Vahid Shamsaee

Iranian futsal ace Vahid Shamsaee cannot wait to cross swords with archrival Japanese Kenichiro Kogure, who is also a good friend off the pitch, in the 10th edition of the AFC Futsal Championship in Bangkok May 11-18.
Shamsaee returned the Asian futsal title to the laden Iranian trophy cabinet last year with a stellar show which saw him finding the net 11 times, one less than Kogure whose team Shamsaee beat in the final, but good enough for the Most Valuable Player of the Tournament gong and the AFC Futsal Player of the Year accolade.
“I consider Kogure a very high class player and we meet each other only once a year,“ the 32-year-old Shamsaee told afc.com a day before Iran start their campaign in Bangkok for a record ninth Asian title in 10 years.
“This once-in-a-year meeting is a good time for me to see how much he has improved,“ the all-time AFC Futsal Championship top-scorer said tongue-in-cheek.
“I also meet him during this time off the pitch and we exchange notes on what is happening with our lives,“ said Shamsaee about the 2006 AFC Futsal Player of the Year.
Recalling Iran’s win over Japan last year in front of Japanese fans in Osaka, Shamsaee could not hide his pride at avenging a humiliating semifinal ouster at the hands of their archrivals in Tashkent in 2006.
“Iran has always had close contests with Japan but we have lost just once. Last year was memorable as we reclaimed the crown in front of 8,000 fans on their home ground and this was a great boost to us. I hope we can repeat it again in Bangkok,“ said Shamsaee.
Lest Iran’s rivals had any doubt about the eight-time champions’ motivational levels, Shamsaee put them at rest, saying, “We want to make it nine out of 10 at the end of this glorious futsal decade as the tournament becomes biennial from now on the AFC Futsal Championship will be played once in two years from 2010 onwards. We have prepared for this edition with friendly games against top teams like Portugal.“
Shamsaee noted that Japan continued to their main challengers for the title though there was a marked improvement in the performance of China and Tajikistan.
“China performed well in the KL5 tournament recently but I think Japan is our serious rivals. Our target is the title in Bangkok and a place in the FIFA Futsal World Cup later this year,“ said Shamsaee, setting the tone for yet another round of intense sparring with their archrivals for the Asian honors.

Jurgen Klinsmann

New coach Jurgen Klinsmann will be an interested observer when Bundesliga champions Bayern Munich face relegation-candidates Duisburg on Saturday as he looks to finalize his squad for next year.
After the title was won by Bayern last weekend, it only remains to be decided who will be playing in Europe next season or in the second division, but Klinsmann has been in Munich this week making plans, AFP wrote.
With Ottmar Hitzfeld quitting as Bayern’s head coach this summer to take charge of the Swiss national side after Euro 2008, Klinsmann’s first day in charge is July 1 and he has yet to resolve several question marks hanging over the squad.
Klinsmann met the Bayern board of directors on Monday to unveil his vision of fast, attacking football, and will talk with Germany striker Lukas Podolski who will face Duisburg in the absence of broken-nose victim Miroslav Klose.
“Lukas must stay here next season, he has continually improved himself this season,“ said Hitzfeld, but Podolski would be third-choice striker behind Klose and the league’s top-scorer Luca Toni.
Klinsmann must also resolve the situation with defenders Philipp Lahm and Willy Sagnol.

Roger Federer’s preparations for the French Open suffered a further blow when he was beaten in straight sets in the quarterfinals of the Rome Masters by unseeded Czech Radek Stepanek on Friday.
Stepanek will face Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic after Spain’s Nicolas Almagro withdrew from their quarterfinal with a wrist problem with the score at 6-1 1-0 to the Serb, Reuters reported.
World number one Federer, struggling for consistency on clay ahead of the year’s second Grand Slam later this month, was the second big gun of the day to fall to an unseeded player after his Swiss compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka won an entertaining tussle with American James Blake 6-7 7-6 6-1.
Wawrinka will meet Andy Roddick in the semis after the American sixth seed pulled out some massive serves in a final-set tiebreaker on the way to beating Spain’s Tommy Robredo 6-3 4-6 7-6.
Federer was comfortable on his service games in the first set of the quarterfinal, taking four to love, but he failed to force any break points. Stepanek wrapped up the ensuing tiebreak 7-4 with an ace as the Swiss lost a set for the first time in the tournament.
A fired-up Stepanek saved two break points in the first game of the second set and then snapped the top seed’s serve immediately after.

Tomas Rosicky

Czech Republic’s injured captain Tomas Rosicky announced Friday that he will not be taking part in next month’s European Championships due to a recurring knee injury.
“I’m not capable of starting the European Championships. My injury requires an operation. I will go for it at the start of next week,“ Rosicky told a special news conference.
“I’m maybe enduring the worst period in my career. I lost out on most of the season with Arsenal. I was really looking forward to the championships,“ he added.
The announcement comes a month after local football chiefs raised the alarm over the Arsenal midfield star’s Euro chances because of a painful knee injury which has stopped him playing since the end of January.
Speculation has mounted locally that manger Karel Bruckner would be forced to try and tempt Juventus midfielder Pavel Nedved to return to the national team after his international retirement declared soon after the 2006 World Cup.
“The ball is now with Pavel,“ commented Czech and Moravian Football Federation spokesman Lukas Tucek. “He must decide if he wants to return.