By Andrew Warshaw
July 4 – The hoodoo is over but not without considerable controversy. As England fans revel in World Cup progress after their team finally banished decades of heartbreaking penalty shootout eliminations in the most nail-biting of circumstances, Colombia’s coach has refused to go quietly.
July 4 – Nigerian captain John Obi Mikel has revealed how he played through his country’s crucial World Cup tie with Argentina knowing that his father had been kidnapped.
July 4 – Joachim Low is to stay on Germany’s manager despite their shock group stage exit from the World Cup.
July 3 – As Brazil await a mouth-watering World Cup quarterfinal against Belgium, the focus of attention is once again on their mercurial striker Neymar – but not for the right reasons.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 2 – The controversies continue to rage but FIFA’s refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina and his colleagues insist the introduction of video assistant referees (Vars) has been an unqualified success in Russia.
July 2 – With yet another pre-tournament favourite dumped out of a World Cup of unprecedented surprises, Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales insists he has no regrets over the decision to sack national coach Julen Lopetegui on the eve of the competition.
By Samindra Kunti in Moscow
July 2 – Football’s governing body FIFA reported that 2,178,894 fans attended the 48 matches of the World Cup group stages in Russia, averaging a stadium occupancy rate of 98%.
July 2 – Senegal’s football federation (FSF) has urged FIFA to reconsider its new fair play ruling which controversially resulted in the Africans’ World Cup exit.
July 2 – Swiss captain Stephan Lichtsteiner has opened up for the first time about being sanctioned for the controversial Albanian eagle salutes during his country’s group game against Serbia.
June 29 – After having all their various protests about the 2026 World Cup bid process rejected by FIFA, Morocco are crying foul again – this time over the way they were eliminated from the World Cup.
By David Owen
June 29 – Exactly half – 368 – of the players who started Russia 2018 have now had their World Cup dreams shattered. But where do these dearly departed play their club football? Who employs the most squad members eliminated from the competition in the group stages?
By Andrew Warshaw
June 29 – Fair play, what fair play? If ever FIFA needed to have a hard look at the rules in terms of the criteria used for teams advancing to the knockout stage, Japan’s shameful tactics against Poland on Thursday – shades of Germany versus Austria way back in 1982 – provided ample evidence.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 29 – Over a generation has gone by since Pele famously predicted than an African team would win the World Cup by the year 2000. But if anything African football, which has long been clamouring for more World Cup slots, has gone backwards.
By Andrew Warshaw
June 28 – The recriminations are in full flow and the inquisition has already begun. But Germany’s fall from grace is not without precedent judging from recent World Cup history.
By Samindra Kunti in Moscow
June 28 – Brazil progressed to the knockout phase of the World Cup following a routine 2-0 win against Serbia on Wednesday, but the Brazilian Football Confederation, the CBF, remains an isolated body.