“In 2006 it was inconceivable that Germany would be the first host nation to depart the World Cup at the group stage. Yet by their own high standards the squad was one of the country’s weakest and pundits had the knives out. We should have known better – they were edged out only in the semi-finals and the tournament was a huge success in uniting and popularising the country.” (WSC)
“My first piece is up at Chimurenga’s Pilgrimages Blog: ‘In Port-au-Prince there stands – or at least there stood, before the January 12th earthquake devastated much of the city – a mural depicting four great nationalist heroes of the Caribbean: Toussaint L’ouverture, Che Guevara, Fidel Castro and Emmanuel Sannon. If you don’t recognize the last name, you are not alone, for Sannon’s presence among this group might at first seem a little odd.'” (Soccer Politics)
“The French Caribbean Team” @ Pilgrimages
“My second post to the “Pilgrimages” Blog is up, this one on how France is the Caribbean team in this World Cup. ‘When the French team takes the field against Uruguay, and later against Mexico, history will be lurking.'” (Soccer Politics)
Creative Destruction, Da Vinci
“No-one is talking about Italy ahead of this tournament, despite them being the holders, despite them breezing through qualification, despite them having received the most favourable draw of any side. The pessimism stems from the lack of quality, both in their playing squad as a whole, and from the performances over the past four years. Star names like Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro, Rino Gattuso and Andrea Pirlo are still around and capable of big performances, but all are nowhere near the players they were four years ago.” (Zonal Minute)
USA a good side, but need tactical tweaks
“United States fans seem to go into every World Cup thinking that the rest of the world is underestimating them – which has traditionally been fair. This time, however, ranked 14th in the world and widely expected to qualify from their group, it’s a different challenge for the US – everyone expects them to be a good side. Firstly, a nod to a great article that analyses the USA’s tactics in greater detail than this piece shall, at the Shin Guardian. It breaks down the game against Turkey in excellent detail, examining the difference between the first-half and second-half shape, and summarising what Bob Bradley should do at the World Cup.” (Zonal Minute)
Japan worse than the sum of their parts
“Japan probably should be better than they are considering their attacking talents, but manager Takeshi Okada is intent on playing a certain way, even if it means leaving out star names. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course – international football is about assembling a cohesive XI rather than squeezing all your best talents into one team – but there’s no guarantee it’s going to work. Japan were unconvincing throughout qualification and their three pre-tournament friendlies have all ended in defeat.” (Zonal Minute)
“And the winner is. … As the World Cup opens Friday amid a celebration of exceptional vibrancy with host South Africa playing Mexico, two countries float above the field of 32 teams: Spain and Brazil. Yes, Africa is the host. Yes, Asia is developing. And, yes, there are dark horses — the gifted but erratic Argentines, the talented Dutch and the ever self-confident English among them.” (NYT)
“The South African magazine Chimurenga has just launched a World Cup project called ‘Pilgrimages,’ sending African writers on journeys to various cities on the continent and beyond to report on the experience of the World Cup there. It will be a great series, I think, and starts with a compelling case for Argentina winning the Cup, by Grant Farred.” (Soccer Politics)
“Kaká. Cafu. Zico. Ronaldinho. Adriano. The names are the stuff of soccer genius, sporting legend, and Western confusion: Why do all Brazilian soccer players have only one name? It’s a good question. Another good question is, What would my name have been had I been born in a Brazilian favela, raised to kick a soccer ball down Rio de Janeiro’s dirt roads, and fallen into ill repute for allegedly having connections to a notorious drug lord?” (Vanity Fair)
“It all started as an excuse to drink good wine during the 1998 World Cup in France. A few of us had decided to attend the tournament, but before we jumped in the car we had to work out where we were going to watch those matches for which we didn’t have tickets. France doesn’t have many pubs, and for my Anglo-Saxon friends the thought of watching their beloved England team in a Parisian café didn’t appeal. And it was beer they were after, in this wine-drinking country; warm and flat, not the strong, gassy lager served on the Continent.” (WSJ)
