■ Germany
No more robotics for Crouch
Much to the disappointment of England fans, lanky striker Peter Crouch has decided to cut his cult robot dance. In the build-up to the tournament, Crouch achieved instant notoriety with his unique goal-scoring celebration that stole the headlines from Wayne Rooney's broken metatarsal. Even clubbers started "Doing the Crouch" on the dance floors of Britain, mimicking his routine that looked like a creaky version of the disjointed droid C3PO in Star Wars. But Crouch now wants to concentrate on the serious business. "It was a bit of harmless fun at first which seems to have escalated," he told reporters as England prepared for its next match against Trinidad and Tobago tomorrow. "If we win the World Cup maybe you will see the whole team do it but for the moment I don't think I will be doing it again," he said.
■ Italy
Prosecutor points to Cafu
A court prosecutor called for Brazil captain Cafu to be convicted for alleged passport fraud, news reports said on Monday. Cafu and 17 others -- including his wife, AS Roma owner Franco Sensi and former Argentine player Gustavo Bartelt -- are facing charges in the two-year-old case. "We don't know why the news came up now," Cafu said in Berlin. Brazil coach Carlos Alberto Parreira also downplayed the news. "We've been here for four weeks and this came up only today [Monday] ... maybe to try to destabilize us," Parreira said. "We've already talked to Cafu and he is tranquil, he said there's nothing to hide." Prosecutors allege that Cafu and Bartelt used false passports to gain Italian citizenship and join Roma, circumventing rules that limit non-EU players being hired by Italian clubs.
■ Libya
Qaddafi blasts FIFA
Leader Muammar Qaddafi blasted soccer as modern-day slavery and said the millions spent on the World Cup should be spent fighting poverty in developing countries, German sports agency SID reported on Monday. "FIFA has reactivated the slavery system and the trade in human beings from Africa to Europe and America, and from Latin America to Europe," the dictator and avid soccer fan said. "The children of poor countries have become the slaves of the rich ones." Soccer's governing body is not doing enough to fight racism in the game, he added. The Libyan national team have never reached the World Cup, coming closest in the leadup to the 1986 event in Mexico before losing to Morocco.
■ Australia
Cup diet warning issued
Men were warned yesterday that their unhealthly World Cup diets would turn them into "blimps," as the nation's interest in the tournament soared after the Socceroos' victory over Japan. Dietician Karen Inge said men's love of beer and fatty foods would have their waistlines bulging if they did not adopt a healthy regimen over the month-long tournament. Inge said she conducted a spot survey asking about 20 males what they were eating during the event and was concerned about the results. "They were eating about two-and-a-half times their daily energy requirements, including up to 384g of fat -- that's five times the recommended intake," she said. "Aussie men are sports nuts and while they're watching it they like to drink beer and eat this stuff to soak up the alcohol -- it's all deep-fried or sugar-coated," she said. "There's not a fruit or vegetable in sight."
■ England
Rooney no go for Tobago
Wayne Rooney is unlikely to play in England's World Cup match with Trinidad and Tobago, reports said yesterday, following speculation he was set to make a dramatic comeback. British newspapers have reported that Rooney was expected to make a shock appearance from the substitutes bench in tomorrow's Group B game in Nuremberg, where a victory will see England advance to the last 16. But reports yesterday said Rooney's return was unlikely as medical experts who said his foot injury had healed will not fly to Germany to re-assess the player's condition until Friday. Rooney meanwhile has been training hard and was expected to play a full part in yesterday's session at England's idyllic Mittelberg training ground.
■ China
Fan's heart gives in
A Chinese soccer fan suffered a heart attack during a World Cup match following three sleepness nights of heavy drinking and watching the tournament on television, a doctor said yesterday. The 42-year-old man, surnamed Zhang, from Qingdao in eastern China's Shandong Province, became agitated after seeing Portugal miss a goal against Angola, according to newspaper reports. "He spent too long continuously watching the games and he drank too much," said Yin Zuomin, a doctor from the casualty department of Qingdao City Hospital, confirming Zhang's heart attack. "He is still in hospital but the most dangerous period is over," Yin said. Although China did not make the World Cup finals, the tournament is proving hugely popular in the nation of 1.3 billion people, with state-run television broadcasting all the matches.
■ Japan
`Foosball' cake fever wanes
Despite Japan's first-round loss in the World Cup, German confectionary company Jucheim Die Meister plans to increase production in Japan of its popular "Foosball Fever" cakes in hopes of reviving the spirits of hungry fans, a company official said yesterday. The soccer ball shaped tiramisu-type cake is covered in white chocolate, with pentagon slices of black chocolate, and sells for ?525 (US$4.60). The company's 10 storefronts in central Japan sold 500 soccer ball cakes on Saturday, said its spokeswoman Yukari Kimura. But the day after Team Japan lost its first World Cup game to Australia 3-1 in Kaiserslautern on Monday, the storefront stayed quiet. Kimura said most of the consumers of the "Foosball Fever" cakes are women with families. She said she had never before been a football fan herself, but was now afflicted with World Cup fever.
■ Australia
Veteran's wait rewarded
Patience as much as passion is what's required in an Australian soccer fan and 90-year-old Jim Scane has those qualities in abundance. Scane was in Germany to cheer along his side in 1974 and was there this week to see Australia not only score its first World Cup finals goal but actually win a match. Australia, competing in only their second World Cup finals, came back from the dead to beat Japan 3-1. Scane was in the stands at the Fritz-Walter Stadion in Kaiserslautern to witness the Socceroos' comeback. In 1974 Australian fans were such a rarity in Germany that Scane became a celebrity.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but