World Cup Group G news – Brazil/Ivory C/Portugal/N Korea

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Latest Group G team news ahead of the World Cup in South Africa which starts on June 11:

BRAZIL

Playmaker Kaka celebrated his return after a six-week injury absence by coming off the bench in the 75th minute and scoring a clinical winner in Real Madrid’s 2-1 win over Real Zaragoza.

The goal allowed the 28-year-old to silence his critics who had questioned his commitment to the club as his muscular problems dragged on and suggested he was saving himself for South Africa.

Rightback Maicon missed Inter Milan’s Serie A match against Atalanta after breaking a tooth during the 3-1 Champions League win over Barcelona in midweek. Robinho failed to impress as Santos beat Santo Andre 3-2 in the first leg of the Paulista final in Brazil.

PORTUGAL

Porto midfielder Ruben Micael’s hopes of travelling to the finals ended after he broke his right foot in training.

The 23-year had impressed after his move from Nacional in January, earning a place in the starting lineup and putting himself in contention for a World Cup spot.

“It’s always bad when players get injured. Ruben was starting to appear… and naturally he was being observed,” Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz told reporters.

Brighter news from Valencia right-back Miguel, who said he has recovered fully from a muscle injury that sidelined him for a month and that he has been told he will be included in the 23-man squad for the finals.

NORTH KOREA

Pak Doo-ik, whose goal gave North Korea a stunning 1-0 win over Italy at the 1966 World Cup, believes the North can advance to the last 16 in South Africa.

The 74-year-old, who earned the nickname ‘the Dentist’ for the pain he inflicted on the Italians, predicted North Korea would join Brazil as the two qualifiers from Group G, which also features Portugal and Ivory Coast.

“North Korean soccer has come a long way and I believe we will advance to the second round in South Africa,” he told a Brazilian newspaper at the weekend.

IVORY COAST

New coach Sven-Goran Eriksson has been to Sevilla to watch midfielder Christian Koffi Ndri, who was controversially left out of the squad for January’s African Nations Cup finals.

The midfielder, popularly known as Romaric, told reporters he had discussions with Eriksson earlier this month around a possible return to the squad.

“He asked me what I could bring to the team and I am reassured and happy that he took the trouble to come and see me,” said the 26-year-old.

(Editing by Miles Evans;

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World Cup Group C news – USA/England/Slovenia/Algeria

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Latest Group C team news ahead of the World Cup in South Africa which starts on June 11:

UNITED STATES

United States striker Charlie Davies has yet to play since suffering multiple injuries in a serious car crash in October but despite his French club Sochaux saying he will not be ready before the end of this season both player and U.S coach Bob Bradley are keeping the door open.

“We are all very proud of the determination and the attitude that Charlie has displayed throughout his rehabilitation process,” Bradley said this week.

“It has always been understood that the timing of his return to playing would be difficult to predict. We are continuing to keep track of his progress as we look to make the final decisions on the training camp roster for next month.”

With few solid striking options available at the moment Bradley may well be tempted to take a look at in-form LA Galaxy striker Edson Buddle who has struck seven goals in four games so far this season.

ENGLAND

England coach Fabio Capello received a boost as left-back Ashley Cole returned to action in Chelsea’s emphatic 7-0 victory over Stoke City on Sunday.

Cole missed two months of the campaign after fracturing his left ankle against Everton in February.

“After over two months out he did a fantastic performance because he played with consistency for 90 minutes without problem,” Chelsea manager Carlo Ancelotti told the club website (www.chelseafc.com).

“It is important for us to have him in this moment of the season.”

ALGERIA

Algeria’s first-choice goalkeeper Lounes Gaouaoui is expected to be back from injury in time for the World Cup, reports said on Monday.

Gaouaoui underwent tests after straining a thigh muscle in an Algerian Cup match for ASO Chlef last Wednesday, aggravating an injury that kept him out of the Nations Cup in Angola at the start of the year.

Gaouaoui told El Watan newspaper he expected to return in time for Algeria’s pre-World Cup preparations in the Swiss Alps.

SLOVENIA

First-choice goalkeeper Samir Handanovic is almost assured of playing top flight football in Italy’s Serie A next season after he helped Udinese to a 4-1 home win over Siena in their relegation dogfight.

Udinese are eight points clear of the drop zone and need two points from their remaining three matches to be mathematically sure of avoiding relegation.

Midfielder Valter Birsa still has a chance to win the French League title with AJ Auxerre after they won 3-0 at Toulouse to stay five points behind leaders Marseille with four games left.

