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May 14, 2005

Hains Sails Into Peace Process Storm


News about Ireland and the Irish

IO 05/13/05 Hain Sails Into Storm Over Peace Process
IO 05/13/05 SF Accused After New Threat To McCartneys
IO 05/13/05 Warplanes In Irish Airspace Costing Taxpayers Millions
SF 05/13/05 Anti-Jewish Attacks 'Sickening' Says Doolan
GU 05/13/05 Review: Ghost Portrait
BT 05/13/05 How I Got Rid Of My Old Crime Habits
SC 05/13/05 World Cup Round-Up

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http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=9311044&p=93yyx9x&n=9311132

Hain Sails Into Storm Over Peace Process

13/05/2005 - 15:41:27

Peter Hain was at the centre of his first political storm in Northern
Ireland tonight after he was accused of rewriting British government
policy there.

Democratic Unionist leader the Rev Ian Paisley lambasted the new Northern
Ireland Secretary after he told the DUP and Sinn Féin in his first
interview since taking over at Stormont there could only be forward
movement in the peace process.

With the DUP insisting the British government should press ahead with
setting up devolved government without Sinn Féin or devise a more
accountable system of direct rule, Mr Hain said yesterday: "There was an
agreement seven years ago endorsed by referendum, both north and south,
in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland and no agreement in
modern living memory has had that type of endorsement.

"Therefore you cannot just discard part of it. I understand both where
the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin are coming from but that's
not the end of the story.

"I think both parties know that that is not the end of the story.

"Certainly in my preliminary discussions with them, very good
discussions, I think everybody realises that there is no reverse gear on
this process.

"It's what forward gear you take. Do you stay in neutral or select a
forward gear?"

But his comments drew an angry reaction from Mr Paisley who said the
minister was going back on promises on changes to the Good Friday
Agreement which were made to the DUP by the British Prime Minister and
Secretary of State in last year's negotiations.

The North Antrim MP said: "Before we were prepared to take part in the
previous talks we told the (British) government we had to get this matter
sorted once and for all and we asked: was there going to be an
opportunity to the amend the Agreement?

"If not, we had nothing to say.

"We went into talks on the fundamentals of the Agreement and asked them
to define what they were. They were twofold.

"Firstly, all parties at the table must be in agreement that there must
be a democratic government where every person in it was bound by the
democratic process only.

"Secondly as far as the Agreement was concerned, the only part that had
to be agreed was that all parties, if elected and provided they adhered
to the first principle, should be in government.

"We accepted those and on that basis went into the talks and agreed
certain changes to the Agreement.

"Now we have a Secretary of State coming into Northern Ireland and within
days he is telling us that the Agreement was the greatest thing in living
memory, giving it his endorsement and insisting no part can be discarded.

"We have to know has the British government's policy changed? If that is
the case, let them spell it out to the people of Northern Ireland. Let
(Prime Minister) Tony Blair speak.

"Mr Hain better realise that he is not in some Welsh valley. He is in
Northern Ireland which is part and parcel of the United Kingdom and which
will still be part of the United Kingdom.

"Is he actually telling us now as far as this election is concerned it is
going to have no influence over what the British Government is going to
do?"

During last week's local government and Westminster elections, the DUP
greatly strengthened its mandate, capturing three extra House of Commons
seats and 52 more councillors across Northern Ireland.

The Ulster Unionists' vote dramatically slumped, with David Trimble among
four MPs who lost seats and 40 councillors also among the casualties.

Mr Trimble quit as UUP leader this week and tomorrow the 108 party
executive will decide during an elections post mortem how they will
handle any leadership election.

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http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=117418100&p=yy74y868x&n=117418709

SF Accused After New Threat To McCartneys

13/05/2005 - 18:48:00

Sinn Féin and the IRA were under renewed pressure tonight following
threats to burn down the homes of the family of murdered Belfast father-
of-two Robert McCartney.

Politicians on all sides queued up to condemn Sinn Féin and paid scant
regard to president Gerry Adams' protestations that republicans were not
behind the threats to the sisters of the man an IRA member stabbed to
death in January.

Police visited the sisters - and Mr McCartney's partner Bridgeen Hagans -
to tell them "criminal elements" were threatening to burn down their
homes and the business one of them runs.

The women believe they are being targeted by republicans for their
campaign to bring their brother's killer to justice.

Mr McCartney was stabbed in a pub used by republicans and his family
believes the IRA was involved in the murder, with one of them accusing
Sinn Féin of being part of a cover-up.

