Bangladesh’s first International Woman Master and 15-time national champion Rani Hamid urged organisers to flourish chess at school level with proper long-term planning She certainly has reasons for that. Sathi Mazumder and Arna Sarker, both from Kolkata, emerged as the champion and the runner-up among the girl competitors in the Standard Chartered School Tournament.
   The girls from Kolkata presented a picture of immense progress of the game in their country. Sathi, a class IX student of the Indira Gandhi Memorial School, won the title for the second time in her fourth appearance. She also won the title in 2005. Arna, a student of class VI of Methodist School, showed her talent in her very first appearance finishing second best.
   Sathi has won the U-13 state title last year and will play in the national championship, scheduled to be held in Mumbai in November. She has the right motivation to play chess. ‘Indian GM Koneru Humpy is my idol, I want to be an attacking player, I loved chess from my early childhood,’ said Sathi who also likes tennis.
   Sathi’s mother Gayatri Mazumder accompanies her daughter on the tours. ‘My one and only hope is that Sathi will become a Grand Master,’ said Gayatri.
   Arna loves football after chess. Both Sathi and Arna drew inspiration from Hungarian Grand Master Judith Polgar.
   Reflecting on the tournament as a whole, Rani pointed out that women’s chess remains static. ‘I must say our girls are not coming up even after we struggled a lot to raise the game during our time. But after so many years it seems that the scenario hasn’t changed much since I first won the national title in 1979 and am still reigning champion.’
   Rani said playing the game is not easy for a girl because they need more care in the initial period and have to overcome many obstacles to continue the game at a competitive level.
   ‘I hope that the organisers will come up forward with an effective long-term plan…my advice to them is to send coaches to the schools regularly to inspire girl students and host tournaments on a regular basis,’ said the doyen of Bangladesh chess.
   She also proposed to include chess as a subject in the curriculum. ‘Scientific thinking is very much needed to develop in any field and chess is no exception. We should come forward to implement the new technologies and new concepts to improve standards,’ said Rani.
   Citing the example of India, she said a lot of corporate houses and the government have supported the game. ‘We too have to work hard both on and off the field. I don’t think that we have done that, but there is still time,’ She added.

England captain Michael Vaughan said he felt refreshed on the eve of the Test series against India and had no regrets about giving up the leadership of the one-day side.
   Although still available for limited-over internationals, Vaughan missed the recent one-day series against the West Indies, where England drew the Twenty20s at 1-1 but lost the 50-over matches 2-1, to allow new one-day skipper Paul Collingwood to establish himself in the role.
   ‘I feel very refreshed,’ Vaughan told reporters at Lord’s, where the first Test of a three-match series starts on Thursday.
   Nasser Hussain, when handing over the Test captaincy to Vaughan four years ago, said he felt the team had ‘moved on’ under the Yorkshire batsman’s leadership during a preceding one-day series.
   But Vaughan said on Wednesday he hadn’t experienced any such feelings. ‘Me and Colly are great mates. We’ve been speaking a lot over the last few weeks.
   ‘The big test was when I saw Colly lead them out in the Twenty20 game would I feel any bitterness or resentment and I didn’t feel any of that so I guess it’s the right decision to move forward.’
   England, who were already set to field an inexperienced pace attack at Lord’s in the absence of injured quicks Stephen Harmison (hernia) and Andrew Flintoff (ankle), suffered another setback when Matthew Hoggard, the senior pace bowler in their 13-man squad, was rated extremely doubtful after being taken to hospital on Wednesday for a scan on his back.
   James Anderson and Ryan Sidebottom, the next two most experienced quick bowlers in England’s 13-man squad, have played 16 and four Tests respectively compared to Hoggard’s 64, with novice seamers Stuart Broad and Chris Tremlett both uncapped.
   Left-arm spinner Monty Panesar, who on his Test debut in Nagpur in March last year took two for 73, including the wicket of star batsman Sachin Tendulkar, has since established himself as a regular in the England side.
   In 17 Tests the 25-year-old has taken an impressive 65 wickets at under 29 apiece and, in the absence of Hoggard, England are set to lean even more heavily on his ability both as an attacking and a containing bowler.
   Vaughan, speaking before the England and Wales Cricket Board announced the extent of Yorkshire team-mate Hoggard’s injury, said Panesar would be a key figure.
   ‘There are times in the series when he may have to do the holding role. He might have to change his pace, come over the wicket because against good batsmen that’s what you have to do,’ Vaughan said.
   ‘He’s going to be tested pretty much in this series. But I know he’s a good bowler and if he gets it right he’ll put a huge amount of pressure on all the Indian batsmen.’
   The England captain said he expected his side to face a tougher examination than the one his side encountered earlier in the season while defeating the West Indies 3-0 in a four-match series.
   ‘It will be a bigger challenge. The Indian side are full of experience, probably more so in the batting, so it’s going to be an exciting challenge for our young four-man attack to try to outdo them and get 20 wickets in a Test match.’
   Vaughan, who five years ago scored 615 runs against India with three hundreds at an average of 102.50 with a best of 197, said, ‘When the Indians come you always know they are going to create a great atmosphere in and around the ground with their support. They are always great series to play in.
   ‘I always feel like I play quite well at Lord’s,’ said Vaughan, who in nine Tests at the ground has scored five hundreds. ‘But tomorrow’s a new day.’
   During the drawn 2002 series occasional off-spinner Vaughan clean bowled Tendulkar at Trent Bridge.
   Asked why he didn’t bowl himself more often, Vaughan replied, ‘Off-spin generally hasn’t been a huge success in the longer format of the game, in Test match cricket or four-day cricket the last few years but I have got a little bit of success against India, so you never know.’

Big guns Iran, Saudi Arabia and South Korea blazed into the Asian Cup quarter-finals Wednesday, but China failed yet again to live up to its billing, crashing out at the hands of Uzbekistan.
   South Korea, the 2002 World Cup semi-finalists, kept their heads in front of 90,000 rowdy Indonesian fans to win 1-0 and sneak into the knockout rounds, but it was an easier ride for the Saudis who thrashed Bahrain 4-0.
   In Kuala Lumpur, China suffered another huge setback to its footballing development when Uzbekistan beat them 3-0 to end their tournament, but heavyweight Iran made no mistakes with a comfortable 2-0 win over Malaysia.
   It means Iran remain in Malaysia and play South Korea for a place in the semi-finals while Uzbekistan travel to Jakarta to face Saudi Arabia.
   In the other quarter-finals, decided on Monday, Iraq take on Vietnam in Bangkok and defending champions Japan have a grudge match with Australia in Hanoi.
   South Korea rode their luck and had Kim Jung-woo to thank for a victory that could have gone either way.
   Good work on the edge of the box from Lee Chun-soo, linked this week with Reading, teed up Kim who’s shot took a deflection to leave goalkeeper Markus Rihihina rooted to the spot.
   ‘We spoke to the players before this game and told them that every game from now on would be a final,’ said Korea’s Dutch coach Pim Verbeek.
   ‘We played well, we scored a good goal and created many chances. We’re ready for the next match.’
   Indonesia’s Bulgarian coach Ivan Kolev was not too disappointed by his side’s failure to make the knock-out phase for the first time ever.
   ‘They fought to the death, until the end of the game. I’m proud of my players for what they did from the first to the third match,’ he said.
   ‘They played their best even though before the tournament we all knew that we had very tough opponents such as Saudi Arabia and South Korea.’
   In Pelambang, Saudi Arabia look to be getting back to their best under Brazilian coach Helio dos Angos and were simply too good for Bahrain, surprise semi-finalists at the last tournament in China three years ago.
   Goals from Ahmed Al Mousa and Abdulrahman Al Qahtani and a brace by Taisir Al Jassam brought redemption for the ‘Sons of the Desert’ after their disastrous campaign in 2004 when they finished bottom of their group.
   That dreadful showing was the first time since 1980 that the three-time champions had failed to make the final.
   ‘It’s very important for us to finish at the top of the group because psychologically it is good for the players and we will be also staying in Indonesia which is also an advantage for us,’ said Dos Angos.
   While the major teams progressed China failed to reach the knockout rounds for the first time in 27 years.
   Uzbek captain Maksim Shatskikh blasted in a rebound from his own header on 72 minutes before Timur Kapadze capitalised on an error from stand-in ‘keeper Yang Jun.
   Substitute striker Alexander Geynrikh finished from another rebound in injury time to pile huge pressure on embattled coach Zhu Guanghu, who is facing the sack.
   Iran made certain of their place in the last eight by heaping more misery on dreadful Malaysia, who have been the only team out of their depth in the tournament.
   They coasted to a 2-0 win, but didn’t get the goals their domination merited.
   Javad Nekounam struck a 29th-minute penalty by and a classy bit of work from Bolton Wanderers midfielder Andranik Teymourian in the 77th minute sealed the win.

