November 28, 2001	Wednesday	Ramazan 12, 1422

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TOKYO, Nov 27 - Ghana international Samuel Kuffour scrambled home an extra-time winner as German and European champions Bayern Munich beat 10-man Boca Juniors of Argentina 1-0 to win the World Club Cup on Tuesday.

Kuffour pounced from point-blank range after the defending champions failed to clear a corner from substitute Ciriaco Sforza in the 20th minute of extra time to settle a bad-tempered match watched by 51,360 at Tokyo’s National Stadium.

“Now we’re the best in the world,” proclaimed Bayern keeper Oliver Kahn after the win.

“We left it late, but I felt we should have got the breakthrough earlier. We controlled the tempo of the game, even though Boca were trying to spoil the game after the sending off,” said Bayern manager Ottmar Hitzfeld.

“The World Club Cup is a very prestigious title to win. We didn’t manage to win the (European) Super Cup in Monaco (against Liverpool in August), so it is nice to win this and write another chapter in Bayern’s history.”

Boca manager Carlos Bianchi said the referee had changed the course of the game with his decision to dismiss striker Marcelo Delgado.

“The game was a stalemate, with both sides cancelling each other out until the red card. That changed the course of the game and made it easy for Bayern to retain possession,” said Bianchi, who is set to leave Boca at the end of the season.

Bayern, who last won the Intercontinental Cup under the old two-leg format in 1976, enjoyed the lion’s share of possession in the second half after Delgado was sent off after receiving his second yellow card for diving in first-half stoppage time.

However, forwards Claudio Pizarro and Carsten Jancker, who was introduced midway through the second half, wasted a number of chances as Bayern failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage over the Boca.

Pizarro was denied by Boca goalkeeper Oscar Cordoba in the 83rd minute after a quickly taken free-kick from Bixente Lizarazu.

Jancker then flashed a header just high after an inch-perfect delivery from rightback Willy Sagnol five minutes before the change of ends as Bayern, who were able to start with 10 internationals despite missing eight squad members through injury, piled on the pressure.

Boca, though, had the best of the early chances and should have drawn first blood in the 28th minute when Guillermo Schelotto dispossessed Kuffour and fed strike partner Delgado, who contrived to slice his shot wide with just Kahn to beat from eight metres.

Delgado’s misery was compounded in first-half injury time when he chased a through-ball from Juan Riquelme and went down under a challenge from Kahn.

Danish referee Kim Nielsen immediately produced the red card, indicating that Delgado, who was booked earlier for time-wasting, had dived.

Bayern finally made Boca pay when Thorsten Fink got his head to Sforza’s corner and Kuffour beat Clemente Rodriguez to the loose ball and lashed the ball into the roof of the net.—Reuters