“‘Right or wrong, I felt I was still improving,” U.S. coach Bob Bradley said about his stalled playing career. “I was a late bloomer. Was I good enough? I don’t know. When I was done playing in college I still felt I was getting better, that I had something to offer. Yet there wasn’t any place to try it out. Yes, there were reserve teams with the NASL, but there weren’t that many opportunities for Americans. They held open tryouts. You played games where you play against a reserve team. You played in men’s leagues, but nonetheless it was not that easy to find good ways to continue to play. You chased the game.‘” (Pitch Invasion)
“Turn on ESPN Friday, or in the 30 days that follow, and a regular viewer will be in for some surprises. The ever-present news ticker will often be gone from the screen bottom. The action on the field will be called in British cadences and analyzed by men with unfamiliar names and German, Dutch or (occasionally) American accents.” (WSJ)
“Finally, the waiting is over. After all the hype, the talk and the phony war, it is almost upon us. Yes, it is now time for the Fiver to emerge from its cobwebbed crawl-space and head off for its early-summer “special” at Madame She-She’s Kings Cross bathing parlour, there to enjoy its annual intensive ablution regime involving a 20-minute industrial hose-down, the descaling of physical extremities, laundering and re-stitching of Kevlar undergarments and finally an assisted constitutional massage overseen by a group of faceless, asbestos-suited individuals armed with tongs. With any luck the Fiver may emerge in time to catch the start of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, which also gets under way tomorrow, and which has also been letting off a humid stink of fevered, pent-up excitement. Finally, 1,464 Fifa World Cup-less days since the last one, football’s great final frontier, the not-for-sale, inescapably shiver-inducing Fifa World Cup is here.” (Guardian – Barney Ronay)
“Last week, we previewed a friendly international involving a clutch of Championship-tinged stars and in the end, it was Robert Koren and Slovenia who prevailed, with a 3-1 win over New Zealand in Maribor. Hence, the Slovenes will go into their first World Cup finals match for seven years with confidence. Laying in wait are the Desert Foxes of Algeria; the match taking place this Sunday in Polokwane, the capital of Limpopo Province, a venue to put alongside Orlando, Saitama, Seogwipo and Uddevala in a roster of obscure host cities.” (thetwounfortunates)
“If U.S. Men’s National Team players were rappers. No, that’s it, if they were rappers. One shouldn’t read this expecting the tired comparisons where white people are required to resemble white people and brownish people need to resemble other brownish people. Rather, we’re doing this based on character traits. Is there an MC who is a better rapper stunt double for the players selected below? Let us know! And remember, characteristics, not appearance.” (Nutmeg Radio)
“The level of knowledge saturation in the global game means no teams will be able to spring radical tactical surprises at the World Cup, but there is nonetheless likely to be plenty of diversity on show when it comes to formations. The 4-2-3-1 was the dominant shape in 2006 and will probably be so again in South Africa, with England, Brazil, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands among the sides predicted to adopt 4-2-3-1s or hybrids thereof.” (WSC)
“You have invested the last month with us, though the expert interviews to the two weeks of group breakdowns, and now – the day before the 2010 World Cup starts – Laurence McKenna, Kartik Krishnaiyer and myself make out final predictions: the Round of 16 to the July 11 final. Join us in this final preparatory step for South Africa 2010 as we tell you who we think will be the next world champions.” (EPL Talk)
“If the World Cup television pundits tell you to forget everything you know about Brazil, then forget everything they tell you. This is a wonderful side that plays superb football. There’s a sense that people have got Brazilian football wrong, that every four years they become convinced the Brazil national team has won five World Cups by playing Globetrotter-esque football with no regard for defence. Did Joga Bonito ever exist? Fans of the 1970 World Cup-winning Brazil side would say yes, but football has advanced an incredible amount in the past forty years, and it’s simply not possible to successfully play that way.” (Zonal Marking)
