May 2006 Archives

Germany's draw with Japan may simply be a sign of things to come. In a provocative analysis on the origins of the modern German game in the Nazi sport system, the Financial Times's Simon Kuper offers some thoughtful observations on why German football is in terminal decline. In short, the virtues of the German game were physical courage and conditioning, and superb organization. Once that may have been enough to dispense with beer-guzzling Englishmen, Brazilian ball-artists and tackle-shy Frenchmen, but the homogenization of the global game over the past decade has meant that all teams now aspire to the traditional German levels of fitness; the Brazilians play with a holding midfielder and the French have learned to tackle -- in other words, Germany no longer has an edge on anyone.

To this, I'd add that the current shape of German football and the nature of the society itself today militates against producing world champions -- Germany's team comes almost entirely from the Bundesliga, which is where second-string Brazilians go to make a living and ambitious Eastern Europeans go to get the attention of coaches in Spain, Italy and England. And, of course, it's a prosperous consumer society with all the attendant lethargy and self-doubt: The era of German dominance begins in 1954, on the rubble of World War II where the whole of Germany was a kind of favela, the Brazilian urban slums that produce most of the country's footballers, and the country was looking for a peg for its national identity. I think Germany's moment has passed and won't be coming back any time soon. My own prediction is that Germany will win its group (hell, you could imagine Lehmann getting on the score sheet if yesterday's performance by the Polish 'keeper Kuzcak is any indication) but then go out to England in the first knockout stage. England? Yes, England -- that's because Sweden will snatch victory in their group by drawing with the Brits and then beating Trinidad by a bigger margin. And from that point on, Germany's role at World Cup 2006 will be to provide the beer and sausages.

This could be a good way to pass time at work...

This is really depressing, is all I can say. We have a lot of work to do.

My hat's off to Zico!

I keep forgetting to use a "z" in Brasil. Sorry, Christian, but Brasil is spelled Brasil!

Now for the sad news: the decision has been made to withdraw Edmilson from Carlos Alberto Parreira's World Cup squad.

Sao Paulo midfielder Mineiro will take his place.

I was beginning to feel like we were bullies!

Goal 1: Kaká

Goal 2: Adriano

Goal 3: Ronaldo (he looks offside, but we'll take it!)

Goal 4: Ronaldo

Goal 5: Lúcio

Goal 6: Juninho (great free kick!)

Goal 7: Robinho (as the English say - "what a cracker!")

Goal 8: Adriano (nice touch)

Goals by Gerrard,Terry, and Crouch. We all like vindaloo!

PS - Note the lame dance by Crouch after he scores.

I must be missing something. At least that's the way I console myself when I look around and see the spotty coverage in the US media about the World Cup. The NYT finally printed an article on the fortunes of the English team and there was an article on Landon Donovan. They are bringing out a weekend sports edition that will feature the World Cup (and other sports, so it is not really an exclusive). The Wapo is not much better. The TV coverage from ESPN is non-stop Barry Bonds, Heat vs Pistons, and the Mavs vs Suns. Or the Yankees -Red Sox. Even John Daly and his recent mastication at Hooters restaurant got a profile in the NYT.

And I am in NYC, variously called the center of the universe, the melting pot of the world. The Serbian-Montenegrin cab driver (Sorry, he is a Serbian as Montenegro voted for independence over the weekend) who took me to work yesterday, shook his head and said, " If it wasnt for my friends over here and back home, I would not know that there was a World Cup on." He said he had lived in New York for 20 years and each time the World Cup was held, he would become optimistic about soccer becoming big in this country. But that hope has faded away.

If Landon Donovan and the boys were NFL stars or even NCAA football players I would have known the breakfast cereal that they eat, the steakhouse that they go to, their childhood illnesses, the name of their pets, their first heartbreak, the time they went to Yellowstone, and what inspired them to take up soccer. I have to go online to find out. From ESPN Soocernet, or Fox Soccer, or the individual club websites. Because you would not get that in the newsprint or TV media. National Geographic recent issue's on the World Cup but how many people read that magazine.

Soccer still has this subversive quality to it. I will have to go to the 8 mile creek pub to see Aussie soccer or to the 23rd St and Lex area to the many English pubs to get that soccer fever. Or to Queens amongst the Ecuadorians and Colombians to out my hat on and scream Gooooooaaaaaaallllll!

I really hope Sunil Gulati can do more to bring soccer into the US. Because the time for clinical testing is over.

But like I said I must be missing something. So I really would welcome news that proves that soccer is a big deal where you live.

I'm confused, but at least I'm not the only one.

Don't get me wrong, I'm glad we won.

I'm glad Theo Walcott made the record books.

I'm even glad that David Beckham had a decent game. Short on stamina maybe, but he can still deliver a cross!

What I'm puzzled about is our strategy. Is there a game plan? Sven didn't seem to have one. And for that I'm concerned.

Oh yes- Lampard missed a penalty as well. That's not going to work in a few days from now.

More performance details here >>

Who said you can't bring your soccer to work?

Now you can watch them all at your PC:

Brazil – FC Lucern
Germany – Japan
England – Hungary
Czech Republic – Costa Rica

Click here >>

On Monday 16 May 2005, Brazilian soccer star Ronaldo received a warm welcome in the West Bank and Israel, where he was visiting in his capacity as Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The trip was a chance for him to take a first-hand look at UNDP youth and anti-poverty projects in the occupied Palestinian territory and to answer an invitation from the Peres Center for Peace in Israel.

Ronaldo first called at the office of the Palestinian Authority's Prime Minister, Ahmad Qurai, where he was met by dozens of admirers chanting his name and wearing Brazilian soccer shirts bearing the number 9. Mr. Qurai told the press that Ronaldo's visit was important for the Palestinian people.

Jules Rimet,who organised the first world cup way back in 1930 is known to have said: "Soccer could reinforce the ideals of a permanent and real peace."

Well, Ronaldo seems to be on the right track... we can't have a World Cup without a World.

Wish him luck.

Samuel Eto’o is also on the same bandwagon.

Shourin - here's your video:

See Shourin's analysis here >>

In WC 2002, the US team played a contentious match with co-hosts South Korea. The 65,000 S.Korean fans were universally anti-US, fueled by an incident involving US speedskater Apolo Anton Ohno in the recent Salt Lake City Winter Olympics, in which he was awarded the gold medal in the 1500 m after the winner Kim Dong Sung was controversially disqualified for stepping in front of Ohno. The US has traditionally generated strong feelings of antipathy because of soldiers stationed in the DMZ and the Koreans have also resented the pro-US stance towards Japan.

The match was drawn 1-1 from goals through Clint Mathis and the equalizer through Ahn Jung-Hwan. The South Koreans celebrated the equalizer by aping the movements of the speedskaters, a pointed reminder to the Ohno controversy.

The march to war in Iraq was a distant beat at that time. And the 2002 Pew Poll ratings showed that the 9/11 sympathy wave although waning still created a majority in Korea (53%) and Japan (72%) that found the US favorable. Western European countries also showed a slip but around two- thirds of the population still had a positive image of the US. Germany with 61%, France 63%, the UK 75% and Italy 70%.

Lets fast forward to the year 2006. The war on Iraq to date has claimed the lives of 2,465 US soldiers and 224 coalition troops. And approximately 17,869 of them are wounded. Iraqi lives lost range between 38,000 to 43,000. Along the way Spain and Turkey, amongst the big coalition partners have pulled out. The Ukraine and Italy are pulling out their troops by the end of this year.

The 16 nation Pew poll on June 26, 2005 showed the toll that the Iraq war has taken on US image with further slippage of US favorability in the world in all the countries except for India and Indonesia. Western Europe was particularly negative with only the UK seeing the US in a favorable light (55%). In other countries particularly Germany 41%, France 43%, and Spain 41%, had a positive image of the US. The Eastern bloc and Russia countries had a small majority favoring the US.

It has become so bad that George Bush has cut down drastically on his foreign travel. He lives in a security bubble where his unpopularity is filtered away from him from the crowds that come to jeer him. He could not address the Indian and the Australian parliament because it would have created a pandemonium. Condaleeza Rice was booed through her trip to the UK.

What does this mean in terms of sporting events? Is there is any indication that the world thinks differently when it comes to the US sending out their teams for international events? After the 2002 WC, the major sporting events have been the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin. The US Olympic Committee issued a warning to their athletes to tone down patriotic celebrations and to refrain from taunting because of the unpopularity of the Iraq war in Greece.

But the US team was recieve by applause and approval in the inaugural Olympic ceremony. The team that drew the biggest jeers and boos was the US basketball team not only from the fans of other countries but even their own for their shoddy performance. There were some disgruntled US athletes who refused to lose gracefully. And then there was the Paul Hamm controversy. But there were no organized anti-US demonstrations.

The 2006 Winter Olympics was overshadowed by greedy commercialization led by Coca Cola and other sponsors. This infuriated thousands of Italian anti-globalization and anti-war activists who led protests all over Italy and hijacked the Olympic flame enroute from Athens. The protestors also heckled Laura Bush with signs saying "Go Home' when she decided to attend the games. The US Olympic team did not endear itself through the selfish displays of Bode Miller and Chad Hedrick. The reception to the US skiers was not too enthusiastic and there were quite a few hecklers at the bottom part of the ski courses.

Germany and Germans have been strongly against the war on Iraq right from the start. Donald Rumsfeld infamously called Germany as part of Old Europe when they failed to support the US on its war resolution and join the coalition to provide troops and logistics to the war effort. But the cause of anti-US sentiment also extend to the excesses at Abu Ghraib, the incarceration of prisoners without trial at Gitmo, the policy of extra-ordinary rendition, the death penalty, intelligent design, and the increasing religiosity seen in the American public.

The US soccer team comprises a group of relatively low profile players, many who play overseas and who have first hand experienced anti-US feelings amongst the club supporters and players. DaMarcus Beasley at PSV Eindhoven "Even my teammates give me a little stick for it. They don't like (President) Bush at all," he said. "I don't really get any anti-Americanism, but they kind of say, 'Yeah, we don't like Americans.''' I think that they will not do anything to antagonize themselves having recognized that they are treading the edge of tolerance amongst the many Europeans who will witness their matches. Because George W Bush can live in his security bubble and create his own reality but the people who have to deal with that fallout are the players like that of the US Soccer team and the fans that will go from the US to see them.

I can tell you I don't use all these words, but if you want to get a feeling for the expressiveness of the German language, the World Cup is not a bad way to learn.

(* = familiar, ** = very familiar, *** = vulgar, s = slang, Lit. = Literally)

Die Pille (s) Football. Lit. Pill.
Das runde Leder (s) Football. Lit. The round leather
Ran an die Pille! (s) Go for the ball! Lit. Go for the pill!

