Saturday, 12 July 2014

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

Football news, match reports and fixtures | theguardian.com

Lionel Messi is jaded and something is not right, says Gary Lineker

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 02:30 PM PDT

Messi will not be another Diego Maradona
Argentina face Germany in World Cup final

Gary Lineker told a story here on Friday to illustrate why he has started to feel distinctly underwhelmed with Lionel Messi in this World Cup and suspects that the Argentinian will never get close to emulating Diego Maradonas achievements in this tournament.

It went back to Linekers days at Barcelona when he was asked to play alongside Maradona in a Rest of the World team against a Football League XI. Every player was in awe, Lineker recalled. He just had this unbelievable presence.

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World Cup final: Argentina wont buckle like Brazil, says Pablo Zabaleta

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 02:30 PM PDT

Full-back says side is too strong to suffer same fate as hosts
Confidence untouched as team prepares to face Germany

Argentina will learn the lessons of Brazils World Cup humiliation and maintain the steely focus that has taken them to the brink of a historic victory in their neighbours backyard, according to Pablo Zabaleta.

As Alejandro Sabellas agent revealed to an Argentinian radio station that he planned to step down after the World Cup final, Zabaleta vowed to ensure their coach went out on a high against Germany .

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Germany want to achieve something special, says Arsenals Per Mertesacker

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 02:30 PM PDT

Brazil thrashing wont affect our focus, says centre-back
Everyone has had to calm down after midweek, he says

Per Mertesacker has admitted the emphatic nature of Germanys semi-final victory over Brazil could prove dangerous as the team seek to ward off complacency and secure a fourth World Cup in s showpiece against Argentina.

The 7-1 dismissal of the hosts in Belo Horizonte, the Seleçaos heaviest ever defeat, has established Joachim Löws side as favourites to claim their fourth World Cup at the Maracanã on Sundaywith their players confidence soaring. They boast the most threatening and fluid midfield in the tournament, the World Cups all-time record goalscorer in Miroslav Klose, and huge incentive as they attempt to claim the trophy for the first time since 1990.

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Southampton manager Ronald Koeman hits out at Dejan Lovren

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 02:30 PM PDT

Dutchman tells defender he is not going to Liverpool
Koeman insists that Saints will not sell more players Continue reading...

Louis Van Gaal: Third-place play-off is important for Dutch World Cup legacy video

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 02:26 PM PDT

Dutch coach Louis Van Gaal says the team can still write history for the Netherlands. Van Gaal says that, as this will be his final match as manager, the players might want to give him a present in the form of a victory. The Netherlands face Brazil in the third-place playoff Continue reading...

Germany v Argentina: final meeting of two golden generations

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 01:22 PM PDT

Two promising crops meet on Sunday in a World Cup final that celebrates collective brilliance rather than individual genius

Rio de Janeiro has spent the last few days before the World Cup final in a state of rather clunky pathetic fallacy. As is often the case at this time of year Brazils beach-front capital has been drenched with Atlantic rain storms, as though and here the music begins to swell, the berimbau strings to plonk poignantly reflecting the tears of a nation, the day the samba died. The salt-water caipirinha of that 7-1 semi-final thrashing by Germany in Belo Horizonte, a result that has, in reality, been accepted with a gasp and a bemused shrug of the shoulders.

It is always tempting to look for wider patterns in sport. As Germany and Argentina prepare to contest their own final at Brazils gaudily trailed Copa Das Copas there is a natural urge to find a broader story, to gouge some more fulsome narrative out of how and why these two teams have ended up contesting the last match of a spectacular and hungrily consumed World Cup. The first time these nations met in a World Cup final in 1986 the match resembled in outline a kind of sporting parable: systems and team play versus a lone spike of individual genius, the ballad of el Diego against the machines. It would perhaps be tempting to see something similar here. There is no i in Deutsche Fussballmannschaft, but there is a me in Messi and much of the pre-match hype will centre on the possibility the worlds most alluring attacker can provide some decisive spark of individualism in a match contested otherwise by two measured teams: Argentinas mix of subdued attack and worthy defence and Germanys supremely gifted crop of processed modern footballers. As ever sport tends to defy this kind of analysis. In the event the 1986 World Cup final was decided by a set piece header plus goals from two European-based players, with Diego Maradona in controlled mode, picking off a slightly ragged West Germany at the death. Similarly the urge to see this final as a meeting of Mannschaft-spiel and Messi-spiel overlooks perhaps the finals most intriguing pre-match detail.

