When I was a child, all I wanted was to enter the Austrian team and to compete on the World Cup tour. I had to fight hard to reach this. I wanted badly to win each race.
Don't ever in your life do a World Cup and the Olympic Games at the same time. This will make your life almost impossible.
One of the things I enjoy most during the World Cup is watching a team improve, mature, and gel during the course of the tournament.
I have reasons to believe that I could win the World Cup, but I take it one race at a time.
In '82 Brazil showed that you can't win the World Cup without a solid defense.
Leading my country out at the World Cup was something I'll never forget.
I personally think that we can win the World Cup. We are improving with every game. With such a young average age in the squad we can only carry on improving.
Clearly, those of us women who play football wish that there was more coverage. But it's one of those things that happens. Every year the level is getting higher, and I think we surprise a lot of people when the world focuses its attention on the World Cup or the Olympics final.
And then '74 as I mentioned and then the 1990 world cup was our team was the team of the reunification you know, so we were the team for both sides of Germany so now, you know throughout the last 16 years, we've melted together. And now comes the next milestone.
The whole kiss-and-tell thing is a negative approach that often happens in a World Cup. We will see negative stories about the players and it can affect their confidence and the overall performance of the national team on the pitch, let alone the bid to actually stage the competition.
Messi deserves to win this World Cup for all he has done for football.
The crowd is wonderful. There is always a superb atmosphere in the finish area. It's good for the World Cup. I missed it a lot when I had to rest and it's so nice to be back here.
On a personal note, reaching the World Cup would be something that no one could ever take away from me.
My goal against Italy in the World Cup qualifier was probably my most memorable: we had to go to Italy and had to win, or we wouldn't go to the World Cup, and I scored in stoppage time.
As a rugby player, you strive to be an All Black, win a World Cup, and win a Super Rugby title.
My first memory of the national team is the 1982 World Cup. I remember those days at our home or at my uncle's house, with all the family and those long dinners watching the matches. But I also remember that, during the games, I went outside or onto the balcony to play.
I had a lot of pressure in my career: when you play at World Cup or Champions League final, there is pressure on your shoulders.
Nobody is offered a World Cup.
I think South Africa has shown it can host such a big event as the World Cup, so why not hold the Olympics at some point in Africa? Maybe not just in one country but in a host of countries.
I scored in a World Cup and I want that buzz again.
My saddest decision in football was leaving Paul Gascoigne out of the 1998 World Cup finals. But he wasn't fit enough and once that decision is made, as a manager and a group of players, you forget about who isn't there and focus on the job.
I don't think I am a great. I think I've done nothing. I've done nothing in soccer. I've won leagues, but I haven't won the Champions League, the World Cup, the Euro. Winning the Euro in France, that wouldn't be bad.
When I got dropped for the World Cup, there were times I didn't want to play anymore. I didn't want to practise. I couldn't motivate myself. Then I said, 'Look what are the options?' Cricket is the only option. Whether I play happily or sadly, it's still all I have. There are not a lot of things I am good at.
To be captain and win a lot at Juventus, to play for 20 years, to play in the World Cup, European Cup, I think I had a good career, no?
The shot of Kapil Dev kissing the World Cup and hordes of Indian fans all over at Lord's is etched in my memory. Every Indian is proud of that victory, and every Indian player who has played the World Cup after that '83 win wants to bring the Cup home.
If you qualify for a World Cup and expect to get an easy group, you are in the wrong sport. It doesn't work like that.
I experienced the heat when I was playing for Madrid. If we went to places like Sevilla early on in the season it was unbearable. Usually you can feel it on pre-season tours in places like Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Jakarta. The humidity levels are unreal, but this is different, the first game of the World Cup.
Winning the World Cup was a dream come true after so many years of wanting something so bad. After that final whistle, I dropped to the ground on my knees and got emotional.
It was my proudest moment as a manager when England drew 0-0 with Italy in Rome to qualify for the World Cup finals. Fifteen years later, the stakes are equally high for both countries as they go head-to-head for a semi-final place at the European Championship.
I kind of had to convince myself when I was playing for the Washington Freedom that this was the highest level that I'm going to reach. 'I'm going to be a professional player, and I'm going to try and be the best one I can be, but it's maybe just not in my cards to be an international player. I won't play in a World Cup.' That was hard for me.
The toughest part of my career was at the 2011 World Cup and 2012 Olympics and wanting so much to play and physically contribute - but having to understand and realize that it's just not my time.
Every team going to Brazil 2014 will be there to win, and it's going to be a fiercely contested World Cup.
It was in 2003 that I realised there was no choice but to have dialysis treatment - by the time of the World Cup that year, I could barely walk. A year later, I finally had a kidney transplant.
I hope I'm one of many to come in the Dubai World Cup, and hope I see more women making it at this level. There are a lot of great female jockeys.
It's the only sport that's played in every country in the world. It's played and watched all over the world, it's the most popular sport in probably 90% of the countries, and then with the World Cup, you have the most viewed tournament of any sport in the world.
I want to reduce my risks as much as possible and hopefully be able to go to the World Cup fit, ready and healthy.