South Africa will need home support – and luck
“They’re the lowest-ranked team in the tournament, the lowest-ranked hosts in history, and they’ve been drawn in a very difficult group despite having been the seeds. Is there any chance South Africa won’t become the first-ever hosts to fail to get past the group stage?” (Zonal Marking)
Slovakia may quietly sneak into knockout stage
“This is Slovakia’s first-ever appearance at a major international tournament, so you can be forgiven for knowing little about them. That might be their biggest strength – the surprise factor. Not only is their team as a whole relatively unknown, despite having won their qualification group ahead of Slovenia, but many of their players are relatively low-key. Napoli’s Marik Hamsik is unquestionably the star name and Martin Skrtel of Liverpool is well-known, but players like Vladimir Weiss and Mirolav Stoch have had relatively little time in the limelight, and defenders might be facing a threat they know little about.” (Zonal Marking)
“Well, this is how you layer in a multimedia presentation. The national sports daily in Spain, Diario Marca, produced a highly interactive World Cup calendar for its Web site. Find the graphic here.” (MARCA)
“When the first soccer game kicks off at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town, 4.5 billion Rand (4.3 million Euros) will already have been spent on its construction. Environmental concerns, noise pollution worries and transportation arguments have enmeshed the stadium in controversy since before the first brick was laid. For many, the argument is not the money spent but what the money could instead buy. They argue that the cost is not in Rands but in lives. Many of Cape Town’s townships are without sewage systems, hospitals are horribly under funded and the poor are homeless. 4.5 billion Rand can, roughly, build 60,000 homes, which could house up to 300,000 previously homeless people.” (Twenty Ten)
“With the World Cup now deliciously within reach, Football Further looks at ten tactical issues that could have a decisive influence on the outcome of the tournament.” (Football Further)
“We left the most anticipated to the end, with today’s episode of the World Cup Buzz Podcast breaking down Group C. In that group England is the seed, and they are joined by Algeria, Slovenia, and a United States team that will look to conjure the same magic used on their last trip to South Africa. I am joined by Laurence McKenna and Kartik Krishnaiyer to look at each team’s strengths and weakness and, going match-by-match, look at how they match up against each other.” (EPL Talk)
Jacopo Robusti, Leda and the Swan
“Spain, one of the favorites to win the upcoming World Cup, wrapped up their set of friendlies with a match against Poland on Tuesday, June 8, 2010. It would be the last chance for Spain to give Fernando Torres some playing time who has been injured and not played in the previous friendlies. Poland did not qualify for the World Cup and do not have any major matches coming up as they’ve already qualified for Euro 2012 as one of the host nations.” (The 90th Minute)
“We present an epic contribution from Bill at Bill’s Sports Maps on the 2010 World Cup, that event you might have heard starts this week. Bill’s illustrated map features all 32 team jerseys, and statistics on World Cup performance. It’s pretty damn awesome. Click on the image below for the glorious, full-size version.” (Pitch Invasion)
“Dizzee Rascal has already had four number one singles in the United Kingdom. His motives, therefore, for getting involved with the atrocious Simon Cowell vehicle World Cup song ‘Shout’ (a cover of the 1984 Tears For Fears protest song), remain unclear. Perhaps he genuinely feels that hollering at the top of his voice about “Bobby Moore an’ that” will really help the team while they struggle against odds that seem to be getting longer with each passing day, five and a half thousand miles away in South Africa. Perhaps he is really desperate for that fifth number one single. Perhaps he merely has a particularly persuasive agent.” (twohundredpercent)
“Yes. The books I’ve chosen are very broadly oriented, but the one aspect they all have in common is that soccer is both primary and secondary at the same time. Soccer is the reason for the books being written, but the writers’ interest is everything that goes on outside the stadium. Which makes it more effective and more interesting than writing that just covers the game itself, which is very hard to describe. As Orhan Pamuk, the Turkish writer, says, ‘Football is faster than words.’ It’s very hard to capture, but it becomes something more transcendent when you look at what happens outside the arena.” (Five Books)
