Atletico meets Fulham in Wednesday's Europa League final without a title since 1996 but knows attempts to attack too vigorously will likely be exploited by an unheralded side that this season has beaten Shakhtar Donestsk, Juventus, Wolfsburg and Hamburg.
"They have excellent players," Atletico coach Quique Sanchez Flores said. "The physical aspect and strategy come together. We have to take some risk but not open ourselves to dead-ball situations. There are many reasons to be optimistic but we have to be careful.
"And we need to be courageous."
But Fulham may be going into the biggest match in its history without its leading scorer after Bobby Zamora sat out training Tuesday.
Zamora has an Achilles' problem and sat out Tuesday's afternoon training session. He could not be seen with the rest of the Fulham squad even though manager Roy Hodgson said he was confident that the striker would be able to play.
Ireland winger Damien Duff did train with his teammates at Hamburg Arena after recovering from a leg injury.
"Both players trained yesterday and that was very, very positive," Hodgson said. "I've been given no indication that they're suffering from a reaction so my hope is that they'll be available tomorrow."
Zamora's absence may have been to protect him against possible injury or to keep Atletico guessing about Fulham's likely lineup.
But speaking ahead of the session, the usually straightforward Hodgson had said he was hoping Zamora would train normally.
Zamora, who has scored eight times to help Fulham to a first European final, has not played since the 2-1 semifinal win over Hamburg on April 29, when Duff was also hurt.
If he does not recover sufficiently to play, Zamora could be replaced in attack by Erik Nevland, who will be playing his last match before returning to former club Viking Stavanger at the end of the season.
Fulham's midfield options are richer, with Clint Dempsey, Duff, Dickson Etuhu, Simon Davies and Zoltan Gera all vying for spots on the team.
Sunday, April 3, 2011
sport
GROS ISLET: England knocked New Zealand out of the World Twenty20 with a three-wicket Super Eight victory here on Monday, a result that ensured defending champions Pakistan also qualify for the semi-finals.
England proved there was more to their batting than Kevin Pietersen. Eoin Morgan starred with 40 after England, chasing 150 to win, had slumped to 66-4.
Together with Luke Wright (24) the former Ireland left-hander swung the game back England’s way in a stand of 52 in just more than six overs.
Morgan got out just before the finish but man-of-the-match Tim Bresnan, unbeaten on 23 after taking 1-20, ended the contest with five balls to spare when he pulled Kyle Mills for a boundary. Group E winners England, already through to the semi-finals before this last group match even started, after defending champions Pakistan beat South Africa earlier in the day, ended the Super Eight with a perfect played three won three record.
“It’s crucial that you keep the momentum going and stay in winning ways,” said England captain Paul Collingwood. “There’s areas to improve on again, but I’m absolutely delighted in how we’ve gone. A lot of credit goes to the bowlers.”
England’s victory also meant Pakistan went through to the semi-finals as group runners-up after edging New Zealand on superior run-rate.
New Zealand captain Daniel Vettori blamed repeated batting failures for his side’s exit. “There were a number of factors (in losing this match), 150 was competitive but about 10 below par,” Vettori said. “We did well to fight back but Morgan and Wright’s stand took it away from us. We could have bowled better. We just haven’t been able to put enough runs on the board.”
England had won their previous matches against Pakistan and Sri Lanka
on the back of Pietersen fifties. But they had to do without their star batsman after Pietersen, who expects to be back for the semi-finals, was given temporary leave to attend the birth of his first child.
England made a rousing start to their run chase with Craig Kieswetter, like Pietersen and Michael Lumb born in South Africa, launching Nathan McCullum’s off-spin for a four and a huge six in successive balls as 13 runs came off the first over. But England then lost Kieswetter when the wicketkeeper struck Kyle Mills hard but straight to Nathan McCullum at cover-point.
Lumb drove the express pace of Shane Bond for a huge six and twice swept left-arm spinner Vettori for four. Ravi Bopara, Pietersen’s stand-in, made just nine before he was well caught in the covers by Ross Taylor off all-rounder Scott Styris. The 60-2 became 60-3 when Lumb was trapped leg before wicket for 32, made off 21 balls with a six and four fours, after he missed a sweep against Vettori.
