Sitting in a hotel room in Lausanne on Saturday night watching The Netherlands clash with Costa Rica on a BBC channel we had somehow stumbled across, I, like most of the rest of the world, was startled to see Dutch manager Louis van Gaal's replace goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen with Tim Krul after 119 minutes of play.

Something that had barely been seen before in top-level football, the switch was made all the most audacious by the fact that, unlike the third goalkeeper in the squad Michel Vorm, Krul did not have a particularly good track record when it came to spot-kicks, having saved only two of the 20 he has faced during five years with Newcastle United.

But in the subsequent shootout, Krul duly proved his manager right by saving two of the five Costa Rican efforts, as the giant-killers were eliminated when on the cusp of becoming the first team from North and Central America to qualify for the World Cup semi-finals.

"We thought it through," insisted van Gaal afterwards. "Every player has certain skills and qualities and they don't always coincide. We felt Tim had the longest reach and would be the most appropriate keeper to save penalties."

Yet, whatever the supposed pre-meditation, the decision of the future Manchester United manager was essentially an instinctive gamble, which he was destined always to live or die by.

And with top level sport decided by finer margins than perhaps any other walk of life, there is something to be said for an impulsive decision to make the difference between success and failure. With the caveat, of course, that for every successful harebrained scheme, there are half a dozen which fail dismally, and spectacularly misfiring gambles in World Cup quarter-finals are not forgiven easily.

Louis van Gaal provided what proved a tactical masterpiece by bringing on Tim Krul ahead of the penalty shoot-out against Costa Rica ©Getty Images




This all got me thinking about other brave schemes that have paid off.

It was previous International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge who first made a point of staying at least one night in the Athletes' Village during the Olympic Games.

It is an honour usually reserved for the athletes, so Glasgow 2014's invitation to be among the first occupants before the competitors of the Commonwealth arrive was too good an opportunity to miss.

We headed for Dalmarnock in the East End of Glasgow, to see  exactly where where Usain Bolt and co  will rub shoulders with lawn bowlers from the Norfolk Islands, rugby players from Sri Lanka and netballers from Malawi .

"Some of these people really are stars - even to the other athletes," said Glasgow 2014 Athletes representative and former Scotland hockey star Rhona Simpson.

The Games Village stretches over 35 hectares and will be home to 6,500 athletes and officials over the next two-and-a-half weeks. Each accommodation block is fitted with solar panels, which it must be said, seemed the height of optimism as heavy rain fell to greet our arrival.

The first number of the Village Voice -The Wee newspaper for a great Games offered advice on the notoriously capricious weather. "One thumb up and one thumb down." Not quite as scientific a forecast as that from the Meteorological Office perhaps, but it just about summed up our day here.

It is the one thing that Glasgow 2014 chief executive David Grevemberg can do nothing about, though he might care to recall that the weeks leading up to London 2012 were every bit as unpromising. Then, as if by magic, the clouds rolled away for almost the entire Olympic fortnight. In fact within a few hours the sun was finally putting those solar panels to good use. The flags of the 71 teams due to compete in the Commonwealth Games, which open on July 23, were billowing in a gentle breeze on a summer evening and the village suddenly became a very pleasant place to be.

It is within walking distance of Celtic Park, the venue for the Opening Ceremony of these Games. Celtic football supporters call their ground "Paradise". Commonwealth Games competitors may soon be singing the praises of their new, but temporary, home in similar vein. For ease of navigation the residential zone is split into Castle, Clan, Loch and Mountain quarters. The names have been chosen to give the village a Scottish flavour.

Glasgow City Council Deputy Leader Archie Graham has called the Village "A huge transformation".

More than 6,500 athletes and officials will stay in the Athletes' Village during Glasgow 2014 ©Glasgow 2014

Here they've made a point of keeping the buildings very low level, most are a maximum two storeys. Each block has bathrooms with walk-in shower and there is a communal room for watching television .Many of the fixtures and fittings will look familiar to those who took part in London 2012 - Glasgow took over much of the furniture. For the time being none of the apartments in this Village have kitchens. These will be "retro-fitted" when the athletes have moved out. The Village will then be converted into 700 new homes. Three hundred of them will be privately sold, 300 will be affordable housing and the remainder will be made available in what is described as "mid-market" rental. Graham claims reservations for the properties post Games have already "exceeded all expectations".

They have all been built with accessibility in mind. One area has been specifically adapted to the needs of the elite athletes with a disablity competitors. It will later be used as a care home for the elderly.

Grevemberg  believes the Village will have a "combination of breathing space, state of the art facilities and a warm welcome".

The beds were comfortable and the rooms airy and clean. Everyone I spoke to enjoyed a good nights sleep. Some  like Mr Bolt might need a longer bed and that, we were assured, can be provided.

The advance parties for the first teams are preparing for their arrival so this was a last chance for organisers to iron out the last few snags. If any remain during the Games, they'll be ironed out by the Village Chieftains. Their identities will be revealed next week. In other Games, they have been known as Village Mayors. They will be the contact point for team leaders and will hold regular meetings to solve any problems at 8am sharp each morning.

There's one Village department which would be quite happy if they did not have anything to do during the Games. The Polyclinic offers 11 different medical services. They've recruited some 1,400 medical specialists from across the United Kingdom, many of them volunteers. They also have a hotline to  National Health experts so they can get early warning of any infections or contagious illnesses.

Medical chief Liz Mendl is well aware of the peculiar demands of her patients. Her clinic includes the almost obligatory ice baths but also offers physiotherapy and massage services. "We will try to offer the best possible advice,knowing that they want to compete," she said. 

More than 2,000 athletes can be accommodated at any one time in the massive dining hall at the Commonwealth Games Village ©Glasgow 2014

The Clyde, the great river which runs through the city, passes by the back door and those athletes so inclined can take a riverside run.If that makes them a little peckish,  the main dining room can take care of almost every need. More than 2,000 people can be seated at any one time in a temporary structure which is over twice the size of an Olympic swimming pool.

Breakfast is expected to be the busiest time of the day. Our choices included cereal, yoghurts, a range of fruits, pastries and cakes and the full "Scottish breakfast" with everything from sausages, bacon, eggs to black pudding. Staff assured me that the great Scottish delicacy haggis will definitely be on the menu  during the Games. The 150 chefs are somehow producing 2,000 different items, so they'll have to work to keep the menu interesting. They can also knock up a birthday cake to order. In 1970 the chefs in Edinburgh produced a special light cake for hurdler David Hemery, who celebrated his 26th birthday with gold in the 110 metres hurdles that same day.

Hot choices include spicy kitchen, Halal food, pizza and pasta, a deli, classic meals from Scotland and the rest of the United Kingdom. There's even a special gluten free toasting station. By the time the Games are over, organisers estimate the small matter of 400,000 meals will have been prepared. That is to say nothing of the grab'n go options available for athletes in a hurry.

Liquid refreshment is available next door at the Village bar. Organisers even ran a competition to find a name.

The winning entry came from former Scotland and Great Britain hammer thrower Shirley Addison. "Its a nod to the 19th hole in Golf which is the bar," she said. "Athletics tracks and swimming pools usually have eight lanes. I very much hope The 9th Lane will be a place for athletes to celebrate their successes, pick themselves up from disappointments and most importantly be a place where lifelong friendships are formed."

The "9th Lane" - the name for the bar in the Athletes' Village - is sure to become a focal point during the Commonwealth Games ©Glasgow 2014

Musical entertainment will be a big part of the Village vibe and on the night we were there, the Cairn String Quartet, an all female ensemble formed of students from the Royal Glasgow Conservatoire, played Katy Perry's hit "Firework" as you've surely never heard it before. The Village social programme will also include a Ceilidh, a traditional Scottish musical celebration. There are dance simulators for those who wish to polish up their moves before hitting the disco. A golf simulator is also set to help athletes find their range.

