Andy Robinson has named a strong Scotland side for Tuesday's non-cap international against a Japan Select at Murrayfield.
Head coach Robinson made seven changes from the starting XV that completed a memorable RBS 6 Nations win in Ireland at the end of March for what will be his final chance to watch his players in action before the upcoming tour of Argentina.
Centre Alex Grove was recalled on the day Scottish Rugby confirmed he would join Edinburgh on loan from Worcester next season following the latter's relegation from the Guinness Premiership.
Robinson has decided to rest a number of the players who helped Glasgow reach the Magners League semi-finals, with captain Chris Cusiter and Dan Parks not in the 22.
They are replaced at half-back by co-captain Mike Blair and Edinburgh team-mate Phil Godman.
Wing Simon Danielli is also recalled, as are Warriors trio Moray Low (prop), Richie Gray (lock) and Richie Vernon (flanker).
Vernon is the only member of the Scotland A party who will set out on the defence of the IRB Nations Cup in Bucharest next month to start tomorrow.
However, two of his colleagues, Fergus Thomson and Mark McMillan, are on the bench.
Scotland team to play Japan A in non-cap international at Murrayfield tomorrow (kick-off 7pm): H Southwell (Stade Francais); S Lamont (Scarlets), N De Luca (Edinburgh), A Grove (Worcester), S Danielli (Ulster); P Godman (Edinburgh), M Blair (Edinburgh, capt); A Jacobsen (Edinburgh), R Ford (Edinburgh), M Low (Glasgow), R Gray (Glasgow), J Hamilton (Edinburgh), R Vernon (Glasgow), K Brown (Glasgow), J Beattie (Glasgow).
Replacements: F Thompson (Glasgow), G Cross (Edinburgh), S MacLeod (Edinburgh), J Barclay (Glasgow), M McMillan (Glasgow), M Evans (Glasgow), J Thompson (Edinburgh).
luni, 31 mai 2010
World Cup 2010 - Facts: England bounce back
England came from behind to win for the second time in the last three internationals - having beaten Egypt 3-1 in a friendly at Wembley on March 3.
England used 25 of their 30-man squad in their two warm up matches - the only players who didn’t feature were Matthew Upson, Michael Dawson, Stephen Warnock, Gareth Barry and Scott Parker.
Four years ago, every player who featured in England’s two warm up matches for the 2006 World Cup Finals was named in the final 23-man squad.
Marcus Tulio Tanaka scored an own goal. Looking ahead to the World Cup Finals, only once before has a player scored at either end in the competition - Dutchman Ernie Brandts in the Netherlands 2-1 victory against Italy in June 1978.
Yuji Nakazawa scored the second own goal for England. This is the third own goal England have benefited from under Fabio Capello, and the first time they have had two in the same match.
Frank Lampard missed his second ever penalty for England. He had scored his previous four in a row since his only other miss - in England’s 3-1 friendly win against Hungary at Old Trafford exactly four years ago today, on May 30, 2006.
Lampard became the fifth player to miss more than one penalty for England - after David Beckham, Franny Lee, Roger Byrne and Edgar Needham.
Goalkeeper David James won his 50th cap for England - the fifth goalkeeper to reach this milestone for the country after Peter Shilton, David Seaman, Gordon Banks and Ray Clemence.
Marcus Tulio Tanaka scored his eighth international goal, and first since he netted in Japan’s 3-0 home win against Hong Kong on February 11.
Japanese goalscorer Tulio has a Japanese-Brazilian father and Italian-Brazilian mother. Brazil (5 wins) and Italy (4 wins) are the two most successful World Cup nations.
Japan lost their third consecutive match - their longest run of defeats in 12 years since they lost four in a row, including defeats during the 1998 World Cup Finals.
England used 25 of their 30-man squad in their two warm up matches - the only players who didn’t feature were Matthew Upson, Michael Dawson, Stephen Warnock, Gareth Barry and Scott Parker.
Four years ago, every player who featured in England’s two warm up matches for the 2006 World Cup Finals was named in the final 23-man squad.
Marcus Tulio Tanaka scored an own goal. Looking ahead to the World Cup Finals, only once before has a player scored at either end in the competition - Dutchman Ernie Brandts in the Netherlands 2-1 victory against Italy in June 1978.
Yuji Nakazawa scored the second own goal for England. This is the third own goal England have benefited from under Fabio Capello, and the first time they have had two in the same match.
Frank Lampard missed his second ever penalty for England. He had scored his previous four in a row since his only other miss - in England’s 3-1 friendly win against Hungary at Old Trafford exactly four years ago today, on May 30, 2006.
Lampard became the fifth player to miss more than one penalty for England - after David Beckham, Franny Lee, Roger Byrne and Edgar Needham.
Goalkeeper David James won his 50th cap for England - the fifth goalkeeper to reach this milestone for the country after Peter Shilton, David Seaman, Gordon Banks and Ray Clemence.
Marcus Tulio Tanaka scored his eighth international goal, and first since he netted in Japan’s 3-0 home win against Hong Kong on February 11.
Japanese goalscorer Tulio has a Japanese-Brazilian father and Italian-Brazilian mother. Brazil (5 wins) and Italy (4 wins) are the two most successful World Cup nations.
Japan lost their third consecutive match - their longest run of defeats in 12 years since they lost four in a row, including defeats during the 1998 World Cup Finals.
Golf-PGA Tour money list
Leading money winners on the 2010 PGA Tour on Monday (U.S. unless stated):
1. Ernie Els (South Africa) $3,460,341
2. Phil Mickelson $2,677,719
3. Jim Furyk $2,588,070
4. Tim Clark (South Africa) $2,573,170
5. Anthony Kim $2,518,521
6. Robert Allenby (Australia) $2,394,057
7. Ben Crane $2,262,176
8. Camilo Villegas (Colombia) $2,118,415
9. Dustin Johnson $2,104,815
10. Steve Stricker $2,059,754
11. Matt Kuchar $1,923,700
12. Hunter Mahan $1,757,016
13. Jeff Overton $1,747,141
14. Ian Poulter (Britain) $1,711,681
15. Zach Johnson $1,687,412
16. Jason Bohn $1,667,255
17. Paul Casey (Britain) $1,618,184
18. Luke Donald (Britain) $1,600,146
19. JB Holmes $1,580,322
20. Bill Haas $1,563,720
1. Ernie Els (South Africa) $3,460,341
2. Phil Mickelson $2,677,719
3. Jim Furyk $2,588,070
4. Tim Clark (South Africa) $2,573,170
5. Anthony Kim $2,518,521
6. Robert Allenby (Australia) $2,394,057
7. Ben Crane $2,262,176
8. Camilo Villegas (Colombia) $2,118,415
9. Dustin Johnson $2,104,815
10. Steve Stricker $2,059,754
11. Matt Kuchar $1,923,700
12. Hunter Mahan $1,757,016
13. Jeff Overton $1,747,141
14. Ian Poulter (Britain) $1,711,681
15. Zach Johnson $1,687,412
16. Jason Bohn $1,667,255
17. Paul Casey (Britain) $1,618,184
18. Luke Donald (Britain) $1,600,146
19. JB Holmes $1,580,322
20. Bill Haas $1,563,720
Akinfenwa explains Cobblers exit
Adebayo Akinfenwa has revealed he decided to leave Northampton in order to spend more time with his family.
The 28-year-old, who spent two-and-a-half years at Sixfields, was commuting from his south London home every day during his time with the Cobblers.
"I'd like to get back home, closer to home," he told the Northampton Chronicle. "I've got the wife and a little kid here and that was another part of why I left Northampton.
"I wasn't spending as much time as I would have liked with my family, and my wife is having another baby so I had to bear that in mind. Where I go, the family will have to come with me, so in an ideal world I'd be able to stay here and do a little bit of travelling."
However, the striker admitted the lure of playing top-flight football in Scotland could tempt him to move away from home.
"I've had three or four Scottish Premier League clubs contact me about going there and doing something," he added. "A couple of those clubs couldn't be further away from London so I'd have to seriously think about it, but it's nice to be sought after and nice to be wanted."
The 28-year-old, who spent two-and-a-half years at Sixfields, was commuting from his south London home every day during his time with the Cobblers.
"I'd like to get back home, closer to home," he told the Northampton Chronicle. "I've got the wife and a little kid here and that was another part of why I left Northampton.
"I wasn't spending as much time as I would have liked with my family, and my wife is having another baby so I had to bear that in mind. Where I go, the family will have to come with me, so in an ideal world I'd be able to stay here and do a little bit of travelling."
However, the striker admitted the lure of playing top-flight football in Scotland could tempt him to move away from home.
"I've had three or four Scottish Premier League clubs contact me about going there and doing something," he added. "A couple of those clubs couldn't be further away from London so I'd have to seriously think about it, but it's nice to be sought after and nice to be wanted."
Next boss faces tough task - Calderwood
Jimmy Calderwood has confirmed he will not be in charge at Kilmarnock next season.
Calderwood, who kept Killie in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League after being appointed on a short-term contract in January, claims he decided not to stay on after being told there would be further budget cuts and that he would have to axe one of his coaches.
Calderwood said in the Daily Record: "In the end, it was an easy decision to reach because I couldn't fulfil my ambitions under these financial limitations or meet the fans' expectations."
He added: "It was always going to be a tall order to progress but I had considered staying on because the players are a great bunch and the support is so positive.
"The next gaffer will find out for himself how difficult the task will be.
"We had done a lot of work identifying new players, both in England and Holland, who would definitely improve the quality of the team.
"We were well down that road and they wouldn't have cost anything in transfers. Their wages were reasonable but, even so, they were still outwith the scale that Killie could afford.
"The chairman wanted to axe one of my staff to save money. That was never going to happen because Jimmy Nicholl, Sandy Clark and me are a team."
Calderwood, who kept Killie in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League after being appointed on a short-term contract in January, claims he decided not to stay on after being told there would be further budget cuts and that he would have to axe one of his coaches.
Calderwood said in the Daily Record: "In the end, it was an easy decision to reach because I couldn't fulfil my ambitions under these financial limitations or meet the fans' expectations."
He added: "It was always going to be a tall order to progress but I had considered staying on because the players are a great bunch and the support is so positive.
"The next gaffer will find out for himself how difficult the task will be.
"We had done a lot of work identifying new players, both in England and Holland, who would definitely improve the quality of the team.
"We were well down that road and they wouldn't have cost anything in transfers. Their wages were reasonable but, even so, they were still outwith the scale that Killie could afford.
"The chairman wanted to axe one of my staff to save money. That was never going to happen because Jimmy Nicholl, Sandy Clark and me are a team."
Checa eyeing repeat of 2008
Carlos Checa is hoping history repeats itself when he starts from pole position for the seventh round of the World Superbike Championship at Miller Motorsports Park.
Only the second time the Spaniard has qualified on pole position for a World Superbike event, the last time he did so – two years ago at the same circuit – he romped to two dominant wins.
Breaking his own lap record in the process of winning pole position, Checa’s performance was made all the more impressive by the fact he was almost 18kph slower in a straight line than second place man Max Biaggi.
“In the qualifying session we did a good job”, said Checa, who is currently joint third in the overall standings. “And then Superpole went extremely well: I was braking as late as possible, exiting corners at top speed and I finished with a time that I didn’t expect, so I’m extremely satisfied. I’m just as happy with the work that I’ve carried out with my team in preparation for the races.”
A first pole position for the Althea Ducati team too, there was disappointment for Checa’s team-mate Shane Byrne as he could translate his practice pace into anything more than 11th come Superpole.
"We made an error of judgment in the last lap and this meant we didn’t reach the final Superpole session. It’s a pity because the bike is ok and I’m really satisfied with the work my team has done.”
Only the second time the Spaniard has qualified on pole position for a World Superbike event, the last time he did so – two years ago at the same circuit – he romped to two dominant wins.
Breaking his own lap record in the process of winning pole position, Checa’s performance was made all the more impressive by the fact he was almost 18kph slower in a straight line than second place man Max Biaggi.
“In the qualifying session we did a good job”, said Checa, who is currently joint third in the overall standings. “And then Superpole went extremely well: I was braking as late as possible, exiting corners at top speed and I finished with a time that I didn’t expect, so I’m extremely satisfied. I’m just as happy with the work that I’ve carried out with my team in preparation for the races.”
A first pole position for the Althea Ducati team too, there was disappointment for Checa’s team-mate Shane Byrne as he could translate his practice pace into anything more than 11th come Superpole.
"We made an error of judgment in the last lap and this meant we didn’t reach the final Superpole session. It’s a pity because the bike is ok and I’m really satisfied with the work my team has done.”
Biaggi sets fierce straight-line pace
Despite falling four tenths short of Carlos Checa’s pole position at Miller Motorsports Park, Max Biaggi has reason to feel confident after once again showing the raw pace of his Aprilia.
The Italian hinted at his speed during the knockout phases as he set a new lap record during SP2, but had no answer to Checa’s effort when it mattered.
What was evident from the final results, however, was Biaggi’s sheer advantage over Checa in a straight line, the Aprilia touching 311kph, while the Althea Ducati could only manage 293.6kph.
With this in mind, Biaggi is hoping he can tweak the set-up of his RSV-4 to harness that power and hold sway through the bends.
“I think we have been in a good pace since day one and we have found a way to work better with one bike than the other, in chassis and set-up of the suspension.
"We have found a good way in Superpole and we will start from the front row, which is important.”
The Italian hinted at his speed during the knockout phases as he set a new lap record during SP2, but had no answer to Checa’s effort when it mattered.
What was evident from the final results, however, was Biaggi’s sheer advantage over Checa in a straight line, the Aprilia touching 311kph, while the Althea Ducati could only manage 293.6kph.
With this in mind, Biaggi is hoping he can tweak the set-up of his RSV-4 to harness that power and hold sway through the bends.
“I think we have been in a good pace since day one and we have found a way to work better with one bike than the other, in chassis and set-up of the suspension.
"We have found a good way in Superpole and we will start from the front row, which is important.”
World Cup 2010 - World Cup squads: The full list
Number of players in brackets. All squads must be reduced to 23 players by June 1.
Group A
SOUTH AFRICA (29): Goalkeepers: Rowen Fernandez (Arminia Bielefeld), Moeneeb Josephs (Orlando Pirates), Itumeleng Khune (Kaizer Chiefs), Shu-Aib Walters (Mariztburg United); Defenders: Matthew Booth (Mamelodi Sundowns), Bevan Fransman (Maccabi Netanya), Siboniso Gaxa (Mamelodi Sundowns), Bongani Khumalo (SuperSport United), Tsepo Masilela (Maccabi Haifa), Innocent Mdledle (Orlando Pirates), Aaron Mokoena (Portsmouth), Bryce Moon (PAOK Salonika), Anele Ngcongca (Racing Genk), Siyabonga Sangweni (Lamontville Golden Arrows), Lucas Thwala (Orlando Pirates); Midfielders: Franklin Cale (Mamelodi Sundowns), Lance Davids (Ajax Cape Town), Kagisho Dikgacoi (Fulham), Andile Jali (Orlando Pirates), Thanduyise Khuboni (Lamontville Golden Arrows), Reneilwe Letsholonyane (Kaizer Chiefs), Teko Modise (Orlando Pirates), Surprise Moriri (Mamelodi Sundowns), Steven Pienaar (Everton), MacBeth Sibaya (Rubin Kazan), Siphiwe Tshabalala (Kaizer Chiefs); Forwards: Benni McCarthy (West Ham United), Katlego Mphela (Mamelodi Sundowns), Siyabonga Nomvete (Moroka Swallows), Bernard Parker (FC Twente).
FRANCE (24): Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Lyon), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Cedric Carrasso (Bordeaux); Defenders: Bacary Sagna (Arsenal), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), William Gallas (Arsenal), Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Sebastien Squillaci (Sevilla), Marc Planus (Bordeaux), Gael Clichy (Arsenal), Anthony Reveillere (Lyon); Midfielders: Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid), Alou Diarra (Bordeaux), Jeremy Toulalan (Lyon), Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), Abou Diaby (Arsenal); Forwards: Thierry Henry (Barcelona), Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Andre-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Sidney Govou (Lyon), Djibril Cisse (Panathinaikos), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille)
MEXICO (26): Goalkeepers: Oscar Perez (Chiapas), Guillermo Ochoa (America), Luis Ernesto Michel (Guadalajara); Defenders: Rafael Marquez (Barcelona), Ricardo Osorio (VfB Stuttgart), Francisco Rodriguez, Carlos Salcido (both PSV Eindhoven), Hector Moreno (AZ Alkmaar), Paul Aguilar (Pachuca), Efrain Juarez (Pumas UNAM), Jonny Magallon (Guadalajara), Juan Carlos Valenzuela (America), Jorge Torres Nilo (Atlas), Adrian Aldrete (Morelia); Midfielders: Andres Guardado (Deportivo Coruna), Jonathan dos Santos (Barcelona), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul), Israel Castro (Pumas UNAM), Giovani dos Santos (Galatasaray); Forwards: Pablo Barrera (Pumas UNAM), Adolfo Bautista, Alberto Medina (both Guadalajara), Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Veracruz), Carlos Vela (Arsenal), Javier Hernandez (Manchester United), Guillermo Franco (West Ham United)
URUGUAY (26): Goalkeepers: Fernando Muslera (Lazio), Juan Castillo (Deportivo Cali), Martin Silva (Defensor Sporting) Defenders: Diego Lugano (Fenerbahce), Diego Godin (Villarreal), Andres Scotti (Colo Colo), Mauricio Victorino (Universidad de Chile), Martin Caceres (Juventus), Jorge Fucile (Porto), Maximiliano Pereira (Benfica) Midfielders: Sebastian Eguren (AIK Stockholm), Alvaro Pereira (Porto), Walter Gargano (Napoli), Diego Perez (AS Monaco), Alvaro Fernandez (Universidad de Chile), Alvaro Gonzalez (Nacional), Jorge Rodriguez (River Plate, Uruguay), Nicolas Lodeiro (Ajax), Jorge Martinez (Catania), Egidio Arevalo Rios (Penarol), Ignacio Gonzalez (Levadiakos) Forwards: Luis Suarez (Ajax), Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid), Sebastian Abreu (Botafogo), Edinson Cavani (Palermo), Sebastian Fernandez (Banfield)
Group B
ARGENTINA (23): Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar), Mariano Andujar (Catania), Diego Pozo (Colon); Defenders: Nicolas Burdisso (Roma), Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich), Walter Samuel (Internazionale), Gabriel Heinze (Marseille), Nicolas Otamendi (Velez Sarsfield), Clemente Rodriguez (Estudiantes), Ariel Garce (Colon); Midfielders: Javier Mascherano (Liverpool), Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes), Maxi Rodriguez (Liverpool), Mario Bolatti (Fiorentina), Angel Di Maria (Benfica), Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle), Javier Pastore (Palermo); Forwards: Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid), Diego Milito (Internazionale), Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City), Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid), Lionel Messi (Barcelona).
GREECE (30): Goalkeepers: Michalis Sifakis (Aris Salonika), Alexandros Tzorvas (Panathinaikos), Kostas Chalkias (PAOK Salonika); Defenders: Giorgos Seitaridis (Panathinaikos), Loukas Vintra (Panathinaikos), Evangelos Moras (Bologna), Socrates Papastathopoulos (Genoa), Sotiris Kyrgiakos (Liverpool), Avraam Papadopoulos (Olympiacos), Vasilis Torosidis (Olympiacos), Nikos Spiropoulos (Panathinaikos), Stelios Malezas (PAOK Salonika), Giorgos Tzavellas (Panionios), Kostas Manolas (AEK Athens), Giorgos Galitsios (Olympiacos), Stergos Marinos (Panathinaikos); Midfielders: Kostas Katsouranis (Panathinaikos), Alexandros Tziolis (Siena), Giorgos Karagounis (Panathinaikos), Sotiris Ninis (Panathinaikos), Christos Patsatzoglou (Omonia), Grigoris Makos (AEK Athens), Sakis Prittas (Aris Salonika), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Panathinaikos); Forwards: Angelos Charisteas (Nuremberg), Dimitris Salpigidis (Panathinaikos), Pantelis Kapetanos (Steaua Bucharest), Theofanis Gekas (Hertha Berlin), Giorgos Samaras (Celtic), Kostas Mitroglou (Olympiacos).
NIGERIA (30): Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Dele Ayenugba (Beni Yehuda FC), Bassey Akpan (Bayelsa United), Austine Ejide (Hapoel Petah Tikva); Defenders: Taye Taiwo (Marseille), Elderson Echiejile (Rennes), Chidi Odiah (CSKA Moscow) Onyekachi Apam (Nice), Joseph Yobo (Everton), Daniel Shittu (Bolton), Ayodele Adeleye (Sparta Rotterdam), Rabiu Afolabi (Salzburg), Peter Suswan (Lobi Stars); Midfielders: Kalu Uche (Almeria), Dickson Etuhu (Fulham), John Obi Mikel (Chelsea), Sani Kaita (Alaniya), Lukman Haruna (Monaco), Ayila Yussuf (Dynamo Kiev), Peter Osaze (Lokomotiv Moscow); Forwards: Yakubu Ayegbeni (Everton), Victor Anichebe (Everton), Chinedu Obasi (Hoffenheim), Nwankwo Kanu (Portsmouth), Obafemi Martins (Wolfsburg), Ideye Brown (Sochaux), Ikechukwu Uche (Zaragoza), John Utaka (Portsmouth), Peter Utaka (Odense), Victor Obinna (Malaga)
SOUTH KOREA (26): Goalkeepers: Kim Young-Kwang (Ulsan), Lee Woon-Jae (Suwon), Jung Sung-Ryong (Seongnam); Defenders: Kwak Tae-Hwi (Kyoto), Kim Dong-Jin (Ulsan), Kim Hyung-Il (Pohang), Oh Beom-Seok (Ulsan), Lee Young-Pyo (Al Hilal), Lee Jung-Soo (Kashima Antlers), Cha Du-Ri (SC Freiburg), Cho Yong-Hyung (Jeju); Midfielders: Koo Ja-Cheol (Jeju), Ki Sung-Yong (Celtic), Kim Bo-Kyung (Oita), Kim Nam-Il (Tom Tomsk), Shin Hung-Min (Pohang), Kim Jae-Sung (Pohang), Kim Jung-Woo (Gwangju), Lee Chung-Yong (Bolton), Park Ji-Sung (Manchester United); Forwards: Park Ju-Young (AS Monaco), Ahn Jung-Hwan (Dalian Shide), Lee Seung-Ryul (Seoul), Yeom Ki-Hun (Suwon), Lee Keun-Ho (Jubilo Iwata), Lee Dong-Guk (Jeonbuk).
