Fergie slams lacklustre United after Crawley test

Manchester United's defender Wes Brown (R) celebrates with striker Bebe (L) after scoring during their FA Cup fifth round football match against Crawley Town at Old Trafford in Manchester. Manchester United ended non-league Crawley Town's fairytale run with a lacklustre 1-0 victory.

Photo: AFP

Sir Alex Ferguson accused his Manchester United players of failing to understand the importance of the FA Cup after the 11-times winners struggled to reach the sixth round at the expense of non-League opposition.

The Premier League leaders were given an uncomfortable time by Crawley Town before edging past the team from the fifth tier of English football 1-0 at Old Trafford on Saturday to book a quarter-final spot.

But United's victory came at a cost as Anderson, Rafael da Silva and Fabio da Silva were injured and are now all doubtful for Wednesday's Champions League game away to Marseille.

Ferguson made his feelings clear after his players failed to perform.

Although the likes of Edwin van der Sar, Patrice Evra, Nemanja Vidic and Dimitar Berbatov were given the afternoon off, the likes of Bebe, Michael Carrick and Gabriel Obertan failed to impress.

"Some players came in and didn't do themselves justice. No doubt about that," said Ferguson.

"In the second half, we weren't at the races. It was disappointing. We might have some players who don't understand what the FA Cup is all about. That is the biggest lesson for them."

Anderson suffered a hamstring problem while brothers Rafael and Fabio da Silva also suffered knocks.

Ferguson said he will assess them before deciding whether they are capable of making the midweek journey to France.

"It was a big problem, having to take our two full-backs off and Anderson with his hamstring," added the United manager.

"It unbalances the team. We will assess them on Sunday. We had to play Darren Fletcher at right-back and he did well, but it didn't help."

Ferguson was full of praise for Crawley, who were denied a replay when substitute Richard Brodie hit the woodwork in stoppage time in front of their 9,000 travelling fans at Old Trafford.

"All the criticism about the FA Cup, it tells you what it means to a small club like Crawley," added Ferguson.

"They showed more desire in the second half. They made it very difficult for us. We were second to every ball. They could have equalized. They deserved a draw really, we never had a shot at goal in the second half.

"First half we did very well, no complaints. We could have been three or four up. It wasn't to be and if you are only 1-0 up in a cup-tie it only takes a second to lose a goal, and we nearly did."

Crawley did not leave Old Trafford completely empty handed. They will make over one million pounds (1.6 million dollars) from the tie via television rights and gate receipts from a sellout 75,000 crowd.

Manager Steve Evans challenged his players to use the performance as a springboard to win promotion to the Football League.

"We want to play in the Football League but there are some good clubs trying to stop us," said Evans.

"I am very proud of my players. I've spoken to Alex and he's given me a bottle of wine to take away."

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V-League the No.1 in Southeast Asia: Indonesia coach

The top-tier football league in Vietnam, V-League, is the number one in Southeast Asia in terms of attraction and quality of competition, said Indonesia’s head coach Alfred Riedl.

The Austrian-born man, who has 14 years of working as coaches in Vietnam, Laos, and Indonesia, said footballers in Vietnam are paid higher salary and bonus than other nations in the region.

“It has drawn qualified players from Thailand, Singapore or Indonesia to enlist for V-League in Vietnam,” he said.

“Payment for domestic players in Vietnam is also higher than in Indonesia. That helps motivate players to strive to demonstrate themselves on the pitch to deserve the payment.”

The 62-year-old coach agreed that violence, match fixing and quality of referees have degraded football development but these problems are universal, not unique to Vietnam.

“In Indonesia, violence is even more serious than in Vietnam and referees seem unable to control it,” Riedl said.

Coach Riedl had three spells of training the Vietnamese national team, from 1998 – 2001, 2003-04, and 2005-07. He later came to Laos in 2009 and worked with Indonesia from 2010.

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Women's team targets Olympics

Focused: Members of the national women's football team train at Tam Dao Sports Centre in the northern province of Vinh Phuc. — VNS Photo Quang Thang

HA NOI — The women's football team would put aside its disappointment at not being able to defend its title at the Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia and focus on the FIFA Women's Olympic Football Tournament 2012 qualifying campaign next month, Chinese coach Chen Yun Fat said.

