of action for some time,’ Messi told reporters. He has not played a competitive match since he was injured for Barcelona against Chelsea in March.
    ‘I just played 15 minutes the other day,’ he added in reference to Argentina’s farewell game in Buenos Aires in
   which coach Jose Pekerman’s team beat the national under-20s 4-0.
   Argentina, who meet Ivory Coast in their opening Group C match in Hamburg on June 10, are training in Rome. They arrived on Friday and will remain until their warm-up against fellow finalists Angola in Salerno in southern Italy on Tuesday.
   Messi, an important part of Argentina’s bid for a third World Cup victory in Germany, has been undergoing special treatment to speed his recovery. ‘I know I still have some way to go...but I’m relaxed, I know I have to keep working,’ he said.
   ‘I’m a bit short but I feel better each day. I think I’ll get into rhythm in the time left (before the World Cup).
   ‘I want to play the final and I hope we meet Brazil,’ added Messi, who inspired Argentina to their fifth World Youth Cup title in the Netherlands last year.

A 16-year-old German youth went on an armed rampage in the streets of Berlin over the weekend, slashing 28 people and raising fears about security two weeks before the nation hosts the World Cup football finals.
   The attack took place late Friday as half a million people filed away from an opening ceremony for the city’s new Lehrter Bahnhof railway station, touted as Europe’s largest international rail hub.
   Just after the fireworks display ended, police said the drunken teen from Berlin went on a violent spree, attacking passersby at random with a knife, cutting them in the back and on the face, on a street near the Reichstag, home of Germany’s parliament.
   The suspect was arrested by police who said he was already known to them for other assaults and vandalism.
   One of the worst attacks ever committed in the German capital left 15 people still hospitalised late Saturday, and has unleashed an AIDS scare.
   One of the victims is a carrier of HIV and authorities are worried that other victims may have been infected with the virus by contaminated blood on the blade of the attacker’s knife, police said.
   The random violence in Berlin comes as the country prepares to host the World Cup which kicks off on June 9, and has sparked strong reactions, starting with Chancellor Angela Merkel, who called the attack ‘a horrible event’.

Football-mad Brazilians will put business on the backburner next month when Brazil defend their World Cup crown and compete for a record sixth championship title in Germany.
   The Sao Paulo stock market Bovespa and the Brazil Federation of Banks plan to close two hours early on the days when Brazil play.
   The main stock market in South America announced Saturday that on June 13 and 22, it would close transactions early ‘to allow employees, operators and investors to watch Brazil’s matches.’
   And at the close of market operations on those days, there will be no ‘after-market’ trading, Bovespa said in a statement. All Brazilian financial markets will be paralysed when Brazil – who captured the world title in 1958, 1962, 1970, 1994 and 2002 – take the field. — AFP
   
   Del Piero likely to start
   Juventus star Alessandro Del Piero appears to have won his battle with fit-again Francesco Totti for the playmaking duties in Italy’s World Cup campaign.
   Italy coach Marcello Lippi has indicated that he will start Del Piero in an attacking midfield role previously occupied by Totti until the midfielder broke a bone in his left leg in February.
   ‘Totti is difficult to replace but we have won without him before, and in all of our most recent matches,’ Lippi said. — AFP
   
   Booze, porn off the menu
   Saudi Arabia arrived in Germany on Saturday becoming the fifth World Cup team to settle into their training base with just under two weeks to go until the tournament begins with the opening match on June 9.
   The three-time Asian champions went from Frankfurt airport to the Hotel Dolce, north of Germany’s financial capital in Bad Nauheim, which has been especially prepared for their arrival.
   The hotel has removed alcohol from the minibars, blocked adult entertainment and other free-TV channels showing naked women and taken down tasteful nude photos in the fitness area. — Reuters
   
   Diego my hero: Reyes
   Jose Reyes has revealed that he will look to childhood memories of Diego Maradona for inspiration in Germany.
   The 22-year-old Arsenal forward remembers being enthralled by the legend during the former Argentina captain’s spell at Seville – Reyes’s home-town club – in the 1992-93 Spanish season.
   He said, ‘Wearing the No10 shirt at the World Cup is a beautiful thing. In football it’s the magic number.’ – New Age Desk
   
   Boost for Poborsky
   Czech international Karel Poborksy received a pre-World Cup boost Saturday after seeing his unfashionable Ceske Budejovice club promoted to the top-flight.
   Poborsky, 34, the most capped Czech player in history with 112 appearances, started playing for Ceske Budejovice after acrimoniously splitting with Sparta Prague in December last year.
   — AFP

Brazil star Ronaldinho wants to complete a dream season by adding a World Cup winners’ medal to his Champions League crown with Barcelona.
   The two-time world footballer of the year said that helping Brazil win a record sixth World Cup would make it a ‘perfect year’ following Barcelona’s triumph in Europe.
   ‘I think that all players dream of winning the biggest tournaments in the world,’ Ronaldinho said at Brazil’s pre-World Cup training camp here. ‘If we win the World Cup it will be a perfect year for me.
   ‘I’ve had a great season whatever happens but I have a great opportunity to do so something special and I don’t want to let it pass me by.’
   If Ronaldinho manages to help Brazil win in Germany, he will join an elite band of footballers who have won both titles in the same season.
   While a total of 49 players have graced the finals of international and European club football’s greatest tournaments in the same year, only a fraction of that figure, eight, have managed to win both.
   Ronaldinho’s Brazil team-mate Roberto Carlos managed it in 2002, and another Real Madrid player, France’s Christian Karembeu achieved it four years earlier.
   Six members of the Bayern Munich side led by Franz Beckenbauer achieved the feat in 1974. Ronaldinho, meanwhile, has slotted into life at Brazil’s idyllic Swiss retreat seamlessly, and said the mood within the camp was buoyant.
   ‘We’ve been working hard on regaining possession when we lose, and keeping the ball when we have it,’ Ronaldinho said. ‘We’re trying to recreate the same sort of atmosphere that we had when we won the Confederations Cup last year, and it shouldn’t be a problem.’

