Newsday 7 June 2014

The big rush for gold / 22
OH eye derby bragging rights / 22
SPORT
NewsDay
saturday june 7, 2014 21
Messi seeks ultimate prize
RIO DE JANEIRO — After a spectacular
haul of trophies with Barcelona,
Lionel Messi has a chance
to lead Argentina to glory on the
World Cup football finals stage and
build on his reputation as one of
the all-time greats.
The four-times World Player of
the Year has won a glittering array
of club silverware and has established
himself as one of the finest
footballers to grace the game,
but some believe he must win the
World Cup before he can be hailed
as a true great.
Many others believe, at the
age of 26 — he turns 27 during the
tournament on June 24 — he already
has.
Messi is inevitably compared
with Diego Maradona, who inspired
the nation to victory at the
1986 World Cup in Mexico, and
will travel to Brazil with considerable
expectation on his shoulders.
A lot will depend on how well
he copes with the pressure and
whether he shrugs off an out-ofcharacter
indifferent spell towards
the end of the Spanish season.
At Barcelona, he was a carefree
youngster who came through
the youth ranks earning plenty
of praise, but it never went to his
head.
He enjoyed playing football,
that was his outlet to express himself
and his confidence on the
pitch was in marked contrast to his
generally shy personality.
Is Rooney the lead?
RIO DE JANEIRO — More than a decade
after he made his England debut as a
fearless and prodigiously-talented
teenaged tear-away, it is still hard to
find a consensus on Wayne Rooney’s
value to his country.
Is he the world-class talisman
upon whom several England managers
— as well as thousands of travelling
fans — have invested their hopes
of overdue success?
Is he merely a good player whose
intermittent brilliance exposes the
mediocrity of many of his international
teammates?
Or is he the English enigma — perhaps
even underachiever — who has
caused so much frustration at major
tournaments?
What is clear is that at the age of
28 and with 90 caps and 38 goals behind
him, Rooney owes England a big
World Cup in Brazil.
The Liverpool-born striker might
have won Premier League and Champions
League titles since joining Manchester
United from Everton in 2004,
but his England career has no obvious
mark of distinction.
He is even waiting for his first goal
at a World Cup.
In Germany in 2006, Rooney had
only just overcome a foot injury and
was evidently lacking in match fitness
when his temper boiled over and he
was sent off for stamping on Ricardo
Lionel Messi (right) evades a tackle from a Trinidad and Tobago player during a friendly match played this week
Whether there were millions
watching around the world, it
didn’t seem to matter to him as he
was self-absorbed in outwitting
the opposition with his trickery.
Now in his mid-twenties and a
father to an infant son, he carries
the responsibility of being the talisman
for Barcelona and he is at a
club where the fans worship him
for what he has already delivered.
It is different story for the Albiceleste.
During a fruitful qualifying
campaign, when he netted
Carvalho as England went out on penalties
to Portugal in the quarter-finals.
“Don’t kill him,” Sven-Goran
Eriksson told the media afterwards,
as expectation and disappointment
collided.
In South Africa in 2010, the frustration
of life with England — and another
pre-tournament injury — again got to
the forward. At the end of England’s
stultifying 0-0 group-stage draw with
Algeria, Rooney said into a TV camera
as he walked off: “Nice to see your
own fans booing you.” He later apologised
for “any offence caused”.
Rooney couldn’t take part in England's
first two matches at Euro 2012
because he was suspended after being
red carded during the final qualifier
against Montenegro. He returned
to score the winner against Ukraine
but could not lift his teammates in the
quarterfinal with Italy which ended
with another penalty shootout defeat.
“Rooney only plays well in Manchester,”
was former England coach
Fabio Capello’s damning assessment.
Even the one tournament that
Rooney has graced — the 2004 European
Championship — has become
strangely tainted over the years by
the subsequent feeling of unfulfilled
potential. So after he has covered his
pale-white face in factor-50, which
Rooney will turn up beneath the Brazilian
winter sun in June? — Reuters
10 goals, Argentines warmed to
him, but still Messi has to measure
up to Maradona.
The former Argentina captain
and coach is an idol in his native
country as many identify with
him, the boy who emerged from
the slums and restored national
pride, notably with the two goals
that knocked out England in the
quarterfinals in Mexico in 1986.
An attack-minded Argentina
generally play with Messi alongside
close friend Sergio Aguero in
Fabregas focused on Cup,
not Chelsea — Pedro
RIO DE JANEIRO — A transfer of
Cesc Fabregas from Barcelona to
English club Chelsea will be “a
pity” for his current club, his Barcelona
and Spain teammate Pedro
Rodriguez said on Thursday.
