The FIFA Weekly Issue #15

ISSUE 15, 31 JANUARY 2014

ENGLISH EDITION

Fédération Internationale de Football Association – Since 1904

BECKENBAUER ITALY WON’T WIN THE WORLD CUP AUSTRALIA GRIPPED BY WORLD CUP FEVER SEPP BLATTER RESPONSIBILITY RESTS WITH BRAZIL

The Professor

Mario Zagallo W W W.FIFA.COM/ THEWEEKLY

CONTENTS

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Mario Zagallo: Professor of football Mario Zagallo was exceptionally talented both as a player and a coach. The Brazilian rates as one of the most influential figures in world football, a role model who enjoyed immense freedom as a player and surprised himself as a coach. “I didn’t know I was a leader,” he says in our exclusive interview. Zagallo won the World Cup four times in all, “and in doing so he set a benchmark for eternity,” Ronaldo said of his former mentor.

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Colombian agony Radamel Falcao will be out for five months with a knee injury, leaving the Monaco striker with a 50 percent chance of featuring at the 2014 World Cup. Meanwhile, the Apertura tournament has begun in Colombia’s top division, the Categoria Primera A.

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Olympiacos on top No team comes close to reigning champions and league leaders Olympiacos in the crisis-ridden Greek Super League. The Piraeus club are in dominant form and will meet Manchester United in the Champions League last 16.

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Beckenbauer: the interview Franz Beckenbauer left an indelible mark on German football, winning the World Cup as a player and a coach. He tips Brazil, Argentina, Germany and Spain to shine at this summer’s tournament.

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Weekly Top 11: Stadiums that charm Stadiums exuding old-fashioned charm are increasingly hard to find in the modern game. We’ve unearthed 11 gems in places as diverse as Uruguay, Greece and Finland for this week’s Weekly Top 11.

North and Central America 35 members www.concacaf.com

Radamel Falcao Will he be fit for the World Cup?

Two million Aussies on the ball Just months before the World Cup, the Australian national team is divided. This has not dulled the enthusiasm of a nation where football has been booming since 2006.

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F IFA President Blatter on World Cup stadiums Despite construction delays in Brazil, the FIFA President is optimistic about this summer’s World Cup.

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S ound of Football: Rhythm of the Champions League Few artists can have been as successful at portraying the enthusiastic passion of their footballing heroes as Ghanaian singer and band leader Pat Thomas. His pulsating rhythms accompanied Asante Kotoko on their march to CAF Champions League glory.

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R obert Pires: My pivotal pass Gifted wide midfielder Pires’ biggest moment came in the 103rd minute of the Euro 2000 final with a cross from the left for David Trezeguet to make the score 2-1. That Golden Goal made France the champions of Europe.

Mario Zagallo Four-time World Cup winner

U-17 Women’s World Cup 15 March to 4 April 2014, Costa Rica

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South America 10 members www.conmebol.com

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup 28 to 29 May 2014, Zurich

THIS WEEK IN THE WORLD OF FOOTBALL

Europe 53 members www.uefa.com

Africa 54 members www.cafonline.com

Asia 46 members www.the-afc.com

Oceania 11 members www.oceaniafootball.com

Franz Beckenbauer The interview

NR. 15,15, 31.31JANUAR 2014 ISSUE JANUARY 2014

DEUTSCHE ENGLISHAUSGABE EDITION

FédérationInternationale Internationalede deFootball FootballAssociation Association––Since Seit 1904 Fédération 1904

BECKENBAUER ITALIEN WIRDWIN NICHT ITALY WON’T THE WELTMEISTER WORLD CUP AUSTRALIEN AUSTRALIA DIE GROSSE GRIPPED

BY WORLD WM-EUPHORIE CUP FEVER SEPP BLATTER BRASILIEN STEHT IN RESPONSIBILITY DER VERANTWORTUNG RESTS WITH BRAZIL

Der The Professor

Mario Zagallo W W W.FIFA.COM/ THEWEEKLY

Mario Zagallo The image on our cover shows Zagallo posing casually in a white T-shirt after training in Mexico in June 1970. Just a few days later he won his third World Cup with Brazil.

Kostas Mitroglou The star striker at Olympiacos

Getty Images

Ange Postecoglou Challenges for the Australia coach

FIFA World Cup 12 June to 13 July 2014, Brazil

U-20 Women’s World Cup 5 to 24 August 2014, Canada

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Youth Olympic Football Tournament 15 to 27 August 2014, Nanjing

FIFA Club World Cup 10 to 20 December 2014, Morocco

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UNCOVERED

World champion Mario Zagallo won the World Cup as a player, coach and assistant coach. “He set a benchmark for eternity in winning four World Cups,” said Ronaldo.

The professor Thomas Renggli

Ricardo Moraes/Reuters

I

t was 16 July 1950. The stage was set for the World Cup final between Brazil and Uruguay at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro, in a country that lives for footballing dreams.

Official attendance figures at the world’s most imposing stadium stand at 173,850, but it could also have been 199,854 or 203,851, depending who was counting.

The pre-match script for the title decider was considerably less ambiguous, with the red carpet already in place for the Brazilian national team to celebrate a first World Cup triumph.

FIFA President Jules Rimet had prepared a speech in Portuguese, while the press had declared Brazil world champions prior to kick off.

In the build-up to the match, the team lunch was twice interrupted by politicians attempting to ingratiate themselves with the players.

Each member of the squad was given a watch engraved with the words ’world champions’.

But it was not to be Brazil’s day. The hosts’ 2-1 defeat left an entire nation stunned, with the match soon to become known as the “Maracanazo”– the shock at the Maracana. ­ ­Brazil’s dream had become a nightmare. In the stands an 18-year-old named Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo witnessed the historic events unfold.

As a member of the army he had helped with the construction of the new stadium and had managed to obtain a reduced-price ticket.

Zagallo still has vivid memories of that day: “200,000 fans waved their handkerchiefs in joyful expectation – but at the end they turned into one huge handkerchief with which we dried our eyes. The whole country was crying.”

Pele’s r­ ecollections are similar: “I saw my father cry for the first time then and vowed to go one ­better as a player myself than our national team players had.”

Pele was true to his word and, together with Zagallo, won three World Cup titles with A Seleção by 1970. Pele was the genius playmaker and goalscorer, Zagallo an attacking midfielder in 1958 and 1962, and coach in 1970. The duo each played a major role in ensuring the Jules Rimet trophy remained permanently in the possession of the Brazilian FA in 1970, after winning it for a third time. Zagallo, respectfully called ’the professor’ by his players, was the first footballer to win the World Cup both as coach and as a player.

Zagallo lifted the new trophy, the FIFA World Cup, in the USA 24 years later after becoming world champion for the fourth time as coach Carlos Alberto Parreira’s assistant, although Parreira insists he was much more T H E F I FA W E E K LY

than that: “His presence on the bench was a sign of our strength and gave the players confidence. It’s no accident that they call him the professor. Zagallo represented the connection between our glorious past and our future.”

Ronaldo struck a similar chord: “Zagallo was one of the best players of his era. He set a benchmark for eternity in winning four World Cups.”

Asked which of the titles means the most and which Brazil team was the best in history, Zagallo had no doubts in responding: “The side that won the first title in 1958 and the team from 1970.” He was a key figure on both occasions, albeit in different roles. Brazil needed a professor to help them overcome the pain of the “Maracanazo” and to nurture their artistic playing style. In Zagallo, they found one. Å

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MARIO JORGE LOBO Z AGALLO

Popperfoto/Getty Images

Reflecting on glory Mario Zagallo coached Brazil to the trophy at the 1970 World Cup in Mexico.

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T H E F I FA W E E K LY

MARIO JORGE LOBO Z AGALLO

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“ NEVER THOUGHT I’D BE A LEADER”

O

ver the space of 40 years, a Formiguinha (Little Ant) became a Velho Lobo (Old Wolf), while he went about conquering the world: Mario Jorge Lobo Zagallo.

His career path is synonymous with the Brazilian national team.

No mention of A Seleção’s greatest World Cup moments would be complete without including this 82-year-old from Alagoas state capital Maceio, who is known for being both tough and superstitious.

The Formiguinha nickname was handed to Zagallo in his playing days, when he earned plaudits for his hard-working, ‘team-first’ style – attributes that helped the left-sided wideman contribute to Brazil’s first two World Cup triumphs in 1958 and 1962.

