France, Uruguay play 0-0 draw

CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP) -- Nil-nil draws can be the scourge of soccer. Yet nobody who participated in Friday night's 0-0 World Cup match between France and Uruguay was complaining.

The game between former champions produced an opening day dud, yet there was much satisfaction expressed by each team for gaining a point.

"It is almost a beautiful 0-0," France coach Raymond Domenech said. "But the result is what it is."

Even if some of the tournament's top stars -- France's Franck Ribery and Uruguay's Diego Forlan -- showed flashes, the fear of losing the opening game stifled both offenses.

The low point came when Uruguay's Nicolas Lodeiro was ejected after a wild challenge on Bacary Sagna in the 81st minute for his second yellow card.

In the end, an early short-range miss by France's Sidney Govou and an excellent save from Uruguay's Fernando Muslera left Group A as wide open as possible.

"There weren't many chances for either team, neither team wanted to take many chances," Forlan said. "It was very complicated. The whole game was equal, I thought."

The match at the sold-out 64,100 Green Point Stadium had few of the thrills and drama of the 1-1 opener between South Africa and Mexico at Soccer City, but the result left all four teams tied with one point.

South Africa plays Uruguay next on Wednesday, one day before France meets Mexico. Lodeiro will be suspended for the game with the host team.

Down to 10 men for the last 9 minutes plus 3 minutes of injury time, Uruguay concentrated on kicking the ball away from its penalty area and net. But even with a man up, France failed to find a goal.

"We had to guard against an unlucky counter," Domenech said.

After the final whistle, the Uruguayans embraced, happy to have escaped with a point, while most French players looked sullen, saddled with the disappointment of a lost opportunity.

French coach Domenech swiped his hand in frustration and then dug them deep in his pockets before going to shake Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez's hand.

Both teams were bothered by a slippery pitch that made deep passes next to impossible and left even Japanese referee Yuichi Nishimmura unsure of his footing at one stage.

France dominated the first half, but its lack of a finishing touch showed the lack of confidence that has long affected the 1998 champion.

Great work from Abou Diaby set up Ribery on the left side and his pinpoint low cross found Govou in the center. But Govou didn't blast the ball home, sending it far wide instead.

Some of France's best chances came from set pieces, usually taken by Yoann Gourcuff. On one, the midfielder curled a free kick to the near corner, forcing Fernando Muslera to make an excellent save.

Uruguay, which won the title in 1930 and 1950, sometimes had at least seven players in its penalty area to contain a lone Frenchman.

It clearly wanted to give its standout forward duo of Forlan and Luis Suarez room to take on the French defense. And in the 17th minute, he outwitted Bakari Sagna and swept past a slow-moving William Gallas to give goalie Hugo Lloris his first test. It was Uruguay's only first-half chance.

In the 72nd minute, Forlan had an open shot from 15 yards he sent just went wide.

Liverpool launches football centre in Pune

PUNE, June 8 (PTI): English Premier League giants Liverpool today launched their first football centre in the country in tie-up with Abhijeet Kadam Memorial Foundation here.

The ‘Abhijit Kadam Football Development Centre’, to be based within the campus of Bharati Vidyapeeth University here, will allow aspiring young footballers combine their studies with football under the guidance of Liverpool FC coaches.

The students enrolled at the centre will be taught a number of football related courses, which are to be delivered in partnership with some leading colleges in United Kingdom.

The courses include, coaching, refereeing, Sports Science, Sports Turf technology and Football Industry Management. Most of the curriculum will be delivered in Pune but students will be offered the chance to complete some of their studies in the UK. The centre will open its doors to students in September.

Cheshire-based international football company, Kickworldwide, and Bharati Vidyapeeth University here are the other two partners of the Anfield team in the project.

Liverpool Commercial Director Ian Ayre said, “This project brings football with first class education and an ambition to feed the Indian game. It’s certainly an exciting start and one of a variety of key projects that Liverpool will unveil in the Indian market over the coming months.”

The launch was also attended by All India Football Federation General Secretary Alberto Colaco.

