Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com |
- Bayern Munich wrap up Bundesliga crown with seven games to spare
- Man Utd 0-3 Man City
- Football clockwatch – live!
- Real Madrid's appeal over Sergio Ramos's Barcelona red card is rejected
- Bayern crowned champions again
- Allardyce hopes West Ham find 'killer edge' against Hull
- Manchester derby: United v City – in pictures
- FA chairman promises Jeff Astle's widow talks on issue of head trauma
- David Moyes: 'I'm at Manchester United for the long term'
- Brasília on standby for extra games
- Qatar report into migrant death toll due
- Liverpool prosper from flexible philosophy of Brendan Rodgers | Paul Doyle
- Brawl breaks out during Italian football match – video
- The Fiver | The Tuesday organ recital with Simon Passmore
- Barcelona's Gerardo Martino confident ahead of Celta Vigo match – video
- Trinity Mirror launches digital-first strategy as users flock to websites
- Carlo Ancelotti can't explain Real Madrid's struggles against top teams
- West Ham's Sam Allardyce: 'We're back in the danger zone' – video
- Hull City's Steve Bruce wary of relegation threat before West Ham fixture – video
- Sydney harbour bridge lights up to mark Asian Cup draw – video
- Fifa investigator survives plot
- Manchester United to offer Phil Jones new contract
- Pearce linked with Nottingham Forest vacancy
- World Cup: 25 stunning moments … No7: Andrés Escobar's deadly own goal | Barry Glendenning
- Porto Alegre threatens to pull out of hosting Brazil World Cup matches
| Bayern Munich wrap up Bundesliga crown with seven games to spare Posted: 25 Mar 2014 02:41 PM PDT • 3-1 win over Hertha Berlin enough to claim 23rd title Bayern Munich clinched the Bundesliga title in record time on Tuesday night after easing past Hertha Berlin 3-1 thanks to goals from Toni Kroos, Mario Götze and Franck Ribéry with seven games left in the campaign. Last season's treble winners secured their 23rd Bundesliga crown since it was created in 1963 with a record 10th straight away victory, stretching their winning streak to a staggering 19 consecutive games and their unbeaten run to 52 league matches. A 0-0 draw between second and third-placed Borussia Dortmund and Schalke meant that Bayern stretched their lead to an unassailable lead of 25 points. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Posted: 25 Mar 2014 02:40 PM PDT Premier League: Edin Dzeko scored twice as City completely dominated the Manchester derby  |
| Posted: 25 Mar 2014 02:38 PM PDT MBM report: Join Ian McCourt for the final scores from Tuesday night's big games around Europe  |
| Real Madrid's appeal over Sergio Ramos's Barcelona red card is rejected Posted: 25 Mar 2014 02:05 PM PDT • Federation's competitions committee dismisses appeal The Spanish Football Federation's competitions committee has rejected Real Madrid's appeal against the red card shown to Sergio Ramos in Sunday's clásico defeat to Barcelona. Ramos was dismissed for the 19th time in his career after bringing down Neymar in the second half of the 4-3 defeat to Real's arch-rivals. It means the Spain international defender is ruled out of a return to his former club Sevilla on Wednesday night, although Real now intend to take the case to the Spanish Sport Ministry's administrative court to request an injunction on the suspension. The case was based around the argument that Ramos did not foul Neymar and the move that led to the incident began in an offside position. Real Madrid supplied video evidence to back their case but it was rejected by the competitions committee, meaning they will now turn their attention to gaining an injunction. Ramos was included in Carlo Ancelotti's match squad named on Tuesday but his participation will now rest on the administrative court's ruling. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Bayern crowned champions again Posted: 25 Mar 2014 02:04 PM PDT Bundesliga: Pep Guardiola's side strolled to a 3-1 victory over Hertha Berlin to wrap up their 23rd league title  |
| Allardyce hopes West Ham find 'killer edge' against Hull Posted: 25 Mar 2014 01:24 PM PDT • Three defeats drop Hammers back near relegation zone Sam Allardyce admits he is finding it harder to find a reason for West Ham United's recent run of defeats than for their poor spell at the turn of the year. After four wins in succession hauled the team out of the Premier League's bottom three and briefly into the top half Allardyce, who won the manager of the month award for the feat, has seen his side suffer three consecutive defeats. West Ham were beaten at Everton and Stoke before losing at home to Manchester United on Saturday. Those losses mean the Hammers are six points clear of the relegation zone having played two games more than 18th-placed Sunderland, and they tackle Hull City at Upton Park on Wednesday evening looking to rediscover the winning habit. For Allardyce it is not the first time he has had to address a worrying run this season, following a spell of seven Premier League games without a win throughout December and January. Now the 59-year-old, who kept his job during that difficult stage, is at a loss to pinpoint why his side are suffering a similar slump – beyond them lacking a clinical edge in attack and defence. "We haven't achieved the results that the performances warranted," Allardyce claimed. "That is the disappointment for me because we knew the bad times we had in December and January were really down to the limited players we had available. At the moment we have just not got that instinctive, killer edge on the front line, and because we are going all out for it we have left the back door open a couple of times and the opposition have taken full advantage of that." Joey O'Brien and Marco Borriello will definitely miss the game against Hull as Allardyce attempts to halt the slide. The manager has been impressed with the job Steve Bruce has done at the KC Stadium since getting the Tigers promoted last season and despite highlighting the January signings of Shane Long and Nikica Jelavic, he is wary of Hull's entire forward line. "The additions Steve has made have turned them into a side who, in their first season, look more than capable of being safe in the Premier League," Allardyce said. "He did his [transfer] business before the start of the season and then some in January which pushed them on again." theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Manchester derby: United v City – in pictures Posted: 25 Mar 2014 01:15 PM PDT All the best images from Old Trafford where the two Manchester sides go head to head  |
| FA chairman promises Jeff Astle's widow talks on issue of head trauma Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:19 PM PDT • Greg Dyke has sent letter of apology for lack of contact The Football Association's chairman, Greg Dyke, has promised that a senior executive from the governing body will meet the widow of the former England and West Bromwich Albion striker Jeff Astle to discuss the issue of head injuries in the game. Astle died in 2002 from brain trauma which a coroner ruled was caused by heading heavy leather balls. A 10-year study into the effects of heading footballs was commissioned by the FA but was not completed because of the players involved leaving the game early. Laraine Astle has now received a letter of apology from Dyke for the FA's lack of contact. Mrs Astle, who now lives in Derbyshire, told the BBC: "I think about Jeff every day and after waiting 12 years for this apology I just want some closure. I want to ask Mr Dyke why it's taking so long to look into this because we just want football to be safer for youngsters coming into the game." Dyke's letter goes on to state the FA is working with other sports on an education programme to reduce the risk of head injuries. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| David Moyes: 'I'm at Manchester United for the long term' Posted: 25 Mar 2014 12:06 PM PDT • Moyes insists 'planning already under way for future' David Moyes insists he will be Manchester United manager for the long term, with the Scot revealing there are plans in place for "many seasons to come", despite a dismal first campaign in charge. Under Moyes United's faltering title defence has left the team 18 points behind the leaders, Chelsea, and 12 from Manchester City in advance of Tuesday's 167th derby at Old Trafford. Last week Moyes came under increased pressure following the 3-0 home loss to Liverpool. But writing in the matchday programme for the derby, the manager said: "Our thoughts are well and truly on the future and our planning is already well under way, not just for next season, but for many seasons to come. "During Manchester United's long periods of dominance in the last two decades, which brought unparalleled success, many other clubs had to undergo periods of turnaround and they knew tough times when things were not going well for them. They looked to change lots of different managers and players, all the while trying to find ways of keeping up and competing with United. "We are now in our own time of change and we are going through a tricky period, like those other clubs had to go through. Here at United, the plan is for long-term stability. A base has been brilliantly set by managers past at the club, and I will be looking to continue that. Rest assured that we are giving everything we have to have a lasting, positive impact here at Old Trafford." Despite the club's executive taking a dim view of the loss to Liverpool and the 2-0 defeat at Olympiakos in the first leg of their last-16 Champions League tie, Moyes said he retains its backing. "We at the club understand that we are in a period of transition. Football is cyclical and it will not be long before we are on the up," the 50-year-old said. However, Sir Bobby Charlton, who is on the United board, offered the strongest criticism yet from a high-ranking member of the hierarchy. Speaking in Malaysia, he said the team had played "really, really badly" but did back the Scot. "It doesn't mean we are going to change everything. I'm absolutely certain that we picked the right man," he told the BBC. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Brasília on standby for extra games Posted: 25 Mar 2014 10:57 AM PDT • Doubts remain over unfinished World Cup venues Brasília's new stadium is believed to have been placed on standby to host extra World Cup matches if any of the planned venues are not finished in time, despite official insistence that all 12 will be completed before the tournament kicks off in June. Publicly, Fifa continues to insist that the Brazil World Cup will be played at 12 venues but serious question marks remain over four stadiums. The sports minister, Aldo Rebelo, admitted in an interview with the Guardian last week it was likely to be "early May" before the last of the three unfinished stadiums was completed. There are also renewed concerns over the stadium in Porto Alegre, after the mayor warned on Monday it would not be ready to host its five matches unless local lawmakers passed new tax laws to ease the construction of temporary facilities. Rebelo said last week a contingency plan was "not necessary" but the Guardian understands that Brasília has been told by the government to remain on standby as a "plan B" if any of the venues earmarked is not ready in time. The Estádio Nacional was one of six completed in time to host the Confederations Cup last June and seats 71,400. It is scheduled to host seven games including Cameroon v Brazil in the group stages, a quarter-final and the third-place play-off. Even after construction is finished on the stadiums, test events will have to be held to comply with licensing laws. Temporary facilities must also be installed, including communications networks, media centres and concession stands. The Fifa secretary general, Jérôme Valcke, is in Rio de Janeiro this week for last-ditch talks with the organising committee, the federal government and the 12 host cities amid continuing concern over whether the stadiums will be ready in time. With less than three months until the tournament kicks off, there are fears over the readiness of the stadiums in São Paulo – where Brazil will face Croatia in the opening match on 12 June – Cuiabá and Curitiba. Rebelo said the stadium in Cuiabá would be ready on 2 April while the São Paulo ground, delayed by the deaths of two construction workers in November, would be handed over in mid-April. The Curitiba stadium, over which there has been most concern, with Fifa insiders admitting they faced a race against time to fit it out, would be completed by "the end of April or beginning of May". "There have been some delays, some of them are characteristic of this type of construction," the sports minister said. "We have very strong regulations and controls. Compliance is extremely important. Sometimes there was a paralysis but the stadiums will be ready. Six were delivered for the Confederations Cup and we have already delivered three more. The final three will host test events as planned." The Brazilian organisers have form for missing deadlines and causing consternation at Fifa. In December Rebelo likened the delays to a bride who is late for a wedding and insisted they would be ready by March. The mayor of Porto Alegre has now thrown the readiness of that stadium into doubt by saying it will not be able to host World Cup matches unless local lawmakers vote to introduce tax breaks for the construction of temporary structures around it. "All this equipment will be bought through this bill, which will provide the resources," said José Fortunati. "If it's not voted, we won't be able to seek funding. This means that we will not have temporary structures and we will not have a World Cup. It's simple to understand. There's no plan B." The local government already said it will not spend public money on the projects, which are a responsibility of the stadium owner. The club in charge of the venue, Internacional, recently announced it would not pay for the structures alone, forcing local officials to scramble for a solution. "It's a difficult situation and it's a concern," Fortunati said. Fifa insisted all 12 venues would be ready in time and promised a "detailed update" on Thursday following a meeting of the local organising committee at the Maracanã. "As said previously, the World Cup will be played in 12 venues. Fifa, the organising committee, the federal government and the respective host cities are working together this week in Rio de Janeiro to find solutions to the remaining challenges," said a spokeswoman. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Qatar report into migrant death toll due Posted: 25 Mar 2014 09:54 AM PDT European parliament delegation told to expect significant changes to labour laws in wake of international criticism A long-awaited independent report commissioned by the Qatari government in the wake of a series of revelations about the death toll among migrant workers is due to be published by the end of the week. Representatives from the human rights subcommittee of the European parliament are in Doha this week to investigate the issue and have been told to expect significant changes to the labour laws in response to a wave of international criticism. But it remains to be seen whether the reforms will go far enough for the human rights groups and trade unions that have been calling for wholesale changes to the kefala system that ties migrant workers to employers and forbids them from leaving the country without permission. After the Guardian revealed that dozens of Nepalese workers were dying in Qatar, and many others were heavily indebted and effectively trapped, the country's labour ministry appointed DLA Piper to "independently review all the claims made". It immediately had to deny claims that the independence of the report could be undermined because DLA Piper was also a paid lobbyist for Qatari news network al-Jazeera. The Guardian subsequently revealed that more than 380 Nepalese workers had died in 2012 and 2013, and more than 500 Indian migrants have died in Qatar since January 2012, according to official figures. The Qatari authorities have refused to expand on the causes of the deaths, not all of which were on construction sites. Qatar plans to spend £123bn in the next four years on infrastructure projects that tie into its "2030 Vision", of which hosting the 2022 World Cup is a part, fuelling a huge construction boom largely staffed by a migrant workforce of more than 1 million. "The Qatari government has assured us they will make reforms to the sponsorship system and bring forward a law for the protection of domestic workers, where sexual abuse of women is at its greatest," said Richard Howitt MEP, a British Labour member of the subcommittee. He called for three specific changes to the kefala system if the Qataris wanted to assure the international community they were genuine reforms rather than "in name only". "Will the government itself become the sponsor rather than the employer? Will the government introduce a right for employees to seek a new job after a notice period without requiring permission from the previous employer?" he said. "Will the government help set up regulated recruitment agencies in co-operation with sending countries, to end the problem of employees getting so indebted that they cannot escape?" Howitt also met representatives of British and European construction companies active in the Gulf. "Big European countries, too, taking advantage of lucrative construction contracts for the World Cup can set a leading example to the rest of Qatari society by establishing higher labour standards, encouraging labour representation and refusing any complicity with human rights abuse," he said. A Fifa delegation, including president Sepp Blatter, is also expected in Doha this week. Fifa executive committee member Theo Zwanziger has been tasked with making progress on the issue in the wake of concerted international pressure. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Liverpool prosper from flexible philosophy of Brendan Rodgers | Paul Doyle Posted: 25 Mar 2014 09:43 AM PDT Frequent changes in formation and personnel leave rivals unsure what to expect from the attack-minded title challengers It was José Mourinho who branded Arsène Wenger a "specialist in failure" but Brendan Rodgers' actions could give those words more clout. Despite not benefitting from the "financial doping" that Wenger says falsifies the Premier League title race, Rodgers, in only his second full season at Anfield, has guided Liverpool into a position to do what Wenger has been trying and failing to achieve for the past 10 years: win the league with a swagger. The purpose of the comparison with Wenger is not to aim a gratuitous kick at the Frenchman but rather to acclaim a manager who has an equally strong commitment to playing attractive football but has applied it with greater intelligence. Liverpool may ultimately fall short of top spot this season and could even finish below Arsenal but the progress made by the club in the past year bears testament to the methods of a manager with whom the Merseyside club can look forward to an exciting future. The rise of Liverpool from seventh place last season to title challengers at the sharp end of this one is often presented as a triumph of Rodgers' master plan. That is not quite right. Yes, the 41-year-old has a philosophy but things have not panned out precisely as he foresaw and perhaps the most admirable aspect of his work in the past year has been the extent to which he has adapted to circumstances, opponents and his own mistakes, all while retaining a clear identity. Where Arsenal are constrained by Wenger's dogmatism, Liverpool have prospered from Rodgers' flexibility. The former Swansea City manager was quick to realise that "the right way" is the wrong way if it does not work. And he has then found the right way – or rather the right ways, since one of the hallmarks of Liverpool this season has been the frequency with which they have changed formations or personnel from game to game or within games, using slightly different means to reach the same end. The most obvious quality that Rodgers has added to Liverpool this season is penetration. This season they have scored 25 more goals than they had done at the same stage last term, despite averaging 3% less possession per match: they have attacked with greater speed, unhinging defences with devastating movement and technique; players' imagination flourishing in space wrought by the manager's design. Opponents never quite know what shape Liverpool will start with. He introduced a three-man defence to get Luis Suárez and Daniel Sturridge firing together when the Uruguayan returned from the ban that ruled him out of the first five matches, and since then Liverpool have also lined up in 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 4-4-2. At Southampton at the start of this month Liverpool began with a diamond in midfield for the first time this season and took an early lead. Southampton then threatened to equalise so Rodgers switched to 4-3-3 and regained the initiative, Liverpool running out 3-0 winners. He then redeployed the diamond at Old Trafford and cruised to another 3-0 win. In January Liverpool were trailing 2-0 at home to Aston Villa before Rodgers sacrificed his playmaker, Philippe Coutinho, and brought on Lucas Leiva to lay the platform for a fightback to 2-2. "For me the system is irrelevant," Rodgers said after that. "But the style will always be maintained, to control and dominate games." Rodgers is derided for spouting David Brent-style soundbites but in fact his utterances are another manifestation of his efficiency. He condenses his thought to easily digested units. His tinkering is born of the same efficiency. He is not a self-regarding manager who changes for the sake of it. Liverpool, indeed, have made fewer substitutions (71) than any other team in the league this season. Rodgers's mid-game changes tend to work but, with a limited squad that was not reinforced in January, he makes them only when necessary – and that is not very often because his original game plan is usually the right one, as shown by Liverpool's superb first-half record, the best in the league. Further evidence of the clarity of Rodgers's vision and communication is the extent to which individual players have improved under him to better serve the collective. His coaching works. Sturridge and Jordan Henderson have consistently shown the potential that only flickered under others. So few people, meanwhile, saw the potential in Jon Flanagan that what distinguished him in the Liverpool reserves was that no lower league clubs sought him on loan, yet the 21-year-old has filled in at left-back with gusto in recent months. Flanagan has won the same number of tackles as Southampton's new England international left-back Luke Shaw has this season, despite playing in only half as many matches. The list of player improvements goes on – and it has been needed because, although they have been spared a European expedition this season, Liverpool have still had to work around the absences of key players, with Suárez banned for the first five league matches, Sturridge and Coutinho enduring significant injury lay-offs and full-backs falling like dominoes. Rodgers has had to improvise and ensure his players do so as well. They have usually obliged. Raheem Sterling has evolved from a rapid and tricky winger into a rapid and tricky winger with the poise and precision to function also as a bona fide playmaker, diminishing the dependency on Coutinho. Joe Allen has redefined his game to re-emerge from the sidelines in recent weeks – the midfielder, a decaffeinated additive last term, has given the side real pep by nearly doubling the number of tackles he makes per match (from 2.53 to 4.42) this season to overtake the figures of Liverpool's most prolific tackler last season (Lucas, 4.33), thereby softening the impact of the loss of Lucas to injury. And it is not only young players whom Rodgers has nurtured: Martin Skrtel seemed destined for the Anfield exit but has become the club's most dependable centre-back, which is just as well as the £16m signing Mamadou Sakho has been out injured for long periods. And, of course, Steven Gerrard has performed his new deep-lying midfield role with a considered effectiveness that is unlikely to have come to him naturally. Not everything is rosy in the garden. The defence retains a brittleness that suggests there is only so much improvement even a top coach such as Rodgers can wring from some players and further investment in the summer will be required. And Rodgers's investment record is not spotless, as Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto, for instance, have yet to justify the millions spent on them, although giving up on them now would be premature. For Rodgers has restored hope to Liverpool through skill, imagination and realism. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Brawl breaks out during Italian football match – video Posted: 25 Mar 2014 09:38 AM PDT Three people are arrested and a player suffers a nasty cut after a violent fight breaks out during a lower-league match between Giugliano and Volla in Naples  |
