International sports, 2010 Football World Cup
The party is on for Africa - Photo 2010 Fifa World Cup LOC
[Video]Tshwane/Pretoria, South Africa (GenevaLunch) – The Ghana Black Stars recorded the first victory for the host continent with a 1-0 win over Serbia, to the delight of the vuvuzela tooting crowd. In fact the Serbian team helped in their own destruction by first having a player sent off and then conceding a stupid penalty.
England goalkeeper Robert Green was equally generous in donating a goal to allow the USA to draw 1-1. (See reaction of Glen Johnson below)
South Africa looked like they might win the opening game but conceded an equalizer to Mexico to end 1-1.
Germany and Argentina look the form teams from the first few days: the Germans thumped Australia 4-0 while Argentina beat Nigeria 1-0.
South Korea beat a disappointing Greek side 2-0.
France were held to a 0-0 draw by Uruguay in one of the dullest games.
Switzerland have a tough opening match against Spain on Wednesday afternoon.
Follow GenevaLunch’s daily recap of the 2010 World Cup.
Video: Glen Johnson reacts to USA draw
International sports, Twenty20 cricket
Kensington Oval, Bridgetown, Barbados (GenevaLunch) - England scored a rare victory in the short version of the game when they won the Twenty20 World Cup in Barbados, 16 May. They won by seven wickets with three overs to spare thanks to a tight performance in the field and a thrilling batting display by Kevin Pietersen and Craig Kieswetter, England’s pair of South African born cricketers.
Australia batted first and were soon in trouble being 8 for 3 after a couple of overs. They fought back to 147 for 6 thanks to 59 runs from David Hussey. England survived the early loss of Lumb and Kieswetter with 63 and Pietersen, 47 made the game safe for England.
Zimbabwean Coach Andy Flower has welded the England team into a formidable Twenty20 machine, with dynamic batting from the start, tight bowling and energetic fielding. Flower has managed to get the best out of players like Eoin Morgan, a recruit from Ireland, and has managed the bowlers with skill.
The big losers of the Twenty20 World Cup were the Indian superstars, who seemed tired out by their efforts in the IPL.
Links to other sites: cricket.yahoo.com, cricket20
©2010 Chappatte, distributed by Globe Cartoon. More cartoons on Chappatte’s web site. Geneva-based Patrick Chappatte works for the International Herald Tribune, for Geneva newspaper Le Temps, and for NZZ am Sonntag. All cartoons reproduced with permission.
International sports, cricket
Garfield Sobers Stadium, Barbados (GenevaLunch) – Kevin Pietersen, England’s South African refugee, led his new countrymen to victory over his old ones at the World Cup Twenty20 in Barbados, 8 May. He struck a rapid 53 runs in 33 balls, enabling his team to reach 168 for seven. South Africa were always struggling to keep up with the run rate and lost wickets regularly. They ended on 129 all out.
Head north, dear diners, and feast on musk ox and roast marrow, at the restaurant that now holds the coveted number one in the world slot, according to Britain’s Restaurant Magazine. Noma in Copenhagen, Denmark, was bumped up to the top rating, beating out Spain’s revered elBulli which has been number one for four years running. Noma’s chef, 32-year-old Rene Redzepi formerly worked at elBulli and his restaurant has been working its way up the list. His cuisine is distinctly Nordic: forget about the olive oil.
In the restaurant’s own words: “What you will find here at noma is not centered so much on olive oil, foie gras, sun-dried tomatoes and Mediterranean black olives. We’ve been busy traveling around in the Nordic regions and we have been finding a number of simply phenomenal ingredients that we have flown into town for our use: Horse mussels, deep-sea crabs and langoustines from the Faeroe Islands, which are living right up until the moment they are served to our visitors. Halibut, wild salmon, cod and seaweed and curds from Iceland. Lamb, musk ox, berries and the purest drinking water from Greenland.”
ElBulli and Britain’s The Fat Duck both slipped a notch to second and third places.
Links to other sites: Irish Times, Restaurant Magazine
Cambridge, the winners . . . (BBC TV coverage)
. . . and Oxford, the losers (BBC TV coverage)
The Thames, London (Geneva Lunch) - The 156th Boat Race between Oxford and Cambridge ended in a surprise victory for the light blues of Cambridge. Cambridge have now won 80 to 75 for Oxford. Oxford won the previous two races and looked like they would make it three as they led by almost a boat length but the Cambridge boat clawed back and took the lead going into the last mile.
The teams are multi-national, including four Canadians, but the celebrity stars are two twins from Harvard, now rowing for Oxford.
The Winklevoss brothers, Cameron and Tyler, recently gained an estimated $65 million settlement from Facebook after they alleged that Mark Zuckerburg, founder of Facebook, had used their idea. The twins also represented the United States at the Beijing Olympics. They were not able to earn a victory for the dark blues in one of the oldest sporting contests in the world.
Links to other sites: BBC, which provided live coverage, The Times,Telegraph
Stade de France, Paris (GenevaLunch) - Saturday’s international between France and England was another game where one side tried to play attacking rugby and the other side relied on forward power and kicking penalties. The unusual feature was that it was England that scored the only try of the game, while France scored four penalties to win 12-10. The win secured the Grand Slam for France, who were already assured of the Championship.
Stade de France, Paris (GenevaLunch) – France beat Italy 46-20 Sunday 14 March to make it clear to all which team is the top of the northern hemisphere. Only England can stop a French Grand Slam and the English team is looking dull and undisciplined after a try free 15-15 tie with Scotland. Ireland beat Wales 27-12 at Croke Park.
A fire that broke out at 04:30 Thursday morning on Tabernacle Street in Shoreditch, in central London, required 100 firefighters and at one point up to 20 fire trucks before it was brought under control at 11:30. The London Fire Brigade says that fire crews will remain on the scene for the day. The fire broke out in a building that houses a restaurant/bar and offices, and it severely damaged the third floor and roof, as well as causing damage to the other floors.
Stamford Bridge, London (GenevaLunch) – The English internationals Frank Lampard and John Terry shook off any fatigue from their mid-week match against Egypt to beat Stoke 2-0 in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Aston Villa came back from 2-0 down to win 2-4 thanks to a hat-trick by their Norwegian striker John Carew. They will meet Chelsea in the semi-finals.
Twickenham, London (GenevaLunch) – France dominated the first half of their game in Cardiff to take a 0-20 lead at half time. Wales responded with another spirited recovery but it was not enough and France ended with a 20-26 win. The French have now won their first three games: they face Italy and England for their final games.
Italy scored a rare Six Nations win when they beat Scotland 16-12.
Paris, France (GenevaLunch) - France sent out a message that their team is in fine form, and must now be favourites to win the Six Nations tournament and very likely take the Grand Slam as well. They powered past current champions Ireland with an impressive 33-10 victory. The Irish kept pace with the French for the first 20 minutes but then conceded 10 quick points when down to 14 men after a yellow card for Healy. Once France was on top they never looked back and dominated the game with a disciplined display of forward power backed up by incisive attacks.
Scotland dominated Wales for most of the match in Cardiff but then fell apart due to a combination of injuries, lack of discipline and Welsh passion. They ended the match with only 13 players, having transformed a 24-14 lead with three minutes left of normal time into a 31-24 win for the Welsh.
England play Italy in the Sunday game.
Links to other sites: Six Nations, South Wales Argus
Warsaw, Poland (GenevaLunch) - England and Switzerland were both drawn in the same group for the qualifying round of the UEFA 2012 Euro championships. The other teams in the group are Bulgaria, Wales and Montenegro. England manager Fabio Capello claimed it was a difficult group, not the opinion of most observers. He was irritated that the draw was overshadowed by the continuing scandal related to sacked England captain John Terry.