Northern Ireland Office minister Angela Smith said the threats were
"beneath contempt".

She said she was shocked they could ever be made. She had admired the
dignity of the campaign for justice mounted by the sisters.

New Northern Ireland Security Minister Shaun Woodward said he took the
threats "extremely seriously",.

Mr Woodward was given details of the warnings issued to the McCartneys
during his first security briefing with senior Police Service officers.

He spent nearly two hours with the Deputy Chief Constable Paul Leighton
and other officers during a visit to a North Belfast police station.

He said: "I have huge respect for the members of that family and what
they are trying to do and intimidation, wherever it happens is a very,
very bad thing."

He added: "People should be able to live in Northern Ireland without fear
of intimidation. I fully support the family in everything they are doing
and I fully support what the police are doing and I encourage anybody in
Northern Ireland to come forward and help.

"By coming forward, by being brave, by helping with this thing you will
achieve a lifestyle for people in Northern Ireland which is one everybody
should be able to expect."

Mr Woodward went on a brief walkabout in North Belfast, and visited the
'peace line' which separates rival republican and loyalist communities.

While he was in the station 10 members of Sinn Féin, including four local
councillors and Shankill bomber Sean Kelly staged a protest outside the
police station to highlight their allegations of security force collusion
in loyalist murders.

By the time the Security Minister emerged from his briefing the
protesters had gone. Mr Woodward said he was disappointed not to have met
them and urged them to visit him to voice their concerns.

He said: "I was really looking forward to meeting that group of people
that were outside the police station when I was inside. Unfortunately
they had gone 20 minutes after I was made aware they were there. I say to
them come and see me I'd like to talk to you, it is important that people
here understand I am here to listen."

Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams said he condemned the threats to the
McCartneys but claimed they were not the work of republicans.

He said: "I want to deny that republicans are involved and I do that
without any qualification whatsoever.

"Whatever the family may or may not believe or what they may or may not
say, no republican is involved in any threat against this family."

He said he was quite sure that if the Police Service of Northern Ireland
believed republicans were responsible, they would have said so.

But Sammy Wilson, Democratic Unionist MP for East Antrim, rejected the
denial saying Sinn Féin and the IRA had gone back to violence now that
the election was over.

"What interest would criminals have in the political campaign of the
McCartneys, unless Sinn Féin are now outsourcing such disciplinary
matters to criminal gangs."

Mr Wilson added: "The Sinn Féin leopard has not changed its spots and its
true colours are now being more clearly seen with the election out of the
road."

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http://212.2.162.45/news/story.asp?j=75696852&p=75697zz6&n=75697323

Warplanes In Irish Airspace Costing Taxpayers Millions

13/05/2005 - 01/01/1900 15:28:01

Taxpayers have forked out millions of euro to cover the cost of military
jets flying over the country, it emerged today.

With more than 100,000 troops passing through Shannon Airport this year
alone Roisin Shortall, Labour Party transport spokeswoman, said it was
shocking that the public were footing the bill for warplanes using Irish
airspace.

Ms Shortall said the Government needed to re-think the policy of granting
foreign air forces free access to flight paths.

"I believe that the public will be shocked and surprised to find that the
Irish taxpayer is actually paying for the privilege of allowing these
aircraft to fly though Irish airspace," she said.

"Ireland is clearly a significant loser here as very few Irish military
flights over-fly other countries, but our position on the edge of Europe
means that many foreign military flights go through Irish controlled
airspace."

The Labour TD noted other neutral countries including Austria, Finland
and Switzerland did not grant exempted status to US military flights.

"Surely it is time for Ireland to consider adopting a similar policy,"
she said.

"It is bad enough that we should be allowing US military flights to use
our airspace and to land at Shannon, but it is surely totally
unacceptable that the Irish taxpayer should be having to foot the bill
for these flights."

The Department of Transport confirmed the Irish Aviation Authority was
reimbursed to the tune of €10m for flight charges since 2000.

The figures showed a threefold increase in cost over the last five years.
In 2000 charges ran to €1,139,283, in 2001 €1,377,560 and in 2002
€1,642,541.

The fees hit €2,148,374 in 2003 and last year the bill paid for by
taxpayers reached €3,687,933.

The Department of Transport was unable to break down the nationality of
military aircraft flying over the country.

But in a separate response to a question tabled by Ms Shortall it emerged
110,766 US troops passed through Shannon this year, more than double the
47,149 for the same period in 2004.