Group C
ENGLAND (30): Goalkeepers: David James (Portsmouth), Robert Green (West Ham United), Joe Hart (Manchester City); Defenders: Ashley Cole (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Ledley King (Tottenham Hotspur), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Matthew Upson (West Ham United), Michael Dawson (Tottenham Hotspur), Leighton Baines (Everton), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa); Midfielders: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), James Milner (Aston Villa), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham Hotspur), Scott Parker (West Ham United), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City); Forwards: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspur), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Darren Bent (Sunderland), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur).
USA (23): Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton); Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United); Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers), Michael Bradley (Borussia Monchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Jose Torres (Pachuca); Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Puebla).
SLOVENIA (26): Goalkeepers: Samir Handanovic (Udinese), Jasmin Handanovic (Mantova), Aleksander Seliga (Sparta Rotterdam); Defenders: Miso Brecko (FC Cologne), Bostjan Cesar (Grenoble), Branko Ilic (Lokomotiv Moscow), Matej Mavric (Koblenz), Bojan Jokic (Sochaux), Marko Suler (Ghent), Dejan Kelhar (Cercle Brugge), Suad Filekovic (NK Maribor), Elvedin Dzinic (NK Maribor); Midfielders: Andraz Kirm (Wisla Krakow), Robert Koren (West Bromwich Albion), Mirnes Sisic (Giannina), Valter Birsa (AJ Auxerre), Andrej Komac (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Dalibor Stevanovic (Vitesse Arnhem), Aleksander Radosavljevic (Larissa), Rene Krhin (Inter Milan), Darijan Matic (Rapid Bucharest); Strikers: Milivoje Novakovic (FC Cologne), Zlatko Dedic (Vfl Bochum), Zlatan Ljubijankic (Ghent), Nejc Pecnik (Nacional Funchal), Tim Matavz (Groningen).
ALGERIA (30): Goalkeepers: Faouzi Chaouchi (Entente Setif), Lounes Gaouaoui (ASO Chlef), Rais Ouheb Mbouli (Slavia Sofia), Mohamed Lamine Zemmamouche (Mouloudia Algiers); Defenders: Habib Belaid (Boulogne-sur-Mer), Nader Belhadj (Portsmouth), Majid Bougherra (Rangers), Rafik Halliche (Nacional), Abdelkader Laifaoui (Entente Setif), Carl Medjani (Ajaccio), Mohamed Meftah (JS Kabylie), Djamel Mesbah (Lecce), Hocine Metref (Entente Setif), Antar Yahia (VfL Bochum); Midfielders: Djamel Abdoun (Nantes), Lazhar Hadj Aissa (Entente Setif), Riad Boudebouz (Sochaux), Adlane Guedioura (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Fouad Kadir (Valenciennes), Medhi Lacen (Racing Santanader), Khaled Lemmouchia (Entente Setif), Yazid Mansouri (Lorient), Mourad Meghni (Lazio), Hassan Yebda (Portsmouth), Karim Ziani (VfL Wolfsburg); Forwards: Amri Chadli (Kaiserslautern), Rafik Djebbour (AEK Athens), Abdelkader Ghezzal (Siena), Karim Matmour (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Rafik Saifi (Istres).
Group D
GERMANY (30): Goalkeepers: Hans-Jorg Butt (Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Schalke), Tim Wiese (Bremen); Defenders: Per Mertesacker (Bremen), Heiko Westermann (Schalke), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Jerome Boateng (Hamburg), Andreas Beck (Hoffenheim), Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Serdar Tasci (Stuttgart), Marcell Jansen (Hamburg), Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich), Dennis Aogo (Hamubrg); Midfielders: Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Sami Khedira (Stuttgart), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg), Marko Marin (Bremen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Christian Trasch (Stuttgart), Mesut Ozil (Bremen), Toni Kroos (Leverkusen); Forwards: Lukas Podolski (Cologne), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Stefan Kiessling (Leverkusen), Cacau (Stuttgart), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich).
SERBIA (24): Goalkeepers: Vladimir Stojkovic (Sporting), Zeljko Brkic (Vojvodina Novi Sad), Bojan Isailovic (Zaglebie Lubin), Andjelko Djuricic (Uniao Leiria); Defenders: Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea), Antonio Rukavina (Munich 1860), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Neven Subotic (Borussia Dortmund), Aleksandar Lukovic (Udinese), Ivan Obradovic (Real Zaragoza), Aleksandar Kolarov (Lazio); Midfielders: Dejan Stankovic (Inter Milan), Gojko Kacar (Hertha Berlin), Nenad Milijas (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Zdravko Kuzmanovic (VfB Stuttgart), Radosav Petrovic (Partizan Belgrade), Milos Krasic (CSKA Moscow), Zoran Tosic (Manchester United), Milos Ninkovic (Dynamo Kiev), Milan Jovanovic (Standard Liege); Forwards: Nikola Zigic (Valencia), Marko Pantelic (Ajax Amsterdam), Danko Lazovic (Zenit St. Petersburg), Dragan Mrdja (Vojvodina Novi Sad).
GHANA (23): Goalkeepers: Richard Kingson (Wigan), Daniel Agyei (Liberty Professionals), Stephen Ahorlu (Hearts of Lions); Defenders: Samuel Inkoom (Basle), Jonathan Mensah (Granada), Lee Addy (Bechem Chelsea), Rahim Ayew (Zamalek), Hans Sarpei (Bayer Leverkusen), John Mensah (Lyon), Isaac Vorsah (Hoffenheim), John Pantsil (Fulham); Midfielders: Sulley Muntari (Inter Milan), Derek Boateng (Getafe), Anthony Annan (Rosenborg), Kwadwo Asamoah (Udinese), Andre Ayew (Marseille), Stephen Appiah (Bologna), Quincy Owusu Abeyie (Al Sadd), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Portsmouth); Forwards: Matthew Amoah (NAC Breda), Asamoah Gyan (Rennes), Prince Tagoe (Hoffenheim), Dominic Adiyiah (AC Milan).
AUSTRALIA (28) Goalkeepers: Mark Schwarzer (Fulham), Adam Federici (Reading), Brad Jones (Middlesbrough), Eugene Galekovic (Adelaide United); Defenders: Lucas Neill (Galatasaray), Craig Moore (unattached), Scott Chipperfield (Basel), David Carney (Twente Enschede), Luke Wilkshire (Dynamo Moscow), Rhys Williams (Middlesbrough), Shane Lowry (Aston Villa), Mark Milligan (JEF United), Michael Beauchamp (Al-Jazira); Midfielders: Tim Cahill (Everton), Mark Bresciano (Palermo), Vince Grella (Blackburn) Brett Emerton (Blackburn), Jason Culina (Gold Coast), Harry Kewell (Galatasaray), Brett Holman (AZ Alkmaar), Carl Valeri (Sassuolo), Mile Jedinak (Antalyaspor), Richard Garcia (Hull), Tommy Oar (Utrecht), Dario Vidosic (Nuremberg), James Holland (AZ Alkmaar); Forwards: Josh Kennedy (Nagoya), Nikita Rukavytsya (Twente Enschede)
Group E
NETHERLANDS (23): Goalkeepers: Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax), Sander Boschker (Twente), Michel Vorm (Utrecht) Defenders: Khalid Boulahrouz (VFB Stuttgart), Edson Braafheid (Celtic), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), John Heitinga (Everton), Joris Mathijsen (SV Hamburg), Andre Ooijer (PSV Eindhoven), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax); Midfielders: Ibrahim Afellay (PSV Eindhoven), Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City), Stijn Schaars (AZ Alkmaar), Wesley Sneijder (Internazionale), Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid), Demy de Zeeuw (Ajax); Forwards: Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Eljero Elia (SV Hamburg), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (AC Milan), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)
DENMARK (23): Goalkeepers: Thomas Sorensen (Stoke City), Stephan Andersen (Brondby), Jesper Christiansen (FC Copenhagen); Defenders: William Kvist (FC Copenhagen), Simon Kjaer (Palermo), Lars Jacobsen (Blackburn Rovers), Per Kroldrup (Fiorentina), Daniel Agger (Liverpool), Patrick Mtiliga (Malaga), Simon Poulsen (AZ Alkmaar); Midfielders: Martin Jorgensen (AGF Aarhus), Christian Poulsen (Juventus), Jakob Poulsen (AGF Aarhus), Dennis Rommedahl (Ajax), Thomas Kahlenberg (VfL Wolfsburg), Thomas Enevoldsen (FC Groningen), Christian Eriksen (Ajax), Mikkel Beckmann (Randers), Daniel Jensen (Werder Bremen), Jepser Gronkjaer (FC Copenhagen); Forwards: Jon Dahl Tomasson (Feyenoord), Soren Larsen (MSV Duisburg), Nicklas Bendtner (Arsenal).
JAPAN (23): Goalkeepers: Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale), Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata); Defenders: Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F. Marinos), Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Nagoya Grampus), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Daiki Iwamasa (Kashima Antlers), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers); Midfielders: Shunsuke Nakamura (Yokohama F. Marinos), Junichi Inamoto (Kawasaki Frontale), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale), Daisuke Matsui (Grenoble), Yuki Abe (Urawa Reds), Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg), Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow); Forwards: Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus), Yoshito Okubo (Vissel Kobe), Kisho Yano (Albirex Niigata), Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse), Takayuki Morimoto (Catania).
CAMEROON (30): Goalkeepers: Guy Roland N'Dy Assembe (Valenciennes), Idriss Carlos Kameni (Espanyol), Hamidou Souleymanou (Kayserispor), Patrick Tignyemb (Bloemfontein Celtic); Defenders: Patrick Abouna (Astres Douala), Benoit Assou Ekotto (Tottenham Hotspur), Sebastien Bassong (Tottenham Hotspur), Gaetan Bong (Valenciennes), Aurelien Chedjou (Lille), Geremi (Ankaragucu), Boukar Makadji (Al Nahdha), Nicolas Nkoulou (Monaco), Rigobert Song (Trabzonspor); Midfielders: Achille Emana (Real Betis), Enoh Eyong (Ajax Amsterdam), Jean Makoun (Olympique Lyon), Georges Mandjeck (Kaiserslautern), Joel Matip (Schalke 04), Patrick Mevoungou (Canon Yaounde), Marcel Ndjeng (Augsburg), Landry Nguemo (Celtic), Alexandre Song (Arsenal); Forwards: Vincent Aboubakar (Coton Sport), Eric Choupo-Mating (Nuremburg), Paul Alo'o Efoulou (Nancy), Samuel Eto'o (Inter Milan), Mohamadou Idrissou (Freiburg), Dorge Kouemaha (Club Bruges), Achille Webo (Real Mallorca), Jacques Zoua (Basle)
Group F
ITALY (28) Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Federico Marchetti (Cagliari), Salvatore Sirigu (Palermo); Defenders: Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa), Leonardo Bonucci (Bari), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Mattia Cassani (Palermo), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Gianluca Zambrotta (AC Milan); Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Andrea Cossu (Cagliari), Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Simone Pepe (Udinese), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan); Forwards: Marco Borriello (AC Milan), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal).
PARAGUAY (30): Goalkeepers: Justo Villar (Valladolid), Aldo Bobadilla (Deportivo Independiente de Medellin), Diego Barreto (Cerro Porteno); Defenders: Claudio Morel Rodriguez (Boca Juniors), Denis Caniza (Leon), Paulo da Silva (Sunderland), Dario Veron (Pumas UNAM), Julio Cesar Caceres (Atletico Mineiro), Julio Manzur (Tigres), Carlos Bonet (Olimpia), Aureliano Torres (San Lorenzo de Almagro), Marcos Caceres (Racing), Antolin Alcaraz (FC Bruges); Midfielders: Edgar Barreto (Atalanta), Cristian Riveros (Cruz Azul), Osvaldo Martinez (Monterrey), Victor Caceres (Libertad), Enrique Vera (Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito), Jonathan Santana (Wolfsburg), Sergio Aquino (Libertad), Eduardo Ledesma (Lanus), Nestor Ortigoza (Argentinos Juniors), Marcelo Estigarribia (Newell's Old Boys);Forwards: Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City), Nelson Haedo Valdez (Borussia Dortmund), Oscar Cardozo (Benfica), Edgar Benitez (Toluca), Lucas Barrios (Borussia Dortmund), Rodolfo Gamarra (Libertad), Jorge Achucarro (Newell's Old Boys)
SLOVAKIA (39): Goalkeepers: Jan Mucha (Legia Warsaw), Dusan Kuciak (Vaslui), Lubos Kamenar (Nantes), Dusan Permis (Dundee United); Defenders: Peter Pekarik (Wolfsburg), Martin Petras (Cesena), Martin Skrtel (Liverpool), Lubomir Michalik (Leeds United), Jan Durica (Lokomotiv Moscow), Radoslav Zabavnik (Mainz), Marek Cech (West Bromwich Albion), Tomas Hubocan (Zenit St. Petersburg), Kornel Salata (Slovan Bratislava); Midfielders: Kamil Kopunek (Spartak Trnava), Jan Kozak (Timisoara), Juraj Kucka (Sparta Prague), Miroslav Karhan (Mainz), Marek Sapara (Ankaragucu), Mario Pecalka (MSK Zilina), Stanislav Sestak (Vfl Bochum), Marek Hamsik (Napoli), Vladimir Weiss (Manchester City), Miroslav Stoch (Chelsea), Dusan Svento (Salzburg), Zdeno Strba (Skoda Xanthi); Forwards: Erik Jendrisek (Schalke), Robert Vittek (Ankaragucu), Martin Jakubko (Saturn Ramenskoye), Filip Holosko (Besiktas).
NEW ZEALAND (23): Goalkeepers: James Bannatyne (Team Wellington), Glen Moss (Melbourne Victory) Mark Paston (Wellington Phoenix); Defenders: Andy Boyens (New York Red Bulls), Tony Lochhead (Wellington Phoenix), Ryan Nelsen (Blackburn Rovers), Winston Reid (FC Midtjylland), Ben Sigmund (Wellington Phoenix), Tommy Smith (Ipswich Town), Ivan Vicelich (Auckland City); Midfielders: Andy Barron (Team Wellington), Leo Bertos (Wellington Phoenix), Jeremy Brockie (Newcastle Jets), Tim Brown (Wellington Phoenix), Jeremy Christie (Tampa Bay Rowdies), Aaron Clapham (Canterbury United), Simon Elliott (unattached), Michael McGlinchey (Central Coast Mariners), David Mulligan (unattached); Forwards: Rory Fallon (Plymouth Argyle), Chris Killen (Middlesbrough), Shane Smeltz (Gold Coast), Chris Wood (West Bromwich Albion)
Group G
BRAZIL (23): Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Doni (AS Roma), Heurelho Gomes (Tottenham Hotspur); Defenders: Maicon (Inter Milan), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Michel Bastos (Olympique Lyon), Gilberto (Cruzeiro), Lucio (Inter Milan), Juan (AS Roma), Luisao (Benfica), Thiago Silva (AC Milan); Midfielders: Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), Felipe Melo (Fiorentina), Ramires (Benfica), Elano (Galatasaray), Kaka (Real Madrid), Julio Baptista (Roma), Kleberson (Flamengo), Josue (VfL Wolfsburg); Forwards: Robinho (Santos), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), Nilmar (Villarreal), Grafite (VfL Wolfsburg).
PORTUGAL (24): Goalkeepers: Eduardo (Braga), Daniel Fernandes (Iraklis), Beto (Porto). Defenders: Miguel (Valencia), Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), Bruno Alves (Porto), Rolando (Porto), Ricardo Costa (Lille), Duda (Malaga), Fabio Coentrao (Benfica). Midfielders: Pedro Mendes (Sporting), Pepe (Real Madrid), Ze Castro (Deportivo Coruna), Tiago (Atletico Madrid), Deco (Chelsea), Raul Meireles (Porto), Miguel Veloso (Sporting). Forwards: Simao Sabrosa (Atletico Madrid), Danny (Zenit St Petersburg), Liedson (Sporting), Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Nani (Manchester United).
IVORY COAST (29): Goalkeepers: Vincent Angban (ASEC Abidjan), Boubacar Barry (Lokeren), Aristides Zogbo (Maccabi Netanya), Daniel Yeboah (ASEC Abidjan); Defenders: Souleymane Bamba (Hibernian), Arthur Boka (VfB Stuttgart), Benjamin Brou Angoua (Valenciennes), Guy Demel (Hamburg SV), Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal), Abdoulaye Meite (West Bromwich Albion), Steve Gohouri (Wigan Athletic), Siaka Tiene (Valenciennes), Kolo Toure (Manchester City); Midfielders: Emerse Fae (Nantes), Jean-Jacques Gosso Gosso (Monaco), Abdelkader Keita (Galatasaray), Emmanuel Kone (International Curtea Arges), Gervais Yao Kouassi (Lille), Christian Koffi Ndri (Sevilla), Cheik Ismael Tiote (Twente Enschede), Yaya Toure (Barcelona), Gilles Yapi Yapo (Young Boys Berne), Didier Zokora (Sevilla); Forwards: Kanga Akale (Racing Lens), Aruna Dindane (Racing Lens), Seydou Doumbia (Young Boys Berne), Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Salomon Kalou (Chelsea), Bakary Kone (Marseille).
NORTH KOREA (23): Goalkeepers: Kim Myong-gil (Amrokgang), Kim Myong-won (Amrokgang), Ri Myong-guk (Pyongyang City); Defenders: Cha Jong-hyok (Amrokgang), Nam Song-chol (April 25), Pak Chol-jin (Amrokgang), Pak Nam-chol (Amrokgang), Ri Jun-il (Sobaeksu), Ri Kwang-chon (April 25), Ri Kwang-hyok (Kyonggongop); Midfielders: An Yong-hak (Omiya Ardija), Ji Yun-nam (April 25), Kim Kyong-il (Rimyongsu), Kim Yong-jun (Pyongyang City), Mun In-guk (April 25), Ri Chol-myong (Pyongyang City), Pak Nam-chol (April 25), Pak Sung-hyok (Sobaeksu); Forwards: An Chol-hyok (Rimyongsu), Choe Kum-chol (April 25), Hong Yong-jo (Rostov), Jong Tae-se (Kawasaki Frontale), Kim Kum-il (April 25)
Group H
SPAIN (23): Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Victor Valdes (Barcelona). Defenders: Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid). Midfielders: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Javi Martinez (Athletic Bilbao), David Silva (Valencia), Xavi (Barcelona). Forwards: Jesus Navas (Sevilla), Juan Mata (Valencia), Pedro (Barcelona), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), David Villa (Valencia).
CHILE (25): Goalkeepers: Claudio Bravo (Real Sociedad), Miguel Pinto (Universidad de Chile), Luis Marin (Union Espanola); Defenders: Waldo Ponce (Universidad Catolica), Gonzalo Jara (West Bromwich Albion), Gary Medel (Boca Juniors), Mauricio Isla (Udinese), Pablo Contreras (PAOK Salonika), Ismael Fuentes (Universidad Catolica); Midfielders: Marco Estrada, (Universidad de Chile), Roberto Cereceda, Rodrigo Millar, (both Colo Colo), Arturo Vidal (Bayer Leverkusen), Carlos Carmona (Reggina), Jorge Valdivia (Al Ain), Matias Fernandez (Sporting Lisbon), Jean Beausejour (Club America), Gonzalo Fierro (Flamengo), Rodrigo Tello (Besiktas); Forwards: Humberto Suazo (Real Zaragoza), Esteban Paredes (Colo Colo), Hector Mancilla (Toluca), Alexis Sanchez (Udinese), Fabian Orellana (Xerez), Mark Gonzalez (CSKA Moscow).
