WORLD CUP : Corner shorts

Klose denies rift

BERLIN: Germany’s marksman Miroslav Klose has denied having a fall-out with his junior strike partner Lukas Podolski. Klose offered some words of advice to Podolski after his poor showing in the 1-0 win over Poland and newspaper Bild claimed there had been a rift between the two Polish-born forwards. Klose had not been pencilled in for Monday’s press conference but turned out to diffuse the situation. “I just said he needed to move more. It was encouragement,” he said.

Twelve detained

COLOGNE: British and German police warned that the relative calm that has marked the World Cup so far may be put to the test as both Germany and England play key games on Tuesday. Stephen Thomas, a British constable working with German and Swedish police in Cologne, famous for its cathedral and party atmosphere, outlined a scenario of Germany fans celebrating a win as 50,000 England supporters pour in. Overnight at Cologne, a dozen England fans were detained by German riot police, who had been pelted with bottles, Thomas said. Sixteen officers were injured, but none of them seriously.