It is all a far cry from the first British Empire Games held in Hamilton in 1930. Back then competitors were housed in dormitory style rooms in the Prince of Wales School, Hamilton, Ontario, "a beautiful modern three storey building" it was claimed. Organisers boasted that the dining hall had room for 200, a tenth of the number they can accommodate today. 

Hamilton officials boasted "arrangements are so complete that a postal substation has been installed for the use of the athletes." Communication has moved along a bit since then.In Glasgow, Tablets and laptops will be available for loan. In fact the entire Village could be described as a wifi hotspot.

Some of the other statistics are mindblowing. The Village is 35 hectares, the size of 54 football pitches, and it will house 6,500 occupants who will get through 26,000 bed sheets and 12,000 pillowcases during the Games. They will be served by a workforce of 2,000.

The Athletes' Village for Glasgow 2014 will cover 35 hectares, the size of 54 football pitches ©Glasgow 2014

In 1970, when the Games were first held in Scotland, it had originally been planned to use the Redford Military Barracks but when these were unavailable, Edinburgh University halls of residence were pressed into service. Back then, the last word in fashion was the Village hairdresser. Now athletes are no longer content with national colours on uniforms alone but want them on their finger nails too.The idea proved a big hit at London 2012, so the nail bar  will have a palate of all the participating teams . Expect the host nation's saltire to be particularly popular. More intricate designs, such as the flag of Fiji, will test the skill of the nail painters.

Meanwhile,  2014 mascot Clyde has been limbering up for  a big race on the Village green on July 28. He is rumoured to have a secret training regime and  claims  "my mate Usain usually pops over to do some light sprinting". Race opponents are expected to include 2012 Olympic mascots Wenlock and Mandeville, who might well prove easier to beat.

Philip Barker has worked as a television journalist for 25 years. He began his career with Trans World Sport, then as a reporter for Skysports News and the ITV breakfast programme. A regular Olympic pundit on BBC Radio, Sky News and Talksport, he is associate editor of the Journal of Olympic History, has lectured at the National Olympic Academy and contributed extensively to Team GB publications. His latest book, Lord's First: 200 Years of Making History at Lord's Cricket Ground, has recently been published. To follow him on Twitter click here.

Anyone with an eye for such things might have noticed that the kit worn by much-fancied Belgium at the FIFA World Cup in Brazil bears an unfamiliar logo.

Where you might have expected a swoosh or three stripes or a big cat was, well, what exactly? A wavy, abstract shape that just might be a flag; or a magic carpet.

This is because coach Marc Wilmots' squad is one of the five teams at this World Cup not to be sponsored by one of the Big Three of Nike, Adidas and Puma.

Instead, Vincent Kompany and Co's kit is supplied by a comparative minnow of shirt-making, Burrda Sport.

To understand who Burrda is and how it picked up the deal to supply a squad widely seen as dark horses to win the entire tournament, I was steered eventually to a Paris-based company called SM2B and the manager in charge of communications for Burrda, Marie Gérard.

And what a fascinating story it turned out to be.

Burrda, Gérard told me, was a brand created in 2007 by the current Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

"Burrda", it seems, means "fabric" in Arabic.

And, once the Qatar link is established, you can see how that at first rather baffling logo echoes the maroon and white Qatar national flag.

The Belgian kit, seen here with team coach Marc Wilmots (left) and assistant coach Vital Borkelmans, bears an unfamiliar logo ©AFP/Getty Images



The company is owned by Qatar Sports Investments (QSI), a well-known name in European football since it transformed the prospects of top French club Paris Saint-Germain by taking control three years ago.

Burrda is not, though, as one might expect, PSG's kit supplier: this remains the province of Nike.

Indeed, its portfolio of football teams remains decidedly limited, including, besides Belgium, the Tunisian national team, Olympique Nice, a French club whose best days were in the 1950s, and Al Sadd of Qatar.

Burrda has made impressive inroads into the new Olympic sport of rugby union, however, supplying one of the top English clubs, Northampton Saints, Llanelli Scarlets of Wales, Biarritz of France and most of all Jonny Wilkinson's latest club RC Toulon, winners of the Heineken Cup, the sport's European championship, for the past two seasons.

According to Gérard, the opportunity to take on Belgium came in 2010, a year dominated on planet football by a second-consecutive World Cup to take place without them, and which started with Belgium ranked 66th in the world, below the likes of Macedonia and Lithuania.

With that sort of performance level, it would be fair to say that the Red Devils were not exactly the hottest property in international football.

Since then, though, a spectacular recovery has taken place, sparked by the maturing of the so-called golden generation, including the likes of Eden Hazard and Axel Witsel, and the team has been ranked as high as fifth.

Eden Hazard is one of the star names in a Belgian squad which has reached the quarter-finals of the World Cup ©AFP/Getty Images



The detail about Burrda that some insidethegames readers will, I suspect, regard as the most interesting of all, however, emerges when I ask Gérard if the company has a European manager: it does, and his name is Laurent Platini, the son of Michel.

Platini père has found himself at the eye of the storm over FIFA's decision to award the 2022 World Cup to Qatar, particularly since revealing that he was one of 14 FIFA Executive Committee members who voted for the Gulf state in a secret December 2010 ballot.

Just before the World Cup, Platini used the French sports newspaper L'Equipe to make a robust and passionate defence of his moral conduct as UEFA president, denouncing what he claimed was a deliberate campaign to discredit him and saying that, despite all the allegations over Qatar staging the 2022 tournament, the decision was the right one for football.

Laurent Platini, the son of Michel (pictured), is Burrda Sport's European manager ©Getty Images



"I voted for Qatar in order to give the Arab world something they have been wanting for a very long time," Platini is reported to have said.

"The Gulf is a wonderful place to hold the World Cup and it was about promoting the development of football.

"We've already been to the United States, as well as Korea, and Japan... It was a new approach. Full stop. That's the only reason."

I cannot recall if he has revealed this as well, but I have long believed that Platini was one of four Exco members who voted for the frequently brilliant joint Holland-Belgium bid in the contest to host the 2018 competition, which was won by Russia.

Given that their team is wearing his company's shirts, it would certainly be no surprise if Platini fils had a soft spot for Belgium in the World Cup currently unfolding so compellingly in Brazil.

David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Cup and London 2012. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed here.

When someone says "I'll be honest with you", what do you think?

Personally I find myself wondering "If you're being 'honest' now, what does that indicate about everything else you have told me?"

Call me cynical. Call me suspicious. I'll be honest with you - I don't care.

The question of honesty has arisen this week in connection with the plaintive cry of The Netherlands footballer Arjen Robben.

Following the Dutch team's 2-1 win over Mexico in their round of 16 match at the World Cup finals in Brazil - a win decided by a penalty earned in what many felt was a questionably dramatic fashion by the winger - there has been an outcry. And indeed a Twitter storm.

Reason being that Robben, who was accused by Mexico's coach Miguel Herrera of diving on three different occasions, admitted that on one of those occasions, he had been bang to rights.

Although he insisted that the showy fall which led to the decisive goal had resulted from a genuine foul, Robben admitted: "I took a dive in the first half."

Arjen Robben goes to ground to win the crucial penalty for The Netherlands in their World Cup match against Mexico ©Getty Images

The problem, as he described it, was that he was expecting a foul that never actually arrived. "I went to ground because I thought he would tackle me, but he took his leg away," the former Chelsea forward explained.