| The Fiver | The Tuesday organ recital with Simon Passmore Posted: 25 Mar 2014 09:17 AM PDT ATONEMENT?Vagabond troubador Stu Larsen at Sound Control. The Manchester Ship Canal – a Manchester Histories Festival Event at the Portico Library & Gallery. The Tuesday organ recital with Simon Passmore at St Ann's Church. A lecture on Myth Telling in Contemporary China at the University of Manchester by Lihui Yang. The Best Tuesday Night Ever at 42nd Street Nightclub. The Jam Sessions at The Deaf Institute. Kindertransport at the Opera House. White Wines From Around The World at Jurys Inn Hotel. Susan Boyle in Concert at The Bridgewater Hall. For the discerning culture vulure out and about in Manchester tonight, there's no shortage of scintillating entertainment on offer. But your chances of seeing Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick wigging out to the monster riffola of Band of Skulls at the Ritz are as slim as those of bumping into Vincent Kompany and Joe Hart at the local university's fascinating seminar on shape diversity among vertebrates, as the players of the city's top-flight football teams have bigger fish to fry: the second Premier League Manchester derby of the season. Older Fiver readers who can remember as far back as last September will know that buoyant, freewheeling Manchester City didn't so much as win the first one as cruelly batter their hapless opponents into submission to a raucous soundtrack of ecstatic fans chanting their delight at the appointment of David Moyes as manager of their hated rivals. But that was then and this is now, and having secured home defeats at the hands of Everton, West Brom, Newcastle, Tottenham, Swansea and Liverpool in the interim, United's new manager is understandably upbeat about exacting revenge for the Etihad atrocity at Old Trafford tonight. "We want to perform better in the bigger games than we have done," mused Moyes at his press conference yesterday, as he faced up to the latest potential horror show of what has been a harrowing season. "We go out to win every game – not just the derby. Obviously it means a lot more to the supporters and the city to win a derby game, but we go into every game with the same intention: to win." With squillions in the bank, a trophy in the cabinet, three games in hand and a gap of just six points to bridge, it could be argued that Manchester City are red-hot favourites to win one of the closest title races in two seasons and their manager has been talking up the benefits of being eliminated from the FA Cup and Big Cup. "All of us want to stay in every competition but when you are eliminated one of the positive things – if you can find a positive thing – is that we are now just focusing on the Premier League," he said. "I know we must go game by game and we just have to win on Tuesday and then at Arsenal on Saturday after that." Should Pellegrini's men serve up another crushing beat-down to David Moyes it may herald further talk of a certain lady breaking into song round Old Trafford way, and we're not talking about Susan Boyle. LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE TONIGHTQUOTE OF THE DAY"It is something that did go on but I don't know who was involved. There was a bit of informal chit chat" – Fifa suit Jim Boyce confirms that the organisation's ethics investigator, Michael Garcia, almost fell victim to an inside plot to remove him from the role. Good old Fifa. FIVER LETTERS"Assuming she was at work yesterday, can I be the first person to applaud the productivity of Julia Beffon (yesterday's Fiver letters), considering the screen-grab she sent the Fiver showed her 'working' on five Guardian news articles, two ESPN sports articles, Fantasy Football, Twitter, an ESPN Cricket OBO, Yahoo! Sport, a page dedicated to 'Homicide Hunter' Joe Kenda, and two pages dedicated to herself, among other web pages. The irony of me sending this letter during work time has not escaped me" – Edward Brown. "Re: Sergio Ramos, 'who has seen more red than any number of unfortunate Spanish toros' (yesterday's Fiver). Might I be the first of 1,057 pedants to point out the bulls are rather famously colour-blind and react not to the colour of the cape (which is often pink anyway) but to the movement" – Derek McGee (and 1,056 others). "Umbridge (Matthew Scrivener, yesterday's Fiver letters)? Is that what one takes when offended by the Archers? Yours in righteous umbrage" – Jon Brown (and others). • Send your letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. And if you've nothing better to do you can also tweet the Fiver. Today's winner of our prizeless letter o' the day is: Edward Brown. JOIN GUARDIAN SOULMATESWe keep trying to point out the utter futility of advertising an online dating service "for interesting people" in the Fiver to the naive folk who run Guardian Soulmates, but they still aren't having any of it. So here you go – sign up here to view profiles of the kind of erudite, sociable and friendly romantics who would never dream of going out with you. BITS AND BOBSFormer Independiente player Luciano Leguizamon has embargoed the club's international trophies in a case brought against them for alleged unpaid wages. "It's not that Leguizamon's going to keep the cups but rather that they'll be auctioned to raise money," trousered the striker's lawyer, Ricardo Frega Navia. "No one wants to damage the club's image, we just want Independiente to pay what they owe." The mayor of Porto Alegre has threatened to pull his city §out of hosting World Cup matches this summer unless a bill is passed that will exempt companies investing in temporary structures from paying tax. That old chestnut. "We have no plan B. The only alternative is this," sobbed José Fortunati. Stuart Pearce has wasted little time in tossing his hat into the ring for the vacancy at Nottingham Forest. "I have spent 10 years training as a manager and that is what I am," he parped. Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti still has the right funk on after defeat to Barcelona on Sunday. "I am not happy with this," he fumed. "In football you cannot always explain everything by looking for the culprit. The team was fine before the loss and it will be afterwards." Hull boss Bernard Cribbins [nothing better arrived – Fiver Ed] will set his friendship with Sam Allardyce aside for the trip to West Ham tomorrow. "Every summer we get together and have a few days away and enjoy some time together," cooed Cribbins. And Peruvian club Real Garcilaso have been fined $12,000 after their fans insulted Cruzeiro player Tinga with a chorus of monkey chants during a Copa Libertadores match last month. STILL WANT MORE?Stunning World Cup moment No7: the tragedy of Andrés Escobar, by Barry Glendenning. This week's edition of the Gallery: starring Liverpool's Raheem Sterling. Billy Davies found the Nottingham Forest fires too hot to handle, reckons Louise Taylor. Oh, and if it's your thing, you can follow Big Website on Big Social FaceSpace. SIGN UP TO THE FIVER (AND O FIVERÃO)Want your very own copy of our free tea-timely(ish) email sent direct to your inbox? Has your regular copy stopped arriving? Click here to sign up. And you can also now receive our weekly World Cup email, O Fiverão every Thursday; this is the latest edition, and you can sign up for it here. FOLLOW. AND BUY. THEY'LL BE MBM-ING THE ITALIA '90 ENGLAND v WEST GERMANY SEMI ON BIG WEBSITE THIS THURSDAY, 12.30PM GMTtheguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Barcelona's Gerardo Martino confident ahead of Celta Vigo match – video Posted: 25 Mar 2014 08:29 AM PDT Barcelona manager Gerardo Martino says he has complete faith in his players ahead of their match against Celta Vigo in La Liga  |
| Trinity Mirror launches digital-first strategy as users flock to websites Posted: 25 Mar 2014 08:00 AM PDT Trinity Mirror is to launch the next phase of its digital-first strategy with a restructure of its operations in the north-east by taking a giant step into the future. Under the slogan Newsroom 3.1, the company is introducing a new publishing process in its Newcastle and Teesside newsrooms. In the coming months a similar digital-first working system will be rolled out to the publisher's other regional centres in Birmingham, Cardiff, Liverpool, Manchester and Huddersfield. It comes against the background of a rapid increase in online audiences. Trinity Mirror recorded 119m page views on its regional sites in February alone, a year-on-year rise of 72%. "There has been huge growth in the past year," says the company's regional chief, Neil Benson. Together, the regionals and the nationals (largely the Daily Mirror), are now drawing more than 60m uniques a month. In a press release, Benson is quoted as saying: "Digitally, we have made great progress over several years but we now need to accelerate the growth and engagement level of our digital audiences. "The new structure gives us the capability to produce more digital content all day and every day, while still producing brilliant newspapers." In practical terms, it means that the entire focus of newsrooms throughout the day will be on posting copy online. Previously, there was a tendency to favour digital in the mornings and then work on print after that. Now content will be created in order to hit key digital audience spikes across the day, ensuring that users can find refreshed and new content each time they visit a website. That online content will then be edited and packaged into the print versions of the north-east region's newspapers - the Chronicle, Evening Gazette, Journal and Sunday Sun. It amounts, in other words, to a change in the mind-set for the editors and journalists. Print comes second and with it, a change of editorial emphasis in the newspaper - "less megaphone, more discussion," says Benson. As for the effect on jobs, the overall size of the north-east's editorial team will increase by 17. There will be 25 new roles but eight existing staff are at the risk of redundancy. Among the new digital positions will be jobs specifically aimed at increasing audience engagement and driving traffic, such as social media editors, planning analysts and advance content writers. In addition, two football roles will be created with a Newcastle United editor and a Middlesbrough FC editor. Evidently, Newsroom 3.1 will make maximum use of content through SEO and social media as well as through digital analytics tools, such as Chartbeat and Omniture. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Carlo Ancelotti can't explain Real Madrid's struggles against top teams Posted: 25 Mar 2014 07:58 AM PDT • Defeat by Barcelona puts Atlético Madrid on pole Carlo Ancelotti said he was at a loss to explain Real Madrid's struggles against the top Spanish teams this season, following defeat in the clásico over the weekend. The 4-3 reverse at the Bernabéu meant Real surrendered the top spot to Atlético Madrid, who have a win and a draw from the two league meetings with their city rivals this season. Head-to-head records, rather than goal difference, separate teams level on points in La Liga. "I am not happy with this," Ancelotti said. "It is difficult to explain as Real are one of the strongest teams in the world and we will continue to show this until the end of the season. "In the first game against Atlético we deserved to lose and then in the first half against Barcelona we didn't compete well but since then the last two games, away to Atlético and then in Sunday's match, they were even." The Spanish Football Federation has said it will investigate comments made by Sergio Ramos and Cristiano Ronaldo after that game. The Real Madrid pair accused the referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco, who sent off Ramos for the defender's record 19th dismissal, of bias towards the Catalan side. A victory for Real against Barça would have put them firmly in the driving seat to win the title. Now they must lift themselves again for Wednesday's tricky game at Sevilla, who have won their past five league matches. "It is not a case of looking for who was responsible, or to blame for the defeat," said Ancelotti. "It came after a lot of matches where we didn't lose. In football you cannot always explain everything by looking for the culprit. The team was fine before the loss and it will be afterwards. "We have the same number of points as Atlético and one more than Barcelona. Tomorrow's game will be important for us to respond. I think Real left the game not happy but with a positive attitude." theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| West Ham's Sam Allardyce: 'We're back in the danger zone' – video Posted: 25 Mar 2014 07:39 AM PDT West Ham manager Sam Allardyce says Wednesday's game against Hull City is important as his team is only six points away from relegation  |
| Hull City's Steve Bruce wary of relegation threat before West Ham fixture – video Posted: 25 Mar 2014 06:27 AM PDT Hull City manager Steve Bruce says his team is not safe in the Premier League despite being 12th in the league table  |
| Sydney harbour bridge lights up to mark Asian Cup draw – video Posted: 25 Mar 2014 05:50 AM PDT The iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge is lit up with projected football images a day before the Asian Cup draw is scheduled to be held  |
| Fifa investigator survives plot Posted: 25 Mar 2014 05:34 AM PDT • Some executives talked about removing Michael Garcia The former FBI investigator looking into the controversial bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups almost fell victim to a plot by some Fifa executives to remove him from the organisation's ethics committee. Michael Garcia, who heads the investigatory chamber of Fifa's ethics committee, has been charged with examining the chaotic dual bidding race for the 2018 and 2022 tournaments, awarded to Russia and Qatar respectively in December 2010. The US lawyer turned up unannounced in Zurich last week to speak to those members of the executive committee who were around during the controversial process, which was mired in allegations of bribery and vote swapping. Some were believed to be unsettled by his presence and it has now emerged that informal conversations took place among some unnamed executives on the fringes of the meeting in an attempt to remove Garcia from his position. The Fifa vice-president Jim Boyce, Britain's representative on the 24-person executive committee, told the Guardian he was aware of the plot but said it never made it as far as the executive committee boardroom. He said he would have been appalled if the plan had been raised officially and would have had to consider his position if anyone moved to unseat Garcia or interfere with his independent investigation. "It is something that did go on but I don't know who was involved. There was a bit of informal chit-chat," he said. In a statement, Boyce added: "As someone who has been brought up with honesty and integrity – and it was a great honour for me to be asked to be a vice-president – if this had been proposed at the exco meeting or I thought for one moment Garcia would be removed in any fashion from carrying out his full investigation, I and others would be aghast and would have had to consider our positions because things at Fifa have been improving greatly." It is believed that some of those executive committee members who have joined Fifa's top table since December 2010 intervened to protest strongly that it would cast the organisation in an even worse light if Garcia was blocked in any way. There is no suggestion that the Fifa president, Sepp Blatter, who last week refused to comment on fresh allegations of illicit payments between former Fifa executives Mohamed Bin Hammam and Jack Warner after the World Cup vote, was involved in the discussions regarding Garcia. Any move to remove Garcia or abolish the reformed dual-chamber ethics committee, introduced in the wake of the storm of protest that accompanied the sullied 2011 Fifa presidential election, would have been unconstitutional in any case. Having been created by the full Fifa congress, which will next meet in São Paulo on the eve of the World Cup, it is not within the executive committee's power to interfere with the supposedly independent ethics committee. The Fifa executive committee member Prince Ali Bin Al Hussein of Jordan told Reuters: "I am very happy that Michael Garcia will continue in his work. There were some questions raised about the necessity of having an independent ethics Committee cut, to be honest, I think that idea was stopped. "There were certain people like myself who could not accept that this could happen. He was supported by our congress and given a mandate and I am very happy he will continue with his work." The new ethics committee was approved by the congress in June 2011 while Garcia himself was appointed in June 2012 at an extraordinary executive committee meeting. Garcia, a former US attorney for the Southern District of New York, was empowered by Congress to "leave no stone unturned" in his quest to discover if there had been any wrong-doing regarding the voting procedures in the World Cup bidding process. He has already toured the various bidding nations, including England, to interview all of those involved in the bid process and gather evidence. As Fifa's first independent ethics investigator and prosecutor, Garcia was also empowered to investigate the votes-for-cash scandal that led to the long-serving and high-ranking Fifa officials Warner and Bin Hammam leaving the organisation. Warner resigned under a cloud and Bin Hammam was banned for football for life after they were implicated in paying cash bribes of $40,000 to Caribbean Football Union members during the Qatari's unsuccessful bid to unseat Blatter as Fifa president. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Manchester United to offer Phil Jones new contract Posted: 25 Mar 2014 04:31 AM PDT • Centre-back viewed as vital to David Moyes's rebuilding Manchester United are to offer Phil Jones a new contract and the defender is open to tieing himself to the club beyond the two years that he will have left on his current deal in the summer. Talks have not yet started owing to Jones having an injury-interrupted campaign, though the 22-year-old has been told that David Moyes views him as an essential member of the team over the coming seasons. Jones, in the third season of a five-year deal, earns around £50,000 a week and he can expect a marked increase on these terms. The hope is that a strong finish to the campaign can pave the way for smooth negotiations and United do not expect any particular stumbling blocks to Jones committing his future to the club. Jones's growing status at United is also due to the departure of Nemanja Vidic in the close season, with Rio Ferdinand expected to follow the Serb in leaving. Chris Smalling, who Moyes believes with Jones can be the next permanent England central defensive pairing, hardly improved his standing at Old Trafford by forcing the manager to discipline him this week for a late-night indiscretion. Jones's desire to throw himself into every challenge is of concern to Moyes as this is a prime factor in the number of injuries he has suffered. Since breaking into the Blackburn Rovers's team in 2010 Jones has suffered 18 different injuries of varying degree, with 16 of those coming at United, dating from December 2011. This season Jones has been injured on five different occasions, with these including foot, pelvis, knee and hip problems plus concussion, though he has still managed 30 appearances for United – including in the Community Shield – and two more for England. Moyes said: "I think that is how he plays. He is an old-fashioned player who throws himself about and you may say: 'Why did you do that?' But that is why he has had a few injuries and been caught out a few times. We certainly don't want that to continue. We think that, with maturity, he will recognise when he should go for it and when he should stand up." Despite Jones having signed in summer 2011 to join Smalling, who was bought the year before, the pair only played together for a first time in central defence earlier this month, in the 3-0 win at West Bromwich Albion. Of the partnership, Jones said: "I think the first 'click' I really had was playing in the Under-21s with Chris Smalling at the back. I thought every time we played together, we understood each other's game and we complemented each other well. Hopefully that can kick off at Manchester United as well." Jones's ability to step into midfield to play an anchoring role with ease is a further plus for Moyes. Last month the Scot said: "I see Jones settling in at centre-back and, in time, he will become a very good centre-back, but I think, right now, he is a very good defensive midfield player which we might need in some games." When signing in June 2011 in a £17m transfer from Rovers Jones described joining United as a "once in a lifetime opportunity" after Sir Alex Ferguson had spotted his potential despite him having made his Premier League debut only that spring. Jones made his England debut against Montenegro in 2011 and was praised by the then manager Fabio Capello for being "born with talent". However, he has managed only nine caps for the national team since. He featured in the home friendlies against Scotland and Chile as a substitute this season but did not make the squad for any of the World Cup qualifying games. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Pearce linked with Nottingham Forest vacancy Posted: 25 Mar 2014 03:52 AM PDT • Former player proposed as manager by Neil Warnock Stuart Pearce has linked himself with the vacant post at Nottingham Forest, describing it as "an outstanding job", after Neil Warnock suggested he would be an ideal manager for the club. Warnock, who turned down the job himself on Monday, suggested Forest should turn to Pearce or Gianfranco Zola as being the right men to fill the role. Forest play Charlton Athletic on Tuesday night at the City Ground with the academy manager, Gary Brazil, in temporary charge of the first team after Warnock said he was not the "right one" to take the club forward. He expanded on his reasons to TalkSport, saying: "They've put Gary Brazil in tonight and for the moment that's what they want. I'm sure someone like Pearce or Zola will come in, somebody like that will end up there. Stuart Pearce would be ideal. But it wasn't for me really. When you've got experience, or you've done the job, you've got to do it how you want to do it and I didn't see that if I'm honest with you." Pearce told the station he was keen to return to management and said the City Ground job was an "outstanding" opportunity. The former England Under-21 coach had a spell as player-manager at Forest from 1996-97 but the club were relegated from the Premier League and Dave Bassett took over. "I have spent 10 years training as a manager and that is what I am," he said, speaking on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast show. "There are some really good jobs out there at times that come up every now and again and Nottingham Forest outside the Premier League is an outstanding job for whatever manager wants it." Pearce suggested he would need assurances over the level of control he would have if he were to take the job. "I would have thought there are certain things a manager wouldn't accept. Things like picking of the team and players coming through the door who are signed by somebody else that you don't want. Those are probably the two golden rules for any managers. "Some are different. Some accept that. It depends how desperate you are for a job. Some would accept that and some would want total control. It is varying degrees." The previous manager, Billy Davies, had been sacked on Monday by Forest's owner and chairman, Fawaz al-Hasawi, and Warnock said of the chairman: "He's a nice guy, I got on all right with him. There's just certain criteria that even I can't do, even if it's the right club. "It wasn't fair really because you're not guaranteed to win games and you lose one or two games in that situation and it could become a little embarrassing behind the scenes. I didn't want that, I wanted a clear road ahead to do what I wanted. "If I can't 100% go into it knowing I'm going to be able to manage as I manage then I can't commit myself. In the end it just didn't add up to me. I thought I'd be doing it for the wrong reasons. It wasn't the financial part of it, it was the opportunity to get a club back up through the play-offs." The 65-year-old Warnock, who has been out of management since leaving Leeds in April 2013, added: "I did say, if the right [club] came up I'd take it and with nine games to go, possibly 12 games – with the play-offs – it was ideal for me. The talks started well, but in my eyes deteriorated. "The experience I've got, let's not forget, the last three clubs I've been a bit unlucky, I've had three new owners. So I've got an idea of owners and what they want and how they work. In the end I didn't think I was the right one." theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| World Cup: 25 stunning moments … No7: Andrés Escobar's deadly own goal | Barry Glendenning Posted: 25 Mar 2014 03:00 AM PDT An own goal at USA 94 led to horrific ramifications for Colombia's captain, who paid the heaviest of prices for the failings of society as much as his national team
Colombia captain Andrés Escobar writes in Bogota's El Tiempe newspaper following his country's elimination from USA 1994. Despite what cynics blessed with the gift of twenty-twenty hindsight might have you believe, Pele's suggestion that Colombia would at least make the semi-finals of USA 94 wasn't a crazy shot in the dark. Those would come later, six of them; bullets fired in a Medellín nightclub car park during a row that occurred in the early hours of 2 July, 1994. They would ring around the world, rendering millions incredulous that the captain of Colombia had been murdered, shot six times in the back, apparently as revenge for his contribution to his own team's elimination from a World Cup that was not yet over. It seemed that for no crime more heinous than accidentally scoring an own goal during a football match, Andrés Escobar had been gunned down in cold blood. Escobar should have turned 47 earlier this month. El Caballero del Futbol, the gentleman of football, was a quiet, disciplined and much-loved leader of a golden generation of Colombian footballers who travelled to USA 94 having conceded only two goals in qualifying. Pele wasn't delusional: they were genuine contenders. In a final qualifier against Argentina which their hosts needed to win to ensure qualification, Colombia won 5-0 in Buenos Aires, earning a standing ovation from shocked home fans whose team was eventually forced to creep through the back door courtesy of a play-off win over Australia. In 26 matches leading up to USA 94, Colombia lost just once. Their coach Francisco Maturana insisted his players express themselves and their natural flamboyance yielded rich on-field dividends courtesy of splendidly gifted individuals such as Carlos Valderrama, Freddy Rincón, Alexis García and Faustino Asprilla, to name just a quartet from a squad that, at the time, remained largely unknown outside of South America. This was the mid-90s, when the notion of blanket football coverage courtesy of niche blogs, satellite TV channels and internet streaming was as hopelessly exotic as the names of Colombia's many wonderfully talented players. The other EscobarSocially, it was also a time of terrible devastation and misery