Klinsmann, Wenger send best wishes to Pele, talk up England as potential World Cup winners

Record ID: 1700724

  • Title: Klinsmann, Wenger send best wishes to Pele, talk up England as potential World Cup winners
  • Date: 4th December 2022
  • Summary: AL RAYYAN, QATAR (DECEMBER 4, 2022) (REUTERS) BRIEFING WITH FIFA’S CHIEF OF GLOBAL FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT ARSENE WENGER AND TECHNICAL STUDY GROUP MEMBER JUERGEN KLINSMANN BEGINS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FIFA’S CHIEF OF GLOBAL FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR ARSENE WENGER SAYING ABOUT PELE: “Yes I must say of all, I would say I would like first to talk about Pele. He was an idol when I was a child and we are all of course getting the news that he's not very well. We wish him as well to recover quickly and hopefully, I spoke to his agent not long ago, he was not as pessimistic as the news we get at the moment. So, I was a bit surprised and shocked that Pele is not well. He told me that he is to go back to hospital but he's not in danger and I hope he is right because he sees him many times.” BRIEFING IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FIFA TECHNICAL STUDY GROUP MEMBER JUERGEN KLINSMANN SAYING ABOUT PELE: “Well obviously you know Pele is in our prayers you know, we hope that he recovers as quickly as possible, and is with us for many, many years to go. I met him many, many times in South America, or wherever you know the global football community comes together, and he's just such a wonderful person, and he's been the greatest of all, there's no doubt about it, Pele.” BRIEFING IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FIFA TECHNICAL STUDY GROUP MEMBER JUERGEN KLINSMANN SAYING: “And this is this is now the fascinating part of the tournament, this is what we live, so I just wish England good luck, because the progression, we can all see it internationally see it there coming their team is very deep in high quality players. Obviously they play in the best league in the world because the Premier League set itself apart from the other top four leagues in Europe, and everybody watches the Premier League with all its superstars. So now it's a good time to deliver.” BRIEFING IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FIFA’S CHIEF OF GLOBAL FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT ARSENE WENGER SAYING: “I would say the big teams have turned up and when I said before the teams have not been consistent visually, for England is one of them. England has been absolutely outstanding in the first game, has struggled in the in the second game against the States and then have come back when needed to give convincing performance against Wales. So there is ups and down completely, none of the big countries has been really disappointing. I would say England is one of these countries which learned a lot. I believe in the competitions they’ve been in the last four at the last World Cup, they've been in the last two and the European Championship and contrary to Belgium, for example past the peak, England looks to be a team who is now at the peak to deliver and has learned and has still a young team.” BRIEFING IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FIFA’S CHIEF OF GLOBAL FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR ARSENE WENGER SAYING ON SOUTHGATE: “He's like the team, he's learned from the World Cup. He has learned European Championship, and he's now in a good situation to deliver.” BRIEFING IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (French) FIFA’S CHIEF OF GLOBAL FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT ARSENE WENGER SAYING: “World champions…I think that France, I was telling you before, I think that my conviction is that the team who has the best players on the side will be among the challengers for the World Cup and France is among these. And France, in general when a team wins the World Cup, the players are 27, 28, 29 years old, they were young when they won the World Cup, and they also know that they can be the first to do a great achievement again and to win the World Cup again. Personally, I think that France had a bad time last year and this has allowed them to refocus, and to come here with hunger and appetite for winning. I believe that France will be dangerous until the end.” BRIEFING IN PROGRESS (SOUNDBITE) (English) FIFA’S CHIEF OF GLOBAL FOOTBALL DEVELOPMENT ARSENE WENGER SAYING ON WORLD CUP EXPANSION TO 48 TEAMS: “It will give more opportunities to the team, or incitement as well to develop football inside that country. We analyse the whole world, and we analyse 205 countries, and there is of deficit education in many, many countries in the world. We want …we have created the talent development scheme to fight against that. But as well, I'm convinced that if a team's the countries are given more opportunities to go toward the world stage, they will do more for development inside the country.” BRIEFING ENDS
  • Embargoed: 18th December 2022 12:39
  • Keywords: Arsene Wenger Juergen Klinsmann Pele Qatar 2022 World Cup
  • Location: AL RAYYAN, QATAR
  • City: AL RAYYAN, QATAR
  • Country: Qatar
  • Topics: Middle East,Sport,World Cup
  • Reuters ID: LVA001433204122022RP1
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Arsene Wenger and Juergen Klinsmann sent World Cup best wishes to Pele on Sunday (December 4) after news emerged that the Brazil legend is worsening in his cancer battle.
    Speaking at a FIFA Technical briefing, the pair said that Pele was one of the greats of the game.
    Pele, 82, was admitted to hospital on Tuesday to re-evaluate his cancer treatment.
    He had a tumor removed from his colon in September 2021 and has been receiving hospital care on a regular basis.
    In a report on Saturday, medical staff at the Albert Einstein Hospital said Pele has responded well to treatment for a respiratory infection diagnosed after his hospitalisation and that his condition had not worsened in the last 24 hours.
    "He is still undergoing treatment and remains in stable condition," the doctors said.
    The latest medical note came after newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported earlier on Saturday that Pele - whose full name is Edson Arantes do Nascimento - had been receiving palliative care after chemotherapy stopped having the expected results.
    Pele himself posted on social media that he was feeling strong, and thanked his fans for their words of support.
    Wenger and Klinsmann also talked up the chances of Gareth Southgate's England team at the World Cup, although Wenger also said that France had a good opportunity to retain the trophy which they won in Russia in 2018.
    (Production: Branko Filipovic, Iain Axon)
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