Angola: Angola became the third World Cup finalists to arrive in Germany when they landed yesterday in the northern town of Hanover near their training base in Celle three weeks before the tournament begins. The team were welcomed at the Hanover airport by Lower Saxony state Interior Minister Uwe Schuenemann and other local officials in cool and damp weather before they travelled to Celle. Togo were the first of the 32 teams to arrive in Germany last Monday followed by Costa Rica on Wednesday.
Blind fans: All 640 tickets for blind fans at World Cup matches have been sold, Germany's organising committee said. For the first time at a World Cup, 10 tickets for each of the 64 matches have been reserved for blind fans, who will each be allowed to take an escort into the stadiums for free. There will also be two commentators accompanying the groups at each match. Headphones will be made available so that the fans can hear the commentary in one ear and the stadium sounds in the other.
India Coach: England's Bob Houghton and Dutchman Clemence Westerhof are among four candidates to be interviewed for the job of India coach. Former Ireland manager Brian Kerr and ex-Chelsea manager Ian Porterfield will also attend the interviews to be held this week. Houghton, 58, has managed China and Uzbekistan while the 63-year-old Westerhof guided Nigeria to the 1994 World Cup finals.
Cahill: Australia midfielder Tim Cahill has admitted he is struggling to be fit for the Socceroos' opening World Cup game against Japan in Germany next month, but still hopes to play. The Everton player has been sidelined with a knee injury and is almost certain to miss Australia's friendly against European champions Greece in Melbourne this week. "It's really difficult because I've partially torn my posterior cruciate," he said.
World Cup coverage: Sepp Blatter has intervened personally to more than double the coverage of next month's World Cup in soccer-crazy Bangladesh. Bangladeshi journalists, originally granted only four accreditations, asked Blatter to help when he visited their country to open last month's AFC Challenge Cup and they have now received six extra passes to cover the tournament. Millions of soccer fans in Bangladesh stay up late at night to watch World Cup matches on TV, and newspaper circulation rises as the country's 140 million people look for news of their favourite teams.