“The US game against England–a 1-1 tie, as everyone knows–was real entertainment and also, for me, a moment of revelation. After an early goal, when it seemed like it would all be out of reach very soon, star-studded England seemed troubled by the innocent, sincere play of the Americans, who were able to pull even later in the first half and keep it at that for the rest of the game.” (Soccer Politics)
“Today we complete the first set of 2010 World Cup group play games. I’ve watched more than 90% of all the minutes – and yet managed to miss five goals live (Holland, Argentina, Slovakia, Brazil’s second and North Korea’s). It’s been an educational experience. I’ve learned many interesting factoids (many acquired by virtue of this being the first Twitter World Cup) and made a few observations as well.” (Pitch Invasion)
“Oh, dear! Are Fabio’s birds coming home to roost? As one who has known and largely admired him both as player and coach these many years, I’ve never really wanted to join in the somewhat sycophantic chorus which has responded to him since he took the England post.” (World Soccer – Brian Glanville)
“In case you missed the U.S.’s “victory” over England over the weekend, you’re in luck. The website Lego Fussball has gone through the trouble of recreating the key plays with Legos. Unlike the actual game, we all win in this one. (via Guardian).” (Huffington Post)
“Laurence McKenna, co-host of the EPL Talk and World Cup Buzz Podcasts, recently had a golden opportunity to sit down with one of the most remarkable English football writers and authors, Barney Ronay of The Guardian and When Saturday Comes.” (EPL Talk)
“Robert Green’s ‘hand of clod’ goal against the United States, painful as it was to watch (here it is again!) … … was not the first howler committed by the England keeper.” (NYT)
“Two goalies emerged scarred out of the drama of yesterday’s USA-England game. One injured but with pride intact, another perhaps irreparably damaged professionally. I remember well how, as a kid playing YMCA soccer in suburban Maryland, I learned the universal lesson we were reminded of yesterday: being a goalie is hell. Perhaps the only goalie to have won the Nobel Prize for literature, Albert Camus (in the front row in the snazzy clothes below) wrote that what he know most surely ‘about morality and the duty of man,’ he learned from playing football at the Racing Universitaire d’Alger in Algeria as a young man.” (Soccer Politics)
“Nothing in football is so traduced as the offside law. Most seem to regard it as a piece of killjoy legislation, designed almost to prevent football producing too many goals and being too much fun, while for the punditocracy it has become the universal scapegoat, the thing that ‘nobody understands’. Just because Garth Crooks doesn’t get something, though, doesn’t make it a bad thing. The modern offside law may be the best thing that’s ever happened to football, and it is almost certainly the reason Barcelona have been so successful with a fleet of players whose obvious asset is their technique rather than their physique.” (Guardian)
“England were the better side, but struggled to make their dominance count and came close to losing the game. The USA’s 4-2-2-2 shape caused problems and prevented England’s full-backs from getting into the game. England started with their usual shape from qualification, Wayne Rooney partnering Emile Heskey upfront. In Gareth Barry’s absence, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard played together in midfield and James Milner started on the left – although only stayed there for half an hour.” (Zonal Minute)
For Abject England, Expect More of the Same
“England fans have traditionally been guilty of the sin of not really looking. Reading the English press, there seems a general sense of shock about how their team performed in their first game yesterday. But to a neutral observer, the result, and England’s sorry, tired performance, was not really all that much of a surprise. And while they are still a smart bet to get out of this group, it is hard to imagine an English team with so many obvious deficits advancing very far in this tournament.” (EPL Talk)
Luck of the draw
“For the United States, Saturday’s 1-1 tie with England wasn’t quite 1950 vintage, but the team will take it. Ties, of course, never taste as sweet as victories. But when your team falls behind early, gets a Santa Claus-sized gift from the opposing goalkeeper and hangs on to snag a point against the presumed group favorites, the aftertaste is plenty satisfying. In the process, the U.S. did plenty to enhance its chances of reaching the second round.” (ESPN)
England miss out on fine start as USA benefit from Robert Green gaffe
