World Cup Diary-part 9-June 5th, 2018 (T minus 9 days)

A New addition for the duration of the World Cup.

Diary:

Team News:

-Poland Federation President Zbigniew Boniek has expressed doubt on Kamil Glik’s particpation in the World Cup due to his injury.  (Source Walfoot.be online)

-Switzerland’s Valon Behrami is about to become the first Swiss player to appear in four World Cups.  (Source Reuters UK online)

-England are the only squad in the World Cup to have all their players to play in the domestic League.  (Source AS.com online)

-England are the only squad in the World Cup to have all their players to play in the domestic League.  (Source AS.com online)

-Sweden and Senegal are the only squads in the World Cup to have none of  their players to play in the domestic League.  (Source AS.com online)

-After negative publicity, Mastercard has decide to scrap the controversial ‘food for goals’ campaign featuring Messi and Neymar. The plan was for each to donate 10,000 meals to starving children in Latin America and the Caribbean for each of their goals until March 2020 including at the World Cup. Brazilian Manager Tite had been a critic for placing too high of a pressure on individual players.  (Source Sport Bild online)

-The Argentina Federation has decided to cancel its friendly vs. Israel following demands of Palestinians demanding Messi to boycott the match. There were also protests at their trainings. (Source Corriere dello Sport Online)

-The Argentina Federation has decided to cancel its friendly vs. Israel following demands of Palestinians demanding Messi to boycott the match. There were also protests at their trainings. (Source Corriere dello Sport Online)

- According to TV magazine Notas, eight Mexican players following their friendly win over Scotland, spent time with as much as 30 prostitutes. (Source Tuttosport online)

Tuesday, June 5, 2018:

Preparatory matches:

Russia 1-Turkey 1 (Aleksandr Samedov 36 / Yunus Malli 60)

Venue: Moscow- VTB-Arena

Attendance:

Referee: Ovidiu Hategan (Romania)

Linesmen: Octavian Sovre, Sebastian Gheorghe (both  Romania).

Russia: 1-Igor Akinfeev; 28-Igor Smolnikov (2-Mario Fernandes, 77), 4-Sergei Ignashevich, 29-Ilya Kutepov; 19-Aleksandr Samedov (16-Anton Miranchuk, 86), 17-Aleksandr Golovin, 47-Roman Zobnin (7-Daler Kuzyaev, 90 + 3), 8-Yury Gazinsky (13-Fyodor Kudryashov, 76), 18-Yuri Zhirkov; 10-Fyodor Smolov, 9-Alan Dzagoev (15-Aleksei Miranchuk, 60)

Coach: Stanislav Cherchesov

Booked: Alan Dzagoev 54, Yuri Zhirkov 56

Other Substitutes:  30-Vladimir Gabulov, 22-Artem Dzyuba, 14-Vladimir Granat, 21-Aleksandr Erokhin, 27-Denis Cheryshev, 5-Andrey Semenov, 99-Andrei Lunev

Team Captain:

Official Kit Supplier/Designer: Adidas

Uniform Colors: Red Shirts, GRed Shorts, White/Blue/Red Socks

Turkey: 12-Serkan Kırıntılı, 2-Şener Özbayraklı (13-Mehmet Zeki Çelik 90), 22-Kaan Ayhan, 4-Çağlar Söyüncü, 3-Hasan Ali Kaldırım, 5-Okay Yokuşlu, 14-Mahmut Tekdemir (15-Mehmet Topal 46), 21-İrfan Can Kahveci (19-Yunus Mallı 46), 11-Yusuf Yazıcı (8-Oğuzhan Özyakup 46), 17-Cengiz Ünder (7-Serdar Gürler 76), 18-Kenan Karaman (20-Emre Akbaba 82)

Coach: Mircea Lucescu (Romania)

Booked: Okay Yokuşlu 50, Hasan Ali Kaldırım 71, Emre Akbaba 87

Other Substitutes: 10-Umut Bulut, 23-Sinan Bolat, 6-Omer Bayram, 1-Harun Tekin, 16-Deniz Turuc, 25-Tarkan Serbest, 24-Ertugrul Ersoy, 27-Berkay Ozcan

Team Captain:

Official Kit Supplier/Designer: Nike

Uniform Colors: White Shirts, White Shorts, White Socks

Note: In bold, teams participating in the World Cup