Jordan’s long road to history

In recent decades, the game in Jordan has failed to attract much attention beyond its borders. Ever since the Arab nation made their FIFA World Cup™ qualifying debut in the campaign for Mexico 1986, they have never been closer to a qualifying spot than they are now. Jordan are set to face Uruguay, the fifth-placed side from South America’s qualifying zone, on 13 and 20 November, with a ticket to Brazil 2014 going to the victors.

Now they are in with a genuine chance of playing in their first World Cup, and following a string of excellent results, Al-Nashama are having to get used to the spotlight. FIFA.com takes a look at the highlights of Jordan’s qualifying campaign, brings you the latest information on their star players, stats and coaching staff and reviews the most important team news from the past two years.

A long road
If they do make it to Brazil, Jordan will certainly have taken the scenic route. Starting their campaign in Round 2 of Asian qualifying, their 9-0 victory in the first leg against Nepal was their biggest ever win, and they sealed the deal in the second leg with a more modest 1-0 success. The Round 3 group stage pitted them against China PR and Iraq, two stalwarts of the Asian scene, both of whom have played in the finals of a World Cup.

Still buoyant after their excellent showing in reaching the last eight of the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, Jordanstarted strongly, inflicting successive defeats on Iraq and China before cementing their lead by beating Singapore. Four wins on the trot made them one of the earliest sides to secure a place in Round 4.

Having never come this far before, Jordan could be forgiven for feeling positive, despite the greater experience of their three opponents; Japan, Australia and Iraq. But a shaky start to Group B brought them a draw against Iraq, followed by 6-0 hammering in Japan, which severely curtailed their odds of securing even the third spot and a play-off against the third-placed side in Group A.

Undaunted, a historic 2-1 win against Australia brought a glimmer of hope, followed by a superb 2-1 defeat of a Japanese side that had come to Oman hoping to put their qualification beyond doubt. A direct ticket to Brazil then looked possible but after Australia doled out a 4-0 thrashing in Melbourne,Jordan needed, and secured, a 1-0 win against Oman to reach the Round 5 continental play-off.

There, Jordan came up against fellow third-placers Uzbekistan. A 1-1 scoreline in Amman was repeated in Tashkent, taking the contest to penalties. A marathon shoot-out ensued with Jordanfinally emerging triumphant and able to turn their attention to the final, intercontinental play-off.

Shining stars
Every side has its stars and Jordan are no different, but they have something different, a star so special he is nicknamed “Half the Team”: none other than giant goalkeeper Amer “The Whale” Sabbah. Blessed with the talent to play at the highest levels of professional football, Sabbah’s monumental efforts between the sticks have played a huge part in his team progressing so far.

Now 31, Amer Sabbah seemed destined for stardom from an early age and was already keeping goal for his country before the age of 20. He has played in all the major tournaments since, assisting his team to the 2004 and 2011 editions of the AFC Asian Cup, on both occasions playing a crucial role in their reaching the quarter-finals.

Our goal is to qualify for the World Cup. We hope we make our dream come true.

Jordan goalkeeper Amer Sabbah

 

The lofty shot-stopper will be unavailable for the first leg against Uruguay after picked up a second yellow card against Uzbekistan, but Sabbah has every faith in his team-mates’ abilities: “I’d love to be playing in both games, but we’re one big family and everyone lends a hand. Whoever plays will certainly have what it takes to do his national team proud. Our goal is to qualify for the World Cup and that gives everyone a huge incentive to be in the best possible shape for the play-off. We hope we make our dream come true.”

The Jordanian team is a blend of veterans who have featured in a number of tournaments and high-pressure games, and a batch of talented youngsters who have proved their worth during the qualifiers. Many of these play abroad in the Arab world’s most competitive leagues.

Top of the list is team captain Amer Khalil, a lynchpin of the team’s attack and a vital source of chances and goals. Team-mate Hassan Abdel Fattah’s superlative goal tally in the Asian qualifiers is one of the main reasons his side are still in with a chance of going to Brazil.