Sourav Ganguly believes India’s fast bowlers hold the key to their three-Test series against England which gets under way at Lord’s here today.
   Ganguly, a member of a powerful batting line-up that also includes captain Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar, reckons the likes of left-arm quicks Zaheer Khan and Rudra Pratap Singh can help India dismiss England twice.
   But the former captain has been particularly taken by the impact of 24-year-old fast bowler Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, who since making his debut against England in Nagpur in March last year, has taken 37 wickets in eight Tests at a respectable average of just over 25 apiece.
   ‘He’s got pace, he swings it and he bowls in the right areas. He’s a very good bowler. He runs in all the time and I think he will be the dark horse of the tour,’ said Ganguly.
   Khan, a relative veteran at 28 and with 47 Tests behind him, will not be phased by the conditions should, after a season marred by rain, the Lord’s pitch offer seam movement in a fashion more associated with the start of an English season than mid-July.
   Last season he took 78 English County Championship wickets for Worcestershire, second only to former Pakistan leg-spinner Mushtaq Ahmed at champions Sussex.
   ‘Zaheer is probably bowling his best, he had a great season for Worcestershire last year and he’s taken wickets since he’s come back. IF RP can do a good job, we will be a handy bowling unit,’ Ganguly said.
   And with experienced leg-spinner Anil Kumble also set to play India’s bowlers are sure to provide England’s batsmen, who gorged themselves on runs while defeating a moderate West Indies side 3-0 earlier in the season, with a decent examination.
   That’s all the more true following last year’s away series win against the West Indies which saw India end a 20-year run without a Test campaign triumph outside of the sub-continent against a major nation.
   England go into this series without key fast bowlers Stephen Harmison, who has a hernia injury, and Andrew Flintoff, sidelined with a recurrence of a longstanding ankle problem.
   The home side are now set to decide between the uncapped duo of Stuart Broad and Chris Tremlett, both tall bowlers in the Harmison mould, and James Anderson for the final place in a four-man attack which is likely to be reliant again on spinner Monty Panesar both for control and wickets.
   Broad, the son of former England opener Chris, would appear to be the leading candidate out of the three seamers on account of his batting.
   Last weekend the 21-year-old Leicestershire quick took a career-best five for 76 against India while playing for England Lions, the national ‘A side’, at Chelmsford, having previously scored a fifty in the match.
   ‘He’s come off the back of a five-wicket haul and a fifty against India which is great for his confidence and belief,’ said England coach Peter Moores. ‘He’s aggressive in how he bowls. He’s also got a bit of pedigree as a batter. That’s certainly an advantage.’
   Panesar, who snared Tendulkar for his first Test wicket, could end up anchoring England’s attack if India get after the quicker bowlers and Moores said, ‘I know he’s excited about the challenge of bowling against some of the Indian batters and he’s moved forward very quickly over the last 12 months.’

India’s Mahendra Singh Dhoni is relishing being in England right now where he is far removed from the superstar adulation that has come his way at home.
   The 26-year-old wicket-keeper, whose 17 different sponsorship deals dwarf the off-field commercial activities of England batsman Kevin Pietersen, has become a huge hit with India fans since making his international debut in 2004.
   But Dhoni, who risks being mobbed by enthusiastic supporters when he walks out of his home in Ranchi, east India, insists his celebrity is nothing compared to that of batting great Sachin Tendulkar.
   ‘When we are walking through airports I love to walk behind Sachin because that is a time when you can really sneak through. You sense all eyes are on him,’ Dhoni told reporters at Lord’s where the first of a three-Test series against England today.
   But despite his sex-symbol status, he insisted his focus was firmly on cricket.
   ‘The day I stop playing cricket everything stops: whether it’s the fan following, the endorsements, or anything else,’ said Dhoni, who has put his name to footwear, soap and a bank among other deals.
   ‘My responsibility is to play good cricket and that is what I am here to do.
   ‘It is lovely to be here. I can walk in the street, I can sit in restaurants, go wherever I want. If you go to a crowded place in India, such as a mall, you will get mobbed.’
   Dhoni has thrilled crowds around the world with his big-hitting, a talent he developed as a young player.
   ‘I used to play tennis ball cricket a lot and the only thing to do is hit the ball hard,’ he said. ‘You look for a six, no singles, no fours.’
   Concerns, however, have been raised about his wicket-keeping with fellow gloveman Dinesh Karthik already in the side for his batting alone.
   Although Dhoni averages 46.97 in 76 limited-over internationals, his Test mark of 33.75 in 17 matches, which includes only one hundred, is only marginally better than Karthik’s record.
   ‘I always take my matches as my last,’ said Dhoni. ‘If you have a bit of pressure, which comes from having competition within the team, it brings the best out of you.’
   Dhoni, a soccer goalkeeper before he became a wicket-keeper, also said he was happy to be in the birthplace of football.
   ‘I was always quite inclined towards football and so when I was 12 to 13 I went to camp and practised for those couple of years,’ he explained. ‘After that we needed a wicketkeeper in our school team.
   ‘Our games teacher said that the basics were the same – as a goalkeeper you move well and catch the ball – so why didn’t I give it a go? That’s how it started for me.
   ‘I still love football now. I support Manchester United. When our first-class season begins in September/October the Premiership has already started, so when we used to come back from the ground, there was nothing much to do, so we used to watch the games on television.’

Bangladesh Grand Master Ziaur Rahman will play in the World Cup Chess, to be held in Siberia in November this year.
   FIDE president Kirsan Ilyumzhinov has eight personal quotas for the top-rated tournament and so he invited Zia. Usually the continental and zonal champions and the top-rated players participate in the World Cup. Former president of the chess federation, Syed Shujauddin Ahmed, persuaded Kirsan Ilyumzhinov to include Zia in the competition.

A suicidal goal by goalkeeper Mamun Khan forced Farashganj to end their second-leg clash of the B league with Rahmatganj in a 1-1 draw at Bangabandhu National Stadium on Wednesday.
   Striker Mohammad Robin gave Farashganj an early lead in the fourth minute, but they were forced to share points when their goalie conceded an own-goal in the 20th minute.
   The first-leg meeting between them had ended in a goalless draw.

Football legends past and present gathered Wednesday at the former South African prison colony that housed Nelson Mandela for 18 years to honour the statesman on his 89th birthday.
   Current players like Cameroon’s Barcelona striker Samuel Eto’o along with former maestros, Dutchman Ruud Gullit and Liberian George Weah, joined administrators and some of Mandela’s fellow ex-political prisoners on Robben Island off the Cape coast to kick a symbolic 89 goals into a football net.
   ‘I am a son of Mandela. He has inspired me and fought for our continent. He inspired millions all over the world,’ said Weah, a former World Player of the Year also known for his failed bid to become the president of Liberia.
   He said he found his visit to the island inspirational, having seen what Mandela went through, including forced labour in the prison limestone quarry that permanently damaged his eyesight.
   ‘He (Mandela) has inspired me to do more,’ Weah told AFP.
   Gullit, a former European player of the year and manager of Chelsea, said the lesson from Mandela’s life was that ‘there is always hope.’
   ‘If you believe in yourself and fight hard for the right thing, you will succeed,’ he told AFP.
   Retired Brazilian football star Pele was to have taken part in the proceedings, but could not make the 45-minute ferry trip from the mainland because he suffers from seasickness.
   The weather did not allow him to travel by helicopter, but Pele is to make an appearance at Cape Town’s Newlands sports stadium Wednesday evening for a star-studded Africa XI versus World XI match in Mandela’s honour.
   Former Robben Island political prisoner Afrika Hlapo, 47, said the day was very special.
   ‘We must remember that the old man (Mandela) has worked for this country for the whole of his life. He sacrificed a lot of things, his wife, his family, his opportunities.’
   Mandela, known fondly in South Africa by his clan name Madiba, spent 27 years behind bars for his contribution to the struggle against whites-only apartheid rule.
   Wednesday morning’s ceremony also saw a football club created by Robben Island inmates during their incarceration in the 1960s, Makana FA, receive honorary membership of world football body FIFA.

