International Football
ARGENTINA COACH BEGINS PLAYERS’ MONITORING AHEAD OF WORLD CUP
BY BOLAJI OKUNOLA.
Argentina’s coach, Jorge Sampaoli has begun a tour of the various European leagues to monitor prospective players who will make his final squad to this summer World Cup in Russia.
Like in four of the last six World Cup tournaments, Argentina will again be facing Nigeria apart from drawing two other group opponents for the first time – Iceland and Croatia.
According to information gathered by www.sportsvillagesquare from ESPN, Sampaoli has up to 60 players in his radar. Kwese ESPN quoting local media in Argentina reported that the 57 year old coach left the Argentine capital city, Buenos Aires for Spain on Tuesday accompanied by his assistant Sebastian Beccacece and fitness coach Jorge Desio.
They told the local TyC Sports: “Our first stop will be Barcelona where we will talk with [Javier] Mascherano and Leo [Messi]. We will then go to Seville, Manchester, London, Liverpool and many more places.
“It’s going to be a very long and very extensive tour. We will meet many players and I hope we make the most of it. We want to gain time. I will be talking to coaches of players that we are following, watch the training sessions and speak to players. The idea is to draw conclusions that will be positive with respect to the future.”
Asked if this tour will be crucial when considering the final squad, Sampaoli said: “No, I don’t think so. There will be a lot more events in the future that will determine a list that right now is conformed of 45 to 60 players, but has to be reduced to 23.
“There are going to be players in and out depending on form and injuries. That is what we will consider when making the final evaluation.”
One player that Sampaoli is keen to see is Manchester United defender Marcos Rojo who returned to action two months ago after a lengthy spell on the sidelines due to a knee ligament injury.
“We are monitoring Rojo and we saw his last performances,” Sampaoli said. “We know that Rojo is getting in shape. He is a player that is always under consideration for selection. He has experience. We will talk to him as we haven’t had the opportunity to do so yet.”
Everton centre-back Ramiro Funes Mori is also a step closer to first-team return.
Funes Mori tore his meniscus while on international duty with Argentina back in March and underwent further knee surgery in July.
“We know that he [Funes Mori] has been training with the team for the past few weeks,” Sampaoli said. “We are going to talk to him.”
Sampaoli also confirmed meetings with Gonzalo Higuain and Mauro Icardi in Italy.
Serie A’s leading scorer with 17 goals in 19 league starts for Inter Milan, Icardi missed Argentina’s last two games of 2017 through injury.
Higuain has also been in good form, scoring nine goals and setting up three more for Juventus.
The 30-year-old forward played 45 minutes in Sampaoli’s first match in charge against Brazil in September but he has not been named in a squad since.
“One of our planned visits on this trip is to see Gonzalo [Higuain],” Sampaoli said. “We will also take advantage and see Mauro [Icardi] in Milan.”
Atletico Madrid forward Angel Correa, who has not featured for Argentina under Sampaoli, will also get a visit from the national team coach.
“I want Angel [Correa] and others to know that even though they have not been called up yet they are being monitored by us,” Sampaoli said.
La Albiceleste booked their place in Russia next summer with a 3-1 win against Ecuador, courtesy of Messi’s hat trick. However, going into the game they were in danger of either having to go through a playoff to secure their place at the finals or missing out altogether.
“Our intention is to experience this year with intensity, with a lot of passion but also with a lot of wisdom in order to have the right vision,” Sampaoli said.
Argentina will face Croatia, Iceland and Nigeria in Group D of the World Cup.
International Football
Former Brazil coach Tite taking break to take care of mental, physical health
Former Brazil coach Tite said he is taking an indefinite career break in order to take care of his mental and physical health.
The 63-year-old, who led Brazil to the 2019 Copa America title, was hospitalised due to a heart issue last August. He was sacked by Flamengo the following month and had most recently been linked with the Corinthians job.
“I realised that there are times when you have to understand that, as a human being, I can be vulnerable and admitting that will certainly make me stronger,” Tite said in a statement posted on his son Matheus Bachi’s Instagram on Tuesday.
“I’m passionate about what I do and I’ll continue to be so, but after talking to my family and observing the signals my body was giving off, I decided that the best thing to do now is to take a break from my career to look after myself for as long as it takes.
