{"id":30353,"date":"2022-12-05T15:07:55","date_gmt":"2022-12-05T15:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/wenger-blasts-world-cup-teams-focused-on-demonstrations"},"modified":"2022-12-05T15:07:55","modified_gmt":"2022-12-05T15:07:55","slug":"wenger-blasts-world-cup-teams-focused-on-demonstrations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/wenger-blasts-world-cup-teams-focused-on-demonstrations","title":{"rendered":"Wenger blasts World Cup teams \u2018focused on demonstrations\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Mozambique. <\/strong><\/span>Arsene Wenger said on Sunday that teams who focused on football rather than \u201cpolitical demonstrations\u201d fared better in the opening round at the World Cup.<\/p>\n<p>The former Arsenal manager is now working for Fifa as its head of global football development and made the remark unprompted during a press conference looking at trends during the now-concluded group stage in Qatar.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen you go to a World Cup you know you must not lose the first game,\u201d said the 73-year-old, saying teams with World Cup experience such as holders France won their opening matches.<\/p>\n<p>Wenger then added: \u201cAnd the teams as well who were mentally ready, who had the mindset to focus on the competition and not on political demonstrations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Germany\u2019s players covered their mouths for the team photo before their opening match against Japan in protest at Fifa\u2019s refusal to allow the captains of seven European sides to wear rainbow-themed armbands.<\/p>\n<p>The four-time champions lost the game 2-1 and eventually exited in the group stages.<\/p>\n<p>This World Cup has been overshadowed by several controversies both on and off the pitch, especially when it comes to gay rights.<\/p>\n<p>Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar.<\/p>\n<p>Germany captain Manuel Neuer was among the skippers who had planned to wear rainbow-themed armbands to promote diversity, but abandoned the initiative after Fifa threatened their teams with sporting sanctions.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\">Mozambique<\/a> Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/\">Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Mozambique. Arsene Wenger said on Sunday that teams who focused on football rather than \u201cpolitical demonstrations\u201d fared better in the opening round at the World Cup. The former Arsenal manager is now working for Fifa as its head of global football development and made the remark unprompted during a press conference looking at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":30352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[233,281,283],"class_list":["post-30353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-mozambique","tag-mozambique"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Wenger blasts World Cup teams \u2018focused on demonstrations\u2019 - Mozambique<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/wenger-blasts-world-cup-teams-focused-on-demonstrations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Wenger blasts World Cup teams \u2018focused on demonstrations\u2019\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Africa-Press &#8211; Mozambique. Arsene Wenger said on Sunday that teams who focused on football rather than \u201cpolitical demonstrations\u201d fared better in the opening round at the World Cup. The former Arsenal manager is now working for Fifa as its head of global football development and made the remark unprompted during a press conference looking at [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/wenger-blasts-world-cup-teams-focused-on-demonstrations\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Mozambique\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-12-05T15:07:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/wenger-blasts-world-cup-teams-focused-on-demonstrations#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/wenger-blasts-world-cup-teams-focused-on-demonstrations\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Wenger blasts World Cup teams \u2018focused on demonstrations\u2019\",\"datePublished\":\"2022-12-05T15:07:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/wenger-blasts-world-cup-teams-focused-on-demonstrations\"},\"wordCount\":244,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/wenger-blasts-world-cup-teams-focused-on-demonstrations#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/sites\/64\/2022\/12\/postQueueImg_1670240342.14.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Mozambique\",\"Mozambique\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/wenger-blasts-world-cup-teams-focused-on-demonstrations#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/wenger-blasts-world-cup-teams-focused-on-demonstrations\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mozambique\/all-news\/wenger-blasts-world-cup-teams-focused-on-demonstrations\",\"name\":\"Wenger blasts World Cup teams \u2018focused on demonstrations\u2019 - 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Arsene Wenger said on Sunday that teams who focused on football rather than \u201cpolitical demonstrations\u201d fared better in the opening round at the World Cup. 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