Sachin Tendulkar says it is a passion for cricket rather than a desire to keep adding to his already impressive list of records that provides the reason for him to extend his career.
   Tendulkar, the first man to score 50 international hundreds and Test cricket’s all-time leading century maker with 37 in 137 matches, has had his motivation called into question recently after a poor World Cup in the Caribbean where India exited at the first round stage.
   Former Australia captain Ian Chappell, whose brother Greg opted not to renew his contract as India coach after the World Cup, said that if Tendulkar was motivated solely by statistical milestones he should think hard about whether it was right for him to carry on.
   But the 34-year-old Tendulkar, speaking at Lord’s ahead of the start of the first Test against England today, said it was a love of the game and not an obsession with landmarks that kept him wanting to play 18 years after he made his international debut.
   ‘I am absolutely enjoying it. That is the reason for me to walk on the cricket field. The most important thing is my love for the game. If I feel I am not enjoying it as much there is no reason for me to be out there in the middle,’ he said.
   Tendulkar, as if to emphasise the point that team, rather than individual success matters most to him, when asked to recall his first Test hundred - against England at Old Trafford in 1990 - said it was the fact his innings saved the game rather than getting to three figures that pleased him most.
   ‘The first hundred is always a special hundred. It came at a critical moment. It kept us alive in the series. It really meant a lot to me,’ he said.
   ‘We had lost the first Test and in the second Test we weren’t in a comfortable position. At that stage I went in and stayed not out which kept us alive in that series.
   ‘Getting the hundred was terrific but what I actually wanted to to was save the match and the hundred was the icing.’
   He added: ‘I have never set targets as such. Vaguely I would know in the back of my mind, this is what I would want to do on this tour. But I never disclose my targets. Not even my family knows about it.
   ‘But I wouldn’t let that dominate. You want to keep your mind as free as possible so you can watch the ball as clearly as possible,’ added Tendulkar, who warmed up for the first Test of a three-match series by scoring 171 against England Lions, the national ‘A’ side, at Chelmsford last weekend.
   Tendulkar, whose 10,922 runs leave him fourth in the list of Test cricket’s leading run scorers behind leader Brian Lara, Allan Border and Stephen Waugh - all of whom have retired - reckons this could be his fourth and final Test tour of England.
   ‘It looks like that. God knows what is in store for me. But the previous tour was 2002 and this is now 2007, so 2011 or 2012 would require a special effort.’
   In England, Tendulkar can enjoy a degree of anonymity unknown to him in India where his mega-star status means he is subject to a level of attention beyond even that experienced by England footballer David Beckham.
   ‘I just want to make sure I enjoy every moment I spend in England,’ Tendulkar said. ‘Rather than dividing my energy in various directions, I just want to focus on this series and enjoy it.’
   On this occasion he is unlikely to face England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, currently sidelined with an ankle injury.
   ‘He’s a great player. When India’s not playing here, I would want to see him,’ Tendulkar said with a smile.
   India have come to England without a head coach as such but in Chandu Borde, the former Test batsman and chief national selector, who is 73 on Saturday, they have a vastly experienced tour manager and somone for whom Tendulkar has immense respect.
   ‘Chandu Borde was my first manager in 1989 when I was picked to play against Pakistan,’ Tendulkar said. ‘He has seen a lot of cricket in his life. He’s a wonderful person to have around and he’s helped us.’

Fame is no longer the driving force behind the rise and rise of Kevin Pietersen.
   We may have lost Posh and Becks — don’t all cheer at once — but the England cricketer and his Liberty X wife-to-be Jessica Taylor are in no hurry to replace them.
   ‘I saw the way they were mobbed at Silverstone and it was an eye-opener,’ Pietersen told The Sun, who gets married later this year with — shock, horror — neither Hello! or OK! magazine in attendance.
   ‘Jealous? Absolutely not. I was there with Jess and, yes, we got hassled a few times.
   ‘But it was nothing compared to the nonsense that surrounded them.
   ‘Sure, everyone wants to be famous and at one time I might have appeared to have wanted it more than most. But, deep down, that’s not really me.
   ‘I’m just a cricketer, David Beckham is a superstar. He and his wife are a huge entity, back page, front page, everywhere. And they have been doing it for years.
   ‘Sure, fame has come very quickly for me. But I’ve been very lucky to have family and friends to keep my feet on the ground.
   ‘Without them, my ego, my arrogance, my image of myself could have gone through the roof.’
   Yet not all that long ago, it seemed KP was prepared to go to any length to get himself in the limelight.
   For a start, there was the infamous ‘Skunk’.
   A more sober Pietersen, now 27, reflected: ‘Darren Gough and I were messing round on the team bus and he said ‘Why not put a line in your hair?’
   ‘So I said I’d try it. God knows why I kept it for so long. Stupid, wasn’t it?
   ‘Luckily, I had civilised hair by the time I met Jess. As for the ‘Skunk’, she says ‘What were you doing, you idiot?’
   ‘I’m not interested in all that stuff any more. I’m very settled in a relationship, I’m getting married and I want to have children.’
   Will all work and no play make Kevin a dull boy?
   He laughed: ‘I don’t think so. I still get round and about.
   ‘Sure, I don’t do it as much but I still love a night out. I’ll still get home at five or six in the morning. But there’s a time and place.’
   Which brought us to Freddie Flintoff, now recovering from yet another ankle operation to add to all the World Cup shenanigans.
   Pietersen said: ‘Injuries are not fun. You feel for guys like Freddie and Simon Jones — Simon even more. At least Freddie has played some cricket.
   ‘Obviously, he didn’t do himself any favours at the World Cup and he knows that.
   ‘Now we have to get him playing again. We need him to succeed.’
   While Flintoff eyes the one-day series against India, Pietersen returns from a battery-recharging trip to the south of France and straight into the First Test against Rahul Dravid’s men at Lord’s tomorrow.
   Before he went, he spoke of the mental and physical fatigue that had set in after three years on the treadmill.
   Pietersen, second in the world one-day rankings and third in Tests, said: ‘I just had to get away. I haven’t stopped or missed a Test match in three years.
   ‘It’s a hard, gruelling, business waking up to an alarm every day. It takes the edge off.’
   This is reflected in his last seven scores — 0, 28, 19, 9, 33, 9 and 0.
   As he struggled, so did England, beaten in the recent one-day tournament by a West Indian side they had humiliated in the Test series.
   So are we reaching the stage where if KP doesn’t perform, neither do England? He shook his head and said: ‘It’s not going to get to that. I know how hard the guys train, the intensity, how everyone wants to be successful.
   ‘My own immediate aim is to find some consistency.
    ‘Yes, it’s important for me to try and be No 1 in Tests but the main thing is for England to be successful.’
   As for the long-term, Pietersen is shaping up as a serious contender to take over from Michael Vaughan as England captain.
   With Flintoff in purdah and new one-day skipper Paul Collingwood already 31, he is very much in the frame.
   He admitted: ‘Yes, I’d like to captain the full Test side.
   ‘It would be a great honour — but only in the future.
   ‘I could have put my name forward for the one-day job but it would have been for the wrong reasons. For ego and seeing my name up in lights. I respect this country and my team-mates too much to have done that.’
   Having turned his back on South Africa because of the quota system, Pietersen now has the Three Lions tattooed on his shoulder.
   But old habits die hard. I ribbed him that, surely, he would still be supporting the Springbok rugby team when they met England in Paris in the World Cup in September.
   ‘No way,’ he said. ‘How much do you want to bet? I do not support South Africa in anything. Politics has got in the way of everything there.
   ‘I love rugby and I’ve been tuning in to the Tri-Nations. But only the All Blacks v Australia. I didn’t watch South Africa — I’m just not interested.’
   Mention of Australia in any sporting code and his mind goes back to the 5-0 whitewash Down Under. And then springs forward to the next Ashes series in 2009.
   Recently, Pietersen said: ‘The key for us is to humiliate them when they get here.’
   He’s not going back on it, either. ‘That’s very true,’ he said. ‘That’s what they did to us in the winter and that’s what we need to do to them next time.
   ‘We are still carrying that hurt around with us. That 5-0 whitewash was a terrible feeling. A feeling of disgrace.
   ‘Can you want revenge too much? Never.’