(Editing by Miles Evans;

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World Cup Group D news – Australia/Germany/Ghana/Serbia

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Latest Group D news ahead of the World Cup in South Africa which starts on June 11:

AUSTRALIA

Talismanic winger Harry Kewell was again forced to sit on the sidelines as he watched his Galatasaray team mate and international captain Lucas Neil get sent-off as they were held to a scoreless draw with Bursaspor in Turkey on Sunday.

The former Liverpool player had declared he was over the groin injury which has forced him out since December but he was not risked by coach Frank Rijkaard and has little time left to prove his fitness ahead of the World Cup.

Midfielder Brett Emerton missed Blackburn Rovers’ 1-1 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League on Saturday with a hamstring injury suffered a fortnight ago although he is expected to recover in time for the visit of Arsenal next week.

GERMANY

Germany are again struggling with the question of who will their starting goalkeeper be after Bayer Leverkusen’s Rene Adler cracked a rib last week.

Tim Wiese of Werder Bremen and Michael Neuer are the other contenders for the post but Adler was unwilling to rule himself out of the job.

“From a medical perspective there is nothing against me starting to train again from next week,” Adler told reporters days ago though he did not specify if he would play this season again for Leverkusen.

“We will take it one day at a time and decide calmly when (a return in goal) would make sense.”

Joachim Loew had earmarked Adler as his first choice early this year but the 25-year-old has been far from consistent for either Germany or Leverkusen since the winter break.

GHANA

Fullback John Pantsil made his first return to action since breaking his ankle with a full 90 minutes’ action in the English Premier League on Sunday.

The 28-year-old played his first match for Fulham, who went down 2-1 at Everton, since December.

Pantsil’s injury, suffered against Chelsea on Dec. 28, kept him out of the African Nations finals in January but his timely return is a boost to their World Cup hopes.

SERBIA

Striker Danko Lazovic will be out for a month with a thigh injury he picked up in a Russian Premier League match for his club Zenit St. Petersburg against Terek Grozny on Sunday.

Lazovic’s participation in the World Cup finals is hanging in the balance after the initial scan revealed a torn muscle.

“I felt sharp pain as I ran after the ball and I am really concerned about the World Cup, the second scan will show how serious the injury is,” Lazovic said.

The injury is a second blow in a week for Serbia, who have lost defender Ivica Dragutinovic to a torn Achilles tendon and he is certain to miss the June 11-July 11 finals.

(Editing by Miles Evans;

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World Cup Group F news – Italy/Paraguay/Slovakia/NZ

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Latest Group F team news ahead of the World Cup in South Africa which starts on June 11:

ITALY

Italy coach Marcello Lippi aims to name his World Cup squad on May 18, ahead of the June 1 deadline, but whether he will remain in his post beyond the tournament remains a mystery.

“On May 18th I should be able to name who is in the 23 plus four stand-bys. Some time ago I said we were 70 percent there with the squad and now I’m missing four or five players, a little more patience please,” Lippi told www.gazzetta.it.

“With the federation president Giancarlo Abete we have clear ideas. He said that before the World Cup we’d know who will be the coach afterwards, but he didn’t use the word new…”

PARAGUAY

In light of the loss for the World Cup of shooting victim Salvador Cabanas, Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino will be pleased with the scoring form of Benfica’s Oscar Cardozo, who hit a hat-trick in their 5-0 rout of Olhanense.

He will also have noted the hat-trick scored by Lucas Barrios for Borussia Dortmund in a 3-2 win over Nuremberg. Barrios, born in Argentina, received Paraguayan nationality through his mother this month, making him available for Paraguay at the World Cup.

Midfielder Nestor Ortigoza, another naturalised Argentine-born player who has already made his Paraguay debut and is likely to go to South Africa, scored for Argentinos Juniors in a 3-1 win over Gimnasia-La Plata that put his side second in the Argentine Clausura championship.

NEW ZEALAND

Locally-based players will get their final chance to impress All Whites coach Ricki Herbert as he finalises his World Cup squad when 15 players from the A-League and New Zealand’s domestic league assemble for a 12-day camp starting on Thursday.

Herbert told local media he had already nailed down “18 or 19″ players for the 23-man squad he will take to South Africa, with several overseas players, such as Blackburn Rovers central defender Ryan Nelsen, almost certainly pencilled in.

The overseas-based players, including captain Nelsen, will assemble in Auckland with the rest of the squad for a final camp in late May before the team heads to Australia for their warm-up match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground against Australia on May 24.

SLOVAKIA

Striker Filip Holosko scored an equaliser for his club Besiktas in their 2-2 home draw with Sivasspor, leaving them fourth in the Turkish first division nine points off the pace with three games left.

