World Sports 1

Williams dad opts to skip
sisters’ showdown
Agence France-Presse . London

Richard Williams, father and coach to Serena and Venus, has opted to miss their Wimbledon singles final here today.
The decision of Richard Williams to fly back to Florida came after a fresh outburst of speculation over whether he has any influence over the outcome of matches between the two sisters.
That would have meant he would have been in the spotlight had he opted to be in the players’ box on Centre Court, although neither sister offered that explanation for his departure.
‘He went home,’ confirmed Venus. ‘He always tries to give us the best of advice, so I’m sure he said something to Serena, I guess. She didn’t tell me, but basically he’s (our) coach all the way through.’
Serena added: ‘He said he did his job and his job was done, so I guess he’s feeling good. No matter what happens he’s for sure going to be a winner.’
The sisters were speaking after booking their place in the women’s doubles final by beating France’s Nathalie Dechy and Casey Dellacqua of Australia 6-3, 6-3.
The 2002 and 2003 champions will now seek their third Wimbledon doubles title against America’s Lisa Raymond and Samantha Stosur of Australia, the 16th seeds, who shocked top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber 6-3, 6-3.
The Williams sisters have also won the Australian Open doubles title twice as well as one French Open.
ICC upholds Samuels ban
Agence France-Presse . Dubai

West Indies batsman Marlon Samuels’s two-year corruption has been upheld by the International Cricket Council , the global governing body said in a statement issued after a board meeting here on Thursday.
Samuels, 27, was allegedly caught on tape by police passing match-related information on to a bookmaker during a series in India in February last year.
The disciplinary committee of the West Indies Cricket Board found Samuels guilty of offence C 4 (ix) of the ICC code of conduct, in that he ‘received any money, benefit or other reward (whether financial or otherwise) which could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute’.
An ICC statement Thursday stressed: ‘The penalty for being found guilty of this offence is a minimum two-year ban.’
Leading British sports lawyer Michael Beloff, the chairman of the ICC’s code of conduct commission chairman, led an inquiry into the WICB’s procedures.
According to the ICC’s statement, this found ‘both the process and punishment imposed were in keeping with ICC regulations’.
Samuels was charged with receiving the benefit of the provision of hotel accommodation to the value of 1,238 dollars from Mukesh Kochchar, a suspected bookmaker, or his associates which could bring him or the game of cricket into disrepute under the ICC code.
But he was cleared of another charge of passing to the bookmaker confidential team information regarding the West Indies opening bowlers in the first one-day International against India on January 21, 2007 in Nagpur.
Jamaica’s Samuels was disciplined for breaking a team curfew in 2002 and has also been suspended from bowling in internationals due to a suspect action.
Barcelona end season with profit
Agence France-Presse . Madrid

Barcelona finished last season in the black for the fifth consecutive year with a net profit of 10.1 million euros (15.8 million dollars) despite failing to win any silverware, the Spanish club announced Friday.
Operating income rose to 16.1 million euros while the club’s debt was reduced by 28 million euros to about 190 million euros, Barcelona vice-president for finance Ferran Soriano told a news conference.
The club, which is looking to recruit new players, will have a budget of 380 million euros for the 2008-09 season, the biggest budget in its history, he added.
The results were announced just two days before Barcelona president Joan Laporta faces a vote of confidence requested by two supporters who were angered by the Spanish club’s poor season.
The 45-year-old, who has headed the club since 2003, will be forced to resign if a minimum of 10 percent of the club’s members vote on Sunday with at least 66 percent of them backing the censure motion.
Laporta reiterated Friday that he felt the censure motion was unjustified.
‘This initiative is unjust and disproportionate. There is no objective reason to call for it,’ he said.
The last title won by Barcelona was the Spanish Supercup in 2006, a trophy for the winner of a match between the champions of the previous season and the winner of the Spanish Cup.
The club, which will enter the preliminary round of the Champions League, has just spent 29 million euros to buy Brazilian defender Daniel Alves from Seville and is reportedly chasing Russian attacker Andrei Arshavin from Zenit St. Petersburg.
Viv pleased of Symonds’
regard for him
Press Trust of India . Melbourne

West Indies great Sir Vivian Richards is chuffed know that new generation players like Andrew Symonds looked at him as a source of inspiration and believe he could still be a mentor to them.
‘He’s definitely one of the players I most enjoy watching. I was chuffed when he came and said thank you so much for the inspiration and said you were one of my heroes,’ Richards was quoted as saying by ‘The Age’.
‘What more can you say when someone in the present game still believes that someone in the past can still be a mentor, because there’s a lot of folks who think that what went by, is dead,’ he added.
The Australia allrounder presented his childhood cricketing hero with a signed shirt during Australia’s one-day matches in Grenada last weekend, with Richards saying the admiration was very much mutual.
LDU celebrate another first
for Ecuador
Reuters/Bdnews24.com . Rio de Janeiro