“Just as South Africa opened their World Cup with a goal that will be remembered forever, so England, as is their wont, contrived to open theirs with a goalkeeping blunder that will never be forgotten. No sooner had Fabio Capello placed his confidence in Robert Green than his judgment was mocked by the sort of bungle no professional footballer can comfortably watch, an unforced error that allowed the United States back into a game on which England appeared to have a comfortable grip after Steven Gerrard’s early goal.” (Guardian – Paul Wilson)
England ask too much from Rooney bursts of brilliance
“It’s all very well saying that England have the man to beat the world in Wayne Rooney but no one can really do that, not on his own and not even Diego Maradona when you get right down to it. Not when one disaster is piled upon another as swiftly as it was here last night, which is to say as quickly as the night swoops down on the highveld. Suddenly, Rooney and his team-mates knew that they had two huge tasks. One was to beat a United States team who had made an impressively spirited response to an early setback.” (Independent – James Lawton)
World Cup 2010: Alan Shearer on England
“I feel desperately sorry for goalkeeper Robert Green after his horrendous mistake led to the United States’ equaliser against England. But I’m not surprised to see the criticism he has got in the newspapers back home because that is part and parcel of being an England player – in fact, I expected him to get more stick than he has done. I was impressed he came out to face the media afterwards because he could have hidden away. Instead he has faced up to what’s happened, and said how he was trying to forget about it. Strangely, he appeared more relaxed and composed when he was talking after the game than he did beforehand.” (BBC)
“Tim Howard may be Jesus’s desktop, but pride kills progress. You can’t claim honest rivalry on one end and moral victory on the other, especially if you went to the game as a knowing participant in a fury of modern hype. Not even Manchester City does that. So for the sake of self-respect, or whatever the equivalent is when you’re writing about hope and strangers, it has to be acknowledged: our guys missed chances that didn’t want to be missed (Altidore missed one in each half), gave up a goal that didn’t want to be scored, defended clumsily at times, and got pinned back in their own territory for far too much of the second half.” (Run of Play)
“One of the most anticipated 2010 FIFA World Cup Group Stage matches took place on Saturday, June 12, 2010 as England faced the United States. The only other time the two teams met in the World Cup was in 1950 when the USA upset England 1-0.” (The 90th Minute)
England 1-1 USA
“England goalkeeper Robert Green suffered a World Cup nightmare as they were forced to settle for a disappointing draw in the opening game of their campaign against the United States. Steven Gerrard gave coach Fabio Capello the perfect start to this South African mission when he slid Emile Heskey’s pass beyond Tim Howard after only four minutes. And while England rarely hit the heights, they were maintaining their advantage in relative comfort until five minutes before half-time when West Ham United’s Green suffered the lapse that will haunt him.” (BBC)
Goalkeeping blunder hands U.S. hard-earned point vs. England
“Clint Dempsey scored on a blunder by goalkeeper Robert Green in the 40th minute, and the United States came from behind to tie England 1-1 in the Americans’ World Cup opener Saturday. Steven Gerrard put England ahead in the fourth minute, blowing past Ricardo Clark to beat goalkeeper Tim Howard from short range.” (ESPN)
“Your first book is Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby, about an obsessive Arsenal fan. Isn’t it a bit depressing? It’s not depressing! It’s very funny and was also almost the book that started this all off. Actually, the book that started it all off was Pete Davies’s All Played Out. That came out in 1990, and has been called the John the Baptist to Nick Hornby’s Jesus. Because when Pete Davies’s book did well, publishers realised there was a literate football fan audience out there, and then Nick Hornby came and proved it with a vengeance in 1992.” (Five Books – Simon Kuper)
“The winds are howling and the world’s shaking itself loose; at least it feels that way. The night scratches its back against our houses, the heat of the day falls away like a dream; and then the cycle reverses, unpredictably, tapping out weird rhythms of hot-cold that upset our animal patterns over the days of this tense spring. There is a feeling of unrest in the Land of the Free, a disquiet. The feeling is immanent and of the time. It has been here before and will be again.” (Run of Play)
“Two weeks ago in Philadelphia, at the half-time stage of the United States’ final send-off friendly, home fans could have been forgiven for a sense of deep pessimism about their country’s chances of making an impact in South Africa. West Ham’s Jonathon Spector had just been thoroughly tormented by the gifted young Turkish forward, Arda Turan, who had scored to give the Turks a 1-0 lead, but it could easily have been two or three more. Having already lost 4-2 to the Czech Republic four days earlier, the US team’s official, Nike-generated slogan of Don’t Tread On Us was looking as hubristic as it did four years ago when they left Germany with just one point and two goals.” (WSC)
