The Tribune...Sports

	S P O R T	Friday, July 10, 1998
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France down Croatia, enter final
PARIS, July 8 — Defender Lilian Thuram scored two second half goals lastnight as hosts France, reduced to 10 men, beat Croatia 2-1 and reached their first World Cup final .They play Brazil on July 12 at the Stade de France in what will be the first final between the hosts and reigning champions.
What went wrong for Germany?
PARIS, July 9 — An inquest has begun in Germany into the reasons behind their failure to make an impact at the World Cup, but coach Berti Vogts is already at loggerheads with the Bundesliga over the right way forward...
Next World Cup may be shorter
PARIS, July 9 - The 2002 World Cup finals are likely to be up to a week shorter than the current tournament in France, FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said...
Luxurious castle for world champs
PARIS, July 9 — They are the world champions, so they are housed in style. Everthing has been laid on — the 19th century chateau (castle), the heated swimming pool, the vintage Rolls Royce, even the love letters which arrive by the sackload to the Brazilian team's lavish abode in Ozoir La Ferriere, near Paris...
Lilian Thuram a revelation of World Cup
France could become the first team in history to win the World Cup without their forwards scoring in the knock-out rounds...

Soccer fans against the background of the Arc de Trimphe in Paris react to the French soccer team's 2-1 victory over Croatia.
Fielding 'needs improvement'
CHENNAI, July 9 — Indian cricket captain Mohd Azharuddin who arrived here with his victorious side said india had "the nucleus for the future, but there is a long way to go"...
Paris relives liberation day
Paris, July 9 — About 350,000 people converged on Paris’s Champs Elysees, hollering with joy, minutes after France beat Croatia to reach the World Cup final for the first time...

Only victory counts, says Blanc
Paris, July 9 (Reuters) — Laurent Blanc tried to put on a brave face after seeing his dream of playing in the World Cup final shattered by a red card. "Victory is the only thing that really counts," said Blanc...

Dream shattered but Croatians jubilant
Zagreb, July 9 (Reuters) — For Croatia the dream lasted longer than anyone had ever expected...
Australia to bid for World Cup
Sydney July 9 (Reuters) — Australian soccer authorities today made a formal application to host the World Cup in 2006 or 2010...

France down Croatia, enter final
PARIS, July 8 (Reuters) — Defender Lilian Thuram scored two second half goals lastnight as hosts France, reduced to 10 men, beat Croatia 2-1 and reached their first World Cup final.
They play Brazil on July 12 at the Stade de France in what will be the first final between the hosts and reigning champions.
Suffering a goal drought in their last two matches, all France had wondered who was going to make the country’s dreams come true by hitting the back of the net at the Stade de France.
Parma defender Thuram was the unexpected answer. His strikes in the 47th minute, to equalise a goal seconds earlier by Davor Suker, and in the 70th were the first international goals of his career.
Defender Laurent Blanc, scorer of France’s second round golden goal, was sent off in the 74th minute for pushing Slaven Bilic in the face, in what looked a harsh decision.
While the first half was lacking a real spark, the match exploded almost as soon as Spanish referee Jose Maria Garcia-Aranda blew the whistle after the break.
Suker took 28 seconds to blast the ball home and join Italian Christian Vieri and Argentina’s Gabriel Batistuta as the tournament’s top scorers with five goals.

Aljosa Asanovic laid on the long, defence-splitting pass for Suker to control and rifle in left-footed. Thuram had played him onside but was soon to make amends.
Suker’s was the first goal France had conceded in open play in the tournament, and only their second overall after a first round penalty converted by Denmark’s Michael Laudrup.
The Croat supporters in the Stade de France were still celebrating when, one minute and four seconds after Suker had scored, Thuram grabbed his first.
Youri Djorkaeff, much criticised for failing to turn on the style in France’s World Cup matches, laid on the through ball that Thuram rammed home without hesitation.
That was France’s first goal in regular time since the first round — they won the second round clash with Paraguay on a golden goal and the quarter-final wth Italy on penalties.
The match came alive and Thuram made it 2-1 by blasting home left-footed past the diving Ladic after Thierry Henry sent him through.
At half time it had probably been the Croats who could feel happier after weathering early France pressure and coming back into the game near the break.
France had replaced injured midfielder Christian Karembeu, who had looked lively for the first 20 minutes, with young striker Henry in the 31st minute.
Henry created a good chance in the 60th, with Ladic failing to hold his shot but Zidane unable to pounce on it.
Croatia took off captain Boban, who looked to be carrying an injury, in the 65th minute and brought on Silvio Maric. Three minutes later, France replied by switching strikers, with Stephane Guivarc’h off and David Trezeguet on.

