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Toughened-up Spain look to seal Euro deal against the Germans

AFP, Vienna

Spain will head into Sunday's Euro 2008 final against Germany here confident that they have overcome the mental fragility that has so often dogged them in the past.

Footballing failures - following quickly on from the bounding hope that preceded them - had become so synonymous with the Spanish national team that the phrase 'perrenial underachievers' became an almost permanent prefix to the word 'Spain'.

Before this tournament it had been 24 years since Spain progressed beyond the quarter-finals of a competition and yet they banished that hoodoo with a nervy penalty shoot-out victory over world champions Italy in the last eight here in Vienna.

After a slightly cagey first half against Russia, Spain opened up after the break to let their football flow and they are finally looking like the team they have always threatened to be.

Now their footballing redemption would be complete if they can take that final step and beat a team that has always been the virtual antithesis of the Spaniards.

While Spain have often flattered to deceive at big tournaments, Germany frequently scrap and bully their way further than they seem to merit, such as in 2002 when one of the worst German teams in living memory reached the World Cup final.

And although Spain may be shedding their unwanted tag, Germany show no signs of parting from their traditions.

While it is true to say they played well in their opening match against Poland, since then they have been clearly second best against both Croatia and Turkey, then outplayed Portugal thanks to a brilliant strategy devised by coach Joachim Loew which saw him outthink Luiz Felipe Scolari and were uninspiring against Austria.

And yet, as they often do, they will line up in the final with only a brave man betting against them.

But Spain coach Luis Aragones believes that his team have now developed the mental strength to make their superior ball skills tell against the Germans, insisting that they have learnt from their World Cup disappointment of two years ago when France beat them in the second round.

"This team has been strong mentally for a long time. We played in the World Cup and that's where we learnt a lot about being strong," said the 69-year-old.

"I've always told my team that to play good football they need to compete and they need to learn the hard way but they are learning all the time.

"Players like Cesc (Fabregas) is 21 and we have other players aged 21, 22, 23 and yet they have the experience of 28-year-olds."

Germany defender Christophe Metzelder is not so sure Spain have completely overcome the demons of their past, though, and he should know as he plays for Real Madrid.

"I know the Spanish have real respect for us, but there is a self-inflicted trauma in the team, it has taken them decades to move beyond the quarter-final of a tournament and that could be a factor," he said.

"They will respect that, but this is a big game and big games have a different set of laws."

And Aragones is wary about the Germans, insisting that it won't be easy repeating their performance against Russia.

"I don't know whether they (Germany) will let us play that way. If they know where to put pressure on us and how to hurt us they may not allow us to play that way again.

"But it's very hard for a team to stop us when we move the ball around quickly, they get tired."

It's not just Spain concentrating on the mental aspect of this game, though, as Germany team manager Oliver Bierhoff, who scored the winning goal the last time his country won a title, with a golden goal in the 1996 European Championships, said his team also need to overcome certain obstacles.

"The players need to approach the final in a positive mental state without fear," said Bierhoff.

"Against Croatia, Turkey and Austria, the players were nervous and almost cramped up through fear of losing to a so-called 'minor nation'.

"Hopefully they can now be liberated against Spain and play the way we know they can."

Spain are likely to switch from the 4-4-2 system they have used so effectively until now as striker David Villa is out of the final.

That means they may go for the five-man midfield that worked so well against Russia when Villa came off to be replaced by midfielder Fabregas.

Spain's royals, German president and chancellor to attend Euro final

Internet, Vienna

King Juan Carlos rarely misses a big sports event when Spaniards are involved, and the Euro 2008 final between Spain and Germany on Sunday in Vienna is no exception. In the VIP box of the Ernst Happel Stadium the king - and likely Queen Sofia as well - will run into Spain's Prime minister Jose Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, German Chancellor and superfan Angela Merkel, plus German President Horst Koehler.

UEFA boss Michel Platini will naturally be there to hand the trophy to the winning team's captain, while guests also include former Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann, the German players dropped at the last instance from the Euro squad, and former US Foreign Secretary Henry Kissinger.

The Euro host nations are to be represented by the presidents of Switzerland, Pascal Cuchepin, and Austria, Heinz Fischer.

Spain's Royal Couple was already present in Vienna when the team beat world champions Italy in the quarter-final, with Juan Carlos later telling the team in the dressing room how happy he was that the 88-year-old curse against Italy and a 24-year-old rot to go beyond the final eight was broken.