Harald ‘toni’ Schumacher
   The West Germany goalkeeper featured for his country at the 1982 and 1986 tournaments and his main qualification for inclusion in this list was his shameful tackle on France’s Patrick Battiston in Spain. Battiston raced through on goal and had lifted the ball past Schumacher, but the German seemed unconcerned about the ball and launched himself at the Frenchman, who was left with fractured vertebrae. Schumacher, incredibly, was not even booked.
   
   Nobby Stiles
   Do not be fooled by the Ealing comedy name, Stiles was a granite-hard midfielder who packed a big punch into a small frame. The Manchester United player was the enforcer of Sir Alf Ramsey’s World Cup-winners in 1966. A violent foul on France’s Jacky Simon in a group match prompted calls from the Football Association for Stiles to be dropped. Ramsey ignored them and, in the semi-final against Portugal, was rewarded by a brutal man-marking job on Eusebio which kept the Benfica great quiet for most of a game England won 2-1.
   
   Antonio Rattin
   Argentina were dubbed “animals’’ by England boss Sir Alf Ramsey after the sides met in the 1966 World Cup quarter-final at Wembley, with captain Rattin arguably the most beastly of them all. The towering defender was apparently sent off by Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst for repeated dissent, and after glowering meaningfully at anyone who cared to look in his direction, finally left the pitch almost 10 minutes after the red card was shown.
   
   Graeme Souness
   The all-action Liverpool midfielder was as hard as they come and featured for Scotland at the 1978, 1982 and 1986 World Cup finals. Booked only once in those three trips (against the USSR in 1982) but the moustachioed menace’s reputation went before him. He was still getting stuck in as a manager, sent off in his first match as player-boss of Rangers and even reportedly taking out one of his own players – Dwight Yorke – with a tackle in a six-a-side training match while at Blackburn.
   
   Benjamin Massing
   The Cameroon centre-back had been booked in the 10th minute of his side’s World Cup 1990 opener against Argentina at the San Siro, but when Claudio Caniggia began to advance menacingly on goal in the 89th minute, Massing knew his side had a 1-0 lead to protect. Determined to stop Caniggia at all costs, two Cameroon defenders sought to take him out but somehow Caniggia just about kept his balance and rode the challenges.
   Big mistake.
   Massing charged in with a bodycheck-cum-tackle which sent the South American hurtling through the air. The red card was instant. Massing took a bow and exited stage left.
   
   Trifon Ivanov
   The uncompromising Bulgarian defender was as scary to look at as he was to play against. The lank hair and dead-eyed stare would have been enough to make most players run a mile and that was before he had set foot on the pitch. Solid as a rock in the tackle and once endeared himself to one of his club managers in Austria by telling him, ‘You know nothing about football.’
   
   Andoni Goicoechea
   Known as ‘The Butcher of Bilbao’, Goicoechea left his stud-marks on the game’s history when he almost ended the career of Diego Maradona in September 1983. The Argentinian superstar was left with a broken ankle and damaged ligaments while Goicoechea – who played for Spain at the 1986 finals in Mexico – was given a 16-match ban. He decided to commemorate the event by having the boots he wore that night put in a glass case and made into a permanent fixture in his living room.
   
   Claudio Gentile
   There was nothing gentle about Gentile. The Juventus and Italy defender was an old-school man-marker – happy to use any and every tactic, fair or foul, to stop an opponent. Rough-house tackling, obstruction, shirt-tugging and even some Vinnie Jones-style squeezing of genitals were all part of his unseemly repertoire. Like Goicoechea, also did his best to cut the already-quite-small Diego Maradona in half in a 1982 World Cup match.
   
   Jose Batista
   The Uruguayan claimed his place in World Cup folklore as the recipient of the quickest red card in finals history. His X-rated tackle on Scotland midfielder Gordon Strachan in 1986 left French referee Joel Quiniou little option but to send him off after 55 seconds. Still, 10-man Uruguay held on for a last-16 place at Scotland’s expense.
   
   Morais
   Portugal’s 1966 World Cup team figured if they could stop Pele they could stop Brazil, and so it proved. Mario Coluna was given the man-marking duties but it was Morais who decided to give his team one less thing to worry about. A sublime shuffle from Pele took the ball away from Morais, whose late tackle brought him to ground. With the ball loose and no foul given, Pele was first to his feet, only for Morais to have a second bite, this time taking a shin-high swipe which forced Pele to limp off the pitch and out of the World Cup. Pele swore he would never play in the tournament again but relented for the 1970 finals in Mexico.
   — New Age Desk