“The Football Haiku World Cup is a project based on the writing of haiku (俳句) poetry specifically geared to the football/soccer World Cup in South Africa in 2010. We want to publish beautiful poetry written by you to accompany the beautiful game. Please do not worry if you do not consider yourself to be a writer or a poet: the beauty of haiku is its simplicity, universality and flexibility. Whoever you are around the world, we would love to hear your voice in haiku form.” (The High IQ Haiku World Cup Project)
“For most of the 21st century Smith has logged his working notes and research on sport theory at sportsBabel, a site that “examines the aesthetics, politics and poetics of sport and physical culture.” As evident below, he is interested in technical developments in sport and in its consumption, which leads to reflection on the postmodern spectator. Smith’s commitment to praxis as well as theory comes through in his annual promotion of Global Village Basketball, a Web-aided melding of pickup results from Poland to Serbia to the USA that illustrates the potential of ‘sporting multitudes.'” (The Global Game)
Marcelo Bielsa
“Judge Chile by looking at their squad list and you might be rather underwhelmed, but many of those who saw Marcelo Bielsa’s side in action throughout qualification see them as the most intriguing prospect on offer in South Africa.” (Zonal Marking)
Germany more aesthetically-pleasing than usual
“They haven’t got any great players, but you can never write them off” is the usual line about Germany. In 2010, that old cliche might not be appropriate.” (Zonal Marking)
Paraguay – functional rather than spectacular
“Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino has used his pre-tournament friendlies for experimentation, both in terms of formation and personnel, making his starting line-up for the opening game against Italy difficult to predict.” (Zonal Marking)
Nigeria may struggle for creativity in midfield
“Nigeria have traditionally been the strongest African nation, at least in terms of the quality of players they’ve produced. The likes of Ghana, South Africa, Senegal, Cameroon and Egypt have shown quality at points throughout the past two decades, but Nigeria has produced a stream of genuinely top-class players.” (Zonal Marking)
“Don’t be surprised if there are fewer meetings booked over the 31 days starting June 11. Chances are there will be fewer people at their desks, too, more people responding to e-mails on their BlackBerry and, oh yeah, the network might be a little sluggish as well. That’s because the FIFA World Cup 2010 finals kick off at 10 a.m. Friday, June 11 as Mexico takes on hosts South Africa.” (The Globe and Mail)
“It’s that time again. Back by popular demand (to be precise, two people), it’s time for our quadrennial report of all the team shirts that will be on display at the upcoming World Cup. As ever, the menu is overwhelmed by items produced and designed by the twin behemoths of the sportswear universe, Adidas and Nike. Whether they have been using their market domination to the benefit of the sartorial elegance of international football, however, is something of an open question.” (twohundredpercent)
Tiziano Vecellio, Venus and Adonis
“Just when you think that David Bowie has retired from the site, that the Goblin King will no longer grace our presence, that Jorge Luis Borges really is dead and not just waiting for a USMNT run to the finals, bam. It hits you. Despite the odd jokes, obscure historical references, and kinda weird pictures, we at Futfanatico give you the best betting tips for the World Cup while mocking the SEO keyterm Google carousel in an ironic act of betrayal, subversion, and delightful perversion. Thus, here are your WORLD CUP BETTING TIPS.” (futfanatico)
“These are my answers to a fairly random and unserious set of questions, culled from Norm and Tiberius Gracchus. I can’t help thinking that they are most aimed at exactly the kind of reader that I hate most of all – you’ll see what I mean. Nevertheless I’d be very interested to hear your own answers, or answers to whichever of the questions you find interesting, in comments. Private habits can be revealing. I’m not sure that this particular private habit is. But I’ve done my best.” (More Than Mind Games)