SWITZERLAND (23): Goalkeepers: Diego Benaglio (VfL Wolfsburg), Johnny Leoni (FC Zurich), Marco Woelfli (Young Boys Berne); Defenders: Mario Eggimann (Hanover 96), Stephane Grichting (Auxerre), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Lazio), Philippe Senderos (Arsenal), Ludovic Magnin (FC Zurich), Steve Von Bergen (Hertha Berlin), Reto Ziegler (Sampdoria); Midfielders: Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Valon Behrami (West Ham United), Gelson Fernandes (St Etienne), Benjamin Huggel (FC Basel), Marco Padalino (Sampdoria), Pirmin Schwegler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Goklan Inler (Udinese); Forwards: Eren Derdiyok (Bayer Leverkusen), Alexander Frei (FC Basel), Blaise Nkufo (Twente Enschede), Hakan Yakin (FC Luzern), Xherdan Shaqiri (FC Basel), Albert Bunjaku (Nuiernburg)
HONDURAS (23): Goalkeepers: Noel Valladares, Donis Escober (both Olimpia), Ricardo Canales (Motagua); Defenders: Sergio Mendoza, Emilio Izaguirre (both Motagua), Mauricio Sabillon (Hangzhou Greentown), Osman Chavez (Platense), Johnny Palacios, Boniek Garcia (both Olimpia), Maynor Figueroa (Wigan Athletic), Victor Bernardez (Anderlecht); Midfielders: Danilo Turcios, Ramon Nunez (both Olimpia), Hendry Thomas (Wigan Athletic), Edgard Alvarez (Bari), Roger Espinoza (Kansas City Wizards), Amado Guevara (Motagua), Wilson Palacios (Tottenham Hotspur), Julio Cesar de Leon (Torino); Forwards: Walter Martinez (Marathon), Georgie Welcome (Motagua), Carlos Pavon (Real Espana), David Suazo (Genoa)
Group A
SOUTH AFRICA (29): Goalkeepers: Rowen Fernandez (Arminia Bielefeld), Moeneeb Josephs (Orlando Pirates), Itumeleng Khune (Kaizer Chiefs), Shu-Aib Walters (Mariztburg United); Defenders: Matthew Booth (Mamelodi Sundowns), Bevan Fransman (Maccabi Netanya), Siboniso Gaxa (Mamelodi Sundowns), Bongani Khumalo (SuperSport United), Tsepo Masilela (Maccabi Haifa), Innocent Mdledle (Orlando Pirates), Aaron Mokoena (Portsmouth), Bryce Moon (PAOK Salonika), Anele Ngcongca (Racing Genk), Siyabonga Sangweni (Lamontville Golden Arrows), Lucas Thwala (Orlando Pirates); Midfielders: Franklin Cale (Mamelodi Sundowns), Lance Davids (Ajax Cape Town), Kagisho Dikgacoi (Fulham), Andile Jali (Orlando Pirates), Thanduyise Khuboni (Lamontville Golden Arrows), Reneilwe Letsholonyane (Kaizer Chiefs), Teko Modise (Orlando Pirates), Surprise Moriri (Mamelodi Sundowns), Steven Pienaar (Everton), MacBeth Sibaya (Rubin Kazan), Siphiwe Tshabalala (Kaizer Chiefs); Forwards: Benni McCarthy (West Ham United), Katlego Mphela (Mamelodi Sundowns), Siyabonga Nomvete (Moroka Swallows), Bernard Parker (FC Twente).
FRANCE (24): Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Lyon), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Cedric Carrasso (Bordeaux); Defenders: Bacary Sagna (Arsenal), Patrice Evra (Manchester United), William Gallas (Arsenal), Eric Abidal (Barcelona), Sebastien Squillaci (Sevilla), Marc Planus (Bordeaux), Gael Clichy (Arsenal), Anthony Reveillere (Lyon); Midfielders: Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid), Alou Diarra (Bordeaux), Jeremy Toulalan (Lyon), Florent Malouda (Chelsea), Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), Abou Diaby (Arsenal); Forwards: Thierry Henry (Barcelona), Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea), Andre-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich), Sidney Govou (Lyon), Djibril Cisse (Panathinaikos), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille)
MEXICO (26): Goalkeepers: Oscar Perez (Chiapas), Guillermo Ochoa (America), Luis Ernesto Michel (Guadalajara); Defenders: Rafael Marquez (Barcelona), Ricardo Osorio (VfB Stuttgart), Francisco Rodriguez, Carlos Salcido (both PSV Eindhoven), Hector Moreno (AZ Alkmaar), Paul Aguilar (Pachuca), Efrain Juarez (Pumas UNAM), Jonny Magallon (Guadalajara), Juan Carlos Valenzuela (America), Jorge Torres Nilo (Atlas), Adrian Aldrete (Morelia); Midfielders: Andres Guardado (Deportivo Coruna), Jonathan dos Santos (Barcelona), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul), Israel Castro (Pumas UNAM), Giovani dos Santos (Galatasaray); Forwards: Pablo Barrera (Pumas UNAM), Adolfo Bautista, Alberto Medina (both Guadalajara), Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Veracruz), Carlos Vela (Arsenal), Javier Hernandez (Manchester United), Guillermo Franco (West Ham United)
URUGUAY (26): Goalkeepers: Fernando Muslera (Lazio), Juan Castillo (Deportivo Cali), Martin Silva (Defensor Sporting) Defenders: Diego Lugano (Fenerbahce), Diego Godin (Villarreal), Andres Scotti (Colo Colo), Mauricio Victorino (Universidad de Chile), Martin Caceres (Juventus), Jorge Fucile (Porto), Maximiliano Pereira (Benfica) Midfielders: Sebastian Eguren (AIK Stockholm), Alvaro Pereira (Porto), Walter Gargano (Napoli), Diego Perez (AS Monaco), Alvaro Fernandez (Universidad de Chile), Alvaro Gonzalez (Nacional), Jorge Rodriguez (River Plate, Uruguay), Nicolas Lodeiro (Ajax), Jorge Martinez (Catania), Egidio Arevalo Rios (Penarol), Ignacio Gonzalez (Levadiakos) Forwards: Luis Suarez (Ajax), Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid), Sebastian Abreu (Botafogo), Edinson Cavani (Palermo), Sebastian Fernandez (Banfield)
Group B
ARGENTINA (23): Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar), Mariano Andujar (Catania), Diego Pozo (Colon); Defenders: Nicolas Burdisso (Roma), Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich), Walter Samuel (Internazionale), Gabriel Heinze (Marseille), Nicolas Otamendi (Velez Sarsfield), Clemente Rodriguez (Estudiantes), Ariel Garce (Colon); Midfielders: Javier Mascherano (Liverpool), Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes), Maxi Rodriguez (Liverpool), Mario Bolatti (Fiorentina), Angel Di Maria (Benfica), Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle), Javier Pastore (Palermo); Forwards: Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid), Diego Milito (Internazionale), Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City), Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid), Lionel Messi (Barcelona).
GREECE (30): Goalkeepers: Michalis Sifakis (Aris Salonika), Alexandros Tzorvas (Panathinaikos), Kostas Chalkias (PAOK Salonika); Defenders: Giorgos Seitaridis (Panathinaikos), Loukas Vintra (Panathinaikos), Evangelos Moras (Bologna), Socrates Papastathopoulos (Genoa), Sotiris Kyrgiakos (Liverpool), Avraam Papadopoulos (Olympiacos), Vasilis Torosidis (Olympiacos), Nikos Spiropoulos (Panathinaikos), Stelios Malezas (PAOK Salonika), Giorgos Tzavellas (Panionios), Kostas Manolas (AEK Athens), Giorgos Galitsios (Olympiacos), Stergos Marinos (Panathinaikos); Midfielders: Kostas Katsouranis (Panathinaikos), Alexandros Tziolis (Siena), Giorgos Karagounis (Panathinaikos), Sotiris Ninis (Panathinaikos), Christos Patsatzoglou (Omonia), Grigoris Makos (AEK Athens), Sakis Prittas (Aris Salonika), Lazaros Christodoulopoulos (Panathinaikos); Forwards: Angelos Charisteas (Nuremberg), Dimitris Salpigidis (Panathinaikos), Pantelis Kapetanos (Steaua Bucharest), Theofanis Gekas (Hertha Berlin), Giorgos Samaras (Celtic), Kostas Mitroglou (Olympiacos).
NIGERIA (30): Goalkeepers: Vincent Enyeama (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Dele Ayenugba (Beni Yehuda FC), Bassey Akpan (Bayelsa United), Austine Ejide (Hapoel Petah Tikva); Defenders: Taye Taiwo (Marseille), Elderson Echiejile (Rennes), Chidi Odiah (CSKA Moscow) Onyekachi Apam (Nice), Joseph Yobo (Everton), Daniel Shittu (Bolton), Ayodele Adeleye (Sparta Rotterdam), Rabiu Afolabi (Salzburg), Peter Suswan (Lobi Stars); Midfielders: Kalu Uche (Almeria), Dickson Etuhu (Fulham), John Obi Mikel (Chelsea), Sani Kaita (Alaniya), Lukman Haruna (Monaco), Ayila Yussuf (Dynamo Kiev), Peter Osaze (Lokomotiv Moscow); Forwards: Yakubu Ayegbeni (Everton), Victor Anichebe (Everton), Chinedu Obasi (Hoffenheim), Nwankwo Kanu (Portsmouth), Obafemi Martins (Wolfsburg), Ideye Brown (Sochaux), Ikechukwu Uche (Zaragoza), John Utaka (Portsmouth), Peter Utaka (Odense), Victor Obinna (Malaga)
SOUTH KOREA (26): Goalkeepers: Kim Young-Kwang (Ulsan), Lee Woon-Jae (Suwon), Jung Sung-Ryong (Seongnam); Defenders: Kwak Tae-Hwi (Kyoto), Kim Dong-Jin (Ulsan), Kim Hyung-Il (Pohang), Oh Beom-Seok (Ulsan), Lee Young-Pyo (Al Hilal), Lee Jung-Soo (Kashima Antlers), Cha Du-Ri (SC Freiburg), Cho Yong-Hyung (Jeju); Midfielders: Koo Ja-Cheol (Jeju), Ki Sung-Yong (Celtic), Kim Bo-Kyung (Oita), Kim Nam-Il (Tom Tomsk), Shin Hung-Min (Pohang), Kim Jae-Sung (Pohang), Kim Jung-Woo (Gwangju), Lee Chung-Yong (Bolton), Park Ji-Sung (Manchester United); Forwards: Park Ju-Young (AS Monaco), Ahn Jung-Hwan (Dalian Shide), Lee Seung-Ryul (Seoul), Yeom Ki-Hun (Suwon), Lee Keun-Ho (Jubilo Iwata), Lee Dong-Guk (Jeonbuk).
Group C
ENGLAND (30): Goalkeepers: David James (Portsmouth), Robert Green (West Ham United), Joe Hart (Manchester City); Defenders: Ashley Cole (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Ledley King (Tottenham Hotspur), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Matthew Upson (West Ham United), Michael Dawson (Tottenham Hotspur), Leighton Baines (Everton), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa); Midfielders: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), James Milner (Aston Villa), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham Hotspur), Scott Parker (West Ham United), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City); Forwards: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Peter Crouch (Tottenham Hotspur), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Darren Bent (Sunderland), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur).
USA (23): Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), Tim Howard (Everton), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton); Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover), Jay DeMerit (Watford), Clarence Goodson (IK Start), Oguchi Onyewu (AC Milan), Jonathan Spector (West Ham United); Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers), Michael Bradley (Borussia Monchengladbach), Ricardo Clark (Eintracht Frankfurt), Clint Dempsey (Fulham), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus), Stuart Holden (Bolton), Jose Torres (Pachuca); Forwards: Jozy Altidore (Villarreal), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Puebla).
SLOVENIA (26): Goalkeepers: Samir Handanovic (Udinese), Jasmin Handanovic (Mantova), Aleksander Seliga (Sparta Rotterdam); Defenders: Miso Brecko (FC Cologne), Bostjan Cesar (Grenoble), Branko Ilic (Lokomotiv Moscow), Matej Mavric (Koblenz), Bojan Jokic (Sochaux), Marko Suler (Ghent), Dejan Kelhar (Cercle Brugge), Suad Filekovic (NK Maribor), Elvedin Dzinic (NK Maribor); Midfielders: Andraz Kirm (Wisla Krakow), Robert Koren (West Bromwich Albion), Mirnes Sisic (Giannina), Valter Birsa (AJ Auxerre), Andrej Komac (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Dalibor Stevanovic (Vitesse Arnhem), Aleksander Radosavljevic (Larissa), Rene Krhin (Inter Milan), Darijan Matic (Rapid Bucharest); Strikers: Milivoje Novakovic (FC Cologne), Zlatko Dedic (Vfl Bochum), Zlatan Ljubijankic (Ghent), Nejc Pecnik (Nacional Funchal), Tim Matavz (Groningen).
ALGERIA (30): Goalkeepers: Faouzi Chaouchi (Entente Setif), Lounes Gaouaoui (ASO Chlef), Rais Ouheb Mbouli (Slavia Sofia), Mohamed Lamine Zemmamouche (Mouloudia Algiers); Defenders: Habib Belaid (Boulogne-sur-Mer), Nader Belhadj (Portsmouth), Majid Bougherra (Rangers), Rafik Halliche (Nacional), Abdelkader Laifaoui (Entente Setif), Carl Medjani (Ajaccio), Mohamed Meftah (JS Kabylie), Djamel Mesbah (Lecce), Hocine Metref (Entente Setif), Antar Yahia (VfL Bochum); Midfielders: Djamel Abdoun (Nantes), Lazhar Hadj Aissa (Entente Setif), Riad Boudebouz (Sochaux), Adlane Guedioura (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Fouad Kadir (Valenciennes), Medhi Lacen (Racing Santanader), Khaled Lemmouchia (Entente Setif), Yazid Mansouri (Lorient), Mourad Meghni (Lazio), Hassan Yebda (Portsmouth), Karim Ziani (VfL Wolfsburg); Forwards: Amri Chadli (Kaiserslautern), Rafik Djebbour (AEK Athens), Abdelkader Ghezzal (Siena), Karim Matmour (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Rafik Saifi (Istres).
Group D
GERMANY (30): Goalkeepers: Hans-Jorg Butt (Bayern Munich), Manuel Neuer (Schalke), Tim Wiese (Bremen); Defenders: Per Mertesacker (Bremen), Heiko Westermann (Schalke), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Jerome Boateng (Hamburg), Andreas Beck (Hoffenheim), Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Serdar Tasci (Stuttgart), Marcell Jansen (Hamburg), Holger Badstuber (Bayern Munich), Dennis Aogo (Hamubrg); Midfielders: Michael Ballack (Chelsea), Sami Khedira (Stuttgart), Piotr Trochowski (Hamburg), Marko Marin (Bremen), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Christian Trasch (Stuttgart), Mesut Ozil (Bremen), Toni Kroos (Leverkusen); Forwards: Lukas Podolski (Cologne), Miroslav Klose (Bayern Munich), Stefan Kiessling (Leverkusen), Cacau (Stuttgart), Thomas Muller (Bayern Munich), Mario Gomez (Bayern Munich).
SERBIA (24): Goalkeepers: Vladimir Stojkovic (Sporting), Zeljko Brkic (Vojvodina Novi Sad), Bojan Isailovic (Zaglebie Lubin), Andjelko Djuricic (Uniao Leiria); Defenders: Branislav Ivanovic (Chelsea), Antonio Rukavina (Munich 1860), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Neven Subotic (Borussia Dortmund), Aleksandar Lukovic (Udinese), Ivan Obradovic (Real Zaragoza), Aleksandar Kolarov (Lazio); Midfielders: Dejan Stankovic (Inter Milan), Gojko Kacar (Hertha Berlin), Nenad Milijas (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Zdravko Kuzmanovic (VfB Stuttgart), Radosav Petrovic (Partizan Belgrade), Milos Krasic (CSKA Moscow), Zoran Tosic (Manchester United), Milos Ninkovic (Dynamo Kiev), Milan Jovanovic (Standard Liege); Forwards: Nikola Zigic (Valencia), Marko Pantelic (Ajax Amsterdam), Danko Lazovic (Zenit St. Petersburg), Dragan Mrdja (Vojvodina Novi Sad).
GHANA (23): Goalkeepers: Richard Kingson (Wigan), Daniel Agyei (Liberty Professionals), Stephen Ahorlu (Hearts of Lions); Defenders: Samuel Inkoom (Basle), Jonathan Mensah (Granada), Lee Addy (Bechem Chelsea), Rahim Ayew (Zamalek), Hans Sarpei (Bayer Leverkusen), John Mensah (Lyon), Isaac Vorsah (Hoffenheim), John Pantsil (Fulham); Midfielders: Sulley Muntari (Inter Milan), Derek Boateng (Getafe), Anthony Annan (Rosenborg), Kwadwo Asamoah (Udinese), Andre Ayew (Marseille), Stephen Appiah (Bologna), Quincy Owusu Abeyie (Al Sadd), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Portsmouth); Forwards: Matthew Amoah (NAC Breda), Asamoah Gyan (Rennes), Prince Tagoe (Hoffenheim), Dominic Adiyiah (AC Milan).
AUSTRALIA (28) Goalkeepers: Mark Schwarzer (Fulham), Adam Federici (Reading), Brad Jones (Middlesbrough), Eugene Galekovic (Adelaide United); Defenders: Lucas Neill (Galatasaray), Craig Moore (unattached), Scott Chipperfield (Basel), David Carney (Twente Enschede), Luke Wilkshire (Dynamo Moscow), Rhys Williams (Middlesbrough), Shane Lowry (Aston Villa), Mark Milligan (JEF United), Michael Beauchamp (Al-Jazira); Midfielders: Tim Cahill (Everton), Mark Bresciano (Palermo), Vince Grella (Blackburn) Brett Emerton (Blackburn), Jason Culina (Gold Coast), Harry Kewell (Galatasaray), Brett Holman (AZ Alkmaar), Carl Valeri (Sassuolo), Mile Jedinak (Antalyaspor), Richard Garcia (Hull), Tommy Oar (Utrecht), Dario Vidosic (Nuremberg), James Holland (AZ Alkmaar); Forwards: Josh Kennedy (Nagoya), Nikita Rukavytsya (Twente Enschede)
Group E
NETHERLANDS (23): Goalkeepers: Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax), Sander Boschker (Twente), Michel Vorm (Utrecht) Defenders: Khalid Boulahrouz (VFB Stuttgart), Edson Braafheid (Celtic), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), John Heitinga (Everton), Joris Mathijsen (SV Hamburg), Andre Ooijer (PSV Eindhoven), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax); Midfielders: Ibrahim Afellay (PSV Eindhoven), Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City), Stijn Schaars (AZ Alkmaar), Wesley Sneijder (Internazionale), Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid), Demy de Zeeuw (Ajax); Forwards: Ryan Babel (Liverpool), Eljero Elia (SV Hamburg), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (AC Milan), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)
DENMARK (23): Goalkeepers: Thomas Sorensen (Stoke City), Stephan Andersen (Brondby), Jesper Christiansen (FC Copenhagen); Defenders: William Kvist (FC Copenhagen), Simon Kjaer (Palermo), Lars Jacobsen (Blackburn Rovers), Per Kroldrup (Fiorentina), Daniel Agger (Liverpool), Patrick Mtiliga (Malaga), Simon Poulsen (AZ Alkmaar); Midfielders: Martin Jorgensen (AGF Aarhus), Christian Poulsen (Juventus), Jakob Poulsen (AGF Aarhus), Dennis Rommedahl (Ajax), Thomas Kahlenberg (VfL Wolfsburg), Thomas Enevoldsen (FC Groningen), Christian Eriksen (Ajax), Mikkel Beckmann (Randers), Daniel Jensen (Werder Bremen), Jepser Gronkjaer (FC Copenhagen); Forwards: Jon Dahl Tomasson (Feyenoord), Soren Larsen (MSV Duisburg), Nicklas Bendtner (Arsenal).
JAPAN (23): Goalkeepers: Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus), Eiji Kawashima (Kawasaki Frontale), Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata); Defenders: Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F. Marinos), Marcus Tulio Tanaka (Nagoya Grampus), Yuichi Komano (Jubilo Iwata), Daiki Iwamasa (Kashima Antlers), Yasuyuki Konno (FC Tokyo), Yuto Nagatomo (FC Tokyo), Atsuto Uchida (Kashima Antlers); Midfielders: Shunsuke Nakamura (Yokohama F. Marinos), Junichi Inamoto (Kawasaki Frontale), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Kengo Nakamura (Kawasaki Frontale), Daisuke Matsui (Grenoble), Yuki Abe (Urawa Reds), Makoto Hasebe (Wolfsburg), Keisuke Honda (CSKA Moscow); Forwards: Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus), Yoshito Okubo (Vissel Kobe), Kisho Yano (Albirex Niigata), Shinji Okazaki (Shimizu S-Pulse), Takayuki Morimoto (Catania).
CAMEROON (30): Goalkeepers: Guy Roland N'Dy Assembe (Valenciennes), Idriss Carlos Kameni (Espanyol), Hamidou Souleymanou (Kayserispor), Patrick Tignyemb (Bloemfontein Celtic); Defenders: Patrick Abouna (Astres Douala), Benoit Assou Ekotto (Tottenham Hotspur), Sebastien Bassong (Tottenham Hotspur), Gaetan Bong (Valenciennes), Aurelien Chedjou (Lille), Geremi (Ankaragucu), Boukar Makadji (Al Nahdha), Nicolas Nkoulou (Monaco), Rigobert Song (Trabzonspor); Midfielders: Achille Emana (Real Betis), Enoh Eyong (Ajax Amsterdam), Jean Makoun (Olympique Lyon), Georges Mandjeck (Kaiserslautern), Joel Matip (Schalke 04), Patrick Mevoungou (Canon Yaounde), Marcel Ndjeng (Augsburg), Landry Nguemo (Celtic), Alexandre Song (Arsenal); Forwards: Vincent Aboubakar (Coton Sport), Eric Choupo-Mating (Nuremburg), Paul Alo'o Efoulou (Nancy), Samuel Eto'o (Inter Milan), Mohamadou Idrissou (Freiburg), Dorge Kouemaha (Club Bruges), Achille Webo (Real Mallorca), Jacques Zoua (Basle)
Group F
ITALY (28) Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Federico Marchetti (Cagliari), Salvatore Sirigu (Palermo); Defenders: Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa), Leonardo Bonucci (Bari), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Mattia Cassani (Palermo), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Gianluca Zambrotta (AC Milan); Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Andrea Cossu (Cagliari), Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Simone Pepe (Udinese), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan); Forwards: Marco Borriello (AC Milan), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal).
