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GENEVA -- The two sides of being FIFA President Sepp Blatter are on display just before the troubled World Cup kicks off on June 12. Acclaimed by world football leaders but held in contempt by many football fans. Blatter should arrive at the Itaquerao stadium in Sao Paulo to watch host Brazil play Croatia confident that this tournament -- his fifth as president -- wont be his last leading the worlds favourite sport. One day earlier, the 78-year-old Blatter should ask for, and get, consent from 209 FIFA member federation bosses to seek another four-year presidential term. "Yes, I would like to do it," Blatter said earlier this month about his expected candidacy for the secret ballot scheduled May 29, 2015. "My mandate is almost over but my mission is not finished." The endorsement at the Transamerica Expo Center might be a personal high point of Blatters stay in Brazil, a country which loves football but not the cost levied on taxpayers to stage the month-long show. When Blatter appears on a public stage he faces inevitable boos and jeers -- just as at previous World Cups and the Confederations Cup held in Brazil last June. The fact FIFA pays no tax to Brazils public finances from its $4 billion revenue for broadcasting and commercial deals tied to the 2014 World Cup is an added provocation. Even if it is a standard demand on countries wanting to host a World Cup or Olympic Games. Blatter, who often travels and is feted like a head of state, is a useful target for social activists and for football fans familiar with the corruption cases that have involved some of its senior officials in recent years. A change to usual World Cup protocol means that presidents of FIFA and the host nation will not make speeches in the stadium during the formal opening ceremony. Not after he and state President Dilma Rousseff were booed when addressing the crowd before Brazils match which opened the Confederations Cup last year in the new Brasilia stadium. "Friends of Brazilian football, where is the respect and the fair play, please?" the multilingual Blatter asked spectators in their Portuguese language, as their head of state stood beside him. So, no chance in the 65,000-capacity Sao Paulo stadium for spectators to upstage the presidents. "If you know that these things could happen, that at the end the two persons who are giving a speech will feel bad, why (do) you put them in this position?" FIFA secretary general Jerome Valcke said. Still, the protocol plan calls for Blatter and Rousseff -- who faces her own re-election contest within months -- to jointly present the trophy on July 13 to the winning captain in Rio de Janeiros Maracana stadium. Four years ago, Blatter and South Africas President Jacob Zuma both had a hand on the gold trophy which they passed to Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas without any public disapproval. That came three hours earlier when the FIFA leaders name was announced as he entered the Soccer City pitch during pre-match introductions to the players. "I was only aware there were less vuvuzelas," Blatter said the next day. "We went on the field of play and it was a great moment." In 2006, Blatter skipped the on-field trophy presentation to the Italy team in Berlin. "History will say that it was an error" he acknowledged to Italian media several months later. "I wanted to avoid creating an ugly scene because the Germans had shown they would whistle at the word FIFA." Blatter should face no such disrespect on June 11 at the FIFA Congress, an event which the skilled Swiss administrator controls with mastery. In the depths of public disdain with FIFA in June 2011, Blatter was re-elected as the only candidate. He got 186 of 203 votes cast despite a turbulent few months of bribery scandals and widespread doubts about the integrity of awarding the 2018 and 2022 World Cups to Russia and Qatar, respectively. "We have been hit and I personally have been slapped. I dont want that ever again," Blatter said from the congress stage in Zurich, committing FIFA to a reform program which critics saw as richly ironic that he would lead. "The FIFA ship is in troubled waters but this ship must be brought back on the right track," he said before the poll. "I am the captain of the ship." When the England delegation broke ranks and tried to postpone the vote, Blatter marshalled a global spread of loyal members to march up and join a brutal verbal attack on the founding football association. Blatter can surely expect similarly support in less tempestuous times in Sao Paulo. Apart from some wealthy member nations, few of FIFAs 209 seem anxious to change a system and leadership which has let millions of World Cup dollars trickle down to them during Blatters 16-year rule. Though UEFA President Michel Platini clearly covets the top job, FIFA history since 1974 shows that a bedrock of European votes is far from enough for victory. Should Blatter continue to enjoy good health, he can look forward to a more agreeable welcome at the 2018 World Cup opening ceremony. Side by side with Vladimir Putin. Colby Rasmus Jersey . Just ask Arsenal fans. However, Arsene Wenger has repeatedly told anyone willing to listen that finishing in that spot is more important than winning a cup competition. 