“When Norman Einstein’s own Stephanie Lim set off for South America some months back, I asked her to keep an eye out for the games people play and a camera handy to document them. Of course, on the world’s fourth largest continent, the game people play is by and large futbol. The importance of the beautiful game in South America, even for all the lofty words it inspires, is rarely overstated. In her travels through Argentina, Peru, and Uruguay, Stephanie unsurprisingly found even though the sport was at rest professionally, the game was always in motion, in streets, on beaches, in cafes… even in train stations. With the World Cup just around the corner, consider this concise photo essay a tribute to the sport’s enduring power and the fan’s creative impatience.” (Norman Einstein’s)
“The deepest group in the tournament was made all the more interesting when injuries to Michael Ballack and Michael Essien took the two biggest names out of Group D. On this episode of the World Cup Buzz podcast, myself, Laurence McKenna and Kartik Krishnaiyer consider what the absences of Ballack and Heiko Westermann do to Germany’s chances to get out of a group that also features Ghana, Serbia, and Australia. Along the way, we hear thoughts from Andy Brassell, Raphael Honigstein, Jonathan Wilson and Simon Hill.” (EPL Talk), (World Cup Group A Preview), (World Cup Group B Preview), (World Cup Group E), (World Cup Group H), (World Cup Group F)
Italy, Gennaro Gattuso; Germany, Arne Friedrich
“The other week, we brought you the 1970 World Cup semi-final between Brazil and Uruguay in its entirety, and this week it’s time for the other semi-final from that tournament between Italy and West Germany. Italy had started the 1970 World Cup finals slowly. They won their group, but only managed one win, by a solitary goal against Sweden, and two goalless draws, against Uruguay and Israel, to make the quarter-finals of the competition. It was at this stage that they finally sparked into life, beating the host nation Mexico by four goals to one in Toluca after having gone a goal down early on in the match.” (twohundredpercent)
“Portugal played their last friendly match before starting the group stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The match was against African side Mozambique on Tuesday, June 8, 2010. Portugal received some bad news prior to the match as Manchester United player Nani would be unavailable for the entire World Cup.” (The 90th Minute)
“The Yanks are coming; you could hear them coming for months. For most of the U.S. players’ lives, they would have told you that they couldn’t have chosen a more splendid life, but it’s times like this where climbing the ladder to the highest echelons of the game almost shatters the nerves.” (Nutmeg Radio)
Homeless people in Cape Town
“The 2010 World Cup will undoubtedly inspire a good deal of comment – some of it outstanding, some of it appalling – in the media. Here at Twohundredpercent, we’re not going to make any bold claims about the quality of what we’re putting up, only that we will do what we can to provide a build-up to and coverage of the tournament that follows the basic guideline that we always try to apply – to offer an alternative to the World Cup coverage elsewhere on the internet.” (twohundredpercent)
World Cup Tales: Eleven Goals In Strasbourg, 1938
“As the entrants lined up for the 1938 World Cup finals in France, storm clouds were building up the horizon, and the tournament itself wasn’t exempt from such global concerns. Three months prior to the start of it, German tanks had marched into Austria, annexing the country through the Anschlüss agreement. Within a couple of months, the Austrian national football team, which had got to the semi-finals of the previous tournament in Italy and was one of the favourites for this one, was no more.” (twohundredpercent)
“When I heard the news of the broken arm, the confession to Kolo Touré, the ‘for him, he said, the World Cup is finished,’ I did not know what to do. I sat down. I was so flustered that even my thoughts stuttered a little. ‘It’s, it’s n-n-not f-fair’ I thought. This was his World Cup. Even though ESPN is force-feeding Messi to the American public, Didier Drogba was the real face of the tournament. He wasn’t just playing for his country, he was playing for all of Africa; that’s what he’d said. Now the Ivory Coast’s chances were dashed and their matchup with Brazil in the group stage had gone from the most exciting game of the first round to another stepping stone on the seleção’s path to #6. This turn of events was tragic.” (Run of Play)
