The Word on the Street

08 Jul 2006

Eiffel Tower ready for France win

A World Cup victory for France against Italy on Sunday will be celebrated by a spectacular all-night light show at the Eiffel Tower.

The world's most-visited monument with six million visitors each year was draped with thousands of light bulbs to celebrate the millennium six years ago.

Currently these flash on and off for 10 minutes each hour during the night.

But should Zinedine Zidane and his men triumph in Berlin the huge iron structure will flash its recognition without pause throughout the night until dawn.

Rooney gets two-match ban for red card

England striker Wayne Rooney has been suspended for two matches following his World Cup quarter-final red card, a spokesman for football's governing body FIFA told AFP here Saturday.

The 20-year-old Manchester United star was sent off for violent conduct during England's defeat to Portugal when he stamped on defender Ricardo Carvalho.

FIFA also announced suspensions for Argentinian duo Leandro Cufre and Maxi Rodriguez for their part in the ugly brawl that followed the South Americans' quarter-final exit to Germany. Cufre was banned for four games while Rodriguez will serve a two-match suspension.

Rooney, who was also fined 5,000 Swiss francs (4,084 US dollars), will miss England's opening qualifiers matches for Euro 2008, a home tie with Andorra on September 2 followed by a trip to Macedonia four days later.

Tough line on elbowing 'reducing head injuries'

The number of head injuries at the World Cup has been reduced because referees have taken a tough line on elbowing, FIFA Chief Medical Officer Jiri Dvorak said on Saturday.

There have been just 11 head injuries at the 62 games so far, compared with 25 at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea.

"This is due to the fact that referees are sanctioning elbowing incidents with the red card," said Dvorak, who is a neurologist by profession.

The toughest penalty was handed down to Italy midfielder Daniele De Rossi, who was sent off and then banned for four international matches for elbowing US striker Brian McBride in the face in a first-round match.

Dvorak reported that the average number of injuries of any sort had fallen to 2.2 per match at this World Cup from 2.7 per match in 2002.

This was partly due to the three-week gap between the end of the club seasons and the start of the World Cup enforced by FIFA which had allowed previous injuries to heal properly, he said.

Czech star Poborsky quits international stage

Czech Republic midfielder Karel Poborsky announced on Friday that he has retired from international football.

The 34-year-old former Manchester United and Lazio star won a Czech-record 118 caps, but decided to retire after his country's disappointing exit from the World Cup at the group stage.

The Ceske Budejovice player wants to concentrate on helping his club, where he is also general manager and executive president, establish themselves in the Czech first division.

Poborsky, who joined Ceske from Sparta Parague in 2005, won his first cap in 1994 and helped the Czech Republic to reach the final of Euro 96, where they were beaten by Germany.

German press runs petition to keep Klinsmann

Germany has lost the World Cup but found a new national obsession - keeping Jurgen Klinsmann as coach with the press on Saturday intensifying calls for him to renew his contract.

The popular Bild newspaper, once among the loudest of his detractors, published a petition on its frontpage inviting readers to join the campaign to keep Klinsmann.

Under the headline "Germany fights for Klinsmann", it ran a list of ten reasons why the 41-year-old is the best man for the job.

These included: "He always gives his all" and "He made it cool to be black, red and gold", referring to the colours of the national flag.

A poll published on Friday showed that 95 percent of Germans want to keep the coach many loved to hate until he led a young national side to the semi-finals.

Lippi rules out Man Utd job

Italy coach Marcello Lippi said Saturday he is not interested in becoming the coach of English Premiership giants Manchester United.

Talking on the eve of Italy's World Cup final against France, the 58-year-old said he will reveal his plans for the future in the next few weeks.

When asked if he was interested in going to Old Trafford, Lippi replied: "All I'm interested in is winning the World Cup.

"It's pointless talking about these things. There's no truth in this story and you will find out where I am going in the next 15 to 20 days, maybe a month. But I'm certain it won't be Manchester."

Lippi's contract with Italy ends after the World Cup, but the Italian football federation are keen for him to stay on.

English press reported earlier this week that Lippi would quit as Italy manager and move to Manchester, where he would work alongside Sir Alex Ferguson until the United manager retires.

Paris to watch final under tight security

Thousands of riot police will be on duty in Paris for Sunday's World Cup final to prevent a repeat of the chaotic scenes that left five people dead during this week's celebrations, officials said.

Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy told reporters Friday that a "very significant" security contingent would be deployed, with an additional 4,000 riot police and gendarmes deployed across Paris and its suburbs.

Five people died in accidents across the country after France knocked Portugal out of the competition on Wednesday, while several people were injured in assaults and dozens of cars set alight by vandals.

Sarkozy denounced the "extremely violent behaviour" and "scenes of unacceptable violence" that marred Wednesday's festivities, leaving 45 police officers injured and leading to 350 arrests, 190 of them in Paris.

"We are doing all we can to ensure the party goes as well as possible," he said, adding that "we need to separate the people who are celebrating from those who come just to smash things up".

