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Tuesday Kickoff: Ghana routs South Korea; Blatter hits out at Qatar critics; and more

JordanAyewGhana1-SouthKorea (Reuters)

By RYAN TOLMICH

Jurgen Klinsmann may not have liked what he saw on Monday night.

Klinsmann and two members of his U.S. Men’s National Team coaching staff watched Ghana pulverize South Korea, 4-0, in both team’s final World Cup tune-ups. South Korea likely could have scored on a few occasions but they were poor inside the box and lost confidence as the game went on.

Ghana forward Jordan Ayew played the hero in Miami, scoring a hat-trick for the Black Stars. His first goal came in the 11th minute, scoring off a deflection, before adding his second in the 53rd minute with a powerful, placed strike into the far corner. Ayew finished off his hat-trick with a quick redirect inside the 6-yard box in the 89th minute to put a bow on the game. Asamoah Gyan scored the game’s only other goal.

”It was a good friendly match,” Appiah said on the Ghana FA website. ”It was important we put out a good team. Everyone who paid to come in here got his money’s worth.

”It’s fine we won, but we still have some work to do.”

Here are some more news and notes to kick off your Tuesday morning:

BLATTER CLAIMS CORRUPTION ACCUSATIONS ARE BASED ON ‘RACISM’

You can’t fault Sepp Blatter’s resilience in the face of numerous investigations into the awarding of the 2022 World Cup to Qatar.

Blatter’s latest defense of the tournament came Monday when the FIFA president argued that corruption claims in regards to the 2022 tournament are based on “racism and discrimination.”

“There is a sort of storm against FIFA relating to the Qatar World Cup,” Blatter said Monday. “Sadly there’s a great deal of discrimination and racism.

“It really makes me sad,” he added.

The 2022 tournament is currently under investigation, and a decision regarding the tournament’s status will be made later this year. Until that point, according to Blatter,  the “matter will be closed.”

CHICHARITO EXPECTED TO START ON THE BENCH

After spending the past few years as Manchester United’s super sub, Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez might have to embrace a similar role for his national side.

The 26-year-old forward is the joint third-highest goalscorer in Mexican national team history, but head coach Miguel Herrera is reportedly planning on kicking off this week’s World Cup without Hernandez in the starting XI.

For his part, Hernandez, who added that he anticipates a tough game with Cameroon, said he will accept whatever role he needs to as long as it contributes to El Tri’s overall success.

“The thing is, I don’t feel myself to be a starting player but as well I don’t feel like to be a substitute,” said Hernandez. “I am a player that shows that he wants to play as many minutes as possible and that this player has a lot of hunger to be here.”

GERMANY’S BIGGEST BANK QUESTIONABLY PICKS ENGLAND TO WIN WORLD CUP

There are so many variables that go into crowning a World Cup champion. Fitness, injuries and form all fluctuate so much throughout a tournament that it is nearly impossible to pick a winner on paper. However, according to Deutsche Bank, it’s England’s tournament to lose.

Analysts at the German bank developed a static model with the aim of predicting a World Cup champion and, despite ending up in a group of death, England has what it takes to go all the way to World Cup glory according to those at Deutsche Bank.

“England are among the best teams according to our static model,” the research stated. “The history of World Cup winning runs suggest that England is among the teams that could win this World Cup.

“Within this group of teams, England is the only one that has won a World Cup and not reached another final. And the last time England had so many Liverpool players in the team, it won. Therefore, we are confident that England will win this World Cup.”

QUICK KICKS

Italian national team coach Cesare Prandelli said that all his forward options are on the table to start after Ciro Immobile scored a hat-trick against Fluminense in a friendly match. (REPORT)

Russian national team captain Roman Shirokov will be out for the next six months after undergoing surgery on an aching Achilles tendon. (REPORT)

AC Milan have sacked manager Clarence Seedorf after just six months in charge and replaced him with former striker Filippo Inzaghi. (REPORT)

After spending the past two seasons with West Ham, Joe Cole is set to move to Aston Villa on a one-year deal. (REPORT)

———

What do you think of these reports? Are you more worried about Ghana after that performance? Do you think Blatter really believes what he is saying? Or is he just politiking to earn more votes?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. @ kwame hahaa!! At OFUI haha!! Look at yourself very well and tell me if u don’t RESEMBLE AKATIA playing with your phone haha!! Send me a selfie u haha! U u.g.h.l.y Ghanaian C.H.I.M.P!! Another genetic G.O.O.F haha

    Reply
  2. Everything shows you are incomplete…selfmade! All your insults are ‘one way’ and not far from ‘obsolete’ clichés. The best you could do was to copy and paste dirty talks on a decent platform like this. I wish you were born during the days of slave trade(you would have been sold by your parents in exchange of a feeding bottle).

