Ian Wright says people wrong to have a go over restart in Premier League

Premier League

The Premier League should not be criticized for discussing how the season should be concluded, says former England striker Ian Wright. Top-flight clubs held a meeting on Friday at which finishing the season in a 40-day window was one of the scenarios discussed. The Premier League has been criticized for holding the meeting, but Wright said people were wrong to "have a go". "It seems like football is the punching bag," he told BBC Radio 5 Live. The Premier League has been suspended since 13 March because of coronavirus. Earlier this month, it said play would only resume when "it is safe and appropriate to do so". The number of coronavirus-related deaths in the UK has since risen to more than 15,000. "Lives come before anything, and the Premier League have always said, and they continue to say, [football will resume] when it’s safe to do so," said Wright. "When you hear people having a go at football because the Premier League are having meetings... they have to have meetings because at some stage things have to start again. "Just because football is a game... it's still a business, just like other businesses are making plans to try and get themselves going again." Sixteen of the 20 Premier League teams have nine games to play this season, with four having 10 left. Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden spoke to Premier League bosses this week and signalled the government was content for them to start contingency planning. But nothing will be taken forward without the green light from the government, in accordance with medical advice. 

News Source:  www.bbc.com

Ronaldo helps Portugal earn 2-2 draw against US round match

Ronaldo helps Portugal earn 2-2 draw against US round match

MANAUS, Brazil (AP) — With Cristiano Ronaldo on the field, a one-goal lead is never safe. Related Stories Varela's late header saves Ronaldo's World Cup  news hopes AFP World Cup: Portugal Gives U.S. a Kick in the Gut The Wall Street Journal Soccer-Portugal grab last-gasp equaliser to stay alive Reuters Portugal grab last-gasp equalizer to stay alive Reuters Ronaldo expected to play for Portugal against US Associated Press The world player of the year rarely sparkled on a hot and humid night in the jungle, but his inch-perfect stoppage-time cross set up Varela for the equalizing goal Sunday in Portugal's 2-2 draw against the United States at the World Cup news. The Real Madrid winger, who has been playing despite a left knee injury, showed flashes of his best, but his impact was minimal until the final seconds of the match. He curled the ball in to a diving Varela, who headed past Tim Howard to give the Portuguese team a slim hope of advancing to the second round and deny the Americans instant advancement. "He made a great cross," said Howard,

Ronaldo's former teammate from their days at Manchester United. "Football's cruel sometimes." The United States now has four points in Group G sport news, the same as Germany. Both Portugal and Ghana have one point. The Americans will face Germany on Thursday in Recife, while Portugal takes on Ghana at the same time in Brasilia. "Obviously we're disappointed, but at the end of the day you've got to look at the positives, we got a point," said United States captain Clint Dempsey, who scored to give the Americans a 2-1 lead in the 81st. "It's going down to the last game and hopefully we get the job done." View galleryPortugal's Silvestre Varela, right, scores his … Portugal's Silvestre Varela, right, scores his side's second goal under pressure from United … Nani scored first for Portugal, shooting past a sprawling Howard in the fifth minute. But the Americans responded in the second half as Portugal seemed to wilt in the stifling heat. Jermaine Jones made it 1-1 with a curling shot in the 64th after a cross from Graham Zusi made its way through the Portugal defense. And Dempsey, playing with a broken nose, then put the Americans ahead, using his stomach to direct the ball into the net from a cross by Zusi. "Now we have to go out and beat Germany, that's what we have to do," U.S. coach Jurgen Klinsmann said. "We have to play Germany, we have one less day to recover, we played in the Amazon, they played on a place with less travel. We have to do it the tough way." Dempsey's goal was his fourth at a World Cup and second at this year's tournament. Jones scored his third goal for the United States national team and first in almost two years. It was all Portugal for much of the first half, with Ronaldo in the starting lineup but getting less involved as the match progressed. The Americans, however, started to get more and more chances and even had a shot from Michael Bradley cleared off the line by Ricardo Costa in the 55th. View galleryUnited States' Jermaine Jones (13) celebrates after … United States' Jermaine Jones (13) celebrates after scoring his side's first goal during the … "There didn't seem to be any problem with Cristiano Ronaldo", sport news

