It's already 2010 where I am, in the Gulf. So I can look ahead, not back.
And here are five story lines I think will be pertinent in the 2010 (we're here now) World Cup.
1. Can England, Masters of the Game and all (blah blah blah), win a World Cup for the first time since 1966? Everyone on the left side of the Pas del Calais is thinking "yes, yes, yes!" and the rest of the world is thinking, "uh, probably not."
2. Can a European team finally win a World Cup outside its own familiar and teeny continent? They haven't managed it yet, (as in 0-for-9), but they have the advantage, this time round, of getting a non-Euro World Cup that is 1) only an hour or two off their home body clocks and 2) cold and wintry, just like the conditions of their pro leagues. So, could happen. But don't bank on it.
3. Can an African team go deep in the tournament? Cameroon made the quarterfinals of Italia 1990, but that is the high water mark of African soccer, so far. Africa has six teams in the 32 at SA 2010, including the host, and I think the answer to the previous question is "yes." I see someone in the semifinals. Cameroon, or Nigeria or Ghana.
4. Is Diego Maradona such a colossal idiot that he can, single-handedly, manage to keep Argentina out of the second round? I think, yes, he can. That is the level of my faith in him. I see some combination of Nigeria/Greece/South Korea moving on at Argentina's expense. And maybe that will finally free Argentinaville from its ridiculous need to have Diego "Hand of God: Maradona coach their side. The man can't coach. At all.
5. Will South Africa become the first host nation to fail to make the second round? All the vuvuzelas and home fans aside, yes, it can. South Africa isn't very good. Not at all.
Those are my five questions, and if they make sense, then maybe I should write more often while over the legal limit in California of .08 blood-alchohol content, because that's where I'm at,
two hours after our New Year's Eve party in (officially) dry Abu Dhabi ended.
Happy New Year, y'all.
Read more!
Thursday, December 31, 2009
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Becks in WC? All Up to Ancelotti
Will David Beckham be with England in the 2010 World Cup?
Don't ask Fabio Capello.
Ask Carlo Ancelotti.
Capello, England's manager, effectively booted responsibility for Becks' World Cup future right over to his countryman, Ancelotti -- Beckham's coach at AC Milan.
Weird way to make a national team, but there you are -- if media reports are accurate.
As you might have seen in the story, if you followed the link ... is Capello essentially saying, "sure, Becks makes our team ... as long as he's playing regularly for AC Milan."
Beckham is being loaned to the Seria A contender from the Los Angeles Galaxy again this year. And if he is fit (that is, plays regularly), Capello is ready to take him, he said.
Meaning this is up to, Signore Ancelotti.
If Ancelotti puts Beckham in his First XI and pretty much leaves him there ... then Capello's decision is made for him. Or so he says.
Seems sort of a weasel-ly way to make a decision on one of the world's best-known players -- even if he no longer is anywhere near close to one of its best players, as he closes in on age 35 (in May).
Becks is really good at only one aspect of soccer, and that's placing with great precision a ball he has struck while it was at rest.
He probably helped his cause with his appearance on stage at the World Cup Draw in Capetown on Dec. 4. It was a canny move on the part of Team Beckham, seeming to tie him to the tournament.
And perhaps Capello now feels pressed to take the aging midfielder with the team and is ready to capitulate -- as long as Ancelotti plays Beckham in Milan between now and May.
So, Becks in South Africa? You'll know by checking the starting lineups for AC Milan. Read more!
Don't ask Fabio Capello.
Ask Carlo Ancelotti.
Capello, England's manager, effectively booted responsibility for Becks' World Cup future right over to his countryman, Ancelotti -- Beckham's coach at AC Milan.
Weird way to make a national team, but there you are -- if media reports are accurate.
As you might have seen in the story, if you followed the link ... is Capello essentially saying, "sure, Becks makes our team ... as long as he's playing regularly for AC Milan."
Beckham is being loaned to the Seria A contender from the Los Angeles Galaxy again this year. And if he is fit (that is, plays regularly), Capello is ready to take him, he said.
Meaning this is up to, Signore Ancelotti.
If Ancelotti puts Beckham in his First XI and pretty much leaves him there ... then Capello's decision is made for him. Or so he says.
Seems sort of a weasel-ly way to make a decision on one of the world's best-known players -- even if he no longer is anywhere near close to one of its best players, as he closes in on age 35 (in May).
Becks is really good at only one aspect of soccer, and that's placing with great precision a ball he has struck while it was at rest.
He probably helped his cause with his appearance on stage at the World Cup Draw in Capetown on Dec. 4. It was a canny move on the part of Team Beckham, seeming to tie him to the tournament.