Der Kasten (s) Goal. Lit. box. That's what the whole match is about: getting the ball in the goal.
Wenn das Leder im Kasten klingelt (s) Scoring a goal. Lit. When the leather jingles in the box.

Abräumen (**) To score, Lit. To clean up.
Versenken (s) To score, Lit. To dump, to sink.
Den Ball im Tor versenken (s) To score a goal. Lit. To dump the ball in the goal.

Bolzen (s) To kick about. Playing just for fun in your spare time.
Der Bolzplatz (s) Football pitch. Lit. Kick around ground. Communal pitch, often with goal posts, where you can play football.

Der Hexenkessel (s) Football stadium of the opposing team, with the fans creating a heated atmosphere. Lit. Witch's cauldron.

Rempeln (**) To barge into, to shove somebody away. Unfair behaviour on the football pitch.

Anfeuern (*) To cheer on, to encourage your team. Lit. To fire.

Schlachtengesänge (**) Football chants Lit. Battle songs.
As in Steh auf, wenn du für Deutschland bist (*) "Get up if you're supporting Germany", sung to the melody of "Go West" by the Pet Shop Boys.

La-Ola-Welle (*) La-ola-wave. Mexican wave, invented by fans at the World Cup in Mexico in 1986.

Ihr könnt nach Hause fahrn' (*) "You can go home." Fans greeting the opposing team.

Der Schlachtenbummler (**) Football fan who travels to support his team (home and away). Lit. Battle stroller.

Der Abstauber (**) Goal hanger, player who scores without much strategy, sometimes accidentally, Lit. Swiper.

Kleinklein (s) Passing the ball from player to player without a plan. Lit. Small small.

Die Gurkentruppe (s) Team that plays badly and unprofessionally, a disaster area, incompetent bunch of players. You get the picture. Lit. Cucumber troop.

more from the BBC Language department >>

Michael Owen has been far too hurt for far too long. And because of that we mortals don't see him enough. But I was reminded of his scintillating brilliance last night watching the Liverpool- Arsenal FC final in 2001 on Fox Classics. Arsenal coasting along to a win through Freddie Ljungberg's goal and the constant forays of Thierry Henry through the left (who missed a sitter that should have sealed the deal). And then comes the last 10 minutes of the match.

Owen takes over and in a fraction of a second, smashes the ball into the net through a sliver of space between Arsenal defenders, stunning David Seaman and the entire Arsenal defense. Arsenal 1 Liverpool 1.

And then comes The Goal. Owen pounces on the ball beyond the Arsenal half line. Martin Keown is about 10 yards ahead of him. Owen accelerates spinning Keown around, the footrace is over in a flash, he is gone to the left and the next thing you know the ball is in the far right corner of the net past a diving David Seaman's outstretched fingertips. The whole thing was over in a blink of an eye. Liverpool 2 Arsenal 1.

Arsene Wenger looked physically sick. Thierry Henry crumbled onto the ground. Freddie Ljungberg's orange highlights turned green. And the rest of the Arsenal players stood around with their mouth agape and their hands on their hips. The Arsenal fans went frozen. A chill descended on them. A sick feeling that comes in the pit of the stomach, that the game was thrown away. But more than that, the game was taken away by a sheer force of nature in an instant. The final 3 minutes were played by Arsenal in a daze. Arsenal had all the answers that day except that they could not have won. It was not meant to be.

For anyone with little to no knowledge of soccer or for that matter sport, would not have been left untouched by Owen's brilliance that day, on a purely instinctual level . As for me, I want to watch that footage over and over again to try to understand how Owen did what he did.

UPDATE: Shourin, here's the video clip of the game - Christian>>

Now they're moving the scan date up to June 7. Which means Rooney can still be replaced in time.

Will it be Jermain Defoe or Andy Johnson to replace the Roonster?

I'm voting for Defoe:

Drezner's right - like all great art, soccer unites and divides people!

Bono's a bit too much perhaps:

Not very impressive - but then no one is. This kind of practice seems to be a waste of time if you ask me.

I've been told by one of our readers that I need to spell Brasil with a "z"!

Either way, this team is just full of talent and watching their practices just makes you want the tournament to start right away.

If you like this clip, let me know, and we'll post a few more.

USA vs Latvia
USA beat Latvia in their last friendly, 1-0 before they start their WC campaign against the Czech Republic on June 12th. There were encouraging sings as Brian McBride scored the winning goal and Eddie Johnson showed some of the old touch that had deserted him for a while. But the midfield is a work in progress with the chronically injured Claudio Reyna and John O'Brien. This match saw O'Brien play for 65 minutes and he showed a bit of the old flair. DeMarcus Beasley was shunted to the right midfield, a position that he plays for PSV Eindhoven. But a lot of fine tuning is still going on with the team.

The US plays with the Czech Republic, Ghana, and Italy in Group E

Croatia vs Iran
Croatia and Iran drew 2-2 and Iran showed that they could surprise quite a few teams with a nice first timer goal from Ali Karimi. The Croatians were let down by a horrible defensive lapse in front of the box, one which led to Iran scoring their second goal. They looked a trifle casual whereas the Iranians seemed pretty revved up and looked dangerous through Ali Karimi and Vahid Hashemian. The Croatians equalized through Marko Babic's PK in injury time.

Iran is in Group D with Angola, Mexico, and Portugal.
Croatia in Group F with Brazil, Japan, and Australia.

Ukraine vs Costa Rica
Ukraine showed how dangerous it can be by whopping Costa Rica 4-0, in a match that Andriy Shevchenko sat out because of injury. But Ukraine wunderkid Andriy Vorobei showed his form by scoring one of the goals. This WC should see plenty of the two Andriys. Costa Rica fielded what seemed to be their first XI with captain Paulo Wanchope playing in the second half.

Ukraine is in Group H with Spain, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia
Costa Rica plays with Germany, Poland, and Ecuador in Group A

France vs Mexico
France beat Mexico 1-0 through Florent Malouda's goal just befor halftime. This was also Zizou's 100th international and he was given a standing ovation. But his game was nothing to write home about and he was substituted by Vikash Dhorasso in the second half. The match also showed Marseille prodigy Franck Ribeiry impress with his swift and nifty running, earning his first cap. Mexico had plenty of possession but failed to threaten until captain Rafael Marquez's 36th-minute header went just over.

France is in Group G with South Korea, Togo, and Switzerland
Mexico is in Group D with Angola, Iran, and Portugal.

Netherlands vs Cameroun
Netherlands beat Cameroun 1-0 through Ruud Van Nistelrooy's goal in the 23rd minute. The Dutch strikers featured an all Premiership line up with Nistelrooy, Robin Van Persie, and Arjen Robben. And Van Persie looked dangerous, time and time again drawing the Camerounians into fouls. Cameroun played without Samuel Eto'o. Some fine goalkeeping by Idriss Kameni kept the margin respectable.

Netherlands is in Group C with Argentina, Ivory Coast, and Serbia Montenegro.

Switzerland vs Ivory Coast
Switzerland drew with the Ivory Coast 1-1, going ahead with a goal by Tranquillo Barnetta but the Ivory Coast came back through Emerse Fae's 25 yard shot that beat goalkeeper Pascal Zuberbuhler.

Switzerland is in Group G with France, South Korea, and Togo
Ivory Coast plays in Group C with Argentina, Serbia Montenegro, and Netherlands.

In other matches Germany pasted Luxembourg 7-0, Portugal outclassed the Cape Verde Islands 4-1, Ecuador beat Macedonia 2-1, Wales beat Trinidad and Tobago 2-1, Serbia-Montenegro drew with Uruguay 1-1, and Spain drew with Russia 0-0.

For more on the matches

Times correspondent Owen Slot flies down to Brazil to chat with Dr. Sócrates- the Dean of Jogo Bonito.

The article speaks for itself, as does this video:

How did Brazil lose? Was it the careless defense? Or did they just not score enough?

That was Paolo Rossi's World Cup - he'd made a pact with someone in Hades.

We have talismans for every country for each World Cup in soccer and then you have Pele, the most talismanic player of the soccer world. Nay! the most talismanic sportsperson in the world. Period.

But no player has ever meant more to their country's history in soccer than Lev Yashin to USSR. And this is strange for a Russian federation that produced icons numerous times to other sports. Olga Korbut, Larissa Latynina, Alexei Nemov, Alexander Popov, Valeriy Borzoi, Sergei Bubka, and so many others.

I do not profess to know much about Russian soccer because they have not been around too long since the break up of the former USSR. Only that they qualified for the 1994 and 2002 World Cup, each time failing to get out of the first round. But the USSR produced some fine players like Oleg Blokhin and Igor Belanov.

But it is left to Lev Yashin, the goalkeeper known as the Black Panther to define soccer in the Soviet era. He was known for his imposing stature standing at 6' 3'', black team outfit, superb athleticism, and stunning saves to earn FIFA's title of the Best Goalkeeper of the century.

Lev Yashin is the only goalkeeper ever to win the European Footballer of the Year Award (1963). He is also believed to have blocked around 150 penalty kicks during his career; far more than any other goalkeeper in history. When asked for his secret, he would say the trick was "to have a smoke to calm your nerves, then toss back a strong drink to tone your muscles." He played for Dynamo Moscow and in four World Cups for the USSR (1958, 1962, 1966, and 1970). Yashin is credited for four clean sheets out of 13 games played in WC finals. The USSR finished fourth in the 1966 World Cup, their best showing. For his career he had 480 clean sheets out of 812 matches played. He also won a USSR Ice hockey championship as a goalkeeper.

Lev Yashin's FIFA testimonial match in 1971 was held at the Lenin Stadium in Moscow with 100,000 fans attending, and a host of stars and superstars, including Pelé, Eusebio and Franz Beckenbauer.

More on Lev Yashin

Francileudo Silva dos Santos, Tunisian striker

Tunisia owes much if its success in reaching the World Cup to Brazilian born, Francileudo Silva dos Santos born in Maranhao, Brazil and given Tunisian citizenship on the eve of the African Cup of Nations in 2004. His 13 goals in 21 matches helped Tunisia win the cup. He played for French club Sochaux before moving to Toulouse.

Anderson Luis de Souza, Portugal midfielder

Portugal has Anderson Luis de Souza aka Deco, playing for Barcelona. The playmaker known as the Magic One is famed for his free kicks and long raking passes. Deco was born in Sao Paulo in 1977, and came to Portugal in 1997, joining Barcelona in 2004 after stints in Benfica and Porto. He has been instrumental in Barca's recent success winning the 2006 La Liga and the the Champions League trophy over Arsenal.