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Velho Lobo, on the other hand, was a s­ obriquet Zagallo earned after years of coaching experience. A World Cup winner as Brazil boss at Mexico 1970, as well as taking A Seleção to second and fourth spot at France 1998 and Germany 1974 respectively, Zagallo always knew when to take a hard line with his players or when victory was more likely through proffering praise and kind words.

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MARIO JORGE LOBO Z AGALLO

Mr. Zagallo, which of the two roles, player or coach, did you find most difficult during your career, particularly when involved with Brazil?

Mario Zagallo: Of course playing is more enjoyable, since a coach has a totally different level of responsibility. You need to know the reason why you’re asking a player to carry out a certain tactical function, or when to train with individuals or the whole team. And showing leadership is fundamental too, of course. Playing is great but players have a lot of responsibility as well, as they’re the ones who win matches.

When you’re a coach you need to have a cool head to decide what needs doing in each moment of the game, make the right substit­ utions and give a player a rollicking if they 8

need it – it’s not easy. Even if I had to choose, I’d still try and pick both, because I was successful in both roles.

Can you give an example?

We were losing to Uruguay in 1970 [in the semi-final of the FIFA World Cup Mexico], as they’d opened the scoring after 19 minutes. In our hotel before the game, there’d been a ­journalist who hadn’t stopped going on about Brazil’s defeat [to Uruguay in the final game] of the 1950 World Cup and that became a problem for us.

It shook our concentration. But we man­ aged to get an equaliser three minutes before half-time and during the interval I didn’t even bother talking tactics.

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“I gave each of my players confidence, so they could do what they were perfectly capable of doing anyway.”

Paris Match/Getty Images

Returning from the 1958 World Cup in Sweden Mario Zagallo (below right) and the Rimet Cup.

MARIO JORGE LOBO Z AGALLO

Popperfoto/Getty Images

World champion again Mario Zagallo sheds tears of joy (1962).

I lost my cool and even swore in the dressing room. I told them that we were playing against a side that were infinitely worse than we were! And I asked them to forget about 1950 and to pull themselves together because we were going to beat Uruguay.

I made them see we were the superior team, we just had to play our football. We couldn’t let ourselves get beaten by a team like that. We went out there and won the match 3-1. I took away Uruguay’s aura and Brazil became Brazil again.

But you used some on-field tactics as well.

My happiest moment as a coach was when we won Brazil’s third World Cup in

Mexico. When we left Brazil, we were seen as behind-the-times, because we played a 4-2-4 formation.

At the 1958 World Cup, when I was a player, we’d played 4-3-3 and when I took over as head coach, I decided to change the team so it was more of a unit. We started defending from the front; the only player we didn’t mark was the keeper taking goalkicks...

That way we formed a solid block, to deny our opponents any space. I then had to think about and work around the characteristics of our players and the form they were in. Zonal marking worked fine when we didn’t have the ball and, when we got into possession, we’d attack with seven men. Carlos Alberto Torres, Gerson, Clodoaldo, Rivellino, Tostao, Pele and T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Jairzinho would all attack, while we’d keep three players back.

The 1958 World Cup was your biggest highlight.

As a player, my most special moment came in the Final of the 1958 World Cup against host nation Sweden. I was a player more used to setting up goals than scoring them, but I managed to get on the scoresheet.

It was our fourth goal [in a 5-2 win] and gave us a real cushion in that match. I also set up one of Pele’s [two] goals in that game: it was really special.

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MARIO JORGE LOBO Z AGALLO

You were known as Formiguinha (Little Ant).

How come?

It was a commentator from Sao Paulo, Geraldo Jose de Almeida, who gave me the nickname. He used to shout: “Formiguinha!

There goes Formiguinha with the ball.” I used to joke and say that I was like a 100-metre runner. Back then, nobody did the role I did.

Then Brazil, under [Vicente] Feola [Editor’s note: who led A Seleção to victory at Sweden 1958], adopted the tactic of shutting down space after losing possession and then attacking when getting the ball back. We changed from a 4-2-4 formation to 4-3-3, with Garrincha, Pele and Vava up front.

I used to play on the left and I had to defend when Brazil didn’t have the ball and 10

push right up the left wing when we were in possession. So, I was carrying out a dual role.

That change of tactical system brought about a significant improvement and that’s how Brazil won the 1958 World Cup and then the 1962 tournament. We were champions both times with virtually the same team and the same way of playing.

What qualities help make you one of those coaches able to really get to know his players?

You need to know how to handle players.

There are times and places when you need to be on their level: coaches don’t always need to be distant. There’s no problem with going up to them and having a chat. I always behaved like that and I never lost my authority. But it’s T H E F I FA W E E K LY

one thing having a chat, having fun, but things have to be very different when it’s time to work. Even the way you speak, your tone of voice needs to change.

In the dugout, I couldn’t get stuck saying the same old things like, “Get back, do this, that’s wrong!” There are times when you really need to shake things up and I was really good at that kind of leadership. And listen, I never thought I’d become a leader.

On the other hand, though, there are times when you need to guide people and be caring.

Tell us more.

I think that a good example was when Brazil met the Netherlands in 1998 [in the semi-final of that year’s World Cup in

Popperfoto/Getty Images

Dinner at a pre-­ World Cup training camp in 1962 Zagallo (second from left) revels in his team-mates’ company.

MARIO JORGE LOBO Z AGALLO

Popperfoto/Getty Images

Clash of the Titans Pele (left, Santos) and Mario Zagallo (Botafogo) tussle in a 1959 league encounter.

France]. The game finished 1-1 [after extra time] and shortly before the penalty shootout I went to speak to each one of my players. I didn’t know that it was being filmed, I only found out afterwards, when my late wife told me.

After the Final against France, when I got home I was still angry that we’d lost [3-0], but she told me the most striking moment of A Seleção’s campaign at that World Cup was when I’d looked each of my players in the eye and told them we’d beat the Netherlands.

That’s what being a coach is about: there’s a time for talking tough and a time for being caring. I gave each of them confidence, so they could do what they were perfectly capable of doing. And they did it!

Mario Zagallo spoke to Bernardo Besouchet and Marcio Macculloch

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“You need to know how to handle players. There are times and places when you need to be on their level.”

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MARIO JORGE LOBO Z AGALLO

“The only player we didn’t mark was the keeper taking goal kicks.”

Sven Simon/Imago

The thinker Zagallo in contemplative mood during Brazil’s trophy-winning 1970 World Cup campaign.

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MARIO JORGE LOBO Z AGALLO

Germany tamed Brazil coach Mario Zagallo (right) presides over a 1-0 away win.

A father and a professor

Sven Simon/Imago

R

eaders familiar with Salman Rushdie’s wonderful novel Midnight’s Children will perhaps remember a secondary character by the name of Professor Zagallo, also known as Crazy Zagallo.

I don’t know if Rushdie is a football fan or if it is just a mere coincidence – the name Zagallo is Lebanese in origin – but I have seen this hot-blooded character as a tribute to the footballing talent of Mario Zagallo.

During his time in charge of Brazil’s ­national team the ’old wolf’ played the professor to his footballing pupils, while in his playing days he was the kind of supporting actor that every star needs to have.

The great Pele may be the only footballer to have won three FIFA World Cups but Zagallo is right behind him with two world title wins as a player, another as a coach and a fourth as an assistant to Carlos Alberto Parreira.

Every striker needs someone to supply the bullets, and there are no finer examples of how well Zagallo performed that role than the two Finals he won with Brazil. In the first of them, in Stockholm in 1958, he scored a goal and sent in the cross that led to Pele snatching his second of the afternoon. Four years later in Santiago he turned in a selfless display in a deeper position, playing a slightly more defensive role but still infusing his team with confidence.

Zagallo was, if you will, the George Harrison of that magical, unforgettable front line: Vava-Didi-Pele-Garrincha-Zagallo, a sequence of names that would roll off the tongues of admiring fans like “A-wop-bopa-loo-bop-a-lop-bam-boom”.

Parreira has described Zagallo as a visionary.

Tostao sees him as an innovator. And all the players who have met him over the years are filled with respect and admiration when they talk of the man.

Zagallo is a living legend of Brazilian football because his career perfectly encapsulates the development of the modern game. Intuitive, fleet-footed and wonderfully talented as a player, he became a shrewd coach who understood the mindset of the professional footballer without overlooking the need to nurture an emotional bond.

Zagallo was both a father and a professor, albeit one with an amusing, well-known and superstitious attraction to the number 13.

Married on the 13th day of the month, he won his first World Cup in 58 (5+8=13), has the number 13 printed on his clothes and lives on the 13th floor of his apartment block.

