‘I AM WE CR IS I’
RIO DE JANEIRO: Wayne Rooney wasn’t jealous watching former Manchester United teammate Cristiano Ronaldo pick up the Ballon d’Or Award earlier this year. “I’m not a player who needs that like Cristiano Ronaldo,” the England striker said here on Wednesday. “He has to have that and you admire him for having that. I’m more about winning things as a team. You can see how he is. He wants ... his moments.” Just like in the Cl final, when the Portugal star celebrated scoring Real’s fourth goal in the 4-1 win over Atletico by pulling off his shirt to reveal his muscles to cameras. “It’s more important for me to win trophies as a team,” Rooney said. “I’ve won (PFA) player of the year, which is nowhere near as good as winning a trophy with Manchester United.”
Early Risers
SAnto andre: Along with the heat and humidity, the German team also has to come to terms with the unusually early kickoff time of its World Cup opener against Portugal. Monday’s match in Salvador kicks off at 1 p.m. local time, two-and-a-half hours earlier than most Bundesliga games.Champions league and national team matches usually kick off at 8:45 p.m. The German team has left it to individual players to decide how to best adjust.
“This is new for us, so we’ll have to see how they adapt,” said the team’s general manager, Oliver Bierhoff. There is no set time for breakfast, and a buffet has been opened so that players can decide when and what to eat. The team’s practices have now been set for 1 pm as of Wednesday to simulate conditions for the opener.
The Pianist
mangaratiba: luigi Serrano was banging out the notes to the Neapolitan folk song “Reginella” at Casa Azzurri on Wednesday. He’s the official singer at the facility that the Italian football federation sets up at WC’s and Euro’s for media and sponsor activities. Serrano is from the southern Italian region of Calabria and works as a pianist and singer at the well-known Jackie O’ club off the famed Via Veneto in Rome. He’s been working at Casa Azzurri since the 2008 Euro Cup. So who’s the best singer on Italy’s squadIJ “I think (Antonio) Cassano, if I remember correctly. He’s a nice guy,” Serrano said. “(Andrea) Pirlo is nice too, but I don’t think he sings.” The Italian squad also has a theme song and video created for this World Cup by the Italian group Negramaro.
‘Spain will win’
Geneva: Defending champions Spain look set to win the World Cup thanks to the interlocking qualities of their squad, which will allow them to outgun Brazil, statisticians said. The Swiss-based CIES Football Observatory said it had taken an in-depth look at the career trajectory of all 32 squads due to lock horns. “This approach has allowed us to predict a hypothetical scenario for the outcome of the competition, suggesting that Spain will beat Brazil in the final, with Argentina in third place and France in fourth position,” it said. CIES Football Observatory's experts took into account league matches and goals during each player's career to date, as well as in the last two years, plus national team caps since 2012 and the total number of WC games ever played.