Sturridge shies away from Suarez skulduggery
Rio De Janeiro: England striker Daniel Sturridge is prepared to do “anything” to beat Uruguay, but would stop short of blocking a shot with his hand like Liverpool team mate Luis Suarez. Suarez achieved global notoriety at the last World Cup in South Africa when his goal-line handball denied Ghana a quarterfinal victory and helped Uruguay through to the last-four. Four years on, the 27-year-old is battling to overcome a knee injury in time to face England in a pivotal World Cup Group D clash in Sao Paulo, in which defeat for either side could spell elimination. Sturridge and Suarez enjoyed a remarkably fruitful partnership last season as Liverpool narrowly missed out on a first English league title since 1990, but Sturridge says that following his team mate’s example only goes so far. “I’m going to do anything in my power to win this game,” he told reporters at England’s Urca training base here on Monday. “I’m not saying I’m going to dive or do anything that’s not within the laws of the game, but I will do anything – like my team mates – to win this game. “I’m not going to handball a goal shot, because it’s not in my nature. We’re an honest country and go about our business in an honest way.” (AFP)
Capello bans Russians from tweeting
Cuiaba: Coach Fabio Capello known for his disciplinarian attitude has imposed a social media black out on his Russian squad at the World Cup. That means no Facebook, Twitter, Instagram nor any of the other forms of online communication until they leave Brazil. The Italian, explaining his reasons for the draconian measure on Monday, said: “Players can’t use social media here. They must abstain for one month, then when they get home they can go crazy.” Warming to his theme he continued: “Tweets sometimes can be a nuisance, if they’re not written in an intelligent fashion – so in order to prevent that nuisance I’d prefer to ask my players not to use social media.” Capello was speaking in Cuiaba on the eve of Russia’s Group H game against South Korea. (AFP)
UN boss pleads neutrality for World Cup
GENEVA: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Tuesday that he is a fan of his native South Korea’s football team, who were to open their World Cup campaign against Russia later in the day, but that out of a sense of neutrality he would not tune into the match. Ban, asked whether he would watch the start of the ‘Red Devils’ opening match in Group H in Cuiaba, Brazil, and his forecast of the score, displayed his diplomatic skills. “That is a very delicate, sensitive question for me,” he told a news conference in Geneva. “I may not hide my own sentiment and support for the (South) Korean team. But as a Secretary General it would be very important that I need to be impartial. I am supporting all the teams who are participating in the World Cup. But you should know that at the same time, when the Korean team is competing with any other team, you may expect that my heart may beat much faster than normal time.” (AP)