Ukraine will finally get the chance to appear in a World Cup for the first time – despite a proud footballing history that stretches back over a century.
   The first documented evidence of introduction to the game comes from the western Ukrainian city Lviv, where the first football match between the hosts and the visitors Krakow was held on July 14, 1894.
   It was a sudden-death match, held at a newly built 7,000-seat stadium in Stryisky Park, which ended in the sixth minute when Wlodzimierz Gatynsky of the host team netted the winning goal.
   By the beginning of the 20th century, football was rapidly becoming popular in most regions of Ukraine, which was then part of the Russian empire.
   Dozens of teams and leagues were established in almost every Ukrainian city due in large part to the influence of the British companies which were doing business in the region and are credited with popularising the game.
   The visit of Turkish side Fenerbahce to Odessa just before the outbreak of World War I opened the international football era at Ukraine.
   The guests played three matches in Odessa and two games in the neighbouring town of Mykolaiv, attracting thousands of fans to the over-packed venues.
   This initial flourishing of the game however was interrupted by the war and the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, along with the civil war that followed it, which conspired to bring sporting life in Ukraine to a virtual standstill for almost six years.
   The revival of the game in Soviet Ukraine in the early 1920s was marked by domination of the team from the republic’s new capital – Kharkiv, which won seven Ukrainian titles between 1921 and 1931.
   In 1934, Ukraine’s capital was moved to Kiev, whose team quickly clinched the leading position in Ukrainian football. Dynamo Kiev became the flagship side of Ukraine’s football and was, in essence, the national squad.
   Dynamo was the only non-Russian team in the top division of the Soviet league, which was set up in 1936. Kiev managed to clinch the silver medals of the first domestic championship, which Dynamo Moscow won.
   However, it took almost two decades for Dynamo to clinch their first serious national success in the Soviet Union when, in 1954, the squad won the Soviet Cup, defeating Spartak Yerevan 2-1 in the final match.
   Shakhtar Donetsk repeated Kiev’s success in 1961-62, winning two Soviet Cups in a row, while Dynamo Kiev became the first non-Moscow side to win the Soviet league in 1961.
   In total during the Soviet era Ukrainian teams won 16 domestic titles and 16 Soviet Cups with Dynamo Kiev winning the European Cup Winners’ Cup twice in 1975 and 1986 and the European Super Cup in 1975 in a two-leg showdown with Bayern Munich.
   That run ended abruptly, however, in 1991 when the collapse of the Soviet Union plunged football in Ukraine – now an independent state – into severe crisis.
   With Ukraine yet to form a FIFA-affiliated national association, several of the country’s top players elected to play for Russia as it was designated the official successor of the USSR.
   Almost as damagingly, Ukrainian league clubs faced hard times because of cash shortages, which also forced many young, talented and skilled footballers to seek their fortunes abroad.
   To complete the set of disasters, the country’s flagship side Dynamo Kiev was thrown out of the Champions League in 1995 after the Spanish referee Antonio Lopez Nieto accused the club officials of a bribery attempt.
   However, the years that followed have seen a steady revival of the country’s football and in 1996 Dynamo Kiev returned to the European football stage after UEFA lifted the ban.
   Meanwhile, thoughtful planning and huge investment by Ukrainian billionaire businessman Rinat Akhmetov, the president of Shakhtar Donetsk, has taken his club to the top of the domestic table.
   The government also took part in developing the game, making football an obligatory activity in schools.
   A special football textbook was written for the schoolboys, while more than 550 football pitches were constructed around the entire country and over one million footballs were bought to fit the demands of the programme.

What was your first World Cup memory?
   My first memory of the World Cup was probably Bryan Robson scoring the tournament’s fastest-ever goal in Spain against France in 1982. Robbo was my hero and seeing him play for and captain England then scoring that goal – that was a dream for me.
   Who is your favourite World Cup player or idol?
   I think there is always going to be one – Maradona – for me. Some of the things he has done in the World Cup finals have been incredible.
   He was a great, great player. A great player for his country and the teams that he played for. Lothar Matthaeus was also a great player for Germany. Some of the goals and performances he put into the German national team in the World Cup finals were incredible.
   What is it about the World Cup that makes it so special for you?
   There are a few things that make playing in the World Cup so special. One, you’re playing for your country and representing England in the biggest football competition in the world.
   And two, being part of a tournament like that, with players that you don’t necessarily play with week in, week out. But there is such a great team spirit, especially in the England team. It’s every young boy’s dream to play in the World Cup finals – luckily I’ve played in two so far.
   What is your most memorable moment as a fan?
   Watching the team get through to the semi-finals and losing out to Germany. That was when we missed the two penalties. I think that was a memory but it wasn’t a good one.
   Does being captain add to the pressure or does the honour override it?
   I’m used to it now. Obviously I do feel that and I do feel the presence of that extra responsibility as a captain. I think all captains do for every country, as do club football captains. You always feel that added bit of pressure.
   The important thing is how you respond to it and I believe that I’ve enjoyed my time as captain of England and I think that I’ve done quite well.
   There have been major rivalries in the World Cup, not least between England and Argentina. What’s it like to play them?
   You don’t prepare for a game like that differently because in World Cup finals you have to prepare for each game as if you’re playing against an Argentina or a Brazil side. You want to win every game and perform in every game, but obviously there is a different sort of atmosphere in these matches.
   When we were leading up to playing Argentina in Japan people were talking about it for two or three weeks. Even when the draw was announced, people were talking about the two of us meeting.
   You know of course it’s massive for the fans and massive for each country, but also for the players to face the best players in the world. You always want to put yourself up against the best players and the best teams and Argentina for me are one of the best teams in the world.
   As a player, you get so wrapped up in everything that’s going on out there. How much are the players aware of the feeling at home back in England?
   All players have always said the same. If we’ve won a big game, like Argentina, the first thing we will say is ‘I wish we were home with the fans to see the celebrations’. I’ve spoken to people after we beat Argentina in Japan and there were a couple of my mates that were in the middle of Trafalgar Square who said the atmosphere was incredible.
   Also a couple of friends in Manchester, who were in Deansgate at the time of me scoring the penalty winner, said it was just one of the best feelings ever. I think the players are well aware of that. I’ve always said as an England player our fans are the best in the world.
   They travel the best. We get thousands and thousands of fans supporting us all over the world. It doesn’t matter where it is... and the players realise that.
   Who is the most skilful player you ever played against?
   Ronaldo and Romario. I think those two Brazilians are so skilful and blessed with so much natural football skill it’s incredible.
   Who in your opinion has been the most influential midfielder?
   Well, there are different types of midfielders. Firstly, you’ve got the likes of Roy Keane and Bryan Robson who are great ball winners. They also get forward and motivate teams with the way they play.
   But then you’ve got players like my Real Madrid team-mate Zinedine Zidane, who can change a game in a split second. So these different types influence in different ways.
   — New Age Desk

Cristiano Ronaldo is ready to quit Manchester United if he can land a dream move to Real Madrid or Barcelona.
   The Portuguese winger signed a two-year extension to his Old Trafford contract back in November which has secured him to the club until 2010.
   But it is understood that Ronaldo is still not settled in Manchester and has a burning desire to play for one of the two La Liga giants.
   Ronaldo is looking to use the World Cup finals to prove he has now developed into one of the most exciting young talents in Europe after three seasons at Old Trafford following his £12.25 million arrival from Sporting Lisbon.
   Ronaldo’s agent Jorge Mendes has already made it known in Spanish football circles that Ronaldo would love to sample La Liga.
   But the only interest to surface came from Valencia and a move to the Mestalla does not interest the Portuguese international.
   Ronaldo wants to display his talents on the big stages of the Bernabeu or Nou Camp and feels he would be more at home with the Spanish lifestyle.
   The 21-year-old has endured some difficult times at Old Trafford. It was his training ground bust-up with Ruud van Nistelrooy this month which prompted Sir Alex Ferguson to decide the Dutch striker’s time was up at United.
   Fergie will fight to keep Ronaldo after persuading the youngster to sign his contract extension last winter.