The Department of Transport confirmed the free flying deal was part of a
Eurocontrol agreement.

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http://www.sinnfein.ie/news/detail/9573

Anti-Jewish Attacks 'Sickening' Says Doolan

Published: 13 May, 2005

Sinn Féin Dublin City Councillor, Daithi Doolan, reacting to the
continuing racist and anti-Semitic campaign in the Dublin South East
area, has called on those involved in the campaign to desist from their
"hateful activities". He described the attacks as "sickening" and said
they were without justification.

Cllr. Doolan said, "These worrying and indeed sickening anti-Semitic
attacks have been escalating in this area over the last few months. Such
attacks are sectarian, and they are absolutely abhorrent and
unacceptable. There never was nor could there ever be any justification
whatsoever for such attacks. But condemnation is not enough. Robust
action is needed. I would like to welcome Dublin City Council's decision
of last Monday to agree to deal rapidly and effectively when graffiti of
a racist or sectarian nature appears around the city."

Cllr Doolan went on to say, "I would call on those involved in this
campaign to desist from your hateful activities." ENDS

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http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/generalfiction/0,6121,1483560,00.html

Review: Ghost Portrait

by Gregory Norminton

General fiction: The amoral Maze
The wit and humanity of Louise Dean's tale of the Troubles, This Human
Season, impress Lisa Allardice

Saturday May 14, 2005
The Guardian

This Human Season
by Louise Dean
372pp, Scribner, £12.99

There is a lot of blood, shit and tears in this novel - and cigarettes.
Louise Dean has said that she couldn't have researched and written this
book if she didn't smoke herself, and it's not hard to see why. Set in
Belfast in the bitter autumn of 1979, during the run up to the Maze
prison hunger strikes, This Human Season is an ambitious leap for Dean.
Her first novel, Becoming Strangers, was a deliciously misanthropic
comedy about two disgruntled couples on what turns out to be a final
holiday for them all. It won the Betty Trask Prize, was long-listed for
the Guardian First Novel Award and was one of the unexpected entries on
last year's Booker longlist. Not bad for an ostensibly lightweight novel
by an unknown author.

Becoming Strangers was distinguished not only by its large slug of
cynicism, but by the compassion and humour Dean brought to a thoroughly
miserable set of affairs and people. Most impressive was the ease with
which she inhabited the minds of a wide range of characters - each of
them fairly unremarkable, if not downright unpleasant. Northern Ireland
during the Troubles is an altogether less sunny proposition for a novel
than a holiday complex in the Caribbean, but Dean's empathy and even-
handedness qualify her - an English woman with no direct experience of
the situation - to tackle such a sensitive subject.

It also gives her moral detachment. Dean is interested in individual
tragedy - the messy overspill of the political and the personal. Although
This Human Season represents both sides of the conflict, it isn't crudely
split along religious lines. Instead, the narrative is divided between
the story of Kathleen Moran, a Catholic mother of four, whose eldest son
is "on the blanket" in the Maze, also known as Long Kesh, and a "fully
paid-up atheist", former British soldier John Dunn, who has just taken a
job at the prison.

With one son locked up, another heading the same way and a drunken
husband with whom she long ago fell out of love - if she ever loved him
at all - Kathleen Moran is fighting a losing battle against a historical
impasse that seems bigger even than her God. A risky fling with a
charismatic Sinn Fein representative offers a brief respite from domestic
drudgery and doorstep tragedy, but Kathleen is first and foremost a
mother. With gentle insight, Dean reveals the painful reality of the
platitude that every victim of war is some mother's son.

After life in the army, John Dunn doesn't think working at Long Kesh will
be a big deal. But he is unprepared for the stench, corruption and
mindless brutality of life in the Maze. It pays well. But it also makes
him a target in a recent spate of IRA killings of prison officers. He has
more to lose these days. Dunn shares a rented semi in a loyalist suburb
with his girlfriend Angie. He likes her. They have lots of sex. However,
life gets more complicated with the unexpected arrival of an 18-year-old
son, whom he never knew he had. Dunn has never considered himself a
"deep" man, but suddenly he's worrying about things that never troubled
him before.

Apart from the all-pervasive Troubles and impersonal prison exchanges
between Dunn and Kathleen's son, the two stories don't meet. Where the
double act created by the unhappy foursome in Becoming Strangers could
seem contrived, here the strict pattern of alternating chapters is used
to create moving or grimly comic contrast between chaotic domesticity and
prison depravity. Occasionally, however, the reader is reluctant to leave
the warmth of the Moran household for the chillier world of Dunn. This,
above all, is a story of two parents trying to do the best for their sons
and daughters in a hostile world, in which they themselves feel as
helpless as children.

