WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2015 SPORTS Torres eyes dream homecoming in Madrid derby

MADRID: Fernando Torres was respons- ran out 5-0 winners on aggregate. able for the second highest attendance “The club has been able to build a of the season at the Vicente Calderon on team in which the word team is a Sunday despite the fact there was no strength and that has led to successes,” match to see as 45,000 Atletico Madrid added Torres. “For my part, I have found supporters welcomed ‘El Nino’ home. a path which has given me great satisfac- Torres will be free to make his second tion, but something seemed to be miss- debut for his boyhood club, for whom he ing. scored 82 goals in over 200 appearances “This reunion closes a circle that start- between 2001 and 2007, against their ed when I was just 10 years old wearing closest and bitterest rivals when Real this shirt and now I hope to enjoy it. “I Madrid come to the Calderon for the first will always give my all and more for this leg of their Copa del Rey last 16 tie shirt because it’s what I feel. The fans today. know it is going to be like that.” Real boss “I’m back at home after seven long Carlo Ancelotti acknowledged the lift years. I’d been waiting a long time for that Torres’s arrival has given Atletico. this to come true and now my feelings “Without playing Torres has brought are a bit strange. I still don’t believe this enthusiasm to the fans and received is real”, Torres told the club’s website. their love,” said the Italian, who managed However, the 30-year-old is well aware Torres for five months at Chelsea. of the hard work that lies ahead of him if “Torres has quality, experience and in the real reality check is not to be for the this atmosphere, which is his, he will be thousands that attended his presenta- motivated and desperate to do well.” tion on Sunday still in awe of the baby The European champions also have faced assassin they saw leave for reason to be motivated after their 22- during tougher times for the game winning run was snapped by club. defeat at Valencia on Sunday and As Torres has struggled for form and Ancelotti admitted he is likely to make fitness in recent years at Chelsea and changes at the Calderon. “We are earlier this season in an ill-fated loan focused on a match that will be difficult. spell at AC Milan, Atletico have soared We will continue with the same fight and under his former teammate Diego desire as we have done until now. Simeone. “There could be changes. There are Since the Argentine took charge three some players that haven’t recovered yet, years ago, Atletico have only lost three but we will play our strongest team avail- out of 18 two-legged ties on route to able.” Ancelotti confirmed that Keylor winning the Europa League, the Spanish Navas will start all of his side’s Cup Supercup and the Copa del Rey. games in goal ahead of Iker Casillas and However, one of those defeats came that Gareth Bale will retain his place in to Real in comprehensive fashion in last the side despite criticism of his perform- MADRID: Spanish forward Fernando Torres and his children play wearing the Atletico Madrid jersey during his presentation at the Vicente season’s Cup semi-final as Los Blancos ance at Mestalla. —AFP Calderon stadium. —AP Celtic close Asian Cup wide open gap at the top : With hosts in a state of flux and holders GLASGOW:Celtic closed to within Craig Samson stranded. Commons, Japan engulfed by scandal, the Asian Cup looks to be the one point of Aberdeen at the top linked with a January move to join most wide open in years. Redemption for a humiliating 2014 World Cup beckons of the with a former Celtic boss at should Australia, Japan, South Korea or win Asia’s comfortable 2-0 win over Bolton, soon had a shot deflected showcase tournament, which begins on January 9 when Kilmarnock at . just wide after good work from the Socceroos face Kuwait in Melbourne. The quartet The score didn’t reflect the dom- Scepovic before firing over the bar flopped badly in Brazil as Asia failed to register a single vic- inance of the Hoops who twice hit after weaving his way through the tory for the first time since 1990, a new-look Australia the crossbar through Kris Killie defence. arguably emerging with the most credit. Commons before A great passing move then saw But coach must find an alchemist’s volleyed the Glasgow giants ahead Nir Bitton and Liam Henderson touch to replace a of players who quali- with only his third goal for the combine to set up Commons for fied for three successive World Cups-or at the very least, a club. Killie survived a number of another effort from the edge of the quick fix with his side short on firepower in attack. chances for Celtic, while also com- box that crashed off the bar. Much of the responsibility will fall on talisman , who lit up the World Cup with a stunning volley ing close through Robbie Despite their dominance, Celtic against the Netherlands but will need his supporting cast Muirhead, before Stefan Scepovic were nearly left to rue their missed to step up. added a second in the 71st minute. chances when Josh Magennis “We have to be ruthless,” the former Everton forward It ended a two-game winless run forced a great save out of Craig told the Sydney Morning Herald. “If we are ruthless, teams for the Hoops who will now head Gordon with a powerful header are not going to know what’s hit them.” for a winter break in Gran Canaria from ’s free-kick. Australia have added incentive after being upset by after postponing their January 10 The Hoops finally made the Japan in the 2011 final in Doha, but the defending champi- match against St Johnstone. breakthrough in the 36th minute ons will be a tough nut to crack, while 2002 World Cup “I’m very happy with the result with a superb strike from Izaguirre. semifinalists South Korea lurk for the hosts in Group A. and the performance. The attitude The Honduran international got on However, pressure will also be on Japan, whose Mexican and commitment of every player the end of a clipped pass from coach Javier Aguirre is under investigation following claims of match-fixing while he was manager of Spanish club on the pitch was excellent,” Celtic to send a wonder- Zaragoza in 2011. manager said. ful dipping volley past the helpless To what extent the furore unsettles the Blue Samurai “The first half especially was Samson. remains to be seen