    I’m still expecting ‘familiar’ insults from you.

    Reply
    • Now it has changed from grammar correction to something else! Haha!! Am so happy and tell your father to stop J.E.R.K.I.N.G OFF IN YOUR SISTERS FEEDING BOTTLE! Haha!! Kwasia, AKATIA LIKE U Haha!!

      Reply
  3. Everything shows you are incomplete…selfmade! All your insults are one way and not far from ‘obsolete’ clichés. The best you could do was to copy and paste dirty talks and post it on a decent platform like this. I wish you were born during the days of slave trade(you would have been sold by your parents in exchange of a feeding bottle).

    I’m still expecting ‘familiar’ insults from you.

    Reply
  4. Even your username is GRAMMATICAL WRONG!! Hahaa!! What’s the meaning of @ KWAME? Maybe another Ghanaian M.O.N.K.E.Y hahaa

    Reply
  5. I should consult u for English tutorials?? Hahaa!! Why would I consult A B.L.A.C.K U.G.H.L.Y M.O.N.K.E.Y like u for tutorials!!! WONIM FII hahaha

    Reply
  6. I have about four posts here and all u could come up with is two so call grammatical errors and those are not grammatical errors u R.E.T.A.R.D.E.D U.G.H.L.Y M.O.N.K.E.Y!! Haha!! Like father like son! Get the F.U.C.K OUTTA HERE! THOSE WITH COMMON SENSE UUNDERSTAND ME!

    Reply
  7. Selfmade check this out…”did you watchED the match with A BIG GLASSES ON?”

    “On monday, i ll GO HERE with exact quotation of ur words…”

    Go back to KG clown!

    Reply
  8. Read your first two posts and you will realize how ignorant you are. U can consult for further corrections#selfmade english#disgrace2gh#

    Reply
    • Nobody has complained about my grammar except a sell out Ghanaian like u! What’s wrong with my grammar!! Again there is nothing like a killer grammar dude! Read my posts over here and tell me if there are any grammatical errors! If u think u here to check for grammatical errors, better go and teach SOME SUNDAY SCHOOL KIDS! R.E.T.A.R.D.E.D M.O.R.O.N!!

      Reply
  9. Blatter has publicly admitted that giving the cup to Qatar was a mistake. So how is criticism of that decision suddenly racism?

    As for Ghana, my concern about them as a team (and it’s why playing them in the first game is an advantage) is whether or not they’ve come together as a team. While a 4-0 result is impressive, it doesn’t sound as if they’re cohesive as a team yet, they just exploited an ROK side that can’t match up with their high pressure and athleticism.

    Also, it’s looking to me like we’re in a group where we may spend 3 games doing nothing but countering (unless we fall behind in one game). Which means it will be to our loss to not have LD. I don’t mean to revisit that issue, only that I feel that even though he’s having a subpar season and isn’t in his usual shape/fitness, he may be the best American player at space and counter attack. If Ghana is going to hit us with high pressure (and Germany and Portugal are going to have the technical skills to own possession) than looking to counter is where it’s at for us.

    Reply
    • The last time Ghana scored a counter attacking goal was in Angola 2010 thru gyan!! All our WC goals has been thru brilliant individual goals and thats what makes Ghana very dangerous! Any Ghanaian player on the field is dangerous when attacking and besides if h think that Portugal and Germany are more technical than Ghana, then u are just living in a diff planet! Come Monday and u ll see!

      Reply
  10. I view the fact that Blatter actually thinks he needs to defend FIFA’s actions as a huge step forward. 10 years ago they would just wave their hands dismissively and go to their next party.

    Reply
    • He is referring to the allegations against African FIFA voters, who are black.
      Qataris are Arabs, Persians (Iranians, etc), and South Asians (Indo-Pak), plus their workers from countries such as Nepal, India, Philippines.