Perhaps the toughest group contains Portugal, Denmark and Norway. France face Romania, while Germany meet Turkey. Scotland are with Spain and the Czech Republic while Italy and Serbia provide a stern test for Northern Ireland. Group E includes Netherlands, Sweden, Finland and Hungary.
Twickenham, London, England (GenevaLunch) - England celebrated the centenary of the famed Twickenham ground with the same result as in the first match: a victory over Wales. The single player most responsible for the result was the Welsh second row forward Alun Wyn Jones who was given a yellow card for tripping the English hooker Dylan Hartley. While he was off the field for 10 minutes England scored 17 points.
England dominated possession in the first half, taking advantage of the vulnerable Welsh line-out, but were held to 3-3 until the 35th minute. Wales fought hard to come back from the 20-3 deficit and threatened to take the lead after a fine try by James Hook.
Bern, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Switzerland is one of four commercial clients of Britain who will see nuclear waste returned by 2020, after a 10-year delay that kept it in Britain. Overall, 1,850 cannisters, 925 tons, of “highly reactive nuclear waste” will be returned to the countries that handed them to Britain for processing in the 1970s and 1980s. It will reduce the United Kingdom’s nuclear waste stockpile by 40 percent.
The first cannister sailed from the Sellafield plant in England for Japan Wednesday night, 20 January. Sellafield was home to numerous high-profile nuclear protests, particularly during the 1990s.
Johannesburg, South Africa (GenevaLunch) - The South African fast bowlers, led by Morne Morkel, ripped through the English batting to allow the South Africans to win the the fourth and final Test by an inning and 75 runs Sunday 17 January. Morkel took three wickets in six balls in a devastating spell that destroyed England’s middle order. He finished the innings with four for 59 and also took a catch to dismiss Paul Collingwood, the only batsman to offer any resistance, for 71. England were all out for 169. Earlier in the game they complained about the operation of the system of referring umpiring decisions to television replay, as they thought South African captain Graeme Smith should have been given out. The series ended even with one Test each and two draws.
Links to other sites: yahoo cricket, The Guardian.
Newlands, Capetown, South Africa (GenevaLunch) - The English bowlers made a dramatic start to the second day of the third Test against South Africa when the last four South African wickets fell in16 balls. Graham Onions took the most important wicket when he dismissed Jacques Kallis for 108 with his first ball. James Anderson took the next three to end with five for 63. South Africa ended on 291.
The South African bowlers quickly struck back, dismissing Andrew Strauss, Jonathan Trott and Kevin Pietersen in the opening session.
Pakistan ended the second day of the Melbourne Test well on top. After dismissing Australia for 127 they ended on 331 for nine.
Links to other sites: Yahoo cricket, BBC, Times
Durban, South Africa (GenevaLunch) - The England captain showed a previously unseen side to his game when he scored 50 runs in only 49 balls in reply to South Africa’s score of 343 all out in the second test at Durban. The home team made that many largely thanks to the late assault on Graeme Swann’s bowling by Dale Steyn. England ended the second day on 103 for one.
The main interest of the day was focused on the system of referring umpiring decisions to television replay: this led to Mark Boucher being given out lbw to Swann after the umpire’s “not out” was reversed.
Centurion Park, Pretoria, South Africa (GenevaLunch) – England just held on to claim a draw in the first test between England and South Africa. The middle order batting collapsed after Kevin Pietersen and Jonathan Trott, both South African-born but playing for England, seemed to have made the game safe. As it turned out Paul Collingwood and Graham Onions had to survive the last few overs in a nail-biting finish. The final scores were South Africa 418 and 301 for 7, England 356 and 228 for 9.
Links to other sites: Guardian, Yahoo cricket.
The threatened British Air cabin crew strike over the Christmas and New Year’s holiday season appears less certain, with the airline saying Wednesday 15 December that it plans to contest the strike vote in court. BA’s argument is that some of those who voted are no longer employed by the airline. The company is meanwhile working out staffing plans should the strike go ahead.
