Australia enter the World Cup fray today on a high after beating the Netherlands over the weekend, as Qatar and North Korea look to continue their winning ways.
The Socceroos went further than any other Asian team at the last World Cup in Germany, where they made the last 16 before losing to eventual winners Italy 1-0 following a disputed last-minute penalty.
Coach Pim Verbeek said their 2-1 friendly win over the Dutch in Eindhoven was the ideal preparation for their opening game against Uzbekistan in Tashkent in the final round of qualifiers.
“For us it was the perfect warm-up match,” Verbeek said. “I saw good things, I saw things we have to improve.”
While ecstatic with the victory, captain Lucas Neill warned his side not to be complacent or underestimate Uzbekistan, with conditions in Tashkent likely to be considerably tougher than the ideal weather in the Netherlands.
“The coach and I have already stressed that, as good as the win was, it will count for nothing on Wednesday, so we’ll have to start again and put in a similar kind of performance,” he told reporters.
The Uzbekistanis, tipped by many as a dark horse of the competition, are desperate for a win after crashing 3-0 to Qatar in the extreme heat of Doha on Saturday.
That stunning victory for Jorge Fossati’s team raised the bar in Group A, which also includes Bahrain and Japan.
Japan, who beat Bahrain 3-2 in Manama over the weekend, don’t play today, leaving the team from the tiny Sultanate to make the short trip to Doha to try to salvage their campaign.
While delighted to see his side topple Uzbekistan, Fossati stressed he was not taking Bahrain lightly.
“We respect all our opponents and Bahrain’s defeat against Japan doesn’t mean that we should underestimate them,” he said.
In Group B South Korea, who have qualified for the past six World Cups, get their campaign underway in Shanghai against their northern neighbors.
The match was moved from Pyongyang after North Korea refused to let the South play its national anthem and fly its flag at the game.
South Korea go into the match with a 1-0 warm-up win over Jordan under their belts on Friday, while a defensive North Korea upset the United Arab Emirates 2-1 in Abu Dhabi for the perfect start to their World Cup drive.
“Obviously we are happy with the result,” North Korean coach Kim Jong-hun told reporters. “We still have a long way to go but it’s a good start.”
Iran, who drew 1-1 in Riyadh with Saudi Arabia in their opener, rest today with the Saudis playing UAE in the other Group B game.
The Asian round culminates in June next year with the top two teams from each group automatically qualifying for the 2010 finals.
The two third-placed teams play-off for the right to meet Oceania representative New Zealand for the final slot.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS