Surgery ends Kagawa´s season

Borussia Dortmund’s Japanese midfielder Shinji Kagawa, who broke a bone in his right foot at the Asian Cup, is heading home for surgery.

Kagawa broke the bone in his foot in his team’s semi-final against South Korea forcing him to miss Saturday’s final against Australia.

He is expected to miss the rest of the season with the injury.

“He is on his way to Japan for surgery,” Dortmund said in a statement.

“It was his wish and the club agreed. It is not yet decided when he will return to Germany.”

Bundesliga leaders Dortmund said it was unlikely the player would return before the end of the season.

“There are variations in this injury but I do not know of any case that a player came back earlier than three months,” said Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp.

Kagawa, snapped up in the close season from Japan’s second division for 300,000 pounds, has been crucial in Dortmund’s spectacular run this season with his team eight points clear at the top of the table.

The 21-year-old has scored eight league goals in his first season in Germany and his value is now estimated at about six million pounds.

Bin Hammam: World Cup is Qatar’s alone

Asian Football Confederation president Mohammed Bin Hammam dismissed suggestions Qatar would share the hosting of the 2022 World Cup.

UEFA chief Michel Platini had requested the event be jointly staged between Qatar and other Gulf nations, but Bin Hammam was adamant the tournament would be hosted solely by the tiny Arab nation.

“Qatar submitted a bid to organise the World Cup and it’s fair for Qatar to organise all the matches,” Bin Hammam said.

“It’s never actually been discussed inside the executive committee or outside the executive committee that some of the matches are going to be played outside the host nation.”

“I always believed Qatar can host a very good World Cup. It is an opportunity for those who had less confidence in Qatar’s capability to organize a World Cup to see with their own eyes, what can be done and what cannot be done.”

“We are proud of our infrastructure, our football infrastructure, and we can keep the promises we made in our bid.”

Bin Hammam said the experience of hosting the 2011 Asian Cup would be a valuable experience for the Qatari organising committee.

“Of course some lessons have been learnt (from hosting the AFC Asian Cup). Qatar has been excellent in organisation but this will add to their experience,” Bin Hammam said.

“Qatar has been organising tournaments for a long time. What is good is they don’t hesitate to engage any professional who can get the job done. They can do a lot from what they have learnt.”

“We told the people of the world to come and feel how comfortable a World Cup organised in a small country can be.”

“We were organising two matches a day, and we have seen how comfortable watching two matches in a day in the same city, the same hotel, driving in the same car.”

Harry unhappy with dugout view

Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp said his poor view at Craven Cottage ruined his day as Spurs were crushed 4-0 by Fulham.

Their fourth round FA Cup tie was meant to be a close affair, but some defensive calamities by Spurs meant the Cottagers led 3-0 after 23 minutes, with Redknapp’s side down to 10 men.

But the 60-year-old boss claimed he did not blame defender Michael Dawson, who was red-carded to set up Fulham’s second goal, which like the first was from the penalty spot, but complained his view of the game was horrendous.

“Whatever could have gone wrong for us went wrong – conceding two penalties and having a player sent off. How can you come back from that?” Redknapp said.

“I thought the second penalty was harsh and I thought the sending-off was harsh. Michael Dawson feels the same. I don’t see what he had done.”

“I don’t know if I will appeal. I haven’t seen a replay yet. Watching a game from that dug-out is the worst view I’ve ever had in my life.”

The decision on whether Redknapp appeals his defender’s automatic one-match suspension plus any further reprimand could come down to his desperation to play a fit player at the back.

The Spurs boss also revealed that defender Younes Kaboul will be out for six weeks due to knee surgery.

“We are struggling. We are down to two central defenders. William Gallas has a hip injury and we didn’t want to use him today.”

“Younes Kaboul is having an operation on his knee. If Dawson is suspended for three games, I’ve only got (Sebastien) Bassong although (Vedran) Corluka can play there.”

Fulham manager Mark Hughes was satisfied his side were able to get the most out of some rare Tottenham errors and run away with the result.

“We wanted to make it hostile coming out of the blocks for them and we managed to force a few errors from their defenders and we capitalised on those situations,” Hughes said.

“They were hampered by the sending off but it was still up to us to put the game beyond them, which we did. Being 4-0 up at half-time is more than you could have hoped for.”

Fulham host either Bolton or Wigan in the fifth round.