World Cup Thread

[RomaShield27]

[maro]

[RomaShield27]

[San Paolo]

think i will be watching alot of football soon enough haha

[Messinterista]

[Messinterista]

[red]

[Messinterista]

[red]

[juventino_italiano]

[Messinterista]

[RomaShield27]

[Messinterista]

Star footballer Franck Ribery caught in underage prostitute scandal
April 20, 2010 - 7:51AM

Scandal ... Franck Ribery. Photo: AFP
The French football team's image, already dented after the Thierry Henry handball controversy, has taken another major hit with the sex scandal enveloping members of the team including star player Franck Ribery.

A police inquiry into an affair of prostitution involving an under-age call girl could not have come at a worse time for Raymond Domenech and his players just 50 days before the start of the World Cup.

The official line on Monday from the French Football Federation (FFF) and the national team's sponsor, adidas, was that "This relates to a private matter, there is no reaction to make."

But another source at the FFF who wished to remain anonymous said: "This is yet another blow for the French team."

While substance in the form of results on the pitch is crucial, image plays a major part too in a team's preparations for an event of the magnitude of the World Cup.

Especially when the team, France, are among the traditional favourites to be crowned world champions after their exploits in winning the 1998 World Cup on home soil and then making the final in Germany in 2006.

So when it emerges that a player of the stature of the 27-year-old Bayern Munich midfielder Ribery could face a spell in prison for having sexual relations with an under-age prostitute it's hard to underestimate the damage that has on team morale.

Ribery was questioned by police investigating the affair last week and on Monday it emerged that he admitted having sexual relations with a prostitute, but denied knowing that she was a minor, according to judicial sources.

Ribery and an entire nation of football fans now face an anxious wait to find out whether the judge leading the inquiry will bring charges against arguably the most gifted player in Domenech's squad.

If charged and found guilty Ribery, who is married and has two daughters, could face a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a fine of 45,000 euro ($65,000).

The affair has produced damaging headlines in newspapers beyond France's borders.

In Spain sports daily Marca described it as "a major scandal at the heart of French football and the national team...if the scandalous details are confirmed".

In England, The Times carried the story on its news pages, saying: "The reputation of France's national football team was under scrutiny after two players were questioned by police in connection with a prostitution ring."

Another piece in the same paper was more direct, suggesting that Domenech needed this latest blow "like a bullet in the head".

For sure Domenech has plenty on his plate at the moment without this latest damaging distraction which comes after Henry's infamous handball which led to the goal that sent France to South Africa at the expense of the Republic of Ireland last November.

That incident cast a black cloud over France's qualification for the 2010 finals with Henry forced to make a public apology and even talk at one stage of the play-off being replayed.

Headlines such as "the hand of frog" made uncomfortable reading.

The French manager, who only held on to his job by the skin of his teeth after France's disappointing Euro 2008 campaign, is also having to contend with injuries to key players like William Gallas ahead of his World Cup squad announcement due on May 23.

Domenech, who has spoken recently about chasing "egos" out of his camp, has also had the disappointment of seeing his side handed a footballing masterclass by European champions Spain in a recent World Cup warm-up.

That 2-0 defeat suggested France will have their work cut out to make it past the first round in South Africa.

Source: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/star-footba ... -spu4.html

[red]

Clarence Seedorf will be part of the BBC team covering the World Cup.

I'm suddenly looking forward to hearing what a pundit thinks.

[San Paolo]

[RomaShield27]

Fifa admit more than 250,000 World Cup tickets remain unsold
• Organisers say interest has cooled after initial brisk business
• Over half the tickets offered for cash sale are still available

www.guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 5 May 2010 15.01 BST

World Cup organisers have admitted that more than half of the 500,000 match tickets offered for cash sale are still unsold, just over a month before the tournament starts.

Business appeared to be brisk when the fifth and final phase of sales opened in South Africa on 15 April, sparking long queues, but interest now appears to have cooled.

Greg Fredericks, who heads the office of the World Cup local organising committee CEO, Danny Jordaan, told Johannesburg city councillors that under 300,000 tickets remained for the tournament.

A Fifa spokeswoman, Delia Fischer, confirmed that 230,000 of the allotted 500,000 phase-five tickets had been sold.

Fifa moved to cash sales after widespread criticism that its online-only system was too complicated and effectively excluded millions of Africans who do not have access to computers or credit cards.

Fredericks said matches in Johannesburg, which will host the opening and final matches, and Pretoria were sold out but there were still many tickets available for matches in Polokwane, Port Elizabeth and Nelspruit.

He also said the government would soon release a transportation timetable for planes, buses and other public transport for the month-long event.