Ecuadorean football celebrated another ground-breaking moment on Thursday after LDU became the first team from the country to win the South American Libertadores Cup.
The Quito-based team’s win on Wednesday came six years after Ecuador played at their first World Cup and two years after they went one better by reaching the last 16 in Germany, their run ending with a 1-0 defeat to England.
Goalkeeper Jose Cevallos, 37, was the LDU hero, saving three shots as his side won the penalty shootout 3-1 against Brazil’s Fluminense at the Maracana after an enthralling 5-5 aggregate draw.
Cevallos, slow to react for two of Fluminense’s goals in their 3-1 second leg win and looking shaky throughout the game, distracted his opponents with his knee-wobbling antics and by praying in the back of the net before each kick.
‘I was asking my father, who died when I was 11 years old, for protection,’ Cevallos said.
Cevallos, who played in the 2002 Ecuador team and also kept goal for Barcelona in 1998 on the last occasion a club from the country reached the Libertadores final, had been doubtful beforehand because of a thigh injury.
‘There’s no way I could have missed this game,’ he told reporters.
‘When I joined this club, I knew it would be the last chance in my career.’
‘This conquest is for the whole country, which has always supported and trusted me.
‘This is a humble team with a lot of hunger… We’ve done something historic. I have no more words.’
Founded in 1930, LDU, full name Liga Deportiva Universitaria and also known as Liga de Quito, have dominated Ecuadorean football recently and form the backbone of the national side.
Their Casa Blanca stadium, opened in 1997, is one of the most modern in South America.
‘This title is not just for Liga, it’s for Ecuadorean football as a whole,’ said their Argentine coach Edgardo Bauza, nicknamed the Big Duck.
‘We still haven’t realised the full dimension of what we’ve achieved, all I can say is that I’m very emotional,’ added Bauza, who took over in 2006 with the club at a low ebb and rebuilt the side amid calls for his dismissal.
‘It means a chance to face Manchester United, play against (Carlos) Tevez, (Cristiano) Ronaldo,’ he added after his team won the right to play at the Club World championship in Japan in December.
Unfortunately, not much of the present side is likely to be left by the time December comes around.
Winning the Libertadores Cup usually means a team will be sold off within weeks as the players are snapped up by foreign clubs, resulting in another rebuilding process.
Forward Joffre Guerron, who tormented defences with his speed and trickery on the flanks, has already been sold to Spanish club Getafe.
‘Another Maracana flop’
Reuters/Bdnews24.com . Rio de Janeiro

Memories of Brazil’s 2-1 loss to Uruguay in the 1950 World Cup were revived when Ecuador’s LDU won the Libertadores Cup at the same Maracana stadium against local side Fluminense, Brazilian media said.
Just as in 1950, when Brazil supporters believed defeat in the tournament’s decisive game to be an impossibility, thousands of Fluminense fans went to the stadium on Wednesday believing the outcome to be a foregone conclusion despite LDU’s 4-2 first leg win.
Fluminense duly followed the script by rushing to a 3-1 lead in less than one hour, wiping out the first leg deficit.
But, even with 30 minutes of extra time to play with, they failed to add to their tally, the tie ended 5-5 and an unexpected twist followed as LDU won 3-1 on penalties.
‘The Maracana was prepared to crown Fluminense’s Libertadores conquest with a big party but instead relived a drama similar to 1950, frustrating the 80,000 Tricolor fans,’ said the daily newspaper O Globo.
‘In a dramatic end, Fluminense lost the Libertadores and the party turned to tears.’
O Dia followed a similar line.
‘The mournful silence which fell over the Maracana after Washington missed Fluminense’s last penalty… can only be compared to the Brazilian loss to Uruguay, also in July, 58 years ago,’ it said.
It was the second time this year a Brazilian team has suffered a dramatic loss at the stadium.
Fluminense’s arch-rivals Flamengo went out in the second round after slumping to a 3-0 defeat at home to Mexico’s America, having won the first leg 4-2 away.
The game was their last under coach Joel Santana, before he left to take over the South African national side.
In contrast, Ecuadorean media were jubilant after LDU, full name Liga Deportiva Universitaria, brought the trophy to the Andean nation for the first time.
‘Liga had their carnival in Rio,’ said El Comercio, based in LDU’s home city of Quito.
Guayaquil’s El Universo said: ‘LDU wrote the most brilliant chapter in the history of Ecuadorean football.’
No positive UEFA comment on
Ukraine’s Euro 2012 plans
Agence France-Presse . Kiev

