Berlin

World Cup organiser Franz Beckenbauer on Tuesday added his voice to the criticism of refereeing at the tournament, saying match officials were failing to keep a grip on matches. ”They haven’t got the situation 100% under control,” said Beckenbauer, who won the World Cup as a player and a coach.

The World Cup organisers admitted on Thursday that they were disappointed by worn-looking pitches, but blamed unseasonably cold weather in Germany in May for the problems. All of the playing surfaces at the 12 World Cup stadiums were replaced at the end of the German league season in mid-May, but low temperatures at that time prevented the grass from growing properly.

German state prosecutors said on Tuesday two neo-Nazis were being detained after a weekend attack in which a teenager of Ethiopian origin suffered a fractured skull. The attack in Schoenefeld, on the south-eastern outskirts of Berlin, was clearly motivated by xenophobia, said prosecutors in Potsdam, capital of the state of Brandenburg, which surrounds Berlin.

Spain joined the happy band of qualifiers for the second round of the World Cup on Monday but were made to work hard for their 3-1 victory over 2004 African Nations Cup champions Tunisia. It was a tough day at the office for Africa as the joy of Ghana’s win over the Czech Republic evaporated as Switzerland beat Togo 2-0.

Arsenal’s Freddie Ljungberg fired Sweden to the brink of the second phase of the World Cup on Thursday, his late header sending Paraguay home in a 1-0 win. Sweden now face compatriot Sven-Goran Eriksson’s England on Tuesday as they bid to win Group B with either hosts Germany or Ecuador waiting in the next round.

What’s the biggest threat at the World Cup? Ronaldinho’s magical feet, Beckham’s free-kicks or Henry’s dazzling runs? Ask any goalkeeper in Germany and they are minor irritations compared to those being caused by the Teamgeist ball and its revolutionary design has some of the world’s best ‘keepers bamboozled.

Mexico coach Ricardo Lavolpe will be given a warning about smoking on the touchlines at the World Cup after he lit up during the 3-1 victory over Iran, world soccer governing body Fifa said on Tuesday. Fifa officials spotted Lavolpe smoking when they reviewed the videotape of Sunday’s match in Nuremberg.

Germany captain Michael Ballack believes he has recovered from injury and disagrees with coach Jurgen Klinsmann’s decision to rest him for the opening game of the World Cup against Costa Rica on Friday, a report said. ”I have had intensive treatment. I feel fit and I’m not feeling pain any more. I want to play,” Ballack told Friday’s Bild newspaper.

United States midfielder DaMarcus Beasley has heard the ugly words, vicious taunts screamed by fans in The Netherlands simply because he is black. Cameroon’s brilliant Samuel Eto’o was so sickened by insults hurled his way that he threatened to walk off the field.

Berlin has, after more than 60 years, reversed a policy of concealing the location of the bunker where Adolf Hitler shot himself in the final days of World War II. A large information panel was erected on Thursday near Wilhelmstrasse, above the underground labyrinth where Hitler married Eva Braun hours before committing suicide with her on April 30 1945.

Germany captain Michael Ballack has lost his battle to be fit for Friday’s World Cup opener against Costa Rica, manager Jurgen Klinsmann said on Thursday. Ballack was forced to pull out of Wednesday’s training with his calf injury still troubling him and Klinsmann said his star midfielder would not be available in Munich.

Three English football hooligans have been refused entry to Germany as they attempted to cross into the country through the Czech Republic ahead of the World Cup, German police said on Wednesday. They had chosen an indirect route into Germany in order to escape detection, said a spokesperson for the German border police in Sankt Augustin near Bonn.

For the first time in 32 years, the defending champions will not open the World Cup and, for that, Brazil must be truly grateful. Down the years, reputations of the mighty have been shattered when the first exchanges take place in the four-yearly tournament with memories still fresh of Cameroon’s win over Argentina in 1990.

The Ecuadoreans have colds. The Angolans are shivering. Trinidad and Tobago players stuffed their hands deep in their pockets as they took the field for a friendly. In Hamburg, about 320km to the north, even the locals are bundling up in thick wool coats and scarves.

Germany’s seven-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher has hit out at the critics who accused him of deliberately crashing his car to prevent anyone beating his qualifying time for Sunday’s Monte Carlo Grand Prix. ”I am used to being criticised, but sometimes people are too quick to pass judgement,” Schumacher said.

Hundreds of thousands of VIP ticket-holders for the World Cup could be barred from stadia for not having their names on the tickets, media reports said on Monday. The German organising committee of the World Cup and Swiss agent ISE, hired by football’s world governing body Fifa to oversee commercial sales of tickets have insisted they are not responsible for the blunder.

Germany’s federal prosecutor on Friday weighed in on the debate about the risk of racist attacks during the World Cup, agreeing such a danger existed in some parts of the former East Germany. ”The situation is such that exceptionally brutal attacks may happen, which could lead certain parts of the population to avoid living in those areas,” Kay Nehm said in an interview.

German politicians and football authorities reacted with anger on Thursday to a warning from a former government spokesperson that World Cup visitors from abroad risked race attacks in eastern Germany. ”There are small and mid-sized towns in Brandenburg and elsewhere where I would advise anyone with a different skin colour not to go,” Uwe-Karsten Heye said.

German security authorities believe 21 World Cup matches are at high risk of terrorist attack, Stern magazine reported on Wednesday. The assessment, compiled by Germany’s Federal Crime Office, known as the BKA, said Islamic extremists posed a particular danger, according to the magazine.

Foreign visitors to the World Cup should avoid some areas around Berlin because of the risk of racist attack, a former German government spokesperson said on Wednesday. ”There are small and mid-sized towns in Brandenburg and elsewhere where I would advise anyone with a different skin colour not to go,” Uwe-Karsten Heye told Deutschlandradio Kultur.