FIFA has an extremely serious problem which can easily be remedied by appointing a 'fifth official' (or video referee) who could be consulted by radio whenever there is a serious doubt.
'The problem is that you invariably have no time to make complicated mathematical calculations when you face the goalkeeper of the opposing team. In any case, footballers are not intellectuals or scientists.'
'What is wrong with the European nations? Are they depressed with the fall of their currency?'
'Frankly, I am relieved today; the French team should not have got the 'divine' (Thierry Henry's hand) qualification in the first place.'
'I never thought that the Swiss defenders would hold on to their goal. I have rarely seen such domination. Statistics say the Rosa kept the ball for 72% of the time during the first half, but the Swiss Guard did not surrender.'
Too many egos! too many individualities! It is not only true for France, but most 'great' teams with 'great players'. Zizou believes that 'the collective spirit must be displayed by the team'. He rightly said: 'A World Cup is very short; many will never play again, forget your ego and work together for the team'.
Red Star Belgrade, who won Europe's premier club competition in 1991, engineered a 2-0 home victory against HJK Helsinki thanks to a Richmond Boakye header and substitute Milan Pavkov's sweeping 90th-minute finish.
Mahak Jain suffered a tame defeat to crash out of girls singles event of the junior Wimbledon championship while Zeel Desai got lucky as she lost the first set but still advanced to the pre-quarterfinals after her opponent retired mid-way into the contest, in London, on Monday.
Ivan Rakitic outshone Barcelona team mate Arda Turan as Croatia ran out 1-0 winners against Turkey at Euro 2016 on Sunday, a victory that was more comfortable than the scoreline suggests.
Indian tennis ace Rohan Bopanna and his Canadian partner Gabriela Dabrowski of Canada produced a spirited fight back to win 6-4, 5-7, 10-3 and book their place in the quarter-finals of the mixed doubles event at the season-opening Australian Open in Melbourne on Tuesday.
Leander Paes and Martina Hingis beat Sania Mirza and Ivan Dodig to win the French Open mixed doubles final at Roland Garros on Friday.
The footprints of Indian-origin corporate executives at multinationals is expanding, with Sandeep Kataria taking over the reins of footwear major Bata as its global chief executive officer. From FMCG majors to IT titans, Kataria joins the league of Indian-origin executives who have climbed the highest echelons of corporate across diverse sectors globally. From Nooyi to Pichai to Nadella, the list of such people at the helm of multi-billion dollar enterprises is long.
'Brazil possess something which makes the stuff of the greatest team: Dunga's players are good in all compartments of the game.'
Claude Arpi captures the fan's passion for football in an ongoing e-mail exchange with Ivan Crasto, Rediff.com's Sports Editor.
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.'
Barcelona thrashed Sporting Gijon 6-1 to go top of La Liga on a dramatic night in Spain on Wednesday as Luis Enrique announced he was stepping down as the Catalan club's coach at the end of the season.
The 24 sides through from the group phase join the eight third-placed finishers in the Champions League in Monday's draw, including Manchester United and Ajax Amsterdam.
Images from the English Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Count among The Light of Asia's many, many admirers over 132 years: Gandhi, Tagore, Vivekananda, Nehru and Ambedkar, Tolstoy and Kipling, Yeats and Eliot, Alfred Nobel, Dmitri Mendeleev and C V Raman. Jairam Ramesh reveals why he decided to write a book on Edwin Arnold, who wrote The Light of Asia.
Champions Barcelona came through a gruelling La Liga test at a rainswept San Mames on Sunday, beating Athletic Bilbao 1-0 thanks to Ivan Rakitic's first-half header.
Indian tennis stars Sania Mirza and Leander Paes will battle it out for the French Open mixed doubles title with their respective partners, having won their semi-final matches on Thursday.
Imperious Liverpool extended their Premier League home winning streak against Arsenal to six on Saturday with an easy 4-0 victory that lifted them to second in the table.
Lionel Messi scored two spectacular free kicks as Barcelona thrashed local rivals Espanyol 4-0 in Saturday's Catalan derby to move three points clear at the top of La Liga.
Barcelona were hailed as La Liga champions-elect in the Catalan media after their 1-0 win at Real Madrid on Saturday, while the capital's press called for sweeping changes at Real after another domestic failure.
Super sub Ivan Bukenya's strike a minute before the regulation time saved East Bengal the blushes as they managed to hold minnows Aizawl FC to a 1-1 draw in the opening match of the 10th I-League football tournament in Barasat (West Bengal) on Saturday.
Bulgaria's weightlifters will be absent from next year's Olympics after the sport's governing body banned the country's athletes following a high number of doping cases, it said on Friday.
Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert made sure of that with a gripping doubles win that keeps France's hopes against Croatia alive in the last final to be staged in the event's traditional format.
Images from the opening game of the FIFA World Cup, between Brazil and Croatia, at Sao Paulo.
Brazilian Neymar is set to become the next best player in the world after Argentina's Lionel Messi, according to Barcelona midfielder Ivan Rakitic.
Sania Mirza and Rohan Bopanna set up a mixed doubles quarter-final clash against each other at the Australian Open after winning their respective matches, in Melbourne.
Bayern Munich won the Champions League for a sixth time by beating Paris St Germain 1-0 in Sunday's final
Images from the UEFA Champions League matches played on Tuesday.
IMAGES from the UEFA Champions League second semi-final played at Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon on Wednesday.
IMAGES from the Champions League quarter-final played between Barcelona and Bayern Munich in Lisbon on Friday.
In a bold decision, Underdogs India have preferred Ramkumar Ramanathan over No. 1 singles player Sumit Nagal for their Davis Cup qualifier against top seeds Croatia, beginning in Zagreb on Friday.
IMAGES from Premier League matches played on Saturday.
Both sides had shots cleared off the line but Real were left feeling more disappointed after winning the tactical battle but failing to take their chances.
They have been drawn in Group Ashe-Smith along with John Peers/Jamie Murray and Simone Bolelli/Fabio Fognini.
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