Luis Suarez, Uruguay push England on verge of early exit

SAO PAULO – Luis Suarez scored twice as Uruguay sent England spinning towards their earliest World Cup exit in 56 years on Thursday with a 2-1 victory.

Liverpool striker Suarez grabbed the second of two opportunistic goals in the 85th minute of a tense Group D battle in Sao Paulo after Wayne Rooney had looked to have rescued a point for England with a 75th-minute equaliser.

The defeat leaves England, beaten 2-1 by Italy in their opening match, needing a miracle if they are to reach the second round of a World Cup, something they have not failed to do since 1958.

“We are more then disappointed, we’re devastated,” England manager Roy Hodgson said after the loss, describing his side’s chances of remaining in the tournament as “unbelievably slim.”

“To be sure of continuing we needed a result today, a draw or a victory, and we didn’t get it,” he added.

Suarez — named English football’s player of the year after a superb season for Liverpool — had been a doubt for the World Cup after undergoing knee surgery in May.

However the 27-year-old returned to haunt an England side containing five of his Liverpool team-mates.

“Yes, I dreamed of this,” Suarez said. “It was something I imagined many times, but I had to calm myself down.”

With both teams knowing that a defeat would likely prove fatal to their chances of progressing to the last 16, the game started cautiously.

But England’s inability to retain possession looked likely to gift Uruguay an opening, and so it proved.

Loose play from England captain Steven Gerrard saw Uruguay break swiftly, with Nicolas Lodeiro releasing Edinson Cavani down the left.

The Paris Saint-Germain striker delayed his cross to perfection, leaving Suarez, who had ghosted clear of Phil Jagielka, to head back past wrong-footed England goalkeeper Joe Hart.

With England struggling to break Uruguay down for much of the second half, Suarez’s opener looked to be enough.

But 15 minutes from time Rooney tapped in his 40th international goal, and his first at a World Cup, after a low Glen Johnson cross to reignite their challenge.

England had looked the likelier to score thereafter, but five minutes from time the ball broke to Suarez off Gerrard and the striker raced clear.

The Liverpool man glanced up and then unleashed a ferocious shot into the roof of the net.

Uruguay’s victory leaves England needing Italy to beat both Costa Rica on Friday and the Uruguayans next Tuesday.

England would then need to beat Costa Rica in their final game to have any chance of qualifying on goal difference.

Colombia on course

Earlier Thursday, Colombia maintained South America’s strong start to the tournament with a 2-1 win over Ivory Coast, which saw them guaranteed a place in the last 16 from Group C.

A day after Chile eliminated defending champions Spain, Colombia produced another fine attacking display to down the powerful Ivorians in a free-flowing contest at Brasilia’s National Stadium.

Second-half goals from Monaco starlet James Rodriguez and Juan Quintero fired Colombia into the lead before Roma striker Gervinho pulled one back for the Ivorians to set up a tense finish.

Colombia, making their first appearance at the World Cup since 1998, sealed their second round berth later Thursday after Japan and Greece played out a dour 0-0 draw in Natal.

The result means Japan and Greece must win their final matches against Colombia and Ivory Coast respectively to have any chance of going through.

Japan coach Alberto Zaccheroni was unhappy at his side’s inability to make Greece pay following the dismissal of their captain Konstantinos Katsouranis on 38 minutes.

“We’re not happy at this stage of the tournament. We pushed hard to win the game. We do have one match to play, but right now I’m not happy at all,” Zaccheroni said.

“We had a lot of possession, had a lot of chances, and we didn’t capitalise on them.”

source: interaksyon.com

World Cup: US avenges 2010 loss to Ghana with late winner

NATAL – German-born United States defender John Brooks came off the bench to stun Ghana with a late winner in a 2-1 victory in Natal on Monday to put a huge dent in the 2010 World Cup quarter-finalists hopes of emulating that feat this time round.

Clint Dempsey scored the opener after just 30 seconds and Brooks headed a dramatic winner to send the USA’s German coach Jurgen Klinsmann wild with delight.

Andre Ayew equalised for Ghana eight minutes before the end. But Brooks’ first goal for his adopted country avenged defeats to the same opposition in the past two World Cups, the latter when Ghana went on to the quarter-finals.

It was only the third time in 12 matches at the World Cup finals that the Americans had managed to score more than one goal.

“We have a great spirit and fight until the last minute,” said Klinsmann.

“It was a grind but it was a wonderful one at the end of the day. There is stuff we need to improve. We had problems with keeping the ball.”

The result left Ghana, who four years ago became only the third African side to qualify for the quarter-finals, with a lot of work to do to get to the second round with matches to come against Germany and Portugal.

Germany had earlier destroyed Portugal 4-0.

Ghana’s minds appeared elsewhere after kicking off and they were made to pay when Dempsey deftly collected from Da Marcus Beasley as he ran down the left flank.

As Ghana’s players looked on, the US captain feinted his way into the area before dribbling past defender John Boye to coolly sweep a left-footed shot past Adam Kwarasey at the keeper’s far post.

