World Cup 2002: Countdown

Neighbourhood Watch: Group EWhile the Cameroon got their defence of the African Cup of Nations underway in Mali this week, German coach Rudi Voeller opted to pay a visit to the Gulf Cup in Riyadh where Saudi Arabia won their first three games of the competition.

Both veteran striker Sami Al Jaber and goalkeeper Mohamed Al Deayyea had good weeks for the host nation who, Voeller insisted, would present a formidable challenge in Japan.

Asked to explain his decision to visit the Middle East instead of Africa at this point in his side's build up to the finals, Voeller explained that "I think that we have enough time to watch Cameroon and Ireland."

Old friend: Blazevic gets brush-off

Our old friend Miroslav Blazevic's return to European football from Iran hit the rocks this week when the football authorities in Bosnia Herzegovina named Blaz Sliskovic as their country's new national coach.

Blazevic, who is by Bosnian by birth, had been sounded by the FA there regarding the job despite fierce opposition from many of those within the country who feel that he aligned himself far too closely with the Croat separatists during the Balkan war. He may not, however, have helped his own cause by claiming that the Iranians offered him €4.5 million over four years to stay on despite his failed attempt to get them to the World Cup finals. The Iranians however, were very anxious to deny such a claim.

Media watch: Farewell Eurosport

They may have their fingers in quite a few football pies what with sponsorships of everybody from Bray Wanderers through to Celtic, Rangers and Newcastle United, owning chunks of a few sides and taking their cut from subscriptions to Sky Sports in cable areas both here and in Britain but NTL's decision to ditch Eurosport suggests that the people running the company may not be all that interested in the game after all.

Currently carrying most of the games from the African Cup of Nations live, Eurosport threatened to come into its own over the coming months by providing a steady diet of friendly games and classic encounters involving this year's World Cup finalists. If NTL has its way, though, we won't even get to see the whole of Mali 2002 for the company plans to replace the station with more CNBC instead. It's early yet but it could be the most baffling media decision of the whole World Cup build-up.

Sniff of scandal: Brazil to take pay cut The finances of the Brazilian football association, the CBF, look set to take a bit of a plunge after the announcement by Nike that it intends to cut by a quarter, the amount of money it pays the organisation in return for its exclusive sponsorship rights.

The root of the problem is a decision by a parliamentary inquiry in the country to recommend that the business dealings of highly controversial CBF president Ricardo Teixeira be the subject of a judicial investigation who is accused, among other things, of tax irregularities.

The deal, which was signed in 1997 is worth €182.25 million of which Nike has already paid over €68.34 m. The company now insists that it will cut future payments and says it is entitled to because of a clause in its contract relating to damaging publicity.

Meanwhile Ronaldo's latest injury setback (knee injury during training at Inter) means he may miss next month's friendly against Saudi Arabia in Riyadh.

Snared: The Japanese and Korean way

You know the way Spiderman snares baddies with his Spiderweb? Well, if you plan rioting in Japan next summer, plan again. The Japanese police will be armed and ready with 'web guns', designed to trap football hooligans in nets that measure five square metres and bear a spooky similarity to our webbed hero's most effective weapon. "Japanese youths are bigger these days, but still nothing compared to Europeans," said Masatsugu Oi of the World Cup security division, alleging that westerners are fat while explaining why his nets are so big. Oi's boys in blue have been testing the net-firing gun for the past couple of months and it has been so successful they still haven't freed the rookie cops who volunteered to be webbed. So, unless you want to feel like a snared pollock behave yourself. The Japanese, however, are not the only ones promising to employ somewhat whacky methods of crowd control at this summer's finals. Over in South Korea specially trained squads of police, many of them women, are being given additional training in martial arts.

The intention is that they will be able to move quickly to counter crowd trouble either outside or inside grounds, something of particular importance given the general lack of segregation.

Injury watch: Republic of Ireland latest

Gary Doherty (Spurs) - Injury: broken tibia (September 13th). Returned to light training in December and hopes to make his first team comeback early next month.

Robbie Keane (Leeds) - Injury: ankle (December 19th). Had surgery on his ankle last month, but played for Leeds' reserves last week and was on the bench for Leeds' Premiership game against Arsenal.

Stephen Carr (Spurs) - Injury: knee (last played on June 6th against Estonia). Still recovering from September's knee surgery in Colorado and has yet to play a game this season. Spurs manager Glenn Hoddle remains hopeful that Carr will be back before the end of the season but insists the club will take no chances with the player, even if he is anxious to prove his fitness in time to make the World Cup squad.

David Connolly (Wimbledon) - Injury: ankle. Rumours of a fractured ankle, sustained in the match against Birmingham last weekend were denied by Wimbledon on Thursday who claimed Connolly's injury was less severe and he would be back in action within a fortnight.

Mark Kennedy (Wolves) - Injury: recurrence of a hamstring injury (January 17th). Still troubled by a nagging hamstring problem but was told to play on by injuries "expert" Hans Muller Wolfhart and should be back for Wolves before the end of the month.

Mark Kinsella (Charlton) - Injury: knee (Nov 24th). Missed the last two months with a knee injury but made comeback for the Charlton reserves this week. In contention for a first team recall this weekend.