PARAGUAY (30): Goalkeepers: Justo Villar (Valladolid), Aldo Bobadilla (Deportivo Independiente de Medellin), Diego Barreto (Cerro Porteno); Defenders: Claudio Morel Rodriguez (Boca Juniors), Denis Caniza (Leon), Paulo da Silva (Sunderland), Dario Veron (Pumas UNAM), Julio Cesar Caceres (Atletico Mineiro), Julio Manzur (Tigres), Carlos Bonet (Olimpia), Aureliano Torres (San Lorenzo de Almagro), Marcos Caceres (Racing), Antolin Alcaraz (FC Bruges); Midfielders: Edgar Barreto (Atalanta), Cristian Riveros (Cruz Azul), Osvaldo Martinez (Monterrey), Victor Caceres (Libertad), Enrique Vera (Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito), Jonathan Santana (Wolfsburg), Sergio Aquino (Libertad), Eduardo Ledesma (Lanus), Nestor Ortigoza (Argentinos Juniors), Marcelo Estigarribia (Newell's Old Boys);Forwards: Roque Santa Cruz (Manchester City), Nelson Haedo Valdez (Borussia Dortmund), Oscar Cardozo (Benfica), Edgar Benitez (Toluca), Lucas Barrios (Borussia Dortmund), Rodolfo Gamarra (Libertad), Jorge Achucarro (Newell's Old Boys)
SLOVAKIA (39): Goalkeepers: Jan Mucha (Legia Warsaw), Dusan Kuciak (Vaslui), Lubos Kamenar (Nantes), Dusan Permis (Dundee United); Defenders: Peter Pekarik (Wolfsburg), Martin Petras (Cesena), Martin Skrtel (Liverpool), Lubomir Michalik (Leeds United), Jan Durica (Lokomotiv Moscow), Radoslav Zabavnik (Mainz), Marek Cech (West Bromwich Albion), Tomas Hubocan (Zenit St. Petersburg), Kornel Salata (Slovan Bratislava); Midfielders: Kamil Kopunek (Spartak Trnava), Jan Kozak (Timisoara), Juraj Kucka (Sparta Prague), Miroslav Karhan (Mainz), Marek Sapara (Ankaragucu), Mario Pecalka (MSK Zilina), Stanislav Sestak (Vfl Bochum), Marek Hamsik (Napoli), Vladimir Weiss (Manchester City), Miroslav Stoch (Chelsea), Dusan Svento (Salzburg), Zdeno Strba (Skoda Xanthi); Forwards: Erik Jendrisek (Schalke), Robert Vittek (Ankaragucu), Martin Jakubko (Saturn Ramenskoye), Filip Holosko (Besiktas).
NEW ZEALAND (23): Goalkeepers: James Bannatyne (Team Wellington), Glen Moss (Melbourne Victory) Mark Paston (Wellington Phoenix); Defenders: Andy Boyens (New York Red Bulls), Tony Lochhead (Wellington Phoenix), Ryan Nelsen (Blackburn Rovers), Winston Reid (FC Midtjylland), Ben Sigmund (Wellington Phoenix), Tommy Smith (Ipswich Town), Ivan Vicelich (Auckland City); Midfielders: Andy Barron (Team Wellington), Leo Bertos (Wellington Phoenix), Jeremy Brockie (Newcastle Jets), Tim Brown (Wellington Phoenix), Jeremy Christie (Tampa Bay Rowdies), Aaron Clapham (Canterbury United), Simon Elliott (unattached), Michael McGlinchey (Central Coast Mariners), David Mulligan (unattached); Forwards: Rory Fallon (Plymouth Argyle), Chris Killen (Middlesbrough), Shane Smeltz (Gold Coast), Chris Wood (West Bromwich Albion)
Group G
BRAZIL (23): Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Doni (AS Roma), Heurelho Gomes (Tottenham Hotspur); Defenders: Maicon (Inter Milan), Daniel Alves (Barcelona), Michel Bastos (Olympique Lyon), Gilberto (Cruzeiro), Lucio (Inter Milan), Juan (AS Roma), Luisao (Benfica), Thiago Silva (AC Milan); Midfielders: Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), Felipe Melo (Fiorentina), Ramires (Benfica), Elano (Galatasaray), Kaka (Real Madrid), Julio Baptista (Roma), Kleberson (Flamengo), Josue (VfL Wolfsburg); Forwards: Robinho (Santos), Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), Nilmar (Villarreal), Grafite (VfL Wolfsburg).
PORTUGAL (24): Goalkeepers: Eduardo (Braga), Daniel Fernandes (Iraklis), Beto (Porto). Defenders: Miguel (Valencia), Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), Bruno Alves (Porto), Rolando (Porto), Ricardo Costa (Lille), Duda (Malaga), Fabio Coentrao (Benfica). Midfielders: Pedro Mendes (Sporting), Pepe (Real Madrid), Ze Castro (Deportivo Coruna), Tiago (Atletico Madrid), Deco (Chelsea), Raul Meireles (Porto), Miguel Veloso (Sporting). Forwards: Simao Sabrosa (Atletico Madrid), Danny (Zenit St Petersburg), Liedson (Sporting), Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Nani (Manchester United).
IVORY COAST (29): Goalkeepers: Vincent Angban (ASEC Abidjan), Boubacar Barry (Lokeren), Aristides Zogbo (Maccabi Netanya), Daniel Yeboah (ASEC Abidjan); Defenders: Souleymane Bamba (Hibernian), Arthur Boka (VfB Stuttgart), Benjamin Brou Angoua (Valenciennes), Guy Demel (Hamburg SV), Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal), Abdoulaye Meite (West Bromwich Albion), Steve Gohouri (Wigan Athletic), Siaka Tiene (Valenciennes), Kolo Toure (Manchester City); Midfielders: Emerse Fae (Nantes), Jean-Jacques Gosso Gosso (Monaco), Abdelkader Keita (Galatasaray), Emmanuel Kone (International Curtea Arges), Gervais Yao Kouassi (Lille), Christian Koffi Ndri (Sevilla), Cheik Ismael Tiote (Twente Enschede), Yaya Toure (Barcelona), Gilles Yapi Yapo (Young Boys Berne), Didier Zokora (Sevilla); Forwards: Kanga Akale (Racing Lens), Aruna Dindane (Racing Lens), Seydou Doumbia (Young Boys Berne), Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Salomon Kalou (Chelsea), Bakary Kone (Marseille).
NORTH KOREA (23): Goalkeepers: Kim Myong-gil (Amrokgang), Kim Myong-won (Amrokgang), Ri Myong-guk (Pyongyang City); Defenders: Cha Jong-hyok (Amrokgang), Nam Song-chol (April 25), Pak Chol-jin (Amrokgang), Pak Nam-chol (Amrokgang), Ri Jun-il (Sobaeksu), Ri Kwang-chon (April 25), Ri Kwang-hyok (Kyonggongop); Midfielders: An Yong-hak (Omiya Ardija), Ji Yun-nam (April 25), Kim Kyong-il (Rimyongsu), Kim Yong-jun (Pyongyang City), Mun In-guk (April 25), Ri Chol-myong (Pyongyang City), Pak Nam-chol (April 25), Pak Sung-hyok (Sobaeksu); Forwards: An Chol-hyok (Rimyongsu), Choe Kum-chol (April 25), Hong Yong-jo (Rostov), Jong Tae-se (Kawasaki Frontale), Kim Kum-il (April 25)
Group H
SPAIN (23): Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Pepe Reina (Liverpool), Victor Valdes (Barcelona). Defenders: Raul Albiol (Real Madrid), Alvaro Arbeloa (Real Madrid), Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Gerard Pique (Barcelona), Carles Puyol (Barcelona), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid). Midfielders: Xabi Alonso (Real Madrid), Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), Andres Iniesta (Barcelona), Javi Martinez (Athletic Bilbao), David Silva (Valencia), Xavi (Barcelona). Forwards: Jesus Navas (Sevilla), Juan Mata (Valencia), Pedro (Barcelona), Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), Fernando Torres (Liverpool), David Villa (Valencia).
CHILE (25): Goalkeepers: Claudio Bravo (Real Sociedad), Miguel Pinto (Universidad de Chile), Luis Marin (Union Espanola); Defenders: Waldo Ponce (Universidad Catolica), Gonzalo Jara (West Bromwich Albion), Gary Medel (Boca Juniors), Mauricio Isla (Udinese), Pablo Contreras (PAOK Salonika), Ismael Fuentes (Universidad Catolica); Midfielders: Marco Estrada, (Universidad de Chile), Roberto Cereceda, Rodrigo Millar, (both Colo Colo), Arturo Vidal (Bayer Leverkusen), Carlos Carmona (Reggina), Jorge Valdivia (Al Ain), Matias Fernandez (Sporting Lisbon), Jean Beausejour (Club America), Gonzalo Fierro (Flamengo), Rodrigo Tello (Besiktas); Forwards: Humberto Suazo (Real Zaragoza), Esteban Paredes (Colo Colo), Hector Mancilla (Toluca), Alexis Sanchez (Udinese), Fabian Orellana (Xerez), Mark Gonzalez (CSKA Moscow).
SWITZERLAND (23): Goalkeepers: Diego Benaglio (VfL Wolfsburg), Johnny Leoni (FC Zurich), Marco Woelfli (Young Boys Berne); Defenders: Mario Eggimann (Hanover 96), Stephane Grichting (Auxerre), Stephan Lichtsteiner (Lazio), Philippe Senderos (Arsenal), Ludovic Magnin (FC Zurich), Steve Von Bergen (Hertha Berlin), Reto Ziegler (Sampdoria); Midfielders: Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Valon Behrami (West Ham United), Gelson Fernandes (St Etienne), Benjamin Huggel (FC Basel), Marco Padalino (Sampdoria), Pirmin Schwegler (Eintracht Frankfurt), Goklan Inler (Udinese); Forwards: Eren Derdiyok (Bayer Leverkusen), Alexander Frei (FC Basel), Blaise Nkufo (Twente Enschede), Hakan Yakin (FC Luzern), Xherdan Shaqiri (FC Basel), Albert Bunjaku (Nuiernburg)
HONDURAS (23): Goalkeepers: Noel Valladares, Donis Escober (both Olimpia), Ricardo Canales (Motagua); Defenders: Sergio Mendoza, Emilio Izaguirre (both Motagua), Mauricio Sabillon (Hangzhou Greentown), Osman Chavez (Platense), Johnny Palacios, Boniek Garcia (both Olimpia), Maynor Figueroa (Wigan Athletic), Victor Bernardez (Anderlecht); Midfielders: Danilo Turcios, Ramon Nunez (both Olimpia), Hendry Thomas (Wigan Athletic), Edgard Alvarez (Bari), Roger Espinoza (Kansas City Wizards), Amado Guevara (Motagua), Wilson Palacios (Tottenham Hotspur), Julio Cesar de Leon (Torino); Forwards: Walter Martinez (Marathon), Georgie Welcome (Motagua), Carlos Pavon (Real Espana), David Suazo (Genoa)
SPL - Calderwood to leave Kilmarnock
Calderwood, who kept Killie in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League after being appointed on a short-term contract in January, claims he decided not to stay on after being told there would be further budget cuts and that he would have to axe one of his coaches.
Calderwood said in the Daily Record: "In the end, it was an easy decision to reach because I couldn't fulfil my ambitions under these financial limitations or meet the fans' expectations."
He added: "It was always going to be a tall order to progress but I had considered staying on because the players are a great bunch and the support is so positive.
"The next gaffer will find out for himself how difficult the task will be.
"We had done a lot of work identifying new players, both in England and Holland, who would definitely improve the quality of the team.
"We were well down that road and they wouldn't have cost anything in transfers. Their wages were reasonable but, even so, they were still outwith the scale that Killie could afford.
"The chairman wanted to axe one of my staff to save money. That was never going to happen because Jimmy Nicholl, Sandy Clark and me are a team."
Calderwood said in the Daily Record: "In the end, it was an easy decision to reach because I couldn't fulfil my ambitions under these financial limitations or meet the fans' expectations."
He added: "It was always going to be a tall order to progress but I had considered staying on because the players are a great bunch and the support is so positive.
"The next gaffer will find out for himself how difficult the task will be.
"We had done a lot of work identifying new players, both in England and Holland, who would definitely improve the quality of the team.
"We were well down that road and they wouldn't have cost anything in transfers. Their wages were reasonable but, even so, they were still outwith the scale that Killie could afford.
"The chairman wanted to axe one of my staff to save money. That was never going to happen because Jimmy Nicholl, Sandy Clark and me are a team."
Another front row start for Crutchlow
Yamaha Sterilgarda endured differing fortunes in Superpole for the latest round of the World Superbike Championship at Miller Motorsports Park after Cal Crutchlow got onto the front row, but James Toseland struggled down in 14th.
Crutchlow, a three-time pole sitter already this year, continued his impressive Superpole record in the United States as he breezed into the shootout, where he proceeded to cement third position on the grid.
Praising Carlos Checa for his lap record-breaking pace, Crutchlow was otherwise pleased to secure a sixth front row starting position of the season.
"Today hasn't been too bad, the pace is so fast out there for everybody,” he said. “Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi have been fast all weekend, all credit to Carlos what a fantastic Superpole lap, not even I could get near it and I've been pretty good in Superpole this year!
“I'm looking forward to the races tomorrow, I think we've got a good chance of being top five and we've got good race pace."
Toseland, however, was caught out by a set-up that struggled over the bumps, the Briton stating that he’ll need to ‘just get stuck in’ come the races.
“We went out on the standard bike set up at the beginning of the weekend at a slower pace learning the track, going from 1'51 second laps then down into the 1'50's. We then switched to a new set up which seemed to work at those speeds, but as we got down into the 1'48's it made it a lot harsher over the bumps on the track, unfortunately it was too late to change this before Superpole.
“So we'll go back to a set up we know works well, it's just a shame as it's cost us a good grid position. Hopefully tomorrow morning we'll be able to get back down to some good lap times and get more comfortable again. In the race I'm going to need a good start and then I'm just going to get stuck in."
Crutchlow, a three-time pole sitter already this year, continued his impressive Superpole record in the United States as he breezed into the shootout, where he proceeded to cement third position on the grid.
Praising Carlos Checa for his lap record-breaking pace, Crutchlow was otherwise pleased to secure a sixth front row starting position of the season.
"Today hasn't been too bad, the pace is so fast out there for everybody,” he said. “Carlos Checa and Max Biaggi have been fast all weekend, all credit to Carlos what a fantastic Superpole lap, not even I could get near it and I've been pretty good in Superpole this year!
“I'm looking forward to the races tomorrow, I think we've got a good chance of being top five and we've got good race pace."
Toseland, however, was caught out by a set-up that struggled over the bumps, the Briton stating that he’ll need to ‘just get stuck in’ come the races.
“We went out on the standard bike set up at the beginning of the weekend at a slower pace learning the track, going from 1'51 second laps then down into the 1'50's. We then switched to a new set up which seemed to work at those speeds, but as we got down into the 1'48's it made it a lot harsher over the bumps on the track, unfortunately it was too late to change this before Superpole.
“So we'll go back to a set up we know works well, it's just a shame as it's cost us a good grid position. Hopefully tomorrow morning we'll be able to get back down to some good lap times and get more comfortable again. In the race I'm going to need a good start and then I'm just going to get stuck in."
Premier League - Everton complete Beckford signing
Beckford, 26, scored 31 goals for the Yorkshire club last season, the last of which came on the final day against Bristol Rovers, which clinched promotion from League One.
That took his tally for Leeds to 85 in 150 appearances after he joined them from non-league Wealdstone in March 2006.
Beckford's contract at Elland Road was cancelled last week and he now steps into the Premier League after passing a medical at Everton's Finch Farm training complex.
The striker said: "I am excited by it. It's going to be a test, I know that, but I am looking forward to it.
"I want to test myself at the highest level and luckily for me, David Moyes showed an interest in me, showed some faith in me and hopefully I can repay that.
"I've been impressed a lot by him. He seems like the type of guy who will sit down and tell you where you're going wrong, what you're doing right and what you might need to work on.
"It is a club I can learn from and it can help me develop into a better player. Fingers crossed, I can be really involved in taking this club where it wants to be."
That took his tally for Leeds to 85 in 150 appearances after he joined them from non-league Wealdstone in March 2006.
Beckford's contract at Elland Road was cancelled last week and he now steps into the Premier League after passing a medical at Everton's Finch Farm training complex.
The striker said: "I am excited by it. It's going to be a test, I know that, but I am looking forward to it.
"I want to test myself at the highest level and luckily for me, David Moyes showed an interest in me, showed some faith in me and hopefully I can repay that.
"I've been impressed a lot by him. He seems like the type of guy who will sit down and tell you where you're going wrong, what you're doing right and what you might need to work on.
"It is a club I can learn from and it can help me develop into a better player. Fingers crossed, I can be really involved in taking this club where it wants to be."
Soccer-Real Madrid unveil new coach Mourinho
Real Madrid unveiled Jose Mourinho as their new coach at a news conference on Monday.
sâmbătă, 29 mai 2010
Webber on pole again in Turkey
Webber, who leads the World Championship with Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel, produced a calm late lap of a minute 26.295 seconds to pip McLaren's Hamilton to top spot.
The 2008 world champion had snatched P1 with six minutes left of the 10-minute Q3 shootout - and when the leading contenders emerged from the garages on soft tyres with moments left it was all to play for.
Webber took top spot but Hamilton looked to have a chance as he set the fastest time in the first sector - only for Webber to further improve his benchmark.
Vettel made an error at the first corner to leave him ultimately in third while Hamilton's English compatriot and team-mate Jenson Button also made a mess of his final attempt at a quick lap and will start from fourth.
In fifth Michael Schumacher out-qualified Mercedes colleague Nico Rosberg by one spot and a tenth of a second. However the seven-times champion flew off into the gravel on his last effort which may cause him problems as drivers must begin the race on the tyres they ended qualifying with.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa was eighth while double champion Fernando Alonso - third in the drivers' standings - in the sister F10 suffered a Q2 nightmare to finish in 12th.
Renault had two drivers in the top 10 with Robert Kubica seventh and Vitaly Petrov ninth. Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi defied recent form to reach Q3, but was unable to compete at that level.
Adrian Sutil of Force India will start ahead of Alonso, with Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa 13th ahead of Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Rubens Barrichello (Williams) and Buemi's young team-mate Jaime Alguersuari.
Barrichello's team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was the other driver to reach Q2 and will start 17th.
The main casualty of Q1 was Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi, who will line up alongside rookie Hulkenberg and in front of the usual backmarkers of Lotus, Virgin and Hispania.
The 2008 world champion had snatched P1 with six minutes left of the 10-minute Q3 shootout - and when the leading contenders emerged from the garages on soft tyres with moments left it was all to play for.
Webber took top spot but Hamilton looked to have a chance as he set the fastest time in the first sector - only for Webber to further improve his benchmark.
Vettel made an error at the first corner to leave him ultimately in third while Hamilton's English compatriot and team-mate Jenson Button also made a mess of his final attempt at a quick lap and will start from fourth.
In fifth Michael Schumacher out-qualified Mercedes colleague Nico Rosberg by one spot and a tenth of a second. However the seven-times champion flew off into the gravel on his last effort which may cause him problems as drivers must begin the race on the tyres they ended qualifying with.
Ferrari's Felipe Massa was eighth while double champion Fernando Alonso - third in the drivers' standings - in the sister F10 suffered a Q2 nightmare to finish in 12th.
Renault had two drivers in the top 10 with Robert Kubica seventh and Vitaly Petrov ninth. Sauber's Kamui Kobayashi defied recent form to reach Q3, but was unable to compete at that level.
Adrian Sutil of Force India will start ahead of Alonso, with Sauber's Pedro de la Rosa 13th ahead of Sebastien Buemi (Toro Rosso), Rubens Barrichello (Williams) and Buemi's young team-mate Jaime Alguersuari.
Barrichello's team-mate Nico Hulkenberg was the other driver to reach Q2 and will start 17th.
The main casualty of Q1 was Force India's Vitantonio Liuzzi, who will line up alongside rookie Hulkenberg and in front of the usual backmarkers of Lotus, Virgin and Hispania.
World Cup 2010 - Power Rankings: Spain cleared of bribes
We conducted a poll of Eurosport-Yahoo! writers, asking them to rank each team based on their expected performance if the World Cup were to start tomorrow. We then took an average mark from the poll results to create this list. The tournament draw is not taken into account - it is an assessment of performance level, not likelihood of success.
We will publish revised rankings every day until the end of the World Cup, with countries moving up and down based on friendly results, injuries, scandals and other factors.
1 (1) - Spain - FIFA has found no basis for allegations from Lord Triesman that Spain were working with Russia to bribe referees at the Cup. So they won't have the referees on their side, but at least that distraction is out of the way.
2 (2) - Brazil - Julio Cesar is horrified by the ball which will be used at the World Cup, likening it to a cheap one bought from a supermarket.
3 (3) - Netherlands - Arjen Robben says that his international team-mate Rafael van der Vaart wants to join him at Bayern Munich next season - happy families..
4 (4) - Argentina - Argentina forward Lionel Mess has picked out Brazil, Spain and England as their main rivals.
5 (5) - Italy - Defender Giorgio Chiellini insists that the champions' squad is not too old: "There are nine of us in the squad that won the World Cup four years ago, that's a good ratio. The current squad is a mix of youth who are enthusiastic to show what they can do and experienced players who want to do just as well, and win the World Cup in the process."
6 (6) - England - Fabio Capello is a "candidate" for the Internazionale job, will that become a distraction in the England camp?
7 (8) - Germany - Bayern Munich defender Philipp Lahm will captain Germany in place of injured Michael Ballack and Manuel Neuer will be the starting goalkeeper .
8 (7) - Portugal - They say there are no easy matches in international football, but questions will be asked after the team ranked third by FIFA were held to a goalless draw by the 117th-ranked Cape Verde Islands.
9 (9) - France - France have been awarded Euro 2016 but how many of their aging squad will be around in the six years time?.
10 (10) - Ivory Coast - Striker Aruna Dindane has agreed a move to Qatari club Al-Shorti, so any worries over his wages from Portsmouth during the World Cup can now be put to one side.
11 (11) - USA -The United States' injury plagued defence will face a major test when they take on Turkey in their 'send-off' game on Saturday before leaving for the World Cup.