England coach Peter Moores believes a balanced lifestyle, on and off the field, will help prolong Kevin Pietersen’s international career.
   The South Africa-born batsman recently complained of feeling mentally fatigued having been involved in most of England’s matches since making his debut in 2005.
   But the 27-year-old’s critics have suggested that if the Hampshire shotmaker is tired he could cut down on his lucrative series of commercial endorsements even though Pietersen has been adamant that nothing he does off the field will compromise his readiness to play for England.
   ‘After seeing him this morning he seems okay to me,’ Moores said of Pietersen at Lord’s here Tuesday ahead of the start of the first Test against India on Thursday.
   ‘In my brief time here he’s never not been up for the game, he’s very intense, a really hard worker and he loves playing the game. I think he does know what he does is a privileged thing, to play for England.’
   Pietersen, 27, who is due to wed his pop star fiancee Jessica Taylor in December, in addition to the now almost standard deals for an England player of equipment endorsement and a national newspaper column, has several other agreements including one with a watch maker.
   Moores said making sure non-cricket activities didn’t become a hindrance to his side was something England kept under review.
   ‘It’s something we’ll continually look at, to get the balance right for the player. It’s a fine line. They are in demand because they are in the public eye but we need players who are fresh to play cricket for England.
   ‘We talk to the commercial guys to make sure we get the balance right.’

French World Cup winner Bixente Lizarazu said on Wednesday that compatriot Franck Ribery will have to stamp his authority at his new club Bayern Munich if he wants to be a success.
   Former defender Lizarazu, 37, who spent eight seasons at Bayern Munich, says Ribery has the skill and vision to be the midfield general the German giants desperately need since Germany’s captain Michael Ballack left to join Chelsea in 2006.
   But Lizarazu, who won the 1998 World Cup, says Ribery, still only 24, will need to be nurtured at Bayern and is concerned that too much will be expected of their new midfielder, who cost 26 million euros this summer.
   ‘Franck should not think that by joining Bayern he has made it, his arrival is only the beginning,’ the 97-times capped defender, who retired in 2006, told German magazine Sport-Bild on Wednesday.
   ‘Franck has all the necessary attributes to become a great player: the talent, physique and vision, but he is still a young player who needs guidance.
   ‘His first year at Bayern won’t be easy, a lot is expected, but it would have been harder if he had signed for someone like Real Madrid.’
   Lizarazu, who made 240 appearances for Bayern in two spells in Munich, revealed he had given Ribery advice on several occasions before the former Marseille midfielder signed.
   ‘What worried him was not playing in the Champions League next season, but I reassured him that it ws just an accident that Bayern had not qualified for it this season.’
   And the former left-back highlighted the importance of Bayern’s French defender Willy Sagnol and experienced coach Ottmar Hitzfeld in Ribery’s development.
   ‘A trainer like him (Hitzfeld) is ideal for the development of a young player like Franck.’
   With Bayern set to face rivals Werder Bremen on Saturday in the League Cup quarter-final in Dusseldorf, Ribery trained on Wednesday and is hoping to shake off a thigh muscle injury.

Sourav Ganguly prepares for this week’s first Test against England at Lord’s nursing an impossible dream.
   Back in 1996 the India batsman scored 131 at Lord’s when making his Test debut. And while he would love to recapture the feeling he’d enjoyed on that day, the former captain believes the intervening 11 years have inevitably changed him as a cricketer.
   Indeed, last year it seemed his international career was over after the left-hander, now 35, was dropped for seven Tests.
   But having been reprieved, Ganguly is glad to be back at Lord’s for what will be the first Test of a three-match series.
   ‘I have done well here but that does not guarantee success this time,’ Ganguly, who had a fraught relationship with former India coach Greg Chappell, explained. ‘I have to start well and do well.
   ‘The frame of mind I had before the first time I played at Lord’s is probably the best I’ve had in my whole career.
   ‘I’ve not had it again in the last 11 years even though I’ve scored runs all around the world; I wish I could get back to that mindset for this Test match,’ added Ganguly who has scored 5,563 runs in 93 Tests at an average of 40.90 with 13 hundreds.
   ‘I didn’t have any nervousness, I didn’t have any fear of failure when I came here in 1996. It’s the age factor. When you’re young you don’t worry about a lot of things which you start doing once you play a lot and grow older. I was more carefree and enjoyed the full five days of the Test match.’

Former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq and his successor Shoaib Malik have welcomed the appointment of Australian Geoff Lawson as coach of the senior team.
   ‘Lawson is a good choice if the players want him because a good working relationship between a coach and players is necessary to get good results,’ Inzamam said on Tuesday.
   Lawson was confirmed as the coach on Monday by the Pakistan Cricket Board, who chose him over the two other candidates, Dav Whatmore and Richard Done.
   The appointment drew criticism from other former captains, including Javed Miandad and Intikhab Alam, who questioned the decision to employ another foreign coach.
   Inzamam who retired from one-day internationals and relinquished the captaincy during the World Cup after Pakistan’s first-round exit in March, backed Lawson.
   ‘There is no doubt we have some great players. I have learnt a lot about batting from Javed Miandad, our former coach. But coaching nowadays is also about man management and foreigners tend to be better at this,’ said Inzamam.
   Malik added, ‘Lawson is known to be a positive-minded coach and during our short meeting with him in Abbottabad when he came for his interview he impressed us with his ideas and behaviour.’

Late Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer’s widow Gill has requested India and Pakistan to play a Twenty20 game to raise funds for an academy he had proposed to set up in South Africa.
   ‘She has written to the board president requesting to play a Twenty20 match for the academy,’ Indian board secretary Niranjan Shah told Reuters on Tuesday.
   ‘A decision has not been taken yet,’ he said. ‘We need to find the time because we’ve already finalised our schedule.’

New Liverpool signings Fernando Torres and Ryan Babel have been confirmed for next week’s Barclays Asia Trophy tournament here, organisers said on Wednesday.
   Captain Steven Gerrard and England team-mates Peter Crouch and Jamie Carragher will also travel for the four-way tournament also featuring Portsmouth, Fulham and Hong Kong’s South China.
   Striker Torres made his Liverpool debut against Werder Bremen on Tuesday after joining the Champions League finalists for a club record £20 million from Atletico Madrid.
   Portsmouth will also bring new striker David Nugent, 22, who scored 33 goals in 94 appearances for Preston North End and made his England debut in March.
   Fulham’s attack will be led by new signing Diomansy Kamara who joined from West Bromwich Albion for six million pounds.

