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SOFIA, March 15 (Reuters) - Bulgarian referee Nikolay Yordanov has been banned for two months after making mistakes in the champions Litex Lovech’s 2-1 win at Pirin Blagoevgrad on Saturday.

Yordanov’s ban, imposed by the Bulgarian Football Union (BFU) on Tuesday, came after a furious protest from Pirin over his failure to penalise Litex’s Brazilian winger Doka Madureira for a head-butt on Anton Kostadinov early in the second half.

Soon after the incident, Doka scored Litex’s equaliser and he also assisted Senegalese striker Pape Diouf’s winning goal five minutes from time.

“The punishment is rather symbolic,” Pirin’s chief executive Emil Nakov told local media. “They should ban such referees for life.”

Leaders Litex also complained, saying Yordanov failed to award what looked an obvious penalty during the hard-fought victory over relegation-threatened Pirin.

In 2008, Yordanov was suspended for four matches after making a series of blunders in a game that ended a 33-match unbeaten league run for then-champions CSKA Sofia.

Yordanov became Bulgaria’s second UEFA referee to be banned this season after Angel Angelov was suspended until the end of the season in November.

(Reporting by Angel Krasimirov; editing by Martyn Herman) To query or comment on this story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com

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Labels: Bulgarian, errors, Match, referee, Reuters, suspended, Yordanov

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England skipper Andrew Strauss will push Ashes glory to the back of his mind when their World Cup adventure starts here today.

The series Down Under was an experience that no Englishman who took part in it will ever forget but today is the day it enters the past.

Their opponents may only be Holland, and it may only be the first of England's six games in Group B, but the goal has to be to win the World Cup for the first time when the final eventually takes place in Mumbai on April 2.

That would be an achievement to rank alongside and perhaps even surpass what England accomplished by winning a Test series in Australia for the first time in 24 years.

That does not change the fact that subliminally, at least, there must be a temptation among England's players, and fans, to regard this marathon tournament as an Ashes afterthought.

That was certainly the way they viewed the one-day series in Australia which England, bedevilled by injuries and mental tiredness, lost 6-1.

But when Strauss bounded up five flights of stairs at the stadium yesterday to address the media, he insisted England were as motivated as ever about the competition ahead.

"It isn't going to be a problem for this group of players to raise itself to the same pitch we achieved for the Ashes," Strauss said. "Not for the World Cup.

"It only happens every four years. If you are lucky, you might play in two or three in your career. You don't want to have any regrets at the end of it so I don't think that's a problem.

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"That was an accusation you could have levelled at us in the one-day series against Australia but not in the World Cup. We are up for it. We are excited. There is a good vibe and buzz about everything out here at the moment. It is a massive event and we want to do ourselves proud."

The tournament has attracted plenty of criticism because its format of two groups of seven teams, with four qualifying from each group, makes it not only more cumbersome but less likely to let an underdog force its way into the quarter-finals.

But England are in the tougher of the two groups and a slip-up against any one of Holland, Ireland or Bangladesh would risk Bangladesh qualifying for the last eight at England's expense.

That is unlikely to happen. For all the frailty they showed in the one-dayers against Australia, this is an England side still full of momentum and belief. The promotion of Kevin Pietersen to open the batting and Matt Prior's move to the middle order has reinvigorated the side and breathed a renewed sense of optimism into England's players.

Strauss said that he had taken great encouragement from last week's warm-up victory over Pakistan in Bangladesh when England returned to the aggressive style that has rewarded them so much in the past couple of years.

"It is all about confidence," Strauss said. "And we gained quite a lot of confidence out of that Pakistan game purely because it was going back to a formula that has worked for us quite well in the past."

Joint hosts India are the favourites to win with Australia, Sri Lanka and South Africa all priced at lower odds than England, too.

But if Strauss and his side can find a way to make everything they achieved during the Ashes work for them rather than against them, more glory may yet await.

Watch World Cup video at www.mirror.co.uk

Follow Daily Mirror cricket correspondent Dean Wilson on Twitter at CricketMirror

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Labels: Andrew, Ashes, glory, Holland, Match, Mirrorcouk, Strauss

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In a city that can't get enough of cricket or cricketers, Virender Sehwag set the World Cup alight on its opening day with an innings of such clarity and cricketing acumen that even a spirited showing from Bangladesh could not deny India.

At just after 2.30pm local time, the 25,000-strong crowd at the immaculate Sher E Bangla cricket stadium exhaled as one, when Sehwag took early aim at medium pacer Shafiul Islam and drilled a boundary through extra cover.

