|
JAMAICA GO BOUNTY HUNTING
Jamaica forward Paul Hall has told his teammates that they have to forget about their unlucky 3-1 loss to Croatia and concentrate on Sunday's make-or-break match against group favourites Argentina. Encouraged by the South Americans' narrow win over Japan, Rene Simoes' squad will be going for the throat in Paris, promised the Portsmouth star.
Even in the qualifying stages the fans have been phenomenal and they gave us a lift,'' he said. ''But on such a big stage as this you've got to lift yourself again. Croatia did and we didn't. We've got to attack Argentina and not give them any respect - or at least not give them as much respect as we did Croatia. We've got to really have a go at them because if we lose, we're going home.
Jamaica believe the Croatia game swung on two dramatic incidents within a 60-second period just after halftime. Robert Prosinecki scored in the 53rd minute with what everyone who saw it is convinced was an attempted cross and, in the next attack, Deon Burton fluffed a golden opportunity to equalise. Midfielder Fitzroy Simpson said: ''If Prosinecki meant that, it was a world class goal. But a goal's a goal and I would take that any day. Deon had a great chance, I don't think he knew how much time he had.''
Hall added: They were three terrible goals to concede. If you give teams like Croatia chances like that, they will crucify you. If Deon had scored, that would have changed the game again. 'If' is a big word, but if we had scored that second, I think it would have been a different outcome.
DEL PIERO'S TELLY ROW
Italy striker Alessandro Del Piero is at war with Italian TV station RAI over a clip of film that they say shows him not celebrating with the rest of the team after Roberto Baggio's late equaliser against Chile last week.
"I was deeply disappointed with the way some of the media - not the written media - covered the way I reacted," said the Juventus striker, who missed the game with injury and watched replacement Baggio make one goal and score the other. He claims that the clip used wasn't shot as the ball went into the net: "They showed shots of me four minutes after the goal and then suggested I wasn't celebrating. What am I supposed to do, keep my arms in the air until the end of the match?"
But RAI are defended the pictures, a spokesman claiming: "One of our cameramen caught an image which was of journalistic interest. Five seconds after Baggio's goal, the whole Italian bench apart from Del Piero were on their feet."
GARY LINEKER is Italy striker Filippo Inzaghi's hero. The Juventus forward, who is just as lethal as the former England man around the six-yard box, said: ''We're both goalscorers and have some characteristics in common. He was great in the penalty area and there's no doubt I'd like to score some of the goals Lineker has scored.''
CHICKEN SUPREME
A special edition of Footix, the tournament's rooster mascot, is on display at a Paris hotel throughout the finals and is available to buy for a mere �230,000. Designed by Paris jeweller Marc Princ as the showpiece of his Footbijoux collection, the bird weighs 11lbs and the ball he is kicking is covered with four-and-a-half pounds of gold and 40 carats-worth of high-quality diamonds.
GET THE PIERRE IN
Patrick Kluivert has been banned for two matches after his weekend sending-off, opening the way for Nottingham Forest striker Pierre van Hooijdonk to play for Holland against South Korea on Saturday. The 28-year-old partnered Dennis Bergkamp in Holland's latest practice session, but coach Guus Hiddink insisted that the training ground combination did not mean the two English-based stars would be used together in Marseille. But Hooijdonk said: ''I hope it does. Certainly because of the suspension my chances are better.''
Kluivert is banned after having a protest at his dismissal against Belgium thrown out. Hiddink wrote to FIFA pointing out the circumstances surrounding the red card for the striker, who claimed he was provoked into elbowing opponent Lorenzo Staelens. But a FIFA spokesman said he had wasted his time: ''When a ban is for less than three matches, there is no appeal possible, according to the regulations.''
WINGER Marc Overmars sat out Monday's two-hour workout, but Hiddink insists he isn't seriously injured. ''He's feeling the effects of a few hard Belgian tackles,'' said the coach. ''Belgium worked hard on him. Referees must be careful to protect such good and attractive players.''
YU'VE GOT TO LISTEN TO ME
Yugoslav coach Slobodan Santrac couldn't believe how poorly his star-studded side played against Iran. If it hadn't been for a serious mistake by inexperienced young goalkeeper Nima Nakisa 18 minutes from the end, Iran would have taken at least a point from Sunday's match and Santrac knows they must play a lot better to have a hope against Group F favourites Germany. ''The players just did not do what I told them to,'' he snapped.
�IS THAT GOOFY WEARING NO. 9?'