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Lionel Messi and Neymar on list for World Cup Golden Ball award

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 01:13 PM PDT

Fifa announces 10 candidates for best player at tournament
Seven on the list play either for Argentina or Germany

Fifa has included Lionel Messi and Neymar on a 10-player list of candidates to be named the World Cups best player.

Seven of the 10 nominees for the Golden Ball come from the finalists, Argentina and Germany. The winner will announced after Sundays final.

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Italys Nicola Rizzoli selected to referee World Cup final

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 12:42 PM PDT

Faced Belgian accusations of favouring Messi and Argentina
Italian took charge of 2013 Champions League final

The Italian official accused last week of favouring Argentina and Lionel Messi has been chosen to referee their World Cup final against Germany.

Nicola Rizzoli, a 42-year-old who refereed the 2013 Champions League final at Wembley, will take charge of the match in the Maracanã on Sunday but his appointment may be controversial.

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Aston Villa sign Kieran Richardson from Fulham on two-year contract

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 12:30 PM PDT

Former England midfielder leaves relegated side
Richardson almost joined Villa as a schoolboy

Aston Villa have announced the signing of Kieran Richardson from relegated Fulham. The 29-year-old, who can play on the left side of defence or midfield, has agreed a two-year contract at Villa Park with a further years option.

Richardson has won eight senior England caps, scoring two goals, with his last appearance for his country coming in 2006.

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World Cup touting row: Fifa partner says Ray Whelan is not 'fugitive'

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 12:00 PM PDT

Police say Whelan, wanted over ticket touting allegations, fled luxury hotel before re-arrest, but Match says he is with a lawyer Continue reading...

Life after 7-1: what happens to footballers after a defeat like Brazil's?

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 11:53 AM PDT

Brazil's World Cup players know the ignominy of their 7-1 defeat will be with them for life. They are not alone. We recall other footballing disasters and their sometimes tragic consequences

Next week the players who represented Brazil at this year's World Cup will go on holiday and remember being successes. Born poor boys in most cases, they have become, in every case, extremely rich and envied men. None was universally liked before Tuesday no footballer quite transcends his tribe but they could count on the affection of a few million people at least, which is a few million more than most of us can say. And all those millions required was to watch them do their best. Victory could be dreamed of, but everybody knew it would be hard to realise without Neymar or Thiago Silva. As it turned out, the world, Brazil and the players themselves all discovered that their worst was worse than expected.

So next week, on their private beaches, the players will wonder what kind of punishment awaits a Brazilian who has exposed his nation to ridicule and ignominy on a day when the world had gathered to watch them showing off. And the worst thing is, straight after wondering, they'll know.

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Joachim Löw can steer Germany to World Cup glory against Argentina

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 11:48 AM PDT

The way Germany crushed Brazil makes them favourites in the final but dont count out some Lionel Messi magic

So here we are: Germany and Argentina, two traditional football nations, will decide the 2014 World Cup and no one can say they dont deserve to be within one game of the trophy.

While demonstrating different profiles and styles, both negotiated passage through one of the most competitive tournaments in history and we are in for a very special game at the Maracanã. I have the feeling it will be more like chess than the festival of sprints we have seen throughout this World Cup but it should still be memorable.

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Sergio Agüero: To win the World Cup Argentina must deny Germany space video

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 11:45 AM PDT

Argentina duo Sergio Agüero and Maxi Rodriguez talk about facing Germany in the World Cup final. Agüero says Argentina must stick to their own game plan but not give Germany any space to play in. Rodriguez says it is a dream to be in the World Cup final and that it will be a privilege just to play the match Continue reading...

World Cup 2014: Miroslav Klose puts Germany win before scoring record

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 11:40 AM PDT

If we lose the final my joy as top scorer will be dampened
Klose says Germany must play at their best to beat Argentina

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Joachim Löws Germany adapt to occupy middle ground in Brazil

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 10:36 AM PDT

Germanys coach needed to change counterattacking tactics from 2010 World Cup and put greater emphasis on midfielders

Unbeatable for years to come. That was Franz Beckenbauers confident vision for a soon-to-be reunited Germany after leading them a World Cup triumph in Rome in 1990. It did not quite work out that way. The legions of East German players who would provide even more guile and firepower to the Nationalmannschaft in The Kaisers grand vision trickled down to a handful before too long, and a football nation punch drunk on winning Euro 1996 with an antiquated sweeper system failed to realise that the train heading towards modernity had left the station without them.

