Injured Ribery out
Paris: France’s World Cup ambitions were dealt a significant blow when winger Franck Ribery failed to overcome a back injury and was ruled out of the squad on Friday. Coach Didier Deschamps hoped Ribery would play a part in the friendly against Jamaica on Sunday, but the Bayern Munich winger was replaced by Montpellier winger Remy Cabella. Cabella was on the reserve list and has made just one substitute appearance for France.\\ In another setback for Deschamps, attacking midfielder Clement Grenier was also withdrawn with a recurrence of a groin injury that has hampered him all season for lyon. “We have to remain ambitious,” Deschamps said. “Obviously with Ribery at 100 percent we’re a better team, but we’ll try and be a good team without him.” The 23-year-old Grenier tore his right groin in training on Thursday and has been replaced by Southampton’s Morgan Schneiderlin, who has never played for France. “I’m very sad for them,” Deschamps said. “I wasn’t expecting this. If they were here it’s because I was counting on them, and the signs were very positive.” Deschamps said both players were distraught when they realized they will not be on the plane to Brazil. “How do you think (they felt)IJ They’re missing out on the World Cup,” Deschamps said. “Of course there are worse things in life, but they are the first to be affected by it.” The 31-year-old Ribery missed the previous two friendlies - a 4-0 win against Norway and a 1-1 draw against Paraguay on Sunday — but Deschamps was optimistic he would recover in time to play against Jamaica. Ribery had shown “positive signs of improvement” this week after increasing “the intensity of his work,” Deschamps said. But that was when Ribery was training alone, and when he stepped up his routine in a bid to be ready to join in with his teammates, he suddenly pulled up in pain on Friday. “Franck had felt a lot better but his situation got much worse as we started to try and get him to take part in collective training,” Deschamps said. “He is unable to train for a few weeks now and even less so to play.” His final appearance of the season for Bayern was as a substitute in the German Cup final win against Borussia Dortmund on May 17.
The Karl Marx makeover
Chemnitz: Meet Germany’s biggest fan: Karl Marx. A huge statue of the father of communism in the city of Chemnitz sports Germany flags on its cheeks. Authorities say they dressed up the 40-ton bronze head, unveiled by communist East Germany in 1971, to project a “friendly” image but they concede that reaction hasn’t been universally positive. An outsize Germany shirt draped over Marx’s pedestal was stolen in the early hours of Friday and found damaged nearby a few hours later. The bust stands in front of a facade bearing his words “Working men of all countries, unite!” A banner above the madeover Marx declares: “Football fans of all countries, we greet you!” Chemnitz was renamed Karl-Marx-Stadt in 1953. After communism collapsed, residents voted in 1990 to restore its old name.
Strikes, a cause of concern
Sao Paolo: Brazilian police used tear gas, rubber bullets and stun grenades to disperse striking workers inside a subway station on Friday, adding to fears that labor unrest could disrupt the World Cup that opens here in six days. At least three union members were injured in the Sao Paulo clash, said Paulo Iannone, a union spokesman. Operators of the subway and overland trains were in the second day of a strike for higher wages, with no indication that it would end soon. That’s worrying for authorities because most soccer fans heading to Thursday’s opening Cup match in Sao Paulo will need to use the subway. Cup organizers have fretted for a year that a resurgence of mass anti-government protests could mar soccer’s premiere event, with all the world watching. But in recent weeks, a series of strikes by public transport workers, police, teachers and others in several Cup host cities has proved more disruptive than demonstrations.
FIFA’s dope window
Zurich: Under time pressure to fly doping samples from World Cup players back to Switzerland, FIFA says they are arriving at the laboratory within 33 hours. FIFA and the World Anti-Doping Agency-accredited lab in lausanne are aiming to get test results before a player’s next match in Brazil several days later and provide valid data for each player’s biological passport. WADA guidelines state that “blood samples shall be analyzed within 36 hours of sample collection.” Testing for the World Cup is being done in lausanne because WADA stripped the Rio de Janeiro lab’s status for repeated errors. All 736 players at the World Cup will provide pre-tournament blood and urine samples. FIFA chief medical officer Jiri Dvorak said the first 750 samples have arrived in lausanne “from several latin American countries in less than 33 hours.”