Roger Federer was at his dominant best Wednesday to book a place in the Australian Open semi-finals as Ana Ivanovic brought Venus Williams’ tournament to a juddering halt.
   The Swiss ace kept his cool in two close-fought sets against 12th seeded American James Blake before running away a 7-5, 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 winner and will face Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic for a place in the final.
   Djokovic demolished fifth seed David Ferrer to clinch his fourth consecutive Grand Slam semi-final slot, and like Federer was dynamic in wiping out the Spaniard 6-0, 6-3, 7-5.
   Standing between Ivanovic and a final appearance is Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova, who blew Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwanska off court 6-2, 6-2, as she continues her comeback after a dive in the rankings.
   In beating Blake, Federer reached a record 15th consecutive Grand Slam semi and secured the number one ranking for a record 209th week.
   ‘It’s great being on top of the game for so long and being compared to greats like Rod Laver and Pete Sampras, it’s great being part of the pinnacle of the sport in every Grand Slam I’m playing in,’ Federer said.
   ‘We know how tough it is to win Grand Slams, it’s a long way,’ he added. It was a sorry end for Williams, who was desperate to claim her first title at Melbourne Park to add to her four Wimbledon and two US Open crowns.
   Ivanovic, 20, overcame the American eighth seed in a ferociously-contested 7-6 (7/3), 6-4 thriller, and credited the crowd on centre court and her improved fitness for helping her into the last four for the first time.
   ‘It was an amazing match, we had lots of long rallies, she’s an amazing competitor and she was also playing very well today,’ the 20-year-old fourth seed said after posting her first win over Williams in four attempts.
   ‘I’m just so happy I pulled through the whole two sets.
   ‘Most of all I’m thrilled that it happened here because I just love playing here and I’m so comfortable here on court.’
   Williams played with her left thigh heavily strapped, but gave credit to her opponent. And she defiantly vowed to bounce back.
   ‘I have full expectations and aspirations to continue to play high quality tennis and to continue to be a champion,’ she said.
   Ivanovic will play ninth seed Hantuchova, ensuring at least one player in the final on Saturday will be contesting their first Australian decider.
   In the other semi-final, fellow Serb Jelena Jankovic, seeded three, takes on fifth seeded Russian Maria Sharapova on Thursday.
   Hantuchova, 25, emphatically announced her Grand Slam comeback when she outclassed Radwanska for the loss of just four games.
   The win ended Radwanska’s giant-killing run, which included second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova and former world number three Nadia Petrova, and confirmed the 25-year-old Slovak’s return to the big-time.
   She is in her first Grand Slam semi-final and it comes five years after her last Grand Slam quarter-final appearance here.
   ‘It feels great. Every tennis player knows what I’m talking about when you get to that point when you feel like everything you touch is going in and I want to go on as long as possible,’ she said,
   Djokovic was in dazzling form against Ferrer, but admitted nerves got the better of him as he tried to close the match in the third set.
   ‘I even surprised myself with the way I played today, especially in the first two sets, but in the end I was very, very nervous,’ he said.
   ‘You always try to improve and I’m very happy that I am performing my best tennis in the major events, this is just the start, so hopefully I can get all the way.’
   The Serb has advanced without dropping a set in his five matches, stretching his winning streak on hardcourt to nine matches.

India captain Anil Kumble said Wednesday he was hoping to end his Test career on Australian soil on a high note with a series-equalling win in the fourth and final Test at Adelaide Oval.
   The 37-year-old veteran of 124 Tests is certain the Test starting today will be his last in Australia, as it is also likely to be for star batsmen Sachin Tendulkar and Rahul Dravid (both 34), Sourav Ganguly (35) and even VVS Laxman (33).
   ‘For sure, this will be my last one in Australia so it’ll be nice to go back with a victory,’ Kumble said Wednesday. ‘It’s been fantastic, this is my third trip to Australia and I’ve really enjoyed all three visits.’
   Adelaide holds a special place in Kumble’s heart, for both personal and team reasons.
   It was here India won by four wickets in 2003 to level the series, and that a recalled Kumble produced his breakthrough performance on Australian soil with six wickets.
   He said that match was a turning point in a career that has now produced 603 Test wickets, the third highest tally ever.
   ‘This is indeed a special venue because it all started here in 2003-04,’ he recalled.
   ‘It was important that we won that Test match and the last four years have been fantastic for me personally and also for Indian cricket.’
   Although India will lose a wealth of experience and talent when the senior players retire, the performance of its unheralded young attack in the series has given Kumble great confidence for the future.
   ‘It is difficult to replace anybody, we can possibly see that in the Aussie team itself,’ he said.
   ‘Every team will undergo the transition and how we do that transition is going to be the key.
   ‘India is definitely talented in what we have back home, it is just a matter of ensuring they get the confidence and in four or five years’ time we’ll have a good set of players who will be able to ensure that Indian cricket moves forward.’
   Down 2-1 after their shock win in the third Test in Perth, Kumble wants his team to win here and square the series for the second time in as many Australian tours.
   Although they can’t regain the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, Kumble said a win here would provide a further shot in the arm for Indian cricket.
   He is confident an Indian team will soon create history and win a series in Australia.
   ‘In terms of results, the last visit was fantastic and even this one as well,’ he said.
   ‘As a senior group we came in with the purpose of winning a series in Australia, we haven’t been able to achieve that, but at least we can go back with our heads held high.
   ‘Future Indian teams that come here will look at the performances from the past and I’m sure they’ll do what we could not achieve here, so that’s something I’m really proud of.’

Australia captain Ricky Ponting has done some extra homework on Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh ahead of the fourth Test at the Adelaide Oval, starting here today.
   Harbhajan was dropped by India for their third Test win, but expectations of a spin-friendly wicket here are likely to see him return to resume his duel with Ponting.
   Ponting has fallen to his Indian nemesis eight times in as many Tests, and was dismissed by the off-spinner three times in the first two Tests of the series.
   With just 128 runs at 21.33 in the series, Ponting has been well below his prolific best and said he realised he needed to counter the hold Harbhajan appeared to have over him.
   ‘I’ve analysed things a little bit,’ he said. ‘I’m not a huge analyst of things that have happened in the past but I’ll sit down, well I have already this week with the likelihood of him coming back in, and just have a think about how I’m going to play him.
   ‘I think a couple of times this series he got me out either first or second ball a couple of times so I haven’t really had a chance to try and impose myself on him too much there.’
   India captain Anil Kumble conceded that his team’s ability to contain Ponting had been a big factor in the series thus far.
   Although Harbhajan had the early ascendancy over Ponting, the Australian was also troubled by young paceman Ishant Sharma in the third Test and fell to him in both innings.
   Kumble said he didn’t mind who dismissed Ponting, as long as the trend of low scores by the Tasmanian continued.
   ‘As long we keep doing that, it doesn’t matter who the bowler is, if he can get Ricky out quickly that will be great for us.
   ‘He’s definitely a key batsman for the Aussies and as long as we can keep that going for the next two innings, I’ll be really happy.
   ‘It doesn’t really matter if it is Ishant, or Harbhajan, or myself, or RP Singh, or Irfan Pathan.
   ‘It is important we get him out early.’

