Sports

AMMAN  –– The country’s basketball community gathered on Friday in an informal initiative, setting a precedent in honouring veterans who served the game in the Kingdom.

In what was an emotional reunion for the basketball community, coach Ibrahim Jaafari, whose name is etched in the memory of many players from schools to clubs to national teams, was the first recipient of the Jordan Basketball Legends Award at a breakfast hosted at the Orthodox Club. 

“I was so happy that everyone we approached was so supportive. Ex-players displayed the dedication and loyalty which I hope will be contagious and be relayed to the new generation of players,” said Riyadi Secretary General Fadi Sabbah, who led the organising committee of the ceremony.

“The basketball legends breakfast will honour a veteran of the game each year, someone who has had an impact on the game, made a contribution to his society and has had a positive impact in general,” Sabbah told The Jordan Times.

The event was supported by the Jordan Basketball Federation as well as ex-players, coaches, referees, former officials and Aramex and Umniah companies.

Speakers at the event included former minister of sports and current Ahli club president Saeed Shuqum, former West Asia and Jordan Basketball Federation president and now league commissioner Mudar Majdoub, among others. Proceeds of Friday’s breakfast will support the development of Jordanian coaches and two coaches will be sent to advanced clinics this year.

Jaafari led Jordan to a 4th place finish at the 1983 Asian Basketball Championship, a feat which led late veteran journalist Nazmi Saeed to dub a Jordanian sports team as “Nashama” for the first time. At the time, Saeed said Jaafari is a “national hero who deserves recognition”.

Jaafari played on the Palestinian national team from 1964-1967 before moving to Jordan in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. He later played on the Jordanian national team and the military team. 

The former coach –– who gave so much to the game –– said he does not yet have a Jordanian national number, a fact which would have hindered his participation on national teams under current regulations, and currently continues to affect his children and family in civic issues.

LONDON –– Liverpool can eliminate one of their two rivals from the Premier League title race by beating Chelsea on Sunday and the way the dice is rolling for them they might even have one hand on the trophy by the end of the weekend.

If Brendan Rodgers's side overcome second-placed Chelsea at Anfield and notch a 12th consecutive league win it would knock Jose Mourinho's side out of the reckoning and should Manchester City then fail to beat Crystal Palace a little later a first title for 24 years would be almost assured.

“If” is a notoriously fickle word in the often unpredictable Premier League, but Liverpool have built up a seemingly inexhaustible head of steam and with Chelsea having one eye on next week's Champions League semifinal against Atletico Madrid the omens look good for the Anfield club.

What is more, City are up against a Palace side on a five-game winning spin that has lifted the threat of relegation — a run that includes wins over Chelsea and Everton.

With Chelsea having drawn 0-0 in Madrid on Tuesday but suffering injuries to keeper Petr Cech and skipper John Terry, Mourinho has made no secret of the fact that the Champions League has now taken precedence over the domestic title scrap.

While the Portuguese, known for his mind games, has not actually conceded the title, he has said he wants to send out a weakened side at Anfield on Sunday despite knowing victory there would put them within touching distance of Liverpool with two games remaining.

"I know what I would do, but I'm not the club. I have to speak with the club," Mourinho said after the Atletico draw.

"I would play with the players that are not going to play Wednesday."

Having been deprived of striker Samuel Eto'o and Eden Hazard for the first leg in Madrid, Mourinho would be loathed to risk them against Liverpool and with Cech and Terry sidelined his starting lineup will likely have an unfamiliar look on Sunday.

Whatever distractions Chelsea have, however, Liverpool will be acutely aware that they have a poor record against the west London club with Mourinho in charge.

The Portuguese has won six and lost just once in eight league meetings with Liverpool.

Rodgers has steadfastly refused to get caught up in title talk but should the best case scenario occur on Sunday his side would be nine points ahead of City who would only have three games left to play, compared to Liverpool's two.

The Northern Irishman's calm assurance, aligned with skipper Steven Gerrard's influential displays at the heart of midfield and Luis Suarez's goals have underpinned Liverpool's march.

Results have also gone their way with bottom club Sunderland taking points off Chelsea and Man City, but keeper Simon Mignolet stressed it also showed the dangers that lurk at every turn.

