Translated material
Hiddink won another place
The main changes in the rankings occurred due to the American and Asian Cups, as well as the CONCOCAF Gold Cup. Thus, due to the victory at the America's Cup, the Brazilian national team topped the ranking, rising from third position. Behind it is Argentina, which lost to the Pentacampeons in the final of the continental open championship. The semi-finalists of the same America's Cup, the teams of Uruguay and Mexico made impressive leaps, overtaking many European teams on sabbatical. Now Uruguay is in 19th position, and Mexico is in the top ten teams in the world.
Of the Russian team's rivals in the European Championship qualifying group, the highest position - seventh place - is occupied by the Croatian team, but Hiddink's team has already played both matches with it. The British, with whom we still have two meetings ahead, are in 12th place, Israel are in 33rd place, and the Russians' closest rival, the Macedonian team, with whom we will meet on September 8, is in 60th position.
FIFA rating. 1. Brazil - 1500 points. 2. Argentina - 1476. 3. Italy - 1368. 4. France - 1357. 5. Germany - 1311. 6. Netherlands - 1195. 7. Croatia - 1192. 8. Portugal - 1146. 9 Spain - 1144. 10. Mexico - 1142... 12. England - 1097... 17. Ukraine - 973... 23. Russia - 879... 33. Israel - 788.. . Andrey VDOVIN
Davydenko lost to the Frenchman Serra
In the first round of the tennis tournament in the Dutch Amersfoort (prize fund 353,450 thousand euros), Russian Nikolai Davydenko lost to Frenchman Florent Serra - 6:4, 1:6, 1:6. According to Davydenko, the recent Wimbledon tournament took a lot of energy from him, which cannot but affect his physical form.
Another domestic tennis player, Mikhail Youzhny, also complained about the same problems, who beat the Argentinean Vassalo Argueyo in the first round the day before yesterday - 6:2, 7:5. Youzhny explained that during the previous tournament in Gstaad, Switzerland, where matches were postponed for several days due to rain, he was able to regain his strength. The break due to bad weather came in handy.
The Muscovite's next opponent in Holland will be the Romanian Victor Hanescu. Before the fight, Youzhny said that Hanescu is not stable in his game, but if he is in shape, he is very dangerous, especially on clay. “In general, I view all these tournaments as preparation for the American series,” explained Mikhail Youzhny.
Apparently, Igor Andreev shares this point of view. In the first round, he defeated Serbian Janko Tipsarevic - 6:1, 6:1. The initiative of the winners was also supported by Evgeny Korolev, who dealt with the Argentinean Sergio Roitman - 7:5, 7:6 (8).
At another tournament in Los Angeles (prize fund $525 thousand), Russian Igor Kunitsyn defeated Argentine David Nalbandian - 7:6 (5), 7:5. This season doesn't seem to be going well for Nalbandian. Injuries take their toll and prevent the athlete from playing to his full potential.
Meanwhile, it became known that Lleyton Hewitt had changed his coach. Tony Roche, who previously collaborated with Roger Federer, became the new mentor of the Australian tennis player. “I expect a lot from this preparation. We know what needs to be done to get me back on the tennis Olympus,” Hewitt said. Olga ERMOLINA
The Champions League has started
Russian figure skater Evgeni Plushenko (pictured) returned to St. Petersburg from Munich a few days ago, where he underwent knee surgery. The athlete is currently undergoing a recovery course at one of the sports dispensaries in the city on the Neva and will begin ice training no earlier than the end of August. Initially, Plushenko planned that post-operative rehabilitation would take two weeks, but doctors insist on a month's break.
According to the President of the All-Russian Figure Skating Federation Valentin Piseev, who called the athlete, Plushenko is eager to perform on amateur ice again and is very optimistic. According to Valentin Piseev, Plushenko had “two 2.5 cm long cartilages removed from his knee, and the pus was pumped out.” German doctors confirmed that the operation was successful. Olga ERMOLINA
Plushenko will take to the ice at the end of August
The first matches of the UEFA Champions League were played, the final of which will take place on May 21 next year in Moscow at the Luzhniki Stadium. The champions of Andorra, San Marino and Montenegro are represented in the tournament for the first time. In the opening match of the first qualifying round of the tournament, Georgian Olimpia played a draw (0:0) with Kazakh Astana, led by Russian specialist Alexander Irkhin, and the team leader is multiple Russian champion Viktor Bulutov.
The first goal was scored in the meeting of the Azerbaijani Khazar with the Zagreb Dinamo, which ended with a not very successful result for the Croatian cube - 1:1. Dynamo, whose budget is more than 30 million euros, and most of the players are in the sphere of interests of large clubs, were counting on more.
The return matches of the first round will take place on July 24 and 25. There are three qualifying rounds in total, during which teams will be selected to join the other participants in the group stage.
Champions League. First qualifying round. First matches . "Olympia" (Georgia) -- "Astana" (Kazakhstan) -- 0:0, "Khazar" (Azerbaijan) -- "Dynamo" (Zagreb) -- 1:1, "Apoel" (Cyprus) -- BATE ( Belarus) - 2:0, TNS (Wales) - Ventspils (Latvia) - 3:2, Zeta (Montenegro) - Kaunas (Lithuania) - 3:1, Lindfield ( Northern Ireland) - Elfsborg (Sweden) - 0:0, Murata (San Marino) - Tampere (Finland) - 1:2. Andrey VDOVIN
The strongest gymnasts of Russia gathered in Chelyabinsk
Yesterday in Chelyabinsk the Russian Artistic Gymnastics Championship in all-around and the Russian Cup in certain types of all-around started, which will last until July 21, 2007. The country's strongest gymnasts and female gymnasts will take part in the competition.
According to the head coach of the Russian national team, Andrei Rodionenko, the current tournament is important, since based on the results of this start, two national teams will be formed, one of which will compete at the World Championships in September, the second at the Universiade in Bangkok. Olga ERMOLINA