Frank Rijkaard, Barcelona coach on Deco: "Deco is the barometer of our season, when he is in form the quality of the game rises, when he is not so good the team as a whole performs less well.'

I think the only way that India is ever going to get to the World Cup is to renew its relationship with Portugal through its former colony, Goa that India annexed in 1961. And since Brazil is a former colony of Portugal....... you see where this line of thinking is progressing.

BF Skinner, the father of behavior pyschology studied the association between ritualistic behavior and a desired outcome that leads to superstitions. This has also been used to explain the existence of religion. Skinner's work in 1947 was performed on pigeons that were starved of food and then held in cages where food would be presented at specific regulated intervals and then taken away, irrespective of whether the pigeon got to the food or not. But they developed a certain type of ritualistic behavior in between the presentations that included moving their head side to side, cooing, turning around in circles, etc.

Skinner stated that these rituals developed because the association of a particular response at the time of the stimuli of food, which led to the pigeons believing that the pursuit of these behaviors in the future would lead to the successful outcome of the presentation of food.

So what? These are bird brains you might say. But Skinner also laid the foundation of human behavior through these experiments.

In the Western world we have so many types of superstitions that it becomes almost impossible to document their numbers. Breaking a mirror, a black cat crossing your path, sneezing before setting of for a journey, wearing your left shoe first, there are thousands upon thousands of these funny little things that you should do or not do so that bad luck does not befall you. And that is why they are called funny little things because they seem far less extreme then the type of fetishism that is practised by juju men to bring good luck or ward off evil to people in Africa. But if the difference is in the degree, the thought behind it is the same.

Juju men have been around for centuries in Africa. They have the power to change the outcome of anything that they choose to do so. And in soccer, they have held their own. Many teams have turned to juju men for their success, even though many soccer associations have formally banned them. South Africa banned them from travelling with their team in the 2002 World Cup but in other countries the situation is far more fluid, notably in the example of the Ivory Coast. They won the Cup of Nations in 1992 and many Ivoirians credited the sports minister for recruiting juju men for their blessings on the team. But he reneged on his promise to pay them and in anger, the juju men hexed the Ivory Coast team. What followed was a decade of misery for the Ivoirians as their team failed time and time again. In desperation, the sports minister paid a visit to these juju men and gave them bottles of liquor and money worth $2000 to remove the hex. It seems that this has paid off as the Ivory Coast qualified for the World Cup for the first time.

What makes the so called rational world (read Western world) to question juju men is that their practise are visceral and involves self mutilation, the sacrifice of animals to bathe the players in their blood, the spattering of blood of pigeons around the dressing rooms of players to ward of evil spirits, the remains of dead animals to be buried in the opponents half of the field. (This is the reason why FIFA made teams switch sides of the field after halftime).

But as the many successes of recent African countries in soccer in the world stage and the increasing export of a group of talented players to the big leagues have created a higher profile and shone the limelight on African soccer, the practises of the juju men have come under closer scrutiny and exerted pressure on the African associations to clamp down on them. The reason ostensibly is that soccer depends on hard work, skill and soccer savvy. But the fear that drives them is to present the Eurocentric soccer world with another reason to label Africa as a group of third world countries.

“Image is everything,” stated the Cairo-based Confederation of African Football before the African Nations Cup in January in Mali. The group said it instituted the ban to avoid presenting “a Third World image” during the continent’s
premier sporting event.

I wonder if we could consider the US or England, third world countries based on the irrational belief that breaking a mirror constitutes seven years of bad luck. On a practical level, this is what keeps a mirror manufacturers in business or janitors who have to clean up shards of broken glass for a living. Or horror films for that matter. But these superstitions serve another purpose, the control over the world, however ephemeral and questionable that might be.

As for Juju men, they can co-exist happily with the new Africa, providing yet another example of how wonderfully diverse the world is and that of soccer, and another rejection of an attempt to make this world an antiseptic place to live and providing another story. Because in the end, the world is nothing if not for stories.

Read on juju men and their influence

If soccer players have their strange rituals (see Sergio Goycochea), then the fans that watch the game are not to be outdone.

Here is a sampling of their rituals and superstitions.

Lucky drawers:

My lucky pants! A pair of old red and white things. Saw me through my successful Sunday league career with an assurance others can only dream about. They never fail (apart from last year's Div One play-off final). However, the elastic's gone now so I face a dilemma: throw them away, and with them England's World Cup hopes? New elastic? New pair of lucky pants sworn in? Just don't do anything and have them hanging down by my knees? Strangely, my wife seems uninterested and unwilling to discuss which option I should choose.
Neil Warren, England

Sartorial splendor:

I notice that anytime I watch a game naked, the team I support will win.
Tah, Cameroon

Tongue in cheek:

My superstition is that if the team I'm supporting score more goals than the opposition then they always seem to win, it never fails. If my team doesn't score they never win, so it must work.
James Fisher, England

Ablutions:

Sod's Law, someone always scores when I go to the toilet. So if England are 1-0 ahead against Sweden or Argentina I'll be staying right where I am. We could be the team that scores the second goal, making it 2-0, but I'm not taking any chances. Instead, I'll be going easy on my pint, struggling to control my bladder while the lads struggle to control the pig's bladder on the damp long grass in Japan.
Dave, UAE

Agriculture:

If I roll in cow dung before the day before England games, and dance naked around a maypole, we usually draw. So I won't do that anymore.
Rod Jenkin, England

Caffeine:

I had a cup of coffee and Arsenal won 2-1, despite being down to ten men. In all the subsequent Premiership and FA Cup games Arsenal scored after I'd had the customary cup or two of coffee. My superstitious belief was strengthened in the game against Aston Villa at Highbury - Villa went 2-0 ahead before I'd had the chance to get the cup of coffee. I got myself the beverage and lo and behold the Gunners went on to win 3-2.
Mitesh Shah, England

National character:

I always find that England play so much better after I have had several pints of lager. Strange isn't it.
Joe, UK

More from the Beeb

RhineEnergie Stadium- Cologne's World Cup venue

The NYT travel section has an article of where to base yourself in Germany for all the World Cup action. And their choice is Cologne. I could hardly argue that. One of Europe's prettiest and historical cities. With an active night life and a thriving art and culture scene. It is well connected to most of the other venue cities and is a short ride from each one of them. But the biggest reason: The Brazilians have made it their hub.

And the reason for their choice? A fluke encounter between Pope Benedict and Pele at the Dom. That was watched by all of Brazil on the news. So Catholicism and soccer came together and Cologne was the beneficiary. And so, Cologne will be playing host next month to 5,000 Brazilians in all their samba drumming, midriff baring glory.

For more on Cologne

Johan Neeskens, The Socceroos assistant coach

Gus Hiddink is the coach of the Socceroos and his assistant coach is none other than Johan Neeskens, one of Holland's famed players from the 1974 and 1978 WC squad that came close to winning it all twice in a row. Along with namesake and fellow legends Johan Cruyff, Arie Haan, Robert Rensenbrink, Johny Rep, and Ruud Krol that formed the best team that never won the World Cup.

Neeskens is amongst the many ex-Holland players who are shaping the world of soccer with their coaching skills. Soccerblog has made a point that Dutch coaching should be trademarked.

As for Neeskens, he enjoys coaching the Socceroos and seems to be living vicariously through them, the glory days of his past. The next friendly that the Socceroos play is against Holland, his old team. Any divided loyalties?

"No, it's going to feel great," he said. "For me it is a great opportunity. I was with Holland twice (as a coach), at the European championships and the world championships.But now I only look forward to playing against them. And of course we want to beat them."

Asked whether he believed the Dutch would treat the game seriously, he responded: "They'd better."

All players in every game go through every type of ritualistic behavior that they think will make Lady Luck smile on them. The association between ritualistic behavior and a desired outcome is what BF Skinner studied in great detail and forms the basis of superstition, and even possibly religion.

In the US, we see this everytime a baseball player steps out on the plate, an sequence of movements elaborately pantomimed, where he will touch his helmet a certain number of times, whack his boot with the bat, and trace the cross before settling down to his stance. Watch Sammy Sosa, Barry Bonds, and Jason Giambi. Even pitchers and managers have their behaviors down pat before a pitch or before a call.

These are some of the tamer rituals and soccer has plenty of them too. But among the more bizarre rituals was that of Sergio Goycochea, the Argentinian goalkeeper in the 1990 World Cup. Before any penalty kick taken he would hitch up his shorts and urinate on the grass. In full view of thousands of specators and the TV media.

And it worked as Argentina beat Italy in the 1990 WC semi-fianls. Goycochea made spectacular saves of Robert Donadoni's and Aldo Serena's penalty kicks that took Argentina to the final against W. Germany. And in the finals he almost kept out Andreas Brehme's penalty in the 85th minute that gave the Germans their title.

Maybe it was the sight of Goycochea peeing on the grass that threw of Donadoni and Serena. But it worked.

As for Goycochea nowadays, he partners good friend Diego Maradona's popular TV programme La Noche Del Diez on Argentina's channel 13. Hopefully he uses the loo before his TV appearances.

This ad is far superior to The Mastercard ad, Humberto. And funnier!

The Socceroos got a win over Euro champions Greece 1-0 in their friendly. But it was a win that left Guus Hiddink dissatisfied with the Socceroos preparation for the World Cup. The intensity in the Oz squad was missing in the second half, and Hiddink voiced his frustration on his team's performance.

"Now I'm going to focus on improvements in our game before we face the Japanese. We have got to get more physical strength and depth."

The good news is that medio Tim Cahill's rehab is on track for his injured knee for the Soceroos opening on June 12th in the WC. Harry Kewell is receiving physical therapy at Liverpool for his pulled groin. The Soceroos are now in Melbourne for their training camp.

Australia meet Japan, Croatia, and Brazil in Group F

In some ways, the brutal honesty of Kevin Keegan was responsible for both success and failure. He did things by sheer will power.

The video makes clear why England went with Sven. You've got to hand it to Sven for handling the pressure!

Soca Warrior coach Leo Beenhakker has had it with England will do this and that. As T&T's friendly against Wales ended in defeat 2-1 for the Soca Warriors, Beenhakker's comments could reflect a touch of pique against the British Isles.

Beenhakker on England: "These guys should be prepared for everything but they never win."

T&T is in Group B with England, Sweden, and Paraguay.

This is the Argentinian answer to Guarana Antartica’s "Maradona in a Brazil shirt" ad... The best player in Brazil is Argentine!

From the Financial Times:

World Cup ‘facts’ that miss by a mile
By Simon Kuper
Published: May 26 2006 20:31 | Last updated: May 26 2006 20:31

No event generates as much nonsense as the World Cup. Here are just a few of the silly things you will hear over the next few weeks: “Hooligans could ruin the World Cup.”

