Because chefs have goggles that can see bacteria: English World Cup team refusing food from Russian room service over poisoning fears, source claims

Team England is reportedly on an even stricter diet than usual at the 2018 FIFA World Cup, as players have allegedly been banned from eating food from room service at their Russian hotel (me watching soccer, left, exactly as shown).

The Three Lions stars are “under strict orders to reject any food not approved by their expert chefs,” The Sun is reporting. According to the outlet, security is on “high alert” at the team’s ForRestMix hotel in Repino, Saint Petersburg, given fears surrounding the nerve attack on ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia earlier this year.

“Nothing is being left to chance. The players are going to do exactly as told. Nothing will pass their lips apart from food and drink provided by chefs and nutritionists,” a source told The Sun. “If the players are hungry they must contact somebody within the management to get a snack. They can’t just reach into the mini bar or buy something from a shop.”

“These rules are always in place at tournaments because of diets, and there is always a fear of food poisoning which could destroy their performance. But for the World Cup in Russia it is very, very strict,” they added.

But while elite players are snacking on light fare including sushi, oatcakes with cream cheese, and herbal teas, this isn’t the first time that head coach Gareth Southgate has made headlines for cracking down on his player’s diets.

Earlier this year, Southgate coordinated with the Starbucks at the hotel where his team was staying to remove all treats and ban the sale of sugary drinks to his squad ahead of this summer’s World Cup, the Evening Standard reported.

Now that the games have officially begun, nutritionists and chefs have arrived to support the team in Russia, and all precautions are being taken.

“Health inspectors will take food samples and freeze them to look at if something happens,” Tim De’Ath, who has worked as Team England’s head chef for 10 years, told The Sun.

Standard operating procedure for these kind of events, or schools in Japan.

Commentator barfs on air during soccer game

Amy and Sorenne and I went to a spring training game in Scottsdale yesterday — Arizona versus Seattle — with the in-laws.

colbert.soccerI kept my mouth shut, but after watching and playing hockey, Sorenne and Amy both said, wow, this is boring.

Viewers in Switzerland who sat down to watch Lazio’s 2-0 win over Atalanta on Sunday in soccer – another narcoleptic sport — may have ended up feeling as unsettled as their commentator’s stomach.

In the opening minutes of the Serie A match, the commentary feed fell silent and largely stayed that way for the best part of a minute.

The only sound to be heard above the atmosphere at the Stadio Olimpico was that of the Swiss channel’s commentator retching and heaving.

You can see the footage, which was posted to Facebook by the Average Juventino Guy page. Be warned, it’s not one for the squeamish.

Lazio eventually ran out 2-0 winners over La Dea to keep their hopes of a Europa League place alive.

Euro 2016 qualifier in doubt after 16 players get food poisoning

As one of my food safety colleagues commented, appears to be a case of the dribbles.

hockey.soccer.block.shotsLuxembourg may have to postpone Tuesday’s Euro 2016 qualifier against Belarus after 16 members of their squad contracted food poisoning.

The players complained of “terrible stomach aches” after eating a meal of spaghetti bolognaise on Sunday at the team’s hotel in Minsk.

Just four of the 20-man squad were unaffected.

The Luxembourg Football Federation said they are in “close contact” with Uefa about potentially rearranging the game.

A decision is expected by Tuesday.

Surprised he didn’t fake illness: Germany coach Joachim Loew picks nose before shaking hands with Cristiano Ronaldo

The most exciting thing to come out of the World Cup: Germany coach Joachim Loew has added insult to injury after his side trounced Portugal, picking his nose before shaking the hand of beaten superstar Cristiano Ronaldo.

880793-54755328-f5a3-11e3-9eee-86d74a63fbdcHaving cut a frustrated figure during a terrible 4-0 loss against the Germans, Ronaldo trudged off the pitch towards Loew, who was revelling in his team’s continuation of its bogey team status against the Portuguese.

The coach, who has form in this area, was caught fiddling away inside his nostril as Ron approached and he didn’t even bother to wipe his hand before shaking.

The incident sent social media into a frenzy.

Soccer’s Suarez hit with 10-game ban for Ivanovic bite

I’ve never been much into biting.

There may be intimate situations where a nibble may suffice, but biting in sporting events is not just a health hazard, it’s creepy.

Luis Suarez, who apparently plays soccer, has been hit with a 10-soccer.bite.13game ban for biting Chelsea defender Branislav Ivanovic.

CNN reports the Liverpool striker was found guilty by the English Football Association Wednesday following the incident which occurred during his side’s 2-2 draw with Chelsea last Sunday.

Suarez, 26, had apologized for his actions and was heavily fined by Liverpool.

“I’ve spoken to Ivanovic on the phone so I could apologize directly to him,” he tweeted. “Thanks for accepting.”