“As has become public, there was a conversation in progress with Corinthians, but it will have to be paralysed by a difficult but necessary decision.”
Tite, who stepped down as Brazil coach after their quarter-final exit from the 2022 World Cup, has previously coached a string of Brazilian sides including Gremio, Atletico Mineiro and Palmeiras.
-Reuters
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Brazil have sacked head coach Dorival Jr, the country’s football confederation (CBF) said on Friday after the five-time world champions were thrashed 4-1 away to fierce rivals Argentina in a humiliating qualifying loss in Buenos Aires.
The 62-year-old was appointed in January 2024 after the team spent a year under two caretaker coaches as the Brazilian FA were unable to lure Italian Carlo Ancelotti from Real Madrid.
“The Brazilian Football Confederation informs that coach Dorival Jr is no longer in charge of the Brazilian national team,” the confederation said in a statement.
“The management thanks (Dorival) and wishes him success in continuing his career … the CBF will work to find his replacement,” it added.
Dorival was handed the job after his success with Flamengo in 2022 where he won the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Cup, a trophy he lifted again the next year with Sao Paulo.
However, he never seemed to get to grips with the national team job and failed to earn the trust of Brazil’s demanding fans after winning only seven of his 16 games in charge.
Sources told Reuters the CBF was not confident in Dorival’s work, considering there had been little to no progress since a lacklustre Copa America campaign when Brazil were knocked out in the quarter-finals by Uruguay last year.
Still, the CBF was willing to wait and see until the 2026 World Cup qualifiers against Ecuador and Paraguay in June to reassess the situation following the end of the European season and the Club World Cup in the U.S. in June and July.
But after Brazil slumped to their heaviest-ever loss in a qualifier when they were thrashed by Argentina this week, CBF president Ednaldo Rodrigues decided to pull the trigger.
IDEAL CANDIDATE
Sources told Reuters Ancelotti was still the ideal candidate but he is under contract with Real until July 2026 and there is no indication he would leave the European and Spanish champions.
Brazilian media have reported that Al Hilal’s Portuguese coach Jorge Jesus is the favourite to replace Dorival.
Brazil have been in unfamiliar territory for over two years since crashing out of the 2022 World Cup against Croatia on penalties in the quarter-finals, a heartbreaking elimination that led to the exit of long-time manager Tite.
Their humbling defeat in Buenos Aires was the latest of a series of negative records Brazil have set under caretakers Ramon Menezes and Fernando Diniz and with Dorival in charge. They had never conceded four goals in a World Cup qualifier.
Brazil are in the midst of their worst-ever World Cup qualifying campaign. They are fourth in the South American standings with 21 points, a point above sixth-placed Colombia who currently occupy the final direct qualifying berth.
Never have Brazil lost so many games, conceded so many goals or set so many negative records in the qualifying competition. They have lost five of their 14 games and conceded 16 goals.
Brazil’s 1-0 defeat by Argentina in the Maracana late in 2023 was their first-ever qualifying loss on home soil.
They also lost to Colombia for the first time, saw the end of their unbeaten run against Uruguay stretching back over two decades and were defeated by Morocco and Senegal, having never previously lost to an African nation.
-Reuters
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International Football
England’s German manager Tuchel will not sing the English anthem in his first game
England manager Thomas Tuchel said he would have to “earn the right” to sing the national anthem, God Save the King, after announcing his 26-man squad on Friday ahead of the team’s World Cup qualifiers.
Tuchel, who was appointed as Gareth Southgate’s successor in October and named his first squad to face Albania and Latvia this month, said he would not sing the anthem in his first games in charge.
“It means a lot to me, I can assure you, but I can feel that because it is so meaningful and it is so emotional and it is so powerful, the national anthem, that I have to earn my right to sing it,” the 51-year-old German told a news conference.
Former caretaker manager Lee Carsley was criticised last year for not singing the anthem during his tenure.
However, Tuchel added that while he is proud to be in charge of the team and knows the words to the anthem, he plans to earn the right with results.
“Maybe I have to dive more into the culture and earn my right from you, from the players, from the supporters, so everyone feels like ‘he should sing it now, he’s one of our own, he’s the English manager, he should sing it’,” he said.
-Reuters
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