“Italy looked to rebound from a disappointing friendly loss against Mexico with a match against Italy on June 5, 2010. The Swiss qualified for their second consecutive World Cup and have been a nation on the rise in the last few years. Italy remains one of the top teams in the world but many don’t give them a realistic shot to repeat as World Cup champions.” (The 90th Minute)
Netherlands 6-1 Hungary – Video Highlights and Recap – Friendly – 5 June 2010
“The Dutch continued their World Cup preparations with a friendly match against Hungary on Saturday, June 5, 2010. They are a side that is often overlooked but talented enough to make a deep run in the tournament. Hungary did not qualify for the World Cup and are focusing on the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifying matches in the fall.” (The 90th Minute)
United States 3-1 Australia – Video Highlights and Recap – Friendly – 5 June 2010
“The United States and Australia played a friendly about a week before both sides were to begin the FIFA 2010 World Cup Group Stage. The Socceroos have high hopes to make it out of the group stage while the USA will consider the 2010 World Cup a disappointment if they don’t make it out of the group stage. The two teams met on Saturday, June 5, 2010.” (The 90th Minute)
“As you might recall, France qualified for this tournament in rather controversial circumstances, squeezing past Ireland in the playoff after finishing behind Serbia in the group phase. The Thierry Henry handball may have slightly taken away from the wider issue at hand – the fact that France were very poor throughout qualification. Coming second in the group was not a disgrace – they only lost once, they were seven points clear of third-placed Austria, and they were up against a Serbia side that was far better than expected. But even when France won, they failed to convince. Two 1-0 wins against Lithuania and another against the Faroe Islands tells the story of the campaign.” (Zonal Marking)
Disorganised Cameroon hope Eto’o shines
“You might think, without watching Cameroon play and only judging them by their team sheet, that this team is all about Samuel Eto’o. When you see them in action, you realise that this is exactly the case. Eto’o recently threatened to quit the national side after criticism from Cameroon legend Roger Milla, who accused the Inter forward of failing to reproduce his club form at international level. It’s probably true, but hardly surprising considering the relative mediocrity of the players Eto’o is alongside for his country, and the fact that he plays a role that it’s difficult to dominate games from.” (Zonal Marking)
A defensive-minded 4-2-3-1 for Australia
“Australia got to the first round in their first World Cup, the second round in their second World Cup, so is a quarter-final spot the natural outcome for their third World Cup? Most of the world hasn’t seen much of Australia since 2006, and the positive for those who chose not to watch the Asian Group 1 qualifying section is that the side has changed little in the past four years. Of the expected starting XI, only Hull winger Richard Garcia was not in the squad for 2006.” (Zonal Marking)
“First, sorry for what are becoming all-too routine pauses on A More Splendid Life; my own less than splendid life has this sorry habit of getting in the way. So, some fun announcements. Second, one of the reasons it has been a bit quiet around here is because Brooks at Dirty Tackle has lost his mind and let me post up various bits and bobs on his esteemed site over the next five weeks for the World Cup. So you can see the nice, clean, North American-wide version of what I do.” (A More Splendid Life)
“Some of the world’s most accomplished and explosive players are limping into the World Cup, if they have made it here at all, and few are as bruised and battered as the stars of the English Premier League, where the physical nature of play is particularly unforgiving.” (NYT)
Francisco “Pancho” Varallo
“Once the World Cup hosts have got the action under way in South Africa on Friday afternoon the drone of the vuvuzelas might die down and the sound of drums should come through as the second game kicks off in Cape Town. They might sound straight out of Africa but the drums will be pounding for Uruguay, telling a tale that stretches across oceans, religions and races.” (BBC – Tim Vickery)
“I like to think that World Cup Blog has been very positive about South Africa hosting World Cup 2010. For example, when the whole thing was a little questionable in early 2009 we shared our 10 reasons to be optimistic about South Africa hosting the World Cup. There will possibly be a few problems along the way, but the whole thing will hopefully be worth the tradeoff.” (World Cup Blog)