The Indonesian organising committee has announced that female football will not be played at the Southeast Asian Games this year.

Viet Nam Olympic Committee general secretary Hoang Vinh Giang said it would be difficult to change the committee's decision.

Chen said: "At present, the team are training their physical strength at Tam Dao Sports Centre in the northern province of Vinh Phuc where the weather is very severe. It rains all day and is very cold.

"We always define that we must try our best against any rival at any tournament."

Chen also revealed that six young talented footballers had been added to the team and that the FIFA qualifiers tournament would hone their skills and experience.

The Asian Zone qualifiers start in March having three phases until September to determine the two teams that will represent Asia.

Viet Nam is in group A of the draw, which comprises Thailand, Hong Kong, Chinese Taipei and Myanmar.

Group A and seven other teams from groups B and C – India, Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, Bahrain, Iran, Palestine and Jordan – will take part in the inaugural phase of qualification that kicks off on March 8 and winds up on March 27. — VNS

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Coach Hai appeals match ban

Coach Le Thuy Hai and his Lam Son Thanh Hoa team managers have sent a letter to appeal the Viet Nam Football Federation (VFF)'s Discipline Department's decision to ban Hai from participating in two V-League matches.

According to the club's chair Nguyen Van De, the Discipline Department's decision to ban Hai for using improper language with a referee was not a convincing enough argument that explained why he was suspended.

De asked why the VFF waited 20 days before making their decision.

Hai was banned and fined VND5 million (US$230) after engaging in a verbal altercation with the referee Ngo Quoc Hung during a match between his team and Hoa Phat Ha Noi three weeks ago.

Hectic competition for tennis teen

Vietnamese teenager Nguyen Hoang Thien will compete in three international tournaments that will be held in Southeast Asia during the next two months.

He will compete at the International Tennis Federation's Malacca G4 tourney that will be held in Malaysia from February 28-March 4.

The ITF will be held in Thailand from March 7-12 where Thien will compete in the qualifying round.

He will compete at the Mitsubishi-Lancer from March 22-27 in Manila, the Philippines

Thien, who was the first Vietnamese player to compete at the Australian Juniors Open, will compete in France later this year.

Indonesia cuts events from Games

Indonesia will host the 26th Southeast Asian Games later this year. The country has decided to reduce the number of events at the event, including pencak silat. Vietnamese athletes have performed well in pencak silat events in the past.

Indonesia has also decided to eliminate six combat events, of which Viet Nam might have been able to win five. — VNS

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Top mark for fair play at chess's Aeroflot Open

Le Quang Liem (R) plays against Rauf Mamedov of Azerbaijan in the last round. They finally set for a tie

Vietnamese grandmaster Le Quang Liem, 20 and with Elo rating of 2,664, writes his name in the 10-year history of Russia’s Aeroflot Open chess tourney as the first player in the world for crowning the title twice in two consecutive years.

His victory this year came from his talent, of course, and the spirit of sportsmanship of other rivals, according to Liem’s coach, Lam Minh Chau.

Liem and Bulgarian grandmaster Ivan Cheparinov each had 6 points before the last round taking place, but Liem could only manage his best for a tie with GM Rauf Mamedov of Azerbaijan.

That means Cheparinov would be declared champion if he defeated Russian Nikita Vitiugov in their last game. That even didn’t happen thanks to the sporting spirit of all participants, especially from Vitiugov, who defeated Cheparinov in the last round to stamp out his hope.

Not waiting till the last round, the fair play spirit was actually honored right from the opening round, the coach remarked.

The coach added that Liem’s biggest progress at the tournament was his growing confidence. He showed no fright while staging against high-profile champions of the world and even challenged those rivals with attacks from the beginning.

In the second game against Chinese Deshun Xiu, Liem produced his far-thinking strategy by sacrificing his pawns. Experts later acknowledged his moves outsmarted his rival, forcing him to surrender.

Facing the world blitz chess champion Gata Kamsky of the US in the fourth round, Liem actively staged his attacking formation and sacrificed pawns to assault others. It stunned the wise Kamsky who was later forced to accept a loss.