The danger of hooliganism is exaggerated. If louts hit a few people and break shop windows before a game in Germany, that is more or less the same thing that happens on an average Saturday night in many British towns. The difference is that the louts at the World Cup act under the lenses of possibly the largest battery of cameramen ever assembled.

The danger this summer is not hooliganism but terrorism. Terrorism is a form of public relations. This World Cup will be the biggest media event in history. A suicide bomb in Baghdad barely gets on television any more but one in Frankfurt’s train station on match day would be the story of the year.

“The World Cup is a male party. It turns women into soccer widows.”

This is decreasingly true. In countries that have only recently embraced football – Japan, the US, even France – women are often as keen as men.

“Players who come from the slums have fire in their bellies. For them, football is an escape from poverty. Kids in the rich world aren’t hungry enough.”

If poverty were the key, African teams would win World Cups. Instead, the trophy usually goes to a rich nation: Germany, Italy, France, England, Uruguay when it still was rich.

Goldman Sachs, in its report on the tournament, notes that “the wealthier nations are generally the better footballing nations”. It turns out that you need good nutrition and a well-organised football set-up to win the World Cup (unless you are Brazil). It’s true that within rich countries, the working classes and particularly poor immigrants tend to produce the best players. But even these groups are many times richer than the global average.

“Penalty shoot-outs are a lottery, a terrible way of deciding football matches.”

You might as well say that putts in golf are a lottery. Penalty shoot-outs test the ability to beat a goalkeeper from 12 yards while exhausted and with tens of millions of people watching. Clearly there is an element of luck, as in almost everything.

However, measured over time, some players and countries will outperform others. There are reasons why the English do badly. First, they rarely wait for the keeper to dive before choosing their corner. Second, they take their kicks knowing that their countrymen historically lose on penalties. When a team plays at a World Cup, the ghosts of their past players sit on their shoulders whispering in their ears.

“There is a new slave trade in football: young African players are being shipped to Europe to be exploited.”

Millions of Africans died in the “old” slave trade. This doesn’t quite compare with the fate of an African teenager flown to Belgium on the false promise of a professional contract who ends up living illegally in poverty. He may in fact be better off than if he had remained in his home village. Agents who exploit African players – by taking three-quarters of their salary, for instance – should be punished. But comparisons with slavery should be forbidden.

“The African players are natural athletes.”

So are the English, Serbian and Japanese players.

“The World Cup will be an economic bonanza.”

In fact, much of the money spent is either wasted or displaces other spending. The family that buys a plasma television screen to watch the tournament would otherwise probably have bought it the year after. Fans who buy beer and pizza to fuel their viewing aren’t going to the cinema or buying lottery tickets. And building a big stadium and access road in a provincial town to stage four World Cup matches generally yields little long-term return.

The World Cup can also damage economies. Brazil operates on a semi-official go-slow throughout the tournament. In England, people show up at work hungover.

The finance academics Alex Edmans, Diego Garcia and Oyvind Norli are about to publish an authoritative paper called Sports Sentiment and Stock Returns. It shows that the domestic stock market suffers when a national soccer team loses an important game because investors feel depressed. The authors analysed 1,162 matches played by 39 countries from 1973 to 2004. They found that a loss in the knockout rounds of the World Cup, for instance, “leads to a next-day abnormal stock return of –49 basis points”. The effect is strongest for small stocks, which tend to be traded chiefly by domestic investors. By contrast, a team’s victory had no statistically significant effect on stocks.

“In the World Cup winning isn’t everything. It’s the only thing.”

Football fans remember the beautiful football of the Hungarians who lost the final in 1954, the Dutch who lost in 1974, the Brazilians of 1982. Their tragic ends are part of their legends. Johan Cruyff, the Dutch captain in 1974, even argues that Holland “really” won that World Cup because the world remembers their team better than it does the German winners. That might be going too far.

See this column by the Freakonomics nerds as well>>

Don't you love this? Meet up @ 2pm at the Peace Pagoda on the river - Sunday, May 28th 2006 in Battersea Park, London.

This is what soccer is all about: uniting people across the planet, one kick at a time.

Way cooler than the FIFA Trophy Tour!

Check out their 2002 World Cup adventure.

Will they get to the finals? I believe they could upset Brazil in their group:

"Brazil are favourites, not only to win the group but the whole World Cup. But we are not afraid of the Brazilians. We respect them highly but we shall not start that match in fear," says winger Darijo Srna.

I realize I'm not stepping out on a limb or anything, but there are 4 teams which could win it all:

1) The Netherlands
2) Portugal
3) Croatia
4) England

Yes, in that order! Could it be Holland's turn at last?

Gentlemen, we have a winner:

OK, it is just an ad, but you get a good feeling from it anyway! I'm ready for the games to begin.

Brian Ching and Clint Dempsey showed us that the US can score goals. Maybe there's hope for the US team yet. One thing I admire about Arena is his calmness. The US will need a steady game at the Cup.

Read all about it >>

The star of the match, though, was the crowd - the largest to witness a Team USA match in Ohio. Nice going.

Next it's Latvia.

Sidenote: The "matchtracker" deal on ussoccer.com is a waste of time. I actually expected to see some streaming video from the game... but no such luck. Lame all around. Probably the worst user interface I've seen in a while. I'll stick to ESPN2, thank you.

Not holding my breath.

Except that I hope the US don't lose any more players to injury. See Bruce Arena's roster.

And watch the game on your PC if you don't have ESPN2: go to usoccer.com and launch the "matchtracker."

We can talk about how lame the US team is tomorrow... maybe!

I laughed when I read this column by Pearson who's upset at the news that Robert Pires is out of Arsenal.

Enjoy!

OK Christian, I get your message! Here is something to inspire everyone.

Kerlon is not going to be at this World Cup. Can you believe it?

He's the next Ronaldinho.

His specialty is the "seal dribble" - he runs through a line of defenders juggling the ball on his head.

The only way to stop him is to foul him, as the video shows:

I wish he was on the team for Germany!

PS- Guess the team he plays for- Cruzeiro!

One of my favorite ads to date:

Not everything about the world cup is as uplifting. For example, cruzeiro always has his mind in the gutter (see previous post)... and what's worse, he's not getting paid anything by that t-shirt company!

Here's a T-shirt I'm buying:

Along with Messi, I'm looking for Carlitos to take Argentina back to glory this summer:

When he was at Boca, and they played Manchester United in a pre-season friendly, Ruud van Nistelrooy went into the Boca dressing room after the game to ask for his shirt.

Now of course he's top scorer in the Brazilian league. Cruzeiro - what do you think of that? :-)

You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave...

I just hope they feed Ronaldo a few less calories!

While I'm upset about Fergie keeping Rooney off the England roster (and yes, in all fairness, he should be looking after his player) I was somewhat encouraged by England's loss to Belarus yesterday.

Sven should be feeling fine. Here's why:

1. The big guns were resting: David Beckham, Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard, Paul Robinson Rio Ferdinand and John Terry were drinking beer in the stands.

2.Owen looked fine: he did help set up the goal and looked fit. No visible limping or wincing like Beckham in 2002.

3. Theo Walcott can play with the big boys: I liked his shot near the end.

4. What was Robert Green doing? He hurt himself on a goal kick which turned into a goal for Belarus. At least he won't be doing this in Germany, if he gets to go that is.

5. Aaron Lennon looked good. He could fill in for Becks any day, which is only good news.

6. Peter Crouch was okay. Owen and Crouch still need some work if they're going to be the dynamic duo up front (think Romario-Bebeto, or Romario-Ronaldo).

So here's the video - the commentary is in Romanian, but the song remains the same - England 1, Belarus 2.

I was supposed to be on blog duty yesterday but I must say I felt so upset that I couldn't do anything at all. Sorry everyone.

It's not fair, but I think Rooney's not going to be allowed to go to Germany- even if he is fairly fit.

And who do you guess is behind that?

I'm betting it's Fegie. First he sacks Rooney's doctor:

We can confirm that Dr Stone has left the club. There was a difference of opinion on a non-football and non-clinical issue, as a result of which Dr Stone felt it to be in his and the club's best interests for him to leave.

Best interests, indeed!

Why? Because Rooney was healing ahead of schedule, that's why. And Fergie is thinking about Rooney's contribution to the club, not England.

See this: Ferguson has left no-one in any doubt; if Rooney is not given the all-clear when he returns from Baden-Baden, as far as he is concerned the striker will not be going back...

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

Pele celebrating the 1970 Brazil victory

Reading through Nobel Laureate Gerald Edelman's work, of selectional theory of brain development, he postulates that at birth the genetic instructions in each organism provide general constraints for neural development, but cannot specify the exact location and configuration of each cell.

After birth innate "values", i.e. adaptive cues (such as "looking for food"), generate behavior and therefore feedback from the environment, which in turns helps "select" the neural configurations that are more suitable for survival. During this on-going process of "learning" the brain develops categories by selectively strengthening or weakening connections between neural groups. Experience "selects" one configuration of neural groups out of all the configurations that are possible.

The functioning of the brain can be explained as resulting from a morphological selection of neural groups. Neural groups "compete" to respond to environmental stimuli. Each brain is therefore different, depending on the stimuli that it encounters during its development.

Adhesion molecules determine the initial structure of neural groups, the "primary repertory". Behavior determines the secondary repertory. Repertories are organized in "maps", each map having a specific neural function. A map is a set of neurons in the brain that has a number of links to a set of receptor cells or other maps.
Maps communicate through parallel bidirectional channels, i.e. the "reentrant" signaling. Reentry is not just feedback because there can be many parallel pathways operating simultaneously. The process of reentrant signaling allows a perceptual categorization of the world, i.e. to relate independent stimuli. This ability enables higher level functions such as memory.

In Edelman's view brain processes are dynamic and stochastic.

The brain is not an "instructional" system but a "selectional" system. It evolves not by changes in a constant set of neurons but by selection of the most valuable neural groups among those that exist since birth. And the elementary unit of this process is not the single neuron, but the neural group.

So in a less fancy way, we can say that it is the interaction between nature and nurture that provides that basis for human development and skill formation. So an Indian might be born with the same set of precursor genes or set of genes as a Brazilian, but with the specialization through experience and innateness taught by the Brazilian way of viewing soccer as a means to a "life solution," says journalist Lito Cavalcanti, the Brazilian expresses this selection through soccer and an Indian to software.

Many of Brazil's greatest footballers grew up in favelas - the shanty towns in its sprawling cities. Here, life is hard, and football offers an escape from the crippling poverty. Andrew Benson and John Sinott try and demystify the phenomenon called Brazilian soccer. But maybe somethings are not supposed to be deconstructed and the only appropriate reaction is to lie back and say "Wow."