And perhaps Capello now feels pressed to take the aging midfielder with the team and is ready to capitulate -- as long as Ancelotti plays Beckham in Milan between now and May.
So, Becks in South Africa? You'll know by checking the starting lineups for AC Milan. Read more!
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Another Look at South Africa Stadium Debate
We've got more voices on the ongoing debate of "are all these stadiums worth the money ... in a poor country?"
It is a Reuters piece picked up today by the Johannesburg Times.
It pegs the cost of new stadiums for South Africa 2010 -- and there are (gulp) 10 of them ... at $1.7 billion -- up dramatically from the original estimate of $390 million.
We've got both sides talking.
On one side are the people who look at South Africa's shanty towns and AIDS epidemic and wonder how the nation's rulers can look at the country's blight and sleep at night, knowing so much has been spent on stadiums. When all figure to be underutilized and some hardly used at all, once the 2010 World Cup is over. Yes, the word is "white elephants" for the kind of massive projects that never pay for themselves.
On the other side are those who say Africa -- the whole continent -- needs a success, and the cost is almost irrelevant.
No less a personage than Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel peace prize laureate, is in favor of the expenditure.
Said Tutu: "With all the negative things taking place in Africa, this is a superb moment for us. If there are going to be white elephants, so be it."
OK then. For more, go to the story. Read more!
It is a Reuters piece picked up today by the Johannesburg Times.
It pegs the cost of new stadiums for South Africa 2010 -- and there are (gulp) 10 of them ... at $1.7 billion -- up dramatically from the original estimate of $390 million.
We've got both sides talking.
On one side are the people who look at South Africa's shanty towns and AIDS epidemic and wonder how the nation's rulers can look at the country's blight and sleep at night, knowing so much has been spent on stadiums. When all figure to be underutilized and some hardly used at all, once the 2010 World Cup is over. Yes, the word is "white elephants" for the kind of massive projects that never pay for themselves.
On the other side are those who say Africa -- the whole continent -- needs a success, and the cost is almost irrelevant.
No less a personage than Archbishop Desmond Tutu, a Nobel peace prize laureate, is in favor of the expenditure.
Said Tutu: "With all the negative things taking place in Africa, this is a superb moment for us. If there are going to be white elephants, so be it."
OK then. For more, go to the story. Read more!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Spain Extends Coach Two Years ... Why?
Feliz Navidad, Vicente del Bosque.
Two days before Christmas, Spain rewarded its coach with a two-year extension on his contract, taking him through 2012.
Which is a bit curious, and leaves me pondering these questions:
1. Is that a guaranteed contract? Does del Bosque get the money no matter what happens to him? Say, a sudden collapse by his team and subsequent firing?
2. If so, why?
3. He reportedly was getting $2.2 million a year. Did he get a raise on that in the next two years, after Spain went unbeaten in European qualifying? Is the entire value of his contract up to Fabio Capello money ($10 million a year) yet?
4. If not, why not?
5. And what prompted Spain to guarantee money (or go through the show of extending a contract that isn't guaranteed) before the World Cup? Is Espana going to buck the trend and, if it doesn't win a championship that it is co-favored to win (along with Brazil) ... smile and say, "no problem, Vicente. We're sticking with you."
Most federations consider anything but an advance to the knockout round to be a failure ... and sack the coach.
Some of the elite nations consider anything short of the semifinals a failure ... and sack the coach.
And for those special elite nations expected to play for a championship (Brazil, Spain, maybe England), anything short of the finals is going to be considered a failure ... and the coach is sacked.
So, I just don't get it.
Maybe if it's a contract that del Bosque gets only if he doesn't get fired ... you know, like NFL contracts, that are worth millions unless you get cut ... then it makes sense. Otherwise, no.
OK, I've thought of the only way this makes sense.
Let's say Spain wins the World Cup ... well, Spain has their now massively brilliant coach already under contract through the Euro Cup (which isn't far behind the World Cup, to Euro nations), and doesn't have to give him even more money (post Jules Rimet Trophy) than they just did.
OK. That makes sense.
Read more!
Two days before Christmas, Spain rewarded its coach with a two-year extension on his contract, taking him through 2012.
Which is a bit curious, and leaves me pondering these questions:
1. Is that a guaranteed contract? Does del Bosque get the money no matter what happens to him? Say, a sudden collapse by his team and subsequent firing?
2. If so, why?
3. He reportedly was getting $2.2 million a year. Did he get a raise on that in the next two years, after Spain went unbeaten in European qualifying? Is the entire value of his contract up to Fabio Capello money ($10 million a year) yet?
4. If not, why not?
5. And what prompted Spain to guarantee money (or go through the show of extending a contract that isn't guaranteed) before the World Cup? Is Espana going to buck the trend and, if it doesn't win a championship that it is co-favored to win (along with Brazil) ... smile and say, "no problem, Vicente. We're sticking with you."