While Dean is more at home with the Morans and motherhood, she pulls off
the smutty mess-room banter of the "screws" as convincingly as the fag-
fuelled kitchen-table gossip of Kathleen and her sister. But it's not
just the dialogue that is spot on. The novel is pinned to its era as much
by the details as by historical events: Dean's working-class late 70s is
a world of Morecambe and Wise, tinned pineapple halves, Jamaica sponge
cake and the Nolan Sisters. In an echo of the memorable scene in the film
The Shawshank Redemption when the prisoners stand rapt in the yard as The
Marriage of Figaro is illicitly broadcast over the loudspeakers, one of
the guards blasts Pink Floyd's The Wall through the block; the young
republican protesters find a rallying anthem in the song that extends
beyond their cause to speak for a disaffected generation. The narrative
lurches towards Christmas and tragedy with ugly inevitability. The two
stories end balanced somewhere between hope and utter hopelessness, the
reader left doubly undone.

Dean is an audacious arrival in British fiction. She is unafraid to
tackle unsexy or unsafe material, or to stray beyond the domestic sphere.
With the difficult second novel, so often a disappointment, she has
significantly upped the stakes and succeeded. Where This Human Season
could easily have been earnest or preachy it is funny and humane. And -
most refreshing of all - Dean is only noticeable in her narratives by her
conspicuous absence. We will undoubtedly be hearing more from her.

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http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/features/story.jsp?story=638133

How I Got Rid Of My Old Crime Habits

Ulsterman Gary McCormick (36), a former UDA man, is one of the stars of
The Monastery, the TV show that sent five men from different backgrounds
to live with Benedictine monks at Worth Abbey for 40 days and 40 nights.
Gary, who is single and originally from Larne, tells Gail Walker how the
monastic life finally helped him deal with the horrors of a past life
that included crime, prison and a near-fatal punishment beating

13 May 2005

As a former loyalist paramilitary I'm the last person you'd expect to
find living in a Catholic monastery. After all, I'd been a thief, gone on
assorted crime rampages and been in and out of prison many times.

My life was in freefall and I was hooked on alcohol, soft drugs and
gambling. My last spell inside came when I made a hoax bomb call in
London and was promptly arrested. The court case made the national news
and I was handed a two year sentence.

By that time I'd even fallen foul of my cohorts in the UDA, who'd given
me a punishment beating that I'd feared was going to kill me.

I hadn't exactly made a great success of my life and, even though I'd
become a Christian 15 years previously, I'd so much guilt at what I'd
done to others that I never seemed to move forward properly.

So when a TV programme offered me the chance to experience life at Worth
Abbey in West Sussex with 22 Benedictine monks, I seized the opportunity.
And I can honestly say that what happened to me there was extraordinary -
and has finally helped me put the agonies of the past behind me.

I was brought up in Larne in a working class Protestant family. I'd an
older brother and a younger sister, but I never felt that I fitted in. I
always felt 'different' and I had this great fear inside me - but I
couldn't have told you what I was afraid of.

I also had this wonderful imagination, but everything that stemmed from
it seemed so negative. I'd see people in town and be convinced they were
out to get me, even though these people had no idea who I was.

My mother spoke to me recently about what an unusual child I'd been. She
said that I had never wanted any love. I had never cried. Instead I was
independent, remote and with such a low opinion of myself. To this day,
I've no idea where that came from. Mum was a nurse and dad was a builder
and it certainly wasn't anything they did to me; it was just something
that was in me.

I was also constantly seeking attention and, at 12, I was hanging around
with a gang of 15-year-olds who seemed tough and streetwise. With them,
I'd my first real taste of danger, breaking into a community centre and
stealing sweets. Next, we broke into a shop. But, soon afterwards, the
police caught up with me and I went before the juvenile court and got a
year's probation.

THE single worst thing that happened to me took place when I was 13. It
left a bigger scar on me than anything else - including prison. One
morning at high school I was waiting to go into a classroom when a note
was pushed under the door towards me. 'Gary McCormick is the class reject
and nobody in the class is to speak to him,' it read. I felt sick.
Suddenly it had been confirmed to me that everything I thought about
myself was true.

After that I had to spend all day, every day, on my own. No-one would
speak to me. I decided the only way to save face was to completely rebel
- and petty crime became a way of life.