Russia’s Maria Sharapova may be in the form of her life heading into today’s Australian Open semi-final but her former mentor believes third seed Jelena Jankovic could spring an upset.
   Florida-based tennis guru Nick Bollettieri helped shape both Sharapova and Jankovic of Serbia at his academy and warns the Russian’s demolition of world number one Justine Henin does not make her a certainty for the title.
   Bollettieri said Sharapova, who is on a quest to make amends for a humiliating defeat to Serena Williams in last year’s Open final, was vulnerable over three sets, even though Henin has already named her champion-in-waiting. ‘Sharapova has got to win this match in two sets. The longer it goes and the longer the rallies are, the more it favors Jankovic,’ he said on his website nickbollettieri.com.
   Jankovic, 22, has already showed her fighting qualities at this year’s season-opening Grand Slam, eliminating defending champion Serena Williams in straight sets, saying she was ‘like a wounded animal’ on the court.
   Sharapova, 20, is battled hardened after dispatching former champion Lindsay Davenport and 11th seed Elena Dementieva from the tournament.
   She also has a 3-1 record over Jankovic, although the Serb won their most recent encounter in the British city of Birmingham last year.
   But Bollettieri said the statistics disguised the fact that they were familiar with each others’ games after coming up through his academy together, tipping Sharapova’s serve would be the deciding factor.
   ‘If Sharapova serves well, like she has been, I give her the edge,’ he said.
   ‘If Jankovic is able to turn Sharapova’s serve into an offensive shot for her then Jankovic will have the edge.
   ‘Also, Jankovic cannot get broken seven times like she did against Serena. If that happens, Sharapova will take advantage and she won’t look back.’
   On the other side of the draw, rising Serb star Ana Ivanovic will face Slovak ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova.
   Ivanovic, 20, outfought six-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams to make the final four in Melbourne for the first time and can live up to her billing as the next big thing in women’s tennis with a tournament win.
   She played 25-year-old Hantuchova three times last year, winning the two most recent encounters at Luxembourg and in Madrid but losing in straight sets on grass in Holland.
   ‘We had tough matches last time we played in Madrid and also before that in Luxembourg and once more also last year on grass,’ Ivanovic said.
   ‘It’s going to be I think an interesting match and I’m really looking forward to a challenge.’
   Hantuchova has enjoyed an armchair rise to her first ever Grand Slam semi-final and needed three sets to overcome her highest ranked opponent, Russian 27th seed Maria Kirilenko.
   But the lanky Slovak, who is on the comeback trail after peaking at world number five in 2003, was confident she belonged among the game’s elite.

Graeme Smith’s South Africa will tour India for three Test matches in March-April, the Indian cricket board announced on Wednesday.
   The South Africans will arrive in Mumbai on March 18 on the second leg of their South Asian tour after playing two Tests and three one-day internationals in Bangladesh in February-March.
   The Indian tour kicks off with a three-day match at the Brabourne stadium in Mumbai from March 20-22, followed by three back-to-back Tests in Chennai, Ahmedabad and Kanpur.
   Itinerary
   March 18: Arrival in Mumbai
   March 20-22: Three-day match v India ‘A’ at the Brabourne stadium, Mumbai
   March 26-30: First Test, Chennai
   April 3-7: Second Test, Ahmedabad
   April 11-15: Third Test, Kanpur.

Aaquib Munir Chowdhury and Tamalika Khatun of Bangladesh moved into the second round of the second leg of Mobil ITF U-14 Tennis Tournament at the Ramna National Tennis Complex on Wednesday.
   Aaquib defeated Hassan Husein of Yemen 7-6, 0-6, 6-1 in the boys’ singles while Tamalika ousted Rai Shushila of Bhutan 6-3, 6-3.
   Biplob Ram of Bangladesh got an walkover, Dissayake Sharmal, Wijesuriya Madusha and De Alwis Vimuktha of Sri Lanka, Nakhle Roudy of Libya, Ko One Ko of Myanmar, Orn Sambath and Long Chomnith of Cambodia, Kwah Ji Kent of Malaysia and Wanghchuk Tandin of Bhutan won their respective first round matches.
   Sharda and Anika of Bangladesh received first round byes, Lham Rinzin of Bhutan and Sri Lanka’s Tayakaran Shankari and Ranasinghe Pinushki also advanced to the next round.

Sonali Otit Club, the organisation of former footballers, will play an exhibition match against the Kolkata Veterans Sports Club at the Bangabandhu National Stadium at 3:30pm today.
   Former national stars Kaiser Hamid, Aslam, Salam, Sabbir, Badal Roy, Montu, Rupu, Mosabber are all set to meet Shanti Majumder, Aniruddha Kolay, Samar Chowdhury, Goutam Ghosh, Compton Dutta and others in the first of the three-match friendly football series.
   Among the 26 members of the visiting Kolkata Veterans Sports Club, 24 have played for the Indian national team and almost all of them are former Mohun Bagan and East Bengal players. The second game of the series will be held at the MA Aziz Stadium in Chittagong on Saturday and the third at Manikganj stadium on Monday.
   The veteran footballers hoped that the lost glory of football would be revived through such a series. Both the teams vowed to work together for the development of the game. Sonali Otit general secretary Mosabber Hossain and Mrittunjoy Bannerjee, the manager of the Kolkata Veterans Sports Club, spoke at the press conference held at the Sonali Otit Club premises.

