Football

Uruguay are still sweating on Suarez's fitness for the World Cup, but are otherwise in better shape than in South Africa four years ago.

Kovac isn't losing any sleep over the threat posed by the Brazilian phenom ahead of Thursday's World Cup opener.

A confident Croatia are ready to spoil Brazil's party in their World Cup 2014 opener and continue a long tradition of first match upsets at the tournament.

The World Player of the Year missed his country's recent friendlies against Greece and Mexico because of problems with his left knee and right thigh.

Injuries are forcing coach Joachim Loew to have another look at his options and Lahm is likely to be fielded as a defensive midfielder.

Former Chelsea and Newcastle United winger Duff has signed a one-year deal with Australia's Melbourne City.

Likes of Wayne Rooney, superstars Neymar, Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic features in the Nike's 'risk everything' campaign.

With 34-year-old Xavi likely to struggle to play 90 minutes every five days, that means Koke is likely to enjoy plenty of time on the pitch in Brazil.

Ronaldo is in line for a morale-boosting return to the Portugal side for Tuesday's friendly in the United States against Ireland, just two days before the World Cup begins.

Brazil striker Fred says his team-mates have a simple game-plan if things don't go their way during the World Cup: get the ball to Neymar.

FIFA said that of the 61,600 tickets available for the Brazil-Croatia match in Sao Paulo, only 25,636 were sold to the general public.

Spain open their defense against the Netherlands on Friday in Salvador, with Chile and Australia also opponents in Group B.

Today's Brazil is a completely different country from the one that last hosted the World Cup in 1950, but some things have hardly changed even after 64 years.

The first of a five part history of the World Cup from Uruguay in 1930 up to the preparations for the 2014 finals in Brazil.

Spain striker Diego Costa has refuted Brazil coach Luiz Felipe Scolari's claims that he contacted him over playing the World Cup for the host nation.

Luiz Felipe Scolari has given his team the day off Saturday and the squad will resume training at their Granja Comary World Cup base on Sunday.