Portugal coach Paulo Bento said. "What happened during the sports game has something to do with our other players." The heat in the Amazon rainforest, however, seemed to slow the Portuguese as the match wore on. In the 39th minute, referee Nestor Pitana of Argentina called for a cooling break, the first such decision to be taken at this World Cup sports. At the start of the match, FIFA listed the temperature at 30 degrees C (86 degrees F) with 66 percent humidity. FIFA uses the "Wet Bulb Globe Temperature" to determine when official cooling breaks should be added, and says the WGBT must be above 32 degrees C (90 degrees F) for them to be considered. The breaks are supposed to occur in the 30th and 75th minutes. There was no break in the second half, but that didn't stop Ronaldo from creating the final goal. View galleryUnited States' goalkeeper Tim Howard celebrates … United States' goalkeeper Tim Howard celebrates after United States' Jermaine Jones scored a … "It was a thriller," Klinsmann said. "Everybody who had a chance to be today in Manaus will talk about this sports game for a long time."

News Source :  www.news.yahoo.com

World Cup atmosphere is the crucial ingredient for Matt Prior

World Cup atmosphere is the crucial ingredient for Matt Prior 

In just a few days, 20 virtual footballers will make virtual football history when they journey to Brazil and compete in the FIFA Interactive World Cup during the actual 2014 FIFA World Cup™. To mark the historical moment, where the real and virtual FIFA World Cup will come together for the first time ever, the FIWC 2014 Grand Final will be played on the official EA SPORTS 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ game, released worldwide in April. FIFA.com travelled to the source of the World Cup game and sat down with Matt Prior, the lead producer of EA SPORTS™ 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil. Matt shared his insights, ideas and tips on the game that will decide the next FIFA Interactive world champion. “The World Cup is a very exciting, flamboyant tournament and we wanted to bring that into the game,” Matt told FIFA.com, “You will find it’s a much more responsive, open and exciting game.” “Practice, Practice, Practice!” were Matt’s first words of advice to the Grand Finalists. “Don’t just rely on your FIFA 14 abilities to get you through. You need to reinvent your game plan. What you learnt on FIFA 14 might not work on the World Cup game.” Matt also urged finalists to focus on set-pieces. “Corners are more powerful now. You’ve got more control than ever before,” he said. “You can pick pre-defined set-piece moves like crowding the box. It adds an extra-dimension to set-pieces." The game developers also did extensive work on the penalty kicks system for the 2014 release. Their efforts won’t go unnoticed by Finalists looking to master all aspects of their game. The gold medal match has been decided by penalties twice in FIFA World Cup history (1994 and 2006) and once at the FIWC Grand Final (2012). “It’s a battle of wills,” said Matt, “It’s this sense of tension. Who will keep their nerve? We added elements to bring that in.” The Grand Finalists have submitted their two national teams for the tournament, which the FIFA Interactive World Cup on Facebook has been revealing on a daily basis. “If there’s one that stands out as a bit of an eye raiser I would say Belgium.” Matt said, considering his personal top two. “They’ve got a great goalkeeper, and of course Vincent Kompany and Hazard. They’re quite a young and fast team. It’s one of the two teams I would choose. I think man-for-man Argentina is a better team than Brazil so I could see finalists picking them. There’s plenty to choose from in this game.” It wouldn’t be a World Cup game without the crucial ingredient, the World Cup atmosphere. “That’s such a fundamental part of the world cup game,” he said. “It’s as much a celebration of culture and people as it is football. We did a bunch of things to capture that for this edition. From the outset we wanted to capture the individual identity of each stadium. "We’ve also got these crowd-at-home themes where we cut back to places like London's Trafalgar Square and the Colosseum in Rome and you see fans watching the game on the big screen! We wanted to show the importance of this game worldwide. When a World Cup game is on it’s not just about the fans in the stadium; they’re just a tiny sliver of what’s going on. Cities and towns all over the world grind to a halt while everyone watches the World Cup!” “We also added a beginner difficulty level that is the most open version of FIFA we have ever made. It really allows you to take a breath and get to grips with the fundamentals," Matt said, as he showed FIFA.com the new feature. "It's a level that allows you to start having fun from Day One. The thrill you get from shooting, scoring, saving and celebrating… these are the core things that make FIFA so much fun,” he said. "It’s very much an entry level. The idea is to work your way through the difficulty levels and game modes to find one that gives you a challenging experience, like the FIWC.” The FIWC will be streaming live from Rio de Janeiro! Visit the dedicated Grand Final page for more information on the live streaming for the FIWC 2014 Grand Final.

News Source :  www.fifa.com