Van Basten and his boys are ready

Remember Jaap Staam. One of the best defenders in the world. Now injury riddled and at half the pace.

But the the Dutch defence has surprised with its resiliency. They conceded only three goals in the 12 qualifiers and they played against the likes of marksmen Jan Koller and Milan Baros. And this defence is extremely mobile and capable of moving ahead into opposing terrritory. Khalid Bouhlarouz of SV Hamburg, Joris Mathijsen of AZ Alkmaar, and Giovanni Bronckhorst of Barcelona have built a solid defence. Kew Jaliens and Tim De Cler will come off the bench.

Veteran Philip Cocu leads the midfield and with Mark Van Bommel provides the conduit to strikers Ruud Van Nistelrooy, Robin Van Persie, and Arjen Robben. Edwin Van Der Saar should be his usual dependable self at goal. This Dutch team is so strong that they left out Roy Makaay, Clarence Seedorf, and Edgar Davids.

The Dutch are in Group C with Argentina, Serbia and Montenegro, and Ivory Coast.

Soca Warrior midfielder, Carlos Edwards of Luton FC, writes his syndicated column for the Guardian and gives an insight into the upbeat T&T team that is looking past the first round to even the quarterfinals. The lads love Leo Beenhakker who seems to have blended a nice combination of rigorous training with off the field downtime. Here is Edwards take on his coach.

"Beenhakker is an expressive coach. He doesn't hold back. If he's happy, he'll let you know but, if he feels you're not giving him your absolute all, he'll have a pop at you. All the players like him and respect him because Leo is 100% frank with us.

He'll bollock Dwight Yorke, he'll bollock anyone. He doesn't take any nonsense and, since arriving, he's made a huge difference. We certainly wouldn't have qualified for the World Cup without him."

And Edwards on the T&T fans who will definitely light up this World Cup with their festive spirit, song, and music

"The Soca Warriors' supporters are the best partiers in the world and, you never know, they might even persuade the German police to join them in their fun and games. They also demand we play good football, regardless of whether we win or lose, and we certainly won't let them down on that score.

I think they'll enjoy themselves. I just hope we can give them something to remember for the rest of their lives."

The Soca Warriors will probably be the most popular team in this World Cup with their fans. Great soccer and a bacchanalian spirit.

17 minutes into the friendly against Morocco, US captain Claudio Reyna pulls his hamstring.

Poof! There go US World Cup chances...

What's going on here? Didn't he stretch out?

And to top it off they lost 1-0.

What a nightmare for Bruce Arena!

Can Zizou do it again? They've been struggling, but a win here and a win there, and it could all come together...

All I can say is why do they bother?

This is the type of "agency-driven" advertising which does nothing for sales.

Another useless campaign!

The Wall Street Journal picks up on the Adidas versus Nike battle [registration required] for soccer supremacy.

Stephanie Kang and Mike Esterl fill us in on the details - apparently adidas is going with the "lock Nike out" approach:

During the 64-game tournament, more than a billion viewers will see Adidas's three-stripe logo on match balls, referee uniforms, outfits worn by volunteers and billboards in and around the country's stadiums. Adidas has also locked up exclusive rights to advertisements during broadcasts of games in the U.S. by ABC and ESPN -- effectively blocking Nike ads from view.

Nike, meanwhile, is doing the celebrity-thing:

Just as its sponsorship of Michael Jordan propelled Nike into the biggest basketball brand in the world, the company hopes pricey endorsement deals with superstars like Brazil's Ronaldinho and the Brazilian team -- the reigning World Cup champions and this year's tournament favorite -- will make it the leader in soccer. Giving its swoosh even greater visibility, Nike for the first time is sponsoring more World Cup teams than Adidas. Nike is sponsoring eight, including the U.S., Mexico and Portugal. Adidas has just six, since several teams it signed failed to qualify for the tournament.

The numbers?

Nike says it is approaching $1.5 billion in soccer-related sales, more than double what it generated in 2002 and a huge jump from the $40 million in soccer goods it rang up in 1994, when the U.S. played host to the World Cup for the first time. Adidas, the longtime leader, is expecting a better than 30% sales jump this year to more than $1.5 billion.

Looks like Adidas has dropped the ball!

Maybe they should just sponsor soccer blog! FYI, For those of you advertising types who understand "intensity of experience" - soccerblog.com had 48 pageviews per user yesterday, compared to 5 pageviews per user for Nike's soccer community - joga.com. Not bad, eh?!

For more insight, see John Hagel's post: Joga.com and the Return of Community.

Thanks also to Britton at Intelligent Economy for sending me the WSJ story.

Tons of good stuff from the soccer nerds at National Geographic:

"Introduction" by Sean Wilsey
"IVORY COAST—The Way to Win Juju on the Field," by Paul Laity
"ENGLAND—Faded Glory: Taming the Hooligans," by Nick Hornby (see the "extended" version as well)
"BRAZIL—Ballet with Ball: A Love Story," by John Lanchester
"COSTA RICA—Soccer Inc: Marketing Fanaticism," by Matthew Yeomans
"SPAIN—Morality Play: Soccer as Theater," by Robert Coover
"ANGOLA—A Greater Goal: Healing a War-Torn Land," by Henning Mankell
"ARGENTINA—Ode to Maradona: Falklands' Revenge," by Thomas Jones
"CROATIA—Group Therapy: A Nation is Born," by Courtney Angela Brkic

Here's an excerpt On 2002:

The best match of the tournament was the quarterfinal between England and Brazil, which contained equal quantities of intensity, beauty and luck. Michael Owen scored with characteristic elegance on a blistering run after a Brazilian gaffe in the 22nd minute, and England led until first half injury time, when Rivaldo equalized on a Ronaldinho assist. A minute into the restart Ronaldinho delivered an incredible, foot-of-God-like goal from a free kick from midfield. Despite three substitutions, and another forty-seven minutes, England couldn't get through Roberto Carlos and the Brazilian defense.

After the game David Beckham visited the winners' locker room, and (according to Sports Illustrated) this exchange ensued:

BECKHAM: Hi, sorry. I just wanted to know if Ronaldo wanted to swap shirts with me.

ROBERTO CARLOS (listening): I already traded shirts with him.

RONALDO (returning with a jersey): Beckham just gave me his.

The game was so good, Beckham traded shirts twice.

There's more >>

Now we know the truth. Soccer blog has dug up some rare photographic evidence to conclusively prove our theory- Jesus and the Apostles were a football team.

Note: Jesus was the goalie. And Judas? He was team manager!

And you thought the Da Vinci Code was wierd!

The HR folk at adidas have a sense of humor. Here's what they did for April Fools' Day - in their employee publication:

“Responding to increased employee demand, our Village HR team is set to launch adiDATE, a brand-new online dating service for all single adidas employees, which comprise the majority of our employee base.

“HR has received requests from single, travel-weary employees who say they are always on the road or working long hours and have no time to dedicate to their social life.

“Said an HR spokesperson: ‘HR listened.’”

The spoof issue was an instant success!

“We were so good at fooling people that one employee e-mailed Internal Communications and said he couldn’t believe our HR Department would actually be spending time and resources on developing a singles site when they should be looking into more important things like child-care options for employees with children,” she says. “Another person from our IT Department called and wanted to know why IT didn’t know about this singles site that was launching in May. He said IT should have been in the loop and that it had not appeared on their scheduling. We were a little stunned—yet flattered—that they had taken this seriously. Of course, we had to let them know it was just a joke.”

I like it. Very un-german, this sense of humor thing :-)

There's more >>

Munez strikes a blow for the global Toon Army

We took the young lads to see "Goal" today, that marvelously improbable rags-to-riches story about a young Mexican illegal immigrant in LA, Santiago Munez, who ends up starring for Newcastle United. But there's a lot of real stuff in it, and I'm not just talking about the cute cameos -- Alan Shearer approaching our hero in the gym and saying "Are you done with that, lad?" and then adding about 50 pounds to the weight before taking over the machine. Or Beckham, Raul and Zidane showing up in a London nightclub having watched a Fulham home game that day! (The presence of Jermaine Jenas, who was still with Toon back then and much of it was filmed at their facilities, is even more confusing, since he bears a passing resemblance at a distance to our boy Munez, or Salsa Man as his teammates call him.)

I loved the sense they generated of the atmosphere in the city before a big game, with the little old ladies telling the playboy striker "I can see why they took you off last week; you're shite." And so on. But the thing that I found most electrifyingly profound was the scene shot in an LA pub at 7am, as loyal Newcastle fans eight time zones away gather to watch the game on Fox Soccer Channel. When Munez's dad is offered a drink by one and he says it's a little early, the West Coast's Geordie's reply is "Not in Newcastle, it's not..." And so, when our boy Munez has to take a crucial free kick in the dying seconds against Liverpool from out on the right (you know, Nobby Solano territory), he pauses to cross himself, and his abuelita in that LA pub does the same, in the same moment, as do the thousands of Geordies shown watching in local pubs in Newcastle.

That's precisely the communion I was referring to in my piece about watching Liverpool's Champion's League triumph with Elvis Costello. There's a Toon Army in LA. And there's a little pub on 11th Street in Manhattan that was grown from a cutting of the Kop.

When Liverpool and Man United clash, these days, there are millions of people around the globe hanging on every moment, live, in real time (or almost real time, because what I've noticed is that if I'm watching a Liverpool game, the text commentary by the fans on redandwhitekop.com is actually about two minutes ahead). And whereas when I was a teeanger following Liverpool's glorious first march to the European Cup in 1977 via the BBC World Service on shortwave radio, going to school the next morning elated but with nary a soul with whom to discuss it, today I'll see at least a dozen people in the course of the average morning who watched the same game

Satellite TV has connected the Diaspora of every great English club to its home base. We scream our heads off in unison when Stevie Gerrard nicks an equalizer in the 91st minute. We gasp as Lampard's shot grazes the bar. We curse Arjen Robben for diving as if he can hear us. We sit at work watching Champion's League games, swopping emails with colleagues in Baghdad and Paris and Johannesburg are all sharing that moment along with -- if Liverpool are playing -- Elvis Costello wherever he is. And in those 90 minutes, our world is very, very small, intimate almost.

From the Deloitte press release:

Deloitte analysis of the World Cup squads, announced today, has shown that English clubs lead the world, contributing one in seven 2006 FIFA World Cup team players.

Dan Jones, Partner of the Sports Business Group at Deloitte, commented: "English clubs provide more World Cup players than any other country’s clubs, which again emphasises the strength and popularity of the game in this country. Record levels of revenue generation over the last decade have provided the clubs with the financial muscle to attract some of the world’s top football talent to play in England. The recently announced, enhanced values of broadcasting deals, effective from 2007/08, should help English football retain its domestic and world popularity.”

