On the pitch

21 Jun 2006

Decision imminent on Baros

The decision as to whether Euro 2004 leading scorer Milan Baros will play in the crucial World Cup E match with Italy will be taken after Wednesday's training session said Czech coach Karol Bruckner.

The Czechs must beat the Italians to assure themselves of a place in the second round following their 2-0 defeat by Ghana - though a draw would suffice if Ghana were to be held by the United States.

"We will take a decision on whether Milan Baros starts the match after the training session," said 66-year-old Bruckner.

"If one discounts the two suspended players (Lovkenc and defender Tomas Ujfalusi), I can call on 21 players even if clearly Milan Baros and Jan Koller are injured," said Bruckner.

Argentina win Group C with 0-0 against Dutch

Argentina did what was necessary on Wednesday by holding the Netherlands to a 0-0 draw to pick up a point and win them Group C setting up a meeting with Mexico in the last 16 on Saturday while the Dutch are drawn against Portugal 24 hours later.

Argentine strikers Lionel Messi and Carlos Tevez, along with midfield duo Maxi Rodriguez and Juan Riquelme, at times caused havoc in the Dutch defence in the opening 45 minutes with their tight combinations of fast, accurate passing and blistering counter-attacking speed.

However despite their first-half dominance they failed to convert their chances and the Dutch came back into the match in the closing stages to threaten a winner and avoid the likely possibility of falling into the same half of the draw as Brazil.

The Ivory Coast finished third in the group after their 3-2 win over pointless Serbia and Montenegro in the second Group C match on Wednesday.

Ivory Coast storm back for first Cup win

Paris Saint Germain striker Bonaventure Kalou converted a 86th minute penalty to cap a rousing comeback for the Ivory Coast as they erased a two goal deficit to defeat Serbia and Montenegro 3-2 and pick up their first ever World Cup win.

Both teams were already eliminated whatever the result but the Ivory Coast leave the tournament with heads held high finishing third in the group while Serbia finish with three straight defeats.

It all looked so promising for Serbia after taking a 2-0 lead through Nikola Zigic and Sasa Ilic but a Aruna Dindane penalty followed by a red card shown to Albert Nadj swung the match in the west African nation's favour.

Dindane steered home a header on 67 minutes to pull the match level before substitute Kalou sent Dragoslav Jevric the wrong way from the spot on 86 minutes to give the Ivory Coast their historic win.

Mexican coach worried by lack of goals

Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe chastised his strikers for missing a hatful of chances in the 2-1 loss to Portugal on Wednesday.

Omar Bravo, a two-goal hero of Mexico's win over Iran, blazed a penalty over the bar and hit a simple chance straight at the goalkeeper.

"Our main problem is scoring -- we even had a penalty which we missed," he said.

"We've got the forwards, we put the opposition goal under pressure but we need to persist and see if we can get more positive results."

Mexico had Luiz Perez sent off early in the second half but still managed to keep Portugal under pressure.

"We played more than 30 mninutes with 10 men. We could have conceded lots of goals but we kept going," Lavolpe said.

"We got a penalty but we didn't score -- perhaps that's the most difficult thing to believe."

Mexico deserved a draw: Scolari

Blasting his own team Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said Wednesday that Mexico had deserved to draw rather than lose their final Group D match.

"We scored two goals in the first half that should have decided it but a draw would have been a fair result," Scolari said.

"Mexico missed a penalty and they also missed from close range, so they deserved a draw."

Portugal finished top of Group D with maximum points while Mexico qualified second.

"That worried me because if we had an extra man, all we had to do was pass the ball around and play an extra midfielder just distributing the ball," he said.

"But we had an extra man and we made simple mistakes that are common in Portugal. We were 2-1 up, why were we throwing players forward?"

Silvestre, Trezeguet set for France call-up

Manchester United defender Mikael Silvestre is savouring the chance to get his first taste of World Cup action in France's critical Group G match against Togo on Friday.

Silvestre, who replaces the suspended Eric Abidal, and the rest of the squad took part in a closed door training session originally scheduled for Wednesday afternoon but brought forward to the morning.

Wednesday L'Equipe indicated on their website that Ribery would step in to the void in midfield left by Zinedine Zidane with David Trezeguet linking up with Thierry Henry in attack.

Silvestre, who hasn't played a competitive game since turning out for United on May 7, will join a strong backline comprising Willy Sagnol, Lilian Thuram and William Gallas.

"My aim is to help this team go all the way to Berlin on July 9 (the day of the final), if it wasn't I might as well pack my bags," said the 28-year-old.

Soca Warriors lose battle, but heads held high

Trinidad and Tobago midfielder Carlos Edwards is far from down about the Caribbean nation's single point at the World Cup beacause, he says, they proved the doubters wrong.

"I just hope that we can build on this campaign for the future. I think that we can compete with the best," said Edwards, one of his team's star performers as they held Sweden to a 0-0 draw and gave England a fright before their two late goals.

Paraguay then beat them 2-0 in Tuesday's final Group B tie.

"We proved a lot of people wrong who thought we came here just to make up the numbers. Our tournament is finished, but we're going home with our heads held high."

