World Cup Fever

Uruguay will play Morocco in a couple of days’ time and that will be the last opportunity for Oscar Tabarez, the man in charge of La Celeste, to make a decision regarding the players that he would pick for the defence of the Copa America crown.

Uruguay had clinched that crown in 2011 beating Paraguay in title game played at Estadio Monumental Antonio Vespucio Liberti.

But, there is a bit of difference in the team that Uruguay had during that tournament and the team that they have right now. They were much stronger back then with Luis Suarez in there and firing.

Suarez is still active of course, playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world, Barcelona, but, he is yet to complete his ban in international Football and he would not be available for Uruguay even for the latter games of Copa America.

As if Suarez’s unavailability was not a big enough blow, Uruguay has lost Gaston Ramirez as well to injury.

United Arab Emirates have managed to agree a deal with coach Mahdi Ali over extending his contract.

The 49-year-old was due to leave the UAE national team role in the summer. His contract was coming to an end in the next few months, but UAE officials are thought to be happy with his progress. The nation has lost only twice since November and are in a good position going into the World Cup 2018 qualifying campaign. Mahdi Ali has stressed that it is imperative that UAE do well in the qualification stages and possibly reach the last levels of qualification.

2014 was a huge year for the Portuguese national football team as they went through a change in their managerial position that initially brought forward a string of doubts and concerns as Paulo Bento was replaced by the former coach of Greece, Fernando Santos.

Portugal failed to make it out of the group stages of the 2014 World Cup as they had the same amount of points as United States which was 4 but the American team had a better goal difference which made the difference.

When the group stages of the 2016 Euro’s initiated, Portugal continued to suffer as they lost 1-0 when facing off with Albania and the tactics of Paulo Bento did not seem like it was working out as the team were just too reliant on Real Madrid’s C.Ronaldo.

This string of negative results was just too much for the Portuguese squad to handle and Fernando Santos was later announced as the new coach who has made a huge impact in the team.

The esteemed Konstantinovsky Palace of St. Petersburg would be reportedly hosting the preliminary draw for 2018 FIFA World Cup.

The announcement has been readily appreciated given the iconic heritage of the palace which would prove to be a magnificent backdrop for the 1st formal event of 2018 mega football event at Russia,

The World Cup Preliminary Draw is slated to be held on July 25, 2015.

The World Preliminary Draw once again perfectly proves FIFA World event’s unique élan to join the whole world together. The event would be attended by several dignitaries, including delegates from participant member associations right from all the 6 confederations, around 800 press representatives & a huge audience consisting of around 2000 people- these include eminent personalities from the political, show business and sports worlds. The draw event is expected to be watched by millions & millions of spectators from all over the globe.

Neymar is one of the youngest players not only in his club Barcelona but also in the national team of his country Brazil but this has not stopped him from breaking records and being named as the captain of the Brazilian squad.

Despite having more experienced players in the squad of Brazil, Dunga has not been shy in appointing Neymar as the current captain of the team. The star of Barcelona has been active in the international scene as he is a constant starter as well as being awarded with the captain armband during some of the latest friendly matches of Brazil.

The undisputed captain of Brazil is Thiago Silva but the defender has managed to make an appearance in any of the recent friendly matches for his country due to an injury and Neymar was selected as the man to wear the armband and the team in the pitch.

Germany’s Miroslav Klose has announced his retirement just a few months after winning the World Cup 2014. The 36-year-old striker became the highest scorer in World Cup finals after scoring two goals in the five matches. He overtook Brazilian forward Ronaldo, who had 15 goals. Klose now has 16 and a World Cup title to go along with it. The former Bayern Munich forward says that it has been a lifetime ambition for him to win the World Cup. After having realised the same last summer, Klose has now announced his retirement from international football.

Spain being the defending champions was trailing by 2-0 in front of Chile. This was the second loss of Spain in 2014 World Cup in just five days. It was Eudardo Vargas and Charles Arranguiz who led their team to victory. The golden era seem to be crashing apart for Spain after winning in 2008 and 2012 in the European Championship 2010 triumph in the World Cup.

Cesare Prandelli has dismissed suggestions that the 1-1 draw with minnows Luxembourg is a very poor result for the team. Italy were considered as one of the teams capable of winning the World Cup 2014 after they reached the final of the Euro 2012. However, they come into the tournament on a very poor form. It will be difficult to accept draws against Republic of Ireland and Nigeria, but the team hit a new low after only managing a 1-1 draw with Luxembourg.

A young and upcoming team, Italy have found it difficult to get results against such poor teams. This has put their World Cup hopes in tatters even before the start of the tournament. Despite this, Prandelli says that the team does not need to worry about the form because they suggest warmup friendlies. Italy also suffered a major blow in the form of an injury to AC Milan midfielder Ricardo Montolivo. He has been ruled out of the World Cup after the injury sustained against Republic of Ireland.

Paris St Germain manager Laurent Blanc has stated that the injury sustained by midfielder Yohan Cabaye during the recent match with Lille may not be serious as initially thought. The former Newcastle United man had to be carried off on a stretcher after what appeared to be a very serious injury. This would have been a major blow for his chances of being in the French squad for the World Cup 2014. It would also have been a blow for France, who will be hoping to redeem himself with a good showing at this major tournament.

Brazil’s sport minister has stated that the nation is facing a problem with crime rather than terrorism during the upcoming World Cup 2014. This is one of the prestigious events that will be held in Brazil over the next few years.

This country is also set to hold the upcoming Olympics as well. The precursor for the World Cup 2014 – Confederations cup – did not go too well since it was marked by large protests against the government for spending huge amounts of money on stadiums rather than developing the infrastructure.