The Word on the Street

11 Jun 2006

No football please, we're hardliners

Hardline Islamic courts have barred residents in parts of the Somali capital from watching the World Cup, prompting scores of civilians to protest the ban, residents said on Sunday.

They claim that gunmen, allied to the Joint Islamic Courts, forced three cinema halls to shut and warned football lovers against watching the matches which were being relayed through satellite dishes from Germany.

"The Islamic courts have ordered the closure of three cinema halls," Sukahola resident Abdulaziz Hanad told AFP.

"They want to make sure that nobody in Mogadishu watches the World Cup."

Witnesses said scores of distruntled civilians staged a brief demonstration in northern Mogadishu to protest the ban.

English ladies in travel trouble

Victoria Beckham, wife of England skipper David, and Elen Rives, girlfriend of Frank Lampard, endured travel travails ahead of England's opening win over Paraguay.

Former Spice Girl Victoria was unable to get her flight from Madrid to watch Beckham play in Frankfurt as the plane had a technical problem so she chartered a private jet at a reported cost of 30,000 euros to get over in time.

Beckham's sons Brooklyn and Romeo also attended the game wearing England number seven shirts replete with their father's name on them.

Rives was meanwhile kicked off her flight to Stuttgart from Heathrow after reacting furiously when told she had too much luggage, German media reports said.

An apology meant she was able to get on the next available flight.

Poles apart

Germany's upcoming rivals in Group A Poland will cast an envious eye at their forward line on Wednesday as Lukas Podolski and Miroslav Klose were both born across the border.

"We are happy with the Polish players in our squad as they are of a high quality," Germany coach Jurgen Klinsmann said Sunday.

"It is a special moment for them as they have family ties. All I can say is I am glad they are with us.

The 20-year-old Podolski has divided loyalties, but only up to a point.

"I feel like I have two homelands. I hope Poland get through the group - but by finishing behind Germany," Podolski said.

Drogba set to stay at Chelsea

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba is set to sign a new deal with the English Premiership champions, his agent revealed on Sunday.

Ivory Coast captain Drogba had hinted he may leave Stamford Bridge because he was unhappy with criticism from the English media for diving.

Frelot told the News of the World: "We are in talks with Chelsea over a new contract for Didier. Jose Mourinho absolutely wants him to stay."

The agent claims Chelsea may also keep another of his clients, France defender William Gallas, despite interest from AC Milan and Arsenal.

He said: "Chelsea do not want to sell William. I understand they are ready to make a new offer for him to prolong his contract. We'll see what happens."

Dutch dissent as van Persie speaks out

Dutch winger Arjen Robben has been warned by teammate Robin van Persie that he cannot win the World Cup on his own despite his match-winning performance against Serbia and Montenegro on Sunday.

"Together we hope to play six matches (in the World Cup) and that he can't do all by himself," he fumed.

"He must take into account his teammates. Sometimes he makes decisions for himself and not the team."

Coach Marco van Basten moved swiftly to recognise that the Dutch approach had been unbalanced and said he would correct it.

"Our game was too concentrated on the left-hand side because Arjen was in form but that was to the detriment of van Persie on the right wing.

"This imbalance must be addressed," van Basten said.

Sea of orange in Leipzig

The impressive new Zentralstadion stadium here was awash with orange Sunday as the Netherlands prepared to take on Serbia and Montenegro in their opening Group C match.

An estimated 20,000 Dutch fans have flocked to the eastern city of Leipzig, most wearing an assorted array of shocking orange clothes and all manner of accessories.

The game is a crunch one in the World Cup's "group of death" that also includes two-time World Cup winners Argentina and Ivory Coast, this year's African Nations runners-up and the continent's strongest team in Germany.

The South Americans beat the west Africans 2-1 on Saturday.

Iranian cities brace for mayhem

Large cities across Iran were Sunday bracing for gridlock as the football-mad Islamic republic prepared to open its World Cup campaign against Mexico in Germany.

For the first time ever, Tehran's municipality has decided to show Iran's matches on giant screen televisions at major parks across the sprawling city. Police said they were anticipating huge crowds and traffic mayhem.

"We recommend people stay at home to watch the match as much as is possible," said a police spokesman.

