June 2018
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Well, what a two weeks that was, right up until the last knockings of the group stages the World Cup has kept us pinned to our seats. Even England‘s weird encounter with Belgium had its own peculiar tension as we worked through the ramifications of winning and losing.

For some the idea that defeat might be a good thing was anathema, unleashing at a rush those old feelings of doom and negativity all too commonly associated with England of the past. This reaction tells us how shallow is the trust in Gareth Southgate’s ability to transform the England experience.

Read more: Colombia game is England’s biggest in a decade, says Gareth Southgate

Optimists, however, saw in Southgate’s raft of changes a willingness to sacrifice a result in order to prosper later. Not necessarily in a kinder half of the draw, but with a squad fully involved with every outfield player having had his hand in the fire.

Surely this is a sign of confidence, that a young coach is prepared to back his players no matter what the last-16 and beyond might hold. After all, none can control the destiny of other teams and what the past fortnight has shown us is that no outcome is a given at this tournament.

Rocket in flight

From the moment Robbie Williams left the stage at the opening ceremony this World Cup has been a rocket in flight.

What was conceived as one big geopolitical selfie for the Russian state has evolved in a way few imagined, beginning with the unexpected bicep flex of the Russian team itself. Five unanswered goals against Saudi Arabia set horns blaring beyond the Urals, enthusing a home population that had nil expectation of the national team.

Twenty-four hours later Cristiano Ronaldo hitched up his shorts and showed his class, as it were, curling the ball past David de Gea to seal a draw for Portugal against Spain with an astonishing hat-trick. That climactic moment with the seconds ebbing away was for all of us, not just the Portuguese, a real WOW moment that exerted a magnetic-like pull on the global audience.

The atmosphere in downtown Moscow was full-on carnival, not a scene that the locals are used to but one they were thrilled to embrace. In a sense they had no choice. In the space where order and conservative civility once stood, hundreds if not thousands of foreign nationals in football shirts were whooping it up in a spectacular demonstration of spontaneous combustion.

Moscow no different to Margate

Though this was part of the Kremlin’s calculation, the tolerance and encouragement of post-midnight gaiety around Red Square to show that what goes down in Moscow is no different to Friday nights in Manchester or Margate, it is harder to micro-manage the interaction between individuals from disparate parts of the world.

And if the Muscovites I met were pleasantly surprised by the de-demonised version of the foreigners in their midst, then so were we encouraged by the sentiment on the street which was at odds with the stakhanovites in the Kremlin busy annexing nation-states and fiddling in the cyberspace of other great powers.

In other words, if we were to exile the politicians, ours as well as theirs, on a Love Island for Dear Leaders, we’d all get on just fine since our interests are more or less aligned. Another beer, Yuri? Of course, my shout.

After the Ronaldo show came, in successive 24-hour chunks of unremitting drama, the no-shows of Leo Messi and Argentina followed by Germany.

The epic struggles of the 2014 World Cup finalists were the code red representation of a widespread theme, namely that the bottom of the football pile is not so far from the top as was once the case. Messi missed a penalty as Argentina failed to dispatch Iceland and Germany missed the signs walking into a Mexican ambush.

Don’t mention the VAR

Messi bounced back, if only just, with a goal to inspire Argentina to a late victory over Nigeria in their final group game in St Petersburg. After some last-gasp histrionics of their own against Sweden, the unthinkable happened in Kazan where the world champions lost to South Korea, both goals coming in added time. Germany gone at the group stage for the first time. And don’t mention the VAR.

The rolling out of technology in the service of officials at this World Cup has filled the football chat rooms full of laughter, mostly the ironic, ‘if-I-didn’t-laugh-I’d-cry’ type issuing from Luddites lost in a Burkian reverie, believing that getting decisions wrong is a good thing, a part of the essential rhythms of the game.

There is no need to defend VAR’s use since the benefits of increased rectitude are obvious. It is not perfect. But then that was never the point. It will never be able to untangle illegal contact in the way it can decide offsides and goals. But if it gives referees a better chance of determining what’s what when players come together, how can that hurt? Of course refinement is needed to bring football into line with the way VAR is deployed in rugby and cricket with the full engagement of the audience. Bring it on.

There are two more weeks of this, and for a few days at least, England remain at the centre of things. Whatever happens next the World Cup and international football have experienced something of a rebirth in Russia, reintroducing old staples like unpredictability, unknown faces, giant slaying and 45-year-old goalkeepers who save penalties.

Egypt might have been denied their very best Mo Salah but they had Essem El Hadary, who at the age of 45 and 161 days dived to his right to save Fahad Al Muwallad’s spot-kick and give us one of the highlights of this or any World Cup.

More on World Cup 2018:

Colombia scouting report: Strengths, weaknesses and key players for England’s last 16 opponents

Trent Alexander-Arnold: England’s shining light in disappointing defeat to Belgium

England limp to disappointing defeat against Belgium but avoid World Cup ‘half of death’

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June 29, 2018
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The Conservative party has found itself on the receiving end of online ridicule thanks to a tweet urging on the England squad ahead of their recent clash with Belgium.

The post – which featured a picture of Jesse Lingard and Raheem Sterling in a blue setting – exhorted the team to “make it three wins out of three”, which would see England top its World Cup group.

‘Own goal’

However, there was one minor detail which fellow twitterers were quick to highlight – that Sterling supports Labour. With added irony, neither of the footballers pictured actually played.

In the 2015 general election, Sterling gave his backing to Labour candidate Dawn Butler for Brent Central. Video footage from the time shows the footballer thanking Ms Butler for her work.

And it wasn’t long before the replies started flowing, with several posting links to previous articles detailing Sterling’s Labour allegiance.

One said the Conservatives had scored an “own goal”, while another said it seemed “a bit weird to slap a party logo over a photo of the players”.

Grassroots Labour group Momentum also got in on the action, retweeting the Conservative post and commenting: “You do realise Raheem Sterling is a Labour supporter, right? #ENGBEL”.

There were those who wanted to keep politics out of it all together, with one person replying to Momentum: “He’s an England player. That’s what matters here, let’s just wish everyone well. I couldn’t care less how the players vote.”

Another said: “Not keen on politicising international sporting events. Let’s keep it on the pitch people!”

Colombia up next

In the end, it was Belgium that came out on top thanks to a goal from Adnan Januzaj six minutes into the second half.