He added: “For my unacceptable behavior the club has fined me.

“I have asked the club to donate the money to the Hillsborough Family Support Group for the inconvenience I have created to the Liverpool fans and to Ivanovic.”

It would appear that Suarez’s past record has been taken into account by the FA.

The Uruguay striker was given an eight-match ban and a $63,000 fine back in 2011 after being found guilty by the FA of racially abusing Manchester United’s Patrice Evra.

I also was never much into soccer, although when I was 16-years-old, me and my friends would watch my girlfriend play on a travel team; those girls were vicious.

I even coached for a few years, but the European parents would scream at me that I didn’t know what I was doing (and I didn’t), but they needed coaches.

How I really feel about soccer is routinely expressed by Colbert, and in this bit by Daniel Tosh.

“Enjoy your 15 minutes Algeria” (that’s for Frenchy) “and then go back to number 1 at car bombs.”

Vomit samples, nail scrapings tracks down S. aureus outbreak at Barcelona sports club

Solano et al. report in Food Control that an outbreak of acute gastroenteritis due to staphylococcal food poisoning occurred in July 2011 at a summer school held by a sports club in Barcelona (Catalonia, Spain). Of the 42 cases involved, 20 were hospitalised. To identify the outbreak source, a retrospective cohort study was performed on the group at risk, which soccer.barf.mar.13included 73 summer school students and 18 staff members. Food exposure at the sports club restaurant was identified as the most relevant common link among the study cohort.

Although the preliminary microbiological investigation suggested that enterotoxigenic Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infections were the possible source, enterotoxin types A and D were identified, quantified and confirmed in the different biological samples collected. A descriptive, in-depth epidemiological and clinical investigation subsequently pointed to food intoxication rather than bacterial infection as being the cause of the outbreak. Molecular investigation of the strain isolates, using pulsed-field gel electrophoresis typing, revealed that all eight strains of S. aureus had the same profile and spa type (t008).

Samples of the incriminated foods, i.e., boiled macaroni, tuna and fresh tomatoes, specimens of vomit of those affected, and bilateral fingernail scrapings and nasal swabs of food handlers were shown to be the common source of transmission of the contamination. Following the outbreak, appropriate hygiene and control measures could be implemented to prevent any recurrence.

Food Control

Volume 33, Issue 1, September 2013, Pages 114–118

Illness swept through soccer squad before win

Soccer is as boring as baseball or cricket.

Mass vomiting by players makes things more interesting.

Houston Dynamo head coach Dominic Kinnear said when he arrived for a game last week, he found out that not only was he missing the expected four players to international call-ups and two to injury, but that a flu-like illness had swept through the locker room.

“There were a lot of guys out there struggling physically and gutting it out,” said Calen Carr, who put in some time at right back late in the match. “You just look around man to man everyone’s giving it all they’ve got. Everybody put in a hard shift and we got rewarded.”

Euro 2012 co-hosts hit with vomit-causing illnesses

With the Stanley Cup Finals set to end tonight (I’m not convinced New Jersey will prolong the inevitable), my sports-watching efforts will soon switch to Euro 2012 soccer (or non-American football). It’s not the most exciting sport but I do like the lack of commercial breaks. According to Sports Illustrated, co-host Ukraine’s team has been hit by some sort of pathogen that is affecting 10 players and almost cancelled a warm-up game yesterday. Lots of vomit associated with a team sport? Sounds like norovirus.

The main concern is over Ukraine’s most-capped player, midfielder Anatoliy Tymoshchuk, who has been on a drip.
"We have to bring the guys out of this condition,” coach Oleg Blokhin said. "It’s good that the poisoning didn’t happen on June 11. For me, the most important thing is healthy footballers.”

Team doctor Leonid Mironov told reporters Wednesday that Tuesday’s match against Turkey, which Ukraine lost 2-0, was almost cancelled after the players had come down with the bug that was causing some of them to vomit. Blokhin said that fullback Bohdan Butko and midfielder Denys Harmash played against Turkey despite being ill.

Soccer player barfs during game

Maybe he shouldn’t have played with a temperature of 102F.

Ben Chew of NBC reports the world of Major League Soccer had its first memorable upchuck moment this week as New England Revolution defender Kevin Alston, in a game against the Colorado Rapids, decided to empty the contents of his stomach during a stoppage of play.

To note, the video clip is not for the squeamish or people who puke easily after seeing someone else vomit:

After the match, Revolution head coach Jay Heaps commented on the puke seen around Foxborough:

“It wasn’t pretty. He just went into a coughing fit and I didn’t know this before the game. So he played through a 102 temperature, and when he got hit, he went into a coughing fit that’s why he got sick.”