Though Zagallo turned 82 last August, he has the spirit and energy of a 13-year-old boy.

Chosen by the Brazilian Football Association as one of their World Cup ambassadors, along with Marta, Bebeto, Amarildo, Carlos Alberto and Ronaldo, he has spent the last few months travelling around the world, T H E F I FA W E E K LY

M A JOR HONOURS A S A PL AY ER World Cup winner: 1958, 1962 Rio de Janeiro state championship: 1953, 1954, 1955 with Flamengo; 1961, 1962 with Botafogo A S A C OAC H World Cup winner: 1970, 1994 as assistant coach Copa America: 1997 Confederations Cup: 1997 Taca Brasil: 1968 Rio de Janeiro state championship: 1967, 1968, 1972, 2001 (various clubs)

talking about the tournament and his Brazil team, telling anecdotes of bygone days and making predictions – living and breathing the game as he has always done. Å

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TALK ING POIN T S

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T H E

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Categoria Primera A, Colombia

Colombia waits on its wounded tiger JordÍ Punti is a novelist and the author of many football features in the Spanish media.

With five months to go before the World Cup starts, the countdown is going to be a very slow one for the people of Colombia as they wait for news on their star man Radamel Falcao. The whole country is on tenterhooks following the serious cruciate ligament injury sustained by El Tigre in a French Cup match on 22 January.

The player underwent surgery in Porto, with 14

doctors subsequently giving him a 50-percent chance of recovering in time for the finals, an optimistic assessment given the nature of the injury. The setback even prompted the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, to call the player from the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and offer his encouragement and assurance that everyone was rooting for him.

Falcao is the embodiment of a revitalised Colombia side that is playing with a determin­ ation and verve not seen for many years. Their superb qualification campaign, in which their spearhead struck a third of all their goals, brought to an end their lengthy exile from the world stage, one that stretches back to France 1998 and the free-wheeling days of an idiosyncratic side featuring Freddy Rincon, Faustino T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Asprilla and Carlos Valderrama. The team’s current coach, the Argentinian Jose Pekerman, has put his faith in players who ply their trade in Europe for the most part, though that has not prevented him from moulding a unit with a style of its own and an ability to draw on its individual assets. As the country’s legendary former national coach Francisco El Profesor Maturana put it: “Pekerman has finished with regional divisions.” At the same time he has also gone for experience, retaining the services of one of the biggest personalities in Colombian football: veteran goalkeeper Faryd Mondragon, who at the age of 42 will be taking part in his third World Cup. Falcao’s untimely injury has prompted fans to debate the issue of who will replace him should he fail to recover in time. Pekerman is

Valery Hache/AFP

Get well soon Tiger! Best wishes from his Monaco team-mates to injured Colombia striker Radamel Falcao

not short of options, the most logical of them being Porto’s Jackson Martinez and Carlos Bacca of Sevilla, though River Plate front man Teofilo Gutierrez has impressed on the occasions he has partnered El Tigre. Also in the frame is Hertha Berlin’s Adrian Ramos, who has yet to make his international debut at the age of 28 but has demonstrated a keen eye for goal in the Bundesliga.

Pekerman will also be looking at what the Colombian league can offer him in the way of striking alternatives. The 2014 Torneo Apertura got under way at the weekend, with various sides having strengthened their ranks with an eye on the Copa Libertadores.

Defending champions Club Atletico Nacional of Medellin kicked off with a handsome win, as did Santa Fe, who have undergone a major revamp, with the creation of a very young back-line acquired from the lower divisions and the return of two star acts in Wilder Medina and Jonathan Copete. Millonarios are another side with high hopes, having given Spanish coach Juanma Lillo a brief to produce some effective yet entertaining football.

The Bogota outfit are expecting big things from Dayro Moreno up front. The league’s joint-leading goalscorer last season, Moreno picked up where he left off by collecting a brace against Envigado at the weekend and is another contender to deputise for Falcao, to whom he bears quite a resemblance.

Though Colombian football has been export­ ing players to the world’s top leagues for many years now, the national team has routinely been unable to harness the experience their exiles have to offer. Until now that is. The country’s current crop of overseasbased players are generating the kind of excitement that has not been seen in decades.

And with that expectation as a backdrop, the new league season marks the start of the build-up to Brazil 2014, a tournament that will hopefully be graced by the goalscoring prowess of one Radamel Falcao. Å

“As AEK Athens proved recently, only Olympiacos themselves can bring about their downfall.”

Greek Super League

Olympiacos supremely dominant Perikles Monioudis is an editor at The FIFA Weekly.

Once again this season, Olympiacos are the measure of all things in Greece. After 21 matches, the Piraeus club remain unbeaten at the top of the league on 59 points, ahead of Dutch coach Huub Stevens’s PAOK on 48 and Atromitos on 40.

To talk of the Greece Super League as a two-tier league like Spain’s Primera Division would be inappropriate, because while Real Madrid and Barcelona are generally perceived as impossibly strong – despite Atletico Madrid’s current position at the top of La Liga – Olympiacos remain the sole major club in Greece.

A combination of the sovereign debt crisis and mismanagement claimed many victims from among the country’s clubs, not least AEK Athens, who currently languish in the third division. Match-fixing, excessively high player investments and club presidents keen to make a quick buck took care of the rest.

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As a result, the Greece Super League table now resembles a souped-up version of the third division.

Small clubs whose home games usually attract just a few hundred fans rub shoulders with bigger clubs, and not always at the foot of the table. These minnows are pitted against what are essentially youth teams from once-established clubs such as OFI Crete – currently in 8th place – Panionios in 11th, PAS Giannina in 13th or Aris Saloniki in 18th, who, until recently, could only take part in the league on the condition that they fielded no more than three players over the age of 24. But at least they were allowed to compete.

League behemoths Olympiacos will continue their march next season, not least in the Champions League, where they face a below-par Manchester United in this season’s last 16 on 25 February.

Last season, the Red and Whites had their 40th championship win wrapped up by 3 March. As AEK Athens proved recently, it appears only Olympiacos themselves can bring about their downfall. Å

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Bundesliga

Fiasco in Hamburg Sven Goldmann is a football expert at Tagespiegel newspaper in Berlin.

After its lengthy winter slumber, the Bundesliga awoke to the second half of the season, stretching its tired limbs before carrying on where it had left off prior to the break. Bayern Munich won again, this time 2-0 at Borussia Monchengladbach, one of the leaders’ closest pursuers in the league table, although nobody in the Bundesliga really believes the Bavarians can still be caught. A well-stocked Wolfsburg side lost at home to Hannover, while Bayer Leverkusen came up short in Freiburg and Borussia Dortmund only managed a 2-2 draw with Augsburg.

Stuart Franklin/Bongarts/Getty Images

The only team that could potentially still pose a threat to Bayern are Bayern themselves and the first signs of one of their star-stacked ensemble becoming disgruntled have emerged. Mario Mandzukic, so prolific for the club last season, is apparently upset that he will face competition next term from an even more clinical striker in Robert Lewandowski, who will join from Dortmund.

The news seemingly left Mandzukic so vexed that his performances in training this year tailed off to the extent that Pep Guardiola did not even include him in the squad that travelled to Monchengladbach.

“I think I’d have gone home too.

The crowd were actually pretty kind to us.”

returned to Germany from his New York exile in 1980, he did not return to Bayern Munich, but to Hamburg. The Hanseatic club won the European Cup in 1983.

Now though, the only thing Hamburg excel at is spending money. Despite lofty aims of re-establishing themselves among the country’s elite in the last few years, they have only succeeded in racking up €100m debt while almost everything that could go wrong, has done so. “I need to tidy up all the mistakes that were made in the last four or five crazy years,” said sporting director Oliver Kreuzer, a former Bayern player who joined at the start of the season.

been branched off into a separate corporate entity, although that is set to change. The club’s 70,000 members have the final say on such matters and as a sign of the looming crisis, the general assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of such a separation. The final vote will take place in summer, and although no-one is ready to believe that Hamburg will no longer be in the Bundesliga at that point, the start of the second half of the season has given major cause for concern. “We spent three weeks preparing for this game,” said van Marwijk. “If you lose 3-0 [at home] you know what you need to do. I know it and I hope the players do too.” Å

Unlike at Bayern, Dortmund and Leverkusen, Hamburg’s professional football team has not

Those kind of difficulties would be warmly welcomed in Hamburg. The club were recently a force to be reckoned with, but are now in the relegation zone in 16th place after a shambolic 3-0 home defeat to Schalke. In response the fans, instead of enduring freezing temperatures did what they have only rarely done in the past: they left the stadium in droves long before the final whistle. “I hope none of my players say they had a problem with what the spectators did,” said the team’s Dutch coach Bert van Marwijk. “I think I’d have gone home too. I think the crowd were actually pretty kind to us.”

