FIFA Updates

After waving goodbye to their pre-season training camp at Pinzolo during the week, Juventus finally came up against their first test of the summer as they saw out a well fought stalemate against Hamburg.

In what proved to be a rather uneventful first period it was the Bundesliga outfit who went closest when Mladen Petric squandered the chance to fire into an empty net on the half hour mark.

Gigi Del Neri’s new look Juventus looked threatening going forward and Diego combined well with David Trezeguet to earn the Bianconeri a dangerous free-kick on the stroke of half time.

The Brazilian floated a wonderful effort over the wall, but the ball couldn’t drop fast enough as it zipped just over the bar leaving the deadlock unbroken.

After the break Marco Storari was beaten between the sticks when David Jarolim knocked a clever ball into the danger zone, but Vittorio Ferrero miraculously stole in front of Marcus Berg to clear off the goal line.

In the closing stages the German outfit maintained possession expertly and the Old Lady where clearly suffering the effects of fatigue. Del Neri’s men found themselves scrambling away the danger on numerous occasions and the attacking threat demonstrated in the opening period had all but faded.

The Bianconeri will next take on French giants Olimpique Lyonnais on July 24th as they continue to increase their work rate ahead of the Europa League preliminary rounds.

Some quick highlights of Hamburg – Juventus:

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MADRID (AP)—Atletico Madrid will leave a day ahead of schedule for Hamburg for
Wednesday’s Europa League final against Fulham to limit travel disruptions
caused by Iceland’s volcanic eruption.

The Atletico team will leave Monday instead of Tuesday for Germany, the club
said on its website.

Fulham coach Roy Hodgson has asked UEFA to consider postponing the final
because of the disruptions that could cause problems for his English club.

On Saturday, Atletico traveled to its league game at Sporting Gijon by bus
because several airports in the north of Spain were closed.

HAMBURG, Germany, April 22 (Reuters) – Fulham shrugged off
the effects of 17 hours travelling on a coach to hold Hamburg SV
to a 0-0 draw in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final
on Thursday.

Hamburg did almost all of the attacking but were denied by
visiting goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer who was in inspired form,
denying Jonathan Pitroipa, Piotr Trochowski and David Jarolim in
quick succession midway through the second half.

English Premier League Fulham were forced to make the
1,000-km journey by road because of the widespread disruption to
flights across Europe.

April 22 (Reuters) – Teams for Thursday’s Europa League
semi-final first leg match between Hamburg SV and Fulham at
Hamburg Arena, Hamburg.

Hamburg SV: 1-Frank Rost; 20-Guy Demel, 17-Jerome Boateng,
5-Joris Mathijsen, 6-Dennis Aogo; 21-Jonathan Pitroipa, 14-David
Jarolim, 8-Ze Roberto, 15-Piotr Trochowski; 9-Jose Paolo
Guerrero, 22-Ruud van Nistelrooy.

Fulham: 1-Mark Schwarzer; 6-Chris Baird, 18-Aaron Hughes,
5-Brede Hangeland, 3-Paul Konchesky; 16-Damien Duff, 20-Dickson
Etuhu, 13-Danny Murphy, 29-Simon Davies; 25-Bobby Zamora,
11-Zoltan Gera.

Referee: Claus Bo Larsen (Denmark)

(Reporting by Neil Maidment; to query or comment on this
story email sportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

LONDON (AP)—Having already knocked out UEFA Cup champion Shakhtar Donetsk,
overturned a 4-1 deficit against powerhouse Juventus and ousted Bundesliga
winner Wolfsburg, Europa League upstart Fulham is out to stop Hamburg reaching a
final which will be played in the German club’s own stadium.

While Liverpool goes to Atletico Madrid in the other semifinal, Fulham’s
journey through European football’s second tier competition has been a memorable
one for a club which has never won a major trophy.

“For me it is the big one, I have not been involved in a game like this
before,” said Fulham attacking midfielder Zoltan Gera. “It’s the biggest that
I have ever been part of, and hopefully I will be involved. But it’s not just an
important one for me, but for everyone at the club.

“It’s another step on what has been a fantastic journey.”

Hamburg, Liverpool and Atletico have all won European titles in different
competitions. But Fulham has never even captured a domestic crown and its best
in Europe was winning the lightly regarded InterToto cup, a now defunct
qualifying stage of the former UEFA Cup.

Only 10th in the Premier League, Fulham is out to take a big step towards
eliminating Hamburg at the same Hamburg Arena where the final will be played on
May 12.

“Hamburg are a good side, we know that, but so were Shakhtar Donetsk,
Juventus and Wolfsburg,” Gera said. “We know that on our day we are more than
a match for any side. So we’ll go there with the belief that we can do well. We
have to.”

They didn’t gather any belief from being held to 0-0 at home by
relegation-threatened Wolves last weekend.

Hamburg fared even worse, losing 1-0 at home to Mainz to slip to seventh
place in the Bundesliga, five points behind the last spot needed to secure
European play next season.

Hamburg striker Ruud van Nistelrooy said the poor result against Mainz was
extra motivation for Thursday while forward Paolo Guerrero can face Fulham even
though his Bundesliga season is over after he was given a five-match ban for
throwing a drink bottle at a fan.

Sidelined for the rest of the season after knee surgery, Liverpool striker
Fernando Torres will miss the two games against former club Atletico Madrid.

He also missed Liverpool’s two Champions League matches against the Spanish
team last season and midfielder Yossi Benayoun said his absence again would spur
his team on to reach the final.

“Fernando is the best striker in the world and, with him, it is much
easier,” said Benayoun, who scored in Liverpool’s 3-0 victory over West Ham on
Monday. “But unfortunately he is injured and cannot play. We need to give more
to try to play for him because he won us a lot of games and played a big part in
us getting to the semifinal.

“We need to try to win the game for him and all the club.”

While Liverpool will miss Torres, Atletico won’t have the suspended Sergio
Aguero.

“Both teams lose a lot, but I think (Aguero’s) absence is more notable
because he is key to Atletico,” midfielder Jose Antonio Reyes said. “His
absence will be noted, let’s just hope not too much.”

Like Fulham, Hamburg and Liverpool, Atletico has played well in Europe
compared with its Spanish league form, where it has lost three straight games
including Saturday’s 2-1 defeat to Villarreal which left the team halfway down
the standings.

Because ash blowing across northern Europe from an Iceland volcano have
grounded aircraft, the two English teams are making their way to the venues
largely overland by train or bus, which is likely to be tiring for the players.

Fulham headed for Hamburg by bus, a journey of 900 kilometers, while
Liverpool took three trains plus a flight from Bordeaux to Madrid, stopping over
Tuesday night in Paris.

“I’m sorry that they have to travel so many kilometers to get to Madrid,
but I’m not sure that that will be noted on the field,” Atletico midfielder
Jose Manuel Jurado said.

“On top of the trip, they’ll also be tired after playing on Monday. But in
a semifinal like this you give it your all and I don’t think you feel tired.”