This “FIFA recommended 2-Star certification” (comprising individual tests after installation) is the prerequisite for the official approval of artificial turf playing surfaces for national and international competitions.

The only complaint Harrison had was the level of silicone grains spread out over the field that come to the surface on various spots. “The artificial grass fibers have the correct length and once the silicone situation is corrected and the grains are removed, players, coaches and FIFA will be very happy and satisfied”, Harrison remarked.

However, Peru’s football federation has already announced it may select Cusco as the primary venue for its home games because of its high altitude to which visiting teams would have to adapt. It remains to be seen how many games will actually be played in Peru’s national stadium.

The 2010 Football World Cup is scheduled to take place between 11 June and 11 July 2010 in South Africa. It will be the first time that the tournament has been held on the African continent, leaving Oceania as the only populated continent never to have hosted the event.

All football confederations have yet to start the qualification process for this World Cup. The South American CONMEBOL qualification process will again feature a league system (home and away matches) for a single group of 10 associations. The provisional start date is September or October 2007.

By disposition of the world’s main football entity, this Preliminary Round will only be played in stadiums where all spectators are seated.

Wolfy Becker

After being whisked away by ambulance in the pandemonium of his triumphant arrival to Belem, Martin insisted he have his own personal doctors to take care of him. He is currently safe in a hotel room and doctors say his condition is stable but he will still need a few days of recovery and rest.

Martin Strel, nicknamed the “fish man”, began his endeavor in Atalaya, Peru on February 1st. With his arrival in Belém, located about 2400 kilometers north of Rio de Janeiro, he broke his own world record in long-distance swimming for the fourth time: in 2000 he swam 3,004 km on the Danube river, then he mastered the 3,797 km Mississippi in 2001 and the 4,003km Yangtze in China in 2004.

For the Amazon he trained and prepared for almost two years and gained more than 20 kilos of weight. Supposedly he always brings a load of Slovenian wine – and drinks a bottle a day to stay in a good mood.

But this time he reached his upper limit, despite the “fuel”. “He’s hit point zero”, his son and project coordinator Borut Strel said. “The finish was the hardest part”, Strel said. “The closer I got to the end the less kilometers I swam because the waves from the Atlantic Ocean are pressing against the river’s stream. Sometimes I felt like I was pushed backwards.”

Within nine weeks the fish man lost twelve kilograms of weight. At times he was in such pain that his crew had to pull him out. “At one point they had to take me to a hospital for a heart examination. But everything was okay.” Cramps, infections, chronic insomnia – Strel kept on going.Besides piranhas, sharks and alligators, the marathon man was threatened by parasites like the inconspicuous freshwater fish Candirú.

The 2.5 centimeter long catfish has a reputation among the natives as the most feared fish in its waters, even over the piranha because it is attracted to urine or blood. If the bather is nude it will swim into an orifice (the anus or vagina, or even the penis—and deep into the urethra). It then erects its spine and begins to feed on the blood and body tissue just as it would from the gills of a fish.

Strel was wearing a wet suit and he was lucky. “I just think the animals have accepted me”, he said. “I swam with them for such a long time, they must now think I am one of them.”

Strel does not plan to set another record. “I will not swim the Nile”, he revealed. “Although it is longer it is just a little creek. The Amazon is much wider and mightier. And it has something else: grandeur.”

Luis Horna and Ivan Miranda won Saturday’s doubles match against Santiago Gonzalez/Antonio Ruiz-Rosales with a dramatic 3-set victory, all of them decided by tiebreakers: 7:6 (6-1), 7:6 (6-3), 7:6 (6-1).

Especially Miranda and Gonzalez had to mobilize their last reserves. Just hours earlier on Saturday morning both players had to resume their singles match which was suspended in the fourth set Friday night due to darkness. At the time Miranda was in front 6:4, 3:6, 6:1 and 5:5, but Gonzalez came out the gate quicker, broke Miranda’s serve and won the set 7:5.

However, Miranda ultimately prevailed in the 5th, beating Gonzalez 8:6 and scored the very important second victory for Peru.

In the first match on Friday, Peru’s Luis Horna beat Mexico’s Daniel Garza 3-1 in a 120-minute match with sets of 6-4, 7-6, 2-6 and 6-3. In the middle of the third set, Horna suffered serious cramps but recovered and sealed the first point for Peru.