Oddly, the Mexican nation failed to find comfort in these words and there was an outburst of anger which appeared to be directed equally towards the Dutchman's actions and explanations. For Robben, read Robber.

The Dutchman's subsequent response - "I think it's a shame because I was very honest" - was, frankly, a bit of a conundrum. If you're honest about being dishonest, does that then make you honest? But then if you're dishonest about being dishonest - "Not me, guv", "I never said them things", "I don't recall" - does that then make you honest? I mean, two negatives make a positive, don't they? Anyone? Bertrand Russell? What do you mean he's been dead since 1970? That's not helpful.

The philosopher Bertand Russell might have had an opinion on the conundrum of 'honest' cheats such as Arjen Robben - but sadly we will never know ©Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Anyway, the conundrum has excited numerous members of the Twitterati all over the world. The subject has been top of the trending lists, with numerous doctored photos being posted of our Arjen poised on top of a 10 metre diving board, or throwing himself around dramatically in the manner of a ballerina.

And yes, of course, there have those who have demanded that he be punished for his admission, or rather for the action he has admitted to. England's former World Cup referee Graham Poll opined that, while there was a case for Robben winning his last minute penalty under a challenge from the Mexican captain Rafael Marquez, "the way that the Dutchman dives with his legs flying out behind him would stop me giving that penalty."

Poll also suggested that such perceived offences could in future be liable to retrospective punishment following analysis of the recorded action. Even the FIFA President, Sepp Blatter, has spoken encouragingly of such a system.

Former World Cup referee Graham Poll believes Robben had a case for the penalty he won -but adds that the threatricality of his subsequent fall would have convinced him not to give it ©Getty Images

But as a FIFA spokesperson made clear soon after the match, Robben will not have to fear any retrospective judgement for what is a yellow rather than a red card offence.

You can see it from Robben's point of view. He probably does feel the penalty given was legitimate. But he also seems to think that diving in pursuit of an earlier penalty was legitimate - at least within his terms of reference.

Here we recall Lance Armstrong's "honest" admission last year on the Oprah Winfrey Show to the charge of taking performance enhancing drugs during his Tour de France victories.

But please don't run away with the idea that Armstrong considered himself a cheat. He told the talk show host that he had looked up the definition of the word cheat, which entailed gaining an advantage over others, and concluded that he was merely ensuring "a level playing field." Ipso facto, he was not a cheat.

When is cheating not really cheating? Answer, when you gain no advantage because - you believe - everyone else is at it too. So Lance Armstrong, stripped of seven consecutive Tour de France victories for doping, told TV host Oprah Winfrey ©AFP/Getty Images

Following the revelations about his systematic doping, Armstrong has been vilified as no other athlete other than Ben Johnson, whose 100m gold at the 1988 Seoul Olympics was swiftly taken off him following a positive drug test.

"It's only cheating if you're the only one doing it," was Johnson's mantra. By this yardstick, Robben is not a cheat. Clearly there are many others trying to bend or push the rules over going to ground.

Armstrong's and Johnson's basic position on the relative virtue of doping was mirrored, albeit in far less of a high profile way, by the case of British shot putter Neal Brunning, who tested positive for steroids in 1992, admitting his guilt before the second of the two samples was analysed. "I did it because I felt others were doing it," he told me. "If they can do it and get away with it, then let's have a go."

Robben's claim to being honest recalls a similar statement made four years ago by the French forward Thierry Henry after he had effectively performed a baskeball dribble to control the ball near the byline before setting up the goal which effectively ended Ireland's hopes of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup finals.

"I will be honest," said Henry. "It was a handball." He even went so far as to agree with vainglorious Irish opinion that there should, by rights, be a replay.

Again, the question is raised: what is the point of being honest about being dishonest? Particularly after the event.

Bobby Jones, who won golf's grand slam as an amateur in 1930, offered examples of sportsmanship which remain as a yardstick during our current moral turbulence ©Hulton Archive/Getty Images

At the 1925 US Open, amateur golfer Bobby Jones brushed the grass with his club as he addressed a shot in the rough close to the 11th green. This apparently caused a slight movement of the ball, unseen by anyone other than Jones. He took the shot, but then informed his playing partner, Walter Hagen, and an official that he was calling a penalty on himself, resisting several attempts to reconsider and sticking to the fact that he felt he had infringed Rule 18, concerning moving a ball at rest after address.

The docked shot meant he was involved in a play-off, which he subsequently lost. After earning widespread praise for his sportsmanship, Jones responded dismissively: You might as well praise a man for not robbing a bank as to praise him for playing by the rules.

We've all had dreams of joining sport's elite ranks. To push ourselves to the limit and walk out the other side: stronger, fitter, faster than any other, and showered in a mass of cheering, wild celebrations and silverware.

That was my dream anyway; hindered only by a dire lack of skill in nearly all sports I pushed my body to endure.

No doubt when Mo Farah and Usain Bolt, those twin towers of the track, finally confirmed their intention to participate in the upcoming Commonwealth Games, there were relieved calls in Glasgow for trebles all round of Scotland's finest malt.

For with celebrity absentees including mum-to-be Jessica Ennis-Hill and Scotland's greatest Olympian, the now retired cycling czar Sir Chris Hoy, the event was not exactly overflowing with athletic glitterati.

At least the presence of Farah in the distance double plus Bolt, although so far only committed to the sprint relay, adds welcome lustre to the occasion.

But while downing their celebratory drams the organisers should also be mixing them with a drop of whisky sour. For Glasgow 2014 has missed a trick, one which surely would have provided one of the inspiring highlights of the Games.

By omitting tennis from the 17 sports that will be contested over 11 days from Wednesday July 23, Glasgow has dropped a caber-sized clanger.

It means Scotland's very own sporting superhero, Andy Murray, won't be there - much, we gather, to his personal chagrin.

The absence of tennis from the Glasgow 2014 programme means two-time Grand Slam champion Andy Murray will not be at the Games ©AFP/Getty Images



Neither will the Scottish pair Colin Fleming and Jocelyn Rae, who were a rare success for the nation in the last Commonwealth Games in Delhi where they won the mixed doubles gold. Like Murray, they have expressed their disappointment over tennis's absence.

It must be a matter of severe regret too for the Games committee that, after beating the Nigerian city of Abuja in the 2007 ballot to become this year's hosts they then elected to ditch tennis, alongside archery, and instead bring in triathlon and judo.

Of course they weren't to know then that Scotland by now would be boasting Britain's first Wimbledon champion for three quarters of a century, as well as an Olympic tennis gold medallist. But surely it was worth a punt.

Murray's elder brother Jamie, no mean doubles player, who also competed in Delhi where tennis was introduced as a Commonwealth Games sport, also misses out.

Instead Glasgow 2014 has served up a something of a double fault, for a peeved Murray, who says he probably would have competed, now has no plans even to attend the Opening Ceremony as he'll be practising in Florida for the US Open which begins a month later.

Does this smack of a snub?

Murray says he would have liked to see tennis included in Glasgow. "I'm not sure exactly why they got rid of it - there was a fairly good turnout at the last Games. It's a shame."

Tennis made its Commonwealth Games debut at Delhi 2010, and has swiftly made an exit ©Getty Images



Scotland's opportunist First Minister Alex Salmond declares he is "gutted" that Murray won't be able to play in Glasgow.

Well, he would say that because he is aware that a Murray gold medal not only would have Tartan hearts swelling with pride, but might also swell the independence movement.

Not that Murray, who lives with his English girlfriend in Wimbledon, plays any part in it, pointedly refraining from joining the debate.