for Colombia. Medellín was in a state of emergency following the murder of Pablo Escobar, a namesake but no relation to Andrés and head of the multi-billion dollar Medellín drug cartel. Despite his status as bloodthirsty gang lord, Escobar was beloved of his country's many poor, for whom he provided employment and housing. He also built football pitches, lots of them, on which many of the stars who qualified so effortlessly for USA 94 honed their skills as young boys. Escobar also owned the Medellín football team Atlético Nacional, where the sale of tickets for cash and decidedly creative book-keeping when it came to player transfers enabled him to launder hundreds of millions of dollars. Other cartels followed his lead and in the 1980s, their investment in various clubs led to a resurgence in Colombian football, which had hitherto been on its uppers. The wages paid encouraged Colombia's finest players to remain at home, enabling Nacional to become South American club champions by winning the 1989 Copa Libertadores. Their team featured Andrés Escobar in its lineup, among other home-based internationals who would go on to qualify for USA 94 with such distinction. Responsible for the murder of assorted judges, politicians, over 500 policemen, at least one referee and thousands of rival cartel members who displeased him, Pablo Escobar had surrendered himself to Colombian authorities in the early 1990s, having first avoided attempts to extradite him to the USA. Holed up in Catedral Prison on the outskirts of Medellín, which became his own personal fiefdom, he had been promised a reduced sentence if he agreed to cease trafficking drugs. There he was visited by members of the Colombia football team, who would travel there in secret for kickabouts on the pitch Escobar had ordered to be built as a condition of his surrender. On one occasion in late 1993, the famously flamboyant Colombian goalkeeper René Higuita foolishly stopped to chat with journalists on his way into the prison to visit Escobar. It caused a scandal and was an excursion that would cost him his place at the following summer's World Cup. Higuita was subsequently arrested and imprisoned on what were rumoured to be trumped-up charges of mediating in the ransom negotiation of a kidnapping. Most believed the real reason for his incarceration was government embarrassment that such a famous figure had been fraternising so publicly with one of Colombian officialdom's most despised and America's most wanted. According to The Two Escobars, the ESPN documentary that chronicles the intertwined lives of Pablo and Andrés, Higuita could see "the good and bad" in Pablo. Andrés Escobar was less ambivalent and was always uncomfortable at being invited to socialise with such a high profile criminal, however furtively. "Maria, I don't want to go but I have no choice," he told his sister, Maria Ester. He would not have to concern himself with visiting orders, metaphorical or otherwise, for much longer. Having escaped from prison and gone on the run after hearing the authorities were planning to move him to a stricter regime, on 2 December 1993, one day after his 44th birthday, Pablo Escobar was murdered. The group responsible was a bunch of vigilantes known as The Pepes (Los Perseguidos por Pablo Escobar – People Persecuted by Pablo Escobar) and was ostensibly comprised of the rival Cali cartel, right wing paramilitaries led by Carlos Castano and backed by police, the special forces of both Colombia and the USA, and countless members of Escobar's own Medellín cartel, who had been ordered to turn against their boss or be killed. With his empire in ruins, unable to trust anybody and with contracts on the heads of his nearest and dearest, Escobar was finally hunted down and shot dead by police, although speculation abounds that the shot that killed him was self-inflicted. If the Colombian government thought the death of their bête noire would signal an end to the gang violence in Medellín, they could not have been more wrong. Total anarchy ensued. A city in chaos"When Pablo died, the city spun out of control," his cousin, Jaime Gavira, explained on The Two Escobars. "The boss was dead, so everyone became their own boss. Pablo had prohibited kidnappings. He ran the underworld with complete order. Anything illegal, you asked for Pablo's permission." With Escobar gone, permission was no longer required. Gavira's was a view endorsed by Colombia's manager, who had previously overseen Nacional's Copa Libertadores triumph and knew Escobar well. "The law of the boss is the law of the land," said Maturana. "When Pablo Escobar died, the earth shook and the wind cried 'Pablo Escobar!' As of that moment, you had to be on guard at all times. You couldn't trust anyone. Even a policeman could be good or evil." It was against this backdrop, with frequent bombings and shootings reducing Medellín to a state of complete emergency, that Colombia's footballers set off to USA 94. "It's difficult to stay focused, but I find motivation in the good things to come," said Andrés Escobar, who was 27 at the time, had recently got engaged to his girlfriend, Pamela Cascardo, and had accepted an offer to play for Milan the following season. "I try to read a bit of the bible each day. My bookmarks are two photos, one of my late mother and the other of my fiancée." Somewhat ironically and perhaps rather naively, considering how Colombian football's resurgence was bankrolled, Escobar firmly believed the sport could help put a stop to the violence that was destroying the country he loved. "He saw soccer as a school of life to teach values and tolerance," said his friend, the journalist-turned-diplomat César Mauricio Velásquez. "To learn to win, to lose, to embrace sport as a sanctuary of unity. Andrés always stayed true to that belief." Swept Stateside on a wave of genuine hope amid the despair back home, Colombia's World Cup campaign could scarcely have got off to a more inauspicious start. At the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, they lost their opening match 3-1 against a largely unheralded Romania side content to defend in depth and attack on the break. Florin Raducioiu scored two for the Romanians, but the pick of their goals was a breath-taking effort by Gheorghe Hagi, with the Maradona of the Carpathians spotting Óscar Córdoba, in Colombia's team for the banged-up Higuita, off his line and scoring with a shot from the sideline that was as preposterous as it was audacious. In the opposite goal, Bogdan Stelea enjoyed one of the games of his career, pulling off one sublime save after another to maintain his team's advantage. At 2-0 Adolfo Valencia scored to inspire hopes of a Colombian comeback, hopes that were eventually dashed by Radociou's second and his team's third in the 89th minute. "That marked the beginning of a psychological crisis for which the team wasn't prepared," said Velásquez. "Many gamblers lost big money and there appeared a sort of 'dark hand' that was very upset with the team's performance." The 'dark hand' in question manifested itself on the TV screens in the players' hotel rooms, where the customary welcome messages awaiting returning guests were replaced with unpleasant threats by enterprising hackers. Following the death of Pablo Escobar, the infant son of the Colombia defender Luis 'Chonto' Herrera had been kidnapped and subsequently returned in Medellín. Following his side's defeat at the hands of Romania, Chonto received word from home that his brother had been killed in a car crash. What should have been the time of these exciting young footballers' lives was rapidly becoming the stuff of nightmares. An unassuming leader, Escobar did his utmost to help his best friend and team to hold things together. "That night Andrés kept me company," said Herrera. "I wanted to give up and go home, but Andrés said 'The country depends on you. This is our one shot at the World Cup'." Colombia's preparations for their second group match, also at the Rose Bowl and against the tournament hosts, were less than ideal but the team remained confident. "We'd played hundreds of friendlies against the USA and won them all," recalled the midfielder Leonel Álvarez. At home, Medellín remained in meltdown, the streets habitually littered with burnt-out cars, bricks, bodies and blood. In Florida, team manager Maturana cried as he arrived for a pre-match meeting with his players. They had received more death threats, while Maturana had been warned that if veteran midfielder Gabriel 'Barrabas' Gómez was selected the entire squad would be murdered. "Barrabas was a key player, but they had me beat," said Maturana, who reluctantly pandered to club owners prepared to jeopardise their own national team's chances if it meant getting their players in the global spotlight to increase their value. A