By AP
July 6th 2009 @ 8:12am
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Contador gains early edge over Armstrong at Tour
In the Tour de France battle between Alberto Contador and Lance Armstrong, the Spaniard won the first round.
Contador clearly showed his American teammate and rival he deserved to be the leader of their Astana team with a rock-solid performance in the opening time-trial on Saturday in the hilly streets of Monaco.
Contador, who won the Tour [...]
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![Australian boss Pim Verbeek yesterday named his squad for the ‘must-not-lose’ AFC Asian Cup qualifier against Indonesia in Brisbane on March 3, with the 25-man squad consisting of 21 local-based players along with four from abroad. So has he got it right?
The Socceroos‘ qualification for next year’s Asian Cup in Qatar hinges on a result [...] Ben Somerford: Has Verbeek got it right for Indonesia?](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/ogre-verbeek-th.jpg)
![Jarryd Hayne’s last touch in the 2009 NRL Grand Final, a dropped ball, summed up his play throughout the match. Nothing he tried came off. His opposite number, Billy Slater, had a tremendous match, scoring a try, running the ball back strongly and injecting himself into the line to try and make something happen for [...] Spiro Zavos: Slater beats Hayne for a deserved Storm victory](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/slater-beats-hayne-storm-victory-th.jpg)
![The United Arab Emirates is on the verge of becoming the world’s most powerful sporting hub. If Australia doesn’t get the FIFA World Cup in 2018 or 2022, we may well be fighting against the UAE into the future. And I don’t like our chances.
While our country is struggling with global downturn, the UAE is [...] Benjamin Conkey: United Arab Emirates is the future hub of world sports](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/united-arab-emirates-sheikh-zayed-stadium-th.jpg)
![Danny Tiatto has cultivated a controversial headline or two throughout his career, but the hardman showed his softer side this week when committing to a guest role with the Melbourne Knights. It’s a poetic homecoming for one of the club’s favourite sons in the dwindling twilight of his football journey.
Tiatto trained for the first time [...] Paddy Higgs: Knights to gain from Tiatto’s poetic homecoming](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/tiatto-roar-th.jpg)
![The voting outcome of the 2009 John Eales Medal, voted for by the players, and for the Australia’s Choice Wallaby of the Year award, voted for by the public online, provides an insight into the mentality and playing strength of the Wallabies as they begin their Spring Tour.
Matt Giteau was the winner of the John [...] Spiro Zavos: 1984 Grand Slam will be hard for Wallabies to match](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/1984-grand-slam-wallabies-th.jpg)
![More than two million viewers tuned in to see Jelena Dokic lose to Dinara Safina in her quarter-final. Two million! That’s more than any cricket match could attract. Actually, make that most male sports.
It’s a sign of how far women’s tennis has come.
The fact that women’s Grand Slam tennis rates so well is the main [...] Benjamin Conkey: Women tennis stars need to play best of five-sets](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/01/maria-sharapova-grunts-th.jpg)
![In Sydney yesterday, it was a balmy summer day with a slight sea breeze sweeping in over the sand on the ivory beaches. I took myself for a walk up the street and saw cars full of happy teenagers heading off to the seaside and mothers pushing small babies in prams enjoying the sunshine.
It was [...] Andrew Logan: Vale Bill McLaren, we’ll never see your like again](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/bill-mclaren-th.jpg)
![The news that ONE HD’s new football show will kickoff in the coming weeks will be greeted with mixed feelings from fans of the game.
While many will be glad the game, particularly the A-League, will receive more press, others will be skeptical, still be scarred by the history the game has with commercial networks.
Football fans [...] Adrian Musolino: Football must win over free-to-air television](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/nq-fury-sydney-fc-th.jpg)
![So Pim Verbeek has cut Scott McDonald adrift. Good. It was overdue. Which is not to say McDonald is not a quality player – judged on his profile and goals he’s still our best sharpshooter in Europe.
But overall, in his 15 international appearances to date, he’s not performed to the standard required of a national-team [...] Jesse Fink: Verbeek was right to spike McDonald](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009/11/verbeek-was-right-scott-mcdonald-th.jpg)
![After a grueling three week tour of Perth and South Africa, the CA Brumbies are excited to return home tonight against the Lions of South Africa. Starting the season with three away games was never going to be an easy start, so to come away with two wins from three starts puts us in a [...] Ben Hand: Brumbies return energised by South African trip](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/mark-gerrard-th.jpg)
![ANZ Stadium is draining the lifeblood out of rugby league one game at a time.
There cannot be a worse venue to watch rugby league and in some perverse form of torture fans are being forced to turn up to the godless place with greater and greater frequency. To be precise it is 34 times [...] Steve Kaless: ANZ Stadium: The temple without a soul](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/hazem-el-masri-th.jpg)
![AFL stars and fans are declaring war on Channel 7. And for good reason. The network has confirmed it won’t be showing Friday night AFL matches live, as it’s committed instead to Better Homes and Gardens.
The continuation of delayed coverage has the AFL world fuming and has already sparked discussion over the AFL’s [...] Adrian Musolino: Battlelines drawn over live Friday night footy](http://www.theroar.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/grant-birchall-hawthorn-th.jpg)



