Search: ' Dominican Republic'

Simon Cotterill wants only the best for his children – and that includes a choice of which country's football team to represent

So, I’ve reached that time of life. I’m starting to think about reproducing. And, already, I’ve started to live my own unfulfilled dreams through my as-yet-unconceived children. Those dreams are football dreams. Now, of course, if my future sons or daughters were to decide they didn’t want to become professional footballers I would still feed, clothe and even love them. But first I, and to a lesser extent my partner, am determined to provide them with every possible opportunity to fulfil my dreams.

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Theirs is still the only South American team never to qualify for a World Cup, but things are looking up for the football fans of Caracas as they emerge from the shadow of baseball. Rodrigo Orihuela explains

Since the iconoclastic Hugo Chávez became Venezuelan president in 1999, the country has become a fixture in the international political and financial press. Chávez’s fiery anti-American discourse, his friendship with Cuba’s ailing Fidel Castro and his recent drive against privately owned business corporations have cemented his place as one of the world’s ­leading maverick heads of state. Until recently, Venezuela made few football headlines. But Chávez is likely to use this year’s Copa América in Venezuela – the first played in the country – as a showcase for his policies, while the national team may give their baseball-mad president genuine cause for celebration.

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Only five years after Montserrat was devastated by a volcano, the Caribbean island is set to contest its first World Cup qualifier. David Austrin reports

The tiny Caribbean island of Montserrat is better known for its volatile volcano than its football, but that could be about to change. On Sunday March 5 Montserrat will make World Cup history when they play the Dominican Republic in their first ever World Cup game. The qualifying match in the Dominican Re­public’s Estadio San Cristobal probably won't go down in the annals of the game as one to remember, but it will be re­markable nevertheless.

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