Spearhead Ahmad Ibrahim is the only player to have featured in all 18 qualifying games so far and has scored some impressive goals, most notably his winner in their Round 4 clash with Japan. In midfield,Shadi Abu Hashhash has been rock solid, providing excellent defensive cover throughout the campaign. Nine members of the Jordan squad play abroad and there is also a contingent who cut their teeth on the global stage at the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007.

Arab leadership
Jordan have traditionally enjoyed great success under Arab coaches. The story begins with the late Mahmoud Al Gohari, the Egyptian who inspired his charges at the 2004 AFC Asian Cup. A period of decline ended with the arrival of Iraq’s Adnan Hamad, who lifted his team from the bottom of the Asian Cup qualifiers to take them through to the 2011 edition, where they once more reached the quarter-finals.

Hamad carried this success through to the current World Cup qualifiers, guiding the team to their first ever Round 4 berth. But with Hamad’s contract running out directly after the side went through to Round 5, the Jordan Football Association had to scramble to bring in Hossam Hassan to take over as coach.

Despite being relatively new to coaching, Hassan showed great faith, both in his own abilities and those of his players. The legendary Egyptian player did a sterling job, resulting in two draws against a strong Uzbekistan side, and when Jordan won on penalties he cried for joy. The sight of his players gathering round and lifting him onto their shoulders will live long in the memories of those who witnessed it.

Hassan seems confident in his team and is constantly reminding them of the fact. That is why, he says, the idea of the intercontinental play-off should not prove too intimidating: “The opportunity is there for the taking. We will get ourselves ready for this crunch tie, and we believe that the odds are with us. The pitch is the ultimate decider, we know that, and we want to qualify and achieve something historic for Jordan.”

 

Mensagem a quem critica os políticos de Brasília

NÃO condene os que estão em posição de destaque na política ou administração pública

NÃO diga que faria melhor no lugar deles

Enquanto não pomos em ação real nossas forças , não temos certeza do que são capazes

Talvez você fizesse pior , se estivesse na posição deles

Procure desculpar , porque não conhecemos as circunstâncias em que se encontram aqueles que têm sobre seus ombros o grande peso da responsabilidade pública

Torres Pastorino

Números de ontem do TV TOTAL

 

Vaza na internet possível novo logotipo da Globo e alguns programas

Após repaginar as suas chamadas pela programação e lançar a nova abertura da “Sessão da Tarde”, o diretor-geral da Globo, Carlos Henrique Schroder, pretende expandir a renovação da identidade visual da emissora.

Nesta terça (15), vazaram na internet novos logotipos que podem ser usados pela Globo em breve. Um deles é o do “Vale a Pena Ver de Novo”, que lembra um pouco a marca do canal Multishow.

Outro que vazou foi o do “Fantástico”, que não se parece em nada com os logotipos anteriormente usados e tem um estilo mais americanizado.

Além disso, também caiu na rede a nova marca da Rede Globo, que deve ser lançada no próximo ano.

Não se tem uma confirmação oficial de quando esta renovação gráfica deve acontecer, e nem se esses logotipos são oficiais, já que eles podem sofrer alguma alteração até o lançamento.

As imagens estão sendo comentadas nas redes sociais.

 

Qantas offers Airbus A380 flight simulator sessions for frequent flyer points

Qantas is opening up its state-of-the-art Airbus A380 flight simulators to the general public in exchange for a fistful of frequent flyer points.

Costing around A$30 million each, these high tech flight simulators are the same ones used to train superjumbo pilots and are so heavily used that there’s only five sessions per day available to the public, with those lasting from 10.45pm to 1am.

But with two hours sitting in the captain’s seat of an A380 as you take a virtual flight anywhere around the globe, landing and taking off from some of the world’s most famous airports, this is perhaps the ultimate present for an aviation enthusiast.

Your ride includes a pre-flight briefing with an experienced Qantas instructor “who will also walk you through an array of take-off and landing scenarios from airports across the Qantas network”, the airline promises.

The Qantas A380 flight simulator package covers two people in the cockpit of an A380 flight sim located at the Qantas Jetbase in Sydney. You can pony up 275,000 Qantas Points, or settle for 165,000 Qantas Points plus $847.