What went wrong for Germany?
PARIS, July 9 (DPA) — An inquest has begun in Germany into the reasons behind their failure to make an impact at the World Cup, but coach Berti Vogts is already at loggerheads with the Bundesliga over the right way forward.
Vogts himself is in the crossfire after the Germans crashed out to Croatia 3-0 in Saturday's quarter-final. The mass circulation Bild newspaper said 75.7 per cent of its readers asked in an opinion poll wanted Vogts to resign.
German football is in ruins. But where is the new life to blossom from the rubble? wrote Bild.
England has Owen (18), France has Henryk (20), Brazil has Ronaldo (21). And what did we have? The players with the highest average age, 29.8 years, at the World Cup.
Vogts has pointed the blame at the Bundesliga clubs for not doing enough to promote young talent. His own warning that too many foreign players were being signed at the expense of young Germans had gone unheeded, he said.
But club trainers and managers have now angrily hit back at Vogts, who has called for German clubs to be forced to play at least one under-23 player in their teams.

Bayern Munich manager Uli Hoeness said to blame the Bundesliga for the flight of the German team was nonsense.
"These lamentations annoy me. It would be better for all those concerned to say, 'we are responsible'. They had the allegedly best material, but failed. They can't now blame the Bundesliga clubs."
"The German federation is the richest in the world, it has millions of marks. It should open the coffers and put some money into youth schemes and building sports training schools", Hoeness said.
Forcing Bundesliga clubs to play one under-23 player would be a return to the old days of East German where everything was ordered from above, he said.
Schalke manager Budi Assauer said the problems right at the top of German football.
"Why try to make us responsible when the national team plays to the same old pattern of long, high balls, and has a libero playing behind the defence?" He asked, "What I saw was timid football with not a decent one-two pass in sight."
Assauer said the 18 Bundesliga clubs invest more than $17 million yearly in youth schemes.
However, in view of the money now flowing into the game — now at a record of more than 2 billion marks — this represents a fairly modest share of some 1.5 per cent.
Jupp Heynckes, the recently departed Real Madrid coach, who has been watching the Bundesliga from afar, said in an interview with the Sueddeutsche Zeitung: "What we experienced in France was the actual state of German football."
"The television highlights we see of the allegedly unique Bundesliga does not portray the reality. I wish Berti the patience and support that he needs to reorganise the national team. It will take years."
Among teams who have already seen the need to invest more in promoting home-grown talent are Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, two of the richest German clubs.
Schalke is one team with its own boarding school for young talent, but Assauer said that even here the best players were foreigners. German youngsters did not have the right attitude, he said.
You get 15 year olds coming to us with their tax advisers when the only thing they can do is kick the ball from the corner flag into the penalty area, he said.

Next World Cup may be shorter
PARIS, July 9 (Reuters) - The 2002 World Cup finals are likely to be up to a week shorter than the current tournament in France, FIFA President Sepp Blatter has said.
Blatter said the first round group games would probably be condensed into a shorter period and the tournament being staged in Japan and South Korea, would be limited to around 28 days.
The present finals, which finish on July 12, are the longest ever, lasting 33 days.
"Thirtythree days is really a long period for everybody," he said. "To attract world attention for 33 days is not easy."
Three or four matches a day would have to be played during the early group games in 2002 instead of two as at present and it might be necessary to play more simultaneously.

But he pointed out some teams had had a break of seven days between their first and second matches at the France finals and that it would be easy enough to reduce the gap to four days.
Blatter said 16 teams would be located in Japan and 16 in South Korea for the group games.
The system of moving teams between three different venues for each of their three group games, introduced in France, had proved popular and would probably be retained, he said.
He did not foresee problems with transport, particularly in Japan where bullet trains are in operation.
For the second round, four of the qualifiers would move from Japan to South Korea and four would go the other way.
For the quarter-finals, four more teams would switch countries, two from Japan and two from South Korea.
Blatter said decisions on continental allocations for World Cup finals berths would be taken by the end of the year and that he expected several requests for increased numbers.
He said African fans were already pressing for their continent’s allocation to go up from five to 10 berths and that Oceania was likely to push for its own place. Until now, the Oceania winner has had to go into an intercontinental play-off.
There was also a proposal that two places be reserved for teams which have never qualified for the finals before. The plan foresees a special knockout tournament for teams eliminated in the first round of the qualifiers, he said.
"There are a lot of ideas," Blatter said.
But he said the problem was compounded by the fact that only 29 places were likely to be at stake as South Korea and Japan were both guaranteed berths as hosts and one would almost certainly be reserved, as usual, for the champions.