“Back in December, when England and the United States were drawn in the same World Cup group, an instant thought went round my head: This might just revive my flagging career as a Hollywood movie star. Six decades before Saturday’s clash in Rustenburg, the two nations met in Brazil in what turned out to be the biggest World Cup upset of them all. The shock 1-0 victory for the US was immortalised in film a few years back, with yours truly playing the part of the BBC radio commentator in order to help tell the story. The movie, released in 2005, was initially called The Game Of Their Lives, although it was later retitled The Miracle Match for DVD.” (BBC – Tim Vickery)
“The United States and England will begin their 2010 World Cup with a match against each other in Saturday, June 12, 2010. The winner of this match will be the favorite to win the group so it could be a very crucial match when it gets to the knockout stage. So, what will be the major points of the match and what will determine the match? Which players will be crucial to England and the United States? Who has to play well for both sides to get a result?” (The 90th Minute)
Matías Fernández (Chile)
“The following 32 names represent Football Further‘s players to watch at the 2010 World Cup. We’ll be following their performances closely over the course of the tournament, with weekly scouting reports rounding up their progress. Names preceded by squad numbers. Players in bold have been scouted by Football Further in the build-up to the World Cup. Players in brackets were scouted but not called up by their national sides.” (Football Further)
“From the moment the World Cup draw was announced back in December, the United States’ opening game against England has been one that almost everyone, even neutrals, circled on their calendar. That the Three Lions are tabbed as heavy favorites matters little. For the U.S., the match is as an opportunity to recapture the spirit of 1950, when the U.S. delivered perhaps the biggest upset in World Cup history, beating England 1-0. Can history repeat itself Saturday? It’s possible, and there are some factors that appear to be working in the Americans’ favor.” (ESPN)
“Everyone knows that Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney are the star men for their sides – here are six more relatively unsung heroes that could be crucial for their respective teams.” (Zonal Marking)
Six to watch: the fringe players
“Often players who weren’t considered part of the starting XI at the beginning of a tournament emerge to play a leading role by the knockout stages. Here’s six who hope to do that…” (Zonal Marking)
“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)
“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)
“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)
“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)
“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)
“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)
“So when some members of the Spanish press thought they heard him being booed by black fans at the Confederations Cup last summer they thought they had a great story about racial disharmony in the new South Africa and filed their copy to Madrid. They got it excruciatingly, embarrassingly wrong. The fans were celebrating their cult hero, launching into a resonant chant of “Booth!” every time the 6″6 centre-half met the ball with one of his thumping defensive headers.” (Telegraph)
“It was a Wednesday. The Copa del Rey final had just finished. Sevilla beat Atletico Madrid in a pulsating game at Camp Nou in front of a packed crowd. I’ve always thought Atletico Madrid had rowdy fans, though I’ve never seen them live. Now I’m sure of it. Someone on Twitter in Barcelona said the Atletico fans outnumbered the Sevillistas down Las Ramblas by eight to one. Given the noise they made inside the stadium, I believe it.” (Just Football)
“Should Scotland fans support England? That question has become a tedious by-product of the national team’s recent inability to qualify for major tournaments. In the build-up to Germany 2006 it cropped up on BBC Question Time, and this time around it has formed the basis of a YouGov poll, with 21 per cent of Scots saying they could bring themselves to get behind the UK’s sole representatives at South Africa 2010. Scotland manager Craig Levein and political leaders of all hues have also been asked for their opinions, responding with diplomatic messages of goodwill for Fabio Capello’s side. Just as well, then, that Denis Law is still with us.” (WSC)
