Most Recent Posts

BELO HORIZONTE, Brazil (AP) — When the coach needs to lighten up, squirt some water on him.

That's what Ezequiel Lavezzi did during Argentina's 3-2 win over Nigeria, and his teammates seem to think it's a good idea.

Lavezzi, a known jokester, was receiving instructions from Alejandro Sabella during Wednesday's match when he sent a squirt from his water bottle right in the coach's face.

Sabella didn't flinch and just kept talking.

Midfielder Ricardo Alvarez said Thursday it's the kind of thing everyone on the team has come to expect from Lavezzi, also known as "el Pocho," or the chubby one.

"We know el Pocho and we know the personality he has," Alvarez said. "These things do good for the group, having a person like el Pocho who is always happy and in a good mood."

After the match, a smiling Lavezzi explained his move by saying he thought the coach needed to lighten up.

What Sabella thought of it remains unclear.

— By Karl Ritter— www.twitter.com/karl_ritter

___

DON'T COME BACK

FORTALEZA, Brazil (AP) — Veteran Greece midfielder Costas Katsouranis is available to play for his country in Sunday's knockout round match against Costa Rica after sitting out a game because of a red card, but fans are hoping he stays on the bench.

A Facebook page unsubtly titled "No to Katsouranis against Costa Rica" has gone viral, picking up more than 90,000 likes, from football supporters who view the 35-year-old Benfica player as slow and bad-tempered.

Katsouranis played an important part in Greece's qualification run and has 113 appearances for the national team, including its stunning victory at the 2004 European Championships.

But in Brazil, Katsouranis' absence in the final group match against Ivory Coast forced lineup changes that saw Greece score its first goals of the tournament for a 2-1 win.

— By Derek Gatopoulos — www.twitter.com/dgatopoulos

___

KOREAN FLAVOR

SAO PAULO (AP) — South Korea enjoys strong support in Sao Paulo's Bom Retiro neighborhood.

On Thursday, hundreds of people gathered for a Korean food festival held to get the community together before the team's match against Belgium, also in Sao Paulo. The food ran out early because so many lined up to eat traditional dishes such as fried fish, turnip's broth and hot dogs on sticks covered with French fries.

"We did this today because we wanted to reach out to our Korean community in Brazil," said Minsun Kim, manager of the Korea Agro-Trade Center of Los Angeles, which organized the festival.

In the neighborhood, a lot of businesses such as photo studios, butchers and markets have signs that read only in Korean. Many residents left their homes in the team's red jersey heading to the subway station that would take them to the stadium.

At the festival, children were kicking a soccer ball through a hole in a cardboard cutout with cartoons of Brazil star Neymar and coach Luiz Felipe Scolari. Underneath the sports celebrities, there were Korean pop artists.

It really wasn't too much about football. Women were trying on traditional tunics while others were watching hip-hop dancers and Taekwondo students perform a routine.

— By Adriana Gomez Licon — www.twitter.com/agomezlicon

___

FLAG FLIP-FLOP

SAO PAULO (AP) — Nothing says Brazil quite like Havaianas.

The world-famous brand of rubber and plastic flip-flops, with the little Brazilian flag on its strap, has become the country's most popular export and a must-have for any visiting tourist.

So naturally during this World Cup, the company's concept store on upscale Rua Oscar Freire has become a pilgrimage of sorts for fans.

Havaianas has adjusted accordingly, launching a line of flip-flops with designs honoring each of the 12 host cities. Even more of a draw is a wall devoted to versions featuring various World Cup teams, with their national flags replacing the trademark one of Brazil. England, Germany and Spain are there, of course, but also Bosnia-Herzegovina and non-World Cup qualifiers like Angola, New Zealand, Peru and Ireland.

In town for his country's final group game against South Korea, 46-year-old Belgian fan Wim Desmedt was decked out in full gear: a team jersey, a black-red-yellow scarf around his neck and even frames to his glasses with the team colors.

Only one thing was missing to complete the outfit — the Belgium-inspired Havaianas in his hands.

"If you say Belgium, people think beer, chocolate and waffles," he said. "When you think of Brazil, it's samba, beaches and Havaianas."

Once a staple of the poor, Havaianas have now become a trendy favorite worldwide for all classes. Although "havaianas" means Hawaiian in Portuguese, the flip-flops have come to symbolize Brazil — especially since 1998 when a new line was introduced with the small Brazilian flag to show support for the team before the World Cup in France.

Now other nations can do the same.

— By Aron Heller — www.twitter.com/aronhellerap

___

ENCHANTING NEYMAR?

SAO PAULO (AP) — The cover of the latest issue of Brazilian Playboy carries a photo of a stunning model posing sensuously in a swimming suit with the headline: "Patricia Jordane, the brunette that enchanted Neymar."

Apparently, she wasn't charming enough.

Neymar's agents filed an appeal to a Sao Paulo court to have the edition pulled from newsstands nationwide — and a judge agreed.

Judge Andreia Galgardo Palma ruled the magazine could no longer be sold and ordered its publisher to pick up all unsold copies from newsstands.