Most federations consider anything but an advance to the knockout round to be a failure ... and sack the coach.
Some of the elite nations consider anything short of the semifinals a failure ... and sack the coach.
And for those special elite nations expected to play for a championship (Brazil, Spain, maybe England), anything short of the finals is going to be considered a failure ... and the coach is sacked.
So, I just don't get it.
Maybe if it's a contract that del Bosque gets only if he doesn't get fired ... you know, like NFL contracts, that are worth millions unless you get cut ... then it makes sense. Otherwise, no.
OK, I've thought of the only way this makes sense.
Let's say Spain wins the World Cup ... well, Spain has their now massively brilliant coach already under contract through the Euro Cup (which isn't far behind the World Cup, to Euro nations), and doesn't have to give him even more money (post Jules Rimet Trophy) than they just did.
OK. That makes sense.
Read more!
Sunday, December 27, 2009
In Case You're Thinking of Driving in SA ...
South Africa is a difficult place to move around in. You take a commuter plane, you may exit it somewhere off the end of the runway. You take a train, it could collide with another.
You go for a drive, and you end up dead.
The Jo-burg Times has the fairly horrifying December road toll death statistics here.
So, say you're an English fan and you want to see the Three Lions play. Match 1 is in Rustenburg, near Johannesburg.
Match 2 is in Capetown, which is 900 miles road miles away.
Match 3 is in Port Elizabeth, which is 500 road miles from Capetown.
(Oh, and an update on the air situation: Most of the Airlink fleet has been grounded for safety reasons. The good news is, you can't travel on those scary planes. The bad news is, you can't travel at all.)
So, that's 1,400 miles of group-round travel for England fans. By planes, trains or automobiles. And all are scary options.
Pcik your poison, fans. Read more!
You go for a drive, and you end up dead.
The Jo-burg Times has the fairly horrifying December road toll death statistics here.
So, say you're an English fan and you want to see the Three Lions play. Match 1 is in Rustenburg, near Johannesburg.
Match 2 is in Capetown, which is 900 miles road miles away.
Match 3 is in Port Elizabeth, which is 500 road miles from Capetown.
(Oh, and an update on the air situation: Most of the Airlink fleet has been grounded for safety reasons. The good news is, you can't travel on those scary planes. The bad news is, you can't travel at all.)
So, that's 1,400 miles of group-round travel for England fans. By planes, trains or automobiles. And all are scary options.
Pcik your poison, fans. Read more!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
And Now for Something Completely Different ...
Audio!
Not video. Just audio
Courtesy of the Johannesburg Sunday Times.
The Jo-Times has a mini podcast, I suppose we would call it, on its sports home page. Here it is. Can't vouch for how long it will be up there. It's the picture of the South African soccer team, over on the right side of the page. Click on the arrow there.
What it is, is a sort of interview with the sports psychologist, Dr. Gericke, that the South African soccer team just hired. And he has some suggestions for South Africa fans, on the run-up to South Africa 2010.
Dr. Gericke suggests South Africa fans can help the Bafana Bafana (the silly silly name for the home team) by ... singing.
Singing can inspire people, the good Doctor suggests.
He also hopes ... and this is vaguely controversial ... that South African fans blow those plastic horns -- the vuvzelas -- that were the aural cockroaches of the Confederations Cup, back in June.
He seems to advocate that fans play music on those horns, but my sense is that you've got one note. Unless maybe you have the lip control of a bugler.
Not everyone likes vuvuzelas.
The president of Japan's football association called for a vuvuzela ban after Japan played a scoreless tie during a friendly in South Africa last month. And there was one fairly arch quote from Japan's coach, on the vuvezelas. "Perhaps if they play good football (the fans) will be quiet and watch."
During the Confederations Cup, Spanish star Xabi Alonso also suggested the plastic horns be banned.
I was hoping the audio at the Jo-Times would have some droning vuvuzelas ... but it doesn't. Maybe later.
One other interesting aspect of the audio bit ... you get to hear two forms of South African English accents. From a black woman (the interviewer) ... and from an Afrikaner (Gericke) -- a white resident of (usually) mostly Dutch heritage.
Read more!
Not video. Just audio
Courtesy of the Johannesburg Sunday Times.
The Jo-Times has a mini podcast, I suppose we would call it, on its sports home page. Here it is. Can't vouch for how long it will be up there. It's the picture of the South African soccer team, over on the right side of the page. Click on the arrow there.
What it is, is a sort of interview with the sports psychologist, Dr. Gericke, that the South African soccer team just hired. And he has some suggestions for South Africa fans, on the run-up to South Africa 2010.