12 (12) - Mexico - Javier Aguirre's side have lost twice in a week, but there is reason for hope in their performances against England and Holland.
13 (14) - Serbia - Striker Nikola Zigic, all 6'8" of him, goes into the tournament with his future secure after sealing a £6m move to Birmingham City.
14 (13) - Ghana - Ghana will need a tactical rethink for the World Cup after losing Michael Essien, described by coach Milovan Rajevac as arguably the best player in the world in his position.
15 (16) - Chile - Highly-rated Alexis Sanchez came off the bench to score twice in La Roja's 3-0 win over Zambia.
16 (17) - Australia - Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer expects to remain at Fulham despite speculation linking him with Arsenal. It show his class though that he is being linked with the Gunners.
17 (15) - Cameroon - The Lions slip after striker Samuel Eto'o threatened not to go to South Africa after comments from Roger Milla. They will fall further if he carries the treat through.
18 (18) - Uruguay - All 16 players in the matchday squad got a run-out as Uruguay beat Israel 4-1.
19 (19) - Paraguay - The Albirroja lost 2-1 to the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, but a debut goal for Argentine-born Lucas Barrios will provide a boost for their Group F hopes.
20 (20) - South Africa -. Unbeaten in their last 10 matches, South Africa have now been tipped to reach the second round by FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
21 (21) - South Korea - Striker Lee Dong-gook will discover on Sunday if he has recovered sufficiently from a hamstring strain in time to make the final squad.
22 (22) - Denmark - The Danes beat Senegal 2-0 in Aalborg this week, but the win potentially came at a cost, as star defender Simon Kjaer was stretchered off with nine minutes remaining. However, he has been included in Morten Olsen's final 23-man squad.
23 (23) - Greece - A 2-2 draw against North Korea doesn't bode well for the 2004 European champions, who face South Korea, Nigeria and Argentina in their group.
24 (24) - Slovenia - Slovenian Ego TV has voted their national team's kit the worst at the World Cup. At least they are not the worst team!
25 (26) - Nigeria - John Obi Mikel joined the Nigeria squad on Friday for the first time since knee surgery last month and will be fit for the World Cup
26 (25) - Switzerland - Striker Marco Streller had had to pull out of the squad with a hamstring injury. Manager Ottmar Hitzfeld has called up Nuernburg striker Albert Bunjaku as a replacement.
27 (27) - Slovakia - We will get a better idea of the Slovaks strength after they have faced Cameroon on Saturday.
28 (28) - Japan - Takeshi Okada is planning no major changes to his World Cup-bound team despite coming under fire after a 2-0 defeat to South Korea earlier this week.
29 (29) - North Korea - A 0-0 draw against Congo in Le Mans is hardly enough to convince you that the Koreans can survive in the group of death. .
30 (31) - Honduras - Striker David Suazo has now fully recovered from a leg muscle injury and is expected to partner Carlos Pavon up front for
31 (30) - Algeria - Algeria's 3-0 defeat in Dublin to Republic of Ireland has failed to convince doubters that the Africans will be anything other than whipping boys.
32 (32) - New Zealand - Doctors have announced that surgery on vice-captain Tim Brown's fractured shoulder has been a success. Forward Chris Killen will miss Saturday's testing friendly against Serbia because he is flying to England to get married.
We will publish revised rankings every day until the end of the World Cup, with countries moving up and down based on friendly results, injuries, scandals and other factors.
1 (1) - Spain - FIFA has found no basis for allegations from Lord Triesman that Spain were working with Russia to bribe referees at the Cup. So they won't have the referees on their side, but at least that distraction is out of the way.
2 (2) - Brazil - Julio Cesar is horrified by the ball which will be used at the World Cup, likening it to a cheap one bought from a supermarket.
3 (3) - Netherlands - Arjen Robben says that his international team-mate Rafael van der Vaart wants to join him at Bayern Munich next season - happy families..
4 (4) - Argentina - Argentina forward Lionel Mess has picked out Brazil, Spain and England as their main rivals.
5 (5) - Italy - Defender Giorgio Chiellini insists that the champions' squad is not too old: "There are nine of us in the squad that won the World Cup four years ago, that's a good ratio. The current squad is a mix of youth who are enthusiastic to show what they can do and experienced players who want to do just as well, and win the World Cup in the process."
6 (6) - England - Fabio Capello is a "candidate" for the Internazionale job, will that become a distraction in the England camp?
7 (8) - Germany - Bayern Munich defender Philipp Lahm will captain Germany in place of injured Michael Ballack and Manuel Neuer will be the starting goalkeeper .
8 (7) - Portugal - They say there are no easy matches in international football, but questions will be asked after the team ranked third by FIFA were held to a goalless draw by the 117th-ranked Cape Verde Islands.
9 (9) - France - France have been awarded Euro 2016 but how many of their aging squad will be around in the six years time?.
10 (10) - Ivory Coast - Striker Aruna Dindane has agreed a move to Qatari club Al-Shorti, so any worries over his wages from Portsmouth during the World Cup can now be put to one side.
11 (11) - USA -The United States' injury plagued defence will face a major test when they take on Turkey in their 'send-off' game on Saturday before leaving for the World Cup.
12 (12) - Mexico - Javier Aguirre's side have lost twice in a week, but there is reason for hope in their performances against England and Holland.
13 (14) - Serbia - Striker Nikola Zigic, all 6'8" of him, goes into the tournament with his future secure after sealing a £6m move to Birmingham City.
14 (13) - Ghana - Ghana will need a tactical rethink for the World Cup after losing Michael Essien, described by coach Milovan Rajevac as arguably the best player in the world in his position.
15 (16) - Chile - Highly-rated Alexis Sanchez came off the bench to score twice in La Roja's 3-0 win over Zambia.
16 (17) - Australia - Goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer expects to remain at Fulham despite speculation linking him with Arsenal. It show his class though that he is being linked with the Gunners.
17 (15) - Cameroon - The Lions slip after striker Samuel Eto'o threatened not to go to South Africa after comments from Roger Milla. They will fall further if he carries the treat through.
18 (18) - Uruguay - All 16 players in the matchday squad got a run-out as Uruguay beat Israel 4-1.
19 (19) - Paraguay - The Albirroja lost 2-1 to the Republic of Ireland in Dublin, but a debut goal for Argentine-born Lucas Barrios will provide a boost for their Group F hopes.
20 (20) - South Africa -. Unbeaten in their last 10 matches, South Africa have now been tipped to reach the second round by FIFA President Sepp Blatter.
21 (21) - South Korea - Striker Lee Dong-gook will discover on Sunday if he has recovered sufficiently from a hamstring strain in time to make the final squad.
22 (22) - Denmark - The Danes beat Senegal 2-0 in Aalborg this week, but the win potentially came at a cost, as star defender Simon Kjaer was stretchered off with nine minutes remaining. However, he has been included in Morten Olsen's final 23-man squad.
23 (23) - Greece - A 2-2 draw against North Korea doesn't bode well for the 2004 European champions, who face South Korea, Nigeria and Argentina in their group.
24 (24) - Slovenia - Slovenian Ego TV has voted their national team's kit the worst at the World Cup. At least they are not the worst team!
25 (26) - Nigeria - John Obi Mikel joined the Nigeria squad on Friday for the first time since knee surgery last month and will be fit for the World Cup
26 (25) - Switzerland - Striker Marco Streller had had to pull out of the squad with a hamstring injury. Manager Ottmar Hitzfeld has called up Nuernburg striker Albert Bunjaku as a replacement.
27 (27) - Slovakia - We will get a better idea of the Slovaks strength after they have faced Cameroon on Saturday.
28 (28) - Japan - Takeshi Okada is planning no major changes to his World Cup-bound team despite coming under fire after a 2-0 defeat to South Korea earlier this week.
29 (29) - North Korea - A 0-0 draw against Congo in Le Mans is hardly enough to convince you that the Koreans can survive in the group of death. .
30 (31) - Honduras - Striker David Suazo has now fully recovered from a leg muscle injury and is expected to partner Carlos Pavon up front for
31 (30) - Algeria - Algeria's 3-0 defeat in Dublin to Republic of Ireland has failed to convince doubters that the Africans will be anything other than whipping boys.
32 (32) - New Zealand - Doctors have announced that surgery on vice-captain Tim Brown's fractured shoulder has been a success. Forward Chris Killen will miss Saturday's testing friendly against Serbia because he is flying to England to get married.
World Cup 2010 - Behind Enemy Lines: Algeria thumped by Ireland
UNITED STATES (June 12, Rustenburg)
May 29: USA coach Bob Bradley has an injury-plagued back line to contend with as his side face Turkey in their 'send-off' game before leaving for South Africa. Bradley's preparations have been hampered by injuries, of varying seriousness, with left-back Carlos Bocanegra having encountered problems with his hernia and Jay DeMerit's vision problems, but both are expected to be involved.
May 28: Despite getting a send-off from President Barack Obama at the White House, the USA squad may not be doing the American game as proud as it used to. In Bob Bradley's 23-man party bound for South Africa, there are only four players currently plying their trade in the MLS, compared to 11 in 2006, 12 in 2002 and 15 in 1998. That statistic has sparked debate as to whether it means the overall standard of the domestic league has declined, because fewer are making it to World Cups, or improved, because more European clubs are scouting MLS players.
May 27: Experienced striker Brian Ching was the most notable name to miss the cut as Bob Bradley selected his final 23-man squad. Ching, who was out of action throughout April with a hamstring injury, lost out to less experienced players like LA Galaxy's Edson Buddle, Real Salt Lake's Robbie Findley and Herculez Gomez, who plays for Mexican club Puebla. "Plain and simple, Edson and Herculez have had real good stretches, scored a lot of goals. Brian has been such an important player but it's tough when you have an injury at an inopportune time," Bradley said.
May 26: The United States suffered a pre-World Cup shake-up with a 4-2 defeat to the Czech Republic in their opening warm-up game. US coach Bob Bradley rested many of his likely starters but gave a run-out to key central defender Oguchi Onyewu, who has been sidelined since a knee operation in October and looked well short of match fitness. The US remain 14th in the FIFA world rankings.
May 25: Manager Bob Bradley is expected to cut his 30-man provisional squad down to 23 after his team's friendly against Czech Republic on Tuesday.
May 24: Defenders Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit and Carlos Bocanegra are all battling injury but the US are hopeful they will be ready for the finals.
May 23: All 30 players in the United States' preliminary squad took part in full training at their Princeton camp for the first time, with coach Bob Bradley revealing that captain Carlos Bocanegra underwent hernia surgery less than three weeks ago. Bradley said all players, including Bocanegra, are available for Tuesday's match against Czech Republic.
May 22: Striker Hercules Gomez could play in two friendlies next week - against Czech Republic and Turkey - as coach Bob Bradley explores options for replacing absentee Charlie Davies, who is recovering after a car crash.
ALGERIA (June 18, Cape Town)
May 29: Rabah Suadane was left disgusted with his side's dismal showing against Ireland as England's Group C rivals were comprehensively outclassed at the RDS in Dublin. Striker Robbie Keane netted a consummate brace, while Paul Green was also on the scoresheet as Algeria floundered horribly in their warm-up match. Suadane's side will have to improve markedly if they are to give a good account of themselves in South Africa.
May 28: Defender Madjid Bougherra trained with the rest of the squad ahead of their friendly match against the Republic of Ireland as he nears a full recovery from a calf injury that threatened to rule him out of the tournament. The Rangers centre-back has pledged he will be fit for the finals, although he is sitting out of the match at the RDS.
May 27: Following the withdrawal of Meghni through injury, it seems the toughest decision Rabah Saadane will have to face following the friendly against Ireland is who will be his third-choice goalkeeper - M'bolhi Rats or Mohamed Lamine Zemmamouche.
May 26: Players Antar Yahia, Carl Medjani, Madjid Bouguerra and Hacen Yebda will miss Friday's friendly against Ireland - but coach Rabah Saadane declared the team's training camp in Switzerland a success, with all players set to be fit by Monday and adapting well to the high altitude. Algeria move up one place in the FIFA rankings to 30th.
May 25: Medics have confirmed that Mourad Meghni will miss the tournament. The 26-year-old Lazio midfielder had been struggling with an injury to his left knee while he was part of Rabah Saadane's provisional squad, but it has now been decided he will need surgery on it.
May 24: Algeria's medical chief confirmed that Hassan Yebda, Madjid Bougherra, Carl Medjani and Ryad Boudebouz should all be able to take their places on the plane to South Africa.
May 22: Rangers' defender Madjid Bougherra, who has been hampered by injury problems this season, is sweating on his fitness ahead of the tournament. He has been told by coach Rabah Saadane to rest for 10 days to ensure peak fitness, meaning he will miss out on next week's friendly against Republic of Ireland in Dublin.
SLOVENIA (June 23, Port Elizabeth)
May 29: Three players missed training as the squad continued their preparations at their hotel in the Italian resort of Brunico. Goalkeepers Samir and Jasmin Handanovic were both unable to train after sustaining knocks, while defender Matej Mavric was also confined to the sidelines.
May 27 - Slovenian Ego TV has voted their national team's kit the worst at the World Cup, behind South Korea's and Uruguay's. Ivory Coast's jersey topped the poll.
May 26: Slovenia drop two places in the FIFA rankings to 25th.
May 25: Star striker Milivoje Novakovic is finding ways to continue training despite suffering from a diaphragm problem: "It's much better for my training that I am on the field with my team-mates. I am experienced enough to I know how the best way to prepare myself."
May 24: Defender Bosjan Cesar claims Slovenia will not be overawed by the finals in South Africa. "We are neither nervous nor afraid of the challenge because Slovenia have performed on the big stage already. We are probably not fully aware of what awaits in South Africa but we are confident because we have enough experience as players to compete in an event like this."
May 23: After naming a 25-man squad, coach Matjez Kek said: "On behalf of the team, thanks for all the positive energy. We do not promise anything, but rely on us."
May 29: USA coach Bob Bradley has an injury-plagued back line to contend with as his side face Turkey in their 'send-off' game before leaving for South Africa. Bradley's preparations have been hampered by injuries, of varying seriousness, with left-back Carlos Bocanegra having encountered problems with his hernia and Jay DeMerit's vision problems, but both are expected to be involved.
May 28: Despite getting a send-off from President Barack Obama at the White House, the USA squad may not be doing the American game as proud as it used to. In Bob Bradley's 23-man party bound for South Africa, there are only four players currently plying their trade in the MLS, compared to 11 in 2006, 12 in 2002 and 15 in 1998. That statistic has sparked debate as to whether it means the overall standard of the domestic league has declined, because fewer are making it to World Cups, or improved, because more European clubs are scouting MLS players.
May 27: Experienced striker Brian Ching was the most notable name to miss the cut as Bob Bradley selected his final 23-man squad. Ching, who was out of action throughout April with a hamstring injury, lost out to less experienced players like LA Galaxy's Edson Buddle, Real Salt Lake's Robbie Findley and Herculez Gomez, who plays for Mexican club Puebla. "Plain and simple, Edson and Herculez have had real good stretches, scored a lot of goals. Brian has been such an important player but it's tough when you have an injury at an inopportune time," Bradley said.
May 26: The United States suffered a pre-World Cup shake-up with a 4-2 defeat to the Czech Republic in their opening warm-up game. US coach Bob Bradley rested many of his likely starters but gave a run-out to key central defender Oguchi Onyewu, who has been sidelined since a knee operation in October and looked well short of match fitness. The US remain 14th in the FIFA world rankings.
May 25: Manager Bob Bradley is expected to cut his 30-man provisional squad down to 23 after his team's friendly against Czech Republic on Tuesday.
May 24: Defenders Oguchi Onyewu, Jay DeMerit and Carlos Bocanegra are all battling injury but the US are hopeful they will be ready for the finals.
May 23: All 30 players in the United States' preliminary squad took part in full training at their Princeton camp for the first time, with coach Bob Bradley revealing that captain Carlos Bocanegra underwent hernia surgery less than three weeks ago. Bradley said all players, including Bocanegra, are available for Tuesday's match against Czech Republic.
May 22: Striker Hercules Gomez could play in two friendlies next week - against Czech Republic and Turkey - as coach Bob Bradley explores options for replacing absentee Charlie Davies, who is recovering after a car crash.
ALGERIA (June 18, Cape Town)
May 29: Rabah Suadane was left disgusted with his side's dismal showing against Ireland as England's Group C rivals were comprehensively outclassed at the RDS in Dublin. Striker Robbie Keane netted a consummate brace, while Paul Green was also on the scoresheet as Algeria floundered horribly in their warm-up match. Suadane's side will have to improve markedly if they are to give a good account of themselves in South Africa.
May 28: Defender Madjid Bougherra trained with the rest of the squad ahead of their friendly match against the Republic of Ireland as he nears a full recovery from a calf injury that threatened to rule him out of the tournament. The Rangers centre-back has pledged he will be fit for the finals, although he is sitting out of the match at the RDS.
May 27: Following the withdrawal of Meghni through injury, it seems the toughest decision Rabah Saadane will have to face following the friendly against Ireland is who will be his third-choice goalkeeper - M'bolhi Rats or Mohamed Lamine Zemmamouche.
May 26: Players Antar Yahia, Carl Medjani, Madjid Bouguerra and Hacen Yebda will miss Friday's friendly against Ireland - but coach Rabah Saadane declared the team's training camp in Switzerland a success, with all players set to be fit by Monday and adapting well to the high altitude. Algeria move up one place in the FIFA rankings to 30th.
May 25: Medics have confirmed that Mourad Meghni will miss the tournament. The 26-year-old Lazio midfielder had been struggling with an injury to his left knee while he was part of Rabah Saadane's provisional squad, but it has now been decided he will need surgery on it.
May 24: Algeria's medical chief confirmed that Hassan Yebda, Madjid Bougherra, Carl Medjani and Ryad Boudebouz should all be able to take their places on the plane to South Africa.
May 22: Rangers' defender Madjid Bougherra, who has been hampered by injury problems this season, is sweating on his fitness ahead of the tournament. He has been told by coach Rabah Saadane to rest for 10 days to ensure peak fitness, meaning he will miss out on next week's friendly against Republic of Ireland in Dublin.
SLOVENIA (June 23, Port Elizabeth)
May 29: Three players missed training as the squad continued their preparations at their hotel in the Italian resort of Brunico. Goalkeepers Samir and Jasmin Handanovic were both unable to train after sustaining knocks, while defender Matej Mavric was also confined to the sidelines.
May 27 - Slovenian Ego TV has voted their national team's kit the worst at the World Cup, behind South Korea's and Uruguay's. Ivory Coast's jersey topped the poll.
May 26: Slovenia drop two places in the FIFA rankings to 25th.
May 25: Star striker Milivoje Novakovic is finding ways to continue training despite suffering from a diaphragm problem: "It's much better for my training that I am on the field with my team-mates. I am experienced enough to I know how the best way to prepare myself."
May 24: Defender Bosjan Cesar claims Slovenia will not be overawed by the finals in South Africa. "We are neither nervous nor afraid of the challenge because Slovenia have performed on the big stage already. We are probably not fully aware of what awaits in South Africa but we are confident because we have enough experience as players to compete in an event like this."
May 23: After naming a 25-man squad, coach Matjez Kek said: "On behalf of the team, thanks for all the positive energy. We do not promise anything, but rely on us."
PCB lift Shoaib ban
Shoaib Malik has been cleared to play international cricket again after the Pakistan Cricket Board lifted his one-year suspension.
Shoaib was banned in March along with Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and former captains Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan following Pakistan's troubled tour of Australia, where they lost all three Tests, five one-day matches and a Twenty20 international.
Also a former captain of Pakistan, Shoaib was this week named in Pakistan's provisional squad for next month's Asia Cup and the following Test and limited-overs series against Australia and England. He will now be available for selection after the PCB confirmed his punishment was overturned.
A report on the PCB website revealed the decision of the one-man appellate tribunal.
The fine imposed on Shoaib in March was halved to one million Pakistan rupees (£8,100).
Shoaib was banned in March along with Rana Naved-ul-Hasan and former captains Mohammad Yousuf and Younis Khan following Pakistan's troubled tour of Australia, where they lost all three Tests, five one-day matches and a Twenty20 international.
Also a former captain of Pakistan, Shoaib was this week named in Pakistan's provisional squad for next month's Asia Cup and the following Test and limited-overs series against Australia and England. He will now be available for selection after the PCB confirmed his punishment was overturned.
A report on the PCB website revealed the decision of the one-man appellate tribunal.
The fine imposed on Shoaib in March was halved to one million Pakistan rupees (£8,100).
Gymnast unable to have natural birth sues coaches
The 23-year-old, who won two Commonwealth Games silver medals for England in 2002, claims she was forced to train despite a back fracture, and says she has been in constant pain since quitting the sport seven years ago.
Owen picked up the injury when she was just 11 while doing a "whip salto" but returned to full training after six months rest.
Her coaches then added the whip salto back to her routine on her return despite it being related to her injury, and she was forced to carry out the move 10 to 15 times a day.
Owen's former coaches are Great Britain coach Colin Still and his wife Christine, who commentates for the BBC.
"This has ruined my life," Owen told the Daily Mail.
"I always longed for lots of children but even if I manage to carry a baby - and doctors say it will be agonising as my back is so weak - I won't be able to give birth naturally.
"And I don't know how I would look after a baby - bending and stretching are virtually impossible.
"Although I had been diagnosed with a fracture in my lower back my coaches insisted I trained.
"Despite the fact I was in agony and often in tears they kept pushing me to perform.
"People often comment on how Eastern European gymnasts are treated but it isn't very different here. Young children are pushed beyond their limits and are forced to perform under pressure and pain.
"Even going out with friends is miserable as I can't sit or stand in the same position for very long. I am constantly in agony and always taking strong painkillers."
Owen retired after being forced to pull out of the qualifiers for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
The Stills have refused to comment on the story.
