BRAZIL BEAT: Germans' well wishes to Schumacher

Posted Sunday, June 15, 2014 by YAHOO Sport

SANTO ANDRE, Brazil (AP) -- The German team has sent well wishes to Michael Schumacher, the seven-time Formula One champion who has been in a coma since a skiing accident in December.

Lukas Podolski, the Arsenal forward who hails from Cologne, near Schumacher's hometown, used the end of a news conference to send the message to Schumacher's family.

''I'd like to greet a good friend, who unfortunately is unable to be here. He is Michael Schumacher. He is just as crazy about football as all of us. We wish his family a lot of strength. If we win the title, that would be something that would make him happy,'' Podolski said.

Schumacher was a keen football player, often taking part in charity matches. Schumacher also is a fan of Cologne, Podolski's old club.

- By Nesha Starcevic

ROBBEN'S LACES

SALVADOR, Brazil (AP) - Arjen Robben briefly lit up Twitter in the Netherlands on Friday night, not with his two great goals against Spain, but for his fumbling attempts to undo the laces on his right boot.

Midway through the first half of the Dutch demolition of the defending world champions in Salvador, with the match still scoreless, Robben lost his right boot in a tackle.

The Bayern Munich winger sat on the pitch fumbling with the laces while Spain's players politely waited. Eventually, the referee insisted they get on with the match, and play resumed with Robben still struggling to find a way back into his boot.

A faked picture swiftly began circulating online purporting to be a childlike diploma awarded to Robben for learning to tie his laces. It was dated June 13, 2014.

Robben took his footwear malfunction in stride.

''It's happened before,'' he told Dutch public broadcaster NOS. ''He caught me full on the ankle and those shoes are so tight, with a double knot, that by the time you get it loose it's almost halftime.''

Dutch fans were glad he finally untangled his laces - he scored two second-half goals in the stunning 5-1 victory.

HERDING CATTLE

RECIFE, Brazil (AP) - A small herd of cattle crossed the main four-lane road encircling the glittering white Arena Pernambuco, less than a couple hours before the Ivory Coast was set to practice there Friday evening.

This is one of the unintended, but not necessarily troublesome, results of a decision by World Cup organizers to build the $220 million venue in a rural area well outside the host city of Recife.

Auto and pedestrian traffic around the stadium were sparse at the time, and no one seemed to mind the man wearing a green T-shirt and a straw cowboy hat directing his livestock along the perimeter of the stadium. As he hustled about a dozen bulls and cows up a hill, across the road and eventually out of sight, there was a dull, metallic clanging of the bells around their necks.

One of the stated goals of building Arena Pernambuco about 11 miles outside of Recife, in the community of Sao Lourenco da Mata, was to spur development in the area that has long lagged economically. The last few miles leading up the stadium bring motorists past rolling hills covered in lush tropical vegetation and some stretches of forest. Just beyond the main road leading up the arena, one can see a small cluster of modest, stucco-sided cinderblock homes on a hillside.

''The stadium was brought to them,'' said Megale Tiago, a native of Recife who was at the venue. ''It is still a rural area, so if the stadium is here or it is not here, they go about their way of life.''