"Three points was all that mattered at Norwich [in their last game]," Mignolet told Liverpool's website.

"Before the game the manager told us that Chelsea's defeat [against Sunderland] was a warning sign — that it showed what can happen in the Premier League against any team.

"We've seen with the points Chelsea and City have dropped recently that every single game in this league is tough.

"There are no signs of nerves. There is no point making ourselves nervous before a match."

After playing Chelsea, Liverpool visit Palace and finish at home to Newcastle United. City's game in hand next week is away to Champions League chasing Everton before home matches against lowly Aston Villa and West Ham United.

While City battle to keep alive their title hopes, outgoing Manchester United will aim to end a tumultuous week with victory over relegation-haunted Norwich in what will be Ryan Giggs's debut as manager.

The evergreen Welshman, who could even name himself in the side, was put in charge for the final four games of the season following Tuesday's sacking of David Moyes.

Norwich, who are one place above the drop zone, could probably not have picked a worse time to visit Old Trafford where a backlash is expected now the shackles are off in the wake of Moyes's troubled 10-month reign.

Below them bottom club Sunderland host fellow strugglers Cardiff City on Sunday in a match both sides will be desperate to win while defeat could spell doom in the fight to stay in the top flight.

Fulham, who are second from bottom, have a gilt-edged opportunity to climb out of the bottom three if they beat Hull City on Saturday.

BARCELONA –– Real Madrid took a step closer to an elusive 10th European Cup with a 1-0 home win over Bayern Munich on Wednesday and the Spanish side will hope to finish off the job in Germany having shown how effective they are on the counter-attack.

Before the match, Bayern coach Pep Guardiola had warned that Real were the world's best side on the break and even though Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale were only half-fit, they terrorised the German champions' backline with their surging runs.

The duo should be in prime condition for next week's return Champions League semifinal leg at the Allianz Arena, where Real will hope to enjoy more success on the counter-attack and book a first final appearance for 12 years.

"It wasn't a case of him [Ronaldo] holding back but he wasn't 100 per cent. He did few full-out sprints but for us the most important thing was that he played. He worked hard to be there and we are happy," Real coach Carlo Ancelotti told reporters after the win at the Bernabeu.

Ronaldo had not played since the beginning of April due to knee and hamstring problems and the Italian took him off for the final 20 minutes, replacing him with Bale, who had been suffering from a heavy cold all week.

"The substitution was a decision that we took before the game as the injury risk was higher after an hour of the game because the muscles would be tired," Ancelotti added.

Bayern domination 

"It worked out fine and it was normal that after 20 days out that you are not 100 per cent but he gave his all and will be better next Tuesday as will Bale."

Bayern's early domination had looked ominous for the hosts but with the German side unable to fashion clear-cut chances, Real's quick breaks posed a far bigger threat to visiting fullbacks David Alaba and Rafinha pushing up the pitch.

By contrast, Real's own fullbacks Daniel Carvajal and Fabio Coentrao were regularly able to cause problems, getting forward frequently with the latter setting up Karim Benzema for the only goal of the match in the 19th minute.

"We had clear chances because this team is formidable on the break. It is normal that against Bayern you counter-attack more and to do that you have to defend well," Ancelotti said.

"The higher up the pitch that you defend the better, and in the second half the pressure on us was less," he added.

"I don't like the other team having the ball but obviously you can't have it all the time and Bayern have a clear philosophy.”

"Now the second leg will be difficult. We have to play with confidence and be motivated. Anything can still happen in Munich."

SAO PAULO/RIO DE JANEIRO –– Rio de Janeiro’s legendary Maracanã Stadium was in a frenzy. Brazil had trounced the Spanish world champions. Yet 73,000 football fans could scarcely send a text message to celebrate.

The final of the 2013 Confederations Cup, a dress rehearsal for this year’s World Cup, was a promising 3-0 victory for Brazil’s national team but a bad omen for its cellphone network.

Despite costly investments and another year to prepare, phone companies are still struggling to provide adequate coverage of key sites for the tournament starting in June.

Several stadiums were delivered months late and work at major airports remains unfinished, forcing the telecoms industry to cut back and in some cases even cancel planned investments.