Pakistan has exported over 55.8 million footballs worth more than Rs.8.5 billion ($185m) for the World Cup in Germany beginning June 9. Manufacturers and exporters engaged in the soccer ball industry in this city are making hectic efforts to meet demands of foreign buyers and ensure speedy and timely delivery of the consignments.
   According to industry sources, over 85 per cent of the total production of soccer balls in the world comes from Sialkot, while all international brands are sourcing their supply from this export-oriented city and nucleus of the country’s cottage industry.
   Over 40 millions balls worth $210m are produced annually by nearly 60,000-strong highly skilled workforce of Sialkot.
   Its main forte is hand stitched inflatable balls, which have been produced for almost a century now, and are being exported to world markets by more than 1,000 entrepreneurs. An added impetus has been provided as the local industry has been purged of the stigma of child labour. The stitching of soccer balls started in Sialkot during the 20th century with supplies sent to the British forces, but after independence, the industry grew at an impressive pace, making the world recognise the formidable position of this city.
   Today, almost all international buyers rush to Sialkot to secure their supply chains, building strong and long-term business relations with the local exporters.
   In the 1980s, Sialkot gained ‘international celebrity’ status when it produced the ‘Tango’ ball used in the 1982 FIFA World Cup, which led to further growth of the industry.
   The success story of Sialkot-based industries is attributed to the unmatched skill and craftsmanship of local workers.
   With a century-old industrial base, the city has developed an incredible export culture over the decades, and is contributing up to $800m to the national exchequer annually. The city is sprinkled with thousands of small and medium enterprises engaged in honouring their global export commitments for value-added quality goods including sports items, surgical instruments, leather products, gloves and musical instruments.

Italy left back Gianluca Zambrotta injured his right thigh during a training match at the national team’s training base at Coverciano early Sunday, team doctors said. Zambrotta received the knock against amateur side San Geminiano and immediately left the pitch for treatment. Further tests will be made to find the exact nature of the injury.
   Zambrotta said: ‘I hope it’s not too serious. I felt a lot of pain in the muscle when I straightened the leg and I hope it’s an isolated problem which has nothing to do with fatigue or my physical condition.’

Injured Australia striker Harry Kewell has joined up with his team mates at their training camp in the Netherlands, confident he will be fit for the start of next month’s World Cup finals in Germany.
   Kewell missed Australia’s 1-0 win over European champions Greece in Melbourne on Thursday to remain in England for treatment on his injured groin.
   ‘The injury is not ideal but I am expecting to be back and ready in time for the tournament,’ Kewell said.
   ‘I’m so disappointed that I couldn’t get back to Melbourne for the game against Greece but it was out of my control.
   ‘I now have to focus on what is within my control, and that’s working hard.’
   ‘People might say that the Brazil game is the biggest but this is a World Cup where all three group games are important,’ Kewell said.
   ‘To me, Japan and Croatia are just as big. We need to win, or at least not lose. It’s great being in a group where all the matches have something at stake and where each team, if they have a good day, can win. Our first aim is to beat Japan, then a result against Brazil would be good, and then beat Croatia.’

France skipper Zinedine Zidane lashed out at fans who ‘scandalously’ jeered and whistled team-mates including goalkeeper Fabien Barthez during Saturday’s friendly win over Mexico.
   Barthez, who is despised by Parisian fans largely because he plays for the city’s bitter rivals Marseille, was barracked every time he touched the ball in the victory against the Mexicans.
   Bizarrely, the crowd also directed catcalls at Vikash Dhorasoo, who plays for Paris St Germain yet was nevertheless an unpopular inclusion in France’s World Cup squad after an indifferent season.
   It took the shine off of what was supposed to be an emotional farewell to the Stade de France for midfield legend Zidane, playing his 100th international and last game in the French capital before retirement.
   The Real Madrid star, who received a rousing ovation when he was substituted in the second half, was appalled by the abuse showered on his team-mates.
   ‘It’s scandalous,’ said Zidane. ‘It’s scandalous that there were times when they seemed to be whistling at any player.
   ‘They gave me very good applause but when they whistle against Dhorasoo, when they whistle at Barthez, it’s like they’re whistling at me. I’m very disappointed. We need people to get behind the team.’
   Zidane said French fans had been similarly unsupportive prior to their victory at the 1998 World Cup.
   ‘It was similar back then,’ Zidane said. ‘The friendly matches before the tournament didn’t go too well and people started saying that we should forget it, and that we wouldn’t last a single round.
   ‘But thankfully once the tournament began people got caught up in it and supported us.’
   French coach Raymond Domenech said he was speechless at the abuse.
   ‘I can’t really understand it,’ Domenech said. ‘The players were completely stunned. It just doesn’t make any sense. We’re preparing for the World Cup and this happens. I’m lost for words.’
   Liverpool striker Djibril Cisse, who provided the cross for Florent Malouda’s spectacular first-half winner, was equally baffled.
   ‘We play and they whistle. It’s very disappointing,’ said Cisse. ‘Vikash (Dhorasoo) hardly touched the ball and they whistled, they whistled at me, they whistled at Fabien (Barthez). Everyone whistled—it’s astonishing.’
   Malouda meanwhile put a brave face on the controversy, saying that it was something professional footballers would have to learn to live with.
   ‘We wanted it to be a party for Zizou (Zidane) but the fans decided they wanted to make a statement,’ said Malouda. ‘You have to be disappointed by that. It doesn’t help the French team at all.
   ‘But that’s the life of a professional footballer these days. More and more people come to matches with the intention of targeting a player for abuse. But as long as we keep getting results we’ll get the crowd behind us.’
   France’s World Cup preparations were jolted last week when goalkeeper Gregory Coupet stormed out of the team’s hotel in protest at perceived preferential treatment afforded to Barthez by coach Raymond Domenech.
   Domenech surprised French fans earlier this month by declaring that 1998 World Cup winner Barthez would be his No.1 keeper in Germany despite preferring Coupet for much of the qualifying campaign.
   Chants of ‘Coupet, Coupet’ rang out around the ground at the end of the match, reflecting widespread sympathy for the popular Lyon shot-stopper.