If you’d rather be flying for real, then take solace in the fact that for just 256,000 points you could buy a round-the-world business class ticket with Qantas and clock up a lot more hours in an A380 with top-notch food and fizz on tap.

Qantas also offers rides in its Boeing 747 simulators at significantly lower rates, no doubt due to the higher cost and demand on the superjumbo sims – a virtual ride on the 747 will set you back just 115,000 points or 69,000 points plus $354.

If you’re wondering what it’s like to go for a spin in one of these incredibly lifelike simulators, check out the video below when I made the virtual journey from Sydney to London in one of Qantas’ Boeing 747 simulators (I’ve always been a fan of the majestic jumbo).

Take my word for it: the 3D motion of the simulator plus the detailed scenery outside the cockpit makes this an extraordinary and unforgettable experience!

Australian Business Traveller

Kiwi Eleanor Catton wins Man Booker Prize

11:10 AM Wednesday Oct 16, 2013

New Zealand author Eleanor Catton after being announced the winner of the Man Booker Prize for Fiction. Photo / AP

New Zealander Eleanor Catton has won the prestigious Man Booker Prize this morning.

At 28, she becomes the youngest author to ever win the award.

Her novel, The Luminaries, set in 1866 gold-rush Hokitika, with its structure and narrative propelled by 12 men aligned to 12 signs of the zodiac, the 832-page murder-mystery has divided reviewers, electrifying many, baffling others.

You can read an extract from ‘The Luminaries’ at the bottom of this article.

She is the second New Zealander to win the Booker, with Keri Hulme winning in 1985 for The Bone People.

Lloyd Jones was shortlisted for Mr Pip in 2007.

In accepting the award, Catton said her book was “a publisher’s nightmare.”

She said she was very aware of the pressures on contemporary publishing to make money.

“It is no small thing that my primary publishers … never once made those pressures known to me while I was writing this book,” she said.

“I was free throughout to concern myself not of questions of value, but of worth.”

She was presented with the award, one of the world’s highest literary prizes, by the Duchess of Cornwall.

Catton thanked her partner, poet Seve Toussaint and said his “kindness, patience and love” was written on every page of her book.

The Prime Minister has congratulated Eleanor Catton on winning the Man Booker Prize.

John Key said the award was “a hugely significant achievement on the world stage for a New Zealander”.

“It is made even more extraordinary by the fact that Eleanor Catton, at 28 years of age, is the youngest ever author to receive the prize, and The Luminaries is only her second novel.

“This will be a tremendous boost for young New Zealanders in the arts and is a testament to the obvious talent and hard work of Eleanor Catton.”

In winning the Booker, the Auckland writer has become the youngest-ever person to take the prize.

That may have its downside. Catton has spoken of how making the Booker shortlist has cut her life in two: the “Eleanor” public life, and the “Ellie” private life.

“I can feel the public side of my life and the private side of my life sort of drifting away from one another.”

Catton recently told the Herald that her London agent advised her that “either she doesn’t win the prize, in which case she has had a wonderful time and can go back to her own life”.

The Man Booker judges described it as “a New Zealand Twin Peaks“.

As one observer has commented, “Her understanding of male characters, and prostitutes and smoking opium is amazing. It’s as if she has lived a much more colourful, wild life than the young woman you read about or listen to on the radio.”

Not everyone has praised The Luminaries. Critic Robert McCrum wrote in theObserver: “This sprawling mystery, a Victorian pastiche set in Victorian New Zealand, is replete with red herrings, astrological symbolism, and suspended revelations.

“A doorstop of a novel, by a New Zealander who appears to have swallowed a dictionary, it is by Trollope out of Wilkie Collins, possibly suckled by John Fowles.

“At more than 800 pages, it left this reader wishing that Catton had also paid homage to Robert Louis Stevenson whose best line, surely, is ‘the only art is to omit’. On page 342, Catton supplies a story-so-far from the point of view of the protagonist Walter Moody. If you are unemployed, or marooned on a desert island, this timely round-up might give you the courage to investigate the next 500 pages.”

Jim Crace was seen as the narrow favourite to take the Booker with Harvest, with Catton put at second-equal with Colm Toibin’s The Testament of Mary.