“Where we don’t have much time, we probably won’t be able to give complete coverage for the stadiums,” said Eduardo Levy, head of a Brazilian industry group tasked with preparing cellphone coverage at World Cup venues.

If the problems from last year recur, it may be hard for fans to make a phone call at a big game, let alone upload photos or peruse social media.

Jerome Valcke, secretary general of football’s governing body FIFA, said recently he was deeply worried that in most cases communications for fans and media will not be fully tested before the tournament begins.

“We don’t want Brazil to be remembered as the worst World Cup of all time because the journalists could not get their stories out to the rest of the world,” Valcke said.

The risk of an embarrassing World Cup outage is just one consequence of an explosion in mobile data use outpacing the growth of Brazil’s cell network.

That pattern of soaring demand and stagnant investment has dogged much of Brazil’s economy, leading to logjams on major highways and airport tarmacs as well as phone networks.

Carriers already have a reputation in Brazil for spotty coverage and lousy service, making them one of the most resented industries judging by consumer complaints.

Chastened by the fallout from the Confederations Cup, the telecoms industry asked for 120 days to install and calibrate networks in six new stadiums delivered this year.

It got less than 70 days in the southern city of Curitiba and in Sao Paulo, which will host the World Cup’s prestigious opening match on June 12 and a semifinal in early July.

Teams of 100 technicians are now working day and night to set up stable coverage in the seating sections of those stadiums, but there will likely be dead spots in surrounding concourses, parking garages and temporary structures, Levy said in an interview.

“At the airports, our intention was to carry out exactly the same project designed for the stadiums,” he said. “But many airports won’t be ready in time. We’ll do external coverage.”

AMMAN –– Ramtha play Faisali on Thursday in the return leg of the 34th Jordan Cup quarter-finals.

Ramtha, who beat Faisali 1-0 in Leg 1, will seek to repeat their win and advance to the semis.

Strict measures will be applied in the match by officials after the Jordan Football Association (JFA) penalised Ramtha for unsportsmanlike conduct during their league match against Shabab Urdun. Ramtha will play their next league match without fans.

Other quarter-final matches saw Baqaa beat Sheikh Hussein 2-0 after a 5-2 win in Leg 1. Titleholders That Ras held Wihdat 1-1 and Leg 2 has been postponed as well as the Shabab Urdun-Hussein match due to AFC Cup matches. The JFA competitions committee is soon to release the amended season’s agenda which was set to end May 31. 

Last season (2012/13), That Ras, a newcomer to the Jordan Professional League, won the Jordan Cup — their first ever major title. 

Faisali are a record 17-time winners of the Jordan Cup. Wihdat were champs nine times, Ramtha and Shabab Urdun twice while Jazira and Arabi and That Ras won once. 

This season’s first title — the 31st Cup winners’ Cup — went to Shabab Urdun after they beat That Ras in the first of the three major local events on the 2013/14 calendar.

LONDON –– It will be no consolation to David Moyes or Manchester United but, in stark statistical terms, Moyes enjoyed more success in his first — and last — 51 matches in charge at Old Trafford than Alex Ferguson did.

The reality is, however, that Ferguson had another 1,449 games to prove himself as the greatest manager in English football history while Moyes can only imagine what might have been if the United board had kept faith in him as their predecessors did with Ferguson 27 years ago.

Ferguson left Aberdeen to come to Old Trafford, replacing the sacked Ron Atkinson, on November 1, 1986, and his first match as United manager ended in a 2-0 defeat at Oxford United.

That loss left United 20th in the 22-team First Division with 13 points from their opening 14 games. Liverpool was top, as they are today.

Ferguson's first win came on November 22 when a first-half goal from Danish midfielder John Sivebaek gave United a 1-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers in front of 42,000 at Old Trafford.

But early results were generally indifferent, with a defeat at Wimbledon and draws with Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa leaving United just three points clear of bottom club Chelsea heading into Christmas.

Gradually the tide began to turn and a 1-0 win at Liverpool on Boxing Day, with Norman Whiteside scoring the only goal, was the first flickering of what the future held in store.

United, who had started the season under Atkinson with three straight defeats and were bottom in September, finished the season in 11th place with 14 wins, 14 draws and 14 defeats.

