Hat-trick hero Lionel Messi saved Argentina's World Cup dreams.

The Qatar 2022 organising committee said the much-vaunted cooling technology will keep the pitch at a temperature of 26 degrees Celsius.

BBC director general Mark Thompson today defended the Panorama exposé of alleged bribery at FIFA which has been accused of damaging England’s chances of hosting the World Cup.

Marco Botti is looking forward to running Gitano Hernando in the Dubai World Cup following the four-year-old’s easy victory at Lingfield.

Brazilian soccer legend Pele today claimed France’s crucial World Cup qualifying victory over Ireland was unfair.

IRELAND fans gambling on Giovanni Trapattoni’s team making next year’s World Cup in South Africa will get a chance to get their hands on tickets for the event tomorrow.

Brian O’Driscoll has not ruled out the possibility of playing at the next World Cup in 2015, aged 36.

Southampton manager Gordon Strachan will today attempt to contact striker Agustin Delgado to discover why the Ecuador World Cup star failed to report for pre-season training yesterday.

Blatter has revealed there was an agreement in place for the 2018 World Cup to go to Russia.

Spain’s World Cup preparations are in turmoil after the sacking of head coach Julen Lopetegui on the eve of the tournament.

BIRMINGHAM CITY’S new signing Aliou Cisse has rubbished claims that voodoo was responsible for Senegal’s success in the World Cup finals.

Joe Cole admits it is important to keep football in perspective as he waits to hear whether he is part of the England squad for the 2010 World Cup finals.

Wales' hopes of a top-five finish at the Women's Rugby World Cup were ended in emphatic fashion.

Slovakia defender Martin Skrtel is expected to be fit for their opening World Cup Group F fixture against New Zealand next week after returning to training today.

Cesc Fabregas could be fit to play in tomorrow’s World Cup semi-final match against Germany.

Cesc Fabregas will fit to play for Spain against Germany in the World Cup semi-final in Durban on Wednesday.

Global brewing giant Anheuser-Busch InBev today looked forward to a World Cup boost and said it had shrugged off record beer duty hikes to outperform the UK market.

Former Ireland manager Brian Kerr says it was unrealistic to think we would get a replay of Wednesday's controversial World Cup play-off against France.