Spain may be axed from World Cup

Fifa has warned the Spanish football federation that government involvement could lose the national side their place.

Spain’s involvement at the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia could be under threat after Fifa warned the Spanish football federation (RFEF) against political interference.

Fifa has warned the RFEF that continued involvement from the centre-right Spanish government in the upcoming election for the football federation’s new president could result in them losing their place at next summer’s World Cup.

The RFEF is currently led by Juan Luis Larrea on an interim basis, after former president Angel Maria Villar was made to step down on corruption charges.

Preparations for a new election are already well underway, and according to the Spanish newspaper El Paisthe government’s National Sports Council have made contact with the RFEF over Villar’s eventual successor.

That would be in direct contradiction of Fifa’s strict rules – which would rule any involvement from the Spanish government as political interference in the football federation.

Fifa can suspend the membership of any national foot- ball team if they judge the association has been influenced by external political pressure.

Rules state that: “Each member must manage their affairs independently and ensure that there is no interference by third parties in their affairs.”

Meanwh i l e, J urgen Klopp believes Liverpool are not in a slump, pointing to their 11-game unbeaten run and insisting his team are not “back to the dark days”.

Liverpool drew 1- 1 with Everton in the Merseyside derby last weekend despite dominating for long periods of the game and followed that display with a midweek goalless draw against West Brom, but Klopp dismissed any doubts over their form.

“Nine days ago we were flying. Now I look into your eyes and see that obviously we have real problems. Everything is quick in this world. We don’t get it in a week and lose it in a week, it’s still there.

“It was just one game. Why should I be overly concerned that from this point on we’ll play like we did against West Brom? It was the first time in a long time. The boys are ready again for hard work. Is this the only place where we think ‘oh, are we back to the dark days or whatever?’”

Klopp admitted that his team made a slow start against the Baggies and criticised their wayward passing, but he also praised Alan Pardew’s side for their defensive solidity.

“I told the boys in the game against West Brom we started stiff but that doesn’t mean it has to stay like this,” he said. ”It didn’t work. West Brom did well and it was completely different to Everton. They had their counterattacks and set-pieces. They deserved a close result and in the end it was 0-0.

“If we had played like we did against Everton we would have had more chances. We have to deliver, we have to play better. We have to be more fluent but you can’t force that.”

Liverpool play Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium on Sunday, and Klopp will continue to rotate his team as the fixtures pile up. “We haven’t had many games like [West Brom] in the past few weeks so I can’t make that game bigger than all the others. It had nothing to do with rotation.”

Simon Mignolet is set to return in goal after he was left out in midweek suffering from a swollen ankle. Joe Gomez, Andrew Robertson and James Milner are all expected to recover from minor knocks, while Emre Can is suspended. Serbian midfielder Nemanja Matic said on Saturday that Manchester United are not out of the race for the English Premier League (EPL) title but they have to win every match to remain in contention.

After 17 matches, Manchester United are placed second in the EPL table with 38 points, 11 behind league leaders Manchester City.

Manchester United, who last won the EPL title in the 2012- 13 season, have won twelve matches, lost three and drawn two under coach Jose Mourinho in the ongoing season.

«The gap is big, obviously 11 points is a lot, but the league is not finished. I› m sure there will be very interesting games until the end, and of course that they will drop some points. We will see what will happen,» Matic was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.

« As I say there are still many games to play and I think that we are not out of the title race. If we want to catch them, we have to win almost every game,» he added. The 29-year-old midfielder also confessed that it is not easy for a club to win every EPL game but Manchester United will try hard to make that happen.

«But as we know, and as everyone knows, in the Premier League it is not always possible to win every game, but we will try to do that,» the Serbian said.

«Obviously we are still in the title race. We also have the cups, we are in the knockout stages of the Champions League, so Manchester United is going game by game to be in there.» Matic added.