Luxurious castle for world champs
PARIS, July 9 (PTI) — They are the world champions, so they are housed in style.
Everthing has been laid on — the 19th century chateau (castle), the heated swimming pool, the vintage Rolls Royce, even the love letters which arrive by the sackload to the Brazilian team's lavish abode in Ozoir La Ferriere, near Paris.
If they get lonely, the reigning World Cup champions can simply plug into the sophisticated video-conferencing system which has been set up in each room and talk to family members at home.
Staff at the opulent Chateau De La Grand-Romaine have thought of everything — satellite TV, video game, heated swimming pool, jacuzzi, tennis courts and a Press centre to fuel the media myth.
"This is a wonderful place to stay and our fans have created a mini-Brazil here," a Brazilian Soccer Federation official said referring to the magnificent chateau where his team has been staying.
In the nearby village, locals have also done their bit to make the team feel welcome.
An amateur association of vintage car owners put a Rolls Royce and two Bentleys at their disposal, but the team has yet to use them.
Fans come to pay homage, turning up in their hundreds to see the selecao train in what has been dubbed the little Brazil.
One Italian, smitten with Ronaldo, covered every blank space on a 200-page notebook with the words Ti Amo (I love you) and sent it to express to her idol.
Ambition and the good life remain the key words for the World Cup organisers who included 21 castles in the accommodation list for the competitions 32 teams.
"We thoroughly vetted 80 venues before the competitions to make sure that they would meet the teams needs", said logistics department head of World Cup organising committee Odile Lanceau.
As well as luxury, organisers insisted that hotels were within 15 minutes of a training ground and had a range of facilities including swimming pool, gym, treatment room and jacuzzi.
"We also had to ensure peace and quiet so that teams could prepare calmly for the event. He had to be certain there was no business seminars — or worse, wedding receptions — booked into the hotels diary during the teams stay," Lanceay said.
Not only Brazil, most of the teams had a luxurious stay in the major chateaux in France.
Italy had set up a temporary home at the Chateau De La Tour, a turn-of-the-century castle set on five hectares of parkland north of Paris.
The Dutch team have magnificent views of the Cote Dazure from their palatial hideway near Monaco.
American coach Steve Sampson found Chateau De Pizay on an inspection trip last autumn and immediately fell in love with its six centuries of history, its exotic topiary and its ancient chapel.
Jamaican coach Rene Simoes put his 'Reggae Boyz' into the splendid isolation of Chateau Darc.

He asked the city authorities to stop the town clock from ringing every quarter of an hour during the night and imposed an alcohol ban and a curfew.
While Europeans rolled in luxury, Saudis lived in their own style.
It was not unusual to find their beds outside the rooms, said staff member Marc Bonivert in Sofitel-Aquitania hotel in Bordeaux. The players preferred to sleep on the floor.
The hotel staff also removed alcohol from the mini-bar and code porn channels to ensure the delegation avoided all risky programming.

