The sporting read: Fowler, McAteer and Hamann envisage bright Liverpool future under Klopp

Few institutions carry the weight of their history like Liverpool Football Club. Twenty-five years without a league title has left the club’s increasingly impatient supporters desperate for a saviour, and the feeling among many is that at last they might have one.

Jurgen Klopp’s appointment in October was met with some delirium. Results have been inconsistent to say the least, but last week the German coach led the club to the League Cup Cup final against Manchester City, raising hopes of a first trophy in four years.

Former Liverpool players Robbie Fowler, Didi Hamann and Jason McAteer have thrown their support behind the new manager and are unanimous in their belief that a first trophy this season could shape the future of the club, and should take precedence over aiming for a fourth-place finish in the Premier League.

The League Cup, a trophy worth winning

“It’s fantastic reaching a cup final,” McAteer said. “If you look at Jose Mourinho, the first thing he did when he went to Chelsea was win the League Cup, it’s got great credibility now. It did drop off but it’s worth winning now, you see the strength of the teams Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea play in this competition. It’ll be great for Liverpool to win it, certainly for Jurgen Klopp.”

The League Cup has been a good friend to Liverpool over the years. It was the first trophy won by Joe Fagan, Gerard Houllier and Kenny Dalglish (in his second spell), and the first final reached by Rafa Benitez.

It was also the first trophy Fowler won at the club in 1995, when a 2-1 win gave Roy Evans his first and only trophy at Liverpool too.

“Certainly when I played, Liverpool’s history was all about getting into finals and winning trophies,” said Fowler. “And really for me the League Cup was a bit of stepping stone, I wanted it to be the first of many, many trophies I win. It’s a trophy that will hopefully galvanise and lift everyone, not just at the club but every Liverpool supporter.”

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McAteer is delighted but says the final might have come too soon for this squad.

“Probably Jurgen would tell you if he’s being honest that it’s bit premature,” McAteer said. “The bigger picture is about longevity, it’s about the future and where the team will be in two or three seasons’ time. At the moment, he’s working with another man’s squad. There is a bit of inconsistency there with him trying to implement his philosophy and trying to change the mindset of the players and the fans, but he’s slowly getting there.”

Hamann says the impact of reaching the final so early on in Klopp’s reign can only be judged in light of the result.

“It depends if he wins it,” he said. “If he wins it, it’ll give him a lot of confidence, it’ll give the fans confidence. It will give him more time and make the players believe. If they lose? I always said in a cup competition it doesn’t matter if you lose in first round or the final, winner takes all. I think the last weekend in February is a vital day, because I think it will shape the future of the club.”

The German midfielder’s first medal at Liverpool also came in a League Cup final win over Birmingham City at Wembley in 2001. It paved the way for a famous cup treble under Houllier.

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Masters Champions League: Muralitharan and Razzaq cast a spell for Arabians and Commanders

Score: Gemini Arabians 133-2 (Brad Hodge 65*, Kumar Sangakkara 41*, Robin Peterson 1-23) beat Leo Lions 132-7 (James Franklin 35, Scott Styris 32, Muttiah Muralitharan 4-19) by eight wickets

It was one of the duels that lit up the early years of this millennium, never more than when Brian Lara and Muttiah Muralitharan faced off in Sri Lanka towards the end of 2001.

It was an epic battle, one of the great individual battles between two singular match-winners; Murali ended on top, with 24 wickets in a 3-0 series sweep. But Lara played him as only a genius could, pillaging 688 runs across the three Tests, with three hundreds. Murali did dismiss him twice.

On Saturday, 14 years later in Dubai as Murali’s Gemini Arabians took on Lara’s Leo Lions, the setting was rather less gladiatorial. Still, though it carried the promise of a recreation. It did not last, but it was a beautiful moment anyway.

Masters Champions League: The National’s preview coverage and reporting

Murali, in his first over, from round the wicket pitched on Lara’s middle stump, broke it away from him sharply, squared him up and found the edge. Virender Sehwag, adding the little flourish, took a wonderful catch at slip, diving forward.