But, having begun in now customary fashion, Sehwag soon realised why Bangladesh skipper Shakib Al Hasan had put India in to bat when he had the choice. The dark brown clay that is native to the suburb of Mirpur had robbed the pitch of any real bounce, and with Bangladesh's bowlers taking the pace off the ball, strokemaking was anything but easy.

That India overcame the conditions in such an emphatic manner to reach 370-4, a score that would prove 87 runs too many for Bangladesh, despite a counter-punching 70 from Tamim Iqbal, was testament to Sehwag's nous and the purity of Virat Kohli's strokeplay.

After beginning with a boundary, Sehwag was forced to rein himself in, unable to trust the bounce and pace of the ball coming off the pitch.

In Sachin Tendulkar's company, Sehwag decided to take a long, hard look at the pitch, and played himself in rather than attacking continuously.

A master of summing up situations, Tendulkar was poised ominously when an unusually careless piece of running resulted in him being stranded at the non-striker's end along with Sehwag, who had barely left his crease after the ball was played to mid-on.

Sehwag switched gears in Gautam Gambhir's company, chipping over the infield and carving the ball into gaps, focusing hard on picking up ones and twos.

Gambhir shimmied down the pitch repeatedly to the spinners without looking for the big shot, instead placing the ball into vacant spaces and pushing his partner to run hard. That Sehwag reached his century only in the 32nd over, and would eventually end with 79 runs from ones and twos, tells you how much he strayed from his favoured style of play.

When Gambhir played around an innocuous delivery from off-spinner Mahmdullah that kept a touch low, the all-Delhi batting partnership was kept intact as Kohli joined Sehwag.

India's most improved cricketer in recent times, Kohli, who has a mature head on 22-year-old shoulders, brought to the fore the self belief that separates the best cricketers from the rest.

On a day when Sehwag threatened the 200-mark before falling to a tired stroke on 175, it was understandable that Kohli's century was overshadowed. But the first Indian to score a hundred on World Cup debut won't mind that, as his future in Indian cricket appears secure.

What Sehwag and Kohli did in the course of their 203-run third-wicket association, was show the other teams in their group, especially the likes of England and South Africa, whose traditional strengths aren't ideally suited to subcontinental conditions, just what kind of approach was most likely to work in this tournament.

On slow pitches, with the accent on spin, batsmen must be both willing to use their feet and possess the requisite skill of choosing shots wisely if they are to succeed.

With India putting a mammoth score on the board, Bangladesh's batsmen had a task on their hands, and even a couple of years ago would have been dismissed cheaply, playing too many shots. But this team has come a long way, and after a performance like this it's easy to see why there's such passion for the game in the country.

From the time you step out of the airport, you're constantly reminded that the World Cup is in town, and when the opening ceremony got under way, there were at least as many people partying on the streets outside the Bangabandhu Stadium as there were in the stands.

On Saturday, a fan held a banner that read: “Waka, waka, this time for Dhaka,” and the point was well made. If cricket can ever come close to matching the kind of mania that football inspires, it's here in Dhaka. If the 50-over World Cup needed a boost, it couldn't have asked for a better one than it got.

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Labels: Bangladesh, Cricket, India, Match, Report, Telegraphcouk, World

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By Lawrence Booth
Last updated at 9:21 AM on 18th February 2011

England take on Pakistan today in a warm-up game that feels more like a grudge  match following the acrimonious events of 2010.

The sides have been staying in the same Dhaka hotel during the build-up to the  World Cup, which starts here tomorrow with Bangladesh against India following  last night's colourful opening ceremony, but Stuart Broad admitted the two  teams – who have not met since the summer – have given each other a wide berth.

Come here and say that: Wahab Riaz clashed with Jonathan Trott last year

'We’ve seen them but not spoken to them,’ said the England fast bowler. ‘And it’s not like we've been going out for dinner with them.’

The banned trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Aamer are absent  following their part in the no-ball scandal that wrecked the Lord’s Test.

But  Wahab Riaz – the seamer who clashed with Jonathan Trott before the one-day  international at the same ground – is in Pakistan’s squad.

Broad, whose career-best 169 at Lord’s was all but forgotten amid the controversy, admitted: ‘Obviously it was a tough time for us last year: all  England players will say the same.

'We enjoyed the cricket, but the  off-the-field incidents did damage our wonderful summer of cricket. But you've  got to move on and the World Cup campaign is our sole focus.’

England made an unconvincing start to their tour on Wednesday when they  squeezed out minnows Canada by 16 runs in their opening warm-up match Fatullah,  but Broad’s haul of five for 39 in his first game since tearing stomach muscles  in Adelaide in December was a rare ray of light.

‘It was great to get back on the pitch,’ he said. ‘I was a bit nervous before  the start, but I feel very fresh having not played for a long time and very fit  after all the gym work.’