Owen picked up the injury when she was just 11 while doing a "whip salto" but returned to full training after six months rest.
Her coaches then added the whip salto back to her routine on her return despite it being related to her injury, and she was forced to carry out the move 10 to 15 times a day.
Owen's former coaches are Great Britain coach Colin Still and his wife Christine, who commentates for the BBC.
"This has ruined my life," Owen told the Daily Mail.
"I always longed for lots of children but even if I manage to carry a baby - and doctors say it will be agonising as my back is so weak - I won't be able to give birth naturally.
"And I don't know how I would look after a baby - bending and stretching are virtually impossible.
"Although I had been diagnosed with a fracture in my lower back my coaches insisted I trained.
"Despite the fact I was in agony and often in tears they kept pushing me to perform.
"People often comment on how Eastern European gymnasts are treated but it isn't very different here. Young children are pushed beyond their limits and are forced to perform under pressure and pain.
"Even going out with friends is miserable as I can't sit or stand in the same position for very long. I am constantly in agony and always taking strong painkillers."
Owen retired after being forced to pull out of the qualifiers for the 2004 Olympics in Athens.
The Stills have refused to comment on the story.
Motor racing-Webber seizes pole hat-trick in Turkey
* Webber on pole for third race in a row
* Red Bull's seventh successive pole
* Hamilton back on front row
Formula One championship leader Mark Webber completed a hat-trick of pole positions at the Turkish Grand Prix on Saturday to hammer home Red Bull's qualifying supremacy.
The Australian, winner of the last two grands prix from the top slot, was nearly half a second quicker than German team mate Sebastian Vettel as he chalked up Red Bull's seventh pole in seven races.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton joined Webber on the front row while Vettel, who is level on 78 points with Webber but behind on race wins, took the third slot next to world champion Jenson Button in the other McLaren.
"It's a great record, it shows tremendous pace in the car," said Webber of the run of poles.
"It's a real credit to the whole team," he added, fully aware that the driver starting on pole in Turkey has won four of the five races at the undulating and anti-clockwise Istanbul Park circuit.
Vettel had been quickest in the first two parts of qualifying but said his car's handling had gone astray in the final part, with the brakes locking repeatedly as he went into turns 12 and 14.
"I'm a bit lucky not to be fourth," said the 22-year-old, using a different chassis -- which he has dubbed 'Randy Mandy' -- to the previous six races.
"If you look at all the races, we (I) have always qualified in the top three so far which I think is not too bad," he added. "I'm not the type of guy who says the car is broken, that's it. I always try to do my best.
"We need to see what happened here and then we see what we can do tomorrow. I think the pace is very good."
Mercedes drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg filled the third row after a session that took place in front of largely empty grandstands at what looks sure to be the worst-attended race of the year.
There was disappointment for glamour team Ferrari, preparing for their 800th grand prix, with Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso qualifying 12th while Brazilian Felipe Massa starts eighth.
Hamilton, who has yet to win this season, shredded his tyres in final practice after skidding off at the tricky turn eight but got everything right when it mattered.
"I think on full fuel it will be a little bit closer," said the Briton after his team's best qualifying performance of the season so far.
"I'm happy with the balance of the car and we have a good opportunity tomorrow," he added.
* Red Bull's seventh successive pole
* Hamilton back on front row
Formula One championship leader Mark Webber completed a hat-trick of pole positions at the Turkish Grand Prix on Saturday to hammer home Red Bull's qualifying supremacy.
The Australian, winner of the last two grands prix from the top slot, was nearly half a second quicker than German team mate Sebastian Vettel as he chalked up Red Bull's seventh pole in seven races.
McLaren's Lewis Hamilton joined Webber on the front row while Vettel, who is level on 78 points with Webber but behind on race wins, took the third slot next to world champion Jenson Button in the other McLaren.
"It's a great record, it shows tremendous pace in the car," said Webber of the run of poles.
"It's a real credit to the whole team," he added, fully aware that the driver starting on pole in Turkey has won four of the five races at the undulating and anti-clockwise Istanbul Park circuit.
Vettel had been quickest in the first two parts of qualifying but said his car's handling had gone astray in the final part, with the brakes locking repeatedly as he went into turns 12 and 14.
"I'm a bit lucky not to be fourth," said the 22-year-old, using a different chassis -- which he has dubbed 'Randy Mandy' -- to the previous six races.
"If you look at all the races, we (I) have always qualified in the top three so far which I think is not too bad," he added. "I'm not the type of guy who says the car is broken, that's it. I always try to do my best.
"We need to see what happened here and then we see what we can do tomorrow. I think the pace is very good."
Mercedes drivers Michael Schumacher and Nico Rosberg filled the third row after a session that took place in front of largely empty grandstands at what looks sure to be the worst-attended race of the year.
There was disappointment for glamour team Ferrari, preparing for their 800th grand prix, with Spain's double world champion Fernando Alonso qualifying 12th while Brazilian Felipe Massa starts eighth.
Hamilton, who has yet to win this season, shredded his tyres in final practice after skidding off at the tricky turn eight but got everything right when it mattered.
"I think on full fuel it will be a little bit closer," said the Briton after his team's best qualifying performance of the season so far.
"I'm happy with the balance of the car and we have a good opportunity tomorrow," he added.
Webber takes pole in Turkey
Mark Webber completed a hat-trick of pole positions by stealing top spot in final qualifying for the Turkish Grand Prix from the combined threat of Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel and McLaren's Lewis Hamilton.
The Australian, who claimed P1 in both Spain and Monaco - as well as in Malaysia earlier in the year - knocked Hamilton off provisional pole with his first flying lap, and then improved further with his second, after the chequered flag had waved, to put the spot out of anyone's reach. Vettel's initial run had been good enough for second until Hamilton improved to claim a front row start, and the German then made a minor mistake on his final flier, consigning him to third, ahead of the other McLaren of Jenson Button, who abandoned his final lap after an incident ahead of him.
Michael Schumacher will start Sunday's seventh round from the inside of row three, but ended his session in the turn eight gravel after pressing too hard to move up the grid. The German veteran will have Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg alongside him after edging the younger man by a tenth, while Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa share row four, ahead of rookies Vitaly Petrov and Kamui Kobayashi, the Sauber man hampered by a lack of soft tyres.
The Australian, who claimed P1 in both Spain and Monaco - as well as in Malaysia earlier in the year - knocked Hamilton off provisional pole with his first flying lap, and then improved further with his second, after the chequered flag had waved, to put the spot out of anyone's reach. Vettel's initial run had been good enough for second until Hamilton improved to claim a front row start, and the German then made a minor mistake on his final flier, consigning him to third, ahead of the other McLaren of Jenson Button, who abandoned his final lap after an incident ahead of him.
Michael Schumacher will start Sunday's seventh round from the inside of row three, but ended his session in the turn eight gravel after pressing too hard to move up the grid. The German veteran will have Mercedes team-mate Nico Rosberg alongside him after edging the younger man by a tenth, while Robert Kubica and Felipe Massa share row four, ahead of rookies Vitaly Petrov and Kamui Kobayashi, the Sauber man hampered by a lack of soft tyres.
vineri, 28 mai 2010
NBA-Artest saves best till last as Lakers beat Suns
* Artest makes amends with last shot
* Suns come back from 18 points down (adds quotes, details)
Ron Artest sank the game-winning basket as time expired to lift the Los Angeles Lakers to a 103-101 win over the Phoenix Suns in Game Five of the Western Conference finals on Thursday.
With the game tied 101-101 in the closing seconds, Kobe Bryant came up short on a long jump shot but Artest slipped in for the rebound and scored to seal the victory and give the Lakers a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
"I'm just happy he made the play," Bryant told reporters. "I knew (Phoenix) would have two guys running at me and Ron was able to sneak in there."
Bryant delivered 30 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in the game as the Lakers squandered an 18-point lead in the second half before sealing victory.
Jason Richardson banked in a game-tying three-pointer with 3.5 seconds left for the Suns, who got 29 points and 11 assists from Steve Nash.
After winning two in a row at home to tie the series, Phoenix looked like they might get blown away by the Lakers but fought back from 17 points down in the second quarter and then rallied from 74-56 with 3:44 remaining in the third.
Nash led the Suns revival with nine points in a three-minute stretch, and Richardson tied the game on a possession where Phoenix had three attempts at a three-pointer.
However, last season's NBA champions showed their mettle in the final seconds.
Derek Fisher finished with 22 points and Pau Gasol added 21 while Artest had made just 1-of-8 shots prior to his game-winner.
Artest has struggled to fit in with the Los Angeles offense after signing in the offseason as a free agent. His game-winning basket made up for a poor shooting night and an ill-advised three-point attempt in the last minute when the home team should have been running down the clock.
"There was a point in time where I shot 40 percent from three so I just have to play -- I've hit shots before," Artest said. "You never know when that big game is going to come."
* Suns come back from 18 points down (adds quotes, details)
Ron Artest sank the game-winning basket as time expired to lift the Los Angeles Lakers to a 103-101 win over the Phoenix Suns in Game Five of the Western Conference finals on Thursday.
With the game tied 101-101 in the closing seconds, Kobe Bryant came up short on a long jump shot but Artest slipped in for the rebound and scored to seal the victory and give the Lakers a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.
"I'm just happy he made the play," Bryant told reporters. "I knew (Phoenix) would have two guys running at me and Ron was able to sneak in there."
Bryant delivered 30 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists in the game as the Lakers squandered an 18-point lead in the second half before sealing victory.
Jason Richardson banked in a game-tying three-pointer with 3.5 seconds left for the Suns, who got 29 points and 11 assists from Steve Nash.
After winning two in a row at home to tie the series, Phoenix looked like they might get blown away by the Lakers but fought back from 17 points down in the second quarter and then rallied from 74-56 with 3:44 remaining in the third.
Nash led the Suns revival with nine points in a three-minute stretch, and Richardson tied the game on a possession where Phoenix had three attempts at a three-pointer.
However, last season's NBA champions showed their mettle in the final seconds.
Derek Fisher finished with 22 points and Pau Gasol added 21 while Artest had made just 1-of-8 shots prior to his game-winner.
Artest has struggled to fit in with the Los Angeles offense after signing in the offseason as a free agent. His game-winning basket made up for a poor shooting night and an ill-advised three-point attempt in the last minute when the home team should have been running down the clock.
"There was a point in time where I shot 40 percent from three so I just have to play -- I've hit shots before," Artest said. "You never know when that big game is going to come."
Webber set to be offered new deal
Just days after designer Adrian Newey said that he expected to be a part of the Red Bull Racing line-up for 2011, team principal Christian Horner gave the Formula One field another reason for discomfort when he revealed that Mark Webber was also expected to stay on at Milton Keynes.
The Australian, who currently heads the world championship standings after back-to-back wins in Spain and Monaco, is out of contract at the end of the season, and has been linked to a possible move to Ferrari, but Horner said that he had no reason to tinker with his squad after a stellar start to the current campaign. After a slow start to the year, Webber now shares top spot in the points with Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel, but edges the German - who many tipped as this year's champion - by virtue of his two wins.
"We have been happy with the job that Mark is doing, so why would you change?," he told Reuters reporters on the eve of the Turkish Grand Prix weekend, "Mark is an important member of the team, he enjoys driving for the team and we have a great balance between our two drivers. So it's the usual thing - if it's not broken, don't fix it.
"I think that it is clear where our intent is, it is clear where his intent is, so, when we sit down and talk about it, it will be very straightforward. It is just a matter of sorting out the paperwork with his management [and], in the coming weeks, I am sure that will be sorted."
Despite having only been retained on a single-year deal for 2010, and having seen his success link him to a possible role with Ferrari as replacement for the lacklustre Felipe Massa next season, Webber also appears keen to remain with this season's most successful outfit.
"It's nice to be in the team after all the work we put in during those tough years, even when I first arrived at Red Bull," the four-time racewinner admitted during the official FIA press conference, "You are always hopeful that you get an opportunity to drive a car which is very competitive.
"We know that it's an important part of the job but also, as a driver ,you don't hang around this business that long if you're not performing either. So I obviously needed to keep performing, doing my best and, hopefully, something one day would have come around. For sure, I’ve had the most competitive cars in the last few years, there’s no question about that.
"The clear attraction at Red Bull was Adrian. His ability to be able to produce good cars is well known, so I think that, when we got the regulation change, that was something that was very attractive for our team, in our group of guys and it’s turned out that the last few years we’ve certainly been towards the front."
Horner's apparent desire to keep Webber and Vettel together next season would appear to quell rumours that former Ferrari pilot - and 2007 world champion - Kimi Raikkonen could be on his way to Milton Keynes after a one-year sabbatical in the World Rally Championship with the Red Bull-backed Citroen team.
The Australian, who currently heads the world championship standings after back-to-back wins in Spain and Monaco, is out of contract at the end of the season, and has been linked to a possible move to Ferrari, but Horner said that he had no reason to tinker with his squad after a stellar start to the current campaign. After a slow start to the year, Webber now shares top spot in the points with Red Bull team-mate Sebastian Vettel, but edges the German - who many tipped as this year's champion - by virtue of his two wins.
"We have been happy with the job that Mark is doing, so why would you change?," he told Reuters reporters on the eve of the Turkish Grand Prix weekend, "Mark is an important member of the team, he enjoys driving for the team and we have a great balance between our two drivers. So it's the usual thing - if it's not broken, don't fix it.
"I think that it is clear where our intent is, it is clear where his intent is, so, when we sit down and talk about it, it will be very straightforward. It is just a matter of sorting out the paperwork with his management [and], in the coming weeks, I am sure that will be sorted."
Despite having only been retained on a single-year deal for 2010, and having seen his success link him to a possible role with Ferrari as replacement for the lacklustre Felipe Massa next season, Webber also appears keen to remain with this season's most successful outfit.
"It's nice to be in the team after all the work we put in during those tough years, even when I first arrived at Red Bull," the four-time racewinner admitted during the official FIA press conference, "You are always hopeful that you get an opportunity to drive a car which is very competitive.
"We know that it's an important part of the job but also, as a driver ,you don't hang around this business that long if you're not performing either. So I obviously needed to keep performing, doing my best and, hopefully, something one day would have come around. For sure, I’ve had the most competitive cars in the last few years, there’s no question about that.
"The clear attraction at Red Bull was Adrian. His ability to be able to produce good cars is well known, so I think that, when we got the regulation change, that was something that was very attractive for our team, in our group of guys and it’s turned out that the last few years we’ve certainly been towards the front."
Horner's apparent desire to keep Webber and Vettel together next season would appear to quell rumours that former Ferrari pilot - and 2007 world champion - Kimi Raikkonen could be on his way to Milton Keynes after a one-year sabbatical in the World Rally Championship with the Red Bull-backed Citroen team.
Thursday press conference - Turkish GP - Pt.2
Questions from the floor
Q: (Dan Knutson - National Speed Sport News)
To all of you: Bernie Ecclestone has announced that there will be a US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. I’m looking at your T-shirts and caps and I see names like Mercedes Benz, Red Bull, AT&T. How important is it for your teams’ sponsors to have a race in the US?
Mark Webber:
It’s a huge market, we know that. A lot of people live in North America and they’re very passionate about their sport. There’s naturally a lot of people involved in our business that do business in North America. If it’s of benefit for all of us to go there and hold a Grand Prix under their noses and for them to embrace Formula One racing as best they can – because obviously it’s a different kind of sport for them, let’s say – so we’ve seen in the past that it has worked OK at Indy, and it can be exciting in Texas, so let’s see how it goes. For Red Bull, we sell a lot of cans over there and it will be good if we can sell some more.
Michael Schumacher:
Certainly, it’s one of the beautiful places around the world to go to and enjoy some good times, lots of great opportunities. For me, naturally, I love to go and race there as it allows me to spend some days before the race to hang out there and enjoy it. But more important for most of the manufacturers that are involved in Formula One, America is a very important market. If you think of how many countries like Brazil, Argentina, all those countries in South America, how many we had of those guys at Indy, then we should have even more, because logistically it’s easier to go to Texas than all the way up to Indy. Hopefully, that’s the case because one of the points that we have been missing is the sort of excitement that Formula One can create and can give to the fans that are in America. Yeah, it has not fully arrived, but quite honestly you cannot expect those things to happen overnight. You have to give it continuation, and this continuation hasn’t happened for a long enough time, plus maybe we haven’t yet got a known or successful American driver in our group that would be quite helpful for this. But certainly from our point of view we are very happy to go there.
Karun Chandhok:
It’s more of the same, really. I think America is a more developed market than say India. It’s a similar thing, they are huge markets with untapped potential as far as Formula One and its partners are concerned. I think that to have a dedicated venue is a new thing. I guess Watkins Glen, so Bernie was saying, was the last time we had one. Maybe that’s what it needs, a dedicated Formula One site. I’m very excited to go there. My mum’s from San Antonio and my grandparents still live in Texas, so I’d love to go there and have a race.
Rubens Barrichello:
On a personal side I love America as a whole. I’ve also spent a lot of time there with the family, so it’s really good to be going to that side. From the manufacturers’ point of view, it’s just a great opportunity that’s back again and we should never have stopped racing there. Even though the fans don’t know Formula One, they are aware and they obviously know more of NASCAR and Indycar but it’s a great opportunity for us to show our show and get together.
Jarno Trulli:
I like going to the US, I think it’s a good market and I also think that the Formula One circus is a worldwide business, so why not? We would be more than welcome to go there.
Q: (Juha Paatalo - Financial Times Germany)
Mark, since you started your career in Melbourne 2002, this is the first time that you’re leading the championship. Can you just tell us how it has felt for the last ten days, having that experience after such a long time in Formula One?
Mark Webber:
I’m not that interested in the points at the moment. It’s nice to have quite a few but the results in the last few races have been what it’s all about, so that’s been very rewarding. We know that there’s been some missed opportunities in the past and we need to keep those to a minimum, so we’re looking forward, keep trying to do what we’ve been executing the last few events and that can be good for us in the future, but I don’t feel any different really, when I get out of bed, because all of us are pretty much on the same points anyway, so I’m not doing anything that different.
Q: (Ian Gordon - News of the World)
Michael, without referring to Monaco itself, do you think the sport’s become more safety conscious over the years and that drivers should be encouraged to overtake and not be punished? Think back to the case of Lewis (Hamilton) over the last couple of years when he overtook in Belgium and got penalised by the stewards, and the same with you. Surely the drivers want to race and the fans want to see people racing?
Michael Schumacher:
There’s no point in getting into past incidents, but the point is that if I understand the situation clearly, the FIA has identified something that happened in Monaco and they want to improve the situation, so I think that’s actually something good in the sport and I’m quite happy for this to happen.
Q: (Ian Parkes - The Press Association)
Michael, Sir Jackie Stewart remarked in an interview yesterday that given the lack of success so far in your comeback that you were damaging your legacy. Do you agree or disagree with his comments so far?
Michael Schumacher:
I guess it’s pretty fair that he has opinion and I have mine and I naturally disagree, yeah.
Q: (Alan Baldwin - Reuters)
Mark, Sebastian (Vettel) has a different chassis here this weekend. Apparently they found a defect in it from the last couple of races. I just wondered how much that would have affected his performance in the last two races, how much that might have accounted for the fact that he wasn’t really getting that close to you?
Mark Webber:
Obviously I wasn’t driving his car, so it’s difficult to know, to be honest. We’ll see.
Q: (Ronald Lewis - The Times)
Mark, during your leaner years in Formula One, did you always maintain the belief that you would eventually get a car as good as you have now? And when did you realise it was such a good car, as well?
Mark Webber:
Coming into Formula One, obviously with a small team like Minardi, moved to Jaguar and that were some exciting times there in terms of getting your first few points and starting to race towards the front which is a nice thing when you can start to do that in Formula One. Obviously we know I had some tough years after Jaguar and then a fresh opportunity at Red Bull and the clear attraction at Red Bull was Adrian (Newey). His ability to be able to produce good cars is well known, so I think that when we got the regulation change, that was something that was very attractive for our team, in our group of guys and it’s turned out that the last few years we’ve certainly been towards the front. It’s nice to be in the team after all the work we put in during those tough years, even when I first arrived at Red Bull. So you are always hopeful that you get an opportunity to drive a car which is very competitive. We know that it’s an important part of the job but also as a driver you don’t hang around this business that long if you’re not performing either. So I obviously needed to keep performing, doing my best and hopefully something one day would have come around and at that moment, for sure I’ve had the most competitive cars in the last few years, there’s no question about that.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport)
Two questions for Mark: are you going to use the F-duct at this Grand Prix and secondly, what advantage can that give you? Do you expect to have the same advantage that you had in Spain against the other competitors, so a huge advantage, and who will be the first challenger here: McLaren or Ferrari?
Mark Webber:
Yes, we give the F-duct a go tomorrow, we’re going to give it a chance. To answer your second question: Barcelona, clearly we were pretty competitive there, particularly in qualifying. I think it’s going to be very, very hard to do that again so, as we saw in Monaco, we know it’s a very, very different circuit completely but things tightened up there a lot, so venue to venue, things can move around and even within the race, we saw in Barcelona that things were a little bit different. Lewis was our closest competitor in that Grand Prix, so you can argue that if we had a Turkish Grand Prix after Barcelona, you might say that the McLaren might be the guys that might be our challengers here but we’re also mindful of the fact that Ferrari – and also if Mercedes have a clean weekend – there’s lots of guys that can come towards us, so we’re definitely not taking anything for granted, we know we’re working incredibly hard to get the results we have and it’s not easy to get them.
Q:
Mark, how big is the competition between you and Sebastian?
