By David Owen
July 2 – It’s neck and neck in the Battle of the Brands as the World Cup takes a pause before moving on to the quarter-final matches. Sportswear heavyweights Nike and Adidas each supplies the kit for three of the eight Brazil 2014 survivors. Puma, however, has faded from the picture, after none of its eight teams progressed beyond the Last 16 stage.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 2 – Twenty years after the darkest episode in their country’s footballing history, a Twitter campaign has been launched to mark today’s anniversary of the death of Andres Escobar, the Colombian defender tragically gunned down for scoring an own goal in a World Cup group match against the United States.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 2 – The convicted match-fixer at the centre of allegations surrounding Cameroon’s World Cup squad has denied he predicted the outcome of their match against Croatia which prompted international speculation of corruption at the tournament.
July 2 – A poll has found that the majority of fans attending the 2014 world cup games are white and wealthy. This might be surprising, seeing as Brazil is a racially diverse nation and has a higher population of blacks than all nations in the world excepting Nigeria, yet probably isn’t since we are used to this demographic being over represented at the world cup due to the costs of tickets, travel and accommodation.
July 1 – Media officers, however strong their allegiance to their country, are not supposed to get involved in any heated incidents.
July 1 – The 2014 World Cup continues to break records as it makes Facebook and Twitter history. The event has generated more activity on Facebook than any other event ever. There have been over 1 billion World Cup interactions, with more than 220 million people posting, liking or commenting their contributions to the tournament.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 1 – After a week of denials on his part and verbal attacks on both FIFA and the media by his compatriots, Luis Suarez has finally said that he did bite Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini at the World Cup, that he wasn’t the victim and that it will never happen again.
By Andrew Warshaw
July 1 – Cameroon officials are to investigate claims that up to seven of their players could have been involved in match-fixing at the World Cup. In the first case of possible manipulation at the tournament, something FIFA feared but recently said there was no indication of actually occurring, the Cameroon FA (FECAFOOT) said it had instructed its ethics committee to look into allegations of possible wrongdoing in their three games in Brazil,
By Mark Baber
June 30 – The popularity of the World Cup is making for some unexpected relationships in Egypt, especially after a mooted deal to show the games on Egyptian TV fell through.
June 30 – FIFA’s ’11 for Health’ initiative has been using the tournament to spread its messages throughout Brazil. A closing ceremony was held at the Arena Amazonia in Manaus to mark the climax of a thirteen-week long schedule of events that involved children from the surrounding area, engaging them with the lure of football to learn about health.
June 28 – Villain or victim? Serial offender or just misunderstood? Fit for purpose or needing treatment? Luis Suarez is splitting opinion depending on where you come from. Here is some of the comment.
By Andrew Warshaw in Rio de Janeiro
June 28 – Uruguay’s football federation has confirmed to FIFA that it intends to appeal against the record World Cup suspension imposed on Luis Suarez for biting. FIFA announced that Suarez’s team have seven days to prepare the necessary paper work before an appeals panel sits to deliver a final verdict.
By Andrew Warshaw in Brazil
June 28 – Waving national flags and carrying banners accusing FIFA of a conspiracy, hundreds of Uruguay fans gave Luis Suarez a hero’s welcome when he returned to the country following his record World Cup ban for biting Italy’s Giorgio Chiellini as the severity of the punishment split world opinion.
By David Owen
June 28 – Elite club football may be increasingly the province of the monied few, but the very biggest names from the club game are not having things all their own way at the 2014 World Cup.
By David Owen
June 27 – European teams finally began performing to their potential in the last round of World Cup group matches, running up an impressive eight victories and enabling UEFA to snatch second spot in the race to be the best-performing confederation at Brazil 2014.