The GP-BCB National Cricket Academy team started their Hong Kong tour with a 71-run victory in the first one-day match at the Hong Kong Cricket Club on Wednesday.
   Sent in to bat first, BCB Academy scored 271-9 in curtailed 48 overs. Hong Kong in reply made 200-8 in 45 overs with the home side penalised three overs for slow over rate.
   BCB academy opener Imrul Kayes gave his team a solid platform hitting highest 80 runs. Nayeem Islam with an unbeaten 59, Mosharraf Hossain Rubel’s 38 and skipper Nazimuddin with 28 were the other notable scorers. Irfan Ahmed captured three wickets for 69 runs.
   Apart from middle-order batsman Munir Dar who hit 50, skipper Tabarak Dar’s 38 and Aashis Gadhia’s 34 not out, the rest of the Hong Kong batting failed to challenge the BCB Academy’s total.
   Spinner Mosharraf Hossain Rubel claimed three for 36 while off-spinner Mahmudullah Riyadh took two for 48.

Ispahani Sporting Club moved into the final of the Women’s Open Cricket Tournament edging past Abahani by 12 runs in the last group match of the final round at the Dhanmondi Cricket Stadium on Wednesday.
   They meet Ansar and VDP in the final on Friday.
   Batting first, Ispahani scored 161-5 in the stipulated 35 overs and then dismissed Abahani for 149 in 34.3 overs.
   Rumana Ahmed and Salma Khatun hit half-centuries for Ispahani. Rumana made an aggressive 57-ball 54 that featured seven fours while Salma scored 56 off 67 balls with five fours and a six.
   Sanjida Islam took two wickets for 12 runs.
   Abahani skipper Papiya Haque gave her team a solid start hitting 35 but none of her team-mates except Farzana Rahman reached double digits. Farzana added 13 while 44 runs came from extras. Rumana, Salma and Soheli all grabbed two wickets each.

Terry Jenner, the former Australian leg-spinner, stood among the crowd, arms folded, observing Anil Kumble and Harbhajan Singh in the nets in front of him at the practice session at the Adelaide Oval. Since he was sporting shades, it was difficult to figure out which of the two Indian spinners he was focussing on. ‘Neither of them have got enough rewards for the way they have bowled so far,’ he said without moving his gaze.
   Jenner, Shane Warne’s coach and mentor, had come over to the nets to renew his ties with Kumble, and fondly remembered meeting him four years ago at the same ground. ‘He wanted me to tell him everything I saw about his bowling,’ Jenner recollects of the 2003 meeting.
   ‘And I told him “Mate, it’s just one day before the Test”, but he was intent on listening.’
   Back then Jenner observed that Kumble was trying to bowl with a Warne-like action instead of trusting his own style. ‘We spoke about getting him to bowl from over the eyes – from the top of his head,’ said Jenner. The two also spoke about the sequence of deliveries, which Jenner believes was crucial in Kumble taking his first five-wicket haul in Australia in India’s memorable win.
   Fast forward four years and has anything changed? ‘He is mostly doing the same things apart from bowling his faster one that pushes on to the bat.’ Jenner felt Kumble had overdone that delivery during his first tour to Australia in 1999-2000, making him too predictable.
   However, after their chat ‘he started to mix up his deliveries, making the batsman come out of his crease and do something’. He observed that Kumble’s greatest strength was his ability to mix up his deliveries, and bowl the conventional legbreaks with his unorthodox googly and the faster ones to keep the batsmen guessing.
   Jenner understands Kumble now has the responsibility of being the captain.
   ‘He’s torn between bowling it quick and taking the risk of tossing it up,’ said Jenner about Kumble’s mindset while leading the side.
   Jenner is a big admirer of Kumble, but he also thinks highly of Harbhajan, especially his seam position during delivery. He also had an interesting take on the fact that Harbhajan had dismissed Ponting three times in 18 deliveries, but had only taken four other wickets in the series. ‘A lot of emotions go into the wicket of Ricky Ponting, and perhaps that doesn’t allow him to prepare for the next wicket.’
   Looking ahead to the Adelaide Test, Jenner felt India’s best option would be to play two spinners on a surface that usually helps turn. ‘The bounce on the third and fourth days is low and playing two spinners could prove to be beneficial.’

Victoria SC notched their third league win beating Mohakhali Ekadash 2-0 in the Metropolis Senior Division Football League at the Kamalapur stadium on Wednesday.
   Mithun put Victoria ahead in the 17th minute while Ripon doubled the margin two minutes before the end.
   In the day’s other match, Dhaka Wanderers Club played out a goalless draw with Dipali Jubo Sangha.
   Youngmen’s Club Fakirerpool play Sunrise SC today.

Noting that pitches all over the world are making tweakers a lethal weapon for the teams, Australian coach Tim Nielsen says developing a world class spinner should be a priority of the world champions.
   ‘It is of critical importance. If you look at pitches around the world these days, spinners are crucial in deciding the outcome of games.
   ‘We have been forced to use a few part-timers recently in Andrew Symonds and Michael Clarke, but it’s important not to lean on them too much because you want to look after them over the long haul,’ Nielsen was quoted as saying in ‘The Age’.
   With Brad Hogg and Stuart MacGill no longer young and turning 37 next month, Nielsen said rather than investing in new talent, the available bowlers should be nurtured properly.
   ‘Spin bowling is not necessarily something you are going to do brilliantly at the age of 21. I think our next long-term spinner will come from the ranks we already have, rather than unearthing a new one.
   ‘(Daniel) Cullen has already had a taste of Test and ODI cricket and (Cullen) Bailey is talented despite not having his best year, and I think it’s important that we give them time, rather than push them out of a sense of urgency.’ The Australian coach also suggested that Australia have to be patient while the young spinners graduate to the next level.
   ‘In many ways, you have to approach it as not working to our time frame, but to the time frame of the young spinners,’ he said.
   ‘It’s all very well to say that we need to get a young spinner into the national team, but you can’t just burn them if they’re not ready. This has to be about long-term planning.’

Iran’s Football Federation want Germany’s former World Cup-winning captain Lothar Matthaeus as their new coach, according to a report set to appear here on Thursday.
   Matthaeus, 46, has been targeted by the Iranians to replace Amir Ghalenoei who was dismissed from his post in July last year.
   The German, who lifted the 1990 World Cup, was dismissed by Red Bull Salzburg after less than a year as coach in June having helped the side win the Austrian league title.
   This would be Matthaeus’ first international coaching role, but the former midfield maestro said nothing has been confirmed.
   ‘I have heard about the offer, but nothing has been confirmed yet and there has been no personal contact,’ the German told Thursday’s edition of German daily newspaper Die Welt.
   ‘I assume I will be coaching a team by the summer at the latest, whether that is an international or a club team, who knows.’
   The IFF have long-since desired a German coach and made an unsuccessful bid for Christoph Daum from second-division side Cologne, who is out on contract on June 30.
   Other Germans on the IFF’s wish list are former Cameroon coach Winfried Schaefer and Peter Neururer, who has plenty of experience with Stuttgart, Hertha Berlin and Schalke 04.
   It had looked as though Portugal’s Artur Jorge would coach the Iranian team after a contract was agreed at the start of the year.
   But the IFF’s new president, Ali Kafashian, dismissed the idea when he took office earlier this month stating Jorge did not possesses ‘the necessary conditions to bring us victories and to help the national team reach the World Cup’.