One ball is what this battle was reduced to; Lara was Murali’s second wicket in successive balls and one of four the spin legend took to set up a convincing second win for the Arabians.

He could even have had a hat-trick. The ball after Lara’s dismissal James Franklin almost lobbed a drive straight back to Murali. He got Franklin later anyway and having dismissed Brendan Taylor too, it really did make you wonder: surely he has not still got it has he?

There was still some sharp turn and the doosra was coming out nicely, more threateningly at least than his partner today and the creator of the doosra, Saqlain Mushtaq. The pair bowling briefly in tandem was another little nostalgic tug, but played out in a sparsely-populated stadium.

Murali restricted the Lions to a wholly inadequate 132, in itself a recovery given how they had started.

For a batting order that includes Kumar Sangakkara and Brad Hodge, that was never going to be any kind of challenge. The surface was slow and not given to strokeplay, so Sangakkara and Hodge simply bided their time, picking off the phalanx of Lions spinners.

They timed it perfectly, accelerating late in the innings. Hodge finished with a flourish, an unbeaten 65 seeing the Arabians home to a second consecutive win. Sangakkara was unbeaten on 41; they are not going to be easy to beat.

RAZZAQ RULES FOR THE COMMANDERS

Score: Capricorn Commanders 146-5 (Saleem Elahi 43*, Abdul Razzaq 39, Nathan Hauritz 2-20) beat Sagittarius Strikers (Adam Gilchrist 57, Yasir Hameed 32, Jeetan Patel 2-19) by three runs

Abdul Razzaq may have retired from international but you can be sure he still thinks he can do a job for Pakistan. In fact, once the Masters Champions League (MCL) is over, he will stay behind in his role as a supplementary player for Lahore Qalandars.

He carries a little more weight these days than the lean, chiseled allrounder who starred for Pakistan for a decade in the noughties. But his impact at this level is still evident.

He was called upon to bowl just one over for the Capricorn Commanders – the last one as it happens and he had to defend 9 runs against the Sagittarius Strikers. He used to be a gun death bowler at his peak, having conjured a number of remarkable last-over triumphs for Pakistan.

He did so for the Commanders here, conceding just five, picking up a wicket to secure a nerve-wracking 3-run victory. It was their first win of the league.

That he had a few runs to play with had mostly to do with Jeetan Patel. The Strikers were cruising when Patel came on to bowl the 16th over of the innings. Unafraid to flight the ball, he found good turn and dismissed both Jonathon Trott and, more significantly, Adam Gilchrist to derail the chase.

The Strikers were 106 for 2 at the start of that over, needing just 41 with plenty of wickets in hand. Gilchrist was reminding us all of what a freak batsman he was but instead, Patel spooked them, sparking a mini collapse of three wickets for four runs from which they never really recovered.

Razzaq was merely finishing off what he had begun earlier in the evening. The Commanders had struggled to get away on a slow track, especially against the spin of Nathan Hauritz. They only took off once Razzaq joined fellow Pakistani Saleem Elahi at the crease, putting on 64 for the fourth wicket to ensure they had a respectable total to defend.

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Red Sox, reshaped into relevancy, and Cubs, on the cusp, are MLB’s winter winners

Baseball’s Hot Stove League, the ancient term for off-season manoeuverings, does not generate actual standings, just opinions.

That noted, with less than three weeks before spring training, we have our designated biggest Hot Stove winner and loser from each league.

American League Winner: The Boston Red Sox finished at the bottom of the AL East last year, but with several moves, have reshaped themselves into relevancy.

For the sum of US$217 million (Dh797m) spread over seven years, the Sox landed prize left-hander David Price.

Their ace-less, suspect rotation of 2015 now becomes, at least, respectable. Better still, the bullpen, which had been adequate, becomes commanding, thanks to trades for Craig Kimbrel and Carson Smith.