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Labels: daily, England, final, friendly, hardly, Itaposs, Match, Pakistan, warmup

{ GETTY IMAGES

Andrew Strauss enjoys some local hospitality at the World Cup's opening ceremony in Dhaka yesterday

Perhaps a lack of intensity was part of the problem for England during their uninspiring 16-run victory over Canada earlier this week. Well, there should be no shortage of either passion or full-blooded commitment in Fatullah today with Pakistan providing the opposition.

In football, it would be termed a friendly international. In cricket, it is called a World Cup warm-up game, which is probably for the best considering the less than cordial relations between these two countries in recent times.

The other 12 teams have completed their preparations, and all 14 captains lined up alongside one another at last night's opening ceremony in Dhaka. But with most attention now switching to tomorrow's first match of the tournament proper – between many people's favourites, India, and co-hosts Bangladesh – there is a bit of unfinished practice for England and Pakistan to squeeze in.

England won a five-match one-day series against Pakistan last September by a margin of 3-2. What most people remember, though, is the bad feeling between the two sides in the immediate aftermath of the spot-fixing storm that engulfed the tourists during the Lord's Test.

Andrew Strauss and his team were furious that their summer of triumph had been soured by events completely beyond their control – and anyone needing confirmation of their anger received it when Jonathan Trott and pace bowler Wahab Riaz clashed in the nets before the penultimate match of the one-day series.

Both teams are presently staying in the same Dhaka hotel, but have not been chatting about old times by all accounts. "We have not seen a huge amount of them in the hotel," said Stuart Broad. "We haven't been going out for dinner with them.

"Obviously it was a tough summer for us last year – all England players will say the same. We enjoyed playing the cricket but our wonderful summer of cricket was damaged. But you've got to move on. It is international sport and we've got a job to do."

Right now, that job is to suggest Wednesday's performance against Canada was a one-off so far as this World Cup campaign is concerned. Apart from Broad, who returned from his Ashes-wrecking side injury with a five-wicket haul and some aggressive lower-order batting, there was precious little to indicate England are anything other than the long shots most people believe them to be.

Kevin Pietersen's first attempt at an opening was a partial success, at best, and Canada – World Cup no-hopers – not only hit more boundaries than England but also threatened to pull off a remarkable victory.

England have argued that they had only been in Bangladesh for a few days and were still acclimatising to playing conditions different in just about every aspect to those they encountered in Australia while losing that one-day series 6-1. Today, though, there needs to be significant improvements in all departments.

Pakistan, as ever, are just about impossible to weigh up. They have sufficient talent – even without the banned Salman Butt, Mohammad Asif and Mohammad Amir – to win this World Cup, and the capacity to self-destruct so completely that a first-round exit is not impossible.

On the evidence of their first warm-up game, though, the good Pakistan are in town. They trounced potential dark horses Bangladesh by 89 runs on Tuesday with the mercurial Abdul Razzaq taking three wickets after centuries from opener Ahmad Shahzad and Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq.

That was one of several impressive victories this week. No one, though, will enter the tournament in better heart than India, who defeated holders Australia by 38 runs and New Zealand, by a whopping 117 runs.

Sri Lanka have also looked good. And South Africa's supporters will feel entitled to predict a first ever World Cup triumph after the way their side performed against Australia – winning by seven wickets.

Few people, though, will be brave enough to write off the Aussies on the strength of two defeats in warm-up matches. And even fewer, perhaps, will want to talk up England's chances too much, regardless of how they perform today.

Some signs of encouragement would be handy, though, with Strauss's men facing a potential banana skin, in the shape of the Netherlands, in their opening match of the tournament on Tuesday. Thankfully, Graeme Swann, England's all-important spinner, will be available: his wife gave birth to their first child, 8lb 9oz Wilfred, yesterday.

Probable teams

England A J Strauss (captain), K P Pietersen, I J L Trott, P D Collingwood, M J Prior (wkt), M H Yardy, J C Tredwell, J M Anderson, S C J Broad, A Shahzad, R S Bopara

Pakistan (from) S Afridi (captain), M Hafeez, M ul-Haq, A Shafiq, Y Khan, U Akmal, A Shehzad, K Akmal (wkt), A Razzaq, A Rehman, W Riaz, S Ajmal, U Gul, S Akhtar, J Khan

Today, Fatullah, 8.30am

Umpires B Oxenford (Aus) & B Doctrove (WI)

Weather Expected to be warm and sunny, with a maximum temperature of 27C.