UEFA on Friday said their visit to Euro 2012 co-hosts Ukraine had been ‘useful’ but offered no positive comment on the country’s state of preparations for European football’s showcase tournament.
‘UEFA considers the visit by its official delegation to Ukraine to have been useful, yielding much information,’ European football’s governing body said in a statement after the
end of its visit to the Ukrainian capital.
‘UEFA notes that the fact that the Ukrainian government is committed to doing everything possible to meet the requirements needed for a well-organised Euro 2012,’ it said, adding that it had been happy to receive ‘new information’ from Ukrainian authorities.
The dry statement is in stark contrast to the positive assessment handed down by the same 10-strong UEFA delegation on Poland on Wednesday.
The Polish sports ministry, after talks between Poland’s leaders and UEFA president Michel Platini, announced: ‘They consider that plans are being handled in a professional way, following the best possible examples and in tight cooperation with UEFA experts.
‘If the project continues in the same manner as over the past months, it will be a success.’
French football legend Platini has issued repeated warnings to Ukraine and co-hosts Poland, who in April 2007 were UEFA’s surprise pick to host the 2012 edition of the quadrennial, 16-nation championships, beating Italy and joint bidders Hungary and Croatia.
Platini has set the two countries a September 24 deadline to prove they are on target with their preparations.
‘The coming three months will be very important for Ukraine,’ Platini said Thursday at the end of a meeting with Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko.
Platini, who described his impressions as ‘superb’ after talks with the president and Prime Minister Yulia Timochenko, said he had received ‘oral guarantees’ on the start of preparations.
O’Neill tells Reds to meet
Barry asking price
Agence France-Presse . Birmingham

Aston Villa manager Martin O’Neill told Liverpool on Thursday to meet his club’s asking price for want-away England midfielder Gareth Barry.
None of Reds boss Rafael Benitez’s four separate bids for Barry have so far met their Premier League rivals’ asking price of 18 million pounds (36 million dollars).
O’Neill, who has resigned himself to losing his club captain, fined Barry two weeks wages, some 80,000 pounds, on Wednesday after his skipper suggested the Villa boss was more interested in commentating on Euro 2008 for the BBC than talking to him about his future.
Former Northern Ireland midfielder O’Neill, who barred Barry from pre-season training, told Villa’s official website, www.avfc.co.uk: ‘We are really disappointed that he (Barry) is not going to be with us, he has made his mind up to go to Liverpool. ‘You can talk and you can talk and talk but the bottom line was that when he came back from the England game in Trinidad and Tobago, he told me he wanted to leave.
‘When somebody says they want to leave a football club, there is not much else you can do about it. ‘We had a meeting a few weeks before that, Randy (Lerner), myself, Gareth and his agent and he said that Champions League football was what he wanted to do.
‘So this idea that we have not done anything in our power to keep him, I am afraid I totally and utterly disagree. Why on earth would we not want to keep our very top player at the football club when we’re trying to improve?
‘I think we have made steady improvement, we have gone from 16th to 11th to sixth in the league. This season we are going to try to push on from there. So the one thing you want to do is keep your best players.’
He added: ‘But Gareth has made his position clear and after that it is straightforward. We have put a valuation on him and Liverpool value him differently at the moment.
That is what the stalemate is, it is nothing else.
‘Gareth has pointed out he wants to go and if Liverpool come up and meet our valuation, he will go. That has been the case since the beginning of June when Gareth said he definitely wanted to go to Liverpool.
‘We put a valuation on him and we have based this valuation on a number of straightforward issues, not least that he is actually a top-quality player.’
Kewell joins Galatasaray
Agence France-Presse . Sydney

