Enormous Void on the World Cup Map

Noticed this the other day. While studying the list of 32 qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

An enormous swath of territory, extending from eastern Europe across nearly the breadth of Asia has ... zero ... teams in the World Cup.

From the eastern borders of Slovakia and Serbia and Greece ... to the border of North Korea, the continent of Asia is shut out of South Africa 2010.

And Fifa can't be happy about that, if we assume that it believes every region on the planet would like to have at least one or two countries from their neighborhood in the finals. To root for ... to root against ... just someone to bring the event a bit closer to home.

Didn't work out this time. Not for the 90 percent of the contiguous bulk of this population-dense area.

How did this happen?

--In part, it is bad luck.

Russia, Ukraine and Bahrain were on the edge of qualification. Each was in a home-and-home playoff for one of the 32 berths, playoffs in which each was the favorite. Each stumbled in the second half of the playoff.

--In part it reflects bad planning on the part of FIFA.

Soccer's organizing body allowed Australia to shift from the Oceania qualifying group into the Asia qualifying group. The Australians took a look at Asian soccer and decided -- quite accurately -- that their chances of getting to South Africa via one of the four guaranteed Asia berths were much better than winning Oceania (which essentially means beating New Zealand) and getting the region's half-berth -- and surviving a home-and-home roulette with Asia's No. 5 finisher.

That doesn't mean Fifa should have allowed the Aussies to move. Anyone paying attention (and apparently it doesn't include Fifa) knew that Australia represented a strong threat to qualify out of Asia, and that Oceania without Australia is a one-country "region" named New Zealand.

Australia rolled right through Asian qualifying, not losing in eight matches (6-0-2) of final group play, and poof! there went one of Asia's four berths -- to a country usually considered a continent of its own and not part of Asia.

--Some of it is the sheer weakness and/or incompetence of soccer federations in the massively populated Asian mainland.

China plays lots of soccer, has hundreds of millions of fans ... but its federation is corrupt and incompetent. India also has a horrible federation and doesn't play much soccer. Pakistan is a soccer nonentity and doesn't seem to mind. Ditto, Bangladesh. Indonesia is hardly better. None of those five countries reached even the final 10 in "Asian" qualifying.

Iran usually is competent, but it fell two points short of qualifying outright, one point short of the fifth-place playoffs. Saudi Arabia lost to Bahrain in the fifth-place home-and-home, and then Bahrain lost to New Zealand. There goes the Arabian Peninsula.

And that leaves Asia represented by Japan, the two Koreas ... and Australia. Three countries on the edge of the continent, and one on another continent entirely. And it leaves seven time zones, from central Europe to Korea, with no World Cup teams.

So, from Turkey and the Middle East, from Poland, Romania ... through all the "stans", across Mother Russia and its breakaway children, through China and Mongolia, across Iraq, Iran, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, and down into Indochina and Indonesia and over to the Philippines ... a chunk of territory that probably holds something like two-thirds of the world population ... it's World Cup armageddon.

For soccer fans there, the 2010 World Cup will be about watching teams from the rest of the world. (Unless they feel kinship with the Koreas or Japan.)

Meanwhile, Europe has 13 teams, Africa has six, South America has five, North American has three and even little Oceania has one.

We can be fairly certain Fifa would prefer that an Iran and a Russia and China and maybe an Arabian Peninsula team were in the World Cup. None of them are.

It leaves a yawning void on the World Cup map. Maybe it won't happen again anytime soon. Fifa has to be hoping so. Read more!

Ticket Sales: Not an Issue Yet

I have made my share of mistakes in pursuit of journalism. I take no pleasure in pointing out the mistakes of others.

But this story and (essentially) the retraction that followed, by the Johannesburg Times tells us about the ticket system for South Africa 2010 -- as well as illustrates how the newspaper didn't quite get it right the first time.

The trap was the Times checking ticket sales and determining that only about 20 percent of tickets to the 2010 World Cup have been sold. That is a good story, considering the event is barely seven months away.

However, it seems that only about 20 percent of the tickets have been offered to buyers, with organizers holding the rest for sale after the Dec. 4 World Cup draw. Which makes perfect sense, because not until the draw will fans know when their team is going to play, and where. So far, fans are just buying tickets at locations, with no idea who might be there that day.

