Guardian and Observer Editorial
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10 The Guardian | Saturday July 1 2006 The Guardian | Saturday July 1 2006 11 World Cup Germany v Argentina Cycling Tour de France Germany Argentina Brawl erupts as Jens Roberto Lehmann 8 Abbondanzieri 5 Proved his Vulnerable usual reliable under self and was crosses but Germany reach frustrated given with the rest of the outstanding protection. team after Ayala’s Injured after blunder header opened the almost gifted Ballack an semi-finals on scoring for Argentina equaliser Arne Fabricio Friedrich 5 Coloccini 6 Thankless Impressive. task of Unalarmed penalties playing by Lahm’s The withdrawal of Jan Ullrich, T-Mobile’s team leader, deprives the race of its only previous winner Eric Gaillard/Reuters matador to forays and Tevez’s bull. Avoided a excellent in the air as goring, but unable to Germany pressed with close Argentina’s most increasing desperation Quarter-finals Germany 1 (0) Argentina 1 (0) fruitful route to goal. in the second half Tour elite thrown out as Ullrich and Klose 80 Ayala 49 aet Christoph Roberto Penalties Metzelder 6 Ayala 7 Basso caught up in drug crackdown 4 2 Crespo will Marvellous see his face display of the staring back defensive Referee Lubos Michel (Slovak) 5 Olympiastadion 72,000 T-Mobile in this Tour. The public-relations time, after a lengthy meeting of the inter- Germany substitutes Lehmann • Germany • Argentina through the skills learned Blood-doping probe by IOdonkor 62•, man who had arranged the spread, Luuc national teams association in Strasbourg’s Mertesacker 8 Metzelder Possession Territory bathroom mirror this in the course of 104 tactical. morning. Shadowed the caps, including ability Eisenga, was left to face the press on his Palais des Congrès, where it was decided NBorowski 74, 5 6 6 6 Spanish police implicates tactical. Friedrich 7 Lahm Chelsea forward and to foul on the sly, own, an apposite image of the shambolic the ethical code agreed on by the teams in MNeuville 86, tactical. Frings top riders on eve of start, 5 4 was rarely exposed capped by a goal embarrassment the race endured yester- 2005 should be rigorously applied. The Schneider 6 Schweinsteiger William Fotheringham day. Never can so many favourites have code specifies that teams should provi- Ballack Klose Podolski % % Per Gabriel reports from Strasbourg been lost in the flagship event in any sport sionally suspend cyclists who are involved 5 5 Mertesacker 6 Heinze 7 in so few hours. in police drug inquiries, and there have Argentina substitutes Tévez 7 5 Crespo Looked more Sir Alex After their implication in a blood- been many since the Festina scandal be- IFranco 71, injury. Jan Ullrich’s T-Mobile team had laid on a doping inquiry conducted by Spanish po- gan the clear-out within the sport. NCambiasso 72, Riquelme Rodríguez 49.3 50.7 52.9 47.1 like a shelf- Ferguson will tactical. 5 5 6 6 stacker in the be purring at sumptuous buffet in a luxurious golf club lice, and reported in the Spanish press on Critically for this Tour, the teams MCruz 79•, tactical. Sorín González 3 Shots on target 2 23 Fouls 32 Mascherano 6 opening the thought a dozen miles out of town where the press Thursday, was confirmed, the Tour was decided the half-dozen removed riders game, but that of Heinze, a superb foil 7 7 6 4 Shots off target 8 4 Corners 6 were to meet their squad yesterday morn- rapidly relieved of Ullrich and the other who were removed should not be re- Heinze Ayala Coloccini statuesque display is a for Ayala at centre-half, ing. But as the team bus turned into the big favourite, Ivan Basso, as well as last placed, even though the rules permit this. 5 74% Passing accuracy 76% 3 Offside 3 distant memory. returning to Old drive at Kemperhof, 10 minutes before year’s fourth finisher Francesco Mancebo “We wanted to give a strong message to Excellent concentration Trafford in this form Abbondanzieri forks up, the driver took a call on his of Spain. The three riders’ records put the outside world by not allowing re- mobile phone and was told to do a U-turn. them at the top of the Tour’s recent hier- placements. That would be too easy,” said Philipp Juan Pablo Michael Walker Berlin — Christoph Metzelder, Frings and Klose Their leader was out of the Tour de archy behind the now-retired seven-times Patrick Lefévère, head of the teams body, accompanied him — while Ballack would Lahm 6 Sorín 5 France, which was at a stroke deprived of winner Lance Armstrong. the AIGCP, who added he was “ashamed” have played but for his suspension. Trademark Steady the only rider in the field who had actu- Ullrich finished in the first