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Argentina draw with leader Paraguay; Uruguay get key win
Buenos Aires/Bogota, Sept 7: The South American qualifiers towards the 2010 Football World Cup in South Africa was wide open after the seventh round.
After the conclusion of the seventh round on Saturday, Paraguay leads with 14 points, followed by Argentina on 12 and Uruguay on 11. Colombia and Chile have 10 points, although Chile have a game in hand, against Brazil on Sunday. Perennial football giant Brazil trails in sixth place with nine points and is in danger of failing to qualify for the World Cup. Uruguay beat Colombia 1-0 in Bogota to climb to third place, while Ecuador defeated lowly Bolivia 3-1 to recover from a poor start in the qualifiers, and Peru scored it first victory in seven games with a 1-0 win against Venezuela.
On a cold, rainy afternoon in Buenos Aires, Argentina and Paraguay played what hometown coach Alfio Basile described as “a strange game.”
Paraguay’s coach Gerardo Martino — an Argentine — attempted to explain the result by suggesting that his men “were afraid to win” the match. Argentina had the first clear chance, when a free kick executed by ace Juan Roman Riquelme hit the crossbar in the eighth minute.
However, a gross mistake in the 13th minute by defender Gabriel Heinze dramatically changed the course of the game. Heinze failed to head the ball clear, collided with Argentine keeper Roberto Abbondanzieri and finally scored an own goal. Abbondanzieri, with a knee injury, had to be replaced by Juan Pablo Carrizo. A disciplined Paraguay squad controlled play until the break. However, Basile fielded substitute striker Sergio Aguero, who was very active throughout the second half and changed the pace of the match. Aguero capitalised on a great pass from Lionel Messi in the 62nd minute to make it 1-1, but he missed at least two good chances to put Argentina ahead. (DPA)

Hamilton wins rain-splashed Belgian GP
Spa-Francorchamps (Belgium), Sept 7: Lewis Hamilton won the Belgian Grand Prix in a rain-splashed finale today to extend his lead in the championship standings after race leader Kimi Raikkonen spun off during the penultimate lap.
Hamilton again proved he was the top wet-weather driver, holding his cool in the last few laps when a sudden shower turned the Grand Prix into chaos and held off Ferrari’s Felipe Massa by 14.4 seconds. BMW Sauber’s Nick Heidfeld was third.
Hamilton now holds an eight-point edge over Massa, 80 to 72, going into the last five races.
Raikkonen, who overtook the pole-sitting Hamilton early and led most of the way, is far back with 57 points, turning the rest of the championship into a two-way race between Hamilton and Massa.
It long looked like Raikkonen would win his fourth straight Belgian GP but the low-flung leaden clouds over the wooded circuit suddenly released a huge shower in the last three of 44 laps.
With most cars having switched to dry tires at the final pit stop, that was enough to decide the race. “I was praying: rain, rain, rain,” Hamilton said. “I wanted the rain to come,” realizing it was his best shot at victory.
The two riders almost crashed into each other, but after some spectacular maneuvers Hamilton appeared from the Source hairpin in front. The British driver soon lost the lead again, however, when he had to veer off the track to avoid a slower car in front of him. But Raikkonen, in turn, spun on the slippery surface to put Hamilton back in front.
Raikkonen was then forced to take risks, resulting in a crash into the side railings. Heidfeld had switched to wet-weather tires, letting him make up much ground with a late surge. Hamilton enjoyed the advantage of his pole position for just one lap. While he got to the opening Source hairpin first, Raikkonen was already making a move behind him.
Having started in fourth, he went way wide in the hairpin but immediately challenged teammate Massa on the first long straight and got into the slipstream of the championship leader with a daring move.
One lap later, he used the same long straight to let his Ferrari engine do the talking, and when Hamilton’s McLaren could not respond, the Finn was in front on his favorite circuit.
Hamilton’s teammate Heikki Kovailanen, meanwhile, slipped from third to 11th in the start. His comeback was effectively stopped when he drove into Mark Webber on lap 10 and was penalized with a drive through the pit lane, putting him back in 15th place.
Hamilton hung in tight but ended up in some traffic after his first pit stop, which dropped him 5.6 seconds back of the surging Raikkonen. At halfway, Raikkonen led by 5.5 seconds over Hamilton and 11.2 over Massa. Alonso, in fourth place, was already 32 seconds back.
Hamilton started closing in after the second pit stop, and with 15 laps left the Briton could see the red Ferrari less than two seconds in front of him. Hamilton came to within a second with four laps to go, but made an error in the chicane close to the finish line to drop him back to two seconds behind. Then came the rain and deliverance for Hamilton. (AP)