The English FA could take disciplinary action against Arsenal team mates Emmanuel Adebayor and Nicklas Bendtner after their bust-up during their 5-1 defeat at arch-rivals Tottenham Hotspur on Tuesday.
   The FA have requested TV footage of the incident that occured seven minutes before the end of their League Cup semi-final second leg defeat when Spurs were leading 4-1.
   An FA spokesman confirmed they had requested television footage of the incident as a routine step in such cases.
   ‘The referee can look at the incident and decide what action he would have taken if he had seen it,’ he told Reuters.
   Arsenal skipper William Gallas had to pull the two players apart as Spurs stormed to their first victory over Arsenal for 22 matches in just over eight years.
   Referee Howard Webb also spoke to the two players after Adebayor struck out at Bendtner who did not retaliate after being restrained by colleagues Backary Sagna and Eduardo da Silva.
   Gallas, who also intervened, said: ‘They know they have made a mistake and they will have to explain to the boss why they did that. I think everyone was disappointed with the score. They are both young, were nervous and lost their calm.’

The inter-hall athletics competition of Rajshahi University began on Wednesday. RU vice-chancellor, Prof M Altaf Hossain, inaugurated the meet at the university central playground.
   A total of 16 teams, including 15 residential halls and a college, are participating in 33 sports events.

‘I love the spotlight. The Aussies should be worried I am coming.’ Meet the quote-a-minute, bold and brash Sreesanth. He even refers to himself in the third person. ‘Sreesanth’s way is to be aggressive. Sreesanth will always remain Sreesanth.’
   Sreesanth was in Delhi, where it’s bitterly cold, as the chief guest for the Gatorade Pacers’ talent hunt but didn’t allow the weather to dampen his spirits. The press descended on the arena and he indulged them, extensively and individually. Even as the event wrapped up in the evening and the attendees hurried towards the warmth of their cars, Sreesanth was addressing his audience, revelling in the spotlight.
   A shoulder injury had ruled him out of the home Tests against Pakistan and the ongoing series in Australia but he has been training and is ready to make a comeback during the triangular series in Australia in February.
   ‘More than their [Australia’s] batsmen, I have been working on my own bowling,’ Sreesanth said. ‘I felt my left arm was not kicking into the bowling action properly. So I went back to the technique I picked up at the MRF Pace Foundation years before. I held a ball in my left hand too and, now, I had to drag it back down so that I could hurl the one in my right hand properly. As a result, the left palm doesn’t open out and the hand doesn’t fall away. I have just worked on my load-up too and I’m very pleased with the way everything is going.’

Egypt have changed hotels three times in their search for suitable accommodation since arriving in Ghana but the Pharaohs appeared fully at home on Tuesday as they opened their African Nations Cup title defence in style.
   The defending champions made light of the loss of several key players including suspended skipper Ahmed Hassan to dish out a resounding 4-2 win against Cameroon.
   Tuesday’s second Group C fixture saw Zambia, in their first finals since 1994, belying their minnows status with a 3-0 success over the Nile Crocodiles from Sudan.
   James Chamanga, Jacob Mulenga and Felix Katongo punished poor defending to earn Zambia their well deserved win which remarkably lifted them ahead of Egypt to the top of the group on goal difference.
   Not bad for a team that had lost its kit in transit to Ghana last week, but unfortunately for their fans back home the exploit will have gone largely unnoticed.
   Zambian state broadcaster ZNBC was unable to come up with the funds to buy the rights to the competition, leaving access to satellite channels the only answer.
   Results at the Baba Yara Stadium Tuesday have left four-time winners Cameroon with a real fight on their hands to make it to the knockout stages.
   Samuel Eto’o was responsible for the 1988 title-holders’ goals taking the Barcelona star to within one of Laurent Pokou’s all time Nations Cup record of 14 but that wasn’t enough to deny the Egyptians. Within the first quarter of an hour the 2006 winners were 2-0 up after a penalty from Hosni Abd Rabou and Mohamed Zidan, who bagged a double in first half stoppage time.
   Cameroon pulled a goal back six minutes into the second half when Eto’o nodded home off a right cross before Abd Rabou hit Egypt’s fourth with an 81st minute belter.
   Eto’o gave the scoreline some respectability in the dying moments of the game when he netted from the penalty spot after an Egyptian defender was penalised for an infringement inside the box.
   Zidan said the win proved to Egypt’s critics that they weren’t in Ghana to make up the numbers after a lacklustre qualifying campaign, and weren’t about to give up their title without a struggle.
   ‘We’re a strong team, and we’re not here to just be a member of the tournament, we’re here to show we’re strong enough to win the title for a second time in a row.
   ‘We will give everything to our fans and the country.’
   The result will have proved especially painful for Cameroon who were out for revenge after the Egyptians, who have found memories of west Africa having won the title in neighbouring Burkina Faso 20 years ago, cost them a place at the 2006 World Cup
   Cameroon will be desperate to put the wheels back on their Nations Cup campaign in their next match against Zambia whose coach, Patrick Phiri, said: ‘It was important that we won this match but I noticed some lapses in our defence and this we must work on before our next game against Cameroon.’
   For Sudan experience and pride appear to be the issues left for them.
   ‘We lost this game but must now look forward to our next two games and see what we can make of them,’ said a downcast Sudan striker Faisat Agab.
   ‘We like to play under pressure and so expect us to play a lot better in our next game (against Egypt),’ said Sudan coach Mohamed Abdallah.

Juande Ramos could have been forgiven for basking in the spotlight after Tottenham routed Arsenal to reach the League Cup final.
   But the Spanish coach was keen to let his players take the credit for the dazzling 5-1 semi-final second leg victory which clinched a 6-2 aggregate success and left Arsenal so frustrated that Emmanuel Adebayor became embroiled in an ugly spat with Nicklas Bendtner.
   Adebayor appeared to butt Bendtner late in the match as Arsenal prepared to defend a corner, leaving the Dane with blood on his nose.
   There was no obvious spark to the clash but the feuding team-mates had to be kept apart by William Gallas. At full-time Adebayor was stopped from going down the tunnel at White Hart Lane, presumably to let him cool down before being in close proximity to Bendtner again.
   To see Arsenal in such disarray only made success all the sweeter for Spurs, who finally ended a miserable nine-year run of 21 matches without a win over their north London rivals.
   As if reaching their first cup final for six years wasn’t enough, Ramos’s side had done it by inflicting their heaviest defeat on the old enemy for 25 years.
   Ramos had an exceptional record in knockout competitions at Sevilla and now he has taken Spurs to Wembley only four months after arriving at the club.
   It is easy to see why Tottenham’s directors were so keen to lure him away from Spain. But Ramos was disarmingly honest about his role in the Spurs resurgence.
   ‘Obviously it makes me tremendously happy that the fans are happy with my work and with the team,’ he said. ‘But the players are the ones who run and make it work on the pitch.
   ‘It’s been a big change but without the collaboration of the players this would have been impossible. The huge efforts they have made to come out of that bad period have made the difference. I want to publicly acknowledge that they are the architects of the revival.
   ‘It is the best performance since I came here and in order to beat a team like Arsenal you have to play well. We didn’t make mistakes and were perfect in all areas of the team.
   ‘Arsenal is one of the biggest teams in England so it is tremendously satisfying.’
   While Ramos and company can look forward to a final against Everton or Chelsea on February 24, Arsene Wenger was left to mount a damage limitation excerise after a chastening defeat.
   Wenger stuck to his tried and trusted response in times of stress as he claimed he didn’t see the Adebayor incident. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about,’ he said.
   But the Gunners manager certainly saw his highly-regarded youngsters given a lesson in controlled aggression and sustained pressure by Spurs. He insisted they will learn from the defeat.
   ‘I feel that everything went against us. The score is very brutal but doesn’t reflect what I’ve seen on the pitch,’ Wenger said.
   ‘It is useful to see that some players are not completely ready for that level but also that they have potential. When you are a footballer you have to deal with disappointments. It is part of the learning process as well.’
   ‘I don’t give too much meaning to the scoreline and I don’t regret the team I picked. We have many targets and we go into every season wanting to win trophies, but this was not a priority.’

Bayern Munich manager Uli Hoeness insisted on Wednesday that Arsenal’s out-of-favour goalkeeper Jens Lehmann would not join the German giants in the summer despite the retirement of Oliver Kahn.
   Lehmann, 38, has been on the bench at Arsenal since losing his place in September and with Bayern captain Kahn, also 38, set to retire at the end of the season, the Arsenal shot-stopper would be a possible replacement.
   But Hoeness insists that Bayern’s 23-year-old reserve goalkeeper Michael Rensing has been waiting in the wings long enough and deserves his chance of first-team football.
   ‘We have promised Michael over and over again that he would be our first choice when Oliver Kahn retires,’ Hoeness told German television channel DSF.
   ‘It would be relatively senseless to replace one 38-year-old with another, besides Lehmann is not the sort of player to sit on the bench waiting for Michael to get ill or injured.’
   And Bayern president Franz Beckenbauer added a switch to Bayern was unlikely as there was still some bad blood between Lehmann and the Munich-based club.
   ‘I would exclude anything, but I can’t see how Lehmann would come to Bayern, especially as there is still some animosity from earlier times,’ said Beckenbauer.
   Just 10 days ago, Lehmann turned down a move to Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund due to ‘personal reasons’.
   Germany goalkeeper Lehmann had been offered the chance to return to his former club, who had offered him a contract until the end of the season and with Manuel Almunia having usurped him at Arsenal, Dortmund tried to tempt him back.
   But Lehmann, who had a few weeks ago expressed his wish to stay in London for his childrens’ sake, ruled out a move back to Germany. Lehmann said: ‘It saddens me to disappoint Dortmund officials who made huge efforts to sign me and who gave me a lot of time to think things over.’
   The German is out of contract at Arsenal this summer and the Gunners are believed to be ready to offer him a free transfer.
   German coach Joachim Low meanwhile has said: ‘Our position towards Jens Lehmann will not change with this decision (to not join Dortmund).’
   Lehmann, who played at Dortmund between 1999 and 2003, said several times that he would be willing to change clubs during the winter break to boost his chances of playing for Germany at Euro 2008.

Germany head coach Joachim Low and Bayern Munich president Franz Beckenbauer say the decision to keep Lukas Podolski at the Bavarian giants is the correct one.
   Podolski, voted the best young player at the last World Cup, has been out of favour at Bayern since he joined the German giants in July 2006 and is third-choice striker behind established stars Miroslav Klose and Luca Toni.
   Manchester City were reported to have made a bid for Podolski last week, but Bayern’s board chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge insisted on Tuesday Podolski is part of new coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s plans for next season and will stay.
   ‘It was always our opinion within the German Football Federation that we wanted
   Lukas to stay where he is, it will do him no harm,’ Low told Munich’s Abendzeitung newspaper.
   And double World Cup winner Beckenbauer agreed Podolski will refind his form by remaining at Bayern, who are currently top of the German league.
   ‘Bayern are top of the Bundesliga and are still in the UEFA and German Cup and for Lukas’ personal development it is better he stays in Munich,’ Beckenbauer told German tabloid Bild.
   Following Podolski’s switch from second-division Cologne he struggled to make an impact at Bayern last season, but Rummenigge insisted Bayern would not give the 22-year-old a transfer in Bundesliga’s winter break.
   But Low also showed some sympathy for Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld’s insistence in Bild on Monday that it is not his problem if Podolski’s lack of form causes him to miss this summer’s Euro 2008 championships.
   ‘Naturally, Ottmar Hitzfeld has to look after his own interests and I can understand what he means 100 percent,’ said Low.
   And Beckenbauer says the onus is now on Podolski to prove himself behind established goal-scorers Klose and Toni who have netted 18 league goals between them so far this season.
   ‘He was very young when he came to us and is still in the learning phase,’ said ‘The Kaiser’.
   ‘The competition with Klose and Toni will do him good.’
   Podolski has been frustrated by the amount of time he has spent on the bench with only two league starts all season and is worried about losing his place in the German team behind Klose and Schalke’s Kevin Kuranyi.
   ‘Lukas knows that we rely on him, if his attitude continues to be correct then he has nothing to worry about,’ added Low.

