From The Touchlines

IN YOUR FACE!: Louis Saha sticks out his tongue in celebration after scoring Man United’s goal.

Louis Saha’s solitary goal in Lisbon was enough to seal victory for Manchester United over Benfica in their UEFA Champions League encounter, and thus, avenge their defeat in last season’s campaign.

Saha’s goal, against the run of play, ensured another three precious points. And to top it all off, Cristiano Ronaldo was inspirational in the setup of the goal, and providing much flair throughout the match.

Wayne Rooney’s form, however, was very much in question, although he did provide assistance to the defence with several crunching tackles.

Benfica’s win over United last season knocked them out of the group phase, even compounding them to the nightmare of finishing bottom of the group. All in all, Sir Alex Ferguson was very adamant that this would not happen again.

Both teams came out rather overly cautious, and it was 10 minutes before the first real chance fell to either team.

United could have taken the lead, had not Benfica’s goalie Joaoquim Quim pushed away Ronaldo’s steaming shot after he had left Giorgias Karagounis floundering in his wake.

On the rebound, Saha was unlucky not to tap it in when Benfica defender Luisao made a timely intervention.

After that, it was Benfica all the way, until the end of the first half. A relentless push by Benfica was proving to be a real acid test to the United defence.

They had a couple of pretty good chances to take the lead; Karagounis had an effort saved by the fingertips of United shot stopper Edwin van der Sar after Nemanja Vidic had embarrassingly fluffed his clearance.

Armando Petit’s long range drive was also saved with both hands relatively easily by van der Sar.

Despite all their hard work, however, Benfica were not able to find the back of the net, what with their inaccurate finishing and van der Sar, as well as Gabriel Heinze, in top form. That would prove to be costly.

Upon the restart, United, again, had the upper hand when Quim was tested again. But, as usual, United seemed to backed off a little, allowing Benfica to stretch their defence.

OUT OF MY WAY: Cristiano Ronaldo (right) and Giorgias Karagounis jostle for the ball.

But 15 minutes into the second half, it was United who were on the scoresheet first when Paul Scholes’ eagle eye spotted Ronaldo on the run forward. As Ronaldo continued on his rampaging run forward, out of the corner of his eye he saw Saha dashing forward from the right.

Unselfishly he played the ball to Saha, who came face to face with Benfica defender Anderson, who had already done a good job in stifling the United forwards in the first half, and unleashed a left-footed shot into the far corner of the net.

Quim tried desperately to get a hand on it but it was utterly hopeless. Even Anderson was left stranded.

Saha was clearly the happier among the two, having been subdued for a good portion of the match. But Ronaldo was overtly ecstatic as well, more so because in their last meeting, he left in disgrace after his one-finger gesture.

Benfica did not lie down but instead pushed forward in search of the equaliser. On 72 minutes, Simao Sabrosa’s freekick just fizzled over the crossbar. The initial foul was committed by Ronaldo on Simao.

United had the chance to seal the win, when Michael Carrick got loose on the right. But his pass was sliced wide by Saha onto the advertisement boards. Heineken was definitely the happier one after that.

Ferguson made a double switch at the death, bringing on Alan Smith and Darren Fletcher for Saha and Rooney respectively.

It was action full-force right until the end, when Quim made a stunning triple save to deny Heinze, Fletcher and Carrick from doubling the score.

While the likes of Li Na and Peng Shuai continue to try and make headway in the tennis arena, their fellow Chinese counterparts in badminton are facing no such trouble at all.

China scooped up four of the five gold medals at stake in the 15th World Badminton Championships in Madrid: the men’s singles and doubles, as well as the women’s singles and doubles.

And out of the five events, four were all-Chinese affair. They failed to make the cut in the mixed doubles, which was an all-English affair.

In the men’s singles, world no. 2 Lin Dan (above) fought back from a first set loss to triumph over fellow countryman Bao Chunlai 18-21, 21-17, 21-12.