Fielding 'needs improvement'
CHENNAI, July 9 (PTI) — Indian cricket captain Mohd Azharuddin who arrived here with his victorious side said india had "the nucleus for the future, but there is a long way to go."
The team members with managers, Anshuman Gakewad and Venkat Sundaram, physio Ravinder Chadha and physical trainer, Andrew Kokinos arrived last evening from Colombo after winning the Independence Cup beating Sri Lanka on Tuesday night.
Azharuddin told reporters at the airport that "it is mainly due to team work, we could win the cup. But I single out the record partnership of Sachin and Saurav. Our aim is to blossom at the World Cup".
Reiterating his oft-repeated observation that "we have to improve upon our fielding and bowling", he said "our depth is surely batting and it was proved by Ajay Jadeja and Robin Singh. Even Ajit Agarkar is capable of scoring well".
"Apart from winning tournaments, which is also important, we need to be more strong physically and improve fielding and bowling," the Indian captain said.
Asked for his opinion on the youngsters in the squad, he said: "Everyone did their job well".
On the standard of umpiring in the tournament, in the final in particular, Azharuddin said it was difficult to judge as he was fielding at mid-wicket. He could have given his opinion had he been stationed in the slips, he added.
Manager Anshuman Gakewad refused to be drawn into the controversy saying: "I have no comments on umpiring".
About the performance of teenaged off-spinner Harbhajan Singh, Azharuddin said "No doubt he is bowling well but he has to show better qualities in fielding and batting".
Asked whether the same squad will be retained till the World Cup, considering the recent cup wins, he said: "(Javagal) Srinath is also young and is nursing injury". But the decision to pick players rested with the selectors.
On the exciting final, Azharuddin said: "Though it is a difficult task to chase 307 runs, Sri Lankans were up to it and the tide turned in our favour with quick wickets at the right time".
He was confident India would do well in the coming tournaments starting with the triseries — India, Zimbabwe and the West Indies — in Kuala Lumpur from July 25, a dress rehearsal for the Commonwealth Games in September.
Gakewad said: "It is excellent team work that helped us win. The youth in the team responded well to the demands of the game. Though these are players with potential, one cannot predict on the team composition for the world cup, which is long way off (only in next May)", he added.

Lilian Thuram a revelation of World Cup
By Sir Geoff Hurst
France could become the first team in history to win the World Cup without their forwards scoring in the knock-out rounds.
Once Again their strikers were woeful but who could have predicted the fairly tale of full back Lilian Thuram scoring twice for his country.
What makes it all the more incredible is that he had never found the target for France before his match winning strikes against Croatia.
The World Cup has a habit of throwing up a few surprises with players expected to perform failing to shine and others seizing their chance with both hands.
We all knew Thuram was an excellent player but to score twice in a World Cup semifinal shows the appetite for the big game that distinguishes the world greats.
The Parma defender has been one of the revelations of the World Cup and it will be wonderful to compare his skills with those of the Brazilian Cafu in the final.
France have surprised me by reaching the final and I still don't think they have the firepower to win the trophy.
Of course they have some great players and laurent Blanc and Marcel Desailly are excellent defensively but you are always left wondering where the goals will come from.

Zinedine Zidane is one of the few genuine creative midfield players we have seen in France '98 but his finishing is also little bit suspect.
As for their other celebrated attacking force Youri Djorkaeff, I really can't understand what all the fuss is about.
Each time I have seen him play I have failed to be impressed and he is responsible for a lot of the weaknesses in the French attack.
add hurst
On a number of occasions he picked up the ball in good positions only to take it wide and remove the impetus from the play.
If only France had a finisher of the quality of Davor Suker they could have made it to the World Cup final with a bang, not a whimper.
His goal sparked a dull game of cat and mouse into life just seconds after the restart.
It was a wonderful move and showed what Croatia are capable of when they are feeling positive. Aljosa Asanovic has the skills to open up any defence and his pass to Suker was superb.
The Croatian striker has a wonderful left foot and showed a cool head in front of goal to score with his first chance of the game.
He has proved he is in the top three strikers in the world and it is a complete mystery that Real Madrid have left him on the substitutes bench for most of this season.
If Croatia could have just hung on to that lead for 10 minutes they could have gone on to win the game against such a weak attacking side.
The captain, Zvonimir Bodan, committed the cardinal sin of playing a square ball across his defence when he had plenty of time to clear.
France were quick to take advantage of such generosity and Thuram pulled them level within a minute.
A mistake looked about the only way the French were going to get a goal but psychologically it was a hammer blow for the Croatians.
They went from the euphoria of being in front in a World Cup semifinal to the agony of conceeding a goal within a few seconds and from that moment you always fancied France to pull through.
Again the only concern for them was where the winning goal was going to come from and once again Thuram came up trumps.
You cannot underestimate how important home advantage has been to France's successful campaign.
They are a reasonable team with some good individual but would have struggled even to reach the semifinals if the competition had been staged elsewhere.
Despite the joy of reaching the World Cup final for the first time in their history the victory has been tainted by the mindless action of Blane.
The Croatian defender Slaven Bilic did make a meal of the challenge but a player of Blanc's experience knows that any contact to the face will lead to a red card.
It is insane to push an opponent in the face when you are just a few minutes from the greatest prize in your professional career — the chance to play in a World Cup final.
The referee should not be criticised for his decision because the rules are very clear. The only person who needs to answer a few tough questions in Blanc who has let his team down on the verge of their finest hour.
France has got the final the whole country wanted but I doubt they will be lucky enough to stumble on such an unlikely source of goals again. —PMG