Key findings of the analysis of the official player lists by the Sports Business Group at Deloitte include:

- Over 100 players from English clubs are named in the 2006 FIFA World Cup squads, equivalent to one in seven of the total

- The top four clubs are Chelsea (16 players in official player lists), Arsenal (15), Manchester United (12) and Liverpool (9)

- Hosts Germany has the next largest contingent of players (contributing over 70 players)

- Around 350 of the players in the squads are with clubs in the ‘big five’ European countries (England, Italy, France, Germany and Spain). The ‘big five’ countries generate around 70% of the total revenue of the European football market

- Only two national squads – Italy and Saudi Arabia - are made up entirely of players from clubs from their own country

Dan Jones added: “Already ‘the financial champions of the world’, let us hope that England can also become the football champions of the world.”

Gary Neville tells us that this is it.

"No excuses for anybody. Injuries, whatever happens to us, no excuses."

Rooney's foot will be the #1 excuse if England bow out - that's my opinion!

The Gunners' Arsene Wenger on his own player: "It is clear there was no foul. I condemn and regret the attitude of Eboue. I have always risen up against cheating. Eboue cheated by simulating the foul. I detest simulation."

So will Wenger dump Eboue?

It is not just Catholic priests who look to the World Cup to find their raison d'etre. But Tibetan monks too. I saw Phorpa many years ago. And it was a cute little story about these young monks who loved all their spirituality but every four years loved the World Cup a bit more, at least for a month or so. And so they resort to all these tricks to see the 1998 World Cup on TV, without the knowledge of the big daddies. It is a funny clandestine movie that comes out alright in the end because the big Lama turns out to be a sucker for the World Cup too.

Its worth a watch though. Imdb info

....... At least not this time. Impressive dribbling though. But some people are hard to please, as noted below
sabian16 (3 weeks ago)
"kaka and ronaldinho did this when they were 12"

Speaking of religion, this being Sunday and all, here's the official prayer from the good old C of E:

Lord God, the source of all life and joy, recreation and skill,
we pray for all involved in the World Cup,
and especially for those who represent our nation:
for good health for the players,
for high standards of sportsmanship and fairness,
and for the safety and well-being of all who will watch,
that in our shared enjoyment of the game,
we may rejoice in the one who came to bring life in all its fullness,
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God of work and play, Lord of all the nations,
guide, guard and protect all who work or play in the World Cup.
May all who watch or engage find in this competition a source of celebration
and a recognition of what it means to be made in the image of the One who played the cosmos into being.
Amen.

Now I'm waiting on the Islamic response...

The Da Vinci Code is out, accompanied by a fair amount of objection to its release from various religious groups.

Now football is a religion, right?

So what if Dan Brown had written his book on the World Cup instead ?

What if he had written that the World Cup – the holy grail for soccer worshippers - was not what it seemed to be?

What if he had to suggest that there was a terrible conspiracy and a deep dark secret about it that had been hidden away for years? The story would have started with the murder of an elderly soccer referee on a football field in Uruguay. His body would be found lying there arranged in such a way as to resemble a football.

This would then lead to all kinds of terrible clues and complications which would ultimately result in the revelation of a secret of such magnitude that football would never be played in the same way again...

Would the book sell as much has his other book?

Would they be able to make a movie out of it?

Would they be able to get Tom Hanks to play the ageing goalkeeper who runs around unraveling the whatever it was that needed to be unraveled ?

And the blasphemous secret? You should have figured that out by now – mixed teams!

Now, here's the video:

Dimitar Vesselinov says Ukraine. I have a feeling he is biased. But lets look closely at their group. Ukraine, Spain, Tunisia, and Saudi Arabia.

Would'nt you say that their chance of advancing to the round of 16 was good? Three defenders coalesce around Andrei Shevchenko everytime he gets the ball. They foul him, its a free kick just outside the box, or a penalty, or he gets off a pass in time to the unheralded strikers named Andriy's.

Andriy Voronin, who is a good lad with Bayer Leverkausen or Andriy Vorobei of Shakhtar Donetsk. And they score. It should be that easy. In fact, Spain better watch out. I have a feeling Dimitar might be right.

It's not often that you see this kind of loyalty with this much money at stake. Arsenal vice-chairman David Dein said the club turned down two £50m offers for striker Thierry Henry before he agreed to sign a new four-year deal.

Wow.

Apparently Theo Walcott has tea every day with Henry. That kind of camaraderie can't be bought.

Pele is the public persona, Edson is the private man.

"As I get older," he reveals, "I'd definitely like to be a bit more like Edson, and to make Edson and Pele better friends." He sighs and shrugs at the strange dichotomy of his life. "I love 'Pele' - the only difference is that if someone says I'm going to have dinner with Edson, then that's OK. Edson is the person that supports Pele. Edson is the base. Pele just comes and adds the face."

Poor guy. Sounds like Pele's getting too heavy for Edson. Naah!

The greatest save of all time?

The greatest goalkeeper on the planet, said Pele. Here's how Banks remembers the final in 1966.

Luciano 'Lucky' Moggi, ex-Juventus supremo

If you're Pope Benedict XVI, all hell has broken loose in the last couple of weeks. The Catholic Church does not just employ child predators as priests but according to Dan Brown they are all bloodthirsty as well and enjoy masochism too. Opus Dei is a secretive organization within the Church that puts the tightlipped Carlyle cartel to shame. The book The Da Vinci code has done enough to expose this organization and the movie is doing more damage. Although, the veracity of it all is being questioned by everyone and anyone. But then that's what makes the film studios and Dan Brown laugh all the way to the bank.

But what must really get the Catholic priests who turn to soccer and not Jesus for release, is the fact that it is going through it's biggest scandal in Italy. A Pope accused of Nazism, child molestor priests, Christ marrying Mary Magdalene, kinky Opus Dei priests named Silas who flagellate themselves and then go out and kill. I thought in Catholicism it was the other way around. And now soccer. Is nothing sacrosanct?

The Vatican reaction to the unfolding corruption, match fixing, and bribery orchestrated by Luciano 'Lucky' Moggi, Juventus president is one of bitter disappointment. Cardinal Camillo Ruini, a close aide to Pope Benedict XVI, at a news conference said," From a good Italian and from an old fan, I am sad and disappointed. I would have always liked that sporting events were genuine."

The allegations are so serious, with no immediate end in sight that, that even the church feels its faith tested. I have a feeling that Opus Dei might get some new recruits from the Juventus team. That or they should have Opus Dei box seats. Alessandro Del Piero after scoring a goal flagellates himself on the sidelines as an austerity measure?

Soccerblog has covered this scandal extensively, here and here

Hakan Sukur against S.Korea WC 2002. 10 seconds. The celebration took longer.

Sas and Sukur! This video is also 4 minutes long and the first 30 seconds is nationalistic blurb but the rest is enjoyable.

The video is over 4 minutes long, but if you are a Suker fan or want to become one all over again, its worth it. The first 30 seconds is stills. The track is "Sympathy for the Devil." Dunno! I don't think that was the first thing in the minds of those opposing goalkeepers.

The free kick that stamped Stoichkov's genius!

Hristo Stoichkov- Bulgaria, 1994

Davor Suker- Croatia, 1998

Hasan Sas- Turkey, 2002

The last three World Cups has seen teams from nowhere entering the semi-finals and bagging the third spot. Hristo Stoichkov's Bulgaria in 1994, Davor Suker's Croatia in 1998, and Hasan Sas's Turkey in 2002.

So who will surprise in this World Cup? Could we finally see the African countries breaking into the last four. Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo, Tunisia, or Angola. Maybe Paraguay will emerge from the shadows of Brazil and Argentina. Or Mexico. And even Iran. But this trend is what makes the WC so intriguing to watch. And Brazil.

Across the board, fans from almost every English league club lit up the airwaves praising Thierry Henry's loyalty to Arsenal. These fans know that their club will suffer at the feet of Henry.

Liverpudlians, Mancusians, Geordies, and many others. Conspicuous by their absence; the Spurs, wondering what it will take to get past Arsenal after 11 seasons of futility.

Some of the fan reaction

Can you imagine the Premiership without Henry? It would be like watching the World Cup without Brazil. He's by far the greatest player in our league and I'm just happy he's decided to stay.
YQ, Middlesbrough fan

He's among the best players in the world and I really admire his attitude and work ethic.. We need players like him in the Premiership, even if he is putting the ball past our keeper!
Matt, Liverpool fan

Even as a Man Utd fan I'd like to say this is great news. We need more players like Henry in the Premiership who have the ability, the flair, and the sportsmanship to be a great role model.
Neko, Man Utd fan

My admiration for Thierry Henry went up an octave or more. Just when I thought it could get no higher. Arsenal spurned two £50m offers from the La Liga clubs, once Henry made up his mind to stay. The man did not want more money, he wants a legacy and that is far better. Imagine a Frenchman throwing his lot in with the EPL and ending his career in England. It should be enough to convince the hardheads in England to give up the pound and take up the euro. If not, then the least they could do is knight the guy and give him a small kingdom. Me thinks Thierrywich sounds better than Thierryshire or Thierrysex. What do you think?

I think Arsenal will be the club, with new talents Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas, and Johann Djourou. Go Gunners. I am wearing my Arsenal jersey today

On a day that Barry Bonds tied Babe Ruth's record for home runs, an equally significant sporting moment was created in the soccer world. The NY Red Bulls finally won their first game as the Red Bulls against Chivas USA, 5-4. Their first win in six outings. It took them 15,000 cases of Red Bull to do it but they did not have to go to Victor Conte and Balco to get this win. The Red Bull record still stands.

Barry Bonds on May 20, 2006: On Babe Ruth, "It's just great to be in the same class."
Barry Bonds in 2003, after the All Star Game. On Babe Ruth,"I wiped him out, don't talk about him no more."

That Barry Bonds is a real charmer.

Examine the rosters of the national squads of the countries that have the biggest drawing domestic leagues, the big six in Europe: Germany, Spain, England, Netherlands, Italy, and France.

You will find that the Italian and Spanish squads have no players of any other ethnicity other than their own. Italy does not even have one player playing for another league other than their Serie.

Spain is better, having Cesc Fabregas and Jose Antonio Reyes playing for Arsenal. Pepe Reina and Luis Garcia for Liverpool. And Asier Del Horno for Chelsea.

Germany has two players of Ghanian origin, David Odonkor and Gerald Asamoah, and they also have Jens Lehmann playing for Arsenal and Robert Huth for Chelsea.