England is still in the running for the cup however, and will next face Colombia on Tuesday.

In the interests of fairness, i should point out that it isn’t just the Tories who have been ribbed for their online activity during the 2018 tournament.

Earlier this month it was Jeremy Corbyn who was taken to task for a good luck tweet he posted to the England squad.

In the tweet, Corbyn shared an “inspirational quote” from the late Bill Shankly, who he described as “one of our country’s finest ever football managers”.

While Shankly did once lead Liverpool, he is Scottish by nationality – something fans were swift to point out. Others suggested those quibbling over the wording were a “little pedantic”.

Twitter, eh.

Read more:

For the first time I’m watching the World Cup – this is why VAR is ruining it for me

Gary Lineker responds to ‘tiny minority’ offended by his swearing on Twitter

Liz Truss tells Tory MPs to be more ‘out there’ on Twitter and Instagram

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June 29, 2018
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Thus far in the World Cup, the most dramatic, conclusive piece of action took place not on the field of play, but on the sidelines, where an American referee was alone under a Perspex canopy, studying a television while the players of Germany and South Korea stood and waited. The match had already gone into injury time at 0-0, and the official, Mark Geiger, was deciding whether the linesman was right to disallow a South Korean goal for offside.

His ruling would have very serious consequences, as overturning the linesman’s decision would almost certainly result in Germany – the World Cup holders – being knocked out of the tournament. He looked at the footage, he looked again, and once again. And then he blew his whistle to award the goal. Germany were out, and a nation (England, that is) rejoiced.

Victory for VAR

It was incontestably the right decision, and a victory for the VAR (Video Assistant Referee) system, which is making its World Cup debut in Russia. Without VAR, the goal would have been disallowed, and doubtless Germany would have scored in the last minute to qualify for the next round, and then gone on to win the World Cup, beating England on penalties along the way.

Had this been the case, the linesman would have secured a place in World Cup mythology, alongside Diego Maradona and his “Hand of God” goal in 1986 and the Russian linesman who awarded a dubious goal to England in the 1966 World Cup final. The history of the game is littered with catastrophic mistakes, outrageous injustice and errors of judgement, and while football remains a sport and not a matter of life and death, it is worth considering whether these are merely threads that form an important part of its fabric.

Imagine a world where everything was as it should be, and human error was eradicated

But that’s not good enough in today’s world. We don’t like vagueness, or conjecture, or indeed nuance. A lot of rulings in football – as in other sports – require human interpretation and are by their nature subjective, but we crave certainty. We demand forensic examinations of decisions made in a split second, and as seen through one person’s eyes.

Straight and narrow

Technology plays an insidious role in so many areas of our lives – like offering, unbidden, suggestions on what type of music we may want to listen to, or where we might want to eat tonight. As ordinary citizens, we are under constant scrutiny, so why shouldn’t the all-seeing eye be there to ensure a football referee keeps on the straight and narrow?

It is natural that technology would be invited to play a part in sport, that most dynamic and unpredictable and, in football’s case, salient of human enterprises. And of course that’s right. VAR is a good thing, and its application has, in the main, been well managed. Given what’s at stake in the World Cup, we might as well try and ensure that justice is served. The idea that the Germans might still be in the tournament, on the back of an egregiously wrong decision, would be a travesty.

But imagine football without argument and iniquity. Imagine a world where everything was as it should be, and human error was eradicated. A lot more just, yes. But maybe a little less fun, too.

More from Simon Kelner

Jamie Oliver has fallen prey to a modern affliction: Instagram displays of affection

In the era of YouTube, Paul McCartney’s Carpool Karaoke was a golden TV moment

The Grenfell tragedy cannot be covered up like Gosport has been

The post VAR is ideal for a world in which vagueness is unacceptable appeared first on iNews.



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June 28, 2018
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What’s the German for schadenfreude? A clever take on a story that has captivated this World Cup, and we have not been short of ripping yarns. A doffed cap then to this newspaper for rolling a well used epigraph with a touch of side. The power of German football expressed through its national team has hitherto been understood via the mechanism of success. On the day after the earthquake struck, the scale off the reaction to their World Cup exit at the group stage for the first time is also a measure of Germany’s imperious status in the game.

Fox Sports Brazil fired of a tweet of a zillion characters made up entirely of two recurring letters. It read: “AHAHA…” You have to be heavily invested in outcomes to feel that profoundly about a thing. Clearly enjoying the crushing defeat to South Korea came easily to a Brazilian broadcast outlet after the 7-1 semi-final thrashing administered by Germany to the Selecao four years ago en route to a fourth World Cup victory.

That Germany’s humbling was front page news in England never mind back reveals how much of a hold German football has over the English psyche

That Germany’s humbling was front page news in England never mind back reveals how much of a hold German football has over the English psyche. As many have pointed out this is the first time since 1966 that England have progressed further than Germany at a major competition in which they have both appeared. And get this. Some Germans, including Mats Hummels, are developing English sympathies after England’s enterprising start under Gareth Southgate. Germany’s most popular daily newspaper Bild even ran a headline lamenting their lack of a Harry Kane. “Kane hatten wir auch gerne”, which translates as “we wish we had Kane”.

Curious haircut

Indeed so. Like his curiously bobbed haircut coach Joachim Löw’s team has looked a tad out of step with current mores, not only misfiring but misreading the landscape and quality of their opponents. Any team can walk into an ambush but there was something about the hauteur of the German players that left them unable to respond to the urgency of those brilliant Mexican hustlers in the first group game.

Löw and his players were caught out by Mexico’s dynamism, their persistence, their pressing, the big shifts put in across the park. A sense of entitlement seemed to inform Germany’s approach, as if a goal were inevitable because of who they were. If this World Cup has taught us anything it is the narrowing of the gap between the great powers and the lesser gods. Better prep, coaching, training methods, conditioning has armed modest teams not only with the weapons to compete but to surprise.

Germany required an added-time winner against Sweden to gain a purchase in the group but that served only to mask their problems. Löw maintains that this outcome does not reflect fundamental structural flaws in German football and must meet with a measured response. “We just have to draw the right conclusions,” he said.

Honest appraisal

Here are some to consider. Löw must start at the top with an honest appraisal of himself. First up he saw Marco Reus and Julian Draxler as better options than Leroy Sane. Watching a team bereft of a cutting edge, that looked a bad decision against Mexico and a shocker against South Korea.