      Reply
  11. On Ghana vs. Korea, I thought that Tim would have saved 2 of those goals at minimum, and probably 3 of them, with a decent chance at the 4th.

    Reply
    • I would even go so far as to say that they might have only had 1, maybe 2 of those 4 chances, with “Junior”, Kyle and /or MB90 snuffing out any chances when they were just a glimmer in the eyes of a Ghanian midfielder.

      Reply
      • Are u talking about the same Tim Howard who was clinically beaten by gyan and boateng in south Africa? Come again because those four goals were simply classic and well placed!

  12. Really…the whitest white guy on the planet is playing the race card…wow. Rev Al and Jessie are somewhere very pissed they are missing out on the action.

    Reply
  13. So Ghana is coming together. That is not good for the US. On the bright side, Ghana’s defense is reported to be a bit disorganized still and Korea made some bad mistakes that led to goals (of Ghana punished those mistakes). Can the US avoid costly mistakes in the back and find a couple goals?

    I guess we will know in just under a week.

    Reply
    • While Ghana may be coming together….there was a ray of hope the other night in the match between Portugal & Mexico. While Portugal was missing 3 of their starters….their performance in that match was really poor.

      I’m kind of thinking now that Portugal may finish last in the group. US gets them after they are beat up by Germany. we steal a “W” and head into he final day on 4 pts. Germany top of the group w/ 6….will hopefully play a “B” squad and we come out of the group on goa differential.

      Reply
    • Bad mistakes bro? Really? Where did those mistakes occurred? Besides if there is no mistakes, there ll be no goals! All the Ghanaian goals were from a brilliant individual play and thats what makes Ghana dangerous! The same mistake by Clarke lead to Ghana annihilation of your team in south Africa? Remember him right!

      Reply
  14. Blatter out, Gulati in. The perfect scenario for the US.
    Gulati is an astute businessman who has no business making decisions on how US Soccer should be run. Our best years were under Contigulia a guy who claimed he knew nothing about soccer

    Reply
    • Already wrote off this cycle? Wasnt 2013 our best year to date, in terms of results? Name a year when the talent pool was deeper. Even Lalas admitted that our team is “the best collection of individual players, we’ll have to see if they are the best team”.

      Reply
      • Sepp Blatter is disgusting. An insulated man living in a world of white privilege making claims of racism in this situation desensitizes the public to truly racist acts. Furthermore, Blatter’s sexist views reveal his outdated beliefs, in general. This could easily lead one to believe that behind closed doors, Blatter’s discriminatory views toward women probably carry over to race, religion, sexual preference, etc.
        Blatter is a corrupt, greedy, power hungry, delusional, sleazy, dirtbag. The Football world needs a governing body with some authority to do a full-scale investigate into FIFA and all of it’s leaders.

      • Ah, the old “men are dogs so everything men do is okay” argument.

        Misogyny is misogyny, son.

  15. The reason to “not be racist” and “spread the game” is because more developed nations with at least some accountability to their people present less opportunity for FIFA to make tax free $ off development. FIFA’s sponsors (Budweiser, ADIDAS, etc.) would make more $ if the Cup were in the U.S., but FIFA itself would see roughly the same in ticket sales regardless. It has nothing to do with spreading the game or not being racist. No one objects to the middle east being involved; we do object to Indians, Nepalese, lower-class Qatari’s, and other people dying by the thousands in slave labor conditions so a bunch of rich a$$holes can further line their pockets.

    Reply
  16. Joe Cole’s career failed after he left Chelsea. went to Liverpool, Lille, West Ham and now AV. should have stayed at Lille (cut his wages and it’d have been GREAT)

    Reply
  17. “Within this group of teams, England is the only one that has won a World Cup and not reached another final. And the last time England had so many Liverpool players in the team, it won. Therefore, we are confident that England will win this World Cup.”

    Quick! Name the logical fallacy.

    Reply
  18. While I find Blatter’s statements on Qatar ridiculous, to play devil’s advocate, there seems to be little interest in investigating Russia’s bid.

    Reply
    • A huge part has to do with the fact that Russia is a big country, with a soccer history and their team plays well in international competitions.

      Reply
    • Do you think FIFA would have the balls (no pun intended) to investigate Russia’s bid?

      They would get one nasty stare from Putin, and before you know it, all the FIFA ExCo members are Russian, and they demand secession to return to the motherland.

      It’s 2018. With ФИФА now completely under Putin’s control, most footballing nations boycott the finals. In it’s place, a sham tournament is held where Ukranian POWs are dressed in leftover 1994 USA denim shirts and trotted out as sacrificial lambs in the final, where they are beaten 7-nil by Russia. Kim Jong-Il wins the golden boot, posthumously.

      But hey, at least we would reach the final.

      Reply
      • Don’t really care of FIFA won’t investigate it. I’m more focused on the media and their lack of interest in looking at Russia’s bid.

      • people care less about Russia than Qatar because they’re not trying to move the World Cup to winter and disrupt multiple seasons of club play-that is the REAl reason there’s talk of bribers, migrant worker deaths, etc… all of these factors were in play when Qatar was announced as the host years ago and yet only now, after a strong push to move the WC, do you see the uproar?

        no one was gonig to move it over threat to safety or even the inconvenience for tourists… it’s the cash cows of Champions League, EPL, La Liga, Bundes, etc… that are now resurfacing all the concerns that had been just as valid 4 years ago…

    • I think that it is very interesting that the big money sponsors – Budweiser, VISA, Sony etc, – are now asking for an investigation. These are the only people that FIFA will care about losing.

      Also, it will be a huge fiasco if FIFA tries to move the Qatar WC to the winter. I believe that US Broadcast fees are still the highest fees paid to FIFA. Fox will be definitely upset if FIFA tries to move the WC to the winter, thus competing with Fox’s presumed broadcast rights to NFL at the same time.

      FIFA will only listen when the gravy train starts to slow down.

      Reply
  19. As a Fulham fan I sense that Aston Villa are in danger of repeating what happened to Fulham last year. Signing aging stars based on their past just because they are free, letting some younger players go (e.g. Albrighton), paying useless players big wages (Bent, Given). Sticking with a manager that has not impressed (Lambert). Plus they have a potential new owner coming in and have struggled the past few seasons with an over-reliance on a few players. I think they need to change things up before it’s too late. Philippe Senderos will keep Brad Guzan very busy.

    Reply
  20. Ives (if you get around to seeing this comment), you know anything about the open training tomorrow? Can anyone attend or is it invite only? I’m in São Paulo and would love to see the team. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Isn’t the craziest thing about this whole Qatar fiasco the fact that no one talks about the pretty questionable decision to award a World Cup to Russia for many of the same reasons?

      Reply
      • yup. that’s one reason why i was trying so hard to get to brazil for this tournament (i couldn’t do it) – because i don’t want to go to either russia or qatar.

      • BOFO: Did you watch John Oliver’s bit about FIFA? His analogy was perfect. He referred to it as “the sausage principle,” which means: don’t investigate too closely that which you love because you are bound to find something repulsive.

        We’re all willing to tolerate some amount of…ickiness as long as the final product is tasty. Russia’s “bid” may be disturbing, but Qatar’s is horrifying. Maybe Qatar is drawing a lot of scrutiny that otherwise would have been directed at Russia. Hopefully we’ll find out when FIFA switches 2022 to Australia later this year.

      • That whole bit was hilarious. I can’t help but be repulsed by FIFA and giddy about the World Cup at the same time. We can complain about Russia, but that is small potatoes in comparison to Qatar. Reasonable people could find a reason to vote for a large country, in a reasonable climate, with a history of hosting events like the Olympics and some very good club teams/players.
        For Qatar the excuses are few and far between.

      • Of all the reasons to exclude Qatar, I think the lack of professional teams in the country is the least—in fact, not even a reason at all. I don’t mind seeing the WC hosted in countries where the event could help establish local fans where previously there were none/few: Qatar, India, Australia, USA ’94.

        I’m not even much upset about the bribery. It is awful, but…sausage. What I can’t look past is the slave labor.

      • THIS!

        Why is no one talking about taking the Cup away from Russia? That should be done first and then worry about Qatar later!

      • Under what grounds are you pulling the cup away from Russia? FIFA won’t do it just because American’s don’t like them any more.