Klinsmann, who won the World Cup with Germany in 1990 before coaching the Germans to third place as coach in 2006, exploded with joy on the bench as the US celebrated scoring the fifth fastest goal in World Cup history.

The USA came close to snatching a second two minutes later when Jozy Altidore collected a low cross from the right to sweep the ball towards goal before the ball was caught in a tangle of Ghana legs.

Minutes later, the big American striker was carried off on a stretcher after pulling up holding the back of his left thigh while chasing down Michael Bradley’s punt.

Dempsey then felt the full brunt of Boye’s shin during a mid-air challenge, the American requiring treatment for what could be a broken nose but the grizzled veteran stoically played on.

However the Africans wasted their best chance of the half in added-on time when Christian Atsu made up for a series of poor deliveries to set up Jordan Ayew, only for the Marseille striker to mishit with the goal at his mercy.

Ghana showed improvement after the break, Sulley Muntari firing a metre wide of Tim Howard’s upright and then Gyan, unmarked, headed the AC Milan midfielder’s delivery from the left over the top.

Gyan came even closer when he rose above defender Geoff Cameron only for Howard top tip it away for a corner.

Ghana picked up their game and were given hope when Ayew finished off a fine move down the left by latching on to Gyan’s backheel inside the area to beat Howard with the outside of his left boot.

But their joy was short-lived by Brooks, whose selection for the World Cup by Klinsmann caused considerable controversy.

The son of a US serviceman, he was born in Berlin and played for Germany under 20s in 2012 before switching to the US.

source: interaksyon.com

FIFA insists World Cup preparations on track despite setbacks

COSTA DO SAUIPE – Global football chief Sepp Blatter insisted preparations for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil were on track Tuesday despite construction delays and a deadly accident which mean three stadiums will miss an end-of-year deadline to be ready.

As the football world geared up for Friday’s eagerly-anticipated draw, governing body FIFA revealed three of the tournament’s 12 venues would not be able to meet the December 31 deadline for completion.

One of the venues, Sao Paulo’s Itaquerao stadium, was the scene of a fatal accident last week which claimed the lives of two workers who were crushed to death when a crane toppled over.

In addition, the completion of stadiums at Curitiba and and Cuiaba is now set for February, just four months before the finals kick off in June.

FIFA President Blatter however played down the significance of the construction delays, saying he was confident Brazil would be successful hosts of their first World Cup since 1950.

“We have just received a report. There are some small delays in construction of stadia. But so small that with one exception (Sao Paulo) we can say everything is ready,” said Blatter.

The issues are “so small we can close our eyes,” he added.

FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said the stadium in Curitiba, which has been lagging behind schedule more than the other venues, would not be ready until the end of February.

“We are not in crisis mood,” Valcke stressed.

“Curitiba is the one where we are facing the most problems and won’t be delivered before the end of February 2014.

“We will be ready to get the stadium by the end of February 2014,” Valcke said.

The Arena Amazonia in Manaus, in the heart of the tropical rain forest, also remains under construction, as does the one at Cuiaba.

Brazilian sports ministry executive secretary Luis Fernandes indicated that the stadiums lagging behind would be ready “in late January, or late February.”

On Wednesday, Brazilian Sports Minister Aldo Rebelo will be among officials fronting pre-draw events where the hosts will stress they can overcome doubts about transport links, hotel prices and urban crime.

Representatives from the Ministry of Tourism and the Civil Aviation authority will also address complaints about unreasonably high prices.

Other concerns focused on accommodation capacity with some 600,000 foreign tourists expected to attend the month-long event starting June 12 in Sao Paulo.

There is also a shortage of domestic flight links between venues as the government mulls whether to allow foreign airlines to run domestic routes to ease the strain.

Some countries are also worried about the sheer size of the country, as some teams may face an onerous travel schedule with matches as far south as Porto Alegre, cold in the Brazilian winter, but also in tropical Manaus, and sultry Fortaleza some 3,000 kilometres (1,900 miles) away.

Italy on Wednesday is set to propose the introduction of two two-minute time-outs per match to reduce the risk of players becoming dehydrated after FIFA elected not to change early afternoon kickoff times in some venues where the heat is likely to be a factor.

The draw itself will feature eight groups of four teams and one of nine non-seeded European nations will face being moved into pot 2 alongside the five-strong African contingent and two South American sides.

England coach Roy Hodgson, whose unseeded team could be in line for a tough draw, says the geography issue is almost as important as which teams his men will face.

“There are venues in Brazil that will be harder to play in than others,” said Hodgson before heading for Costa do Sauipe from Rio.

The eight seeds are hosts Brazil, reigning champions Spain, three-time winners Germany, Argentina, conquerors of two titles, fellow two-time winners Uruguay, Colombia, Belgium, and Switzerland, whom Hodgson led to the second round at USA ’94.

With the draw venue an hour’s drive north of the Bahia state capital Salvador, organizers are hoping the event will not be marred by the kind of popular unrest which hit last June’s Confederations Cup.

Many Brazilians are angry at the estimated $11 billion cost of staging the World Cup — about another $15 billion will follow for the 2016 Rio Olympics — believing the money would have been better spent on improving public transport,education and health care services.

source: interaksyon.com