Donadoni, Zola on four-man Hammers shortlist
LONDON, Sept 7: Gianfranco Zola and Roberto Donadoni appear the frontrunners to take over from Alan Curbishley as manager of West Ham, but the club insisted on Sunday there were no clear favourites as they confirmed a four-man shortlist.
Former Italy international Zola and former Italy coach Donadoni have already impressed in talks with Hammers director Mike Lee, however he has not yet ruled out Slaven Bilic or Michael Laudrup. Bilic, the coach of Croatia, has yet to have direct talks with the club while former Danish international Michael Laudrup, the coach of Spanish side Getafe in 2007-2008, will be interviewed on Monday.
Lee made it clear that West Ham would not wait until January for Bilic, though he did not rule out him staying as Croatia coach on a part-time basis for the October matches.
Lee told BBC Radio Five Live: “There’s no favourite at the moment, we have set up a proper selection process.”
“We have been surprised and pleased by the number of applications we have had and we are moving towards a short shortlist and ideally have a manager in place in time for the West Brom match next week.” “Slaven Bilic could potentially be on that shortlist but it depends very much upon his availability. If for whatever reason he was not available until January in terms of working with us I’m afraid that will rule him out.”
“We have a very strong shortlist and it’s going to be a tough decision with some exciting candidates.”
“From the meetings that have taken place so far the two that have really shone have been Donadoni and Zola.”
West Ham are resigned to waiting until after Croatia's match against England on Wednesday before they can speak to Bilic, but would welcome the chance to talk beforehand and have been in discussions with his representatives. The fact Zola and Donadoni are Italians could increase their chances given that West Ham's director of football Gianluca Nani is a compatriot, and that they would be much happier with the continental-style working relationship than Alan Curbishley was. West Ham’s selection process has already ruled out Gerard Houllier and the former Scotland midfielder John Collins, plus former Ajax boss Martin Olsen. (Agencies)

Fabio Capello puts pressure on Croatia
BARCELONA, Sept 7: Fabio Capello has warned Croatia that England have no intention of playing for a draw in Wednesday’s crucial World Cup qualifier.
After Capello’s side made heavy weather of beating Andorra 2-0 in their opening qualifier on Saturday, the England coach could be forgiven for employing a safety-first approach in Zagreb this week. England lacked guile and movement during a woeful first half at the Olympic Stadium in Barcelona, and although they improved marginally in the second half, it was hardly a display to have Croatia quaking in their boots.
But Joe Cole’s second half double-strike eventually saw off the part-timers and Capello was keen to accentuate the positive ahead of a fixture that will shape England’s World Cup destiny. The Italian believes Croatia’s reputation as one of Europe’s rising forces guarantees they will go for the win, which should open up spaces that England can exploit.
“I will be very happy if Croatia play like Andorra. But I don’t think that is going to happen,” Capello said. “Croatia are at home have to go forward and try to score goals. The game will be different, not like this. I think we have to play to win, always.”
Whether Capello finds room for Cole in his starting line-up remains to be seen. For the second successive match Cole spared Capello’s blushes, but the Chelsea winger’s lack of tactical acumen in the second half infuriated his manager. Cole was stationed just behind Emile Heskey and Wayne Rooney when he came off the bench and wreaked havoc from that position with two clinical finishes.
But he and Rooney dropped too deep after that and, with Heskey isolated, England went back to sleep.
That kind of indiscipline will be punished by Croatia and Capello said: “Yes, I have got to think about Joe. He is very good for himself at the moment and very good for us.” “But I have to decide what the first 11 will be against Croatia. It will be another game - and it will a different sort of game.”
“When we started the second half, the two of them (Cole and Rooney) played near Emile Heskey. But when we went 2-0 up, they both then started to come back into midfield.”
“I was asking them to go forward again because Heskey was all on his own. That is what I was trying to transmit to them.” There was early optimism when Theo Walcott surged clear and crossed towards Jermain Defoe, only for Koldo to smother the loose ball. Walcott threatened again as he ran onto Rooney’s pass and chipped his shot over from a tight angle.
Although Frank Lampard flashed a powerful low strike midway through the half, the first signs of discontent from England’s fans were heard as passes went astray with alarming regularity.
It had taken Steve McClaren’s England 54 minutes to score against Andorra. At least Capello avoided the ignominy of breaking that record as Cole struck in the 48th minute.
Lampard floated in a free-kick that deflected off Lescott to Cole and the substitute lashed his volley past Koldo.
Cole had given England the dynamism they lacked in the first half and he scored again in the 55th minute.
Rooney provided the assist with a perfect pass and Cole ran through to clip his shot into the net. While Capello tried to be upbeat, the fact remained that his side couldn’t even equal the 3-0 win by McClaren’s men against the same opponents 18 months ago. Andorra coach David Rodrigo was scathing about England under Capello and insisted Croatia were favourites to win the group.
“He can try to manage Andorra and I will do it with England and I’m sure I will beat Andorra more than 2-0,” Rodrigo said.
“I’m in love with Croatia. They play good offensive football and know how to use the ball. They are the favourites to win the group for me.” (Agencies)