"The curse is over at last, it was about time," the king reportedly told coach Luis Aragones and the players.

Crown-Prince Felipe and his wife, Princess Letizia, also regulars at major sports events, successfully offered their support at several Euro games including the 3-0 semi-final win over Russia.

Spanish media on Saturday said that King Juan Carlos expects Spain to win 2-1 while Zapatero even predicted a 3-1 decision in his team's favour.

But the German camp will naturally have none of it, with Merkel "convinced that Germany can make it," without giving a score. Koehler said that German will win 2-1.

Merkel stunned Germans with her joyious outbursts at the 2006 World Cup, and has already attended two of Germany's Euro games, the 1-0 win over hosts Austria and 3-2 semi-final victory against Turkey.

"I am simply into the game like any one else. It appears as if not many people knew that I am interested in football.

And no one asked me about it in my political life until 2006," she told the Sueddeutsche Zeitung earlier this month.

Merkel was seen chatting away with then banned Bastian Schweinsteiger during the Austria game and also with coach Joachim Loew when he was banned from the touchline in that game.

Accompanied by several of her ministers on Sunday, she could exchange her football knowledge with Klinsmann, who led Germany to third place at the 2006 World Cup

Klinsmann has been invited by football supremo Theo Zwanziger before starting his new Bayern Munich job because "somehow it is his final as well."

Austria to provide extra security for Euro 2008 final

AP, Austria

Austrian authorities will mobilize 2,500 army troops and deploy an extra 1,200 police officers to secure the Austrian capital for the European Championship final on Sunday.

Vienna police spokesman Walter Hladik said Saturday that authorities will be highly visible at Ernst Happel Stadium, as well as at the city's main downtown public viewing area and other fan zones to ensure the safety of supporters and foreign dignitaries watching Germany and Spain battle for the Euro 2008 title.

Officials said 40,000 fans from Germany and another 15,000 from Spain are expected to converge on Vienna.

VIP guests will include Spanish King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger.

Authorities said Austria's air force will be on alert to secure the alpine nation's airspace during the final, and about 400 counterterrorism specialists trained in handling nuclear, chemical and biological threats also will be deployed.

As they have throughout the tournament, security guards will confiscate glass bottles, weapons and other banned items from supporters as they enter the stadium and fan zones, Hladik said.

Police have reported only sporadic and relatively minor incidents during Euro 2008, which began on June 7, and there has been no significant violence or injuries.

Reflecting the light mood, authorities on Saturday released a list of the oddball items that have turned up at Vienna's main lost-and-found center, including a hamster, a wheelchair and a glass eye.

The list also mentioned some of the more unusual things fans have tried to take into the stadium, including "a very long, very dry fish on a stick" that a Russian fan was carrying.

Old & new rivals square off in Asian race for 2010 World Cup

AP, Seoul

Fierce rivalries old and new will resume in the final round of Asian qualification for the 2010 World Cup as Japan and Australia cross swords while traditional foes South Korea, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Iran will fight out only two automatic spots for South Africa.

On Friday in Kuala Lumpur the ten remaining Asian nations alive in the 2010 race were drawn into two five-team round-robin groups.

The top two from each progress to South Africa while the two-third place teams must then play each other for the right to meet the winner of Oceania qualifying for the last World Cup berth.

Group A contains Australia, Japan, Uzbekistan, Bahrain and Qatar. Group B is made up of South Korea, Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and the United Arab Emirates.

South Korea's was the last team drawn and placed with familiar foes as it bids to appear at a seventh consecutive World Cup."We know Saudi Arabia very well but they are a very difficult team to beat while it's not easy to get three points from North Korea," South Korea coach Huh Jung-moo said.

The ex-PSV Eindhoven midfielder wasn't flattering his opponents.South Korea has not defeated Saudi Arabia since 1994 and has drawn five of its past six games against neighbor North Korea.

Two of those draws came in the previous qualification round. The first was shifted from the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, to China following North Korea's refusal to play South Korea's national anthem and raise its flag. The June 22 match was played in Seoul despite North Korean objections.

"We hope that it can be a normal home and away, but if there are some issues it's still not a problem because we always have our neighboring countries to go to," Chun Han-jin of South Korea's football association said.

Coach Huh was also at the helm when South Korea defeated Iran in the quarterfinal of the 2000 Asian Cup. Iran coach Ali Daei was playing for Iran that day.

Daei also faced North Korea in qualification for the 2006 World Cup but missed the trip to Pyongyang when home fans rioted after Iran won 2-0 and FIFA later imposed sanctions.

