1. Art and Diseño

TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 2015
S P ORTS
AFRICAN NATIONS CUP
Ghana, Ivory Coast through
as Tunisian row bubbles on
MONACO: Lyon’s Nabil Fekir (left) vies with Monaco’s Portuguese defender Ricardo
Carvalho (right) during the French L1 football match. —AFP
Monaco frustrate Lyon
as PSG, Marseiile close
PARIS: The Ligue 1 title race narrowed on
Sunday after leaders Olympique Lyonnais
found no way through Monaco’s steely
defense in a goalless draw in the principality. The result left OL, who were without talismanic striker Alexandre Lacazette, with
49 points from 23 games, two ahead of
Olympique de Marseille and Paris St
Germain-second and third respectively
after posting 1-0 wins.
Monaco, who have not conceded a goal
in their last eight league games, are fifth
on 40 points, behind St Etienne on goal
difference after Les Verts lost 1-0 at Caen
earlier on Sunday. Lyon had to make do
with the absence of Ligue 1 top striker
Lacazette, who was ruled out for three
weeks after sustaining a thigh injury last
Sunday. The hosts conceded possession
but were barely threatened in the first half.
They had the first clear chance in the 17th
minute when Dimitar Berbatov’s header
from Fabinho’s cross smashed against the
bar. Lyon’s best opportunity in the first half
was Corentin Tolisso’s 30-metre free kick
that was boxed away by Danijel Subasic in
the 28th.
Monaco defender Andrea Raggi sustained a possible knee injury and was substituted by Ricardo Carvalho seven minutes
from the interval. The home side stepped
up a gear and Moutinho had a goal disallowed for offside before they were denied a
penalty after Yannick Ferreira Carrasco had
been brought down. Lyon, however, had a
clear chance at the hour when Yoann
Gourcuff’s brilliant pass set up Nabil Fekir in
the box, only for the forward’s low shot to
go wide. Monaco, whose last defeat was on
Nov 29, have conceded only one goal in
their last 13 competitive games.
Champions Paris St Germain stayed in contention on Friday with a 1-0 win at home
against Stade Rennais with arch rivals
Marseille also beating Evian Thonon
Gaillard 1-0 on Saturday.—Reuters
Barcelona accused of tax
fraud in Neymar signing
MADRID: Spanish public prosecutors have
asked for Barcelona and their former president Sandro Rosell to be tried for two
charges of tax fraud committed in the signing of Brazilian star Neymar.
Meanwhile, prosecutors have also asked
for the investigation of current Barcelona
president Josep Maria Bartomeu and the
club on an extra tax charge in 2014, which
could rise to 2.85 million euros.
In a judicial file released on Monday,
prosecutor Jose Perals Calleja suggests that
Rosell and Barca declared an inferior fee to
that which they paid for Neymar in 2013.
The prosecutors believe that Neymar
cost in excess of the 57 million euros ($64.3
million, £42.7 million) declared to the
Spanish tax man.
They cite the figure at a cost of
82,743,485 euros divided into separate
contracts that secured the signing.
According to the calculations of the
Spanish tax authorities, Barcelona owe a
total of 12,148,696 million euros in tax on
the deal, which would see the overall cost
of the operation rise to 94.8 million euros.
Rosell resigned as president over the
affair just over a year ago when a complaint
brought by one of the club’s members for
misappropriation of funds was taken to
court.
In his testimony before a judge on the
case in July of 2004, Rosell insisted that
Neymar cost the club 57 million euros, 17
of which went to his former club Santos
and 40 million paid to N&N, a company
owned by the player’s father.
However, following Rosell’s resignation,
Barcelona also confirmed a number of extra
agreements including a 10 million euro
signing bonus for the player and scouting
and collaborative agreements between the
two clubs taking the total to 86.2 million
euros. In February of last year, the club
announced that they had made a voluntary
payment of 13.5 million euros to the
Spanish tax authorities regarding the transfer. —AFP
MALABO: Ghana and Ivory Coast took
their regular places in the African
Nations Cup semi-finals by beating
Guinea and Algeria on Sunday as the
tournament returned to normal after
recent controversy. Wilfried Bony finally
came to life, scoring twice for the Ivory
Coast, and a late Gervinho goal completed a memorable 3-1 win for the
Elephants as they reached the last four
for the fourth time in six tournaments.
Four-times champions Ghana comfortably dispatched surprise packages
Guinea 3-0 to reach the semi-finals for
the fifth time in a row. The Black Stars
will face the hosts in Malabo on
Thursday and the Ivorians, whose only
title was in 1992 before the emergence
of the so-called golden generation, play
Democratic Republic of Congo in Bata
tomorrow.
Off the pitch, Tunisian Football
Federation president Wadie Jar y
resigned from the Confederation of
African Football (CAF) in protest at the
manner of his team’s exit in a tumultuous tie against hosts Equatorial
Guinea. Tunisia were dumped out in
Saturday’s controversial and thrilling
match when the hosts were awarded a
contentious stoppage-time penalty to
equalise before beating the enraged
North Africans 2-1 in extra-time. The
game ended with the Tunisians chasing
the referee into the tunnel as riot police
stepped in. Tunisia’s critics, however,
pointed out that they were allowed to
get away with brutal tackles and blatant time-wasting while leading 1-0.
The omens did not seem to be on
Ivory Coast’s side when coach Herve
Renard was ordered to cover his
favorite white shirt early in the game
with a pink vest because it clashed with
the Algerians’ strip. Renard, who wore
the shirt in all six games when he led
unheralded Zambia to the title three
years ago, looked less than happy but
his mood changed in the 26th minute
when Bony headed in Max Gradel’s
cross. Arbi Soudani equalized early in
the second half after exposing Ivory
Coast’s defensive fragility only for Bony
to strike again, leaping superbly to
power a Yaya Toure free kick past Rais
M’Bolhi against the run of play.