I ended up being sent to Whitefield, a special school in Belfast. There,
I met the most incredible teacher, Robert Clark. 'Don't ever give up on
me, will you Mr Clark?' I once said to him and, years later, he admitted
those words had stuck with him more than any others anyone had ever said
to him. Later, when I was in prison, he'd turn up to visit me and I'm
still in touch with him today. He never did give up.

Mr Clark helped me so much at Whitefield, but three months later I was
back at high school. By the end of that school year I was 15 and in
Rathgael remand centre for a month. When I got out the younger kids on
the estate idolised me, which I loved. But, in a bizarre way, I'd felt
safe in Rathgael and so was determined to get back inside as soon as
possible. That's when I made my first hoax telephone bomb warning,
knowing it would be traced back to our house and I'd be caught. It worked
and I was sent back to Rathgael.

But I was going completely off the rails. One night in the remand centre
a group of us had a glue-sniffing session, then broke out by flinging a
rubbish bin through the window. Out on the street I stole a stereo from a
young man and a handbag from a woman. We broke into a big house at
Ballywalter, but fled when the owner faced us with his shotgun.

We stole a car, went to a friend's house in Antrim, then on to
Ballyclare. That night we committed about 80 crimes, leaving a trail of
devastation. I got 12 months in a Young Offenders Centre.

When I got out I joined the UDA. I'd always had a fascination with
Loyalism, but from the outset I'd a niggling feeling I'd got myself mixed
up in something too big for me. Worse, I was a slabber with drink in me
and one weekend I got drunk and started saying the UDA commanders in
Larne were this and that.

Shortly afterwards they came to a house in the town where I was playing
cards. 'Who have you been mouthing off at?' they demanded as they started
headbutting me. I remember the owner of the house saying: 'He's not
bleeding on my new carpet. If you're going to shoot him take him
somewhere else.'

They put me in the footwell of a car and drove me to Belfast. I remember
wondering if they'd kill me quickly? I prayed: 'God, if you're there
please help me. Don't let them kill me.' They pulled up at waste ground
and beat me with baseball bats for 15 minutes. Afterwards the doctors
said I must have bones like breeze blocks because neither my legs nor
arms were broken, though I had holes all the way down them.

After I got out of hospital I was arrested for a petrol bomb hoax I
hadn't done. I hadn't the strength to stand up to the interrogation and
so I admitted the crime and was sentenced to two and a half years in a
Young Offenders Centre. Deep inside I was highly relieved because I felt
safe from the UDA.

I got to know a girl, Jenny, and when I was released we planned to start
a new life on the Isle of Man. Her father loaned me £500 to go over there
and look for work but I threw all but £30 away on slot machines on the
boat over.

Still determined to get away from Northern Ireland, I went to work in
London. Friends found me a job as a labourer at Canary Wharf. I was 22
and earning £300 a week. The work was hard, from 7am to midnight, and I
started taking amphetamines to keep up.

I was still drinking heavily too. I came back home for my granny's
funeral so out of it that I smashed the windows of my parents' house. The
next evening as I left for the airport my father told me: 'Never come
back.'

My life rapidly spiralled out of control. I started drinking until I was
blacking out. I also began to wet myself when drunk. With nowhere to
live, my foreman at Canary Wharf took pity on me and invited me to sleep
on their sofa. But I was still drinking every evening and wetting their
sofa and they threw me out.

One day at work I told my boss I needed to go home. I was hungover and
had been smoking joints all night. He refused to allow me to leave, so I
told him I'd make sure we all went home and walked into his office,
phoned the police and told them there were bombs planted in a nearby
tower block.

I was sentenced to two years in Camp Hill prison on the Isle of Wight.
Desperate to change my life around, one day I opened a Bible and the
verse that jumped out at me was Philippians 4:19: My God shall supply all
of your needs in Christ Jesus.

This time I knew God was speaking to me personally. From jail I went to a
Christian halfway house in Preston. I felt so confident that I'd be able
to turn my life forward within a year. But 15 years later I know how
wrong I was.

For a while I began drinking again and going out with different women
every night. One night I planned to go out, get drunk and kill myself.
But I ended up paralytic outside a pastor's house early the next morning.
God had other plans for me.

I spent the next 12 months at Teen Challenge, a Christian rehabilitation
centre for drug and alcohol addicts. Then I started working with David
'Packie' Hamilton, another former loyalist prisoner, at Life Challenge in
Manchester, teaching drug awareness in schools.

I SUPPOSE I thought becoming a Christian would make life easy, but the
reality was very different. At one point, visiting Sweden with a
Christian group, I fell in love with a local girl, Anna. We set up home -
being Christians that was a decision we both wrestled with - and in the
end it broke us up. I've steered clear of love ever since . . .

But the stuff I've dealt with since being in the monastery has taken my
life forward in leaps and bounds. Our day started at 5.30 and we went to
church six times a day. Ironically, having been used to confinement and
rules in prison undoubtedly helped me adapt to the monastic life, and I
found the silence, the humility, the obedience, the time to think, all
very good. It was also the first time I had felt free.

I've let God down a lot over the past 15 years, but that experience has
definitely contributed to me finding a new focus for life. I can't
pretend it was all rosy when I left the monastery but I was able to cope
better.

I live in Cornwall and work as a builder. As a single person, juggling
long days at work with running my home, it was wonderful to be given that
time with the monks to evaluate and reassess.

There was so much stuff inside me that I hadn't dealt with; I never
talked about it because I was scared to look at it. Now here I am,
appearing on a TV programme and talking to a newspaper. I'm reconciled
with my parents and they are so proud of me for turning my life around.
It's easier to get into trouble than out of it.

Who knows what the future holds, but after my spell in the monastery I
feel more confident, positive and excited about life than I've ever done
before.

I believe I have a destiny in this life and that it is not going to end
in a negative way for me.

n The Monastery, Tuesdays, BBC2, 9pm

Me And My Bleeding Mouth: the painful true story of Gary McCormick (Day
Three Editions, £6.99)

**********************************

http://sports.chron.com/default.asp?c=chron&page=soc-
wc/news/CWN2127630.htm

World Cup Round-Up

Seoul, Korea (Sports Network) - A look at team-by-team performance at the
World Cup finals after Brazil beat Germany 2-0 in Sunday's final:

France arrived as defending champions and departed after the opening
phase winless and goalless -- the worst record of any titleholder. An
aging squad had nothing left to offer after winning on home soil four
years ago and then Euro 2000 and was torn apart mentally following injury
to Zinedine Zidane. He came back to face Denmark, but a 1-0 opening day
loss to Senegal and a goalless draw against Uruguay in which Thierry
Henry was sent off meant the task had become impossible. The Danes won 2-
0 and French pride was shattered.

Denmark's Jon Dahl Tomasson was the star for Denmark in the opening phase
with his four goals redeeming his flop five years ago at Newcastle. The
striker came to the finals as a UEFA Cup winner with Feyenoord which had
already earned him a move to AC Milan. Two goals against Uruguay -- a
penalty against Senegal and then yet another goal against France showed
brilliant predatory instinct. Then nothing, as the Danes were hit by
three-goal blast in the opening half by England in the second round.
After a promising start Denmark left without a whimper.

Senegal shocked defending champions France in the opener and held the
Danes before surviving a Uruguayan fightback from 3-0 down as the
eventual draw proved just enough. Against the Swedes in the second round,
Henri Camara scored twice, including the extra-time golden goal winner.
In the quarterfinals Senegal's luck ran out, however, when it lost to
Turkey on Ilhan Mansiz's golden goal.

The Uruguayans provided a brilliant goal from Dario Rodriguez in its
first match against the Danes, but once it fell to a pair of Jon Dahl
Tomasson goals, the South Americans appeared to lose confidence.Following
its first- round elimination, coach Victor "fat man" Pua stepped down

Paraguay went up 2-0 against South Africa before slipping to a draw. But
against Slovenia the Paraguayans staged an extraordinary comeback to win
3-1 despite spending much of the match with only ten men after an early
dismissal for Carlos Paredes. Paraguay, needing a two-goal win and for
Spain to defeat South Africa in the other match, looked out for the count
after Milenko Acimovic put Slovenia into a 1-0 halftime lead. But veteran
boss Cesare Maldini Paraguay rang the changes, sending on Nelson Cuevas,
who bagged two goals, and another from fellow substitute Jorge Campos.
The Paraguayans thus made the last 16 by virtue of goals scored after the
South Africans lost 3-2 to Spain. But after holding out against Germany
for 88 minutes Oliver Neuville's late goal dumped them out.

Slovenia made its World Cup debut, but it was one it preferred to forget
as it lost all its matches.