Saudi Arabia famously pipped Iran for a place at the 2002 World Cup in the final match of qualification.

"Our group is tougher than the other as all the teams are strong but I have faith in my team. We have a decent chance to gain one of the four automatic berths," Daei said.

In Group A, Asian heavyweights Japan and Australia will meet for the third successive year. Australia rallied late to defeat Japan at the 2006 World Cup while the tables were turned a year later when Japan won their Asian Cup quarterfinal on penalties.

"It is more satisfactory than joining Group B. I am sure that we are capable of winning a place," Japan Football Association chairman Saburo Kawabuchi said.

"Despite the fact that Australia is a formidable enemy, it cannot be declared the strongest, in view of the result of the third round."

Pim Verbeek is the man in charge of leading Australia through its first ever Asian qualification campaign. It qualified for the 2006 World Cup through Oceania before switching confederations.

"It's an interesting group and we will have to work hard to reach the finals. I believe it will all come down to our last two home games against Bahrain and Japan next June," said the Dutchman.

Uzbekistan was the most impressive team during the previous round of qualification and was rewarded with a chance to exact revenge on Bahrain.

The last time the two nations met was in a 2006 World Cup qualification play-off, a game which provided one of the more controversial moments in Asian football history. Uzbekistan scored a penalty to take a 2-0 lead but the referee ruled out the spot kick due to Uzbek encroachment and erroneously awarded Bahrain a free-kick rather than ordering a re-take of the penalty.

FIFA ordered the match to be replayed, Bahrain won and an angry Uzbekistan even considered leaving the Asian Football Confederation for UEFA.

"It will be exciting to meet Bahrain again in a World Cup qualifier," Uzbek coach Rauf Inileev told the AFC. "The players will be motivated against them and I hope we will be successful this time."

The fourth round action starts on September 6 and runs to June 17 next year.

Bangladesh A team concede 82-run defeat against Ireland in T20 match

UNB, Dhaka

Touring Bangladesh A team conceded a huge 82-run defeat against hosts Ireland A team in a Twenty20 match at the Eglington Cricket Club ground on Friday.

Batting first, hosts Ireland scored a moderate 161 for 6 in 20 overs with number four batsman A Botha contributing unconquered 62 off 41 deliveries featuring two fours and two sixes.

R Strydom (30), T Johnson (21), P Stirling (20) and A White (10) were the other notable scorer for the home side.

Naeem Islam was the successful among Bangladesh's bowlers claiming three wickets for 33 runs while Arafat Sunny, Nazmul Hossain and Mahbubul Alam Robin took one wicket each.

Platini invites former Spanish rival to final

Reuters, Vienna

UEFA president Michel Platini has invited the Spanish goalkeeper who he embarrassed in the final of the 1984 European Championship to be his guest at Sunday's Euro 2008 final.

Platini scored the opening goal of France's 2-0 win over the Spanish in 1984 with a free kick that somehow squirmed under the body of keeper Luis Arconada.

On Sunday, Spain will have the chance to redeem themselves when they take on Germany for the 2008 title.

"I was thinking while I was shaving this morning about how I took the trophy off the Spanish 24 years ago but could be handing it back to them tomorrow," Platini told a news conference on Saturday.

"When we called Arconada up to ask if he wanted to come and watch the game, he asked if it was a joke. But I think it's nice to be able to invite a former rival."

Platini made reference to the bizarre nature of his goal -- one of a record nine that he scored at the tournament -- joking that Arconada should have no regrets.

"He has nothing to reproach himself for. My goal was impeccable," Platini grinned. "It was (Bruno) Bellone's second goal for us that was extremely lucky."

Since the 1984 game, similar goalkeeping errors are known as Arconadas.

Hockey team captain Habul leaves England in September to play Hockey league

UNB, Dhaka

Bangladesh Hockey team captain Maksud Alam Habul is likely to play England Hockey league scheduled in Hamestreet in September.

Talking to UNB on Saturday the successful Bangladesh captain, who brought laurel for the country from the recently concluded AHF Cup Hockey in Singapore, said his club Pakistani coach Rana Zaheer had offered him to play league in England.

"My coach initially discussed with an England local club for me. Facilities are yet to be finalized," he said.

Meanwhile, Habul will sign a contract with Shah Sports, a sports gearing shop in a day or two.

Under the contract, the Bangladesh captain Habul will wear Shah Sports logo on T shirt, stick and shoes.