World Cup » News » Football: The ball is too light, moans Colombia’s Ospina

Football: The ball is too light, moans Colombia’s Ospina

Columbia’s goalkeeper David Ospina on Tuesday criticised the World Cup ‘Brazuca’ ball made by Adidas as being too light.

Four years ago Adidas found themselves in the eye of the storm over their ‘Jabulani’ ball.

Goalkeepers in particular were harsh in their criticism of Jabulani with Italy’s Gianluigi Buffon calling it “absolutely inadequate”, Brazil’s Julio Cesar comparing it to a “supermarket” ball and England’s David James blasting it as “dreadful” and “horrible”.

Ospina, who plays for Nice in France, claims the new Brazuca is hardly any better.

“We goalkeepers know that the passion in football comes from goals and we have to adapt to this new ball technology,” he said.

“The ball is super-difficult, it’s very light, but we’re working hard to adapt.”

Adidas will be keen to avoid the negative headlines from South Africa in 2010.

The Jabulani was supposed to be the closest ball yet to a perfect sphere which would give it have a truer flight through the air.

But when players started using it there was widespread condemnation.

Then Argentina coach Diego Maradona said: “the ball doesn’t fly straight.” Brazilian forward Robinho added: “For sure the guy who designed this ball never played football.”

It was not all attacks however. Carlos Queiroz, then the Portugal coach who this time around will be leading Iran, said after a 7-0 thrashing of North Korea: “We love the ball!”

World Cup » News » Football: FIFA’s Blatter urged to stand down

Football: FIFA’s Blatter urged to stand down

Top European football officials on Tuesday publicly called on Sepp Blatter to end his reign as FIFA president amid accusations of corruption against Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid.

Michael van Praag, head of the Dutch football association, said Blatter should quit when his term ends next year. A similar demand was made by David Gill, vice-chairman of England’s Football Association,

Blatter, 78, officially opened FIFA’s annual congress at a gala evening in Sao Paulo without mentioning the attacks or corruption controversy. He is expected to use the congress to announce on Wednesday that he will seek a new four year term.

“Tonight we are in a festive mood because let’s say the discussions and all of what’s linked with FIFA and is so important nowadays, we will discuss it tomorrow,” Blatter said.

The corruption allegations and criticism of Blatter have threatened to further taint the opening of the latest World Cup in Sao Paulo on Thursday. Brazil is already struggling with protests over the cost of the event.

Van Praag challenged Blatter when he appeared before a closed meeting of the European confederation, UEFA. Some federations are angry because Blatter said in 2011 when he secured his latest term that it would be his last.

“Mr Blatter, this is nothing personal but if you look at FIFA’s reputation over the last seven or eight years, it is being linked to all kinds of corruption and all kinds of old boys’ networks things,” Van Praag said he had told Blatter.

“FIFA has an executive president and you are not making things easy for yourself and I do not think you are the man for the job any longer.”

Blatter replied that he would not resign straight away, according to the official.

The English FA’s Gill also said it was “disappointing” that Blatter had changed his stance and the FIFA leader should leave next year.

“I think we need a full, frank and open debate about what FIFA needs going forward.”

UEFA president Michel Platini has been touted as a possible rival to Blatter when the FIFA vote is held in May next year. Platini has said he will only decide his candidacy in September.

Van Praag said that if Platini does not stand then UEFA should agree another candidate to stand against the Swiss official.

Blatter was given a standing ovation when he spoke before the African, Asian and North American-Caribbean confederations on Monday. “This time, before UEFA, he did not get it,” van Praag said.

Blatter has been FIFA’s president since 1998. But his rule has never seen a controversy like the accusations that Qatar paid for votes when FIFA chose the Gulf country to host the 2022 World Cup.

Qatar has strongly denied involvement in wrongdoing. But allegations made in British newspaper The Sunday Times are expected to be raised at the FIFA congress.

FIFA investigator Michael Garcia has completed his report but it will not be handed to a FIFA adjudicatory chamber until mid-July. Blatter has said no decisions will be taken until September or October.

FIFA faces mounting pressure as five of its six major sponsors, who account for hundreds of millions of dollars of finance each year, have called for a thorough investigation of the allegations.

