Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/347048
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 16 JULY 2014 Sport 23 Answers to the MaltaToday crossword will be published next Wednesday WEATHER: Mainly Sunny VISIBILITY: Good WIND: Northerly force 3 to 4 becoming West to Northwest force 3 to 4 locally force 4 SEA: Moderate becoming slight to moderate SWELL: LOW NORTHWEST SEA TEMP: 25 °C A B C D E F G H 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 White to play and mate in four moves A B C D E F G H 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Last week's solution Sudoku rules are extremely easy: Fill all empty squares so that the numbers 1 to 9 appear once in each row, column and 9x9 box. PARTLY CLOUDY 30 º C / 22 º C UV INDEX: 8 Today's Weather Chess Sudoku Pursuits OPINION Across 1. Uncertain (13) 8. Polar (7) 10. Nightgown (7) 12. Cambridgeshire village (6) 13. Italian bread (8) 15. Heard by accident (9) 18. Lightweight overgarment (5) 21. Finished (5) 22. Bath crystals (4,5) 27. State in the E United States (8) 29. Ten-pound note (6) 30. Tough person (7) 31. Companion (7) 33. Vicinity (13) Down 2. Avenge (7) 3. Racket (3) 4. Jerk rapidly (6) 5. Loft (5) 6. Speedometer (6) 7. Comment (6) 9. Person who fishes (6) 11. From a distance (4) 14. Punctuation mark (5) 16. Covered vehicle (3) 17. Full of reeds (5) 19. Portable bed (3) 20. Slum area inhabited by a minority group (6) 21. Animosity (6) 23. Increases (4) 24. Pertaining to the distant past (4,3) 25. Fruit ice (6) 26. Pertaining to Denmark (6) 28. Awake (5) 32. Miles per hour (3) ALWAYS Germany read the headline of the German magazine Kicker. Kim Jong-Un had other plans all together. While the Germans stitched their fourth star on their white strip, the North Korean media broadcast that it was in fact their heroes that won the World Cup, beating Japan 7-0 on the way to glory. Angela Merkel though was not fazed. Labelled as Germany's lucky charm, their leader leapt for joy to the beat of a country as Mario Goetze scored the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final against Argentina and in the eyes of most, Germany are worthy winners after hardly putting a foot wrong during the tournament. With a total of 18 goals in favour, with precious few conceded, FIFA might as well have handed them the trophy after their emphatic 7-1 semi final demolition of Brazil. In my eyes Argentina were not exactly going to be a threat to them, and Messi and co. proved me right. Despite a good de- fensive record, fellow finalists Argen- tina by contrast only netted one goal in the knock out stages and without Lionel Messi they would have strug- gled in an easy group. Oddly enough, however, their main man did manage to bag the Golden Ball player of the tournament prize. Messi fans might brag that he did score four and assisted one, however he was off colour during the tourna- ment, particularly in the knockout games as Argentina struggled going forward. Against the Netherlands the game went by Messi as if he was not there and that has never been said about the four time Ballon D'or win- ner. Germany too managed to keep him in check and marking him out of the game practically marked the whole team, bar Mascherano, out. In my eyes Lionel Messi truly is FIFA's golden boy and I can name five players who were far better than he this summer. Naming them might seem irrelevant, especially as my list does include Dirk Kuijt of the Neth- erlands, however I feel the need to point out the reason Messi was ap- pointed: corporate sponsors. As the German giant scooped his Golden Glove award, one thing stood out: the golden glove was an Adidas one, and Leo Messi is indeed the face of Adidas soccer. With an average of 2.7 goals the memories of this World Cup will certainly live on. We have run out of superlatives for Germany, however, sadly for Brazil the inquest starts now. Conceding 10 goals in your last two games as host nation is unacceptable and with David Luiz being subject to a 50 million pound move to PSG one must question the value of play- ers in today's game. In my eyes he is not even a centre back and will be far more effective higher up the pitch for his new team. Brazil's problem in my eyes was their main man himself. Neymar was no doubt one of the stars of the tourna- ment however the injury he sustained had a crippling effect on his team who handled the news very badly, almost trying in vain to make Neymar into a martyr. Big Phil and his players did not show any confidence and proved their main tactic was to be a one man team. Scolari could have told the press that the team is good enough to win the tournament without their main man, however he chose instead to blame his injuries for the defeats. They can hide behind that excuse all they like, however I do believe better managing of the situation would have changed their fortunes. Though we are just three days into the summer break I for one already cannot wait for the domestic leagues to kick off in August and I have al- ready cast one eye on the European Championships of 2016 to be held in France. With Germany becoming the first European team to win a World Cup on South American soil the European Championships almost gained value and we have the youthful teams of France and the Netherlands to look forward to as qualifying gets under- way in September. With Louis van Gaal starting work at Old Trafford today, Guus Hiddink has been sworn in for the Oranje and the future is as bright as ever for the Dutch who de- lighted their fans with third place in Brazil, signing off with a cool 3-0 vic- tory over the hosts. No bite clause And the laughs do not stop there. It is rumored that Luis Suarez will have a no bite clause installed in his new Barcelona contract, a tasty clause he will no doubt struggle to sink his teeth into. Mark Strijbosch Always Germany (and N. Korea?) Qh8+ Ke7 Qxg7+ Ke8 Re5+ Re7 Qxe7# ... Kd8 Qh8# (Qf8#, Qg8#)