three in by what had happened. Germany are through to the semi-finals Less than four minutes into the second thrusts down despite an ally won the race. Ullrich’s team-mate seven of the last nine Tours, Basso second Early in the afternoon Basso’s manager the left were early booking and must feel unstoppable. After drawing half the quality of that experience was to Oscar Sevilla of Spain was also withdrawn, and third in the last two races and Bjarne Riis returned to the conference limited as until he 1–1 in normal time Jens Lehmann made be put to the test. After Maxí Rodriguez Germany were starved allowed Klose to steal along with Rudy Pevenage, the grizzled, Mancebo has five top-10 placings in the room in the Palais des Congrès where two saves in the penalty shoot-out that had won a corner, Riquelme strolled over of possession, but not past him and head burly Belgian former professional who has last six Tours. The loss of credibility was he and Basso had sat side by side only followed a tense extra 30 minutes. After a to take it. His previous two had been dan- embarrassed in his home Germany’s been Ullrich’s mentor since he turned the greater with the implication in the in- the day before, with Basso sidestepping handshake from his bitter rival gerous and this was no different, arriving defensive duties equaliser professional in 1993 and was to manage vestigation of Joseba Beloki, third in 2000 questions about the affair while Oliver Kahn, Lehmann blocked penalties like a whipcrack on the edge of the six- and 2001 and second in 2002. Riis declared himself powerless to act. from Roberto Ayala and Esteban yard box where Ayala had found space. Bernd Luis Armstrong settlement As for who might win in three weeks’ “We had a chance to look at the 50-page Cambiasso. There was ecstacy in the Having risen above Klose, Ayala’s header Schneider 5 González 6 time, that turned into a minor issue, given memo and have established that he is Olympiastadion. flew in between Lehmann and Lahm. Short stride, Least that doubts also remained over last year’s part of the case and under suspicion,” said The first half of normal time was almost Until then only the Costa Rica striker big heart. flamboyant The Sunday Times has settled with fifth finisher Alexandr Vinokourov, whose Riis. barren in terms of attacking creativity. Paulo Wanchope had scored against Ger- Exhausted by of the Lance Armstrong after he sued the Astana team only owed their place in the There was a certain implacable if Juan Román Riquelme tried to impose his many. That was three weeks ago, when his efforts to Argentine paper for libel over a 2004 article race to the clemency of the Court of unsavoury logic about yesterday’s events stealth passing on the occasion but often Klinsmann’s team had not yet forged a stifle the likes of midfield four but his which referred to a book, LA Arbitration for Sport on Thursday. when they were put in the context of failed and was moodily substituted in the reputation. Since then they have become Riquelme and Tevez, work-rate, touch and Confidential – The Secrets of Lance The CAS ruling could be premature. events in cycling since the exclusion of the 72nd minute. Both sides were guilty of known for aggression and progression and and replaced with an tenacity made him no Armstrong. In a high-court hearing, Five Astana riders who were due to start Festina team from the 1998 Tour. The hour gone less crucial irritating fouls and exaggeration but after 49 minutes of restraint Germany had Mr Justice Gray ruled that the the race today were implicated in the in- other great Tours, the Giro d’Italia and after Ayala put Argentina ahead with a no option but to revert to their natural meaning of the article as a whole quiry, along with several other riders in Vuelta a Espana, have been hit by scandals 49th-minute header the match game. Torsten Javier implied that Armstrong had taken the team not present at the Tour. Accord- that have made the overall results from expanded. There was risk involved because of the Frings 7 Mascherano 6 drugs to enhance his performance. ing to the race organiser, Christian Prud- certain years virtually meaningless. It was the first time Germany had been Germany’s The steel to He rejected arguments for the paper homme, “doping within the team looked The 2001 Giro lost its overall leader and behind in the tournament and was the most complement that the words conveyed no more to be organised”. A further decision on the main favourite after a police raid; the 2005 effective Riquelme’s biggest question asked of Jürgen Klins- than the existence of reasonable team’s position in the race was pending.