DE BRUYNE TELLS HAZARD TO STAY CALM

BRUSSELS: Belgium playmaker Kevin De Bruyne has advised teammate Eden Hazard to remain calm as he expects the Chelsea winger to be targeted aggressively by the opposition at the World Cup.

Hazard limped off with a dead leg after a series of heavy tackles in Belgium’s 4-1 win over Costa Rica in Monday’s warm-up game. “If you are good then people try to kick you,” De Bruyne said.

“You need to calculate what is coming. You try to stay calm as much as possible. Sometimes that isn’t easy but you just try.”

De Bruyne believes such situations can be used as an advantage. “Even if he (Hazard) gets kicked we get a free-kick, an advantage, and they get a yellow, so it is positive,” the 26-year-old added.

ARGENTINE PRISONERS GO ON HUNGER STRIKE

BUENOSAIRES:Inmates in an Argentine prison have begun a hunger strike to press authorities to repair the cable TV system so they can watch the World Cup.

“Cable television is an indispensable right for everyone deprived of their liberty,” according to a statement from nine inmates at Puerto Madryn jail some 1,300 kilometers south of Buenos Aires. “It hasn’t been working for three days. And we have decided not to receive any food until the problem is resolved,” the prisoners wrote.

The nine inmates also filed a legal suit to assert their rights.

WALKER READY TO SACRIFICE POSITION

MOSCOW: England defender Kyle Walker is ready to sacrifice his preferred right-back spot and play as a centre-half at his first World Cup, the 28-year-old said.

A key member of Manchester City’s title-winning team last season, Walker has been deployed as a right-sided centre-back in a back-three by manager Gareth Southgate and is likely to retain the spot against Tunisia in their Group G opener on Monday.

“I have been playing professionally since I was 18 at rightback, so to go to your first World Cup and probably not play in your preferred position... is... well, not disappointing but a little bit of a step back,” Walker told British media.

“I have to move on from it... as long as the manager feels it is going to benefit the team, then why not?”