SPORTS SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9 , 2013

French League Preview PSG look to maintain Lille and Monaco gap

PARIS: After criticizing his team for a flat performance in the on against Anderlecht.” Nice have problems in goal, with The northern club have been the surprise package of the sea- Champions League in midweek, Paris Saint-Germain coach Colombian international David Ospina missing for six weeks with son so far, having initially been tipped to endure a campaign of Laurent Blanc will be expecting much better when Nice visit the a knee injury and his regular back-up Mouez Hassen also missing. transition following the summer departure of coach Rudi Garcia. Parc des Princes today. PSG missed out on the chance to seal As a result, the 22-year-old Luca Veronese will make his Ligue Under Garcia’s replacement Rene Girard-the coach of qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League after draw- 1 debut between the posts. Monaco will be looking to bounce Montpellier’s title-winning team in 2012 — Lille have emerged as ing 1-1 with Anderlecht on Tuesday, but the result did ensure back from last week’s 2-0 loss at Lille-their first defeat of the one of the meanest sides in any of Europe’s major leagues, letting that they remain unbeaten in all competitions this season and league campaign-when they host Evian at the Stade Louis II on in just four goals all season and none in their last seven outings. now they will look to maintain a gap down to Lille and Monaco at Friday. Last week’s result saw them fall three points behind PSG However, this weekend could prove to be a test of their squad the top of the Ligue 1 standings. It is nearly a year since the club and down into third place, but they remain on course for their depth with Florent Balmont out injured and joining fellow mid- from the capital lost a home game, and they should on paper stated aim of Champions League qualification and coach Claudio fielders Marvin Martin and Idrissa Gueye on the sidelines. have enough to beat mid-table Nice, who have lost three of their Ranieri is confident they will get back on track against an Evian Tomorrow, Marseille will attempt to put their Champions League last four matches. side on a run of three straight wins in all competitions. exit behind them and claim a first win in eight games when they Blanc is expected to welcome back Edinson Cavani, who has “There are lots of ups and downs in a season, but I think we entertain Sochaux before Saint-Etienne host Lyon in the Rhone scored nine league goals this season but missed the Anderlecht will put in a good performance,” said the veteran Italian. “The cur- derby. Remarkably, Lyon have not lost away to Les Verts since encounter due to a minor injury, while skipper Thiago Silva rent criticism of us is fair. It is impossible for Monaco to perform April 1994 but their recent form has been poor and they have should also feature after returning from more than a month out as we did at the start of the season right through to the end of goalkeeping problems, with Anthony Lopes out after breaking in the midweek draw. “I wanted him to participate but I had the campaign. Only PSG can think about winning everything.” two bones in his back last weekend and Remy Vercoutre only just hoped he would do so in different circumstances,” said Blanc. Lille are in second place and today they go to Guingamp, who working his way back to fitness after being out since April with a “But if we wanted him to play against Nice, he needed to come have not lost at home since the opening day of the campaign. knee injury. — AFP

Gender row rocks German League Preview South Korean Bayern set to women’s league better 30-year-old SEOUL: South Korea’s women’s football league has been rocked by a gender testing row that has league record dragged in the state human rights commission and triggered the resignation of one team coach. BERLIN: Bayern Munich can claim their second mile- The dispute has its roots in a recent request by stone of the week today at home to Augsburg with the coaches of the six of the seven K-League teams ’s 30-year-old record for the longest unbeat- that the star striker of the Seoul City club, Park en run set to fall. The European champions can claim a Eun-Seon, be required to undergo a gender test. new record of 37 matches if they win or draw at home They also asked that the Korea Women’s Football to Bavarian neighbors Augsburg, who are 13th in the Federation (KWFF) bar Park from playing until her league, at Munich’s Allianz Arena. gender is verified. Park was the league’s leading “You don’t start playing football to break records but goalscorer in the 2013 season and the Seoul City once the opportunity is there, you’re obviously going to management held a press conference Thursday, try and take it,” said Bayern captain Philipp Lahm. denouncing the request and accusing the other “We’ve put in a lot of hard work to get to this point and clubs of trying to destroy their player’s career. if you look at the history of the Bundesliga, going so “Demanding a gender examination on a per- many games without losing is something that just does- son is a serious human rights violation that n’t really happen.” Bayern matched Hamburg’s record of insults someone’s character,” the club said, 36 matches without defeat, set in January 1983, when demanding an immediate apology and threaten- they won 2-1 at Hoffenheim last Saturday. ing legal action.A spokeswoman for the National But while Hamburg won 20 of their 36 games, Bayern Human Rights Commission of Korea told AFP have claimed 30 victories in the same number of match- they had received a petition requesting an inves- es scoring 95 goals to Hamburg’s 88 and leaking just 21, compared to Hamburg’s 38. Augsburg won just one of tigation into whether Park’s rights had been vio- their last five league games when they beat Mainz last lated. A senior KWFF official told AFP on Friday weekend and it would take a shock result to spoil that Park was a fully registered league player and Bayern’s party. Should a new record be set, it will be as that there would be “no test to verify her gen- much down to ex-Bayern coach , who der.” handed over a 25-match unbeaten run to his successor On Thursday, one of the six coaches who had Pep Guardiola. Bayern were last beaten in October 2012 sent the original request to the KWFF, expressed at Bayer Leverkusen and Augsburg are not expected to regret and said he was resigning, although he put up much resistance. insisted that the coaches’ motives had been mis- Bayern’s first landmark this week was when they understood. “We were only questioning why Park equaled Barcelona’s record from the 2002/03 season of hadn’t been on the national team even though nine consecutive Champions League wins when they she’s the best female player,” said Lee Sung- beat Viktoria Pilsen 1-0 on Tuesday to confirm their Gyun, coach of the Suwon FMC club. Park’s gen- place in the knock-out phase. “It seems that it’s a season der has been questioned before, most recently when every record can be challenged or beaten,” before the 2010 AFC Women’s Asian Cup, when beamed Bayern chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, who host nation China raised the issue. was an active player when Hamburg set the 30-year-old Park was not selected for the national squad record. “At the time, I congratulated (Hamburg full- for the tournament. Writing on her Facebook back) Manni Kaltz and (centre forward) Horst Hrubesch page, Park said she felt “humiliated” by the row on a record I thought would stand for eternity. and revealed that she had undergone several Guardiola can also set a new personal record of 12 games unbeaten, the best Bundesliga start by a coach at gender tests in the past. “I’ve worked so hard to a new club. Breaking records is nothing remarkable for get to this point, and I will not give up so easily,” Bayern these days, though, as they set or equaled 25 she wrote. “I know what these people are trying league records under Heynckes last season. If Augsburg to do, and I won’t fall down,” she added. The were looking for a fillip to encourage them, it wasn’t SEOUL: This undated photo shows Park Eun-Seon, South Korean striker of most high-profile case of sporting gender tests in coming in the news that Arjen Robben could feature for the Seoul City women’s football club. South Korea’s women’s football recent years was that of South Africa’s Caster the champions on the right wing following a groin league has been rocked by a gender testing row that has dragged in the Semenya following her victory in the women’s strain. state human rights commission and triggered the resignation of one team 800m at the 2009 World Athletics coach. — AFP Championships. — AFP