El Jefe Loco Runs Over Cameraman's Leg

I have decided this. From now on, Diego Maradona should be known as ... El Jefe Loco.

Can we agree on this? Diego "El Jefe Loco" Maradona?

This is my contribution to the 2010 World Cup. Along with Bafana Bafana Bafana (two is nice, but three is better) and the Four Lions.

So, yes, today, El Jefe Loco ran over the leg of a TV cameraman.

And his reaction? That of a crazy person. Of course.

El Jefe Loco blamed it on the cameraman. See, his leg got stuck under his wheels. How rude is that.

EJL apparently called the man an "asshole" ... presumably in Spanish. Though some people are amused by the concept of bad words in another language.

A guy who runs over a cameraman, no matter how intrusive, and then blames the cameraman for the incident, shouting "asshole" at him ...

Wouldn't all of us like Argentina's chances to win the World Cup a lot better ... if the team were coached by anybody other than El Jefe Loco?

This will end badly. And prematurely. Read more!

A Rough World Cup for Working Girls?

A story in the Johannesburg Times suggests it will be a tough World Cup for prostitutes. Especially after they seemed to have thought, not long ago, that the month-long event would be a financial windfall for them.

What has soured them on their World Cup fortunes?

--The significant drop in expected foreign visitors, from early projections. All those foreigners scared off by price-gouging airlines and hoteliers ... will impact the working girl's bottom line, they seem to believe.

--A growing international realization that South Africa is the epicenter of Aids, with more cases -- 5.7 million -- than any country in the world. That is, more than 10 percent of a population of some 50 million are HIV-positive. That can have a chilling effect on the sex trade, prostitutes told the newspaper.

--South Africa's unwillingness to designate certain zones for the sex trade, as Germany apparently did in 2006. That leaves many prostitutes on the street, where they believe they are more likely to be victimized by violence or robbery. South Africa already is infamous for its crime.

--The fear that recent arrivals from other African countries will drive down prices. Apparently, fears of a massive invasion of sex workers from around the continent have not been borne out, but enough desperate women from nearby countries are trickling in to change the sex-trade dynamic. And not in a good way, economically, for South Africa's native working girls.

South Africa, like many countries, has no legal prostitution. Note the quote from a World Cup official: "We can't give them shelter because we can't be part of a crime. ... We can't be a banana republic that creates laws for an event for one month."

A World Cup is such an enormous event that it has ramifications on all social strata of a society. Even (especially?) on those near the bottom. Read more!

Whatcha Gonna Do When They Run from You?

Fat boys, fat boys ...

Everybody, sing! You know, the theme song from "Cops" ...

Or not.

The story here is South African officials making a priority out of their police losing weight and getting in shape in time for the World Cup.

It appears donuts may be an issue in South Africa as well as, say, the south Bronx.

Apparently, this stems from a recent drill in Cape Town during which some three-quarters of the cops involved seemed to be huffing and puffing ... and a member of parliament noticed.

"In Cape Town they were practicing as we were viewing the stadium. Three-quarters of them were overweight," Elizabeth Thabethe told the Johannesburg Times.

"How are you doing with that programme, because surely they must be able to run if there is an emergency and not be blocked by their weight."

She said she could give an assurance the South African cops will be "slim and trim" in time for the World Cup, which is barely three weeks off. Must be a crash diet.

Then again, for directing people and performing basic gendarmerie/British Bobby type tasks, a police officer doesn't need to be a lean, mean crime-fighting machine.

But if something more dire comes up, terror or even a serious riot, well, yes, it would be nice to have some cops who could run down a malefactor or two. Read more!

Ballack: Biggest Injury Story Yet

Midfielder Michael Ballack, Germany's captain, will not play in South Africa 2010 because of injury.

He is not the first prospective squad member for the 32 teams heading to South Africa in a few weeks to be declared out. But he is the most prominent player yet to be sidelined. (As opposed to David Beckham, who is far more famous than competent, these days.)

Ballack was declared out of the World Cup by German medical personnel today.

What are the ramifications?

It means Germany's chances of winning the World Cup just declined. Ballack was both a leader and a producer. He played in the last two World Cups for Germany, starring for the 2002 team that fell in the final to Brazil, and performing well for the Mannschaft as recently as 2008, when the Germans were runners-up to Spain in the Euro Cup.

Ballack did not have a great season with Chelsea of the Premier League. He had a series of niggling injuries and was never quite healthy.

But none of his injuries were as severe as this one, which occurred on a vicious tackle by Kevin-Prince Boateng of Portsmouth in the FA Cup final.

Boateng, interestingly, plays for Ghana, which is in the same World Cup group as the Germans. Some whispers have been heard that Boateng didn't mind the idea of hurting Ballack in that situation, but planning an injury while playing full speed is a tricky concept.

Kevin-Prince Boateng, by the way, is the half-brother of Jerome Boateng, who (like Kevin-Prince) was born in Germany, but unlike his younger brother plays for Germany. If you followed the link, you saw that Germany's coach, Joachim Low, asked German fans not to blame Jerome for his half-brother's crude play.

Losing a player of Ballack's pedigree also makes the World Cup a bit poorer. What all serious fans want is a tournament with the best possible players in it. A World Cup without Ballack is short one great player.

England lost Beckham, who is better-known than Ballack but not remotely the player. Becks might have had trouble getting on the field for England.

Other leading players who may not be ready include Fernando Torres (knee) and Cesc Fabregas (broken leg) of Spain, though both have a chance to be there.

Unlike Ballack, who has been ruled out, period. And who, at 33, might never play in another World Cup.

That's a shame. For Ballack, the German team and for World Cup fans. Read more!

Another Bad Day for England

Yikes. England's World Cup players are almost certain to perform better for the nation than its officials have the past few days.

First there was the Mario Capello cash-for-ratings scandal noted in the item below.

Now we have this mess, Lord Triesman suggesting Spain will attempt to bribe referees at the World Cup. Which is a very serious charge that reflects badly on Spain, Russia (the country Lord Triesman suggested would work with Spain) and on Fifa, whose apparently referees are for sale.

What made this worse?

Lord Triesman was, until today, the leader of England's 2018 World Cup bid. He has resigned from that job but has kept his presidency of of the Football Association. For now.

Among generic soccer fans, the sense seems to be "it's time" for England to get the World Cup. The home ground of the game, the location of one of the two best leagues, hasn't hosted since 1966. In 2016? Sure.

But England officials can't seem to get out of their own way. A batch of gaffes let to the ascension of Lord Triesman, who was supposed to be the soul of discretion ... until a "friend" taped him speculating on Spain trying to cheat in 2010 South Africa.

To wit:

"There's some evidence that the Spanish football authorities are trying to identify the referees... and pay them," Triesman said, according to The Daily Mail on Sunday.

"My assumption is that the Latin Americans, although they've not said so, will vote for Spain. And if Spain drop out, because Spain are looking for help from the Russians to help bribe the referees in the World Cup, their votes may then switch to Russia."

Uh. Yeah.

We all have heard stories/rumors of backroom dealing in the world of Fifa. With favorable judgments going to the highest bidder.

At the same time, bid leaders can't really be heard talking about corruption on tape.

But that is about 2018, and the damage it does to England's bid. Which is significant but not as pressing as other aspects of this story.

Specifically, it's out there now that England fears that Spain will cheat. Why Spain? Does Lord Triesman know something we don't? Is Spain known for this? Or is it just a team England fears?

An unfortunate story. Badly times. And like the Capello situation, it is a distraction when England ought to be focusing on South Africa and nothing else. Read more!

Fabio Capello's Very Bad Week

England's coach, Fabio Capello, has done almost nothing wrong since he took over the Three Lions after the 2006 World Cup. He led England on a dominating run through qualifying, and that led to a England being the top-ranked team in its group and a global notion (and national conviction) that his lads could actually win in South Africa this summer.

But then came this week ... and Fabio not only had to worry about former captain John Terry being hurt, he also had to clean after an amazingly bad decision designed to make himself a few more quid out of this World Cup.

