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MADRID - FIFA is in talks with authorities in Brazil about staging the 2010 World Cup if South Africa should be unable to host the event, a Spanish newspaper reported Thursday -- though Brazilian officials denied the claim. "The South American country, which was chosen to organize the World Cup in 2014, has become the first option if South Africa is not able to organize" the 2010 edition, the sports newspaper AS said. South African organizers remain confident of the nation's readiness for the first World Cup to be held on the continent, despite delays in the construction of stadium....

Brazil honoured the great Pele on Thursday and the other eight surviving players from its maiden FIFA World Cup™ triumph in 1958, a victory that put the nation on the football map and paved the way for four more titles. President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva gave the nine men medals of honour at a banquet dedicated to their 5-2 final victory over hosts Sweden 50 years ago. "You helped us understand...we could make Brazil a winner," Lula told the players at the ceremony. Brazil, the most successful football nation with five FIFA World Cup titles, is now in a...

The Hunt for American al Qaeda The United States is turning up the heat in the hunt for the California boy turned al Qaeda operative, Adam Gadahn, who has been charged with treason and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. If caught and convicted, Gadahn could face the death penalty. The State Department along with the Department of Diplomatic Security announced the beginning of a publicity campaign in Afghanistan urging locals to provide any information on Gadahn's whereabouts, with a reward if the information leads to his capture. Radio advertisements with information concerning the $1 million reward have...

A giant calabash, the traditional African cooking pot, is rising from the red earth between Johannesburg and Soweto. Two thousand workmen toil into the night to make sure that the vast structure is ready to welcome 94,000 spectators at the opening ceremony of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, two years from this week. Across the country, foundations are being laid for the first African cup and the biggest party in South Africa since the fall of apartheid. The Government has seized on the occasion to sink billions of pounds into a creaking infrastructure built for white minority rule but hopelessly...

Incomplete information about the world continues to challenge our ideas about democracy and its benefits in other countries. The intense violence that marred lives for almost a century in South Africa under the apartheid system has returned. This time, it is not racial but xenophobic, raising the question of whether majority rule is really all it takes to solve social ills justly. Over the course of the past week, South Africans have attacked refugees from neighboring countries, killing a dozen and severely wounding more than 50. The attacks were fueled by rage – the victims burned or beaten to death,...

Julio Gonzalez Asunción, Mar 31, 2008 / 01:08 pm (CNA).- Four months ago Julio Gonzalez surprised all of Paraguay when he returned to the soccer field after having one of his arms amputated.  Since returning, he says that he was able to overcome all of his obstacles because of his faith in God.In December of 2005, Gonzalez, a 24 year-old player on an Italian soccer team, was asked to play on the Paraguayan national team for the 2006 World Cup.  However, while he was on his way to the airport in Venice to catch a flight back to Asuncion...

World Cup downhill course on Saturday morning, dumping layers of snow and hampering the visibility, one racer felt right at home. Britt Janyk, a 27-year-old Canadian, picked up her first World Cup win ever when she beat out all competitors in the downhill by almost half a second. And while most racers complained of the snowy conditions -- the race had already been postponed one day due to a strong winter storm -- Janyk actually was actually grateful for them. "Growing up in Whistler, I got used to skiing with horrible visibility and fresh snow on the course," said Janyk....

DURBAN, Nov 25 (Reuters) - A group-by-group analysis of the European qualifying competition for the 2010 World Cup finals in South Africa following the draw made on Sunday. The nine group winners will qualify for the finals with the eight runners-up with the best records meeting in four play-offs to produce a total of 13 European finalists. GROUP ONE (Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Hungary, Albania, Malta) Top seeds Portugal and Sweden should both advance from a group in which they have been drawn to play each other competitively for the first time since the qualifying competition for Euro 88. Scandinavian rivals...

Shanghai, China (Sports Network) - U.S. goalie Hope Solo, who criticized coach Greg Ryan and veteran teammate Brianna Scurry on Thursday, will not even be on the bench for Sunday's third-place match against Norway in the World Cup. After the United States lost 4-0 to Brazil on Thursday - its worst loss ever - Solo said it was the "wrong decision" to bench her in favor of Scurry for the semifinal match. She went on to criticize Scurry, who led the United States in the last three World Cups but didn't play in the first four games of this year's...

CHENGDU, China - Playing with a sore toe and 11 stitches in her head doesn't seem to bother Abby Wambach. The top U.S. striker scored both goals Friday in a 2-0 victory over Sweden in the women's World Cup. She now has three in two games, and the win puts the No. 1-ranked Americans in good position to make the quarterfinals.

