Twenty-three year old James Rodriguez became the most expensive Colombian footballer of all time yesterday when the former Monaco attacker was unveiled as Real Madrid’s latest Galactico. Rodriguez marked his coming out ceremony at the Estadio Bernabeu by kicking footballs into the crowd and saving one exuberant spectator from being …

Who said there is such a thing as easy money? Last night, over 75 law enforcement officers raided a Carapo mosque and held Rajaee Ali, the son of Jamaat-al-Muslimeen Imam Hassan Ali, who was taken to the Arima Police Station for questioning. Initial reports suggested that 22 persons were held …

It turns out that it might be a good idea after all to attach the brand “Trinidad and Tobago” to a competition which attracted, according to the Limacol Caribbean Premier League (CPL), over 250,000 spectators and a global television audience of 36 million last year. So, the Trinidad and Tobago …

Okay, I have just done some cleaning up and tossed out the garbage. How else can I make myself useful for the next few minutes? I know: how about helping to fix the passport office dilemma? This one is tricky. The passport offices are unfit for work and citizens will …

Breaking news: Unconfirmed reports suggest that Argentina captain and 2014 World Cup Golden Ball winner Lionel Messi had three slices of toast with his dinner last night. Mr Live Wire understands that Diego Maradona could have put away five and still had room for bagels. Football discussion has descended into …

Presumably, the German footballers passed the World Cup trophy around at a good tempo with no unnecessary showboating or fumbles. The 2014 World Cup belonged to the efficient, unrelenting Germans in the end. And the baby-faced assassin Mario Götze, who drew ire last year for ditching boyhood club, Borussia Dortmund, …

What players have left their individual stamp on the Brazil 2014 World Cup? Colombia’s James Rodriguez, Argentina’s Lionel Messi, Brazil’s Neymar, Germany’s Manuel Neuer and Netherlands’ Arjen Robben comes to mind. But no player has been at the epicentre of his team’s tactics as well the opposition’s as much Messi. …

Hopefully, the Brazilian football federation will locate the black box one day. Never in the history of the World Cup has a host team faced the embarrassment suffered by Brazil, the five-time champions, over the past five days. This was more tiki-torture than tiki-taka. It is one thing to have …

If yesterday’s 2014 World Cup semi-final was a sumptuous feast—albeit a bit rich for Brazilian football fans—then today’s affair was rice and patchoi; unsavoury and forgettable but good enough to take you where you want to go. And, for Lionel Messi and his band of brothers, the next stop is …

Not since the horror trilogy, “Hostel”, has an unsuspecting tourist stumbled into such a mess. Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar left Piarco International Airport for Brazil yesterday evening to enjoy today’s 2014 World Cup semifinal match with her grandson. If her grandson happens to be younger than 18, …

Stretcher for Raymond Tim Kee. Two weeks after leaving Opposition Leader Keith Rowley slightly disoriented with a “Cruyff turn” on the Pension Bill Amendment, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar blindsided the TTFA president with a “Zuñiga” to the nuts and bolts by making good on the 2006 World Cup bonus agreement …

Dutchman Tim Krul might be the first player ever to decide a football match without playing in the active part of the game. Ninety minutes of regulation time plus 30 minutes extra time had expired when Uzbekistan referee Ravshan Irmatov allowed Krul on to the field to replace first choice …