By Andrew Warshaw
June 25 – FIFA has acknowledged that its television production team should have thought twice before broadcasting a graphic suggesting Brazil forward Fred was offside when scoring in the 4-1 win over Cameroon.
By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 25 – Prince Harry wasn’t the only VIP attending England’s final game of the World Cup in Brazil’s third largest city. Just when England fans thought it could not get any worse, the match took place in the very city where England’s much-lauded team were humiliated by a bunch of amateurs from the United States all of 64 years ago.
By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 25 – Uruguay’s Luis Suarez faces the possibility of a lengthy FIFA ban after bringing infamy to the World Cup with yet another biting storm that has once again cast a dark shadow over the brilliant but highly temperamental striker.
Die Unken haben gerufen, und was ist geschehen? “The best world cup ever”, meinte ein ITV Sportskommentator. “Die besten Fussballspiele seit Jahrzehnten”, meinte ein anderer Kollege aus deutschen Landen. “Korruption aller Orten”, heisst es allerdings in einschlägigen Kreisen.
Die FIFA soll also nicht bloss Fussball organisieren, behüte! Sie soll sich um soziale Anliegen und um soziale Gerechtigkeit kümmern, soll das lösen, was korrupte Regierungen von links nach rechts offensichtlich nicht zu lösen vermögen.
June 24 – Die Unken haben gerufen, und was ist geschehen? “The best world cup ever”, meinte ein ITV Sportskommentator. “Die besten Fussballspiele seit Jahrzehnten”, meinte ein anderer Kollege aus deutschen Landen. “Korruption aller Orten”, heisst es allerdings in einschlägigen Kreisen.
By Mark Baber
June 24 – The French League (LFP) issued a statement yesterday announcing that 87 professional players in France will be investigated for having failed to comply with the regulations banning players from betting on LFP competitions.
June 24 – Final matches in Groups C and D see all teams, bar England, as contenders for places in the Round of 16.
June 24 – English head for the beaches as the Mexican wave rolls on and a Scolari look-a-like fools a reporter and a nation
June 24 – Spain may have tumbled out of their World Cup defence in Brazil but broadcast viewing figures of Spanish clubs Barcelona and Real Madrid globally suggest that the appetite for their brand of football will not be diminished, and the opportunity for advertisers and sponsors similarly.
By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 24 – FIFA medical executives have hit back over Costa Rica’s protests about dope tests on its players as the row continued to simmer on the eve of the tournament’s surprise package playing its final Group D tie against England here tomorrow.
By Ben Nicholson
June 24 – The MLS has experienced a 6.1% year-on-year average increase in attendance, as recorded prior to the start of the FIFA World Cup. The league average attendance currently sits at 18,497 spectators per game.
By David Owen
June 24 – The exploits of Costa Rica and Belgium have helped smaller combatants in Brazil 2014’s Battle of the Brands to steal a march on their Big Three rivals. The perfect records compiled by the Red Devils and their Central American counterparts after two rounds of matches have provided four of the five wins recorded by teams not sporting Adidas, Nike or Puma shirts.
June 23 – The final round of group games kick off today with Groups A and B playing to conclusion. The two matches in each Group match will have the same kick off times.
By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 23 – The first match-fixing scam surrounding a country participating at the World Cup – though not linked to any of its actual matches here – has been fiercely denied by Ghanaian officials.
By Mark Baber
June 23 – Macau police claim to have smashed two illegal gambling rings, arresting 26 people in separate hotel raids and seizing cash and other evidence. The raids uncovered evidence of HK$5 billion in illegal bets on World Cup football matches in a week – including a single HK$40 million (£3 million) bet on one World Cup match.