“Ajax may have had the league’s most prolific attack, its best defence, the competition’s top scorer and an impressive run of 14 consecutive matches without dropping a single point, but it still wasn’t enough to land their first championship since 2004.” (World Soccer)
Germany coach Joachim Low interviewed
“World Soccer: How confident are you of Germany’s chances at the World Cup? Joachim Low: It’s always stimulating to be in charge of a national team with such a great World Cup heritage. Time and time again we have shown a fantastic capacity to get it right in major tournaments. A positive history can help psychologically but it must not be a crutch. We have to deliver in the here and now. We’re probably not among the top favourites for the title, but we certainly have the wherewithal to go a long way, to make a good impact.” (World Soccer)
Nigeria coach Lars Lagerback interviewed
“World Soccer: You were appointed in late February. How much of an impact can you realistically expect to make in just a few months? Of course time is short but there is enough for me to assess the players available and have my philosophy accepted by the squad. In warm-up games and a pre-World Cup training camp much can be achieved, believe me. I would like to think I proved myself a competent coach during a decade in charge of Sweden. I led them to five consecutive World Cups and European Championships and I’ve a name for team building, for making the most of the personnel at my disposal. I know international football.” (World Soccer)
“The book features the original balls of every Football World Cup between 1930 and 2010; it describes the stories and legends surrounding these balls and makes observations on footballs in general. In his extensive interview, German goalkeeper legend Sepp Maier talks about his love for these spherical objects.” (The World Cup Balls), (NYT – The World Cup Balls)
“It’s 1985, and I’m sitting on the veranda of my grandparents’ house in white Johannesburg. It’s a blazing December day, and I’ve just swum in their pool. Next to me my grandfather is listening to the cricket on the radio. Nesta, the black maid who has been working for my grandparents for decades, is cutting the chocolate cake. At the bottom of the garden, her grandchildren are playing in our old underpants from Europe. In 1985, apartheid is still going to last forever.” (FI – Simon Kuper)
“You knew they had to be coming: World Cup power rankings are here. Let’s dive in…” (SI)
“It’s an oft-used cliché that experience is necessary in order to win the greatest football competition in the world. In fact, only the other day I saw Steve Hodge being interviewed on Sky Sports News talking about this very subject. I think he was trying to tout his Maradona ’86 World Cup shirt again but was nonetheless happy enough to offer his wisdom to Sky Sports’ rolling news feed. He made the point that the sides who won the World Cup normally had an average age of around 28/29. He’s got a point, the average age of the World Cup winning Italian squad of four years ago was 28 years and 8 months.” (twinty tin)
“The World Cup opens Friday, and this host city is draped in the flags of the 32 participating nations. With the world’s biggest sporting event coming to Africa for the first time, hope wafts across the continent that one of the six African teams might win. ‘The talent is there, certainly,’ Bob Bradley, the United States coach, said. Yet history says that disarray in preparations, desperate coaching changes, poverty, official corruption and vagaries of the draw will conspire against Africa’s chances.” (NYT)
“There hasn’t been much focus upon Denmark in the build-up to the World Cup, but many of those who watched this team in qualification suggest that this is the strongest Danish team since they won the European Championships in 1992. The lack of attention is strange when you consider they won probably the toughest group in the UEFA qualifying section, finishing ahead of both Portugal and Sweden. Denmark have never failed to get past the group stage on the three occasions they’ve qualified for the tournament, and whilst their opening game against the Netherlands is a tricky start, they certainly have the ability to progress.” (Zonal Marking)
“Rio Ferdinand, Jose Bosingwa and Michael Essien hurt their knees. Didier Drogba broke his elbow. Michael Ballack and Jon Obi Mikel messed up their ankles. Arjen Robben tweaked his hamstring. Andrea Pirlo aches in his calf. No Charlie Davies, no Lassana Diara, no Mourad Meghni, no David Beckham.” (Pitch Invasion)