squad paralysed by fearA frightened shadow of the fur coat-wearing maverick who would later pitch up at Newcastle United, Faustino Asprilla remembered everyone at the meeting being "really tense", paralysed by fear and with nobody saying a word. "And that," recalls Maturana "is how we entered the field." Despite, or perhaps because of their terror, Colombia threw the kitchen sink at the USA from the get-go. "We attacked from all angles, but the ball wouldn't go in," remembers Adolfo Valencia. "We kept attacking but we couldn't score," confirmed Álvarez. "A moment came when you start to remember what happened, bad thoughts flood your mind." In the 22nd minute, the psychological floodgates opened. At full stretch in an effort to cut out a low, curling John Harkes cross into the penalty area from the inside left, Escobar made contact with the ball and sent it rolling past the hopelessly wrong-footed Córdoba and into his own goal. Following a few seconds of quiet reflection as he lay flat on his back with his head in his hands contemplating the first own goal of his professional career, the stony-faced Escobar rose to his feet, glanced to his right and walked slowly towards the halfway line. If he was mulling over the seriousness of the possible consequences, he hid it fairly well. Watching the match on TV in Medellín, his nephew was in no doubt. "In that moment, my nine-year-old son said to me 'Mommy, they're going to kill Andrés," Escobar's sister told the makers of The Two Escobars. "I replied: 'No sweetheart, people aren't killed for mistakes. Everyone in Colombia loves Andrés'." He was certainly well-liked by his team-mates, who considered him blameless. "He had to make a play on the ball and unfortunately it went in," said midfielder Alexis Garcìa. "I saw Andrés's face and felt deep pain. It was like a premonition." The jig was all but up for Colombia: Earnie Stewart doubled the USA's lead in with a 52nd minute tap-in and that's how it stayed until the final minute, when Valencia scored his second consolation goal of the tournament. In the final round of group games, Colombia beat Switzerland 2-0 at the Stanford Stadium in Palo Alto, but the USA's defeat at the hands of Romania meant their fate was sealed. "It's a very trying moment," said Escobar. "Not only because of the error I committed, but also because in these games, our team could not fulfil our expectations." Escobar was devastated by Colombia's World Cup exit and his very public contribution to it, a contribution he would never watch on television. Upon his return to Medellín, his friends and family rallied around in a bid to lift his spirits, while his friend César Mauricio Velásquez convinced him to write his cathartic "life doesn't end here" column for El Tiempe. "He forgot his worries," said his girlfriend. "There was warnings but Andrés was young and alive. He wanted to live his life. Had I known I'd have kept him home that night." Killed by football or society?That night. His last. Escobar decided to go out with friends for the first time since his return from the World Cup and called Chonto Herrera to invite him along. Herrera told him to stay in, advising Escobar it would probably be best if they laid low. His manager shared Herrera's concerns and told his player to be careful. "I said 'the streets are dangerous," Maturana recalled. "Here conflicts aren't resolved with fists. Andrés, stay at home. But Andrés said 'No, I must show my face to my people'." According to eye-witness reports, Escobar showed his face to the wrong people. Upon arriving at Medellín's El Indio Bar with friends, the footballer enjoyed a few drinks and was happily talking to fellow revellers when a few people began insulting him, sarcastically cheering his error against the USA. Escobar left the premises, but the four-strong group hurling abuse followed him, continued their tirade and loudly labelled him a "faggot". Upset, Escobar drove his car across the car park in order to reason with his detractors, insisting his own goal had been "an honest mistake". An already tense situation escalated and at least one gun was produced and fired. Six bullets tore through the flesh and bone of Escobar's back as he sat at the wheel of his car. An ambulance was called, but it was too late. Less than 30 minutes later, Andrés Escobar was declared dead. In the wake of the shooting, which was and remains widely assumed to be a revenge slaying perpetrated by gangsters who had shipped heavy losses betting on Colombia at the World Cup, two people gave the licence plate number of one of the vehicles in which the group responsible for the murder made their escape. It was registered to the Gallón brothers, Pedro and Juan, drug traffickers who had left Pablo Escobar's Medellín cartel to join the Pepes. According to Jhon Jairo Velásquez Vásquez, an enforcer for Pablo Escobar currently in prison for 300 murders, immediately after the shooting, the Gallóns approached Carlos Castano and paid him $3m to buy off the prosecutor's office and get them to focus their investigation on one of their bodyguards who had been present at the scene. Whether or not he actually pulled the trigger remains unknown, but Humberto Castro Muñoz confessed to Escobar's murder and was later sentenced to 43 years in prison, only to be released for good behaviour after serving just 11. His employers, the Gallóns, were cleared of any wrongdoing. Despite ongoing speculation to the contrary, Vásquez insists Escobar's murder was not a revenge attack by disgruntled gamblers. "Andrés's mistake was talking back to those guys," he would later surmise in an interview from the prison in which he is held. "The Gallóns' egos were so inflated after taking down [Pablo] Escobar, they weren't going to allow someone to talk back, not even Andrés. It had nothing to do with betting; it was a fight, that's all." More than 100,000 Colombians filed past Escobar's body as it lay in a wooden casket, draped with a green and white Nacional club flag, in a Medellín basketball arena. At his funeral, Colombia president Cesar Gaviria said the footballer was a victim of the "absurd violence" affecting the country. There were chants of "Justice! Justice!" from the thousands of mourners lining the streets as Escobar was taken to his final resting place. According to Escobar's friend César Mauricio Velásquez, the cries came from people "united in our pain, sending our prayers to the heavens for the soul of Andrés Escobar and for the soul of sport in Colombia". Weeping fans threw flowers in the path of the hearse as it passed with a police escort, while at the cemetery Colombia flags were waved by many of the 15,000 present to see Escobar's coffin lowered into the ground. Twenty years on, Andrés Escobar remains known around the world as the tragic Colombian footballer who was brutally "killed for scoring an own goal". It's a rather simplistic conclusion which his former manager feels does events of the time little justice. "Our society believed that soccer killed Andrés," Francisco Maturana has since opined, going on to suggest that in fact "Andrés was a soccer player killed by society." Life doesn't end here, wrote Escobar in what turned out to be his valedictory address to the people of Colombia. Instead, it ended somewhere else just a few days later. Violently and senselessly in the seedy confines of a Medellín night club car park. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
| Porto Alegre threatens to pull out of hosting Brazil World Cup matches Posted: 25 Mar 2014 02:10 AM PDT • Row over funding at Brazil's Estádio Beira-Rio The mayor of Porto Alegre in Brazil has revealed his city may be forced to pull out of hosting matches at this year's World Cup over a lack of temporary structures at its stadium. José Fortunati admitted in an interview with a local radio station that the Estádio Beira-Rio is not yet ready to host matches for this summer's extravaganza. He has demanded a bill that will exempt companies investing in temporary structures from paying tax, saying it is the only way for the city to raise much-needed funding. "This is the point which matters in terms of holding the World Cup in Porto Alegre," he told Rádio Gaúcha. "If the bill is not voted, we will not have the World Cup in Porto Alegre. "This is because we will not have the resources to do it. We have no plan B. The only alternative is this." Porto Alegre, located in the south of Brazil, is scheduled to play host to four group matches and the last-16 tie between the winners of Group G and the runners-up of Group H. In the initial stage, France are due to play Honduras there, Australia play Holland, Korea take on Algeria and Nigeria face Argentina. theguardian.com © 2014 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds  |
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