<p>In a celebration of women's sports on the 35th anniversary of Title IX, U.S. Soccer and Nike unveiled the new U.S. Women's National Team uniforms...</p> <p>The uniform features a solid gold torso, marking the first time the U.S. Women have worn a color other than red, white or blue as their primary color. The new kit has a gold-outlined U.S. Soccer crest over the left chest and a gold collar, and features white and blue trim on the right sleeve and red and blue trim on the left sleeve.</p>

German politicians have been trying to improve the nation's flagging birthrate for years. The answer, it seems, lies not in childcare subsidies or school places but in a successfully staged World Cup, with a bit of good weather thrown in. Nine months after the Uefa World Cup it is German midwives who are having to be on the ball as the country celebrates an unprecedented baby boom, being attributed to the euphoria of last summer, when the team performed well and the nation basked in a successful tournament. A survey by Die Zeit shows that in some parts the birthrate...

The death of Pakistan cricket coach Bob Woolmer is being treated as suspicious, a Jamaican police spokesman has said. Woolmer, 58, died on Sunday after collapsing at his hotel hours after Pakistan's World Cup loss to Ireland. Deputy commissioner Mark Shields said there was "now sufficient information to continue a full investigation". That investigation will be "into the circumstances surrounding the death of Mr Woolmer which we are now treating as suspicious," added Shields.

"Furious Indian cricket fans stormed the home of national wicketkeeper Mahendra Singh Dhoni to protest a five-wicket rout by Bangladesh in their opening World Cup match, police said. Some 200 fans Sunday brought down walls and pillars of Dhoni's house, which is under construction, in the eastern city of Ranchi to protest the 26-year-old player's performance in India's shocking defeat in Port of Spain, Trinidad." " "Dhoni die, die," protesters chanted, burning effigies of the long-maned player, who has scored 1,958 runs in 68 one-day international matches and is counted among India's most aggressive batsmen, an AFP reporter at the...

Bob Woolmer, the Pakistan coach, died in hospital in Jamaica on Sunday after being found unconscious on the floor of his World Cup hotel room earlier in the day. He was 58. Pervez Mir, Pakistan's media manager, said: "Bob Woolmer has passed away. I am speaking from the hospital and all the team management is also at the hospital. Doctors have pronounced him dead. Bob has passed away and it is very shocking news to all of the team and the team management. "Bob's family and wife were informed by the management about his condition when he was brought to...

West Indies v Pakistan, Group D, Jamaica Smith and Bravo come to the fore The Bulletin by Will Luke March 13, 2007 West Indies 241 for 9 (Samuels 63, Sarwan 49) beat Pakistan 187 (Malik 62, Smith 3-36, Bravo 3-42) by 54 runs The West Indies shrugged off any early-tournament nerves with a convincing 54-run win over Pakistan in the opening match of the World Cup at Kingston in Jamaica, with a notable allround performance from Dwayne Smith. It was an impressive win, not least for their ability to absorb the expectation of hosting their first World Cup. Furthermore, the...

Last summer's mix of sun, beer and excitement during the football World Cup appears to have produced a massive hormone rush in German bedrooms, gardens and back alleys. Nine months on, birth clinics across the country that hosted the tournament are reporting a much-needed baby boom. The football World Cup from June 9 to July 9 last year appears to have sparked a baby boom in the host country Germany, where hospitals are reporting a marked rise in imminent births nine months after the tournament, remembered here as a month-long fairy-tale of sunshine, parties and soccer success. The head of...

Police officer killed in riots; all Serie A and B matches suspended Maria Sanminiatelli Canadian Press Friday, February 02, 2007 In this frame made from SKYTG24, fans clash with police outside Catania's Angelo Massimino stadium after the Italian first division soccer league match between Palermo and Catania, in Sicily, southern Italy, Friday. (AP/SkyTG24) ROME (AP) - A police officer was killed Friday when fans rioted at a Serie A game between Sicilian sides Catania and Palermo, prompting the Italian soccer federation (FIGC) to postpone all league matches this weekend and cancel next week's friendlies involving the national teams. Fans rioted...

The 2010 Soccer World Cup will be a "monumental flop" if South Africa does nothing to counter international perceptions that the country is a criminal haven, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi warned on Friday. "South Africa, unfortunately, is perceived in many parts of the world as a criminal haven. A walk down London's Regent Street or Sydney's Oxford Street will, sadly, provide ample anecdotal evidence to support this perception," he said in his weekly message. Once a perception id cast, it can prove almost impossible to shift. The 2010 World Cup is expected to attract 450 000 visitors...