Japan are fired up and ready to outrun a physically stronger Australia in their Asian Cup quarter-final on Saturday to gain revenge for their bruising World Cup defeat by the Socceroos.
   ‘We can’t stand to lose to the same opponents twice. Once was enough,’ said veteran centre back Yuji Nakazawa, still rattled by Japan’s 3-1 loss to Australia in their World Cup opener last year.
   ‘We’d better crush them now so we can pressure them in the upcoming 2010 World Cup qualifying round.’
   The Yokohama hardman, 29, was left stunned in Germany last year when Australia pumped in three goals in the last nine minutes in the heat of Kaiserslautern to derail Japan’s World Cup dream.
   Revenge is on the mind of most Japanese players.
   ‘This is a chance to avenge last year’s grudge. That is why we are here,’ said former Portsmouth goalkeeper Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, who was on the receiving end of the Socceroos’ onslaught.
   ‘We may need some rest now but I am mentally ready to fight as soon as possible.
   ‘We have increased our offensive variations. There will be a chance if we take the initiative,’ added the 31-year-old, who is guarding the Blue Samurai’s net in their bid for a third straight continental title.
   Kawaguchi said the Australian team, who narrowly lost to Italy in their World Cup last-16 match under famed Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, have not changed much under his assistant Graham Arnold.
   ‘Their individual skills remain very high. They shoot the ball off the feet of goalkeepers. They often make final assaults with long balls,’ he said.
   ‘But we are a new team with a new style. I am very much interested to see how we’ll fight.’
   Japan never recovered from the Australian shock, drawing with Croatia and then bowing to five-time champions Brazil 4-1 to make an early World Cup exit under Brazilian legend Zico.
   Japan’s new coach Ivica Osim has retained 10 players from Germany, including Celtic star Shunsuke Nakamura and Frankfurt striker Naohiro Takahara.
   Arnold has 15 World Cup veterans in his squad, led by Newcastle’s Mark Viduka, Everton’s Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell of Liverpool.
   Defending champions Japan reached the knock-out stage of the Asian Cup on an upbeat note after beating Gulf Cup champions United Arab Emirates 3-1 and co-hosts Vietnam 4-1. They drew 1-1 with Qatar in their opening Group B match.
   For Australia, it has been a tough qualifying route in Bangkok dogged by hot and humid tropical weather.
   But they finally beat Thailand 4-0 after drawing 1-1 with Oman and bowing 3-1 to Asian stalwarts Iraq.
   ‘Teams which outran Australia produced results,’ said midfielder Yasuhito Endo, the man of the match in the Vietnam game.
   Nakamura, whose dead-ball kicks helped Celtic to a second straight Scottish Premier League title last season, said Japan will benefit from having a tightly organised team to counter against Australia’s ‘power and fast counter-attacks.’
   ‘Australians are not Asians. They are similar to Austria, Slovakia and Slovenia,’ said the 29-year-old.
   ‘We can demonstrate our finesse against such opponents and I’m looking forward to it.’

Argentine defender Roberto Ayala completed his controversial move to Real Zaragoza on Tuesday after paying six million euros ($8.28 million) to buy himself out of his contract with Primera Liga rivals Villarreal.
   Ayala was set to join Villarreal after his contract with Valencia ended in June, but the 34-year-old centre-back shocked the Mediterranean club by deciding to break the agreement and take off for Zaragoza.
   ‘The change came because I found myself presented with an ambitious project,’ Ayala told a news conference after signing a three-year contract with Zaragoza.
   ‘I was convinced by it and thought it was the best thing for me and my family. I’ve done nothing illegal and I would like to thank Villarreal for the way they behaved.
   ‘I’m still ambitious, I knew the people here well too and a lot of things came together with this offer.’
   The centre-back also announced that he would be retiring from international football after winning his 115th cap in his side’s 3-0 defeat against Brazil in the final of the Copa America on Sunday.
   ‘I took the decision some time ago and it wasn’t just because of the result but because I think a cycle has come to an end in the national team,’ he said.’
   Zaragoza made the move for Ayala to fill the gap left by his partner in the Argentina defence, Gabriel Milito, who was sold to Barcelona for a fee of up to 20.5 million euros earlier this month.
   He will join fellow Argentine internationals Pablo Aimar, Diego Milito and Andres D’Alessandro at his new club who have qualified for the UEFA Cup after finishing sixth last season.
   Ayala began his career with Argentine side Ferro Carril Oeste before joining River Plate in 1993.
   His performance for the Argentine giants earned him a transfer to Italian side Napoli in 1995 where he remained for three seasons before signing for AC Milan.
   Ayala joined Valencia in 2000 from AC Milan and became their most influential player in a much-vaunted back-four.
   He played an instrumental role in helping the club to reach the Champions League final in 2001 and was a key player in their league triumphs in 2002 and 2004 as well as their victory in the UEFA Cup in 2004.

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger on Tuesday said it would be unwise to appoint a new director of football in the coming days because it could jeopordize his team’s preparations for the new season.
   Wenger insisted replacing former vice-chairman David Dein, who left the club in April, should be put on the back burner for the while, at least until the start of the new campaign.
   ‘I wanted to do it before the end of the season when I started buying and selling,’ said Wenger.
   ‘But then I thought that now is the worst time because I have no time to tell someone how I want to do things.
   ‘I did not want to unsettle the team before the end of the transfer market. So at the moment I work with Ken Friar and it is working well for us.’
   Part of Dein’s role at Arsenal was to do, as Wenger called it, the ‘ugly part’ in transfer negotiations.
   Club scout Gilles Grimandi is considered the front-runner for the new post, with Reading’s Nicky Hammond also suggested as a suitable candidate. In the meantime, long-serving Arsenal director Friar has been working with Wenger.
   Dein formed a link between the boardroom and the dressing room and his departure was one of the reasons Thierry Henry cited when leaving the club for Barcelona, claiming the team and manager had been ‘de-stabilised’.
   Lukasz Fabianski, Eduardo Da Silva, Havard Nordtveit and Bacary Sagna have arrived in the summer as Arsenal plan for the post-Henry era, although the most important signing would be for Wenger agree a new contract.
   The Frenchman’s current deal expires at the end of the coming season, with negotiations under way.

Australia have no illusion that their defeat of Japan at last year’s World Cup will give them a mental edge to beat the defending champions in their Asian Cup quarter-final here on Saturday.
   ‘It was great to have won that game but it was a whole different competition, a whole different game,’ Everton midfielder Tim Cahill said here Wednesday.
   ‘Japan have changed a lot and that’s the reason why there’re fighting well in this tournament,’ he said.
   ‘This will be the biggest game, probably, of the tournament. We’ll get on to it and hopefully we’ll win.’
   Dogged by hot and humid weather, Australia squeezed into the last eight when they beat Thailand 4-0 on Monday after drawing 1-1 with Oman and losing to Iraq 3-1 in group A.
   In contrast, Japan looked much sharper in their group, beating Gulf Cup champions United Arab Emirates 3-1 and spirited co-hosts Vietnam 4-1 after drawing 1-1 with Qatar.
   ‘We can only get stronger so it’s going be an interesting game,’ added Cahill, 27.
   In the heat of Kaiserslautern last year, Cahill struck twice in the final nine minutes with John Aloisi getting another to stun Japan 3-1 for Australia’s first World Cup victory ever.
   The Socceroos went on to narrowly lose to eventual champions Italy on a controversial penalty in the round of 16. Japan never recovered from the shock, drawing with Croatia before bowing to five-time champions Brazil.
   ‘We thought it would have been a dream final with Japan. But we can’t change that now,’ said forward Aloisi, who plays with Spain’s Alaves.
   ‘Japan are probably the favourites because they won the last Asian Cup, but we’ll just try to beat them to go on in the tournament.’
   The weather has proven to be hotter in Hanoi than in Bangkok where the Socceroos struggled in their group matches.
   But Cahill is confident his team can cope.
   ‘I don’t think it’s something we’ve got to deal with at the moment,’ he said. ‘Japan and Australia will just get on with it and play football.’
   He added that there was a lot of respect among the Australian team for Japan.
   ‘We’ve got great respect for the players and the team,’ he said.
   ‘They’ve done well in this competition and it’s going to be a very hard game.’

