World Cup Fever

Chris Coleman has claimed that he will consider starting with Joe Ledley if the player is fit enough to start the match. Ledley is without the club after deciding to leave Crystal Palace in the summer.

However, he has not been able to find the club in the last few months, and it is looking increasingly likely that the 30-year-old will have to drop down a division or two in order to find regular first-team football. The former Cardiff youngster made the switch to Celtic which brought him to greater prominence across European football in 2010. After spending four years at Celtic, he returned to English football with Crystal Palace in the January transfer window of 2014 for around € 3.5 million.

Former West Ham playmaker Dimitri Payet said that he wants to participate at the next World Cup in Russia with France.

He said that it is always a dream for a player to represent his country at the World Cup and he is determined to win his place in the team.

Sunderland striker Jermaine Defoe is eyeing a berth in the England squad for the highly anticipated World Cup finals in Russia next year.

The 34-year-old had been ignored from the Three Lions squad for the vast part of four seasons before earning a surprise recall earlier in March.

England manager Gareth Southgate believes that the team has the potential to win the World Cup, but they will need to change their mentality.

He said that England has a history of having some talented players, but they just do not seem to be able to win the biggest prize in world football.

World Cup 2018 hosts Russia are spending more than initial estimates in a bid to put all in place when they host the rest of the world for the prestigious tournament.

They increased their spending by £260 million, according to Russian news agency TASS.

The chairman of Wales football fan group is quite shocked to hear that they will receive about 3,300 tickets for the World Cup qualifying match against the Republic of Ireland in Dublin on March 24.

Vince Alm expected an allocation of 10% of the Aviva Stadium’s 51,700 capacity, but the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) is offering just 6.5%. Wales’ home venue, Cardiff City Stadium, has a capacity of 33,280 and Republic of Ireland fans have been given 10% of the tickets for their visit.

Former Germany national football team captain Philipp ‘Magic Dwarf’ Lahm has said that winning the FIFA World Cup in the last edition remains the highpoint of his career.

The highly talented and versatile player who played right back and central midfield during the last World Cup was the man who lifted the trophy before he announced his retirement from international football less than a week after.

Former Brazil and Real Madrid forward Julio Baptista said that Russia has the potential to host a fantastic World Cup.

He was speaking after the Confederations Cup draw that was held in Russia. He said that the Confederation Cup would be a great rehearsal for the World Cup and this can give you an idea of the talent and skills of Russians when it comes to organizing a big tournament.

FIFA might not be happy with the Russian Federation for the time that they are taking in getting their stadiums and other infrastructure in order for the World Cup, but, the Russian Federation is also not happy with FIFA for some reason and the reason is that they are not making sufficient effort in advertising the tournament.

Generally FIFA organizes events at various locations where the legends of the games are present with the World Cup trophy and talks about the importance of the World Cup and their World Cup experiences and such events start taking place 18 to 24 months before the tournament.

Despite a heavily bandaged knee, Arsenal's star player, Alexis Sanchez had been declared fit and available for Chile's World Cup qualifier to be played against Uruguay.

Sanchez, who was being closely watched, to ascertain his level of fitness, had trained with the National team on Monday despite sporting a heavily bandaged thigh.