“Rumor is abroad throughout the Western Kingdoms. Men whisper of trouble in the East, of death upon the great roads, of armies massing for war. It is even said that the worm Drakorath, the dragon of the Rivening, has awakened in the Valley of Bal-Sharom and been seen in the skies over the villages to the south. But fear not, brave warden of the flame. Hope yet survives in the Kingdoms. Wayne Rooney has a 20-sided die.” (Run of Play)
“When I wrote a recent post entitled 8 Rules of World Cup ‘Fight Club,’ I encouraged soccer fans to rise up, begin talking the World Cup up to non-believers and to stand firm against the sports fans who laugh and joke at the sport we love.” (EPL Talk)
“Mike Adamson, writing in the Guardian, points out that this is the oldest England squad to travel to a finals. It surprises Rob Marrs too. The squad’s average age is 28.7, older than England’s awful nadir squad of 1954. It could have been older. Over at Attacking Soccer, Anthony reminds us that Joe Hart has a real chance to become the youngest keeper to turn out for England at the World Cup.” (More Than Mind Games)
“England played their last warm-up to the 2010 World Cup with a friendly match against AFC side Japan. They still haven’t narrowed down their roster from 30 to 23 so it was a chance for a few players to try and impress Fabio Capello. Japan are not expected to get out their group but would provide a decent test for the Three Lions.” (The 90th Minute)
“A sign viewed at the USA – Czech Republic friendly earlier in the week. They get marks for effort, particularly with the clever implication Landon Donovan was planted on loan in England as some sort of spy (English flag on the chest and all), but the consensus is cutting off Wayne Rooney’s head would merely piss him off, thus scoring eight goals rather than two. The smart move would be cutting off Don Fabio’s noggin’ – he’s the brains of the operation.” (World Cup Blog)
“There is no pleasure to be had in this evening’s second post, which is a BBC documentary of the story of the 1985 Heysel Stadium Disaster, which happened twenty-five years ago this evening. Even at a quarter of a century’s remove, and speaking as someone that watched the events of that appalling evening unfold live on the television, the capacity of the such events to shock remains undiminished. The crowning glory of years of English hooliganism laid bare in front of the whole world.” (twohundredpercent)
“It’s difficult to analyse England’s 2-1 win over Japan, simply because it’s not clear what Fabio Capello was trying to discover. Was this match purely an audition for individuals to stake their claim, or was he trying to find a cohesive shape? Assessing individuals was certainly on his mind, since Tom Huddlestone and Darren Bent – two players in danger of going home – were given starting places. This was plainly not the line-up that will face the USA. Capello stated in his pre-match interview that he had decided 20 of 23 the players, with one defensive, one midfield and one attacking position still up for grabs.” (Zonal Marking)
“tsk tsk… there you go again with your 1966 nonsense. will you ever be able to discuss England without referring to that ominous year? i doubt it. it was a controversial tournament that ended in controversy. same goes for the italians winning on french soil in 1938, the maglia nera incident comes to mind as mildly controversial, but you don’t see the italians bringing up the glory days of the 1930′s every chance they get! some fascists might but that’s besides the point. italians revel in recent history because they have actually done something in international competition recently!” (The Dark Horses)
Group C: thank you for playing
“J’en sais beaucoup de par le monde/ A qui ceci conviendrait bien :/De loin c’est quelque chose, et de près ce n’est rien./ Jean de la Fontaine, Le Chameau et les Bâtons flottants. From afar it is something big, and close it is nothing. that’s how i feel about this group. England. check out the previous post: route to ’66. USA. the obvious – the team is the freshest of the major teams at the world cup….” (The Dark Horses)
Route to ’66
(YouTube)
“Compared with the American version of football, soccer doesn’t seem all that rough. There are no helmets, no blind-side hits. Just a bunch of con-artists who howl in fake agony to the referees whenever they go down. Here’s the thing, though: A lot of them aren’t getting up. As the June 11 opening of the World Cup approaches, injuries are clouding the tournament. From England to Germany to Ghana, teams are breathlessly awaiting last-minute word on whether key players can play—or are already resigned to the likelihood that they can’t.” (WSJ)