 

The New Zealand Herald

Western Australia: Lonely under the sky

By Fergus Blakiston

Fergus Blakiston encounters an eerie tribe of 51 amid heat, sweat and flies.

 

Antony Gormley’s metal figures on the saltpan of Lake Ballard accentuate the arid, lonesome emptiness of the region. Photo / Supplied

At Menzies, a dead-on-its-feet mining town 100km north of Kalgoorlie, I turn off the bitumen highway on to a rutted track bulldozed through the red dirt landscape of Western Australia. The bone-shaking corrugations hammer at the suspension of my rented car with an apocalyptic rumble. A cloud of ochre dust from the wheels obscures the rear view.

After an hour or so, a signpost points down an even rougher track leading through scrubby sandhills to the edge of Lake Ballard. The empty lake, its bed white with salt crystals left behind when its ephemeral waters evaporated, lies pressed under the weight of the hot sky. Waves of heat distort the flat expanse of the lakebed, where 51 skeletal figures stand immobile in the shimmering air. I park the car in the sparse shade of a bloodwood tree and begin to walk.

The Inside Australia installation is a collection of metal sculptures set up in 2003 by English artist Antony Gormley. The sculptures are based on computer scans of the inhabitants of Menzies, rendered in alloys of iron, molybdenum, iridium, vanadium and titanium.

According to his website, Gormley sought “to find the human equivalent for this geological place”.

At Menzies, a dead-on-its-feet mining town 100km north of Kalgoorlie, I turn off the bitumen highway on to a rutted track bulldozed through the red dirt landscape of Western Australia. The bone-shaking corrugations hammer at the suspension of my rented car with an apocalyptic rumble. A cloud of ochre dust from the wheels obscures the rear view.

After an hour or so, a signpost points down an even rougher track leading through scrubby sandhills to the edge of Lake Ballard. The empty lake, its bed white with salt crystals left behind when its ephemeral waters evaporated, lies pressed under the weight of the hot sky. Waves of heat distort the flat expanse of the lakebed, where 51 skeletal figures stand immobile in the shimmering air. I park the car in the sparse shade of a bloodwood tree and begin to walk.

The Inside Australia installation is a collection of metal sculptures set up in 2003 by English artist Antony Gormley. The sculptures are based on computer scans of the inhabitants of Menzies, rendered in alloys of iron, molybdenum, iridium, vanadium and titanium.

According to his website, Gormley sought “to find the human equivalent for this geological place”.

“I think human memory is part of place,” he wrote, “and place is a dimension of human memory.”

Out on the lake bed, I am all alone in my own dimension of heat, sweat and flies.

The red mud of the lake floor, overlaid with its rime of salt, has dried and cracked like the skin of a reptile. Its slightly sticky surface sucks at my jandals, which, in hindsight, were not the best choice of footwear for exploring the widely-spaced components of Inside Australia.

Each of Gormley’s works is set a distance of 750m from its neighbour. The footprints of previous visitors trace indistinct pathways from sculpture to sculpture in a long loop around the lake. From a distance, the sculptures are merely vague outlines: shadows caught in the distorted, iridescent air. Up close, they are eerie, with outstretched arms, protruding breasts and shrunken heads.

The midday sun casts foreshortened silhouettes of each statue on to the ground, simplifying their forms even further, like the charcoal rock drawings of Aboriginals.

As the sun moves across the sky, the shadows change shape and size, each one describing a sun-dial ellipse around the sculpture’s feet.

It takes two hours for me to complete my circuit of the sculptures. Back at my the car, my sweat- and dirt-stained reflection in the rearview mirror looks vaguely like a component of Inside Australia, seared by heat and light. I start the engine and let the aircon revive me before returning to the road.

Later, as afternoon cools into evening, I walk alone through a deserted desert town. Whereas at Lake Ballard I had seen human shapes inhabiting an empty landscape, here, in the abandoned mining town of Gwalia, I walk through an urban space devoid of human forms.

The timber and tin buildings stand swaybacked and forlorn beneath the empty sky.

Front doors hang agape in their frames, giving views down the throats of halls to the rooms inside. Windows stare sightlessly out across the dusty street. A pair of morose emus, like feathered sextons in a kindling cemetery, watch me desultorily as I wander the ruins.