Chunlai, boosted by his win over Malaysia’s top-ranked shuttler Lee Chong Wei in the quarter-finals, looked the more likely to strike gold this time around.

He capitalised on Lin Dan’s slow start to take the first set 21-18. But it was only too long before Lin Dan’s true colours would show itself.

He raced into a 4-1 lead in the second set, only to allow Chunlai to come back. It was neck and neck, until he managed to pull away at the tail end to take the second set and force the rubber.

That proved to be the turning point as he began to produce even more winners than his fellow compatriot. The outcome was clear.

Xie Xingfang (right) and Zhang Ning with their national flag and medals

Lin Dan’s girlfriend and fellow competitor Xie Xingfang also pocketed the gold medal when she overpowered a seemingly strained Zhang Ning 21-16, 21-14 to defend her the title she last won at Anaheim last year.

Xingfang’s youth and stamina was the defining factor against the more experienced but fast ageing Zhang Ning, who, by her standards, did not play a very fantastic match at all.

At the age of 31, she couldn’t keep up with Xingfang’s pace and energy. This wasn’t helped by the fact Zhang Ning played numerous easy forehands wide off the baseline, hence giving her opponent relatively easy points.

While the first set was rather tight, the scenario was rather different in the second set. Xingfang made Zhang Ning moved about the court a lot more, and this caused the latter to tire easily and quickly.

Xingfang took a huge lead in the second, even affording several uncharacteristic errors along the way. But she was rest assured the gold medal would be hers.

On match point, Xingfang’s dipping powerful forehand stretched Zhang Ning, who could not lift the shuttle high enough above the net.

It was joy for Xingfang in the end, who applauded the crowd and punched the air several times, before shaking hands with her overtly downcast counterpart.

The men’s doubles, the culminating match-up of the night, turned out to be a no-brainer, when top seeds Cai Yun-Fu Haifeng (above) completely demolished the English pair of Anthony Clark-Robert Blair 21-9, 21-13.

Clark, who had earlier teamed up with Donna Kellogg in the mixed doubles final, and Blair, found their Eastern opponents too hot to handle – and their smashes simply unreturnable.

Cai and Fu’s relentless assault on Clark and Blair resulted in the Chinese pair scoring 11 consecutive points in the first set en route to winning it, and only allowing the English pair a meagre nine points.

Things looked a little less embarassing for Clark and Blair in the second set, when they managed to amass a total of 13 points. But they were unable to stop a rampaging Chinese pair, who were even able to afford several comical acts before sealing the match.

The women’s doubles encounter saw China’s Gao Ling-Huang Sui defeat their fellow countrywomen Zhang Yawen-Wei Yili in the final on Saturday, while the mixed doubles gold medal was won by England’s Nathan Robertson-Gail Emms (below), when they beat compatriots Clark and Kellogg.

Somebody’s head is going to roll. Big time.

It was only recently the Deputy Higher Education Minister Datuk Ong Tee Keat (right) pointed out an all-too-obvious discrepancy, where a Chinese school was billed a huge sum of RM30,000.

The problem here is that the actual bill is only RM3,000. Furthermore, the construction company enlisted to carry out their work didn’t do a very good job at it.

Go ahead and ask Works Minister Datuk Seri S. Samy Vellu, who was on hand to inspect the construction work done at SRJK (C) Kung Yu in Muar, Johor. He came after a request from MCA President Dato’ Seri Ong Ka Ting.

Instead of being commended for being outspoken, Datuk Ong was instead ticked off for apparently breaking party rules that one does not question or meddle in the affairs of other ministries.

Now that the cards are on the table, what is Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein going to do about it? After all, he was the one who retaliated when he came to know about Datuk Ong’s antics.

Here is what Datuk Seri Hishammuddin said in his first reaction to Datuk Ong’s action:

“What I’m hurt about is not the issue of corruption raised by Ong. I have never compromised on that, if there is corruption, stern action will be taken.

