- Spain coach backs Torres to face Paraguay
Spain coach Vicente Del Bosque is facing calls to replace striker Fernando Torres with Fernando Llorente for Saturday’s quarter-final with Paraguay (7:30 p.m. British time).
Media polls of fans in Spain have shown backing for a switch in attack but Del Bosque is still backing Torres to come good.
"It’s impossible to avoid such a debate at a tournament like this because everyone has an opinion and it’s good that they are expressed," said Del Bosque.
"Our forward at the moment is Fernando (Torres). He has played a part in all four matches, quite a few minutes, and he’ll play more.
"We have full confidence in him and we also know that Fernando Llorente can bring a lot to the team," he added.
Llorente certainly has shown more verve than Torres, who came into the tournament not long after knee surgery, and brought extra life to the attack after replacing him in the 1-0 second-round win over Portugal.
European champions Spain must be at their sharpest against a Paraguay team who have conceded just one goal in four games and are searching for their first World Cup semi-final place.
The South Americans’ last two outings ended 0-0 with a stalemate against New Zealand followed by an eventual victory over Japan after a penalty shootout.
In both those games Paraguay were experts in nullifying the threat from the opposition and the bad news for fans hoping for a wide-open game is that they plan to do just the same again.
"You are going to have a clash of two different kinds of football," said Paraguay goalkeeper Justo Villar.
"Their way is about creating and ours is more about stopping them and then taking our chances."
While forward David Villa, cutting in from the left, has been the main goal threat from Spain, the key to stopping their fluid passing game has often been to nullify playmaker Xavi and limit the attacking effectiveness of their two fullbacks.
Joan Capdevila down the left and Sergio Ramos on the right, provide the width missing from Spain’s two-tier midfield but Paraguay have been adept at getting their forwards to defend.
Roque Santa Cruz showed against Japan that despite being a centre-forward, he can drop off and effectively mark the opposition fullback.
If Paraguay can do that effectively then the game could well become a tightly congested encounter in midfield with few chances -- just the sort of game where the quality of finishing from strikers like Torres becomes all the more important.
- Politicians back Black Stars
The country’s politicians are rallying support for Ghana.
The Black Stars are the last African team in the 2010 World Cup tournament and will take on Uruguay at Soccer City on Friday.
Brazil will also tackle Netherlands in Port Elizabeth at 4pm but that match has been overshadowed by the hype building up locally to Ghana’s clash.
“We would like to call on everybody in particular the whole continent to support the Black Stars of Ghana,” said the ANC chair Baleka Mbete.
“It is important for the continent to showcase the talent that we have,” said Deputy Sports Minister Gert Oosthuizen.
Gauteng Premier Nomvula Mokonyane will be hosting a function later today to rally support for the Black Stars.
- Formula One puts focus back on track
Martin Whitmarsh has had a spring in his step of late, and not just because his McLaren team are leading both Formula One championships into next week’s British Grand Prix.
After a tough 2009, the battle-hardened Formula One Teams’ Association (FOTA) chairman is enjoying a season where the main focus is the contest on the track rather than the fighting in the grand prix paddock.
A year ago, the teams were split and the threat of a breakaway series hung over the sport but that seems like ancient history now, even if some participants are still wary of tempting fate.
The departure of Max Mosley as International Automobile Federation (FIA) president, replaced by former Ferrari boss Jean Todt last October, has changed the landscape as has a new commercial deal with F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone.
The result, so far, has been a season where the racing -- thrilling and with five different championship leaders already after nine rounds -- has taken centre stage.
"This could go down as one of the greatest championships," Whitmarsh told Reuters at the European Grand Prix in Valencia last weekend.
"For all of us, and I think you sense it, it’s just so much more enjoyable when our energies are expended on trying to beat each other fairly and squarely on the other side of the pit wall (rather) than get pummelled over here in some political maelstrom," he added.
"That (the paddock politics) may create some headlines and speculation but is deeply depressing to be involved in for months on end, I can assure you."