It was Holosko’s sixth league goal in 18 appearances for Besiktas and his fourth in the last eight games, but the club have only a theoretical chance of clinching the title after winning only one of their last five matches.

Midfielder Dusan Svento stayed on course to win the Austrian league title with Salzburg, after a 1-1 home draw with Rapid Vienna in their top of the table clash left the defending champions six points ahead.

(Editing by Miles Evans;

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World Cup Group A news – France/S Africa/Mexico/Uruguay

April 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Latest Group A team news ahead of the World Cup in South Africa which starts on June 11:

SOUTH AFRICA

A local coach will be appointed to succeed the Brazilian Carlos Alberto Parreira after the World Cup, the South African Football Association’s top official said at the weekend.

It is expected either Parreira’s assistant Pitso Mosimane or Gavin Hunt, who has won three successive South African league titles with SuperSport United, will be offered the job by the South African Football Association.

SAFA chief executive officer Leslie Sidibe said the association believed it was time a local coach was at the helm of the national team, Bafana Bafana.

FRANCE

Thierry Henry made the most of a rare Barcelona appearance when he scored the Blaugranas’s second goal in a 3-1 win against Xerez on Saturday, his first in two months.

Playmaker Yoann Gourcuff picked up a thigh injury in Girondins Bordeaux’s 1-0 defeat at Lorient on Saturday.

He was only replaced at halftime although Bordeaux said on their website (www.girondins.com) Gourcuff felt pain following an attempt on goal early in the game. The club did not elaborate on the length of Gourcuff’s absence.

MEXICO

A squad of 17 assembled by coach Javier Aguirre entered a training camp near Avandaro this week with one eye on their May friendlies in the United States against Ecuador (May 7), Senegal (10) and Angola (13).

Goalkeeper Oscar Perez cannot wait for players still with their clubs in Europe to link up with the squad.

“When they are with us things are going to go really well. We used to work with the entire squad but there shouldn’t be any hitches,” the 37-year-old said.

URUGUAY

The much-travelled Sebastian Abreu, now with Brazil’s Botafogo, is hoping he is playing his way into coach Oscar Tabarez’s plans for Uruguay’s strike force. Abreu has hit 13 goals in 18 games for the Rio de Janeiro outfit.

“A national coach can’t afford to ignore an experienced player who’s in great form, is winning titles and scoring goals in a league as strong as Brazil’s, is playing for a big club like Botafogo, and who knows his way round the national set-up. Only the best players get chosen for the national squad,” the man known as El Loco said.

Tabarez is likely to count on Diego Forlan of Atletico Madrid and Luis Suarez of Ajax as his first choice for an attacking partnership, and Forlan was on target this week.

He scored the Atletico goal that sunk Liverpool in the first leg of the Europa Cup semi-final on Thursday.

(Editing by Miles Evans;

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UK memos claim drug-taking among Afghan police – paper

March 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Drug abuse and high attrition rates among the Afghan police mean it will take many years to create a strong force, according to internal British government memos reported by the warned, The Independent on Sunday said.

The Afghan National Police (ANP) is being trained by Western forces and strengthening it is a main aim in the war against Taliban insurgents.

But a series of British Foreign Ministry papers said attrition rates among officers in Helmand Province, including losses caused by death, desertion and dismissal, were as high as 60 percent while half the latest group of recruits had tested positive for narcotics, the Independent said.

It also said non-existent “ghost recruits” could make for up to a quarter of the force’s purported strength.

Bribery, corruption and lack of engagement with the local community were also mentioned, the newspaper said.

Some memos suggested stricter vetting of recruits and increased pay in higher-threat areas to combat the problem.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “The challenges to police reform are significant and long term, but progress is being made.

“We are aware of widespread criticisms of the ANP, some of which are deeply concerning. The UK is fully committed to police reform to ensure a professional and accountable police force.”

Britain has about 10,000 troops in Afghanistan, the second-largest contingent behind the United States. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown supports the training of Afghan forces in order to start handing over responsibility for security.

The memos seem to confirm long-standing claims of ineffectiveness and corruption within the Afghan police force, which is often accused of taking bribes at checkpoints, colluding with the Taliban and keeping phantom employees on its payroll.

But poor equipment contributed to about 1,500 Afghan police being killed in fighting between 2007 and 2009, three times as many deaths as suffered by soldiers from the Afghan army.

There are 80,000 policemen in Afghanistan but the local Interior Ministry wants to double its size to 160,000 in line with Washington’s demands for larger Afghan security forces, which would help facilitate an exit strategy for Western forces.

(Writing by Avril Ormsby; Editing by Angus MacSwan)

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