Dr. Gericke suggests South Africa fans can help the Bafana Bafana (the silly silly name for the home team) by ... singing.
Singing can inspire people, the good Doctor suggests.
He also hopes ... and this is vaguely controversial ... that South African fans blow those plastic horns -- the vuvzelas -- that were the aural cockroaches of the Confederations Cup, back in June.
He seems to advocate that fans play music on those horns, but my sense is that you've got one note. Unless maybe you have the lip control of a bugler.
Not everyone likes vuvuzelas.
The president of Japan's football association called for a vuvuzela ban after Japan played a scoreless tie during a friendly in South Africa last month. And there was one fairly arch quote from Japan's coach, on the vuvezelas. "Perhaps if they play good football (the fans) will be quiet and watch."
During the Confederations Cup, Spanish star Xabi Alonso also suggested the plastic horns be banned.
I was hoping the audio at the Jo-Times would have some droning vuvuzelas ... but it doesn't. Maybe later.
One other interesting aspect of the audio bit ... you get to hear two forms of South African English accents. From a black woman (the interviewer) ... and from an Afrikaner (Gericke) -- a white resident of (usually) mostly Dutch heritage.
Read more!
Friday, December 25, 2009
England Is Really Good ... Have We Mentioned That?
More news on how good the English side is, six months and change ahead of South Africa 2010.
Shall we go ahead and even bother with the tournament? Does anyone have a chance against the Three Lions, conquerors of all they see ... well, at least in 1966, they were.
Today, it's Michael Ballack talking down Germany's chances and talking up England's.
(Anyone else think the Chelsea midfielder looks a bit like Matt Damon? It's just me?)
Here is Ballack lavishing praise on Mario Capello's side.
We've been over this, yes? England's bipolar approach to its team. Oh, yes, we have. How English fans and media people absolutely are in one of their manic phases right now.
A question that often comes to my mind is ... do any of QE2's subjects understand the concept of "poor-mouthing"?
That's the practice of someone associated with a good team sighing deeply and shaking his head and confiding that his historically good squad just doesn't have it this week, this season.
Most veteran sports people recognize this. And give it little credence.
A famous American football coach with the wonderful name of Amos Alonzo Stagg used to poor-mouth his teams relentlessly, on the off chance that someone would believe what he was saying and underprepare for his team. Or show up fat-headed and overconfidence.
Stagg spent much of his career at the University of Chicago, which was a power back in the 1920s, and Stagg's protestations became so ridiculous that when he worried aloud about his mighty team's chances against a much lesser opponent, the headline was written: Stagg Fears Purdue." And everyone laughed. It was ridiculous.
Anyway, England fans are free to believe their team will waltz into the semifinals ... and that Germany is awful. But since England won its one and only World Cup championship, Germany has finished in the top four seven times, reached the final five times and won twice.
Let's just guess and say that Germany will be competent. Let's just guess and say Ballack actually believes that.
And let's say that England is in real danger of thinking this is going to be far easier that it will be. Read more!
Shall we go ahead and even bother with the tournament? Does anyone have a chance against the Three Lions, conquerors of all they see ... well, at least in 1966, they were.
Today, it's Michael Ballack talking down Germany's chances and talking up England's.
(Anyone else think the Chelsea midfielder looks a bit like Matt Damon? It's just me?)
Here is Ballack lavishing praise on Mario Capello's side.
We've been over this, yes? England's bipolar approach to its team. Oh, yes, we have. How English fans and media people absolutely are in one of their manic phases right now.
A question that often comes to my mind is ... do any of QE2's subjects understand the concept of "poor-mouthing"?
That's the practice of someone associated with a good team sighing deeply and shaking his head and confiding that his historically good squad just doesn't have it this week, this season.
Most veteran sports people recognize this. And give it little credence.
A famous American football coach with the wonderful name of Amos Alonzo Stagg used to poor-mouth his teams relentlessly, on the off chance that someone would believe what he was saying and underprepare for his team. Or show up fat-headed and overconfidence.
Stagg spent much of his career at the University of Chicago, which was a power back in the 1920s, and Stagg's protestations became so ridiculous that when he worried aloud about his mighty team's chances against a much lesser opponent, the headline was written: Stagg Fears Purdue." And everyone laughed. It was ridiculous.
Anyway, England fans are free to believe their team will waltz into the semifinals ... and that Germany is awful. But since England won its one and only World Cup championship, Germany has finished in the top four seven times, reached the final five times and won twice.
Let's just guess and say that Germany will be competent. Let's just guess and say Ballack actually believes that.
And let's say that England is in real danger of thinking this is going to be far easier that it will be. Read more!
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