Seven nations: Peru, Japan, Korea, Great Britain, Israel, Slovak Republic and Serbia have booked their places in Wednesday’s World Group play-off draw, after winning their respective Group I second round ties with a day to spare.

These seven nations all established unassailable 3-0 leads after winning Saturday’s doubles rubbers. They will be joined by the eight losers from February’s World Group first round ties: Chile, Romania, Croatia, Australia, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Belarus and Austria, as well as the winner of the Brazil v Canada tie in Americas Zone Group I second round.

The draw for the eight ties will take place on Wednesday, April 11. Eight nations will be seeded according to the new ITF Davis Cup Nations Rankings which will be published on Tuesday 10 April.

The World Group play-off ties will take place on 21-23 September, the same weekend as the World Group semifinals. As of Saturday, Germany, USA, and Sweden have already secured their spot for this year’s semis with deciding 3:0 victories, while the encounter between Russia and France (2:1 after today’s doubles match) will be decided tomorrow.

Wolfy Becker

Since last Sunday, when Peru’s U-17 youngsters (barely) qualified for the 2007 World Cup hosted by South Korea in a few months, Peruvian football pride has been restored. The country has fallen into a football frenzy that his hardly understandable or even imaginable in most parts of the world. As a matter of fact, even myself as an avid football fan has never seen anything like it.

After all, it has been 26 years since a Peruvian team could qualify for the world’s football stage. I was in Germany in 1974 when Beckenbauer, Mueller and co. won the World Cup at Munich’s Olympiastadion and 16 years later when Matthäus, Brehme and Voeller repeated this feat in Rome 1990. I have also witnessed Michael Jordan’s and Scottie Pippen’s Chicago Bulls winning its third NBA championship in a row. But these celebrations seemed rather subdued compared to what is going on here the last couple of days.

Since the umpire’s final whistle blew last Sunday, the Peruvian mass media is reporting nothing else. They have put the 16 year old youngsters on a pedestal that is almost reaching the clouds in the sky and will be very hard to step down from. Numerous honking cars are decorated with red and white flags. Politics, a booming economy that still leaves about half the population living in poverty, the war on the coca farmers and other topics like corruption or the maritime border issue with Chile; all this stuff has to step aside.

Since the team landed at Lima’s Jorge Chavez International airport and a large cheering crowd welcomed the teenagers home like they were Bono, Mick Jagger, Steven Tyler or Al Gore at this year’s Oscars, every single step of every single player is captured on celluloid and broadcast live on national TV. Herds of reporters are storming into the houses of Peru’s latest heroes begging for interviews from family members, friends, their school teachers and even the local priest. They all have to tell what kind of guys they actually are, how they grew up, and what was the main ingredient for a promising football career. Was it the home made ceviche? Was it Peru’s favorite soda, Inca-Kola? Inquiring minds want to know the magic potion. To put this all into perspective, please keep in mind: the team actually finished fourth at the South American tournament, behind new champion Brazil, Colombia and Argentina. Only the first four teams secured a berth for the upcoming World Cup and Peru finished one point ahead of Venezuela who were crushed by Colombia 5-0 in the last game. The team actually finished the tournament’s final round with only one win, two ties and two losses. And remember, this is the U-17 squad! Nobody has ever heard names like Reimond Manco, Christian La Torre or Eder Hermoza before until roughly two weeks ago. This is not Peru’s football flagship, the team that normally fields household names like Pizarro, Farfan, Solano or ..well, whoever else is usually underachieving.

But nothing is topping today’s celebrations. The team was received at noon by a proud and ecstatic President Alan Garcia at the Government Palace. Every team member received a special Peruvian medal of honor, or something like that. The whole scene reminded me of a movie called Forrest Gump in which Tom Hanks was asked by John F. Kennedy “how does it feel to be an All-American?”. I just hope none of the nervous Peruvian youngsters drank too many Inca Colas resulting in an overpressurized, sensitive bladder before the presidential handshake ….

