Your Monday morning sport fix

21 June 2010 - 07:41
By John Walland

Morning sport with John Walland.

FOOTBALL

Brazil forward Kaka was sent off as his side beat the Ivory Coast 3-1 in their World Cup group game last night.

Chelsea's Dider Drogba scored a consolation for Ivory Coast.

New Zealand produced one of the great shocks of the World Cup at Mbombela stadium in Mbombela by holding Italy to a 1-1 draw, leaving the defending champions with a fight on their hands to make it through to the knock-out stages.

Paraguay move towards the second round after beating Slovakia 2-0 in Group F in Bloemfontein.

Today - Cristiano Ronaldo's Portugal take on North Korea in Cape Town in Group G at 1.30.

And in Group H Switzerland face Chile in Port Elizabeth at 4, while Spain play Honduras at Ellis Park also in Group H at 8.30.

The England fan who berated the players after wandering into the team's dressing room on Friday is due back in court later.

Pavlos Joseph has been banned from attending future World Cup matches and charged with trespassing.

Joseph says he was looking for a toilet after the match against Algeria but took a wrong turn and found himself in the changing room - and face-to-face with David Beckham.

France's World Cup campaign is in tatters this morning as players are refusing to train in a row over Nicolas Anelka's exclusion from the squad.

The Chelsea striker has fallen out with coach Raymond Domenech (PRON: Dommon-eck).

The squad have released a statement expressing disappointment at their Football Federation.

We'll hope to hear today any revelations from the England team meeting which took place last night.

The players and manager Fabio Capello were analysing what's gone wrong with their World Cup campaign.

John Terry is defending Wayne Rooney after his outburst at fans on television.

Rooney was unhappy with supporters booing following England's goalless draw with Algeria on Friday.
Rooney has now apologised - but Terry says all the players knew they didn't play well enough.

There is still an outside chance that Bafana could still sneak into the last 16, provided they beat France by three unanswered goals and Mexico defeat Uruguay on the same day. It is a long shot, but stranger results have been recorded in football and although a slim chance, people have not givin up.

RUGBY

Springbok coach Peter De Villiers won't be rethinking his strategy of resting certain players for the second tet against Italy in East London despite their unconvincing 29-13 win over Italy,. Five sat out the Witbank clash while John Smit and Schalk Burger were also injured, and the Boks will continue to rotate for the second encounter in East London.

Victor Matfield is likely to be rested while John Smit is expected to recover from his hamstring injury to captain the side, while Alistair Hargreaves is set to start for the first time in a Test.

South Africa will host an IPL-type rugby competition from January 2012.

the world’s best 200 players will take part in the eight-team tournament. The matches will be 40 minutes each (20 minutes a half) and played at two of SA’s new World Cup stadiums.

The rules of this new version of the game still have to be confirmed but there could be restrictions on kicking, in order to produce more running rugby.

Players could earn more from appearing in the three-week competition than from their annual provincial or club contracts. This is currently the case in cricket, with its stars making more than $1 million in the six-week IPL (Indian Premier League).

Western Province senior professional coach Rassie Erasmus and lawyer Frikkie Erasmus are part of the consortium that will manage the tournament.

The new franchises would be privately owned and have no association with Super Rugby teams

CRICKET

Centuries by Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Brendan Nash caused hopes of a South African victory to die as the West Indies scored 424 for four on the third day of the second test

Morne Morkel was the most successful South African bowler with two for 88 in 21 overs

South Africa 543/6d

West Indies 424/4

West Indies trail by 119 runs with 6 wickets remaining in the 1st innings

England's cricketers will fine tune their preparations later for the one-day series against Australia. The opening encounter of a five-match series takes place at the Rose Bowl tomorrow. Craig Kieswetter has moved ahead of Matt Prior in the wicketkeeping pecking order.

GOLF

Britain's Graeme McDowell has become the first European to claim the U.S. Open in 40 years. The Northern Ireland golfer shot a three over 74 to to post a level total of 284 and hold off France's Gregory Harvet to win the tournament by one shot.

Ernie Els was a further stroke back after carding a 73 with Tiger Woods 75 and Phil Mickelson 73 tied for fourth at three over.

TENNIS

Wimbledon starts today

Defending men's champion Roger Federer will get things underway on Centre Court against Alejandro Falla. Andy Murray begins tomorrow against Jan Hajek of the Czech Republic.

Defending ladies' champion Venus Williams is targetting another final against her sister Serena. Venus is up against Rosanna De Los Rios in the first round.

The Williams sisters have won eight of the last ten Wimbledon singles finals between them.

MOTO GP

Jorge Lorenzo has extended his lead at the top of the Moto GP Championship.

The Yamaha rider secured the British Grand Prix at Silverstone after starting from pole position.

He's won three of the season's opening five races.

Picture courtesy of:http://bleacherreport.com

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