Hamburg are not just any old club: they are the only team to have played in Germany’s top flight for 50 uninterrupted years. Hamburg used to be an imposing side, even on the international stage. When Franz Beckenbauer

Hamburg under pressure Hamburg keeper Jaroslav Drobny makes a save.

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Position

Clubs and teams

Major honours

Franz Beckenbauer

Libero

Date and place of birth

Bayern Munich

11 September 1945, Munich

427 games, 60 goals (1964 – 1977)

Bayern Munich, New York Cosmos, Hamburger SV (as player), Germany, Olympique Marseille, ­ FC Bayern Munich (as coach)

Twice World Cup winner, once European Championship winner, three-time European Cup winner, ten-time German league winner

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Martin Schoeller/August

Name

THE INTERVIEW

“Germany have lacked that mental edge” He led the national team to World Cup glory as captain in 1974 and then repeated the feat as coach in 1990, before emerging as one of the key figures in the nation’s successful bid to host the tournament in 2006. Quite simply, nobody has left a more indelible mark on German football than Franz Beckenbauer. In an interview with The FIFA Weekly, the 68-year-old looks ahead to this summer’s edition of the global showpiece event, outlining his worries about the current German side resting on its laurels and his belief that Italy will not lift the coveted trophy.

Franz Beckenbauer, which country will win the World Cup in July?

People associate German football with many things, but certainly not mental fragility.

The South American countries have a very good chance, and Brazil and Argentina are the favourites of those sides. However, Spain and Germany are also in a position to win it as well.

That’s true, but you have to make sure that that supposed strength doesn’t allow you to fall into a negative spiral.

What about Italy?

It’s an exciting group. Germany are the favourites and they will qualify, and Portugal will probably be the side that finishes second and reaches the last 16. They have a very strong team with one outstanding player in their ranks in Cristiano Ronaldo. He will want to make his mark in Brazil and we could well see some spectacular matches. Ghana and the USA will probably contest the third and fourth spots.

No, Italy will not win the World Cup.

Why is that? Are Italy not at their most dangerous when they are written off?

Obviously nobody can underestimate Italy, and they completely deserved to win the tournament in 2006. But when I look at the squad that Cesare Prandelli has at his ­d isposal, I don’t think they have enough in terms of quality to win the World Cup.

We are now approaching 24 years since Germany’s last World Cup triumph. At the time, you were sitting in the dugout.

That's really a very long time ago. Since then Germany have been close to winning it again on a few occasions, and they’ve done a lot right in some tournaments. In the end, though, it wasn’t enough when it counted.

What are the reasons for those failings?

It has been a mental problem; Germany haven’t had that mental edge. Of course they wanted to be successful, but to win a major tournament, you need that absolute, unfailing will to win, and the German teams of the last ten to 15 years haven’t had that. Reaching a semi-final is a remarkable achievement, there’s no question of that. But it’s exactly that feeling of being satisfied with only reaching a semi-final that means a great team doesn’t become a tournament-winning team.

There’s been a sense of contentment in German teams in recent years, and that desire to go all the way hasn’t been there.

Group G will not be easy alongside Ghana, Portugal and the United States.

Jurgen Klinsmann takes on his former assistant Jogi Low when USA face Germany. What kind of impact can it make on a team and coach’s psychological preparation when there is that type of history and background to a game?

I’m pretty relaxed about it. Klinsmann and Low have been friends for many years, but for 90 minutes they’ll put their friendship to one side and focus on the game.

Is it true that Jogi Low was the boss behind the scenes when they coached the Germany team together?

No that wasn’t the case. Klinsmann was the head coach and Low did great work in the background. They were an outstanding team and a perfect fit for each other. It actually says a lot abut how loyal a person Jogi Low was that he never pushed to be at the forefront of things during that time.

Many teams now have a coaching staff that includes assistant coaches, dieticians, physios and even psychologists. What is your view of the modern game?

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

I think it's a positive change that’s happened over a period of time and a development that you can also observe in other areas. Football has become a science. When I think back to the time when I was a player (laughs)… you ate what grew in the fields outside and you trained until your body couldn’t take it any more. In retrospect it was completely ridiculous. Not allowing your body to recover before going at it full-bloodedly again makes no sense.

Is modern football also losing something of its appeal? At the end of 2013, FC Bayern Munich were involved in four different competitions at the same time.

Yes that is a bit too much. In my day there were busy weeks when we would travel to play the odd friendly game or some unimportant tournament. But nowadays you have one massive game after the next, and that sometimes gets too much for the players, as well as the fans.

Are we seeing the best Bayern team ever at the moment?

In terms of the depth of the squad, yes.

Bayern don’t have 12 or 13 good players, they actually have 22 or 23. No one is really dropping off from that level, and even watching reserve team matches is a lot of fun.

How do you assess the work that Pep Guardiola is doing?

The man is just great, his success speaks for itself. With his very open and honest style, he’s also made himself a very popular guy in Munich. He’s a football coach of the future.

Franz Beckenbauer was talking to Alan Schweingruber

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MIRROR IMAGE

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Hamburg, Germany

1979 Height of fashion. Munich and Hamburg are 750 km apart, but Paul Breitner (Bayern) and Kevin Keegan (Hamburg) appear to use the same hairdresser. We see the permed pair in conversation prior to their league meeting. Are they debating the outcome or discussing half-time hair care? Hamburg were already confirmed as champ足 ions and Keegan scored on the day, but Bayern won 2-1.

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Mbombela, South Africa

Lutz Bongarts/Getty Images, Manus van Dyk/Getty Images

2013 Peroxide mops. An aerial encounter between Aristide Bance (Burkina Faso) and Isaac Vorsah (Ghana) during an Africa Cup of Nations semi-final in 2013.

Burkina Faso prevailed on penalties. Bance scored in the game and the shootout, but Vorsah missed his spot-kick. The contest for the best medusa cut was a draw.

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

21

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W E E K LY T O P 11

Top destinations for football romantics

Heavy snow and 1,600 revolvers Alan Schweingruber

C

ity Lights, the wonderful Charlie Chaplin movie, tells how a poor man earns an eccentric millionaire’s affections with a good turn and develops a taste for the high life. As befits a gifted artiste Chaplin extracts tremendous wit from this simple plotline. The bittersweet aspect to the story is that the rich man is a drunk and only recognises his new friend when he is in his cups. So Chaplin only lives the life of luxury in small, bite-sized chunks. And what has this to do with football? Nothing. But it reminds us how a recurring situation can cause a little door of recognition to open in a certain area of our brains. The door to the World Cup is already half open. There are just 18 weeks and a couple of days – depending on which day of the week you sit down to enjoy our magazine – until the first of the 32 best days of the whole year. What images do you inextricably associate with the World Cup? Diego Maradona’s scintillating solo goal in 1986? Zinedine Zidane’s head-butt 20 years later? Or the English fan who lost his way when looking for the toilet and suddenly found himself confronted by a naked Joe Cole in the dressing room?

Every generation has a World Cup to call its own. The tournaments that make the most lasting impression are the ones you experience between the ages of about ten and 25. Idols are still idols. Time is of no concern. And Panini stickers fill in the rest. We’re truly immersed body and soul in the World Cup finals perhaps four times at the very most. That makes it even more vital to revisit the old or even ancient images on a regular basis. Kitschy for sure, and an unadulterated nostalgia trip. To the “Weekly’s” younger generation of readers: please read on.

Some of the greatest stories were written in the

past. From a totally subjective point of view, here’s the best of them. In 1930, when referees still wore caps and ties, the inaugural World Cup almost failed to take place for want of a host nation. Then Uruguay stepped in and saved the day. Teams from 12 nations gathered their belongings and set off, many of them by ocean liner, on an odyssey to Montevideo. On arrival, they were greeted by heavy snow. It was freezing cold. So far, so good. Severe winters are hardly unknown in the southern hemisphere. Belgian referee John Langenus was ultimately responsible for the highlight of the off-field goings-on. He ordered all 60,000 of the crowd for the Final to be searched before entering the stadium. At Italia ‘90 even Swiss fivefranc coins failed to make it past security, but the focus in 1930 was on genuinely dangerous objects: the mass pat-down yielded no fewer than 1,600 revolvers.

