France not special: Denmark coach
Denmark coach Age Hareide gave a withering assessment of first-round rivals France claiming they have no real leader and have little chance.
“I don’t believe in this team,” Hareide told Danish daily Jyllands-Posten, a month ahead of their June 26 game. “They are nothing special,” he said.
“They don’t have a leader such as Zinedine Zidane to lead them, someone who knew how to galvanise them,” said the Norwegian who has been Denmark coach for three years. “They need to play as a team.”
He also singled out Manchester United’s Paul Pogba for criticism over his flashy haircuts. “He played against Manchester City with his hair dyed blue and white, maybe he’ll have it red and white to play us.” “Good grief, does he only think about his haircuts?” asked the coach.
MATIC LEADS 27-MAN SERBIA SQUAD
Serbia coach Mladen Krstajic on Thursday named a preliminary 27-man World Cup squad led by Manchester United midfielder Nemanja Matic and including young Lazio star Sergej Milinkovic-Savic.
A final decision on whether Schalke defender Matija Nastasic, who injured his right knee in April, will head for Russia will be taken after a medical scheduled for Saturday, the coach said.
World Cup squads must be reduced to 23 players by June 4. Serbia squad
Goalkeepers: Vladimir Stojkovic, Predrag Rajkovic, Aleksandar Jovanovic, Marko Dmitrovic. Defenders: Aleksandar Kolarov, Antonio Rukavina, Milan Rodic, Branislav Ivanovic, Uros Spajic, Milos Veljkovic, Dusko Tosic, Matija Nastasic, Nikola Milenkovic. Midfielders: Nemanja Matic, Luka Milivojevic, Marko Grujic, Nemanja Maksimovic, Dusan Tadic, Andrija Zivkovic, Mijat Gacinovic, Filip Kostic, Nemanja Radonjic, Sergej MilinkovicSavic, Adem Ljajic.
Forwards: Aleksandar Mitrovic, Aleksandar Prijovic, Luka Jovic.
STOCKHOLM:
SOCHI FLIGHTS TO ESCAPE SANCTIONS
Charter flights shuttling fans from Poland to Sochi for the Russian World Cup will escape Washington sanctions despite the owner of the airport being on a United States blacklist, Polish carrier LOT said Thursday.
“Our lawyers have analysed the issue and concluded that since it is about one-off charter flights, we are not threatened by the sanctions,” LOT spokesman Konrad Majszyk told AFP.
“It’s not about regular flights, so we’re not permanent users of this airport”
Sochi airport is owned by Oleg Deripaska, head of Rusal, one of the world’s leading aluminium producers. In early April, the United States announced new sanctions against “oligarchs” close to power, including Deripaska. The Polish team will use Russian airlines for their interior flights.
BELGRADE: WARSAW: