The Tribune...Sports

	S P O R T	Tuesday, July 7, 1998
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Brazilian soccer players relax after a training session on Sunday. Brazil will face the Netherlands on Tuesday.
Croatia ready to make history
After a shock 3-0 win over Germany on Saturday, Croatia are one game away from becoming the first East European side to reach the World Cup final in 36 years...
FIFA warning to players on diving
The World Cup can be a springboard to greatness but FIFA has issued a warning to players who attempt to dive or act their way to victory...

Bhupathi-Lucic duo loses in final
Unseeded Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Serena Williams of the USA defeated No 5 Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Mirjana Lucic of Croatia 6-4,6-4 in the mixed doubles final at Wimbledon...

Duggal maintains winning streak
Top seed Sandeep Duggal continued his winning spree and reached the semifinal league through a straight-set 3-0 (60-8, 96-29, 76-19) victory on the eighth day of the inaugural Vishnu Pal Singh Memorial Prize-Money Open Snooker Touranment..

Maradona admires 'trickster' Simeone
Diego Maradona, football’s most famous cheat, saluted his succcessor as Argentina captain and supreme trickster in his own right, Diego Simeone...
Ze Carlos to replace Cafu
Brazil coach Mario Zagallo appears ready to give 29-year-old Ze Carlos his first cap in tomorrow’s World Cup semifinal against Holland at Marseille...
Anand held to draw by Shirov
Vladimir Kramnik of Russia retained his unbeatable reputation at Dortmund to emerge champion of the Sparkassen chess meeting 1998 for the fourth time by emerging with the best tie-break score after three players tied at the top with six points each here last night...
World Cup agony for 'keeper Kopke
Germany keeper Andreas Kopke has gone through World Cup hell after letting in three goals in his country’s worst world Cup defeat for 40 years...
Vogts keen to get ship back on course
NICE, July 6 (Reuters) — Berti Vogts has indicated that he was unlikely to quit as coach despite Germany’s disappointing World Cup quarter-final exit but said the country needed to change the way it ran the game to stay at the top.
Daniel Passarella bids adieu
Daniel Passarella ended his iron-fisted reign as Argentina coach in defeat and disappointment, admitting he had fallen short of his own standards...

Croatia ready to make history
LYON, July 6 — After a shock 3-0 win over Germany on Saturday, Croatia are one game away from becoming the first East European side to reach the World Cup final in 36 years.
The Croatians like to use the word "historic" to describe their performances in their first World Cup and they will need to take a lesson in history if they are to beat France on Wednesday and reach the July 12 final.
Four years ago in the usa, another unfancied eastern European team, Bulgaria, stunned the world when they too defeated Germany in the quarter-finals.
As with the Croats on Saturday, the win over the Germans was the greatest result in their history. But in the semifinal against Italy, Bulgaria looked burnt out and were unable to find inspiration a second time as they lost 2-1.
Czechoslovakia in 1962 were the last eastern European team to reach the World Cup final.
The Croats are determined that unlike previous attempts to repeat the Czechoslovaks’ feat — from Bulgaria and before the Poland and the former Soviet Union — their dream will not end at the semifinal stage.
"We don’t want to stop here," said defender Slaven Bilic, "Make no mistake we want to reach the final."
Hosts France will start as favourites but after Saturday’s performance the Croats cannot be dismissed.
Allied to a classic eastern European counter-attacking style, the Croats have steel and a strong physical presence.
Their defence looked solid and dealt well with the challenge of Germany’s strike pairing of Oliver Bierhoff and Juergen Klinsmann.

Mario Stanic was outstanding on the right of midfield and his forward runs were behind most of Croatia’s counter-attacks. On the left Robert Jarni continued his excellent form. As well as scoring the first goal, the Real Betis wing-back charged back and forth down the flank linking defence with attack.
Davor Suker in attack notched his fourth goal of the tournament and is clearly back to his best and his partner Goran Vlaovic showed with his superb strike for Croatia’s second goal that he is no mere understudy for the absent Alen Boksic.
Croatia are a classic example of how teams need to peak at the right time to succeed at the World Cup. Workmanlike first round victories over Japan and Jamaica and a defeat by Argentina were improved on with a second round win over Romania.
Their best was saved for the Germans but they will need to step up yet another level for their toughest test yet.
"It will be difficult," says Bilic, "France are the hosts and are a great team but I think it will be tight".
Bilic believes the Croats will play with more freedom than the French. "After all this there really is nothing for us to lose, but the French are expected to reach the final and there is a lot of pressure on them," said the defender.
The Croats clearly see the World Cup as a chance to put their young country, which only gained independence in 1990, on the map and for Bilic at least, that task has not yet been achieved fully.
"The world only remembers the finalists," said Bilic. "And we want to be remembered".

FIFA warning to players on diving
PARIS, July 6 — The World Cup can be a springboard to greatness but FIFA has issued a warning to players who attempt to dive or act their way to victory.
"There does seem to be a little bit of an epidemic of it at the moment," said FIFA spokesman Keith Cooper after Argentina’s Ariel Ortega was booked in the quarter-final against the Netherlands yesterday for taking a dive.
His theatrical plung could have earned the South Americans a match-winning penalty in the 88th minute.
But instead the influential playmaker was booked and then sent off for headbutting goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar who remonstrated with him. The red card earned him a three-match ban.
Van Der Sar threw himself backwards as if he had been poleaxed in the incident.
Cooper backed the experienced Mexican referee Arturo Brizio Carter for producing the yellow and red cards.
Its cheating, its a yellow card," he said.
Ortega’s acting was the latest of several Oscar winning performances at the tournament, some punished and others not, that showed goalkeepers do not have a monopoly on diving.
Cooper said FIFA was concerned about the incidents and what he called "reciprocal cheating".
"It’s one of those things that escalates. I do it to you and you do it back to me. All you can do is to appeal to their sense of fair play that they don’t start it.
"Once it starts, it spreads very very quickly like a wildfire. The referee has to stop it at the beginning or attempt to do so. It’s very difficult," said Cooper.
"A lot of players are damned good at it, it’s not easy to distinguish between a genuine foul and a dive."
Argentine captain Diego Simeone has taken a starring role in several of the incidents as the leading actor responsible for two sendings off and winning one penalty.
Simeone was the man who got England’s David Beckham sent off in the second round clash after the Argentine player had felled the midfielder and also got Dutch defender Arthur Numan dismissed yesterday afternoon.
Beckham had kicked Simeone in retaliation while he was lying on the pitch and the Argentine fell backwards.
"I think he made a mistake," said Pele afterwards of Danish referee Kim Nielsen. "I don’t think he saw the incident properly and Simeone is a very good actor."
Simeone’s own Inter Milan team mate Gianluca Pagliuca, the Italian goalkeeper, agreed with that: "I know Simeone well and he made a drama out of it."
The Dutch had complained about divers long before they lost Numan, complaining about Mexican actors in the first round.
Striker Luis Hernandez drew particular ire in another incident involving Numan when he took a dive in the penalty area as the ball ran away from him and the defender bore down.
Numan already had a yellow card at that point.
"He tried to get me sent off," he said later.
"Its very irritating what these guys do," added Jaap Stam "They are on the floor writhing, trying to stitch you up."
The Dutch also fell victim to the Belgian Lorenzo Staelens in the first round in an incident that had Patrick Kluivert sent off. Kluivert was in the wrong for elbowing the Belgian, who nonetheless crashed to the ground as if knocked out.
Cooper said he was surprised to hear of one coach who told his players "if you get a chance to do it, do it."
"That is something we can only totally condemn."

Bhupathi-Lucic duo loses in final
WIMBLEDON, July 6 — Unseeded Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Serena Williams of the USA defeated No 5 Mahesh Bhupathi of India and Mirjana Lucic of Croatia 6-4,6-4 in the mixed doubles final at Wimbledon.
Just 24 hours after claiming the Wimbledon singles title, Jana Novotna added a doubles victory teaming with partner Martina Hingis to defeat No. 2 Lindsay Davenport and Natasha Zvereva 6-3, 3-6, 8-6.
Hingis and Novotna shared £ 154,160 for their win, which was a repeat of the top seeded pair’s French Open triumph over the same opponents.
Davenport and Zvereva have only twice failed to reach the final in the 12 events they have played together.
In men’s doubles, top seeds Jacco Eltingh and Paul Haarhuis of the Netherlands, beat the second-seeded Australian team of Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 10-8.
The Australians failed to win a sixth straight title, which would have set a new Wimbledon record.
Hingis and Novotna sped to a 5-0 lead in the first set, and although Novotna dropped her serve at 5-1 Hingis was able to serve out safely at the next attempt.
In the second set, Davenport and Hingis both conceded their serves to level the set at 3-3, before Novotna double faulted at 3-4 and Zvereva served out the set.
In the deciding set, Hingis lost her serve to love in the opening game, but Davenport double faulted to level the set at 2-2. Hingis dropped her serve again in the next game, but Davenport again lost her serve to take the set to 4-4.
"To win both titles at the same time, there’s nothing better than that", said Novotna.
"She deserves it. Great effort", said her partner, who was beaten by Novotna in singles.
For Novotna, returning to the all-England club as singles champion was a new experience.