But he certainly wasn't best pleased when Salmond unfurled the Scottish flag in the Royal Box at his moment of victory at Wimbledon last year. "I didn't like it," he said.

Meantime Murray marches on. So you might say that if he goes on to successfully defend that Wimbledon title his Games absence will be rubbing the Saltire into Glasgow's wound.

And Murray standing alone as Britain's last survivor of the first week of Wimbledon was a situation comparable to England's dismal failure in the World Cup as far as the rest of British tennis is concerned.

The admirable Murray apart - he has largely ploughed his own furrow outside the centralised system with more than a little help from his mum - current British tennis players are a woeful bunch.

Despite bundles of cash being lobbed at them by the Lawn Tennis Association, just like our loads-a-money footballers they can't return the goods.

The stone-rich LTA, along with the English Football Association, comprise the two wealthiest governing bodies in British sport.

The Belgian coach Julien Hoferlin left the LTA last week after six years with a withering broadside, suggesting most young British tennis players were spoilt and lacked hunger.

Julien Hoferlin (right) left the Lawn Tennis Association last week and painted a worrying picture of the state of British tennis ©AFP/Getty Images



It is a message that could be applied equally to English football too.

The moral is that money is not always the answer to sporting ills.

Nations representing the three richest football leagues in the world - the Premier League, Italy's Serie A and Spain's La Liga - all suffered a first round KO in Brazil.

And the World Cup's two highest-paid coaches - Russia's Fabio Capello (£6 million/$10.2 million/€7.5 million) a year, and England's Roy Hodgson (£3.2 million/$5.4 million/€4 million) - were also ignominious early bathers with their respective squads.

Pardon the digression, but while on the subject of funding I hope Sports Minister Helen Grant is finally prepared to flex her muscles over the ongoing vexed issue of financial support - or lack of it - of British sport's have-nots.

There is renewed fury among them over UK Sport's doubling of funding for Winter Olympic and Paralympic sports over the next four years. Understandably aggrieved is financially-snubbed basketball, whose GB women's team have qualified for the European Championships next year but haven't enough money left to participate.

British Basketball Performance chair Roger Moreland is seeking an urgent meeting with Grant as he says there has to be a political solution to the crisis.

Great Britain's women basketball players have qualified for next year's European Championships, but they need funding to be able to participate ©AFP/Getty Images



As he points out, basketball was one of a number of Olympic and Paralympic sports to see their funding from UK Sport withdrawn earlier this year. Interest in the sport remains high and Sport England's Active People Survey results last month reaffirmed its popularity as a participation sport, with hugely significant numbers of young people from black and ethnic minority communities.

But the success has come at a cost for the organisation, as Moreland explains. "The simple fact now is that we have used reserves to fund this campaign and now we need money to field a team at next year's EuroBasket.

"Unless we find a solution to the funding crisis, a tragic situation will occur. The biggest barrier to overcome is not the challenge on the court from basketball superpowers - we can deal with that; it is the system of funding and systematic targets currently in place which penalises our players.

"Explain this to someone from abroad and they look at you in amazement. What sort of message does this send to the thousands of girls who play basketball and dream of representing their country on the world stage?

"This is certainly not the legacy I or many others envisaged from the London 2012 Games. This is particularly so for a team sport which is second in popularity to only football in terms of the 14-25 age group and the fourth-most popular team sport for women.

"I am writing to Helen Grant [whose portfolio includes equalities by the way] to seek an urgent meeting with her. We have to find a solution to the funding issue facing team sports like basketball at elite level. For us, it has become even more pressing now following the fantastic achievements of our women in qualifying for the European Championship finals.

"We have a talented team whose chance of representing this country at Rio 2016 could be snatched from them through no fault of their own." Hear hear! Time for a spot of Ministerial slam-dunking.

Probably just as well broke basketball is not currently a Commonwealth Games sport. Otherwise, like Andy Murray, it probably would be called out in Glasgow.

Alan  Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.

Not many people could have foreseen that one of the knockout matches of the FIFA World Cup would feature Greece, pitting their wits against the supposed minnows of Group D of Death, Costa Rica.

Even fewer would have predicted that the final hour of the contest would have gripped the world, as the heroic ten-men of Central America resisted the Balkan surge before triumphing in a penalty shootout of breathtaking quality.

And while many of the 41,000 fans who piled into the Arena Pernambuco in Recife may have been disappointed not to have been watching the likes of Italy or Uruguay or, dare I say it, England, in action, they did not show it.

Dear Holland,

I'm sorry, but it's over between us.

Along with millions of other schoolkids, I became besotted with you 40 years and a week ago - on June 19, 1974, the day of the Cruyff turn.

It was a difficult time: Sir Alf Ramsey's World Cup-winning team had broken up and England hadn't made it to the 1974 tournament in West Germany.

What is worse, Scotland had.

Into this emotional void strode coach Rinus Michels's team of strutting demigods headed by Johan Cruyff, the original Footballer With Attitude.

I loved everything about that team: the swagger, the ball skills, the patterns they wove, the rather outré orange shirts (I was too young for Matthews's Blackpool).

But what I loved most of all was the impression they gave that playing beautiful, freewheeling, flowing football was more important than winning.

Much more important.

Johan Cruyff was at the centre of a Dutch team that captured the imagination of everyone at the 1974 World Cup in West Germany ©Getty Images

This attitude was shared, I felt, by the Chelsea of Peter Osgood and Alan Hudson, whom I also had a soft spot for, and contrasted very satisfyingly with that exuded by my pantomime villain of the time, Don Revie, whose Leeds United side, you felt, wanted to win all too badly.

Of course, I now realise that this insouciance was illusory.

Losing two consecutive World Cup finals, in 1974 and 1978, must have been a gut-wrenching experience.

Nonetheless, while Chelsea quickly fell from grace, consecutive Dutch teams at major tournaments managed unfailingly to convey the impression that football artistry was what really counted.

And in 1988 they actually won something when the exhilarating side of Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten and Arnold Műhren walked stylishly away with the European Championship.

There was an aura too about the 1998 vintage, graced by the De Boer brothers and iceman Dennis Bergkamp, which lost on penalties to Brazil in the World Cup semi-final.

Holland, led by Ruud Gullit, celebrate winning the European Championships in 1988 ©AFP/Getty Images

With the turn of the century though, the magic seemed to vanish.

I wonder if the change came after the 2000 European Championship, a tournament which the Dutch co-hosted and that they should have won.

Instead, they went out once again in the semi-final, victims of a miraculous defensive display by Fabio Cannavaro, Alessandro Nesta and Paolo Maldini for 10-man Italy - that and their own inability to master the prosaic art of converting spot-kicks.

That crushing disappointment led, initially, to failure.

They somehow contrived to finish below Ireland in their 2002 World Cup qualifying group.

And while they got to Euro 2004, I remember watching them be outpassed by a terribly mediocre German team in Oporto's Estádio do Dragão.

Since then, it is as if winning, which appeared so joyously incidental to those delectable 20th-century Oranje teams (even if I'm sure it wasn't), has become every bit as much of an obsession for Holland as any other international side in the high-stakes world of big-time football.

Where once style seemed to be everything, now it is plainly subordinate.

Everyone remembers the ruined 2010 World Cup final, but the Dutch exit from the 2006 competition - in the clash with Portugal that produced 16 yellow and four red cards, including two yellows for Dutchmen in the first seven minutes - was just as grim.

Holland knocked Brazil out of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa but their aggressive approach drew lots of criticism ©Getty Images

In South Africa, Bert van Marwijk's men did spring a surprise by eliminating Brazil.

I somehow missed that match, but Richard Williams's report in The Guardian spoke of "an afternoon full of physical confrontation, some of it spiteful".

