ARAB TIMES, SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 16, 2013
SPORTS
47
Coaches from Glasgow Celtics F.C. are visiting the Premier Goal Academy this week to deliver coaching sessions and coach education programmes here in Kuwait. The visit is under the patronage of the Minister of Education, Dr Nayef Falah AlHajraf and H.E. the British Ambassador Mr Frank Baker and is sponsored by the Ministry of Education, Porsche Center Kuwait, Behbehani Motors Company, Crowne Plaza Hotel, Go Sport, Wrigleys Extra and Aquafina. Pictured are players from the P.G.A. participating in the weekend coaching sessions. Pictured are participants of the event.
Man City ‘aim’ to avoid more misery
Premier Goal Academy
Samaras doubtful
Celtic ready for Parkhead visit GLASGOW, Feb 15, (AFP): Celtic defender Charlie Mulgrew has warned his team-mates that Dundee United’s new management team will make them a dangerous proposition when they visit Parkhead on Sunday. United’s new manager, Jackie McNamara, and his assistant Simon Donnelly are familiar faces at Celtic Park having both turned out for the Glasgow giants during their playing days. McNamara will return to the club he captained with his United side on a high after seeing off both Rangers and Hearts in his first two matches since taking charge of the Tannadice side. But with his former teammate Neil Lennon’s Celtic side holding an 18-point lead as they cruise to this year’s Scottish Premier League title this will be McNamara’s toughest test to date. Mulgrew played alongside McNamara when they were at Wolves together in the 2006/07 season and is wary of the impact he could make at United.
SOCCER “I played with him when he had just left Celtic so he had years of experience behind him and obviously that helped me. “He has all the attributes to be a good manager, you could see that when he was a player. He has some great knowledge of the game. He’d left Aberdeen by the time I’d signed but he was at Celtic when I was a youth player. “Growing up a Celtic fan I obviously watched him through the years, he was a great player for the club and I think he can do just as well as a manager. Celtic hold an almost insurmountable lead at the top of the SPL and dished out a 4-0 defeat to United just last month. But after the Tannadice club held them to a 2-2 draw earlier in the season, Mulgrew knows they are capable of taking more points off them on Saturday. “United always produce a tough game, with a new manager in charge especially,” the Scotland international said. Celtic have almost a full squad to call on with Georgios Samaras the only injury doubt, but McNamara has been dealt a blow with the news that Gavin Gunning will miss the rest of the season through injury. Fixtures Saturday Celtic vs Dundee Utd, Hearts vs Kilmarnock, Motherwell vs Inverness CT, Ross County vs St Johnstone, St Mirren vs Hibernian
Everton can’t afford to be below par vs Oldham LONDON, Feb 15, (Agencies): Manchester City defender Pablo Zabaleta insists his side are determined to avoid becoming the latest high-profile victims of the FA Cup’s giant-killing tradition when they face Leeds in the fifth round. Participants preparing for training session.
‘Perumal a primary source of evidence’
Singaporean reveals fixing secrets By John Leicester PARIS, Feb 15, (AP): When police arrested Wilson Raj Perumal in Finland, it didn’t take long for him to realize that his criminal buddies had ratted him out. He’s been exacting revenge ever since — by ratting on them, too. Since his arrest in 2011, Perumal has been talking to police, prosecutors and journalists about the shadowy world of fixing soccer matches, in which he was an active participant, and the millions of dollars that can be made in betting on them. The Singaporean was convicted in the Lapland District Court of bribing players in the Finnish league, forgery and trying to flee from officials guarding him, and was sentenced to two years in prison. Perumal told police that he could be in danger for betraying his former colleagues. But Perumal also reasoned that by fingering him to the Finns, his associates broke the cardinal rule of criminals not cooperating with law enforcement. “It’s not in my nature to sing like a canary,” he wrote in a letter from jail. “If I had been arrested under normal circumstances, I would have been back in Singapore to serve my time as a guest of the state with my mouth tightly shut.” European investigators and prosecutors say Perumal has provided an invaluable window into the realm of match-rigging, which is corroding the world’s most popular sport. They say he has revealed who organizes some of the fixing in football, as the sport is known in most countries, and how money is made wagering on outcomes prearranged with players, referees and officials who have been bribed or threatened. “He’s not the only operating matchfixer of this style or this size in the world, but he’s the first to be really captured in the way he was and now to cooperate the way he is,” said Chris Eaton, who was head of security of FIFA, soccer’s governing body, at the time of Perumal’s arrest. “He put two and two together and realized he’d been traitored,” Eaton said in an interview with The Associated Press. “It took several days before he decided that it was in his best interests to cooperate.” Police from Italy investigating
Perumal detailed to authorities how the syndicate is structured, how it places bets, and how it moves bribemoney around the world, they said. Italian prosecutors have issued an arrest warrant for Tan and listed him as the No. 1 suspect in their match-fixing investigation. Prosecutor Roberto Di Martino told the AP there are about 150 people under investigation, including Tan, but none of them has been indicted. AP could not contact Tan in Singapore. Five phone numbers identified as his by Italian prosecutors were disconnected, and no one answered the door at an apartment the Italians listed as his address. Perumal told Finnish police that the
SOCCER
Liverpool FC’s football player Steven Gerrard reacts during UEFA Europa League round of 32 football match between FC Zenit St Petersburg and Liverpool FC in St Petersburg on Feb 14. (AFP)
dozens of fixed Italian games and a prosecutor looking into 340 suspect games elsewhere in Europe both traveled to Finland to question Perumal as a witness. One investigator on those trips told the AP that Perumal provided “very good interviews,” that he is still cooperating even after his release from prison in Finland, and that evidence he provided has checked out. Another investigator told AP that Perumal alerted authorities to two fixes in progress — the matches, the referees — and that his information was “100 percent” right in both cases. That investigator called Perumal “a massive help.” Both investigators spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss their work publicly. Perumal declined an AP request for an interview. In court filings, Italian prosecutors described Perumal as their “primary source of evidence” on Tan Seet Eng, also known as Dan Tan, a Singaporean they allege is the leader of the syndicate that fixed matches in Italy.
