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Iqbal Ahmed has been living at Notting-hamshire for nearly 10 years. The bearded librarian had once been a very familiar face in Bangladesh’s sports arena for his involvement with different federations.
   In his days in Bangladesh, Iqbal was quite known to the cricketers also as he worked in state media. Iqbal continued his passion for sports while in UK as well and it made him also very popular among strong 1,000 Bangladeshi communities in the city.
   Over the last few days, many of these Bangladeshis started knocking at his door continuously asking him to manage a ticket of Bangladesh-India match at Trent Bridge through his friends in the Bangladesh team.
   But this kind of request only made him embarrassed. ‘It’s really difficult to get a ticket now. I even struggled to manage tickets for the warm-up matches,’ said Iqbal who indeed was correct.
   Michael Temple, the venue media manager of Trent Bridge, confirmed that the last ticket of the Bangladesh-India match was sold on May 31 which has made it the first match of the competition to be completely sold out.
   The only other match of the competition has so far been sold out is the last Super Eight match in which the champions of Group A will meet the runners up of Group D. The last ticket for this match was sold on Monday.
   India is tipped to win the group. So, it is not unexpected that their match potentially against South Africa or New Zealand will also be sold out at some stage of the competition.
   But it is not always the Indians who are making a stir in the ICC World Twenty. Bangladeshis living in United Kingdom have liked the tournament very much and it was evident in the ticket selling data of Bangladesh-Ireland match also.
   More than 15,000 tickets out of 17,000 for the Bangladesh-Ireland match have already been sold since ICC made it available on January 29. Media manager Temple said they have 1,300 tickets unsold, but hoped it will also be sold by the time the match started on June 8.
   ‘It’s really interesting that Bangladeshis do not like to miss their team in action in World T20. I won’t be surprised if they outnumber the Indian fans in their first match,’ said Temple.
   ‘From my experience I can tell you they will make the gallery very lively. They (Bangladeshis) hardly react when their team fares badly. It has made them very different form others,’ said the young media manager with a broad smile.

New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori led from the front as the Black Caps beat defending champions India by nine runs in their ICC World Twenty20 warm-up match at Lord’s here on Monday.
   India were on course to make the 171 they needed for victory during a fourth-wicket stand of 69 between Suresh Raina (45) and Ravindra Jadeja which featured some superb clean hitting to match the top-order fireworks of opener Rohit Sharma (36).
   Left-arm spinner Vettori, who finished with excellent figures of three for 24 in three overs, had big-hitting rival captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni stumped for just six and, after Raina holed out to medium-pacer Jacob Oram, the innings fell away despite a run-a-ball 41 from Jadeja.
   But India may take some heart from getting so close to the Black Caps’ total without batsmen Virender Sehwag (shoulder) and Yuvraj Singh (stomach illness).
   Although not an official match, this was the fourth time in a row that India had lost to New Zealand in the shortest form of the game to go with three defeats in full Twenty20 internationals.
   ‘It’s four in a row now and that is a bit of a concern,’ Dhoni told reporters. ‘We wanted to try a few things at the end, especially when it came to the length that we bowl, but sadly it didn’t work for us.’
   Vettori had forecast on Sunday that spin would have an important role to play at this tournament and he was as good as his word.
   The skipper, who held a fine caught and bowled chance off a hard-hit drive from Yusuf Pathan, used eight bowlers in all with all-rounder Oram taking one for 18 from his three overs.
   New Zealand had made 170 for seven after losing the toss.
   Ross Taylor, dropped by wicket-keeper Dhoni on 22, went onto make 41 off 33 balls, including two sixes off successive Pragyan Ojha deliveries, before he was dismissed by off-spinner Harbhajan Singh.
   ‘Confidence is a big thing in Twenty20, even in warm-up games, and we’ve got another tough one (against Australia at the Oval) tomorrow (Tuesday) but hopefully we can perform in the same way,’ Taylor said.
   ‘I think 170 was a par score on that wicket and we had enough momemtum to have a go at the end.
   ‘The way we started (bowling) was probably a little disappointing but the way we pegged them back, for us to do well in this tournament we will have to bowl like we did at the death today,’ Taylor added.
   New Zealand’s innings was given late impetus by James Franklin who made an unbeaten 27 off just 10 balls and struck left-arm quick RP Singh for two sixes and a four in three deliveries in the last over.

Spirited Victoria High School of Moulvibazar and determined Town School of Barisal lock horns in the final of the Citycell National School Football Championship at 5:00pm at the Bangabandhu National Stadium today. Bangladesh Television will telecast the final live.
   The state minister for youth and sports, Ahad Ali Sarkar, will distribute the prizes as the chief guest. Citycell’s CEO, Michael Seymour, will be present as the special guest.
   Both the midfield reliant outfits will be looking to utilise the opportunities that fell in their way and were confident over their abilities. The boys from Moulvibazar would be on a high after crushing Govindaganj School of Gaibandha 4-0 in the semi-final but the Barisal lads will be a tough nut to crack as they showed dogged determination in an injury time winner to edge past Tangail’s Shuti VM School 4-3 in an exciting semi-final.
   ‘Our opponents have a very strong midfield but so do we. So, the team that takes control early will have the advantage. We hope to score at least one goal before halftime and if we do that, we would be able to defend that,’ said Victoria School skipper Ripon, who leads the tightest defence in the competition. The high-scoring side from Moulvibazar have conceded just one goal so far against 21.
   At the other end, left-back Rahin, the leader of Town School, expressed his confidence.
   ‘We are here to win the championship and I have faith in our team-work which has been very good so far,’ said Rahin. ‘We are strong in all three departments.’
   It will also be a duel of Zayed Ahmed, the talented forward of Victoria, and Town School midfielder Jumman. Both have been the inspiration of their teams in the previous matches.

