Brazil 2014: 10 Days to go

The fallout from the Sunday Times investigation in to bribery for the Qatar World Cup bid could mean a rerun of both the 2022 bid and the 2018 bid won by Russia. This could mean that England would be back in place to host the event, as they have the most facilities already in place.

Honduras suffered their 2nd defeat in their World Cup warm-up. Yesterday they lost 4-2 to Israel, to follow-up their 2-0 defeat in Washington to Turkey. They face England in Miami on Saturday.

Australia‘s defender Alex Wilkinson says all the pressure is on his team’s rivals. Speaking from the Australian base in the south-eastern coastal city of Vitoria, Wilkinson said:-

We’re more than happy to go out and play with no pressure. There’s going to be a lot of pressure on the other three teams in the group to beat us, whereas we can go out and relax and hopefully play some good football and cause some surprises,” said the 29-year-old.

Australia are in Group B with Spain, Netherlands and Chile.

Fiorentina striker Giuseppe Rossi hasn’t been included in Italy‘s 23-man World Cup squad. The full squad is:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Salvatore Sirigu (Paris Saint-Germain), Mattia Perin (Genoa).

Defenders: Ignazio Abate (AC Milan), Andrea Barzagli (Juventus), Leonardo Bonucci (Juventus), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Matteo Darmian (Torino), Mattia De Sciglio (AC Milan), Gabriel Paletta (Parma).

Midfielders: Alberto Aquilani (Fiorentina), Antonio Candreva (Lazio), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Thiago Motta (Paris Saint-Germain), Marco Parolo (Parma), Andrea Pirlo (Juventus), Marco Verratti (Paris Saint-Germain).

Forwards: Mario Balotelli (AC Milan), Antonio Cassano (Parma), Alessio Cerci (Torino), Ciro Immobile (Torino), Lorenzo Insigne (Napoli).

Diego Costa is hoping to return to action in Spain‘s final pre-2014 World Cup friendly against El Salvador next weekend as he recovers from a hamstring injury. The Brazilian born striker was included in Vicente del Bosque’s 23-man squad for this summer’s tournament on Saturday and, after confirming his recovery is going well, Costa is now hoping to feature at some point against El Salvador in America next Saturday.

A number of friendly games prior to the South African World Cup in 2010 are being investigated for match fixing. They include South Africa’s 4-0 win over Thailand, a 1-1 draw with Bulgaria, a 2-1 win over Colombia, a 5-1 win over Guatemala and a 1-0 victory over Denmark. The games were played in May and June 2010.

England Football fans who have had a Football banning Order (FBO) imposed on them will need to hand in their passports to the police today or tomorrow (Tuesday). The likely number of passports to be handed in will be 1400.

Costa Rica have announced their final 23 man squad. It doesn’t included striker Alvaro Saborio who will miss out due to a broken foot.

Goalkeepers: Keylor Navas (Levante), Patrick Pemberton (Alajuelense) Daniel Cambronero (Herediano).

Defenders: Johnny Acosta (Alajuelense), Giancarlo Gonzalez (Columbus Crew), Michael Umana (Saprissa), Oscar Duarte (Bruges), Waylon Francis (Columbus Crew), Heiner Mora (Saprissa), Junior Diaz (Mainz 05), Christian Gamboa (Rosenborg), Roy Miller (New York Red Bulls).

Midfielders: Celso Borges (AIK), Christian Bolanos (Copenhagen), Esteban Granados (Herediano), Michael Barrantes (Aalesund), Yeltsin Tejeda (Saprissa), Diego Calvo (Valerenga), Jose Miguel Cubero (Herediano).

Forwards: Bryan Ruiz (PSV Eindhoven, on loan from Fulham), Joel Campbell (Olympiakos, on loan from Arsenal), Randall Brenes (Cartagines), Marco Urena (FC Kuban Krasnodar).