England have dropped to 12th in the latest FIFA world rankings published Wednesday, their worst position since June 2004.
   Steve McLaren’s side, out of the top 10 in FIFA’s hit parade for the first time in almost two years, have slipped four places since the last rankings were annuonced without even playing.
   The Netherlands, Croatia, the Czech Republic and Mexico, who have leaped 16 places, have all overtaken McClaren’s team.
   Brazil and Argentina have both benefited from their surge to the final of the Copa America, with Dunga’s side moving up two places to assume top spot following their victory in the competition and runners-up Argentina rising to second.
   Italy, who Brazil replaced in first place, are now in third, while World Cup runners-up France also drop two spots to fourth.
   Elsewhere, Scotland (22nd) Northern Ireland (28th) and Wales (74th) have all moved up a place but the Republic of Ireland have slipped from 38th to 39th.

Roma completed the signing of Ludovic Giuly from Spanish side Barcelona on Tuesday.
   The 31-year-old French forward, whose contract with Barcelona was due to expire next year, has signed a three-year contract.
   Barcelona, who were pipped to the Spanish league title on the final day of the season by fierce rivals Real Madrid, will initially receive 3.2 million euros from Roma.
   The Serie A club will then pay a further 400,000 euros if they qualify for the Champions League.
   Giuly, who arrived in Italy on Monday to discuss the transfer, expressed his delight at finalising the move.
   ‘I am happy and my first day here left a very good impression on me,’ he said.
   ‘I would like to win the Champions League and the Italian league title, and that’s why I chose Roma.
   Giuly, who plays as a second striker or a wide midfielder, said he would have no problem adapting to any role with his new club.
   ‘I prefer to play on the right but I would be happy to play on either wing,’ he said.
   Giuly came through the Lyon set-up as a teenager before moving to French first division rivals Monaco in 1998.
   He left Monaco to join Barcelona following the French club’s defeat to FC Porto in the 2004 Champions League final.
   Giuly eventually won a Champions League winners medal two years later when the Spanish giants won the 2006 final against Arsenal.
   He was overlooked for the French squad which reached last year’s World Cup final in Germany, which they lost to Italy after a penalty shoot-out.
   Roma finished second in Serie A last season and reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

Chelsea's Dutch international Arjen Robben has agreed personal terms over a move to Spanish champions Real Madrid, reported the BBC on Wednesday.
   A transfer fee is yet to be agreed upon by the two clubs but according to reports from Spain the Chelsea winger's deal is expected to fetch around 20 million euros (26 million dollars).
   The 23-year-old Robben, who has two years left on his contract with the London outfit, has been touted for weeks as a Real Madrid target and the Spanish club's president Ramon Calderon believes it is just a matter of time before they capture his signature.
   'It is a negotiation which will take place in coming days or weeks,' Calderon told Spanish radio station Onda Cero.
   'If the situation is favourable financially, I think that he is a player who could be brought in.'
   Robben has been in long drawn-out negotiations with Chelsea over a contract extension until 2012 but has not always been in favour with the club's Portuguese coach Jose Mourinho.
   With the Blues having last week signed France international winger Florent Malouda from Lyon on a four-year contract for some 20 million euros Chelsea may opt to take Real's cash for Robben having covered their flank.

England striker Michael Owen scored his first Newcastle goal for more than 18 months as Sam Allardyce enjoyed a winning start to his new reign as coach of the English Premiership side on Tuesday.
   Owen was on target in the 58th minute of the 3-1 pre-season friendly win over Hartlepool for his first club goal since hitting a hat-trick against West Ham in December, 2005.
   Shola Ameobi scored Newcastle’s other goals.
   Owen, 27, has been dogged by injury since his move from Real Madrid two years ago.

Real Betis unveiled four new players on Tuesday as they overhauled their squad in an attempt to avoid a repeat of last season’s relegation scare.
   Portugal goalkeeper Ricardo Pereira, versatile Croatia midfielder Marko Babic, Chile winger Mark Gonzalez and Argentine striker Mariano Pavone all signed for the Primera Liga club a day after they presented their new coach Hector Cuper.
   Ricardo joins Betis after a successful four-year spell at Sporting Lisbon, Babic has been signed from Bayer Leverkusen, Gonzalez arrives following a brief stint at Liverpool and Pavone has come from Argentine side Estudiantes.
   Betis majority shareholder Manuel Ruiz de Lopera said on Monday that the club had spent around 20 million euros on the four players.
   ‘We brought Pavone here for seven million, Mark for six, Ricardo for four and paid 2.5 million for Babic,’ he told reporters.
   Ricardo is the first choice keeper for Portugal, hitting the headlines for his stand-out performances in victories against England in the quarter-finals of Euro 2004 and last year’s World Cup.
   Pavone, 25, played a key role in helping Estudiantes to victory in the Apertura championship in 2006 and Babic
   has been a fixture at Leverkusen since joining the Bundesliga side from Osijek in 2000.
   South African-born Gonzalez impressed in his previous spells in Spain with Albacete and Real Sociedad, but his time at Liverpool was disrupted by bureaucratic wrangles over a work permit and injury.

Chelsea’s John Terry says he hopes to sign a new contract before the start of the season.
   The 26-year-old defender still has two years left of his current Blues deal, but negotiations on a new contract were believed to have stalled over Terry’s wage demands.
   However, the talks have resumed between Terry, his agent Aaron Lincoln and the club during their pre-season tour in Los Angeles.
   And the England skipper insists he is confident the deal will be sorted out in the coming weeks.
   ‘It is very promising and I am hoping things can be done. It has moved a step closer,’ said Terry.
   ‘We have spoken since we have been here and we have moved closer. Aaron is over here, not only for that, but hopefully things can be done before the start of the season.’
   Terry stressed that negotiations over a new deal had not stalled and were just taking time.
   ‘It has not dragged on. These things take time,’ he added.
   ‘I said at the end of the last season that it was important to finish the campaign.
   ‘We won the FA Cup and I wanted to get away and have a complete break with my family and I’ve done that.

