‘Pakistan will be on guard against fighting Afghanistan’

Pakistan and Afghanistan play a historic first-ever one-day international between the two countries here on Friday with both captains vowing to make the game a memorable one. “It is a very important game for both countries and we will try to make the occasion memorable with some quality cricket,” Pakistan captain Misbah-ul Haq said. “It is important for countries like Afghanistan to play a top team which will help them improve and we are going to play with our full strength team as they have some good players.” They are “very good fighters,” he added. Friday’s match in Sharjah Stadium — which holds the world record of staging the most one-day internationals with 201 — is fitting because most of the Afghan players learnt the game in Pakistan while staying as refugees after the Soviet invasion of their country in 1979. Afghanistan captain Nawroz Mangal thanked Pakistan for giving them chances. “We thank Pakistan for allowing us to play this one-day and also giving us opportunity to play in their domestic competitions which raised our confidence,” said Mangal, who led Afghanistan to one-day status. “It is a history making match against a top team like Pakistan and we will try our best to put up a good fight in a contest which is a big challenge for us,” said the 27-year-old Mangal, an off-spin bowler. Mangal said his team had prepared well for Pakistan’s spinners Saeed Ajmal and Abdul Rehman who were behind the 3-0 destruction of England in their three-Test series: Ajmal finished with 24 wickets while Rehman took 19. “We have prepped well for Pakistan’s spin duo and I am confident my batsmen will do their best,” said Mangal, adding that paceman Hamid Hassan, who has 24 wickets in 14 one-day internationals, will miss the match through knee injury. They still have Mohammad Nabi, an off-spinner who took five wickets while playing for an ICC Combined XI against England last month and wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Shahzad who scored 51 and 74 in the same match. Pakistan will be further boosted by the return of allrounder Shahid Afridi who will add variety to team’s spin attack. Mangal hoped a sell-out crowd of 15,000 largely Afghan and Pakistan expats, enjoying the weekly holiday here, will show their support. “We want the public to share this historic moment with both the teams,”said Mangal. War-ravaged Afghanistan gained a notable foot up on the world cricket stage by finishing fifth in the 2011 World Cup qualifiers which earned them the right to play one-day internationals. They also won the right to play the third edition of World Twenty20, held in the Caribbean in 2010, by winning the qualifying tournament and then finished with a silver medal in the Asian Games in China in November that same year. Afghanistan, one of the 59 associate members of the International Cricket Council (ICC), are also the title holders of the Inter-Continental Cup meant for the Associate nations. The ICC, which contributes approximately 700,000 dollars a year to help Afghanistan’s development in cricket, has shown great delight in their progress, terming it as “a success story in cricket”. Misbah echoed the sentiments but wants the fast-improving team to play more international matches against test-playing nations to be able to gauge their progress. “Once you play against test teams, only then you can know what type of improvement is required,” he said.

Barcelona beats Valencia to advance to Copa final

Cesc Fabregas scored one goal and set up another as Barcelona beat Valencia 2-0 on Wednesday to advance to the Copa del Rey final against Athletic Bilbao.

Lionel Messi lobbed a long pass that Fabregas chased down and deftly chipped over goalkeeper Diego Alves for Barcelona's 15th-minute opener.And after Sofiane Feghouli left Valencia with 10 men late on after receiving his second booking, Fabregas set up Xavi Hernandez to send Barcelona through 3-1 on aggregate.

The final will pit the two most successful teams in the competition. Barcelona will look to add to its record 25 titles on May 25, while Bilbao aims to avenge its 2009 final loss to the Catalans that denied the club a 24th title.

"I am happy with the Copa campaign that my team has had, but we were playing against the best team in the world," said Valencia coach Unai Emery, who has yet to beat Barcelona in eight tries.

"We had our chances until the second goal but Barcelona is a great team."

Valencia received a setback just before kickoff when leading scorer Roberto Soldado was ruled unfit to play because of the flu. He was replaced by Basque striker Aritz Aduriz up front.

Barcelona, meanwhile, received a boost by the return of Xavi and Alexis Sanchez to the starting 11 and Andres Iniesta to the bench, while Isaac Cuenca and Thiago Alcantara again filled in for the injured Pedro Rodriguez and Sergio Busquets.

Contrary to Barcelona's usual style, Valencia owned possession for the first 10 minutes and made all the attacking plays at Camp Nou stadium.

Feghouli had Valencia's first clear chance when he was played behind Barcelona's high defensive line and sent a left-footed blast into the side-netting in the 12th.

But Messi soon turned the flow of the game in the 15th, lobbing a long-range pass from the other side of the half-way line for Fabregas to run down and lift over Diego Alves.