It was not until the start of the following season that Ferguson's influence really began to be felt.

Exactly a year after he took over, United were fifth, with just one defeat in their opening 14 games, and they ended his first full season in charge as runners-up to Liverpool, beaten only five times in their 40 league matches.

Better start  

But Moyes, who was dismissed by United on Tuesday, made a better start than Ferguson.

Despite a disjointed pre-season and United's failure to bolster the squad sufficiently in the August transfer window, Moyes' first official match in charge ended in a 2-0 win over FA Cup holders Wigan Athletic in the Community Shield.

His first competitive match was also probably United's best performance under the 50-year-old in the Premier League — a 4-1 win at Swansea City on the opening day of the league season.

A goalless draw with Chelsea at Old Trafford followed before Moyes' team were beaten for the first time, 1-0 by Liverpool at Anfield.

But it was the second defeat that really sounded the warning bells when Manchester City came to Old Trafford on September 22 and swiped United aside 4-1.

City had taken an early lead through Sergio Aguero but the match was evenly poised. It was what happened next that suggested things were changing for the worst at Old Trafford.

Yaya Toure, Aguero again and Samir Nasri scored three goals in a five-minute spell either side of halftime to put City 4-0 ahead. Wayne Rooney scored a late consolation for United but the boos and jeers around the ground at the end left no one in any doubt what the fans thought of such a capitulation.

Ferguson had no European distractions in his first season in charge but they provided a welcome relief for Moyes as United came through the group stage of the Champions League unbeaten.

United had recorded a 5-0 win at Bayer Leverkusen along the way, the only time they scored five under Moyes and their best victory of the season.

They also went unbeaten in all competitions for two months between the beginning of October and the beginning of December and then won six successive games in the second half of December before results turned against them again.

Ferguson's first 51 games at United produced 23 wins, 17 draws and 11 defeats. Moyes' first 51 ended in 27 wins, nine draws and 15 defeats.

Ferguson had to wait four years until he finally brought silvereware to the club when United beat Crystal Palace to win the FA Cup in 1990.

In today's cut-throat football world, Moyes never stood a chance.

MADRID — Real Madrid and Bayern Munich renew their storied European rivalry in the Champions League on Wednesday knowing only one of the football heavyweights will advance to the final.

The first-leg semifinal at Madrid’s Santiago Bernabeu Stadium marks the 20th time the clubs will meet in the continent’s top competition, and marks Bayern coach Pep Guardiola’s first return to Spain since leaving Barcelona.

Nine-time champion Madrid, coming off their Copa del Rey triumph over Barcelona, are looking to end a run of three straight semifinal exits to reach their first final since 2002.

The clubs have met in five European Cup semifinals with titleholder Bayern winning four of those, including when they ousted Madrid two seasons ago on penalties.

Here are five things to know ahead of the opening match: Ronaldo, Bales set: 

Cristiano Ronaldo is set to return against Bayern after the Madrid forward completed a full training session on Monday for the first time since hurting his left leg. Ronaldo was nursing a sore knee before the muscle injury popped up and left the Portugal international, who is tied for the Champions League record of 14 goals in one season, sidelined for four games. 

Gareth Bale, meanwhile, missed Monday’s training due to flu but should be available. His late winner in the 2-1 Copa del Rey final win over Barcelona delivered Madrid their first piece of silverware this season. Madrid, which will enjoy a full week off before the match, will also likely be able to count on fullback Marcelo returning from injury.

Bayern injuries:  

Manuel Neuer should be fit to line up in the Bayern goal after recovering from a calf injury. The Germany goalkeeper missed the German Cup semifinal win over Kaiserslautern and the 2-0 league win at Eintracht Braunschweig on Saturday but returned to running exercises last Thursday. 

“I feel quite good. I presume I’ll be able to play,” said Neuer, who trained over the weekend, as did injured defenders David Alaba and Diego Contento. Neuer’s deputy, Tom Starke (elbow), and Spanish midfielder Thiago Alcantara (knee) are out. 

Improvement needed:  

After failing to impress in Saturday’s win at bottom side Eintracht Braunschweig, Bayern know they need to improve for arguably their toughest games of the season.