England’s collapse continued to 66-4 when Collingwood was deceived by a Styris slower ball and
clipped straight to Brendon McCullum at midwicket. However, Morgan struck an amazing one-handed six off Styris and Wright struck a couple of boundaries off fast bowler Ian Butler. Morgan’s 34-ball innings ended
when he pulled Bond and Vettori took a fine diving catch but it was too little too late for New Zealand.
Earlier, Ross Taylor top-scored for New Zealand with 44 runs and put on 62 for the fourth wicket with Styris, who scored 31, after the Black Caps slumped to 65-3.
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sport
KATHMANDU: HTC Corporation — a global designer of smartphones — today introduced the HTC HD mini, an HTC Sense-based Windows Phone focused on delivering the popular experience of the HTC HD2 in a more compact design.
"The integration of HTC Sense and Windows Phone on HD mini and HD2 gives customers an additional choice for an advanced Windows Mobile phone that is sleek, well crafted and easy to use," said Jack Tong, vice president of HTC Asia.
The HTC HD mini sports a high degree of usability along with its own unique and beautiful design. The strong design ethos continues under the battery cover where a bright yellow internal structure, offers an unexpected surprise when the phone is opened.
The HTC HD mini utilises HTC Sense, a user experience focused on putting people at the centre by making the phone work in a more simple and natural way. This experience revolves around three fundamental principles that were developed by observing and listening to how people live and communicate.
Like the HTC HD2, the HTC HD mini continues the same focus on people-centric communication with complete Outlook integration. It helps you stay close to the important friends and colleagues in your life by providing a single contact view that displays individual communication snapshots of your conversations regardless of whether it was a call, text, status update or email.
HTC HD mini includes capacitive touch for viewing, zooming and resizing websites, Microsoft® Office files, PDF documents and pictures with just a pinch of your fingers. Leveraging its 3G broadband connectivity, it also offers personal Wi-Fi anywhere for your computer or other devices. Marketplace for Mobile.
The new HTC HD mini will be available from
early May at all authorised resellers at a suggested retail price of Rs 38,888. Standard retail HTC HD mini package will come with a 2GB microSD™ card.
sport
KATHMANDU: Asian Life Insurance started its share trading from today in the Nepse.
On the first day, the insurance company saw 60-unit of its shares being traded within the range of Rs 337 Rs 364 per unit making a total trading amount to Rs 21,010 through six transactions.
However, insurance companies sub group gained only 0.39 points to close at 554.32 points today.
Propelled by al the sub-groups the Nepse also gained 4.06 per cent or 17.52 points to close today's trading at 449.08 points. The sensitive index has also registered a rise of 4.58 points to 111.02 points.
None of the subgroups lost today. The biggest gainer of the day was the others sub group that surged by 30.54 points to 563.97 points. Similarly, strong profit in the third quarter pushed commercial banks sub-group by 18.58 points to 412.98 points from the opening 394.4 points.
The highest gainer of the day was Nabil Bank that saw Rs 95 per unit rise in its share , followed by Standard Chartered Bank at Rs 89, Nepal Investment Bank at Rs 54 and Everest Bank at Rs 51 per unit, respectively.
Hydropower sub-group also recorded a gain of 18.9 points as Chilime Hydropower and Arun Valley Hydropower gained Rs 40 and Rs 20 per unit shares.
Development banks sub group gained 8.67 points to close at 440.22 points and finance companies sub group gained 7.68 points to 419.67 points.
The market saw a total turnover of Rs 34.849 million through 726 transactions of 118,060-unit of shares.
sport
KATHMANDU: Asian Life Insurance started its share trading from today in the Nepse.
On the first day, the insurance company saw 60-unit of its shares being traded within the range of Rs 337 Rs 364 per unit making a total trading amount to Rs 21,010 through six transactions.
However, insurance companies sub group gained only 0.39 points to close at 554.32 points today.
Propelled by al the sub-groups the Nepse also gained 4.06 per cent or 17.52 points to close today's trading at 449.08 points. The sensitive index has also registered a rise of 4.58 points to 111.02 points.