The Times owns up to all that in this story, which appeared today, one day after the "holy mackerel, only 20 percent of tickets are sold" story ran.

It is fair to ask if the citizens of an impoverished nation will turn out to see the likes or North Korea, New Zealand, Slovakia, Chile ... and whether those teams will send enough of their own fans to fill stadiums.

I wonder. Yes. I wonder. It wouldn't be a surprise in the least if not all tickets are sold.

But it's too early to suggest that we know the answers. Read more!

Breaking Down the Field by Appearances

Another way to parse the field for South Africa 2010:

By World Cup experience.

For some of these countries, a finals appearance is tantamount to a national birthright. For others, it is a rare and precious treat.

Let's go down the list of the 32, from the old hands to the (as the British would say) debutantes.

Nation, appearances (notes)

Brazil, 19 (all of them; the only country with that distinction)

Germany, 17 (didn't attempt to appear in the other two)

Italy, 17 (missed in only one attempt, 1958)

Argentina, 15 (only one qualifying failure, 1970)

Mexico, 14 (three failed attempts; banned from 1990)

England, 13 (three failed attempts for putative "masters of the game")

France, 13 (and four straight; thanks Thierry Henry)

Spain, 13 (maybe it's time to win one?)

Uruguay, 11 (though only two of last five)

Serbia, 10 (counting Yugoslavia days)

Netherlands, 9 (yes, a bit erratic, even with that talent)

Slovakia, 9 (counting Czechoslovakia days)

Switzerland, 9 (good success for a little country)

United States, 9 (and six straight for the "non-soccer-playing" USA)

Chile, 8 (but first since 1998)

South Korea, 8 (and seven straight)

Paraguay, 8 (and four consecutive; good for another little country)

Cameroon, 6 (from last eight attempts; all-time African qualifying leaders)

Portugal, 5 (yes, they used to struggle to get here)

Denmark, 4 (and all since 1986)

Japan, 4 (the last four, too)

Nigeria, 4 (missed only 2006, of last five)

Algeria, 3 (and first since 1986)

Australia, 3 (including last two)

South Africa, 3 (hosts made it twice on their own, 1998, 2002)

Cote d'Ivoire, 2 (consecutive)

Ghana, 2 (see above)

Greece, 2 (first since 1994)

Honduras, 2 (first since 1982)

North Korea, 2 (first since 1966, the stunning quarterfinals appearance)

New Zealand, 2 (first since 1986)

Slovenia, 2 (in three tries as independent nation)

Notes:

--Some consider Serbia and Slovakia to be first-timers, and they are under those names. As mentioned above, players from what is now these two independent countries played in previous World Cups.

--Seventy-six nations have qualified for at least one World Cup.

--Nations with the most appearances who are not in South Africa 2010: Belgium (11), Sweden 11), Czech Republic (9), Hungary (9), Russia (9).

--Nations/countries with longest drought (and at least one appearance): Cuba and Indonesia (1938); next, Wales (1958).

Check this wikipedia entry, for more information on this.
Read more!

Something Rotten in the State of Fifa

Fifa is like sausage. You really don't want to look too closely at how it comes together. You could lose your lunch. Maybe your mind, too. Just consume it; usually it goes down fine.

Today, we have Sepp Blatter caling for an super-duper-extraordinary-ultra-secret-super-double-probation meeting (or something like that), in Cape Town on Dec. 2, to do nothing at all about three major issues that have sullied the image of the organizing body.

As if you can sully the image of something that always tends to get mud on its face.

Here is the news story, but we can boil it down to three main issues for you.

1. OK, yeah, we blew that hand-ball call in the Ireland-France match. We blow calls all the time, and the hubbub usually dies down straight off. We didn't know this was the match that the entire English-speaking world (at the least) apparently was watching, and it's getting a little warm here in Zurich, even in late November.

Not that we're going to do anything about it other than to appear concerned and toss about ideas about better officiating ... that we will do nothing about.

2. That match-fixing thing brewing in Germany and various and sundry other countries in Eastern Europe. OMG. If you knew half of what we know ... oh, did we say that out loud? You know how easy it is to fix matches in which only one goal is scored? We do. Did we say that out loud too?

