Search: 'Brazil'

Snubbed again. Months after FIFA granted Oceania an automatic place in the World Cup, they have reversed the decision. Matthew Hall writes from a very angry continent

After FIFA’s Oceania World Cup backflip, neither Sepp Blatter nor UEFA’s Lennart Johansson should consider taking holidays in the South Pacific for the next few years. The two Europeans would normally receive excellent hospitality from south­ern hemisphere hosts, but, as figurehead and architect of FIFA’s turnaround on Oceania’s direct entry to World Cup finals, those days are gone.

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Former Brazil coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo has been convicted of not paying his dues, as Robert Shaw  relates. You’d never have a dodgy national coach over here, of course

Is former national team coach Vanderlei Luxemburgo the Jeffrey Archer of Brazilian football? Both have received popular acclaim, been rumbled through du­bious assignations with women and been economical with the truth when it came to documenting their lives – in the coach’s case, taking three years off his age.

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Stop this farce and have a little respect

FIFA have missed an opportunity once again. In new rules introduced for the season, players are forbidden to wear sleeve­less jerseys and there are to be no slogans or advertising on undershirts. The latter stipulation at least means that a seemingly very partial God will no long­er be thanked by an evangelical Brazilian striker on scoring his side’s fifth against Ven­ezuela. But once again, players who kiss their badge after scoring have es­caped censure.

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Tuesday 1 A Russian billionaire, Roman Abramovich, buys a controlling interest in Chelsea and is expected to  settle the club’s oustanding debts, which will cost him around £130m in total.  Ken Bates, who will stay on as chairman,  professes himself delighted with the deal: “The club will benefit from a new owner with deeper pockets to move Chelsea to the next level.” UEFA president Lennart Johansson repeats an earlier warning that England may be expelled from the European championship if fans misbehave at future away matches. Harry Kewell’s agent claims there are still six clubs in the running to sign him, one of whom he can’t name, just to make it all sound more exciting. Craig Bellamy is to face three charges of racially aggravated  harassment following an incident outside a Cardiff nightclub in March.

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In an extract from the new edition of Tor!, his book on the history of German football, Uli Hesse-Lichtenberger explains the ethnic make-up of the national side

On a cloudy Saturday, the first day of September 2001, England came to Munich for a crucial World Cup qualifier. On paper, things looked promising for Germany, who probably only needed a draw to go through to the finals. The country approached the match with op­timism, even anticipation, content with the job Rudi Völler had done so far. During his 13 months at the helm, the new national coach had put into action many of the ideas his two predecessors regarded as suicidal. Ger­many no longer played with a sweeper, although you could still have listed the formation as 3-5-2. However, it was the system Argentina had popularised during the 1998 World Cup, with a flat back three and a crowd­ed midfield that did most of the defending before the opposition even reached the last third of the pitch.

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