Blatter: Qatar World Cup in summer, no co-hosting

LONDON: The 2022 World Cup in Qatar will be played in the summer as originally planned and will not be co-hosted with neighbouring countries, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said.

Blatter, reiterating comments made by football’s governing body two weeks ago, said there were no plans to stage a winter World Cup and any request to do so would have to come from the Qatari hosts who have already said they plan to stage the event in summer.

“Everything is settled now for summer and with all 64 matches in the territory of Qatar,” he told the BBC in an interview.

“In the bidding documents it was clearly established that the executive committee reserved the right to change anything in the bidding process, but here in this case it must come from Qatar.

“Qatar has not moved for the time being. I think for the time being this matter is on ice because we have just signed in the last days the final documents.”

Qatar were chosen as hosts in December, winning a contest also featuring Australia, Japan, South Korea and United States.

Their bid was based on a summer World Cup using air-conditioned stadiums to combat the desert heat.

Despite this, there has been wide support for a winter World Cup with Franz Beckenbauer and UEFA president Michel Platini backing a January-February tournament.

Platini also suggested a “World Cup in the Gulf” with Qatar sharing matches with neighbouring countries.

Blatter denied supporting a winter tournament himself and said he was impartial, although he feared a winter tournament could clash with that year’s Winter Olympics.

“I’m not in favour of one or the other although January and February would be in conflict with the IOC (International Olympic Committee) of which I’m a member.

“Who said first we should play in winter? It was Franz Beckenbauer, secondly Michel Platini, thirdly it was the professional players’ union, FIFPro.” 

  

Big signing Torres taunted, substituted in Blues debut

LONDON: Fernando Torres had a nightmare Chelsea debut against his former club.

The £50mil Spaniard was substituted on 65 minutes and taunted by Liverpool fans.

Raul Meireles hit the Kop winner and boss Kenny Dalglish could not resist a dig at Torres.

“I do not think any of their forwards had a day which they will be happy with,” said Dalglish.

“Our goalkeeper did not have too much to do because the players in front of him defended brilliantly.

“He (Torres) had one shot on target when Jamie Carragher did a fantastic block tackle but I’m not here to talk about somebody else’s players.

Reds fans chanted ‘You should have stayed with a big club’ when Torres was substituted.

Dalglish added: “Our supporters are entitled to their opinions and know where the players’ loyalties lie. They have to show respect to this club.

“The most important people are the people still at Liverpool and they always will be. Whatever someone else wants to do with their life, that’s their choice.

“The personnel of the opposition isn’t important to me. If Carlo Ancelotti was playing up front for Chelsea, I’d still have wanted three points.”

Just 10 days ago, Liverpool’s future looked gloomy as Torres agitated for a move before the transfer deadline. But suddenly things are looking up for Dalglish and company.

Wins over Stoke and Chelsea have lifted Liverpool to within six points of the top four and new signings Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll, drafted in to replace Torres, have yet to start for the Reds.

Liverpool’s recent upsurge in fortunes has done Dalglish’s chances of turning his short-term job into a more permanent one but the Scot was quick to play down such talk.

“I’m only doing what I said I would come in and do, which is help,” he said.

“I’ll never stand in the way of progress at this football club. I have never had a conversation with the owners beyond the conversation I had when I came in.

“That’s where we stand at the moment and until there is more to discuss – that is where we are.”

Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher insisted Torres could yet be a success with Chelsea after helping spoil the striker’s debut.

“Good players come and go. I’ve played against plenty of former Liverpool players going back to Robbie Fowler,” said Carragher.

“Torres is one of the best in the world but he’s not with us now. We’ve got our own job to do and that’s what we did.” 

  

Dortmund have nothing to fear now, says Mueller

BERLIN: Bayern Munich forward Thomas Mueller said on Sunday that Bundesliga leaders Borussia Dortmund have nothing to fear from the defending champions after his team’s shock 3-2 defeat at strugglers Cologne.

Despite their goalless draw with Schalke on Friday, Dortmund are 12 points clear at the top of the table, 15 ahead of Bayern.

The defending champions did themselves no favours as they threw away a 2-0 half-time lead to suffer a 3-2 defeat at relegation-threatened Cologne on Saturday, with striker Milivoje Novakovic scoring two second-half goals.

Bayern were left shell-shocked by the defeat, while coach Louis van Gaal sat stunned on the Munich bench long after the final whistle.

“It is hard to express how disappointed we are. Dortmund have absolutely nothing to fear from us at all,” Mueller told German daily Bild.

“They can lose any games they want to and we also just throw points away. It was like we came out for the second half having taken sleeping tablets.

“We have just ruined out entire season. If we keep wasting our chances like that, we might as well talk about the relegation battle as much as the title hunt.”

With Bayern’s rivals Bayer Leverkusen also losing, 1-0 at Nuremberg, and Mainz drawing 1-1 with Werder Bremen after conceding a late equaliser, Dortmund’s domination of the German league shows no sign of abating.

  

Wolfsburg sack former England boss McLaren

BERLIN: Former England manager Steve McClaren was sacked yesterday by Bundesliga side Wolfsburg after just seven months in charge with his side just one point away from the relegation zone.

The 49-year-old became the first English manager to coach in the Bundesliga last August, but McClaren has been dismissed in the wake of Saturday’s 1-0 defeat at Hanover, when he criticised star player Diego for missing a penalty.

McClaren’s co-trainer Pierre Littbarski will take over as caretaker coach.