Port Elizabeth, South Africa (GenevaLunch) - James Anderson took five wickets for only 23 runs as South Africa crumbled to 119 all out in the third One Day International in Port Elizabeth. Jonathan Trott lead the English batting with 52 not out to allow the visitors a comfortable seven wicket victory. Engkand now lead 2-1 with one more game to play.
Links to other sites: BBC, Cricket365
Twickenham, London, England (GenevaLunch) - England played better than in recent matches, holding the All Blacks to 6-6 at half time but could not match the New Zealanders in the second half and lost 6-19. At least the England women beat the New Zealand Ferns.
Scotland pulled off a surprise 9-8 victory over Australia where their heart was just enough to hold out against the technically better Wallabies. It was their first win against the Aussies for 27 years. Wales beat Argentina 33-16 with two tries by Shane Williams.
Links to other sites: The Guardian, The Times
Eleven people are missing after heavy rain and flooding washed out bridges and roads, and put towns under several feet of water in England and Scotland. The storms were expected but their impact nevertheless caught many areas by surprise. Cumbria in England, on the border with Scotland, was the worst-hit area. Heavy rain and gale-force winds are forecast in the area and for much of the UK in the next few days. Flood alerts are continuing and some rail service is likely to be disrupted.
The UK weather service has told Britain to expect heavy rain Thursday and Friday, accompanied by widespread flooding in northwest England and southwest Scotland. A tidal surge in the Irish Sea could spell flooding in and north of Aberystwyth, Wales and gusting up to 70 miles per hour in some areas could add to the weather woes.
Lords, a name that in the world of cricket means something akin to the holy ground, as the sport’s “most famous ground” according to the Times, UK, is considering selling its name. It becomes the latest major traditional sport venue in Britain to consider selling naming rights to a major sponsor. Wembley Stadium and Twickenham considering doing the same, in rugby. Lords cricket grounds are part of a major redevelopment project in London, England.
Croke park, Dublin,Ireland (GenevaLunch) - Irish captain Brian O’ Driscoll celebrated his 100th cap for Ireland with a last minute try that allowed the home team to draw their match with Australia 20-20. In other matches a dull England side plodded their way to a 16-9 win over Argentina. The New Zealand All Blacks struggled against a tough Italian side before winning 6-20 in front of 80,000 fans in the San Siro stadium in Milan.
Links to other sites: Irish Times, The Times
Twickenham, London, England and Cardiff, Wales (GenevaLunch) - England lost to the Wallabies 9-18 despite the return of Jonny Wilkinson and a much improved performance in the line-outs. Wilkinson scored all the England points and put in some crunching defensive tackles but the England team was short of offensive ideas and was dominated in the second half. The star player for the Australians was their young scrum-half Will Genia.
In the other big rugby union match the New Zealand All Blacks extended their undefeated record against Wales, who last beat the New Zealanders in 1953.
Zurich, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Nineteen countries have now secured their places in the Fifa World Cup finals to be held in South Africa in 2010 after the penultimate games in the qualification series. In the African group Ghana and Cote d’Ivoire are through and six places are up for grabs. Australia, Japan and the two Koreas take the Asian places with one more team entering a playoff with New Zealand. Seven of the 13 European places are decided:
Johannesburg, South Africa (GenevaLunch) – New Zealand beat Pakistan by five wickets in their semi-final to set up a contest with Australia for the ICC champions trophy. Pakistan’s batsmen never really got going and only reached their modest total of 233 for nine, thanks to a half century by Umar Akmal and a late flourish by the tail enders.
South Africa (GenevaLunch) – The English batsmen put on a rare display as they beat South Africa in the ICC Champions Trophy. Andrew Strauss won the toss and decided to bat but lost the opening batsmen quickly. Owais Shah (98) and Paul Collingwood (82) then gradually took control and Eoin Morgan added 67 in just 34 balls. England reached an impressive 323 for 8: the second highest score in the tournament’s history.
