Sports

FLORIANOPOLIS, Brazil — FIFA says it will not pay some of Brazil’s World Cup bills even though it admits the local organisers’ failure to fulfill their commitments may jeopardise the tournament’s success.

A day after resolving one headache by allowing the southern city of Curitiba to host its four matches despite significant stadium delays, FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valcke was faced with some host cities backing down from their obligations to pay for things such as temporary structures and fanfests, which FIFA regards as crucial for the tournament.

Valcke said it was working with local officials to try to lower costs and reduce requirements, but he guaranteed “we will not take over” the payments to make up for the shortcomings of organisers.

FIFA said it was paying $1.4 billion to stage the World Cup in Brazil. The total cost for Brazil was estimated at about $14 billion.

“We pay for all that we are using. We are not taking money,” Valcke said. “The cities have to do their own work, they have to deliver, including the fanfest, because it’s an obligation of the cities.”

“There are agreements between host cities and the local organising committee, there are clear commitments. Part of this commitment is to deliver X, Y, Z. FIFA doesn’t have to take over. Otherwise, why organise with a country? It’s a partnership.”

Last week, the northeastern city of Recife said it would not spend public money on a fanfest, which lets fans without tickets watch matches on large screens in public areas. In the southern city of Porto Alegre, the president of the Brazilian club in charge of Beira-Rio Stadium said there was a risk the venue would be unavailable for the World Cup because of a dispute over who will pay for the temporary facilities required by FIFA.

Valcke said some cities were expressing concern with the fanfests because they could be an easy target for anti-government demonstrators, who are against the billions being spent on the World Cup at the expense of basic public services. In the fanfests, only official World Cup sponsors can participate, and they could be targeted.

FIFA was open to changes because of security concerns, Valcke said. But, as he put it, “When it’s a financial commitment, why should we take over?”

After meetings with Valcke, the local World Cup organising committee said some of the host cities were working to find solutions that could allow them to fulfill the contracts Brazil agreed to when it won the host bid in 2007.

FIFA said there was a joint effort to reduce many of the costs “without jeopardising quality and safety”.

Football’s governing body said it had already picked up a bill of nearly $20 million for power generators needed for the broadcast operations.

“We stepped in because it’s not a question just of money,” he said. “We were afraid that we would not be on time to deliver this energy. And without it, we cannot broadcast the World Cup.”

MANCHESTER –– Barcelona dismissed any notion they are a declining force when they won 2-0 at Manchester City on Tuesday to virtually guarantee their place in the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the seventh successive season.

A match billed as a possible turning point in Manchester City’s history following their glitzy cash-laden rebirth fuelled by Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mansour’s heavy investment, ended in a comprehensive Barcelona win.

Barca, top of La Liga and in the Spanish Cup final, now look set to advance and make a mockery of the words of Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, who said before the match: “This is the worst Barcelona team for many, many years, so City have a chance.”

However, this is City’s best team for many, many years too but it looks like that chance has already slipped away.

While the second leg at the Nou Camp on March 12 is not entirely a formality, City will have to overcome considerable odds, as well as the weight of competition history if they are to keep alive any dream of winning four trophies this season.

Since they first met English opposition in European competition in 1960, Barcelona have lost only two of 27 home matches with Liverpool winning both of them: A UEFA Cup match in 1976 and a Champions League Round of 16 game in 2007.

Home defeats

And only twice since the Champions League began 22 years ago has a side progressed after a home first leg defeat, a rare feat at the best of times and one City are likely to have to attempt without their coach Manuel Pellegrini on the bench.

The normally taciturn Chilean launched an astonishing verbal attack on referee Jonas Eriksson after the game, questioning his impartiality and accusing the Swedish official of deciding the outcome of the game.

City went behind when Eriksson awarded a penalty to Barcelona in the 53rd minute for a foul by Martin Demichelis on fellow Argentine Lionel Messi that appeared to initially take place outside the area.

Eriksson immediately dismissed Demichelis, leaving City with 10 men as Messi scored from the spot before Dani Alves added a second goal in the 90th minute.

Angry about the penalty and frustrated by conceding a second late goal, Pellegrini said, among other things: “I spoke to the referee at the end and told him he should be very happy because he decided the match.”