Even Uncle Walt couldn't better this script� A Norwegian charity arranged a dream trip to Disneyland Europe for 300 kids from the Rio de Janeiro slums, and it got even better when they �bumped into' the entire Brazil squad. Heroes like Ronaldo, Roberto Carlos, Denilson and Cesar Sampaio happily signed the starry-eyed urchins' T-shirts.
SALAS' LIMP EXCUSE
Chile striker Marcelo Salas limped out of a practice match against the South Americans' reserves after just five minutes with a niggling groin strain, but is expected to be fit to meet Austria tomorrow. Team doctor Eugenio Valdecantos said: ''It's a small contraction which doesn't need any special examination, just a little rest and anti-inflammatory treatment. There are no problems for the game.''
LUCK DESERTS SAUDIS
Security has been stepped up around the Saudi Arabian team after ten of their rooms were burgled, thieves making off with valuables worth around �7000. The break-in was discovered when the Saudis returned to base after losing 1-0 to Denmark on Friday. A spokesman for the French World Cup organisers said: ''We've doubled security forces around the team. We're not sure if they are just unlucky or if it is something else.'' The Saudis have since moved to another hotel.
|
 |
WORLD CUP DIARIES
365's Philip Cornwall reports from within France 98
|
"NO TICKET holder shall take into the stadium where a match is played... any camera or photographic apparatus of any description. The tickets shall become void... if passed on, with or without payment."
Every bar in France must have a no smoking area. As most of the clientele smoke, the solution is portable signs, which can be moved around to wherever someone happens to have not lit up yet. Indeed, French support for the EU is, in part, founded on a refusal to enforce all the regulations which emanate from Brussels. The ones that have us British up in arms, the French just ignore. So far, the World Cup rules have been applied with the same lax attitude.
You are free to take cameras - as I have, twice, with no problems - into grounds. The rule quoted above (sent to every ticket holder as part of the regulations of the organising committee) exists to prevent anyone without official accreditation taking pictures with the intention of selling them; it does not exist to stop you getting a holiday picture of yourself with a bunch of Chileans, or of the back of someone's head as Roberto Baggio takes a penalty, or even one of Mr and Mrs Bobby Gould. You can even buy instant cameras inside the grounds.
And so it is with the other regulations. In Bordeaux and Montpellier, touts at least every other one of them English - mingled unhindered with fans outside the grounds. Familiar faces to travellers to Italia 90, Euro 92, USA 94, or just a big match at Wembley, they carried on their business sometimes just a few yards from policemen. What would it take to get the anti-touting legislation enforced? The only French anger so far at those selling tickets illegally is directed at those companies who have sold bogus packages, for fear they will restart the ticket allocation row. Those the ticketless more conventionally turn to, the touts, aren't really criticised.
Why? Firstly; they are redressing the worst of the allocation problem, helping to create a partisan mood in every ground and keep empty spaces to a minimum. Secondly; for those Japanese fans let down in their thousands by travel agents, the touts were their only hope. The libertarian view of the touts is as businessmen providing a service, I prefer to see them as sponging middlemen who undermine sadly necessary security measures and lend a fig leaf of credibility to a flawed ticket policy. Yet much as I despise the touts, their activities have enhanced the atmosphere. People have bought from them with confidence, because those carrying tickets bearing other peoples' names are not being stopped (as far as I know, I do not look like a Mademoiselle Atkinson - the name on the ticket I used to get into Italy v Chile).
In spite of the lack of police action, the touts' pickings haven't been universally rich. Perhaps the advance publicity has worked: very few Italians had turned up in Bordeaux on the off chance, so once the Chileans' demands had been met, tickets for that game were offloaded cheap, at face value even, to Scots and Norwegians who had arrived early for today's match.
TOUT AND ABOUT
Paris has become South London sur la Seine, as if the cast of Only Fools and Horses had been transported across the channel for another Christmas special. Del Boy-style touts whisper and nod from under the awnings of street cafes, but one admitted: It was a slow first week. We considered packing it up. I buy and I sell but I don't want everything, just England and Japan. The Japanese companies are bringing hundreds of them over here, but there aren't enough tickets for them.
Nippon meets Peckham could be the culture clash of an already confusing tournament, but the real money, of course, is to be made from England matches. Our tout added: It's chaos out here, there's no way the French are going to impose strict security and any local who's got a ticket is willing to sell it. I just worry that England fans get ripped off. A tout with a conscience - surely a first.
Further north, appropriately, Scallies have replaced Cockneys. As Danish fans poured out of Lens' Felix Bollaert after their win over Saudi Arabia, they were met by Mancunians and Scousers selling Denmark scarves. Business, given that the Danes were already covered in red and white from head to toe, was not brisk, even less so for the lone lad from Buxton who had cornered the Saudi Arabian concession.
|
|
News 9 