“But I am hurt over the manner, words and location which the deputy minister used (to make the claim). As a high ranking officer in MCA and Barisan Nasional, he made an irresponsible statement that government officers are corrupt in public.”

If that’s the case, does that mean government officers are absolutely exempted from their responsibility to the public?

Instead of retorting in this manner, he should have suggested to his ministry (or any other ministry) to begin investigations into apparent embezzlement claims, so as to rid the government officers of this stigma.

Now that the air is cleared, shouldn’t Datuk Seri Hishammuddin be ticked off as well?

It wouldn’t be fair to Datuk Ong, if his fellow counterpart did not receive the treatment he received. After all, he was just doing the right thing in laying things out in the open for everyone to see.

While we’re at it, ministers should be allowed to point out errors committed by other ministers. This does not mean, however, that all the ministers should start poking their noses at everything everyone else does.

Constructive criticisms should be a common practice by now. It is only in this manner that each ministry can fully grow and mature. This applies even more so to these two ministries, which were once flying under the same banner. You cannot compartmentalize them.

Since the public will have a field day talking about this, I’ll just ask this one question: “Where did the RM27,000 go?”

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer reels away in sheer delight after scoring United’s eventual winner against Celtic

A double from Louis Saha and the winner from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ensured Manchester United ran out 3-2 winners over Glasgow Celtic in their first UEFA Champions League group match.

Down after nine minutes after Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink opened the scoring for Celtic, United came back strongly to fend off their Scottish visitors in front of the Old Trafford crowd.

On eight minutes, Saha tested Celtic keeper Artur Boruc with a bending header then went just wide off the post.

Moments later, the Hoops boys unexpectedly took the lead when a clearance by Boruc was received by Vennegoor on the left, who turned on the outside of Rio Ferdinand and shot it just beyond his Dutch counterpart Edwin van der Sar.

After that, United went on the assault and were unlucky not to equalise when Saha’s half-volley went agonisingly above the crossbar.

Things were beginning to look bleak early on, until Boruc, who had been largely untroubled til then, spotted Ryan Giggs chasing a loose ball on the left and decided to come out of his zone to stop him.

And what do you know. Stopped him he did, but referee Lubos Michel was alert to the impedement by Boruc, and subsequently awarded a penalty to United, and a yellow card to the Celtic shot stopper.

Saha duly converted the penalty, of which Boruc tried to keep out but failed. Thirty minutes had gone by.

And so did Giggs. Apparently that challenge by Boruc was a bit too much to bear; he was taken off and replaced with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Word is it is a hamstring injury.

Despite United’s onslaught on the Celtic goal, the Hoops boys were having just a bit more possession. And their passing in the middle of the park was so fluid at times, that the Red Devils found it hard to dispossess them.

But if there was one person they could pick on, it was the hard and uncompromosing midfielder, Thomas Gravesen.

Ten minutes on, Michael Carrick stole the ball away from Gravesen. He passed it to Paul Scholes, who in turn spotted Saha on the run from the middle. Saha outran his defender and put a low drive past Boruc.

Again, Boruc tried in vain to keep it out, but it seemed then the luck was with United, as the ball bounced off his hands and into the empty net.

Towards the end of the half, Wes Brown needlessly gave away a freekick at the edge of the box after fouling Jiri Jarosik.

Japanese playmaker Shunsuke Nakamura fulfilled his duties when his superb shot sailed over the wall, and past an embarassingly stranded van der Sar. He must have been wondering what the wall of players was doing.

The half ended 2-2, but upon the re-start the momentum kicked up. Again, Gravesen was found wanting when his poor passing was pounced on by Scholes and the midfielder played another perfect through ball to Saha.

Saha tried returning the favour but couldn’t when his drive was palmed away by Boruc. But Boruc was definitely not having the time of day when the ball rebounded to Saha, who played it to Solskjaer and the Norwegian coolly thumped it into the roof of the net.

