Fernandez admits Club World Cup temperatures left him "dizzy" during a match
Enzo Fernandez has warned 'very dangerous' temperatures in the Club World Cup have left him feeling 'really dizzy.'
Chelsea midfielder Fernandez has also urged FIFA to review their schedules and kick-off times ahead of next year's World Cup which is being hosted across the United States, Canada and Mexico. Fernandez was part of Argentina's World Cup winning squad in 2022 but says the heat in America is ruining football as a spectacle and is also bad for fans in stadiums.
When quizzed about the temperatures, Fernandez said: 'Thanks for asking this question, because the truth is, the heat is incredible. The other day I got a little dizzy in the game. I had to throw myself to the ground because I was really dizzy.
'The truth is, playing in that temperature is very dangerous. And for the spectacle, for the people who come to enjoy the stadium, and for the people who watch at home, the speed of the game isn't the same.
'Everything feels very slow. We hope they change the schedule next year so that it's a spectacle and football continues to be enjoyable and attractive.' Chelsea's last game in the MetLife Stadium saw temperatures hit 100 degrees-plus at pitch side for their clash with Fluminense.
They will kick off against Paris Saint-Germain in Sunday's final at the same time with similar temperatures forecasted. FIFA organisers have yet to reveal the kick-off times for next summer but their Global Football Development officer Arsene Wenger has suggested they will look at staging games with earlier kick-off times in stadiums with roofs such as Atlanta.
Wenger also hinted they may look at the schedule on the back of the Club World Cup which largely has been organised with European TV schedules in mind. Sunday's 3pm kick-off time means it will be shown at 8pm in the United Kingdom. Fernandez admits PSG will be strong favourites on Sunday - but says they can cause an upset in the £97m final.
He added: 'Well, it's normal they're talking about Paris, the Champions League winners. They've been playing well for a while now but we hope Sunday will be a good final for us. It's the final. I like playing them. I've been lucky enough to win most of them. I'm going to enjoy it. It's not like the one in the World Cup but it's going to be enjoyable.
"The truth is I have achieved some very nice things on a personal level but being in a hotel for a month wasn't easy at all. As you know, enjoying time with family when I can is very important to me. This title is very important for the club. It's very important to play for the best clubs in the world and we believe it's a great title for the club. We'll try to prepare for the match in the best way possible.
'We plan to play a certain way, whatever our coach decides. In the few days we have left before the game we need to prepare as best we can and carry it out on Sunday.'
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Reuters
32 minutes ago
- Reuters
Chelsea's Fernandez warns about 'dangerous' heat at Club World Cup
July 12 (Reuters) - Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez said the scorching heat at the Club World Cup in the United States left him feeling dizzy and described the high temperatures as "dangerous" to play in. The inaugural 32-team Club World Cup, which concludes on Sunday with Chelsea facing Paris Saint-Germain in the final at the MetLife Stadium in New Jersey, has delivered a spectacle on the pitch but concerns over player welfare and lukewarm attendances in the U.S. have sparked a debate. Tuesday's semi-final between Chelsea and Fluminense which took place at 3 p.m. local time in New Jersey saw temperatures soar past 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) with over 54% humidity, prompting a National Weather Service warning. Soaring temperatures in several cities hosting the Club World Cup have been a focal point in the tournament, which is seen as a dry run for next year's men's World Cup. "Honestly, the heat is incredible. The other day I had to lie down on the ground because I was really dizzy," Fernandez told reporters on Friday. "Playing in this temperature is very dangerous, it's very dangerous. Moreover, for the spectacle, for the people who come to enjoy the stadium, for the people who watch it at home. "The game, the speed of the game is not the same, everything becomes very slow. "Well, let's hope that next year they change the schedule, at least so that it remains a beautiful and attractive football spectacle, right?" the 2022 World Cup winner with Argentina added. Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca has also previously complained about the heat, saying it was "impossible" to organise regular training sessions in the afternoons in Philadelphia. "Some places have been really hot, the last round was hot and I was stuck watching it and I was thinking: 'wow, this is so tough.' I felt bad for them but they managed it really well," Chelsea centre back Levi Colwill said.
