Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez has rivalled Eric Cantona in the oddest football soundbite stakes with a beauty about maintaining the balance between attack and defence.
Ahead of his side's last-16 match with South Korea, he said: "There's a saying among coaches that football is like a short blanket: it covers your head or it covers your feet, and if it covers your head, your toes are in the air."
France striker Thierry Henry has hinted he feels karma may have had a role in his country's disastrous World Cup campaign.
Henry helped secure France's place in the tournament when his handball went unpunished and led to the goal that beat the Republic of Ireland in a play-off.
But after France finished bottom of their group in South Africa, with only one point from three games, Henry said: "They always say you get what you deserve."
United States coach Bob Bradley believes his side can capitalise on finishing top of their group, ahead of England, by reaching the final.
Bradley's side take on Ghana in the round of 16, with the winner facing either Uruguay or South Korea in the quarter-finals.
"If we continue to build on the successes so far we can go to the end," Bradley said.
"We try hard not to get ahead of ourselves but at the same time everybody has this idea that if everybody gives their best effort, if everybody puts everything they have into it and if things go our way then we can travel far."
www.bbc.co.uk
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. 