Daniel Passarella bids adieu
MARSEILLE, July 6 — Daniel Passarella ended his iron-fisted reign as Argentina coach in defeat and disappointment, admitting he had fallen short of his own standards.
"I didn’t achieve my goal of getting us into the last four of the competition," he said after Argentina lost 2-1 to Holland in their quarterfinal in Marseille.
Where he goes now is uncertain but Argentina fans will forever hold a torch for Passarella, who captained the side from 1976 to 1982 and held the World Cup aloft as skipper following the South Americans’ first World Cup triumph in 1978. He was also in the 1986 World Cup-winning squad.
Passarella, 45, took over as coach from Alfio Basile after Argentina’s second round defeat in the 1994 World Cup, clouded by the expulsion of Diego Maradona for drug use.
Basile’s player-friendly regime was swept aside and stern disciplinarian Passarella read the riot act to Argentina’s pampered super stars, rooting out the influence of Maradona, who became one of Passarella’s many enemies.
Under Passarella’s four year stewardship Argentina played 50 games, won 29, drew 12, and lost nine.
But dissension bubbled under the surface and Passarella had a stormy relationship with his fa, as well as the players.
He hated long hair, drug taking, and homosexuality, and insisted that players bow to his standards on and off the field.
When stars like Claudio Cannigia, now of Boca Juniors and Fernando Redondo of Real Madrid baulked at his regime, he threw them out of the squad.

Duggal maintains winning streak
By Our Sports Reporter
CHANDIGARH, July 6 — Top seed Sandeep Duggal continued his winning spree and reached the semifinal league through a straight-set 3-0 (60-8, 96-29, 76-19) victory on the eighth day of the inaugural Vishnu Pal Singh Memorial Prize-Money Open Snooker Touranment here today.
In today's match, Sandeep had no difficulty in showing the door to the upcoming junior. In the first frame Sandeep Duggal was not able to concentrate. He missed few easy shots but kept his cool and came back in his natural form with a break of 27 points and pocketed the inaugural frame 60-8. In the next frame, Sandeep showed superb potting and control to make a break of 38. In the second frame he pocketed the frame 96-29.
In the third frame, Sandeep repeated his class and again made a fine break of 36 points and claimed the frame and the match with remarkable ease 76-19.
In another quarterfinal match, it was a see-saw battle. Kamal Kant ousted an upcoming player Rajeev Bhardwaj 56-46, 8-53, 86-16, 31-55 and 69-41.
In the first frame, both the players were playing under pressure but Kamal Kant being experienced and mature, showed his class to bag the frame 56-46. In another frame, Rajeev Bhardwaj bounced back and did not let his opponent come near him to pocket the frame with a remarkable ease 53-8. However in the third frame, Kamal Kant showed excellent potting and took revenge by taking the frame 86-16. In the fourth game, Rajeev Bhardwaj with his cool temperament bagged the frame 53-31 to level two-all. In the fifth and final frame, it was bad luck for Rajeev Bhardwaj as he miscued. Kamal Kant played an excellent game and got the frame and the match 69-41.
In another quarterfinal, Sameer Bhalla played extremely well against promising junior player Mohit Bajaj who made a major upset in this tournament by beating Anil Sharma. Mohit Bajaj was not able to play his natural game in this match and lost the match to Sameer Bhalla 3-0. Sameer Bhalla had no difficulty in the first two frames. He pocketed the frames 54-17, 59-18 while in the third frame Mohit Bajaj played well but was not able to keep his cool and lost his concentration, frame and the match 54-37.
In the fourth quarterfinal Parveen Duggal showed the exit door to Haryana junior number one Amit Swamy. Amit caused a major upset by defeating his senior state player Deepak Goel. Parveen Duggal had no difficulty in the first frame and took the frame 66-31. In the second frame, Parveen Duggal was playing under tension against the upcoming junior player Amit Swamy. He was not able to maintain his lead and committed silly mistakes and lost the frames 60-71. In the third and final frame, Parveen Duggal played well and got the frame and the match 53-23 and moved into the semifinal league.

