Win over Nassr gives Madrid Real chance of making final

The idea of the event was to enable clubs from all parts of the globe to have a chance to be crowned world champions.

That accolade has until now been traditionally bestowed onthe winners of the Intercontinental Cup final between the club champions of Europe and South America. England’s Manchester United, who beat Brazil’s Palmeiras in the 1999 Intercontinental Cup, are thus the current world champions.

But on the evidence of the opening day of this new tournament, it is those two continents that will keep their stranglehold on the crown with neither the African nor Asian representatives coming close to a shock. At least there were many talking points although a crowd provisionally estimated at between 17,000 and 25,000 was not encouraging.

Certainly top of the agenda was Corinthians’ second goal which in effect decided the tie after Luizao had already given the Sao Paulo outfit a 50th minute lead from close range.

Defender Fabio Luciano saw his shot bounce down off the crossbar but it did not cross the line.

Polish linesman Jacek Pociegiel clearly did not think it was a goal but Braschi overruled him.

It was an uncanny echo of the famous incident in 1966 at Wembley whichwent a long way to deciding the World Cup final between England and West Germany.In that match, the score was 2-2 when England’s Geoff Hurst saw his shot hit the bar and bounce down. Swiss referee Gottfried Dienst correctly consulted his Soviet linesman Tofik Bakhramov, who said the goal was good.

Subsequently TV evidence suggested that Bakhramov was mistaken but England went on to record a 4-2 win.

This time, the linesman appears to have got it right and the referee wrong.Real, meanwhile, earlier served notice that they are serious contenders for the title with a convincing 3-1 win over Al Nassr, who are representing Asia.And just to put the icing on the cake, their much-maligned French striker Nicolas Anelka finally scored his first goal for the club, although it was very much a freak strike. A Fahad Al Husseini penalty levelled the match on stroke of the interval but second-half scores from Raul and Brazilian Savio, also from a penalty, ensured the Meringues registered the points.

Bahja was by far AlNassr’s best player and frequently tested the mettle of the Real rearguard but was often ploughing a lone furrow with Al Nassr’s Yugoslav coach Milan Zivadinovic employing a 5-4-1 formation.

Real have performed dismally in Spain’s Primera Liga this season but this performance will restore hopes they can dominate the infancy of this tournament as they did when the fledgling European Cup was launched in the 1950s.

Anelka must have felt that the gods were finally on his side when he scored after 22 minutes although the 20-year-old former Paris St Germain and Arsenal striker knew little about it.

Set up by Jose Maria Guti, Anelka was beaten to the ball by Al Nassr defender Ibrahim Al Shokia. The defender went to clear his lines but the ball struck Anelka and went straight into the goal over the head of stranded Saudi goalkeeper Mohammed Babkr Khojalli.

A sheepish Anelka did not celebrate although, after failing to score for his new club after his acrimonious $ 38 million move from Arsenal in the summer,he must have been a relieved man. But just as Real were prepared to consider the first half a job well done, the Saudis hit back on the stroke of half-time. Colombian referee Oscar Ruiz Acosta awarded a penalty after a foul by Real’s French World Cup-winner Christian Karembeu on Ahmed Bahja. The penalty was expertly converted by Al-Husseini. The equaliser pleased the majority of the fans, who were supporters of Sao Paulo outfit Corinthians, who are Real’s principal rivals in Group A. Real’s best attacking work came from their two Brazilians Roberto Carlos and Savio while Al Nassr were lacking in ambition.

In the second half, Real took a firm grip with goals from Raul, one of their few homegrown players, and Savio. But it was a dreadful bungle from goalkeeper Babkr Khojalli that allowed Raul to restore Real’s lead.Babkr Khojalli fumbled a harmless looking ball from Cameroonian Geremi towards his own goalline and Raul rushed in to get the final touch and at least spare the goalkeeper the embarrassment of anown goal.

Anelka was also at the heart of the move that led to the penalty although again it was the hapless Khojalli who conceded it by felling the Frenchman in the area. Savio made no mistake from the spot.

Group B, at Rio de Janeiro’s Maracana Arena, begins and most pundits expect Manchester United and Rio outfit Vasco da Gama to fight it out at the expense of Mexico’s Necaxa and Australia’s South Melbourne.