June 25 – Groups E and F play to conclusion with Nigeria needing to avoid defeat against Argentina to be Africa’s first, and potentially only, representative in the last 16. Though Iran will be looking to do the same for Asia. The Swiss need a good win over Honduras to beat Ecuador into the next round, assuming the South American can overcome a high flying French team.
June 25 – Media tracker Moreover Technologies has come up with a number of data sets around how the media worldwide is covering the World Cup and what is trending in terms of stories. While doubtless Luis Suarez’s bite night last night will be the current most covered story globally (stats still to be released), the data throws up interesting information on what is capturing the world’s imagination.
By Alexander Krassimirov
June 25 – The Bulgarian league has distributed its TV rights income for the 2013-14 season showing the disparity in domestic TV deals between the big leagues of Western Europe and those in its poorer East.
One of Roy Hodgson’s favourite writers, Stefan Sweig, killed himself in Petropolis, a town near Rio in 1942 despairing of where European civilisation and culture was headed. Now what has happened to Hodgson in Brazil does not bear any comparison with what Sweig was going through as the fight with Nazism raged in Europe with no definite indication that this evil could be defeated.
Those of us who write about sport often use absurd,
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.