Saturday's World Cup round-up

Reports in the American media suggest the referee who disallowed a last-gasp goal for the United States in their 2-2 draw against Slovenia may have taken charge of his last match at this World Cup.
Fifa sources have apparently suggested that Malawian official Koman Coulibaly's performance in the Group C encounter is to be assessed by the governing body's refereeing committee, and he may not be assigned any more games in the competition.

Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon will have an operation after the World Cup on the back problem which could rule him out of the rest of the tournament. It means he could miss up to four months of the Italian domestic season.
Buffon, who was substituted in his team's opening group match against Paraguay, has a herniated disc and will not feature against New Zealand. The 32-year-old has delayed surgery in the hope of playing some further part in South Africa. 

Didier Drogba is being tipped to start for the Ivory Coast in their match against Brazil on Sunday after making a steady recovery from a fractured elbow.
"Do not be surprised if Drogba starts," said coach Sven-Goran Eriksson, who brought the Chelsea striker on as a second-half substitute in the 0-0 draw with Portugal.

Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar has defended coach Dunga's abrasive style - and likened him to Jose Mourinho, who led Italian side Inter Milan to the treble last season.
Julio Cesar, who played under Mourinho at the San Siro, said: "Dunga is only putting in place a work philosophy. Mourinho did exactly the same as what Dunga is doing now. We won everything with this work philosophy." 

France midfielder Jeremy Toulalan has admitted that his side have failed to operate as a team in South Africa, despite having a number of talented individuals.
The French, beaten by Mexico in their last match, are struggling to make the second round and Toulalan said: "The difference between us and Mexico is that they are playing as a team, and we have 11 individuals. We have high-quality players. What we missed was being a collective on the pitch."

Germany coach Joachim Loew remains convinced his team will still progress to the second round despite the shock defeat against Serbia that means a loss against Ghana could eliminate them from the competition.
"It is obvious that we are going to be under more pressure now, but we will make the round of 16," insisted Loew, who admitted to being "devastated" by the Serbia result. 

Manchester City's Roque Santa Cruz believes Paraguay are capable of reaching the quarter-finals for the first time in the country's history.
"We want to go at least to the quarter-finals. In Paraguayan history it's never been done," declared the striker, who came on as a substitute in the 1-1 draw against Italy.

www.bbc.co.uk

Barcelona 2-0 Inter

Reigning champions Barcelona gave their chances of progression from Champions League Group F a huge boost with a 2-0 home win over Internazionale.
Defender Gerard Pique volleyed an early first from a corner before winger Pedro finished off a sublime move to make it two on 26 minutes, although Inter keeper Julio Cesar was at fault.
Following the earlier 0-0 draw between Rubin Kazan and Dynamo Kiev, the result puts Barca top of the table with eight points. 
Rubin are second and Inter third - both on six points - and Dynamo have five. 
With injuries to key forwards Lionel Messi and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, there were nerves flying around in Barcelona prior to the match.
The Blaugrana had taken only one point from their last two European games and faced the prospect of becoming the first holders since the inaugural Champions League in 1993 to be eliminated at the group stage of the tournament.
Messi and Ibrahimovic were ultimately restricted to the bench, kept in reserve should Pep Guardiola have need of his superstars later in the match.
However he need not have worried: led by the silky-skilled Andres Iniesta, the home side were too good for Jose Mourinho's Inter team on the night.
http://eurosport.yahoo.com

Inter 1-0 Sampdoria

Serie A leaders Inter Milan were knocked out of the Italian Cup on Thursday when a 1-0 semi-final second leg win over Sampdoria fell short of overturning a 3-0 deficit from the teams' first meeting.In the May 13 final in Rome, Sampdoria will face Lazio who completed a 4-2 aggregate win over Juventus on Wednesday.
It will be Sampdoria's first cup final appearance since 1994 where they defeated Ancona while, for Inter, defeat meant their run of four successive final spots came to an end.
Inter were champions in 2005 and 2006 and runners-up in 2007 and 2008.

With three goals to make up, Inter coach Jose Mourinho played three strikers with Mario Balotelli, Julio Cruz and Zlatan Ibrahimovic all starting.
It was Ibrahimovic who was to score the only goal of the second leg with a superb 27th-minute volley although the Swedish international was unfortunate not have celebrated a second when he saw a 37th-minute lob come back off the post.
Sampdoria had their chances with Antonio Cassano and Giampaolo Pazzini both denied by good saves from Julio Cesar.

Inter can now turn their attentions to clinching the league title.
They have a 10-point lead with just six games left to play.

www.bangkokpost.com

Sporting Gijon 0 - 3 Espanyol

Ecuador 1-1 Brazil

Brazil drew 1-1 away to Ecuador in their 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™ qualifier on Sunday thanks to an outstanding performance from goalkeeper Julio Cesar. 

Ecuador outplayed the five-times world champions but were repeatedly foiled by the Inter Milan goalkeeper and then fell behind when substitute Julio Baptista scored in the 74th minute. Another substitute, Cristian Noboa, restored some justice by equalising in the 89th minute, after a pulsating game at the Atahualpa at 2,800 metres above sea level. 
Brazil have 18 points from 11 games in the ten-team South American qualifying group, five behind leaders Paraguay, while Ecuador have 13. Brazil, who drew for the sixth time in the campaign, were short on ambition and Ronaldinho made a negligible contribution before being replaced by Baptista.
"We knew it would be difficult and we didn't play our best football," Julio Cesar told Brazilian television. "Their players didn't stop running for one minute, we stood up well until the end and the goal was a punishment for us all." 

The first half ended scoreless thanks to Ecuador's poor finishing as well as Julio Cesar. The highlight was a double save when he blocked Edison Mendez's free-kick and then saved Joffre Guerron's point-blank shot with his feet from the rebound. 
Julio Cesar also parried a Cristian Benitez shot and got his fingertips to a vicious, swerving Walter Ayovi effort to turn the ball around the post. Benitez twice headed wide while Antonio Valencia thumped a 20-metre shot against the post. The game followed the same pattern after the interval as firstly Benitez was left with a free shot on goal after Lucio misjudged a long ball forward but the Mexican-based striker fired wildly over. 
Brazil were then caught out playing the offside trip as a long ball found Guerron on the right but his close-range volley was brilliantly saved by Julio Cesar. Brazil stunned the crowd when Baptista scored with a shot from the edge of the penalty area, which hit the post, struck goalkeeper Jose Cevallos on the back and rebounded into the goal. 
Ecuador levelled with a minute left when Mendez broke down the right, crossed and Noboa scored from the rebound after Benitez's first effort was blocked. There was still time for Julio Cesar to make another save on the line from a Benitez header.
www.fifa.com