International Football
England takes solidarity protest to World Cup
In today’s opening match with Iran, England players will take the knee and captain Harry Kane will wear the One Love armband.
On Sunday, Coach Gareth Southgate confirmed that the team will bow on their knees while the skipper will have message inscribed on his armband.
England have knelt before games since 2020, initially in solidarity with protests over America’s George Floyd’s death at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer and then in support of equality.
The gesture is no longer a feature before kickoffs in the Premier League, where it is selectively used, but Southgate believes it is important his team continue it at the World Cup.
“It’s what we stand for as a team and have done for a long period of time,” he told reporters on Sunday.
“We feel this is the biggest (stage) and we think it’s a strong statement that will go around the world for young people, in particular, to see that inclusivity is very important.”
Kane, along with the captains of the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and Wales, will wear the One Love armband on Monday.
The armband represents support for equality and while it is not solely aimed at the rights of the LGBTQ community it is significant in Qatar where homosexuality is illegal.
World soccer’s governing body FIFA takes a dim view of political statements and according to reports could punish those wearing the One Love armband with fines or disciplinary action.
Kane, however, said he would wear one.
“We’ve made it clear as a team, the staff and an organisation that we want to wear the armband,” Kane said. “The FA are talking to FIFA at the moment and I’m sure by game time tomorrow we would have had their decision.”
Southgate has become used to dealing with social issues in his time as England manager and Sunday’s media conference again went beyond the field of play.
The former defender was asked, in a question from an Iranian reporter lasting several minutes, whether he supported those protesting against the Iranian regime, a cause supported by some of Iran’s players.
“I don’t feel informed enough to comment on what’s going on in Iran, and I don’t think it’s really my place to comment on it either,” Southgate said.
“I think the Iranian players and manager (Carlos Queiroz), I understand them, they are in a difficult position but I think they’re better informed to speak about those things.
“If we were asked by their team to support them in some way, we would obviously have to listen to that and consider that but at the moment that hasn’t happened.”
Southgate said his main priority was that his team spread a little joy back home where political upheaval and a cost-of-living crisis make a gloomy backdrop to the World Cup.
“We’re all hoping to focus on football now,” he said. “Our country is also going through a difficult spell, not the same as some of the other countries, but we’re in an economic recession and life has been difficult for a lot of our people.
“So we want them to enjoy their football, have a journey with the team and bring them some happiness.”
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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