.World Cup agony for 'keeper Kopke
LYON, July 6 (AFP) — Germany keeper Andreas Kopke has gone through World Cup hell after letting in three goals in his country’s worst world Cup defeat for 40 years.
German coach Berti Vogts has always said Kopke is an automatic choice. But now a question mark hangs over his future selection following his performance in the 3-0 quarterfinal loss to Croatia.
With virtually nothing to do in the first half, he was then at fault for conceding the first goal. And then the slide began as Croatians twice found away past Kopke after the break.
Vogts said one of the attributes of Kopke win his ability to quickly dive low to either side.
But uncomposed Kopke was slow diving to his left allowing Robert Jarni’s shot to sneak inside his left hand post in first half injury time.
Up till then he had only had one real shot to save, stopping an Aljosa Asanovic effort on the half hour.
Kopke, hyped up in the second half as Croatia attacked in waves, palmed a powerful, accurate shot from skipper Zvonimir Boban over the bar. Then he blocked a header on target from Zvonimir Soldo.
Then it was all over when Kopke conceded another goal from a shot outside the box by Goran Vlaovic, before another solo goal from Suker completed Kopke’s torment.
Just two years ago at Euro 96, the Marseille keeper was named the ‘best keeper in Europe’, and some believed best in the world.
However, his performance at this World Cup has lowered his ranking. He let a cross from Darko Kovacevic out of his grasp, allowing Dragan Stojkovic to put Yugoslavia 2-0 up in their group game. Against Mexico he made handling errors which were poor for a keeper of his supposed stature.
Vogts may have kept faith with Kopke, but he would have wanted to forget the keeper’s 59th cap winning performance for his 100th match as coach.
Kopke played in nine of Germany’s 10 qualifiers and in all five matches at these finals.
But winning his 60th cap may prove one too many.
Vogts keen to get ship back on course
NICE, July 6 (Reuters) — Berti Vogts has indicated that he was unlikely to quit as coach despite Germany’s disappointing World Cup quarter-final exit but said the country needed to change the way it ran the game to stay at the top.
Vogts, who has the support of leading officials in the German Soccer Federation (DFB), said he had a contract with the DFB and would be talking over the future once the emotion of Saturday’s 3-0 defeat by Croatia in Lyon had died down.
"If we can do something, this exit may turn out to be good for us...we all lost yesterday. Now we must all learn to stand up again."
With captain Juergen Klinsmann, defender Juergen Kohler and libero Lothar Matthaeus having already announced their retirement from the international game, the Germans are going to have to start from scratch in the next few years.
"Now we have to start again," Vogts said. "We will have to consider in peace and quiet whether to take a big knife to it all. I am not going to make any demands (to the DFB). But we have to analyse things. Then there will be hope for the year 2000.
Vogts has said several times in the last few years that he believes there are too many foreign players in German club football who are stopping young German talent from playing in the Bundesliga on a regular basis.
The German trainer, who had to bring an ageing squad to France because of the lack of younger players, said he believe that clubs should be made to play German under-21 players in their teams in the Bundesliga.
"We have to work on a concept. I have got my ideas," Vogts said. "I made several key points five or 10 years ago but I was not listened to. You can’t just say `it can’t be done.’ you have to get it done."
Asked whether such restrictions on clubs were possible to enforce in the post-Bosman era when there is more freedom of movement of players around Europe, Vogts added: "Where does it say that it is forbidden to play under-21 players?"
After three World Cup triumphs and three appearances in the final in the last four decades, the Germans have now been knocked out in the quarter-finals at the last two World Cups. The 3-0 defeat in Lyon was one of their worst defeats ever.
Asked if the Germans might have to put up with average results from their national teams in the future, Vogts said: "Hope not. I think there are intelligent people in the German league game.
The German trainer warned the media that it needed to be patient if younger players were to make an impact.
"If we make the cut we may have to pick players who are number 12 or 13 in their Bundesliga clubs but have a future today or tomorrow. We need your support," he said. "We want to get the ship back on course."