South Africa lost to Paraguay, but rescued a point with Quinton Fortune's
last-gasp penalty. Siyabonga Nomvethe's early winner over Slovenia led
South Africa to its first win in the finals. But just when it seemed a
first ever qualification for the second phase was in the bag Spain ruined
it all with their 3-2 win in a match the South Africans needed only to
draw.

Yet again Spain failed to live up to expectations -- but in many ways it
wasn't their fault -- two apparently legitimate goals from Ruben Baraja
in normal time and Fernando Morientes in extra time were disallowed in
the quarters against South Korea. The game went to penalties and the
Koreans won after skipper Hong Myung-Bo fired home their winner with
Spain's Joaquin missing the target.

Having won the Cup a record four times, Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari
got the best out of his players in Asia and it made it five title wins.
And with Ronaldo winning the golden boot, Brazil beat Germany 2-0 with
the 25-year-old twice on target. To start the tournament, Brazil labored
to see off Turkey, going a goal down before a late Rivaldo penalty
brought a narrow win. China were packed off easily and finally the attack
clicked against Costa Rica - though the de fence looked feeble. A
disallowed 'goal' for Belgium helped in round two as Rivaldo and Ronaldo
found the net and then Ronaldinho's tremendous mazy run and pass for
Rivaldo and then equally brilliant freekick sank England in the quarters.
In the semis Ronaldo's toe-poke was sufficient to see off the Turks a
second time.

China's debut appearance turned out to be a huge flop as it failed to
score a single point or goal. China was the record fifth nation Bora
Milutinovic had coached at the World Cup Finals. He resigned at the end
of the tournament.

The Costa Ricans beat China, but lost to Brazil. And its failure to beat
Turkey was to prove decisive for Paulo Wanchope and company.

Turkey was arguably the shock team of the event. The opening defeat to
Brazil was unlucky as the South Americans benefited from a penalty
decision in a 2-1 victory after the Turks had two men sent off. A draw
with Costa Rica left the Turks precariously placed, but the routine win
over China saw a team which was starting to gel. And in rain-soaked
Miyagi Turkey defeated co-hosts Japan 1-0. In the last eight in only its
second ever World Cup, Turkey downed Senegal and advanced to the last
four thanks to a golden goal from Ilhan Mansiz. Brazil ended Turkey's
run, but Hakan Sukur finally got off the mark in a record 11 seconds as
the Turks took third place by beating South Korea 3-2.

Tournament co-hosts South Korea had a goal of progressing from the first
round, but it advanced to the semifinals -- riding the wave of support
from millions of red-clad fans who thronged the streets. The Koreans,
guided by Dutch coach Guus Hiddink, ensured Asia's best ever finish at a
World Cup. A team that had never even won a World Cup finals match before
the tournament put that right with a 2-0 win against Poland before
beating Portugal to win the group. Italy was beaten with a golden-goal
winner from Ahn Jung-Hwan and Spain was overcome in a penalty shootout
after a match condemned by the Spaniards for biased refereeing. A Michael
Ballack goal ended its hopes in the semifinal against Germany, and it
lost to Turkey in the third-place match.

The Americans shocked the world when it went up three goals on Portugal
and held on for a 3-2 victory. In a tense atmosphere it held South Korea
to 1-1 thanks to a Brad Friedel penalty save from Lee Eul-Yong. Bruce
Arena's side slumped to Poland, but goal difference took it through to
the second round where Brian McBride and Landon Donovan hit the target in
a famous win over regional rivals Mexico. German defensive stability and
a penalty for handball which wasn't given knocked the Americans out in
the quarters when they could have pulled off a major upset. The States
had its best tournament since 1932.

A disastrous tournament for the 2000 European Championships
semifinalists. World Footballer of the Year Luis Figo flopped miserably,
apparently struggling with injury while Joao Pinto was sent off and
embroiled in an alleged punching incident involving Argentinean referee
Angel Sanchez in the heated South Korea match. A 4-0 win over Poland
including a Pauleta hat-trick promised better things, but the Koreans
snuffed out any hope in Incheon.

Surprisingly poor performance from a team that had easily qualified for
the finals. Top-class goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek was beaten twice in the
opener to South Korea, and Portugal fired four goals past him in the
second match as striker Emmanuel Olisadebe misfired. A 3-1 win against
the United States saved some pride.

Cameroon came as Olympic and African champions, but left in the shadow of
Senegal. Failure to beat Ireland meant that the Germany match became
crucial to its hopes of advancing, but the team lost to the Germans.
Cameroon beat the Saudis -- but by less than its two main rivals.