Defending champions Egypt have insisted that Group C of the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations is still wide open despite their emphatic 4-2 win over their close rivals Cameroon Tuesday.
   In the other game of the group Zambia overran Sudan 3-0 to shoot to the top of the standings. Egypt coach Hassan Shehata said it was a satisfying outcome for him against four-time winners Cameroon but his team are yet to qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament.
   ‘We still don’t have the ticket to the quarterfinal of the competition because it is still wide open,’ said Shehata, who was missing several key players through suspension and injuries.
   ‘However, I’m very happy with this result and the way my team played. The players did all I instructed them, they were aggressive in our first match in defence of our crown.’
   He continued, ‘I did not expect to win by as many as four goals. The three goals we scored in the first half made life a lot easier for us. We will celebrate this victory just a little before we start to think about the next two games.’
   His Cameroonian counterpart Otto Pfister admitted that the Pharaohs outclassed his team in the first period.
   ‘I don’t know what happened in the first half. Egypt were very good particularly in the first half. I tried to do something about this but the level of the Egyptians was very high especially in the midfield and defence,’ he said.
   ‘It was difficult for us to control the game but in the second half we produced some chances but we could not take them.’

German international Torsten Frings’ luckless run of knee injuries continued on Tuesday when the Werder Bremen midfielder was ruled out for another six weeks after a further set back.
   The 31-year-old has missed most of this season after a pre-season injury in July to his right knee kept him out until October only for the same joint to flare up again in November, hampering his appearances for both club and country.
   Having finally shaken off the medial knee ligament injury, Frings injured the same troublesome joint in training on Tuesday while training with Bremen.
   ‘I feel overpowered by bad luck, I cannot explain how it happened,’ said Frings, one of Germany’s key players ahead of their Euro 2008 campaign this June.
   And his coach Thomas Schaaf was far from delighted with the news as his Bremen side are set to resume their Bundesliga campaign in February level on points with leaderrs Bayern Munich.
   ‘It is a situation which is far from being satisfactory for us, we really counted on him for the second pahse of the Bundesliga,’ said Schaaf.
   Frings is definitely out of Germany’s Euro 2008 warm-up against Austria in Vienna on February 6.

Tottenham finally got the better of Arsenal as they booked a place in the League Cup final with a 5-1 rout of their north London rivals in Tuesday’s semi-final second leg.
   Juande Ramos’s side had endured a miserable nine-year sequence of 21 matches without a victory over the Gunners, but they swept away those bitter memories in style at White Hart Lane.
   Jermaine Jenas gave them the perfect start with a sublime individual effort and Nicklas Bendtner’s own goal was followed by second-half strikes from Robbie Keane, Aaron Lennon and Steed Malbranque to clinch a 6-2 aggregate success.
   Emmanuel Adebayor’s strike was no consolation for Arsenal and the Togo striker also became involved in a spat with Bendtner that saw the team-mates clash heads.
   It was sweet revenge for Spurs, who lost against Arsenal at this stage of the competition last season, and clinched a first cup final appearance for six years against Everton or Chelsea, who meet in their second leg on Wednesday.
   Ramos said, ‘To get to Wembley is a fantastic achievement, especially for the fans. It is a long time since they have tasted a final and that makes it more satisfying.’
   ‘The score was very high and brutal but does not reflect what I saw on the pitch,’ said Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who claimed he hadn’t seen the Adebayor incident.
   ‘They defended like mad and caught us on the break. I don’t give too much importance to the competition frankly.’
   While a trip to Wembley is tangible proof of the progress Ramos has made since taking over in October, it was the eye-catching manner of Tottenham’s performance that impressed most.
   Arsenal, as usual in the League Cup, had started with a below-strength team but Spurs took full advantage to record their biggest win over the old enemy for 25 years.
   They had left the Emirates Stadium two weeks ago convinced they should have won after being held to a 1-1 draw in the first leg.
   And the frenzied atmosphere before kick-off served notice of the Spurs fans’ all-consuming desire to get it right at last. The ear-splitting din made it clear to the players what was expected and they responded in style in the third minute.
   When Jenas collected Dimitar Berbatov’s pass 30 yards out and surged towards goal it seemed impossible to get through the massed ranks of red shirted defenders.
   Jenas’s acceleration and control took him past four players and into the penalty area, where he lashed a low drive past Lukasz Fabianksi off the far post.
   Spurs were playing with the kind of fluid movement that is normally Arsenal’s trademark. They went close to a second goal when Keane powered past William Gallas before Justin Hoyte hooked clear.
   Denilson’s injury midway through the first half forced Wenger to send on Cesc Fabregas earlier than he would have liked. But not even the Spanish dynamo could halt Tottenham’s momentum.
   When the second goal came in the 27th minute it was laced with a large dose of good fortune but it was no more than Ramos’s side deserved.
   Jenas whipped in a teasing free-kick from wide on the left and Bendtner, rising above Michael Dawson to try to clear, succeeded only in heading into his own net.
   Wenger’s side were shell-shocked. Berbatov should have added a third when he took Jenas’s clever chested pass and sprinted away, but the Bulgarian’s shot hit the post.
   That near-miss briefly brought Wenger’s side to life. Bacary Sagna forced Radek Cerny into action for the first time with a header that the Spurs keeper tipped over.
   It wasn’t enough to change the pattern of the game though as Spurs struck with a classic counter-attack in the 48th minute.
   Lennon’s lofted pass took Hoyte out of the game and gave Keane the chance to drive in a low shot that Fabianski let slip through his grasp into the far corner.
   There was still more to savour for Spurs. In the 60th minute Pascal Chimbonda fed Keane and his first-time pass found Lennon who slid a perfect shot under Fabianski.
   Adebayor reduced the deficit with a superb strike in the 70th minute. But Arsenal’s frustrations were clear when the Togo striker clashed heads with Bendtner.
   Spurs poured on the agony in stoppage time when Malbranque tapped-in to cap a magnificent night for Ramos’s team.