The squad is not old. Only three of the 23 are over 29. But they do have miles on the clock

The squad is not old. Only three of the 23 are over 29. But they do have miles on the clock, the core of the group having been brought through eight years ago from the Under-21s. The issue then is arguably one of renewal. Thomas Müller, always an eccentric presence, looked shot. Sami Khedira was flat and ineffective. Mesut Özil, who might have been in an Arsenal shirt, likewise. Reus is not the player he was and Draxler has not delivered on his wunderkid promise.

Of the younger breed, Timo Werner lacked support in attack and Julian Brandt did not have the faith of his coach. This left Toni Kroos with too much to do on his own. For English observers there was some irony in the desperate appeal to the big man from the bench to save us with a lumpy header. Unfortunately Mario Gomez is no longer super.

Hopelessly manipulated

Germany were not helped either by the pre-tournament PR gaffe that engulfed Özil and Ilkay Gundogen, their Turkish heritage hopelessly manipulated by the comms machine of President Recep Erdogan in London. This fed uncomfortably in the speculative space surrounding talk of a fault line between the “Bling Bling gang” purportedly made up of Özil, Khedira, Draxler and Jerome Boateng, and the Bavarian set, comprising Manuel Neuer, Kroos, Müller and Hummels.

This stuff gets laughed off when you are winning. When you lose, people start looking for answers, the more conspiratorial the better. Had Germany squeezed through they might easily have found a rhythm, after all worse teams have started poorly and prevailed. Portugal claimed the 2016 Euros without winning a match in normal time. In 1982 Italy were lampooned for their poor form, failing to beat either Peru or Cameroon in their group, and ended up beating, irony of ironies, West Germany in the final.

Albeit a hugely painful kick in the goolies for our German cousins to absorb, I suspect this hiccup is little more than a correction imposed by providence, a warning to Germany to wise up to a new reality in which reputations no longer offer a goal start. Like all Teutonic terminators, you know they’ll be back, shoving all that schadenfreude down our throats.

The post Where next for the Germans after their humiliating World Cup exit appeared first on iNews.



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June 28, 2018
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The head of BBC Radio 5Live has denied that the station indulged in “smug euphoria” after Germany’s shock exit from the World Cup.

Listeners accused commentators and pundits of excessive glee at the demise of England’s great rivals, following the cup holders’ 2-0 defeat by South Korea.

Ian McGarry, former chief football writer at The Sun, singled out ex-England striker Chris Sutton, who was the analyst during 5Live’s commentary.

“Disappointed at the smug euphoria from @5liveSport which greeted Germany exit from WC. Doesn’t befit the BBC regarded for impartiality and fair reporting. Applause and laughter of Chris’s Sutton at final whistle totally unprofessional,” he tweeted.

The 5Live team was accused of “bitterness”, whilst its television coverage also attracted criticism, with Gary Lineker accused of “waving Auf Wiedersehen with a smug smile.”

The BBC displayed a “deep seated resentment of the German national football team” said one listener.

However 5Live Controller Jonathan Wall defended a “fab commentary”. He told McGarry: “It’s a station trying to reflect the nation’s mood as part of what it does, and that’s why it was a good commentary.”

Sutton, who resorted to shouting at listeners during the final chaotic minutes, was “laughing at the goalkeeper (Neuer) playing on left wing” not mocking Germany, said Wall, who urged McGarry to “lighten up.”

Other listeners praised the BBC commentary which they said caught the national mood.

Read more: Germany in shock World Cup exit as VAR drama sees South Korea seal late win – as it happened

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June 28, 2018
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England captain Harry Kane took the lead in the race for the World Cup Golden Boot with a hat-trick in his side’s 6-1 win over Panama.

Belgium forward Romelu Lukaku drew level with Cristiano Ronaldo in second place after a brace against Tunisia brought his Russia 2018 tally to four goals.

Read more:

World Cup schedule 2018 – in full: Today’s fixtures, kick-off times and TV listings

Ronaldo took an early lead thanks to his hat-trick against Spain with Diego Costa also netting two in the same game, but the Portugal captain missed the chance to go level with Kane when his penalty was saved against Iran.

Denis Cheryshev, who scored two goals in the opening match for hosts Russia against Saudi Arabia and then another against Egypt, is level with Costa on three.

Uruguay striker Luis Suarez, Croatia midfielder Luka Modric, Nigeria’s Ahmed Musa and Brazil playmaker Philippe Coutinho are among a host of players close behind on two.

This list will be updated as more goals fly in throughout the tournament:

