Paris: The big surprise about the Champions League final on Saturday isn't the teams - Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund, both superb. It's that it took so long for such an all-German contest to materialise.
With the largest economy and population in Europe, modern stadiums heaving with fans, financial backing from industrial giants, an impressively run league with a fat balance sheet and mostly profitable clubs and a web of academies hot-housing young players, German teams should be all-conquering, regularly scooping up trophies in Europe's top tournaments.
But German football's motto, especially in the decade since Bayern were the last German champions of Europe in 2001, could be "close, but no cigar."
A poster-boy for German underachievement is Philipp Lahm, captain both of Bayern and the national team. His trophy haul from two World Cups and three European Championships with Germany, plus two Champions League finals (2010 and 2012) with Bayern, is precisely zero....
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10:25 AM, May 24, 2013
Virginia Water: World number two Rory McIlroy was blown off course by unseasonally cold weather at Wentworth on Thursday, bogeying five of the last six holes to sink to a two-over 74 in the PGA Championship first round. The 24-year-old Northern Irishman made an encouraging start to the European Tour's flagship event and was three-under after 12 holes but a series of late blunders meant he walked off the 18th...
10:55 PM, May 23, 2013
Karachi: Pakistan cricket head coach Dav Whatmore does not believe that the Test drubbing his team got in South Africa early this year will impact their performance in next month's ICC Champions Trophy in UK. Pakistan were whitewashed in the three-match series with no Test going into the fifth day and since Whatmore took over as coach in March last year, the team has not been able to win any...
10:02 PM, May 23, 2013
New Delhi: The PCB on Thursday said it will soon introduce new rules to bring Pakistani umpires under its "domain" in the wake of ICC's decision to withdraw Asad Rauf from the Champions Trophy following his questioning in connection with the spot-fixing scandal in IPL. PCB chairman Zaka Ashraf, though, said he is not in the know-how about Rauf's removal from the elite panel of umpires from next month's Champions...
07:47 PM, May 23, 2013
New Delhi: In a fresh twist to the ongoing IPL spot-fixing scandal, the International Cricket Council (ICC) on Thursday withdrew Pakistan umpire Asad Rauf from officiating in the Champions Trophy in England next month. Explaining the decision, ICC Chief Executive David Richardson said: "In the wake of reports that the Mumbai Police are conducting an investigation into Asad Rauf's activities, we feel that it is in Asad's best interests as...
06:31 PM, May 23, 2013
Berlin: The absence of injured midfielder Mario Goetze has weakened Borussia Dortmund ahead of the Champions League final at Wembley stadium against Bayern Munich on Saturday, Bayern playmaker Bastian Schweinsteiger said on Thursday. The 20-year-old Goetze, who will join Bayern at the end of the season in a surprise deal worth a reported 37 million euros, has been nursing a muscle injury that has ruled him out of the biggest...
05:48 PM, May 23, 2013
London: Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich are bitter rivals, yet in tactical terms they offer variations on the same theme. Both press their opponents high up the pitch, can move the ball from defence to attack with bewildering speed and play with a 4-2-3-1 formation featuring wide players on each flank and a lone striker. Dortmund, however, are more lightweight and lean towards a more counter-attacking style....
11:40 AM, May 23, 2013
London: An internet search for "Arjen Robben cuts inside" produces more than two million items, one of them a recent tweet declaring: "That was the 10,000th time Robben has cut inside and shot with his left foot - so predictable". Yet, when the Bayern Munich winger bears down the right in Saturday's Champions League final, Borussia Dortmund's defenders, if they follow in the misdirected footsteps of so many before them,...
11:11 AM, May 23, 2013
England: Sergio Garcia was so upset by the furore caused by his "fried chicken" jibe at Tiger Woods that he contemplated pulling out of this week's PGA Championship at Wentworth, the Spaniard said on Wednesday. World number 14 Garcia added that his comment, made at the European Tour's Player of the Year awards on Tuesday, was "stupid and out of place" and he regretted it the moment he said it....