The Stretford End erupted in joy, and it was unbridled joy for Solskjaer as well, considering it had been three years since his last European goal.

From then on, United did not let up. In fact, Saha could have had a hat-trick, or even more, had he not missed a string of gilt-edged chances.

Even Wayne Rooney, who was having a quiet night in his own standards, made sure he left some mark when he sprinted past Stephen McManus with such ease. But his attempted shot was blocked by Boruc.

Had any of those happened, Gordon Strachan’s face would have been more scrunched up than it already was. His boys fought on with all their might, in search of the elusive equaliser.

Boruc even pulled out all the stops in stopping the rot, including a fine save when his defender nearly put the ball into his own net. The ball bounced off the upright into safety.

But, despite all their efforts, they were let down by poor passing and poor finishing. Even their three substitutions didn’t have much bearing on the outcome.

As for Gravesen, his first Champions League outing was fast turning into a living nightmare; more so when he missed a golden opportunity to tie up the match.

Good news is, United won. Bad news is, they would have to face Arsenal on Sunday without Giggs and Park Ji-Sung. Park will be out of action for three months with an ankle ligament damage.

Just what manager Sir Alex Ferguson didn’t need, after such a fine start to the season.

A Ryan Giggs header early in the first half sealed a 1-0 win for Manchester United over Tottenham Hotspur, thus maintaining a 100 per cent record with four wins out of four.

The Red Devils were bustling right from the whistle, with Ronaldo testing Spurs shot stopper Paul Robinson with a low curler, only six minutes on the clock.

Spurs were looking to halt their dismal start to the season, but found themselves on the backfoot early on in the match.

With only nine minutes played, Ronaldo’s fierce freekick, beaten away by Robinson, fell kindly to Giggs, who looped the header over the stranded keeper.

Michael Carrick was sterling against his former club, playing several fantastic through balls, namely to Louis Saha and Gary Neville. In Paul Scholes’ absence, his role would prove to be even more crucial.

Carrick also outperformed former colleague Edgar Davids in midfield, marshalling the central area very well along with John O’Shea.

Spurs first real chance came midway through the first half, when Jermaine Jenas blasted a potential goal way over the crossbar, after being teed up for a shot.

On 39 minutes, a desperate attempt by the United defence to clear the ball gifted it to Michael Dawson. The centreback tried lobbing it but Edwin van der Sar palmed it away, only to fall to Ledley King, but the Devils’ keeper was well alert to block it.

Towards the end of the first half, Giggs’ cross from the left flank in a United attack was just missed by Gary Neville coming in from the right. Neville had just returned from a calf injury.

After the restart, Spurs came out with more vigour and desire to score, but it was the Devils who had the first real chance eight minutes into the second half.

This time, Neville again was involved; on the overlap, he managed to squeeze a cross past two defenders. It reached Kieran Richardson on the left, whose attempted cross landed in the lower crowd instead.

Spurs came too close for comfort, when Robbie Keane’s replacement Jermain Defoe’s marauding run from the right nearly results in a goal, if not for Carrick’s block.

He was again denied when he could not finish Benoit Assou-Ekotto’s cross just a minute later. His strike partner Ahmed Mido was not having a good day either, missing the chance to equalise when Hossam Ghaly’s cross into the box fell safely into van der Sar’s hands.

Nerves were definitely frayed. Even more, when a deflected Paschal Chimbonda shot was tipped over the bar by van der Sar, who looked the busier of the two keepers.

With seven minutes remaining, Saha had the upper hand to make it two for United, but he wasted the chance to settle the nerves at the Stretford End. Van der Sar’s two saves were looking increasingly pivotal.

United eventually held on for a win to top the Premiership, and with upcoming matches against Celtic in the Champions League and the biggie against Arsenal next weekend, they will welcome back Wayne Rooney and Scholes from suspension.