but Aguirre, who is scheduled to very good. We controlled the Commons was to be denied yet appear in court in Valencia next month, has raised eye- game, created chances and should again just before the break when a brows with his team selection since taking over after the have scored more goals.” Killie Scepovic backheel sent him clear World Cup. “All my attention is focused on winning the manager Allan Johnston felt it in the box but Samson made a Asian Cup,” Aguirre told reporters before flying to Australia. could have been much worse for super save. “I have nothing to hide and understand the media have a his side. “The first half was very dis- The former Scotland internation- job to do, but that is my sole objective.” Failure at the Asian appointing and we never got any- al was foiled once again when Cup could end in the termination of his contract, however, where near anyone and allowed Mark Connolly produced an excel- although the four-time champions will be expected to comfortably negotiate their first-round group, which also Celtic to pass the ball around with- lent defensive header to flick his features Jordan, Iraq and war-torn Palestine. out any pressure. powerful drive, which looked des- Iraq overcame conflict and turmoil to win the Asian Cup “If you allow good players to tined to burst the net, over the in 2007 but Uzbekistan could prove the best of the rest this play and don’t put any pressure on bar. Celtic keeper Gordon had time around, with the and Qatar also them then they are always going to been a virtual spectator for most potentially dangerous to the top sides. cause you problems.” Commons, of the match but had to be at full But with no outright tournament favourite, the title making his first start since stretch to tip a wicked strike from could come down to which team has the courage to aban- November 22, was quick to show Muirhead over the bar after he don caution and take risks. the kind of form that saw him earn tried his luck from the edge of the South Korea last lifted the trophy in 1960 — the year last year’s Player of the Year award box. Celtic finally got the second Muhammad Ali, then Cassius Clay, won Olympic boxing with the forward involved in every- goal their play deserved in the gold-and will be hoping that the success of their Under-23 side in winning last year’s rubs off on the sen- thing. After surviving a couple of 71st minute. Efe Ambrose sent a ior team, despite their own lack of cutting edge. Iran, led hefty challenges early on, downward header towards goal by former Portugal and Real Madrid coach , Commons came close to the open- from Johansen’s corner and will also be looking to make an impact after a disappoint- er in the 16th minute as his left- Scepovic stuck out a foot on the ing World Cup, but the three-time Asian champions have BRAZIL: In a file picture taken on June 22, 2014, South Korea’s midfielder Son Heung- foot strike from outside the box line to divert it into the roof of the struggled to fill the void left by the likes of , Min advances with the ball. Son Heung-Min is one of the players to watch at the clipped the crossbar with keeper net.—AFP and record goalscorer . —AFP Asian Cup. —AFP From minority to Asian Cup

SYDNEY: Football was once sneered at in tries like Greece, who arrived in waves in the “When I was at primary school in the 1970s, Australia as a game played mainly by immi- years following World War II. kids like myself-who decided to kick a soccer ball grants but it will cement its rise from a minority “‘Sheilas’, ‘wogs’ and ‘poofters’ were consid- around their streets and in the schoolyard-were sport to an established pastime when the Asian ered the second-class citizens of the day and if ridiculed, mocked and beaten up,” wrote Nick Cup starts this week. you played soccer, you were considered one of Giannopoulos, star of Australia’s “Wog Boy” In times past, lovers of football could find them,” explained Warren, who died in 2004. comedies, in 2006. themselves insulted and attacked in a country “That’s how soccer was regarded back then “Not a week would go by when some kid where the rugby codes, Australian rules and and, to some extent, still is today.” Debate would come up to us and tell us that if we were cricket dominate the sporting landscape. remains lively over whether the sport should Aussies then we should be playing footy and not But international successes and a vastly retain its formerly preferred name of “soccer”, to that ‘wogball’.” improved domestic scene have been behind avoid clashing with rugby league and Australian Despite ambivalence towards the game, football’s steady ascent in Australia, capped with rules, both proudly known as “football”. Australia reached their first World Cup in 1974, the 16-nation Asian Cup starting on Friday. Football in fact has deep roots in Australia, exiting at the group stage, but they would have Football is now more readily associated with with reports of games as far back as the 1830s, to wait 32 years before making a triumphant stand-out moments like Tim Cahill’s sublime and the first match played under the official return in 2006. strike at last year’s World Cup, or Western Sydney Laws of the Game taking place in Sydney in Goals from Cahill, John Aloisi, Wanderers winning the 2014 AFC Champions 1880. But rugby was then the game of choice in and took the Socceroos into the League. colonial power Britain, a preference which quarter-finals in , where they were Traditional attitudes to football are summed helped push football in Australia to the margins, undone by a controversial last-gasp penalty up by the title of influential ex-player and broad- despite its early successes. against eventual winners Italy. Despite the cruel caster Johnny Warren’s 2002 book, “Sheilas, So while football flourished across the globe, defeat, it was a campaign that ignited football JAPAN: In this Tuesday, June 4, 2013 photo, Australia’s Tim Cahill listens to the Wogs and Poofters”. there was little being played in Australia until interest in Australia, also spurred on by the res- national anthem before their Asian zone Group B qualifying soccer match for the “Wogs” is a racial insult applied to immi- the post-war migrants arrived from Europe and urrection of the domestic game by Football 2014 World Cup in Saitama.—AP grants, mainly from southern European coun- took root in the country. Federation Australia (FFA).—AFP