BBC News
34 minutes ago
- BBC News
The amateur English side who became first world champions
Before the big names of Chelsea and Paris St-Germain were going head-to-head in a bid to become champions of the world, an amateur side from County Durham once vied to do the Auckland Town, of the Northern League Division One, the ninth tier of the English football league structure, are recognised as the first world champions by earned that crown more than 100 years ago, in 1909, but it is a badge of honour the club have worn with immense pride ever how exactly did an amateur side, made up of coal miners, end up representing England in a global football tournament?BBC Sport takes a look... Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy Twenty-one years before Uruguay lifted the first Fifa World Cup, there was another attempt to create a global football tournament, with clubs rather than Thomas Lipton, philanthropist and creator of Lipton Ice Tea, created a football competition that saw Europe's elite face off against each the competition set to be held in Turin, Italy, invitations were sent to the football associations of England, Germany, Italy and Switzerland - the predominant powerhouses of the game - with all but the English FA accepting the offer to send one of their best teams to take and Switzerland sent their respective champions, Stuttgart and Winterthur, while Italy sent a combined Turin and Piemonte wanting to see England go unrepresented at the tournament, Lipton turned his attention to the Northern League and West Auckland exactly the amateur outfit were chosen is a much speculated subject but, according to local historian Martin Connolly, there are a couple of possible scenarios."The myth was that Sir Thomas Lipton had asked for Woolwich Arsenal Football Club, WAFC, and his secretary made a mistake, but my research shows that is not correct," he told BBC Real Time in 2014."The Northern League was one of the oldest leagues in England with fantastic teams and it's thought that Bishop Auckland might have been the target - but, in fact, West Auckland got the invite."Mistake or not, amateur side West Auckland duly accepted the invitation and the stage was set for the first World Cup, or, by its official and very creative name, the Sir Thomas Lipton Trophy. The journey to becoming champions West Auckland's players had to pay money out of their own pockets to make the trip, with some reportedly having to sell furniture and other belongings to afford it. But they jumped at the once-in-a-lifetime journeyed by bus to Darlington, caught a train to London, before hopping on a ferry to Calais in France and then travelled on to northern Italy, to face German champions Stuttgart. A surprise 2-0 win to set up the final against Swiss side FC West Auckland notched a 2-0 victory to cement themselves as world champions without even conceding a goal."In terms of achievement, this rates as about the best ever," said Connolly."When you consider that a mining team, people from the pit, come up out of the pit, go to Turin and beat some of the best teams in the world. Achievement? Major."Two years later, West Auckland were invited back to defend their trophy - as is only incredibly, they won the lot time around, Torino and Juventus both took part in the tournament and the amateurs from England faced them edged past Torino 3-2 on Easter Sunday to set up a final against future Italian giants Juventus. West Auckland triumphed 6-1 to retain their title and were awarded the trophy outright. A sale and a theft It wasn't all sunshine and rainbows for West their return home from their second triumph in 1911, the club barely had time to show off their beloved trophy because of financial a year of returning to the north-east, the prize had been sold to a local landlady for £40 to help West Auckland pay off held it for 48 years, before selling the trophy back to the club in 1960 for £ club displayed the trophy in the West Auckland Working Men's Club and it remained there until January 1994 - when it was original trophy has never been found. Instead, the club now owns an exact the theft has not stopped the village shouting loud and proud about their achievement to this day. The home of the first World Cup Should you ever find yourself driving into West Auckland, you will be met by road signs reading: "Welcome to West Auckland - Home of the First World Cup."There is also a commemorative bronze statue of the victory that has stood proudly on the town's green since its completion in than £200,000 was raised to ensure the statue could be completed and erected near the stadium where West Auckland Town now play their Yorke was County Councillor for West Auckland when local government reorganisation was implemented in 2008 and said he felt it important to celebrate the "outstanding sporting achievement of West Auckland FC"."We quickly set about raising funds from local events as well as writing to various arts groups and foundations for donations," Yorke explained. "Everybody in the village participated and this highlighted how important an achievement this was within our community."While the story of West Auckland may not be as famous as that of Uruguay 1930, Yorke remains defiant on his answer of who the real first World Cup winners added: "Although the story of West Auckland FC winning the first World Cup is largely known within County Durham, it's not well known outside the area. "It was such an achievement back in 1909 for these footballers to raise the money and then travel to Europe to play and then win the world's first football tournament."So the next time you are asked who won the first World Cup, you know the answer is West Auckland FC!"
