Sports

BARCELONA –– Playmaker Xavi, who has won 22 trophies in 16 glittering seasons with Barcelona, said on Saturday that he would love to take over as head coach one day.

The 34-year-old has made more than 700 appearances for the Catalan club, winning three Champions Leagues and seven La Liga titles since making his debut in August 1998.

Xavi’s contract at the Nou Camp expires in 2016 and the Spain midfielder wants to move into management once his playing days are over.

Asked in an interview with Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper if he would like to coach Barcelona in the future, Xavi replied: “I’d love to, yes ... but that is for the future. Right now I love to play football.”

“When you’re a kid playing, you enjoy having the ball don’t you? All I ever want to do is have the ball at my feet, bossing the game.”

“I’d like to remain in football forever and it would always have to be with Barcelona. That’s where my heart and feelings are.”

Xavi joined Barca’s academy as an 11-year-old in 1991 and was given his first-team chance under Dutch coach Louis van Gaal in a side featuring a young Carles Puyol, the player he now shares the club captaincy with.

Puyol said earlier this week that he would be leaving the Spanish champions at the end of the season after a persistent battle with a knee injury but Xavi has no intention of following suit.

“I’m Barcelona through and through and have always wanted to stay here,” the playmaker said.

Xavi added that suggestions Barcelona were approaching the end of their era of dominance were wide of the mark.

“We have an excellent generation of players,” he added. “Since [former coach Johan] Cruyff changed the history and philosophy of Barcelona, over the last five years that philosophy has gone ‘boom’.”

“It’s really exploded and we have made history but Barcelona can carry on winning trophies. This is a spectacular crop of players.

“Look at their ages: [Cesc] Fabregas, [Lionel] Messi, [Andres] Iniesta, [Dani] Alves, Jordi Alba and [Gerard] Pique — they are all around 26, 27, 28, 29.”

Barcelona are chasing a treble this season.

SAO PAULO –– Brazil’s centre-forwards again failed to score against South Africa on Wednesday but it turned out to be nothing more than a minor inconvenience thanks to another inspirational performance by Neymar.

The Barcelona forward’s second international hat-trick took his Brazil total to 30 goals in 47 matches, nine more than Fred and Jo, who took it in turns to play in the striker’s role against South Africa, have managed between them.

Fred, the first choice number nine, started the 5-0 win in Johannesburg and was largely anonymous for the first hour while Jo made little impact after replacing him.

Fluminense striker Fred has been out injured for much of the last eight months and has not scored for Brazil since his double in the 3-0 win over Spain in the Confederations Cup final last June.

Jo’s last international goal was six games ago in a 3-1 friendly win over Portugal.

Coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, however, always likes to have a target man and must decide whether to stick by Fred and Jo who played well in the Confederations Cup but have been unimpressive since.

Fred was unperturbed by his drought.

“It was good to experience the national team atmosphere again,” he said. “At halftime, we decided we would make more use of Neymar as he was free and enjoying himself.

“It’s a shame I didn’t score myself but at least I set up a goal for Neymar.”

In fact, as long as Neymar keeps knocking in the goals, it is unlikely to matter.

“When Neymar is happy, he produces a lot more and, when he is with us, he feels at home, and can produce what he is really capable of,” said the man known as Felipao (Big Phil).

Fernandinho, another scorer on Wednesday, may well have cemented his place, perhaps at the expense of injured Liverpool midfielder Lucas Leiva or Inter Milan’s Hernanes.

The remaining doubts in the squad appear to be over who will be selected as second-choice right back, the back-up centre halves and third-choice goalkeeper.

At full back, the experienced Maicon looks likely to get the nod ahead of Bayern Munich’s Rafinha who was given his second cap against South Africa.

Several players are competing to provide cover for David Luiz and Thiago Silva at centre back, with Dante seemingly certain to go and Marquinhos, Dede, and Rever among candidates to join him.

Julio Cesar and Jefferson look to have taken two of the goalkeeping positions while Victor, impressive in helping Atletico Mineiro win the Libertadores Cup last year, and Fluminense’s Diego Cavalieri are competing for the other spot.

Scolari denied that the 23 names have already been chosen and warned there could be injuries or the late appearance of a “new phenomenon”.  

AMMAN — FIFA Executive Committee member Moya Dodd on Wednesday was confirmed as a speaker at the Soccerex Asian Forum that will take place in Jordan in May.

Dodd, also vice president of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC),  will be joined at the event by Singapore Football Association Secretary General and AFC executive committee member Winston Lee and Argentinean football legend and World Cup winner Osvaldo Ardiles, according to a statement issued by the office of HRH Prince Ali, FIFA vice president representing Asia. 

The Soccerex Asian Forum 2014 is organised  in partnership with the Asian Football Development Project (AFDP), which is founded and chaired by Prince Ali. 

The announcement was made during a press conference in Amman Wednesday that was attended by the prince and  Soccerex CEO Duncan Revie. 

According to the statement, Dodd will be playing a key role at the event, speaking on both the future of football in Asia and the development of women’s football. 