Former Liverpool star Harry Kewell has passed up the opportunity to play for Australia at the Beijing Olympics to pursue a club career with Turkey’s Galatasaray.
The Australian international has signed a three-year deal with the Turkish giants after five injury-plagued seasons at Anfield.
Galatasaray official Haldun Ustunel said they had reached agreement on all contract issues and Kewell was expected to arrive in Istanbul late on Friday.
‘As a result of long-standing efforts, we have come to the point of recruiting a very important player to Galatasaray,’ Ustunel told the club’s website.
‘We have agreed on all issues. He shares our excitement,’ said Ustunel, describing Kewell as ‘a great power’.
The move to Galatasaray has ended any possibility of Kewell being one of Australia’s three over-age players at the Beijing Olympics.
Socceroos Archie Thompson, David Carney and Jade North are the three over-age players in the 18-man Australian under-23 squad for next month’s Games.
‘It’s not easy for him as soon as he signs for a new club to ask for four weeks to go to the Olympics,’ said Olympics coach Graham Arnold, who played and was an assistant coach at two previous Games.
During his time with Leeds, Kewell played against Galatasaray in the UEFA Cup semi-final in 2000, when he was sent off.
Home-based defender North and Sheffield United wing-back Carney played in Australia’s World Cup qualifiers last month, while Melbourne Victory striker Thompson is recovering from a knee injury.
Arnold overlooked the claims of promising former Adelaide United strike pair, Bruce Djite and Nathan Burns, who have signed for overseas clubs.
‘They are only 20 and were pretty much in between Olympic age groups and that made it pretty difficult for them,’ Arnold said.
North, an Athens Olympian, said: ‘It is a real honour to be picked to go to Beijing.
‘I can’t wait to start training with them and get over there. I really hope to go in and lead by example for the younger players.’
After finishing seventh in Athens, North wants to see Australia achieve more this time round, although they are grouped with defending Olympic champions Argentina, Ivory Coast and Serbia.
‘I feel like I have been given another chance and I want to go all the way this time,’ North said.
Arnold said the three over-age players would bring international experience to the under-23 team in Beijing.
‘The three over-age players will bring both attacking flair and strong defence to the team,’ he said.
The Australian squad contains seven overseas-based players, while defender Mark Milligan and striker James Troisi are currently uncontracted to overseas clubs.
Aragones targets Fenerbahce glory
Sportinglife . London

Former Spain coach Luis Aragones has vowed to ‘do everything possible’ to bring glory to Fenerbahce.
Aragones has long been linked with the job and had to deny anything had been formalised when Fenerbahce announced his appointment during Euro 2008.
But, with the tournament over and having led Spain to their first major trophy in 44 years, Aragones has confirmed the deal and is expected to sign a two-year contract on Friday afternoon.
‘The move to Fenerbahce will be beneficial to both parties and will bring titles,’ Aragones told reporters as he arrived in Istanbul on Thursday night.
‘I don’t promise anything, only hard work and to do everything possible to obtain success.
‘It is a great club, as it showed in the Champions League last year and I know that it has a very passionate support who deserve someone who can give them satisfaction.’
Aragones is looking forward to a new challenge and a return to club football after four years on the Spain bench.
Fenerbahce reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League last season before losing to eventual runners-up Chelsea.
The 69-year-old, who has never worked outside Spain during a 34-year coaching career, is eager to take them further this campaign.
‘A very important period in my life has started for me,’ added Aragones. ‘We will work to be champions on every pitch.
‘It’s natural that expectations are very high in a club like Fenerbahce.
‘Our first task is to pass the preliminary rounds of the Champions League. Then we will try to reach the best position we can in the Champions League.’
Aragones is expected to be officially unveiled on Friday afternoon and will travel with his new squad to Austria - the scene of his recent triumph - on Sunday for a pre-season training camp.
Senna set to stay at Villarreal
Sportinglife . London

Arsenal target Marcos Senna has played down reports of a summer move to the Emirates Stadium and is in talks to extend his contract at Villarreal.
Senna earned rave reviews for his displays at Euro 2008 as Spain lifted the trophy and the Gunners have been linked with a bid to secure his services.
But the talented holding player has already held preliminary discussions over extending his stay in La Liga.
Senna told The Sun, ‘I met with the president of Villarreal on Tuesday and we talked about extending my contract by two years.
‘But now I want to rest. I am on holiday and hope to detach myself from these things.’
Villarreal president Fernando Roig went on to insist that Senna was happy at El Madrigal, and that the club were confident of warding off any approaches.
He said in the Daily Star, ‘We are not frightened of the interest from some of the biggest clubs in the world since we have tied our captain to a 36-million euro (£28.5 million) cancellation clause.
‘That’s the figure a club would have to pay if they want his services.
‘But the best thing is if he doesn’t go. He is very happy at Villarreal and we are very happy with him.
‘For me, he was the most complete player of the whole tournament.’
Krkic will be key: Guardiola
New Age Desk