[RomaShield27]

South Africa World Cup 'just for the rich'
– 06:51 GMT, Monday, 10 May 2010 07:51 UK

With a futuristic design, sky car and marble finish, the Moses Mabhida stadium has become one of Durban's leading tourist attractions ahead of the World Cup in South Africa. The new $450m (£300m) arena was named after an anti-apartheid activist and hero of the black working class but some South Africans say his memory is being trampled on by people who are using the stadium to harass the poor.

"They should have called this stadium PW Botha - an oppressor - not Moses Mabhida, our father. It just makes a mockery of what he represented," says Johannes Mzimela, who sells ice-cream for a living.

Mr Mzimela is upset at what he calls "hostile raids" by Durban's municipal police, against traders found operating near the stadium or any of the sites earmarked for the World Cup.

Regulations imposed by football's world governing body Fifa on host countries stipulate that no-one but its commercial partners be allowed trade or promote their products in the immediate vicinity of all World Cup sites.

Clement Zulu, who has been selling ice-cream for the past 25 years, accuses the Durban municipal police and the Moses Mabhida management of promoting inequalities between the "haves and the have-nots".

"Big businesses who don't even need the money like we do are the ones who will be able to sell here - they can afford to pay whatever is necessary for a permit," he says.

Anyone who is not a commercial partner has to apply to the host city's municipal office for an "events permit". The penalties for transgressors will be a spell in jail or a fine based on the company's profit.

Host cities, Fifa and the local organisers are obliged to create commercial restriction zones around stadiums and areas of importance during the tournament.

The stadium managers declined to comment on the street vendors' comments but Fifa argues that they must protect the official sponsors from "ambush marketing" by those who would want to profit from the event without having contributed financially.

But many traders say they do not even know how to go about applying for the permits. "We are being made to jump through hundreds of hoops so we can do for a month what we have been doing here for years - and that's selling at the stadium," says Nhanhla Mkhize, an ice-cream seller.

He says all hopes that the World Cup would improve his life have been dashed. "Now I know it is just a reminder that the rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer," says the man from Ulamzi township in Durban.

Billions of dollars have been spent on revamping South Africa's airports, hotels and building brand new football stadia in some of the nine host cities - all to accommodate about 450,000 international fans expected to touch down in less than one month. South Africa is hoping to make most of the money back during the World Cup but the street vendors say they now know they won't see a cent of those profits.

Jabulane Ngubane, also a street vendor, says the World Cup is threatening his family's livelihood.
"The police chase us away from the stadium like we are criminals," says Mr Ngubane, who sells cold drinks and crisps. "If this is the wrong way of living, then they must show us the right way because when I look for a job I can't get one and when I sell in the streets my trolley gets confiscated."

He is from Pietermaritzburg and works in Durban, about 43 miles away, travelling home once a week to visit his family.
Mr Ngubane supports 13 children from his street vending. Before the police crackdown, Mr Ngubane said he easily made around 400 rand ($54; £35) a day, and was able to send at least 1,200 rand ($161; £105) to his family at the end of the week.

When the goods are confiscated, the vendors are fined anything from 100 rand ($13, £9) to 300 rand ($40, £26), which in many cases is an entire day's wage.

Perishable goods such as ice-cream are often damaged either during the raid or in storage. As a result, Mr Ngubane says he was begun to resent the tournament.

"I want nothing to do with the World Cup; it has caused me too much pain already," he says.

"I'll be happy when this whole thing is over, maybe the police will leave us alone so we can earn a living for our children"

[RomaShield27]

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/world-cup/group
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/inte ... raw-groups
http://www.fifa.com/worldcup/standings/index.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/footbal ... efault.stm

So now that the (provisional) World Cup squads have been announced, and we can focus on the fuck-ups of other nations and not just that of the Azzurri under Lippi, what do you think of some of the other squads that have been announced or, more to the point, the players who have been omitted?

First off, there's Argentina, or should I say Maradona's team. I had a lot of respect for Maradona as a player, naturally, and thought sure he can do a good job as manager too, even if he is a complete psycho, but some of his decisions just don't make sense to anyone who watches football. Leaving out Zanetti and Cambiasso altogether, strong indications that Diego Milito will be cut bad won't make final squad, seeing some of the complete unknowns he has included at the expense of those he has left out, none of it makes sense and it all stinks. Its just mind-boggling to see such a nation with such a vast array of talent being so completely fucked up by one person who has been given this control.

And then there's Brazil, who have left our Ronaldinho, and more surprisingly to me, Pato, even though Julio Baptista has been included. The less said about that, the better.

At least Patrick Viera about his omission.

[juventino_italiano]

[Oram]