Vietnam confident ahead of showdown with Malaysia

HCMC – The Vietnamese national football team is confident ahead of the first leg semifinals game against Malaysia in the AFF Suzuki Cup 2010 at Bukit Jalil Stadium, Malaysia on Wednesday though many key team members won’t be playing.

Head coach Henrique Calisto said he was pleased with his players for securing the semifinals berth and believed they would beat Malaysia.

Calisto told the media that injuries had forced his team to make many important changes with Nguyen Huy Hoang, Nguyen Minh Chau and Tran Dinh Dong making their debut in the game.

Veteran player, Hoang will replace halfback Huynh Quang Thanh, who suffered an ankle injury in the match against Singapore, while Tran Dinh Dong will replace Doan Viet Cuong and Nguyen Minh Chau will replace Phan Van Tai Em.

Defender Doan Viet Cuong and midfielder Phan Van Tai Em remained doubtful for the game in Malaysia as neither player could train on Sunday. Viet Cuong, who showed a good performance against Singapore despite being injured, has still to fully recover while his teammate Tai Em is also suffering from a knee injury.

Vietnam also lost midfielder Nguyen Trong Hoang, who played well in the qualifying round in Vietnam. Hoang has been suspended after being given a red card in the game against Singapore last Wednesday.

However, striker Nguyen Viet Thang, who has recovered from an injury, may be returning to join strikers Nguyen Anh Duc and Le Sy Manh. Thang, a first-choice striker of head coach Calisto, was not on the list made at the beginning of the tournament.

The Portuguese coach remains optimistic about the fitness of goal keeper Bui Tan Truong, midfielders Nguyen Vu Phong and Pham Thanh Luong, captain Nguyen Minh Phuong who all played well in the qualifying round.

The Vietnamese side reached the semifinals as they finished as Group B leaders with six points ahead of runners-up Philippines, who collected five points. Vietnam crushed Myanmar 7-1 in the opener, and then lost 0-2 to Philippines and had a 1-0 win over archrivals Singapore in their final group stage game. 

Meanwhile, hosts Indonesia came through the group stage unbeaten to top Group A while Malaysia were the runners-up in the group. Malaysia earned four points   after losing 1-5 to Indonesia, drawing 0-0 with Thailand and earning 5-1 win over Laos in their group stage.

The 2010 ASEAN Football Federation Cup, also called AFF Suzuki Cup 2010, is co-hosted by Vietnam and Indonesia and attended by eight countries in the region - Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Laos.

The semifinals are set for December 15, 16, 28 and 19 on a home and away basis. The two legs for the finals will be on December 26 and 29 also on a home and away basis.

The other semi-final between host Indonesia and the Philippines will be played on Thursday and Sunday at the Geloga Bung Karno Stadium in Jakarta.

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Germany's '54 World Cup win could be drug-tainted - study

Hungary’s Galloping Major, the great Ferenc Puskas (left), lashes a shot at goal during the 1954 World Cup final. West Germany’s Werner Liebrich, who had injured Puskas with a fierce tackle when the two teams met in the group stage, attempts to block it. Puskas scored the game’s opening goal, in the sixth minute, but the unruffled and unfancied Germans came from 2-0 down to win 3-2 and take their first World Cup title. The game would later become known in Germany as ‘The Miracle of Bern’; the Mighty Magyars, epitomised by Puskas, were considered almost unbeatable

West Germany's 1954 World Cup-winning team, feted as the men who helped put a nation back on its feet after World War Two, may have been boosted by a secret doping program, according to a new university study.

Germany upstaged red-hot favorites Hungary 3-2 in the final in Switzerland in a victory that became known as the "Miracle of Berne", giving the war-weary nation cause at last for cheer.

"There are several strong indications that point to the injection of (methamphetamine) pervitin in some Germany players and not vitamin C as it was claimed," sports historian and author Erik Eggers, who conducted the study as part of a team at Humboldt University in Berlin, told Reuters on Wednesday.

Pervitin was a known stimulant at the time and had also been distributed to German soldiers in World War Two.

Team officials had said they had injected their players only with vitamin C during the tournament. No drugs tests were conducted at the time.

Eggers has been studying this case for some years and his report forms part of a wider project called 'Doping in Germany', launched by the country's sports authorities to investigate its doping past.

"Pervitin was at that time widely used in many sports and amphetamines were said to be also used by South America players," Eggers said.