Mark Webber:
Oh, every competitor is on the grid [is competition] for all of us. We know that towards the front we have different levels of car performance, so it’s obvious that I’m not racing Jarno this weekend but there’s guys that you have more fights with throughout the season and clearly Sebastian is in a good car, he’s quick and there’s going to be a healthy competition there as always. There’s no secret that we like to beat each other and that’s how it should be. It’s healthy, very good balance within the team and Sebastian’s had his days in the past where he’s been virtually untouchable and I’m sure I hope that they don’t happen too much in the future but he’s very quick, we know that, and I’ve got to try and keep those to a minimum. So it’s a good battle.
Q: (Alan Baldwin - Reuters)
Mark, I’m wondering when the last time was that you won three races in a row. This is your chance this weekend but has it happened before in your career that you’ve done that?
Mark Webber:
I think I won a couple in F3000 but maybe not three in a row. I don’t know, probably Formula Ford.
Q: (Miran Alisic - Korpmedia)
For the four of you whose countries have qualified for the World Cup: before the next Grand Prix starts, the football World Cup will start in South Africa, so what do you think the prospects are for your countries and maybe you can include the prospects for the smallest country, which is my home country, Slovenia?
Mark Webber:
Australia, [to Schumacher] yes, we’ve qualified, yeah. We are there, we’re playing you guys actually, in the first one, we’re playing you guys in the first match, so we hope that we can get a draw against the Germans. We’ll take a draw. But we’re in a tough group. Of course I want the Australians to do well. We have a tough group with Ghana, I think, and Germany, and the other team is also strong, so if we can get through it’s good, because if we finish second and England win their group, obviously we play England and of course we want to kick their asses, so then they will have big problems in their team. I honestly hope it’s a good World Cup for South Africa. That country has gone through a lot, we’ve seen some big problems there in the past and I just hope it goes off really smoothly. As a big sports fan I hope it’s a big sporting event for the people of South Africa and it turns out to be good.
Michael Schumacher:
Obviously, we all cross fingers for our nation and, naturally, after some good results in past championships, we still hope to do a little bit better now and maybe win a final, although it’s very optimistic to say that, especially with the sad happening to one of the most important players that we have had recently. Nevertheless, I’m sure that they will keep trying and we cross fingers. I’m sorry for you Mark, but…
Rubens Barrichello:
Yeah, I’m sorry for both of you! It’s a great time for me, it’s a great time for Brazil and I agree with Mark. It’s great to have it there in South Africa, I think it’s a great opportunity to appreciate new things and I think they’ve done really well with security and everything, so it should be a great show and obviously I hope that Brazil can just keep it up.
Jarno Trulli:
I’m not really into football so much but yeah, I think we won the last World Championship in Germany and obviously we will want to be back again, to see what we can do. It’s not going to be easy but I think it’s important as everyone has said that the football World Championship is going to South Africa, it’s good for the people there and I guess it’s one of the most important sporting events in the World. We will all be watching and cheering them on and hope to see some very good days of sport. I want to see the players playing well, successfully and nicely. That’s very important for the sport.
Q: (Dan Knutson - National Speed Sport News)
To all of you: Bernie Ecclestone has announced that there will be a US Grand Prix in Austin, Texas. I’m looking at your T-shirts and caps and I see names like Mercedes Benz, Red Bull, AT&T. How important is it for your teams’ sponsors to have a race in the US?
Mark Webber:
It’s a huge market, we know that. A lot of people live in North America and they’re very passionate about their sport. There’s naturally a lot of people involved in our business that do business in North America. If it’s of benefit for all of us to go there and hold a Grand Prix under their noses and for them to embrace Formula One racing as best they can – because obviously it’s a different kind of sport for them, let’s say – so we’ve seen in the past that it has worked OK at Indy, and it can be exciting in Texas, so let’s see how it goes. For Red Bull, we sell a lot of cans over there and it will be good if we can sell some more.
Michael Schumacher:
Certainly, it’s one of the beautiful places around the world to go to and enjoy some good times, lots of great opportunities. For me, naturally, I love to go and race there as it allows me to spend some days before the race to hang out there and enjoy it. But more important for most of the manufacturers that are involved in Formula One, America is a very important market. If you think of how many countries like Brazil, Argentina, all those countries in South America, how many we had of those guys at Indy, then we should have even more, because logistically it’s easier to go to Texas than all the way up to Indy. Hopefully, that’s the case because one of the points that we have been missing is the sort of excitement that Formula One can create and can give to the fans that are in America. Yeah, it has not fully arrived, but quite honestly you cannot expect those things to happen overnight. You have to give it continuation, and this continuation hasn’t happened for a long enough time, plus maybe we haven’t yet got a known or successful American driver in our group that would be quite helpful for this. But certainly from our point of view we are very happy to go there.
Karun Chandhok:
It’s more of the same, really. I think America is a more developed market than say India. It’s a similar thing, they are huge markets with untapped potential as far as Formula One and its partners are concerned. I think that to have a dedicated venue is a new thing. I guess Watkins Glen, so Bernie was saying, was the last time we had one. Maybe that’s what it needs, a dedicated Formula One site. I’m very excited to go there. My mum’s from San Antonio and my grandparents still live in Texas, so I’d love to go there and have a race.
Rubens Barrichello:
On a personal side I love America as a whole. I’ve also spent a lot of time there with the family, so it’s really good to be going to that side. From the manufacturers’ point of view, it’s just a great opportunity that’s back again and we should never have stopped racing there. Even though the fans don’t know Formula One, they are aware and they obviously know more of NASCAR and Indycar but it’s a great opportunity for us to show our show and get together.
Jarno Trulli:
I like going to the US, I think it’s a good market and I also think that the Formula One circus is a worldwide business, so why not? We would be more than welcome to go there.
Q: (Juha Paatalo - Financial Times Germany)
Mark, since you started your career in Melbourne 2002, this is the first time that you’re leading the championship. Can you just tell us how it has felt for the last ten days, having that experience after such a long time in Formula One?
Mark Webber:
I’m not that interested in the points at the moment. It’s nice to have quite a few but the results in the last few races have been what it’s all about, so that’s been very rewarding. We know that there’s been some missed opportunities in the past and we need to keep those to a minimum, so we’re looking forward, keep trying to do what we’ve been executing the last few events and that can be good for us in the future, but I don’t feel any different really, when I get out of bed, because all of us are pretty much on the same points anyway, so I’m not doing anything that different.
Q: (Ian Gordon - News of the World)
Michael, without referring to Monaco itself, do you think the sport’s become more safety conscious over the years and that drivers should be encouraged to overtake and not be punished? Think back to the case of Lewis (Hamilton) over the last couple of years when he overtook in Belgium and got penalised by the stewards, and the same with you. Surely the drivers want to race and the fans want to see people racing?
Michael Schumacher:
There’s no point in getting into past incidents, but the point is that if I understand the situation clearly, the FIA has identified something that happened in Monaco and they want to improve the situation, so I think that’s actually something good in the sport and I’m quite happy for this to happen.
Q: (Ian Parkes - The Press Association)
Michael, Sir Jackie Stewart remarked in an interview yesterday that given the lack of success so far in your comeback that you were damaging your legacy. Do you agree or disagree with his comments so far?
Michael Schumacher:
I guess it’s pretty fair that he has opinion and I have mine and I naturally disagree, yeah.
Q: (Alan Baldwin - Reuters)
Mark, Sebastian (Vettel) has a different chassis here this weekend. Apparently they found a defect in it from the last couple of races. I just wondered how much that would have affected his performance in the last two races, how much that might have accounted for the fact that he wasn’t really getting that close to you?
Mark Webber:
Obviously I wasn’t driving his car, so it’s difficult to know, to be honest. We’ll see.
Q: (Ronald Lewis - The Times)
Mark, during your leaner years in Formula One, did you always maintain the belief that you would eventually get a car as good as you have now? And when did you realise it was such a good car, as well?
Mark Webber:
Coming into Formula One, obviously with a small team like Minardi, moved to Jaguar and that were some exciting times there in terms of getting your first few points and starting to race towards the front which is a nice thing when you can start to do that in Formula One. Obviously we know I had some tough years after Jaguar and then a fresh opportunity at Red Bull and the clear attraction at Red Bull was Adrian (Newey). His ability to be able to produce good cars is well known, so I think that when we got the regulation change, that was something that was very attractive for our team, in our group of guys and it’s turned out that the last few years we’ve certainly been towards the front. It’s nice to be in the team after all the work we put in during those tough years, even when I first arrived at Red Bull. So you are always hopeful that you get an opportunity to drive a car which is very competitive. We know that it’s an important part of the job but also as a driver you don’t hang around this business that long if you’re not performing either. So I obviously needed to keep performing, doing my best and hopefully something one day would have come around and at that moment, for sure I’ve had the most competitive cars in the last few years, there’s no question about that.
Q: (Andrea Cremonesi - La Gazzetta dello Sport)
Two questions for Mark: are you going to use the F-duct at this Grand Prix and secondly, what advantage can that give you? Do you expect to have the same advantage that you had in Spain against the other competitors, so a huge advantage, and who will be the first challenger here: McLaren or Ferrari?
Mark Webber:
Yes, we give the F-duct a go tomorrow, we’re going to give it a chance. To answer your second question: Barcelona, clearly we were pretty competitive there, particularly in qualifying. I think it’s going to be very, very hard to do that again so, as we saw in Monaco, we know it’s a very, very different circuit completely but things tightened up there a lot, so venue to venue, things can move around and even within the race, we saw in Barcelona that things were a little bit different. Lewis was our closest competitor in that Grand Prix, so you can argue that if we had a Turkish Grand Prix after Barcelona, you might say that the McLaren might be the guys that might be our challengers here but we’re also mindful of the fact that Ferrari – and also if Mercedes have a clean weekend – there’s lots of guys that can come towards us, so we’re definitely not taking anything for granted, we know we’re working incredibly hard to get the results we have and it’s not easy to get them.
Q:
Mark, how big is the competition between you and Sebastian?
Mark Webber:
Oh, every competitor is on the grid [is competition] for all of us. We know that towards the front we have different levels of car performance, so it’s obvious that I’m not racing Jarno this weekend but there’s guys that you have more fights with throughout the season and clearly Sebastian is in a good car, he’s quick and there’s going to be a healthy competition there as always. There’s no secret that we like to beat each other and that’s how it should be. It’s healthy, very good balance within the team and Sebastian’s had his days in the past where he’s been virtually untouchable and I’m sure I hope that they don’t happen too much in the future but he’s very quick, we know that, and I’ve got to try and keep those to a minimum. So it’s a good battle.
Q: (Alan Baldwin - Reuters)
Mark, I’m wondering when the last time was that you won three races in a row. This is your chance this weekend but has it happened before in your career that you’ve done that?
Mark Webber:
I think I won a couple in F3000 but maybe not three in a row. I don’t know, probably Formula Ford.
Q: (Miran Alisic - Korpmedia)
For the four of you whose countries have qualified for the World Cup: before the next Grand Prix starts, the football World Cup will start in South Africa, so what do you think the prospects are for your countries and maybe you can include the prospects for the smallest country, which is my home country, Slovenia?
Mark Webber:
Australia, [to Schumacher] yes, we’ve qualified, yeah. We are there, we’re playing you guys actually, in the first one, we’re playing you guys in the first match, so we hope that we can get a draw against the Germans. We’ll take a draw. But we’re in a tough group. Of course I want the Australians to do well. We have a tough group with Ghana, I think, and Germany, and the other team is also strong, so if we can get through it’s good, because if we finish second and England win their group, obviously we play England and of course we want to kick their asses, so then they will have big problems in their team. I honestly hope it’s a good World Cup for South Africa. That country has gone through a lot, we’ve seen some big problems there in the past and I just hope it goes off really smoothly. As a big sports fan I hope it’s a big sporting event for the people of South Africa and it turns out to be good.
Michael Schumacher:
Obviously, we all cross fingers for our nation and, naturally, after some good results in past championships, we still hope to do a little bit better now and maybe win a final, although it’s very optimistic to say that, especially with the sad happening to one of the most important players that we have had recently. Nevertheless, I’m sure that they will keep trying and we cross fingers. I’m sorry for you Mark, but…
Rubens Barrichello:
Yeah, I’m sorry for both of you! It’s a great time for me, it’s a great time for Brazil and I agree with Mark. It’s great to have it there in South Africa, I think it’s a great opportunity to appreciate new things and I think they’ve done really well with security and everything, so it should be a great show and obviously I hope that Brazil can just keep it up.
Jarno Trulli:
I’m not really into football so much but yeah, I think we won the last World Championship in Germany and obviously we will want to be back again, to see what we can do. It’s not going to be easy but I think it’s important as everyone has said that the football World Championship is going to South Africa, it’s good for the people there and I guess it’s one of the most important sporting events in the World. We will all be watching and cheering them on and hope to see some very good days of sport. I want to see the players playing well, successfully and nicely. That’s very important for the sport.
Mercedes to review '10 programme at mid-season
Mercedes GP Petronas boss Ross Brawn has revealed that the decision to focus on next year's Formula One challenger could be taken as early as mid-season if 2010 shows no signs of picking up.
Coming into the current campaign having swept to both titles under the Brawn GP name in 2009, and with Michael Schumacher coming out of retirement to lead the driving line-up alongside Nico Rosberg, the team had hoped to be a contender with its WO1 chassis, but has found itself chasing Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren at most races - and Renault at others as well - and Brawn admits that hard decisions will have to be taken before too long.
"Work has already started on next year’s car," the Briton confirmed to the official F1 website, "It’s obviously [a case of] balancing your resources on this year’s car against your resources on next year’s car - and there is a balance at the moment. But, of course, the balance changes depending on your circumstances. We are still putting maximum effort into this year’s programme as we want to win races and we want to see where this brings us.
"[However], I am following the 2011 car programme now and, for sure, we will reach a point where there are decisions to be made on which side we focus on. Then we will make that decision based on where we are. I think, by mid-season, you have to recognise if this is a championship year or whether you should focus on the next car - but that is a few races away yet."
Brawn admits that he is not as surprised as some observers that Mercedes is not leading the way in 2010, pointing out its relative lack of success in the second half of 2009, when eventual champion Jenson Button failed to add to his six early victories, and Rubens Barrichello managed only two wins against the emerging Red Bull threat.
"This year is more of an evolution," Brawn insisted, "When you look at our performance at the end of last season, we were competitive, but not necessarily the strongest team. The restructuring of the team, the events of the past six months, brought a lot of stability and that is coming through now.
"Maybe with the team that we had fighting for the championship last year, all the considerations that we had took the edge slightly off of what we need to do this year. We are determined firstly to make sure that we get this car back up to the right performance, and that we have a much stronger effort for next season."
The team's desire to repeat the success of 2009 in 2010 sees it continue to add developments to the WO1, which has twice appeared on the podium with Rosberg this season, with the next iteration of its F-duct design coming online at this weekend's Turkish GP.
"This is a development for us and we following our own path on that technology," Brawn said of the idea first introduced by McLaren in Bahrain, "We had an elaboration in Shanghai, we had a further elaboration in Barcelona, and we have [another] one here. It is just an ongoing process for us that only stopped in Monaco because it wasn’t of any benefit on that circuit.
"My guess is that what we will run here will not give us a huge leap forward - it’s just the accumulation of changes that need to be made. There are only a few things in F1 that really allow you to make a massive step forward. What we will run here will help, but no doubt we have to keep working hard on lots of other things as well.
"The tyres will be the major factor here - and there is one very difficult 180-degree corner, turn eight, that puts a lot of stress on the front tyres particularly. Last year in qualifying, we didn’t look so strong, but our car came together very well and used the tyres very well [in the race] and we were extremely competitive. On Sunday, it’s going to be a race of tyres, but I think it might be a track which could suit our car. We need to see what the others have done in the last ten days [and], for sure, I would not bet on anything - I’m not a betting person!"
Coming into the current campaign having swept to both titles under the Brawn GP name in 2009, and with Michael Schumacher coming out of retirement to lead the driving line-up alongside Nico Rosberg, the team had hoped to be a contender with its WO1 chassis, but has found itself chasing Red Bull, Ferrari and McLaren at most races - and Renault at others as well - and Brawn admits that hard decisions will have to be taken before too long.
"Work has already started on next year’s car," the Briton confirmed to the official F1 website, "It’s obviously [a case of] balancing your resources on this year’s car against your resources on next year’s car - and there is a balance at the moment. But, of course, the balance changes depending on your circumstances. We are still putting maximum effort into this year’s programme as we want to win races and we want to see where this brings us.
"[However], I am following the 2011 car programme now and, for sure, we will reach a point where there are decisions to be made on which side we focus on. Then we will make that decision based on where we are. I think, by mid-season, you have to recognise if this is a championship year or whether you should focus on the next car - but that is a few races away yet."
Brawn admits that he is not as surprised as some observers that Mercedes is not leading the way in 2010, pointing out its relative lack of success in the second half of 2009, when eventual champion Jenson Button failed to add to his six early victories, and Rubens Barrichello managed only two wins against the emerging Red Bull threat.
"This year is more of an evolution," Brawn insisted, "When you look at our performance at the end of last season, we were competitive, but not necessarily the strongest team. The restructuring of the team, the events of the past six months, brought a lot of stability and that is coming through now.
"Maybe with the team that we had fighting for the championship last year, all the considerations that we had took the edge slightly off of what we need to do this year. We are determined firstly to make sure that we get this car back up to the right performance, and that we have a much stronger effort for next season."
The team's desire to repeat the success of 2009 in 2010 sees it continue to add developments to the WO1, which has twice appeared on the podium with Rosberg this season, with the next iteration of its F-duct design coming online at this weekend's Turkish GP.
"This is a development for us and we following our own path on that technology," Brawn said of the idea first introduced by McLaren in Bahrain, "We had an elaboration in Shanghai, we had a further elaboration in Barcelona, and we have [another] one here. It is just an ongoing process for us that only stopped in Monaco because it wasn’t of any benefit on that circuit.
"My guess is that what we will run here will not give us a huge leap forward - it’s just the accumulation of changes that need to be made. There are only a few things in F1 that really allow you to make a massive step forward. What we will run here will help, but no doubt we have to keep working hard on lots of other things as well.
"The tyres will be the major factor here - and there is one very difficult 180-degree corner, turn eight, that puts a lot of stress on the front tyres particularly. Last year in qualifying, we didn’t look so strong, but our car came together very well and used the tyres very well [in the race] and we were extremely competitive. On Sunday, it’s going to be a race of tyres, but I think it might be a track which could suit our car. We need to see what the others have done in the last ten days [and], for sure, I would not bet on anything - I’m not a betting person!"
Motor racing-Hamilton leads McLaren one-two in Turkey practice
Britain's Lewis Hamilton and Formula One champion Jenson Button led a McLaren one-two at the top of the timesheets in first free practice for the Turkish Grand Prix on Friday.
Hamilton, the 2008 champion, was nearly a second quicker than his compatriot with a best lap of one minute 28.653 seconds around the undulating anti-clockwise Istanbul Park track to the Asian side of the city.
Button, last year's winner in Turkey with what he described then as a 'monster' of a Brawn, was 0.962 slower with seven times world champion Michael Schumacher third for Mercedes with a time 1.097 slower than Hamilton's.
The German was followed by two compatriots, team mate Nico Rosberg and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who was 1.2 seconds off the leading pace.
Friday was Vettel's first chance to try out a different chassis, dubbed 'Randy Mandy' and used previously only in pre-season testing, at a grand prix weekend after a defect was discovered in the car he had used for the past six races.
Friday practice is more morale-boosting than indicative of true performance however, although Red Bull's championship leader Mark Webber warned on Thursday that the McLarens could be a real threat.
MCLAREN THREAT
"We saw in Barcelona that things were a little bit different," the Australian, who is level with Vettel on 78 points after six races, reminded reporters.
"Lewis was our closest competitor in that Grand Prix, so you can argue that if we had a Turkish Grand Prix after Barcelona, you might say that the McLaren might be the guys that might be our challengers here.
"But we're also mindful of the fact that Ferrari, and also if Mercedes have a clean weekend, there's lots of guys that can come towards us, so we're definitely not taking anything for granted," he added.
Webber, winner of the last two races at the fast Spanish track and then on the winding streets of Monaco, was eighth fastest.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, third in the championship ahead of his team's 800th race, was ninth.
Force India's German Adrian Sutil had the only accident of the session, the German losing control through the difficult Turn Eight in the closing minutes and spinning into the barriers.
Hamilton, the 2008 champion, was nearly a second quicker than his compatriot with a best lap of one minute 28.653 seconds around the undulating anti-clockwise Istanbul Park track to the Asian side of the city.
Button, last year's winner in Turkey with what he described then as a 'monster' of a Brawn, was 0.962 slower with seven times world champion Michael Schumacher third for Mercedes with a time 1.097 slower than Hamilton's.
The German was followed by two compatriots, team mate Nico Rosberg and Red Bull's Sebastian Vettel, who was 1.2 seconds off the leading pace.
Friday was Vettel's first chance to try out a different chassis, dubbed 'Randy Mandy' and used previously only in pre-season testing, at a grand prix weekend after a defect was discovered in the car he had used for the past six races.
Friday practice is more morale-boosting than indicative of true performance however, although Red Bull's championship leader Mark Webber warned on Thursday that the McLarens could be a real threat.
MCLAREN THREAT
"We saw in Barcelona that things were a little bit different," the Australian, who is level with Vettel on 78 points after six races, reminded reporters.
"Lewis was our closest competitor in that Grand Prix, so you can argue that if we had a Turkish Grand Prix after Barcelona, you might say that the McLaren might be the guys that might be our challengers here.
"But we're also mindful of the fact that Ferrari, and also if Mercedes have a clean weekend, there's lots of guys that can come towards us, so we're definitely not taking anything for granted," he added.
Webber, winner of the last two races at the fast Spanish track and then on the winding streets of Monaco, was eighth fastest.
Ferrari's Fernando Alonso, third in the championship ahead of his team's 800th race, was ninth.
Force India's German Adrian Sutil had the only accident of the session, the German losing control through the difficult Turn Eight in the closing minutes and spinning into the barriers.
