By Andrew Warshaw in Belo Horizonte
June 17 – On paper, they look like world beaters, a veritable galaxy of international superstars – a good number of whom play their club football in the English Premier League.
June 17 – Group H takes over with the last of the first round group matches. A much fancied Belgium face North African powerhouse Algeria, while global super powers Russia and South Korea face off. Round 1 winners Brazil and Mexico re-enter the fray.
By Mark Baber
June 16 – China’s blooming sports lottery, which debuted in 2009, is expecting a big boost from the World Cup with revenues estimated to increase by US$13.5 billion-$16.2 billion over the coming month.
June 16 – INSIDEworldfootball journalists and columnists are peppered all around Brazil. Here chief correspondent Andrew Warshaw, currently loose in Brazil, rounds up some of the off-the-field activity so far.
By Paul Nicholson
June 16 – Germany’s Franz Beckenbauer, a world cup legend having won the trophy as a player, a manager and then, as bid leader, winning the hosting rights for his country for the 2006 tournament, has said that he will now answer the questions of FIFA investigators.
By Alexander Krassimirov
June 16 – Bulgaria’s CSKA Sofia players have refused to train in the past three days in protest against broken promises by the club’s owners that April’s wages would be settled.
June 16 – Reports are starting to emerge that David Beckham may ditch his plans for a Miami expansion, instead opting to join a consortium led by, as of yet unnamed, Asian investors who are interested in bidding for Chivas USA.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 16 – The clamour for goalline technology to be introduced at the World Cup left FIFA with little option and has been widely supported. Yet the first time it was used, it caused huge controversy during France’s 3-0 win over 10-man Honduras.
June 16 – Ghana beat the US in 2006 and 2010; Iran have won just one World Cup game out of nine World Cup games – against the US in 1998 (should Mr Garcia be investigating this clear threat to national interest?); this is Germany’s 100th World Cup game (still checking but pretty sure they have never been beaten by the US in a World Cup).
By Andrew Warshaw in Brazil
June 15 – Having seemingly finally run of patience over media allegations of corruption surrounding their World Cup bid, Qatar’s 2022 organisers have delivered their most forceful defense to date, directly linking the allegations to the timing of the ongoing investigation being conducted by FIFA’s ethics committee prosecutor Michael Garcia into the entire 2018 and 2022 process.
By David Owen
June 15 – The Maracanã, along with Wembley probably the most famous stadium in world football, on Sunday hosts its first World Cup finals match for 64 years, when Lionel Messi’s Argentina take on tournament debutants Bosnia & Herzegovina.
June 15 – Messi vs Dzeko, Msssi has scored once in 571 mnutes of World Cup football, Dzeko scoed 10 in qualifying. France have never played Honduras beore, the Swiss have never played Ecuador.
June 14 – Group D debuts. Rooney hasn’t scored for 594 minutes in World Cup football, Diego Forlan scored 3 of Uruguay’s last 5, Itay have scored in last 14 of their World Cup games, Costa Rica have lost their last 4 games at the World Cup.
June 14 – Group C’s vital stats. Colombia’s keeper is the oldest player in Brazil, Greece kept eight clean sheets in qualifying, Japan have qualified for the last five World Cups and Ivory Coast the last three.
By Andrew Warshaw in Brazil
June 14 – While world champions Spain suffered one of their worst ever humiliations on the pitch in recent memory after being thrashed 5-1 by Holland today, off the pitch embarrassment of a different kind was heaped on Franz Beckenbauer, the best-known figure in the history of German football, when he was banned for 90 days for breaking FIFA’s Code of Ethics.