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Remy

14 years

Looks like Lazio knocked out Inter, which I predicted

Lazio is doing very good this season.

KieranU2

14 years

DAMN AND BLAST! That's one prediction out of the window.

Risto

14 years

Originally posted by KieranU2:DAMN AND BLAST! That's one prediction out of the window.

+1

iTim

14 years

Seems to me that all nations on the losing end of the Russia/Qatar decision are having a field day in the press. Pretty much every nation have had newspapers running stories of corruption. The only nations who's press haven't criticised FIFA, are the Russian and Arab press.

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Being awarded the 2018 World Cup has met with a mixed reaction by Russia's media.

Kommersant (a liberal daily newspaper) says it will be a stimulus for modernising football facilities in a culture characterised by toleration of match fixing.

Business daily Vedomosti reports that finance minister Aleksey Kudrin has promised that the cost will not exceed that of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, however, Vedomosti estimates it will cost twice as much and come in at more than $50bn (£32bn).

Left-leaning daily Trud claims Fifa has been attracted by Russia's developing market as it would be more difficult for its commercial partners to earn money elsewhere in Europe.

"We are the masters of the field!" blared the front-page headline in sports daily Sovietsky Sport , while Russian tabloid Tvio Den said: "We never doubted our victory".

Spanish paper El Pais suggests that the Spain/Portugal joint bid was not helped by Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Angel Maria Villar greeting the Prime Minister of Spain in his presentation and forgetting the "and Portugal".

El Mundo ran the headline: "The power of gas and oil."

Dutch daily AD wrote: "With Russia and Qatar Fifa has chosen its guarantees in gold and oil," suggesting that Fifa's Zurich headquarters would be "swimming in banknotes".

The United States media reacted with shock after Qatar was named as 2022 hosts ahead of its bid.

The Seattle Times wrote "Qatar? Really?", while the Wall Street Journal said Fifa's secret vote came amid allegations of kickbacks, bribes and collusion," adding: "Safe to say that ambitions to popularise the 'beautiful game' in the US aren't helped by the spectacle."

Time Magazine said that the results reflected "geopolitical trends."

Independent Arab nationalist paper Al-Quds Al-Arabi hit back at Barack Obama after the United States president criticised Fifa for choosing Qatar over his country as 2022 hosts.

"For him [Obama] to condemn the executive council of Fifa for giving Qatar the right to host the 2022 World Cup and describing it as wrong is shocking, because the selection process was done in a democratic and free voting based on facts and convincing components," it stated.

But Japanese business daily Nikkei claimed their country's bid had been scuppered by money.

"Qatar, which has never qualified for the World Cup finals, had a weapon in its abundant financial resources based on oil money," it said.

BelgianBono

14 years