syndicate has six shareholders — including himself — from Singapore, Croatia, Bulgaria, Slovenia and Hungary, and he said they divide up income from gambling on fixed matches. The syndicate places bets mainly in China, Perumal said, according to a transcript of his May 18, 2011, police interview obtained by the AP. He said the group fixed “tens of matches around the world” — in Europe, Africa, the Middle East and the Americas — from 2008 to 2010. He estimated the group’s total profits after expenses at “several millions of euros, maybe 5-6 million.” “Perumal is key, because he provides a view into how it all fit together,” Di Martino told the AP. Investigators said Perumal has a long history as a match-fixer and a broad array of contacts in soccer. He boasted in a letter from prison: “I can pick up the phone and call from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe.” When arrested, he had numbers stored in his phone for people in 34 countries. He carried a business card with a FIFA logo that described him as “executive manager.” Perumal wrote from prison that he started fixing matches in Asia in the early 1990s. “I grew up in a region where football betting and match-fixing was a way of life. Gradually I developed the ability and the expertise to execute the job myself,” he said.
This season’s competition has already provided a host of memorable moments with several members of the Premier League’s elite suffering shock defeats against lower league opposition. While the Cup is now regarded by many in the Premier League as something of an inconvenience, it remains a beacon of hope for those outside the lucrative top-flight and Liverpool, Tottenham, Newcastle, Aston Villa, Norwich and QPR have all fallen prey to an uprising from the underdogs this season. Only seven Premier League teams made it out of the fourth round last month and there are several opportunities for more upsets this weekend. English champions City look especially vulnerable as they prepare to host Championship club Leeds, winners against Tottenham in the last round, on Sunday. City’s 3-1 defeat at Southampton last weekend left Roberto Mancini Mancini’s out-of-form side 12 points behind leaders Manchester United in the Premier League title race. Yet Zabaleta claims the spirit in the camp is still very positive. “We will learn from the Southampton defeat and use the deflated feeling we had afterwards as an inspiration to maybe try and re-discover the sort of spirit we had last season,” Zabaleta said. “We need to stand together, battle and show what we are really capable of. We will aim and get back to winning ways in the FA Cup and that is our immediate focus now.” Arsenal will also have to be on their guard against Championship side Blackburn. Arsene Wenger’s side have already bowed out of the League Cup against League Two side Bradford this season and, with a Champions League tie against Bayern Munich looming on Tuesday, the Gunners could be distracted. Wenger’s players would do well to heed the words of the club’s German defender Per Mertesacker, who cautioned against looking ahead to the Bayern clash. “Bayern are doing superb this year and that is a big challenge for us,” Mertesacker said. “But we still have an important cup game on Saturday. We absolutely want to advance in the FA Cup and that is why the preparations for Bayern are not that intense yet.” After beating Liverpool in the fourth round, League One strugglers Oldham will aim to complete a rare Merseyside giant-killing double at home to Everton. Leighton Baines, Everton’s England leftback, concedes his team can’t afford to be below par against opponents who will be fired up to claim another scalp. “We saw what a tough game they gave to Liverpool in the last round,” Baines said. “We played them ourselves a few seasons
Chelsea vs Brentford Aljazeera Sport+3 14:30 local (Sunday)
Oldham vs Everton Aljazeera Sport+3 Luton vs Mill Wall Aljazeera Sport+3 15:00 local
Man City vs Leeds Aljazeera Sport+3 17:00 local (Sunday)
Arsenal vs Blackburn Aljazeera Sport+3 18:00 local
Leicester vs Wigan Aljazeera Sport+3 18:45 local
United vs Reading Aljazeera Sport+3 22:00 local (Monday)
back and they beat us, so we know what those cup ties are all about. It’s just about getting through.” Luton, seventh in the fifth-tier National Conference, are also looking to cause another shock after becoming the first non-league side to beat a top-flight team in the FA Cup since Sutton in 1989. Only six other teams from outside England’s Football League have made it this far in the competition since the Second World War and the Hatters host Millwall on Saturday knowing a win over the second-tier side would make them the first non-league outfit to reach the quarter-finals in 99 years. With Millwall’s last FA Cup trip to Luton in 1985 ending in an infamous riot that saw visiting fans ransack Kenilworth Road, both clubs will hope the focus remains on the pitch. “I think we’ve moved on as a society, let alone moved