Liem kept on the attacking tactics to pile up pressure against Ivan Cheparinov in the penultimate round, but he failed this time and it was his only loss at the tournament.

Liem applies the ancient proverb “it’s more difficult to defend than to attack”, and staged assaults after assaults tactically to defend his title and set up a historic record at Aeroflot Open.

Liem will automatically qualify for the Dortmund Sparkassen Chess Meet in Germany, which is the playing ground of only super grandmasters, meaning those with Elo rating from 2,700.

Liem and other participants are commendable for their sporting spirits at the event.

 

Liem (second, L) addresses the audience after crowning the championship title at the 2011 Aeroflot Open held in Russia from February 7-17

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Female football chopped from Games programme

HA NOI – Female football will not be played at the 26th South East Asian Games in Indonesia following a decision by the Indonesia organising committee, a major blow to the Viet Nam team which is the defending champion.

Viet Nam Olympic Committee general secretary Hoang Vinh Giang said it would be difficult to change the committee's decision.

Indonesia was not good at female football so the Games committee was not eager for this event, he said.

"The Games committee's reason is that they don't have enough football grounds," Giang said. "To organise the female football event, they need two Asian Football Confederation standard grounds, not including training grounds.

"The Viet Nam committee will give its opinion on this problem at the meeting with Indonesia to discuss competition programmes. We will request they hold female football. But in my experience, there is little chance to modify the Games committee's determination. They have the right to add or reject events."

Meanwhile, the national female football team, the Games defending champions, convened at the National Sports Training Centre in Ha Noi yesterday in preparation for tournaments this year, coached by Chinese Chen Yun Fat. They include the upcoming SEA Games and the Olympic London 2012 qualifying rounds.

Viet Nam Football Federation vice chairman Nguyen Lan Trung said the federation was waiting for the official announcement from the Games committee before adjusting the team's training schedule.

"Meanwhile, the federation would ask the Viet Nam Olympic Committee and football federations in the region to petition the Games committee to include female football in the programme for the 26th SEA Games," Trung said. – VNS

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Roma and Riise in ruins but hope springs eternal

Shakhtar Donetsk's Luiz Adriano (L) shoots and scores past AS Roma's Philippe Mexes during their Champions League soccer match at the Olympic stadium in Rome February 16, 2011

Photo: Reuters

"Crisis" and "nightmare" were phrases bandied about by media on Thursday to describe AS Roma's 3-2 defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League, with John Arne Riise's slip for the third goal seen as symptomatic.

The last-16 first leg loss at home came after three games without a win in Serie A while the likely sale of the indebted club to an American consortium has added to the uncertainty surrounding under-fire coach Claudio Ranieri's future.

Ranieri has vowed not to quit and Riise, whose mistake let in Luiz Adriano for the Ukrainians' third on their knockout stage debut, tried to take the blame as Serie A was left reeling again following AC Milan's loss to Tottenham on Tuesday.

"I feel bad, my error was incredible. The fans are angry with me and I say sorry to everyone, team mates included. I don't think we played badly," Norwegian left back Riise, substituted at the break following the mistake, told Sky.

"I was ready to come back on but Ranieri told me I was coming off, I think for the error. I hope the fans know that I always give everything."

Roma took the lead in the 28th minute through midfielder Simone Perrotta's header but Shakhtar equalized a minute later through Jadson's fortunate deflection before fellow Brazilian Douglas Costa netted on 36 minutes.

Following Riise's aberration, Jeremy Menez picked his spot in the top corner after the break to give Roma some hope for the second leg in Ukraine on March 8.

Ranieri was upbeat about the performance and with a 2-0 win in Donetsk being enough to send the Romans through, the doom-mongers are perhaps a little premature despite Roma's eighth place in the Italian league.

New owners will also add impetus, whatever Ranieri's future, and a club the size of Roma can do little more than aspire to reach the Champions League last eight having surprised every fan in Italy with their stunning revival last season.

Whether Riise will be present in Donetsk remains to be seen.

AS Roma's Francesco Totti (L), Paolo Castellini and Nicolas Burdisso (R) react at the end of their Champions League soccer match against Shakhtar Donetsk at the Olympic stadium in Rome February 16, 2011. Shakhtar Donetsk won 3-2

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