“Ardiles will share his vast football knowledge, including his experiences of playing and coaching in Asia and winning the World Cup,” said the statement. 

Ardiles, who was present at Wednesday’s press conference to announce his participation, will join fellow football legends Bryan Robson and John Barnes as part of a special panel discussion at the event.

“The Asian Forum, is a platform for all the major Asian leagues, clubs and other stakeholders to get together and discuss the development of football across the continent; to share best practices in coaching development, stadia development, women’s football and most importantly for me, social development. Soccerex is the best platform for this,” Prince Ali said.

“We will be truly be bringing the world of football, not just Asia, to this wonderful country,” Revie said, referring to Jordan, which he described as a “historically beautiful country”. 

The Soccerex Asian Forum will take place May 13-14 at the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre by the Dead Sea in Jordan. The two-day event, featuring a conference and exhibition, will bring together over 1,000 senior decision makers from the football industry across Asia and the rest of the world, providing a platform for networking and knowledge sharing, with the aim of developing football throughout the continent.

BUENOS AIRES –– Lionel Messi does not need a World Cup winners’ medal to be considered among football’s all-time greats, fellow Argentine Diego Maradona said on Tuesday.

“Messi doesn’t need to win the World Cup to be the best player in the world,” Maradona, who inspired Argentina to the title in Mexico in 1986, told La Nacion.

“[If he did] it would be great for Argentina, the fans and Lio, but [winning] a World Cup or not won’t take away any of his achievements up to now to be among the greatest.”

Twice World Cup winners Argentina faces Romania in a friendly in Bucharest on Wednesday as it begin to crank up its preparations for this year’s finals in Brazil.

Former captain and coach Maradona said everything appeared in place for Messi to shine although Argentina’s task would be tough with hosts Brazil,
titleholders Spain and Germany among the sides to beat.

Maradona said Messi had a great World Cup in South Africa in 2010 despite not scoring any goals. The Argentina team coached by Maradona lost 4-0 to Germany in the quarter-finals.

“Messi had an exceptional World Cup with me... and no-one said so. [Was it] because he didn’t score? He turned all the goalkeepers into stars,” he said.

Maradona said he could not forget Messi’s sobs when Argentina were eliminated.

“I approached him and told him he’d have many World Cups to get revenge. I said it with all my heart. While the rest were thinking about our return [home] he was there, head bowed, crying.”

Argentina are in Group F with Bosnia, Iran and Nigeria at the finals starting on
June 12.

“There’s Spain, Germany and there’s Brazil with a tremendous defence. You think of Brazil’s defence and six or seven names come to mind, you think of their attack and there’s only Neymar,” Maradona said.

“For Lio it will be a test of character, to bring out all that crying he has in his heart. Brazil can be his great revenge,” added Maradona, who will commentate on the tournament for a Venezuelan television programme.

AMMAN –– Jordan beat Syria 2-1 on Wednesday in its final Group A of the 2015 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup qualifier. 

Striker Thaer Bawab opened the scoring for Jordan in the 24th minute and added the second in the 60th minute. 

Omar Khraibeen scored for Syria in the 10 minutes before the end of the match, which was played in Amman International Stadium. 

Jordan has already secured qualification for tournament –– to be held in Australia –– after booking the second spot from the group led by Oman. 

Syria needed a win against Jordan to keep itself in contention for the best third-placed finish. 

Since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1972, Jordan reaches the Asian finals for the third time. 

Jordan played in the finals twice before. In the 13th Asian Cup, it lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best-ever FIFA rank of 37th in August 2004. In 2011, Jordan again reached the quarter-finals where it lost to Uzbekistan in 2-1.

Jordan lately finished runners-up at the 8th West Asian Football Federation Championship after losing to Qatar 2-0 in the final.

AMMAN –– Jordan Football Association (JFA) and the Ministry of Education on Tuesday signed a collaboration agreement to strengthen the integration of sport in the educational system across the Kingdom. JFA President HRH Prince Ali attended the signing ceremony. According to a JFA statement, the accord was signed by Education Minister Mohammad Thneibat and JFA acting Secretary General Fadi Zureikat. The agreement includes cooperation in setting up a strategy for building and renovating football fields in and around schools in governorates. Cooperation has already begun in the construction of the Norway Football Fields in Ramtha as well as two schools in Mafraq — a project spearheaded by the Norwegian Football Association and supported by the government of Norway. “Sport is a crucial element of successful education, not only because of its health benefits but also because it instils many positive values such as discipline, teamwork and respect for each other,” Prince Ali said. “Now that we are hosting the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup in 2016, we have the opportunity to build training sites across the Kingdom and we will cooperate with the Ministry of Education to maintain those fields after the world event for the benefit of our young players and the local community.”

AMMAN — Jordan plays Syria on Wednesday in their final Group A Asian Cup 2015 qualifier.

Jordan booked the second qualifying spot from the group after it beat Singapore 3-1 and held Oman 0-0 to qualify to the finals in Australia in  2015. Oman leads the group with 11 points. In Round 1, Jordan held Oman 0-0, tied Syria 1-1 and defeated Singapore 4-0. 

