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Soccer Shorts

■ Australia
No gout for Kewell
A spokesman for Harry Kewell says an infected blister on his foot, not gout, kept the Australia forward out of the "Socceroos'" second-round loss to Italy. Australian teammates told reporters after the match that gout was the reason. "The foot has settled down and it is an infection rather than gout," Kewell's manager, Bernie Mandic, told the Sydney Morning Herald. "His foot got bigger and bigger and the drugs he was on would have made the gout better if it had been that. Unfortunately, if we had played against Ukraine [in the quarter-final] then Harry would not have played a second. The infection got that bad."

■ Germany
Soccer's biggest ever party
Berlin will host what FIFA says is soccer's biggest ever party tomorrow. Berlin's Brandenburg Gate will be the setting for the "Football for a Better World -- From Germany to South Africa" show, which marks the start of the four-year countdown to the next World Cup. The free party is scheduled to run for six hours until midnight and features acts including Sean Paul and Wyclef Jean. South African band Freshlyground will also perform along with several German acts. UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, South African President Thabo Mbeki, and Nelson Mandela will join in via a video message from the 2010 host country. African soccer players George Weah, Roger Milla and Abedi Pele will also be there.

■ Germany
Klinsmann sign pinched
Souvenir hunters made off with a street sign in honor of Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann less that a week after it was erected. Mayor Wolfgang Amann put up the sign himself for Juergen Klinsmann Way, which runs past a sports ground in the community of Geislingen an der Steige where the coach played soccer as a boy. The mayor said on Tuesday that a new sign had been ordered.

■ Germany
Chemical detector in use
Police at Berlin's fan festival have been testing a new device designed to detect chemical and biological threats -- giving it a dress rehearsal for the World Cup final. The 70kg portable device, named Sigis 2, can detect 200 different chemical compounds from a distance of 5km. "It's really doing a job tonight but it is also a practice for the final," said Lars Haase, a chemical engineer for the Berlin police's forensic department. About a million people gathered on the capital's "Fan Mile" on Tuesday to watch as Germany lost to Italy 2-0 in the semi-finals, played in Dortmund. The capital will host the final on Sunday.

■ China
Kung fu abbot to attend final
The abbot of China's ancient Shaolin Temple will fly to Germany to watch the World Cup final at the invitation of FIFA president Sepp Blatter, state media reported yesterday. The FIFA invitation came thanks to the growing influence of the Shaolin Temple and Shaolin kung fu, Xinhua news agency quoted abbot Shi Yongxin (釋永信) as saying. The temple opened a Shaolin "cultural center" in Germany in 2001, Xinhua said. The 1,500 year-old Buddhist temple in China's Henan Province is famous as the birthplace of Shaolin kung fu but is best known in the West as the training ground of David Carradine's main character, Kwai Chang Caine, in the 1970s Kung Fu television series.

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