Despite going down 5-3 in a friendly against the UAE late on Friday, Qatar coach Abdelilah Benaim insisted his team would not be straying from their objective of booking one of four spots open for the 2012 Fifa Futsal World Cup.
“This was only a friendly match and we needed to see the depth of our team. We made some mistakes and the UAE made us pay for these,” Benaim told Gulf News after the friendly match at the Sharjah Youth Centre on Friday night.
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The United States’ World Cup qualifier at Guatemala on June 12 will be shown on pay-per-view over the objection of the U.S. Soccer Federation.
Traffic Sports USA purchased the rights from the Federacion Nacional de Futbol de Guatemala and announced an agreement Friday with Integrated Sports Media to distribute the match in the U.S.
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Joseph Yobo has been ruled out of next month’s 2014 World Cup and 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
The Nigeria skipper sustained an injury during Wednesday’s Turkish Cup final, whilst playing for Fenerbahce.
According to Nigeria coach Stephen Keshi, the Istanbul side suggest Yobo will be out for over four weeks.
Keshi has added three players to the squad, for the matches against Namibia, Malawi and Rwanda.
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Guinea coach Michel Dussuyer has unveiled a list of 20 players called up for the 2014 Fifa World Cup qualifying against Zimbabwe and Egypt scheduled for early next month.
The team’s playmaker Pascal Feindouno, who parted ways with Swiss side FC Sion in January and is now without a club, was dropped alongside Genoa midfielder Kevin Constant and Ibrahima Yattara of Saudi club Al-Shabab.
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In advance of the 2014 FIFA showpiece, Brazil has established a Thematic Chamber for Environment and Sustainability to help meet its sustainability targets.
Brazil 2014 are working towards five broad green objectives: certifying the sustainable construction of stadiums; an organic and sustainable World Cup; the establishment of World Cup parks; the creation of waste and recycling programmes; and a reduction in the effects of climate change.
Brazil is also providing work, with guaranteed good conditions, for prisoners, the homeless and exploited workers.
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The mantle falls on the AC Milan midfielder following the absence of substantive skipper John Mensah, his deputy Michael Essien.
Somalia’s hope of using football to wash away some of their dreadful past and making it to a major football event came to a disappointing end after they suffered a crushing 5-0 defeat at the hands of Ethiopia on Wednesday, May 16 in the second leg of the 2014 World Cup qualifier.
Somalia’s national football team, the Ocean Stars,had high hopes of making it to the next round of the qualifiers after the first leg played in Djibouti last weekend ended 0-0.
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In naming his 27-man squad for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, in Johannesburg yesterday, the Bafana coach said he had picked the best of the bunch to change his team’s fortunes, following an eight-match winless streak.
“We have rewarded players on form in the Premier League and also picked important players like Mphela in the team, despite his lack of fitness,” said the coach. “I think we have a good balance but we can’t keep playing draws all the time. Something has got to give.”
Bafana will start their 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign with a home game against Ethiopia at the Royal Bafokeng stadium on June 3, with an away clash with Botswana six days later in Gaborone.
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Zambia coach Herve Renard has revealed his 26-man crack squad to face Ghana in next month’s World Cup qualifier.
Renard kept faith in the bulk of the team that minted gold at the Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and Equatorial Guinea but has brought in new blood in every department.
Red Arrows goal minder Danny Munyao has come in at the expense of Joshua Titima in the goal keeping department. Munyao is a member of the delightful U20 class of 2007 which participated at the FIFA world cup.
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Mafisango, part of Rwanda’s squad for next month’s 2014 World Cup qualifier against Algeria, died in a car accident on Thursday morning in Dar es Salaam.
The midfielder played for Tanzanian champions Simba and had just returned from Sudan, where his side lost a Confederation Cup match this weekend.
“It is very sad for all of us – we are devastated,” Rwanda coach Milutin ‘Micho’ Sredrojevic told BBC Sport.
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