Glory Glory Man United!!
Wayne Rooney scored the only goal of the game as Manchester United won the final of the Club World Cup against Liga de Quito after Nemanja Vidic had been sent off.
United were always the dominant force and Rooney ensured his side got the reward they deserved when he curled home the winner 16 minutes from time after Cristiano Ronaldo had supplied the final pass.
It is the first time an English club have won the tournament in its expanded form and the second time United have been crowned the world's best following their victory over Palmeiras in 1999.
Rooney said he was "delighted and proud" after scoring the winning goal in Yokohama.
"It's fantastic. It's a great achievement by us. We are really delighted and proud that we are the world champions," he said. "To score the winning goal is a great feeling for myself."
United captain Rio Ferdinand added: "Now we can say we are the best team in the world. We knew they could create problems but I think today we kept them down to a minimum of chances."
Quito's defence was by no means watertight but, not for the first time this season, United failed to make their superiority tell. Rooney powered two thunderous efforts towards goal that Jose Cevallos managed to deal with, the first time convincingly, the second far less so.
From then on, Rooney was the link man as chances began to pile up. Park Ji-sung was one culprit, driving an angled shot straight at Cevallos before lifting a close-range shot over the bar after Rafael had picked him out with a superb crossfield pass.
Carlos Tevez was denied a number of times while Ronaldo was a muted force in attack. As Ferguson delivered his interval team-talk, he must have warned his team of the danger that lurked if chances continued to be spurned. If so, his words had even more resonance four minutes after the restart as Vidic was sent off.
The flashpoint came as Vidic and Beiler wrestled on the floor as they tried to get to their feet with TV replays showing Vidic had used an elbow.
However, the ten men of United kept pushing and 16 minutes from time duly received their reward. Carrick supplied a superb pass for Ronaldo, who instead of going for goal himself, fed Rooney to his left and his shot was precise and out of the reach of Cevallos.
Van der Sar needed to make a flying save to deny Alejandro Manso in the final minutes and even Tevez was off the bench as the celebrations began.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/manchester_united/article5378448.ece
Monday, January 19, 2009
Oman to Increase Number of Researchers in Country
MUSCAT - The Research Council, a high-status agency set up by a royal decree in 2005 to foster innovation in Oman, is aiming at increasing the number of researchers in the country to nearly 4,000 in the next 11 years, according to its top official.
“The vision of the Research Council is to increase the number of researchers to around 3,800 by 2020 and to raise the investment in research and development to about two per cent of the GDP,” Secretary-General Dr Hilal Al Hinai said. Currently, Oman has some 335 researchers per million habitants and its research spending is 0.17 per cent of the GDP. There is only one PhD programme in the country at present. “We want Oman to become a leader in research at the regional level,” Hinai said during a visit to the German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech) at its campus in Azaiba with the aim of promoting research cooperation between the council and the university.
He said the council’s goal was to become the “hub of innovation with deep-set research capacity” in the region, as well as foster research excellence in selected areas and become receptive to local, social and economic needs.
“Our main role is to link the academic, public and private sectors. Therefore, through the Industrial Innovation Programme launched by the council, we are hiring innovative consultants to visit the industry, find out about their needs and help them develop research proposals that will be funded by the council and executed by researchers at local universities,” he added.
Hinai said enhanced oil recovery had been identified as the main research focus in which Oman could be the world leader “and can serve as a vehicle for developing excellence in related fields such as water treatment, renewable energies, bio, nano and advanced information and communication technologies.”
He revealed that the council was proposing a host of programmes that would include open and strategic research grants, research chairs at universities, a research directory that would involve researchers in Oman, researcher training, conferences, and the development of science and technology parks.
In September this year GUtech signed its first joint research contract with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). Professor Dr. Janos L. Urai, dean of the faculty of Sciences and head of the Geosciences department at GUtech leads the research project.
In the past ten years, RWTH Aachen University has been involved in several research projects in Dhofar and Dhakhliya regions, especially in Al Jebel Al Akhdar.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=§ion=middleeast&xfile=data/middleeast/2008/December/middleeast_December400.xml
“The vision of the Research Council is to increase the number of researchers to around 3,800 by 2020 and to raise the investment in research and development to about two per cent of the GDP,” Secretary-General Dr Hilal Al Hinai said. Currently, Oman has some 335 researchers per million habitants and its research spending is 0.17 per cent of the GDP. There is only one PhD programme in the country at present. “We want Oman to become a leader in research at the regional level,” Hinai said during a visit to the German University of Technology in Oman (GUtech) at its campus in Azaiba with the aim of promoting research cooperation between the council and the university.