http://www.assamtribune.com/scripts/details.asp?id=jun0909/Sports1

Bhutia raring to go in I-League

Fit-again Bhutia raring to go in I-League
Tapan Mohanta
With the nagging hamstring injury sustained in the AFC Challenge Cup healed, a fit-again Baichung Bhuita is raring to go full throttle when his team, Mohun Bagan, opens its I-League campaign against minnows Mumbai FC on Saturday.
The triumph in the Kolkata Football League -- under new coach Karim Bencherifa -- is a step in the right direction and the Indian football captain, who will take charge of the green-and-maroon brigade in the I-League, says his side has a good chance to finish winners this time.
"I hope to start in our first match. I've recovered about 90 per cent... I seem to be in an okay condition and I believe the few days left will make me fully fit for our first encounter.
"A good start is very crucial. We are hoping for a good start so that it helps us carry the momentum into the meet. We have a very good blend of experienced and youngsters and with (Jose Ramirez) Barreto in fine form, we look for the best. We have a definite chance of winning the title," Bhutia said on Wednesday.
Mohun Bagan's five-day residential camp concluded in Kolkata on Tuesday after the 38-member star studded line-up pulled out from their earlier-planned six days' itinerary in the Steel City of Jamshedpur.
Lashing out at the organisers for having arranged poor practice facilities in Jamshedpur, the ace Indian striker said, "It was a complete waste of time. It hampered our preparation. We lost two precious days. It was a bad start to our preparatory camp and affected the boys' mindset also. The organisers were responsible for all this; they should have checked before calling us."
It may be recalled that Mohun Bagan left for Jamshedpur on September 16 but after complaining of poor accommodation and food facilities, they aborted their sojourn in a huff and returned the same evening.
The club then organised a camp at a city hotel from October 19.
Nevertheless, all this did not rob them of any match practice, added Bhutia.
"We may have lost a couple of days, but still we could manage four-five days of training and we are in a fine shape. Now, I'm looking forward to a couple of days of rest before we start our campaign."
The 31-year-old feels the team is getting better under Moroccan coach Bencherifa, who was with Churchill Brothers earlier.
"He is really doing well. Having spent quite a lot of time -- through the Kolkata League -- he has mixed with us very well. We all have a good understanding, very important to play as a team. It's about believing in each other so as to produce a result," said the AFC Challenge Cup winning captain.
With I-League now comprising 12 teams, and hence more matches, Bhutia feels they have to space themselves out carefully to avoid injury breakdowns.
"More teams means more matches and a longer duration. Not only me, every player has to guard against injury and play in the right spirit."
Bhutia had a word of praise for arch-rivals East Bengal as well.
"East Bengal are a good team and with the new coach (Stanley Rozario) they can get better and better. I am sure with time, they will play better," he said.
He, however, refused to be dragged into the recent controversy surrounding Mohun Bagan secretary Anjan Mitra's remarks that East Bengal and Mohammedan Sporting have "communal names", something that can incite violence on the field.
"I have no comments on that. About violence during an EB-Mohun Bagan match, we players have nothing to do in it," Bhutia said.
Mohun Bagan finished fourth in the last season's I-League, while arch-rivals East Bengal were sixth in the final standings. source: http://www.rediff.com/sports/2008/sep/24bhutia.htm

OILFC, Lajong FC in 2nd Division National League

By our Sports Reporter
GUWAHATI, Jan 22: Oil India Limited Football Club retained their position in the Second division National Football League which will kick off in February. On the other hand, Lajong Football Club of Shillong will make their maiden entry in the competition this year.

A meeting of the executive committee of the All India Football Federation was held on Wednesday in New Delhi and the teams for the forthcoming league was finalized in that meeting. The preliminary round of the tournament would be held in three clusters in three different venues. Asom will host the cluster ‘A’ matches where both OILFC and Lajong FC have been placed along with three other teams.

On the other hand, the cluster matches of group ‘B’ and ‘C’ would be held at Gurgaon and Kerala respectively. The top two teams of each group will qualify for the main round.

The secretary of the Assam Football Association Ankur Dutta while talking to The Sentinel over telephone from New Delhi said that the venue of the group ‘A’ matches of the Second Division National League would be decided very soon. It has been learnt that Guwahati and Silchar are the frontrunner for the venue of that cluster. Meanwhile, the meeting also decided to hold the 63rd edition of the Santosh Trophy Soccer Championship in the first week of May and the Tamil Nadu Football Association will host the championship.

Groups & Venues
Group A — Venue : Asom:

Teams : ONGC , OIL India, Camelia George Telegraph & Bengal , Mumbai FC & Lajong FC

Group B—Venue: Gurgaon :
Teams : Amity United SC, Pune FC, New Delhi Heroes, Simla Youngs and SESA Football Academy

Group C—Venue: Kerala
Teams: Salgaocar SC, Viva SC, Happy Entertainment , Malabar United FC ,Chandni FC and Travancore Titanium.

Dulal Hazarika passes away

Dulal Hazarika passes away:
The former secretary of the Assam Football Association Dulal Hazarika died at Dibrugarh on Sunday. He was 85 years old. Hazarika, who was in touch with the different sports association, was the secretary of the Assam Football Association between 1955-1958. The secretary of the Assam Football Association Ankur Dutta has condeled the death of Hazarika. (Sports Reporter) source: sentinel assam

Challenge of the final frontier of football

Ten years ago a young man named Baichung Bhutia made the unlikely journey from Bengal to Bury, becoming the first Indian to play professional football outside his homeland.
Bhutia, the captain of the Indian national team, saw himself as a pioneer. Bury congratulated themselves on a coup that would allow them to tap into the Asian market – the Asian population of their town, that is, rather than dreaming of kids wandering around the streets of Mumbai and Calcutta wearing Bury shirts.
It was an anticlimax. For all his talent, Bhutia struggled to adapt to the physical demands of English football and scored only 3 goals in 46 appearances. Bury confessed that the “Bhutia Bounce” had not materialised. When his contract expired at the end of the 2001-02 season, he returned to India.
India is regarded by many as football’s final frontier. The leading Premier League clubs have, between them, visited and enjoyed considerable commercial success in China, Japan, South Korea, South Africa and Nigeria. India is ranked 143 in the world, which makes them only the 20th best national team in Asia.
source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5484933.ece

Ganguly to show his footballing skills in I-League

Sukarno Sen / CNN-IBN
Kolkata: Former India captain Sourav Ganguly is all set to show his footballing skills for Chirag Computers-promoted Chirag United Football Club in the Kolkata I-League in September.
And the newly promoted club is pretty excited about Ganguly joining them on the Kolkata Maidans.

“This will also increase our fan following. It will also bring in the crown that don’t watch football. They can come because Ganguly is a crowd puller. Players can also be motivated,” Kaustav Roy, Proprietor, Chirag Computers, says.

Ignored by the selectors for the Champions Trophy, football could be Ganguly's idea to keep up his fitness level, at the same time having fun. His connect with the Beautiful Game will surely light up things.

“It is a local team in Kolkata and I am its brand ambassador. It is just for fun,” says Ganguly.
Age isn't a factor in any sport; it's how well you play it. So for a man who has defied all odds and is fighting to prove his critics wrong, here's hoping his stint on the Maidan will bring in the crowds for the fledgling club.

Mahilpur the 'football village' of Punjab

ANI

By Karan Kapoor
Mahilpur (Punjab), July 15 (ANI): Punjab has produced many football players of national fame. And village Mahilpur in Hoshiarpur district's is known for its long association with the football.
The passion for football lives on in people even long after it was introduced in the village by Harbhajan Singh, a school principal, in 1920's.

The village boasts of producing great players of repute like Jarnail Singh, Gurdev Singh, Chaudhary Ram Kishan, and the tradition lives on in the young enthusiasts of today.
"There is a culture of football in this area. Every village has its own football ground, no other sport is given much priority be it cricket or any other game. Only football is given importance here," said Ali Jasna, Coach.

The village holds a number of annual tournaments and provides the players with an opportunity to showcase and hone their skills.

Love for the game comes naturally to the people of Mahilpur. For many, it is a family tradition passed on from generation to generation.

The young enthusiasts feel there is a lot of scope for football in India, with so many clubs opening up, which provide the players with an excellent opportunity to further their careers.
"There is good scope for football here which give good money to the players. If one pursues football with studies, it could be very beneficial," said Amandeep Singh, a budding Football Player.

There are now plans of setting up a football stadium in the village so as to provide the youth with better facilities.

The sport has become quite popular in the country and with the advent of international football clubs in India like JCT, there is a good scope for sports enthusiasts wanting to pursue football. (ANI)

India Gear Up For Friendly Against Malaysia In Hyderabad

By P. VijianNEW DELHI, July 15 (Bernama) -- The Indian national football squad will use a friendly match against Malaysia in Hyderabad on July 22 to gear up for the team's participation in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Challenge Cup 2008 later this month.India ranked 153rd in the FIFA world ranking, are also drawn together in the same group with Malaysia in the 2011 AFC Asian Cup football qualifying round which will start next year."We are in the process of preparing for the AFC Challenge (Cup) and we wanted some match exposure so we decided to play against Malaysia. We wanted to play with a team which have a similar ranking like India," All India Football Federation media director B.M.R Mehta told Bernama.The AIFF general-secretary Alberto Colaco said the friendly match will be used to identify the weaknesses in the team and will give enough time for the coaches to iron out the flaws before the AFC Challenge Cup kicks off on July 30 to Aug 10."We had earlier played a match against Chinese Taipei but found that they are not a formidable team, so we wanted to play against a stronger team and Malaysia, ranked 166th are the ideal choice," he added.Meanwhile, Malaysian head coach Sathianathan and his assistants Zaki Sheikh Ahmad, Ismail Ibrahim and Mazlan Wahid as well as physical trainer Rustov Bozik have identified 18 players for the India trip but lamented the lack of time to prepare for competitive matches as the respective states were not releasing their players early because of the ongoing Malaysia Cup.Sathianathan has included seven players - Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak, S. Subramaniam, Daudsu Jamaluddin (defenders), Azi Shahril Azmi, Amirulhadi Zainal (midfield) and Zaquan Adha Abdul Radzak, Khyril Muhymeen Zambri (strikers) who lost to China's Olympic squad 0-4 in Yanbian on Sunday.The 18 players will report for centralised training Wednesday at Wisma FAM.The Squad: Goalkeepers: Helmi Eliza Elias, Badrulzaman Abdul Halim; Defenders: S. Subramaniam, Aidil Zafuan Abdul Radzak, Fauzie Nan, Daudsu Jamaluddin, Norhafiz Zamani Misbah, Irwan Fadzli Idrus, Shafizan Hashim; Midfielders: Shukor Adan, Hardi Jaafar, Amirulhadi Zainal, Azi Shahril Azmi; Strikers: Hairuddin Omar, Nizaruddin Yusof, Indra Putra Mahayuddin, Khyril Muhymeen Zambri, Zaquan Adha Abdul Radzak.-- BERNAMA source: http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v3/news_sports.php?

