WCup's only amateur retires
Monday, 19 July 2010 12:15
WELLINGTON (New Zealand) - ANDY Barron, the New Zealand investment banker who was the only amateur player to take the field at the World Cup, has retired from all football.
Argentina to offer Diego Maradona new four-year deal
Friday, 16 July 2010 11:19
How Maradona inspired a nation
Diego Maradona will be offered a new deal that would keep him in charge of Argentina through to the summer of 2014 - when Brazil stages the World Cup.
Read more: Argentina to offer Diego Maradona new four-year deal
World Cup 2010: Anelka reveals depth of French tensions
Friday, 16 July 2010 11:16
Tensions boil over in training
Nicolas Anelka has said the France squad was united in their decision not to train after he was sent home from the World Cup in disgrace.
The Chelsea striker, who described the atmosphere within the camp as like a "timebomb", was sent home for verbally abusing France coach Raymond Domenech.
The squad then refused to train as France crashed out at the group stage.
"If I hadn't been me that brought it to a head, someone else would. It was waiting to happen," Anelka said.
"Everyone, and I really mean everyone, was as one," he added of the camaraderie amongst the players in French newspaper France-Soir.
"In the case of mutiny, everything and its opposite was said. If there were some players who wanted to train, let them speak now. But I'm 100% sure that nobody will want to."
Read more: World Cup 2010: Anelka reveals depth of French tensions
It's not the Cup, it's the qualifying
Friday, 16 July 2010 11:09
A European team has finally won the World Cup outside its home continent.
More than that, for the first time since 1954, Europe is now ahead of South America in the number of World Cup wins - with a strong advantage. Europe has staged the tournament 10 times and South America just four - but in 2014 the World Cup will return to the continent of its birth for the first time in 36 years.
Spain return to heroes' welcome
Wednesday, 14 July 2010 11:11
Spain's victorious World Cup squad returned to a heroes' welcome in Madrid with hundreds of thousands of fans cheering the team as they paraded through the capital's streets on an open top bus.
People chanted "Campeones! Campeones! Campeones!" and waved red and gold Spanish flags at the players as the black bus crawled along a roughly eight-kilometre route through the city's main thoroughfares on Monday amid scorching temperatures.
Fans waved at the players from balconies while others climbed on trees to get a better view of the 23-man squad which won the World Cup for the first time in Spain's history with a 1-0 extra-time defeat of the Netherlands on Sunday.
"We can speak of there being several hundred thousand people," a spokeswoman for the mayor's office told AFP, while public television TVE estimated that over one million people had turned out for the celebration.
Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas waved a Spanish flag with a black bull on it as the bus passed the central Cibeles fountain, while Barcelona midfielder Xavi simulated throwing the trophy at the jubilant crowd.
Air force fighter jets flew overhead leaving the Spanish colours streaked in the sky.
The parade ended at the esplanade near the riverside Puente del Rey, where the festivities continued officially until midnight.
"I want to congratulate from the bottom of my heart these 23 players for this victory but behind them they had the united force of all Spaniards," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said at a reception for the players at his official residence ahead of the victory parade.
"They won this trophy but it belongs to all Spaniards and it is a win also for all players from previous generations who tried to win it. They won because they were the best, because they played as a team and they played cleanly."
Spain won the 2008 European Championships but had never even reached a World Cup final before. Until this year the best Spain had managed was the quarter-finals.
Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta, who scored the winning goal against the Netherlands just four minutes before the final whistle, presented the prime minister with a red team jersey signed by all the players.
"Thank you for the welcome, I am very proud to be a part of this team and this little trophy is for everyone," Iniesta said at the reception after earlier thanking a German octopus for predicting the Spanish victory.
Before meeting with Zapatero, Spain's King Juan Carlos also hosted a reception for the squad at his palace in Madrid where he thanked the team for making "our dreams a reality ".
"Thank you champions, on behalf of all of Spain and all Spaniards," said Juan Carlos who did not travel to South Africa as he is recovering from lung surgery. "This is a well-deserved triumph for an exceptional team."