“We won’t reach the final if we don’t produce two outstanding performances,” said Bayern coach Pep Guardiola, whose side failed to win in three Bundesliga games after clinching the title.

“We’re a good team when we play at full throttle. We’re not at our best level at the moment and it’s clear to us we need to improve.” 

Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said Bayern on Wednesday need “at least one goal. That was shown by the Dortmund against Real Madrid games”. Dortmund lost 3-0 in Madrid and were eliminated despite beating the Spanish side 2-0 at home.

Touch choices:

Carlo Ancelotti’s lineup to face Bayern will be a tough choice, as midfielder Isco has been stellar in stepping in for the injured Ronaldo. 

But the Spain international looks set to be sacrificed with Ronaldo’s return and Angel Di Maria’s continued good form. Ancelotti elected to keep Di Maria over Mesut Ozil last summer, selling the Germany playmaker to Arsenal. 

‘The black beast’: 

Dubbed “la bestia negra” or “the black beast” by fearful Madrid fans, Bayern have come to represent a thorn in the side of record nine-time winner Madrid. 

Bayern, a five-time winner, have won
semifinals in 1976, 1987, 2001 and 2012, with Madrid’s sole win coming in 2000. Altogether, Bayern have 11 wins from the sides’ 20 meetings, with Madrid’s seven wins all coming at home. 

Madrid are unbeaten at home in the Champions League for 17 games dating to 2011, when Guardiola guided Barcelona to a 2-0 victory. 

Guardiola has never lost as a coach at the Bernabeu. Madrid do have a wild card in coach Ancelotti, who have never lost in six meetings against Bayern including four victories.

MADRID  –– Atletico Madrid sent Jose Mourinho packing without a major trophy in his final season in Spain and the surprise Champions League semifinalists are itching to land another blow on the Portuguese coach.

Mourinho’s Chelsea play their last four, first leg at the Calderon on Tuesday against an Atletico side riding high in La Liga and through to the semifinals of Europe’s elite club competition for the first time in 40 years.

In Mourinho’s third and final campaign at Real in 2012-13, they had been knocked out of the Champions League by Borussia Dortmund and Barcelona had wrapped up the La Liga title when they hosted Atletico in the King’s Cup final at their own Bernabeu Stadium.

But Miranda’s extra time header secured a 2-1 comeback win for Diego Simeone’s inspired Atletico side in an action-packed and ill-tempered clash in which Mourinho and forward Cristiano Ronaldo were both sent off.

“You don’t have to be a magician to tell that the result of the final was not fair, that Atletico is not a just winner,” Mourinho told a post-match news conference.

Now back at Chelsea, Mourinho is seeking to avenge that bitter reverse as he makes his latest bid to become the first manager to win the European Cup with three different teams after triumphing with Porto in 2004 and Inter Milan in 2010.

He and his expensively assembled squad face a stiff task against an Atletico team who are top of La Liga and closing on a first domestic league title since 1996 when a team featuring Simeone won a La Liga and King’s Cup double.

Atletico warmed up for Tuesday’s clash with a 2-0 win at home to Elche, while Chelsea slipped to a shock 2-1 home reverse to Premier League strugglers Sunderland, Mourinho’s first league defeat at Stamford Bridge in 78 matches.

Mourinho refused to answer questions after the game and appeared to blame the referee for Chelsea’s setback, which severely damaged their title chances, rather than his players.

“They did everything they could,” he told a news conference.

“They fought, they played from the first to the last second and they deserve that [praise],” added the 51-year-old.

“Sometimes we praise them when we win but I think it’s fair to praise my players after a defeat.”

Loan deal

There has been some doubt over whether Atletico goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who is on loan from Chelsea, would be able to play against his parent club but Simeone said after the Elche game the Belgium international will feature.

As part of the loan deal, the two clubs agreed a penalty clause that meant Atletico would have to pay a hefty fee to deploy Courtois against Chelsea but governing body UEFA said such a clause was against competition rules.

“Nobody has said anything to me so as it stands he will play,” Simeone said. “It is not an issue for dialogue as far as we are concerned.”