After the official press photo was taken, the Peruvian military in shiny and spiffy looking red and blue uniforms paraded on Lima’s Plaza de Armas in front of the palace. Who would have thought that even the country’s defense system took a day off. It seemed that even a foreign president such as Michelle Bachelet or George W. Bush would have become envious because they would not have received that kind of recognition.

But hey, as I mentioned before, it has been 26 years since any Peruvian national football had any similar kind of success. And this was the era of Peru’s best football player ever: the Teofilo Cubillas era. Peruvians still refer to the seventies and early eighties as the “golden years”.

Peru’s national stadium “El Nacional” is a shrine for Peruvian sports greats. Its outside walls are decorated with oversized, monumental pictures of every sportsman or woman – mostly volleyball women and football players – who had a somewhat exceptional career on an international level.

I am certain that today’s U-17 team will also look down very soon on the chaotic, noisy, stinking bypassing traffic on Lima’s main express way.

But I am not blaming any of the proudly celebrating Peruvians. I feel good for them, they deserve some positive news. I just reveals the nation’s cravings for the tiniest taste of success. It reveals how desperate Peruvians are for a little international success and recognition, whether they are indigenous, black, mestizos, cholos, gringos or colorados, whether they are rich or poor, young or experienced. Yes, success does taste sweet. Success unifies, even a fourth place finish with a loosing record.

One thing is certain: Peru is already the world champion in celebrating!

Viva el Peru!!!

On Sunday the under-17 selection ended this drought with a 1:1 tie against Argentina, finishing the South American championships in fourth place. Only the four best teams qualified for the U-17 FIFA World Cup held in South Korea in August and September.

Peru needed the help of Colombia in the final matchday who crushed Venezuela 5:0. A Venezuelan victory would have eliminated Peru’s chances.

Jairo Hernandez scored the equalizer by hammering a penalty shot into the net shortly before halftime, after Argentina’s Fernandez had scored the go-ahead goal in the 21st minute.

Brazil was crowned the South American champs after finishing the final round undefeated with 4 wins and one tie. Colombia and Argentina finished second and also assured a spot in the upcoming tournament in South Korea.

Venezuela finished fifth and host Ecuador in sixth place. As a consolation prize, all these teams will participate in the Pan-American games held in Brazil in June.

Although the Peruvian youngsters also participated in the last World Cup in 2005, they represented the host country and didn’t actually have to qualify for this tournament. Mexico won the cup that year and is the reigning under-17 world champ.

South American U-17 championship – Final Round results:

16/03: Ecuador 1-2 Colombia
16/03: Argentina 0-2 Brazil
16/03: Peru 2-1 Venezuela
18/03: Ecuador 0-1 Venezuela
18/03: Argentina 2-1 Colombia
18/03: Peru 0-4 Brazil
20/03: Brazil 4-0 Venezuela
20/03: Argentina 2-0 Ecuador
20/03: Peru 0-3 Colombia
23/03: Colombia 0-0 Brazil
23/03: Argentina 1-1 Venezuela
23/03: Peru 2-2 Ecuador
25/03: Colombia 5-0 Venezuela
25/03: Brazil 5-2 Ecuador
25/03: Peru 1-1 Argentina

Final Standings:

The first four teams have qualified for the 2007 World Cup in South Korea.

Wolfy Becker

Peru’s national football squad is already decimated before embarking on the long trip to Yokohama.

Farfan has pulled out of Peru’s friendly with Japan in Yokohama after picking up a hamstring problem in Ajax’s victory over PSV.
Guerrero met the same fate in February.

Mendoza, who was summoned at the last moment for Pizarro, could have made his comeback in Peru’s selection after three years. But in press conference, new head coach Julio Caesar Uribe affirmed that there is a 90 percent change Mendoza won’t be able to make the trip because there’s no consulate in Kiev, Ukraine, where he could apply for his visa to Japan.

Peru’s team will also be handicapped by the absence of Alberto Rodriguez (Sporting Braga, injury) and Juan Vargas (Catania Calcio).

The only players of Peru’s “foreign legion” who will make the trip are Walter Vilchez (Cruz Azul), Martín Hidalgo (Internacional) and Roberto “Malingas” Jiménez (San Lorenzo de Almagro).

The team boarded a plane early Tuesday morning with 16 players.

Wolfy Becker