Paris relives liberation day
Paris, july 9 (Reuters) — About 350,000 people converged on Paris’s Champs Elysees, hollering with joy, minutes after France beat Croatia to reach the World Cup final for the first time.
The main avenue of Paris towards the Arc de Triomphe was blocked by the biggest spontaneous celebration since the socialists won power in 1981. French flags were everywhere.
Chants of "We’re in the final, we’re in the final, we’re, we’re, we’re in the final," echoed all over the city. Car horns blared and smiling people of all ages danced in celebration.
In scenes reminiscent of the 1944 liberation of the French capital, youths rode on the roof and wings of cars, waving tricolour flags after yesterday night’s victory.
Honking their horns, cars raced along avenues that had been deserted and abandoned to a few soccer-indifferent roller-skaters during the game which France won 2-1.

"Long live Lilian Thuram," youths chanted as they acclaimed France’s hero, full-back Thuram who scored both goals.
"Thuram, President", and "Jacquet, President", some shouted, bestowing the top job on previously criticised coach, Aime Jacquet. Onlookers cheered from balconies.
"Release Laurent Blanc", was another of the chants, protesting against the sending-off of the French defender for pushing defender Slaven Bilic in the face.
"This is not very Parisian. But we had never made it to the final," said student Emmanuelle Candela, who stopped cars to share her joy with normally staid Parisians.
Train after train disgorged thousands more fans at the Champs Elysees underground station, the trains shaking dangerously as young people jumped up and down in rhythm in the packed carriages.
"We are going to party all night. And if we have to work tomorrow, we’ll work," said engineer Jean-Pierre Lebrun.
Sceptical at the opening of the cup, the host nation has shaken off its soccer torpor and gradually started to believe in its much-maligned team.
"Where are, where are, where are the Brazilians?" groups chanted defiantly, yelling louder as fans in Brazil’s yellow and green colours walked by.
France are to face champions Brazil in the final on Sunday at the Stade de France in Paris. "We’ll beat them," said a man playing his accordion on the street.
Earlier, tens of thousands of young people watched the game on giant screens in several Paris squares.
Thousands crammed the vast Place De L’Hotel de Ville and nearby streets, most of them unable even to get a glimpse of the screen.
Dozens embarked on hazardous climbs up scaffolding, taking over balconies for a better view. A fan, his face wearing tricolour war paint, stood on top of a telephone booth chanting to a crowd: "If you are proud to be French, clap your hands". Everyone clapped.
Good-humoured police tried to keep a channel open for traffic along the square but soon gave up and left cars stranded in the compact crowd.
A stunned murmur of disbelief and boos rose as Croatia scored first just after half time. The boos had not died down before they turned into a clamour of joy when Thuram scored the equaliser a minute later.
Joy exploded again when Thuram scored again to put France ahead, and the crowd held its breath in the last minutes as the Croatians launched a desperate and unsuccessful onslaught.

Only victory counts, says Blanc
Paris, July 9 (Reuters) — Laurent Blanc tried to put on a brave face after seeing his dream of playing in the World Cup final shattered by a red card.
"Victory is the only thing that really counts," said Blanc, whose dismissal in France’s 2-1 victory over Croatia meant he will have to sit and watch when the host nation take on Brazil on Sunday as they aim to win the World Cup for the first time.
The 32-year-old libero, playing in his first and probably last finals, received his marching orders in the 74th minute of yesterday’s game at the Stade de France for pushing Croatian defender Slaven Bilic’s chin with his open hand.
"I’m the only one who’s punished and that’s good," Blanc said. "The whole team might have been punished if we had lost the match because of me being sent off. It would have been awful. I would have felt guilty."
Blanc said he had reacted angrily after Bilic had let himself fall to the ground when the two went for the ball.