5

Harry Kane, England

4

Cristiano Ronaldo, Portugal

Romelu Lukaku, Belgium

3

Denis Cheryshev, Russia

Diego Costa, Spain

2

Mile Jedinak, Australia

Eden Hazard, Belgium

Philippe Coutinho, Brazil

Luka Modric, Croatia

Mohamed Salah, Egypt

John Stones, England

Ahmed Musa, Nigeria

Artem Dzyuba, Russia

Son Heung-min, South Korea

Andreas Granqvist, Sweden

Luis Suarez, Uruguay

1

Sergio Aguero, Argentina

Lionel Messi, Argentina

Marcos Rojo, Argentina

Michy Batshuayi, Belgium

Dries Mertens, Belgium

Neymar, Brazil

Paulinho, Brazil

Thiago Silva, Brazil

Juan Cuadrado, Colombia

Radamel Falcao, Colombia

Yerry Mina, Colombia

Juan Fernando Quintero, Colombia

Kendall Watson, Costa Rica

Milan Badelj, Croatia

Ivan Perisic, Croatia

Ivan Rakitic, Croatia

Ante Rebic, Croatia

Christian Eriksen, Denmark

Yussuf Poulsen, Denmark

Jesse Lingard, England

Antoine Griezmann, France

Kylian Mbappe, France

Toni Kroos, Germany

Marco Reus, Germany

Alfred Finnbogason, Iceland

Gylfi Sigurdsson, Iceland

Karim Ansarifard, Iran

Keisuke Honda, Japan

Takashi Inui, Japan

Shinji Kagawa, Japan

Yuya Osako, Japan

Javier Hernandez, Mexico

Hirving Lozano, Mexico

Carlos Vela, Mexico

Khalid Boutaib, Morocco

Yousse En-Nesyri, Morocco

Victor Moses, Nigeria

Felipe Baloy, Panama

Andre Carrillo, Peru

Paolo Guerrero, Peru

Grzegorz Krychowiak, Poland

Ricardo Quaresma, Portugal

Yury Gazinsky, Russia

Aleksandr Golovin, Russia

Salem Al-Dawsari, Saudi Arabia

Salman Al-Faraj, Saudi Arabia

Sadio Mane, Senegal

M’Baye Niang, Senegal

Moussa Wague, Senegal

Aleksandar Kolarov, Serbia

Aleksandar Mitrovic, Serbia

Kim Young-gwon, South Korea

Iago Aspas, Spain

Isco, Spain

Nacho, Spain

Ludwig Augustinsson, Sweden

Ola Toivonen, Sweden

Blerim Dzemaili, Switzerland

Granit Xhaka, Switzerland

Josip Drmic, Switzerland

Steven Zuber, Switzerland

Xherdan Shaqiri, Switzerland

Dylan Bronn, Tunisia

Wahbi Khazri, Tunisia

Ferjani Sassi, Tunisia

Edinson Cavani, Uruguay

Jose Gimenez, Uruguay

More on the World Cup: 

Granit Xhaka and Xherdan Shaqiri’s celebration against Serbia explained – and why Swiss pair may be punished

World Cup 2018: Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo’s last chance to prove they are the greatest?

England World Cup squad – in full: Gareth Southgate’s 23 players at Russia 2018

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June 28, 2018
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The chemistry between a commentator and co-commentator is both a fine art and a strictly governed practice. Traditionally, the only things they may share a joke about, during any brief lull in a game, include (but are not limited to): each other’s driving ability, dress sense, golf handicap and taste in music.

A World Cup, you are quadrennially reminded, can be a long few weeks for players and their attention spans. We’re less concerned with how commentary teams make their travel plans, but it is safe to assume that these partnerships must also be strong enough to handle the cabin-fever of short-haul flights and four-star hotel breakfasts, let alone the matches themselves.

So far – from Moscow to Sochi, via Kaliningrad, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara and Kazan, a total of nearly 4,000 miles – the dream team of Jon Champion and Ally McCoist have kept each other company. That’s a sixth of the way around the earth for ITV, covering a distinctly second-tier but compelling set of teams – Croatia, Poland, Senegal, Peru among them – while maintaining the bouncy camaraderie of two teachers (Champion: physics, McCoist: definitely, definitely PE) finally allowing themselves some free time on a foreign exchange trip.

This sort of cheery co-existence, on the mic and off, is not always the case, as Guy Mowbray and Mark Lawrenson might attest after their curiously passive-aggressive moment during the 2010 World Cup:

It feels like a disservice to call the Champion and McCoist twosome a “cult hit” or “breakthrough stars” – such are their respective CVs – but they have occupied an unquestionable niche during this World Cup. Clive Tyldesley and Glenn Hoddle may get the headline gigs, but Ally & The Champ are happily ferreting away between various Russian oblasts. The positive feedback they have received should not be a surprise, once you examine their credentials.

We ought to start with McCoist. The Oppenheimer of modern football banter. A footballing sex symbol of yesterday, a grinning reminder of the distant, genuinely cheeky, pre-“Daws and Tuffers” glory days of A Question of Sport and, lest we forget, a film star.

“He is a truly remarkable talent,” Kevin Costner once actually said out loud about Alistair Murdoch McCoist, the central figure in 2002’s football-themed romance-redemption flick A Shot At Glory. “It’s rare that sportsmen can act, but Ally McCoist is a natural. He has an Olivier-type quality”, Costner added, while co-star Robert Duvall acclaimed him as “80 times better for this part than [original choice] Russell Crowe”.

McCoist’s sex appeal may have been weathered by the two decades since he hung up his boots, plus a thankless three years as manager of an imploding Rangers, but few if any co-commentators boast such a glint in their voice. Some attempt to lay big-game gravitas on with a spade, while McCoist just skips through his observations with glorious abandon.

There have been rave reviews of the omelette cooked for him by the Swedish team chef and bite-size reviews of Russian outposts as if they were football clubs that have bounced back from relegation.

“It’s unbelievable, Jon”, he beamed during Poland vs Colombia. “If you put me in a corner and nailed me, it’s probably my favourite place on the trip so far, Kazan. It’s come a long way since it fell to Ivan the Terrible in 1552.”

As for the football, he’s unwaveringly impressed by all of that too. “Fair play to the medical lads!” he exclaimed as South Korea’s team doctor did some emergency patching-up of a head injury against Sweden, while his wistful lament for Polish talent of yore ended with a charmingly innocent mid-sentence realisation of “Kazimierz Deyna! Ah yes…tragically got killed, didn’t he?”

Viewers claim to want insight from their co-commentators, but it’s really by sheer enthusiasm that a connection can most effectively be established with us back home. It is slightly entitled of us to insist that our commentators must sound like they feel lucky to be doing what they do (a demand that partly explains the criticism that Lawrenson attracts) but McCoist still delivers that in buckets. Most interjections are suffixed with “it really is” or “I’ve got to say”, the embellishments of a true, professional bluffer, no matter how much reading he might have done at the airport.

McCoist’s boyish awe might not work with any commentator, but Champion is the most reliable of sounding boards. Far from one-club man in the commentary game, he is as BBC as he is ITV in people’s aural memories, lending him an independent air; following the football wherever it takes him.

With the voice befitting the son of an independent school headmaster, he still switches between gravity and levity with rare ease – truly football’s embodiment of holding and giving, but doing it at the right time – and McCoist, like a second striker working off a target man, is able to feed off the scraps.

“…over to your commentators Ally McCoist and, first, Jon Champion…”

So goes the unofficial slogan for the 2018 World Cup.

More from Adam Hurrey:

The BBC and ITV’s World Cup coverage has given us more talking points than the football itself

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June 28, 2018
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Germany are out of the World Cup. I repeat, Germany are OUT of the World Cup.

Germany the knockout stage specialists, serial winners and the reigning champions are OUT. It still hasn’t quite sunk in.

Their first World Cup group game – a 1-0 defeat to Mexico – was bad, but losing 2-0 to South Korea when a win would have taken them through was a complete and utter disaster.