Pep Guardiola has revealed that he sees Bojan Krkic as a key member of his new look Barcelona squad, but does not want pressure heaped on the young forward.
The Blaugrana boss is said to want another striker, with Emmanuel Adebayor and Andrei Arshavin on the list, but he feels that he already has one gem up front.
Krkic enjoyed his debut season with the first team last time out after being promoted from the youth ranks when Barcelona B were relegated to the fourth tier of Spanish football.
At just 17, the Lleida-born goal-scorer showed why he is so highly-rated in a campaign that saw Frank Rijkaard’s team struggle for consistency and form.
‘He has had a great season. He did very well in a year that was not easy due to the circumstances of the whole team,’ Guardiola said. While Krkic continues to learn his trade, expectations are very high and Guardiola is keen for him to be allowed to grow and learn without having the weight of the fans on his shoulders.
‘He will be a key player, but one must keep in mind how young he is,’ he added.
RFEF speaks to Del Bosque
Reuters/Bdnews24.com . Madrid

Spain’s football federation have had talks with former Real Madrid coach Vicente del Bosque in their search for a successor to Luis Aragones as national coach of the European champions.
‘The board of the RFEF is working to find a coach and I can confirm that we have had talks with Del Bosque,’ Spanish Football Federation president Angel Maria Villar told Radio Marca on Friday.
Local media have reported that Del Bosque, who led Real to two Champions Leagues titles and two Spanish championships, has already reached a verbal agreement with the federation and is likely to be appointed to the post in the next two weeks.
Aragones, who will turn 70 later this month, stepped down after leading Spain to victory at Euro 2008, their first major title in 44 years.
He said the federation had not offered him the chance to extend his contract.
Nasri to join Arsenal in ‘10 days’
Sportinglife . London

Marseille midfielder Samir Nasri should complete his transfer to Arsenal in around ‘10 days’, according to the player’s agent.
The playmaker has been strongly linked with a move to the Emirates Stadium, with manager Arsene Wenger a keen admirer of Nasri’s quality.
A deal had reportedly been struck towards the end of June after the player’s official website announced the France international had secured his transfer to the Premier League.
However, the statement proved to be premature, and was subsequently removed, sparking confusion over the progress of the switch.
And the 21-year-old’s agent, Jean-Pierre Bernes, has explained that he expects Nasri to seal his move to Arsenal when he returns from his holidays.
‘He is on his holidays. It (the transfer) will be made when he will be back, in about 10 days,’ said Bernes.
Williams sisters promise feast
Agence France-Presse . London

Serena Williams joked earlier this week that she would steal her sister Venus’s breakfast today if they both made it to another Wimbledon singles final.
Now that they have, tennis fans will have to wait and see whether the competitive edge implied by that quip is translated into a final worthy of both the occasion and their combined talent.
The sisters’ paths have crossed 15 times before
on the women’s tour and few
of those encounters have lived up to the hopes invested in them as clashes between
two of the most talented players in the history of the women’s game.
The often lacklustre nature of their matches has led to suggestions that the sisters are simply too close to really go for the jugular when they face each other across the net.
A less benign explanation of why their clashes have largely failed to sizzle involves a conspiracy theory that the
results are pre-arranged
with their father and coach, Richard Williams, deciding how the game’s major prizes are shared out between his daughters.
Such suggestions, understandably, rankle with both sisters, although Venus acknowledges there have been moments in their respective careers when she felt family opinion about who should win was markedly in favour of one of them.
Recalling their first meeting in a tournament final, at Key Biscayne in 1999 when they were both still teenagers, she admitted: ‘I think that my family wanted me to win because I was the older sister.
So they thought I should win this title because I was older, and then Serena would have a chance after.
‘There have been other times where I felt like they felt like, Serena hasn’t won, so it’s her turn to win.’
Whose ‘turn’ it is here is not an easy question to answer.
As the defending champion, Venus, 28, has claimed a Grand Slam title more recently than her younger sister, who last lifted tasted victory in one of the four major trophies at the Australian Open last year.
But 26-year-old Serena’s total haul of eight Grand Slams is two ahead of Venus, who is bidding for her fifth Wimbledon singles title.
That record would suggest that, on grass, Venus’s smoother movement around the court and her reach at the net might give her the edge.
But in their two previous meetings in Wimbledon
finals, in 2002 and 2003,
it was Serena who emerged
victorious, as she has done in five of their six Grand Slam finals.
Serena also defeated her sibling in Australian, French and US Open finals over the course of those two years, something Venus now attributes to the burn-out that followed her highly successful spell around the turn of the century.
‘She was just better than I was at that point,’ she recalled. ‘She was definitely on a high and I had just came off of a couple years of just winning everything. I was probably a little burned out and she was more pumped.’
This time around, Venus believes it is a case of ‘every Williams for themselves’ with the reliability of her serve, the fastest in women’s tennis, potentially the decisive factor.
‘When I get it going it helps me out a ton,’ she said.
‘I think that and being able to go out there and return really well will be key for me.
‘To win a title, you’ve got to play aggressive and not just hope that your opponent misses.’
Serena meanwhile insists that the meetings of the sisters have not been as low-key as has been claimed, citing the 2003 Australian Open final in
particular as ‘three extremely tough sets of very high quality tennis.’
And she claims she will have no problem getting motivated to put her big sister in her place again on Saturday.
‘It’s easy, especially with sibling rivalry. I want everything that Venus has.’
Klinsmann rings the changes at Bayern
Agence France-Presse . Munich