American League Loser: The Seattle Mariners list 10 fresh, big-league players on their team, as new general manager Jerry DiPoto spent the winter in a signing-trading frenzy hoping to move them up the AL West ladder from fourth place. The makeover, however, appears astonishingly unremarkable. Not an impact player in the bunch.

New slugger Adam Lind might be an improvement over the parade of recent flops at first base. But he still cannot hit lefties. And centrefielder Leonys Martin, from the Texas Rangers, should catch a few extra fly balls and steal some bases. Big deal. They went for quantity over quality, replacing Who’s That with Who Cares.

All of that activity and the new Mariners look a lot like the old Mariners – non-contenders.

National League Winner: The Chicago Cubs turned themselves into a play-off team a year ago, and decided they were not satisfied just getting to the party. The Cubs – with three solid free agent signings – now look like the team to beat in the NL Central, if not the entire league.

Kudos to Chicago who got stronger at the expense of division rival St Louis Cardinals. Pitcher John Lackey and outfielder Jason Heyward were Cardinals last year, Cubs this year.

Chicago also filled their biggest question mark at second base by convincing Ben Zobrist to ignore a reported 19 other suitors and leave the Kansas City Royals, the World Series winners.

National League Loser: The Los Angeles Dodgers spent more money on salaries the past three years than any other team. This winter, however, they would not pony up the market rate for their own superstar free agent, pitcher Zack Greinke, and lost him to NL West rival Arizona Diamondbacks.

New pitchers Scott Kazmir and Kenta Maeda from Japan are poor substitutes.

Next, the Dodgers crafted a trade for closer Aroldis Chapman, then backed out when news of a domestic abuse issue surfaced. Baseball’s continuing investigation did not scare off the New York Yankees, who signed him up.

The Dodgers also let their free agent second baseman Howie Kendrick depart, and may have to rely on ageing, injury-risk Chase Utley.

Meanwhile, Arizona and the San Francisco Giants aggressively bolstered their pitching. Talent-wise, those two appear to have surpassed the oddly passive Dodgers.

Luckily for them, Hot Stove hot air evaporates on Opening Day.

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California Chrome to run 2,000m Meydan handicap to prepare for Dubai World Cup

California Chrome will run in a handicap over 2,000 metres at Meydan on February 25 after connections decided that the 2014 US Horse of the Year needed more time before the Dubai World Cup.

California Chrome arrived in Dubai to much social media fanfare on Friday and cantered gently over a mile at Meydan on Tuesday, having had a stretch of his legs in the quarantine barn on Monday.

Assistant trainer Alan Sherman is overseeing all of California Chrome’s work in Dubai and has been accompanied by exercise rider Dihigi Gladney, groom Raul Rodriguez and vet Chuck Jenkins.

“I want to run him in the handicap and not on Super Saturday because it gives us another week before the World Cup.” Sherman said.

“The World Cup will be his third race after a long layoff and I just think it suits our schedule better.”

The Dubai Racing Club have amended the entry criteria of dirt handicaps for horses rated 95-108 and 100-113 to 95-118 and 100-123 respectively.

California Chrome will have his first serious workout in around 10 days time to put him spot on for the prep run over the World Cup course and distance ahead of his bid to go one better than last season in the world’s most valuable race.

Curlin was the last American horse to prep in a handicap in Dubai before winning the World Cup when he successfully ran in the 2008 Jaguar Trophy.

Four of the six Dubai World Cup winners at Meydan had run at the UAE’s flagship track previously before they won.

It looks increasingly likely that California Chrome will be joined on March 26 by Japanese raider Maurice, after connections of the outstanding Japanese miler confirmed that the $6m Dubai Turf is very much on the colt’s agenda.

This week Maurice was crowned Japan’s Horse Of The Year.

Maurice won the Yasuda Kinen and the Mile Championship in Japan before he proved himself on the world stage with a commanding victory in the Kong Kong Mile under Ryan Moore, who reported his mount was not even in his best form.

It was thought that trainer Noriyuki Hori preferred a domestic campaign leading up to the Takarazuka Kinen in June, but it appears owner Kazumi Yoshida has steered his trainer in favour of Meydan.