09:45 PM, May 22, 2013
Dortmund: Borussia Dortmund midfielder Mario Goetze will miss Saturday's Champions League final against Bayern Munich after failing to recover from a hamstring injury, leaving the team without one of their best players. Dortmund confirmed on Wednesday that Goetze will not be fit in time to face his future club at Wembley Stadium in London. It would have been the 20-year-old Goetze's last game for Dortmund before his 37-million euro switch...
09:05 PM, May 22, 2013
Colombo: Sri Lanka medium pacer Chanaka Welegedara has been ruled out of the team's Champions Trophy campaign in England next month. The 32-year-old Welegedara, who has not played ODI cricket in three years, injured his foot during a domestic fixture earlier this month. He will be replaced by allrounder Dilhara Lokuhettige, who played his last one day international way back in 2005. Lokuhettige, however, has been in fine form with...
04:53 PM, May 22, 2013
Malaga will be free to compete in the Europa League next season after UEFA announced on Wednesday that the European ban imposed on the Spanish club had been lifted. The Costa del Sol club, who reached the quarter-finals of this season's Champions League, had been given a one-year ban by UEFA due to financial irregularities but had appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). UEFA's decision came after...
03:45 PM, May 22, 2013
Dortmund: Borussia Dortmund midfielder Mario Goetze pulled out of training on his comeback from a hamstring injury Tuesday, putting his participation in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich in doubt. Goetze took part in individual jogging exercises in the morning before joining the team session in the afternoon, but he could only complete an hour with teammates before withdrawing. German magazine Kicker reported that Goetze's injured right hamstring that...
11:09 PM, May 21, 2013
Karachi: Pakistan allrounder Mohammad Hafeez is all geared up for the upcoming Champions Trophy clash against India, and said any encounter between the traditional rivals on the cricketing field is "always very special". Hafeez told Pakistani reporters in Ireland, where the team is preparing for a One-Day series against the hosts, that the players were eagerly awaiting the match against India as it would also determine their chances of qualifying...
10:58 AM, May 21, 2013
Guntur: Kerala's KT Neena qualified for World Youth Championships after winning gold in 5000m race with a new meet mark of 25 min 13.95 sec on the third and final day of the 10th National Youth Athletics Championships here. The World Youth Championships will be held in Ukraine in July. Neena's team-mates AM Binsy and S Akshaya completed the other two places on the podium as Kerala pipped overnight leaders...
08:54 PM, May 20, 2013
Dortmund: Borussia Dortmund's central defender Mats Hummels is expected to recover from an ankle injury in time to play in the Champions League final against Bayern Munich. Hummels twisted his right ankle in the 2-1 home loss to Hoffenheim in the final round of the Bundesliga on Saturday. Team doctor Markus Braun says Hummels being on the field Saturday at Wembley is "absolutely realistic." Hummels told Sport Bild magazine the...
04:11 PM, May 20, 2013
London: Nicola Rizzoli of Italy will referee the Champions League final between Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich. The match at Wembley Stadium on Saturday will be the 41-year-old Rizzoli's highest-profile fixture since becoming an international referee in 2007. Rizzoli will be assisted by compatriots Renato Faverani and Andrea Stefani, while Gianluca Rocchi and Paolo Tagliavento will be the extra officials behind the goals. The fourth official is Damir Skomina from...
03:59 PM, May 20, 2013
Fiorentina's players and officials were furious after being deprived of a place in the Champions League playoff by two late goals from AC Milan on Sunday, who clinched third place in Serie A and qualified at their expense. Milan, needing to beat relegated Siena to hold on to third spot, won 2-1 after equalising with a controversial penalty won and converted by Mario Balotelli before Philippe Mexes grabbed the winner....
02:34 PM, May 20, 2013
Bridgetown: The West Indies will kick off preparations for next month's Champions Trophy in England when they embark on a five-day camp at the High Performance Centre (HPC) at the 3Ws Oval starting here on Monday. The sessions will be overseen by West Indies head coach Ottis Gibson with assistant coach Tony Radford and the HPC's Andre Coley, also involved in the squad's preparation. The players are expected to begin...
01:15 PM, May 20, 2013