Only two years later, the national coach, Berti Vogts, was rummaging through the family tree of the Brazilian striker Paulo Rink, a journeyman from Bayer Leverkusen, in an desperate and successful attempt to unearth a German grandmother. The South Africa-born forward Sean Dundee (later a regular non-scorer at Liverpool) was hastily naturalised with the help of the government, despite not having any German ancestry whatsoever. Where had all the players gone?

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World Cup third-place play-off: the unloved match that can stir the soul

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 10:33 AM PDT

Brazil v Holland for the World Cup consolation prize may appear a flawed spectacle but history shows it can still deliver

The third-place play-off at the World Cup is notorious as the match no player wants to contest, no manager wants to oversee and few punters want to watch. Its reputation is hardly surprising, as it is an unpalatable proposition for two disillusioned teams: a contest between two squads who have had their chance to play in the greatest game of all snatched away at the last and who just want to go home.

Yet despite its fundamentally flawed premise, this unloved fixture has delivered time and again, cementing a couple of legends, breaking a record or two, setting the scene for one of the greatest goals of all time and even providing a little succour to bruised souls.

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Crystal Palace close to signing Fraizer Campbell from Cardiff City

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 10:15 AM PDT

Release clause triggered with £600,000 offer for striker
Salary details still to be finalised with 26-year-old

Crystal Palace are confident of signing the Cardiff City striker Fraizer Campbell over the weekend after meeting the £600,000 release clause in his contract. Negotiations are continuing over his salary but an agreement is close, with Palace offering the former Sunderland player an immediate return to the Premier League.

Campbell, 26, was earning £32,000 a week at Cardiff though those wages came down significantly following relegation back to the Championship after only one season in the top flight.

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World Cup final: live Argentina v Germany webchat from Brazil

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 08:54 AM PDT

Daniel Taylor was online from Rio de Janeiro to answer your questions about the biggest match in the game

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World Cup 2014: US and Canada show signs of falling in love with soccer

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 07:55 AM PDT

56% of Americans polled are following tournament's climax
Canadians buy more tickets than other non-competing nations

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World Cup 2014: countdown to Germany v Argentina as it happened

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 07:53 AM PDT

World Cup 2014 day-by-day: the road to the Germany v Argentina final

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 07:39 AM PDT

From great group stages to penalty shootouts, Luis Suárezs bite and Brazils Mineiraço, the story of the 2014 World Cup

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The Luis Suárez story: Anfield life and crimes - in pictures

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 07:28 AM PDT

Argentina v Germany: who will win the 2014 World Cup final? - video

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 06:49 AM PDT

The Guardian's chief sports correspondent Owen Gibson and senior sports writer Barney Ronay discuss the highly anticipated World Cup final between Germany and Argentina on Sunday. After reflecting on Brazil's 7-1 thrashing, Ronay and Gibson analyse the strength and weaknesses of the finalists, looking at the role of Messi and Özil in their respective teams Continue reading...

World Cup final 2014 in statistics: Argentina v Germany tactical preview

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 06:44 AM PDT

Argentina struggle to get the best from Lionel Messi when Ángel di María is not fit and Germany have the World Cup's two in-form goalscorers. Will the best team or the best player win the final?

The 2014 World Cup final is upon us, with the competition's two best teams set to face off on Sunday night. Both have endured and emerged from wobbles at some point in the tournament, but their ability to stand strong has set them apart from Brazil, Holland and Colombia.

While Germany threw away a lead and very nearly lost to Ghana in the group stages before being taken to extra time by Algeria, Argentina were taken to the wire by Iran, Switzerland and Holland. Given the manner of their victories in the semi-finals, Joachim Löw's team will go into the final the more confident. The motivation of winning the World Cup on Brazilian soil combined with the vast Argentinian presence in Rio de Janeiro may spur them on to an unlikely victory. They also have Lionel Messi.

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World Cup Show 2014: day 30 previews video

Posted: 11 Jul 2014 05:31 AM PDT

Nat Coombs is joined by Andy Zaltzman to preview possibly the most anticipated game of World Cup 2014 ... no sorry it's the 3rd-place playoff: Brazil vs Holland. Andy highlights his Five Things To Watch, amongst them are: Louis Van Gaal's 0-0 genius, Dirk Kuyt wingback extraordinaire and will Brazil's reserves be able to step down to the plate and avoid embarrassing the underperforming stars any further. Don't forget to check out our brand new YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/GuardianFootball Continue reading...
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