He said the council’s goal was to become the “hub of innovation with deep-set research capacity” in the region, as well as foster research excellence in selected areas and become receptive to local, social and economic needs.
“Our main role is to link the academic, public and private sectors. Therefore, through the Industrial Innovation Programme launched by the council, we are hiring innovative consultants to visit the industry, find out about their needs and help them develop research proposals that will be funded by the council and executed by researchers at local universities,” he added.
Hinai said enhanced oil recovery had been identified as the main research focus in which Oman could be the world leader “and can serve as a vehicle for developing excellence in related fields such as water treatment, renewable energies, bio, nano and advanced information and communication technologies.”
He revealed that the council was proposing a host of programmes that would include open and strategic research grants, research chairs at universities, a research directory that would involve researchers in Oman, researcher training, conferences, and the development of science and technology parks.
In September this year GUtech signed its first joint research contract with Petroleum Development Oman (PDO). Professor Dr. Janos L. Urai, dean of the faculty of Sciences and head of the Geosciences department at GUtech leads the research project.
In the past ten years, RWTH Aachen University has been involved in several research projects in Dhofar and Dhakhliya regions, especially in Al Jebel Al Akhdar.
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?col=§ion=middleeast&xfile=data/middleeast/2008/December/middleeast_December400.xml
ESPN: Le Roy hails new dawn after Oman victory
French coach Claude Le Roy believes Saturday's maiden Gulf Cup triumph will kick-start a prosperous period for Oman.
The hosts beat three-time champions Saudi Arabia 6-5 on penalties following a goalless 120 minutes in Muscat to earn a deserved victory following two successive runners-up finishes to Qatar in 2004 and United Arab Emirates two years ago.
Oman struck the woodwork twice as Ismail Al Ajmi fired against the crossbar in first-half stoppage time before Imad Al Hosni rattled the bar with just six minutes remaining.
But in the shootout after the first 10 penalties were successful, Saudi Arabia's Taisir Al Jassim fired wide and Oman's Mohamad Rabih then stepped up to ensure the last three Gulf Cup's have been won my the host nation.
"I was confident that we would win the title after the motivation, desire and excitement I saw in the players before and during the tournament in addition to the good performances we had," said Le Roy, who led Cameroon to the 1988 African Cup of Nations.
"The tournament was not easy for any team as the Asian champions Iraq and the defending champions UAE were knocked out in the first round. The level we saw in these matches shows how good the teams in the Gulf region are.
"There are a lot of players in the Oman national team who deserve to play in Europe because they have a lot of skills which would allow them to play with different teams around Europe.
"I hope we can continue with the same motivation and desire to win more titles in the next period especially because we have a lot of talent. I'm really proud of this team and these players."
Oman start their 2011 Asian Cup qualification campaign against Indonesia in Muscat on Monday.They failed to qualify for the final round of World Cup qualifiers for South Africa 2010.
The hosts beat three-time champions Saudi Arabia 6-5 on penalties following a goalless 120 minutes in Muscat to earn a deserved victory following two successive runners-up finishes to Qatar in 2004 and United Arab Emirates two years ago.
Oman struck the woodwork twice as Ismail Al Ajmi fired against the crossbar in first-half stoppage time before Imad Al Hosni rattled the bar with just six minutes remaining.
But in the shootout after the first 10 penalties were successful, Saudi Arabia's Taisir Al Jassim fired wide and Oman's Mohamad Rabih then stepped up to ensure the last three Gulf Cup's have been won my the host nation.
"I was confident that we would win the title after the motivation, desire and excitement I saw in the players before and during the tournament in addition to the good performances we had," said Le Roy, who led Cameroon to the 1988 African Cup of Nations.
"The tournament was not easy for any team as the Asian champions Iraq and the defending champions UAE were knocked out in the first round. The level we saw in these matches shows how good the teams in the Gulf region are.
"There are a lot of players in the Oman national team who deserve to play in Europe because they have a lot of skills which would allow them to play with different teams around Europe.
"I hope we can continue with the same motivation and desire to win more titles in the next period especially because we have a lot of talent. I'm really proud of this team and these players."
Oman start their 2011 Asian Cup qualification campaign against Indonesia in Muscat on Monday.They failed to qualify for the final round of World Cup qualifiers for South Africa 2010.
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