On the eve of the game, Williams recalled, the two coaches had "been unanimous in their declaration that total football and samba football were archaic concepts with no relevance to the present day". More's the pity.

Such, though, was the depth of my four-decade infatuation that I held out the hope that the spectacle of Brazil 2014 might yet enable us to patch things up.

Surely they must see that the 2010 final represented the logical extreme of the "win-at-all-costs" mindset, I reasoned.

And with artists of the calibre of Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Robin van Persie they remained better-equipped than most to pick up some of the threads of the glorious last quarter of the 20th century under revered coach Louis van Gaal.

Van Persie's breathtaking headed goal against Spain, and the era-ending demolition of the world champions that ensued, raised my hopes higher.

Robin van Persie's sensational header in Holland's 5-1 victory over defending champions Spain at this year's World Cup in Brazil was a reminder of the old times ©Getty Images

But now the tactically-astute but spirit-sapping victory over Chile has made me realise that the flame can, in all probability, never be rekindled.

Van Gaal's team shut down Chile's mesmerising pass-and-move game partly by harrying them relentlessly and partly by fouling them.

I thought they were extremely fortunate to receive only one yellow card.

The 25 fouls they committed brought to 68 their total for the tournament - the most of any team in Brazil and 15 per cent more than Costa Rica, the next worst offender.

Furthermore, while their offensive game is effective, I find it far from exhilarating, though, it is true, there was no Van Persie for the Chile clash.

This is because when you have a forward as brilliant as Robben, it reduces the incentive to be inventive.

One of the saddest sights of Brazil 2014 for me has been how Sneijder has so far laboured for relevance in the Dutch system.

Robben, though, is a highly unusual type of football genius.

Whereas France's Zinedine Zidane, say, or Van Persie, are brilliant in part because of their utter unpredictability, Robben's brilliance resides in how opponents know exactly what he is going to do, yet are frequently powerless to stop it.

This can be fascinating to observe, but is rarely if ever spellbinding after the manner of Cruyff and his team-mates of 40 years ago.

At least not for me, especially when the height of his ambition so often seems to be to win a free-kick within shooting distance.

And so, reluctantly, I am drawing a line under 40 years of football devotion.

You, Holland, may well be one of Europe's best shouts at winning this World Cup. But this time I will not be rooting for you.

Yours regretfully,

A football romantic.

It seems that the Uruguayan football team is fated to progressing in the World Cup finals minus its star performer.

As this nation of three million people now contemplates its reduced prospects following the four-month ban imposed upon Luis Suarez for biting Italian defender Giorgio Chiellini in their decisive group match victory, one can only speculate on the thoughts which will be going through the mind of the Liverpool forward whose bolstered image in Britain made him the recipient of both the players' and the journalists' version of Player of the Year.

His sickened demeanour as he left the field following Uruguay's 1-0 win over Italy was a polar opposite to his joy after scoring the two goals which defeated England in the previous match. He knew the jig was up, having already incurred previous bans, for two matches and then ten matches, following other incidents of biting opponents.

A dejected Luis Suarez gets a hug from Uruguay's coach Oscar Tabarez after the 1-0 win over Italy in which he appeared to bite an opponent ©AFP/Getty Images

At the last World Cup in South Africa, Suarez left the pitch chaired by his fellow players having effectively sacrificed his own interests on behalf of the team having deliberately handled off the line in the last minute header to deny Ghana what would most probably have been the winning goal in their quarter-final.

Suarez was automatically sent-off, but the penalty was missed and 10-man Uruguay went on to reach the semi-final by winning the penalty shoot-out at the end of extra time.

Oscar Tabarez, the Uruguayan coach, attempted to justify Suarez's actions on the basis that they were "instinctive". Whether they believed that or not, the vast majority of Uruguayan followers seemed content with the result, with many going a stage further by openly glorying in his actions.

Luis Suarez is chaired off the pitch by his Uruguayan team mates after his deliberate handball denied Ghana what might have been a last-minute winner in the 2010 World Cup final quarter-final. Despite being sent off, Suarez saw his team win on penalties after extra-time
©AFP/Getty Images

There was further justification after the match from the former Uruguayan international Gus Poyet. "I was a little bit disappointed with some people talking about cheating," said the former Chelsea midfielder. "I think that is rubbish. That is taking one for the team. That is making something happen for the rest of their life. That is helping one country of 3.5 million people to get to the semi-final for the first time in so many years."

Could Suarez's latest effort also be described as "making something happen for the team"? It was certainly not long after this shocking incident that Italy lost the Uruguayan captain Diego Godin at a corner, allowing him to head the goal which took his team into the next round at Italy's expense. Unlike the footage of Suarez's bite on Giorgio Chiellini, the evidence for this interpretation was not conclusive.

Photographs of Uruguayan fans supporting Suarez's actions in 2010 were soon posted on social media, and they included a snap of a young male and a young female fan, both smiling broadly, the former brandishing,  a poster with the words "THANKS SUAREZ" on it, and the latter holding up one depicting a giant hand of Uruguayan blue.

Historically the impact this relatively small nation has made up the World Cup has been disproportionate, with national expectations being primed at a visceral level by the team's victory in the first two finals they entered, in 1930 and 1950.

In their eight subsequent appearances they have finished fourth three times -  in 1954, 1970 and 2010 - and reached the quarter-finals once and the round-of-16 twice.

It should be noted that Uruguay is, as the phrase goes, no stranger to controversy in the World Cup.

The very first World Cup final, between host nation Uruguay and near neighbours Argentina, very nearly didn't take place because of a wrangle over the match ball. And with the Estadio Centenario packed with 93,000 spectators six hours before the match the consequences of that occurring hardly bear thinking about.

Fifa eventually ruled that Argentina should provide the match ball for the first half, and the host nation for the second. Uruguay, already Olympic champions, added the World Cup winners title through a 4-2 scoreline – although they had trailed 2-1 at half-time.

Uruguay's Lorenzo Fernandez (left), Pedro Cea (centre) and Hector Scarone celebrate beating Argentina 4-2 on the home soil of Montivideo in the first ever World Cup final in 1930 - a match that was put in jeopardy by a dispute between the teams over the match ball
©Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The following day was declared a national holiday in Uruguay. In the Argentinian capital of Buenos Aires, the Uruguayan Consulate was pelted with stones by a mob. Who says sport doesn't bring people together?

Four years later, Uruguay (and Argentina) refused to play in the World Cup finals in Italy, in retaliation for the fact that numerous European nations had disdained to travel to Uruguay four years earlier.

And in 1938, Uruguay were again absentees from the party, this time in protest at the awarding of the finals to France when they claimed it should have gone by agreed rotation to a South American nation.

Suarez, meanwhile, has been given three days to appeal, with Uruguay's round-of-16 match against Colombia coming up tomorrow

Luis Suarez holds his mouth, Giorgio Chiellini holds his shoulder - the aftermath of the incident for which the Uruguayan forward was banned for four months by FIFA ©AFP/Getty Images

There had been speculation that the FIFA, the international football body, might shirk or avoid this awkward issue.

In his recently published book Sex and Drugs and Sport and Cheating (DB Publishing), which ranges over an interesting number of topics, most pointedly the evaluation of claims currently being made by the producers of sports drinks and supplements, Paul Anthony, a former Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians concludes by adapting the poetic judgement of Dante Alighieri on the subject of opposing cheating.

Anthony uses the following quote from the 14th century Italian writer's masterpiece, the Inferno: "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in times of great moral crisis, maintain their neutrality."

Dante can rest. FIFA appear to have risen to their challenge, even though some have expressed dissatisfaction that the sanction was not harsher.