First in the FIFA world rankings and second favourite on the bookies’ list to win it, Germany failure is nothing short of incredible.

First group stage elimination since 1938

Having seen their country eliminated in the World Cup at the group stage for the first time since 1938, you can imagine what the reaction has been back home.

Not. Good.

Joachim Low, Manuel Neuer, Mesut Ozil and the rest, might want to swerve the national papers today as they have come in for a pasting.

Here is how the German media reacted to what has been described as the national team’s ‘biggest disgrace’.

Bild: Ohne Worte! (No words)

Like the rest of us, Bild cannot believe what’s just happened. They literally have no words to sum up the defeat. Interestingly, this was their headline when Germany thrashed Brazil 7-1 in the semi-final four years ago. Slightly different circumstances this time around.

Kicker: Aus! (Out)

The word ‘Aus’ translated simply as ‘Out’ is plastered over a few front pages in Germany this morning, most prominently on the front of Kicker.

Berliner Zeitung: Aus, Aus, Aus (Out, out, out)

Berliner Zeitung have gone with a similar headline but added a couple more ‘Aus’s’ for emphasis. They choose to lead with a picture of Joachim Low who for perhaps the first time in his 14-year tenure in charge, is under severe pressure.

Die Welt: Raus Ohne Applaus (Out without applause)

Last time Germany returned home from the World Cup they were treated to rapturous applause from their supporters. The contrast this time couldn’t be starker.

Berliner Morgenpost: Deutschland k.o

No prizes for translating the headline from Berliner Morgenpost this morning which reads ‘Deutschland k.o’. A very matter-of-fact take on it all.

Berliner Kurier: “Wir Trauern Um Schland (We mourn for shame)

Wow, this one is bleak. Berliner Kurier have pulled absolutely no punches here lambasting the defeat as shameful. Worse still are the dates underneath which read 2006-2018. Are they alluding to the death of Germany’s golden generation? Or the end of Joachim Low?

Frankfurter Allgemeine: “Der Deutsche Untergang” (The German downfall)

From winners to underachievers, Frankfurter Allgemeine highlights the South Korea result as German football’s downfall. Time for a re-think?

More from i:

‘We deserved to be eliminated’: Grim-faced Joachim Löw ‘shocked’ by Germany’s World Cup debacle

‘Don’t mention the VAR!’ The 11 best reactions on social media as Germany crash out of the World Cup

World Cup curse: Germany become third successive champions to exit at group stage

Germany in shock World Cup exit as VAR drama sees South Korea seal late win – as it happened

Gary Lineker has updated his famous quote after Germany exited the World Cup

The post How Germany’s media reacted to their World Cup horror show appeared first on iNews.



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June 28, 2018
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Germany are out of the World Cup after a shock 2-0 defeat to South Korea on Wednesday saw the holders finish bottom of their group.

Kim Young-gwon and Son Heung-min struck in stoppage time for South Korea as the defending champions piled forward in search of a winning goal that would have kept them in the tournament. 

As a result of Germany’s defeat, Mexico went through second in Group F despite suffering a 3-0 thumping at the hands of Sweden, who claimed top spot.

Germany appeared to have got their World Cup defence back on track with a stoppage time winner of their own against Sweden on Saturday, which followed an opening match defeat to Mexico, but Joachim Low’s side were out of sorts once more against Korea.

It is the third consecutive World Cup in which the holders have gone out in the group stage, after Italy exited the opening round in 2010 and Spain in 2014.

With England enjoying their best start to a major tournament in a very long time, there was a certain amount of glee visible on social media as Germany crashed out.

Here’s the best of the reaction:

The employees at the Brazilian branch of Fox Sports showed that they have not completely forgotten about what Germany did to them at their own tournament four years ago.

Some were keen to remind Joachim Low of his controversial decision to leave Leroy Sane out of the Germany squad, and what the Manchester City winger may have made of his nation’s efforts without him.

There was plenty of English reaction, including Gareth Southgate’s from Russia and Gary Lineker’s on the BBC’s live broadcast of the game, where he struggled to hold back his smile when bidding Germany farewell from the tournament.

There were the inevitable war references – from both sides.

And finally, the obvious conclusion that is the best World Cup ever and that… it’s coming home.

More on the World Cup:

World Cup Golden Boot race – in full: The leading scorers at Russia 2018 so far

England tactical analysis: where do they need to improve against Belgium?

Germany in shock World Cup exit as VAR drama sees South Korea seal late win; as it happened

England v Belgium: Who should start for Three Lions in Group G decider

The post ‘Don’t mention the VAR!’ The 11 best reactions on social media as Germany crash out of the World Cup appeared first on iNews.



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June 27, 2018
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One pleasure of this World Cup summer was the lack of excessive hype, during the tournament build-up, about England‘s prospects of lifting the trophy. The relaxed confidence of a 6-1 victory, even if it was only Panama, has sent expectations soaring, a little at least.

Gareth Southgate has been trying to manage expectations about what his England side can achieve on the pitch, reminding fans that England have only won one major tournament knock-out match in fifteen years. Yet the manager’s own ambitions for what the side might symbolise beyond football have soared much higher still, suggesting that his talented young team can reshape how we think about our country.

“We are a team with our diversity and youth that represents modern England. In England, we have spent a bit of time being a bit lost as to what our modern identity is. Of course, first and foremost I will be judged on football results. But we have a chance to affect other things that are even bigger,” he said.

Identity

Southgate is right. “The imagined community of millions seems more real as a team of eleven named people,” wrote the historican Eric Hobsbawm. So it is important that the England manager has stepped up where our politicians too often fear to tread, helping to fill the void around England identity.

England stands alone among the 32 nations in Russia in being a nation without a state. Apart from our football, rugby and cricket teams, we have very few public symbols of English identity: mainly a fairly agnostic Church, and a national opera company. Most British institutions – like the BBC – see the need for a Scottish and Welsh dimension but tend to see England and Britain as synonyms.

Southgate’s young England team represents the everyday diversity of the English nation today. This is the most ethnically diverse squad ever to represent England at a World Cup: 11 out of 23 players are not white. Few people see anything new or unusual in that. After all, 85 black and mixed-race players have worn the ‘Three Lions’ on their shirt, about a third of the debutants since Viv Anderson first played for England in 1978.

