■ 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.
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