Adidas, maker of the Jabulani World Cup ball, has rejected claims that it was to blame for England goalkeeper Robert Green's error that led to England drawing 1-1 with the United States on Saturday.
Adidas's Thomas Schaikvan said: "We are happy with the ball's performance and we don't think it had anything to do with the goal England conceded. On the contrary, if you look at the games so far, some goalkeepers have been the stars of the tournament.
"The Nigeria goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama and United States goalkeeper Tim Howard won the man-of-the-match award in their games, and the South Africa goalkeeper Itumeleng Khune was also excellent against Mexico."
Meanwhile, Howard believes the draw with England was a better result than the United States' famous World Cup win in 1950. That 1-0 shock was an isolated success, with the US not appearing in the World Cup for another 40 years, but Howard said the result was evidence of progress.
"It is a better result than 1950," he said. "We are better positioned than we were then. We expected to put a performance in and get at least a draw, which tells you how far we have come."
France's Florent Malouda has denied that a bust-up with coach Raymond Domenech cost him a starting place against Uruguay:
"It may appear surprising to you, but it was a defensive choice. That's how the manager presented it to me," Malouda said. "I learned of it at 4pm after the meal. It didn't affect my digestion, the pancakes were very good, but there was real disappointment."
Italy coach Marcello Lippi has hailed countryman Fabio Capello as "a winner" and tipped England as one of the teams that can win the World Cup.
"England are one of the great threats. It is not because Capello is Italian that is important. It is because he is good, he is a winner," said Lippi.
"I have said before that the favourites are Brazil and Spain.
"But personally I also feel Argentina, Germany, Italy, France and England can all win and be careful of Holland. They have all come here because they want to win."
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In the previous season, Bordeaux made a first class surprise and conquer the French Ligue 1. Thankfully to amazing streak of twelve competitive wins in a row, they finished as the champions, leaving behind Olympique de Marseille and hard favorites Olympique Lyonnais. Now, nobody dares to say anything about retaining the title, but ambitions are highest and 24.5 million euros has been already spent on transfer market. Only important player who left the squad is centre-back Souleymane Diawara (signed for Marseille) and boss Laurent Blanc is looking for his replacement. UK press have been writing a lot about Moroccan striker Marouane Chamakh and his expected move to Premier League. For now he stays at the club, but will have additional motive in this game, to show himself in the best shape. Bordeaux already played three games in the preparation for new season. First a 1-1 draw against Brest, then defeat against Toulouse 0-1 and in the third game lads showed something from the last season shine, defeating Olympique de Marseille 2-1. Blanc will have all squad available, which means killer trio Gourcuff, Cavenaghi, Chamakh in attacking line.
If Bordeaux made a surprise winning a title, than in Guingamp’s case we can talk about sensation. Club last five years compete in second league, finished the previous season at 13th place with just ten victories in 38 games. It seems they still try to recover from 2003., when four big stars, Florent Malouda, Didier Drogba, Nestor Fabbri and Juan-Luis Montero left the club. However, Guingamp made a big victory at the Stade de France in the Cup final, over Stade Rennais FC 2-1 with two goals by excellent Brazilian Eduardo Ribeiro (went to RC Lens). Beside the opportunity to compete in UEFA Europa League, Guingamp will face the national champions in Super Cup. Game will be played in Montreal – Canada and it attracted very big interest from foreign broadcasters. So, beside the sport’s motives, club officials see a nice opportunity for a free advertising. This will be their first game in preparation for the new season. Boss Victor Zvunka has no injury concerns. 