The embattled FIFA leader has hit back at critics however by saying that racism is behind the corruption accusations

Blatter hit out at the “storm against FIFA” over Qatar and the “discrimination and racism” at the heart of the attacks when he addressed the African Football Confederation on Tuesday.

African football officials were among those said to have accepted Qatar’s money, according to the Sunday Times. CAF members gave Blatter a rousing reception and slammed the allegations in a statement.

Asia’s top Olympic official Sheikh Ahmad al-Sabah of Kuwait said last week that the allegations were a racist attack on Arabs.

But English FA chairman Greg Dyke said he had told Blatter “the allegations being made are nothing to do with the racism, they are allegations about corruption.”

Blatter was equally defiant at the Asian Football Confederation adding that “I still have the fire inside” to lead FIFA.

Qatar beat the United States, Australia, Japan and South Korea to the 2022 tournament, despite a FIFA technical report which warned the searing temperatures during June and July in Qatar posed a health risk.

World Cup » News » Football: Welbeck in England injury scare – reports

Football: Welbeck in England injury scare – reports

England forward Danny Welbeck is a doubt for his side’s opening World Cup game against Italy on Saturday due to injury, according to British media reports on Tuesday.

Several newspapers reported that the Manchester United player was forced to limp out of a training session at England’s Urca training base in Rio de Janeiro, having taken to the field with his right thigh heavily strapped.

Welbeck, 23, started two of England’s three pre-tournament warm-up games and was in contention to start the Group D opener against Cesare Prandelli’s Italy in Manaus.

His absence would potentially open the door for Liverpool winger Raheem Sterling.

The 19-year-old missed England’s 0-0 draw with Honduras on Saturday after being sent off in their previous game against Ecuador, but he has impressed England coach Roy Hodgson with his performances in training.

World Cup » News » Football: Blatter dances cares away at FIFA congress

Football: Blatter dances cares away at FIFA congress

A smiling Sepp Blatter danced on stage and said he was in “festive mood” Tuesday despite fresh calls to stand down as he opened the FIFA congress ahead of the problem-hit World Cup.

The cheery-looking FIFA chief sidestepped controversy as he joked with glamorous hostess Fernanda Lima and even broke into a jig at one point at the opening ceremony in Sao Paulo.

“Tonight we are in a festive mood because let’s say the discussions and all of what’s linked with FIFA and is so important nowadays, we will discuss it tomorrow,” he said.

“And if there are any problems perhaps we can sort them. But now we will just be here in Sao Paulo for the opening ceremony of our congress.”

At the ceremony, giant model parrots with flapping wings and samba dancers circulated among the audience before the hundreds of suited FIFA delegates filed off to a VIP lounge and dinner.

The festivities came despite a bleak mood surrounding FIFA in the build-up to the two-day congress and the World Cup, which kicks off with Brazil v Croatia in Sao Paulo on Thursday.

Earlier on Tuesday, European delegates urged Blatter to stand down when his third term expires next year. The 78-year-old Swiss is expected to renege on promises not to seek a fourth term.

“‘Mr Blatter, this is nothing personal but… I do not think you are the man for the job any longer,” Dutch football boss Michael van Praag said he told Blatter at closed-doors talks earlier.

England’s David Gill also called it “disappointing” that Blatter appeared set to stand again. “I think we need a full, frank and open debate about what Fifa needs going forward,” Gill said.

FIFA has been in the firing line after Britain’s Sunday Times reported allegations that millions of dollars in bribes were paid to help Qatar secure the 2022 World Cup.

Meanwhile the World Cup build-up has been hit by a subway strike in Sao Paulo and serial protests over the tournament’s multi-billion dollar price tag, while basic public services are lacking.

And concerns remain over Sao Paulo’s new Corinthians Arena, which will host Brazil v Croatia in the tournament’s opener on Thursday but has not been tested at full capacity.

But Blatter has been defiant, saying criticism of Qatar’s World Cup hosting was motivated by racism and taking aim at FIFA’s “destroyers”.

Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff insisted her country was ready to host the World Cup, in a message relayed to the ceremony by sports minister Aldo Rebelo.

“We are ready, we are ready to hold the Cup,” Rousseff said.

Blatter is expected to formally announce his candidacy during the congress, which gets down to business on Wednesday.

“We all hope that this Brazil can embrace the potential of FIFA’s World Cup to make the most amazing opportunity and fiesta,” he said.