New Bayern Munich boss Jurgen Klinsmann has banned his players from using mobile phones on the club's premises as the ex-Mannschaft coach rings the changes at the German giants.
According to reports in Thursday's edition of Munich daily newspaper TZ, one of Klinsmann's first rules in charge has been to ban mobiles, especially in the club's refurbished training complex at Munich's Saebener Strasse ground.
Having guided Germany to third-place at the 2006 World Cup, Klinsmann replaced new Switzerland coach Ottmar Hitzfeld as head coach at Bayern on Monday-his first role as a club coach.
The Bayern squad now face eight-hour days and the 43-year-old Klinsmann insists his players focus solely on their work - whether they are training, resting or studying - without the distraction of mobile phone calls.
Adorned with Buddhist statues, the refurbished performance centre has been designed by Klinsmann to 'release positive energy' and contains areas for relaxation, rest, study and massage.
Despite Wednesday's boycott by 20 photographers from his first press conference due to the strict regulations imposed, Klinsmann's former critic Oliver Khan says the ex-Germany striker will help Bayern.
Former Germany captain Kahn retired from Bayern in May after 14 years at the German giants.
He was famously dropped by Klinsmann during the 2006 World Cup in favour of ex-Arsenal shot-stopper Jens Lehmann.
'He always tries to develop things, he likes to learn, he tests new things,' said Kahn on the website Eurosport.de.
'I have confidence: he will pass his first test at a large club. In football, it is always necessary to bring news ideas.'
And Kahn says he would like to meet Klinsmann and the new Bayern boss said on Wednesday, 'Kahn is always welcome at the club after all he has done for Bayern.'
Rensing steps out of
Kahn’s shadow
Agence France-Presse . Munich

Bayern Munich’s goalkeeper Michael Rensing admits he will be glad to finally step out of Oliver Kahn’s shadow after five years on the sidelines as he targets a place in the Germany team.
The 24-year-old joined Bayern’s senior squad in 2003, but has only made 23 Bundesliga appearances in the last five seasons with former Germany captain Kahn dominating Bayern’s number one shirt.
But after Kahn retired in May, Rensing is ready to take his place in goal and with ex-Arsenal shot-stopper Jens Lehmann, 38, approaching the end of his career in the Mannschaft, Rensing wants a place in Joachim Low’s Germany team.
‘If you perform well as Bayern goalkeeper, you’re bound to be in the frame for the national team,’ said Rensing.
‘But first of all, my focus is on Bayern, although obviously my dream is to play for Germany at some point.’
And having so often sat on Bayern’s bench, Rensing is relishing the chance to take his place in the first-team. ‘I’ve spent so long yearning for this moment, and it’s arrived at last,’ he said with a smile.
‘This is a dream come true for me.
‘That’s why I’ll be giving it even more effort than ever.
‘Obviously there’ll be more focus on me than before.
‘A completely different season lies ahead for me personally.
‘But in any case, I’m the most demanding critic of my own performances.’
And new Bayern coach Jurgen Klinsmann has already said Rensing is his first-choice goalkeeper with former international Hans-Joerg Butt as his back-up and mentor.
‘Michael is undisputed number one,’ said former Germany boss Klinsmann who started as Bayern coach on Monday.
‘We’re looking to help him develop, and we’ll give him the time and the support he needs.
‘He can become an outstanding goalkeeper, both here and internationally.’
And Rensing is hoping he can keep his unbeaten run for as long as possible - in all of his 23 Bundesliga appearances he has yet to be on the losing side.
Mourinho has Arshavin doubts
Daily Mail . London

