FOOTBALL – Spain boss Vicente Del Bosque has summoned 16 world champions from 2010 to join him in his team’s title defence in Brazil. This is the greatest number of World Cup winners returning in history. In 2002, France returned with 13 members of their 1998 winning squad. Nineteen of Spain’s 23 players have previously been selected to a Euros or Worlds squad, or both, for a combined 61 previous selections.
Monthly Archives for May 2014
IN THE NEWS: Robben, Sneijder, Van Persie spearhead Dutch 23
FOOTBALL – Dutch team boss Louis van Gaal named his 2014 World Cup squad on Saturday and it is spearheaded by veterans Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie. Robben and Sneijder have been selected to go to their sixth major tournament (World Cup and European Championships). Only Edwin van der Sar and Aron Winter have been included in more major tournament squads (7).
Arsène Wenger to remain at Arsenal for three more years
FOOTBALL – Arsène Wenger has signed a new three-year contract which will keep him at Arsenal until 2017. Since arriving in September 1996, Wenger has been in charge of Arsenal for 676 Premier League matches, winning 392, drawing 167 and losing 117.
RECORD: Top two women’s seeds out at Roland Garros
TENNIS – Serena Williams’s shock defeat in Round 2 at Roland Garros made this the first Grand Slam tournament (women’s singles, Open era) in which neither of the top two seeds reached the third round. Second seeded Li Na was sent packing yesterday.
INFOGRAPHIC: Aymar not ready for retirement
HOCKEY – Luciana Aymar (36) is the only player in Argentina’s squad that was part of both Las Leonas World Cup winning campaigns (2002 and 2010) and she is hoping to equal Holland’s Lisette Sevens, Elsemieke Havenga-Hillen and Sandra le Poole as the only players to win the World Cup on a record three occasions. Click HERE to check out our infographic on Aymar’s trophy hunt.
ANALYSE THIS: Bottom half of Ladies singles opens up
TENNIS – Media focus may have been on Caroline Wozniacki’s shock first round defeat after her break-up with golfer Rory McIlroy but the big shock of the ladies’ singles first round at Roland Garros in Paris was number 2 seed Li Na’s elimination by France’s Kristina Mladenovic. At Infostrada Sports we have developed a tennis ranking as part of our Forecast range of products which can not only forecast tournaments but can also put shock results into context.
REVIEW: Youngsters take over Giro
CYCLING – Nairo Quintana, 24, won the 16th stage in the 2014 Giro d’Italia. It was the second Colombian stage win this Giro following Rigoberto Urán’s victory in the time trial in stage 12. The last Grand Tour in which Colombian riders won two individual stages was in the 2005 Giro, when Iván Parra won two stages. Continue reading
REVIEW: Li’s exit marks end of Aus Open champs
TENNIS – Li Na crashed out in the first round at Roland Garros, becoming only the fourth reigning Australian Open champion to suffer that fate in the women’s singles (Open era). She joins Chris O’Neil (1978), Barbara Jordan (1979) and Lindsay Davenport (2000). One day earlier, Australian Open men’s singles champion Stan Wawrinka crashed out. It is the first time that the two champions fall in Round 1 at the French Open.
REVIEW: Aus Open champ Wawrinka falls in R1 at Roland Garros
TENNIS – Stanislas Wawrinka became the first player to fall in Round 1 at Roland Garros coming in as the Australian Open since Petr Korda suffered that fate 16 years ago in 1998. Jim Courier (1992) remains the last man to have won the first two Majors in a calendar year. In the one year Rafael Nadal won the Australian Open (2009), the Spaniard suffered his only defeat at the French Open.
RECORD: Bagnis, Benneteau combine for Roland Garros record
TENNIS – Grand Slam debutant Facundo Bagnis and veteran Julien Benneteau took 34 games to complete the fifth and decisive set in their R1 match at Roland Garros. It took Paul-Henri Mathieu the same amount of games to finish off John Isner (18-16) in their R2 encounter in 2012, which set a French Open record for longest set in terms of games played (in Open era).
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