Carlos Tevez is to plead with FIFA to be allowed to join Manchester United after seeing his 30 million pound move tied up in red tape that could wreck his hopes of starting the season at Old Trafford.
   Tevez, who flew into Manchester to undergo a medical on Tuesday only for West Ham to block permission, continues to be the subject of a tug-of-war between West Ham and Media Sports Investments, which holds his economic rights.
   While West Ham own the Argentina forward’s registration, the issue of who stands to receive a transfer fee from United remains unresolved.
   With the Premier League campaign due to begin on August 11, both West Ham and Tevez are now set to take the matter to FIFA.
   And United chief executive David Gill admits that the Premiership champions are confident that Tevez will ultimately be allowed to join the club before the transfer window closes on August 31.
   ‘The situation regarding Carlos Tevez, following a lot of discussions at the Premier League over the last few days between West Ham, the Premier League and our club solicitor, Maurice Watkins, is that the player and West Ham will take the matter to the FIFA Disputes Resolution Chamber and we are hoping that it will be done on an expedited basis,’ said Gill.
   ‘We are very confident that the issue will be resolved in favour of the player and for him to achieve his and our wish to join Manchester United.
   ‘Based on what we have seen and the discussions we have had, we are very confident it will go in Carlos Tevez’s favour and that he will be part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad next season,’ added Gill, who is in Seoul.
   ‘I’m not certain on the timescale of all this, but I have spoken to Maurice Watkins and he tells us that it can two weeks to arrange for the body to form and be arranged and papers on the case to be pulled together.’
   With Tevez currently in Manchester awaiting the medical that has now been postponed, Gill admits that the player is likely to fly out of England once again to enjoy a break.
   ‘Carlos has not undergone a medical and he will probably now take a well-earned break with his family because the plan, had he signed for us by now, had always been for him join up with the squad after we had returned from our tour of Asia later this month,’ he said.
   ‘He has clearly had a long season with West Ham and has just played in the Copa America, so I can only presume that he will be going somewhere exotic with his family.
   ‘But we remain confident that, by the time the season starts, Carlos Tevez will be training with us at Carrington.’
   Meanwhile, Wayne Rooney said he was desperate to team-up with Tevez.
   ‘Carlos Tevez was unbelievable for West Ham in the second-half of last season. He did brilliantly for them, keeping them up in the Premiership,’ Rooney said.
   ‘If we can sign him, he will be a great signing for us and I’d really look forward to playing alongside him up-front.
   ‘I don’t know how we would turn out as a partnership because I’d have to play with him first, but I’m sure we could.
   ‘Top players anywhere can work off each other and that’s what we would do.’
   The Daily Mirror adds: After helping inspire Manchester United win the Premiership last season with a glut of goals and his customary tireless contribution, you might have thought Wayne Rooney would have relished the chance for a rest over the summer.
   Not so. United’s England striker enjoyed an extended six-week break - the longest he has had since turning pro - taking in such glamorous locations as Las Vegas, the Caribbean and the south of France, along with fiancee Coleen McLoughlin.
   But Rooney, who on Tuesday played his first game for two months as United were held 2-2 by Urawa Reds at the start of their Far East pre-season tour, admitted he was bored just a fortnight into his break and missed the buzz of playing.
   ‘I’m really looking forward to playing again because this is the longest summer I’ve ever had off,’ said Rooney. ‘It was six weeks in all.
   ‘After the first couple of weeks and the blast of going to Vegas to support Ricky Hatton, I got bored and wanted to get back.
   ‘It’s great to be back in training and hopefully I can stay fit throughout the summer and start the season really well.’
   Rooney’s revelation that he has been itching to return is depressing news for defenders in the Premiership and Europe who face the unenviable task of stopping the 21-year-old once the new season kicks off. Despite the millions he has earned, those exotic holidays and the trappings of success that mean he is secure for life, Rooney is happiest on a football pitch - torturing opponents with his unique ability and natural exuberance.
   Boss Sir Alex Ferguson said: ‘The long summer break will benefit the players, because they’ve been away for a long time.
   ‘But it doesn’t really matter to the likes of Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, because they’re young lads who could play all day long.’ Watching Ryan Giggs earn a record-breaking ninth Premiership medal is a reminder to the Croxteth tyro of what he can achieve at Old Trafford.
   ‘You look at a player like Giggsy and what he’s achieved, and it makes you want to do the same,’ said Rooney.
   ‘He’s the perfect example for all the young lads in the dressing room and it’s a privilege to play with him. Giggsy’s a legend, I’ve learned a lot from him.’
   With England’s Owen Hargreaves, rising stars Anderson and Nani, as well as the imminent arrival of Carlos Tevez bolstering United’s squad, Rooney believes the Treble is firmly within the grasp of Fergie’s cosmopolitan squad this time.
   ‘Of course we want to keep hold of the Premiership, but the Champions League is a big goal as well,’ he said. ‘We have a big squad, and it’s probably the best I’ve ever played with.
   ‘To get so close last year in the Champions League and lose in the semi-final was disappointing.
   ‘Hopefully we can challenge for every trophy now because that’s what this club is all about. While Cristiano and me got 46 goals together last season, we will get better still because we have plenty of learning to do.
   ‘But I’ve not had a bet with Cristiano or the manager about how many goals I’ll get this season. I’m not a gambling man any more.’

Sir Alex Ferguson has hit back at critics of Manchester United’s four-game Asian tour, denying the English club merely serve their own interests when they jet out for lucrative visits.
   United were forced to cancel a game in Kuala Lumpur this month due to it clashing with Malaysia’s co-hosting of the Asian Cup, but Ferguson said July was the only window the team had.
   ‘It was unfortunate that the Asian Cup was on when we were free to come to the Far East,’ he said.
   ‘Every second year we have a European Championship or World Cup, so we can’t come at any given moment. We have to come when the window is there for us.
   ‘But the world of football has changed. When I was a boy, we had no advantage of television, so we had to wait for stars to come to the country I lived in.
   ‘The fans over here sometimes have to wait for the opportunity to see their favourite players in the flesh and that’s what we do when we come out here.
   ‘We are not trying to steal fans from other clubs like Urawa. Our fan-base is large enough already, but we hopefully give them the chance to see us live and hopefully be entertained.
   ‘The other contribution we try to make is that some of the players went to a school for the blind in Tokyo on Monday and also visited a hospital for kids.
   ‘We bring soccer schools for youngsters as well and we give time to particular causes.’
   United’s tour drew stinging criticism from Asian Football Confederation president Mohammed bin Hammam in May when he called them ‘disrespectful’ for scheduling a tour that clashed with the Asian Cup.
   He was concerned that it might divert attention from the region’s flagship competition, but he later toned down his rhetoric and even praised United for calling off the Malaysia match.
   The Red Devils drew 2-2 with J-League title winners Urawa Red Diamonds on Monday in the first match of their tour that will also take them to Seoul, Macau and Guangzhou over the next two weeks.
   United face FC Seoul in the South Korean capital on Friday, but new signings Owen Hargreaves and Nani are both set to miss out again due to injury.
   ‘Owen has a bit of tendinitis in his knee. It’s a typical pre-season injury and it isn’t too big a problem, but he will hopefully play in the third game of the tour in Macau,’ said Ferguson.
   ‘Nani is still suffering from the ankle injury that he picked up playing for Portugal in the European Championships, but he will play in the third game.’

David Beckham’s megabucks move to the United States has highlighted an incredible pay divide in the LA Galaxy dressing room.
   Former England captain Beckham earns more in a day than his team-mate Kyle Veris is paid in a year.
   Rookie defender Veris, 24, one of the club’s college graduates, gets just £8,850 a year while Beckham’s £3.25million basic pay works out as £8,900 a day.
   Washington-born Veris has to borrow money off his parents to get by each month and is playing for a new contract at the end of the season despite being a first team regular.
   Becks is easily the highest paid player in the MLS with a five-year package worth £128m, once commercial deals and sponsorships are added on.
   Veris earns way below the league’s average annual salary of £135,000 - but he insists it is an ‘honour’ just to train and play alongside the England superstar.
   Veris told the Daily Mirror: ‘The wage thing is not an issue. There’s no jealousy.
   ‘I’ve been watching him from the other side of the world from his young days at Manchester United so, for me, it’s just an honour to be in the same team.
   ‘We want to gel together and try to win a championship. That’s our goal.
   ‘I just try to budget. Going to my parents is my last resort, if I’m stretched at the end of the month.
   ‘The club’s owners also help me with paid appearances around the city.
   ‘We accept him (Beckham) for what he is, for sure. It’s all jokes and laughs in our locker room. He was really humble when he arrived, just one of the guys. I think it was Peter Vagenas who went up to him and said: ‘Who are you?’ He’s the joker on the team.’
   Veris believes the high-profile signing will pay dividends for the MLS and he reckons Becks and former Middlesbrough defender Abel Xavier - complete with wacky bleached blond hairdo - have already fitted into the dressing room.
   The ex-United and Real Madrid midfielder is inviting all of his new team-mates to a star-studded barbecue alongside the likes of JLo and Tom Cruise next Sunday.
   Galaxy keeper Joe Cannon joked that Beckham might have to room on his own on away trips - for fear of one of his team-mates selling pictures of him naked in the shower!
   Cannon joked: ‘I’d assume that he’ll have his own room.
   ‘In most cases in our league, the older guys try to get their own rooms. And I don’t want to sell out my team-mates, but obviously if someone was to say: ‘Hey, just take a photo in the shower and I’ll give you like a million dollars...’
   ‘The most important thing is for us to try and enjoy all this. Winning will help that. Putting better results on the field makes everything taste better, the grass is greener, the sky is bluer.
   ‘We don’t get this exposure unless Beckham’s here.’