"But if they want to watch the match on one Tehran's giant screens, we are ready to facilitate the traffic," he added, but nevertheless predicted that Tehran's streets would be brought to a "total standstill" if Iran managed to draw or win against Mexico.

Trezeguet targets Platini's record

Juventus striker David Trezeguet is gunning for Michel Platini's record of scoring 41 goals for the France national team.

He is currently third on the all-time list with 32 goals behind Platini who hit the net 41 times in the 1980s and his own current strike partner Thierry Henry who has 33.

"My goal with the national team in the next few years is to beat Michel Platini's record," said Trezeguet.

"It meant a lot to me this season when I became Juve's top foreign goal-scorer," he said in reference to another one of Platini's marks, he broke earlier this season.

Trezeguet looks set to resume his partnership with Henry for France's World Cup opener against Switzerland in Stuttgart on Tuesday, following the broken leg suffered by Djibril Cisse.

England concerned about water torture

England are to approach FIFA about regulations that prevented players drinking water during breaks in their match against Paraguay despite the searing heat.

"We are certainly going to make some sort of communication officially with FIFA. But this is not a complaint," said FA spokesman Adrian Bevington.

England consumed 70 litres of water in the match as opposed to their regular 20 litres as temperatures soared to near 30 degrees Celsius in Frankfurt on Saturday.

But they were not allowed to take on fluids when the ball went out of play or a player was down injured.

Each player on average lost between five and 10 pounds in weight during the clash, with the heat blamed on England's limpid 1-0 win.

"That's a hell of a loss," said the spokesman.

Lemerre extends contract

Tunisia coach Roger Lemerre looks like having a happier ending to the 2006 World Cup than the previous one as he extended his contract by another two years with the 2004 African Nations Cup champions on Sunday.

The soon to be 65-year-old Frenchman also has an option to extend it by a further two years said Tunisian Federation president Hamouda Ben Ammar.

Lemerre won the Euro 2000 tournament as coach of France but then suffered the humiliation of seeing the defending champions crash out in the first round of the 2002 World Cup.

He was subsequently sacked but rebounded to coach Tunisia to the 2004 success at home in the African Nations Cup - they failed to successfully defend their title this year in Egypt.

We will improve, vows Lampard

Frank Lampard admits England's game against Paraguay wasn't easy but says the team will get better as the tournament goes on.

"The first game was very important to win," said the 27-year-old. "I think we're happy with our performance. The opening game of the World Cup is always a tough game.

"Yes, we suffered from the heat but we'll be better from coming through that. I think we have to take a lot of positives about the way we started the game and maybe positives with the way we coped with the side effects."

English press sigh with relief

English newspapers, which have built up huge expectations of World Cup glory in Germany, breathed a sigh of relief Sunday after the England team beat Paraguay 1-0 in their opening match.

"Phew!" said the Sunday Mirror on its front page. "Yesterday's was not the most promising of performances, but at least we won," the tabloid wrote in an editorial.

Rival tabloid, the News of the World, led with: "Won in the oven", referring to the hot temperatures on the football pitch in Frankfurt.

On the inside pages it too exclaimed: "Phew Dunnit", above a picture of Beckham squirting cold water on his face in a bid to cool himself down.

The Observer summed up the result on its front page: "They're off! England win World Cup opener (just)."

German police praise England fans

German police on Sunday praised England's fans for a trouble-free World Cup opener against Paraguay, although it was a different story at home despite a winning start for David Beckham and his side.

Some 65,000 England supporters partied in the western city of Frankfurt before, during and after their country's tense 1-0 victory on Saturday, turning the stadium and public viewing points into a sea of white and red flags.

Police said the fans had done their part to keep Frankfurt relaxed and peaceful after fears of hooligan clashes.

"The praise goes to the security strategy but in equal measure to the guests who behaved impeccably," a police spokesman said.

But football thugs caused trouble in two English cities Saturday, marring celebrations across the country over the tight victory.

Ivory Coast blame lack of experience

African Nations Cup finalists Ivory Coast paid for their inexperience at the highest level in the 2-1 defeat to two-time champions Argentina, claimed their coach Henri Michel on Saturday.