From 1897 until 1963, the Sons of Gwalia Gold Mine was the life-blood of Gwalia.

The rough-and-ready township grew up around the nearby mineshaft, which descended for a kilometre into the hard granite.

By 1910, more than a thousand people called Gwalia home. In its lifetime, the mine yielded 2.6 million ounces of gold: worth about NZ$2.4 billion at today’s prices.

But, in the early 1960s, the gold ran out. In December 1963, the owners closed the mine. Trains were dispatched to convey the remaining miners, their families and whatever they could carry to Kalgoorlie. Overnight, Gwalia became a ghost town.

The setting sun casts long shadows between the buildings. Inside the kitchen of a once-comfortable miner’s cottage, tiny shafts of light pierce the gloom through bullethole gaps in the tin walls. Cast iron pots stand on the long-cold stove; a table set with two plates and a fork sits askance on the disintegrating floorboards. Faded newspapers cover the walls in lieu of wallpaper.

Inside another cottage, books that will never again be read stand on a shelf above a bed which will never again feel the weight of a sleeping body. The roof is open to the sky. A glassless lantern, which will never light another night, hangs beside a back door opening to the endless space of the Outback.

The grimy windows of Mazza’s Store – “Birthday Goods, Tobacco and Lino” – reflect the last rays of the setting sun as I sit on the store’s veranda watching the day end in Gwalia.

Funereal crows, whose gurgling cries are the ghost voices of the Australian bush, perch in a nearby scribbly gum.

I imagine Gormley’s iron sculptures, radiating the day’s heat back into the air over Lake Ballard.

Here, in Gwalia, it is the past which radiates: in the deserted homes of the people who once gave this place a dimension of human memory. Their day’s work done, the emu-sextons pay me a last cursory glance before ambling off towards the abandoned pub.

 

The New Zealand Herald

Defiant Lucas Neill says his controversial words fired up Socceroos

October 16, 2013 – 8:04AM

Nick Miller

Europe Correspondent

Australia’s Rhys Williams (C) rises above Canada’s Iain Hume (L) and Tostaint Ricketts (R). Photo: Reuters

Socceroos captain Lucas Neill has refused to back down from his controversial comments questioning the passion of the team’s younger members, saying he had successfully fired the players up for their 3-0 win over Canada.

 

“Things were down because you lose six-nil, six-nil, that hurts. Any sportsman will tell you it hurts to lose,” he said.

“To react in the way we have, it was just what we wanted. We have got some confidence back and now we can build on it.

 

“I’m not going to regret asking the team to show passion, to show spirit. That’s what Australia is all about, any sport we play in.”

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He said it had been a deliberate move on his part, and acting coach Aurelio Vidmar, to challenge the players.

“We were deliberate in what we said, that we needed to see some spirit, and we got it tonight. I can’t stop other people saying what they say.”

He was also happy with his own performance, after criticism and some calls for him to retire.

“I’ve been in this game a long time. When the team loses you can’t pin the blame on just Lucas Neill, and when the team wins, Lucas Neill doesn’t take the credit. This is a team game, we lost together, we win together, it’s not about Lucas Neill, it’s it’s not about one individual, it’s always been about the Socceroos.”

He said he didn’t notice jeers from the crowd.

“I heard noise. You always do from the crowd. You can only play what’s in front of you.

“We’re delighted to walk away with a four-zero victory. Three, sorry.”

He said he was proud to captain his country for 60 games.

“It was a proud personal moment and I hope I get the chance to go beyond.”

After the game a subdued Vidmar said he had asked for a positive reaction from the team after a “pretty tough week”.

“A lot of players took it hard,” he said. “It took a couple of days … The reaction was excellent tonight.”

The Sydney Morning Herald

Homesick Australians drink to Socceroos

October 16, 2013 – 7:14AM

Nick Miller

Europe Correspondent

Australia players celebrate after forward Josh Kennedy scored in the opening minute. Photo: AFP

Luckily, Aussies in London are used to getting their drinks in early.

