International Football
NINE DAYS TO FINAL DRAW: TIMELESS CLASHES OF THE WORLD CUP
It is nine days to the Final Draw of the 2018 FIFA World Cup. The highlight of draw ceremony of the 2018 FIFA World Cup is the matching of teams against the others.
In the first instance the 32 teams are broken into quartets of eight groups that will engage in a 48-match group stage before another 16-match knock-out stage.
In all, there will be 64 matches. But Sports Village Square can inform that some fixtures are often recurring. Till date, there have been 836 matches played since the World Cup kicked off on July 13, 1930 with a France versus Mexico encounter.
Of the matches played so far, there have been a number of recurring matches and often featuring the same teams’ pairings.
Sports Village Square recalls that top of such is the Brazil versus Sweden. This fixture had featured seven times in the past to rank as the most recurring fixture in the World Cup.
The last time the two clashed was however 23 years ago at the semi finals of USA ’94.
But this match up will not hold at Brazil 2014 since Sweden failed at the qualifying series. Two of the seven clashes of Sweden and Brazil involved legendary Brazilian players.
The 1958 clash featured Pele who was then 17 and later became a major factor in the first of Brazil’s five titles to date.
Another recurring fixture involved Germany and the former Yugoslavia. None of the match-ups took place beyond the group stage.
The next recurring matches are Brazil versus Spain, Brazil – Czechoslovakia, Argentina versus Germany and Brazil versus Italy. The latter will not occur at Russia 2018 as Italy failed to qualify.
There have been five instances of those matches as well as Argentina versus England, France versus Italy, Germany versus Italy and Argentina facing Italy.
The pairings of Argentina, Brazil, Italy and Germany have produced six final matches and three semi finals. Brazil played Italy twice in the final while Argentina and Germany have also competed against each other twice in a final match.
Italy have played against past winners such as Brazil, Germany and France. Brazil and Germany have been to the World Cup finals more than any other country. Yet, the head to head clash of the two was a rarity until they met at the 2002 final match. The only other time they met was at Brazil 2014 when Germany humiliated their hosts, 7-1 in the semi finals.
With that, all the seven past winners of the world Cup have met. As for Nigeria, the commonest foe has been Argentina which the Super Eagles have faced on four of previous World Cup appearances. They met in 1994, 2002, 2010 and 2014.
Next among the teams Nigeria met more than one occasion are Bulgaria and Greece. Nigeria met both twice. The Super Eagles beat Bulgaria 3-0 in 1994 and 1-0 in 1998.
Greece lost 2-0 to the Super Eagles in 1994 and had a sweet revenge of a 2-1 win in 2010. That was the first time Greece ever won a match in the World Cup. The second time was the defeat of Cote d’Ivoire at Brazil 2014.
Most Recurring World Cup Matches
- Sweden versus Brazil – 7 times
- Germany versus former Yugoslavia – 6 times
- Brazil versus Spain – five times
- Brazil versus former Czechoslovakia – five times
- Brazil versus Italy – five times
- France versus Italy – five times
- Germany versus Italy – five times
- Argentina versus Italy – five times
- Argentina versus Germany – five times
- Argentina versus England – five times
- Argentina versus Nigeria – four times
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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