The Hindu : Sport / Football : Record beckons a foul-free Lucio

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Saturday, Jul 01, 2006

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Record beckons a foul-free Lucio

FRANKFURT: Brazil defender Lucio enters Saturday's quarterfinal match against France with a chance to surpass the mark for most minutes without committing a foul in a World Cup.

Lucio has not been called for a foul in Brazil's first four matches and is 23 minutes from surpassing the mark set by Paraguay defender Carlos Gamarra, who in 1998 spent 383 minutes without allowing a free kick.

Aside from goalkeepers, Lucio is the only player yet to commit a foul after playing at least 360 minutes — or four matches — in this year's tournament.

``It's a positive (statistic), but it's not my priority,'' Lucio said. ``I know eventually I'll end up making a foul in order to help the national team.''

Gamarra played four matches and an additional 23 minutes of extra time without committing a foul in 1998. Lucio and the rest of Brazil's defenders have allowed only one goal in four matches in Germany — against Japan in the first round.

Only Switzerland, which was eliminated by Ukraine on penalty kicks in the second round, did not concede any goals at this World Cup.

Brazil and France play Saturday in Frankfurt. The winner will face either England or Portugal, who play in Gelsenkirchen earlier Saturday.

Tourism boost

The World Cup has triggered an influx of visitors exceeding tourism officials' expectations.

By the time the tournament ends on July 9, the number of visitors from abroad appears set to reach two million, said Petra Hedorfer, head of the German Center for Tourism.

Officials originally forecast the World Cup would lure one million visitors.

Hedorfer said her organization had commissioned a survey of 1,281 World Cup visitors.

It found that more than 90 per cent would recommend Germany to others as a destination and 91 per cent felt welcome in the country.

Helicopter hotel

Portugal chose a hotel in the grounds of a 12th-century monastery for its training camp.

The players didn't get the completely serene environment they expected, though.

The Marienfeld monastery and church are just down the road from a British military base, and the thud of helicopters passing overhead is not uncommon.

But Portugal coach Luiz Felipe Scolari said the military manoeuvres weren't ruining his sleep.

``I can sleep with helicopters, with mosquitoes, whatever. I have no problems sleeping. I could sleep on a table,'' he said Friday.

He said there's also a convenient wakeup call for his squad.

``The players are only woken up at 7.49 a.m. by the church bells ringing. We hope we can still hear them ringing on July 8,'' the day before the final, he said. — AP

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