But while the stadium was emptying, hooligans in the England section kicked out windows that surround the top tier of the Rasunda Stadium and through objects out of them, including a hot-dog stand and carbon-dioxide cylinders.The damage and clean-up costs amount to an estimated 200,000 kronor ($ 25,000) and the soccer association, Svenska Fotbollforbundet, wants compensation.

Ribbeck new German football coach
FRANKFURT: Erich Ribbeck is the new German national team football coach, the National Federation DFBconfirmed late today.

Ribbeck, 61, will succeed Berti Vogts, who resigned on Monday, on a deal until the 2000 European Championships, the DFB said in a press release. Uli Stielike will be Ribbeck's assistant on the same contract.

Mirror reflects on Sun's stroke
LONDON: BSKYB's record $1 billion takeover offer for Manchester United has set off a vicious war between Britain's two biggest tabloids, the Murdoch-owned Sun and the rival daily Mirror.

The Sun's front-page headline yesterday screamed in massive bold type: ``It's a deal.'' The Mirror countered with: ``Sold to the Red Devil,'' including a picture of Murdoch with red horns.

Vogts loses more than just a job
FRANKFURT: Berti Vogts not only lost his job as Germany's soccer coach, he also lost his head. But police said yesterday there was no connection between the two.

Vogts' head is missing from a monument in Moenchengladbach, where he played club soccer, and the mass-circulation Bild newspaper claimedthe monument had been vandalized after his resignation on Monday. But police said the head had been wobbly for some time and fell off two weeks ago when city workers came to look at it. It has been taken away for repairs.

Rusty Ronaldo returns to Inter
MILAN, ITALY: Playing for the first time since a disappointing World Cup final, Brazilian superstar Ronaldo was rusty yesterday as his club Internazionale of Milan edged second-division Cesena 1-0 in an Italian Cup second round game. Ronaldo, back from what he has called the longest lay-off of his career, stayed in the game for the full 90 minutes and showed only glimpses of the form that has earned him two straight Fifa world player of the year awards.

Tax trouble torments Tyson
FARMINGTON, US: As if Mike Tyson didn't have enough problems, he now faces a $ 6.3 million tax lien on his 61-room mansion.

The Internal Revenue Service placed the lien on the Farmington Estate last month, a week before Tyson signed a $ 33 million agreementwith Showtime. The contract requires him to pay off the lien.

Lanka release Murali for two months
COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's cricket board can release spin-bowler Muttiah Muralitharan for only about two months after the World Cup to play for England's Lancashire county team, a top official said.

After the World Cup in May-June, the Sri Lankan cricket team will travel to Australia in late August to play three Tests and take part in a four-nation One-day competition. Then Sri Lanka will visit Zimbabawe to play three Tests and an equal number of One-day internationals.

One heavyweight waits up for another
HAVANA: Boxing hero Muhammad Ali, in Cuba on a humanitarian mission, wants to meet another 20th century legend Fidel Castro. The three-times former heavyweight champion has said he would like to see Castro, a heavyweight of world communism, during his three-day trip to the Caribbean island. Ali has already fulfilled one wish, of meeting up again with his friend and Cuban boxing hero TeofiloStevenson, who greeted him at Havana's international airport.

Olympic champion Lingsheng retires
BEIJING: Tang Lingsheng, who broke the 59-kg world record to win his country's first Olympic weightlifting gold in 12 years, has retired from competition.

Tang, 28, will now coach his local team in Guilin, southern Guangxi Province, Xinhua reported. He won the 59kg title at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics with a record-breaking snatch of 307.5kg, ahead of the previous record of 305kg set by Bulgaria's Nikolai Peshalov in 1993.

Taffarel sent off in Turkey friendly
ISTANBUL: Brazil's international goalkeeper Claudio Taffarel was sent off in a friendly soccer match between a Turkish side and a World XI yesterday.

Taffarel had brought down Turkish striker Ayhan Akman in the box and sheepishly left the field as soon as Egyptian referee Gamal Ghandour showed him the red card.

His place was taken by Cameroon's Jacques Songo, who could not stop Elvir Bolic's penalty for Turkey.

Iran wrestlerstriumph over US
TEHERAN: Iranian wrestling star Abbas Jadidi triumphed over his American counterpart Melvin Douglas in World Cup competition here yesterday. Jadidi clinched a 3-0 victory against Douglas in the 97kg, his second against the American since February when a US wrestling team competed here, for the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The two men hugged each other in a gesture of friendship and sportsmanship as spectators exploded in applause.