Anand held to draw by Shirov
DORTMUND, July 6 — Vladimir Kramnik of Russia retained his unbeatable reputation at Dortmund to emerge champion of the Sparkassen chess meeting 1998 for the fourth time by emerging with the best tie-break score after three players tied at the top with six points each here last night.
Grandmaster Viswanathan Anand of India ended the tournament with yet another draw, his eighth in nine rounds, which gave him four points and a share in the tie for the sixth to eighth place.
Kramnik, who drew his last round game against Zoltan Almasi of Hungary seemed a little flustered when he came in for the game. He played the sicilian sveshnikov and was quite content with playing for a draw which he got in 23 moves.
Peter Svidler of Russia was the only player to score a win in the final round. In a French opening of ruy lopez variation, the Russian defeated Peter Leko of Hungary in 35 moves.
Both players had started the round with five points and a draw would have meant neither would have a chance for a share of the title. This inspired Svidler to take the clash for a keen-contest.
With Kramnik already drawn his game in a quick draw and Michael Adams of England, overnight joint leader, also drawing his game with Artur Yusupov of Germany, the final result of the tournament depended on Svidler-Leko tie.
The young Svidler, who has been shaping up to be Russia’s next hope, defeated Leko to join Kramnik and Adams, but Kramnik became the overall winner on the strength of a better tie-break.
India’s Anand, however, concluded an eminently forgettable tournament when he drew his last round game against Alexi Shirov, another emerging player hopelessly out of form here.
Anand finished with eight draws apart from the seventh round loss at the hands of Michael Adams. His score of four out of nine was surely is worst in the recent past and more so at a time when his performance in the last seven months has been spectacular.
The world number two played the caro-kann defence against Shirov, another player who went through the tournament winless and finished last with 2.5 points, came up with strange fifth move ne5. But Anand had no problems and the game slowly moved into a queen and pawn ending which was drawn after 45 moves as Anand accepted the offer from Shirov.
Results of the ninth round: Almasi drew with Kramnik, Shirov drew with Anand, Yusupov drew with Adams, Leko lost to Svidler, Ivanchuk drew with Beliavsky.
Final position: 1-3 - Kramnik, Adams and Svidler (6 each); 4 - Leko (5); 5 - Ivanchuk (4.5); 6-8 - Anand, Yusupov and Almasi (4 each); 9 - Beliavsky (3); 10 - Shirov (2.5).

Maradona admires 'trickster' Simeone
MARSEILLE (France), July 6 — Diego Maradona, football’s most famous cheat, saluted his succcessor as Argentina captain and supreme trickster in his own right, Diego Simeone.
Fallen soccer idol Maradona, famous for the ‘hand of god’ goal against England in 1986, was commenting on the Argentina quarter-final against Holland, which the Dutch won 2-1 Saturday.
In the 77th minute Dutch defender Arthur Numan was sent off after tackling Simeone.
For Maradona, there was no doubt about the decision. Cunning Simeone had baited the trap and sent hapless Numan packing.
"Oh what a sly one,’’ commented Maradona, live on Argentina tv. "He let him come to him as if he was going to give him a box of chocolates. Then wham!
"That’s the second player he has got sent off".
Simeone had Manchester Untied midfielder David Beckham sent off in the second round against England.
Simeone won a dubious free kick after he clattered into Beckham, then collapsed when Beckham responded with a flick of the boot to the calf.
Even Simeone’s fellow Inter Milan clubmates have criticised his Oscar performance.
"I know Simeone well, and he was play acting," Italy’s number one goalkeeper Gianluca Pagliuca said of the Beckham incident.
Maradona, full of admiration for his protege, was less impressed by another accomplished Argentina dramatist, Ariel Ortega.
Ortega, wearing the number 10 shirt and hyped as the 'New Maradona, got himself sent off with two minutes to go.
"I can’t believe what he did," said Maradona. "And he was having a brilliant World Cup.’’
Clearly determined to go for the penalty as he tried to round Jaap Stam in the penalty area, Ortega launched himself into a horizontal lunge.
Referee Arturo Brizio Carter of Mexico was unimpressed by the gymnastics and showed Ortega a yellow card for his pains.
But Ortega didn’t stop there. After angry Dutch goalkeeper Edwin Van Der Sar rushed out to confront him for diving, he was felled by Ortega’s head butt. The midfielder was immediately shown a red card.
Dennis Bergkamp settled the match 2-1 in the 90th minute and the Arsenal striker said afterwards: "Ortega’s sending off gave us renewed heart."
Coach Guus Hiddink was delighted to see the back of the Argentina playmaker Ortega.
"We were in trouble after sending off of Numan, but because of the sending off of Ortega we were equal in the number of players."

Ze Carlos to replace Cafu
OZOIR-LA-FERRIERE (France) July 6 — Brazil coach Mario Zagallo appears ready to give 29-year-old Ze Carlos his first cap in tomorrow’s World Cup semifinal against Holland at Marseille.
"He won’t let us down," Zagallo said of Ze Carlos who should replace suspended right-back Cafu.
"I’m a simple man, a peasant. I can’t understand what all the fuss is about," said Ze Carlos after 800 journalists watched Brazil’s training match in which the first team and second-choice drew 3-3.
"Mario Zagallo can count on my fighting spirit to reach the final which I know I won’t play. But I accept the rules," added the Sao Paulo defender.
Zagallo will almost certainly recall Cafu if Brazil reach the July 12 final against either France or Croatia.
Brazil captain Dunga said any of the four semifinalists could win the Cup.
"When you get to this stage of the competition you can write no-one off. Any of the four teams could win the trophy," he said.