England (295 & 81/4) beat Sri Lanka (141 & 231) by 6 wickets
   England edged to a six-wicket win over Sri Lanka in the second Test on Sunday, reaching their modest target after lunch on the fourth day.
   The home side, set 78 after bowling Sri Lanka out for 231 in their second innings, scored 81 for the loss of four wickets, all taken by off-spinner Muttiah Muralitharan, to go 1-0 up in the three-match series.
   Muralitharan finished with 10 wickets in all, taking four for 29 in England’s nervous run chase to follow his six for 86 in the first innings. It was the 15th occasion he had taken 10 wickets in Tests.
   His teammate Michael Vandort earlier scored 105 but there was not enough support to set England a tougher run-chase and the last five wickets clattered for 12 runs in 33 balls.
   However, Muralitharan struck some psychological blows before Friday’s third and final Test with the dismissals of top order batsmen Marcus Trescothick, Andrew Strauss, Kevin Pietersen and Paul Collingwood.
   Trescothick was lbw for nought after he misjudged a “doosra” from Muralitharan’s fourth delivery and the 10th of the innings.
   Strauss looked unhappy when umpire Aleem Dar judged that he had got a deflection from his bat onto pad and was given out caught at slip for 16.
   Pietersen, the first innings hero with his 142 from 157 deliveries, was lbw to Muralitharan’s doosra for the second time in the match. Collingwood edged to the wicketkeeper for three.
   Left-hander Alastair Cook, with an average of 68 from three Tests before this match, was 34 not out and skipper Andrew Flintoff hit Muralitharan for a straight driven boundary to win the match and finish on four.
   In the morning the introduction of the new ball changed the tone of the game after England had toiled for 14 overs without a breakthrough Paceman Liam Plunkett finished with three for 17 in the innings and six for 60 in the match.

Roger Federer made hard work of his opening match at the French Open on Sunday before claiming an error-strewn 7-5, 7-6, 6-2 victory over Argentine qualifier Diego Hartfield.
   The world number one and top seed has not played since his Rome Masters final defeat by Rafael Nadal two weeks ago and trailed 3-0 in the first set before eventually subduing an opponent playing his first match at tour level.
   Federer is seeking to complete his grand slam collection by winning the claycourt event but will need to improve greatly on Sunday’s showing when he was often outplayed on centre court.
   “I prefer easy games,” said Federer. “Today was a tough one. I did not know him, I had no idea how he was playing. He was good from the baseline. I’m happy to have won in three sets.”
   With the Swiss struggling for timing, Hartfield dominated the first set and served for it at 5-4 before Federer clawed his way back.
   The 25-year-old Argentine owes his ranking of 156 to good performances on the lesser Challenger circuit and he forced a tiebreak in the second set but lost it 7-2 as Federer slowly found his range.
   Hartfield began to struggle physically in the third set and Federer eventually wrapped up victory with some ease, sealing his second match point with a forehand winner after two hours 36 minutes.
   The Roland Garros grand slam started on a Sunday for the first time with the aim of increasing television exposure, meaning the first round is being spread over three days instead of two.
   Nadal was due to play Sweden’s Robin Soderling in his first-round match on Monday.
   Another Spaniard, Tommy Robredo is a potential quarter-final opponent of Federer. On Sunday the seventh seed and Hamburg Masters winner eased past Czech player Tomas Zib 6-4, 6-2, 6-2 in his first-round match on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
   Russian 14th seed Dinara Safina, runner-up at the Italian Open in Rome earlier this month, beat compatriot Vera Zvonareva 6-3, 7-5 in the first match on centre court.
   Japan’s Ai Sugiyama recovered strongly from losing the first-set tiebreak against Greece’s Eleni Daniilidou to win 6-7, 6-0, 6-3.

England striker Michael Owen says he is targeting ‘five or six’ goals at the World Cup finals in Germany, although thoughts of usurping Sir Bobby Charlton’s all-time scoring record are not occupying him just yet.
   The Newcastle striker has scored 35 goals for The Three Lions but comes into the finals desperately short of match fitness due to a metatarsal injury sustained in December.
   An hour in the B international against Belarus served as an encouraging sign that Owen will be ready to lead the line for Sven Goran Eriksson’s side, and he will be hoping to be in the hunt for the Golden Boot as England aim to end 40 years of hurt in Germany.
   However despite his prolific record at international level, with just 14 goals separating himself and Manchester United legend Charlton, Owen has yet to net a large haul in any of the four major tournaments he has performed in.
   After playing just two games in 2006, the former Real Madrid and Liverpool hot-shot now says he is determined to make a big impression at his third World Cup.
   ‘At the moment I am not thinking about the record with the World Cup finals approaching and because of what had happened to me over the last few months with my injury,’ said Owen.
   ‘I have been focusing all my efforts on getting myself in top shape to join up with England. My only thoughts are to come back from Germany having had a good tournament along with the other lads.’
   ‘The main thing is to score some goals and hopefully win the World Cup. I have been to four tournaments and scored in all of them, but there hasn’t been one where I have made an impression by scoring five or six.
   That’s my aim now and if I can get off the mark against Paraguay it will give me all the confidence I need to have a great World Cup. That is the only thing on my mind for now.’
   With Wayne Rooney’s fitness under severe scrutiny it was imperative for England that Owen should recover, seemingly to start alongside Peter Crouch in the opening game against Paraguay.
   Encouragingly, The Newcastle hit-man says his prolonged absence due to injury has left him fresher than ever after what could have been a long, hard season.