Injured boy gets dream trip to final

An 11-year-old German boy who suffered concussion when a car ploughed through Berlin's Fan Mile a week ago, has received two tickets for Sunday's final between France and Italy from the city's mayor.

"The final is a moment he will remember forever," mayor Klaus Wowereit said.

The boy was the most badly injured of 26 people hurt when a car burst through security barriers at the Fan Mile.

The driver of the car is receiving psychiatric treatment.

Capello ready to plunder former club

Former Juventus coach Fabio Capello is set to try to sign three players from the ailing Italian giants for his new club Real Madrid, it was reported on Saturday.

Capello, who quit earlier this week to take the helm at Real Madrid for a second time, wants to lure Italian captain Fabio Cannavaro, fellow defender Gianluca Zambrotta and Brazilian defensive midfielder Emerson according to the sports dailies As and Marca.

According to the papers negotiations between the two clubs began on Friday over the trio - Cannavaro and Zambrotta are still in Germany preparing for Sunday's World Cup final - who will in Marca's opinion apparently cost 15million euros.

Buffon eyes Zenga's record

Gianluigi Buffon wants to win the World Cup by keeping another clean sheet in the final against France so that he can break the tournament record for not conceding a goal.

The 28-year-old Italy keeper has not been beaten since Cristian Zaccardo, his Azzurri team-mate, put through his own net in the 27th minute of the 1-1 draw with the United States in their second group stage match.

Since then, Buffon has gone 453 minutes without letting in a goal.

Walter Zenga, who played for Italy at the 1990 finals, holds the record for not conceding a goal in the competition, 517 minutes.

"Of course I'm interested in breaking the record, it would mean a lot," said Buffon.

"But it's not just about personal satisfaction. If we don't concede another goal it will be down to the efforts of the whole team."

Cancellation of Africa-themed concert 'unavoidable'

Stormy weather left organisers with no choice but to cancel a concert planned for Friday night featuring mainly African artists to showcase South Africa's hosting of the 2010 World Cup, FIFA said.

After weeks of hot weather, the German capital was battered by storms and torrential rain on Friday.

"The show was cancelled because there was a big risk for the participants and spectators. We had no choice and we greatly regret this," FIFA spokesman Markus Siegler said.

The "Football for a better world" concert was to have featured singers including Youssou N'Dour playing at the Fan Mile area in Berlin.

Kewell out for six weeks but no gout

English Premiership side Liverpool said on Friday that Australian striker Harry Kewell will be out of action for six weeks with a foot problem, but said tests had shown he was not suffering from gout.

A statement from Liverpool said that doctors had established that Kewell was ruled out of his country's World Cup second-round match with Italy because of septic arthritis in the joints of his left foot, and not gout as was reported at the time.

"An Australian teammate suggested that Harry had been suffering from gout which we can confirm was an incorrect diagnosis," the club said, without naming the teammate.

"This was identified as septic arthritis, a bacterial infection in the joints of his left foot.

"Harry is currently undergoing treatment in hospital following a surgical procedure. He is expected to make a complete recovery and should be able to resume training in approximately six weeks time."

'Doping-free' World Cup

Every drugs test has produced a negative result for the third consecutive World Cup, FIFA Chief Medical Officer Jiri Dvorak said on Saturday.

Two players have been tested after each match, with urine samples analysed and testing for the endurance-booster EPO also carried out.

Dvorak said FIFA no longer tested blood samples because "there is no scientific evidence that blood samples offer any additional information or give any additional proof" than urine testing.

Cahill backs Houllier for Socceroos job

Everton midfielder Tim Cahill on Friday backed Lyon manager Gerard Houllier to take charge of the Australian national team.

Cahill was one of Australia's stars at this summer's World Cup and his goals helped the Socceroos reached the second round, where they were narrowly beaten by finalists Italy.

The former Millwall star believes Houllier, who has had talks with Australian football federation (FFA) bosses, is an ideal candidate to continue Australia's momentum.

Former France coach Houllier led Lyon to the French league title and the Champions League quarter-finals last season and also took Liverpool to a treble of the UEFA, FA and League Cups in 2001.

Cahill told the Liverpool Daily Post: "For Gerard Houllier to be a part of Australian football would be absolutely fantastic.

"It shows how far we have come as a nation. He's definitely a massive person in the game of football."

Beenhakker tipped to become Polish coach

Leo Beenhakker, the Dutchman who led tiny Trinidad and Tobago into the World Cup finals, is tipped to replace Polish coach Pawel Janas, the head of Poland's football federation said Thursday.

"He (Beenhakker) is very close to being named to the post," said Polish federation chief Michal Listkiewicz.

But in an interview published in Polish sports daily Przeglad Sportowy, Listkiewicz mentioned three other candidates in the running for the coach's post: Berti Vogts of Germany and unnamed Croatian and Polish contenders.

"I will do my utmost to ensure that the name of Poland's next coach will be known as of Tuesday," Listkiewicz said.