The Luton Town midfielder is reportedly attracting interest from some English Premiership clubs but was looking ahead already to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Hope springs eternal.

Terry tips Cole to be player of the tournament

England's Joe Cole had a stormer against Sweden, scoring what will be a contender for goal of the tournament, and his Chelsea captain John Terry tipped him to be the star of the World Cup.

"He's absolutely frightening, you can't deal with him one on one in attack. He's so skilled, he gets back defensively, and he puts goals in as well," said Terry.

"There's been a lot of comment from people on who will come over and be the star of the World Cup, everyone has been looking at players from other teams but he's a player who can change a game just through what he's got as an individual."

Angola join Iran on World Cup scapheap

Angola and Iran hammered out a 1-1 draw in Leipzig Wednesday and while the Persians were already eliminated ahead of the game the Africans had a chance of qualification from Group D, especially while leading 1-0 for 15 minutes.

With Mexico losing 2-1 to Portugal a 3-0 win for Angola would have seen them qualify on goal difference, but it was not to be.

Angola took the lead on the hour in stunning fashion when an inch perfect cross on the break from the far touch line by Ze Kalago found Flavio unmarked and he headed home for the first Angola goal of the finals, sending their fans on the terraces wild with joy.

But Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh restored some pride for Iran when he scored with a header from a corner after 75 minutes.

Angola had two points from the finals after their 0-0 draw with Mexico while Iran earned their first point here ending bottom of the group.

World Cup K.O. massive blow: Owen

Michael Owen described as devestating his cruciate ligamant knee injury suffered during England's 2-2 with Sweden Tuesday.

"It has now been confirmed that the injury will prevent Michael playing any further part in the World Cup and he will return to England immediately," the English Football Association said Wednesday after a scan.

Owen, 26, had just returned from an injury picked up at the turn of the year and the new injury rules him out for a further five months.

"Obviously it's a massive blow to suffer the injury - and be out of the World Cup," Owen said Wednesday.

"As soon as it happened I knew I was in trouble. It was a major disappointment to pick up the injury so early in the game.

"I'll go back home now and work with the Newcastle medical staff to put a recovery programme in place.

"I'm clearly sorry to be leaving the lads in Germany, but I'm convinced they can go on and achieve success.

Ecuador ready for England says coach

Ecuador coach Luis Suarez says last-16 rivals England should not be fooled by the 3-0 defeat to Germany where he rested five first teamers.

"I think it will be a tough match in the last 16. We know England. I believe England have one of their best teams for a long time.

"We will have to be more aggressive and keep the ball better. Perhaps for next Sunday's match we can play better. I think we can learn from these mistakes. We made a lot and do not want to repeat them again," Suarez said after the German reverse in Berlin.

"We must remember what we did right in the first two matches," he added in looking back to a 2-0 win over Poland and a 3-0 success over Costa Rica, games which saw Augustin Delgado and Carlos Tenorio twice on target.

England defenders fit for Ecuador

England may have lost Michael Owen to injury Tuesday but there was better news from the camp on the worrying condition of their two Manchester United defenders.

"Rio Ferdinand and and Gary Neville's injuries were scanned at the team's base camp in Baden Baden. Both scans provided positive news," said a spokesman.

"Rio picked up a groin injury during the match with Sweden.

"However, the scan result was clear. Rio will now continue to be assessed by the medical staff on a daily basis ahead of Sunday's match with Ecuador.

"Gary Neville's scan was also positive. His calf injury which has kept him out of the past two games showed significant improvement. Gary will continue his rehab under the supervision of the physio."

Germany to go all the way: Beckenbauer

World Cup organiser Franz Beckenbauer says Germany should fear no-one after their perfect first round, a far cry from gloomy post tournament statements from the man who won the Cup as a player and coach.

"We shouldn't, and I really, really mean this, fear absolutely anyone," Beckenbauer wrote in his daily column for the Bild newspaper.

Germany take on Sweden in the last 16 on Sunday.

"With each match you can feel this team growing up and we can rightfully hope them to win the World Cup," he wrote.

Portugal win group to advance with Mexico

Portugal wrapped up Group D with a hard fought 2-1 win over ten-man Mexico, who came second in the group, after Omar Bravo wildly missed a second-half penalty that would have levelled the match.

Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari made a host of changes to his side but it didn't seem to upset their rhythm as former Chelsea midfielder Maniche slotted home a pass from Simao Sabrosa after just 6 minutes.

Then to compound Mexico's dreadful start to the match, Barcelona centre-back Rafael Marquez blatantly handled a corner on 24 minutes allowing Simao Sabrosa the opportunity to drive home a confident penalty.

Mexico were in trouble but were given a lifeline five minutes later when Jose Fonseca got on the end of a corner and sent a glancing header past the stranded Ricardo in the Portugal goal.

The Aztecs then ruined a glorious chance to level the match on 58 minutes when Luis Perez was brought down in the box only for Omar Bravo to blast the resulting penalty sailing over the bar.

Then to make matters worse and with Mexico pushing forward in search of the equaliser, Perez was sent off for his second yellow card after diving in the box.

Despite the defeat, Mexico backed into the last-16 thanks to a 1-1 draw in the other Group D match between Angola and Iran.