“I’ve not talked with Cesc as
yet. He’s a very good player for us.
If he leaves it would be a shame
for Barca,” Pedro said as Spain
prepared for a World Cup football
warm-up friendly in the United
States capital against El Salvador
today.
Barcelona defender Gerard
Pique had let the cat out of the
bag over a supposed £33 million
($45 million) move by Fabregas
while chatting with Spain manager
Vicente del Bosque at a Press
conference in Washington.
His remark was picked up by a
Spanish public television microphone.
No club was mentioned,
but Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho
has confirmed his side's
interest.
It’s an unwelcome distraction
as Spain prepare for their World
Cup title defence, but Pedro said
he didn’t think any tension would
linger between Fabregas and
Pique.
“They are calm about it,” he
attack and Barca teammate Javier
Mascherano controlling play in
the middle.
“The team is looking good and
we are getting on well together but
in a World Cup anything can happen,
it is very difficult,” Messi said
in the build-up to the finals.
“The games at the World Cup
are totally different. First of all the
atmosphere is not like anything
else. While the Champions League
is great, the World Cup is special.”
— Reuters
said.
“It was an awkward situation, I
don’t know if it will affect them.”
Although Pedro thought it
would have been better “if the
comments hadn’t been made”,
he said Pique and Fabregas had
turned their attention to Brazil.
“Now they are dealing with
what they need to deal with,” he
said.
Spain and Chelsea defender
Cesar Azpilicueta said he’d heard
nothing official about a move.
“But Cesc is a great player and
has a lot of Premier League experience,”
he said. “I think great
players are always welcome at
great clubs.”
Fabregas left Barcelona’s academy
to join English club Arsenal at
the age of 16 in 2003 and quickly
became the youngest player and
goalscorer in the North London
club’s history. He won the FA Cup
in 2005 and was named captain in
November 2008, but returned to
Barcelona three years ago.
“He is a special player with
great vision,” Azpilicueta said.
“And he can play in various positions.
At Chelsea, we don’t have a
player with these characteristics.”
— Reuters
Briefs . . .
Green rescues San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO — Danny Green came
up with big plays in the final quarter
of the National Basketball Association
Finals opener to help the San Antonio
Spurs beat defending champions Miami
Heat 110-95 and seal a 1-0 series
lead.
Green only scored his first field
goal midway through the final quarter
to finish with 13 points. Tim Duncan
had a team-high 21 points and San
Antonio protected their home-court
advantage. “We want him to get as
many shots as possible. He is a very
confident shooter, and I think Pop instills
a lot of confidence in him to shoot
the ball,” Duncan said. — Reuters
Sharapova, Halep
face off in final
ParIS — She once posed for a photograph
with an eight-year-old
Eugenie Bouchard, but that friendly
touch was not on show on Thursday
as Maria Sharapova wiped the smile
off the Canadian’s face to set up a
Roland Garros tennis final with Simona
Halep.
While a 2002 photo of a statuesque
Sharapova wrapping her arm
around a pixie-like Bouchard has
gone viral over the past 48 hours,
the Russian hogged the limelight at
Roland Garros as she grunted and
shrieked her way to her third successive
Paris final with a 4-6 7-5 6-2
win. — Reuters
Ribery out of World Cup
ParIS — France attacker Franck Ribery
will miss the World Cup football
finals through injury, Les Bleus coach
Didier Deschamps has confirmed.
The Bayern Munich player, aged
31, has been ruled out after injuring
his lower back in a training session
yesterday. “An MRI scan confirmed
the sudden worsening of his condition
and led the medical staff to conclude
his inability to train and play,”
said a France Football Federation
statement. — BBC Sport
Djokovic in final
ParIS — Novak Djokovic worked his
way back into the French Open tennis
final, taking care of Ernests Gulbis
and his big serve 6-3, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3
yesterday on the first sunny day of
this year’s tournament.
The second-seeded Serb was
able to control the pace of the match
on Court Philippe Chatrier while letting
Gulbis’ unforced errors mount.
The powerful Latvian, who was playing
in his first Grand Slam semi-final,
finished with 44 errors. — Reuters
Hamilton, Rosberg
‘still friends’
ParIS — Lewis Hamilton was back
at the centre of attention again on
Thursday when he arrived in the
paddock of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve
to face questions about his rivalry
with Mercedes Formula 1 teammate
Nico Rosberg.
The 29-year-old Briton made
light of suggestions that the pair’s
relationship was damaged and
stressed that they were friends.
— Reuters