"What is suspicious is that these injections to German players were distributed secretly and the only reason they became known was because those who got injected contracted jaundice."

Hungary had demolished the Germans 8-3 in the tournament's group stage, making West Germany's final win all the more surprising.

"The most important indication, though, is that vitamin C is not injected. This is very unusual. They could have just eaten an orange instead."

German football federation (DFB) officials could not be immediately reached for a comment.

German Olympic Sports Union (DOSB), the country's umbrella sports organization which launched the Doping in Germany project with other sports authorities, told Reuters they were aware of Eggers' study.

"Keep in mind these are indications and not proof," a DOSB official told Reuters.

Many Germans view the 1954 win as the springboard of the country's remarkable soccer success in the World Cups -- they have won three and been runners-up four times -- and a key moment of renewed optimism in post-War Germany.

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Braga shock Sevilla in Champions League playoffs

Braga's Alberto Rodriguez (L) and Sevilla's Frederic Kanoute jump for a header during their Champions League playoff second leg soccer match at the Sanchez Pizjuan stadium in Seville, August 24, 2010

Photo: Reuters

Sevilla, who reached the last 16 of the Champions League last season, were handed a shock playoff defeat by unfashionable Braga on Tuesday while Werder Bremen pulled off a spectacular escape act to oust Sampdoria.

Substitute Lima, 27, a Brazilian journeyman forward, came on to score a second-half hat-trick to give Braga a 4-3 win in Spain and send the Portuguese outfit into the group stage for the first time 5-3 on aggregate.

Werder, leading 3-1 from the first leg, went 3-0 down at Sampdoria before substitute Markus Rosenberg scored in the third minute of stoppage time to set up extra time.

Claudio Pizarro then netted as the Bundesliga team lost 3-2 on the night but qualified 5-4 on aggregate to leave Spain and Italy with only three teams in Europe's top club competition.

There was further drama as Partizan Belgrade knocked out Anderlecht 3-2 on penalties after drawing 2-2 in Belgium where the visitors let slip a two-goal lead in the last half hour.

It is the second time Partizan have qualified for the group stage. The first was in 2003 when they defeated Newcastle United.

Swiss league champions Basel won 3-0 at Sheriff Tiraspol to complete a 4-0 aggregate win over the Moldovans while Hapoel Tel Aviv qualified for the first time with a 1-1 home draw against Salzburg clinching a 4-3 triumph overall.

It is the 10th season in a row Sheriff have failed to get through the qualifying stages while Salzburg, Austria's biggest-spending team, have fallen at the final hurdle four times in five seasons.

Away goal

Braga snatched an away goal in the 32nd minute through Matheus, who also struck in the 1-0 first leg win.

Sevilla had squandered a flurry of early chances with Brazil striker Luis Fabiano and Mali's Frederic Kanoute the main culprits.

Lima, who played for a number of unfashionable Brazilian clubs before moving to Portugal last season to join Belenenses, doubled Braga's lead in the 58th minute by slotting home Matheus's pass.

Luis Fabiano and Jesus Navas hit back to make it 2-2 on the night, only for Lima to add two more goals in the last five minutes before Kanoute pulled one back for Sevilla in stoppage time.

Sampdoria, who grabbed an away goal in injury-time in Bremen last week, were quickly in the driving seat at home with Giampaolo Pazzini netting twice inside 13 minutes.

Substitute Antonio Cassano appeared to have sealed their win when he scored with a back heel five minutes from time but Rosenberg had other ideas as he struck with a low 20-meter shot with almost the last kick.

Peru striker Pizarro was then on target from 25 meters to shatter the Italians, who reached the 1992 European Cup final on their only previous appearance in the competition.

"It hurts because we were winning 3-0 and should have dealt with it better," Sampdoria captain Angelo Palombo told Sky television. "It was a dream and would have meant lots of money to the club.”

“I hope the squad stays together now."

Striker Cleo, another Brazilian who has made a bigger impact abroad than at home, scored twice in the first hour to put Partizan 2-0 ahead at Anderlecht, taking his tally in the tournament to eight after he was also on target last week.

Seventeen-year-old Romelu Lukaku pulled one back for the Belgians just after the hour and Guillaume Gillet leveled in the 71st minute with a dipping shot from outside the area.

However Partizan, the only Serbian team to have reached the group stage, weathered the storm and won on penalties.

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