Midnight call
Sao Paulo: Each time Alejandro Sabella (in pic) was asked Monday about his lineup — and there were many attempts in different manners — he politely declined. No hints whatsoever about Tuesday’s second-round World Cup match with Switzerland, and no predictions about what style each team might play. Sabella is preparing lionel Messi and Argentina to attack a swarming Switzerland defense. The coach must decide whether to go with Ezequiel lavezzi in a three-man front missing striker Sergio Aguero. An injured left thigh muscle forced him to leave in the first half of Argentina’s 3-2 win over Nigeria last Wednesday. The coach insists he might still be pondering his 11 players until midnight, and someone suggested he could announce the lineup then. “I’m not going to say until the last minute. I think until this evening until around midnight I will think about the lineup,” Sabella said before his team practiced at Itaquerao Stadium. “You can call me if you have my phone number, but I don’t know if I will answer my phone at midnight.”
NEYMAR'S WARDROBE DIlEMMA
Teresopolis: Neymar is having doubts about what to wear to his World Cup matches. Brazil’s star attracted some attention in the team’s second-round match against Chile on Saturday after changing his cleats at halftime. Neymar played the first half with a golden boot made especially for him for the World Cup, but he came back from the dressing room wearing his regular orange cleats. Neymar said he decided to make the change because he didn’t feel comfortable with the newer model, which he had been using for only a couple of days before Saturday’s match. The golden boot was created by Nike in reference to the cleats Neymar used when he was a kid. He liked the color so much that he spray-painted them before matches. Neymar’s exclusive golden model, which has the drawing of a spray can on its sole, is expected to be sold for more than $500 in Brazilian stores.
CHEAP TRAVEl
Sao Paulo: Travel doesn’t get any cheaper than the Argentine fans who have covered more than 1,000 miles in motorhomes and vans for days even without having tickets. Penniless musicians, hitchhikers and other devoted fans began arriving Monday at the parking lot of Sao Paulo’s Sambadrome, a venue used for Carnival parades that the city opened for them to camp. Argentina is playing against Switzerland in the city’s Itaquerao Stadium on Tuesday to advance to quarterfinals.
Some fans wearing light blue and white were making noodles in a shabby pot. “That’s what we have been eating every day,” said 48-year-old Fritz latzina, who called himself a “professional fan,” putting nearly 3,800 kilometers on his RV since he left Buenos Aires on June 11.
Mariano Bellotti, 22, had been hitchhiking with his friend for the past six months traveling from their native Mar de Plata.
“We thought this year we will be champions, so let’s make it a trip, work odd jobs and live it to the fullest from the start,” he said.
They couldn’t afford the tickets, but they will hit the Fan Fests to support the players. One of the vans parked at the Sambadrome stands out because of a giant sticker on its hood of Pope Francis with an Argentine flag to his right and a Brazilian one to his left.
Anticipating a final between the South American rivals, van owner Jose Alberto Brizio, 63, said, “let the best team win.” “But he is blessing the best one,” said Brizio, showing with a cigarette in hand that the pope is waving at his country’s flag.
HOWARD’S RECORD
Sao Paolo: Tim Howard (in pic) never counts his caps. Howard broke Kasey Keller’s record for appearances by an American goalkeeper when he played his 103rd international match last Thursday, a 1-0 loss to Germany. On Tuesday night, he will make it 104 when the Americans face Belgium in the World Cup’s second round at Salvador. The 35-year-old Howard spoke with Keller, now an ESPN analyst, in the leadup to the World Cup when the U.S. team played an exhibition game against Turkey in the New York area June 1. “Milestones like that are important,” said Howard, a top goalkeeper in England’s Premier league with Everton. “And obviously Kasey’s dear to me in terms of being a friend and a goalkeeping mentor. I never thought I’d get that close, let alone break it. It’s a proud day.”