That is a powerful ‘show not tell’ symbol. Every eight-year-old can see an England that they can belong to, some years before anybody tells them it is more complicated.

National symbol

Research for British Future shows that the England football team is seen by the public as the symbol of England that most belongs to people of every faith and ethnic background: a view shared by three-quarters of white English and of ethnic minority respondents too. Narrower majorities say the same about the St George’s flag and other national symbols – showing that there is more work to do to take an inclusive Englishness beyond sport.

In this England team we have at least one ‘more in common’ national symbol: something, in these polarised times of Brexit and Trump, that can bring us together, celebrated in both small towns and big cities, across generations and social classes.

Because technology and time-shifting have fragmented TV audiences, there are decreasingly few things that many millions of us experience at the same time. A Royal Wedding did that in May. More – 18 million of us – watched the games against Tunisia and Panama, and that number will surely grow for the first knock-out game next week.

Gareth Southgate entered the national consciousness when missing a penalty against Germany in Euro ’96. He will want to help his players avoid that fate next week. But in stepping up again to speak for England, he has hit the back of the net.

Sunder Katwala is Director of British Future, an independent think-tank addressing identity and integration 

More on World Cup 2018:

England World Cup squad – in full: The 23 players at Russia 2018

England’s set piece dominance the reward for lessons learnt on basketball court

Gareth Southgate’s ingenious plan to keep his squad out of trouble this World Cup

The post This young, diverse football team is one that everybody in modern England can be proud of appeared first on iNews.



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June 27, 2018
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Poor Diego Maradona, he probably thinks he can cleave the kit back on and improve this Argentina team. More desperate still, so do his many millions of his devotees. Maradona, like his beloved Albiceleste, is a chaotic mess who needs saving from himself.

The cult of the genius can be destructive as well as exalting. And in this stage of his life, the deification of Maradona is not doing him any favours. The next time he might not avoid the hospital bed he dodged in St Petersburg on Tuesday night.

Down on the pitch the investment in genius goes on in the shape of Leo Messi, as brilliant a player as was Maradona, but who alone cannot deliver what the myth suggests he can. Neither could the great Diego, yet the soaring narrative that is wrapped around him would have you believe he carried Argentina to World Cup nirvana solo in 1986. What his majesty masked was the quality of staff he had in the ranks.

Willing attendees

The Jorges, Burruchaga, who scored the winner in the final, and Valdano, La Liga’s foreign player of the year at Uefa Cup winners and Spanish champions Real Madrid, were willing attendees in attack. Sergio Batista, Ricardo Giusti and Héctor Enrique, flooded the midfield with industry and craft. At the back Oscar Ruggeri, regarded as an all-time great, and buff enforcer Jose Luis Brown had the tournament of their lives. Maradona was the lighthouse, his team-mates the rock on which it sat.

Messi’s predicament today is proof that without good players doing their thing a team cannot be saved by one man. And if you think a desperate goal five minutes from time delivered with the right boot of a bang-average, left-footed defender was deliverance you are as deceived in your reverie as the believers in Argentina.

This is a team in revolt against the leadership, playing according to its own rules, overly reliant on the god-figure that is Messi. Argentina are caged not liberated by their Messi love. They got lucky against Nigeria. The reality is they could not beat Iceland, were smashed by Croatia and were five minutes from doom against not so Super Eagles.

Destiny

On Saturday in the last 16 in Kazan they face France, a team that has yet to get out of first gear, who rested key players in the final group stroll against Denmark. On the evidence of what we have seen Argentina are unlikely winners. The biggest danger to them in the aftermath of the St Petersburg tumult is to believe all over again that destiny is driving them on, that events are somehow playing out according to a chronicle foretold.

What Argentina’s convulsions reveal is the failings of faith, the limit of their investment in Messi as the all-out, absolute saviour, however sublime his goal against Nigeria. It was the kind of finish we expect of him, smashed home under pressure, at speed, after taking two gossamer touches to control the ball, the first with his knee. This was peak Barcelona, the ball in the back of the net in a blur, leaving observers to process what they thought they had seen without quite believing anyone could actually do such a thing.

Anomaly

Argentina are not Barcelona. Messi is not supported by a Xavi, an Iniesta, a Busquets in midfield, he does not have an Alves or a Jordi Alba tearing down the flanks or a Pedro, a Samuel Eto’o or a Thierry Henry creating space in attack like he had for so long at the Camp Nou. The ball is not fed to him at pace, and as a result he is not as effective. The goal was the highlight of the first half. It gave Argentina the lead, but nothing flowed from it because in the context of this World Cup it was an anomaly.

In the second half as Nigeria first drew level and then began to dominate, Argentina were an increasingly fraught rabble. Up in the stands poor Maradona mirrored his team, slowly disintegrating, barely understanding how this could be happening to them, to him. Myth does not allow for miserable, crushing failure.

Marcos Rojo’s late bolt of lightning sprung the jail door. But as we know, it rarely strikes twice, not even for gods, not even for Messi and Maradona.

More on World Cup 2018:

Diego Maradona says he is ‘fine’ after concerns over his health at the World Cup

Diego Maradona responds to claim he made ‘clearly racist gesture’ at South Korea fans

Nigeria 1-2 Argentina: Five things we learned from Rojo rescue act

The post Diego Maradona, Lionel Messi and Argentina’s trouble with genius appeared first on iNews.



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June 27, 2018
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What with the small matter of the World Cup taking over for a few weeks, the summer transfer window might take a back seat for a change.

There will still be plenty of business going on, of course, and Premier League chairmen up and down the land will be busy backing their managers until the window shuts.

Last season’s Premier League clubs voted in favour of moving the window forward before the start of the season which means we could be in for a congested couple of months.

Just so you don’t miss anything important, we’ll be updating this as every piece of business is made. You’re welcome.

