 |
| |
|
 |
 |
 |
|||||||||||
|
International Roundup Asia re-schedules SARS-affected matchesPosted: Monday April 28, 2003 9:45 AMUpdated: Monday April 28, 2003 12:49 PM KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) -- Olympic and women's World Cup qualifiers as well as Asian club championships that were postponed due to the SARS outbreak were rescheduled during a 10-hour meeting of regional soccer administrators. Asian Football Confederation delegates thrashed out the new schedule during meetings in Doha, Qatar on Sunday and announced Monday that the Asian qualifiers for the women's World Cup will go ahead June 10-22 at Bangkok, Thailand. The tournament had been due to start April 17-30 in Bangkok. The AFC released its proposed new schedule as the World Health Organization said that the worst of the SARS outbreak appeared to be over in Singapore, Hong Kong and Canada, while Vietnam had become the first country to contain the highly infectious respiratory disease. The rescheduling of the Asian women's championship had increased hopes that the women's soccer World Cup will start as planned in China on Sept. 23, although a WHO report that SARS was continuing to spread in China had cast further doubt over the Shanghai-based event. There were eight new fatalities in China and five in Hong Kong reported on Monday, raising the worldwide death toll for severe acute respiratory syndrome to at least 332. Most of the fatalities have been in China and Hong Kong. SARS has infected an estimated 5,000 people in more than 20 countries. AFC general secretary Peter Velappan said the regional authorities placed a "high premium on the health and welfare of the players, officials and football fans." "Health and safety are of the utmost importance and we have agreed that football should not aggravate the already difficult situation of the SARS epidemic," Velappan said in a statement. The AFC also rescheduled the return semifinal in the inaugural Asian Champions League between United Arab Emirates club Al Ain and Dalian Shide of China for August 30. Al Ain had refused to travel to Dalian on April 23. The Champions League finals will be played in the first half of October. In other rejigging, all postponed matches from the first and second rounds of qualifiers for the 2004 Athens Olympics will be played from September, the AFC said. The final round of the Olympic qualifiers will be played between March and May. In case of future delays, the AFC proposed that all the final-round qualifiers be played in one or two centralized venues. SARS threw regional soccer competition into turmoil, and also had an impact at the club level. China delayed the start of its professional soccer, pushing the openers in the three men's leagues back until at least the end of May and pushing the women's league back until June or July. And recently, Aston Villa and Everton in England and Germany's Bayern Munich canceled postseason tours to Asia, and Portugal withdrew from two friendly matches in South Korea and Japan scheduled for June. A string of other sports events have been canceled in the region, including the women's world ice hockey championship and international rugby sevens tournaments in China and Singapore. Iraq coach appeals to AFC to reverse Olympic setbackDUBAI (Reuters) -- Iraq national coach Bernd Stange has called for the Asian Football Confederation (AFC) to clear his team for 2004 Olympic qualifiers after it was denied the chance to play Vietnam because of the war in the country. The German said he "well understood" the AFC/FIFA decision earlier this month to postpone home-and-away qualifiers with Vietnam in April without setting alternative dates. But he said in an interview in Dubai that he still hoped they could be played. "I think we have a strong chance of convincing the AFC to have the qualifiers played some time in June this year," he said. "The spread of the SARS virus in south-east Asia makes our case to the AFC for a fresh date even stronger. "Hopefully, the AFC will relent and our team will be able to play and qualify for the Athens Olympics." Stange, who signed a four-year contract with the Iraq Football Association last year, said he had more pressing problems. "I don't know how many of my players have survived the war, the hunger and thirst. Many of my players were from the Army Club and they had to go and fight when the coalition forces entered Iraq. What happened to them I don't know. "All I know is that a few officials like Hussain Saeed, Amu Baba and Raad Hammoudi have survived. I also had a chance to speak to my captain (Bassem Abbas) on Saturday. "Things don't