      • Grounds for revoking World Cup bids:

        RUSSIA:
        Bribery (alleged?)

        QATAR:
        Slavery
        Slavery
        Slavery
        Inhospitable Climate
        Bribery
        Bid no longer resembles what was actually bid

    • Blatter is on the ropes—or, at least, more so than ever before. I hope Ives never lets up. No, it’s not “news” in the sense that we all know FIFA is corrupt, but it’s still worth constantly reminding everyone (especially the sponsors).

      (I’m assuming that Blatter was the “joke” you referred to. My apologies if you were actually talking about Chicharito.)

      Reply
  21. Blatter has claimed Platini was pressured to vote for Qatar based on pressure from the French government, claimed it was a mistake to award it to Qatar because of the temperatures in summer barely a month ago, completely discounting the completely legitimate human rights concerns. But of course racism and discrimination is the only reason anyone could have an objection to a world cup held there.

    Blatter is a modern day Hamlet, whether its feigned madness to confuse us all or legitimate at this point, I think it’s a coin toss.

    Reply
  22. Its funny Blatter said that. Because, we all know how Qatar think of their migrant workers. First thing you got to do to get yourself out of a hole is to stop digging Mr. Blatter.

    Reply
    • (nodding sadly in agreement). Although, admittedly at first I thought he meant the rampant discrimination against wealthy Swiss FIFA presidents with multiple feet lodged firmly in mouth…

      Reply
      • Which is also why Swtizerland is #6, and why France qualified, and why they’re both together in that relatively weak group. It’s the discrimination with regard to where FIFA keeps its bank accounts.

  23. “according to German bank Deutsche Bank, it’s England’s tournament to lose.”

    And people wonder how the financial crash happened

    Reply
  24. That’s right – those millions in bribes and kickbacks should not be discriminated against. All dollars should be treated equally!

    As for Ghana, they’ve done a good job of making me forget Nigeria already. Damn those Black Stars!

    Reply
  25. I was at the Ghana – Korea game and let me tell you, the Ghanareans looked every bit as dominate as the 4 nil score line indicates. If they’re the weakest team of our group then that’s the strongest group in the WC by far. They made a pretty decent Korean team like kids playing against men.

    Reply
    • Your assessment is in line with some articles I read this morning that were full of handwringing, but for the parts of it I saw (on TV) Ghana looked ragged as hell at the back and none too organized in attack. South Korea also had decent possession and some threats. The first Ghana goal came off a deflection and the second from Ricardo Clark-esque giveaway at midfield. (They do know how to punish you for that, as we know too well.) Ghana looked threatening at times but definitely beatable. From my (limited) viewing I felt good they might get a bit overconfident with a skewed 4-0 win against an sloppy opponent. (SK has lost 4 of their last 5 I think and appear to be getting worse not better in the run up to the cup.)

      What impressed you the most about Ghana?

      Reply
      • ”It’s fine we won, but we still have some work to do.”

        It doesn’t sound like they’re overconfident.

      • The coach isn’t. (That’s his quote, right?.) He was pretty stoic on the sidelines and didn’t even respond to the goals I saw, really. But it can take the edge off of a player if winning is that easy.

      • A coach’s attitude can rub off on the players. From reading his quotes alone, I can tell he’s pretty disciplined in not getting carried away with friendly results.

      • The 4th goal was class, came off a great low cross that would give any team trouble. The rest, meh. No reason to think we can’t win, but certainly not counting on a definite 3 points.

      • The 3rd(?) goal from Gyan was atypical; over powering some defender and then shoots. Seems the Korean defender easily fell and wanted a foul, but Gyan just continued on and slashed his way through that defense.

      • that was goal #2. We’ve had that before too, think Claudio Reyna.
        We can make excuses to why Ghana scored, but there is no question they punish mistakes. Their finishing is top notch.

      • Positionally it was closer to where Clark lost the ball. I was thinking Reyna because of the way the Korean guy acted hurt and looked for a foul.

