He is one of my best friends.

But he could only advise them to write to the people they believed responsible - and ask them to remove the listing.

Syria, another frequent target of American animosity, will be there too.

The bitterness that inhabited the Obama team for much of the year has faded with time, advisers said.

It must have worked, as he battled back to fitness and scored the winner in a group game against Argentina - the team he'd been sent off against at the previous World Cup.