An England fan has been banned from attending World Cup matches as a condition of bail on a trespassing charge, after he entered the team's changing room following the 0-0 draw with Algeria. Pavlos Joseph was yesterday ordered by magistrates in Cape Town to post 500 rand (Dh248) bail and return to court today. Joseph, 32, told a British newspaper that he walked unchallenged into the dressing room at Cape Town's Green Point Stadium on Friday, while looking for the toilet, and found himself in front of David Beckham. "I thought, 'what the heck. I'm in the England dressing room. Why not say something?'" the paper quoted Pavlos as saying. "I looked David straight in the eye and said, 'David, we've spent a lot of money getting here. This is a disgrace. What are you going to do about it?'"
A top public university in Bangladesh closed indefinitely after students clashed over whether to cancel classes to watch the World Cup. Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology asked students to leave dormitories by yesterday to calm the situation, said Habibur Rahman, the pro-vice chancellor of the Dhaka university. The decision was made late on Saturday after at least five students were injured in the violence.
Fifa are examining stadium safety in Rustenburg after plastic bottles were thrown on to the pitch during Australia's 1-1 draw with Ghana. Nicolas Maingot, a Fifa spokesman, said they will take a closer look at the incident in the Royal Bafokeng Stadium on Saturday. Maingot said the issue is safety, as "bottles simply must not be thrown".
Italy wore black armbands against New Zealand yesterday in memory of Roberto Rosato, the former national team defender. Rosato, who died yesterday at the age of 66, played 37 times for Italy and was a member of the Azzurri side that won the 1968 European Championship. He also played for the team that lost the 1970 World Cup final to Brazil. Rosato also played for Torino, AC Milan and Genoa.
Police say a "controlled explosion" at an explosives factory was the source of a blast heard by journalists at the World Cup's main media centre yesterday. Colonel Eugene Opperman said the explosion was routine, and caused no injuries or damage. The noise could be heard in the media centre at Soccer City, the main World Cup stadium in a gold-mining district on the outskirts of Johannesburg.
Fifa said yesterday that cancelling training sessions for teams at three of the 10 World Cup stadiums is "normal procedure" at a major tournament to protect pitches. The United States and Algeria were given 48 hours' notice that they cannot practice at Pretoria's Loftus Versfeld tomorrow. Chile and Switzerland were denied permission to train yesterday at the Nelson Mandela Bay stadium in Port Elizabeth and Germany and Ghana can not train at Johannesburg's Soccer City before their game on Wednesday. The decisions were "taken by the technical experts who know best what the conditions of the pitch are like," Fifa said in a statement.
The Nigerian team have asked their government to provide security for Sani Kaita, the midfielder, after his red card during a Group B loss to Greece prompted more than 1,000 death threats. Idah Peterside, Nigeria's team spokesman said Kaita has received the death threats via e-mail from Nigeria since he was sent off for kicking out at Greece's Vassilis Torosidis in the 33rd minute of Thursday's 2-1 loss at Bloemfontein. "We just hope that the government will treat these threats as a serious matter," Peterside told AP yesterday. Ibrahim Bio, Nigeria's sports minister, is staying in the team's hotel in South Africa and has been alerted to the threats.
India have never played a World Cup match, yet international football has a huge following in the planet's second-most populous country. In the southern state of Kerala, fans have been staying up late to watch World Cup telecasts, and two motorised rickshaw drivers have painted their vehicles in the colours of their favourite teams, Brazil and Argentina, to attract like-minded customers. "I think Brazil has more supporters than Argentina, at least in Kerala," said a gleeful Mohammed Ali, whose rickshaw is now yellow with green highlights. He's threatened to set his vehicle on fire if the Brazilians fail to win their sixth title.