Arsenal

In: Stephan Lichtsteiner (free from Juventus), Bernd Leno (£19.3m from Bayer Leverkusen)

Out: Per Mertesacker (retired), Santi Cazorla (released), Jack Wilshere (released), Takuma Asano (Hannover 96, loan)

Bournemouth

In: 

Out: Benik Afobe (£12.5m to Wolves), Max Gradel (undisclosed to Toulouse), Rhoys Wiggins (retired), Baily Cargill (released), Ryan Allsop (released), Ollie Harfield (released), Sam Matthews (released), Patrick O’Flaherty (released), Joe Quigley (released)

Brighton

In: Leon Balogun (free from Mainz), Florin Andone (£5.25m from Deportivo de La Coruña), Jason Steele (free from Sunderland), Joseph Tomlinson (free from Yeovil)

Out: Jamie Murphy (£1m to Rangers), Connor Goldson (undisclosed to Rangers), Liam Rosenior (released), Niki Maenpaa (released), Uwe Hunemeier (free to SC Paderborn), Steve Sidwell (released), Bailey Vose (Colchester, undisclosed)

Burnley

In: 

Out: Scott Arfield (free to Rangers), Dean Marney (released), Tom Anderson (Doncaster Rovers, free), Chris Long (released), Josh Ginelly (released)

Cardiff

In: Jacob Murphy (£11m from Norwich), Greg Cunningham (£4m from Preston)

Out: 

Chelsea

In: 

Out: Matej Delac (free to AC Horsens), Trevoh Chalobah (loan to Ipswich Town)

Crystal Palace

In: Vicente Guaita (free from Getafe)

Out: Diego Cavalieri (released), Damien Delaney (free to Cork City), Lee Chung-yong (released)

Everton

In: 

Out: David Henen (released), Jose Baxter (free to Oldham), Ramiro Funes Mori (undisclosed to Villarreal), Joel Robles (released)

Fulham

In: 

Out: Ryan Fredericks (free to West Ham)

Huddersfield

In: Florent Hadergjonaj (undisclosed from Ingolstadt), Jonas Lossl (undisclosed from Mainz), Ben Hamer (free from Leicester), Ramadan Sobhi (£5.7m), Terence Kongolo (£17.5m from Monaco), Juninho Bacuna (undisclosed from FC Groningen)

Out: Dean Whitehead (retired), Robert Green (released), Jack Boyle (released), Denilson Carvalho (released), Dylan Cogill (released), Luca Colville (released), Cameron Taylor (released)

Leicester

In: Ricardo Pereira (£18m from Porto), Jonny Evans (£3.5m from West Brom), James Maddison (£22m from Norwich)

Out: Robert Huth (released), Ben Hamer (free to Huddersfield), Elliot Moore (loan to OH Leuven)

Liverpool

In: Naby Keita (£54m from RB Leipzig), Fabinho (£43.7m from Monaco)

Out: Emre Can (free to Juventus), Ovie Ejaria (loan to Rangers), Jon Flanagan (released), Yan Dhanda (free from Swansea City)

Manchester City

In: Philippe Sandler (£2.25m from PEC Zwolle)

Out: Pablo Maffeo (£9m to VfB Stuttgart), Angelino (£5m to PSV), Yaya Toure (released)

Manchester United

In: Diogo Dalot (£17m from Porto), Fred (£47m from Shakhtar Donetsk)

Out: Michael Carrick (retired), Joe Riley (undisclosed to Bradford City)

Newcastle United

In: Martin Dubravka (£4m from Sparta Prague)

Out: Massadio Haidara (released), Curtis Good (released)

Southampton

In: Stuart Armstrong (£7m from Celtic)

Out: Jeremy Pied (released), Florin Gardos (released), Olufela Olomola (free to Scunthorpe United), Ollie Cook (released), Armani Little (released), Will Wood (released), Richard Bakary (Released)

Tottenham Hotspur

In: 

Out: Keanan Bennetts (free to Borussia Monchengladbach)

Watford

In: Gerard Deulofeu (£11.5m from Barcelona), Marc Navarro (undisclosed from Espanyol), Ben Wilmot (undisclosed from Stevenage),

Out: Dennon Lewis (free to Falkirk), Brandon Mason (released)

West Ham

In: Ryan Fredericks (free from West Ham), Issa Diop (£21.9m from Toulouse), Lukasz Fabianski (£7m from Swansea)

Out: James Collins (released), Patrice Evra (released)

Wolves

In: Benik Afobe (£12.5m from Bournemouth), Diogo Jota (undisclosed from Atletico Madrid), Willy Boly (undisclosed from Porto), Rui Patricio (free from Sporting), Raul Jimenez (loan from Benfica)

Out: Benik Afobe (loan to Stoke), Sherwin Seedorf (loan to Bradford City), Jordan Allan (released), Dan Armstrong (released), Anthony Breslin (released), Nicu Carnat (released), Ross Finnie (released), Jon Flatt (released), Conor Levingston (released), Tomas Nogueira (released), Hakeem Odoffin (released), Adam Osbourne (released), Ryan Rainey (released), Jose Xavier (released)

More from i:

Five players Marco Silva could target in the transfer market to aid his Everton rebuild

Ramon Calderon: Neymar-Ronaldo situation makes it a tough job to follow Zidane

Everything you need to know about the 2018 World Cup in Russia

The post Premier League transfers – summer 2018: Every deal completed so far appeared first on iNews.



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June 27, 2018
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If this were a nod to what England and Belgium might serve up then make alternative arrangements on Thursday night. In our Russian paradise we had forgotten football could be like this, players drunk on apathy in a match of no consequence played out to a chorus of boos and whistles.

Read more: What are the weaknesses England can exploit?

Ultimately the first goal-less draw of the tournament could not escape the circumstances. France had already qualified and a draw would be enough to take Denmark through. Neither of these teams were busting their chops to get a win they didn’t need. Didier Deschamps did as he promised, resting half his team, No Paul Pogba, no Kylian Mbappe, no Hugo Lloris, no Samuel Umtiti, not much of anything really.

More convenience than collusion

France pinged it about nicely, Denmark were happy to let them have the ball. You wouldn’t call it collusion. You might call it convenience. There was the odd eruption of intent, Raphael Varane going close-ish with a header from an early corner, Ousmane Dembele flashing a shot wide of a post.

At the other end Denmark had Steve Mandanda hopping about in goal a couple of times in the opening half hour but nothing that smelled like intensity. Maybe news of Andre Carillo’s goal for Peru against Australia in the 18th minute made its way onto the pitch. Since Australia were the only team that could deny Denmark passage to the last 16, the contest geared down to training ground pace. It was all over by the 50th minute when Peru cracked their second.

It is fair to say this tepid stand-off did not meet the expectation at a World Cup believed by some to be the best of the modern era, certainly since 1978, hallmarked by the competitive fervour of the matches. Only when the ball fell to Denmark’s Pione Sisto did the needle move. Think N’golo Kante in attack, a proper box of tricks with a seemingly inexhaustible engine.

Spoilsport

As the clock ran down towards half-time, expectation that something might be cooking rose when Antoine Griezmann raced out of defence following a Denmark corner. As he crossed the half-way line and arrowed towards the Danish box Huddersfield stopper Mathias Jorgensen chopped him down from behind. Spoilsport.

It was the last act of a dire 45 minutes. Jorgensen went into the book but that did not satisfy the crowd who sent the teams down the tunnel to a football soundtrack rarely heard thus far in Russia, disdain. And if you thought that was loud, the rebuke at the end of an even more featureless second half would have drowned out the traffic around the M25.

At least France had the decency to clear off pretty much straight down the tunnel. In a show of urgency entirely missing in the match the Denmark players assembled before their fans at one of the field, joined hands and let go an almighty cheer in celebration of making it through to the last 16.

More on World Cup:

Is VAR working? The three best and worst decisions from the World Cup so far

Ignore the moaners: World Cup proves that more VAR not less is way forward for football

England’s set piece dominance the reward for lessons learnt on basketball court

 

The post Tepid stand-off between France and Denmark fails to meet World Cup’s high standards appeared first on iNews.



from Football – iNews https://ift.tt/2lzMV1C
June 26, 2018
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A Brazilian sports reporter was filmed telling a man off after he tried to kiss her on the cheek while she was doing her job.

Julia Guimaraes was in Yekaterinburg, Russia, at the Japan v Senegal World Cup match when a man approached and tried to kiss her while she was on air.

She managed to avoid the kiss before telling the man, who she did not know, never to do that to a woman again.

‘Never do this again’

“Don’t do this! Never do this again,” Ms Guimaraes shouted at the man.

After going out of shot he could be clearly heard apologising to the journalist, repeatedly saying “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t do this, I don’t allow you to do this, never, OK? This is not polite, this is not right.

“Never do this to a woman, OK? Respect.”

Sexism in Russia

The TV Globo and SportTV journalist said that she had never experienced such an incident in Brazil, but that it had happened twice to her in Russia during the tournament.

It comes days after another reporter from Colombia, Julieth Gonzalez Theran, had her breast grabbed by a man and was then kissed without her consent.

“We do not deserve this treatment,” Gonzalez Theran said. “We are equally valuable and professional.”

Burger King Russia was also forced to apologise after offering a lifetime supply of Whoppers to a woman who got pregnant by a footballer.

Read more:

BBC Radio 4 host recalls ‘humiliating’ sexual harassment

Morgan Freeman has been accused of sexual harassment by eight women

England fans warned about World Cup threat after Salisbury attack

The post A man tried to kiss a female World Cup reporter and lived to regret it appeared first on iNews.



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June 26, 2018
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The reactionary attacks on VAR rage on. Ranting commentators apoplectic over the breaks in play to interrogate an incident that has no definite answer (Mark Lawrenson, Iran penalty v Portugal). Wounded coaches who disagree with the referee’s decision after invoking VAR to determine culpability in a coming-together (Carlos Queiroz, Cristiano Ronaldo elbow).

Not a peep, mind you about the abuse of the official himself, about the hounding, bating, bullying hostility of the mob seeking to influence outcomes in their favour. Nothing from managers about their diving, conniving, cheating little darlings, whose craven simulations in an attempt to con the referee are frequently the very acts that invoke the use of VAR in the first place.

You don’t need VAR to establish the truth of the inhospitable, counterproductive, imbecilic environment in which referees are asked to toil. If players really want officials to come to the right decisions, they might start by winding in their brass necks and stop bleating like bellyaching children when things do not go their way.

Truth

VAR is self evidently a good thing since for the most part it gets to the bottom of things. Where it struggles is in matters of contact. Slowing the action down establishes contact but not its weight. It is therefore bounced back to a human being, if you will allow the referee to be labelled such, to interpret the actions of boneheads engaged all too often in the practice of cheating each other.

There is always a bright side, however. An early shout-down of VAR was the aching lament over interference with the traditional rhythms of the game and the fear it would kill the drama by distilling natural talking points into clinical evaluations of data. Well, forgive me. To my old mince pies it appears the opposite was true in Saransk, where Paraguayan referee Enrique Cáceres was invited to establish the force of Ronaldo’s four-arm smash on Iran’s Morteza Pouraliganji and in the dying minutes to untangle Iran’s late penalty claim when Cedric was adjudged to have handled the ball.

For the television viewer at least the histrionics augmented the show no end. And this is what is so ridiculous about the position taken by VAR’s critics. Those at home have been engaged in the VAR process for years courtesy of TV replays that take us through each incident in super-slow-mo detail. It always seemed crazy to me that the rule-makers would deny referees the eyes that cameras effectively give the viewer. And it does not take a jiffy to get to the truth of 99 percent of incidents because at home and in the TV studio we are not being chased about the sofa by a pack of rabid dogs, teeth bared, breathing spite and fury.

Exquisite entertainment

Were the players to let the referee get on with it a conclusion would be reached in no time. And you can’t tell me that the suspense building around Ronaldo’s red card was not exquisite entertainment. For what it’s worth, I’m with Queiroz. You can’t be a little bit pregnant. An elbow in the chops is red. Ronaldo got away with that, but that is not the fault of VAR. Were in not for VAR the incident might never have been investigated in the first place.

In previously making the case for VAR in these pages I argued that the problem with its introduction was its limited application. Football’s stakeholder should have committed to it in the way they have in cricket and rugby by making available to the viewer and the punter in the stand the video being scrutinised by the referee and the audio between the man in the middle and those in the VAR camera suite. Transparency leads to understanding and fulfilment.

Better still, since sovereignty over decisions requiring video assistance has ultimately passed from the referee to the VAR suite anyway, we should go the whole hog and let the VAR official who alerts the referee to actions he has missed be the ultimate arbiter in the dispensing of justice. Then we could rid the referee of the unnecessary requirement to nip to the side of the pitch to commune with his telly.

More VAR not less. That is the way forward.

The post Ignore the moaners World Cup proves more VAR not less is the way forward for football appeared first on iNews.



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June 26, 2018
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