Sepp Blathering about African Football

Fifa boss Sepp Blatter is one of those guys with no inner dialogue. Anything that pops into his head comes right back out of his mouth. If he were anyone else -- you know, a guy who was held responsible for saying silly things after he'd said about a thousand of them -- he would lose his job as Fifa president and be doing commentary on ESPN-Switzerland.

Now we have Sepp making generalizations about African football, and when Sepp starts making global generalizations he is sure to say something he perhaps means as a compliment (no, really) and it comes out sounding like anything but.

So, here is the link to the story of Sepp yakking during a video press conference from Zurich the other day.

The most interesting thing Sepp said is this:

That African football players have more skill than "even Brazilians and Europeans" ...

So why do they struggle on the world stage? Sepp knows that one, too. They "lack continuity and good tactics."

There's more:

--Sepp hopes an African team makes the semifinals. Which may be more than a little disturbing, six or so weeks from now, to the non-African team that gets the last African team in the quarterfinals. Will referees remember what the Fifa president wanted? An African team in the semis. And can you imagine the leader of any other major sport expressing that sort of specific competitive result in a sport he runs with an iron hand?

--Sepp is disappointed that three of Africa's six teams (Nigeria, Ivory Coast and South Africa) have changed coaches within the past six months. "Changing coaches at the last minute is not help Africa's cause," Coach Blatter said.

--He also had a bulb go off, apparently, and he told the South Africans listening to the video conference that Bafana Bafana would not advance if they don't score goals. (This, after South Africa played North Korea to a scoreless draw.)

Well, thanks for that insight, Sepp. Except that a team can advance without scoring a goal. (Three scoreless draws, one team in the group wins its other two matches, the other two teams tie each other. Then the three-scoreless-ties team finishes second with three points, behind one team with seven points and ahead of the two with two points. Sheesh. You'd think he knew this.)

We will have more bon mots out of Sepp's mouth before this is over. Count on it. Read more!

Platini Trashes Domenech

That one had to sting.

France's coach, Raymond Domenech, being pilloried by French soccer hero Michel Platini?

Ouch.

That's like a German being rubbished by Frank Beckenbauer. A Dutchman being lambasted by Johan Cruyff.

Platini not only was a great player, like those other two he has become a very important administrator. (President of UEFA, to be precise.)

And when he levelled some blasts at coach Domenech and the French team ... well, that says something, and it's not good, for France.

We have not been impressed with Domenech for some time now, going back to qualifying for this World Cup. Well, actually, back to Euro 2008, when the French stunk it up. And Domenech had that bizarre episode (mentioned by Platini) where he proposed to his girlfriend during a postgame session with the media.

Weird, is what it was.

What has been more telling was France's huge struggled throughout the South Africa 2010 qualifying process despite having considerable talent. (More than Platini gives France credit for.) The runner-up finish, the playoff victory over Ireland aided by the infamous Theirry Henry handball.

France has never seemed comfortable or particularly organized under Domenech. That team just doesn't look quite right, and it has been fairly amazing that France kept him on when it had a perfect opportunity to replace him after that close call vs. the Irish at Stade de France.

So, there it is. Platini says France has a "Domenech problem" ... and limited talent. The country's biggest soccer authority has quit on this French team. Pretty rough. Read more!

Making the Team

If it's seven weeks and small change until South Africa 2010 ... we are approaching the zenith of the "I should be on the team" campaign surrounding fringe players of the 32 countries in the World Cup finals.

The process is amusing, shameful, pathetic, embarrassing, selfish, painful ... all at once.

The reality of not making the World Cup team is beginning to sink in for some former stars or would-be stars. And they realize that it hurts.

In several ways.

Not making the team ...

--Means your national coaching staff and federations believe you're not ready yet to help or (worse) believe you no longer can. That is an ego blow of the first order.

Two recent examples of this one? Ronaldinho promising that Brazil will win the World Cup if only coach Dunga would add him to the roster. ... and Torsten Frings, onetime starting midfielder for Germany, campaigning (ineptly) to be added to the Mannschaft. And the flip side: A kid from Slovenia, Haris Vuckinic ruing that he probably won't make it. (The kids are never as bitter; they assume they will have more chances.)

--Not making the team means your brand is about to take a major hit. You may still be a club star, and make serious money, but when the world is watching, seven weeks hence, and you're not there? Advertisers are going to cluster around the guys on TV in South Africa, not the guys watching them on TV.

--Not making the team means that, for the fairly significant fraction of players who really enjoy putting it out there for the national side, well, you're out of it. No getting misty as they play the anthem before kickoff. No running about the stadium with a flag after that big victory.

The deadline for a 23-man provisional roster is May 12. Coming up fast. The final roster must be turned in the day before the opener, on June 10.

This is the time to campaign, and all the guys on the bubble know it. Expect more bleats similar to that from Ronaldinho. Read more!

A Japanese Reality Checker

Let's hear it for Yuji Nakazawa. A guy who is honest about his team's situation in the looming 2010 World Cup.

Nakazawa is Japan's captain. And he isn't sugar-coating anything.