A slow start couldn’t stop top-ranked Dinara Safina from reaching the semifinals at the French Open.
   Faced with a tough test for the first time in the tournament, Safina rallied to beat Victoria Azarenka 1-6, 6-4, 6-2 Tuesday.
   Safina, seeking her first Grand Slam title, lost only five games in the first four rounds. Against Azarenka, Safina was repeatedly lunging for shots early but regained her dominating form at 4-all in the second set.
   Safina’s opponent Thursday will be the winner of the other women’s quarterfinal Tuesday between Maria Sharapova and Dominika Cibulkova.
   Safina was the runner-up at the 2008 French Open and this year’s Australian Open. She became No 1 for the first time on April 20 and is 19-1 this year on clay.
   In men’s play, Robin Soderling came up with an impressive encore to his upset of top-ranked Rafael Nadal by beating Nikolay Davydenko. The No. 23-seeded Soderling swept the first five games and won 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.
   Soderling advanced to his first Grand Slam semifinal, where he’ll face No. 3 Andy Murray or No. 12 Fernando Gonzalez.
   On a cloudless, mild afternoon, the No. 9-seeded Azarenka played nearly flawless tennis at the outset. She hit 10 winners with one unforced error in the opening set, which took only 23 minutes. But after Safina fell behind 1-love in the second set she dug in, running off four consecutive games. Her groundstrokes became steadier, while mistakes crept into Azarenka’s play. The Belarussian double-faulted on consecutive points and made four unforced errors to lose a service game at love.
   When Azarenka sailed a return long on the final point of the second set, she angrily threw down her racket, caught it on the bounce and threw it again as the crowd hooted.
   By the final changeover, a frustrated Azarenka sat with a towel draped over her face. Safina, the sister of two-time Grand Slam champion Marat Safin, swept the last three games and the final five points.

South Africa spinners Roelof van der Merwe and Johan Botha took two wickets apiece as the Proteas beat 2007 finalists Pakistan by 59 runs in their ICC World Twenty20 warm-up match here on Monday.
   Pakistan, chasing a stiff target of 187 for victory, were on track at 69 for two in the ninth over before they lost their next five wickets for just 19 runs at Trent Bridge.
   As soon as South Africa captain Graeme Smith, who’d top scored with 70 in a total of 186 for seven, brought on his slow bowlers the match veered back in the Proteas’ favour.
   Ahmed Shahzad was lbw to van der Merwe and the same bowler also held a sharp return catch to get rid of Pakistan captain Younus Khan. The innings then subsided long before Saeed Ajmal was last man out.
   Smith said the fact so many of his side had played on home soil in the Indian Premier League (IPL), moved to South Africa from India this year because of security concerns, had worked in his favour.
   ‘I think it’s a big bonus a lot of our guys have been playing in the IPL,’ said Smith. ‘It was nice to try a few things and we’ll probably look at giving a few of the other guys an opportunity in our other warm-up match against Sri Lanka.’
   Meanwhile Pakistan coach Intikhab Alam, who played for English county Surrey in the 1970s, said only arriving in England two days before this match had not done the team any favours.
   ‘It’s very difficult to come from a hot climate and get used to different conditions,’ he explained. ‘Fielding was one department I was concerned about but I am sure we will get better the longer we are here.’
   New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori, in the wickets as the Black Caps beat defending champions India at Lord’s, had forecast on Sunday that spin would have an important role to play at this tournament.
   And even in a match where the slow left-armer was not playing, his prediction proved accurate.
   Ajmal and Afridi took four wickets between them to prevent South Africa posting a colossal total after Smith and Jacques Kallis put on 80 inside 10 overs for the first wicket.
   Left-handed opener Smith, who won the toss, faced 53 balls with one six and nine fours while Herschelle Gibbs weighed in with 42.

Kevin Pietersen has warned Australia that England no longer have to rely only on their star players to produce match-winning performances.
   The former England captain is impressed with the way Andrew Strauss’s team made light of his absence and that of Andrew Flintoff in the recent one-day series against the West Indies.
   Pietersen was ruled out with an Achilles injury, while all-rounder Flintoff has yet to recover from a knee operation.
   Yet it had little impact on England’s fortunes as they swept to a convincing one-day series win against the West Indians.
   Pietersen believes that is an encouraging sign for England as they build up to the start of the Ashes series in Cardiff on July 8.
   ‘England are not relying on one or two players,’ he said. ‘If you look at Australia during their good times, if (Matthew) Hayden didn’t perform, (Adam) Gilchrist did, and the best thing about what’s happening now is that if I fail like I did when I got a first-baller at Lord’s, we still got a decent total.
   ‘I’ve actually been quite annoyed when people have said the likes of Ravi (Bopara) are my rivals to counter the Australians.
   ‘I am with Ravi all day every day, I love the bloke, his confidence, the way he plays without fear, the way he talks about things and the way he doesn’t worry - I love his approach and it’s something a lot of the players can learn from.
   ‘(Stuart) Broad has been exceptional, Matty Prior is somebody who has improved so much as well and James Anderson produced a brilliant display at Durham the other day - I don’t care who you are, you’re not playing that sort of bowling well.’
   In a bid to be at peak fitness for the Ashes, Pietersen has been working with former athletics coach Mark Young, who is now the England and Wales Cricket Board’s head of physiotherapy and previously worked with top athletes including Asafa Powell and Usain Bolt.
   ‘He said this Achilles injury is something he has seen on a daily basis in athletics so he could diagnose it and see what the problem was straight away,’ Pietersen said.
   ‘He has put me on balancing boards to make sure my balance is right. I have had to close my eyes to make sure my balance is right and really start thinking about my feet.
   ‘Standing on the balance board for the first time, I was like a clown and I was all over the place, but I’m now not too bad and can balance for 30 seconds with my eyes closed.’
   Young has told Pietersen he is still a fortnight away from road running, which has formed an integral part of his fitness programme in recent years and is thought to have caused the current problem during his time in the Caribbean in the winter.
   ‘The only thing that is restricted is my running,’ Pietersen said. ‘I’ve really got to ease back into my running. It would be stupid for me to do what I’d do normally, which is a 40 to 60 minute run.
   ‘It’s a natural progression of putting weight through the tendon and not hurting it and getting myself comfortable enough so that in a couple of weeks I’m able to run.’