... a black police officer seeking to protect a Jewish fan of a visiting Israeli team shot and killed one man and wounded another.Antoine Granomort, 32, rushed to the aid of a French fan of the Hapoel Tel Aviv club late Thursday after the Israeli team defeated Paris Saint-Germain ... About a hundred fans cornered the two men ... shouting racist and anti-Semitic epithets at them and making Nazi salutes ...Both victims were identified by the police as members of a far-right group supporting Paris Saint-Germain ...Overt racism is a common occurrence at the ... home stadium of PSG, with...

A supporter of the French football club Paris Saint Germanin was shot and killed by police Thursday night after a UEFA-cup game against the Israeli team Hapoel Tel Aviv. The tradgedy occurred outside the stadium Parc de Princes in Paris after PSG had lost against Hapoel with 2-4. According to police sources a lonely Hapoel fan was surrounded by 150 fans from the Parisian club on a street outside the areana. A policeman hurried tthere and fired tear gas to disperse the crowd. He then fired two live rounds. Two PSG suporters were hit and one of them was killed....

Klinsmann talking with U.S. Soccer ST. LOUIS (AP) - Former Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann is in informal talks with the U.S. Soccer Federation that could lead to him taking over as coach of the United States. Klinsmann, who coached Germany to a surprising berth in the World Cup semifinals this summer, told The Associated Press in a telephone interview on Thursday that he's been speaking with USSF president Sunil Gulati. "We've had a couple of conversations. I'm evaluating everything that comes up," Klinsmann said. "I'll stay in touch with Sunil and see what it leads to. It's a very casual...

Oslo: A 29-year-old Pakistani origin man with links to the criminal A-gang is among the four suspects arrested on Tuesday and charged with firing on Oslo`s synagogue last weekend, Aftenposten`s Norwegian reported. The man was arrested in Germany this summer, suspected of participating in the planning of a terrorist attack on the soccer World Cup there. He was released quickly. Last week he was arrested again, this time charged with threats against crime journalist Nina Johnsrud from the newspaper Dagsavisen. Police suspect him of having something to do with shots having been fired against her house this summer, but he...

"Materazzi said it was mention of Zidane's sister which prompted the butt"

ROME (AFP) - Italy defender Marco Materazzi has broken his silence over the verbal exchange that led to his violent World Cup final clash with French star Zinedine Zidane. Materazzi was sent crashing to the turf by a Zidane head-butt near the end of extra-time of the July 9 final in Berlin following a verbal altercation. Mystery has surrounded the exact nature of the abuse directed at Zidane by Materazzi ever since the incident, which subsequently earned the Inter Milan centre-half a two-match ban from world governing body FIFA. But in an interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport here Tuesday,...

TWO failed attempts to bomb trains in western Germany in July had originally been planned for the football World Cup, a newspaper reported overnight. The Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung cited security sources as saying interrogation of the suspects had established that the would-be bombers had abandoned the original plan as they had considered the implications of such an attack. One of the bombs was found in July on a train in Dortmund, which hosted some of June and July's World Cup matches. The other was found on a train in Koblenz. Extracts of the article, released in advance of today's publication,...

German bomb plot intended for World Cup: paper Fri Sep 1, 2006 3:14pm ET BERLIN (Reuters) - Two failed attempts to bomb trains in western Germany in July had originally been planned for the football World Cup, a newspaper reported on Friday. The Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung cited security sources as saying interrogation of the suspects had established that the would-be bombers had abandoned the original plan as they had considered the implications of such an attack. One of the bombs was found in July on a train in Dortmund, which hosted some of June and July's World Cup matches. The...

2006 SIERRA MIST MLS ALL-STAR GAME Toyota Park, Bridgeview, Ill. Saturday, Aug. 5, 2005 (6:30 p.m. ET; Live on ESPN)

Miss France Hits a Miss Italy Like She is Zidane

/begin my translation N. Korea Attempted Terrorist Attack On Seoul & Tokyo During 2002 World Cup In December, 2001, a suspicious N. Korean ship appeared at the water to the south west of Kagoshima Prefecture, Japan. After trading fires with Japanese Coast Guard, it was sunk. Now we secured a testimony that it was carrying special ops to mount terrorist attacks during S. Korea-Japan World Cup Soccer Tournament. At the time, Japanese authorities and media gave more weight to the analysis that the ship was sent to smuggle METH(into Japan.) According to August issue of Monthly Chosun(Wolgan-chosun; note - a well-known S. Korean news magazine,) Chang...

