Brazil, the country that has won the FIFA World Cup a record of five different times has been selected by the FIFA executive committee to host the next World Cup in 2014. FIFA president Sepp Blatter stated last Monday that Brazil was a strong and a single candidate after Colombia pulled out of the running in April also that Brazil "supplies tens of thousands of football players to the world, the best football players."
It was also mentioned the fact that there was no further competition from additional South American nations, therefore, FIFA’s decision to implement the rotation system that gave each continent a turn at hosting the World Cup laid on Brazil for this time.
The entire country is in extreme joy as it will be the first time for Brazil to host a World Cup since 1950; even the Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva travelled to Switzerland to the FIFA headquarters for the announcement. Swiss foreign ministry officials said the delegation, which had flown in from Brazil overnight, arrived in Zurich on Tuesday morning.
Despite the fact, Blatter had recently questioned Brazil's infrastructure and proposal plans, FIFA stated last week a stadium-inspection trip in August showed the country was completely capable of giving "an exceptional" tournament, and in the mean time, improvements to the infrastructure could be made. Additionally, Brazil has 10 of the world's largest soccer stadiums.
The Brazilian soccer confederation has revealed that the construction work needed for the tournament will cost approximately US$1.1 billion. Brazilian soccer player, Pele, acknowledged that Brazil faces a tough challenge, but they are confident that all the work will be completed in time. "Of course there is a lot of controversy about the real situation in Brazil," he said. "Many people ask me if Brazil is prepared to host the World Cup. If you go to Brazil now and look at the stadium, no one is able to play in a World Cup."
"No doubt," Pele said. "In the seven years from now, Brazil will be prepared and in shape to have the World Cup."
On the other hand, Brazilian president Lula said "Soccer is not only a sport for us." "It's more than that: Soccer for us is a passion, a national passion." He promised Brazil "with great pride, he was to do its homework." And, he added, "if everything works out well, we will win once again a World Cup."
Said to be one of the best goalkeepers in the world, Lehmann created a name for himself while with Schalke. However, after signing up with Milan, his performance took a dip and he was dropped from the squad after just five matches. He made a decision to move back to Germany and signed up with Borussia Dortmund where he went on to win the German League title in 2002. Lehmann then went on to sign up with the Gunners in July 2003 and was seen as Arsene Wenger's answer to replace the ageing David Seaman.
During his first season with Arsenal, Lehmann played in every match and the Gunners went on to clinch the FA Premier League title without dropping a match. Lehmann, who many say has also undergone stringent mental training to reach his potential often comes out of his goal to intercept passes. He was man of the match during his club's performance against Manchester United in the 2005 FA Cup Final after he made numerous brilliant saves to keep the score at 0-0 after extra time.
Lehmann then went on to save a fierce shot from Paul Scholes during the penalty shoot-out, handing a 5-4 victory to Arsenal. However, one doubt remained on the mind of fans as they pondered his temperament following several ?incidents? during the games. The German goalkeeper first donned his gloves for the national team in February 1998 in a match against Oman and to date has earned more than 25 caps for his country. He has however been in a constant tussle for a place between the posts with Oliver Kahn, from Bayern Munich. As many will be comparing him with Kahn, Lehmann will require a lot of mental strength to deal with the pressure. So, mental training should become an important part of any footballer's training program today.
However, luck was on his side and according to a recent statement from the German Football Federation, Lehmann has won the race to keep goal for his country. The issue of who would don the Number 1 jersey has dominated the German football scene and the pressure was intense on national coach Jurgen Klinsmann to make a decision. Public polls had recently favoured Lehmann, whom many said was in fine and consistent form.
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Claudia Beckford has sinced written about articles on various topics from Recreation and Sports, Football and Soccer. Claudia Beckford provides outstanding and current content to sports enthusiast in the industry. Feel fre. Claudia Beckford's top article generates over 18100 views. to your Favourites.
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