“The referee was not impartial. He did not have any control of the game. I think it was not a good idea to have a referee from Sweden in such an important match.

“More important football is played in Europe than in Sweden so a big game with two important teams — that kind of game needs a referee with more experience.”

One blessing in disguise is that he will not be able to play Demichelis because the defender will be banned for the second leg and Pellegrini’s risk in playing him backfired.

Demichelis has been one of the best defenders in Europe but is not the player he was and whether his lunge on Messi was just outside the box or not, he had no chance of catching his compatriot fairly.

Manchester City should have their Argentine striker Sergio Aguero back for the second leg on March 12, but that may be a case of too late, too late after failing to capitalise at home.

AMMAN –– The annual Black Iris Sports Media Awards honouring the Kingdom’s athletes were announced on Tuesday in a special ceremony organised by the Jordan Olympic Committee (JOC) and held under the patronage of HRH Prince Feisal, president of the JOC.

The ceremony, attended by HRH Prince Raad, was a result of the voting by members of the local sports media who gave their voice to nine athletes based on their achievements during the 2013 season.

The voting was followed by the public through the JOC Facebook page and website which attracted more than 130,000 votes with more than 600,000 social media interactions recorded.

Football player Musab Lahham, who plays for Saudi Arabia’s Najran, was named Best Sportsman of 2013 after a heated competition with National team goalkeeper Amer Shafee.

Wihdat player Tariq Khattab was voted Best Junior Sportsman.

Best Sportswoman title went to Rula Khalid, who won three gold medals at the Arab Championships in Qatar in weightlifting, and Riham Abu Ghazaleh, who won silver for Karate at the World Junior Championships, won the Best Junior Sportswoman title.

Meanwhile, winner of Beirut Marathon Ali Sawalmeh was named Best Paralympic Athlete, beating Alaa Aqrabawi, who won a silver medal in the Asian Paralympic Games in Kuala Lumpur, and world weightlifting champion Motaz Junaidi.

The Black Iris Sports Media Award was created in 2006 to recognise sporting excellence in Jordan.

NEW ORLEANS — A year after ousting Billy Hunter as executive director of their union, NBA players still aren’t ready to replace him.

Players held their All-Star weekend meeting Saturday and were introduced to the remaining candidates for Hunter’s old job, but they aren’t ready to make a decision, or even to say when they expect one.

“This process has been long but we’re not in a rush,” vice president Roger Mason Jr. of the Miami Heat said.

Working with the executive search firm Reilly Partners, players said they began with a list of more than 200 candidates, but wouldn’t say how many remain or even if they should be considered finalists. Those who remained in the process were invited to the meeting Saturday and met with a group of about 30 players who attended.

Plans are being made to distribute a video of the meeting to additional players so they can be fully informed about the candidates before one is eventually hired.

Hunter was voted out during last year’s All-Star meeting, shortly after an independent review of the union was critical of a number of his business decisions and hiring practices.

Mason said players aren’t frustrated that a replacement hasn’t yet been chosen.

“We want to make this a thorough, transparent process and I think our players respect that,” he said.

While the NBA All-Star dunk contest had come under increasing scrutiny for a lack of originality and an increase in gimmicks, Washington’s John Wall insisted some new ideas are out there, if people know where to look.

Wall said a friend sent him a YouTube video of 27 dunks that had never been performed during the marquee event of NBA All-Star Saturday.

“There’s some ideas out there. It’s just the dunks are very hard to do,” Wall said. “You’ve just got to trust yourself to go out there and try, and try to master it.”

The first dunk Wall saw in the online video, he used to eliminate Sacramento’s Ben McLemore and seal up the Eastern Conference’s triumph in the event, which for the first time was a competition among conferences.

The winning dunk involved leaping over a mascot from behind, grabbing the ball on the way over the mascot’s head, then slamming home a two-handed, double-pump reverse jam.

“It seemed hard, but for me it came out to be easy, so it worked out in my favour,” Wall said.

This dunk contest was not without gimmicks, however.

Defending champion Terrence Ross entered the court wearing a boxing robe. Later, McLemore dunked by leaping over a throne on which Kings minority owner Shaquille O’Neal sat, and then McLemore knelt while O’Neal placed a crown on his head.