LOW-KEY PRESENCE
Mosley’s reign was always controversial, even if measures he rammed through have made the sport safe enough for drivers such as Red Bull’s Mark Webber to walk away from the huge crash he had in Valencia on Sunday.
Adept at wielding both carrot and stick, he branded some of the team bosses ’loonies’ at Silverstone last year as relations plunged into crisis.
Todt, who has been a low-key presence and attended just two races this year, has started off with a very different approach.
The Frenchman has appeared hands-off, delegating to others and setting up a system of former drivers assisting the stewards on race weekends, while there has also been an absence of evident political spin.
"It’s good news," Mercedes motorsport vice-president Norbert Haug told Reuters. "People know they need to behave, they need to work together and that’s how it should be; work together and have a fair fight on the racetrack."
The teams, through FOTA, have appeared united as never before and are working together to reach a consensus on issues such as the new tyre supplier and affordable technology.
"I think there is starting to be a much better working relationship between FOTA and FOM (Ecclestone’s Formula One Management) and the FIA," said Whitmarsh, who took over from Ron Dennis at McLaren last year.
"I think Jean has had a style which is thought not to be generally confrontational, recognising that all of the parties need to work together.
"I also think that Jean’s introduction of a driver amongst the stewards has actually given quite a good calming effect on the stewarding system and it’s brought an understanding to racing."
Problems thrown up by the deployment of the safety car, in Monaco and Valencia, have had the immediate sting drawn by the governing body agreeing to revisit the regulations.
RENAULT PUNISHED
Last year was poisoned by scandal and controversy, as well as a standoff over cost cuts and direction of the sport.
Whitmarsh was involved in one row when he had to apologise unreservedly to the FIA for McLaren and 2008 world champion Lewis Hamilton misleading stewards to gain an advantage in the season-opening Australian race.
Renault were then given a suspended permanent ban after a plot to rig the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix.
This season’s flare-ups have so far been nothing unusual for the intensely competitive sport -- Renault’s unhappiness with McLaren’s ’F-duct’ before everyone decided to copy it, Ferrari’s fury at the stewards’ tardiness in punishing Hamilton for overtaking the safety car in Valencia.
"I think there’s been a gradual process over a number of years of people learning to work together a lot better," said Mercedes GP chief executive Nick Fry.
"From a team point of view we all get on remarkably well. I think the change in some of the characters in the teams has probably helped that," he told Reuters.
"Jean has started off with a much more communicative and conciliatory attitude than his predecessor and I think that’s helped the situation. I think all you are seeing is probably a maturing of Formula One."
Whitmarsh said the recent debate over the 2011 tyre contract was an example of everyone pulling together and the big teams helping the smaller ones, in contrast to the past.
"The greater good won out," he said. "There was a compromise on the part of the teams, the FIA and the commercial rights holder to get us to a solution which is what the sport needs."
- Murray seeks punchline to game’s oldest joke
When Andy Murray walks out for his hotly anticipated Wimbledon semi-final against world number one Rafael Nadal, he will be looking to get one step closer to finally putting to bed one of the oldest jokes in tennis.
As soon as anyone brings up the topic of: "When was the last time a British man won a grand slam title?," instead of answering the question, people simply dissolve into laughter.
A chuckling Roger Federer got the crowd at the Australian Open going when he suggested that "it’s 150,000 years" ago.
While Fred Perry triumphed at Wimbledon only 74 years ago, for many British fans that might well have been during the Ice Age.
"It’s obviously been a huge, huge wait for us, and it’s still obviously going on now," Murray said as he prepared to for his second successive semi-final at the grasscourt major.
"The crowd obviously would love to see a British player win Wimbledon. It’s something that’s kind of joked about amongst players and people within tennis about how long it’s been since someone British has won at Wimbledon."
But jokes aside, the pressure on Murray to end the interminable wait for a British champion has been mounting by the second ever since six-times champion Federer made an unexpected exit in the quarter-finals on Wednesday.
