I’ve been relegated at Hull, but to make a World Cup squad and reach an FA Cup semi-final at Hull is something I am really proud of.
The one thing we have to remember about Fernando Torres is that he’s a human being who has come in for an enormous amount of criticism, not least during the World Cup from people in Spain and around the world.
To say that I wanted to become the captain is entirely incorrect. When Dhoni became captain and I played under him, we won the T20 World Cup.
England are one of the teams that are a traditional power and have won a World Cup before. They are not going there just to play and take part. It is not crazy to think they can go there to win.
The World Cup is a very complicated tournament – six games, seven if you make it to the final – and maybe if you lose one game you’re out, even if you’re the best.
My saddest decision in football was leaving Paul Gascoigne out of the 1998 World Cup finals. But he wasn’t fit enough and once that decision is made, as a manager and a group of players, you forget about who isn’t there and focus on the job.
It’s something we’ve all been waiting to see happen to Icelandic football – to actually go to the World Cup.
You can put the players on the pitch but they always move and systems change. I think, though, that Messi has to be a special case and that the other nine outfield players should support him. But one player on his own is not going to win you the World Cup.
It will be important because every country is looking forward to getting more girls to play the sport. And if you have another World Cup of, say, Under-19 or Under-21, it gives an opportunity for young girls to compete at that level because there’s something to look forward to.
The Confederations Cup is interesting. It served Spain very well to take part and then go on to win the 2010 World Cup. We knew the stadiums, the atmosphere, the conditions and also the difficulties of a tournament which simulated the World Cup format.
It’s what you dream of as a kid, playing for your country and winning a World Cup.
For Brazil, the World Cup really starts in the knockout rounds.
Til the day I didn’t play under-19 World Cup, nobody ever celebrated my birthday. And the moment I played for Indian team, my family got excited and ordered and cut a cake for me in front of 40-50 family members.
Every league game is like the World Cup. The passion… intense, the desire for points.
This is something I’ve dreamed of for a long, long time – to play in a World Cup.
The more expensive and/or exclusive a sport, the whiter it tends to be: the fact almost has the force of a law. That is the main reason why the Rugby World Cup, the Pacific islands excepted, was so desperately white, the Springboks included.
If you see cricket, the IPL is going on and then there is the World Cup. If cricketers can play two tournaments back-to-back, then why can’t players from other sports?