The world premiere of City Lights took place in Los Angeles six months later. The film is 87 minutes long, including the obligatory happy end. If Chaplin had been a football fan he might have added three minutes to the runtime. But at its original length the movie is still well worth an evening in front of the TV. And if you feel the wonderful blend of tragedy, comedy and effervescent joy somehow comes across as familiar, it’ll be because the door to the World Cup is already half open. Å

The weekly column by our staff writers T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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Estadio Centenario, Montevideo. Built for the 1930 World Cup, this venue is the only place to have been named a historic monument for world football by FIFA.

2

Boleyn Ground, London. Upton Park, as it is popularly known, is a must-see destination for football romantics hoping to experience an authentic British football atmosphere.

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Stadion an der Grunwalder Strasse, Munich. The setting for 1860 Munich’s first and only German Championship win in 1966. Today, this old ground is home to both 1860 and Bayern’s reserves.

4

De Kuip, Rotterdam. This stadium opened in 1937 and offers the perfect backdrop for Feyenoord versus Ajax, one of Dutch football’s most historic rivalries.

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Stadio San Paolo, Naples. Experience the unique atmosphere at the third-largest stadium in Italy, where Diego Maradona once bewitched the crowd.

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Apostolos Nikolaidis, Athens. Known locally as “Leoforos”, this arena is the home of Panathinaikos and the legendary Gate 13 supporters’ group.

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Brugglifeld, Aarau. Comprised of a pitch, a wooden stand and extensive terracing, this Swiss Super League ground provides a top-flight football experience from another era.

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Rewirpowerstadion, Bochum. This stadium has four covered stands directly bordering the pitch, creating a cauldron-like atmosphere that is increasingly rare in modern football.

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Celtic Park, Glasgow. Opened in 1892, “Paradise” has been modified many times over the years without losing any of its charm.

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Estadio de Mestalla, Valencia. Valencia’s fans sing “Que bote Mestalla” (“Let the Mestalla shake”) to strike fear into the hearts of every opponent.

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Lahden Stadium, Lahti. For added thrills and spills, visitors can take in a top-flight Finnish football match while also admiring views of the world-famous Salpausellka ski jump complex.

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AUS TR ALIA

The Australian masterplan 24

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Photograph by Levon Biss with support from Umbro/RPM

Australian way of life The perfect day for an Aussie consists of sun, sea and, increasingly, football. Luckily for Socceroos fans, they will find similar conditions in Brazil.

AUS TR ALIA

“Our aim is to go to Brazil and make our country proud” Coach Ange Postecoglou

With a new coach, a team at loggerheads and a difficult World Cup group, Australia have plenty of w ­ orries ahead of arriving in Brazil. ­­Nevertheless, the country’s love of football shows no sign of waning.

T

Alan Schweingruber

rying to comprehend the Australian mentality is no easy feat. A trip to a pub with an Aussie to soak up his attitude to life over the course of an evening is one possibility. Alternatively, you could cast your mind back to 7 December 2013. Less than 24 hours after the final group stage draw in the Brazilian city of Bahia, Australia announced that their base for the tournament would be in the idyllic setting of Vitoria. “It’s a safe and welcoming city with beautiful beaches,” said Football Federation Australia (FFA) CEO David Gallop.

“Travelling Australian fans will have a good time while following the Socceroos on our World Cup journey.” At first glance that statement may not appear to be out of the ordinary, but when compared to complaints from officials from other nations about the heat or a venue’s accessibility, it reveals a great deal

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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AUS TR ALIA

End of the line for Neill?

While reaching a third consecutive World Cup was considered a success, new coach Ange Postecoglou’s side has been divided for several months. The split is on generational lines, with captain Lucas Neill and his fellow veterans in one corner, and the young stars of the future in the other. Neill, now 35, criticised the attitude of the youngsters following successive 6-0 friendly defeats against Brazil and France, but he himself now is on the ropes. He will either be stripped of the captaincy or excluded from the squad altogether as he is presently without a club and lacking match practice. Postecoglou is expected to make a final decision in the near future.

The team’s dispirited performances are only part of the problem however. The manner in which former coach Holger Osieck was relieved of his duties immediately following the

second six-goal thrashing last year - with the team still in the changing room after the final whistle - was astonishing. Osieck had led Australia to only the fourth World Cup in their history and it would have been the German’s first as head coach after being Franz Beckenbauer’s assistant at Italy 1990.

Low y: a man with a plan Frank Lowy, the 83-year-old FFA president and one of the country’s wealthiest men, was responsible for Osieck’s dismissal. In addition to his hefty bank account, Lowy owns four yachts and sails the world when the mood strikes him, something he has done four times already. He is a man famed for seeing his plans through to the end and on the whole, his ideas are good

FFA president Frank Lowy is famed for seeing his plans through to the end and, on the whole, his ideas are good ones.

Minority sport? Football has been booming in Australia since 2006 and today 1.98 million people play the game across the country.

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ones. Since taking over as president, much has changed in Australian football.

For example, in 2006 the FFA joined the Asian Confederation. It was an important step as Australia are now able to test themselves against stronger teams in World Cup qualifying, instead of facing footballing minnows such as Tonga and Samoa. A further benefit has been that the country now gets to avoid intercontinental play-off ties against awkward South American opponents. The founding of the A-League, which houses nine Australian teams as well as Wellington Phoenix from New Zealand, has made Australian club football a more attractive prospect and the league fixtures are televised on free-to-air channels.

The country’s youth teams have also improved

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Ange Postecoglou The Socceroos’ new coach needs to get his players singing from the same hymn sheet.

Matt King / Getty Images, Mark Metcalfe / Getty Images

about the Australians’ outlook: they informed their fans about their chosen destination, the available accommodation, sun, parties and beaches, and invited them to book their flights over. The city of Vitoria, which lies in a bay to the north of Rio de Janeiro, will not even host any World Cup matches. It may seem like the Australian camp are carefree in the excess, but they need to be in order to be at ease.

AUS TR ALIA

Football Federation Australia Nickname Socceroos FIFA member since 1963 Current FIFA ranking 56th (571 points) First international game New Zealand 3-1 Australia 17 June 1922 in Dunedin, New Zealand Biggest victory Australia 31-0 American Samoa 11 April 2001 in Coffs Harbour, Australia Biggest defeat Australia 0-8 South African Union 17 September 1955 in Adelaide, Australia World Cup 1974 Australia first lost to Germany DR before coming off worse against Germany FR (pictured).

Rolls Press / Popperfoto / Getty Images

greatly as a result. “Over the last ten years football in Australia has taken significant steps forward,” confirmed Postecoglou. FIFA is supporting its progress with grassroots projects in Melbourne and Alice Springs, where young Aborigines are given the opportunity to play the game.

1.96 million active footballers In the face of such positive development, ­traditionalists have inevitably started to raise their voices in response. After all, the favourite sports among the island’s 23 million inhabitants have traditionally been cricket, rugby or Australian football. Popular opinion believed it would stay that way forever. Equally widespread is the view that football is for weaklings.

Nevertheless, The Sydney Morning Herald ran an article titled “Soccer is closing in as Australia’s most popular sport”, citing the country’s current 1.96 million football players, almost half of whom participate in competitions organised by the FFA. The newspaper’s report also calculated that the total number of people

with an interest in the game stands at 3.1 million, compared to just 470,000 registered rugby players, of whom just 52,000 are adults.

To the 1974 World Cup with a milkman

As recently as 1974, when the Socceroos made their maiden World Cup appearance, many Australians were unaware of sports beyond cricket and rugby. Coverage of the tournament in Australia was minimal and the FFA struggled to finance the trip to Germany. Most of the squad were amateurs with day-jobs who needed to take holiday in order to participate.

Alongside a locksmith, a painter and a salesman, it was milkman Manfred Schafer who particularly rose to prominence in Germany.

Thanks to his job back at home, where he often covered up to 30 kilometres a day on foot, Schafer’s above-average fitness levels did not go unnoticed, even in the highly-competitive German game of the era. As a former resident of Bremen, Schafer was afforded special attention that only died away once he and Australia returned home.

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

The current squad can look forward to generating significantly more headlines than their predecessors 40 years ago. “Our aim is to go to Brazil and make our country proud,” said Postecoglou. “Our group with Spain, the Netherlands and Chile is tough but we go there ready to face those challenges. It’s important to get off to a good start.” That will be against Chile on 13 June in Cuiaba, a city 2,100 kilometres away from Australia’s base camp in Vitoria. No worries. Å

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T HE DEBAT E

“Best Games Ever”

Critics are painting a bleak picture of the World Cup in Brazil, but such fears are nothing new.

