By Andrew Warshaw
July 8 – Brazilian police have arrested a British director of a FIFA partner company as the ongoing investigation into the illegal sale of World Cup tickets intensifies. Ray Whelan from Match Hospitality, a familiar face at recent World Cups, was detained at a Rio de Janeiro hotel where officials from the world’s football governing body were also staying.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 8 – The man who devised the revolutionary vanishing spray that been used at the World Cup to keep defensive walls 10 yards (9.15 metres) from the ball at freekicks says he has no immediate interest in making money and just wants his invention to be taken up globally.
July 8 – The first of two Europe vs South America giant clashes. In 20 meetings Brazil have won 12 times and Germany just four times. But Germany may not come across a better time to meet a Brazil team without their inspirational goalscorer Neymar out, and with their dominant captain Thaigo Silva suspended. Bring it on!
By Andrew Warshaw
July 8 – FIFA have forcefully denied suggestions that referees have been deliberately ordered not to hand out red and yellow cards at the World Cup in order to provide a more entertaining spectacle.
By David Owen
July 7 – And so, with just four of the 64 matches remaining, Brazil 2014 has come down, as one always suspected it might, to a duel between the two biggest brands and the two confederations whose top teams have monopolised the World Cup trophy for 84 years.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 7 – As the investigation continues into last week’s tragic accident in the World Cup host city of Belo Horizonte, when part of a flyover collapsed killing two people and injuring many others, no-one will have been more devastated than the city’s top tournament official.
July 7 – Tim Krul, the Netherlands goalkeeper who entered footballing folklore by coming off the bench to preserve his country’s World Cup hopes in Saturday’s quarterfinal with Costa Rica, has defended his behaviour in the buildup to the dramatic penalty shootout.
July 7 – As well as being without their two best players, the injured Neymar and suspended skipper Thiago Silva, Brazil will also be missing their communications chief Rodrigo Paiva (pictured) at Tuesday’s World Cup semi-final against Germany.
July 4 – Brazil 2014 World Cup summer fever has bumped heads with the much-talked about June heat in Qatar. But not all fans have been getting hot under the collar as Qatar 2022 organisers have been testing cooling technology in an open air fan zone in Katera, Doha.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 4 – The man leading FIFA’s fight to cut out discrimination has said that insufficient effort has been made by the authorities at the World Cup and that there has been a “disconnect” between the stated aim and what has actually occurred.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 4 – In the first serious infrastructure tragedy during the World Cup, at least two people have been killed and several more injured after part of an unfinished overpass collapsed on to vehicles in the host city of Belo Horizonte.
By Ben Nicholson
July 4 – Whilst head coach Jurgen Klinsmann wrote the USA a ‘sick-note’ urging employers to allow fans to watch their world cup game, Colombian government workers have been afforded the luxury minus the paperwork by their own President.
July 3 – This week’s 20th anniversary of the death of former Colombian defender Andres Escobar continues to capture the imagination.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 3 – FIFA has asked the German news magazine Der Spiegel to come up with the evidence of its conversation with convicted match-fixer Wilson Raj Perumal amid the ongoing confusion over whether Cameroon’s players deliberately rigged their games at the World Cup.
By David Owen
July 2 – Clubs as diverse as Aalesunds FK, Columbus Crew and Deportivo Saprissa are set to receive bigger-than-expected World Cup windfalls, as a consequence of Costa Rica’s improbable run to the quarter-finals of Brazil 2014.