The request for the restraining order was made by NR Sports, the company that manages Neymar's career.

In a statement on its website, NR Sports said Wednesday the magazine published a lie about Neymar's personal life and used his name without its authorization. It offered no details.

The judge said the publisher would be fined about $4,500 a day if it failed to obey her order.

Publisher Grupo Abril can appeal the ruling, but had yet to say if it would.

Sergio Xavier, the editor of Brazilian Playboy, said in an email that as yet the magazine hadn't been notified by any legal authority that it had to pull the June edition, and that "the magazine remains available" across the country.

Shortly before Playboy hit the newsstands earlier this month, Jordane told reporters she had once been romantically involved with Neymar.

She said they had dated for about three months in 2013 and that the relationship ended when Neymar started seeing his current girlfriend, Brazilian TV star Bruna Marquezine.

— By Stan Lehman

___

BIG BAD WOLF

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Brazil great Ronaldo got reluctantly dragged into the Luis Suarez quagmire Thursday — and wound up riffing on parenthood and fairytale villains.

At a FIFA news conference, he was asked about the Uruguay striker's suspension for biting an opposing player.

"Why do you want my opinion? I never bit anyone," he answered through a translator.

Then Ronaldo kept going: "But I know that bites hurt. My young kids used to bite me and I used to punish them. In my home, punishment is called 'the dark room with the big bad wolf,' so I suppose for an adult four months with no football is the same."

___

SUAREZ BIT ME!

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — The Adidas World Cup ad campaign with star players baring their teeth was always a bit iffy when it came to the image of Luis Suarez, considering his history of biting opponents on the pitch.

The shoe company was taking down the Suarez ads after he did it again against Italy, but as of early Thursday, one such poster was still up near Copacabana beach. Amused fans took photos of themselves in front of it appearing to be chomped by the Uruguay striker.

___

Associated Press reporters will be filing dispatches about happenings in and around Brazil during the 2014 World Cup. Follow AP journalists covering the World Cup on Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Sports/world-cup-2014

NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street has a taste for adventure.

Investors sent shares of GoPro Inc. up more than 30 percent in their stock market debut Thursday, following an initial public offering that valued the sports camera maker at about $3 billion.

The company makes wearable sports cameras that are used by skydivers, surfers and other extreme sports fans to film themselves as they create first-person videos that capture the experience as they saw it. The cameras, which are light and waterproof, cost between $200 and $400. It also sells accessories such as cases, battery packs and mounts that help users attach their cameras to surfboards, helmets or their wrists. Users can download a free app or computer software to edit, store and publish their videos to their social media accounts, including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

GoPro had the best-selling camcorder last year, according to government paperwork filed by the company. Its revenue jumped to $985.7 million in 2013, nearly double what it was a year earlier. However, in the first three months of 2014, revenue fell 7.6 percent to $235.7 million from a year ago.

With its IPO, GoPro and selling shareholders raised $427 million after selling 17.8 million shares at $24 each. The proceeds from the IPO could rise to $491 million if underwriters use their 30-day option to sell 2.67 million more shares.

The San Mateo, California, company plans to use its share of the money raised to pay down debt.

GoPro shares rose $7.73, or 32 percent, to $31.73 in afternoon trading Thursday after rising as high as $33 earlier.

GoPro shares are trading on the Nasdaq stock exchange under the symbol "GPRO."

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Luis Suarez exits the World Cup with one of the longest bans in tournament history, and his reputation once again in tatters.

The Uruguay forward, widely regarded as one of the best players in the world, was banned by FIFA from all football for four months on Thursday for biting an Italian opponent in an incident that marred the team's victory and progression to the second round.

It's the third time he's served a suspension for biting an opponent — after similar incidents at both Ajax in the Dutch league and Liverpool in England — and the second straight World Cup where Suarez exits in disgrace.

The four-month ban will sideline Suarez for the first two months of Liverpool's season. He was also suspended for Uruguay's next nine matches, which extends beyond the four months and rules him out of next year's Copa America, where his team is the defending champion. The Uruguayan football federation said it would appeal.

Aside from Diego Maradona's 15-month suspension for a failed drug test at the 1994 tournament, it's the longest ban handed out to a player at the World Cup. FIFA also fined Suarez 100,000 Swiss francs ($112,000).

Suarez bit the left shoulder of defender Giorgio Chiellini on Tuesday in Natal during Uruguay's 1-0 win over Italy, an incident that went unpunished by the referee but was witnessed by fans around the world on TV. Given Suarez's previous biting incidents, the images went viral immediately.

"Such behavior cannot be tolerated on any football pitch and in particular not at a FIFA World Cup, when the eyes of millions of people are on the stars on the field," Claudio Sulser, chairman of the FIFA disciplinary committee, said in a statement.

The Uruguayan federation was preparing an urgent appeal, as Suarez headed home. FIFA even barred him staying with teammates ahead of their round-of-16 game against Colombia on Saturday in Rio de Janeiro.

"Luis in the next few hours will travel to Montevideo to be with the rest of his family to recover," federation president Wilmar Valdez told reporters.

