The Portugal-Brazil was dull, with both teams having already qualified. The players were mainly interested to evade yellow cards which could bar them for future matches and most importantly avoid injury.
'France and Italy were finalists in 2006, but both left at the end of the first round in 2010. It is only the third time that a champion has said bye before the knockouts.'
'Maradona, who had the unique 'privilege' of having been expelled by his federation as a player and as a coach, seems to be doing well with his players. And they have a genius amongst them. It makes the difference.'
French President Emmanuel Macron, accompanied by his wife Brigitte Marie-Claude Macron, besides senior ministers from his Cabinet, began their four-day visit to India by meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Ram Nath Kovind and his wife. On Friday night, Macron was received at the airport Prime Minister Modi in a special gesture. Here are glimpses from Macron's visit.
Under-fire Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho has been priced odds-on to be the first Premier League manager to leave his job this season.
India was fooled into believing that Communist China wanted a 'negotiated' settlement with the Tibetans; it was never the case, says Claude Arpi.
The Tibetan nation still lives under the yoke of the Chinese Communist Party, and Beijing today has a guilty conscience; this creates a great uneasiness for Xi Jinping and his colleagues observes Claude Arpi.
Why omit the Tiananmen massacre from the history of China's Communist party, asks Claude Arpi.
The two heads of state, who are known to be close, came together again in Huangzhou, China during the G20 summit.
Though General Naravane's visit will not deal with 'impermanent' issues like the changing stands of politicians, it will certainly reinforce the deeper 'permanent' links between the people of Nepal and India. Time will hopefully tackle the present impermanence of the Sino-Nepalese romance, notes Claude Arpi.
The bill will now go to the House of Lords on Monday for voting before royal assent from Queen Elizabeth II to become law.
'Why did your generals try to grab a few square kilometres of Indian territory in Ladakh?' 'And what happened to the hard work that you and Prime Minister Modi put into the Wuhan and Mamallapuram meets?' Claude Arpi writes a letter to Xi Jinping, China's self-styled supreme leader, who turns 68 today, June 15.
Tawang is very much a part of India, and if the present Dalai Lama decides one day to take rebirth in Tawang, the Indian government will openly welcome him and support him, notes Claude Arpi.
'It's my humble tribute to a talent that has no limits, no boundaries.'
China has just turned down India's proposal for an Indian consulate in Lhasa, Tibet. Claude Arpi reveals how India once had a full-fledged consulate general office in Lhasa, which was shut down after the 1962 war.
Helena Costa, the first woman to be appointed coach of a men's team in the top two divisions of European football, has quit before taking charge of French club Clermont.
'The Olympic Spirit has been thrown to the wind in Xi Jinping's China.' 'The International Olympic Committee is ready to kowtow to totalitarian China,' notes Claude Arpi.
'Our love for our great nation -- Bharat is second to none and our patriotism towards our motherland -- India is for the entire nation to emulate.'
Meet the photographers, stylists and wedding planner who made it an event to remember.
If the 1993, 1996, 2005 and 2012 border agreements have been unable to check Chinese aggressiveness, how can a fifth one succeed, asks Claude Arpi.
'Guarding the borders in extreme weather conditions is not easy and most people don't realize it is a very tough job.'
The first priority for the new Tibetan administration in Dharamsala should be to look at Tibetan recruitment in the PLA, suggests Claude Arpi.
'There is still no road on the last 37 km between the McMahon Line and Menchuka in Arunachal Pradesh. Ironically, during my visit, Beijing announced the opening of a 117-km highway linking Metok, located just north of the McMahon Line. My local friends kept saying with some envy in their voices, "The Chinese are very much in advance on us".' Claude Arpi on a recent visit to the last large village before the McMahon Line that divides India and China.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
The People's Daily, the Chinese Communist newspaper, says the sale of the Rafale fighter plane 'encourages, excites and spurs India's appetite and ambition to become a great military power.' Does India have a choice, considering the People's Liberation Army's frantic speed of development, wonders Claude Arpi.
After the Ladakh fiasco where Xi Jinping did not expect the Indian Army to resist his land-grabbing tactics, he has to save face before his colleagues in the Communist party.' To bring the threat of a mega-dam to the northern Indian border is a clever move, observes Claude Arpi.
Arguments for direct US military intervention in Syria are just not strong enough, says Claude Smadja
The minister learns from Europe's economic suicide, and pulls off a difficult balancing act.
A country that can launch a 229-tonne rocket with seven international satellites into space does not need to import trucks, howitzers or helicopters, says Claude Arpi, who was present at the PSLV launch in Sriharikota on Monday.
Could some frustrated Chinese generals have decided to teach India a lesson to sink Xi Jinping's world dream, asks Claude Arpi.
Indo-French cooperation in the domain of space is one of the oldest and most stable facets of the relationship, even if not the best-known, says Claude Arpi, as French President Francois Hollande begins his first official visit to India.
India should take up the issue in the strongest way with Beijing. But the solution is definitively not building more dams in Arunachal Pradesh, cautions Claude Arpi.
Events around the Gaza flare-up reveal that Iran is ceding space to a resurgent Egypt under President Morsi, says Claude Smadja
'These naval sailors should have been given due respect as freedom fighters.' 'February 18, 1946 should be as important as January 26 because that date changed everything.'
Leaders from across the world joined Paris as it mourned the victims of last week's terror attacks -- at the offices of Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish Kosher market.
'Whether I die in Calcutta or in Paris, on a Wednesday or a Saturday, it does not matter, but you would not want me to come to India's door and then return to France without having visited India.' 'Either I will die or I will visit India!' Claude Arpi hails Georges Clemenceau, French prime minister during the Great War, a great man who loved India.
Next year might be better than the last.