Sarah Steiner The World Cup kicks off in Brazil in six months’ time and great things are expected from a country that has come to embody the beautiful game, with A Seleção favourites for the trophy. And yet despite the level of anticipation, criticism is rife: the atmosphere within the country is tense, some people are not in favour of the tournament and the stadiums are incomplete.

As FIFA President Blatter emphasised in his The FIFA Weekly column one week ago, world football’s governing body must not become a scapegoat for political problems. But the critics might have a point where the stadiums are concerned, with five of the tournament’s twelve venues still under construction and the city of Sao Paolo shaken to the core by the tragic death of two workers.

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However, Brazil is by no means an ­ xception. Stadiums were also a focal point in e the run-up to the first-ever World Cup in ­Uruguay in 1930. Although the matches were due to be played at the new 100,000-capacity Estadio Centenario, heavy rainfall delayed the completion of the stadium and the opening match took place in front of just 4,444 spectators in the smaller Estadio Pocitos. In fact, the tournament was already five days old by the time the stadium hosted its first match, at which point the north stand was still under construction. And yet the resounding success of the debut tournament went a long way towards making the World Cup what it is today.

The 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal ­represent a further example of such problems, a combination of strikes and an usually long winter hampering the completion of the ­venues. This led to the opening ceremony being held in an incomplete stadium. But despite this the Games – and in particular the performance of the excellent Soviet gymnast Nikolai Andrianov (four Gold medals, two Silver medals and one Bronze medal) – went down in history as one of the great sporting events.

Every big sporting event is generally preceded by speculation about the readiness of the venues. The 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, T H E F I FA W E E K LY

the 2010 World Cup in South Africa and the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine all came under fierce criticism before competition began. And yet each and every one of them ultimately produced a wonderful event, with plenty of triumphant winners and unforgettable moments. Juan Antonio Samaranch, the former President of the IOC, even went as far as to declare Beijing the “best Games ever”.

Brazil has approximately 130 days to finish the construction of its stadiums, seven of which are now complete and five of which are progressing according to plan. Only Curitiba has fallen behind schedule, prompting the government of the Southern state of Parana to issue an emergency loan of around €12 million.

It’s a race against time for the organisers in Brazil, with many people wondering quite how the hosts would have coped without this last-minute financial boost. History might have shown that artificial fears tend to precede major sporting events, but the big tournaments always manage to start on time. Å The weekly debate.

Any thing you want to get off your chest? Which topics do you want to discuss? Send your suggestions to: feedback-TheWeekly@fifa.org.

Friedemann Vogel/Getty Images

In the spotlight With the Arena da Baixada in Curitiba still not yet complete, an emergency loan is granted to speed up its construction.

T HE DEBAT E

Anyone who has ever been to Brazil will know that punctuality there is a relative concept. There is no point getting worked up about it. Take Brazilian footballers who play in Europe, for example. Hardly any of them arrive back on time for training after the holidays. However nearly all of them are prepared once the championship gets underway. This is why I am convinced that the 12 World Cup cities in Brazil will also be ready on time.

PRESIDENTIAL NOTE

You don’t need twelve stadiums to host a World Cup with 64 matches. The way in which the schedule is arranged means that six stadiums would be plenty and eight more than enough. Brazil had six stadiums ready at the time of the Confederations Cup in 2013. Four of the five new stadiums are unnecessary as no teams in the top division will play there. It’s the kind of thing the EU might come up with.

Thomas Berg, Frankfurt (Germany)

Vitali Timoschuk, Donetsk (Ukraine)

This unreliability really gets on my nerves.

The Brazilians have been leading FIFA a merry dance recently. They seem to have assumed a divine right to hold the World Cup and they are extremely confident. Taking the fiasco surrounding the Confederations Cup into consideration, I believe it was a mistake to award this country the World Cup. David Silva-Vasquez, Boston (USA)

You can change the world in 132 days!

“We are talking here D about trust.”

Weren’t there so many question marks surrounding the World Cup in South Africa that there were discussions about using German stadiums instead? Even Germany 2006 was preceded by similar sensational reports. The consumer organisation Stiftung Warentest judged security to be poor. Making mountains out of the customary molehills in the run up to tournaments is a strategy which reporters leap on with alacrity. As far as the forthcoming World Cup is concerned, I would wager that all the venues will be ready for use as planned.

The functional specification states that the grounds which are going to be used must be completed one year prior to the start of the World Cup. This is what happened when the World Cup was in Germany. But it has not been the case for subsequent tournaments in South Africa and Brazil.

Lina Jansen, Bastad (Sweden)

Simon Jensch, Vienna (Austria)

FIFA issues Qatar progress report ultimatum The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar has until 12 February 2014 to submit a detailed progress report to FIFA concerning the improvement of working conditions in the country, as announced in a letter sent to the Committee

by FIFA General Secretary Jérôme Valcke. The report will provide preparatory materials for the hearing before the European Parliament in Brussels on 13 February 2014. Dr Theo Zwanziger will present the dossier at the meeting on behalf of FIFA. The report is expected to include information on the specific measures taken to change the labour system and improve the living conditions of foreign workers in Qatar since FIFA President Blatter last visited Doha in November 2013.

“We are currently in the middle of an intensive process aimed solely at improving the situation of workers in Qatar,” said Zwanziger.

This process will continue after 13 February and will flow into a report to be presented at the next FIFA Executive Committee meeting on 15/16 March.

“We ultimately need clear rules and confidence-building measures that will ­ ­ensure lasting improvements to the present unacceptable situation,” said Zwanziger. Å

oubts have surfaced in the media in recent weeks regarding Brazilian reliability. The news of construction delays to the stadiums in Curitiba and Sao Paolo (caused by a collapsed crane) has given the critics fresh ammunition.

The question of a Plan B has been raised among the general public.

We are talking here about a fundamental question and about trust: if we say we’re going to play in 12 stadiums, we must play in 12 stadiums. Anything else would be an admission of failure – for Brazil, but also for FIFA. We signed off on the 12 venues on 31 May 2009, almost five years ago. This should have been ample time in which to complete the infrastructure.

FIFA can draw attention to omissions. However, responsibility rests with the Local Organising Committee. I’m personally staying relaxed, because I know the scenario playing out at the moment in Brazil from my own experience. In practice there were delays in the preparations and in completing the infrastructure prior to every World Cup and every Olympic Games. And at the end of the day everything ran smoothly for the most part. The constructive talks I held with Brazilian president D ilma Rousseff in Zurich last week have ­ ­further fuelled my optimism.

Exactly 132 days remain until the World Cup kicks off in Brazil. You can change the world in this time. In the Jules Verne novel, Phileas Fogg circumnavigated the world in 80 days. Dear friends of football, I promise you this: all will be well!

Best wishes, Sepp Blatter T H E F I FA W E E K LY

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A FIFA World Cup in Brazil is just like Visa: everyone is welcome.

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FIFA WORLD R ANKING Rank Team

Change in ranking Points

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Spain Germany Argentina Colombia Portugal Uruguay Italy Switzerland Netherlands Brazil

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Belgium Greece England USA Chile Croatia Côte d'Ivoire Ukraine Bosnia-Herzegovina France Mexico Russia Ecuador Ghana Denmark Sweden Algeria Czech Republic Slovenia Serbia Egypt Costa Rica Romania Iran Cape Verde Islands Panama Scotland Armenia Venezuela Mali Nigeria Peru Honduras Tunisia Turkey Hungary Austria Japan Iceland Cameroon Paraguay Montenegro Korea Republic South Africa Wales Albania Australia Burkina Faso Norway Slovakia Guinea Libya Israel United Arab Emirates Uzbekistan Finland Republic of Ireland Senegal Bolivia Zambia Togo Jordan Saudi Arabia Morocco Bulgaria Sierra Leone Poland

0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 -1 0 0 0 10 -1 -1 -1 4 2 -3 -3 -3 5 -4 -3 -1 4 -2 -2 -1 -1 0 0 0 0 1 8 1 1 2 -5 -5 0 0 -3 0 8 3 -2 0 -3 1 0 1 -7 14 -1 0 -1 -1

1098 1055 1041 1019 1005 971 912 907 899 893 892 870 852 851 831 793 792 766 762 752 748 743 734 727 726 722 717 716 715 703 701 698 692 689 677 668 648 641 624 616 607 594 581 576 574 571 571 566 558 557 555 552 548 548 546 539 528 526 519 519 509 504 487 486 486 464 461