      • I agree with Seamus, I’m not sure what game you were watching. Ghana physically made them look like kids playing against men, but playing wise I don’t think that was the case at all. Ghana didn’t have one single build up play the entire night, and their midfield looked like it had zero chemistry going forward. They looked like they had never played together, and it was the same in the game against the Netherlands. Ghana never had one solid stretch of possession. Their first goal was a fluke and the one Gyan scored was because of a horrible giveaway and a small centerback who wasn’t strong enough to deal with him. Korea had much better possession and if they had more athleticism and play-making ability up front they would have scored a few goals.Ghana was very quick and lethal on the counter on that fourth goal, but besides that I didn’t see too much that impressed me.

      • I’d also like to say that I know we can beat them but they looked good. No matter the excuse, a 4-0 score line is impressive.

      • Agree here, I watched the match as well. Korea is a very very young team and they have no legitimate striker on the roster, they are using Park Chu Young who plays with Arsenal’s reserve team and had 1 or 2 Cups matches all year, that is how thin they are at forward right now. They also lost their starting CB who plays in the Bundesliga, he was injured in their last match. That being said if they had a competent striker I feel they would have scored at least 2 goals. They controlled portions of the match and Ghana had a TON of give-aways, some from the backline just passing the ball into the middle of the field with no teammates there. Korea only had 2 warm-up games and I think it showed, they lacked some consistency. Ghana scored 4 but they were fortunate for that. They should have dominated this match and they didnt. Overall I felt 3-2 Ghana would have been a more telling scoreline, IMO.

      • Son is a brilliant striker albeit he’s now deployed wide. Park is a shadow of himself now. He was really good before Arsenal.

      • Thanks for the background, Bird. Wasn’t aware of Korea details. No delusions but I am slightly more optimistic about Monday than I was before.

      • Did u watched the match with a big GLASSES ON BUDDY? Next time better put those glasses down so that u can see well and narrate well my bro! By the way has FIFA changed the football rules with respect to how to score goals because it seems ur emphasized is on the mistakes made by the Koreans and the fact that Ghana took adv of those mistakes to score its goals which is weird to me! The first goal was a fluke? There wasn’t any possession play? The first goal was a buildup from midfield thru the wings to the Korean third and u said it was a fluke? WhWhat’s possession anyway and does possession win matches? U can have all the possessiobs but if u lose at the end of the day, is nothing! Was Ghana physical? Maybe u are just judging purely as an american and I understand but the Koreans were ironically more physical than Ghana!

      • High press and possesion. They press super high up the field and have the horses to not get burnt for it. There were stretches, with a 2-0/ 3-0 lead where Korea couldn’t get the ball back to save their life and any possesion they had were lateral or back passes. Also, off the ball runs were good. Players constantly moving with out the ball to get in better position for a pass.

      • OK, thanks for the on-the-ground observations. Hard to see some things on TV. Looking forward to trying out the “tactical cam.” I think you can do a split screen with it.

      • After Monday, I ll go here with a exact quotations of your words and I ll demand an apology from u! Continue to boast and write big here but u ll cry on Monday! Mistakes are part of the game buddy and thats why those mistakes are punishable!! Without mistakes every football match ll end in a stalemate! U boasting like the yank team doesn’t make mistakes and play perfectly but Ghana ll make u eat a BIG HUMBLE MCDONALD’S PIE!

      • Am honored too for calling me president! The president is here and hence you ll be exposed if u present any fake lies or analysis! Salute the president mister seamless!! Hahaa

      • Bless you, my friend, you are cracking me up. Good luck on Monday. Let’s hope for an exciting game and may the best team win.

      • Check out the daily recap thread for some more meaty material, as the grammar there dominates the comments, and obfuscates the articles.

      • A resort to ad hominem is necessary when one cannot win the argument on substance.

        So yeah, I wasn’t surprised to hear the latest self-parody from Blatter. The game truly deserves better than FIFA.

    • There are Arab countries that are not a jillion degrees in the summer, and when you in succession choose Russia and Qatar, it looks like oil money bought the tournaments. Since those are cross-cultural, his argument is bunk.

      Reply
    • Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

      How many times have we heard “the ‘matter will be closed'” , on so many issues, by dolts whose sole talent is manipulating/benfiting from a political system to get elected? A matter of a few votes tales them from (relatively) pushing broom somewhere to becoming the all-knowing, all-seeing emperor, smugly telling people when to heel, sit up, roll over and beg.

      The one common thread among all these dolts is when they throw around the “-isms” or other ad hominem attacts, they are losing the argument.

      Reply

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