"Such behaviour cannot be tolerated on any football pitch, and in particular not at a FIFA World Cup when the eyes of millions of people are on the stars on the field," said Claudio Sulser, chairman of the Disciplinary Committee.

The right thing has been done. And yet there is a lingering sense of regret that someone so sumptuously talented should have imploded in such a fashion. Suarez's lapses put one in mind of Hamlet's description of the "vicious mole of nature" that undermines a man, for all that his other virtues are "as pure as grace".

It was no surprise to see a tweet from Michael Owen, an instinctive goalscorer in the class of Jimmy Greaves or Gerd Muller (or Luis Suarez), expressing a similar polarity of expression on the subject of Suarez's (latest) fall from grace.

"I'm genuinely gutted," he said. "I love watching him play more than any other player but he obviously just can't control himself."

Meanwhile the former world heavyweight boxing champion Evander Holyfield, who had part of his ear bitten off in a fight with Mike Tyson in 1997, tweeted: "I guess any part of the body is up for eating."

After being found guilty of biting the arm of Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic last year, Suarez was given a 10-game ban by an English Football Association panel. Which criticised Suárez for not appreciating "the seriousness" of the incident when he argued against a long ban.

Chelsea's Branislav Ivanovic reacts after being bitten on the arm by Luis Suarez during a match last season, following which the Liverpool forward received a ten-match ban from the English Football Association ©AFP/ Getty Images

During London 2012, Lord's and the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) were gracious hosts to Olympic archery but this week they are celebrating a significant anniversary of their own.

It was in 1814 that Thomas Lord, wine merchant, entrepreneur and cricketer had arrived at the site to lay down his turf. It was the third location he had tried to establish his ground and this one stood the test of time. Two hundred years later it is still going strong.

Lord's has welcomed cricketers from all over the world and also played host to an astonishing range of other sport. In 1844 archery had been seen on the ground for the first time. Teepees were erected on the outfield to accommodate native Americans of the Ioway tribe. Around that time, Lord's also staged pony racing, athletics and lacrosse.

No Frenchman has yet played cricket at Lord's, though in the 1820s the great Velocipide Joseph Grandserre ran round the perimeter in a two hour time trial, and in 1839 Edmond Barre from Grenoble played real tennis or jeu de paume to open the newly built tennis court.

Another French visitor to Lord's was destined to change the face of international sport. Baron Pierre de Coubertin had led the way in the revival of the Olympic Games and made it clear one sport was at the heart of his plans for the first Olympic Games in Athens in 1896.  "Cricket  - according to the laws of the Marylebone Cricket Club". In fact, the only time to date that cricket has been included was in 1900 and that was when the Olympics were in Paris.

Lord's is celebrating its 200th anniversary this year ©Philip Barker

In 1904, a letter from  Lord Kinnaird  to the MCC Committee gave notice  that the club would be "glad to see a deputation of the St Louis exhibition of about 12 in number in the pavilion". By this they meant the International Olympic Committee (IOC). St Louis staged the Games that year. Amongst those charged with making arrangements for the visit to Lord's were Lord Darnleyand and C B Fry.

Both were eminent cricketers. Darnley had been President of the MCC and, back in 1882, he had led an England team to Australia. Whilst there, he was presented with a tiny terracotta urn which in time came to symbolise Anglo-Australian cricket, for it contained the fabled "Ashes."

The IOC meetings in London coincided with the Middlesex versus South Africa tour match. On the day W G Grace welcomed them to the pavilion. Grace was the most famous cricketer of his generation and had won a 440 yards hurdles race at the 1866 National Olympian Games. It seems likely that the IOC group left Lord's before the conclusion of the match which finished in a tie.

Coubertin had made it his business to keep the major sporting bodies in England informed about his Olympic projects . A list of potential IOC members drawn up by Coubertin included Lord Harris, a noted former Kent and England cricketer who was now a towering figure in the Lord's hierarchy.

The MCC were even invited to the meeting to found the British Olympic Association (BOA) in 1905. .

After designated hosts Rome withdrew the British agreed to take on the 1908 Olympic Games at short notice. Lord Desborough, a prominent MCC member,  was also chairman of the BOA and,  in this role, he was charged with heading the Organising Committee.for the first Olympics to be held in London. 

Prominent MCC member Lord Desborough was the first chairman of the British Olympic Association and organised the 1908 Games in London ©IOC/Olympic Museum collections

The first events were held to be held at Queen's Club, where another MCC member and former England cricket captain A E Stoddart was club Secretary.

In 1908 Lord's was not amongst the  venues for the Games but MCC made its own concession to help the success of the IV Olympic Games. They "agreed to alter the date  for the MCC tennis competition to meet the convenience of Olympic supporters".

It was a  familiar Lord's personality who won the first  gold medal - Evan Baillie Noel. As a cricketer he took a remarkable 17 wickets for MCC against the gentlemen of The Netherlands but it was a rackets player that Noel enjoyed Olympic success. Competition  began on April 27 1908. He  was one of only eight competitors .and reached the semi-finals and that proved enough for gold. His opponent, Henry Leaf, scratched with an injury.

Desborough, the man who masterminded the entire Games, later became President of MCC.

War came in 1914 and the following year, Lord's became part of the war effort. Only matches involving the forces or schools were played on the ground .

When peace resumed, so did the cricket and Middlesex won the County Cricket Championship. In their team that year was one Clarence Napier Bruce. A brilliant games player, he was an MCC member and graced the club's tennis courts with great distinction. He inherited the title of Lord Aberdare and  became a long serving member of the IOC.

In the 1930s, the ground attracted huge crowds for cricket. That interest was reflected in 1934 when the BBC began broadcasting from test matches. The commentator was Howard Marshall. Later he was chosen to give the English narration on "Olympia", Leni Riefenstahl's epic film of the 1936 Games in Berlin.

Twenty years later, the Olympics opened on a cricket ground in Melbourne. It was appropriately a cricketer who declared them open, former MCC President Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh.

Lord's staged a pre-Olympic hockey tournament in 1967 but had to wait for its own Olympic debut until 2012.

The idea for staging archery at Lord's had come from the MCC in 2003. When it became clear that London was to bid for the Olympic Games, MCC President Lord Alexander and secretary Roger Knight were both keen "to give every practicable assistance in bringing the Olympics to the capital for the first time since 1948".

When they staged an archery event in 2007 the club offered some advice to spectators coming to Lord's - "MCC strongly recommends that spectators bring binoculars with them."

In perfect weather, the trophies were won by the Indian women and Great Britain's men who each beat teams from China. "I was humbled by the venue and the ambiance," said Dola Banerjee of India. "Now I know what it means to score a century at Lord's.

Lord's became an Olympic venue when it staged archery during London 2012 ©Getty Images

Preparations for the Olympics continued apace and finally, after seven years of anticipation, on morning of July 27, 2012, the day of the Opening Ceremony, the hallowed turf at Lord's became Olympic soil. The ranking round of the Archery competitions on the Nursery Ground was the first competition of the  2012 Games to take actually place in London.

Appropriately, BBC cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew was recruited to cover the archery during the Olympics.  "Everything's going on in here, the Long Room's got sofas in it, this is not Lords as we know it," he said.

The Italian men won the men's team gold thanks to a inner gold finish from Michele Frangilli, which gave his team victory over the United States by one point.

Lord's groundsmen had less than a fortnight after the Olympics to restore the outfield to its former glory before test cricket resumed and the entire outfield was replaced by the London 2012 Olympic Organising Committee that winter..