"I'm certainly disappointed as indeed are the players. I believe we paid for our inexperience at this level," he said.

"When you concede a goal, it is vital not to concede a second one, but the way we played at that stage we let them do so and it crucified us.

"All it needed was for our defence to step forward three metres and they would have been offside," added Michel as he lamented Javier Saviola's strike.

"In the second-half we had several chances," said Michel.

"We should have scored earlier. Now we need a big performance against the Dutch and a good result. That is what we are going to address ourselves to.

North Korea allowed tv access

Stalinist North Korea has received TV coverage of the 2006 World Cup under way in Germany and plans to broadcast it later to its people.

South Korea has fed North Korea live broadcasts via satellite since the opening match on Friday, Seoul's Yonhap News Agency said.

"I heard North Korea is planning to record and later broadcast them terrestrially," an unidentified Seoul official told Yonhap.

South Korea pays for the coverage for North Korea which has no broadcast rights, according to Yonhap.

Pyongyang last month asked Seoul's Korean Broadcasting Commission to help North Koreans watch the World Cup. South Korea has purchased the rights to televise the entire June 9-July 9 football tournament.

Schafer in talks for Togo job

Former Cameroon coach Winfried Schafer confirmed on Sunday that he was in negotiations to take over the reins of Togo ahead of their World Cup debut two days later.

German coach Otto Pfister walked out on the west African side on Friday saying he had grown tired of wrangling over bonuses for the team.

Schafer, also a German, who coached Cameroon at the 2002 World Cup before leaving in 2004, said a number of issues still had to be resolved before he would sign a contract.

"An agreement will only be made if things are sorted out and the team want me," he said.

Schafer's most recent job was guiding Al Ahli to the United Arab Emirates club title.

Scolari agrees contract extension

Luiz Felipe Scolari has in principle agreed a two-year extension to his contract with the Portuguese football federation, the federation president said, though it depends on how they do at the World Cup.

Gilberto Madail told radio station RDP: "We have agreed in principle but I cannot reveal the details for the moment. If Scolari extends his contract, it will be for two years, not four, and will run until Euro 2008."

The 57-year-old Scolari had been touted as a possible successor to England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson a few weeks ago but the Brazilian declined because of intrusion by the English press.

Steve McLaren was finally named as Eriksson's replacement following the June 9 to July 9 World Cup in Germany.

Thugs clash in England

Football thugs caused trouble in two English cities Saturday, marring celebrations across the country as England edged Paraguay 1-0 in their opening match at the World Cup finals in Germany.

Hundreds of fans were caught up in the violence at outdoor showings of the tense match on screens in London and Liverpool, northern England.

Sixteen people, including six who were taken to hospital, suffered minor injuries when a brawl broke out at Canary Wharf, east London, a spokeswoman for the London Ambulance Service told AFP.

Up to 6,000 fans gathered outside to watch the game on two big screens when the trouble kicked-off during the second half, police said.

Trinidad and Tobago celebrates draw

Trinidad and Tobago celebrated Saturday as the country's team made their debut on the World Cup stage with a nil-nil draw against Sweden.

Supporters ran into the street as the referee's whistle blew after the last seconds of the game, as if Trinidad had won the World Cup title.

One ecstatic female fan said, "This was what they needed. If they carry the same energy, the same spirit, the same drive, this should carry them through."

Traffic snarled into and away from the nation's capital, Port-of-Spain, 30 minutes before the game, as fans hustled to reach to their game destination.

Alcohol was sold out in many stores, while local beer companies hosted World Cup games at popular bars where gargantuan projector screens were set up for supporters.

Brazil favourite tag is ploy

Brazil playmaker Kaka believes the other contenders for the World Cup crown are adopting a clever strategy by putting his country forward as the overwhelming favourites, saying it allows their rivals to play without pressure.

"It is always the same. Brazil will win it. Brazil are the favourites," Kaka said. "But this talk of us being clear favourites is a bit exaggerated.

"There is a strategy behind it. The other teams want to take the attention off themselves and the pressure."

"Croatia are the best of our group opponents because of their experience and football history," Kaka added.

"But Australia and Japan are dangerous outsiders. They can play freely and footballers always play better when there is no pressure."