Head coach Hosam Hassan has repeatedly underlined that Jordan will play for win despite having secured qualification. The coach’s line-up for the Syria match has again drawn criticism from local dailies, which questioned the prudence of his choice of key players and dropping Amer Shafie, Hasan Abdul Fattah, Amer Deeb, Basem Fathi, Hamza Dardour, and others.

Since first taking part in Asian Cup qualifiers in 1972, Jordan reaches to the Asian finals for the third time. 

Jordan played in the finals twice before. In the 13th Asian Cup, it lost to Japan in the quarter-finals and jumped to the best-ever FIFA rank of 37th in August 2004. In 2011, Jordan again reached the quarter-finals where it lost to Uzbekistan in 2-1.

Jordan lately finished runners-up at the 8th West Asian Football Federation Championship after losing to Qatar 2-0 in the final.

MADRID –– Fernando Llorente and fellow centre forwards like Fernando Torres and David Villa will find it tough to make Spain’s World Cup squad due to the intense competition for places, coach Vicente del Bosque said on Tuesday.

Llorente has been on good form for Juventus in recent months but like Torres and Villa was overlooked for the world and European champions’ friendly against Italy in Madrid on Wednesday, their last match before Del Bosque has to name a preliminary 30-man squad for the finals in Brazil.

Del Bosque picked Brazil-born Diego Costa and Alvaro Negredo as the only two recognised centre forwards and also has a number of midfielders who can play a central attacking role including Cesc Fabregas and David Silva.

“Llorente is a player who we have a high opinion of and his behaviour towards us has always been excellent,” Del Bosque told a news conference previewing Wednesday’s game, less than two years after the Euro 2012 final Spain won 4-0 against the Azzurri.

“He has been playing very well for Juventus but it’s not easy as there is a lot of competition,” he added.

“There are a lot of forwards [Roberto] Soldado, Llorente, Villa, Fernando Torres, players who have been a fixture in the national team but we cannot take everyone.”

Del Bosque said at the weekend he would be ruthless in picking his final 23-man World Cup squad and wouldn’t be swayed by affection for players who have contributed to the nation’s recent successes.

Torres played a key role in Spain’s triumphs at the 2008 and 2012 European Championships and the 2010 World Cup but his performances for Chelsea have generally been disappointing.

Villa, Spain’s record marksman, has failed to get back to his best since breaking his leg in late 2011 and has been playing a secondary role at Atletico behind Costa this term.

Costa and Manchester City’s Negredo, by contrast, have been scoring freely and it will be hard for Del Bosque to leave them out unless they suffer a dramatic loss of form.

Chasing an unprecedented fourth consecutive major tournament triumph, Spain play their opening Group B match against the Netherlands, whom they beat in the 2010 World Cup final, in Salvador on June 13.

They then meet Chile in Rio de Janeiro on June 18 and Australia in Curitiba five days later.

AMMAN — The Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC) has launched a new plan and structure to boost sports in the Kingdom, in the run-up to the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, according to a JOC statement released on Monday. The new structure and strategic plan “will pave the way for a new era of administrative excellence by empowering employees to deliver an improved service to leading sports organisations, in particular the Kingdom’s national federations”, the statement said. JOC employees “will have new target-driven contracts and departments have streamlined their operations to improve accountability”. A “strict evaluation process” is in place to ensure departments and employees are working for the benefit of Jordanian sports as a whole, according to the statement.

AMMAN — The men’s Olympic team hosts its English counterpart on Tuesday in a friendly that comes as part of its training agenda for the 2016 Olympic qualifiers starting in June.

The 5pm match at the King Abdullah Stadium is a historic first for the team, which has five players absent, including two with the national team readying to face Syria on March 5 in their final Asian Cup qualifier, as well as three on the injury list.

Jordan’s squad played a series of local friendlies, drawing with Jazira 1-1 and losing to Wihdat 1-0, as the team regrouped at the begging of the year before coaches name a final line-up ahead of training camps abroad.

England C coach Paul Fairclough’s squad is preparing for May’s International Challenge Trophy and the English C team held its Czech counterpart 2-2 in its last match.

“We do not know what to expect in terms of style and method, but that is not new for the England C team. It will be perfect in assisting me with preparation for our all-important International Challenge Trophy clash against Slovakia in May,” Fairclough was quoted by the English Football Association website as saying.

“Football has a universal language and the fixture will be played with enthusiasm and respect. This is yet another fantastic opportunity for the players and staff to experience a different culture,” said Fairclough.

In 2013, Jordan’s U-19 team was eliminated from Group B Asian Football Confederation U-19 Championship 2014 qualifiers, after the squad managed to beat Afghanistan 2-1, held 0-0 with the Maldives and lost to Yemen 2-1 and the UAE 2-0.

Previously, the Kingdom reached the AFC U-19 Championship four times. In 2006, the team achieved the country’s biggest football sporting success when it finished fourth at the Championship and qualified to the 2007 FIFA Youth World Cup in Canada.