Al-Ahram Weekly | Sports

		Al-Ahram Weekly Online 14 - 20 February 2002 Issue No.573
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue \| Previous issue \| Site map

Road is clear
ZAMALEK, the only big-name club remaining in the national football cup, will play Ghazl El-Mehalla in the semi-final with a more than decent shot of reaching the final and ultimately hoisting the trophy. With defending champions Ahli and Ismaili, second in the league standings, having crashed out of the competition, Zamalek's chances of recapturing the cup they lost two seasons ago look increasingly good. Adding to Zamalek's odds are that should they reach the final, they will meet either Baladiyet Mehalla or Ghazl El-Suez, both of whom are outside shots at best.
Zamalek reached the semi-final after thrashing Mansoura 3-0 in their second leg quarter-final encounter in Cairo. Zamalek came out on top 2-0 in the first leg in Mansoura which had no answers to Zamalek's scoring punch or the midfield wizardry of Mohamed Sabri, who is slowly returning to form after injury.
Ismaili fell out of the competition in a dramatic fashion after drawing 2-2 with Ghazl El-Mehalla in their second leg match in Ismailia. Ismaili drew 1-1 in their first leg match. It is the second consecutive year Ghazl El-Mehalla has shot down Ismaili in the cup. Last year, they cut short Ismaili's participation even earlier, ousted as they were in the first round.
In the semis, Baladiyet Mehalla will meet Ghazl El-Suez which turned a 1-0 deficit against Tersana in the first quarter-final leg into a 4-0 rout in the second leg.
For the first time in their history, Baladiyet Mehalla reached the semi-final after edging the Arab Contractors 1-0 in their second leg match, following a wild 3-3 draw in the first leg.
Shirt No 10
THE No 10 shirt worn by Pele during Brazil's famous victory over Italy in the 1970 World Cup final will go under the hammer in London in March.
The auction house, hoping to cash in on World Cup fever ahead of this summer's tournament in Japan and South Korea, said the piece of soccer memorabilia was expected to fetch £30,000 to £50,000 ($43,000 to $71,000).
Auctioneer Christie's described Pele's performance in the epic 4-1 win over Italy, in front of more than 100,000 spectators, as "arguably his finest performance on the World Cup stage."
"This shirt is one of the most important pieces of football memorabilia I have ever had the pleasure of offering for sale," said Christie's soccer specialist David Convery in a statement.
The shirt is being sold by former Italian international Roberto Rosato, who was given the shirt by Pele in a swap after the final whistle in Mexico City's Azteca Stadium on 21 June 1970.
Tension over a cup
THE age-old tensions between Anglophone and Francophone factions in African soccer have come bubbling to the surface in a row over the wording on the new-look trophy used at this year's African Nations Cup.
The newly-designed spiral-shaped African Nations Cup trophy was supposed to be used for the first time in this tournament. But the trophy was hurriedly sent back to its European designers after Anglophone Confederation of African Football (CAF) members complained that the wording on the prize was only in French and not in English as well. A replica of the five kilogram gold trophy was used at Sunday's final.
"The new trophy is back with the designers after an executive committee member pointed out that the name on it was only in French even though the two official languages of CAF are English and French," a CAF official told AFP.
"CAF, therefore, had no choice but to send the trophy back to its Swiss-Italian designer in Switzerland for the correction to be made. We will take custody of the trophy later this year."
Relations between Anglophone and Francophone bodies within CAF have often been highly sensitive, with each faction jockeying for a greater say in how soccer on the continent is run.
Presidential apology
MALI President Alpha Oumar Konare has apologised to Cameroon's soccer team after its goalkeeper coach Thomas Nkono was handcuffed by overzealous police before the African Nations Cup semi-final between the defending champion and the host nation. Konare, who watched Mali lose 3-0, went to the Cameroonian changing room at Bamako's March 26 Stadium after the match to apologise for the incident.
The former World Cup goalkeeper was punched to the ground, handcuffed and carried off the pitch by at least 10 policemen. Nkono, who played for Espanyol in Spain and was Cameroon's goalkeeper at the World Cup finals in 1982 and 1990, said he was still angry over the incident but had accepted the apology.
He was wearing bandages on both wrists but attended a light Cameroonian training session after the emphatic semi-final triumph.
Nkono was accused by the policemen of "dropping magic" on to the pitch when he walked out on to the field some 90 minutes before the start of the match.
African challenge
ISSA HAYATOU, president of the African Football Confederation (CAF), is poised to challenge Sepp Blatter for the most powerful job in soccer. Earlier this week Hayatou met International Olympic Committee (IOC) members closely tied to soccer to gauge reaction to his declaring his candidature for president of FIFA, soccer's governing world body. Hayatou is believed to have the support of Lennart Johannson, president of UEFA, and the powerful South Korean FIFA vice president Chung Mong Joon.
Sources close to Chung say he is keen to have someone run against Blatter, who is under pressure from members within FIFA's ruling executive committee over the state of FIFA's finances following the dramatic collapse of a marketing group which was sponsoring the World Cup for clubs.
Blatter, former secretary-general of FIFA, took over as president four years ago after an acrimonious election battle with Johannson. The burly Swede was backed by Hayatou and Chung, but Blatter outmanouevred Johannson to win. The election was marred by allegations of vote buying on the eve of the election.
Blatter confirmed last month he would stand again, claiming that he had received more than 100 letters of support from soccer associations across the world. Sources close to Blatter said Hayatou had made an agreement with the FIFA president not to stand against him in May but that he had been pressured into changing his mind.
Milutinovic ill
THE Chinese soccer team arrived in Hong Kong this week to take part in an exhibition tournament but without coach Bora Milutinovic who was resting in a Chinese hospital after suffering from a mild case of pneumonia.
The Yugoslav coach is regarded as a hero on the Chinese mainland after masterminding China's first appearance in a World Cup finals. He became unwell after returning from a recent trip to Los Angeles where he saw his former team, the United States, defeat Costa Rica 2-0 to win the Gold Cup tournament there.

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