Some info from the wires over the past week...
SOCCER-WORLD-ANELKA
WORLD-ANELKA NOT GOING TO WORLD CUP -- FRENCH MEDIA
Paris, May 3 Reuters - Liverpool's French striker Nicolas Anelka will not go to the World Cup in South Korea and Japan, French media reported widely on Friday.
On Thursday, Le Parisien, usually well informed on the moody striker who started his career at Paris St Germain, said Anelka had been contacted by French coach Roger Lemerre on his mobile phone to tell him of the decision.
On Friday, as the French media followed up the story, Fulham striker Steve Marlet, who is still hoping for a place in the French squad, said on his website: ``It's a fact that Roger Lemerre called Nico(las Anelka) and (Lyon midfielder) Eric Carriere to tell them they were not going to the World Cup.''
Anelka has been facing strong opposition for a place in the 23-man squad from Arsenal's Thierry Henry and Sylvain Wiltord, David Trezeguet of Juventus and Auxerre's Djibrill Cisse.
In a significant move on Tuesday, Cisse was called up by Lemerre to a training camp starting next Monday.
Anelka, the former Arsenal, Real Madrid and Paris St Germain player, was left out of France's two friendlies against Romania and Scotland in February and March but turned in a strong performance in a 0-0 draw with Russia last month.
Anelka, who joined Liverpool on loan from PSG in December, was dropped at the last minute from the World Cup-winning squad in 1998 but he was called up for his country's successful Euro 2000 campaign although he failed to score in five appearances at the tournament.
Lemerre is expected to announce his squad on May 18. The defending champions will face Uruguay, Denmark and Senegal in the group phase of the tournament. They meet Senegal in the opening match in Seoul on May 31.
Reuters cw
SOCCER-WORLD-SWEDEN-SQUAD
SWEDEN NAME 23-PLAYER WORLD CUP SQUAD
Stockholm, May 3 Reuters - Sweden coaches Tommy Soderberg and Lars Lagerback named the following 23-player squad for the World Cup in Japan and South Korea (prefix denotes shirt number):
Goalkeepers: 1-Magnus Hedman (Coventry), 12-Magnus Kihlstedt (FC Copenhagen), 23-Andreas Isaksson (Djurgarden)
Defenders: 2-Olof Mellberg (Aston Villa), 3-Patrik Andersson (FC Barcelona), 4-Johan Mjallby (Celtic), 5-Michael Svensson (Troyes), 13-Tomas Antonelius (FC Copenhagen), 14-Erik Edman (Herenveen), 15-Andreas Jakobsson (Hansa Rostock), 16-Teddy Lucic (AIK)
Midfielders/forwards: 6-Tobias Linderoth (Everton), 7-Niclas Alexandersson (Everton), 8-Anders Svensson (Southampton), 9-Fredrik Ljungberg (Arsenal), 10-Macus Allback (Heerenveen), 11-Henrik Larsson (Celtic), 17-Magnus Svensson (Brondby), 18-Mattias Jonsson (Brondby), 19-Hakan Mild (Wimbledon), Andreas Andersson (AIK), 20-Daniel Andersson (Venezia), 21-Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Ajax), 22-Andreas Andersson (AIK).
Reuters cw
SOCCER-WORLD-BRAZIL-APATHY (SPORTS FEATURE)
WORLD CUP APATHY HITS BRAZIL
By Brian Homewood of Reuters
Rio de Janeiro, May 3, Reuters - An unprecedented wave of World Cup apathy, rather than the usual unbridled optimism, is sweeping Brazil in the run-up to the soccer tournament at the end of this month.
Soccer is facing a huge credibility crisis off the field, while on it the team who brought the world the ``beautiful game'' are now in the charge of a coach known as Big Phil who publicly encourages his players to foul their opponents and chastises them for not doing enough time-wasting.
The sport used to be an escape valve for many Brazilians from their daily grind of injustice, poverty and violence. Four World Cup triumphs had made the national team a source of pride.
Now, soccer directors, accused of plundering the game, are vying with politicians in the unpopularity states.
Were that not bad enough, Brazil's matches will be played at the crack of dawn, a real dampener in a country where fans like to gather at barbecues to watch televised games with a beer in one hand and a large steak in the other.
``Nobody's going to invite their friends around to support the team with sleepy, creased-up faces and drinking yoghurt,'' Antonio Rosa Neto, president of the Dainet media consultancy group, said in a newspaper interview.