Netherlands has Hedwiges Maduro, from Aruba and Khalid Boulahrouz of Algerian extraction. They also have Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Edwin Van Der Saar of Man U, Arjen Robben of Chelsea, Jan Kronkamp of Liverpool, Giovanni Von Bronckhorst and Mark Van Bommel of Barcelona FC, and Rafael Van Der Waart of Hamburg.

England have a number of players of Cariibbean origin playing in their national squad. Ashley Cole, Sol Campbell, Rio Ferdinand, David James, Theo Walcott, Jermaine Jenas, and Aaron Lennon. Two of their players play overseas, David Beckham for Real Madrid and Owen Hargreaves for Bayern Munich.

But topping all of them feet down is France. If there ever was cause for celebration of colonialism in France, then one need not look beyond their national soccer squad. It is hard to spot a single Gallic player. Look at France's famed midfield- Vikash Dhorasoo (Paris Saint-Germain), Alou Diarra (Lens), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Florent Malouda (Lyon), Patrick Vieira (Juventus), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid). All from former French colonies, the Pied Noires. Not one player of pure Gallic extraction.

And the number of French exports is impressive- Jean-Alain Boumsong (Newcastle), Pascal Chimbonda (Wigan), William Gallas (Chelsea), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Mikael Silvestre (Manchester United), Lilian Thuram (Juventus),Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Patrick Vieira (Juventus), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid), Djibril Cisse (Liverpool), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), David Trezeguet (Juventus), and Louis Saha (Manchester United).

If the degree of insularity is equated with the degree of nationalism, then Italy is the most nationalisic football team. That is the conservative interpretation. But by the same token it also has the most racist fans and players. No league is perfect but the Italian Serie has to top them all.

Lazio, AS Roma, Udinese, Juventus, and Inter MIlan are almost always cited. The racism in the smaller clubs is appalling. Aaron Winters, Ronnie Rosenthal, Marc Zoro, Bruno N'Gotty, and countless others have been victims of racism. We have an openly racist Mussolini goon playing for Lazio.

Followed by La Liga in Spain. In Zaragoza, Real Betis, and FC Barcelona. Ask Samuel Eto'o, Thierry Henry, and Shaun Wright Philips.

In Germany, the situation in the Bundesliga is getting a wee bit better, depending on which part of the country you play in. The regional clubs are pretty bad. A far right group that demanded German nationalism in their team was recently in the news for targeting Patrick Owomoyela

In Netherlands, the Feyenoord fans can get nasty. DaMarcus Beasley can tell you about racism playing for PSV Eindhoven.

England's EPL clubs do not have a record of overt racism although there was a recent incident involving Robin Van Persie. Simon Jordan has a good article of how the English League has managed to combat racism. And in France the hooligans of PSG can get pretty vocal.

The most liberal interpretation of a mutiracial national soccer squad- they play the most interesting and innovative soccer. France. Followed by the Netherlands and England. And then there is Germany, Spain, and lastly Italy.

* Tony Karon draws my attention to the Pied Noires, a pejorative term for white people living in the French colonies who were repatriated during the course of their independence, and not the indigenous people. Thanks for the correction, Tony.

Spain

Goalkeepers: Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Santiago Canizares (Valencia), Jose Manuel Reina (Liverpool)

Defenders: Michel Salgado (Real Madrid), Carles Puyol (FC Barcelona), Carlos Marchena (Valencia), Juanito Gutierrez (Real Betis), Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), Pablo Ibanez (Atletico Madrid), Asier Del Horno (Chelsea)

Midfielders: Joaquin Sanchez (Real Betis), David Albelda (Valencia), Xavi Hernandez (FC Barcelona), Ruben Baraja (Valencia), Antonio Lopez (Atletico Madrid), Marcos Senna (Villareal), Andres Iniesta (FC Barcelona), Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal)

Forwards: David Villa (Valencia), Jose Antonio Reyes (Arsenal), Fernando Torres (Atletico Madrid), Raul Gonzalez (Real Madrid), Luis Garcia (Liverpool)

Ukraine

Goalkeepers: Oleksander Shovkovsky (Dynamo Kiev), Andriy Pyatov (Vorskla Poltava), Bogdan Shust (Shakhtar Donetsk)

Defenders: Andriy Nesmachny (Dynamo Kiev), Vladyslav Vashchyuk (Dynamo Kiev), Serhiy Fyodorov (Dynamo Kiev), Volodymyr Yesersky (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Andriy Rusol (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Dmytro Chigrinsky (Shakhtar Donetsk), Vyacheslav Svidersky (Arsenal Kiev)

Midfielders: Anatoly Tymoshchyuk (Shakhtar Donetsk), Oleg Gusiev (Dynamo Kiev), Ruslan Rotan (Dynamo Kiev), Serhiy Nazarenko (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Oleg Shelayev (Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk), Andriy Husin (Krylya Sovietov Samara), Serhiy Rebrov (Dynamo Kiev), Maxim Kalinichenko (Spartak Moscow)

Forwards: Andriy Shevchenko (AC Milan), Andriy Voronin (Bayer Leverkusen), Artyom Milevsky (Dynamo Kiev), Andriy Vorobei (Shakhtar Donetsk), Olexiy Belik (Shakhtar Donetsk)

Tunisia
Goalkeepers: Ali Boumnijel (Club Africain), Hamdi Kasraoui (Esperance Tunis), Adel Nefzi (US Monastir).

Defenders: David Jemmali (Bordeaux), Hatem Trabelsi (Ajax), Mehdi Meriah (Etoile du Sahel), Anis Ayari (Samsunspor), Alaeddine Yahya (Saint-Etienne), Radhi Jaidi (Bolton), Karim Hagui (Strasbourg), Karim Saidi (Lecce)

Midfielders: Jawhar Menari (Nuremberg), Adel Chedli (Nuremberg), Mehdi Nafti (Birmingham), Sofiene Melliti (Gaziantespor), Hamed Namouchi (Rangers), Karim Zdiri (Rosenborg), Yassine Chikhaoui (Etoile du Sahel), Riadh Boazizi (Kayserispor), Issam Jomaa (Lens), Kais Ghodhbane (Diyarbakirspor)

Forwards: Francileudo Santos (Toulouse), Ziad Jaziri (Troyes)

Saudi Arabia

Goalkeepers: Mohammed Al-Deayea (Al Hilal), Mabrouk Zayed (Al Ittihad), Mohammad Khoja (Al Shabab)

Defenders: Ahmed Al-Dokhi (Al Ittihad), Ahmed Al-Bahri (Al Shabab), Mohammad Missad (Al Ahli), Reda Takur (Al Ittihad), Naif Al-Qadi (Al Ahli), Hamad Al-Montashri (Al Ittihad), Hussein Abdul Ghani (Al Ahli)

Midfielders: Abdul Aziz Al-Khathran (Al Hilal), Saud Kareeri (Al Ittihad), Khaled Aziz (Al Hilal), Omar Al-Ghamdi (Al Hilal), Mohammad Nur (Al Ittihad), Nawaf Al-Tamyat (Al Hilal), Mohammed Ameen (Al Ittihad), Sami Al-Jaber (Al Hilal)

Forwards: Yasser Al-Qhatani (Al Hilal), Saad Al-Harithy (Al Nassr), Mohammad Al-Anbar (Al Hilal), Malik Moud (Al Ahli), Mohammad Al-Shalhoub (Al Hilal)

France

Goalkeepers: Fabien Barthez (Marseille), Gregory Coupet (Lyon), Mickael Landreau (Nantes).

Defenders: Eric Abidal (Lyon), Jean-Alain Boumsong (Newcastle), Pascal Chimbonda (Wigan), William Gallas (Chelsea), Gael Givet (Monaco), Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Mikael Silvestre (Manchester United), Lilian Thuram (Juventus).

Midfielders: Vikash Dhorasoo (Paris Saint-Germain), Alou Diarra (Lens), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Florent Malouda (Lyon), Patrick Vieira (Juventus), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid).

Strikers: Djibril Cisse (Liverpool), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Franck Ribery (Marseille), Louis Saha (Manchester United), David Trezeguet (Juventus), Sylvain Wiltord (Lyon).

Switzerland

Goalkeepers: Pascal Zuberbuehler (Basel), Diego Benaglio (CD Nacional), Fabio Coltorti (Grasshoppers).

Defenders: Valon Behrami (Lazio), Philipp Degen (Borussia Dortmund), Philippe Senderos (Arsenal), Johan Djourou (Arsenal), Stephane Grichting (Auxerre), Ludovic Magnin (VfB Stuttgart), Patrick Mueller (Olympique Lyon), Christoph Spycher (Eintracht Frankfurt).

Midfielders: Tranquillo Barnetta (Bayer Leverkusen), Ricardo Cabanas (FC Cologne), David Degen (Basel), Blerim Dzemaili (FC Zurich), Daniel Gygax (Lille), Xavier Margairaz (FC Zurich), Johann Vogel (AC Milan), Raphael Wicky (Hamburger SV).

Forwards: Alexander Frei (Rennes), Mauro Lustrinelli (Sparta Prague), Marco Streller (FC Cologne), Johan Vonlanthen (NAC Breda).

Togo

Goalkeepers: Kossi Agassa (Metz), Moumouni Ouro Tchagnirou (Djoliba), Kodjovi Obilade (Etoile Filante)

Defenders: Yaovi Dosseh Abalo (Apoel), Dare Nibombe (Mons), Ludovic Assemouassa (Ciffon), Karim Guede (Hamburg), Komi Agbo (Beveren), Eric Akoto (Admira Wadel), Richmond Forson (J.A. Poire), Toure Assimiou (Bayern Leverkusen), Masama-Esso Tchangai (Beneveto)

Midfielders: Affo Erassa (Clermont), Kaka Aziawonou (YS Berne), Sheriff Toure (Metz), Alexis Romao (CS Louhans Cuiseaux), Yao Junior Senaya (Juventus Zurich), Moustapha Salifou (Brest)

Forwards: Thomas Dossevi (Valenciennes), Adekambi Olufade (Al Siliyah), Robert Malm (Brest), Abdel-Kader Kougbadja (Guingamp), Emmanuel Adebayor (Arsenal)

South Korea

Goalkeepers: Lee Woon-jae (Suwon Samsung), Kim Young-kwang (Chunnam Dragons), Kim Yong-dae (Busan I.Park)

Defenders: Lee Young-pyo (Tottenham), Kim Sang-shik (Seongnam Ilhwa), Cho Won-hee (Suwon Samsung), Kim Young-chul (Seongnam Ilhwa), Choi Jin-cheul (Chonbuk Hyundai), Kim Jin-kyu (Jubilo Iwata), Kim Dong-jin (FC Seoul), Song Chong-gug (Suwon Samsung)

Midfielders: Park Ji-sung (Manchester United), Kim Nam-il (Suwon Samsung), Lee Ho (Ulsan Hyundai), Baek Ji-hoon (FC Seoul), Lee Eul-yong (Trabzonspor), Kim Do-heon (Seongnam Ilhwa)

Strikers: Ahn Jung-hwan (Duisburg), Seol Ki-hyun (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Cho Jae-jin (Shimizu S-Pulse), Chung Kyung-ho (Gwangju Sangmu), Lee Chun-soo (Ulsan Hyundai), Park Chu-young (FC Seoul).