Bangladesh Cricket Board called up 31 players for the women’s national cricket training camp on Tuesday.
   The selected players have been asked to report to the national coach Zafrul Ehsan at the Dhanmondi Women’s Sports Complex at 4:00pm on Friday.
   The players are: Ayesha Akter, Shuktara Rahman, Sathira Rahman, Salma Khatun, Lata Mandal, Panna Ghosh, Mina Khatun, Tithi Rani Sarker, Champa Chakma, Irene Sultana, Jahanara Alam, Fatema Tuz Zohra, Lily Rani, Sohely Akter, Rumana Ahmed, Shamima Akter Pinky, Papiya Haque Babu, Shahnaz Parvin, Sharmin Ahmed, Rojina Akter, Farzana Haque, Eti Mandal, Shaila Shamim, Sultana Yasmin Baishakhi, Tahin Tahera, Tripti Mandal, Chameli Khatun, NR Mahmuda Khan, Happy, Sharifa Khatun and Suborna Islam.

Mymen-singh Abahani defeated Showkhin Krira Protiva Onneshon of Netrokona 3-1 in the Banshundhara Club Cup Football at the Sherpur Stadium on Tuesday.
   Babul scored a brace in the 19th and 70th minute while Pathan added the third in the 89th minute. Anal of Showkhin scored the consolation goal.

Ramu Brothers Union defeated National Cox by 2-1 goals in the super four of The Gremeenphone Cox’s Bazar Football League at the Cox’s Bazar Stadium on Tuesday. Nasir and Guinean midfielder Kamara scored apiece for the winners. Saif of National Cox scored the consolation goal for the losers.
   Ramu Satadal Club will be taking Khorskhool Krira Sangha today.

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni has highlighted New Zealand as a threat to his side’s hopes of defending their World Twenty20 title in England.
   The Black Caps beat India, champions in South Africa two years ago, by nine runs in a warm-up match at Lord’s on Monday to extended their impressive record against Dhoni’s men in cricket’s shortest format.
   New Zealand had previously won three straight Twenty20s against India and, although this latest match was not an official contest, they enjoyed another morale boosting success at Lord’s after struggling early on.
   ‘If you look at their side they have loads of guys that can really contribute,’ Dhoni told reporters. ‘They’re a really good side when it comes to the Twenty20 format and the conditions here suit them.’
   New Zealand, who face Australia in another warm-up match at the Oval on Tuesday, saw Indian Premier League star Ross Taylor, dropped by Dhoni, go on to make 41 while left-hander James Franklin bolstered their total with two sixes and a four in the final over as they finished on 170 for seven.
   India were on course for victory during a fourth-wicket stand of 69 between Suresh Raina (45) and Ravindra Jadeja (41) which featured some superb clean hitting to match the top-order fireworks of opener Rohit Sharma (36).
   But Raina’s dismissal by all-rounder Jacob Oram was the cue for a slump and, with New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori taking three for 24 with his left-arm spin, the Black Caps regained their grip on the game.
   Nevertheless, India were without two of their star batsmen in Yuvraj Singh (stomach illness) and Virender Sehwag (shoulder injury) although both are expected to be available for Wednesday’s warm-up match against arch-rivals Pakistan at the Oval.
   ‘I am quite disappointed with the defeat but we have back-up plans and so I’m not really worried,’ Dhoni said. ‘Besides, we missed quite a few key players. A couple of guys had food poisoning but I’m sure everyone will be fine before our next warm-up game.’
   One positive sign to emerge for India from Monday’s match was the form of fast bowler Ishant Sharma, who took four for 25.
   ‘I think it would give him great deal of confidence,’ Dhoni said. ‘He is a bowler who should be bowling at the start and also in the end. In between he came and got us those crucial wickets.’
   Meanwhile Taylor said the way in which New Zealand rallied with both bat and ball was a heartening sign for the side.
   ‘I think 170 was a par score on that wicket and we had enough momentum to have a go at the end,’ Taylor said. ‘The way James Franklin finished that last over was excellent.’
   He added: ‘The way we started (bowling) was probably a little disappointing but the way we pegged them back, for us to do well in this tournament we will have to bowl like that.’

Indian Premier League commissioner Lalit Modi dismissed on Monday talk that the growth of such tournaments was leading to an ‘overkill’ of Twenty20 cricket.
   Modi, speaking at a hotel near Lord’s - where India were playing New Zealand in a warm-up match for the International Cricket Council World Twenty20 - said the recent IPL in South Africa had drawn new audiences into the game.
   ‘We’ve just finished a study in South Africa that showed 70 per cent of the people who watched the IPL this year had never watched any form of cricket before,’ Modi told reporters.
   ‘That’s an astonishing figure. For a tournament like the IPL to be able to garner new audiences is critical for the growth of cricket.’
   Champions of Twenty20 say it will ultimately bolster attendances for five-day Test cricket although anecdotal evidence suggests there had not yet been a great ‘crossover’ in most of the sport’s major nations.
   Meanwhile West Indies captain Chris Gayle’s recent comments to the effect that he’d rather play IPL than Test cricket have alarmed traditionalists.
   But Modi, promoting a Twenty20 charity match between Middlesex and Shane Warne’s IPL Rajasthan Royals on July 6 at Lord’s, insisted: ‘If we are able to get people to Twenty20 we are only enlarging the pie: you will see them go and watch one-day and Test cricket.’
   This year’s IPL was shifted to South Africa at short notice after security concerns forced organisers to take it away from India.