“He is at the Northern Farm in Shigaraki and recovering nicely from his Hong Kong Mile win,” Hori said.

“I can’t say when he will return to my yard and which race is his first one, though it will become clearer next month.

“The Dubai Turf is definitely in our plans though.”

Hori added in an interview with the Racing Post that Duramente, last season’s top three-year-old colt in Japan, could possibly run in the Dubai Sheema Classic.

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Sunday cover: Same Old Trafford story for Manchester United

The National’s Sport cover for the Sunday, January 24 issue, featuring Southampton’s Charlie Austin as he scored the goal to down Manchester United at Old Trafford.

Richard Jolly writes of, after another dour United performance, Louis van Gaal’s culpability in his club’s often listless displays:

“Some managers sign specialist goalscorers. Others sell them.

“Louis van Gaal is the man who dispensed with Javier Hernandez and who argued he did not want competition for places in attack. He has spent £285 million (Dh1.5 billion) without buying an out-and-out finisher, perhaps rationalising that his side create them too few chances to flourish.

“How damning that he was condemned to defeat by Southampton’s striking substitute, Charlie Austin, a newcomer flourishing at Old Trafford.

“What a start for Austin, delivering a winner seven minutes and 43 seconds into his debut. What a reward for Koeman, Van Gaal’s protege turned enemy, who signed Austin for a cut-price fee of £4m, and saw the newcomer secure Saints’ second successive win at Old Trafford.

“This provided a microcosm of the problems under Van Gaal.

“Devoid of ideas, invention or incision, lacking ambition or attacking football, failing to excite or entertain, United are barren and boring. They mustered one shot on target. That, from Daley Blind, was tame and saved easily by Fraser Forster.

“They were booed off after the final whistle.”

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Friday cover: Fantastic three fire up Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship on Day 1

The National’s Sport cover for the Friday, January 22 issue, featuring Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Rickie Fowler bringing a buzz to the start of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

Paul Radley reports on the interaction between the trio during their headline-act-grouping on Thursday:

“Two players shooting for greatness of the all-time variety. And a third not far back, by his own reckoning, in their slipstream.

“Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler. Can you play here every week? Please.”

Instead of a quiet first nine holes, trying to play your way into it, you’re concentrating from the get go,” McIlroy, the world No 3, said.

“It’s very rare to get it, so we’re soaking it in. It’s fun feeding off each other,” Spieth added.

And Fowler summed it up: “Why can’t we play this threesome all the time?”

As for the actual leader, American amateur Bryson DeChambeau, John McAuley has his whole story, too.

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Thursday cover: Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy face off in Abu Dhabi

The National’s Sport cover for the Thursday, January 21 issue, featuring Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy at the start of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship.

Golf’s new guard is on full display for the first time in 2016 in the UAE capital, where Rickie Fowler is also among the trio of young hotshots at Abu Dhabi Golf Club.

Ahead of Thursday’s opening round John McAuley details the budding Spieth-McIlroy rivalry:

“The duo have been paired together for the first two rounds in Abu Dhabi, with world No 6 Fowler for company, which is sure to attract eyeballs not only around the National Course but also across the planet.

“McIlroy admits he gets a buzz from contesting such heavyweight groupings.

“At world No 3, McIlroy ranks two behind the game’s top dog, and is expected to represent the American’s chief challenge this year.”

But, McAuley quotes Spieth noting he isn’t taking his place atop the sport’s pecking order for granted:

“Tiger [Woods], Phil [Mickelson], Rory: these guys have done more in the game of golf than I have and I want to strive to get to what they have done.

“I want my name to go down in history for as many things as it can. That’s where my mind is: I’m less satisfied with what’s happened and more hungry to try and keep it going.”

As for the suddenly hunting, instead of hunted, McIlroy:

“I made no secret about I want to get back to that position, and I’d like to do it as quick as possible,” he said. “That’s definitely a motivation.”

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