The Malaysian Insider :: Sports
The Malaysian Insider :: Sports |
| Swiss among World Cup seeds, Italy miss out Posted: 17 Oct 2013 02:26 AM PDT Spain, Argentina, Germany, Colombia, Belgium and hosts Brazil will also be seeded, as will Uruguay, if they beat Jordan in a two-leg playoff next month. If Uruguay do not qualify, Netherlands, joint eighth with Italy in the rankings, will take their place among the seeds. FIFA previously ruled that Brazil (ranked 11th on Thursday) plus the top seven ranked teams would be seeded for the draw at the Costa da Sauipe tropical beach resort on December 6. Portugal, Greece, Croatia and Ukraine will be the seeded teams in next Monday's draw for the European zone playoff round, which also features France, Iceland, Sweden and Romania. The Swiss, who completed their World Cup qualifying group unbeaten to reach the finals for the third time in a row, leapt seven places thanks to their wins over Albania and Slovenia this month. Italy had been fourth but paid dearly for drawing 2-2 at home to Armenia on Tuesday. FIFA have said that second, third and fourth seeds would be determined later. "The remaining pots will be based on geographic and sporting criteria," they said. There is likely to be more controversy over the complicated system used to calculate the rankings especially as Switzerland had arguably the easiest path to the World Cup of any team. They faced Iceland, Slovenia, Albania, Cyprus and Norway in a group which saw Iceland finish second. FIFA said yesterday that France had been "in contact" over the seeding system for the playoff round and had been told the rules could not be changed during the course of the competition. Only two Asian teams managed to make the top 50, Japan (44) and Iran (49). Ivory Coast (17) are Africa's top performers. 1. Spain (1); 2. Germany (3); 3. Argentina (2); 4. Colombia (5); 5. Belgium (6); 6. Uruguay (7); 7. Switzerland (14); 8. Netherlands (9); 8. Italy (4); 10. England (17). – October 17, 2013. |
| Italian football needs foreign backers, says Cannavaro Posted: 16 Oct 2013 11:19 PM PDT World Cup-winning captain Fabio Cannavaro welcomed the sale of Inter Milan to an Indonesian businessman and said Italy needs foreign backers in troubled economic times. The former world player of the year, who played two seasons with Inter, said Italian football is in dire need of a cash injection and domestic investors are thin on the ground. He was speaking after Indonesian billionaire Erick Thohir this week snapped up a majority stake in Serie A giants Inter in the first Asian purchase of an Italian club. "I'm happy about it because we don't have investors in Italy," he told AFP. "We need new forces because our football needs to grow from the economic point of view. We need to improve the quality of stadiums and infrastructure." Media and sports mogul Thohir, who also owns Major League Soccer outfit DC United and basketball's Philadelphia 76ers, has a reputation for turning troubled businesses around. He acquired a 70 percent stake in Inter for an undisclosed fee. Inter are reported to be desperate for a new stadium away from the San Siro, which they share with city rivals AC Milan. Inter become only the second foreign-owned Serie A club after AS Roma, who were sold to Americans Thomas DiBenedetto and James Pallotta two years ago. Cannavaro said he had no concerns about following the example of English football, where foreign ownership has produced mixed results. "I think it's a great thing," the Italian said. "If people invest in our football, it creates work for a lot of people and at the moment in Europe, we need that," he said. Cannavaro has called time on his glittering playing career, highlighted by Italy's 2006 World Cup win and his world player of the year award in the same year. After distinguished stints at Parma, Juventus and Real Madrid, and setting a new Italian record for international caps, he is now assistant coach at Al-Ahli in the UAE. He had praise for Marcello Lippi, his coach when Italy won the World Cup, who has steered Guangzhou Evergrande to the AFC Champions League final after his surprise move to China. "He's shown once again that he's one of the best coaches in the world. Before, people used to say he was good because he coached Juventus. Then they used to say he was good because he coached a strong national team," Cannavaro said. "Now they will say he's great because he's winning everything in China and they're in the final of the Asian Champions League. I think he's doing a great job." Lippi, 65, now stands to add the Asian continental title to the European equivalent, which he won with Juventus in 1996, when Guangzhou face FC Seoul in the two-legged final. Cannavaro said he was not surprised by Lippi's success and paid tribute to the "sacrifices" made by the 65-year-old in moving to a new country late in his career. "To reach a Champions League final isn't easy, whether it's in Europe or Asia," he said. "I hope he can win, because of the sacrifices he's making. It's not easy to be going on the pitch and living in another country at 60 years old." - AFP, October 17, 2013. |
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