Pakistan have indefinitely postponed a three-match ODI series with Zimbabwe originally scheduled for September this year because the tour is unlikely to be an economically viable one.
   The Pakistan Cricket Board had been thinking about the move for some time, though it was reluctant to make it
   official. It was reported in Pakistan recently that Shaharyar Khan, chairman PCB, had written to Zimbabwe cricket authorities, suggesting they play a Pakistan A team in a series of ODIs and four-day matches.
   A senior official in the Pakistan board confirmed to Cricinfo that the series had been ‘postponed, possibly till 2008, though that is not final.’
   Another cited the reason as the relative unattractiveness of Zimbabwe to broadcasters and sponsors alike.
   ‘Our thinking was basically that organising a tour of three ODIs will not be particularly feasible in an economic sense especially given that Zimbabwe are not attractive tourists,’ explained the official. ‘Broadcasters I doubt will come for only three ODIs against Zimbabwe, though if it was linked with another tour then maybe they would be interested,’ he added.
   There may still be a chance that Zimbabwe do come in that period, though only to play the A team. Reports suggest that Zimbabwe, who are under growing international pressure after a string of dismal performances, do not intend to dispute the PCB’s decision to postpone the series. Instead, they now want Zimbabwe to play a series of matches against Pakistan A in Pakistan during that time period.
   Meanwhile, The News reported that Zimbabwe are trying to attract clubs from Pakistan and elsewhere in Asia to provide a boost to its faltering first-class cricket structure.

Three-time world player of the year Zinedine Zidane has been offered the chance to extend his career in China, according to a report on the China Daily website on Sunday.
   The 33-year-old France and Real Madrid midfielder announced last month he would be hanging up his boots for good after the World Cup finals.
   Chinese Super League clubs Changchun Yatai and Beijing Guo’an, however, are hoping to tempt the Frenchman to postpone his retirement and say they have been in touch with him through agents.
   ‘If the dribbling master could join us, it would be perfect,’ Liu Yuming, director of Changchun told the paper.
   The Beijing club, who have a cooperation agreement with Spanish giants Real, were encouraged that Zidane did not immediately reject their approach, according to an agent who spoke to China Daily on condition of anonymity.

Narayan-ganj moved into the semifinal of the Dhaka Bank Under-19 National Youth Cricket after beating Chittagong by six wickets in a rain-interrupted match at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
   Chittagong, who batted 16 overs on the previous day before rain intervened, were all out for 112 runs with national Under-19 stalwart Tamim Iqbal making the highest contribution of 17. Narayanganj reached 116-4 in 29.3 overs to record their second consecutive victory in the final round.
   In another match that also took two days to complete due to the rain, Gaibandha beat Bagerhat by 11 runs at the Mirpur Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
   Gaibandha, who folded their innings on 126 on the previous day, bundled Bagerhat out for 115 in 36.5 overs with Rakibul taking four wickets for 23 runs.
   Chandpur and Barisal shared the spoils after not a single ball could be bowled in two days at the Fatullah Stadium.

Ramu Khijari Ideal High School of Cox’s Bazar thrashed Kakardia Teradal High School of Sylhet 4-1 in the second round of the banglalink tiger trophy National School Football Championship at the Comilla Stadium on Sunday.
   David Barua netted two goals while Sohel Barua and Homin Rakhain scored one apiece. Fayek Ahmed scored the consolation for the losers. In the second match of the day, Faridpur High School defeated Jhalakathi Government High School 3-1 with Rakibul Hossain, Nikhil Karmakar and Sajib Sharma finding the net once each. Naim Hossain scored the lone goal for the losing side.

Three Asian Football Confeder-ation officials, Brendon Menton, Imtiazur Rahman and Subrata Thatty, arrived in the city to conduct a three-day workshop on the proposed professional football league.
   The workshop, scheduled to start today will be held at the conference hall of the BFF Building, will focus on various on-and-off the field activities required for the clubs to play professional football shrugging off the amateurish approach.

The first Test bat used by Australian cricket great Donald Bradman was sold for 58,000 dollars (43,500 US) at an auction here Sunday.
   Bradman used the bat on his Test debut in 1928 when he scored 18 and one against England at Brisbane’s Exhibition Ground.
   England won the Test by 675 runs with Bradman dropped for the second match before returning for the third in Melbourne, where he scored his maiden century.
   Other items to go under the hammer Sunday included a bat, glove and Ashes handkerchief of Victor Trumper, items of former Australian skipper Warwick Armstrong and England cricket great WG Grace, and a signed team portrait of the 1909 Australian cricket team.

The national selectors on Sunday named a 19-member preliminary squad for the upcoming Zimbabwe tour that included two uncapped players – Forhad Reza and Sakib Al Hasan.
   All-rounder Forhad and left-handed middle-order batsman Sakib have been rewarded with national slots after they performed impressively for Bangladesh ‘A’ and Under-19 teams last season, said chief selector Faruque Ahmed.
   ‘We were looking for an all-rounder who can bowl medium pace and bat at the late order, after Khaled Mahmud retired from international cricket. At the moment we think Farhad is the best choice to take Mahmud’s place,’ said Farque.
   ‘Sakib is another one, who we feel can strengthen the team. He is a very good batsman and can also bowl left-arm spin. And he proved his talent at the age-level tournaments in the past,’ Faruque said.
   ‘Before picking Sakib, we also considered his performance on the Zimbabwe tour for the Bangladesh ‘A’ team in 2004,’ added Faruque.
   In the preliminary squad, there was no room for the opener Nafees Iqbal, who has not played a one-day match since July 2005.
   ‘At this moment, we have three players in the squad – Shahriar Nafees, Javed and Rajin – who can open the innings and all of them are now better then Nafees Iqbal. So we had no scope to pick him,’ said Faruque.
   The practice sessions of the team will start on June 1 at the Banani Army Stadium. Bangladesh will play five one-day matches against the hosts during the July-August tour.
   Squad: Habibul Bashar, Shahriar Nafees, Javed Omar, Aftab Ahmed, Mohammad Ashraful, Rajin Saleh, Tushar Imran, Mohammad Rafique, Abdur Razzak, Manjarul Islam Rana, Khaled Mashud, Mushfiqur Rahim, Alok Kapali, Forhad Reza, Sakib Al Hasan, Mashrafee Bin Murtaza, Syed Rasel, Shahadat Hossain and Tapash Kumar Baishya.

