Sunday, June 4 2006

LONDON: Jerzy Dudek was the man in front of the net who helped Liverpool win last year's Champions League final, saving two penalty kicks against AC Milan in the shootout to complete the comeback win. Robert Pires was a key player in Arsenal’s run to the final in this year’s competition, where the team took the lead but eventually lost to FC Barcelona.

Both were left off World Cup rosters for this year’s tournament in Germany. “I rang my cousin, who told me I wasn't going,” said Dudek, Poland's starting goalkeeper at the last World Cup. “I thought it had to be joke. I thought I'd see on the news it was all a big joke. Pires, who played for France when the team won the title at home in 1998, missed the last tournament and apparently is out of favour with Raymond Domenech because the coach does not trust players born under the sign of Scorpio. Shunsuke Nakamura understands what Pires and Dudek are going through, and he’s happy not to be experiencing the same pain again.

The Japan midfielder was left off his team at the last World Cup, when Japan reached the second round as a co-host but lost to eventual semifinalist Turkey. He's on the team this time, though. “I know how it feels to be left out of a World Cup squad, so I have to make sure I don’t let myself down,” said Nakamura, who joined Celtic from Italy's Reggina last year. “I was so determined not to miss out on the World Cup finals like four years ago. I have just been working really hard over these last four years to try and take my game to the next level.”