Jelena Jankovic clenches her fist in delight after her win over Russian fourth seed Elena Dementieva

Jelena Jankovic stormed her way to a semifinal face-off with Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne with three impressive and stunning victories over three top 10 players.

Nicole Vaidisova, former champion Svetlana Kuznetsova and the latest, 2004 US Open finalist Elena Dementieva have all crumbled under a sparkling Jankovic, who, coming into this Grand Slam tournament, had dropped nine straight matches between January and May earlier this year.

In her match against Dementieva, Jankovic pounded the Russian with her powerful groundstrokes, winning her first serves and keeping the unforced errors to a minimum in overpowering the fourth seed.

Dementieva, on the other hand, suffered one of her worst performances in a long time when she committed five double faults and 39 unforced errors. She also failed to hold serve.

The 21-year-old Serb’s rankings will definitely be propelled, regardless of the outcome of her match-up with world no. 2 Henin-Hardenne, also in scintillating form as well.

The 2003 former champion took only 50 minutes to tear apart Israeli Shahar Peer 6-1, 6-0 in the fourth round, before halting 1998 former champion Lindsay Davenport’s comeback from injury with a 6-4, 6-4 win in the quarters.

Justine Henin-Hardenne in action against 10th seed Lindsay Davenport

The odds are stacked against former world junior champion Jankovic, who is in her first major semis as a senior player, compared to her more illustrious European counterpart Henin-Hardenne, who has won five Slam titles.

But as Jankovic has proven in the initial stages of the tournament, current performance is as very much a defining factor as world rankings. If anything, Jankovic will look into this encounter as a catalyst for her to further stamp her mark on the tennis circuit. But surely, that’s not the only thing on her mind.

If she does make it into the final, she will faced either world no.1 Amelie Mauresmo, or Russian bombshell Maria Sharapova, whose fine performances have made the headlines as much as her stunning little black dress, with black sequins embedded in her roundneck collar. Oh, and put in a matching black tote too.

Sharapova defeated Frenchwoman Tatiana Golovin in a two set tiebreaker in the night session at Flushing Meadows. She won 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-0).

As for Mauresmo, the French top seed made short work of another Russian in Dinara Safina, sweeping past the 12th seed 6-2, 6-3.

This encounter promises to be explosive, not just because of Sharapova’s shrieking, but also as Mauresmo seeks to add to her collection of two Grand Slam titles this year. She came out tops in the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Can Mauresmo silent Sharapova’s shrieking? Can Jankovic withstand the power of Henin-Hardenne’s one-handed backhand? Will it be an all-European final, or will the Russian have a say? It will indeed be two very tantalizing encounters. Hey, who would miss great tennis matches?

Peter Crouch and Jermain Defoe each bagged a brace as England trounced a hapless Andorra 5-0 in the first of their Euro 2008 qualifiers, which is their first competitive match under the new management of Steve McClaren and Terry Venables.

Steven Gerrard capped off a sterling performance by the Three Lions, who missed Wayne Rooney through suspension and Rio Ferdinand with a toe injury.

England were brimming with confidence, and after an early assault on the Andorran goal, they were rewarded when Defoe, with his back to his goal, turns and passes the ball to Ashley Cole, and the latter feeds a nice ball to Crouch, who takes a gamble and puts a low left-footed drive into the corner of the net.

Moments later, Defoe was unlucky when he couldn’t finish Downing’s pinpoint cross; his shot just went wide off the post. Such was his disappointment that he punched the ball away in disgust.

But England added their second not too long after that; this time a looping header by Cole is chested down by Gerrard, who lashes out a shot high into the roof of the net.

Hargreaves was also ruing a missed chance when a freekick just outside the area bounces off the upright and away to safety. Downing had been fouled in an off-the-ball incident prior to that setpiece.

Frank Lampard tested keeper Jesus Alvarez Koldo with a steaming shot after that. Skipper John Terry also caused some panic when his shot just shaves the crossbar on its way out.