It was Fabregas' 15th goal of the season in all competitions. At this pace, he should have little trouble breaking his season-best tally of 19 from his time at Arsenal.

Messi almost set up another goal for Barcelona four minutes later after robbing defender Adil Rami, but Diego Alves blocked his shot and Cuenca sent the rebound wide.

Back in control, the Catalan giants settled into Valencia's territory with Fabregas testing Diego Alves with a pair of strikes from inside the box before halftime.

Valencia caught Barcelona flatfooted after the restart, though, winger Jordi Alba and Aduriz drawing good saves from goalkeeper Jose Pinto.

Again it was Messi who put Barcelona back in charge, first firing a shot off a defender that hit the crossbar and then showing a lightning-fast change of foot to squirm through three defenders and flick a shot that Diego Alves dived to parry.

Yet unlike the first half, Valencia responded and Aduriz soon caught Pinto off his line, but Javier Mascherano cleared the danger.

Messi, who has had problems finishing off chances recently and had a penalty blocked by Diego Alves in the first leg, again missed from point-blank range after Alexis had robbed the ball and set him up with only the 'keeper to beat.

Jonas, Valencia's scorer in the first leg, forced Pinto to tip his rising strike over the bar in the 73rd as the game turned into an up-and-down contest late on.

But Feghouli left Valencia a man down from the 76th, and Fabregas rolled Alexis' low cross over to an unmarked Xavi on the right side for his Spain teammate to blast into the left corner of the net in the 81st and seal the series.

Bilbao eliminated third-tier club Mirandes on Tuesday by an 8-3 aggregate score.

Chelsea ready to use Torres as makeweight to fund £50m move for Falcao

Chelsea are planning a raid for Atlectico Madrid striker Falcao and could use Fernando Torres as part of the deal for the Colombian. 

The Blues have been sent club representatives to watch the 25-year-old for the last three months and the move is being pushed forward by manager Andre Villas-Boas who managed the player at Porto.

The Stamford Bridge club are willing to cut their losses on Torres whose record-breaking move to west London has become a nightmare, according to the Daily Star.

The Spaniard has managed three league goals since his move south and could view a return home as the best way to rediscover his form. 

Falcao has had no such problem since moving from Portugal to La Liga side Atletico last summer: he scored 62 goals in 72 games following his move to Europe from River Plate in 2009. 

He bagged 33 in 36 outings under Villas-Boas last season, including 17 in 14 Europa League games for winners Porto to set a new European scoring record.

And he has picked up where he left off last year with another 17 goals in 25 games for Atletico.  

Novak Djokovic Determined To Win ‘Golden Slam’ In 2012

Novak Djokovic is already off to a great start in 2012 after beating Rafael Nadal to win the Australian Open, but it turns out the Serbian tennis star has higher aspirations than that. Much, much higher. According to CNN, Djokovic has his sights set on winning the “golden slam” — all four major tournaments plus Olympic gold — in 2012. “Obviously it will be a hard task to win the ‘golden slam,’ but the thought excites me,” Djokovic said. “It gives me goosebumps and little butterflies in the stomach when I start thinking about the ‘golden slam.’ You have to consistently be successful to be one of the top players in the world, and everything is possible in life.” The golden slam has only been achieved once before, in 1988 by women’s No. 1 Steffi Graf. Djokovic, whose Aussie win last month was his eighth major championship, is confident he can become the first male player to pull it off. Djokovic won the bronze medal in 2008 in Beijing, but he has bigger goals in London this summer. “The Olympic Games is certainly high on my priority list this year,” Djokovic said. “The difference is that I will be representing my country, rather than myself, and that’s something that I am really looking forward to.”

Four held over volleyball match-fixing in SKorea

South Korean prosecutors have arrested four people over alleged match-fixing in professional volleyball, officials said Wednesday. A former player with the KEPCO45 team allegedly took bribes from a gambling broker in return for trying to rig the results of games last year, an official at the prosecution office at the southeastern city of Daegu said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because an investigation was under way. Two other former and incumbent KEPCO45 players have also been arrested for their alleged involvement, the official said. A KEPCO45 official confirmed the arrests, saying his team "feels sorry" for the fans. He wished to remain anonymous citing department rules. The detained broker placed bets on an illegal online gambling website after the results were arranged, the prosecution official said. The outcome of at least four volleyball games last year were rigged, he said. The four people were separately arrested in late January and early February and prosecutors plan to indict them later this month, the official said. The official refused to disclose further details but Yonhap news agency cited the Daegu prosecution office as saying the arrested players told investigators that more players were involved in match-fixing schemes. Last year, South Korea s football league was also hit by a massive match-fixing scandal last year, with nearly 80 footballers and brokers convicted. 

