On the pitch

02 Jul 2006

England's future under McClaren is bright

England will benefit from new manager Steve McClaren's experience of the national team's World Cup heartache, according to Football Association chief executive Brian Barwick.

"First and foremost the England coach has to qualify for major tournaments," he said.

"We've seen over the last three weeks exactly what England in a major tournament is about, 30 million people galvanised.

"England start again in August in a new era with a new coach and we have to be positive and we are positive about that.

"What I see as a huge positive, and I've watched it up close in the last three weeks, is the value Steve has got from being around the players for a long time, focused on a major tournament.

"This is his third major tournament, he's been around these players for a long time and they have a huge respect for him."

Germany prepares for street party

Germany was preparing to pack even more fans into its hugely popular open-air viewing areas on Tuesday when the home nation face Italy in the World Cup semi-finals.

In Berlin, the so-called Fan Mile which leads up to Brandenburg Gate, was being expanded westwards to fit 900,000 people when the Mannschaft meets the Azzurri in the hope of securing a place in the final.

"This has become much bigger than we ever dreamt," Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit said at the weekend.

The Fan Mile has hosted more than six million supporters so far during the World Cup, making the football celebrations the biggest street party the city has seen since the Berlin Wall fell in 1989.

Don't bask in Argentina win says Klinsmann

Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann believes it is vital that the hosts do not revel in the glory of Friday's sensational World Cup quarter-final penalty shootout win over Argentina, saying they can only be content when the trophy is in the cabinet.

"You can never look back after a successful match but look towards the next big challenge," said Klinsmann.

"We can only be content if we are world champions on Sunday. I will give everything to make that happen.

"There is no time for the word 'content' at the moment. A World Cup like this encourages a permanent hunger from match to match."

"In the beginning some laughed when we set the World Cup title as our target after we exited the Euro 2004 at the first stage. But fortunately now there is a different way of thinking which we have achieved through two years of hard work."

Domenech imposes a news blackout on France

Coach Raymond Domenech has imposed a news blackout ahead of France's World Cup semi-final against Portugal as he seeks to prevent complacency seeping in after the stunning win over Brazil.

He's worried reports of all the euphoria back home generated by knocking out the defending champions in Saturday's 1-0 win will distract his high flying veterans from Wednesday's last four clash in Munich.

"We've achieved something super, it's always a pleasure when you reap the rewards of the work you've put in," he said.

"But our work is not finished, we can't let up.

"We're happy but now there's a match coming up, a World Cup semi-final with all that entails with the final beyond it.

"The danger is to think we've done it by beating Brazil, we've got to get the players back to where they were before that win.

"It's a bit like having two metres to go before you reach the summit.

"We've got to give the maximum in this semi-final. I've turned off my mobile to stop getting all the messages of congratulations and we're not watching the news so as to keep ourselves fixed on the objective."

Nesta unlikely to face Germany

The chances of Italy's central defender Alessandro Nesta being fit to face Germany in the World Cup semi-finals are "very remote", Azzurri chief press officer Antonello Valentini said here on Sunday.

The 30-year-old centre-back has missed Italy's last two matches with a groin strain and is still struggling to recover from the injury.

Palermo's Andrea Barzagli replaced Nesta in the 3-0 quarter-final win against Ukraine, but that was due to Marco Materazzi's one-match suspension.

Having served his ban, Materazzi - who scored in the 2-0 win over the Czech Republic before being sent-off against Australia - will almost certainly return to the heart of the Italy defence to play alongside captain Fabio Cannavaro when they face the host nation in Dortmund on Tuesday.

Beckham quits as England captain

David Beckham resigned as England captain here Sunday following his side's World Cup quarter-final exit to Portugal.

Beckham was close to tears as he read from a prepared statement at England's training camp in southern Germany to confirm his decision to step down.

"On November 15, 2000 Peter Taylor gave me the greatest honour of my career in making me the captain of England, fulfilling me childhood dream," said the Real Madrid star.

"Now, almost six years later, after being captain for 58 of my 95 caps, I feel the time is right to pass on the armband as we enter in a new era under Steve McClaren.