Last summer Japan became the most recent first time visitors to Lord's .The visit was in commemoration of  the 150th anniversary of the first cricket match played on  Japanese soil. But Lord's was better known most Japanese television viewers as an archery venue. Takaharu Furukawa won Olympic silver  in the men's competition at London 2012.

Philip Barker has worked as a television journalist for 25 years. He began his career with Trans World Sport, then as a reporter for Skysports News and the ITV breakfast programme. A regular Olympic pundit on BBC Radio, Sky News and Talksport, he is associate editor of the Journal of Olympic History, has lectured at the National Olympic Academy and contributed extensively to Team GB publications. His latest book, Lord's First: 200 Years of Making History at Lord's Cricket Ground, has recently been published. To follow him on Twitter click here.

It is just short of two years since the United Kingdom wrapped itself in a golden cloak of sporting euphoria as the 2012 Olympics unfolded. But after the ecstasy - the agony.

England's forlorn footballers have brought the nation down to earth with a mighty, unpalatable bump. Well, maybe not the entire nation. I seriously doubt there is an abundance of weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland at the hasty exodus of Roy Hodgson's unmerry men from the FIFA World Cup.

But here in England despondency merges with despair. Not that we should have expected much more from a game that has sold its soul and, as far as national pride is concerned, lost its passion.

Listening to radio phone-ins one theme strikes a chord. Why can't our footballers perform with the same go-for-it gumption as did our Olympians, demand disgruntled fans?

While comparisons between the two mighty quadrennials, the Olympic Games and the World Cup, maybe somewhat invidious - though I think the streamlined British Olympic Association (BOA) outplayed the flabby Football Association (FA) in terms of getting-it togetherness - the complainants have a point.

Why can't England's footballers perform with the same go-for-it gumption as did Britain's Olympians? ©Getty Images



Which is almost more than England would have had from their campaign save for that tepid dead rubber draw with Costa Rica.

But the real point is that Britain had talent in the Olympics whereas England's footballers don't have enough of it to make them world beaters, or even world class.

"They should have prepared like the British Olympic team," bemoaned one caller. Actually England were supposedly the best prepared of all the 32 World Cup contestants- certainly the most expensively so.

It wasn't about preparation. It was about pedigree. There is one simple but ignored truth about English football - one that goes for the rest of these isles too.

We are just not good enough.

I can think of only one British player who would be an automatic election for a World X1. Gareth Bale who as a Welshman never made it to Brazil.

As a Welshman Gareth Bale never made it to Brazil but he is the one British player who would be an automatic election for a World X1 ©Getty Images



What about Wayne Rooney, some may ask? Well, what about him?

An outstanding club player, but when has he ever done it for his country? In my view, he is over-publicised and overrated. And certainly overpaid.

So, I am afraid, is England's current manager. The avuncular Roy Hodgson is a lovely man. Charming, cultured, intelligent and a multi-linguist. But does Uncle Roy really talk the players' language?

As far as the FA bigwigs are concerned he doesn't make waves. Which is why he suits the Suits.

But ultimately is he a winner? He has managed 16 teams in eight different countries but won little save a couple of overseas domestic leagues.

True, he once got Switzerland to the last 16 of the World Cup but what does that count when he couldn't get England beyond the group stage, our worst performance since 1958.

For that he has been paid £3.2 million ($5.4 million/€3.9 million) a year, the second highest salaried of all the current World Cup coaches.

With Rooney on £300,000 ($510,000/€370,000) a week and all of England's World Cup squad trousering well above the Premier League average of £31,000 ($53,000/€39,000) a week you could be excused for labelling yesterday's farewell match in Belo Horizonte as Costa Rica v Cost A Fortune.

There's no doubt some of England's younger players show promising ability - but how effectively will this be developed while the import of relatively cheap foreigners continues to be such an unassailable policy?

That's not Hodgson's fault, but I believe the FA took the soft option when they appointed him.

Harry Redknapp would have been my choice. Ok, he may be a nightmare for the brass-buttoned blazers but I'm willing to bet England would not be flying home from Rio this week had he been in charge.

Harry Redknapp would have been my choice as England manager ©Getty Images



For one thing I doubt he would have left behind the old hands - and wise heads - of Ashley Cole and, unlikeable as he is as a bloke, John Terry, both of whom he would have persuaded to pull on the England shirt again to stabilise a deficient defence.

But that's water under Stamford Bridge.

There is no easy solution to England's misfortunes, though an infusion of the 2012 Olympic spirit would not come amiss.

There certainly has to be a root-and-branch overhaul of FA policy.

This England squad was ridiculously pampered and over-protected while the presence of so many bag carriers, jobsworths and freeloaders in the 80-strong accompanying FA party raised eyebrows among other less well-endowed but more talented nations.

One wonders, too, how well footballers actually respond to an abundance of sports psychology. Did the prominent presence of the renowned Dr Steve Peters enhance England's game either in the mind or on the pitch?

The jury is out on that one, though the results against Italy and Uruguay don't suggest so.

I am not a great fan of sports shrinks and haven't been since the 1992 Winter Olympics in Albertville when Mark Tout led the GB four-man bob to pole position on the first day.

They were then locked away overnight by a sports psychologist who insisted they remained "in the zone". Next day they finished seventh.

Under Hodgson the Three Lions have snarled a bit without actually biting. One assumes they are happy to leave that to Luis Suárez.

The FA insists Hodgson will stay in charge for the 2016 UEFA European Championship campaign. As it happens, it may not be a change of manager that is needed as much as a change in philosophy.

The FA has said Roy Hodgson will stay in charge of England for the 2016 UEFA European Championship campaign ©Getty Images




Interestingly, among the many post-mortem into this dismal affair was a poll by one national newspaper which asked a number of players and pundits to name the best-ever England manager.

The two most popular selections were Terry Venables and Sir Bobby Robson. Curiously, Fabio Capello and Sven Goran Eriksson also got honourable mentions.

But it shows just how short memories can be as there was one notable absentee: Sir Alf Ramsey, who actually won the World Cup in 1966.

Mention of the great Sir Alf and the fact that England bade farewell to Brazil in Belo Horizonte reminds me of a marvellous tale about him.

It was there in 1950 that England's most inglorious piece of World Cup history was enacted when they lost 1-0 to a fledgling United States.

Years later, when he was England manager, someone enquired of Ramsey, a former England full-back: "Alf weren't you playing in that match?"

"Yes," he sniffed, "And I was the only one wot bleedin' was."

How we could do with a Sir Alf now.

No matter. We are assured by the FA chairman Greg Dyke that England are potential World Cup winners in 2022. When it will be in Qatar.

Really? If England couldn't stand the heat in Manaus imagine what it will be like in Doha.

For someone who is so media-savvy Dyke makes an extraordinary number of PR gaffes, though his throat-slitting gesture when the World Cup finals draw was made proved disturbingly prophetic.

Roy Hodgson's men have flown back from the FIFA World Cup in Brazil ©Getty Images



Dyke was last seen reading a book at England's final training session before the Costa Rica game. It was titled: Death in Brazil.

Enough said.

Meantime we hear the England team have landed to a hero's welcome after their plane was diverted - to Glasgow!

And Hodgson wants to rebuild their confidence by arranging a friendly against Iceland -and after that they'll play Tesco's, Sainsbury's and Walmart.

Alan Hubbard is an award-winning sports columnist for The Independent on Sunday and a former sports editor of The Observer. He has covered a total of 16 Summer and Winter Games, 10 Commonwealth Games, several football World Cups and world title fights from Atlanta to Zaire.

The World Taekwondo Federation's bid to have the sport included in the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo took a giant leap forward this weekend after what proved a truly spectacular World Championships in the heart of Russia - Moscow.

