International Football
Argentina World Cup parade ends in tragedy!
Argentina’s World Cup celebrations have been marred by the death of a 24-year-old fan, after he fell through a roof ‘jumping up and down’ celebrating during Tuesday’s victory parade.
Argentina’s victory last Sunday ended a 36-year wait since their Diego Maradona inspired victory.
This time, it is Lionel Messi that propelled Argentina’s victory and it caused millions in Argentina to throw parties.
But after Tuesday’s bus parade was cut short due to safety concerns of fans jumping onto the top of the bus with the players, the Buenos Aires Ministry of Health detailed how another fan died in hospital on Monday due to a head injury picked up while celebrating.
Details from police in Buenos Aires, published by Argentine outlet, La Nacion reported that the man ‘was jumping on the roof, celebrating the triumph of the National Team, until (the roof) broke and he fell,’ leading to fatal injury.
He died from his injuries at the Fernández Hospital in Buenos Aires.
There are also fears over a five-year-old boy that is in a coma after sustaining a serious head injury following an incident in Plaza San Martin, where he was celebrating Argentina’s World Cup triumph with his parents.
La Nacion have also detailed how a piece of marble fell from a monument during the celebrations, striking the child, who is now in intensive care.
More stories of deaths and serious injuries are emerging on a day where Argentina’s World Cup-winning heroes saw their bus parade through Buenos Aires – which brought more than four million people to the streets to celebrate 0 cut short.
Messi and Co had to be evacuated to the sky in helicopters after fans threw projectiles and tried to jump on the team’s bus.
The helicopters carrying the footballers circled low above the skies of the capital including the area around the iconic Obelisk monument as crazed fans chanted and applauded before taking them back to the Argentine Football Association’s (AFA) training facilities HQ near Ezeiza Airport where the victory parade had begun around midday.
The streets of the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires had been mobbed with jubilant fans for the open-top bus parade, which was expected to last around eight hours.
It was set to take in landmarks including the iconic Obelisk, where the majority of expectant Argentinian supporters had congregated.
AFA president Chiqui Tapia confirmed in a tweet just before 4pm local time, however, that the bus parade needed to be abandoned.
‘They won’t allow us to greet everyone who was at the Obelisk,’ the tweet read.
‘The security organisations that were escorting us won’t let us continue.
‘I apologise in the name of all the players. A real shame.’
Gabriela Cerruti, an Argentine presidential spokeswoman, tweeted as TV stations broadcast the breath-taking images of the crowds looking upwards towards the players above them in the sky: ‘The world champions are flying along the route they were taking because it was impossible to continue by road with the explosion of happiness.
‘Let’s continue celebrating in peace and showing them our love and admiration.’
The Argentine players had intended to travel on the bus from the AFA training facilities to the Obelisk, where an estimated three million fans congregated after their nation’s thrilling penalty shootout win over France on Sunday.
AFA confirmed a last-minute change of plan on the advice of government safety advisors on Tuesday afternoon before the later decision to switch to the helicopters.
The party mood briefly turned ugly as news the players were instead going to greet fans from the 25 de Mayo motorway seeped out.
There were reports of missiles being thrown at police and footage emerged of crazed fans hijacking a police car and partying on top of it near the Obelisk in the aftermath of the announcement.
Messi and Argentina had earlier returned as heroes as they were greeted by thousands of fans at Ezeiza International Airport after touching down in Buenos Aires.
The national team and the World Cup trophy, which they lifted for a third time Sunday, landed back in Argentina after a roughly 21-hour flight at around 2.2oam local time Tuesday morning
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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