So only a few were caught outside in the bar queue when Josh Kennedy scored the Socceroos’ only goal of the first half against Canada with just 30 seconds on the clock. Many more in the 3700-strongish crowd were caught out, crammed into the corridors under Fulham’s Craven Cottage stadium, when Dario Vidosic made it 2-0 barely five minutes into the second half of the friendly.

But never mind. For the sports-loving ex-pats of London’s Working Holiday Visa mob, their team’s inconvenient timing, flaky defence and only occasionally purposeful offence were not the point.

Neither was the point the fact that, underneath the winning scoreline, was a team in crisis after big losses to France and Brazil (several in the crowd wanted Guus Hiddink back as coach).

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The point was to get to the stage where an inebriated crowd somehow managed to get a Mexican wave thrice around the Cottage, ironically booing the two deserted ends of the stadium for not joining in.

Finally, almost 67 minutes into the match, finally they managed a solid, committed, “Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi”, followed by a Waltzing Matilda that reeked of homesickness.

The third goal was just the icing on the cake. One for the road.

Meanwhile, Tuesday was a big night for football at the Walkabout Pub in London, traditional lair of sports-loving Aussie expats.

“Love football?” they Tweeted. “We have England v Poland tonight big screen with commentary kicks off 8pm!”

The Sydney Morning Herald

Desperate Socceroos get lucky against Canada

October 16, 2013 – 7:24AM

Michael Lynch

SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER WITH THE AGE

Goalscorer Josh Kennedy climbs highest in an open first half at Craven Cottage. Photo: Reuters

When the desperate hook up with the dateless, someone usually gets lucky. On Wedesday morning it was Australia’s turn.

Inept and spiritless as the Socceroos have been in conceding 16 goals in their last three internationals, in Canada they came up against a team in even worse shape and morale.

Australia’s Mile Jedinak (C) evades the challenge of Canada’s David Edgar (L) and Julian de Guzman (R). Photo: Reuters

At least the Socceroos have stumbled across the line and into the World Cup: the Canucks are in even worse shape, having failed to make it to the final round of qualifying in their North and Central American regional zone and not even scoring in seven previous games.

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For many on this side of the world its getting harder to make the pre-dawn call to crawl out of bed to watch the national team, so embarrassing have they been in their recent losses: still, the Socceroos are the Socceroos, and at the very least watching the first game in the post-Osieck era had the promise of something new.

In the end there was plenty that was familiar, but some things that were different. Lucas Neill, despite the shellacking he has copped in recent days, was still there, wearing the armband, as was the almost equally maligned David Carney. Mile Jedinak and Matt McKay were in their regular places. Mark Bresciano (thankfully) was still the creative fulcrum but being used in a more forward position than in recent times under Osieck, where he makes a far more telling contribution.

Matthew Leckie (r) of Australia celebrates with Captain Lucas Neill after scoring. Photo: Getty Images

But Mitch Langerak and Matt Ryan were both given an opportunity in goal, a half each, while Rhys Williams got another chance, as did James Holland.
Jason Davidson came back from the wilderness, and there were runs for the likes of Matthew Leckie, who chimed in with his first international goal to put the Australians 3-0 up, and Dario Vidosic, who got the second goal which put the Socceroos at their ease.

Melbourne-born Jackson Irvine, who is a Celtic player currently on loan to SPL club Kilmarnock, came on late for his international debut, giving a glimpse of what might be the Socceroos future.

But bad as the Australians have been in recent times, the Canadians have been worse, and in this game they were awful. Not for nothing have they now gone 12 games without a win.

Its a fillip for Aurelio Vidmar, who can boast a resounding win in his first game in charge of the national team, but whether he or, more likely, Ange Postecoglou, takes charge going forward, there wasn’t much to learn from this victory over truly terrible opposition.

Still, a win is a win and all you can do is beat what’s in front of you.

And after such a torrid month any good news is welcome for a team under the sort of pressure that it has never experienced before.

The real work begins now. With a November friendly on the horizon, possibly against England at Wembley, there isn’t much time. But at least the worst may be over. Those who keep the faith and continue to rise in the pre-dawn light will certainly hope so.

The Sydney Morning Herald