World Cup Draw Won’t Be Rigged

World Cup Draw Won’t Be Rigged – FIFA

FIFA has moved to reassure football fans it will not manipulate the World Cup draw on Friday to favour certain teams.

Former FIFA president Sepp Blatter claimed last year that some European football draws have been fixed in the past with the use of hot and cold balls.

UEFA called the claims “completely absurd” and Blatter stressed heated balls “didn’t exist” at FIFA draws.

Russia was drawn against Peru in the only rehearsal filmed before the media on Wednesday.

“There’s no truth to that,” said Chris Unger, FIFA director of competitions, in response to a question about heated balls.

“They’re all the same; they don’t feel any different, they don’t look any different with the exception of the red balls, which are there for a purpose. It’s entirely random and by chance how the groups get formed at the end.”

Former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan, who will help draw the groups, also attended a rehearsal.

“South American teams are very strong,” said Forlan, who was capped more than 100 times for Uruguay. “Every team is tough. I think it’s going to be like previous World Cups. I hope Uruguay can win!”

Comments

President of Iran Declares End of ISIS

President Hassan Rouhani of Iran on Tuesday declared the end of Islamic State in an address broadcast live on state TV. A senior commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards, Maj.-Gen. Qassem Soleimani, also declared the end of Islamic State in a message sent to the country’s supreme leader Tuesday which was published on Sepah News, the news site of the Guards. Videos and pictures of Soleimani, who commands the Quds Force, the branch of the Guards responsible for operations outside of Iran’s borders, at frontline positions in battles against Islamic State in Iraq and Syria have been posted frequently by Iranian media in recent years. On Friday, Iranian media published pictures of Soleimani Kamal in eastern Syria, a town which Soleimani said Tuesday was the last territory retaken from Islamic State control in the region. The Revolutionary Guards, Iran’s most powerful military force which also oversees an economic empire worth billions of dollars, has been fighting in support of S...

EPL: Kelechi Iheanacho might be available for sale in January – Leicester City boss, Puel

Leicester City manager, Claude Puel, has hinted at the possibility of selling Nigeria star Kelechi Iheanacho four weeks before the winter transfer market opens for business. The Foxes have six strikers in the first team consisting of Iheanacho, Vardy, Ahmed Musa, Slimani, Okazaki and Ulloa, and the former Man City starlet has found game time hard to come by after making only two starts in the Premier League from a possible fifteen. Speaking to Leicester Mercury, Puel said: “Kelechi had an injury and for the moment, we have competition. “I am happy with Jamie for example. Kelechi or other players cannot play on the side. “It’s difficult for them, but for me also to manage all these players because we have six strikers so there is no place for all the players.” Iheanacho penned a five-year contract with Leicester City in the summer for a fee in the region of 25 million pounds.

Tech How Alibaba turned an obscure, made-up Chinese holiday into a $17.8 billion shopping extravaganza that's bigger than Black Friday

Alibaba raked in over $8 billion in sales in the first hour of its made-up marketing holiday, "Singles Day." Singles Day has its roots in an obscure Chinese holiday for students who had not married yet. Alibaba CEO Jack Ma capitalized expertly on the holiday, and now, Singles Day dwarfs traditional American shopping holidays like Black Friday, and is much larger than Amazon's "Prime Day." Alibaba turned Singles Day, the Chinese holiday for the single-set, into a huge economic opportunity through a savvy marketing blitz. The company raked in well over $8 billion during the first hour of this year's sale, largely through its online shopping platforms, Taobao.com and Tmall.com as well as a glitzy gala. Students at Nanjing University first celebrated Singles Day in 1993 as an appreciation of, you guessed it — being single. They picked November 11 (11/11) as an ode to the loneliness of the number one. But Single’s Day was never meant to be a somber aff...

Gist Coven

Search This Blog