But in the 38th minute, Gerrard’s exploits on the right, with his fancy footwork and all, deceives two defenders, and his cross into the area is finished by Defoe with a left-foot volley for a 3-0 scoreline.

England’s momentum was carried on into the second half when after four minutes, a Phil Neville looping header into the area was met by Defoe and the Tottenham forward gladly obliged for the home side’s fourth.

The Andorran defence was really feeling the full force of England’s attack, and hence, switched to full-defence mode.

Hargreaves was again denied by the upright when his fierce drive from 20 yards out came off the post.

McClaren made a double switch towards the final quarter of the match, bringing on Aaron Lennon and Kieran Richardson for Phil Neville and Stewart Downing respectively.

Lennon repaid the favour almost immediately when he had a go at two Andorran defenders, who were left floundering in their wake as Lennon easily curled a cross into the area. Crouch finishes the move with a typical, classic header for his second and England’s fifth.

Everton marksman Andy Johnson replaces Defoe moments later, and he paved the way for Crouch to score his third, but the Liverpool hitman could not finish when he sliced the ball just wide 10 minutes from time.

At the final whistle, the Pyrenean side was definitely relieved after a relentless push forward by the English side. England will now look towards their second Group B qualifier against the tricky Macedonians in Skopje on Wednesday.

Put down your pens and papers everyone. Time’s up.

The summer transfer window officially closed 10 hours ago (Hong Kong time), but not before seeing some late movements, swaps and a surprise decision too.

The long-awaited move Ashley Cole (above) had been waiting for finally came to pass, when the lad moved to Chelsea from Arsenal for a fee of $9.5 million plus estranged defender William Gallas. Both have passed their medicals and agreed personal terms with their respective clubs.

The protracted deal was finally sealed nine minutes before the transfer window closed, and puts an end to the long standing “I’m not happy and I want to leave” saga that has started since the tapping-up incident in January earlier this year.

But this move was overshadowed and upstaged by any standard, with the shock acquisitions West Ham United made of Argentinians Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano (below). They have both signed permanent deals with the Hammers for undisclosed fees.

While Tevez, in weeks past, has been eyeing a move away from Brazilian club Corinthians, it was only recently that Mascherano had a fallout with the same club over his availability to play for Argentina in a friendly against their Brazilian rivals. He had skipped training.

It is not clear how West Ham managed to secure the services of these stalwarts, but word is the deals were able to go through because of Media Sports Investment, who own the rights of both Tevez and Mascherano and are financially involved with Corinthians.

MSI were linked with a takeover of the Hammers last season.

With this, all talk about Tevez being linked with the likes of Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea, have been quashed for good. Oh, but speaking of Arsenal (again), they have swapped wantaway Spaniard Jose Antonio Reyes for Real Madrid’s Julio Baptista on loan deals, with an option to make them permanent at the end of the season.

This comes as a welcome relief for Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, who has had to deal with Reyes’ constant declarations of a move to the Santiago Bernabeu. And since Reyes has got what he wanted, perhaps it would be better that he keep his mouth shut and let his football do the talking. For once.

There seems to be some six-degree connection going on here as Madrid themselves have swapped Ronaldo for Inter Milan’s Adriano.

Other movers in the closing stages of the transfer market were Chelsea’s Robert Huth and Real Madrid’s Jonathan Woodgate, who have now officially signed deals with Middlesbrough.

Huth goes permanent with a deal worth SP6 million, while Woodgate is on a season-long loan from Madrid.

Both players have failed to settle at their respective clubs, and in light of the upcoming Euro 2008 Qualifiers, their moves were imminent, and manager Gareth Southgate feels that Boro have acquired two very hungry and passionate footballers. Just perfect for Middlesbrough.

“Both players feel they have a point to prove – and they great thing is they want to do that with Middlesbrough,” Southgate clarified.

For all the other moves made during the summer sale, check out On The Move.