Dunga snipes at Neymar and Alves

The new Brazil boss criticised certain behaviour displayed during the World Cup and commented on crying after losing a game, saying: "We're macho, men don't cry". "The main focus has to be the Brazil national team. When you give a press conference on international duty you give it in a Brazil cap. (...) You have to market the beautiful game", said the coach in an interview on 'Globo' TV's programme 'Fantastico'.
One of the players who gave press conferences during the 2014 Brazil World Cup wearing one of his sponsor's branded caps was Neymar.

Dunga made a direct reference to the young Barcelona striker and Daniel Alves for changing their hairstyles midway through the tournament. In Dunga's opinion, they should have done it "before or after the tournament". The new Brazil boss also said that "people should talk more about what I do on the pitch and less about what I do off it".

In another interview, this time published in Brazilian weekly newsmagazine 'Veja', Dunga also criticised those Brazil players who cried during some of the tougher times at the 2014 World Cup. "Tearful scenes like those witnessed during the game against Chile promote a negative image of football. We're macho, we like to think that men don't cry, although we respect everyone", he said.

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Argentine National Soccer Team Sends Autographed Jersey to Pope

VATICAN CITY — In a gesture of gratitude and affection, the Argentinian national soccer team, which lost July 13 to Germany in the 2014 World Cup final, sent Pope Francis an official team jersey autographed by each of its players. “Here’s the present the team sent to our Pope Francis!” team member Maxi Rodriguez said in a post on his Twitter account, which featured a photo of himself and team captain Lionel Messi holding the jersey. The Holy See expressed thanks for the gift on Thursday, noting that although Argentina did not win the final, the team “acknowledged it had faith that the pontiff would keep them in his thoughts throughout the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.”

During their stay in Brazil, the Argentine team kept a large photo of the players posing with Pope Francis on display at their training center in Belo Horizonte. The picture was taken last year, when the Argentine team visited the Holy Father while in Rome for a friendly match with Italy. Papal ceremonialist Msgr. Guillermo Karcher said that although Pope Francis is an avid soccer fan, he did not watch the World Cup final. “The Pope was following the results of the World Cup, but he said he was not going to watch the final for reasons of neutrality,” Msgr. Karcher explained.

“We kept him up to date at each stage,” he added. Before the opening of the World Cup, Pope Francis sent a video message expressing hope that the event would be an occasion for encounter between cultures. He also sent out a message on July 12 via Twitter, noting that the World Cup soccer tournaments have brought people of various nations and religions together. Said the Pope, “May sports always promote the culture of encounter.”

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Real Madrid sell £20m worth of James Rodriguez replica shirts

Real Madrid have reportedly sold an incredible 345,000 James Rodriguez replica shirts since the arrival of the World Cup star.

The Colombian completed his £63m move earlier this week and was unveiled at the Bernabeu on Tuesday night. According to Spanish newspaper Sport based on figures from Euromericas Sport Marketing, in the 48-hours after, £20m worth of shirts were sold.

Gerardo Molina, Professor Emeritus in Sports Marketing was quoted by Sport as saying: "The expectation is that the player (James) will sell product at the same level as Cristiano Ronaldo who has sold over one million shirts since arriving at Real Madrid".

The sales ensure a quick return for Real Madrid on the huge fee they paid Monaco for the striker. The combination of Rodriguez, Ronaldo and Gareth Bale is one that has certainly caught the imagination of fans of the Champions League holders, if not the wider football community.

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