German World Cup winners welcomed home by hundreds of thousands

Hundreds of thousands of jubilant Germans welcomed their triumphant national football team home in Berlin on Tuesday, waving flags and wearing the national colours as they basked in the nation’s fourth World Cup victory.
Landing at the capital’s Tegel airport, the captain Philipp Lahm led the team down the plane’s stairs holding above his head the golden trophy secured in Sunday’s final, with midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger close behind him wrapped in a German flag.
Nearly half a million revellers packed Berlin’s “fan mile”. a 1.3km stretch of road running from the west of the capital up to the iconic Brandenburg Gate, for a massive party. Many more lined the streets in the city centre along the team’s route.
Fans in Germany shirts, many with their faces painted in black, red and gold and some wearing wigs and bandanas in the national colours, had

Manchester City confident of sealing £32m deal for Eliaquim Mangala

Manchester City are hopeful of finally landing Porto’s Eliaquim Mangala for around £32m, in what will be the champions’ most expensive signing of the summer window.
While the club is not expecting to announce the transfer in the next 48 hours, there is a quiet confidence the France central defender will

World Cup!!!

Brazil’s Neymar is out of World Cup after breaking vertebra

Brazil’s bid to win a sixth World Cup has suffered a devastating blow after Neymar was ruled out of the rest of the tournament after fracturing a bone in his back during the quarter-final victory against Colombia.
The Barcelona striker was taken off the pitch on a stretcher after taking a knee to the back from the Colombia defender Juan Zuniga late in the game.
He was taken to a private clinic in Fortaleza – “crying out in pain”, according to the Brazil manager, Luiz Felipe Scolari, – where an X-ray revealed

World cup Table

Group A

Pos	Team	Pts
1	Brazil	7
2	Mexico	7
3	Croatia	3
4	Cameroon	0

Lionel Messi hits double in Argentina win but Nigeria go through too

This is a great World Cup and it has a great soundtrack. To the tune of Bad Moon Rising, Nigeria and Argentina scored five more goals when they did not really need to score any. There were two each for Ahmed Musa and for Lionel Messi, the latter becoming the tournament’s joint top scorer alongside Brazil’s Neymar. Both teams progressed and these finals will be a better place for their presence. They could have played out a draw, ambled their way to a flat and mutually beneficial conclusion, but instead there were two goals after

Uruguayan FA defends Luis Suárez, claiming bite marks are Photoshopped

The Uruguayan Football Association has gone on the offensive in an effort to save Luis Suárez from a lengthy ban for biting Giorgio Chiellini, claiming he is the victim of a smear campaign by the Italians, the English media and the Brazilian hosts.
As Suárez came under pressure from his sponsors, fellow professionals and Fifa’s disciplinary committee after sinking his teeth into Chiellini’s shoulder, the Uruguayan FA attempted to circle the wagons.
Executives from Adidas, the sportswear company that said when he previously bit Chelsea’s Branislav Ivanovic and earned a 10-match

Wayne Rooney apologises for England’s ‘devastating’ World Cup exit

The 27-year-old, who scored his first-ever goal in a World Cup finals during England’s 2-1 defeat to Uruguay, posted the message after Costa Rica’s surprise 1-0 win over Italy confirmed their exit.

The former Germany captain, Michael Ballack, has come out in support of Rooney, saying that suggestions that he should be dropped before the tournament were “crazy”.

“For me the only player who looked like making a difference for England was Rooney. He is the only one who can hurt teams, and

Colombia use fervent following to inflict comfortable defeat on Greece

The World Cup will miss Radamel Falcao but Colombia have started just fine without him. Confident, composed and always in control against an ineffective Greece side, José Pékerman’s insistence that they will go on without their talismanic striker was vindicated convincingly in Belo Horizonte. Dark horses indeed.

Colombia had lost three of their four opening fixtures at the World Cup finals but an opening victory in Group C was not in doubt from the moment the former West Ham defender Pablo Armero scuffed them into a fifth-minute lead. Teófilo Gutiérrez

Australia’s fighting spirit not enough as Alexis Sánchez fires up Chile

In defeat, some regret; but much dignity. When the Socceroos were drawn to play Chile in the refitted Arena Pantanal’s first match of this World Cup many were expecting Australia to be on the end of a hiding.