World Cup » News » Drinks firms are ‘real winner’ in Brazil: BMJ report

Drinks firms are ‘real winner’ in Brazil: BMJ report

Attempts to fight alcohol abuse are being sapped by football’s links with the booze industry, a report published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) said Wednesday.

“Home team Brazil may be the favourite to win the 2014 World Cup. But whichever country hoists aloft the trophy on 13 July the real winner will be the alcohol industry,” it said.

Alcohol has now become culturally ingrained with football, it said. During the World Cup, millions of young people will be exposed to alcohol marketing.

FIFA “has a long record of championing the financial interests of its commercial partners, including Budweiser, the tournament’s official beer partner, by imposing extreme conditions on governments around the world,” said the feature, authored by freelance writer Jonathan Gornall.

These include tax waivers on any profits made by commercial partners during the World Cup and “bullying” the Brazil government into allowing fans to drink beer in stadiums during the tournament, temporarily overturning a long-standing local ban to prevent crowd violence.

“Such is the power of FIFA that Qatar, a strictly Muslim country with tough drinks laws, has already agreed to sell alcohol in fan zones in 2022,” the piece said.

It noted that France in 1991 banned sports advertising and sponsorship by drinks companies.

Despite warnings of disaster by brewers, sports events in France have survived and even flourished with new sponsors, it said.

World Cup » News » Football: Manaus pitch fear for England, Italy

Football: Manaus pitch fear for England, Italy

The pitch at Manaus’s Amazonia Arena, on which England and Italy will play their opening World Cup game on Saturday, was in a poor condition on Tuesday, an AFP journalist remarked.

The playing surface was noticeably dry and particularly bare around one of the goals, revealing large yellowing areas of turf.

The rest of the stadium appeared fully functional, but not completely finished.

In and around the changing rooms, naked power cables could be seen dangling from the walls.

Outside the stadium, where workers were applying a final coat of asphalt, several security doors could be seen in their packaging, still waiting to be fitted.

Specially constructed for the 2014 World Cup, the 46,000-capacity Amazonia Arena had been held up as an example, having been one of the first new stadiums in Brazil to break ground.

World Cup » News » Football: Brazil midfield gives Scolari food for thought

Football: Brazil midfield gives Scolari food for thoughtAyoze Pérez in actie namens CD Tenerife tegen CE Sabadell. (25-5-2014)

Brazil have plenty of reasons to be optimistic as they head into the opening game of their bid to finally win the World Cup on home soil.

Technical co-cordinator Carlos Alberto Parreira has said that he is so confident Brazil can win the ‘hexacampeonato’, a sixth World Cup, because “we have the best defence in the world”, marshalled by Paris Saint-Germain duo Thiago Silva and David Luiz.

Their presence, along with full-backs Dani Alves and Marcelo, masks any doubts surrounding the condition of goalkeeper Julio Cesar, while at the other end of the field Brazil have the potential superstar of the finals in Neymar.

“When things are going bad, we try to do everything to get the ball to Neymar,” said striker Fred, underlining the importance to the Selecao of the 22-year-old Barcelona forward.

But elsewhere coach Luiz Felipe Scolari has some thinking to do in midfield, where questions are being asked about the players who have formed his first-choice trio in that area ever since last year’s triumphant Confederations Cup run.

In the 3-0 victory against Spain in the final of that competition, Luiz Gustavo and Paulinho provided the protection to the defence while Oscar was charged with offering the creative spark.

Those three played together in last Friday’s 1-0 win against Serbia in Brazil’s final warm-up game and most indications from the national team’s training camp in Teresopolis, 100 kilometres north of Rio de Janeiro, this week have been that Scolari will again field the trio in Thursday’s Group A opener against Croatia.

However, Paulinho, of English Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur, was criticised for his performance against Serbia and Oscar has not rediscovered his best form since a poor second half to the club season with Chelsea.

“He was our best player for months, from August to December. He was absolutely fantastic. After that he’s been up and down,” said Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho recently, and there have been some calls for Oscar to be replaced in the starting line-up by his club colleague Willian.

Concern as to the form of those alongside him means there will be greater emphasis on Luiz Gustavo as Brazil try to deal with the considerable threat posed by a Croatian midfield containing world-class talents in Luka Modric of Real Madrid and Ivan Rakitic of Sevilla.