RIO DE JANEIRO — Rafael Nadal is back — and it’s all about his back.

Top-ranked Nadal injured his back warming up for the final of the Australian Open almost three weeks ago, eventually losing against Stanislas Wawrinka — a match he was an overwhelming favourite to win.

Nadal has practiced little since then, getting treatment at home in Mallorca. His first test comes in next week’s Rio Open, a new stop on the ATP Tour.

“We’ll have to see how it goes,” he said Friday. “I hope I can tolerate it.”

Nadal knows the clock is ticking. He made a comeback last season from a left knee injury, which kept him out of the 2012 London Olympics.

He’s won 13 Grand Slams. He’s one behind Pete Sampras, and he’s closing in on Roger Federer’s record of 17. He’s sure one got away in Australia.

“In Australia I lost a good opportunity to add another Grand Slam,” Nadal said. “It didn’t happen. The opportunities are not infinite. They have an expiration date.”

Nadal has played more than 11 years as a professional, perhaps sustaining some injuries because of his big swings and attacking temperament.

“I heard a lot of times in my career that I will have a shorter career because of my style of game,” he said. “I really think it’s something that will not happen. If I stopped today, I already will have more than 11 years on tour.”

The Spaniard said he’s still motivated, positive about the 2014 season.

“I cannot predict the future for how long I will be here competing well,” he said. “I can’t say when that’s going to end. The only thing I can say is today I feel happy about what I am doing. I am feeling motivation mentally to keep playing, to keep competing well.”

He’ll be 30 when the 2016 Rio Olympics begin. He called winning gold in the 2008 Beijing Olympics “one of the best experiences” of his career.

“It was a very hard moment for me when I made the decision not to play the Olympic Games in London,” Nadal said. “After that, I always say my goal is to arrive to the 2016 Olympic Games here in Rio.”

AMMAN –– Jordan went up three places to 69th in the FIFA rankings issued on Thursday. Last week, Jordan qualified to the Asian Cup 2015 in Australia, after beating Singapore 3-1 and holding Oman 0-0 to book the second qualifying spot from Group A with nine points behind Oman, who lead the group with 11 points. In Round 1, Jordan held Oman 0-0, tied Syria 1-1 and defeated Singapore 4-0. The Kingdom still has a match against Syria set for March 5 in Amman. The team will hold a local camp this month and has informed its Bahrain counterpart of not playing the scheduled February 27 friendly. Jordan is now seventh among Asian Football Confederation. Top 10 Asian teams are led by Iranat 38th place, followed by Japan (50th), Australia (53rd), Uzbekistan (57th), the UAE (58th), South Korea (61st), Jordan (69th), Saudi Arabia (75th), Oman (80th) and China (88th). FIFA top 10 rankings remained relatively unchanged led by Spain, followed by Germany, Argentina, Portugal, Columbia, Switzerland, Uruguay, Italy, Brazil and Netherlands.  

AMMAN –– Faisali play Ramtha on Friday in their second postponed match of the Jordan Professional League before matches resume on February 20.

Faisali climbed from 7th to 3rd place this week after beating traditional archrivals Wihdat 1-0 in the first of their postponed Leg 1 matches. Following Friday’s match, Faisali will play titleholders Shabab Urdun on February 19.

Looking ahead to Friday’s match, Ramtha coach Najeh Diyabat seemed apprehensive about playing Faisali.

“We will face a tough team, who is just out of an important win. Nevertheless our line-up is ready. We will spare no effort,” Diyabat noted.

Faisali’s coach Mohammad Yamani had earlier noted his team was “looking ahead to postponed matches, each one at a time”.

The season was brought to a halt since December 8 after a severe snowstorm brought life to a standstill in the Kingdom. That was followed by the national team’s participation in 8th West Asian Championship, the U-22 team’s participation at the Asian Football Confederation U-22 Championship and the restart of 2015 Asian Cup Group A qualifiers.

The Jordan Football Association competitions committee has now set the season’s agenda to end May 31. Postponed Week 10 and 11 matches will start on February 20 following which the Jordan Cup quarters will be played on April 4 and 5 and the return leg on April 22 and 23.