Ranking Aug 2013

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Biggest climber

Trinidad and Tobago Oman Haiti Congo DR Jamaica Belarus FYR Macedonia Congo Gabon Uganda El Salvador Angola Northern Ireland New Zealand China PR Estonia Azerbaijan Ethiopia Moldova Botswana Liberia Benin Cuba Qatar Georgia Lithuania Niger Zimbabwe Kuwait Central African Republic Equatorial Guinea Kenya Bahrain Canada Guatemala Tajikistan Dominican Republic Iraq Latvia Malawi Tanzania Sudan Mozambique New Caledonia Luxembourg Lebanon Burundi Cyprus Namibia Philippines Kazakhstan Myanmar Malta Rwanda Suriname Turkmenistan Grenada Syria Korea DPR Hong Kong Lesotho Gambia Afghanistan Tahiti Palestine Vietnam Antigua and Barbuda

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Biggest faller

0 6 0 1 -1 -2 -1 -1 -8 -1 2 -1 -1 -1 0 1 0 -2 0 0 1 0 0 2 -1 -1 0 2 -1 -1 0 0 0 1 1 1 1 -5 0 -1 2 0 -2 0 1 -2 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 3 1 2 2 -6 3 3 0 -7 2 2 -5 1 1

441 440 440 439 439 431 425 421 421 413 395 384 381 378 376 366 363 361 359 354 354 335 334 333 330 326 318 312 311 310 309 304 299 291 286 285 282 280 272 265 261 258 256 249 243 236 230 229 229 219 216 204 198 198 197 195 194 188 188 185 184 184 184 179 174 166 164

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Mauritania St Lucia Kyrgyzstan Thailand Singapore St Kitts and Nevis Guyana Belize Laos Malaysia St Vincent and the Grenadines Liechtenstein India Puerto Rico Nicaragua São Tomé e Príncipe Indonesia Guam Maldives Chad Bangladesh Barbados Chinese Taipei Dominica Sri Lanka Aruba Faroe Islands Solomon Islands Nepal Pakistan Bermuda Seychelles Mauritius Curaçao Vanuatu Yemen Mongolia Fiji Samoa Guinea-Bissau Bahamas Swaziland Madagascar Montserrat Cambodia Brunei Darussalam Timor-Leste Tonga US Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Papua New Guinea British Virgin Islands American Samoa Comoros Andorra Eritrea South Sudan Macau Somalia Djibouti Cook Islands Anguilla Bhutan San Marino Turks and Caicos Islands

-3 1 1 -2 1 -1 -1 7 -1 0 -2 -2 -2 -2 1 -2 0 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 -1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

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T H E F I FA W E E K LY

P l a c e : C i t é S o l e i l , P o r t- au - P r i n c e , H a i t i Date: 4 March 2013 Time: 5.05 pm

Helmut Wachter / 13 Photo

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“Campo Bahia” – German spoken here

The builders are in The Germany national team’s “Campo Bahia” is beginning to take shape

The Germany national team will be based in a ­private holiday village, of sorts, for the World Cup, but there is little of the Club Med about the facility.

Sven Goldmann

T Paulo Whitaker/Reuters

he Germans like to get out and about and travel the world, but generally not without their creature comforts. The sun, sea and sand are all well and good, provided it still feels enough like home. One of the German tourism industry’s answers is the chain of Robinson Clubs, generously proportioned holiday camps with all the advantages of an exotic environment but none of the inconvenience of actual contact with the reality of life abroad.

Germany’s “Campo Bahia” For the duration of the World Cup in Brazil the Germany national team will occupy a Robinson Club of their own. It’s a very special facility because it doesn’t actually yet exist. It was neither foreseen nor indeed wanted according to the

original plan. The squad would have preferred a base in the south of Brazil where it is cooler and also a little bit German: approximately half the population of the federal states of Santa Catarina and Rio Rande do Sul have German-­ Brazilian roots. Then came the Final Draw, and a radical rethink. Germany’s group fixtures will be played in the tropical north, in Salvador, Recife and Fortaleza. The German FA could not find a team base to their liking, so they’re building their own. The 15,000 m² “Campo Bahia”, located somewhere in the state of Bahia, is set for completion in March. It is, if you will, a football-themed take on a Robinson Club exclusively for the team and their entourage.

staff were quartered in Berlin, on the pulse of the action and with a shuttle service for ­evenings out to the heart of the city. That was not a realistic option four years later in Johannesburg so the Germans retreated behind the high walls of a holiday camp, where they patently found secluded solitude to their liking.

Campo Bahia is just a half-hour transfer away from the airport in the nearby provincial town of Porto Seguro, allowing stress-free flights to the group matches.

First stop South Tyrol The German village in Bahia is the cornerstone of a meticulously compiled plan for the German adventure in Brazil. Once the Bundesliga season is done and dusted, the national team will warm up against Poland, Armenia and Cameroon and complete a now-traditional pre-­ tournament training camp in South Tyrol. But the squad’s departure for Brazil has been set very early i­ ndeed, almost a week prior to their first fixture. Å

Easy does it The times they are a-changing and with them trends in squad accommodation. For the 2006 World Cup in Germany the players and coaching T H E F I FA W E E K LY

35

THE SOUND OF FOOTBALL

THE OBJEC T

Perikles Monioudis

Highlife in honour of Asante Kotoko Hanspeter Kuenzler

The most popular style l­ocally was called Highlife, a blend of traditional rhythms, sea shanties, European brass music, Congolese rumba – known as soukous – jazz and ska that had developed over decades. By the time electric 36

guitars began appearing at the end of the 1960s, Thomas had picked up enough guitar chords and drum beats from his uncle to hold his own in the music scene and in 1973 he formed his first band, named Sweat Beans. Thomas, who also enjoyed international success, was at the peak of his powers throughout the 1980s and it was in that period that he produced two of his best albums, both dedicated to his hometown club Asante Kotoko. The club, known as the porcupines, provided him with plenty of material. Asante Kotoko are Ghana's most decorated side with 23 titles, boast a 43,000 capacity stadium and in 1983 not only won the domestic title, they also triumphed in the CAF Champions League. Thomas lauded the achievement with his delightful mini-album ­“Asante Kotoko”, which wonderfully showcased the full

range of his talents: funky brass sounds, easy-listening grooves, effervescent guitar riffs and hypnotic repetition.

From then on the song was played whenever the team entered the pitch prior to a match and there were even o ­ ccasional live performances at half time.

In 1985, to mark the club’s 50th anniversary, Thomas produced another ­a lbum called “Kumasi Asante Kotoko – Golden Jubilee”, ­including tracks such as “Kotoko Chairman”, “Kotoko Cup Winners”, “Kumasi Ladies Club” and “The Players’ Condition”. Just imagine if The ­Beatles had sung about the Liverpool players’ excellent physical fitness or to wish the club’s CEO’s good health! Æ

Sion Ap Tomos

Countless musicians have tried to portray the shimmies, shuffles and goal celebrations of their footballing heroes in music, but few artists can have been as successful at it as Ghanaian singer and band leader Pat Thomas.

Born in 1951 in Kumasi, the country's second-largest city and capital of the Ashanti ­region, Thomas was brought up in a musical family. His father was a music teacher, his mother a band leader and in the 1950s his uncle Onyina was one of the leading lights in Ghana's music scene with Onyina’s Guitar Band.

There are many businesses that thrive on shortages. Around 1880 there was a lack of suitable and affordable memorabilia and souvenirs for football fans to collect. John Alexander Baines, a native of Bradford, England, saw an opportunity and created a market for printed football cards. These displayed colourful logos accompanied by handsome lettering proclaiming messages such as “Now’s your chance”, “Well Shot” and, as pictured above, “Play Up, Worcester”.

They did not include photos of the stars of the emerging game, mainly because photography itself was still in its early stages.

Around 1888 the first mass-produced ­roll-film camera – the Kodak No.1 – went on sale, but Baines’ collectable cards continued to use sketched images of the players for a while longer.

Printing of the colourful Panini stickers that dominate today’s football collectables market began in 1961. Where there is now an adhesive label on the reverse side, Baines’ cards contained printed information about each club. The first Panini pictures were of Italian football teams and players from the 1961/62 season.

Baines claimed to have printed 20 million cards – a considerable sum for that era – yet only few specimens remain, for example the set in the FIFA Collection. By contrast, Panini’s sales figures are vast. During the 2010 World Cup, 70 million packets of stickers were sold in Germany alone, while 160 million were bought nationwide during the country’s “home” World Cup in 2006.