City can’t be serious about Ronaldo bid, says Gill
LONDON, Sept 7: Manchester United chief executive David Gill said he would treat suggestions that Manchester City could table a 135 million pound bid for Cristiano Ronaldo “with a pinch of salt”.
Ronaldo heads into the new English Premier league season still being closely followed by Real Madrid, who tried but failed during the summer to secure the Portuguese international’s signature. But now cross-city rivals Manchester City have entered the fray.
Sulaiman Al-Fahim, the billionaire businessman at the centre of the club’s takeover by the Abu Dhabi United Group, said he wants to build a “dream team” which can compete in the Champions League within the coming three years.
And he added they could be willing to make a world record bid of 135 million pounds (210 million dollars) for the United star. Gill, speaking to BBC radio’s Five Live show on Sunday, admitted that any club would get excited about such a sizeable bid for one player.
But, while highlighting the fact that United manager Alex Ferguson was the subject of complaints to the Premier League during his pursuit of new signing Dimitar Berbatov, Gill said he needed convincing about the authenticity of City’s ambitions. “It was an interesting comment, I think it’s a fan’s-type comment,” said Gill. “It’s interesting when Alex (Ferguson) mentioned the Dimitar Berbatov signing in advance that complaints were made to the Premier League.” “He (Al-Fahim) mentioned (Fernando) Torres and (Cesc) Fabregas in the same article so I think we will treat that with a pinch of salt.”
“I have never met the gentleman. That is a fantastic amount of money and would turn the industry upside down so I can’t believe he is serious at those sorts of levels.”
“Ultimately we would discuss any offer with Alex and the owners, as that sort of money is very large for one person. But we are not in the market to sell our best players.” Gill also insisted the club stayed “entirely within the rules” during their pursuit of Berbatov.
Tottenham chairman Daniel Levy has called for a change in transfer rules, and initially complained to the Premier League about United’s approach for the player. Gill however has rejected allegations that United did anything wrong.
He added: “We are very comfortable with how the whole thing went. There were allegations made, we are comfortable that how we approached it was entirely correct and within the rules.”(Agencies)

Aussies stun mighty Dutch
EINDHOVEN, Sept 7: Australia warmed up for their final round of World Cup qualifiers in style on Saturday by stunning the Netherlands 2-1 in a friendly international.
The Socceroos, who face a tricky trip to Uzbekistan on Wednesday in their opening game of the deciding Asian qualifying round for the 2010 World Cup, fell behind to a sixth-minute volley from Klas-Jan Huntelaar.
But Harry Kewell levelled on the stroke of half-time from the penalty spot after the Dutch had seen goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg red-carded.
Australia made sure of victory when Josh Kennedy hit the winner in the 76th minute. The defeat was a setback for the Dutch and their new coach Bert van Marwijk, who succeeded Marco van Basten, ahead of their first Group qualifier against Macedonia in Skopje on Wednesday. (Agencies)