For a country in the grip of war barely 10 years ago and with a paucity of facilities, it seems astonishing that Serbia has produced any tennis players at all.
   But a handful have climbed to the top and are threatening to make 2008 a year the Balkan nation claims the sport as its own, with three players in the Australian Open semi-finals.
   Novak Djokovic, Jelena Jankovic and Ana Ivanovic have all reinforced their credentials as future champions; players who can push tennis into the next era.
   Jankovic beat defending champion Serena Williams to make the last four on Tuesday while Ivanovic sent sister Venus packing Wednesday, reinforcing a shift in the pecking order of the women’s game.
   Djokovic is also firing, crushing fifth seed David Ferrer Wednesday, while Janko Tipsarevic took undisputed world number one Roger Federer to five sets.
   ‘It’s amazing. I think it’s great for our tennis and it’s becoming one of the major sports back home, many kids are playing,’ said Ivanovic.
   ‘It’s just like a dream coming true.’
   Tennis stardom is not something totally new to Serbia as it was from there that Monica Seles emerged and put together one of the
   finest careers in women’s tennis until she was stabbed in the back during a tournament in Hamburg.
   But Seles, born in Novi Sad in an ethnic Hungarian community, turned her back on her country by taking US citizenship in 1994 and has become a resident in the United States.
   Two years later civil war erupted in the Balkans as the old Yugoslavian federation collapsed and fragmented into half a dozen countries including Serbia, which emerged badly damaged economically and diplomatically.
   Both Djokovic, 20, and Ivanovic, 20, have stated they suffered the backlash of that conflict in their formative years. They were in the country when NATO started bombing Belgrade.
   Ivanovic recalled how she had to practise when she was young in an empty swimming pool or find a wall against which she could bash a tennis ball.
   ‘We didn’t have other opportunities. We were lucky at all to have somewhere to practise,’ she said.
   ‘We had to share with other kids. We would have 45 minutes on a big court and 45 minutes against the wall and that was all we had.
   ‘Once I started travelling and seeing other facilities, other countries, it was amazing.’
   For Jankovic, 22, it is too painful to talk about that part of her life.
   After showing promise and being shipped off to Florida with her mother Snezana, she had to watch as the bombs dropped with her father and brothers still in Belgrade.
   ‘The war was when I was 14 years old and my whole family was in Serbia,’ said Jankovic.
   ‘It was difficult time and I don’t really like to talk about it.’
   The scars of the conflict remain with both Jankovic and Ivanovic last year accepting roles as UNICEF ambassadors in Serbia to help children still struggling.
   Djokovic said it was now vital to construct tennis centres in his homeland to build on the success of himself, Jankovic and Ivanovic, and revealed he may fund one himself.
   ‘There’s still no system in our country for tennis. And it’s necessary to have some tennis centres,’ he said.
   ‘My family and me, we’re trying to build up our own national tennis centre. This is one of our lifetime goals.’
   Serbian success in sport has traditionally been achieved in team games like football and basketball, but Jankovic’s manager Alastair Garland expects to see more tennis players breaking through.
   ‘It takes one or two to get their name out there and that fosters a hungry mentality to win by the others coming through,’ he told reporters.

Medical experts have come to the defence of Manchester United star Cristiano Ronaldo over his spot-kick gaffe against West Ham last month.
   United lost the game 2-1, with Ronaldo’s penalty miss opening the door for the Hammers to storm back from one goal down to win through headers from Matthew Upson and Anton Ferdinand.
   A top neurologist has claimed that animated perimeter boards could have affected Ronaldo when he stepped up to take his spot-kick.
   Dr Bahador Bahrami of the Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience at University College, London cites Ronaldo’s miss at West Ham on December 29 as just one instance of a player possibly being distracted by the animated LED boards.
    He has suggested that the Portuguese star’s concentration may have been disrupted by the LED advertising board behind the goal – which at the time was bookmaker JAXX, West Ham’s online betting partner – which was moving to the left, the same direction that Ronaldo aimed his shot.
   He told the Daily Mail, ‘Studies have shown that if you are reaching for something, the human brain corrects for background movement, so you could end up missing the object you are aiming for.
   ‘If the player’s brain was attempting to focus on the ball and ignore the moving image in the background as he took the shot, this could have had a similar effect.’
   However, the subliminal effect of West Ham’s sponsor has been played down by JAXX themselves.
   ‘I’d love to say that we set the whole thing up, but this is a simple animated graphic that has been in use all season at more than one Premiership club,’ said Mark Irvine, Managing Director of JAXX UK.
   ‘From my own experience as a football fan, I know that LED boards can be divisive as some fans find them distracting but, even if this is true, it’s the first time I’ve heard of a result actually hinging on an animated logo.
   ‘It would be interesting to take the concept one step further, perhaps with home clubs flashing up “Shoot to the Left!” or ‘You’re Gonna Miss!’ as away players prepare to take a penalty. I’m not sure what the FA would make of it though.’

Rafael Nadal has plenty to be pleased about as he prepares for his first hardcourt Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open today against Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
   The all-action Spanish world number two hasn’t dropped a set in his five wins, has spent less time on court than customary, faces an unseeded opponent and is running into form at the right time.
   Nadal has already beaten the Frenchman in their only previous meeting in straight sets in the third round of last year’s US Open.
   All things point to the triple French Open champion snuffing out the challenge of the exciting 38th-ranked Tsonga and taking his place in Sunday’s final.
   But such was Tsonga’s dynamic shot-making in his straight sets win over Russian Mikhail Youzhny in his quarter-final, that he has a chance of becoming the fourth unseeded finalist in the last 10 years of the tournament.
   Tsonga’s career has been beset by injuries, with shoulder, back and abdominal problems wiping out large chunks of his 2005 and 2006 seasons before he finished last year with his career-best ranking and he is still improving.
   Nicknamed Muhammad Ali for his likeness to the boxing legend, he has taken out three seeds on the way to his match with Nadal – ninth seed Andy Murray, world number eight Richard Gasquet and 14th seed Youzhny.
   It is his first semi-final at his fifth Grand Slam. In contrast, Roger Federer reached his first major semi at his 17th attempt.
   The shocked look on his face upon winning match point against Youzhny attested to what Tsonga has achieved at the season-opening slam, but Nadal may be another mountain too high.
   ‘I played just unbelievable, it’s just amazing. I don’t know what to say...incredible,’ Tsonga said moments after his victory over Youzhny.
   ‘I will approach the Nadal match like every one before,’ he added. ‘I will try to stay on this world and I will do everything like I’ve done before, to be relaxed on the court.
   ‘Nadal has two arms and two legs like me, so we will see on the court. I know it will be a tough match, but I am playing better than last year, and I’m very confident in my game.’
   Nadal lost his chance of taking over the world number one ranking held by Federer for a consecutive 208 weeks when the top-seed beat James Blake in Wednesday’s quarter-final.
   Nadal is giving himself every chance of winning his first Grand Slam title outside of the clay of Roland Garros.
   The 21-year-old left-hander has never lost a Grand Slam semi-final in five attempts and is bidding to become the first Spanish winner of the Australian title.
   He has spent just nine hours 40 minutes on court in winning his five matches to conserve energy ahead of a possible final.
   ‘It’s better than usual. I always play a lot of time on court,’ Nadal said.
   ‘This year not one match has gone for more than two-and-a-half hours, so that’s very good for me. That’s a very good thing about my game.
   ‘My first semi-final on hardcourt at a Grand Slam, it’s very important for me and I am here without losing a set.’
   Nadal will be looking to overcome slow starts in his matches where he has saved a total of nine set points in the opening sets of his five matches at the tournament.
   ‘I’m playing well in the important moments,’ Nadal said.
   ‘I’m serving with good position and I’m happy because I’ve saved some important moments this week.’
   The second semi-final is on Friday.