Suarez return fails to inspire Liverpool

Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez returned after a nine-match absence but failed to inspire Liverpool to victory in a cagey 0-0 draw with Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League on Monday. Spurs manager Harry Redknapp, who hoped to fly to the match after the end of the day’s court proceedings in his tax evasion trial, missed the game because of a technical fault that prevented his plane from taking off. He did not miss a great deal of action but his team defended resolutely to leave Anfield with a point after failing to score in the league for the first time for 23 matches. Spurs stayed third on 50 points, seven behind leaders Manchester City and five adrift of champions Manchester United. They also remained seven clear of fourth-placed Chelsea following their London rivals’ 3-3 draw with United on Sunday. Liverpool, who remain unbeaten in the League at Anfield but have drawn eight of their 12 home matches, remained seventh on 39 points, one behind Arsenal. Liverpool enjoyed more possession than Spurs but failed to seriously trouble the visitors, though manager Kenny Dalkglish was happy with the performance. “I’m really pleased with the way the team played. We kept them under a lot of pressure. We just needed the bounce of the ball to go our way and if we’d have got one, I think we would have won it,” he told Sky Sports. Tottenham assistant manager Kevin Bond, in charge at Anfield in Redknapp’s absence, told the BBC: “We had to work really hard and defend for our lives at the end. “We didn’t create many chances but we had the best chance of the match five minutes before the end, and it just was not meant to be. For Gareth Bale’s chance, the goalkeeper stood up well and it was a big moment for us, but a point was a good result for us.” Liverpool striker Andy Carroll had a good opportunity to score after 74 minutes but skied a half-volley over the bar while Suarez headed straight at former Liverpool keeper Brad Friedel from a free kick with his only real chance. Suarez came on after 66 minutes following the end of his suspension which included an eight-match ban for racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra in October and one game for giving Fulham fans the finger in early December. Spurs’ best chance fell to Bale five minutes from time, but the Welsh midfielder hurried his shot and fired straight at Pepe Reina, one of the few attempts the Liverpool goalie had to deal with. There were few real chances at either end and one of the highlights of the first half was when a cat ran on to the pitch and caused a short delay.

Defeated England 'quarrels with Ajmal's action'

In keeping with the tradition of faulting foreign players after English defeat, the British media twisted a quote from the Pakistani spinner s interview in which he referred to his earlier clearance by the ICC. Saeed Ajmal, the 34-year-old off-spinner who took 24 wickets in the 3-0 Test series whitewash of England, was quoted by the British and other western media as that the International Cricket Council (ICC) has allowed him extra leniency, up to 23.5 degrees to bend his arm. "I don t know about my bowling action, but somebody was telling me your action is bad. ICC has allowed me 23.5 because my arm is not good because of an accident, that is why a problem," BBC television showed Ajmal as saying on Monday after being declared man-of-the-series. "Otherwise no problem, straightaway cleared by ICC." Pakistan won the third and final Test here by 71 runs. His bowling action, reported by match officials during a one-day series against Australia in 2009 before it was cleared after remedial work by experts, once again came under suspicions following his career-best 7-55 in the first Test, also played in Dubai. Former England paceman Bob Willis raised suspicions over his  doosra  (second one) -- a ball which turns the other way than a normal off-break -- while England coach Andy Flower said he has his own opinion and left the matter to the ICC. But after Ajmal s claim on relaxation, Flower on Tuesday showed surprise. "If that s the degree, then there s a problem, said Flower when asked about Ajmal s claim of special dispensation. "That s ridiculous." "That is an ICC issue, though. They are there to police the game, and make sure that it is played within the rules, so they ve got to scrutinise his action. "We ve all got our own views, but our job is to combat whoever is put against us, and part of it is also to play the game in the right spirit." Pakistan cricket team management said Ajmal was cleared by the ICC within the permissible limits and they will issue a further clarification shortly. An ICC spokesman said that the game s governing body was looking into Ajmal s comments and that no player has been given permission to allow bending arms beyond 15 degrees.  A Pakistan Cricket Board spokesman meanwhile said that Ajmal is not a native English speaker, and his comments could have taken in the wrong context.   

FIFA pays $250K to families of Egypt riot victims

FIFA is giving $250,000 in aid to the families of victims of the Egyptian football stadium disaster last week. FIFA says it will pay the money into a charitable account opened by the Al-Ahly club. Fans of the Cairo club were among more than 70 people who died in a violent rampage and stampede after a league match between Al-Masry and Al-Ahly in Port Said. FIFA President Sepp Blatter says "many of the victims were so young. They were also a crucial support for their families, who now need help." Police have been accused of failing to protect Al-Ahly fans, who helped lead protests last year against the regime of ousted president Hosni Mubarak. The stadium tragedy fueled renewed protests against Egypt s military rulers.