“It now seems normal for nations to obsess about the football World Cup. Yet when the English did so in 1990, Jonathan Wilson notes in his scholarly Anatomy of England, it ‘was unprecedented and unexpected’. Only quite recently have World Cups turned into occasions for countries to debate who they are. Those 11 young men in their team shirts have become the nation made flesh, and the tournament the foremost contest for prestige among countries. Twenty years ago, very few serious studies of football existed. Today there are enough to fill a mid-sized library. The four books under review here build on this body of knowledge, add to the library’s tiny African room, and distil patterns from that knowledge.” (FI – Simon Kuper)
“Below you’ll find a complete list of the 32 coaches at World Cup 2010. You’ll also find their nationality, and their age going into the tournament. Beneath that you’ll find some amateur hour number crunching I did with pen, paper and the calculator on my cell phone to work out a few statistics.” (World Cup Blog)
“Everyone isn’t a soccer expert. Yet many of you will be caught in a conversation that veers toward the World Cup at some point in the coming summer. For those of you not inclined to scour Slovenia’s World Cup roster for hidden clues that could help the U.S. gain possession in the middle third, here are a few lines that will help you sound like you know what you’re talking about…” (ESPN)
“With just a couple of weeks until the World Cup begins, this was a game posing more questions than offering solutions for Fabio Capello. Whilst England recorded a 3-1 win, they were outplayed and outpassed by a technically superior Mexico side for large parts of the game. Few individual performances stood out for England – Glen Johnson was awarded the man-of-the-match award, presumably solely for goal, but this was one of his weaker displays; he looked very uncomfortable up against Mexico’s extremely high winger, and contributed little in attack. That he was England’s best player sums up what a poor show it was.” (Zonal Marking)
Prediction: U.S. Will Beat England In World Cup
“Psychology is not to be underestimated when it comes to sport, especially the World Cup and soccer. In this summer’s clash of the giants between the United States and England, I believe the game will not come down to who is the better team on the day, but will instead focus on which team is more psychologically prepared to overcome its opponent. And for that reason, I predict the United States will defeat England.” (EPL Talk)
England win but Fabio Capello finds more questions than answers
“It would have been more satisfying if this friendly had conformed to the tradition of irrelevance. There was instead a good deal for England to reflect on after a night when the losers showed more polish. The modest satisfaction for the home team lies in the knowledge that they still imposed their will.” (Guardian)
England vs. Mexico
(footytube)
“England’s World Cup rivals Algeria have one of Africa’s most fascinating footballing histories, packed full, as it is, with passion, pedigree and political intrigue. But it is also irrevocably bound up with France. This complex relationship has, at times, defined Algeria’s independence, while also showing its lack of it. Plenty of Algerian talent has risen through French academies before going on to play for Les Bleus, as best exemplified by the great Zinedine Zidane.” (BBC)
Cape Town
“This is the first part of a group of recommended blogs (in no particular order) that I will be introducing non-regular soccer readers to in the weeks before the World Cup. While long-time blog readers might sort of chuckle at themselves softly in the deep recesses of their suburban basements, old Leeds matches from the early seventies playing on a VHS loop on a lonely TV in the corner, this is really meant for the johnny-come-latelies who might not want all their World Cup info coming from John Molinaro. Or anybody attached to Sports Illustrated with the exception of Grant Wahl.” (A More Splendid Life – Part 1: Futfanatico), (Part 2: Treasons, Strategems & Spoils), (Part 3: The Run of Play)
“World Soccer: You have experienced everything in your career as player and manager but never as coach at a World Cup. How are you approaching that? Fabio Capello: Of course a World Cup itself is not a new experience because I was there as a player. Right now we are preparing everything, studying all the different situations which will arise between here and South Africa including during our training camp in Austria. We are working very hard together – not only the players but also everybody else who has to work for us with the media, with the kit, the travel, the logistics, the accommodation and so do.” (World Soccer)
“44 years of hurt now and it’s made England the laughing stock of world football. Several world-class teams and managers have passed by. But now under Fabio Capello, the ingrained pre-tournament hype has resurfaced again:England will do it this time.” (Six Pointer)
“Brazil 1994 — that most unBrazilian of Brazil sides, exemplified by Dunga, ‘the fart aimed at futebol-arte,’ who belied everything a future husband told his future wife about Brazilian football as grace, as style, as art. And here we go again — this time with a 10-year-old’s happiness in the balance… An MRS original.” (Must Read Soccer)