The 26-year-old of German club Wolfsburg started out as an attacker but has had to drop back to enjoy success at the highest level and will now fulfil a role carried out by the likes of Dunga and Gilberto Silva in great Brazil teams of the recent past.

“I’m not bothered about being recognised. What motivates me is the challenge and trying to reach our objectives,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday.

“The coach is always clear about what he wants from me, to focus on defending. We have to be prepared for every team, every opponent.

“It will be my job to closely watch their most creative players. Croatia are a team with great quality,” added the former Bayern Munich man, who may not enjoy being in the spotlight but will have a crucial role to play if Brazil are to enjoy a successful World Cup.

World Cup » News » Football: Put your shirt on Portugal

Football: Put your shirt on PortugalLeonardo Jardim tijdens de persconferentie waarin hij zijn vertrek bij Sporting Lissabon aankondigt. (06-06-2014)

You can put your shirt on Portugal not running out of team jerseys this World Cup — all 1,000 of them.

With 20 outfield players in the 23-man squad, that averages out at a staggering 50 for each of them to sweat their way through in balmy Brazil.

They also like their cod, a national speciality, and have packed 200 kilos (440 pounds) of the stuff, the Portuguese FA said.

Also on the flight to Campinas will be 48 bottles of 10 years’ old Tawny port — but not for the players.

World Cup » News » Football: Aussies bullish as first match looms

Football: Aussies bullish as first match loomsAyoze Pérez in actie namens CD Tenerife tegen CE Sabadell. (25-5-2014)

Goalkeeper Mat Ryan and midfielder Dario Vidosic on Tuesday said they could not wait to get stuck into opening World Cup opponents Chile on Friday in Cuiaba.

Last Friday saw the Socceroos make fellow qualifiers Croatia, Brazil’s opening day rivals, work hard for a single goal win in their final warm-up and Ryan and Vidosic said nobody could doubt Australia’s will to succeed.

Most observers don’t give Ange Postecoglou’s side a chance against the Chileans, led by Barcelona star Alexis Sanchez, or other group rivals Spain, the world champions, and Holland.

But Ryan, who plays in Belgium with Club Brugge, said the team was itching to do battle.

“I just can’t wait for Friday to start — just let the excitement take over.

“Everyone’s fairly relaxed at the moment. But I dare say that’s about to change in the coming days,” said Ryan, 22.

On the 1-0 loss to Croatia in Salvador last week he said: “I thought definitely our structure was really good — we kept the spaces in between the lines tight.”

Regarding facing the likes of Sanchez he told reporters: “It’s a little bit daunting but you have no time come the day of the match to be in awe of them. If that happens I’ll probably be picking the ball out of the back of the net.”

Osijek-born attacking midfielder Dario Vidosic of Swiss side Sion said the whole squad was desperate to show their mettle and get game time.

“We’re just tying to give the coach as many headaches as possible. Every single one of us just can’t wait,” he said.

“We’re living the dream — we just want to die out there for each other. That’s how we’re going to play.

“We don’t care who we’re up against. There can be 11 Ronaldos or Messis out there. We want to make everybody proud back home. We’ve worked very hard to get to this stage,” the 27-year-old said.

“By the time kick off comes round we’ll be 100 percent ready to go. We’ve got three guaranteed games and we’re just going to give it everything that we can to get out of the group stage,” which the Socceroos managed in 2006.

World Cup » News » Jennifer Lopez to perform at World Cup opener after all

Jennifer Lopez to perform at World Cup opener after all

Pop superstar Jennifer Lopez will perform at the World Cup opening ceremony after all, FIFA said Tuesday, two days after it announced “production issues” would prevent her traveling to Brazil.

Lopez, who recorded the official World Cup song, “We Are One,” with rapper Pitbull and Brazilian singer Claudia Leitte, will perform it with them and Brazilian drumming collective Olodum as originally planned at Thursday’s kick-off, FIFA said.

“FIFA and the Local Organizing Committee are delighted to announce that we will have the full line-up of stars,” it said in a statement.

“The performance by Pitbull, Claudia Leitte, Jennifer Lopez and Olodum will be the climax of the ceremony.”

More than 60,000 people will be in Sao Paulo’s Corinthians Arena to watch the ceremony and kick-off match between Brazil and Croatia. Around a billion people are expected to tune in on TV worldwide.