Trent Johnston was Ireland’s hero as they beat the Netherlands in an eliminator finish to their ICC World Twenty20 warm-up match at Lord’s here on Monday.
   After both sides made 135, the match came down to a one-over eliminator.
   Ireland could only manage six for one in their over but knew if they took two wickets in the ‘eliminator’ before the Dutch had got to seven that the game would be theirs.
   Australia-born Johnston struck third ball when Bas Zuiderent was stumped by Gary Wilson for two off three deliveries.
   And former Ireland captain Johnson then ran out Darron Reekers by throwing down the stumps at the bowler’s end as Ireland somehow managed to defend their meagre eliminator over score.
   ‘He nailed his skills really well,’ said Ireland captain William Porterfield of Johnson.
   ‘It was always going to be Trent: he has vast experience, knows where he wants to put the ball and executed it,’ the Gloucestershire batsman added.
   ‘It shouldn’t have been enough but a one-over game is a lottery.’
   Dejected Netherlands captain Jeroen Smits, whose side face England at Lord’s on Friday in the tournament opener proper, said: ‘I thought the game was ours, especially because we hit more sixes.

A five-member Bangladesh Wushu team comprising of two players and three officials will fly to Macau today to participate in the Asian Junior Wushu.
   Fahmida Yasmin Arzu will compete in the 48kg category while Md Ismail will fight in the 52kg category.
   Wushu Federation president Engineer FR Siddiky, vice president Advocate Shahidul Huq Bhuiya and general secretary Dildar Hasan Dilu are the officials.

One-day specialists Dinesh Mongia and Hemang Badani were among 79 current players granted amnesty by the Indian cricket authorities Tuesday after they severed links with an unofficial league.
   The Board of Control for Cricket in India said in April that local players who had signed up with the ‘rebel’ Indian Cricket League could play domestic first-class matches if they ended their contracts by May 31.
   The BCCI also said the players must wait for a year to be eligible for international cricket.
   ‘The BCCI after scrutinising their requests has written to the concerned state associations that these players are eligible to play in the domestic tournaments for this year,’ the BCCI said in a statement.
   ‘Guidelines with respect to participation in Indian Premier League will be intimated in due course.’
   Mongia had scored 1,230 runs in 57 one-day internationals and Badani 867 in 40 matches before joining the ICL two years ago.

Real Madrid’s new coach Manuel Pellegrini will be under pressure to achieve some early success for new president Florentino Perez, who has vowed to build the ‘best club of the 21st century.’
   The Chilean, 55, a qualified civil engineer, replaced Juande Ramos on Monday to become Real’s seventh manager in the past decade.
   He was named on the day that Perez, the inspiration behind the ‘Galacticos’, began his second term in charge of Real, one of the world’s most successful clubs but which finished last season without silverware and amid a cloud of corruption involving its former president, Ramon Calderon.
   Pellegrini arrives in the Spanish capital after five years at Villareal, during which time he maintained the small club in the top flight of the Primera Liga and gained a reputation for encouraging fluid and attacking football.
   ‘I have always sought well-played football because I think it is the football that gives the best results,’ Pellegrini said Tuesday as he was presented at the Santiago-Bernabeu stadium.
   ‘Very often a lot of journalists oppose a beautiful game in favour of results. In my career I have had the chance to be able to do both, they can go together.’
   In his first season at Villareal the club finished third in La Liga and achieved their first direct qualification for the European Champions League, going on to the semi-finals before losing narrowly to Arsenal.
   Last year, the club, based in a town of just 48,000 inhabitants, achieved its best ever season, finishing as runner-up to Real Madrid.
   The Champions League will be the main objective next season for Pellegrini and Real, whose last European title was in 2002.
   That was during the first term of Perez, from 2000 to 2006, when Real earned the nickname ‘Los Galacticos’, winning the Primera Liga twice as well as the European Champions League with such stars as Zinedine Zidane, Ronaldo, Luis Figo, David Beckham and Michael Owen.
   Perez has not mentioned any names regarding top signings but Spanish media say Manchester United’s Portuguese winger Cristiano Ronaldo and Liverpool’s Spanish star Xabi Alonso are both in his sights for next season.
   Known for his attention to detail and careful planning, those around Pellegrini, a father of three, describe him as intelligent and reserved and religous.
   In presenting Pellegrini on Tuesday, Perez described him as ‘an intelligent professional, a worker, well-balanced ... who always tries for elegant and tasteful football.’
   The fifth of eight brothers, Pellegrini played almost his entire career with the Universidad de Chile, one of the country’s most successful clubs, from 1973 to 1986.
   Success as a manager with LDU Quito in Ecuador (1999-2000) and in Argentina with San Lorenzo (2000-2002) and River Plate (2002-2003) brought him to the attention of Villareal.
   At Villareal, he was under little pressure from fans or the press. But that will be quite different at Real, especially with Perez hungry to ‘return Real Madrid to its rightful place.’
   ‘I feel emotion and pride to be chosen to lead the most important club in the world,’ Pellegrini said Tuesday.
   ‘When I started my career 23 years ago I said that I would end it by leading Real Madrid. Now that I have accomplished that, I can say that it is a dream.’