“Pelé was barely 17 ½ when he marched onto the field in 1958 for his first World Cup match. He learned one thing that day in Goteborg, Sweden: the World Cup is vastly different from the club soccer he played back home in Brazil.” (NYT)
“The boy was handed an AK-47 assault rifle and taught how to clean, load, aim and fire it. There was target practice for a while, which was fun. Almost like a video game, only louder with more recoil. Then one day, the boy was blindfolded. ‘I was told not to open fire until instructed,’ recalls the boy, now a man. ‘So I waited. Finally, I was given the order. I opened fire, then I was told to stop. When they removed the blindfold, I saw that I’d killed a man. They said, ‘Now you know you can shoot to kill.’ They said, ‘Do this or you will become dust.’ I was 12, maybe 13 years old. I had no shirt and no shoes. But I had an AK-47. A lot of boys like me fought in that war.'” (ESPN)
“‘Tactically naive’ is the common criticism for any African side which fails, generally regardless of the nature of their defeat or their manager’s tactical acumen. Ghana showed at the Africa Nations Cup earlier this year that they are anything but tactically naive. As if to emphasize what a silly criticism it is, Ghana were then labelled boring and defensive for daring to set out in a fashion that might maximise their chances of victory.” (Zonal Marking)
“It is one of the curious anomalies of our game that when we close our eyes and think of a football we tend to think of a specific type of football and, moreover, that the type of football that we are likely to think of is a specific type of ball which hasn’t been widely used in major tournaments for over thirty years. To geometrists, it would be known as spherical polyhedron, but we would be more likely to know it as a 32-panel football, a Buckminster ball or a ‘bucky ball’, it made its international debut at the 1970 World Cup finals in Mexico, and it is a perfect example of the application of science to commercial design.” (twohundredpercent)
St George and the Dragon, Vittore Corpaccio
“I’m writing this in a circuitous way to explore the reasons I follow the U.S. Men’s National team. The simple reasons: I played soccer in high school, make time to watch a variety of leagues today, and have lived most of my life in the U.S. But I have a feeling there’s deeper cause, a stronger pull, for my infatuation with this team. Less than a week before the World Cup kicks off, I begin.” (Run of Play)
“When Joao Havelange claimed, in 2008, that the 1966 and 1974 World Cups were fixed, his claims were largely laughed out of court. Depending on who you listened to, he was either deliberately misconstruing events or demonstrating little more than the first signs of senility. What was, however, curious about his comments was what he missed out. No mention was made of the 1978 tournament, which many have pointed to as being a tournament of less than sturdy moral fibre (and was, coincidentally, the first held under Havelange’s tutelage) and, even more curiously, none was made of the second World Cup of all, which was held in the Italy of Benito Mussolini in 1934.” (twohundredpercent)
“Two teams headed for the World Cup faced off in an international friendly on Thursday, June 3, 2010 as Spain played South Korea. Spain was looking to improve on their form from an earlier friendly against Saudi Arabia where they narrowly won 3-2. South Korea are not a favorite to get out of the group stage but are a team that is not to be taken lightly.” (The 90 th Minute)
“Italy, the defending World Cup champions, faced off against CONCACAF side Mexico in an international friendly on Thursday, June 3, 2010. Italy are not picked by most to repeat as champions or even make the final. Mexico on the other hand have a group that could be tough but they are definitely good enough to make it to the second round.” (The 90th Minute)
Fernando Torres
“The 19th World Cup Finals kick-off in just seven days, and the impending five week surge of ill-informed tabloid jingoism is tantalisingly within reach. Trying hard to not get carried away, but gnawing at the rope which tethers him to his kennel with excitement nevertheless is Dotmund, who today completes his in-depth look at the runners and riders for South Africa 2010. Today, a sneaky peak at the reigning European champions, a second-time Central American qualifier, a team from a country with a lot of cheese in and a team from a country which is quite long and thin.” (twohundredpercent)
Scissors Kick 