Schumacher not dwelling on penalty
Michael Schumacher insists that he will not dwell on the events that saw him stripped of points for sixth place in the Monaco Grand Prix.
The German pounced opportunistically to snatch the position from Ferrari rival Fernando Alonso as the safety car pulled off on the final lap in the Principality, but was caught out by a clause in the regulations that forbids racing to the line in such situations. The stewards reacted by handing the seven-time world champion a 20 second penalty in lieu of the required drive-thru', dropping him back to twelfth place and out of the points.
As a result, Schumacher remains ninth in the championship standings, some 56 points off joint leaders Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, but the German insists that he will not allow the frustration to affect him at this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix.
"There is nothing more to be said than we said straight after the race," he pointed out. "(There was a) green flag (and we) tried. The rules were slightly different to our interpretation and points were taken away, so I think it is a straightforward thing. [I think that there's] not too much to look backwards and (we should) just look forward to the next one, here, now."
Schumacher admitted that he was always planning a move on his old rival as the pack exited Rascasse, jumping the Spaniard as they entered Anthony Noghes, with Alonso almost clipping the barriers as he attempted to retaliate.
"Sure, I checked everything I could check internally from driving the car to be prepared for that particular manoeuvre, yes," the German confirmed, conceding that his afternoon had largely been processional until that point.
"The race by itself, I have to say, was rather boring," he continued, "You just drive, you can’t be overtaken [and] you can’t overtake. You have to really wait for the pit-stop or wait for mistakes. We are all professional drivers, so we hardly make mistakes, so you are just stuck in your position that you are in and finish the race. That’s it."
Despite the initial annoyance at being demoted by the stewards - a panel incidentally including former sparring partner Damon Hill - Schumacher conceded that he was pleased to see the sport's governing body taking an interest in the situation and consider reviewing the rules.
"There’s no point in getting into past incidents, but the point is that, if I understand the situation clearly, the FIA has identified something that happened in Monaco and they want to improve the situation," he claimed, "I think that’s actually something good in the sport and I’m quite happy for this to happen."
The German, who came out of retirement to drive for the 'works' Mercedes team this season, also confirmed that he was feeling more at home in the WO1 after changes were made to the car for the start of the European leg in Barcelona three weeks ago. However, he acknowledged that it was unlikely that he would be challenging countryman Vettel - or Red Bull team-mate Webber - for victories.
"Red Bull is driving a little bit in their own world and delivering a good driver’s job on top, so it is not just the car that you have to see there," he explained, "After that, it is Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and ourselves, and I hope we have another little step of development here that moves us closer to this group, into a reasonable position to fight with them - and, hopefully, in front of them.
"It is to be seen here exactly where we are. Monaco, I don’t think, is a guideline or a reference. It is a very specific track, so it is interesting from our point of view what is going to happen this weekend. If you look, we have been in a reasonable position right from the beginning of the season, and it has continuously gone upwards.
"I have had two races in Australia and Malaysia (where) I couldn’t really prove (anything) from my side but, from the team’s side, that was proven. If you take Shanghai away, it just continues, and it will be interesting how our car can perform here with the latest upgrades we have given to it."
The German pounced opportunistically to snatch the position from Ferrari rival Fernando Alonso as the safety car pulled off on the final lap in the Principality, but was caught out by a clause in the regulations that forbids racing to the line in such situations. The stewards reacted by handing the seven-time world champion a 20 second penalty in lieu of the required drive-thru', dropping him back to twelfth place and out of the points.
As a result, Schumacher remains ninth in the championship standings, some 56 points off joint leaders Mark Webber and Sebastian Vettel, but the German insists that he will not allow the frustration to affect him at this weekend's Turkish Grand Prix.
"There is nothing more to be said than we said straight after the race," he pointed out. "(There was a) green flag (and we) tried. The rules were slightly different to our interpretation and points were taken away, so I think it is a straightforward thing. [I think that there's] not too much to look backwards and (we should) just look forward to the next one, here, now."
Schumacher admitted that he was always planning a move on his old rival as the pack exited Rascasse, jumping the Spaniard as they entered Anthony Noghes, with Alonso almost clipping the barriers as he attempted to retaliate.
"Sure, I checked everything I could check internally from driving the car to be prepared for that particular manoeuvre, yes," the German confirmed, conceding that his afternoon had largely been processional until that point.
"The race by itself, I have to say, was rather boring," he continued, "You just drive, you can’t be overtaken [and] you can’t overtake. You have to really wait for the pit-stop or wait for mistakes. We are all professional drivers, so we hardly make mistakes, so you are just stuck in your position that you are in and finish the race. That’s it."
Despite the initial annoyance at being demoted by the stewards - a panel incidentally including former sparring partner Damon Hill - Schumacher conceded that he was pleased to see the sport's governing body taking an interest in the situation and consider reviewing the rules.
"There’s no point in getting into past incidents, but the point is that, if I understand the situation clearly, the FIA has identified something that happened in Monaco and they want to improve the situation," he claimed, "I think that’s actually something good in the sport and I’m quite happy for this to happen."
The German, who came out of retirement to drive for the 'works' Mercedes team this season, also confirmed that he was feeling more at home in the WO1 after changes were made to the car for the start of the European leg in Barcelona three weeks ago. However, he acknowledged that it was unlikely that he would be challenging countryman Vettel - or Red Bull team-mate Webber - for victories.
"Red Bull is driving a little bit in their own world and delivering a good driver’s job on top, so it is not just the car that you have to see there," he explained, "After that, it is Ferrari, McLaren, Renault and ourselves, and I hope we have another little step of development here that moves us closer to this group, into a reasonable position to fight with them - and, hopefully, in front of them.
"It is to be seen here exactly where we are. Monaco, I don’t think, is a guideline or a reference. It is a very specific track, so it is interesting from our point of view what is going to happen this weekend. If you look, we have been in a reasonable position right from the beginning of the season, and it has continuously gone upwards.
"I have had two races in Australia and Malaysia (where) I couldn’t really prove (anything) from my side but, from the team’s side, that was proven. If you take Shanghai away, it just continues, and it will be interesting how our car can perform here with the latest upgrades we have given to it."
Lotus looking ahead, not behind, insists Gascoyne
Having made comfortably the most progress of the F1 2010 newcomers both on a performance level as well as with reliability, Lotus Racing arrives in Istanbul for the seventh round of the world championship campaign this weekend aiming to take further steps forward, and looking ‘in front, not behind’.
After beginning the season with arguably the most dependable car out of itself, Virgin and Hispania – albeit not the fastest – once the team was fully satisfied with the reliability of the Cosworth-powered T127, the quest for pure speed began, and a ‘front row’ lock-out amongst the new boys in each of the last two qualifying sessions in Barcelona and Monaco was proof that improvements have now similarly been made in that respect.
What’s more, the Istanbul Park Circuit – home to this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix – is one that both Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli palpably enjoy. Two years ago, the Finn snatched his maiden front row start there in the top flight, and it is one of only two tracks at which the 28-year-old was never out-qualified by world champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton at McLaren-Mercedes – even though due to various misfortunes he has yet to finish any higher than sixth – whilst the Italian achieved a best of fourth in last year’s event.
“It’s good to be back in Turkey,” enthused Kovalainen. “The weather is usually nice here, and it seems the same this weekend. Turkey itself is really cool – Istanbul is a huge city with some great places to go. The harbour area is nice and it’s good to try and take some time and have a look around there in the evening – I’m staying on the Asian side this weekend, so I’m not sure I’ll get much time off, but it’s still good to be here.
“The track is great – it’s a big circuit and we get back to a normal open race course after Monaco. We’re fully-prepared and I’m looking forward to practice to see what the new wing gives us, and where we are after seeing such good pace in the car in Monaco.”
“The track in Turkey is good – Turn Eight is challenging but the rest of it is relatively simple, and definitely not as tricky as Monaco!” added Trulli. “I’m looking forward to getting out on-track and having some better luck this weekend. My confidence in the car is growing all the time, so I hope a bit of luck and the updates we’ve put on here will help me have a better race this weekend.”
The updates to which the former Monaco Grand Prix-winner alludes are a new rear wing and a number of new aerodynamic and mechanical parts, that both chief technical director Mike Gascoyne and sporting director Dieter Gass hope will help to propel Lotus further towards the midfield, and therefore by extension further out-of-reach of the likes of Virgin and HRT.
“Looking back on Spain and Monaco, we’ve taken a good step forward in those races, and here in Turkey we’re looking to keep on improving and racing the cars in front, not those behind,” asserted the Englishman. “We’ll be using our new pillar-mounted rear wing, and we have some new parts which will enable us to optimise the weight distribution, so again, I’m quietly confident we’ll bridge the gap to those in front that little bit more.”
“Looking back on the year so far, I think we can be extremely satisfied with what we have achieved,” echoed his German colleague. “We’ve completed all the targets we set out at the beginning of the season, and from the first time we started testing we have been reliable, which is a testament to the hard work put in by everyone in the team and our partners.
“Now we are working on making the car quicker and improving the gap to the established teams; we are getting there, and this weekend – and at Silverstone – we’re looking to take more steps forward. Turkey is a track the drivers like as it presents a good challenge – some high and low-speed corners, and the famous triple-apex Turn Eight, all test the balance of the car and the aero performance.
“It’s always a challenge for the engineers and the drivers to set up the car, so it’s going to be an interesting weekend here – but we have very experienced people throughout the team, so I’m confident we’ll put on a good show. I wouldn’t say Istanbul Park either suits, or doesn’t suit our car, and I think we’ll be pretty much where we were in Barcelona, but we are looking to take another step forward with the next batch of updates.”
After beginning the season with arguably the most dependable car out of itself, Virgin and Hispania – albeit not the fastest – once the team was fully satisfied with the reliability of the Cosworth-powered T127, the quest for pure speed began, and a ‘front row’ lock-out amongst the new boys in each of the last two qualifying sessions in Barcelona and Monaco was proof that improvements have now similarly been made in that respect.
What’s more, the Istanbul Park Circuit – home to this weekend’s Turkish Grand Prix – is one that both Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli palpably enjoy. Two years ago, the Finn snatched his maiden front row start there in the top flight, and it is one of only two tracks at which the 28-year-old was never out-qualified by world champion team-mate Lewis Hamilton at McLaren-Mercedes – even though due to various misfortunes he has yet to finish any higher than sixth – whilst the Italian achieved a best of fourth in last year’s event.
“It’s good to be back in Turkey,” enthused Kovalainen. “The weather is usually nice here, and it seems the same this weekend. Turkey itself is really cool – Istanbul is a huge city with some great places to go. The harbour area is nice and it’s good to try and take some time and have a look around there in the evening – I’m staying on the Asian side this weekend, so I’m not sure I’ll get much time off, but it’s still good to be here.
“The track is great – it’s a big circuit and we get back to a normal open race course after Monaco. We’re fully-prepared and I’m looking forward to practice to see what the new wing gives us, and where we are after seeing such good pace in the car in Monaco.”
“The track in Turkey is good – Turn Eight is challenging but the rest of it is relatively simple, and definitely not as tricky as Monaco!” added Trulli. “I’m looking forward to getting out on-track and having some better luck this weekend. My confidence in the car is growing all the time, so I hope a bit of luck and the updates we’ve put on here will help me have a better race this weekend.”
The updates to which the former Monaco Grand Prix-winner alludes are a new rear wing and a number of new aerodynamic and mechanical parts, that both chief technical director Mike Gascoyne and sporting director Dieter Gass hope will help to propel Lotus further towards the midfield, and therefore by extension further out-of-reach of the likes of Virgin and HRT.
“Looking back on Spain and Monaco, we’ve taken a good step forward in those races, and here in Turkey we’re looking to keep on improving and racing the cars in front, not those behind,” asserted the Englishman. “We’ll be using our new pillar-mounted rear wing, and we have some new parts which will enable us to optimise the weight distribution, so again, I’m quietly confident we’ll bridge the gap to those in front that little bit more.”
“Looking back on the year so far, I think we can be extremely satisfied with what we have achieved,” echoed his German colleague. “We’ve completed all the targets we set out at the beginning of the season, and from the first time we started testing we have been reliable, which is a testament to the hard work put in by everyone in the team and our partners.
“Now we are working on making the car quicker and improving the gap to the established teams; we are getting there, and this weekend – and at Silverstone – we’re looking to take more steps forward. Turkey is a track the drivers like as it presents a good challenge – some high and low-speed corners, and the famous triple-apex Turn Eight, all test the balance of the car and the aero performance.
“It’s always a challenge for the engineers and the drivers to set up the car, so it’s going to be an interesting weekend here – but we have very experienced people throughout the team, so I’m confident we’ll put on a good show. I wouldn’t say Istanbul Park either suits, or doesn’t suit our car, and I think we’ll be pretty much where we were in Barcelona, but we are looking to take another step forward with the next batch of updates.”
Free practice times (1) - Turkish GP
1. Lewis Hamilton Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 28.653s
2. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 29.615s
3. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 29.750s
4. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 29.855s
5. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 29.867s
6. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault 1m 30.061s
7. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault 1m 30.065s
8. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 30.097s
9. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 30.294s
10. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 30.501s
11. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 30.615s
12. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 30.853s
13. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 30.867s
14. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 31.011s
15. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 31.238s
16. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth 1m 31.355s
17. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 1m 31.464s
18. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 31.735s
19. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth 1m 32.161s
20. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth 1m 32.990s
21. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth 1m 34.876s
22. Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 1m 35.137s
23. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 1m 35.583s
24. Sakon Yamamoto Japan HRT-Cosworth 1m 36.137s
2. Jenson Button Britain McLaren-Mercedes 1m 29.615s
3. Michael Schumacher Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 29.750s
4. Nico Rosberg Germany Mercedes-Mercedes 1m 29.855s
5. Sebastian Vettel Germany Red Bull-Renault 1m 29.867s
6. Robert Kubica Poland Renault-Renault 1m 30.061s
7. Vitaly Petrov Russia Renault-Renault 1m 30.065s
8. Mark Webber Australia Red Bull-Renault 1m 30.097s
9. Fernando Alonso Spain Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 30.294s
10. Adrian Sutil Germany Force India-Mercedes 1m 30.501s
11. Kamui Kobayashi Japan BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 30.615s
12. Vitantonio Liuzzi Italy Force India-Mercedes 1m 30.853s
13. Felipe Massa Brazil Ferrari-Ferrari 1m 30.867s
14. Sebastien Buemi Switzerland Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 31.011s
15. Pedro de la Rosa Spain BMW Sauber-Ferrari 1m 31.238s
16. Nico Hulkenberg Germany Williams-Cosworth 1m 31.355s
17. Rubens Barrichello Brazil Williams-Cosworth 1m 31.464s
18. Jaime Alguersuari Spain Toro Rosso-Ferrari 1m 31.735s
19. Heikki Kovalainen Finland Lotus-Cosworth 1m 32.161s
20. Jarno Trulli Italy Lotus-Cosworth 1m 32.990s
21. Karun Chandhok India HRT-Cosworth 1m 34.876s
22. Lucas di Grassi Brazil Virgin-Cosworth 1m 35.137s
23. Timo Glock Germany Virgin-Cosworth 1m 35.583s
24. Sakon Yamamoto Japan HRT-Cosworth 1m 36.137s
Webber not interested in points situation
Formula One world championship leader Mark Webber has claimed that he is not focusing on the points situation after six races this season, preferring instead to concentrate on keeping mistakes to a minimum.
The Australian started the season poorly enough to warrant speculation that his job may be on the line at the end of his current one-year contract - with finishes of eighth, ninth and eighth sandwiching second place, from pole, in Malaysia. Since then, however, he has taken back-to-back victories, from pole, in Spain and Monaco, with the 50-point European maximum vaulting him into a share of the championship with Red Bull Racing team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
Despite elevating himself back into title contention, and making him a rumoured target for other teams as he chases his first victory hat-trick since Formula Ford, Webber insists that he is content to allow the points to take care of themselves
"I’m not that interested in the points at the moment," he stressed on the eve of the Turkish GP at Istanbul Park, "It’s nice to have quite a few, but the results in the last few races have been what it’s all about, so that’s been very rewarding.
"We know that there’s been some missed opportunities in the past and we need to keep those to a minimum, so we’re looking forward, keep trying to do what we’ve been executing the last few events and that can be good for us in the future. I don’t feel any different really, when I get out of bed, because all of us are pretty much on the same points anyway, so I’m not doing anything that different."
With Red Bull having annexed all six poles so far this season, as well as three wins, many are predicting team-mate Sebastian Vettel to be Webber's main threat where the title is concerned. The Australian admits that there is a close fight going on, but insists that all is amicable in the RBR camp.
"Every competitor is on the grid [is competition] for all of us," he maintained, "We know that, towards the front, we have different levels of car performance, so it’s obvious that I’m not racing [Lotus driver] Jarno [Trulli] this weekend. But there’s guys that you have more fights with throughout the season and, clearly, Sebastian is in a good car, he’s quick and there’s going to be a healthy competition there - as always.
"There’s no secret that we like to beat each other, and that’s how it should be. It’s healthy, [with a] very good balance within the team. Sebastian’s had his days in the past where he’s been virtually untouchable, and I hope that they don’t happen too much in the future. He’s very quick, we know that, and I’ve got to try and keep those [results] to a minimum. It’s a good battle."
Asked how much he thought Vettel's much-reported chassis problems had been in dictating the results of the past two races, Webber appeared to dismiss suggestions that he may not have won had the German been in full cry.
"Obviously, I wasn’t driving his car, so it’s difficult to know, to be honest," he said, "We’ll see."
Despite being the class of the field so far, the RB6 continues to receive updates, almost by the race, as the team refuses to take its success for granted
"We'll give the F-duct a go tomorrow," Webber confirmed, "It is going well at the moment, but we know from last year that cars that are flying at the start of the year can be exposed at the end of the year. We are very conscious of the fact that we are going pretty good at the moment, but we know it is a long season.
"Clearly, we were pretty competitive [in Barcelona], particularly in qualifying, [but] I think it’s going to be very, very hard to do that again. In Monaco, [although] it’s a very, very different circuit, things tightened up there a lot so, venue to venue, things can move around - even within the race, as we saw in Barcelona, things were a little bit different.
"Lewis [Hamilton] was our closest competitor in that grand prix, so you can argue that, if we had a Turkish Grand Prix after Barcelona, you might say that the McLaren might be the guys that might be our challengers here, but we’re also mindful of the fact that Ferrari – and also Mercedes, if they have a clean weekend – that can come towards us, so we’re definitely not taking anything for granted. We know we’re working incredibly hard to get the results we have and it’s not easy to get them."
The Australian started the season poorly enough to warrant speculation that his job may be on the line at the end of his current one-year contract - with finishes of eighth, ninth and eighth sandwiching second place, from pole, in Malaysia. Since then, however, he has taken back-to-back victories, from pole, in Spain and Monaco, with the 50-point European maximum vaulting him into a share of the championship with Red Bull Racing team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
Despite elevating himself back into title contention, and making him a rumoured target for other teams as he chases his first victory hat-trick since Formula Ford, Webber insists that he is content to allow the points to take care of themselves
"I’m not that interested in the points at the moment," he stressed on the eve of the Turkish GP at Istanbul Park, "It’s nice to have quite a few, but the results in the last few races have been what it’s all about, so that’s been very rewarding.
"We know that there’s been some missed opportunities in the past and we need to keep those to a minimum, so we’re looking forward, keep trying to do what we’ve been executing the last few events and that can be good for us in the future. I don’t feel any different really, when I get out of bed, because all of us are pretty much on the same points anyway, so I’m not doing anything that different."
With Red Bull having annexed all six poles so far this season, as well as three wins, many are predicting team-mate Sebastian Vettel to be Webber's main threat where the title is concerned. The Australian admits that there is a close fight going on, but insists that all is amicable in the RBR camp.
"Every competitor is on the grid [is competition] for all of us," he maintained, "We know that, towards the front, we have different levels of car performance, so it’s obvious that I’m not racing [Lotus driver] Jarno [Trulli] this weekend. But there’s guys that you have more fights with throughout the season and, clearly, Sebastian is in a good car, he’s quick and there’s going to be a healthy competition there - as always.
"There’s no secret that we like to beat each other, and that’s how it should be. It’s healthy, [with a] very good balance within the team. Sebastian’s had his days in the past where he’s been virtually untouchable, and I hope that they don’t happen too much in the future. He’s very quick, we know that, and I’ve got to try and keep those [results] to a minimum. It’s a good battle."
Asked how much he thought Vettel's much-reported chassis problems had been in dictating the results of the past two races, Webber appeared to dismiss suggestions that he may not have won had the German been in full cry.
"Obviously, I wasn’t driving his car, so it’s difficult to know, to be honest," he said, "We’ll see."
Despite being the class of the field so far, the RB6 continues to receive updates, almost by the race, as the team refuses to take its success for granted
"We'll give the F-duct a go tomorrow," Webber confirmed, "It is going well at the moment, but we know from last year that cars that are flying at the start of the year can be exposed at the end of the year. We are very conscious of the fact that we are going pretty good at the moment, but we know it is a long season.
"Clearly, we were pretty competitive [in Barcelona], particularly in qualifying, [but] I think it’s going to be very, very hard to do that again. In Monaco, [although] it’s a very, very different circuit, things tightened up there a lot so, venue to venue, things can move around - even within the race, as we saw in Barcelona, things were a little bit different.
"Lewis [Hamilton] was our closest competitor in that grand prix, so you can argue that, if we had a Turkish Grand Prix after Barcelona, you might say that the McLaren might be the guys that might be our challengers here, but we’re also mindful of the fact that Ferrari – and also Mercedes, if they have a clean weekend – that can come towards us, so we’re definitely not taking anything for granted. We know we’re working incredibly hard to get the results we have and it’s not easy to get them."
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