Van Gaal Confirmed Netherlands Final 23 for World Cup 2014

Netherlands’ head coach, Louis Van Gaal has made his final decision over the 23 players that he will be taking into 2014 World Cup in Brazil and there were no major surprise as all established players are there.

Basically, from the top names that were summoned into Dutch’s temporary squad, only Rafael Van der Vaart who won’t be flying to Brazil, but he was ruled out due to injury few days before Van Gaal confirmed his selection.

Some of the names that Van Gaal decided to left out from his final 23 are young talents such as Tonny Vilhena, Karim Rekik, Quincy Promes, Jean-Paul Boetius, Jeroen Zoet along with Patrick van Aanholt.

That decision is somewhat predictable by many Netherlands fans as they acknowledge that in order to compete with Spain, Chile and Australia, Van Gaal can’t afford to make any surprise decision by leaving out any of the top names.

Already losing out Kevin Strootman due to his long term injury which was followed by Van der Vaart, Van Gaal will be hoping that none of his current 23 got any injury issues especially those important names such as Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder.

Final 23-man Netherlands squad:

Goalkeepers: Jasper Cillessen (Ajax), Michel Vorm (Swansea City), Tim Krul (Newcastle United)

Defenders: Paul Verhaegh (Augsburg), Daryl Janmaat (Feyenoord), Joel Veltman (Ajax), Stefan de Vrij (Feyenoord), Ron Vlaar (Aston Villa), Bruno Martins Indi (Feyenoord), Terence Kongolo (Feyenoord), Daley Blind (Ajax)

Midfielders: Leroy Fer (Norwich City), Nigel de Jong (AC Milan), Jordy Clasie (Feyenoord), Jonathan de Guzman (Swansea City), Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV), Wesley Sneijder (Galatasaray)

Forwards: Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich), Robin van Persie (Manchester United), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke), Dirk Kuyt (Fenerbahce), Jeremain Lens (Dynamo Kiev), Memphis Depay (PSV) 

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England team to Face Italy while Uruguay Challenge in World Cup 2014 Group

World Cup 2014 group finals have been drawn this Friday and there were some interesting pairing which should provide nothing but entertainment for football lovers all over the globe with tough nations being placed in the same group. Group D can be considered as one of those interesting setup with three former champions, England, Italy along with Uruguay being paired up along with Concacaf side, Costa Rica. On paper those three nations would be competing hard for a place in the knock out stages, but Costa Rica can’t be taken for granted as surprise is not an uncommon thing in this type of event.

Meanwhile, home team, Brazil have a tricky test as they are being paired with Croatia, Mexico along with Cameroon, although based on recent form, Luiz Felipe Scolari’s men should still be strong favorites in advancing from group A, but they must put a strong focus on all of their opponents. Another difficult group is being handed to United States as they will be facing Germany, Portugal along with African giant, Ghana in Group G.

Defending champions, Spain are set to battle with Holland, Australia and also Chile in Group B, this setup  should also provide some interesting matches and give some challenge for Vicente Del Bosque’s side. France national side can considered themselves being drawn in a relatively ‘light’ group as they are being paired with Switzerland, Ecuador along with Honduras.

Here is the complete Drawing for World Cup 2014 Finals:

Group A
Brazil, Croatia, Mexico, Cameroon

Group B
Spain, Netherlands, Chile, Australia

Group C
Colombia, Greece, Ivory Coast, Japan

Group D
Uruguay, Costa Rica, England, Italy

Group E
Switzerland, Ecuador, France, Honduras

Group F
Argentina, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Iran, Nigeria

Group G
Germany, Portugal, Ghana, USA

Group H
Belgium, Algeria, Russia, Korea Republic

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Qatar World Cup Controversy

In 2022, Qatar will become the world’s first Arab country to host the World Cup. The Qatar 2022 World Cup bid committee, headed by Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad, said that bringing the World Cup to Qatar would improve relationships between the West and the Middle East. Fifa President Sepp Blatter said that “the Arabic world deserves a World Cup” as it has 22 countries and has not had any opportunity to host the World Cup so far. However, Fifa’s decision to permit Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup is embroiled in controversies.

Bribe Allegations

Testifying before a parliamentary inquiry committee in UK in May 2011, Lord Triesman of the English Football Association alleged that Fifa committee members Jack Warner and Nicolas Leoz demanded $4 million and honorary knighthood, respectively, in exchange for their votes. Besides, two reporters from Sunday Times testified that they had received information about members Jacques Anouma and Issa Hayatou each receiving $1.5 million to vote in favor of the Qatar bid. These allegations forced Fifa to order an internal probe into the issue. If the allegations are proved right, another vote might be held on the Qatar 2022 World Cup bid.

Heat

When it was pointed out to Qatari officials that it could get as hot as 50 degrees Celsius during the World Cup season, they said that they have all the cooling technology required to bring the temperature down to 25 degrees Celsius within the stadium. However, these cooling technologies have never been tested for efficacy in large stadia and Qatar cannot guarantee that it will keep things cool enough during the sweltering heat.

Blatter’s Insensitive LGBT Remark

Fifta’s acceptance of Qatar’s 2022 World Cup bid was also questioned because homosexuality is a crime in Qatar. Blatter was severely criticized for saying, “I would say they should refrain from any sexual activities.”

Speaking on BBC Radio 5, John Amaechi, a gay athlete and former basketball star, referred to Blatter’s remark as “absurd” and said that the issue is not about getting a sanction to have sex, but about “the fact that Qatar was one of 79 countries to sanction executing gays at the United Nations.”

This isn’t all. In early 2013, The Guardian reported about Qatari construction companies, commissioned to construct structures for the 2022 World Cup, hiring Nepalese laborers, forcing them to work under unsafe conditions, and preventing them from leaving by holding their work permits and passports.

Rather than worrying about the issues that will continue unabated we suggest you visit Gambling Africa. Its not going to cause any stress at all.

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Barcelona renews Busquets' contract for five years

Barcelona's sporting director,  Andoni Zubizarreta, declared on Tuesday that the Spanish club reached an agreement with midfielder Sergio Busquets to renew his contract until 2018, with the possibility of renewing it again in the future.
And in a press conference in Barcelona's sport city, which was held with the artistic director of the Catalan club, Tito Vilanova, said Zubizarreta that the midfielder contract is being  held by a penalty clause of 150 million euros.

And by extending Busquets' contract, Barcelona will now renew Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique contracts as well.

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Hagueyen to Arsenal for 27 million Euros

Spanish media reported on Thursday that the Argentinian international front line player Gonzalo Higuain is planning to leave Real Madrid and joining Arsenal.

Reports indicated that Arsenal will pay 27 million euros (35 million dollars) to join Hagueyen (25 years old,) who joined Real Madrid coming from River Plate in 2007.

Higuain did not receive wide popularity among the fans of the Royal Club, and he, explicitly, declared his desire to leave the team in May of  last year after being targeted badly by the fans.

In addition to this, Hagueyen's father, Jorge Higuain said: "We've got permission from Real Madrid to negotiate directly with Arsenal and, fortunately, I'll see my son soon in the Premier League."
 

Similarly, the other attacker, Jose Kayekhoun, intends to leave Real Madrid as well and join Napoli, through a possible deal, which could see the transition of the Uruguayan attacker, Edenson Cavani to Royal Club.

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