In what's proving to become the norm on my trips abroad, my stay in Russia was filled with an absolute abundance of incredibly joyous occasions, be it the orgasm of entertainment throughout one of the most remarkable Opening Ceremonies ever put on at a sporting event - certainly one that I've seen - or the heart wrenching stories of hurt and tragedy met with a mere whimsical smile and just a complete desire to compete and to be recognised.

It feels an awful lot longer than three months since I visited Rio de Janeiro and immersed myself in the fascinating world of Olympic preparations for the first time.

At that point, the Organising Committee was still doing a reasonably good job of convincing everyone that progress was running smoothly and on schedule. And with the Games still appearing a long way off, the various concerns were smouldering in the background rather than an immediate worry.

That did not last.

Although the last Coordination Commission report was positive, these concerns erupted spectacularly into the public domain during the SportAccord Convention in the Turkish resort of Belek in April. First and foremost were construction delays surrounding most of the venue hubs, and particularly at the Deodoro Complex where it emerged preparations were two years behind schedule and had not even started. Water pollution was another major issue, while security, public opposition, doping control and Government support were not far behind.

Writing in his Daily Telegraph column last month, London 2012 chief Sebastian Coe claimed the two-and-a-half years to go point is the hardest in any Olympic cycle because, with the Winter Games now over, you are at the front of the queue and global attention begins to build. And so it proved.

At one point it seemed every day was bringing with it a deeper blow for the beleaguered Organising Committee. International Olympic Committee (IOC) vice-president John Coates described the preparations as the worst he had ever experienced, while we then saw those fantastical reports that alternative venues, such as London and Madrid, were being considered.

Alongside this we had the looming shadow of the FIFA World Cup and all the organisational and popularity problems therein.

From our perspective, the only way the Games could possibly be moved from Rio was if something went disastrously wrong with the football extravaganza. If a part of a stadium collapsed, for example, or if the protests grew to become a fully blown conflict with army and security forces.

Attention has focused on action on the pitch so far at the FIFA World Cup, rather than problems off it ©Getty Images

And so, with a final flourish, Sepp Blatter got out his cheque-book and wrote out a cheque for $200 million (£118 million/€147 million). No, the FIFA President's closing gesture at last week's FIFA Congress in São Paulo was not quite that dramatic. But his promise of $750,000 (£441,000/€552,000) to all 209 national associations and $7 million (£4 million/€5 million) to each of the six Confederations has the same effect.

To which my question is this: has this $198.75 million (£116.85 million/€146.30 million) of apparently extra expenditure already been written in to FIFA's budgets? If the answer is "No", then it ratchets up my concerns about the rate at which the governing body's spending is increasing. You could be forgiven for thinking this was the least of the worries of this much-criticised body, which is usually portrayed as being awash with cash. But I have to say, that is not the way I see it.

To put matters into perspective, it is not that Blatter and his lieutenants are in danger of going out of business. FIFA's reserves, when last reported, stood at an enviable $1.4 billion (£823 million/€1 million). But when an organisation is as dependent as FIFA on one event that comes around every four years, it is prudent to have reserves of this magnitude. Indeed, it would be a matter of some concern if they were to start being eaten into.

Yet this, so far as I can see after a morning spent poring over FIFA accounts, may be what is about to happen - particularly if the money men in Zurich do now have to rustle up an extra unbudgeted $200 million (£118 million/€147 million) to fund the President's largesse.

Sepp Blatter promised each of FIFA's 209 members a $750,000 bonus at the world governing body's Congress in São Paulo ©AFP/Getty Images

This is what I have gleaned from various FIFA accounts:

The original 2011-14 blueprint - set out in the 2009 financial report - budgeted for $3.8 billion (£2.2 billion/€2.8 billion) of revenues and $3.6 billion (£2.1 billion/€2.7 billion) of investment (or spending). This would make for a $200 million (£118 million/€147 million) surplus and a $140 million (£82 million/€103 million) increase in FIFA's equity, once depreciation was taken into account.

What has actually happened - so far - is that revenues have already hit $3.62 billion (£2.13 billion/€2.66 billion) in the first three years of the World Cup cycle. However, expenses have raced away to $3.43 billion (£2.02 billion/€2.52 billion), leaving a positive result for the three years of $197 million (£116 million/€145 million).

This is less than half the $429 million (£252 million/€316 million) generated in the first three years of the last cycle, but leaves FIFA on target to hit its budgeted surplus for the four years, depending on what happens this year.

This brings me to something I had not previously noticed (largely because it is set out in the 2012 financial report), which is the detailed budget for 2014. This appears to put budgeted revenue for the year at $1.08 billion (£635 million/€745 million) and budgeted investments at $1.41 billion (£611 million/€1.04 billion).

The document coyly fails to spell out the budgeted result that this would give rise to, but I make it a deficit of $332 million (£195 million/€244 million). If duly realised, this would be enough to push FIFA into deficit for the whole cycle. And if another $200 million (£118 million/€147 million) does need to be found to fund Blatter's new promise, that deficit could start to look rather substantial. (I did note, however, that the FIFA President left open the possibility that some of the money might not be paid until early 2015, suggesting the cost might be spread over two years - and two World Cup cycles).

If you think about additional expenditure FIFA has become committed to in recent times - the club protection programme, increased payments to World Cup participants, Michael Garcia's investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bid process, higher -than-budgeted costs for the 2014 World Cup - I don't actually find this all that surprising. But if there is a deficit for 2014, it may be the start of a trend.

Michael Garcia is leading an investigation of allegations of corruption about the bidding process for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups which will drain FIFA's resources
©AFP/Getty Images

As I reported in March, FIFA's blueprint for the next World Cup cycle between 2015 and 2018 (published in its 2013 financial report), calls for a balanced budget over the cycle, once depreciation and taxes are taken into account. FIFA has even warned that individual annual results "may even be negative". Projections accompanying the text suggested, indeed, that it might suffer deficits of as much as $30 million (£18 million/€22 million), after depreciation and taxes, in 2015 and $20 million (£12 million/€15 million) in 2016. These would be balanced by a $50 million (£29 million/€37 million) surplus in World Cup year, 2018.

That level of financial performance would be nothing to really worry about, given the reserves FIFA has accumulated. But what if that 2015-2018 budget is as wide of the mark as the 2011-2014 budget may turn out to be? Those reserves might start disappearing with disconcerting speed, forcing the Swiss-based emperors of world football to clamp down hard on costs, including the fabled development programmes that have made such a contribution to Blatter's enduring popularity among football's national bosses.

Those 2015-2018 numbers, moreover, include the assumption that revenues will keep growing at a fair old lick to $5 billion (£3 billion/€4 billion) over the cycle.

FIFA's finances are reliant on the World Cup not losing its attraction ©Getty Images

Such is the pull of the World Cup that there is no sign of it happening yet, but what if all the criticism and bad news did finally start to affect sponsors' appetite for doing business with FIFA? Then football's rulers would have to rein in costs even more.

Don't get me wrong: FIFA remains an awfully long way from the poor house; most sports bodies would absolutely love to have its finances and earning power. But these figures suggest that Blatter's organisation could be about to experience three annual deficits in a row - unless 2014 revenues are significantly higher than budgeted. Indeed, it would not take a great deal to make that four, or even five consecutive annual deficits.

Yes, FIFA has more immediate problems, but the next couple of financial reports promise to make unusually interesting reading.

David Owen worked for 20 years for the Financial Times in the United States, Canada, France and the UK. He ended his FT career as sports editor after the 2006 World Cup and is now freelancing, including covering the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 World Cup and London 2012. Owen's Twitter feed can be accessed here.