FIFA ban Argentina on retiring No. 10 shirt

FIFA has barred Argentina from retiring the number 10 shirt in honour of their former World Cup-winning captain Diego Maradona. The decision...

FIFA has barred Argentina from retiring the number 10 shirt in honour of their former World Cup-winning captain Diego Maradona. The decision, taken by FIFA’s executive committee, goes against the recommendation of the body’s World Cup organising committee, which said it had no problem with Argentina’s proposal. ‘‘Whereas yesterday the organising committee was of the opinion that there should be an exception, today the executive committee was not of this opinion,’’

FIFA president Sepp Blatter said on Sunday, adding that the Argentines had been told of the decision and accepted it. ‘‘Perhaps for the next World Cup or FIFA competitions will be a little bit more flexible by saying a team can enter 23 players numbered 1-100, 1-30, 1-25 or whatever,’’ Blatter told a news conference. The Argentine No 10 shirt will probably be taken by third-choice goalkeeper Roberto Bonano, who had been expected to take No 24. ‘‘It’s a funny situation because Argentina’s No 10 will be able to use his hands this time,’’ joked Blatter, in reference to Maradona’s notorious ‘hand-of-God’ goal against England at the 1986 World Cup.

World Cup train

For the next five weeks it will be hard for Tokyo residents to escape World Cup fever — even while commuting to work. One of the city’s subway operators, Eidan Chikatetsu, has decided to fill two of its trains with photographs of scenes from past World Cups. The trains will run as normal on city centre routes until the end of the tournament on June 30. “We thought it would be a plus for our company to take part in this global event, and we hope it will bring the World Cup closer to our passengers,” said a spokesman for the company. Anyone hoping to get a good view of the photographs would be well advised to avoid Tokyo’s rush hour, when trains are often so crowded that passengers are able to sleep standing upright.

Turkey settle down

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Turkey have settled into their World Cup training camp in South Korea and began training on Sunday, relishing the lower humidity and temperature than their warm-up stay in Hong Kong last week. “We always knew it would be that way. We arranged the camp that way. The weather there (Hong Kong) was much worse, here it’s more comfortable,” team manager Can Cobanoglu said. Turkey’s first World Cup match — their first for 48 years — is against Brazil on June 3. They also face Costa Rica and China in Group C.

Bet your money

Latest betting before the World Cup finals starting on Friday: 10-3 France 9-2 Argentina 5-1 Italy 6-1 Brazil 13-2 Spain 9-1 England 14-1 Portugal, Germany 33-1 Cameroon 66-1 Nigeria, Russia 80-1 Sweden, Croatia, Japan, Paraguay, Poland, Turkey 100-1 Ireland, Uruguay 125-1 Denmark, Belgium 150-1 Senegal, Mexico, Ecuador, South Korea 250-1 Slovenia 300-1 U.S. 400-1 Costa Rica, South Africa 500-1 Tunisia 750-1 China, Saudi Arabia.

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