Brazil will take a new generation of players to Dublin next month to meet Ireland in a friendly, coach Dunga said on Tuesday.
   Ten of the 22-man squad are in the under-23 category, forming the core of the team that Dunga hopes will win gold at the Beijing Olympics later this year.
   Alexandre Pato, the highly-rated 18-year-old who scored on his debut for AC Milan this month, gets a first call-up while Manchester United’s Anderson and Liverpool’s Lucas Leiva are also in the squad.
   Sao Paulo midfielder Richarlyson also wins a first call-up to the senior squad.
   Dunga told a news conference the game would serve as vital preparation for the Olympics.
   ‘(The Olympic team) won’t be able to play friendly matches as such so it is important for these players to earn some experience with the first team,’ he said.
   The squad also included experienced players in Kaka, Robinho, Chelsea defender Alex and Real Madrid midfielder Julio
   Batista.
   Ronaldo did not earn a recall and Ronaldinho would be given more time to recover from a knee injury, Dunga said.
   Brazil will face the Republic of Ireland on February 6 then meet Sweden on at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium on March 26.
   Squad Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar, Renan; Defenders: Maicon, Marcelo, Rafinha, Alex,
   Breno, Lucio, Luizao: Midfielders: Gilberto Silva, Hernanes, Josue, Lucas, Richarlyson, Anderson, Julio Baptista, Kaka, Thiago Neves; Forwards: Alexandre Pato, Luis Fabiano, Rafael Sobis, Robinho.

Milan’s Carlo Ancelotti was the best coach in the world in 2007, according to the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. The football statisticians have already named Juventus’ Gigi Buffon as the top goalkeeper and rated each tactician through numerical analysis.
   Champions League and Club World Cup winner Ancelotti finished a distance ahead of second-placed Sir Alex Ferguson with Inter’s Roberto Mancini languishing in eighth. England manager Fabio Capello was rated 11th, despite delivering the La Liga title for Real Madrid and Roma’s Luciano Spalletti finished in 15th.
   The top 10: Carlo Ancelotti (Milan), Alex Ferguson (Man United), Juande Ramos (Tottenham Hotspur), Arsene Wenger (Arsenal), Jose Mourinho (Without a club), Rafael Benitez (Liverpool), Frank Rijkaard (Barcelona), Roberto Mancini (Inter), Miguel Angelo Russo (Boca Juniors), Gustavo Alfaro (Arsenal di Sarandi).

The likelihood of securing the transfer of Manchester United winger Cristiano Ronaldo and Arsenal midfielder Cesc Fabregas to Real Madrid is not good, the Spanish giants admitted Wednesday.
   Real’s sporting director Pedja Mijatovic said Ronaldo’s case was ‘impossible’ and Fabregas’ ‘almost impossible’.
   ‘Of course it wouldn’t be bad to have a player like Cristiano Ronaldo but he’s at a big club, Manchester United. I see it as an impossible transfer,’ Mijatovic told the Marca radio station.
   ‘It’s the same’ for Spanish international Fabregas, he added.
   ‘We’re not the only team who would love to have a player like Cesc but he belongs to a great club, Arsenal, and it’s almost impossible to recruit him.’
   Ronaldo has been constantly linked with moves to Real or Barcelona in recent seasons but United fought off huge interest from the two Spanish giants to persuade the Portugal international to commit himself to a new five-year contract last year.
   Prior to his election by Real’s board last year, current club president Ramon Calderon promised to get Fabregas, Arjen Robben and Kaka for the club.
   The Dutchman was bought from Chelsea last summer for 35 million euros (50 million dollars), but AC Milan have refused to part with its Brazilian star and Fabregas seems set to stay in London for the time being.

Cristiano Ronaldo has been told he can break the 30-goal barrier for Manchester United this season.
   The Portuguese winger, voted England’s double Footballer of the Year last season, has already scored 23 times for the Premier League champions in all competitions this season and currently tops the scoring charts with 17 goals.
   Despite operating on the wing for United, Ronaldo has still shown an incredible for goals this season and, with Sir Alex Ferguson’s team still going strong on three fronts in the league, FA Cup and Champions League, the former Sporting Lisbon youngster could record an awesome tally if he continues in his current vein of form.
   The 22-year-old, currently enjoying United’s mid-season break in Saudi Arabia, is set to face Spurs at Old Trafford in the FA Cup fourth round on Sunday and boss Ferguson admits that there are no limits on Ronaldo’s goalscoring abilities.
   Ferguson said: ‘With Ronaldo having scored 23 goals already, there is the potential for him to score 30 this season without question. He is not that far off and he has a strong chance of doing that.
   ‘I’m sure that he is capable of scoring 30 league goals, though. I think that is a different matter entirely.
   ‘Achieving that would be more difficult and I don’t think that it will happen. It is a big ask, but if he does manage it, I’ll pay him more money!’
   Although Ronaldo’s goal-scoring exploits have grabbed most of the headlines this season, it is the form of his defence that has convinced Ferguson that they are on track to retain their league title.
   Last weekend’s 2-0 win at Reading means the Red Devils have won eight out of their last nine league games and Ferguson believes the hard-fought victory at the Madejski Stadium could prove very important at the end of the season.
   ‘We had to work really hard and defend as a group,’ the Scot told MUTV.
   ‘There’s a good understanding of the importance of the defensive part of our game and we’re better than we were last season in that sense.
   ‘We’re into the run-in now. After New Year the games start to drop off very quickly and before you know it you’re down to the last few. We’re trying to stay focused and not get carried away.
   ‘The players know they’re going to have to work hard to win this title. But we’ve got a good squad and I think we’re improving in certain aspects of our play.’
   United’s chances should also be boosted by Owen Hargreaves saying he has completely shaken off the knee problems which have restricted his appearances since his summer move from Bayern Munich.