“I am not going to pass any moral judgment on the grubby Melissa Jacobs, who secretly recorded a private conversation with the now ex-FA independent chairman, in order to make him the ex-FA independent chairman. I’m sure she had her reasons – quite possibly tens of thousands of them. Nor am I going to pass any moral judgment on the Mail on Sunday newspaper, which facilitated that recording and published the results. I’m sure there is some philosophical argument that moral judgment cannot be passed on something without morals.” (twohundredpercent)
“For most people the World Cup is an experience that steadily recedes. As a kid you believe there is a pretty reasonable chance you will one day score the winning goal in the final. Over time, the World Cup becomes more distant, a four-yearly jamboree only obliquely consumed. Outside of a successful playing career, this seems to be an irreversible process.” (Guardian)
“Predictions, right or wrong go hand in hand with the World Cup like some beautifully ironic couple you see walking down the street. At first glance, the awkwardly short man who’s pulled a 5′8 blond model strikes a questionable chord with your intellect. You immediately resort to predicting and analyzing (if you’re honest with yourself) how you can land said women and how short man has figured out the secret. Your thoughts escape all rationality as you assume he’s either A. loaded and she’s with him for his money, or B. he’s loaded somewhere else.” (EPL Talk)
“On Wednesday nights I play bad football with some other old blokes in Paris. I spend the game shouting instructions at my team-mates in bad French. They don’t listen. What is going on here is a clash of football cultures. I grew up in the Netherlands, where football is a sort of debating society. In France, as far as I can gather, talking during football is rude.” (FI – Simon Kuper)
“There are strong rumours this morning that, in Gareth Barry’s absence, Fabio Capello is considering switching to a system featuring three centre-backs for the World Cup. It would unquestionably be a risky move, completely changing England’s shape that was so successful in qualifying, and installing a three-man defence that hasn’t been used effectively by England for twenty years. The BBC report states that ‘A switch in formation would be a major change for the Italian, who has demonstrated his preference for 4-4-2 throughout his coaching career’, which is certainly true, but a three-man defence has not been alien to him.” (Zonal Marking)
“Most bookmakers have England as third favourites to win the World Cup this summer. Their odds are always fanciful – driven down by patriotic bets made more in hope than belief. But a cursory glance around the competing squads should discourage any drunken wagering. It is not so much the players in the opposing squads that should deter potential gamblers, but who they can afford to leave out.” (WSC)
“How do you intend to inform those players who are not going to the World Cup, Fabio Capello was asked yesterday. Had he replied that the information would be conveyed through the medium of jazz dance, nobody would be in the least surprised. Not now.
We thought we knew him, before this week. We thought he was the voice of reason. Everything was so logical, so unfussy. He dispatched John Terry as captain in 10 minutes and made Rio Ferdinand his successor without so much as a telephone call. He instilled discipline, he set standards, he won football matches. And then came the Capello Index. It lasted less than 24 hours as a going concern, but that was enough.” (Daily Mail) (Must Read Soccer)
“In England, Chelsea and Manchester United are fighting for the domestic title. In Spain, it’s Real Madrid and Barcelona. Inter Milan is out front in Italy, as are Bayern Munich in Germany. It’s the same old same old.” (SI – Tim Vickery)
“The 2010 FIFA World Cup kicks off in six weeks today, close enough that you can start to hear the vuvuzelas and smell the biltong. Continuing his preview of this summer (winter)’s events, Dotmund has now reached Group C, where he will do his best to cover the large three lions tattoo on his face and behave in the sort of balanced way we like here at Twohundredpercent. Let’s see what he discovered, with his little notebook at his side.” (twohundredpercent)
Hieronymous Bosch, The Garden of Earthly Delights
“It has been reported that England’s national soccer team will sleep in special tents to prepare for the altitude in South Africa, site of the coming World Cup. This undoubtedly came as a relief to many, given where a couple of high-profile players were said to be slumbering lately in scandals that cost defender John Terry his captaincy and his fellow defender Ashley Cole his marriage.” (NYT)
Scissors Kick 