Chelsea captain John Terry admits Carlo Ancelotti’s first job at Stamford Bridge is to ensure the Blues are serious challengers for the Premier League title.
   Ancelotti signed a three-year contract worth 6.5 million pounds a year on Monday to succeed Guus Hiddink as manager of the west London club.
   The Italian was targeted by Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich because of his impressive pedigree in the Champions League. Ancelotti reached the final three times with AC Milan, winning twice, and also won the competition twice as a Milan player.
   But England defender Terry is more concerned with Chelsea’s league form after his side finished outside the top two for the first time since Abramovich bought the club in 2003.
   After Guus Hiddink left Chelsea with an FA Cup triumph to celebrate on Saturday, Ancelotti will take over a squad confident they can end Manchester United’s three-year reign as champions.
   Terry, who believes Chelsea should settle for nothing less than a sustained run at the title, hopes Ancelotti is the man to bring the title back to the Bridge.
   In an open letter to Chelsea fans, Terry wrote: ‘He (Hiddink) came at a difficult time when things looked like they were slipping away from us, so to lead us to an FA Cup final and within a whisker of the Champions League final is a great achievement.
   ‘That said, third place in the league isn’t good enough for Chelsea anymore. It’s our worst finish since Mr Abramovich bought the club and we all know we need to do better.
   ‘It is fantastic to win the FA Cup but we want more and that’s the way it needs to be for us these days.
   ‘We will all enjoy the time we have off now and come back for pre-season as determined as ever and of course looking forward to achieving great things with the new manager Carlo Ancelotti.’
   With spells at Milan and Juventus on his CV, Ancelotti has experience of the pressure to deliver success at the highest level.
   But, although he survived in the San Siro for eight years, Ancelotti only won the Serie A title once with Milan.
   He will also take over an ageing squad that Hiddink claimed needed an infusion of fresh blood to keep pace with United.
   Inevitably Ancelotti has already been linked with a host of big-money transfers.
   Valencia’s David Villa, Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery and Milan’s Andrea Pirlo could all feature on his wanted list as Abramovich loosens the purse strings for the first time in two years.
   But the 49-year-old wants to focus on building the kind of team-spirit that Hiddink fostered during his four months in charge.
   ‘I like to be close to the players. I like to be close to the company. I like to speak with the people,’ he said.
   ‘I believe in team work: this is the most important thing, to create a group that work together to build a dream.
   ‘The players and the company need to have strong organisation, strong discipline and the right motivation. I hope to do this together because this is the right way to arrive at success.’
   Ancelotti will be managing outside Italy for the first time. But the former Italy midfielder insists he will have no problem adapting to life in the Premier League because he is already a big fan of the English game.
   ‘I see the matches always on television. I like the Premier League because there are great teams who play good football. It is very speedy. I like English football,’ he said.
   ‘In Italy, now and before, the matches are more tactical, the team thinks to defend well and only after to attack.
   ‘I watch Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United and I know English football very well. Chelsea have a great team, great players and a strong team. I’d like to stay here.’

Former Brazilian international Denilson, once the world’s most expensive footballer, has signed with a mid-table Vietnamese side, the club said on Tuesday.
   ‘Denilson signed a contract on Monday and is going to play for our club soon,’ said Do Dai Duong, executive director of Hai Phong Cement Football Club.
   He told AFP the terms of the deal prevented him from revealing the length of the contract or Denilson’s salary.
   A member of Brazil’s 2002 World Cup winning team, Denilson, 31, will join the team for the second half of the professional V-League season that begins this month, Thanh Nien newspaper reported.
   It said Denilson had his first practice session with the team on Monday.
   African, European and Asian players have become common on Vietnamese football teams but a World Cup winner of Denilson’s stature is a rarity.
   ‘He is the most famous international footballer recruited until now by a Vietnamese football club,’ Duong said.
   Denilson became the world’s most expensive player when he moved to Spanish side Real Betis from Sao Paulo in 1998.
   ‘I don’t know anything about Vietnamese football,’ Denilson told Thanh Nien, saying that football is the same everywhere. ‘I come to Vietnamese football with my passion,’ he said.
   Denilson also played in the 1998 World Cup final, which Brazil lost to France.
   Earlier this year he was on trial with English Premier League side Bolton Wanderers, after being without a club since his release from Brazilian team Palmeiras.
   Denilson’s European club career never really flourished despite spending seven seasons in Spain, followed by a spell at French side Bordeaux, Saudi Arabian outfit Al-Nasr and American team FC Dallas.
   Hai Phong Cement (Xi Mang Hai Phong) are currently sixth of 14 teams in the V-League.