ZURICH, Switzerland (AP)—Zinedine Zidane was banned by FIFA for three games Thursday for head-butting Italy defender Marco Materazzi during the World Cup final. Materazzi was suspended for two matches. World soccer's governing body also fined Zidane $6,000 and Materazzi $4,000 after a disciplinary committee heard the former France captain's account of what led to the incident. Because Zidane has retired, he agreed to do three days of community service with children as part of FIFA's humanitarian projects. Zidane has said he attacked Materazzi because he insulted his mother and sister, while Materazzi denied insulting Zidane's mother. “Both players stressed that...

Berlin — Was it something he said? With France and Italy tied in extra time of Sunday's World Cup final, Zinedine Zidane head-butted Marco Materazzi in the chest and was ejected. France went on to lose on penalty kicks. The day after, still no one knew what the Italian defender might have said to the French star. "The Italians did everything they could do to provoke Zidane," France defender William Gallas said. Seconds before, Materazzi had grabbed a handful of Zidane's jersey just as a French attack on goal passed harmlessly by. The two exchanged words as they walked back...

Pity if you will poor old Zinedine Zidane: sent off during the World Cup final for a serious infraction of FIFA's "no headbutting Italians" rule and now reduced to the status of French national hero with enough cash in the bank to enjoy a lifetime of truffles, stuffed songbirds and fine vintage champagne. Indeed, while the rest of the world was struggling to contain its outrage at Zidane's unsportsmanlike use of the Glasgow handshake, Jacques Chirac counterattacked with: "I would like to express all the respect that I have for a man who represents at the same time all the...

On the Fourth of July, a 160-pound Japanese man overcame an American nearly 75 pounds heavier in a hot dog eating contest. Silly? Sure. Symbolic, too. Whipped at Wimbledon, whomped in the World Cup, beaten in baseball, Americans can't seem to win much these days — whether it's on the pitch, the court, the diamond or a ridiculous eating contest. Coming soon: The World Basketball Championships, where the U.S. team is in rebuilding mode after an embarrassing bronze-medal performance at the Athens Olympics. And the Ryder Cup, where the Americans lost badly on their home turf two years ago and...

Bruce Arena is out as coach of the United States less than three weeks after the Americans' first-round exit from the World Cup. U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati said Friday that Arena's contract would not be renewed when it runs out at the end of the year. A search for a replacement will begin immediately, Gulati said, adding that no potential candidates have been contacted. "Bruce expressed a desire to continue. I'm sure he'll have opportunities. He had a great opportunity before the World Cup, but he didn't want to be distracted," said Gulati, who didn't specify what opportunity...

ROME, July 11 — Swastikas spray painted in Rome’s ancient Jewish ghetto sullied Italy’s joy after its World Cup victory on Sunday, as did racial comments made by a former government minister about the French team. Italy’s interior minister, Giuliano Amato, said today that a number of swastikas were daubed on the walls of Rome’s Jewish quarter during the postgame festivities. “As an Italian I feel ashamed, and as interior minister I am alarmed by such things,” Mr. Amato reportedly said during a visit to Rome’s main synagogue. And a number of Italian politicians and the French ambassador to Italy...

THE furious mother of Zinedine Zidane last night PRAISED her son for his disgraceful World Cup headbutt on Marco Materazzi. And Malika Zidane warned the Italian defender she wants his "b*lls chopped off for his part in Zidane's sending off. Her outburst came after claims Materazzi branded her a "terrorist whore" in the ugly spat. Algerian Malika, who is recovering from an illness, said Zidane, 34, was simply protecting her honour when he butted Materazzi in Sunday's final. She told friends: "I am utterly disgusted by what I have heard. I praise my son for defending his family's honour. "No...

by Mark Finkelstein July 13, 2006 - 08:03 Let's imagine an American World Cup team member 'of pallor' had head-butted, oh, an Arab or African player. Would the MSM be quick to excuse, even make the incident the object of humor? Or would we have been treated to mind-numbing disquisitions on racism in sport as a microcosm of society at large? But when a French player of Arab ancestry head-butts an Italian? Well, CBS tells us, boys will be boys. CBS's Elizabeth Palmer, who narrated a segment on the incident on this morning's Early Show, informed us that "it's a...

"He (Materazzi) pronounced very tough words about my mother and my sister. I tried not to listen to him but he kept repeating them," Zidane said in a live interview on French television channel Canal Plus.