3. Oh, and the Algeria-Egypt thing, the players cut by flying debris and the siege atmosphere that Algeria had to play in, in Cairo, and the reprisals toward Egyptians back in Algeria, and the generic disgusting ugliness of the whole mess, making a mockery of the "beautiful game" and "fair play" platitudes we mouth ... well, we're going to talk about this very seriously as well, and frown, and maybe even wag a finger at somebody or other. Not that it will maatter.

All in a day's work! Read more!

How We Will Speak at South Africa 2010

The 32 teams/nations are in.

We are going to look at them a bit more closely, running up to the official Draw, on Dec. 4. Today, by how they communicate.

Cup teams by languages:

(Note: Includes several countries where a language is rarely a native tongue but has "official" status.)

English: 8 (Australia, Cameroon, England, Ghana, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Africa, United States).

Spanish: 7 (Argentina, Chile, Honduras, Mexico, Paraguay, Spain, Uruguay).

French: 4 (Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, France, Switzerland).

German: 2 (Germany, Switzerland).

Italian: 2 (Italy, Switzerland).

Korean: 2 (North Korea, South Korea).

Portuguese: 2 (Brazil, Portugal).

And one each: Arabic (Algeria), Danish (Denmark), Dutch (Netherlands), Greek (Greece), Japanese (Japan), Serbian (Serbia), Slovakian (Slovakia), Slovenian (Slovenia) ... and several African languages, including Afrikaans, Akan, Bantu, Baule, Berber, Ewe, Dagbani, Gurma, Hausa, Igbo, Malinke, Senoufo, Xhosa, Yoruba, Zulu, to name most of those most commonly spoken.

So, if you're going to the World Cup, English is the best language to know, because it is an official language of South Africa (though spoken as a mother tongue by only 8 percent of the population) ... and because fans from seven other national teams ought to understand you.

If you also know Spanish and French ... now you've covered 19 World Cup countries, and that doesn't even count places such as Denmark, Germany and Switzerland where English is widely spoken, or the United States, where a significant number of people now understands Spanish.

So, with one language, English, you will be able to get along. With three (English, French, Spanish), the odds are good you will be able to communicate on some basic level with just about everyone. Read more!

Also, Note the Counter is Going to Hit 200 Days

Two hundred days until kickoff of South Africa 2010. We counted down right past that during this 24-hour period.

Seems like a long time but ...

Two hundred days is just 18 days over half a year.

Napoleon's return to France from Elba, his recapture of the government and his career-ending Battle of Waterloo ... all of that took less than 100 days.

For Americans ... the period of time during which Franklin Roosevelt pushed through his massive social programs, in 1933, is known as The Hundred Days.

Two hundred days is only a little more than two seasons of the year.

Two hundred days is 35 times as long as the map-changing Six Day War of 1967 between Israel, Egypt, Jordan and Syria. It is also 26 days longer than the 1982 Falklands War between England and Argentina.

Two hundred days is less time than it takes for a human to be conceived and be born. Usually.

Anyway ... we're getting close. Read more!

Ireland Replay? Fifa Says, Uh, NO!

It might have seemed reasonable.

The Ireland-France match, so important, so fatally flawed by the missed hand ball by Thierry Henry that led to the winning French goal ...

Of course it should be played over. It's only fair. It's reasonable. It could be done.

But those of us who have been watching Fifa for, oh, a couple of months or more knew that it would never happen. Fifa is infallible. Fifa never admits to mistakes. Sort of like popes. Judgment call, end of story.

The official decision came down Friday. And, surprise, Fifa still has never made a mistake. That's 1 billion for 1 billion in getting things right.

I know this won't make the Irish feel any better, but Thierry Henry apparently said that Ireland deserves a replay. Which was easy for him to suggest, knowing 1) his reputation in the English-speaking world was taking a beating (all that "cheater-cheater pumpkin-eater" stuff) and 2) Fifa would never allow it.

This also won't make the Irish feel better, but I am convinced France goes to South Africa 2010 next year with some really vile karma in the ol' kit bag. Something Heavy will fall on this French team, dysfunctional, disjointed, led by a toad (Raymond Domenech) and qualified by dint of a horrible mistake.

No way they last, not with that cosmic burden on their bleu backs.

It won't heal the wounds in the Emerald Isle, when the French go down ... but maybe it will numb them a little. Read more!