"It has been an honour and a privilege to have captained our country and I want to stress that I wish to continue to play for England and look forward to helping both the new captain and Steve McClaren in any way I can."

"Finally, I have lived the dream, I am extremely proud to have worn the armband and been captain of England and for that I will also be grateful".

England fans praised after exit

The World Cup organisers on Sunday paid tribute to England's travelling army of fans despite dozens of arrests following the World Cup quarter-final defeat against Portugal.

"The English fans said before they are now the world champions in partying. "They have proved to be right, we had a great atmosphere," organising committee spokesman Gerd Graus said.

Police said they had arrested around 180 fans before and after England's defeat in a tense penalty shootout in the industrial western city of Gelsenkirchen.

About 80 supporters, most of them English, were arrested when they went on the rampage in the city centre and threw objects at the police just after Portugal had secured a place in the semi-finals.

New hero Hargreaves exits in triumph

Owen Hargreaves entered the World Cup to a chorus of jeers from his own fans, but after England suffered a shattering exit against Portugal the massed ranks of supporters had found a new hero.

And as penalties loomed the verdict echoed from the 40,000 English fans packed into the AufSchalke Arena: "There's only one Owen Hargreaves."

It was glorious end for the Canadian-born player, who had been booed and whistled when he came on as a substitute in England's opening World Cup match against Paraguay amid criticism of his selection.

"It's not about individuals," he said, saying he had been oblivious to the chants of praise cascading down from the stands.

"I wasn't aware of that. I heard that just now. I just tried to give my best. It was just great to get the opportunity to play, which I haven't always had in the past.

"It's difficult at times when the fans are not really on your side. But I don't really take anything positive from the game because we're out."

Sorry seems to be the easiest word for Eriksson

An apologetic Sven-Goran Eriksson brought the curtain down on his five-and-a-half year reign as England manager Sunday, expressing regret for failing to deliver on his vow to win the World Cup.

Eriksson said two factors were to blame for the defeat: the pivotal red card for Wayne Rooney and the failure of his players to convert their penalties.

In the final analysis, he said, England had only themselves to blame.

"I think we should be doing the warm down now and looking forward to the semi-final," Eriksson said. "But we're not, and we have to blame ourselves because I don't think we should be going home today.

"But that's life and you have to accept it. It will take a long time for it to sink in and I'm sorry -- I'm really sorry for the squad, and I'm sorry for all the England fans. They deserved something better."

"If you see the teams in the semi-finals, we should be there. And I'm sorry for all England, for the team, for the fans, and for you (the media) a little bit that we're not there."

Klinsmann goals tally Klose's next target

Germany striker Miroslav Klose now stands seventh in the all-time World Cup goalscorer list with ten after scoring a vital equaliser that helped the hosts go on to win Friday's quarter-final with Argentina 4-2 on penalties.

Polish-born forward Klose levelled the score in the 80th minute at 1-1 to take his tournament tally to five - the same number he scored at the 2002 World Cup.

The 28-year-old Klose moves above Portugal icon Eusebio - who scored all his nine in the 1966 edition - and Italy's Paolo Rossi in the all-time list and now stands alongside West Germany's 1954 World Cup hero Helmut Rahn.

Klose's coach Jurgen Klinsmann, a World Cup winner with West Germany in 1990, is his next target with 11, heading into Tuesday's semi-final with Italy.

Brazilian striker Ronaldo leads the World Cup goalscoring charts with 15 having overtaken yet another German Gerd Muller when he scored in the 3-0 victory over Ghana in the second round.

World Cup record for Ricardo

Portuguese goalkeeper Ricardo's three penalty shoot-out saves to eliminate England in the World Cup quarter-finals here on Saturday were a record.

Nine 'keepers have saved two penalties in shoot-outs with Germany's Harald Schumacher and Sergio Goycoechea of Argentina twice achieving that feat.

But Ricardo was the first to make a hat-trick of saves as Portugal sent England reeling out of the tournament 3-1 after the game had finished tied 0-0 following extra-time.

The Sporting Lisbon player was also the hero for his country against England in the penalty shoot-out that decided their quarter-final match in Euro 2004 when he saved England's final penalty kick and then scored the clincher himself.

England players devastated by another failure

England's players were inconsolable Saturday, knowing they should have done better after crashing out of the World Cup to Portugal on penalties.

Veteran Gary Neville, who took over the captaincy when David Beckham went off injured, said everyone was bitterly disappointed.

"We did everything in the match, we couldn't have done any more but we're out of the tournament and we go home tomorrow," he said.

"For England, with the expectations, it is not good enough.

"It is difficult to know what to say tonight. We had chances when we were down to 10 men but we couldn't put them away."

Penalty shoot-out exit "unacceptable" says Eriksson

England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson lambasted his team's failure to score from the penalty spot after a heartbreaking World Cup quarter-final exit to Portugal here Saturday.

Eriksson was devastated after his five-and-a-half year reign as England manager ended with his team being dumped out on spot-kicks for the fifth time in eight tournaments.

"It's not good enough to miss three penalties out of four," Eriksson said. "Well done to their goalkeeper. But we should still be in the tournament and I'm very sorry too for the team, and our fans which are fantastic.

"To get over this disappointment will take a long time because I was convinced we had a team which could reach the final but we're out."

Portugal defeat England on penalties

Cristiano Ronaldo fired home the winning penalty as Portugal defeated England 3-1 in a penalty shootout after the two teams finished 0-0 after 120 minutes in their quarter-final in Gelsenkirchen.

Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher all missed their spotkicks as England relived their nightmare of Euro 2004 when they were beaten by the same opponents at the same stage of the competition.

Simao Sabrosa and Helder Postiga scored in the shootout while Petit and Hugo Viana both missed.

England played with ten men since the 62nd minute when Wayne Rooney was shown a direct red card for pushing his Manchester United teammate Ronaldo.

Red-faced Rooney sent-off in anger

Wayne Rooney's World Cup fell apart on Saturday when he joined teammate David Beckham and Ray Wilkins as the only England players ever to be sent off in the finals.

The Manchester United striker let his fiery temperament get the better of him just when he needed to keep his cool, stamping on Ricardo Carvalho's testicles in the 62nd minute with the game against Portugal poised at 0-0.

He didn't help matters by shoving United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo who waded in to protest, and eventually had to be led off fuming at the decision.

England eventually lost on penalties, deprived of one of their penalty takers - Rooney.

Scolari hails Portugal's 'warrior spirit'

Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said a newly acquired "warrior spirit" had been behind his team's dramatic World Cup quarter-final victory over England.

"The spirit of this team is remarkable," Scolari said.

"This is a new Portugal team and it's a new spirit. It's a warrior spirit. This is what we were missing in the past.

"We had great technical players but now we have added a warrior spirit and that was important for us today."

It was an electrifying match and I have to congratulate England for their part in it. With only 10 players for so long they gave an incredible performance," he said.

"We tried to take advantage of the extra man but England closed us down very well. They just didn't give us any room at all. In fact it was just like we were playing 11 men."

France send champions Brazil crashing out

Thierry Henry sent France into the World Cup semi-finals with a 57th minute winner to sink Brazil 1-0 and send the defending champions crashing out of the competition in quarter-final action on Saturday in Frankfurt.

He latched onto a cross from Zinedine Zidane just before the hour to power home with Brazilian keeper Dida helpless.

France were deserved winners after holding the champions to a limited number of chances despite being under pressure down the stretch.

Penalty hero Lehmann the toast of Germany

Germany's victorious goalkeeper Jens Lehmann had his picture plastered over German newspapers on Saturday after saving two spot-kicks in Friday's 4-2 penalty shootout triumph over Argentina as the hosts reached the World Cup semi-finals.

"The party goes on! Penalty hero Lehmann and our hand of god," headlined Bild, the country's best-selling newspaper, in a reference to Diego Maradona's infamous 'hand of god' goal for Argentina.

"A hero called Lehmann," declared the Berliner Zeitung. "Germany rejoices and after the Argentina win we are favourites for the World Cup title."

Italy, who defeated Ukraine 3-0 on Friday, will face Germany in Tuesday's semi-final in Dortmund.

"You have beaten Argentina, now go and win the thing," urged Bild. "If you play like that against Italy on Tuesday you will win again."