Scotsman
42 minutes ago
- Scotsman
Steven Pressley opens up on Dundee, difficult times, part in Boozegate and being back in Scotland
New Dens Park boss speaks to The Scotsman ahead of his first match Sign up to our Football newsletter Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... In the former temperance hotel where Dundee Football Club were formed, Steven Pressley is explaining his part in the Boozegate scandal. Sipping nothing more potent than a decaf Americano, the new Dens Park head coach has had it put to him that he has been front and centre in so many of Scottish football's most enduring episodes of the last quarter of a century, literally so in the case of the Riccarton Three rebellion. That was when he sat at a table between Paul Hartley and Craig Gordon and voiced grave concerns about how Heart of Midlothian Football Club were being run under Vladimir Romanov. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad He hadn't wanted to be there but felt it had reached a point where saying nothing was no longer an option. Likewise, one imagines, he hadn't wanted to see Barry Ferguson sitting with Allan McGregor at a table at breakfast time the morning after a Scotland game. Steven Pressley takes charge of his first Dundee match on Saturday. | SNS Group Nothing so strange about that, perhaps. Except they were still in the suits they had been wearing the previous evening as they travelled back from Amsterdam following a chastening 3-0 defeat to the Netherlands in 2009. It was instantly apparent they hadn't yet been to bed. 'We've talked about my principles,' Pressley says, referencing the earlier discussion about the Riccarton protest. 'My principles got in the way of many things. I was someone who would not use the media to get the correct narrative out there. I was one who said, no, this is the right way. I learned to understand that of course in time. False narratives developed around certain things and I did not manage them properly. Boozegate was certainly one of them. 'On reflection, I should never have taken the position of assistant coach for the national team. Being at Celtic at the time, it was never going to work still being a player.' It also saw him lose focus as a footballer, leading to what he considers was his premature retirement aged 35. Like Zinedine Zidane, he was sent off in his last ever game. Unlike Zinedine Zidane, whose career came to slightly quicker than planned ending in a World Cup final against Italy, Pressley was sent off playing for Falkirk against St Mirren. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Everything transpired from there' 'As for Boozegate, and my part in this whole situation,' he continues. 'I had come down in the morning to meet my family on the Sunday morning after the Saturday game. I met them in the bar area. And then just as I was ready to leave, I noticed Barry was still there. Of course, he was there in his suit. Him and Allan. Me and another member of staff escorted them up to their room. We hoped that was the end of it. Of course, Barry left his room again. Everything transpired from there. That was the crux of the story.' Scott Brown had already skedaddled, which was an additional complication. 'The situation escalated. It became a really difficult situation to manage, especially for George (Burley) who at the time was going through his own difficulties. 'The feeling from Barry and Allan was that they had been persecuted because of the club they played for (Brown was of course Pressley's teammate at the time). I have spoken to him (Ferguson) a couple of times since, there's never been any problem,' he says. Steven Pressley (left) stretches off with Scotland captain Barry Ferguson in 2007. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 The fact they've only spoken a couple of times since nevertheless suggests some simmering rancour. Or it might just be down to the fact that Pressley, having loomed large in Scottish football's orbit for so long, seemed to suddenly slip away from it all. From 2013, when he took over at Coventry City, to last month, when forums were abuzz with news that he had been chosen to replace Tony Docherty at Dundee, he was out of sight and, perhaps, out of mind. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'I've enjoyed being out of it,' he says. 'It's been quite sobering for me. I have probably never been so comfortable with myself and honest about myself. There's been a big change in me. There's not this kind of person that you think people want to see. I grew up in this era where you have to show strength all the time. But strength, I know now, can be shown in many different ways. At the time, vulnerability couldn't be shown. As a football player, you get into that costume, pretend to be a great leader...' It's perhaps incumbent to note mention it was Pressley's fate to be seeking to make his presence felt in the dressing room of one of British football's biggest clubs while his father, Gene, was dying of cancer. He passed away aged 47 in 1994. Looking back on difficult times Pressley, at Rangers at the time, was just 20 and felt the floor give way from under him. The manager, Walter Smith, understandably took his young defender out of the firing line, which only compounded matters for Pressley. He had what can only be termed as a breakdown during a training session. 