World Cup 2014 hosts Brazil will put on a spectacular show as the event comes to South America for the first time in almost 40 years, organisers and President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva insist.
Keen fan Lula had been hoping to see a sixth title achieved in South Africa this summer but a quarter-final loss to Holland put paid to that.
Now the focus switches instead to what will be the first tournament hosted by the most successful nation in the history of the competition since 1950 memories of which Brazilian fans would like to forget as that edition culminated in a shock final loss to Uruguay.
On that occasion, 200,000 people crammed into Rio s mythical Maracana stadium to watch the final.
To lose in 2010 could be understood, but to lose in 2014 would be…
Some of the usual heavyweights rub shoulders with surprise packages in the quarter-finals of the 2018 World Cup, which get under when France take on Uruguay in Nizhny Novgorod on Friday.
That mouth-watering clash is followed by another packed with prime talent as Brazil face a Belgium team on the other side of their great escape against Japan.
On Saturday, with their penalty shoot-out hoodoo slain for now, England meet Sweden in Samara before hosts Russia aim to extend their dream run against perennial dark horses Croatia.
Along with the eight teams, five of our reporters remain in Russia. Here s who they think will go all the way.
Harry West – Brazil
We re at the business end of the World Cup now and I haven t seen a stronger side than Brazil. …
The FIFA Confederations Cup which kicks off this weekend in South Africa is crucial to next year s World Cup tournament, said FIFA president Sepp Blatter on Wednesday.
It s definitely time to kick off now, not only in terms of the organisation in South Africa, but in terms of making sure they can deliver and will deliver, said Blatter, a year ahead of the first African World Cup.
That s why this Confederations Cup, one year before the big event, is crucial. It s very important for FIFA but also for the participating teams. I m sure it will be a great competition.
South Africa is ready and committed for 2010, he said in a statement marking the 12 month countdown to the World Cup.
Speaking in Johannesburg, FIFA competition director Jim Brown said the Co…
Or when he was one of several England players targeted by monkey chants in Montenegro and Bulgaria in 2019, when he scored in 5-1 and 6-0 wins.
Sterling was also at the forefront of football supporting Black Lives Matter following the killing of George Floyd and received an MBE last month in recognition of his work promoting racial equality.
But there was weariness when he discussed his activism in an interview with ITV last week, one that is entirely understandable when a minority of fans boo him and his England colleagues for taking the knee before kick-off – their peaceful, dignified protest against racial injustice.
It feels even more understandable when UK government ministers who gave licence to those booing and dismissed kneeling as a gesture are now fi…
The 30-man shortlist for the 2017 Ballon d Or has been announced and the ceremony to announce the winners of this prestigious award will take place in London later this month. In Part 2 of the shortlist analysis we take a look at the final 15 nominees and what they did to justify their inclusion.
Harry Kane (Tottenham + England)
The world class England striker won the Premier League Golden Boot for the second consecutive season last campaign, scoring 29 times as Tottenham finished in second place, seven points behind London rivals Chelsea. The striker has been in sensational goal scoring form and last season was the third campaing running in which he bagged over 20 goals for Spurs. Kane has also started this season in fine form with six Premier League goals so far, and his 94t…
Andres Iniesta believes Barcelona may have a hard year ahead of them, despite their all-conquering finish to 2010.
Barca defended their La Liga crown last season and fell narrowly short of successive Champions League triumphs, losing to Inter Milan in the semi-finals.
The first half of the 2010/11 season passed in equally impressive fashion.
The Catalan giants brushed aside all before them, with a 5-0 demolition of arch-rivals Real Madrid the highlight.
And while few would back against them collecting yet more trophies at the end of the season, midfield maestro Iniesta has warned against complacency when the campaign resumes at home to Levante on Sunday.
We are really motivated to begin the year well, but there is a hard 2011 ahead of us, Inies…
UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin labelled the crowd trouble at the Euro 2020 final between England and Italy as unacceptable and warned it must never happen again.
Italy secured their first European Championship since 1968 with a penalty shoot-out victory over England at Wembley Stadium in July, but the game was marred by clashes before the final.
Hundreds of supporters without tickets attempted to gain entry prior to kick-off, with an independent review later concluding it was clear we were close to fatalities and/or life-changing injuries for some, potentially many of the fans in attendance after 17 mass breaches of Wembley s gates.
UEFA punished the Football Association (FA) with a two-game stadium ban, one of which is suspended for two years, and an £84,5…
Week 2 featured a slew of high-profile injuries across the league and, in turn, we now await the game-day status of many of those players and more ahead of Sunday.
This week’s NFL Cheat Sheet will give you all the information you need for Sunday, as Covers checks in on NFL Week 3 injuries, weather, consensus picks, and more.
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Monday Night Football doesn’t end in the regular season this year — that honor goes to Wild Card weekend, which wraps up with a clash between the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams tonight. These NFC West rivals split a pair of meetings earlier this season and NFL betting lines opened with the Rams as 4-point home favorites for the grudge match.
Here are our best free NFL picks and predictions for Cardinals vs. Rams on January 17, with kickoff at 8:15 p.m. ET.
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NFL playoff betting is a double-edged sword.
The urgency and gravitas of the postseason ups the intensity and interest to peak levels, as you have elite-level teams squaring off in do-or-die contests. But with a smaller slate of games, oddsmakers can laser focus their energy on those matchups, meaning these NFL odds are the sharpest you’ve seen all season.
For a few years, betting on the NFL playoffs (especially betting on the NFL Wild Card round) was as simple as taking the points with the underdogs. From 2017-18 to 2020-21, Wild Card pups were a profitable 15-3 against the spread.
Then last year happened.
After a 28-17 ATS overall run by dogs (62%) the previous four postseasons, the 2021-22 Wild Card round produced only …