*** Qatari Prime Minister admits no knowledge of football. Qatari PM Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al Thani ("Tim" for short) explained in a press conference that he had no knowledge about the sport. Fortunately this is not expected to negatively impact the planning for the 2022 World Cup because it appears unlikely that any Middle Eastern governments will remain in power by month's end.

*** FIFA to investigate claims of match fixing for international friendlies. Last Wednesday, the Turkish resort town of Antalya hosted two matches: the first, between Bulgaria and Estonia, ended in a 2-2 draw, and the second saw Latvia defeat Bolivia, 2-1. All seven goals were made from the penalty spot.

Denver, Colorado The Colorado Rapids are out to set the record straight. It seems most long-time area residents refuse to believe that they are in fact the defending MLS champions.
It seems the confusion began this January when are residents who had previously bought single-game tickets received direct mailings offering season ticket pages for "your defending champion Colorado Rapids.

*** Zinedine Zidane claims, in interview with sports daily L'Equip, that he backed Qatar's 2022 World Cup bid to help grow the sport in the Middle East. Zidane denied that his involvement was purely for the money. In fact, he claimed to have received no personal benefit at all, stating that the millions of Euros he received were distributed entirely to charities, such as the Zinedine Zidane Tahitian Beach House Foundation, and the Zinedine Zidane Center for the Furtherance of his Personal Automobile Collection.

Chicago, IL Last week, the Chicago Fire announced the signing of 25-year-old Uruguayan striker Gastón Puerari. With that announcement came a flood of searches on Wikipedia for information about Mr. Puerari. However, there was no entry for him on the Internet encyclopedia. That would not last long.

*** Sepp Blatter hints that 2022 World Cup will be played during the summer. During a BBC radio interview, Blatter explained that the question of whether the 2022 World Cup would be held during the summer was "settled" and that the matches would occur at their normal time. Supporters who die of heat stroke can thank him later.

*** The FIFA Appeal Committee has confirmed the decisions taken by the Ethics Committee to ban former FIFA executive committee members Reynald Temarii and Amos Adamu. Both Temarii and Adamu had been found to have violated FIFA rules in connection with the 2018 and 2022 World Cup bidding. Fortunately, this corruption was identified well before the bidding occurred and therefore erased any suspicion whatsoever about the ultra-secretive process that resulted in those World Cups being awarded to dictator-led petrogiants with reputations for cracking down violently on media keen on investigating corruption.

Chicago, IL Andrew Hauptman, owner of the Chicago Fire, has all but declared his intentions to move the team to Miami, Florida. Unfortunately for him, however, his lease to Toyota Park provides only one escape clause: extremely poor attendance.

Together with general manager Frank Klopas, Mr.

Birmingham, UK Rumors have surface that up and coming American defender, Eric Lichaj will be loaned by Aston Villa to a yet-unnamed Polish club. Anonymous team sources said that "Lichaj" was too hard for supporters to pronounce, much less incorporate into song. Such move would likely allow Lichaj more playing time and greater reception by the local supporter base.