Returning Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has signalled that Cristiano Ronaldo would be the ideal player for the Spanish giants and will not be put off by his hefty price tag.
   Madrid have long been linked with a move for the Portugal international and, despite last month’s denial, there continues to be speculation that they already have a deal in place for the 24-year-old.
   ‘I don’t know anything about the story of Cristiano Ronaldo. I only just took charge,’ he told television programme ‘59 segundos’. ‘But what I am sure of is that which seems expensive is the cheapest.
   ‘In my last era the cheapest was (Zinedine) Zidane, who seemed very expensive because we paid 73 million (euros) for him.
   ‘Without knowing who we can get, there will be a massive effort for the great players of the world, because that is the Real Madrid model.’
   Perez laughed off suggestions that Ronaldo’s fierce temper could hinder him at the Bernabeu.
   ‘I have not seen anything about him that would prohibit him from playing at Real Madrid,’ he added. ‘I have seen him get angry because he wants to win and (because of) his competitive spirit.
   ‘The information I have on him says that he is an example on the pitch, a model.’
   Madrid are also being linked with Kaka, a move that appears to be further away following the AC Milan star’s insistence that he wants to remain at the San Siro.
   While Perez admits they will bring in big-name players, he insists Madrid will not be held to ransom.
   ‘We started working today and we will lay the foundations to create a magnificent team,’ he said. ‘Kaka could be one of our objectives but the prices the media are talking about are really out of the reality.
   ‘Some things can last for days, others for months. We have time until August 31.
   ‘It’s not true that we have signed Kaka and I don’t want there to be false hope. It’s true that I have a great relationship with (AC Milan general manager, Adriano) Galliani but there are other teams who have their own projects and everything has a price.
   ‘Yes, I can say that I will work but not everyone can come.’
   Perez also revealed that around 10 players could be on their way out of Madrid to make way for new signings.
   ‘What is certain is that you can register 25 players (for the Champions League),’ he continued. ‘If we have 29 and we want to bring in six new players, we are talking of a total of 35.
   ‘We have to sort it, so 10 leave. It’s something very delicate and complicated, being respectful to contracts and people.’

Eric Cantona has led the way in solving the conundrum facing every top sporting figure - what to do with your life once retirement beckons?
   The former Manchester United legend has made the jump from green pitch to silver screen as effortlessly as his leap over the crowd barrier for that infamous tete-a-tete with a Crystal Palace fan back in his glory days.
   The charismatic Frenchman was in Cannes last month to promote his latest role as himself in Ken Loach’s comedy ‘Looking For Eric’.
   Cantona is not the only footballer to hotfoot it to Hollywood for former Wales international and Wimbledon star Vinnie Jones has also found a new home in cinema.
   The hardman, who once grabbed Paul Gascoigne’s testicles, has capitalised on his tough intimidating persona, making his screen debut in Guy Richie’s gangster movie, ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels’.
   Martina Navratilova cannot lay claim to the big screen success of Cantona and Jones but the nine-time Wimbledon winner has appeared as one of the contestants on the hit British reality television show ‘I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here’. ‘Of course I’m competitive, nobody goes on the court saying ‘I want to lose’, she said before heading off to the jungle.
   Other tennis greats such as John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Boris Becker have also turned to the small screen as commentators, while Ivan Lendl spends most of his waking hours on the golf course either playing or caddying for his two golfing prodigy daughters.
   ‘Golf was a great vehicle for me to get the competition out of myself. I love competing. I get nervous before I play. I get the same buzz as when I was playing tennis. I love it,’ he told The Sunday Times.
   Swedish Grand Slam king Bjorn Borg though found retirement a difficult concept to handle.
   In 1991, seven years after bowing out, Borg was back on court, wooden racket in hand, for what was to prove a fruitless attempt at reliving old glories.
   A host of football celebrities, including at one stage Sir Alex Ferguson, have found themselves behind bars, but not one of the United manager’s former prodigies, Norman Whiteside.
   At 18, the youngest player to score in an FA Cup final, Whiteside became a household name with his silky ball skills before injury cut short his playing career at the premature age of 26.
   With the bulk of his life stretching before him the former Northern Ireland international reinvented himself as a chiropodist, combining his job tackling carbuncles with a career as an accomplished after-dinner speaker.
   Like Whiteside, Mick Channon spends his life feeling feet - not human though but equine in his capacity as one of England’s top racehorse trainers.
   The former England international has proved as adept at mastering the sport of kings as he was a striker for the likes of Southampton.
   Channon has sent out 11 Group One winners, over half his tally of goals for England, since taking out his trainer’s licence in 1990.
   Aside from Southampton he also had a spell with Manchester City where a couple of years before him Francis Lee had lit up the club’s forward line.
   On retirement Lee turned his astute eye from goal to business, earning his first million as a toilet paper manufacturer to lend credence to the aphorism where there’s muck there’s brass.
   Not all sports luminaries have found peace and contentment in retirement.
   Lester Piggott was probably the greatest flat jockey ever to sit in a saddle but the nine-time Epsom Derby legend was not quite as adept at filling in tax forms, a handicap that resulted in The Long Fellow feeling the long arm of the law and a three year prison spell in the 1990s.
   And former England cricketer Chris Lewis is just days into a 13 year sentence for smuggling cocaine into Britain.
   ‘Lewis, caught Customs, bowled Revenue, 13 (years)’ was how the Times succinctly noted his downfall.
   Unlike Lewis one man more than any other has shown that sport can be a stepping stone to greater things - step forward Sir Anthony Joseph Francis O’Reilly.
   Tony O’Reilly as he is more commonly known cut a dash on the wing playing for Ireland before he established his media empire and became boss of Heinz foods to emerge as Ireland’s first billionaire businessmen.
   While O’Reilly’s journey is hard to match both heavyweight champion George Foreman and former Chelsea attacking midfielder Gavin Peacock may feel they have reached an altogether higher plain in their second comings as men of god.
   Peacock told the Times recently: ‘Scoring is momentary, but life with god is everlasting.’

Brazil playmaker Kaka has made clear his desire to stay at AC Milan.
   Fresh interest from Real Madrid following the election of Florentino Perez as president has seen the Brazilian again linked with a move away from Milan. He turned down a move to Manchester City in January, a deal that could have landed the Rossoneri a fee believed to be worth a cool 100 million euros.
   ‘I say it for the last time, I don’t want to leave Milan. In this period I prefer to stay quiet because I don’t want to be misinterpreted,’ he told Gazzetta dello Sport.
   ‘To the millions of Rossoneri fans I say my decision has been made. I have said I want to stay. Now please leave me in peace.’