'I actually remember two or three months after he'd taken me out of the team, it was a possession-type drill we were doing,' he says. 'I was in the middle and our team was struggling to get the ball back." Pressley describes bursting into tears. No wonder he subsequently sought to erect a shield around him. There's probably no better time to bring up what some still argue negates nearly nine years of impressive Hearts service. Wearing, on this occasion, a green and white hooped costume, he made a very public show of thumping his chest following a 2-1 comeback win for Celtic at Tynecastle in 2007. 'Of course, I regret it in some ways,' he says. 'You know, beating my chest, in hindsight, was not the right thing to do. It was certainly not directed in the manner it was perceived. It was an emotional action.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad God bless Steven Pressley. In a world where players, most recently Joao Pedro at Chelsea, cannot celebrate scoring a goal, even when it's their first for their new club, because it is against their former team, he kicked this unwelcome 21st century confection firmly into touch. Steven Pressley during his time at Hearts. | SNS Group 0141 221 3602 He was once sore at not being invited back to Tynecastle since leaving. However, he says he accepts it now. Not that he will require an invite on 1 November, when Dundee are due in Gorgie for the first time this coming season. Always tasty encounters, this one will contain an additional spicy ingredient. 'As long as I make it that far,' Pressley smiles, as if to underline that he now realises no one is bullet proof. The self-deprecation is also a sign that he knows what people are saying: Dundee have made an absolute ricket of this one, replacing the dependable Docherty with someone who hasn't been in the dugout for a competitive game since pre-Covid days. --------- That all changes on Saturday afternoon when Dundee entertain Airdrie in the League Cup. Surprisingly, the occasion of his first game will be Pressley's first visit to the club's home since he was appointed over five weeks ago amid considerable hostility. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Not only were many Dundee fans up in arms on social media, but his own mother, Norma, was unhappy. She did however stop short of visiting fans' forums to register her disgust, with a thread on one such site reaching 150 bristling pages. Now 77, his mum's 'doing great' reports Pressley. She still lives in Dalgety Bay, where he moved with his family from Elgin aged three. He adds: 'She is obviously happy her boy is back in Scotland. She is not happy I am back in management. She enjoyed my time out of it.' Steven Pressley is back in Scotland as a manager. | SNS Group No disrespect to his mother, but it's good to have Pressley back in Scottish football. He's already been the source of some mild entertainment at his unveiling press conference, when he admits he was nervous having been away from the media limelight for so long. Maybe his clearly prepared-in-advance line about him not being the right man if Dundee fans want someone with a history of winning titles was evidence of this unease. It was quickly seized upon and ridiculed when, in reality, winning titles, or indeed any honour, has not been something Dundee managers do since Davie White in December 1973. A month after Pressley was born, as it happens. 'Really?' he says. It would be a mic drop moment to rival Ange Postecoglou leading Spurs to a trophy in his second season at the club if Pressley can be the one to end this drought. As for him personally, he's won everything else in Scotland bar the League Cup as a player (he lost a final with, whisper it, Dundee United in 1997) 'I don't regret saying that at all,' Pressley reflects. 'As I was saying earlier, I am comfortable speaking the truth. And not trying to be something I am not. That's the fact. My history as a manger has been very much about developing players and teams. I won one trophy at Falkirk, the Challenge Cup. But my history would certainly not suggest I am a manager who will win things. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Now I hope my experiences at Brentford (where he was head of individual player development) have changed how I go about things and how I look at football. But at the same time, it is not history where I have a lot of titles.' Former Dundee bosses make contact For Dundee, sadly, it's a similar story. Their only manager to win the actual Scottish league title is Bob Shankly, something Pressley is aware. One of his mentors, Alex Smith, worked under Shankly at Stirling Albion. 