Despite several late scares, the
Ivorians clung on to their lead before
Gervinho added a third in the dying
moments, Christian Atsu scored twice,
the first after three minutes and the
other a delightful curling effort in the
second half, and Kwesi Appiah was also
on target for Ghana as they and Guinea
opened the double bill in Malabo.
“Every game we are better than the
game before,” said Ghana coach Avram
Grant. “ There were chances, many
chances and we scored beautiful
goals.”— Reuters
EQUATORIAL GUINEA: Ghana’s Christian Atsu (right) is tackled by Guinea’s Djibril Tamsir Paye during
their African Cup of Nations quarter final soccer match. —AP
Preview
Januzaj hopes for
Cambridge chance
MANCHESTER: Manchester United winger
Adnan Januzaj hopes today’s FA Cup fourthround replay at home to lowly Cambridge
United will help him to prove his worth to manager Louis van Gaal. The 19-year-old Belgium
international was one of the few success stories
during the disastrous reign of van Gaal’s predecessor, David Moyes. At the corresponding
stage of last season, he had made 24 appearances and scored three goals, including two in a
2-1 victory at Sunderland that heralded his
arrival on the Premier League scene.
But under van Gaal, Januzaj has been
involved in only 14 games to date this season,
with his start in Saturday’s 3-1 victory over
Leicester City just his fourth of the campaign
and first since November. “I’ve not been playing
for so long so it was good to get 90 minutes,
even if I was really tired in the last 15 minutes
and got cramp,” said Januzaj. “Of course we want
to win the FA Cup and this is a big chance to win
it. We were good going forward against Leicester
and could have scored more than three goals,
but hopefully we can take this into today night
and win the game.” Van Gaal was more expansive when discussing the future of Januzaj, who
turns 20 this week.
It was predicted that the youngster would be
allowed to leave the club on loan during the
January transfer window, but the United manag-
Cruyff backs Van Praag
for FIFA presidency
THE HAGUE: Football legend Johan Cruyff
has thrown his weight behind fellow
Dutchman Michael van Praag in the race
for FIFA’s presidency, saying his friend was
somebody “you can count on.”
Writing for popular daily tabloid De
Telegraaf yesteday, Cruyff said if Van Praag
“ever asked for my support, he’s got it.” “I’ve
known him for fifty years and we remain
good friends. He’s someone you can count
on.” Dutch football chief Van Praag a week
ago threw his hat in the ring in the bid to
dethrone FIFA president Sepp Blatter, saying he would stand for one term only.
Van Praag said he wanted to modernise
football’s world governing body “which has
lost all credibility.” The former Ajax chairman presented backing from the Dutch,
Belgian, Swedish, Scottish, Romanian and
Faroe Islands’ football federations.
He is among four candidates announced
Monday for the FIFA candidacy including
Blatter himself, considered to be the
favorite. Another candidate is former
Portugal international Luis Figo, who Cruyff
described as an “excellent candidate” but
one lacking management experience.
“Therefore it would be good for Figo to
support Van Praag,” this time, Cruyff
writes.Known as the “Flying Dutchman” for
his explosive style, Cruyff is considered by
many as one of football’s all-time greats. In
his prime he led Ajax to three straight
European Cup triumphs from 1971-1973
and he also led the Netherlands to the
1974 World Cup final, winning the Ballon
d’Or award as Europe’s best footballer three
times in the process.
As a coach, among others he won the
Champions League with Barcelona in 1992
and shaped the club’s celebrated youth system.—AFP
Adnan Januzaj
er has been impressed by Januzaj’s efforts of late
and chose instead to keep him at Old Trafford.
“He has a lot of talent, but you have to perform
that talent in the matches. And also in the training sessions,” van Gaal told reporters. “I’m not
making the line-up. The players themselves are
making the line-up. You don’t believe that, I
think! “I look at players every day. I observe and I
communicate with my players what I want. And
the moment I think, ‘OK, he is now ready to play,’
then maybe I can let them play.”
Pressure ‘all on United’
The FA Cup is the only competition that
United stand a realistic chance of winning and
with Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham
Hotspur among the teams to have fallen by the
wayside, the field has opened up.United, embarrassed by a 0-0 draw in the first meeting
between the sides, therefore seem certain to
field a strong line-up, with van Gaal claiming he
will resist the temptation to hand a debut to
new goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
Perhaps distracted by the prospect of the trip
to Old Trafford, Cambridge’s league form has not
matched their efforts in the cup, with Richard
Money’s side collecting just one point from their
last two League Two games. Saturday’s 3-2
defeat at Luton Town, which left Cambridge in
the bottom half of the English fourth tier, provided a wake-up call. The replay will give an opportunity for midfielder Luke Chadwick to return to
the club where he started his career, while
winger Ryan Donaldson also has some experience of the stadium.
Aged 17, Donaldson sat on the bench at Old
Trafford for his former club Newcastle United.
“Kevin Keegan was the manager. I never got on,
but it was a fantastic atmosphere,” he recalled.
“And the pitch seemed huge. Maybe that will
suit me if I am in a wide role again. “But no matter what happens, it will be an incredible night.
And the pressure is all on them, isn’t it?” The winners of the game will visit either Preston North
End or giant-killers Sheffield United, who fell to
Tottenham in the League Cup semi-finals last
week. The two third-tier sides meet at Bramall
Lane. In today’s other replay, Premier League
Sunderland visit Fulham, while Liverpool travel
to second-division Bolton Wanderers on
Wednesday with a fifth-round trip to Crystal
Palace up for grabs.— AFP