Chelsea have moved ahead of Barcelona in the race to sign Andrei Arshavin with Russia’s Euro 2008 star was due in London on Thursday for talks over a move to Stamford Bridge.
Arshavin has spoken about his ‘dream’ of playing for Barca having supported them as a boy, but Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is confident he will persuade his countryman to snub a move to Spain.
Zenit St Petersburg have accepted £12million bids from both clubs after Arshavin told the UEFA Cup holders of his determination to leave at a meeting yesterday.
Former Stamford Bridge boss Jose Mourinho has questioned Arshavin’s maturity and consistency but Abramovich appears to have no such concerns and is expected to be present at negotiations.
A deal for the 27-year-old could be tied up by as early as this weekend but Chelsea’s summer spending is unlikely to end there, with new boss Luiz Felipe Scolari keen to add Brazil striker Robinho to the already confirmed signings of Portugal stars Jose Bosingwa and Deco for a combined fee of over £24m.
Chelsea are prepared to pay Real Madrid £27m for Robinho — £8m short of the asking price set by the Spanish champions.
However, reports in Spain claim that such is Robinho’s anger at being offered as a makeweight in a deal to take Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo to the Bernabeu, he may be tempted to use FIFA regulations to buy out the remaining two years of his contract for just £10m.
Another option apparently being considered by Real is a swap deal involving Robinho and Didier Drogba, with Scolari understood to be ready to offload the Ivory Coast striker, who also interests AC Milan.
Sources in Russia suggest Arshavin’s family are trying to talk him into a move to the Barclays Premier League with his mother Tatyana and wife Yulia both said to believe it would be easier for him and his two children to settle in England rather than Spain.
But new Inter Milan boss Mourinho has warned his former employers to be cautious. ‘Arshavin is a fine player,’ he said. ‘But is he mature enough to play in the strongest leagues? At the Euros he showed a lot of inspiration against Sweden and Holland. But he looked like he was absolutely switched off in the next match against Spain.
‘At Inter we are looking for players who are capable of playing to the highest of standards not for two to five games in a row, but the entire season.’
Scolari will take charge of his first training session on Monday, but his predecessor warned of the challenge ahead.
Avram Grant, who was axed after losing the Champions League Final to Manchester United despite also finishing second in the League and Carling Cup, said: ‘I like Scolari very much, as a person and coach. I wish him the best of luck but he will soon realise he has his work cut out.
‘He will do well to match what I did last season but even that was not enough to keep me in the job.’
The Israeli believes lifting the morale of midfielder Michael Ballack will be difficult after the Germany captain suffered defeat in Euro 2008 Final.
Grant revealed: ‘When we lost to United on penalties, he came down to breakfast the following morning, sat next to me and said: ‘Why do I always get punished like this? It is so hard to take’.
‘Milan closing in on Ronaldinho’
New Age Desk

Ronaldinho is ‘80-90 per cent’ likely to secure a move to AC Milan, according to the Barcelona forward’s agent Roberto De Assis.
Milan have long been linked with a move for Ronaldinho after the Brazilian was told he was not part of Barca’s plans for the future.
Manchester City boss Mark Hughes this week seemed hopeful the Eastlands club could pull off a coup by signing the two-time FIFA player of the year.
Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani insisted on Thursday that a deal would only be completed if the price is right, but De Assis is confident his client - who is also his brother - will make the switch to the San Siro.
‘Yes, it’s true, it’s true that he’ll probably go to Milan,’ De Assis told Lombardy television stations.
‘Everything’s ready for the transfer. He is there 80-90 per cent and we are working towards that.
‘He is working hard to get back to his best and the important thing is that now he is fine and that he is working for his future.’
Milan might be leading the pack but there is no shortage of other possible destinations for Ronaldinho, with Chelsea and City just two of the clubs reportedly in the hunt.
However, De Assis rubbished suggestions that the two-time FIFA World Player of the Year could join David Beckham at Los Angeles Galaxy.
‘There’s a contract with Barca, there’s other possibilities,’ he added. ‘We’ll see in the next fortnight. ‘LA Galaxy? No, no, absolutely not. Why Galaxy?
‘I absolutely rule out Galaxy. It’s not possible because he is only 28 and he wants to play at least five or six years more at the top level in world football.’
Barcelona still sour over
Messi’s Olympic call-up
New Age Desk