“We were no longer sure that we could work with Steve McClaren until the end of the season with some stability,” said director of sport Dieter Hoeness in a statement.

“We have tried to make things work for as long as possible, but we have lost faith that we can bring success.”

Having coached FC Twente to last season’s Dutch title, McClaren took charge of the 2009 Bundesliga champions before the start of the season.

But his team have struggled all season.

Star striker Edin Dzeko was sold to Manchester City in January and the final straw came in Saturday’s defeat.

McClaren slammed Diego for disregarding the English coach’s order to let Germany striker Patrick Helmes take an 80th-minute penalty on Saturday, which the Brazilian then missed.

“The players argued about it like kids in a playground,” said Hoeness. 

  

Buffon gets recall to Italian squad

ROME: Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was recalled to the Italy squad for tomorrow’s friendly against Germany in Dortmund, less than a month after making his injury comeback.

Buffon has not played for his country since a herniated disc in his back forced him out of Italy’s first match at the World Cup last June.

But having made his injury return in January for Juve, he has earned an immediate call-up to coach Cesare Prandelli’s squad.

The major surprise was a first selection for Inter Milan’s Brazilian-born midfielder Thiago Motta who has long been a naturalised Italian.

He is one of three Inter players in the squad alongside transfer window signings Giampaolo Pazzini and Andrea Ranocchia.

Antonio Cassano also received his first call-up since his move to AC Milan having missed out on Italy’s last friendly in November as he was suspended by his then club Sampdoria.

The squad:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Salvatore Sirigu (Palermo), Emiliano Viviano (Bologna)

Defenders: Davide Astori (Cagliari), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Mattia Cassani (Palermo), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Andrea Ranocchia (Inter Milan)

Midfielder: Alberto Aquilani (Juventus), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Sebastian Giovinco (Parma), Stefano Mauri (Lazio), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Thiago Motta (Inter Milan), Antonio Nocerino (Palermo), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria)

Forwards: Marco Borriello (Roma), Antonio Cassano (Milan), Alessandro Matri (Juventus), Giampaolo Pazzini (Inter Milan), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal).

  

Ronaldinho scores his first goal for Flamengo

RIO DE JANEIRO: Ronaldinho scored his first goal for Flamengo as Corinthians, in mourning over the death of a young colleague and on the receiving end of violent protests over a shock Libertadores Cup exit, appeased angry fans with a 1-0 win over Palmeiras on Sunday.

Brazilian champions Fluminense squandered a 2-1 lead and lost 3-2 to Botafogo in other matches in Brazil’s state championships.

Corinthians’ victory in the Sao Paulo derby came after three days of violent protests following Wednesday’s upset by Colombia’s Deportes Tolima in the preliminary round of South America’s elite club competition.

Ronaldinho opened the scoring when he converted a penalty in Flamengo’s 3-2 win over Boavista.

Teenager William Morais was killed in the early hours of Sunday trying to resist a mugger in the city of Belo Horizonte where he was on loan to America-MG.

Right back Alessandro scored the goal that may begin to heal Corinthians’ wounds seven minutes from the end of the Paulista state championship match.

Goalkeeper Julio Sergio kept the result safe with some brilliant saves including a remarkable last-minute stop at point blank range from Kleber.

“Because of what we were going through and the importance of a victory, this was without doubt the best match of my career,” said the 26-year-old keeper.

Corinthians were without rested former Brazil players Ronaldo, the team’s captain, and Roberto Carlos whom fans hold mainly responsible for the Libertadores Cup debacle.

  

Bitter rivals Celtic, Rangers brace for seventh clash

GLASGOW: Celtic and Rangers insis-ted yesterday that their rivalry remains as intense as ever despite the two Old Firm rivals having to face each other seven times this season.

Sunday’s Scottish Cup fifth round 2-2 draw at Ibrox guaranteed another match between the Glasgow giants with a Scottish Premier League fixture at Parkhead on Feb 20 to come before the Cup replay on March 2 and the League Cup final three weeks later.

Celtic boss Neil Lennon joked that it would be “absolute torture” to face Rangers so many times.

“I think sometimes it can be over-egged a bit but it’s just the way the fixtures have turned out,” Lennon added.

“These are the games you want to play in when you’re involved with the Old Firm. These are the games that define you.”

Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist said the number of times the sides would clash wouldn’t take the shine off the fixture.

“It’s amazing and we’ll get the same hype before it and we’ll be sitting here talking here after it because, and I don’t care what anyone says, they’re wonderful occasions,” he said.

“I’ve been lucky enough to be involved in certainly a lot more than most and I still excited and thrilled to bits about them.”

Lennon praised the spirit of his Celtic side as they twice came from behind to seal a 2-2 draw with Rangers in Sunday’s fiercely-contested tie at Ibrox.

“I thought we were brilliant, absolutely brilliant,” said Celtic boss Lennon.

“They played with a lot of character and self-belief and scored two cracking goals and created a lot of chances.

“We were in control of the game, even when Rangers got the penalty we were the dominant team.”

Rangers assistant manager Ally McCoist was frustrated that his side hadn’t made the most of their extra man advantage in the second-half.

“The important thing at half-time was we kept our discipline and we didn’t go chasing the game as we were in front,” McCoist said.

“But at the same time there is a very fine balance and I don’t think we got that balance right because I thought we sat back a little bit too much second-half rather than go and force the issue.”