For any other country with a long-standing tradition of foo

[tujue]

BERLIN Larry Ogunjobi Browns Jersey , Sept. 27 (Xinhua) -- Christian Social Union (CSU) leader Host Seehofer hit back at mounting criticism on Wednesday after his party suffered heavy losses in Germany's recent federal elections.


Seehofer, who also acts as the governor of the German state of Bavaria, urged fellow party members who blame him for the CSU's poor performance in the election to refrain from dragging internal debates about personnel and strategy into the public domain.


"The damage is already done," Seehofer told reporters, warning that the CSU risked becoming a laughingstock. Instead of infighting, the party needed to project unity as it entered coalition negotiations in order to boost its legislative leverage in the next German government.


"This weakens us in Berlin of course," Seehofer said, asking how the party could assume a strong position versus its potential coalition partners when it appeared to be in disarray.


The CSU received 38.8 percent of the Bavarian vote in Sunday's federal elections, down by more than 10 percentage points compared with the last national poll. The CSU is a regional party which only competes politically in Bavaria and traditionally forms a joint parliamentary faction with Angela Merkel's Christian Democratic Union (CDU) at the federal level.


Seehofer's party is widely expected to join a so-called "Jamaica" coalition with the CDU, Free Democratic Party (FDP) and Greens (Gruene). The Bavarian governor voiced concern, however, that the CSU had reached a fork in road, and whether it remained capable of governing.


Speaking ahead of a party committee meeting, Seehofer admitted that the last two days had been "burdensome" for the CSU. He described resolving inner party strife as a more urgent and complicated task than prospective coalition negotiations.


Earlier, honorary CSU chairman Edmund Stoiber described Sunday's electoral outcome as a "historic defeat" which posed a threat to the party's identity. The CSU now had to "substantially push back" the right-wing Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, he said.


While Stoiber refused to comment directly on Seehofer's political future, he warned that the party leader knew that the CSU "expected" an upper limit on the number of refugees admitted to Germany each year. The CSU repeatedly promised that specific measure on the campaign trail, but has so far faced firm opposition from Chancellor Angela Merkel on the issue.


For Stoiber, Merkel's refugee policy was the "overriding" reason why voters had turned their back on the CSU.


"Many voters which were loyal to us for decades did not vote for the CSU this time because they do not agree with the refugee policy of Angela Merkel," Stoiber said.


CSU parliamentary delegate Alexander Hoffman was more personal in his criticism of the party leadership, openly calling for Seehofer to step down from his post.


Seehofer had done "great things" for the CSU in the past, but the party's current "crisis of credibility" was also attributable to him, Hoffman told the newspaper Main-Echo. Several other party members have been similarly urging Seehofer to resign since Sunday's elections.


Xi says international community must cooperate on global security


Int'l Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems kicks off in Vancouver


WEF launches World Competitiveness Report 2017-2018 in Geneva


Highlights of Int'l Mongolian Dance Exhibition in Hohhot


Modern manufacturing, transport help six Chinese provinces develop fast


A look at Kantuman Bazaar in China's Xinjiang


Scenery of terraced fields in Houyuan Village, China's Fujian


Scenery of high-speed rail networks in south China's Guangxi

"

SANTIAGO, June 7 (Xinhua) -- Previously known as the worst team in the Copa America, Venezuela has shown a significant improvement in recent years which may lead them to glory in this year's tournament.


In South American football, Venezuela have earned the nickname 'Cinderella', according to Copa America's official website, due to their low level of football and for being the only country within the South American Football Confederation (CONMEBOL) never to qualify for a World Cup, is this about to change?


Venezuela, nicknamed 'The Burgundy', have had very few moments of glory throughout their history in the game and the majority of these moments have been in the XXI century.


Traditionally more of a baseball country, Venezuela's transformation began with their four consecutive victories during the final qualifying matches for the FIFA World Cup in Japan and South Korea putting the team ahead of Uruguay, Chile, Peru and Paraguay according to sports writer Jhonkarlos Guinan.


For any other country with a long-standing tradition of football this winning streak would not be anything out of the ordinary but for Venezuela, it put an end to their chronic losing streak.


'The Burgundy' continued to improve on the road to Germany 2006, wrote Guinan in Copa America's official website. After suffering defeats against Ecuador and Argentina, Venezuela went on to win against Colombia, Bolivia and Uruguay however it wasn't enough to qualify for the World Cup 2006.


Off the back of their surprising results in the World Cup qualifier, Venezuela hosted the Copa America in 2007. The team topped their group which included Peru, Bolivia and Uruguay and went as far as the quarter finals in the tournament for the first time in history.


Venezuela's 2-0 win over Peru in that tournament marked their first win in the contest since 1967.


After this result 'The Burgundy' became more hungry than ever for victory and especially focused on qualifying for a World Cup.


With a change of manager from Richard Paez to Cesar Farias the team went from strength to strength qualifying for the Under 20s World Cup and they were only two points away from reaching the World Cup South Africa 2010. That . Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap Jerseys Wholesale Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap Soccer Jerseys Cheap Jerseys Cheap Shirts Cheap Hats Cheap Soccer Jerseys Free Shipping Cheap NFL Jerseys Free Shipping Wholesale Jerseys