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FIFA presidential candidate wants a 40-team World Cup
That’s one way to win votes.
Philipp Schmidli/Getty Images
Let’s say you’re running for FIFA president as part of a very large field. It’s going to be tough to distinguish yourself and win votes, especially if you’re running a clean campaign, right? There are only so many things you can do, and UEFA General Secretary Gianni Infantino did one of them: Promise to expand the World Cup!
He wants the World Cup to have 40 teams, and those slots would almost certainly go towards getting more North American, African and Asian teams in the tournament. With a couple more slots for each confederation, you could see teams like El Salvador, Ethiopia and Lebanon sneak in once in a while. It would make for a crappy World Cup, but Gianni won’t mind.
Slap of the day
No soccer yesterday, so here’s Wayne Rooney smacking WWE superstar Wade Barrett. (@WWE)
In the news
The USMNT needs young players to make an impact, says the coach who called up Kyle Beckerman, Jermaine Jones and Alan Gordon. (ESPN FC)
Real Sociedad has fired David Moyes. (Real Sociedad)
Patrick Vieira has been named the new manager of NYCFC. (Hudson River Blue)
Sergio Ramos needs shoulder surgery, but he’ll take painkillers to play in El Clásico. (AS)
Mamadou Sakho is out eight weeks with a knee injury. (Sky Sports)
Jamie Vardy is the EPL player of the month, while Arsene Wenger won manager of the month. (Premier League)
Sampdoria have sacked Walter Zenga. (Football Italia)
Arjen Robben will not play for the Netherlands this weekend. (Bundesliga)
Sigi Schmid says he wants to stay at Seattle amidst rumors he’ll get fired for the second season in a row. (MLS)
The Premier League has reached an all-time low for club-trained players. (BBC)
You should be reading
Andy Jones on Yannick Bolasie, the Premier League’s best rapper. (Vice)
Steven Kay on Sheffield as the home of football. (In Bed With Maradona)
Kevin Draper on U.S. Soccer banning heading training for Under-11 players. (Deadspin)
Welcome to the interlull! There wasn’t much in the way of competitive soccer on Monday and there won’t be on Tuesday either. Big international games start on Thursday.
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