Lee Wellings: England hopes, not expects in 2014

How important is it to you that your country succeeds on the football pitch?

And what would World Cup success mean to you?

The announcement of the England squad for the tournament raised this question for me.

Surrounded by English hype about the Ashley Cole-less 23 I was in a fortunate work position of being able to treat it as simply the latest of 32 squads. Interesting, without it being a major story.

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Protests will be aimed at politicians, says Brazilian legal official

UMS053 BRAZIL PROTESTS

By Andrew Warshaw in Jordan
May 14- The demonstrations and street protests that have marred Brazil’s reputation and increased safety fears in the buildup to the World Cup will be aimed more at politicians than football if they are repeated during the tournament.

That was the claim made today at Soccerex Asian Forum by Pitagoras Dytz, a legal adviser to the Brazilian Sports Ministry.

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Matt Scott: FA’s stats analysis is as flawed as its development

“Most of the harm in the world is done by good people, and not by accident, lapse, or omission. It is the result of their deliberate actions, long persevered in, which they hold to be motivated by high ideals toward virtuous ends.” Isabel Paterson, The God of the Machine

Since it first issued from its English womb on a centuries-long odyssey of global cultural conquest, the game of football has been like a scornful child towards its disdained parent.

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World Cup tourist spending forecast to top $3 billion

Brazilian fans 3

By David Owen
May 13 – World Cup tourist spending in Brazil in June and July may exceed $3 billion, the Brazilian Government has forecast. In the latest of a series of announcements that appear designed, in part, to convince ordinary Brazilians that staging sports mega-events is a good investment for South America’s biggest country, the Ministry of Tourism unveiled research findings suggesting that foreign tourists would spend nearly $2,500 each, excluding airfares,

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Mihir Bose: Dyke’s cure for depression is in his own hands

Greg Dyke says Manchester City winning the Premiership is depressing, given how few English players they have. There is, of course, nothing he can do about how City chooses its team, let alone force the City manager to field more players so as to help Roy Hodgson when the England manager comes to select his squad.

Yet there is one way the chairman of the Football Association could get over his depression. That is by getting the FA to pass a sporting regulation similar to one that many countries have.

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Inside Insight: What does the ‘zero’ in tolerance really mean!?

Lewis Hamilton in Spain, Dani Alves the other week, now Kevin Constant of AC Milan v. Atalanta Bergamo – only a few people who suffered racist abuse by “fans” of Formula 1 and Football.

The list is of course much longer than the three names mentioned above, and it appears that some very sick pigs disguised as “fans” take particular joy in insulting those whose performance gives them fun and joy. One would have thought.

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Inside Insight: What does the ‘zero’ in tolerance really mean!?

Kevin Constant

May 14 – Lewis Hamilton in Spain, Dani Alves the other week, now Kevin Constant of AC Milan v. Atalanta Bergamo – only a few people who suffered racist abuse by “fans” of Formula 1 and Football. The list is of course much longer than the three names mentioned above, and it appears that some very sick pigs disguised as “fans” take particular joy in insulting those whose performance gives them fun and joy. One would have thought.

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