``There's no cup atmosphere and the kickoff times are terrible.''
The street decorations in the team's colours of yellow and green which usually appear months before the start of the World Cups are this year startlingly absent.
A survey carried out by the Ibope institute found that 77.5 percent of interviewees did not plan to buy World Cup-related products. Twelve percent said they would not watch Brazil's matches and 42 percent said they would not tune in to games not involving Brazil.
And Brazilians, who usually expect their team to win the cup as a matter of course -- after victories in 1958, 1962, 1970 and 1994 -- are this time happy to admit that arch rivals Argentina are the favourites.
Having seen their own team use more than 60 players in 18 World Cup qualifiers, many Brazilians now look in envy at the more settled Argentine side.
Brazil coach Big Phil, full name Luiz Felipe Scolari, admitted recently that Brazilians may have lost faith in a team who used four coaches in the qualifiers and pulled through only with a lucky win over Venezuela in their final game.
``It's up to us to restore some faith in the team so that the public get more enthusiastic,'' he said.
The team alone, however, are not the only problem.
Last year, two Congressional inquiries into the sport ended by making wide-ranging allegations against a number of leading directors, including Ricardo Teixeira, president of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF).
Teixiera, who has run the CBF since 1989, was accused by the final report of one inquiry of mixing CBF and personal business, donating CBF money to politicians and living a life of luxury at the CBF's expense.
The report added that were the CBF a private company, it would be bankrupt.
The directors of a number of leading clubs were also accused in the report of crimes such as tax evasion and illegally pocketing their clubs' money.
Yet, in a country where impunity is a widespread concern, the directors named in the report, including Teixeira, have managed to cling to their posts.
Since then, feuding among directors has further alienated public opinion.
The World Cup in South Korea and Japan comes as a legal battle rages over this year's Brazilian championship, which is due to start in August.
On the one hand, a group of leading clubs want to set up their own league. On the other, the CBF, backed by the clubs from Rio de Janeiro, wants to keep control of the tournament.
Commentators believe these problems have rubbed off on the national team and Brazil will go into the World Cup after a dismal 18-month period in which they have suffered unprecedented defeats against teams such as Ecuador, Bolivia, Honduras and Australia.
Scolari's ultra-cautious tactics, and his refusal to pick charismatic veteran striker Romario, have not helped to muster enthusiasm and his team's style has been dubbed ``Bullyboy football'' by the media.
In a country where many people were brought up watching the sublime skills of Garrincha, Pele and Rivelino, few have been able to get excited about a team which fields up to five defenders and two tackling specialists in midfield.
Scolari encouraged his team to foul their opponents before last year's World Cup qualifier in Argentina and, after the game ended in a 1-2 defeat, complained that his players should have done more time-wasting, even if it meant being booked.
Former national team coach Tele Santana points out that the sheer number of matches played by Brazil is water in the beer for the country's fans.
In the last year, Brazil have played in a devalued Copa America and the much-criticised Confederations Cup as well as a plethora of ``friendly'' internationals, often on dates when neither they nor their opponents were able to bring top players.
Panama, ranked 112th in the Fifa rankings at the time, came to Brazil for a ``friendly'' last August while in March the former world champions took on what was effectively Iceland's B team.
``When the Brazil team played, it used to be the cause of a huge celebration,'' remembered Santana, who coached the team at the 1982 and 1986 World Cups.
``Nowadays, the team plays so often that their games have become banal.''
Reuters md
SCOLARI KEEPS ROMARIO DEBATE ALIVE
Rio de Janeiro, May 2 AFP - Brazil's 1994 soccer World Cup-winning hero Romario still has a chance to make it to this year's finals after national coach Luiz Scolari revealed he had just one vacancy left in his final soccer squad.
Scolari has so far resisted enormous pressure to include Romario, 36, but according to a correspondent from the normally well-informed newspaper 'O Globo', Romario's name will be on the final squad list when it is named next Tuesday (NZ time).
``Of the 23 players who will be going to the finals there just remains one doubt,'' Scolari said.
Romario, who has had a successful season with Vasco da Gama, last month launched an emotional appeal to be included in the squad but Scolari was reluctant to select him as he regards him as being a disruptive influence in the dressing room.
However, the debate over his inclusion reached such levels that even Brazilian president Fernando Cardoso declared the striker should be selected.
Still working on tracking some trends and stats from previous World Cups...
Big thanks to all who have contributed so far; let's keep it going..