"It was tense between us for the whole match," he said. "I pushed him a bit but it was not nasty. He had tried to make the referee think that I had committed a serious offence and I was afraid I might get sent off. That’s why I reacted like that. I was silly but I don’t think it deserved a red card."
Bilic offered a different version: "I tried to block him and he punched me in the face," he said. "I don't care about him. I didn't want him to be sent off but it was his stupid mistake. Let him be punished for it."
French captain Didier Deschamps, who was close to the incident, said he felt the sanction was severe.
"He pushed him on the chest, may be on the chin, and the guy held his forehead as if he had been punched," he said. "Bilic managed to convince the referee but really it wasn’t worth a red card.
"We lose a great player who would have deserved to play a final and who will probably never get another chance," Deschamps added. "All we can do now is win it for him."
After France failed to qualify for the 1994 finals in the USA, Blanc considered ending his international career but changed his mind after some persuasion from coach Aime Jacquet.
"The whole team did a fantastic job and I played my part," Blanc said yesterday. "Playing the final would have been the icing on the cake but never mind."
The libero slot may now be filled by Franck Leboeuf and Deschamps said he had no doubt about the Chelsea player’s ability to take over Blanc’s role.
"Franck’s a brilliant player and he get’s on well with (stopper) Marcel (Desailly)," Deschamps said. "We all trust him and we’re not worried."
But Jacquet said the absence of the towering Blanc might be a problem.
"It will be tough for us without him," he said.

Dream shattered but Croatians jubilant
Zagreb, July 9 (Reuters) — For Croatia the dream lasted longer than anyone had ever expected.
But yesterday night it ended in tears when World Cup hosts France beat Croatia 2-1 to go through to the final against defending champions Brazil.
Fans bedecked in their team’s red and white colours cheered to the final whistle, willing them to equalise. Until Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Germany, few had thought they would even get this far, but defeat was still hard to take.
"The first goal was the key - one minute of celebrations and then, the end," said Igor, 29.
Croatia scored seconds after halftime but France equalised almost immediately through Lilian Thuram after he dispossessed Zvonomir Boban. Thuram scored the winner in the 70th minute.
"It was all Boban’s fault. We conceded two cheap goals, both from defensive mistakes. This is the end. But it was good as long as it lasted," said Zac, 20. "There’s no reason to be sad, we played well throughout the tournament."
Despite the defeat, fans still headed to Zagreb’s central Ban Jelacic square where they waved flags, sang and cheered, just as they had after Saturday’s defeat of Germany.
Some jumped in the fountain, despite the cool weather.
"We did it when they were winning, we are going to do now they’ve lost," said one youth before rushing down the steps and throwing himself into the water.
Television showed similar jubilant scenes from across the country as fans celebrated their team’s performance.
The surprise success in Croatia’s first visit to the World Cup has put the small seven-year-old nation on the map, something the fans are as pleased about as the football.
"I don’t know how many people watched this match but I think people who didn’t know where Croatia was certainly do now," said Daniel Ritz, (20).
The fans now believe the team has to go on and beat the Netherlands in the third place play-off to round off their campaign in style.
"We really must think only about winning this third place because such a chance comes to you only once in a lifetime and it must be taken," striker Davor Suker told Croatian television after the game.
"We have to think what they can do now but tomorrow will be a very hard day, they’ll be conscious of what they squandered. How do you lift them up?" said disappointed coach Miroslav Blazevic. "We squandered something very precious. It would have taken so little to get to the finals, it was our own fault." s

Australia to bid for World Cup
Sydney July 9 (Reuters) — Australian soccer authorities today made a formal application to host the World Cup in 2006 or 2010.
FIFA, the world soccer body, said in Paris it had received the application from Soccer Australia.
England, Germany and South Africa have put in bids to host the World Cup in 2006.
Australian authorities originally said they would apply for the 2010 tournament but said last month that European hooliganism could prompt them to apply for the 2006 competition instead.
A FIFA spokesman in Paris, where the 1998 World Cup is in its final days, confirmed the application had been received.
The spokesman said the bidding process for the 2006 cup has not yet begun so Australia had applied for both.
FIFA said Australia had also bid to stage the 2001 Confederations’ Cup finals and that it had withdrawn its bid to host next year’s under-17 world championships.
It applied to host the youth tournament when neighbouring New Zealand withdrew their bid, but New Zealand have now reapplied to hold the games.