The Cup final defeat to Atletico was the only blemish on Mourinho’s record against them with Real, who won all eight of their other meetings during his tenure.

However, Atletico are the only unbeaten side left in the Champions League and have won all five of their home matches in the latest edition, including superb victories against former winners AC Milan and Barca.

The winners of the tie will play Real or Bayern Munich in the final in Lisbon on May 24.

AMMAN — Shabab Urdun host Bahrain’s Rifaa on Tuesday while That Ras play Oman’s Suweiq on Wednesday in the last matches of Round 1 of the 2014 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Cup 4.

That Ras have already booked a spot in Round of 16 of the competition after holding group leaders Lebanon’s Safaa 0-0 to finish second in Group A. The Jordan Cup holders beat Tajikistan’s  Ravshan 5-1  and 3-2, lost to Safaa 1-0 and scored a 1-0 win over Oman’s Suweiq.

Shabab Urdun’s inconsistent form in the Jordan Professional League has reflected on matches in the Asian scene as well. After losing 3-2 to group leaders Iraq’s Erbil last week they finished third in Group D. Their wins came over last placed Kyrgyzstan’s Alay Osh 1-0  and 2-1. Shabab Urdun lost 2-0 to Bahrain’s Rifaa and went down 3-1 to Erbil.

That Ras, a virtually unknown team to the sports scene in Jordan up till less than nine years ago, are now third in the league behind Wihdat and Faisali.

That Ras beat Wihdat 1-0 in the Jordan Cup and coach Ahmad Abdul Qader noted his team was aiming to advance further in the AFC Cup. 

“We are aiming to come back with a win from our match in Muscat,” he underlined, adding his team had a good season “thanks to the club management, fans and the relentless efforts of the squad”.

Shabab Urdun won the second-tier Asian club competition in 2007 and last year won the league title for the second time. However, they had an inconsistent form and are now 7th in the league. This season, Shabab Urdun were eliminated by Bahrain’s Al Hidd in the preliminary round of the AFC Champions League.

They also lost to Al Hidd in Round 1 of the Arab Football Association Clubs Cup.

The 11th edition of the AFC Cup includes 32 clubs from across the continent competing in eight groups with the top two in each group going on to the Round of 16.

SAO PAULO — Tickets for nearly two-thirds of the World Cup matches were sold out within hours of FIFA opening the final online sales phase on Tuesday.

Five hours after sales opened on FIFA's website, there were tickets available to only 20 of the 64 matches. Only 15 matches still had tickets available 10 hours into the sales phase.

FIFA said 126,837 tickets were requested within the first four hours. Football's governing body had put nearly 200,000 tickets on sale on a first-come, first-serve basis in this last phase.

"With less than two months to go, this is the last chance for fans to secure their tickets for football's flagship event," FIFA marketing director, Thierry Weil, said.

The match with the most tickets still available was Bosnia-Iran in the northeastern city of Salvador. There were also plenty of entrances left for Greece-Ivory Coast in the nearby city of Fortaleza and for Nigeria-Bosnia in the wetlands city of Cuiaba.

Only a few second-round matches remained on sale late Tuesday.

Ten high-demand matches were not available from the beginning, including the Brazil-Croatia opener on June 12 and the final at the Maracana on July 13. The other eight matches were: Mexico-Cameroon, England-Italy, Argentina-Bosnia, Brazil-Mexico, Spain-Chile, Cameroon-Brazil, Croatia-Mexico, and Australia-Spain.

FIFA said Brazilian citizens got 63 per cent of the tickets (80,496) on Tuesday, followed by fans from the United States, Colombia, Argentina, Germany, Mexico, France, England, Chile and Australia.

A total of about 3.3 million tickets will be sold for the first World Cup in Brazil since 1950. FIFA said more than 2.5 million tickets have already been allocated, including through FIFA's hospitality programmes. The general public has purchased about 1.5 million.

FIFA is expected to put more tickets on sale as soon as it knows more about the seating charts at the venues that still haven't been completed. Of the 12 World Cup stadiums, three are yet to be finished, including the one hosting the opener in Sao Paulo.

Ticketing centres will open on Friday, but tickets can only be purchased over the counter beginning on June 1. This last sales phase will remain open until the day of the final.