■ Fans
Drunken fans arrested
Six English fans, one German and one Swede were detained by police in Cologne in the early hours of yesterday for drunk and disorderly behavior ahead of England's World Cup match with Sweden in the city. "Alcohol is starting to take hold now and we expect more people to be detained during the night," a police spokesman said ahead of the Group B match at the Rhein-Energie-Stadion.
■ Ghana
Abedi proud of team
Abedi Pele, one of Africa's finest footballers and the inspiration behind Ghana's team for more than a decade, said he was proud to see the Black Stars finally competing at the World Cup. The three-times African Footballer of the Year said he had waited a long time to see his country perform at the finals. "We were waiting to see Ghana," the 43-year-old told reporters. "We've seen Cameroon and others like Tunisia and Morocco and we were waiting for Ghana. They have not disappointed anybody." The West African nation qualified for their first World Cup after 11 previous attempts.
■ Fans
Fans confident of Cup win
Fans from Portugal, the US and the Netherlands are the most cock-sure over the chances of their teams at the World Cup, a survey found on Monday. Nearly two out three Portuguese expected their team to win the World Cup in Germany, according to an online survey among nearly 5,000 from comScore Networks, a US-based digital media measurement company. In the US, one out of three fans expect their side to walk away with the trophy while 42 percent of the Dutch reckon Marco van Basten's men will win it. Spain, France, England and Germany make up the rest of the top seven of super-confident fans.
■ Brazil
Juninho says hopes too high
Brazil midfielder Juninho Pernambucano said on Monday that the world was expecting too much of his team. After Brazil got the thumbs-down for their performance in Sunday's 2-0 win over Australia, Juninho warned that the world champions would have to suffer if they wanted to win a record sixth World Cup title. "A great amount of expectation was created before the tournament," Juninho told reporters. "They think that Brazil are always going to win playing great football and score lots of goals in every match," he said.
■ Crime
Thief gets nasty surprise
A thief who stole a woman's World Cup ticket was arrested after taking her place in the stadium -- and finding himself sitting next to her husband. Munich police said the stolen ticket was in a handbag that was snatched from the woman as she made her way to Sunday's game between Brazil and Australia. "The audacious thief found the ticket and sat down in her place," they said in a statement. "However, the victim's husband then sat next to him in the stadium and alerted the police, who arrested the man," police said.
■ Australia
Kewell cleared to play
Harry Kewell will not be suspended over his outburst at a referee after Australia's World Cup loss to Brazil, clearing the Liverpool winger for tomorrow's crucial match against Croatia. The decision by FIFA's disciplinary committee came after German referee Markus Merk said that Kewell had insulted him during a finger-wagging episode lasting several minutes on Sunday. "The FIFA disciplinary committee decided to close the investigation because of inconsistent reports by the referee," FIFA communications director Markus Siegler said yesterday.
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