Bangladesh suffered a double defeat on Saturday in the sixth round of the 37th Chess Olympiad in the Italian city of Turin. The men’s team lost against Finland 2.5-1.5 while the women went down 0.5-2.5 to Colombia.
   In the sixth round IM Abdullah Al Rakib beat IM Maki Uuro Miikka and IM Reefat Bin Sattar drew with GM Westerinen. However, GM Ziaur Rahman lost against GM Nyback Tomi and IM Enamul Hossain lost against IM Nyysti Sampsa.
   In the women’s section, only Nazrana Khan Eva managed a drew against Palao Maricela. But IWM Rani Hamid and Zakia Sultana both lost.
   The men have earned 12.5 points and the women’s team’s tally is 8.5 points.

Alexei Lalas
   The American had no inhibitions. Not only did Lalas fancy himself as a footballer, the Spin Doctors look-alike also considered himself a rock and roll star on the side. Sadly his ginger hair and beard meant nobody could see beyond the comical facial hair. Now a sports executive, the scraggy fluff has been trimmed at last. Looked like he had been styled by his mother, if his mother was blind.
   
   Erik Mykland
   The Norwegian, who appeared at the 1998 finals, had his beard trimmed for the occasion. Typically, Mykland would resemble Blackadder’s hapless sidekick Baldrick after a fleeting altercation with a hairbrush. Perhaps, for health reasons, French immigration officials demanded it be cut short, but at least the Mykland who lined up in midfield for the Norwegians did the decent thing and had a daft goatee.
   
   Efe Sodje
   Nigeria’s World Cup centre-back, once of Huddersfield and Crewe but latterly of Yeovil, seized his chance to impress on the big stage. An admirable attempt to grab the spotlight from more capable players, a novel beard got Sodje noticed but for all the wrong reasons. It was less a beard, more an escaping caterpillar protruding from his chin. The ‘chin lock’, his wife’s masterpiece, left the world in stitches.
   
   Socrates
   Few know this, but the Garforth Town veteran also turned out for Brazil at the 1982 World Cup. You might recall Socrates and his closely-cropped beard looking enigmatic and moody in the South Americans’ midfield, but more likely you prefer to recall the day he spent in West Yorkshire.
   
   Abel Xavier
   Wrong on so many levels, Xavier’s dyed-blond hair-and-beard do must have been a two-for-one offer at Uppercutz, so badly conceived is the Portuguese defender’s adventure in barber-ism. Xavier’s seen more bleach than most industrial cleaning firms. Spared absolute humiliation by Portugal coach Antonio Oliveira who played Xavier for just 17 minutes, otherwise keeping him on the bench, his head in a paper bag, for the rest of the tournament.
   
   Marcelo Balboa
   The veteran of three World Cups for the United States, defender Balboa rarely went much further than a goatee beard. When he teamed it with flowing brown hair, Balboa looked not unfit for blue-movie duty or for work as Tom Selleck’s uglier brother.
   
   Ricky Villa
   Long before he plotted the longest route to goal at Wembley, Argentina star Villa was doing his bit for the world’s hirsute population at the 1978 World Cup. Looking as though he had far more worthwhile duties to get up to than running a blade across his face, Villa sported a ragged beard which frightened children.
   
   Eric Gerets
   The Belgian wore a beard worthy of other men’s admiration for almost the entirety of his career. Nothing screamed pretension about this beard. It probably put 10 years on Gerets, who played at three World Cups from 1982 to 1990, but he emerged a figure of respectability. Not a particularly good-looking man, there was nothing showbiz about the beard which was dark and covered all the right places.
   
   Trifon Ivanov
   Teen Wolf was better known for his prodigious basketball ability, but when the kids at Beacon Town High School discovered his dark secret, off he trotted to play international football for Bulgaria under the assumed name of Trifon Ivanov. Still the ugliest man/beast to ever kick a ball, which he usually did badly.
   
   Fabien Barthez
   One man’s mission to show that, yes, he still could grow hair on his otherwise follicle-free head, Barthez wore a keenly-trimmed goatee at the 1998 World Cup.
   — New Age Desk

Jose Luis Chilavert has again written off Paraguay’s prospects of making an impact at the World Cup.
   The Paraguayan legend believes his country will not progress beyond the first round in Germany due to the age of Anibal Ruiz’s squad.
   Though Chilavert accepts his views may prove to be unpopular, the former goalkeeper insists the likes of Carlos Gamarra and Jose Cardozo are too old.
   ‘This is very clear,’ stated Chilavert. ‘Travelling with three players that are 35-years-old gives too much advantage to the other teams.
   ‘In addition to that, some players haven’t been in competition since some time ago,
   like Julio Dos Santos for example.
   ‘These are the reasons why I think that Paraguay is not going to have any success in Germany.
   ‘I know that many people are going to get angry with what I am saying, but what I want to do is open up their eyes because many people don’t understand very much about football.’
   Chilavert also believes that Paraguay’s 2-2 draw with Norway earlier this week is a sign the South American
   nation will struggle in the World Cup.
   He added: ‘Paraguay has to play in Germany against England and Sweden and I ask myself: how was it that Norway scored two goals?
   ‘They should analyse very carefully what happened in that match.’

Germany fired a World Cup warning shot with a seven-goal demolition of Luxembourg as Europe’s big guns rumbled into action on a busy night of international friendlies Saturday.
   The World Cup hosts limbered up for their June 9 tournament opener against Costa Rica in fine style, sweeping aside Luxembourg with an imperious display in Freiburg that saw all their strikers find the net.
   Werder Bremen forward Miroslav Klose chipped in with two goals while Polish-born attacker Lukas Podolski also notched a brace along with substitute Oliver Neuville, who scored twice in stoppage time.
   Torsten Frings was also on target as Luxembourg suffered a repeat of the 7-0 thrashing inflicted on them by Germany ahead of the 1998 World Cup.
   While Germany enjoyed a one-sided victory, France and the Netherlands both had to settle for victories by a single goal in their matches against Mexico and Cameroon respectively.
   France had Florent Malouda to thank for their 1-0 victory at the Stade de France in a match which saw Zinedine Zidane clock up 100 appearances for his country.
   It was the veteran midfielder’s last match in Paris, the scene of his finest hour eight years ago when his two headed goals inspired France to their World Cup final victory over Brazil.
   Malouda ensured it would be a happy farewell for Zidane with a spectacular finish from a Djibril Cisse cross.
   The match was marred however by persistent jeers and whistles directed at French ‘keeper Fabien Barthez.
   Barthez, who had earlier this week been the subject of a controversy at France’s World Cup base that saw goalkeeping rival Gregory Coupet storm out of the team hotel only to return later, has never been popular with Parisian fans.
   At one point chants of ‘Coupet, Coupet’ rang around the stadium to the disgust of members of the French squad.
   ‘You just can’t understand it,’ said coach Raymond Domenech. ‘The players were stunned. It just doesn’t make any sense — we’re preparing for a World Cup and that sort of thing happens. You can’t put it into words.’
   There were no such controversies in Rotterdam however, as the Netherlands served notice that they could be one of the teams to watch in Germany with a 1-0 win over the ‘Indomitable Lions’ of Cameroon.
   Ruud van Nistelrooy marked his 50th international appearance with the winning goal as the Dutch downed the Africans with some stylish football.
   Van Nistelrooy, who is reported to be heading for the exit at Manchester United after falling out with Sir Alex Ferguson, gave a reminder of his eye for goal by finishing from close range on 23 minutes.
   It was van Nistelrooy’s 26th goal in half a century of appearances for the Netherlands, a phenomenal strike rate that indicates why several leading clubs are likely to pounce if he is forced out of Old Trafford.
   Holland face Ivory Coast, Argentina and Serbia-Montenegro in Group C of the World Cup, and will have taken note of friendlies involving two of their first round opponents elsewhere Saturday.
   The Ivory Coast impressed after coming from behind to thwart Switzerland with a 1-1 draw, while Serbia-Montenegro were held to an identical scoreline by Uruguay in Belgrade.
   In other friendlies involving World Cup teams Saturday, Spain were held to a disappointing 0-0 draw against Russia in Albacete.
   Two of England’s first round opponents meanwhile, Paraguay and Trinidad and Tobago, both struggled. Trinidad and Tobago lost 2-1 to Wales while Paraguay were held to a 1-1 draw with Denmark, who failed to qualify for the World Cup.

Robert Pires says he has put France football behind him after being omitted by coach Raymond Domenech for the World Cup finals.
   The 32-year-old Pires, who left Arsenal to join Villarreal on a two-year deal last week, said he was not surprised to miss his second consecutive World Cup.
   In 2002, the midfielder was ruled out of the competition through injury.
   ‘I was expecting (not be picked). I had no news from the coach,’ Pires told sports daily L’Equipe on Sunday.
   ‘In December, he asked me to be consistent. I think I have been. Today, Les Bleus are behind me though I’ll watch the World Cup games,’ he added.
   The former Metz and Olympique Marseille player had not been called up by Domenech since a World Cup qualifier against Cyprus in October 2004.
   Pires won 79 caps for France, scoring 14 goals.

Romario is one of a select group of players with over 50 goals in international matches and one of Brazil’s most famous and outstanding forwards. He is considered to be one of the greatest footballers in the history of the game.
   On January 28, 2006, one day before his fortieth birthday, he scored his 950th goal (official FIFA count). He is currently pursuing the figure 1,000 goals, a mark obtained officially only by Pele.
   He started his career playing for Vasco da Gama (becoming one of the best footballers revealed by the club in the last two decades) where he won two State Championships (1987/88). Between 1988 and 1992 he played for PSV Eindhoven, who won the Dutch League in 1989, 1991 and 1992.
   In 1993 he moved to FC Barcelona and won the Spanish League the same year. As a member of the Brazilian national team, Romario won the silver Olympic medal in Seoul in
   1988.
   Partnering with Bebeto in the attack, he led his country to the 1994 World Cup title, scoring five goals in the tournament.
   He was voted the most outstanding player of the tournament and captured the imagination of soccer fans everywhere with his incredible skill and touch. Romario was named FIFA World Player of the Year in 1994, after being the runner-up in 1993.
   In 1995 he returned to Brazil to play for Flamengo, spent the next year in Valencia. In 1998, he missed out the World Cup due to injury and then returned to Flamengo until 1999.
   He played for Vasco da Gama again, winning with them the Mercosur Cup and the Brazilian League in 2000. From 2002 until 2004 he played for Fluminense. On October 21, 2004 he was fired from the club after a conflict with the coach. He then went back to play for the team he started at, Vasco, and has been playing then ever since. He has recently hinted that he might play for the entire season of 2006, and then retire, although his retirement has been announced numerous times before.
   On April 28, 2005, Romario played his last game with the Brazilian national team. He scored the second goal on Brazil’s 3-0 win against Guatemala.
   In 2005 at nearly 40 years of age, Romario scored an outstanding amount of goals (22) in the Brazilian Championship, making him the league’s top goal-scorer.
   He is the second best scorer of all times in the Brazilian League being leading scorer 6 times. Romario was named as one of the top 125 greatest living footballers in March 2004.
   — New Age Desk
   
   Name : Romario de Souza Faria
   Date of Birth : January 29, 1966
   Birthplace : Rio de Janeiro, Brazil