'Alex speaks so fondly about him, his management style,' says Pressley, who reveals Smith has been in touch from his base in Australia, as has Archie Knox, who was assistant manager at Ibrox when he was a Rangers player and is one of many predecessors in the Dens Park hot seat (Knox is also a Dundee fan). No pressure, Steven. Although technical director Gordon Strachan will be in the Dens Park directors' box against Airdrie, and it's been announced that Pressley's backroom staff has expanded with the appointment of first-team coach Barry Nicholson and goalkeeper coach Glen Johnson, he aims to be his own man. It's hardly penetrating analysis to describe the Dundee squad as light, even given several new signings. Pressley wants 'five or six' more, ideally at least two before the league start v Hibs. He does have three goalkeepers, with Trevor Carson and Jon McCracken vying for the No.1 jersey. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Fight for the gloves 'They will get equal minutes over the next couple of games and I want them to grab the jersey,' he says. 'I have come in here with an open mind about quite a lot of players. Sometimes you can come in with a preconceived idea and that can be dangerous. When you come in with an open mind sometimes players can surprise you. 'We still need five or six players in the group. One of the discussions we had prior to me coming in was we wanted a smaller group of say 20 players plus the goalkeepers, which I actually think is a good thing.' He's continuing to rediscover Dundee from his current city centre base. He's already made new friends at the local trendy optical boutique Land O' Spex (nee Spex Pistols). They quickly posted a picture of Pressley – 'the king is in the building!' – sporting his new pair of stylish goggles on social media. 'About four months ago, at night when I put the TV schedule on I realised it was a little bit faint,' he explains. 'Of course, I got my eyes tested and I needed glasses. I have been putting it off. Then I decided the other day that I need to go and get them. I went there and the gentleman looked after me. It's a lovely shop.' He's yet to decide whether he needs to wear them to watch games. Steven Pressley pictured with Richard Cook, the owner of Land O' Specs, after receiving his new glasses. | Steven Pressley pictured with the owner of Land O' Specs after receiving his new glasses. The personal housekeeping has continued. On the day we meet, he's about to get his hair cut. 'Nothing too severe, my wife told me that,' he says. 'She said that when she left.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad When Pressley says 'left', he doesn't mean for good, as many might have expected would be the likely outcome after June was informed by her husband that their long-planned trip to Vietnam to celebrate 25 years of being married was being cut short because he needed to get to Dundee. She has in fact just visited from their family home in Leamington Spa for the first time since her husband was appointed. They once lived together in the city. Ah yes, another tricky part of his history. Not only is he a former Dundee United player, but Pressley remains the Tannadice club's most expensive one 30 years after joining from Coventry City for a fee of £750,000. He says he can see the top of the roof of his old digs from Dundee's training base as he puts his players through their paces. Time at Dundee United 'I used to stay over the fence, in a flat converted by Geoff Brown,' he says. He has made few return visits other than when playing at Tannadice or Dens, although he did come back to watch his striker son Aaron, now at Walsall, play for Scotland Under-21s against Kazakhstan at Dundee United's ground. Pressley recalls his first experience playing at Dens. Deployed at right back for Rangers, he was given an uncomfortable afternoon by flying Dundee winger Andy Kiwomya, although the visitors did emerge 3-1 winners in that Boxing Day 1992 fixture. "It was a good lesson for me as a young player," he says. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad It's also a reminder just how long Pressley has been operating at the top. That was the season Rangers came close to reaching the Champions League final. Pressley even came on against Marseille at Ibrox. As we were saying, he's been involved in so many memorable moments, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse, including winning one of 32 caps in Scotland's 1-0 win over France in 2006. He is the only player to lift the Scottish Cup with three different clubs and one of the few to have crossed the great Glasgow divide.
