ITALY EXPECTS BENEFIT FROM ALTITUDE TRAINING

IRENE, South Africa(AP) Italy's team doctor says two weeks of training in the Italian Alps has benefited the World Cup holder as it prepares for matches at high altitude.

Team physician Enrico Castellacci said Thursday that compared with last year's Confederations Cup in South Africa - in which Italy fell at the group phase - players are not having trouble catching their breath or sleeping through the night.

Italy spent 15 days preparing for the World Cup in Sestriere - at an altitude of 2,035 meters (6,670 feet) - and sluggish performances in friendlies against Mexico and Switzerland last week prompted fears they'd overdone altitude training.

However Castellaci said "you can't say that there's a Sestriere effect. We've adapted to the altitude.''

Read more »

URUGUAY, FRANCE HAVE POINT TO PROVE

CAPE TOWN, South Africa(AP) Uruguay and France each have a lot to prove in their opening Group A game at the World Cup on Friday.

Although they have won three World Cups between them - Uruguay in 1930 and '50, France in '98 - both are a shadow of their former selves.

The French are predictably embroiled in tournament turmoil and look ill equipped to reach the final like it did four years ago under Zinedine Zidane's leadership. While Uruguay hasn't advanced past the round of 16 since reaching the semifinals 40 years ago.

Both teams reached the tournament in South Africa in identical circumstances, too, scraping through their playoffs 2-1 on aggregate after difficult qualifying campaigns that offered little reassurance to either coach.

Prestige and previous titles aside, there is little to suggest either France or Uruguay have what it takes to dominate a group which also includes host South Africa and Mexico.

"The match will be decisive for the rest of the tournament. We can't lose it,'' France midfielder Jeremy Toulalan said.

Hardly fighting talk, but understandable considering how little confidence France has these days.

France's training facilities and lodgings in the quiet town of Knysna are perfect, but coach Raymond Domenech's team is taking flak from all angles back home, with angry politicians, former players and grumpy fans lining up to predict the worst.

That was also the case two years ago - when France went out of the European Championship without winning a game - and in 2006, when Domenech's team was lambasted before it had kicked a ball at the World Cup in Germany.

But the vitriol has a far nastier edge than before, especially toward Domenech, who is cutting an increasingly aloof and distant figure amid rumors that unrest is rife in the squad.

William Gallas, who has decided not to speak to the media for the duration of the tournament, reportedly resents Patrice Evra being given the captaincy instead of him now that former leader Thierry is on the bench.

French sports daily L'Equipe even speculated this week that midfielder Yoann Gourcuff is so unpopular within the squad that senior players have demanded that Domenech pick Arsenal's Abou Diaby to play instead of him on Friday.

""You don't always get affinities in a team, some people get on better with others,'' Toulalan said. "You don't all have to like each other to win games.''

Recent French results have done little to improve the mood, particularly last Friday's 1-0 defeat to China. In its other two warmup games, France conceded sloppy early goals against Costa Rica and Tunisia.

None of those teams had anything remotely like the strikers Uruguay boasts in Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez, who scored 77 goals between them for their clubs this season.

"We can't afford to start games like that at this level. That's the first thing to put right,'' France midfielder Florent Malouda said. ``We have to keep a clean sheet. That's the base of any good team. It's out of the question for us to start the competition by conceding a goal in the first 15 minutes.''

Forlan, however, thinks it would be a mistake to consider France as a poor team.

"I look at the friendly games just to analyze how they were playing,'' he said. ``I do not keep in mind the results. It was a friendly match and the result doesn't count. The World Cup is another competition and they will not play the same.''

Forlan scored 28 goals for Atletico Madrid this season - including both goals to help the Spanish team win the Europa League final against Fulham - and Suarez scored an incredible 49 goals in 48 games for Ajax, including six hat tricks.

"They are a very good team, I don't think Raymond needs to tell us that,'' France defender Bacary Sagna said. "They're very clever and technical, they're all good footballers, especially Forlan and Suarez. But the danger can come from the midfielders pushing up, so we need to talk together more and concentrate better.''

France is expected to line up in an attacking 4-3-3 formation, but the newly formed central defensive partnership of William Gallas and Eric Abidal is a potential weak point Uruguay's strikers could exploit.

Curiously, France and Uruguay had the same results when they both reached the World Cup in unconvincing fashion.

France won 1-0 in Ireland and drew 1-1 at home, while Oscar Tabarez's Uruguay team won 1-0 in Costa Rica and was held 1-1 in Montevideo.

"The team has improved,'' said Forlan, who scored in friendlies against Switzerland in March and Israel last month.

After Friday's game, host South Africa will play Uruguay on Wednesday, while France plays Mexico the next day.

Read more »

Pic of the Day - 10th June

A dog competes during the 5th annual Loews Coronado bay resort surf dog competition in Imperial Beach, south of San Diego, California on May 22, 2010. (Photo: AFP)

Read more »