Germany proved that even in the midst of an injury crisis it will always
contend. But Ronaldo's Brazil proved a cut above in the final.The Germans
registered the highest win at any finals for 20 years against the
outclassed Saudis, 8-0, but then had to beat Cameroon after conceding a
late equalizer against the Irish. Miroslav Klose grew into Germany's most
potent weapon since Gerd Muller. His five goals, including a hat-trick
against the Saudis, helped it through the opening phase, but after that,
he failed to add to his tally. Against Paraguay it was Oliver Neuville
who struck, and Michael Ballack saw off the United States in the
quarters, and he struck again to end South Korea's amazing run in the
semis. Ballack's yellow card in that game saw him suspended for the final
-- and he was sorely missed.

Ireland skipper Roy Keane was sent home before the side's first match,
but the team proved strong as Mick McCarthy's side reached the second
phase. The Irish held both Cameroon and Germany, the latter thank's to
Robbie Keane's late strike. It notched more than one goal in a World Cup
match for the first time against the Saudis. But it lost to Spain in a
penalty shootout.

Saudi Arabia was crushed by Germany, 8-0, before losing to Cameroon and
Ireland.

Along with France, the Argentines were the real flops of the event.
Gabriel Batistuta's header beat Nigeria, but David Beckham's penalty gave
England a win in the most eagerly-awaited match of the first round. Its
draw with Sweden wasn't enough as the Swedes had done enough to join
England in the last 16.

England looked as if they might have blown its chances with two dropped
points against the Swedes in the 'Group of Death'. Instead, it beat
Argentina and took a point from Nigeria to advance. Against the Danes,
three first-half goals, Michael Owen getting off the mark, made for an
easy win. But Brazil in the quarterfinals despite Owen's opener.

The Nigerians could have snatched a point off Argentina, but thanks to
Batistuta's forehead it didn't quite pull it off. Sweden tipped the Super
Eagles over the edge. A point against England in the heat did not nothing
to lift the gloom.

Sweden had England on the ropes in their 'Group of Death' opener and
might easily have claimed all three points. Henrik Larsson scored a
double against Nigeria and although a late Hernan Crespo goal saved
Argentine blushes in a 1-1 draw, Anders Svensson had scored earlier to
get the point that the Scandinavians needed. Against Senegal, however,
Sweden was less effective as Henri Camara's double, the second a golden
goal, sent the Swedes out.

Croatia's amazing win over Italy proved to be a fluke as it slumped out,
beaten by little Ecuador. The fact the Italians had two goals disallowed
helped, but Croatia was not playing well and lost to a Mexican penalty in
their opener. The loss to Ecuador caused the roof to cave in.

As World Cup debutants Ecuador was not outclassed by either Italy or
Mexico before beating the Croatians. Edison Mendez scored the goal which
will go down in the annals of Ecuadorean footballing history.

Italy's talent didn't produce desired results. First-round survival
looked in doubt after the Croatian loss, but Ecuador helped to push the
Croatians through the exit door. And then came the Koreans and Ahn Jung-
Hwan's winning header in extra-time. For Italy it was the referee's fault
-- the man in the middle Ecuador's Byron Moreno. Moreno incurred the
wrath of the Italians when he sent off Francesco Totti for diving and
disallowed what would have been an extra-time winner by Damiano Tommasi.

The Mexicans didn't need the win against Italy in the first round, and
the last few minutes neither side made any effort to force the pace. But
after raising expectations those hopes were dashed with a feeble showing
against the fired-up Americans.

The Belgians barely held on for a draw with Japan and then reserved its
best for Russia after another draw with Tunisia. Marc Wilmots scored the
winner in an entertaining encounter with the Russians in a must-win
match. But his wrongly disallowed goal against Brazil meant it was
journey's end, although it did win the fair-play award.

English-based midfielder Junichi Inamoto gave Japan its first ever World
Cup win against Russia. But getting through the group was an achievement
in itself and it could have beaten Belgium before second success did
arrive against Tunisia. But Turkey proved too much for the Japanese.

The Russians' two first-round defeats led the team out of another
tournament of underachievement.

The Tunisians didn't have any potent weapons, but its draw with Belgium
was a creditable result with Raouf Bouzaiene on target for the North
Africans. But against an ambitious Japan and a fired-up home crowd it
slid to the loss which sent them out.

07/01 12:03:20 ET
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Posted by: Unknown / 12:13 AM
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