PARIS - French soccer star Zinedine Zidane apologized for head-butting an Italian opponent during the World Cup final, saying Wednesday that he was provoked by insults about his mother and sister. "I apologize, to all the children" who watched the match Sunday, Zidane said in his first, highly-awaited comments about the act of violence that marked the end of his career. Zidane did not specify exactly what Italian defender Marco Materazzi said that enraged him, but that it was insulting to his sister and mother. "I would rather have taken a punch in the jaw than have heard that," Zidane...

MILAN, Italy - FIFA president Sepp Blatter says Zinedine Zidane could be stripped of his Golden Ball award for the best player at the World Cup due to violent conduct. "The winner of the award is not decided by FIFA, but by an international commission of journalists," Blatter said in Wednesday's La Repubblica. "That said, FIFA's executive committee has the right, and the duty, to intervene when faced with behavior contrary to the ethic of the sport." Zidane head-butted Italy defender Marco Materazzi in the chest after the two exchanged words on the field in extra time of Sunday's World...

Hundreds of thousands of flags in black, red and gold are flying over town squares across Germany, where crowds of Germans are enthusiastically cheering, "Deutschland! Deutschland!" In the past, such a sight would be greeted by the rest of the world with anxiousness, even fear. To the neighboring countries of France, the Netherlands and Poland, especially, images of patriotic Germans bring back dark memories of the Third Reich's dominance over Europe prior to and during World War II. Even in modern Germany itself, a show of national pride was met with raised eyebrows and discomfort. Those who paraded the national...

Sunday's World Cup final in Berlin scored big with US television viewers, with nearly 17 million tuning in for the clash between France and Italy -- topping audiences for the NBA basketball finals.

BERLIN - The local World Cup coordinator for Berlin shot himself in the head hours after Sunday's final in an apparent suicide attempt. Police spokeswoman Claudia Schulz on Tuesday confirmed newspaper reports that 65-year-old Juergen Kiessling had shot himself. She said there was no indication anyone else was involved, and she had no information on a possible motive. The Bild daily reported Kiessling remains in a Berlin hospital. Kiessling's duties for the World Cup included coordinating the "Fan Mile" near Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, a spot where hundreds of thousands of fans watched the matches on giant screens during the monthlong...

MILAN, Italy -- Marco Materazzi acknowledged he insulted Zinedine Zidane before the French captain head-butted him in the World Cup final, but repeated his denial that he called Zidane a "terrorist." "I did insult him, it's true," Materazzi said in Tuesday's Gazzetta dello Sport. "But I categorically did not call him a terrorist. I'm not cultured and I don't even know what an Islamic terrorist is." A Paris-based anti-racism group issued a statement Monday saying Materazzi had called Zidane, whose parents emigrated to France from Algeria, a "dirty terrorist." Zidane and Materazzi exchanged words in extra-time of Sunday's final in...

Former U.S. president Bill Clinton (L) and France's President Jacques Chirac wait in the stands before the World Cup 2006 final soccer match between Italy and France in Berlin July 9, 2006. FIFA RESTRICTION - NO MOBILE USE REUTERS/Charles Platiau (GERMANY)

Our correspondent finds out what may have caused a great player to lose his head in such spectacular style WITH his monkish mien backed by a sense of brooding menace, Zinédine Zidane has always been something of an enigma, so it is perhaps fitting that the final act of his career should be the source of such mystery. Just why did a man blessed with complete control of a football lose his head in such a violent manner at such a crucial moment, boring it into the chest of Marco Materazzi? As L’Equipe summed up the moment of madness with...

You'd Never Know Franklin Avenue Was Halfway Around The World Fabio Grosso connected with his left foot and booted them right out the door. Ten of them, 50 of them, hundreds of them, all of them, everyone of Italian heritage in south Hartford raced out onto Franklin Avenue at 4:30 Sunday afternoon. They popped from their homes. They ran from their favorite restaurants. They sprinted from their social clubs. They ran screaming, arms aloft, as if they had scored the final penalty kick themselves at Olympic Stadium in Berlin and were still running, searching for hugs halfway around the world....

Hey Folks, I know on the other thread Zidane is getting chopped for being a Muslim - (a little unfair on its own - in the context of the World Cup playing) but - I followed the blog someone posted from for the Zidane head butt - and then I started reading the blog of watchers below and they pointed out the scum materazzi pinched so hard Zidane's nipple - Zidane had it and headbutt him. Watch the first video carefully. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBV52GPhNjw Now watch this video - turn down the volume because the song is not nice but Materazzi purposefully...