look too cheerful but we have to make a start from somewhere." Meanwhile, Stange, a top-rated coach in East Germany during the 1980s and a former trainer of Oman national team, said he intended to lobby some of Europe's top clubs to help with an all-star charity match in the UAE for Iraqi children. He added: "We want to find friends who will help in re-building Iraqi football." Denmark call on Moeller for Ukraine friendlyCOPENHAGEN (Reuters) -- FC Copenhagen forward Peter Moeller was on Monday called into the Denmark squad for Wednesday's friendly against Ukraine in Copenhagen. He replaces Schalke 04's Ebbe Sand whose wife gave birth to a son last week. AaB Aalborg defender Brian Priske replaces Thomas Rytter, who has dropped out with a thigh injury. Squad:
Sweden's Mjallby withdraws from Croatia friendlySTOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Christoffer Andersson and Kennedy Bakircioglu have been added to Sweden's squad for the friendly international against Croatia on Wednesday, the Swedish soccer association said Monday.The pair will stand in for midfielders Fredrik Ljungberg of Arsenal and Hansa Rostock's Marcus Lantz. Andersson plays for Swedish first division team Helsingborg and has three caps while Bakircioglu, capped twice, is with the Stockholm-based first division team Hammarby. Ljungberg was excused from the game by Sweden coaches Tommy Soderberg and Lar for German Bundesliga team Hansa Rostock, withdrew on Sunday because of a stomach illness. Celtic defender Johan Mjallby has pulled out of the squad for because of a thigh injury, the Swedish news agency TT reported Monday. The Sweden captain has been replaced by Tommy Jonsson, who plays for Swedish first division team Halmstad and has two caps. Sweden is using the Croatia game as a warmup to its Euro 2004 Group Four qualifying matches against San Marino on June 7 and Poland on June 11. It is third in the group with five points from three games, two adrift of group leader Latvia, which has played the same number of games, while Poland has seven points from four games. Razanauskas out of Lithuania squadVILNIUS (Reuters) -- Lithuania midfielder Tomas Razanauskas, whose goals have helped put the small Baltic nation in with a chance of reaching the Euro 2004 finals, has pulled out of the squad for Wednesday's friendly against Romania. "His club needs him for a key match, and that means he would arrive here too late," a spokeswoman for the national team said Monday. The Akratitos Athens player netted the equalizer in a surprise 1-1 draw with Germany on March 29, and scored from the penalty-spot in a 1-0 victory over Scotland four days later. Revised squad:
Leotar closes in on Bosnian titleSARAJEVO (Reuters) -- Leotar Trebinje won 2-1 at lowly Buducnost Banovici over the weekend to move closer to the Bosnian premier league title in its first season in the top flight. Leotar, one of six clubs from the Serb half of the region who last August joined 14 from the Muslim-Croat half in the first common league after the 1992-5 war, leads the standings on 69 points with seven matches to play. Defending champion Zeljeznicar Sarajevo is second on 66 points after its third away draw in a row, 1-1 at Orasje. Besides the title race, the two leading teams are also set for the two-leg Cup finals at the end of May. Zeljeznicar's city rival Sarajevo thrashed relegated Bosna Visoko 5-0 at home to climb to third on 53 points. It is ahead of Siroki Brijeg, 2-1 losers at Posusje, on goal difference for a spot in the UEFA Cup qualifying round. Celik Zenica and Borac Banja Luka are a further seven points behind in the 20-team league. Leotar was a goal down at halftime after Elvis Cergic scored for the relegation-struggling hosts. It levelled shortly after the re-start after a Dusko Saraba free-kick and Branislav Krunic grabbed the winner 10 minutes before the end. Zeljeznicar took the lead at Orasje courtesy of defender Ervin Smajlagic's spot-kick but Ivo Pejic levelled, also from the spot, after the break. The hosts were reduced to 10 men after Zvonko Zivkovic was shown the red card but Zeljeznicar, who had a goal controversially disallowed just before the end, failed to take advantage. Sarajevo appears to be over the crisis which saw it drop out of the title race in the second part of the championship after Nidal Ferhatovic hit a hat-trick in a 5-0 demolition of Bosna. Siroki Brijeg led at neighbor Posusje before Veljko Dvornik struck at the end of each half to help his team win crucial points in its fight for survival. Both the Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report. |
|
|||||||||
|
|||||||||||