Suarez scored both goals in Uruguay's 2-1 win over England, a performance that further enhanced a reputation that had gradually been rebuilt following a 10-game suspension for biting a Premier League opponent last May, and an eight-game ban for racially abusing an opponent in 2011. Suarez was voted the English league's best player last season after a campaign void of any disciplinary issues.

But now, the 27-year-old Suarez is the main actor in the World Cup's most damaging episode for a second time.

In the quarterfinals in 2010 in South Africa, his deliberate handball on the goal-line in the final minute of extra time denied Ghana an almost certain winning goal that would have made it the first ever African semifinalist.

Suarez was sent off, and then refused to apologize for his celebratory dance near the players' tunnel where he stayed to watch Ghana miss the resulting penalty. He also shrugged off criticism Tuesday of his bite.

As usual, Uruguay officials and players defended their star player Thursday.

"It feels like Uruguay has been thrown out of the World Cup," Valdez said, denouncing "a severe punishment."

Veteran defender Diego Lugano wrote on his Facebook page that Suarez's family should be "proud of him, he deserves it."

"A hug to Luis, who, as always, will rise," Lugano, captain on the 2010 team, wrote. "Outrage, impotence, I think that's what all of us feel. We all would like a fairer world, but that world simply doesn't exist."

Even Uruguay fans who agreed Suarez's action was "stupid" did not agree with the sanction.

"Uruguay is a small country that eliminated two big nations like Italy and England and it's not for FIFA's benefit to let Uruguay continue playing," supporter Juan Jose Monzillo said in Montevideo.

Suarez's ban extends one game more than Italy defender Mauro Tassotti's eight-match international sanction for elbowing a Spanish opponent in a 1994 World Cup quarterfinal. That incident was also missed by match officials.

By also banning Suarez from all football activities, FIFA also prohibited Suarez from entering a World Cup stadium. He cannot train with Liverpool until the ban ends in late October.

"Hopefully he will realize now that behavior of this type will not be tolerated under any circumstances," said FIFA vice president Jim Boyce of Northern Ireland.

The ban includes Liverpool's first three Champions League games in the five-time European champion's return after a five-year absence. Suarez will also miss the first nine Premier League matches.

Suarez would still be allowed transfer to a different club during the ban, Fischer said. He has been linked to a move to Barcelona.

Sports manufacturer adidas, which sponsors both Suarez and the World Cup, said it agreed with the ruling. The company said it will not use Suarez for "additional marketing" during the World Cup but would not immediately drop him as a client.

"We will again be reminding him of the high standards we expect from our players," adidas said in a statement.

___

AP Sports Writers Rob Harris and Gerald Imray in Rio de Janeiro, and Associated Press writer Leonardo Haberkorn in Montevideo, Uruguay, contributed to this report

WEST ALLIS, Wis. (AP) — A former police officer has been arrested and is a suspect in the death of at least one of two women whose bodies were stuffed into suitcases and discarded on a rural southeastern Wisconsin highway, police said Thursday.

The 52-year-old security officer was arrested Wednesday on tentative charges of hiding a corpse. The same day, detectives wearing hazmat suits removed large, brown bags of evidence and a refrigerator from the man's apartment in West Allis, a Milwaukee suburb.

Highway workers discovered the suitcases containing female remains June 5 in the Town of Geneva, some 50 miles southwest of Milwaukee. Police identified one woman as Laura Simonson, 37, of Farmington, Minnesota. Authorities have yet to release the identity of the second woman but describe her as a white female with long dark hair, a pronounced overbite and a small heart tattoo on her lower left abdomen.

Farmington police Detective Sgt. Lee Hollatz told The Associated Press that the arrested man is his "number one person, by far, of interest" in Simonson's death.

The man is scheduled to appear in court Friday afternoon in Wisconsin.

Police in Rochester, Minnesota, said during a news conference Thursday that they believe Simonson was killed in a Rochester hotel in early November. She checked into the Microtel Inn and Suites with the security officer on Nov. 2, and the man checked out alone the next day, Capt. John Sherwin said.

A woman who answered the phone at the hotel said employees had been told not to talk to the media. Rochester is more than 300 miles northwest of Milwaukee.

Police have not revealed information about where the second victim was killed.

Hollatz said Simonson's family reported her missing Nov. 22, and he learned soon after that she had been taken to the Rochester hotel by a man he identified early on as the former police officer. But Hollatz said all he had was a missing person's case until the bodies were discovered. He said Simonson was identified within a day by her tattoos.

"I saw Laura as a vulnerable adult because of things in her life that she was dealing with," Hollatz said.

Simonson's father, Richard Wierson, told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that his daughter had placed escort ads on CraigsList. Wierson said she had struggled with mental illness since adolescence, and that her seven children were placed in foster care with him in 2010.

The suspect is a licensed private security officer who has worked for Securitas Security Services USA since 2007, according to the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services. Securitas spokeswoman Lynne Glovka said the company did a background check when he was hired and she was not aware of any problems while he worked there.

___

Karnowski reported from Minneapolis

___

Associated Press writer Gretchen Ehlke in Milwaukee contributed to this report.

___

Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com