Francesco Totti launched a scathing attack on the Italian football authorities and threatened to quit the Players’ Association.
   The row broke out after the Lega Calcio – representing all the club Presidents – refused a request to start the new season on August 19, sticking with the August 26 kick-off.
   ‘As players we are the main protagonists of this sport, but also the ones who never let their voices be heard,’ slammed the Roma captain in ‘Dieci.’
   ‘This is the time when we should be making a stand. We wanted the season to begin a week earlier to let the Italy squad be more prepared for the Euro 2008 qualifiers and have an extra week off at Christmas.
   ‘Those who made this decision couldn’t care less about the needs of Coach Roberto Donadoni. I’ve decided – either they listen to us or I’m leaving the Players’ Association immediately.’
   The Azzurri face two crunch qualifiers with France on September 8 and Ukraine four days later, but will have only one Serie A match under their belts before then.
   The Federation publicly begged for an August 19 kick-off, but the Lega Calcio voted against this early start.
   Totti was due to return to the Italy squad for those games, but it seems he is still not entirely convinced.
   ‘I couldn’t possibly play both the Nazionale and Roma ties all the time. It would be impossible. I’ll evaluate the situation with Gigi Riva and Donadoni.’
   The suggestion is that he would only play in the ‘big’ games, but some members of the Federation – including Vice-President Demetrio Albertini – have said this would be disrespectful to the rest of the team.
   ‘I don’t know why he says certain things about me,’ added Totti. ‘Perhaps they make him. But I am not worried because he changes his mind depending on which way the wind is blowing.
   ‘Like many, he talks without knowing the subject and to me now it’s all water off a duck’s back.’
   Meanwhile, it is now official that Ludovic Giuly will be Totti’s teammate at Roma this season.
   Barcelona receive £2.3m for the French player, who has signed a three-year contract.

The Los Angeles Galaxy put on an unimpressive show for new star David Beckham on Tuesday, slumping to a 3-0 defeat to Mexican club Tigres UANL in a friendly football match.
   Beckham, whose Galaxy tenure was launched with much fanfare on Friday, looked on from a private box alongside Galaxy general manager Alexi Lalas and manager Terry Byrne as Major League Soccer stragglers Los Angeles gave up an 11th-minute goal, then had a man sent off before Tigres scored twice more in the second half.
   ‘We came out real flat, uninspired,’ said Galaxy coach Frank Yallop, who admitted Beckham’s presence as an on-looker - and the close scrutiny he has brought to the entire team - may have unsettled his teammates.
   ‘To me it was very disappointing. We needed a good performance and we didn’t get it.’
   As he watched, Beckham received treatment on his ailing left ankle, which he injured playing in a Euro 2008 qualifier for England then aggravated as he helped Real Madrid to the Spanish league title.
   The injury has thrown Beckham’s Galaxy debut - planned for Saturday’s friendly against English Premiership club Chelsea - in doubt.
   ‘He’s had a lot of treatment today. It’s a little bit better,’ Yallop said. ‘We’re hoping he will be OK for Saturday.’
   Yallop had said Beckham’s flight from London to Los Angeles on Thursday had worsened the swelling in the ankle, and Beckham is now due to fly from Los Angeles to Denver to attend the MLS All-Star game against Scottish club Celtic on Thursday.
   ‘We’ll talk to David to make sure he’s OK to travel,’ said Yallop, who is no doubt well aware that MLS is counting on such appearances by Beckham to raise the profile of the game in the United States.
   Already Beckham’s arrival has spurred sales of tickets and jerseys.
   The Galaxy played up to the marketing hype on Tuesday, starting the match in their pre-Beckham white strip, then changing at halftime to their new all-blue kit.
   The match was the opener of a double-header that also featured Chelsea taking on South Korean side Suwon Bluewings, and started with the 27,000-seat Home Depot Stadium less than a quarter full.
   Mexican international Francisco Fonseca opened the scoring, running onto a pass by Walter Gaitan and beating Galaxy goalkeeper Joe Cannon in the 11th minute.
   Fonseca nearly doubled the lead with a header just wide of the post as Cannon missed an attempted punch clearance from Antonio Sancho’s free-kick in the 25th minute.
   The Galaxy’s first attempt on goal came a minute later, when Carlos Pavon blasted a long-range effort over the Tigres’ bar, and the Galaxy would manage just one more attempt before the interval.
   USA international Landon Donovan had a shot blocked in the 55th minute.
   But the Galaxy’s hopes of getting back in the match were dealt a massive blow in the 64th minute, when midfielder Chris Klein was shown his second yellow card for a tackle on Tigres substitute Guillermo Marino.
   Gaitan doubled the score for Tigres in the 72nd minute, and substitute Alejandro Vilalobos made it 3-0 in the 89th minute.
   Yallop said the Galaxy can only try to bounce back against Chelsea as they look to improve their fortunes in the second half of the MLS season.
   ‘We’re going to have a tough game on Saturday,’ he said. ‘If we respond well, it will set us up for a while.’

Didier Drogba’s 80th-minute strike lifted Chelsea to a 1-0 victory over South Korean side Suwon Bluewings here Tuesday in a friendly football match.
   Chelsea, tuning up for the English Premier League season, claimed their second victory in as many matches of their US tour, following a 2-1 win over Mexican side Club America at the weekend.
   Drogba, who scored 33 goals for Chelsea last season, including the winner in the FA Cup final, notched his first pre-season goal after Shawn Wright-Phillips, on the right side of the penalty area, collected a pass from Mikel found Drogba at the left post.
   On Saturday, Chelsea they will take on the Los Angeles Galaxy of Major League Soccer, who are slated to debut their new star David Beckham for the occasion if his sore left ankle allows.
   Tuesday’s game was at the Galaxy’s Home Depot Center ground, where Beckham watched the Galaxy fall 3-0 to Mexican side Tigres in the first match of the night.
   Chelsea’s match against Suwon was a livelier affair, and as he did against Club America, manager Jose Mourinho elected to make wholesale changes at the interval.
   The revamped side started the second half on a positive note, when, three minutes into the half, Drogba attempted a tightly angled shot that was blocked by Bluewings keeper Kim Dae Hwan, who also had to stop a follow-up.
   Florent Malouda tried from long range a minute later, Kim punching the shot back.
   Brazilian striker Eduardo got a look for the Bluewings, but fired high over the crossbar from the edge of the penalty area.
   Mourinho said the South Korean club was just the kind of test his players need.
   ‘They are fast, they are strong physically, and there’s no danger of injury because they play fair football,’ he said.
   Now that he has had the chance to watch his players over two matches, Mourinho said he would expect his starting side to go deeper into the match against the Galaxy.
   ‘Against the Galaxy, it will be the first time I don’t play two teams,’ he said. ‘Now is the time I start having to make my decisions.’
   He said he hoped Beckham would be able to play for the Galaxy on Saturday.
   ‘It would bring some life to the game to have David playing,’ he said.

Ukraine striker Andriy Voronin scored twice to shine on his Liverpool debut as the Premier League side enjoyed a 3-2 friendly win over Bundesliga team Werder Bremen on Tuesday.
   The 27-year-old, who signed a four-year deal to switch from Bayer Leverkusen to play for Rafael Benitez’s team, scored either side of half-time and was a constant threat to the Bremen defence on his debut in the famous red shirt.
   Liverpool, the 2005 European champions, warmed up for the game in Grenchen, Switzerland, with two friendly wins over British minnows Wrexham (3-2) and Crewe (3-0), but were rarely troubled by Bremen.
   As well as Voronin, Benitez gave debuts to new summer signings Fernando Torres, signed from Atletico Madrid, and Ryan Babel, from Ajax Amsterdam.
   The game got off to a lively start as Voronin showed great finishing by intercepting a pass and rounding Bremen goalkeeper Tim Weise to slot into the back of the net to give the Reds a lead after just three minutes.
   But Bremen were back level three minutes later when a shot clipped the post and forward Kevin Schindler headed home on six minutes.
   Liverpool’s Norwegian midfielder John Arne Riise put the visitors ahead when his long-range powerful free-kick beat Weise on 13 minutes as the Reds went 2-1 up.
   Early in the second-half, Voronin clipped the cross bar with his shot, but he made no mistake later on with a well-struck shot on 61 minutes to seal the win.
   The Ukrainian made way for Liverpool’s new signing Torres to make his debut soon afterwards as Bremen pulled a late goal back when substitute Frank Loening saw his shot deflected into the net by Liverpool’s Stephen Darby on 81 minutes.