The battle between the AFA Argentine Football Association and Barcelona regarding Messi’s appearance at this summer’s Olympics shows no sign of ending.
The Camp Nou star has been included in the 23-man squad that will take part in Beijing 2008 later this year but it’s not what Barcelona wanted as they need the player for the Champions League preliminaries.
The Blaugrana argue that Messi should remain with them rather than represent his country. The Argentines on the other hand are saying the opposite and so the tug of war continues.
Barcelona director Txiki Begiristain believes Messi should be allowed to put club duties before his national obligations.
‘Our objective is to have all our players ready for pre season and that includes Messi,’ said Begiristain.
‘We know the important of playing the preliminaries and we are always in touch with the AFA.
‘We believe that we have our own reasons as well.’
Argentina on the other hand believe that Messi is vital to their Olympic hopes and that there is no chance of him putting his national duties aside.
‘Messi is one of the best players in the world,’ said Sergio Batista.
‘He has to be great even when he is off the ball. I hope to see plenty of movement from him with and without the ball.’
Barcelona are likely to continue kicking up a fuss over the whole affair but it seems as if Argentina and Messi have won the Olympic battle as the player himself has always stated his desire to go there.
Spain to receive
7.3-tonne trophy
Agence France-Presse . Vienna

Austria will present newly-crowned European football champions Spain with a giant crystal-encrusted trophy in commemoration of Euro 2008, the government’s tournament coordinator Heinz Palme said Friday.
The trophy, commissioned by the Austrian government and designed by Swiss artist Sylvie Fleury, measures 5.11 metres (16.7 feet) in height and weighs 7.3 tonnes.
The sculpture, which has been decorated with some 11,000 Swarovski crystals and can be lit from within, will be handed to the Spanish team within the next two months, Palme said.
Spain took home the smaller and lighter European championship trophy Sunday, after beating Germany 1-0 in the Euro 2008 final in Vienna. Spain last won the competition in 1964.
Cristiano keen to remain
at MU: Big sister
New Age Desk

Cristiano Ronaldo is keen to stay at Man United, his older sister has revealed.
Boutique owner Elma Aveiro told The Sun that the Old Trafford Player of the Season and top goalscorer had told family and friends he would resist the temptation to join Spanish giants Real Madrid, who have offered to ‘break the bank’to sign him.
The Portuguese hero’s heart belonged to United, she said.
Elma added: ‘Cristiano wants to keep playing at Manchester United. Real Madrid keep making very strong advances for him. There is a lot of speculation in the newspapers all the time about where he will go and what he is doing.
‘But we know who he really is and what he is really up to. He wants to stay at United.’
The 34-year-old added: ‘As long as he is happy where he plays, we don’t mind where he is. We are a very close, simple family and we are very happy we have a brother like him.’
Elma spoke to The Sun at her upmarket CR7 shop in Funchal, Madeira, which Ronaldo bought for her two years ago.
She said: ‘Lots of people come into the shop asking about whether he’s going, but I don’t know for sure. He tells me he likes Manchester United and everybody here wants him to stay there.’
A long-time family friend, who did not want to be named, said: ‘Cristiano likes to play for Manchester United.
‘He has a private plane to get to see his mother or his girlfriend so it is not a problem for him to stay in Manchester.’
Ronaldo, 23, and girlfriend Nereida Gallardo, 24, have been soaking up the sun in Italy.
Football stars gather in
Munich to help Africa
Agence France-Presse . Munich

Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, Germany captain Michael Ballack and Liverpool’s England midfielder Steven Gerrard are amongst the stars set to play a charity match in Munich next week to help raise money for Africa.
A selection of the world’s top players will face off in the July 12 benefit match at Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena to raise money for the charity Goal4Africa.
The project plans to raising funds for football development and educational programmes throughout the African continent with fans making a donation for each goal scored by their favourite player.
Barcelona’s Samuel Eto’o and Italian World Cup winner Gennaro Gattuso will also be in Munich for the match.
The idea is to help the continent prepare for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the event will also feature a concert by reggae band UB40.
I’m ready for the Oranje
again: Van Bommel
Agence France-Presse . Munich

Bayern Munich midfielder Mark van Bommel re-affirmed his desire Friday to play for the Netherlands again following the departure of coach Marco van Basten.
Van Basten stepped down as Netherlands coach after his side’s Euro 2008 quarter-final exit at the hands of Russia and has been replaced by van Bommel’s father-in-law Bert van Marwijk as national coach.
Now van Bommel says he is keen to add to the 40 caps he has won for his country with the Oranje.
‘I always said that I would want to come back, if Marco left. Now he has gone, and coincidentally my father-in-law is the new coach, if he needs me, I am there,’ said the Bayern midfielder.
The 31-year-old will not be travelling to Beijing as part of the Netherlands Olympic team and will stay in Germany to launch the defence of Bayern’s Bundesliga title.
After former Germany captain and goalkeeper Oliver Kahn retired at the end of last season, van Bommel says he will step into the captain’s role only if asked.‘That is not my goal,’ said the Dutchman.
‘If the coach says that I am to make it and the crew accepts, I will do it gladly.’