MADRID: Zinedine Zidane insists he has no problem with Gareth Bale despite substituting him at half-time during Real Madrid´s Champions League clash against Juventus last week.
Sources have told AFP that Bale was surprised and angry at Zidane´s decision to take him off at the Santiago Bernabeu, with Real trailing 2-0 in a match they went on to lose 3-1. The defending champions progressed 4-3 on aggregate.
Bale was then not included in the squad for Sunday´s 2-1 win over Malaga in La Liga but Real insisted the plan had always been to rest players for the match.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric and Raphael Varane were also spared the trip to La Rosaleda.
Real host Athletic Bilbao on Wednesday and Bale will be hoping for another chance to state his case ahead of the first leg of their Champions League semi-final against Bayern Munich next week.
Against Juve, Karim Benzema made way for Bale by dropping to the bench but Zidane says neither player feels sidelined by recent selections.
"No I don´t think so, this is football," Zidane said on Tuesday. "I don't see either of them looking sad, they are training well.
"I spoke to the pair of them the other day, they would both like to score more goals but everyone is working well.
"It is always going to happen in a side like ours. There are players in good form and playing well but I have to be ready always to evaluate who is the best players for the team at any given time."
Zidane has prefered Benzema as a partner for Ronaldo up front this season but the Frenchman has managed only one goal in his last nine games.
"We are not worried, we know the quality he has," Zidane said. "He has to score goals of course, he knows that - he knows he can do other things but he has to score goals.
"He does suffer a little bit when he misses chances but the solution is easy. He has to keep working.
"It is just a little blip he is in at the moment — we had that as a team earlier in the season but we kept working. If he keeps working, I´m sure in a short time he will be scoring again."
Real are chasing an unprecedented third consecutive Champions League crown and Bayern's hopes of stopping them have been dented by an injury to key midfielder, Arturo Vidal.
Vidal is set to undergo surgery on a knee problem and looks certain to miss the first leg.
"Vidal is an important player but nothing will change," Zidane said. "Bayern have a very big squad, with lots of good players, and they will replace him for sure."
I have no problem with Gareth Bale, says Zinedine Zidane
I have no problem with Gareth Bale, says Zinedine Zidane
- Bale was then not included in the squad for Sunday´s 2-1 win over Malaga
- Zidane says the plan was to always rest the Welshman
With 100 days to go, World Cup faces new challenges with Iran war and Mexico violence
- It’s not unusual for international politics to overshadow a global sports event like the World Cup
- Iran is set to play two group stage games in Inglewood, California, and one in Seattle
GENEVA: With 100 days to go until the World Cup, the Iran war has added a new layer of complexity to the tournament co-hosted by the United States, Mexico and Canada.
How the conflict will affect the world’s most watched sporting event is the latest issue facing organizers already grappling with cartel violence in one of Mexico’s host cities, scaled-back plans for fan festivals in the US and criticism from fans against soaring ticket prices.
Officials of the qualified teams are meeting with FIFA staff in Atlanta this week. The tournament kicks off on June 11 when Mexico plays South Africa in Mexico City. It will be the biggest World Cup ever with 48 participating teams, up from 32 at the previous tournament in Qatar.
Here’s a look at some of the issues drawing scrutiny as the countdown began.
A backdrop of geopolitical tension
It’s not unusual for international politics to overshadow a global sports event like the World Cup — at least in the early stages before the soccer action takes over the headlines.
In 2022, Qatar’s treatment of migrant workers and others matters drew headlines off the field.
Pride community rights, the annexation of Crimea and the poisoning of a spy in Britain were in focus when Russia hosted the tournament in 2018.
In Brazil in 2014 and South Africa in 2010 there were concerns about crime and security.
The 2026 tournament looks set to kick off amid a backdrop of political tensions involving the US and the participating nations.
Many have been hit by tariffs. Some are facing travel restrictions. Denmark, which can still qualify through playoffs in March, has been shaken by President Donald Trump’s calls for the US to take over Greenland. And with 100 days to go, the US was in a military conflict with Iran, one of the first teams to qualify.
Iran’s status at the World Cup is unclear
Iran is set to play two group stage games in Inglewood, California, and one in Seattle.
However, whether the Iranian team will come to the US is uncertain.
“What is certain is that after this attack, we cannot be expected to look forward to the World Cup with hope,” Iran’s top soccer official, Mehdi Taj, said last weekend as the US and Israel launched coordinated attacks that killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and dozens more senior officials.
Still, Iran has not announced it is withdrawing from the tournament, which no team that qualified has done in the past 75 years. Iran, the second-highest ranked team in Asia, was drawn in a group with Belgium, Egypt and New Zealand.
“I really don’t care,” if Iran participates, Trump told Politico on Tuesday. “I think Iran is a very badly defeated country. They’re running on fumes.”
FIFA did not immediately respond to a request on whether Iran federation officials attended the Atlanta workshop.
Fan festivals are being slimmed down
Fan festivals have been a key part of the World Cup experience in the past two decades. They offer a chance for thousands of fans without match tickets to take part in the World Cup atmosphere by coming together to watch games on a big screen.
Some of those plans are now being scaled back in the US
New York/New Jersey eliminated its Fan Fest in Jersey City, New Jersey, even though it had started selling tickets for an event scheduled to be open every day of the tournament.
Planning to sell tickets was itself unprecedented for World Cup fan zones, which were free to enter since being launched at the 2006 edition in Germany.
Seattle cut down its original plan and rescheduled it for smaller venues and Boston trimmed its event to 16 days.
The chief operating officer of Miami’s FIFA World Cup host committee said during a congressional hearing on Feb. 24 that it might cancel its event if it did not receive federal funding within 30 days. Kansas City, Missouri, Police Deputy Chief Joseph Maybin said the city had an immediate need for federal funds to prepare security.
House Republicans said federal money may be held up by the partial government shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, caused by Democrats insisting restrictions be placed on Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Foxborough games threatened
The New England Patriots’ stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, is due to host seven World Cup games, starting with Haiti-Scotland on June 13 and ending with a quarterfinal on July 9. That is FIFA’s plan.
The Select Board of Foxborough has refused to issue a permit for World Cup matches at the stadium and set a March 17 deadline to be paid $7.8 million — what the town estimates will be the cost of police and other expenses. Foxborough said it was not part of FIFA’s hosting agreement with Boston.
Pushback against FIFA’s ticket prices
FIFA has about 7 million seats to fill for the World Cup matches and said last month it received 500 million ticket requests. FIFA president Gianni Infantino has proclaimed all 104 games are sold out and yet some fans received emails last week offering an extra 48-hour window for tickets sales.
FIFA’s prices in December ranged up to $8,680 per ticket. After criticism, FIFA said it will offer a few hundred $60 tickets for every game to the 48 national federations in the tournament. Those federations will decide how to distribute them to their most loyal fans who attended previous games.
Most seats on FIFA’s ticket resale platform — seeking to cut out the secondary market and earn FIFA extra 15 percent fees from buyers and sellers — are well past the $1,000 mark.
Cartel violence in Mexico
Mexico’s ability to co-host the World Cup has been under scrutiny after a surge in violence last week in the state of Jalisco following the military’s killing of a powerful cartel boss.
The state’s capital, Guadalajara, is set to host four matches during the group stage.
Mexico’s government insists the World Cup won’t be affected and President Claudia Sheinbaum said there’s no risk for fans coming to the tournament.
Infantino told Sheinbaum that he has full confidence in Mexico as a World Cup host.
The FIFA leader has repeatedly promised the 2026 World Cup will be the greatest and most inclusive.