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Two seeds fell: No. 4 Kirsten Flipkens of Belgium lost to Katarzyna Piter of Poland 6-4, 6-2, and No.CHICAGO -- Yadier Molina had a simple goal for his ninth-inning at-bat with the bases loaded and the score tied on Sunday. "I was looking not to strike out," he said. After fouling off some tough two-strike pitches, Molina hit a ground-ball single up the middle to drive in two runs and the St. Louis Cardinals snapped out of an offensive funk with a 5-4 victory over the Chicago Cubs. "I got a little lucky that they were playing me to pull," Molina said. "It was a good at-bat. I was able to put the ball in play and good things happened." The defending National League champions had lost four of five to fall a game below .500. The Cardinals scored all their runs with two outs. Molina, moved into the No. 2 spot to jump start the lineup, was 0 for 4 before coming through in the ninth. But it was a wild pitch in the seventh inning that allowed the Cubs to tie the score at 3 that had Molina more frustrated. The pitch from reliever Carlos Martinez was in the dirt and trickled through Molinas legs, allowing Luis Valbuena to score. "I was there," Molina said. "I dont know. Its one of those things. I was ready for it and the ball still goes through my legs." Kevin Siegrist (1-1) got the win in relief, while Trevor Rosenthal picked up his eighth save in as many opportunities despite a scare in the ninth inning. Hector Randon (0-1) took the loss for the Cubs, who were attempting to win four straight games for the first time since July. While Cardinals manager Mike Matheny had looked for Molina, one of his hottest hitters, to get the offence going, it was a couple of struggling batters at the bottom of the lineup that got things started early. With two outs in the second inning and Jhonny Peralta on first base, Randal Grichuk drilled a triple into the right-centre field gap for a 1-0 lead. Mark Ellis, who went 3 for 4, followed with a double to left-centre to make it 2-0. Both Grichuk (.167) and Ellis (.143) entered hittingg well below .dddddddddddd200. St. Louis stretched the lead to 3-0 in the third as Matt Adams doubled home Matt Holiday. The Cubs pulled within 3-2 in the fourth with some clutch two-out hitting. With one out, Ryan Kalish singled and John Baker walked. After a groundout moved the runners to second and third, Cubs starter Jason Hammel singled to right to drive in both. Molinas go-ahead single to centre came on the sixth pitch of the at-bat from Randon. "I thought I made a good pitch today, but something happened," Randon said. Molina seemed more relieved that the wild pitch wasnt a factor than he drove in the game-deciding runs. "(Molina) does a good job of not wearing his emotions and how frustrating that is for him," Matheny said. "Its hard to count the number of balls he keeps in front of him, the number of runs he saves. Its something we dont take for granted." Valbuena doubled in a run with two outs in the ninth to make it 5-4, but Rosenthal got Anthony Rizzo to ground out to end the game. "Guys kept grinding it out," Cubs manager Rick Renteria said. "We just fell a little short." NOTES: The ESPN broadcast team of Dan Shulman and John Kruk worked from the bleachers. ... While making a rehab start Sunday with Double A Springfield, LHP Jaime Garcia (shoulder) was hit by a pitch on the left elbow and left after two innings and 28 pitches. "I think they went in and took precautionary X-rays," Matheny said. "I havent heard anything back yet." ... In the same game, RHP Jason Motte threw a scoreless inning, striking out three, in his first rehab outing. ... Rizzo entered with a .429 on-base percentage, which was fifth-best in the National League. ... The Cards open a series in Atlanta on Monday, with RHP Shelby Miller (3-2) facing RHP Aaron Harang, while the Cubs host the crosstown White Sox with RHP Jeff Samardzija (0-3) going up against LHP Jose Quintana (1-2). ' ' '