To wit:

Capello decided (or maybe his agent did) that it would be a good idea to lend his name to a player rating system that would have graded his own players' performance in South Africa within a few hours of their matches.

When news of that knocked around England, the reaction was quick and harsh.

As AFP put it:

"Capello's employers at the Football Association quickly decided that their six-million-pound-a-year head coach could comfortably do without the extra income the project would have generated and, following a barrage of hostile media comment, the venture has been shelved until after the tournament."

Capello, you may recall reading here, is the highest-paid coach in the World Cup. (The salary noted in that post was correct at the time, coming before the pound lost value against the dollar.) That sum of 6 million pounds is now about $8.7 million, or still almost what Phil Jackson makes to coach the Los Angeles Lakers.

It's a lot of money.

So, backpedaling from the ridiculous player-rating scheme was pretty much required. Like, how many quid does a guy need out of one World Cup?

If you are an England fan, you hope you have just witnessed Fabio's one and only major gaffe in the run-up to the World Cup. Well, make that his second and last major gaffe, since he went back on his earlier decision and said the infamous English Wives and Girlfriends (WAGs) would have more access to players than he originally would allow.

Anyway, no more bad decisions, right Mario? England certainly hopes so. Read more!

North Korea Recruits Chinese Fans

Back to North Korea and how pitiful it is. If they weren't representing the most loathesome government on the planet (or one in the top five, anyway), we would feel sorry for them. Actually, I do feel sorry for the soccer team and the regular fans. They didn't do any of this.

Well, of course, North Korea will have no fans in South Africa. It can't afford to send its politically reliable people and everyone else really doesn't have any money, so the North Koreans are about to play three very high-profile matches (Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast) with nobody in the stands. And how sad is that?

So, the North Koreans are recruiting fans from the only country that is likely to stick up for them. That would be China. To China's shame, because doing anything that props up that regime is criminal.

But, anyway, here is a ridiculous/pathetic story about North Korea and its Chinese fans.

1,000 Chinese to cheer for NKorea at World Cup

BEIJING (AP) -- Few North Koreans will be able to cheer their team at the World Cup in South Africa. So the country is recruiting 1,000 Chinese fans.

The Beijing office of the North Korean Sports Committee is giving out tickets to the tournament, China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency reported.

The Chinese fans will attend North Korea’s games against Brazil and Portugal, Xinhua said.

This is just the second time North Korea has qualified for the World Cup. It shocked the world with its first appearance in 1966 when it beat Italy and reached the quarterfinals.

The Chinese fans who will support North Korea this time include celebrities who have led similar groups to cheer for Chinese teams in the past.

The Beijing office of the North Korean Sports Committee could not be reached on Friday.

North Korea is the great unknown in the World Cup. News in the communist regime is strictly controlled.

Broadcaster APTN in Pyongyang reported that the national team received a festive send-off on Saturday, with residents waving North Korean flags outside the airport as the players arrived. Footage showed women waving flowers as the team boarded the plane.

Coach Kim Jong Hun promised "a great success."

China is North Korea’s chief benefactor, and it apparently respected the wishes of the country’s reclusive leader Kim Jong Il last week when it refused to confirm his secretive visit to Beijing until he had left.

Chinese support for North Korean sports teams is not new. A China-based sports apparel maker, Erke, sponsored all of North Korea’s teams in the Beijing Olympics two years ago, and it now sponsors the country’s football team.

That's just sad. We don't trust our people to travel, not that we can afford it considering half of us are on the verge of starvation, not that we ever would admit to it, so we're going to get the Chinese to show up and act like our fans.

Can't root for these guys. Because the government will claim any success as its own. What I root for, I suppose, is defections. But the North Koreans no doubt are worried that if they do their friends and family will be forced to subsist on half-rations of gruel.

And the Chinese fans ... can the make a point of cheering half-heartedly? Even China ought to be embarrassed by being North Korea's best buddy.

For sure, the weirdest team in the World Cup. Not even close. Read more!