The squad arrived at Madrid's Barajas airport just before 2pm (1200 GMT) on an Iberia plane that features Spanish flags flying from the cockpit windows.
A huge cheer erupted from a crowd gathered at the airport when keeper Iker Casillas emerged from the plane with coach Vicente del Bosque and held aloft the golden trophy.
The World Cup victory has brought a sliver of happiness to a country where around 20 percent of the active population is jobless, the highest rate in the 16-nation eurozone.
For many along the parade route this was their second straight night celebrating Spain's World Cup win.
Tens of thousands of people danced, cheered and set off fireworks in the Spanish capital overnight Sunday after the final whistle.
Others imitated bullfighters and waved large Spanish flags over passing cars while chanting "Ole!"
"Champions," wrote right-wing newspaper ABC on its front page below a photo of Casillas holding up the World Cup trophy, surrounded by his teammates.
AFP
People chanted "Campeones! Campeones! Campeones!" and waved red and gold Spanish flags at the players as the black bus crawled along a roughly eight-kilometre route through the city's main thoroughfares on Monday amid scorching temperatures.
Fans waved at the players from balconies while others climbed on trees to get a better view of the 23-man squad which won the World Cup for the first time in Spain's history with a 1-0 extra-time defeat of the Netherlands on Sunday.
"We can speak of there being several hundred thousand people," a spokeswoman for the mayor's office told AFP, while public television TVE estimated that over one million people had turned out for the celebration.
Real Madrid keeper Iker Casillas waved a Spanish flag with a black bull on it as the bus passed the central Cibeles fountain, while Barcelona midfielder Xavi simulated throwing the trophy at the jubilant crowd.
Air force fighter jets flew overhead leaving the Spanish colours streaked in the sky.
The parade ended at the esplanade near the riverside Puente del Rey, where the festivities continued officially until midnight.
"I want to congratulate from the bottom of my heart these 23 players for this victory but behind them they had the united force of all Spaniards," Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero said at a reception for the players at his official residence ahead of the victory parade.
"They won this trophy but it belongs to all Spaniards and it is a win also for all players from previous generations who tried to win it. They won because they were the best, because they played as a team and they played cleanly."
Spain won the 2008 European Championships but had never even reached a World Cup final before. Until this year the best Spain had managed was the quarter-finals.
Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta, who scored the winning goal against the Netherlands just four minutes before the final whistle, presented the prime minister with a red team jersey signed by all the players.
"Thank you for the welcome, I am very proud to be a part of this team and this little trophy is for everyone," Iniesta said at the reception after earlier thanking a German octopus for predicting the Spanish victory.
Before meeting with Zapatero, Spain's King Juan Carlos also hosted a reception for the squad at his palace in Madrid where he thanked the team for making "our dreams a reality ".
"Thank you champions, on behalf of all of Spain and all Spaniards," said Juan Carlos who did not travel to South Africa as he is recovering from lung surgery. "This is a well-deserved triumph for an exceptional team."
The squad arrived at Madrid's Barajas airport just before 2pm (1200 GMT) on an Iberia plane that features Spanish flags flying from the cockpit windows.
A huge cheer erupted from a crowd gathered at the airport when keeper Iker Casillas emerged from the plane with coach Vicente del Bosque and held aloft the golden trophy.
The World Cup victory has brought a sliver of happiness to a country where around 20 percent of the active population is jobless, the highest rate in the 16-nation eurozone.
For many along the parade route this was their second straight night celebrating Spain's World Cup win.
Tens of thousands of people danced, cheered and set off fireworks in the Spanish capital overnight Sunday after the final whistle.
Others imitated bullfighters and waved large Spanish flags over passing cars while chanting "Ole!"
"Champions," wrote right-wing newspaper ABC on its front page below a photo of Casillas holding up the World Cup trophy, surrounded by his teammates.
AFP
JPAGE_CURRENT_OF_TOTAL