Baichung to play with Ballack

NEW DELHI, July 12 : Indian football icon Baichung Bhutia is all set for a memorable experience of playing under the captaincy of either Michael Ballack or Clearance Seedorf in the ‘Goal 4 Africa’ charity match in Munich. Baichung will rub shoulders with a host of international stars at the Allianz Arena, the Bayern Munich ground, in the unique event aimed at raising 90 million Euros for the African children. “Ballack and Seedorf (Goal 4 Africa ambassador) will be the two captains, but I won’t be able to tell Baichung will play under whom,” Marion Beishuizen, a top official of the event organisers, told PTI from Munich. Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, Liverpool’s England midfielder Steven Gerrard, Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o and Italian World Cup winner Gennaro Gattuso are set to play in the match inspired by Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela’s dream of “Education for all — all for education”. ‘Goal 4 Africa Foundation’ had also listed Kaka, Ronaldo, Gianluigi Buffon, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Emanuel Adebayor, Robin van Persie, Paolo Maldini, Andrea Shevchenko and Michael Essien among the international stars to play the match, but Marion said the final line-up will be known in the hour before the match, which starts 8 pm local time. “The confirmation of who would play or who would not will be known one hour before the match because most of the players are now flying in to Munich. But Kaka has withdrawn from the match due to personal reasons,” Marion said.

India's Bhaichung Stars Among World Stars

The Mohun Bagan striker has added another feather on his cap as he brushed shoulders with the likes of Clarence Seedorf, Michael Ballack and Gennaro Gattuso. Before the match, every Indian would have wished Bhaichung to do well and if possible score a goal. Baichung started the game but took time to settle down. The first time when Bhaichung came into the picture was when he was challenged by the Italian Gennaro Gattuso. The Sikkimese Sniper set up Seedorf after a brilliant one-two though the former failed to find the back of the net. Gattuso was it again on Bhaichung and this time 20 yards outside the goal. The Indian star was making his presence felt. A few minutes later, Bhaichung released Schumacher on the right and on receiving the return pass went for the glory but just wide. In the 33rd minute came the moment which everyone in the subcontinent had been praying for all night – Bhaichung Bhutia goal. The Indian skipper controlled the ball on his chest and sent in a powerful left foot strike to beat Nelson Dida from close range. In the closing minutes of the first half, Bhaichung had a couple of half chances which weren’t converted. The second half saw Bhaichung have a brilliant chance inside the first five minutes when Schumacher sent the ball through the centre. The 31 year old chased the ball under pressure from defender and his resultant shot was inches wide. Bhaichung was also involved in the move for Schumacher’s goal. A little later, Seedorf laid the ball for the Indian star to place it in the net. This was Bhaichung’s second of the night; something the Indian fans wouldn’t have imagined in their wildest dreams. The match ended with Bhaichung’s side (Edu) losing the game by a three goal margin to Cation. It was a remarkable achievement both for Bhaichung and Indian football which made it’s presence felt in the world stage, though cynics may point that it was only a charity match. source: goal.com

India to play GD Gafanha in their 2nd Portugal tour match

India to play GD Gafanha in their 2nd Portugal tour match

PTI

NEW DELHI, July 9: Indian football team will play against GD Gafanha, a first division side in the AF Aveiro League, in their second match of the 12-day training-cum-exposure tour of Portugal on Thursday. The game, to be played at Estadio da Gafanha at Gafanha da Nazare in Aveiro region of the Iberian country, will be visiting team captain Baichung Bhutia's last match of the tour. Baichung leaves for Munich in Germany on Friday to play in the 'Goal 4 Africa' charity match where he will rub shoulders with international stars like Kaka, Didier Drogba and Steven Gerrard to raise fund for African children. The Indian team had beaten Gouveia Select 2-0 in their first match on July 5 at Gouveia.