Japan is an enormous underdog to survive its group. Because it is in Group E with the Netherlands (which could win the whole shootin' match), Cameroon (which could make a deep run) and Denmark (well-organized and has Niklas Bendtner).

But instead of coming up with the usual "we will surprise people" or playing the "we get no respect card," Nakazawa has been blunt.

To wit:

He said the Japanese team needs to have courage to survive a "frightful" schedule. Which sums it up.

"All those teams are full of dangerous players at big European clubs," Nakazawa told Reuters. "Basically they will punish you if you make a mistake. The forwards are all frightening. We need to be very wary of them. They can pounce late in games if you let your concentration slip. We are well aware of the threat but if we go in scared of them we will be in trouble. We have to play with courage and have belief in ourselves."

What I like about that statement? It doesn't denigrate his own side. But it lays out the challenge Japan faces.

Japan will have to play out of its mind to advance. It won't be easy, and the opposition has some highly skilled players.

I don't expect Japan to survive. I doubt Japan will get a point, unless it can manage a tie against, say, Denmark.

But Japan will play hard for 90-plus minutes. Japan's guys will run until they drop. Like some of the other lower-middling clubs in the world (South Korea and the United States come to mind), they try to make up for a lack of great technical skill with a high work rate and sheer "want-to".

I admire clubs like that. I would like to see them win.

It's just not the way to bet. Read more!

Gag Me: An Award for Sepp

This is one of those cheesy moments when the country that gets to host some major sports event ... gives a major award to the president of that organization. The IOC or Fifa, which Sepp Blatter runs.

Cuz why? Because they happened to be in charge when the event was awarded to the host country. (That's why guys like Juan Antonio Samaranch have lots of hardware in their living rooms.)

And that makes them deserving ... how? What did they do for humanity or for your country?

Well, nothing, really. Everything honchos like Sepp do is for their organizations, and usually for its bottom line.

Sepp Blatter is not a visionary for "taking" the World Cup to Africa. He did it because he believes Fifa has business to do there and money to make. The End.

Also, Sepp didn't take the World Cup to SA. It was a vote by the fairly small executive membership. Maybe South Africa really ought to give awards to the key guys in that voting. Like, say, Jack Warner of Trinidad, president of Concacaf.

Anyway, yeah: When hosts start giving medals to sports presidents ... gag reflexes suddenly become engaged. Read more!

North Korea's Team and a Grudge

This is the strangest story of the week.

North Korea, cursed with perhaps the strangest government on the planet, has made the World Cup. It already promised to be a little weird. North Korea is paranoid and potentially violent at any given moment.

And this has a bit to do with that. Paranoia and violence.

To wit: Nobody seems to want the North Koreans around. But it especially true in Zimbabwe, a country neighboring South Africa to the north.

And here is why:

North Korea apparently was involved in training a Zimbabwean military unit that may have been involved in the killing of 20,000 Zimbabwe civilians.

Zimbabwe president for life Robert Mugabe apparently invited in military advisors from North Korea to train a particular unit to carry out reprisals against civilians who were not enthusiastic about him taking over the government, almost 40 years ago.

Some of the tribes loving in the regions where North Korea is recalled as the leaders of a unit that killed so many civilians were talking of demonstrations against the presence of the North Koreans. One of them said the raising of a North Korean flag would be "very provocative."

This won't get better when North Korea goes into South Africa for its three Group G matches. Because South Africa has about 1 million Zimbabwe refugees who have heard bad stories about the North Koreans, as well. And who may be able to demonstrate without having the government attack them.

Why is North Korea doing this? For one, Mugabe runs a police state. Not many nosy reporters having around, and North Korea is comfortable in another police state.

Second, South Africa retains a feisty and independent media, as well as civilians who are likely to organize protests if they think they necessary -- and the presence of the North Koreans might be enough.

Third, two of North Korea's Group G matches are fairly close to Zimbabwe. The first match is at Johannesburg and the third is in Nelspruit, in the northeast of the country. That is, this almost makes sense, logistically.

Go over and read the story. Pretty weird. And that is why North Korea is not some favorite little-guy hero in southern Africa. Read more!

Fernando Torres's World Cup at Risk

Spain's star striker, Fernando Torres, is having knee surgery today.

He will miss the rest of the English Premier League season, which is a big deal at Liverpool.

But over here in World Cup-land ... what we want do know is this: Will Torres be back for Spain in South Africa 2010?

The answer, cautiously ... is yes. He will be back.

Liverpool's medicos seem to believe he will be back in three to six weeks.

The optimistic prognosis has him training again in the first half of May, in time to catch up with the national team as it prepares for SA2010.

Even the worst-case scenario would have him back in time to play in a World Cup warmup and be ready to go in the Big Event itself.

Spain is so deep, the loss of any one player is not significant. But Torres joins Cesc Fabregas on the injured list, and those are two high-caliber players the Spanish would rather have available.

Spain gets a bit of a break in that it is the last team to get into action. Its first Group H match is June 16, against Switzerland. The tournament opens on June 11, so that gives Torres five extra days to get ready.

Torres has had a rough year. Earlier problems with the same knee, a hernia situation ... it's rough out there.

And he certainly fits the description of "great player we definitely would miss" is he isn't ready to go. Read more!