Baines soon began printing cards for other sports too, for instance cricket and horse riding, and he would eventually cover all sports types.

The original idea for collectable cards was not his, however: publishers in America had beaten the Englishman to it by a couple of years, only with baseball cards. Not that it affected Baines’ success a great deal. Å

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

“I blacked out after the winning goal”

TURNING POINT

On the evening of 2 July 2000, just after 10 pm local time, Robert Pires wrote his name into the history of French football.

After making an excellent run, he passed to David Trezuguet for the “golden goal” that made France the champions of Europe.

Name Robert Pires Date and place of birth 29 October 1973, Reims Position

I

was selected for the France U-21 national side for the first time in 1996. We played at the Olympic Games in Atlanta that summer and were eliminated by Portugal in the quarter-final. That was the first major positive experience of my career. After that, I was called up to the senior team and felt that coach Aime Jacquet believed in me even when I was still a substitute. Two years later, I was a part of the incredible team that won the World Cup on home soil, beating Brazil in the final.

Even though I watched the final from the bench, it was an indescribable moment. Your emotions overwhelm you and you cannot believe what is happening. A thousand things were going on at once and the entire country went crazy – it was sheer madness. As players, that experience bound us together for life and forged lasting friendships.

Two years later came the European Championship and probably one of the most important moments in my career. It was one of those moments that stay with you for the rest of your life. I didn’t play much during the tournament but was called up for the final against Italy. It was 1-1 after normal time, so the match went to extra time. In those days was decided by the “golden goal” rule, so we all knew the next goal would decide the match. In the 103rd minute, I ran down the left wing, saw David Trezuguet in the middle and crossed the ball in. David volleyed it straight into the net, and suddenly we were European champions. I can’t remem-

Midfielder Clubs played for Stade Reims, Metz, Olympique Marseille, Arsenal, Villareal, Aston Villa France 79 caps, 14 goals

ber what happened next; I blacked out. I saw the others running, but I walked behind the goal and stood there – I don’t know why. Naturally, the team celebrated with David; only Zidane and Thuram spotted me and came over to congratulate me.

I signed for Arsenal after that tournament.

I had to choose between the English side and Real Madrid, and nobody understood why I opted for London. For me, it was the only ­l­ogical choice. The Marseille coach and I had our differences and I was longing for a club that offered stability. After speaking with A ­ rsene Wenger, I was convinced I would be well looked after at Arsenal. The six glorious years I spent there are proof that I made the right decision.

I developed both as a player and as a person.

Of course, there were moments that weren’t so positive, and the 2006 Champions League final was one of them. Our goalkeeper, Jens ­Lehmann, was sent off for a professional foul T H E F I FA W E E K LY

after just 18 minutes, and I had to make way for a new goalkeeper to come on. That was unbelievably painful. Of course, I was angry with Lehmann, Wenger, the referee and fate itself; I was incredibly disappointed and could barely accept what had happened. But what hurt me most of all is that Arsenal lost that final. In hindsight, I don’t blame any­one, and my good memories of the club far outweigh the bad ones. Plus, football is a team sport: you win and lose together. Å As told to Sarah Steiner

In Turning Point, personalities reflect on a decisive moment in their lives.

37

FIFA QUIZ CUP

The FIFA Weekly Published weekly by the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA)

The Superbowl, the ultimate stake and a pair who’ve never met – test your knowledge!

Internet: www.FIFA.com/TheWeekly Publisher: FIFA, FIFA-Strasse 20, PO box, CH-8044 Zurich Tel. : +41-(0)43-222 7777 Fax : +41-(0)43-222 7878

Who am I?

1

C Telstar P Pentagon

President: Joseph S. Blatter

J Willie T Fuleco

Secretary General: Jérôme Valcke Director of Communications and Public Affairs: Walter De Gregorio

2

Chief editor: Thomas Renggli

The four logos bring to mind four stadiums. All four have staged the FIFA World Cup Final in the past. Which stadium most recently hosted the men’s World Cup Final?

Art director: Markus Nowak Staff writers: Perikles Monioudis (Deputy Editor), Alan Schweingruber, Sarah Steiner Contributors: Jordi Punti, Barcelona; David Winner, London; Hanspeter Kuenzler, London; Roland Zorn, Frankfurt/M.; Sven Goldmann, Berlin; Sergio Xavier Filho, Sao Paulo; Luigi Garlando, Milan; Andreas Wilhelm Picture editor: Peggy Knotz, Andreas Wilhelm

A

3

E

I

U

Which nations have never met at the World Cup finals?

I England-USA L England-Brazil M Argentina-Italy P Netherlands-France

Production: Hans-Peter Frei (head of section), Richie Krönert, Marianne Bolliger-Crittin, Mirijam Ziegler, Susanne Egli, Peter Utz Proof reader: Nena Morf Contributors to this issue: Marcio Macculoch, Bernardo Besouchet

Are they playing for the World Cup Trophy? The gentleman at the back on the right is the president of...

4

E Brazil P Italy

Editorial assistant: Loraine Mcdouall

O Argentina Y Germany

Translation: Sportstranslations.com Project management: Bernd Fisa, Christian Schaub Printer: Zofinger Tagblatt AG www.ztonline.ch Contact: feedback-TheWeekly@fifa.org Reproduction of photos or articles in whole or in part is only permitted with prior editorial approval and if attributed “The FIFA Weekly, © FIFA 2014”.

The editor and staff are not obliged to publish unsolicited manuscripts and photos. FIFA and the FIFA logo are registered trademarks of FIFA. Made and printed in Switzerland.

The answer to last week’s Quiz Cup was SAVE (detailed answers on FIFA.com/theweekly).

Inspiration and implementation: cus

Please email your answers to feedback-TheWeekly@fifa.org by 5 February 2014. Correct submissions for all quizzes received by 11 June 2014 will go into a draw to win two tickets to the FIFA World Cup Final on 13 July 2014.

Before sending in your answers, all participants must read and accept the competition terms and conditions and the rules, which can be found at en.fifa.com/aboutfifa/organisation/the-fifa-weekly/rules.pdf T H E F I FA W E E K LY

39

ASK FIFA!

T HIS WEEK’S POLL

Red card, penalty and ban: does the triple punishment make sense?

The number of incorrect offside decisions given by referees annoys me.

Can’t we just abolish the offside rule?

David Huber, Zurich

Juventus keeper Gianluigi Buffon is sent off after a foul on Lazio striker Miroslav Klose. The Italian media reacted with angry incomprehension. What’s your view? Email us at: feedback-TheWeekly@fifa.org

L A S T W E E K’S P O L L R E S U LT S: What is the best World Cup song of all time?

THE EMERGENCY CALL

999

Last week, the UK’s emergency services number received a call from a Manchester United fan – presumably a not entirely sober one – demanding to speak to Sir Alex Ferguson.

32

Ricky Martin “La Copa de la Vida (The Cup of Life)”

21

Anastacia “Boom”

16 10

Il Divo y Toni Braxton “The Time of Our Lives” Stephanie Lawrence “A Special Kind of Hero”

7

Los Ramblers “El Rock del Mundial”

5 9

other

THE ODDS

THE WARM - UP

2501 10 The multiple of your stake

The three-time

you would win if you

­European champions

successfully bet on Costa

The number of games France will play during qualification for Euro 2016 – even though their points will not count. France have already qualified as

are currently out of

Rica winning the 2014 World

tournament hosts,

sorts, and some fans

Cup (pictured: striker

but this extraordinary

Alvaro Saborio).

measure allows UEFA to

The odds of Honduras

draw nine identically-

believe their legendary former manager, who left the club at the end

winning are 2001/1. At the other end of the scale,

sized groups of six

of last season, could

Brazil’s odds of lifting the trophy are 4/1, Argenti-

teams. (Picture:

restore the team to

na’s are 11/2 and Germany’s are 13/2.

full health.

40

Shakira y Freshlyground “Waka Waka”

France coach Didier Deschamps).

T H E F I FA W E E K LY

Getty Images

Answered by Thomas Renggli, chief editor: It’s an interesting idea but not a feasible one. Midfield would simply become a transitional area – as is the case in handball, for example. With this in mind, you could argue that the offside rule is the most important element of football and provides the basis for almost all tactical considerations. Its origins can be traced all the way back to the drafting of football’s first rulebook, the Cambridge Rules, in 1848, when the rule’s introduction was among the most contentious issues debated by clubs.

Sheffield FC, the oldest football club in the world, were staunchly opposed to the offside rule as they feared they would no longer be able to use their successful “kick through” tactic.