Where’s Pele? ‘The King’ shunned at Cup
Santos (Brazil): He’s ‘the king’, renowned as football’s greatest ever and the icon of Brazilian World Cup success. But with the tournament finally back in his home country, it seems somebody forgot to invite Pele. At the opening ceremony in Sao Paulo, attended by President Dilma Rousseff and a clutch of visiting heads of state, Pele was a notable absentee despite living not far away in Santos. For Brazil’s second game in Fortaleza, the three-time World Cup winner was not only not at the game – he was in his car, stuck in Brazil’s notorious traffic near Sao Paulo. Brazil is not short of successful ex-players. But Pele, 73, was named an honorary ambassador in the build-up to the World Cup and has a following abroad. Last week, a museum celebrating his life was unveiled in port city Santos, where Pele played his club football. “O Rei” (the king) cried freely at its inauguration. However, at the World Cup his appearances have mainly been restricted to TV advertisements for supermarkets, fast food and shampoo. Rather than Pele, Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen is tipped as the person most likely to hand over the trophy at the July 13 final. It is a surprising demotion for a man named “athlete of the century” by France’s L’Equipe sports magazine and who is feted the world over. (AFP)
Young stars sought to avoid England duty: Redknapp
London: England stepped up its World Cup agonising on Sunday with Premier League manager Harry Redknapp claiming some young players had sought to avoid international duty as he raised doubts over their commitment. England’s calamitous early exit from the tournament has caused a bitter new round of soul-searching by football leaders and politicians over the state of the national game. Queens Park Rangers boss Redknapp, once a candidate for the England job now held by Roy Hodgson, weighed in by saying too many young players seek to escape national duty. “There are too many pull-outs, it seems to be everyone has got an excuse,” he told BBC radio. “And I can tell you when I was at Tottenham, when full internationals came around, there were two or three players who did not want to play for England,” said Redknapp. “They would come to me 10 days before the game and say, ‘Gaffer, get me out of that game, I don’t want to play in that game’. That was how it was. I’d say, ‘you’re playing for your country, you should want to play’.” Redknapp said the players would tell him “‘Nah, my girlfriend is having a baby in four weeks, I don’t want to play’ and that is the truth, so it makes you wonder.” (AP)
Nigerian press in T-shirt protest
Cuiaba: Nigerian journalists covering their country’s World Cup match with Bosnia and Herzegovina on Saturday (Sunday in India) wore T-shirts protesting the Boko Haram Muslim militant group. Reporters wore T-shirts with the slogan ‘World unites against Boko Haram’, days after a bomb killed 21 fans watching a World Cup match on a big screen in the northern Nigeria on Tuesday. A further 10 people died on Saturday in raids by suspected Boko Haram gunmen near villages where Islamists abducted more than 200 girls in April, residents and local leaders said. “We felt it was important to wear these T-shirts,” Steven Alabi Akimjidi, a Nigerian journalist told AFP. “We would feel comfortable wearing these back home, but not in the region where Boko Haram operate,” he added. The bombing took place as fans were gathered to watch Brazil’s goalless draw with Mexico, 24 hours after Nigeria’s opening draw with Iran on Monday. Nigeria face Bosnia later Saturday with a win pushing them to the verge of getting through to the knockout stages in a group where Argentina have already qualified. (AFP)