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Labels: desperate, England, grudge, Independent, Match, Pakistan

{ Heads up: Steven Whittaker put Rangers ahead only for Sporting Lisbon to score a late equaliser Photo: ACTION IMAGES

Just as he did in 2008 – when he scored in a 2-0 victory in the Portuguese capital - Steven Whittaker put Rangers into a position to progress in Europe with a goal that lanced through the frustration enveloping Ibrox in this below-par first-leg instalment of their Europa League tie against Sporting Lisbon. Whittaker’s breakthough came midway through the second half after El-Hadji Diouf, with his most electrifying contribution since arriving during the January transfer window, forced the Portuguese side to defend at full stretch at the cost of a corner kick.

The delivery from Vladimir Weiss was precise, the header by Whittaker venomous. However, that good work was undone by late carelessness when Matlas Fernandez, who had come in for the final quarter hour, beat Allan McGregor with a fine unopposed header to level the proceedings. Should Rangers prove capable of proceeding to a last-16 stage tie against either PSV Eindhoven or Lille, they might well find that their resources are too thin to sustain further ambition, especially because Diouf, Weiss and Kyle Lafferty all picked up entirely needless cautions.

Sporting were forced to mix and match, too, with Jaime Valdes and Leandro Grimi absent through injury for the Portuguese visitors, although Yannick Djalo had recovered from the thigh problem that had kept him inactive since Jan 3. Djalo was to cause Rangers difficulties and one cutback from the forward who had come through the Sporting youth ranks was particularly dangerous, rolling right across the unguarded goalmouth without a taker, when a tap-in would have opened the scoring.

Rangers’ problems, though, were principally of their own making thanks to carelessness in possession which was, at times, extreme.

The steadying presence of Lee McCulloch was badly missed in the holding role – at one stage even the normally cool Steven Davis was ambushed on the edge of his own penalty area and had to be rescued by David Weir – while Lafferty repeatedly failed to hold the ball long enough to allow reinforcements to arrive from midfield.

The Northern Irish forward did, though, have two opportunities to put Rangers in front, first when he met a Whittaker cross with a bulleted header that flew narrowly over the crossbar and then with a less positive effort after Vladimir Weiss had put him in with a hanging ball from the left.

The crowd, not for the first time, expressed irritation with Lafferty’s waywardness and Diouf, too, felt their ire when he chose to wait for a Bougherra pass to arrive in his vicinity and allowed Sporting to intercept. When Rangers appeared for the restart a good three minutes before the Portuguese side it could be assumed that Smith’s half-time address had consisted of words few and brief.

The impression was confirmed by the racing tempo displayed by Rangers, who forced a corner kick – their first of the evening – within 15 seconds and added another three within five minutes. Again, however, Lafferty’s contribution, while energetic, reminded the home supporters how much they missed the presence of the ineligible Nikica Jelavic.

Weiss attempted to remedy the defect with a lancing run straight through the heart of the Sporting defence, only to be hauled cynically off the ball by Daniel Campofor a free-kick that came to nothing.

The rest of the contest unfolded in a fashion familiar to denizens of Ibrox on European nights during Smith’s tenure. Sporting threw on substitutes and began to claim increasing swathes of territory while Rangers stepped back to absorb the heightened pressure, comfortably enough, it seemed, until the Fernandez intervention.

Match details

Rangers (4-4-1-1): McGregor; Foster, Bougherra, Weir, Papac; Whittaker, Edu, Davis, Weiss; Diouf; Lafferty.
Subs: Alexander (g), Fleck, Naismith, Healy, Bartley, Ness, Hutton.
Booked: Bougherra, Diouf, Weiss, Lafferty.
Sporting Lisbon (4-1-2-1-2): Rui Patricio; Pereira, Carrico, Polga, Evaldo; Mendes; Maniche (Fernandez 77), Zapater; Cristiano (Salerio 74); Postiga (Solomao 85), Djalo.
Subs: Tiago (g), Santos, Coelho, Vukcevic.
Booked: Djaio, Carrico.
Referee: M Grafe (Germany).

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Labels: Lisbon, Match, Rangers, Report, Sporting, Telegraphcouk

LIRF : Match perdu pour le MB Constantine
Sports : les autres articles
La rencontre devant opposer samedi dernier le MB Constantine au NRB Touggourt comptant pour la 12e journée du championnat interrégions (groupe Est), n'a pas eu lieu, en raison de l'absence du service d'ordre. L'arbitre du match a mentionné «insuffisance du service de sécurité (deux policiers seulement)».La Ligue interrégions (LIRF) dans sa dernière réunion a donné match perdu à l'équipe hôte (MBC). Les dirigeants du club constantinois, n'ayant pas accepté la décision de la LIRF, ont introduit un recours estimant qu'ils ne sont pas responsables de l'organisation sécuritaire.      


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Labels: Constantine, Match, perdu