None of the subgroups lost today. The biggest gainer of the day was the others sub group that surged by 30.54 points to 563.97 points. Similarly, strong profit in the third quarter pushed commercial banks sub-group by 18.58 points to 412.98 points from the opening 394.4 points.
The highest gainer of the day was Nabil Bank that saw Rs 95 per unit rise in its share , followed by Standard Chartered Bank at Rs 89, Nepal Investment Bank at Rs 54 and Everest Bank at Rs 51 per unit, respectively.
Hydropower sub-group also recorded a gain of 18.9 points as Chilime Hydropower and Arun Valley Hydropower gained Rs 40 and Rs 20 per unit shares.
Development banks sub group gained 8.67 points to close at 440.22 points and finance companies sub group gained 7.68 points to 419.67 points.
The market saw a total turnover of Rs 34.849 million through 726 transactions of 118,060-unit of shares.
sport
GROS ISLET: Australia and Sri Lanka both qualified for the semi-finals of the World Twenty20 after Australia beat the West Indies by six wickets in a Super Eight match here on Tuesday, a result that knocked the hosts out of the tournament.
Group E winners England will face Sri Lanka, the Group F runners-up at the Beausejour Stadium here on Thursday. Meanwhile, Group F winners Australia will play Group E runners-up and defending champions Pakistan at the same ground here on Friday. The final takes place at the Kensington Oval in Bridgetown, Barbados, on Sunday.
Australia knocked defeated hosts the West Indies by six wickets. West Indies, in a match they had to win by 24 runs to reach the semi-finals were bowled out for just 105 at the Beausejour Stadium. Australia, in reply, lost two wickets on 31 but Brad Haddin (42) saw Australia to the verge of victory before he got out with two runs needed to West Indies captain Chris Gayle. The occasional off-spinner then ended the match with a ball that went for five wides. Australia, who finished on 109-4, won with 22 balls to spare.
Earlier, Sri Lanka beat India by five-wicket in a last ball thriller. Chamara Kapugedera's six off the final ball saw Sri Lanka to a dramatic win after man-of-the-match Angelo Mathews and captain Kumar Sangakkara both made 46 to revive the innings after a top-order collapse. With three needed off the last ball, Kapugedera carved Nehra over cover for six to finish on 37 not out.
sport
TOKYO: Japan and Kashima Antlers defender Atsuto Uchida is set to join German powerhouse Schalke 04 after the World Cup finals starting in South Africa next month, press reports said Thursday.
The two clubs will work out details of his contract after the J-League goes into a World Cup break on May 17, the reports said.
"It won't take long until the deal is finalised," Kashima's director of technical development, Mitsuru Suzuki, told Kyodo News. The club's public relations official, Hiroki Koshini, could not confirm the reports.
Uchida, a 22-year-old right back, helped Kashima clinch a third straight J-League title in the last March-December season. He has scored one goal in 31 matches for Japan since his international debut in January 2008.
Japan coach Takeshi Okada has picked Uchida as one of seven defenders in his final 23-men World Cup squad.
Schalke 04 finished runners-up to Bayern Munich in the just ended Bundesliga season.
The swift-footed defender joined Kashima in 2006 after graduating from high school. His current contract with Kashima will expire in June 2013.
The two clubs will work out details of his contract after the J-League goes into a World Cup break on May 17, the reports said.
"It won't take long until the deal is finalised," Kashima's director of technical development, Mitsuru Suzuki, told Kyodo News. The club's public relations official, Hiroki Koshini, could not confirm the reports.
Uchida, a 22-year-old right back, helped Kashima clinch a third straight J-League title in the last March-December season. He has scored one goal in 31 matches for Japan since his international debut in January 2008.
Japan coach Takeshi Okada has picked Uchida as one of seven defenders in his final 23-men World Cup squad.
Schalke 04 finished runners-up to Bayern Munich in the just ended Bundesliga season.
The swift-footed defender joined Kashima in 2006 after graduating from high school. His current contract with Kashima will expire in June 2013.
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