But where for much of a slow, startle-eyed opening 20 minutes Australia looked likely to make good on those dire predictions, in the 70 minutes that followed there was much that the coach, Ange Postecoglou, will rightly see as immensely encouraging.

Chile were good to their promise of unflagging, almost irrational, attack, the outstanding front two of Eduardo Vargas and Alexis Sánchez 

Mexico’s Peralta finally sees off Cameroon after referee fluffs his lines

This was the second game of the World Cup and for the second game all the talk after the final whistle was about the referees. The main difference between this game and the opener between Croatia and Brazil less than 24 hours before, however, was that the decisions, in the end, did not influence the result.

The victory carried Mexico into second place in Group A, level on points with Brazil, and also, probably, spared Fifa’s blushes. Peralta’s goal

Spain v Holland: World Cup 2014 – as it happened

Good evening. At the start of every new Mad Men series, you don't have to look too hard to find people saying that it's lost its touch. Not as good as it was. They should have ended it years ago. It can never be the same again. How can you maintain those standards? Impossible. Should have gone out when they were out on top, like The Office, Fawlty Towers or One Tree Hill did, and now all they're left with are memories of the glory days – and what are they worth? Nothing. They're worth. Yesterday's darlings, today's nobodies and to think that they were once such a big deal. Look how young they once looked! And now look. 

Rabid nonsense, of course. It's still good, still better than the competition, and you can guarantee that the same people who were so 

World cup table

Group A
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	2	1	1	0	3	1	2	4
Croatia	2	1	0	1	5	3	2	3
Mexico	2	1	1	0	1	0	1	4
Camaroon	2	0	0	2	0	5	-5	0

World cupp!!!!!!!!!!

World Cup Time Table

Group A
Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Croatia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Mexico	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Camaroon	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

World cup almost!!!!!!!!!

Scotland have to settle for a draw as Nigeria snatch late equaliser

The Nigeria coach, Stephen Keshi, insisted his players are “not gamblers” after his side twice came from behind to deny Scotland a fifth victory in six. His comments came after Gordon Strachan’s side produced an impressive performance to provide further hope that their years in the wilderness are coming to an end.
Before this game the Scottish Football Association was contacted by the National Crime Agency about a potential match-fixing threat. In the end Nigeria secured a draw in the 90th minute through Uche Nwofor, adding to an earlier effort from Michael Uchebo and cancelling out Charlie Mulgrew’s improvised opener and an own-goal from Azubuike Egwuekwe.
In an incident that was timed unfortunately given the events of the week the Nigeria goalkeeper, Austin Ejide, appeared to deflect the ball into

Swansea City sign Lukasz Fabianski on a free transfer from Arsenal

Swansea City have signed goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski from Arsenal on a four-year contract, the Welsh club have confirmed.

The 29-year-old will join on 1 July on the expiration of his Arsenal contract to end a seven-year spell with the north London club, one that he signed off on with a FA Cup final victory over Hull last earlier this month.

Manchester United owner Malcolm Glazer dies aged 86

Malcolm Glazer, the head of the family that own Manchester United, died on Wednesday morning aged 86, in his hometown of Tampa.
While Glazer drove the controversial process that took control of United for the family in 2005 by leveraging the club with a £500m-plus debt, his recent failing health had meant that two of his sons, Joel and Avram, took on the hands-on role of leading the club. His passing should have little if any effect on the overall structure of the club, with the family retaining a 90% share with the remaining 10% listed on the New York stock exchange.
A statement from the 20-times champions last night said: “The thoughts of all at the club are with the family at this time.”

Chelsea in talks with Atlético Madrid for left-back Filipe Luís

Chelsea have resumed talks with Atlético Madrid over the recruitment of the highly rated Brazilian left-back Filipe Luís, one of three potential signings by the Premier League club from the Spanish league winners.
Luís was a key member of the Atlético defence, backed up by the Chelsea loanee Thibaut Courtois in goal, that shipped only 26 goals in 38 games to claim a first league title since 1996. The 28-year-old full-back moved to Vicente Calderón from Deportivo la Coruña four years ago and, while he suggested after Saturday’s Champions League final defeat by Real Madrid that he intended to honour the final three years of his contract, the London club are confident they can lure him to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea are seeking a replacement for the departing Ashley Cole, whose eight-year stay will end when his contract expires at the end of