By Ben Nicholson
July 4 – Whilst head coach Jurgen Klinsmann wrote the USA a ‘sick-note’ urging employers to allow fans to watch their world cup game, Colombian government workers have been afforded the luxury minus the paperwork by their own President.
By Jaroslaw Adamowski
July 4 – The Serbian Football Association (FSS) is looking to boost its Jelen SuperLiga and increase the marketing opportunities for the Serbian championship, according to Zoran Lakovic, the secretary general of the FSS. New measures include a restructured top tier and a relaxation of foreign player rules.
Considering they have a common 450km-long border and have together been the beating heart of the European project for nearly 60 years, France and Germany are remarkably dissimilar.
Not so their football teams, which clash in Rio on Friday in what promises to be a fascinating World Cup quarter-final.
Take the goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris and Manuel Neuer don’t exactly look alike; but they are very proactive exponents of their craft, among the quickest to sprint off their lines to snuff out trouble.
July 3 – Quarter-finals kick off Frday with two match-ups that feature the battle of the giants from South America and Europe. Hosts Brazil face increasingly favourited Colombia, while France and Germany square off in what could be an old-school Euro classic.
July 3 – This week’s 20th anniversary of the death of former Colombian defender Andres Escobar continues to capture the imagination.
By Mark Baber
July 3 – The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeal filed by Virach Chanpanich against the decision taken on 17 October 2013 by the Football Association of Thailand to elect the controversial Worawi Makudi as its President.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – One of Africa’s best-known footballing figures has defended the reputation of the Continent’s players at the World Cup, insisting they were not simply motivated by greed.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – Following the unprecedented impact of substitutes at the World Cup, football’s lawmakers will be asked to consider a proposal that teams be allowed to use a fourth sub during extra time.
By David Owen
July 3 – FIFA has set up a three-man electoral committee to supervise the process of what may yet be a bitter and divisive presidential election.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – FIFA has asked the German news magazine Der Spiegel to come up with the evidence of its conversation with convicted match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal amid the ongoing confusion over whether Cameroon’s players deliberately rigged their games at the World Cup.
By David Owen
July 2 – Clubs as diverse as Aalesunds FK, Columbus Crew and Deportivo Saprissa are set to receive bigger-than-expected World Cup windfalls, as a consequence of Costa Rica’s improbable run to the quarter-finals of Brazil 2014.
By David Owen
July 2 – It’s neck and neck in the Battle of the Brands as the World Cup takes a pause before moving on to the quarter-final matches. Sportswear heavyweights Nike and Adidas each supplies the kit for three of the eight Brazil 2014 survivors. Puma, however, has faded from the picture, after none of its eight teams progressed beyond the Last 16 stage.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 2 – Twenty years after the darkest episode in their country’s footballing history, a Twitter campaign has been launched to mark today’s anniversary of the death of Andres Escobar, the Colombian defender tragically gunned down for scoring an own goal in a World Cup group match against the United States.
July 2 – FIFA president Sepp Blatter says UEFA will be tempted to perform a u-turn and introduce goal-line technology for the 2016 European Championship finals even though UEFA boss Michel Platini has long stated his objection to the innovation and prefers his system of two additional referee’s assistants.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 2 – Barcelona have seemingly upped the stakes in their bid to sign shamed Uruguayan forward Luis Suarez with Barca’s sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta (pictuded) praising Suarez for his public apology for his bite on Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup,