NEUER TO DEFY FIFA ON ARMBANDS

Germany goalkeeper Manuel Neuer is set to defy FIFA’S campaign for captains to wear only official armbands with selected slogans at World Cup games. “Yes,” the veteran goalkeeper said when asked at the Germany training camp about overriding a new FIFA project backed by UN agencies. The launch a day before the opening match seemed designed to supplant a pledge by European teams to wear their own armbands as part of anti-discrimination campaign drawing attention to host nation Qatar’s laws and record on human rights issues.