Wolfsburg’s attacking midfielder Edin Dzeko has been named Germany’s footballer of the year, the magazine Kicker reported on Tuesday.
   Dzeko, the second top goalscorer in the Bundesliga with 26 goals, was voted to the title by his fellow players in the league, the magazine said.
   The 23-year-old Bosnian international has been with Bundesliga champions Wolfsburg for two years and has recently been the focus of interest from clubs elsewhere in Europe including AC Milan and Arsenal.
   Fellow Wolfsburg player, the Brazilian, Grafite, came second in the professional poll. Grafite was top-scorer in the Bundesliga this season with 28 goals.
   Another Brazilian, Diego, who played with Bremen last season before announcing a move last month to Juventus in Italy, was third.
   In fourth place was Mario Gomez of Stuttgart, ahead of another Wolsburg player, Zvjezdan Misimovic.
   The 264 professionals who took part in the vote also chose Hanover’s Robert Enke as best goalkeeper.
   The title of best club manager was won by Felix Magath of Wolfsburg.

England midfielder Gareth Barry has opened negotiations with Manchester City about a potential move to Eastlands from his current club Aston Villa.
   Barry, 28, came close to joining Liverpool last year and was expected to be a target for them again this summer.
   But it now seems as if the Reds will have to match any offer made by City, who have reportedly indicated that they are willing to pay 12 million pounds for a player with only one year left on his contract.
   City, who are owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group, are expected to be big players in the close season transfer market and manager Mark Hughes is a long-standing admirer of Barry.
   The midfielder is currently preparing for England’s upcoming World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra and is thought unlikely to make any decision on his future until after those matches on June 6 and 10.
   Although City cannot offer him Champions League football—which was one of the reasons he gave for requesting a transfer when Liverpool made their bid last year—Barry could be tempted to Eastlands by the prospect of significantly increased wages and the prospect of regular first-team football in the run-up to next year’s World Cup finals in South Africa.

French tennis fans will be facing a tough choice when Roger Federer takes on Gael Monfils in the French Open quarter-finals today.
   On the one hand they have the lone remaining home hope to finally put an end to 26 years of French frustration at Roland Garros since Yannick Noah won in 1983.
   But on the other they have the most popular player in the game who needs just a win here on Sunday to go down in history as the greatest player of all time.
   ‘I hope they’re going to support me. I’m French. We’re in France,’ said Monfils who destroyed Andy Roddick in straight sets late Monday to make it through to the last eight for the second year in a row.
   ‘The French crowd is with me, but they love Federer. I hope they’ll support me more because I’m French. I hope they support me.’
   Monfils, who was doubtful for the tournament up until the last minute due to a knee injury, is only 22, but he is already a master at stirring up emotions when on the court.
   Against Roddick he went through his entire gambit of screams, arm-waving and leaps to whip the fans into a frenzy much to Roddick’s disgust.
   Attempting the same thing against Federer would likely be fatal such is the respect the Swiss star is held in in Paris.
   That was evident yet again in his thrilling five-sets win over Germany’s Tommy Haas in the fourth round on Monday.
   The crowd were shocked into near silence as the 27-year-old from Basel, who was taught by French coaches and who speaks near fluent French, fell two sets to love down against Germany’s Tommy Haas.
   They then roared their approval as he saved a break point to go 3-5 down in the third set with a magnificent forehand crosscourt winner and then dug himself out of the hole he was in to keep his Roland Garros dream alive.
   Increasing the body of support for Federer is that fact that he has lost the last three finals here to Rafael Nadal including a soul-destroying straight sets hammering last year.
   Yet still he soldiers on in search of the one Grand Slam title that has year after year defied his genius.
   This time Nadal has gone, losing to Robin Soderling in a fourth round shocker, and Monfils is looming as a major threat.
   ‘I know Gael now. I’ve played several times against him. He’s always got his ups and downs. You know, his attitude, as well, is up and down. You never know what to expect with Gaël,’ he said.
   ‘But his game is quite solid now. He’s calmer than he was in the past when he would play his first Roland Garros tournaments.
   ‘I think this is going to help him, because it’s not been five sets each time for him for the first two rounds. I think he’s fit.’
   The two met in the semi-finals last year with Federer winning in four tough sets.

Steven Gerrard believes next year’s World Cup finals will represent his last chance to get his hands on the biggest prize in football.
   England are well-placed to reach South Africa after winning their first five qualifiers to open up a five-point lead over nearest rivals, Croatia.
   Further wins, in Kazakhstan on Saturday and against Andorra at Wembley on June 10, would put Fabio Capello’s men on the brink of clinching top spot in their group and Gerrard is determined not to miss out on a tournament that will be played just after his 30th birthday.
   ‘For me, it will be the last chance of doing well at a World Cup,’ the Liverpool captain admitted during a break from England’s preparations for the long trip to Kazakhstan.
   ‘Maybe by the time of the next one (2014) I might not be in my prime. That is a big motivation for me.
   ‘We’ve now got these two important qualifiers coming up and if we want to play in the finals, we’ve got to get two good results.
   ‘When we met up with the manager he said basically he wants the two wins to put us in the driving seat in the group. If we win these two games, we may possibly only need three more points.
   ‘Of course, we know it will be warm in Kazakhstan and any international away from home is very difficult but there will be no excuses on our part.
   ‘We should win these two games comfortably and put ourselves on the brink of going through.’
   Capello has denied Gerrard the central role he plays for Liverpool but the midfielder insists he is happy to fit in on the left of midfield with a license to get forward and swap positions with Wayne Rooney, usually deployed behind a central striker.
   ‘The manager has put me there but with strict orders to interchange with Wayne,’ Gerrard said. ‘He wants me to pick up dangerous positions in a central area and not just on the left. I think he understands I’m not a left-winger.
   ‘He sees the relationship with Wayne improving. We get on very well on and off the pitch and I think that partnership can certainly improve going forward.’

Roger Federer, who is closing in on a career Grand Slam, believes his staggering success may have eluded him if it were not for his wife Mirka.
   The couple, who met at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, married in April and are expecting their first child in the summer.
   Before that, Federer could win a maiden French Open title and pull level with Pete Sampras’s record of winning 14 Grand Slam crowns.
   As Mirka Vavrinec, Federer’s wife was a regular player on the women’s tour until serious injury pushed her out of the game.
   In the long term, that’s been to his benefit.
   ‘She helped me considerably, as a person. I developed faster, grew faster with her. Thanks to her I was very calm in the important moments in my career. She is always supportive. I owe her a lot,’ said Federer.
   His wife is a regular spectator at matches and will be watching from the sidelines today when he takes on Gael Monfils for a place in the semi-finals at Roland Garros.
   She will also be there should he prevail on Sunday and become
   only the sixth man in history to win all four Grand Slams.
   Many in the game believe the shock defeat of four-time champion Rafael Nadal, who had defeated Federer in the last three finals, has cleared the
   path for the Swiss to
   finally achieve his lifetime dream.
   But his wife, plus the rest of his back-up crew, are not putting the pressure on him.
   ‘Mirka and the others have not come to me saying: ‘Now you have to win this match, otherwise you will never do it, ever’.’

Rafael Nadal’s uncle and coach, Toni Nadal, has called spectators at the Roland Garros tournament in Paris ‘stupid’ for cheering the world number one’s elimination from the event over the weekend.
   ‘I think the Parisian public is so stupid,’ he said in an interview with news radio Cadena Ser broadcast late on Monday, one day after Nadal’s four-
   year Roland Garros reign came to an end at the hands of Sweden’s Robin Soderling.
   ‘The triumph of a Spaniard upsets them. What seems uncalled for is supporting the defeat of someone. It is not a very satisfying way to be happy,’ he added.
   Nadal, who was seeking a record fifth consecutive title, crashed to a fourth round 6-2, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 defeat to the Swedish 23rd seed.
   It was his first ever defeat at Roland Garros after winning all of his 31 matches since his 2005 debut.
   ‘He played very badly and Soderling was better. He was more nervous than usual, lacking confidence and his shots lacked precision,’ said Toni.
   In another interview with radio Onda Cero, he said the French ‘are a bit jealous of the Spanish’ because no French player has won Roland Garros since Yannick Noah in 1983.
   ‘I suppose that it annoys them to see that Spain is constantly producing very good players,’ he said.

Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand has been ruled out of England’s squad to face Kazakhstan in a World Cup qualifier in the central Asian republic on Saturday.
   England boss Fabio Capello called up Bolton’s Gary Cahill as cover at centreback after Ferdinand failed to recover sufficiently from a recurrence of the calf injury which had kept him out of action for three weeks prior to United’s Champions League final defeat to Barcelona.
   Capello is already without his first-choice goalkeeper, David James, for the trip to Kazakhstan and the meeting with Andorra at Wembley on June 10.
   Cahill’s call-up came as a surprise with the 23-year-old benefiting from the fact that Everton’s Phil Jagielka is currently sidelined by injury.
   ‘I was at home and I got a phone call from the FA (Football Association) saying that they wanted me in the squad,’ Cahill said.
   ‘I’ve had to get a few tools together - the boots and the shin pads - and now I am really looking forward to the opportunity.
   Tottenham skipper Ledley King, whose call-up in March caused controversy as he cannot play matches in quick succession because of a chronic knee problem, would have been another option but he could only have played in one of the two qualifiers.

France midfielder Patrick Vieira was pondering his future at Inter Milan on Monday after an injury-hit season with the Serie A champions.
   Vieira is back with the France squad for two friendlies against Nigeria and Turkey this week.
   ‘I feel physically and mentally fit to play in a big club and with the French team. The big club I don’t know where it will be yet,’ the 32-year-old Vieira told reporters.
   ‘As long as I have not discussed with Inter to see what they want to do, I do not know what I will do. I need to discuss with my coach (Jose Mourinho) to see whether I am part of his plan or not.’

Turkish side Fenerbahce are to dismiss their Spanish coach Luis Aragones and replace him with German Christoph Daum, press reports said on Tuesday.
   Aragones, who joined the Istanbul side last year after leading his country to the Euro 2008 title in Vienna, has had a disappointing season with Fenerbahce finishing only fourth in the first division.
   Daum is no stranger to Turkish football having already been in charge of Fenerbahce from 2003 to 2007 during which time they won two league titles.

Zenit St-Petersburg coach Dick Advocaat is to be named Belgian national football coach local media reported on Monday.
   The 61-year-old former Dutch national coach is to sign a two year contract with the Belgian Federation and according to ‘Le Soir’ would take up the post in January 2010 just after his present contract with Zenit finishes.
   Francois de Keersmaecker, president of the, told the website of Flemish television channel ‘Sporza’ the only thing missing was Advocaat’s signature but as far as he was concerned negotaitions had come to a successful conclusion.
   Advocaat, who guided Zenit to the 2008 UEFA Cup trophy, had told the Russian media earlier on Monday that he was going to sign an initial two year contract with the option of an extra two years.
   Rene Vandereycken was sacked as coach of Belgium at the beginning of April after three years in the role.
   Belgium are currently fourth in World Cup qualifying group five and stand little chance of qualifying for next summer’s tournament in South Africa. They also failed to qualify for the 2008 European Championship.