As twice before Murray has made it to the showpiece of a slam -- at the 2008 U.S. Open and 2010 Australian Open -- and each time he has been railroaded by the genius of Federer.
His memorably broke down in tears at Melbourne Park in January at the sheer disappointment of it all but six months on and Britain wants to see the Scot shed tears of joy by holding aloft the famed Challenge Cup on Sunday.
Before he gets a chance to do that against either Novak Djokovic or Federer’s conqueror Tomas Berdych, Murray knows he has to beat the only man left in the draw who has triumphed at Wimbledon before.
Having played world number one Nadal 10 times, Murray is confident he has his strategy all worked out.
"You need to serve well and you need to play great tennis. There’s not one way to play against him," said Murray, who was walloped by the Spaniard in their only previous grasscourt meeting and trails their overall head-to-heads 7-3.
WINNING STREAK
"You don’t want to leave the ball in the middle of the court to his forehand because (if you do) you’ll do a lot of running.
"You’ve got to serve well, keep a good length and play well -- really, really, really well."
Murray fans will also have noted that the 2010 version of the Scot barely resembles the inexperienced free spirit that showed up a few years ago.
He is now fitter, stronger and widely acknowledged for his tactical nous on court, which helped him dismantle Nadal’s game in spectacular fashion in Melbourne Park earlier this year before the Spaniard had to quit with knee problems.
"That match (at Wimbledon two years ago) was a big turning point for me. I didn’t have the energy to compete with Rafa... and lost heavily," Murray, aiming to become the first British men’s finalist here since Bunny Austin in 1938, blogged on Friday.
"A lot has changed since then. I’ve spent a lot of time getting physically stronger, a lot more time in the gym, and since then I’ve had good results against him.
"It’s not daunting to face Rafa because, although he’s obviously a great player, he’s someone that I enjoy playing."
Nadal is probably revelling in all the expectation being heaped on the world number four, especially since some people are overlooking the fact he is on a 12-match winning streak at Wimbledon after missing last year’s event due to his creaking knees.
It has not been an easy ride for the mighty Mallorcan so far this tournament. He has come through two five-set matches while Murray has lost just the one set.
But his fitness is no longer in question, his desire burns as strongly as ever and it will take an incredible effort from the Scot to stop Nadal reaching his fourth final.
While Murray will also be relying on 15,000 hollering fans to help him out of sticky situations should he find himself in a hole, Nadal threw down the gauntlet.
"Looking forward to my match against Andy, all of Centre Court will be shouting for Andy, I enjoy that," he Tweeted on Friday.
- Woods confirms meeting authorities about Canadian doctor
Tiger Woods has been interviewed by U.S. authorities investigating Canadian doctor Anthony Galea, who is charged for unlawfully treating athletes with human growth hormone, the golfer said on Thursday.
The world number one, who is not accused of any wrongdoing but was a patient of the doctor, said the interview took place in Orlando, Florida last week.
"I co-operated and answered all their questions and that was it," Woods told reporters after the first round at the AT&T National at Aronimink Golf Club on Thursday.
Woods has said that he received treatment from Galea on his injured knee but has repeatedly denied ever using any banned substances or performance-enhancing drugs.
The American said the only treatment he received from Galea was ’blood-spinning’, a legal procedure where blood is drawn from a patient then spun on a centrifuge before being injected into the injured area.
Galea is charged with a range of offences, including lying to federal officials, smuggling and unlawful distribution of unapproved drugs, including human growth hormone, to three unidentified National Football League (NFL) players.
Affidavits supporting the claim again him say he also treated Major League Baseball and professional golfers.
Woods did not elaborate further on his meeting with federal authorities but his agent, Mark Steinberg, told the New York Times the golfer was not under any investigation.
"It was confirmed that because he did nothing illegal, he is not the subject of any criminal investigation," Steinberg said.
"Because there is an ongoing investigation involving others, there will be no further comment."
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Yeah, I got the job people!!! 