on in football,” Luton chief executive Gary Sweet said. Everton manager David Moyes will wait until the end of the season before deciding whether to commit his future to the Premier League club, he said on Friday. Moyes, 49, has spent 11 years at Goodison Park but his current contract is up at the end of the campaign, with speculation intensifying about his future. The Scot has been widely applauded for keeping Everton consistently challenging in the top half of the Premier League on a limited budget. English media reports have linked Moyes with a close-season switch to Chelsea. “I’ve spoken with the chairman (Bill Kenwright) and I want to see how the team do,” Moyes told reporters. “I want to see how we do in the cups and the league and it is more than likely that I won’t make a decision until the end of the season. “You can ask me every week but I will probably give you the same answer.” Everton, who face third tier Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday, are sixth in the Premier League having lost only four games all season. They have a number of injury concerns after their league defeat to Manchester United on Sunday. Striker Nikica Jelavic, however, is pushing for a recall after finding himself on the bench in recent weeks. “I don’t know what it does for anybody but you hope that they sit back and look at exactly what they have to do to get back into the team and get their real form back,” Moyes said. “It’s part of football. “Hopefully when he gets his opportunity he will be ready to take it. Maybe a little bit of a rest at times can help.”
Clark axes Zigic from Blues squad
Best of the Rest FIFA to discuss proposals: FIFA is to discuss “concrete proposals” for combating racism over the next few months and plans to put them into effect in May, soccer’s governing body said on Friday. The proposals will be chewed over by FIFA’s executive committee at its next meeting in March and then presented to the annual Congress in Mauritius in May which is expected to have the final say, FIFA said. “I am very pleased with the ideas that have evolved today and look forward to the deliberations with the executive committee next month,” said FIFA president Sepp Blatter following a meeting of the strategic committee. “The aim is to present to the FIFA Congress in Mauritius in May concrete actions, as well as strong sanctions which will really have an impact.” FIFA did not elaborate on what the
proposals were. Blatter has previously suggested that points deductions and even relegation could be used as sanctions for teams whose supporters are found guilty of racist behaviour. (RTRS) ❑ ❑ ❑
FIFA announces Cup prize money: FIFA will pay $4.1 million in prize money to the Confederations Cup winner, and Tahiti is guaranteed $1.7 million from the June 15-30 tournament. FIFA says $20 million in total prize money will be shared among eight teams playing in the World Cup warm-up event in Brazil. The prize fund was $17.6 million at the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa. There, Brazil got $3.75 million for winning. FIFA says the beaten finalist will receive $3.6 million; the third-place team earns $3 million and the fourth-
place team gets $2.5 million. (AP) ❑ ❑ ❑
Blackburn sign Bentley, Rekik: Tottenham Hotspur flop David Bentley rejoined former club Blackburn Rovers on loan on Friday and Manchester City’s Dutch teenager Karim Rekik has also moved to the English second tier side on a short-term deal. Winger Bentley was Tottenham’s record signing when he arrived from Blackburn for 17 million pounds ($26 million) in 2008 but failed to make any impact at White Hart Lane and has spent loan spells at Birmingham City, West Ham United and Russia’s FC Rostov. The 28-year-old, who has seven England caps, could make his debut against boyhood club Arsenal in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday, mid-table Blackburn said in a statement. (RTRS)
Roman Bednar of Sparta Praha (right), vies for a ball with Frank Lampard of Chelsea FC during the UEFA Europa League football match AC Sparta Praha vs Chelsea FC on Feb 14, in Prague, Czech Republic. (AFP)
LONDON, Feb 15, (AFP): Birmingham striker Nikola Zigic has been axed from the squad for Saturday’s match against Watford after manager Lee Clark said he’d turned in “the worst training session...I have ever come across”. Towering Serbian forward Zigic still earns a reported £50,000-plus per week following Birmingham’s relegation from the English Premier League. And he remains something of a fans’ favourite at the Midlands club after heading the opening goal in the 2011 League Cup final win over Arsenal. Nevertheless, the 32-year-old has been used sparingly by Clark this season, making nine starts and 13 substitute appearances for a return of six goals. But he will not get the chance to improve those figures when Watford visit St Andrew’s for a second-tier Championship clash on Saturday, even though he was in line to start because of Marlon King’s knee injury.