Federer set for Monday US Open final
New York, Sept 7: Roger Federer moved within one victory of his fifth consecutive US Open title, firing 20 aces to overpower Serbian third seed Novak Djokovic 6-3, 5-7, 7-5, 6-2.
But the Swiss superstar will have to wait until tomorrow to try and capture his 13th Grand Slam title and move within one of the all-time record total of Pete Sampras.
In a rematch of last year’s final, second seed Federer stretched his US Open win streak to 33 matches but rain stopped the other semi-final between world number one Rafael Nadal and British sixth seed Andy Murray.
The 21-year-old Scotsman led 6-2, 7-6 (7/5), 2-3 when his first Slam semi-final was halted until this afternoon, pushing the men's final to tomorrow afternoon, the first time since 1987 that the Grand Slam event will end late.
“Winning here at the Open would mean a hell of a lot to me,” Federer said.
“At the moment the focus is to defend my title and get my fifth. The Pete thing is very much alive and everything is possible, but I would like to focus on the five in a row right now.” Olympic champion Nadal defeated Federer in this year’s French Open and Wimbledon finals and the Spanish left-hander replaced him atop the rankings last month, ending a Federer reign of 237 weeks.
“If I win it’s great and I’m back in the race and things aren’t so bad like everyone is saying,” Federer said. “A win would be huge.” By reaching his 17th Slam final, Federer matched Rod Laver for third on the all-time list, one behind Sampras and two shy of Ivan Lendl’s record.
Federer is trying to become the first man to win two Slam events five times in a row, having turned the trick last year at Wimbledon, and would be the first man since Bill Tilden in 1924 to win the US title five times in a row. Federer connected on 76 percent of his first saves and pulled out an ace when he desperately needed it on several key points.
“My serve got me out of trouble a few times,” Federer said. “It has been hard all week to break against the wind. It makes quite a difference in how you construct points. I’ve concentrated quite a bit on my serve and it has helped.” At times, Federer looked and felt like the dominating figure he has been for the past five years.
“I had moments where I thought, ‘This is how I normally play on hardcourts.’ I had moments where I thought, ‘This is how I want to play all the time,’” said Federer. Federer breezed through the opening set in only 25 minutes.
“The way I played the first set was a key moment,” Federer said. “He was looking a little tired. I think I broke his will as well when I got the third set. All of a sudden I was playing my best with the lead. I knew I could get it in four.” Australian Open champion Djokovic, 21, would have replaced Federer, 27, as world number two had he won the US Open.
“He was playing good. He deserved to win,” Djokovic said. “I was a little disappointed that I wasn’t able to give him a challenge. I was just unlucky to lose that third set and it was more or less routine for him in the fourth.” Djokovic netted a forehand to give Federer a break chance in the 11th game of the third set and sent a backhand volley long to hand Federer a 6-5 lead. Federer made a miraculous leaping forehand save of a Djokovic overhead smash on the next point and held to claim the set. “In the important moments he served it out really well. He didn’t give me a chance because he served well,” Djokovic said. “I knew the third set was crucial. If it went my way I had a bigger chance to get the victory.” Djokovic surrendered a break in the fifth game of the fourth set, sent a backhand volley wide to give away another in the seventh, and saw Federer hit a winner to hold and end matters after two hours and 45 minutes. (AFP)

CBI launches probe into Monika allegations
New Delhi, Sept 7: The CBI has launched an enquiry into allegations by weightlifter Monika Devi that she was barred from taking part in the Beijing Games because of deliberate lapses on part of the Indian Olympic Association (IOA). The CBI registered the Preliminary Enquiry (PE) against “unknown persons” after a request was made by the Manipur Government to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh for a thorough probe into the entire incident.
While during the PE, the CBI will summon records of IOA, Sports Authority of India (SAI) and the statement of Monika in front of the one-man commission set up by the Sports Ministry, it cannot go in for questioning of any individual till the case was converted into a regular case.
Monika, in her deposition before the T S Krishnamurthy Commission, had alleged that the actions of SAI as “unreasonable and malafide” and also that she failed to go to Beijing Olympics because of the “deliberate lapse” on the part of the IOA.
The weightlifter hailing from Manipur, in her petition had blamed the SAI for the whole controversy which led to her withdrawal from the Indian Olympic contingent just hours before her scheduled departure to Beijing.
“If the report (dope test) was at all positive, why did the SAI not inform the Indian Weightlifting Federation (IWF) 48-72 hours prior to the departure as required under the provisions of WADA?” she questioned. Monika said the SAI, being an institution, ought to have acted reasonably and fairly and the sports body’s “ill treatment” to her was “highly condemnable”.
“The actions of SAI were unreasonable, malafide as a result of which my reputation and career had been damaged for which SAI is to be blamed,” she told Krishnamurthy in her written submission. The weightlifter said a day after the news of her dope test report being found positive was published by media, the IWF on August 6 had received a letter from SAI which stated that out of the four tests conducted during the training period on June 6, June 29, July 15 and July 28, the report of the test conducted on June 6 was found to be positive without mentioning the name of any prohibited drug. The CBI would be examining all the test reports during its probe before deciding on whether the case could be converted into a regular case or not. (PTI)