Brazil

Goalkeepers: Dida (AC Milan), Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Rogerio Ceni (Sao Paulo)

Defenders: Juan (Bayer Leverkusen), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Luisao (Benfica), Cris (Lyon), Cafu (AC Milan), Cicinho (Real Madrid), Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid), Gilberto (Hertha Berlin)

Midfielders: Emerson (Juventus), Ze Roberto (Bayern Munich), Edmilson (FC Barcelona), Gilberto Silva (Arsenal), Ronaldinho (FC Barcelona), Kaka (AC Milan), Juninho (Lyon), Ricardinho (Corinthians)

Forwards: Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Adriano (Inter Milan), Robinho (Real Madrid), Fred (Lyon)

Croatia

Goalkeepers: Tomislav Butina (Club Brugge, Belgium), Stipe Pletikosa (Hajduk Split), Joe Didulica (Austria Vienna, Austria).

Defenders: Robert Kovac (Juventus, Italy), Stjepan Tomas (Galatasaray, Turkey), Dario Simic (AC Milan, Italy), Mario Tokic (Austria Vienna, Austria), Josip Simunic (Hertha Berlin, Germany), Igor Tudor (Siena, Italy), Marijan Buljat (Dinamo Zagreb).

Midfielders: Jerko Leko (Dynamo Kiev, Ukraine), Niko Kranjcar (Hajduk Split), Niko Kovac (Hertha Berlin, Germany), Marko Babic (Bayer Leverkusen, Germany), Darijo Srna (Shakhtar Donetsk, Ukraine), Ivan Leko (Club Brugge, Belgium), Luka Modric (Dinamo Zagreb), Jurica Vranjes (Werder Bremen, Germany), Anthony Seric (Panathinaikos, Greece).

Forwards: Dado Prso (Rangers, Scotland), Ivan Klasnic (Werder Bremen, Germany), Bosko Balaban (Club Brugge, Belgium), Ivica Olic (CSKA Moscow, Russia), Niko Kovac (Hertha Berlin).

Japan

Goalkeepers: Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Jubilo Iwata), Yoichi Doi (FC Tokyo), Seigo Narazaki (Nagoya Grampus Eight)

Defenders: Makoto Tanaka (Jubilo Iwata), Tsuneyasu Miyamoto (Gamba Osaka), Alessandro Santos (Urawa Reds), Yuji Nakazawa (Yokohama F Marinos), Keisuke Tsuboi (Urawa Reds), Akira Kaji (Gamba Osaka), Yuichi Komano (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Koji Nakata (Basel, Switzerland)

Midfielders: Takashi Fukunishi (Jubilo Iwata), Mitsuo Ogasawara (Kashima Antlers), Shinji Ono (Urawa Reds), Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Hidetoshi Nakata (Bolton Wanderers, England), Shunsuke Nakamura (Celtic, Scotland), Junichi Inamoto (West Bromwich Albion, England)

Forwards: Seiichiro Maki (JEF United Chiba), Keiji Tamada (Nagoya Grampus Eight), Atsushi Yanagisawa (Kashima Antlers), Masashi Oguro (Grenoble, France), Naohiro Takahara (Hamburg SV, Germany)

Australia

Goalkeepers: Mark Schwarzer (Middlesbrough), Zeljko Kalac (AC Milan), Ante Covic (Hammarby)

Defenders: Michael Beauchamp (Central Coast), Craig Moore (Newcastle United), Lucas Neill (Blackburn Rovers), Tony Popovic Crystal Palace), Mark Milligan (Sydney FC)

Midfielders: Marco Bresciano (Parma), Tim Cahill (Everton), Scott Chipperfield (Basel), Jason Culina (PSV Eindhoven), Brett Emerton (Blackburn Rovers), Vince Grella (Parma), Stan Lazaridis (free agent), Josip Skoko (Stoke City on loan from Wigan Athletic), Mile Sterjovski (Basel), Luke Wilkshire (Bristol City)

Strikers: John Aloisi (Alaves), Harry Kewell (Liverpool), Archie Thompson (PSV Eindhoven), Mark Viduka (Middlesbrough), Josh Kennedy (Dinamo Dresden)

Italy

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Angelo Peruzzi (Lazio), Marco Amelia (Livorno)

Defenders: Gianluca Zambrotta (Juventus), Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Fabio Grosso (Palermo), Cristian Zaccardo (Palermo), Andrea Barzagli (Palermo), Marco Materazzi (Inter Milan), Massimo Oddo (Lazio)

Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma), Simone Perrotta (AS Roma), Simone Barone (Palermo)

Forwards: Francesco Totti (AS Roma), Luca Toni (Fiorentina), Alberto Gilardino (AC Milan), Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus), Filippo Inzaghi (AC Milan), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Udinese)

Czech Republic

Goalkeepers: Petr Cech (Chelsea), Jaromir Blazek (Sparta Prague), Antonin Kinsky (Saturn Ramenskoye)

Defenders: Zdenek Grygera (Ajax), Pavel Mares (Peterburg), David Rozehnal (Paris Saint-Germain), Tomas Ujfalusi (Fiorentina), Radoslav Kovac (Spartak Moscow), Martin Jiranek (Spartak Moscow), Marek Jankulovski (AC Milan)

Midfielders: Tomas Galasek (Ajax), Karel Poborsky (Ceske Budejovice), Jan Polak (FC Nuremberg), Tomas Rosicky (Borussia Dortmund), Vladimir Smicer (Bordeaux), David Jarolim (Hamburger SV), Jaroslav Plasil (Monaco), Pavel Nedved (Juventus)

Forwards: Milan Baros (Aston Villa), Jiri Stajner (Hannover), Marek Heinz (Galatasaray), Jan Koller (Borussia Dortmund), Vratislav Lokvenc (Salzburg)

United States

Goalkeepers: Kasey Keller (Borussia Moenchengladbach, Germany), Marcus Hahnemann (Reading, England), Tim Howard (Manchester United, England)

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra (Fulham, England), Steve Cherundolo (Hanover 96, Germany), Jimmy Conrad (Kansas City), Cory Gibbs (Charlton Athletic, England), Chris Albright (Los Angeles), Eddie Lewis (Leeds United, England), Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege, Belgium), Eddie Pope (Real Salt Lake)

Midfielders: DaMarcus Beasley (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands), Bobby Convey (Reading, England), Clint Dempsey (New England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles), Pablo Mastroeni (Colorado), John O'Brien (Chivas USA), Ben Olsen (D.C. United), Claudio Reyna (Manchester City, England)

Forwards: Brian McBride (Fulham, England), Eddie Johnson (Kansas City), Josh Wolff (Kansas City), Brian Ching (Houston)

Ghana

Goalkeepers: Adjei (Moadan Sport Ashdod), Kingston (Ankaraspor), Owu (AshantiGold)

Defenders: Addo (PSV Eindhoven), Ahmed (Randers), Illiasu (Asante Kotoko), Kuffour (Roma), Mensah (Rennes), Mohammed (King Faisal Babes), Painstil (Hapoel Tel Aviv), Pappoe (Hapoel Kfar Saba), Quaye (Hearts of Oak), Sarpei (Wolfsburg)

Midfielders: Addo (Mainz), Appiah (Fenerbahce), Boateng, Dramani (Red Star Belgrade), Essien (Chelsea), Muntari (Udinese)

Strikers: Amoah (Borussia Dortmund), Gyan (Modena), Pimpong, Tachie-Mensah (St Gallen).

Portugal

Goalkeepers: Ricardo Pereira (Sporting), Quim Silva (Benfica), Bruno Vale (Amadora).

Defenders: Paulo Ferreira and Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea), Nuno Valente (Everton), Fernando Meira (Stuttgart), Miguel Monteiro and Marco Caneira (Valencia), Ricardo Costa (FC Porto).

Midfielders: Francisco Costinha (Dynamo Moscow), Nuno Maniche (Chelsea), Hugo Viana (Valencia), Tiago (Lyon), Armando Petit (Benfica), Deco (FC Barcelona), Luis Figo (Inter Milan), Luis Boa Morte (Fulham), Simao Sabrosa (Benfica), Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United).

Strikers: Helder Postiga (FC Porto), Pedro Pauleta (Paris Saint-Germain), Nuno Gomes (Benfica).

Mexico

Goalkeepers: Guillermo Ochoa (America), Oswaldo Sanchez (Guadalajara), Jose de Jesus Corona (Tecos).

Defenders: Jose Antonio Castro (America), Rafael Marquez (Barcelona), Claudio Suarez (Chivas USA), Ricardo Osorio (Cruz Azul), Francisco Javier Rodriguez, Carlos Salcido, Gonzalo Pineda (all Guadalajara), Mario Mendez (Monterrey).

Midfielders: Pavel Pardo (America), Andres Guardado, Rafael Garcia (both Atlas), Gerardo Torrado (Cruz Azul), Ramon Morales (Guadalajara), Luis Ernesto Perez, Jesus Arellano (both Monterrey), Zinha (Toluca).

Forwards: Jared Borgetti (Bolton), Francisco Fonseca (Cruz Azul), Omar Bravo (Guadalajara), Guillermo Franco (Villarreal, Spain).

Angola

Goalkeepers: Joao Ricardo (no club), Lama (Petro de Luanda), Mario (Inter de Luanda).

Defenders: Lebo Lebo (Petro de Luanda), Delgado (Petro de Luanda), Jamba (ASA), Loco (Primeiro de Agosto), Kali (Barreirense), Marco Airosa (Barreirense), Marco Abreu (Portimonense), Rui Marques (Leeds United).

Midfielders: Ze Kalanga (Petro de Luanda), Miloy (Inter de Luanda), Figueiredo (Varzim), Mendonca (Varzim), Edson Nobre (Pacos Ferreira).

Forwards: Fabrice Akwa (no club), Love Kabungula (ASA), Pedro Mantorras (Benfica), Titi Buengo (Clermont), Mateus Galiano (Gil Vicente), Flavio Amado

Iran

Goalkeepers: Ebrahim Mirzapour (Foulad), Vahid Taleblou (Esteqlal), Hassan Roudbarian (Pas)

Defenders: Yahya Golmohammadi (Saba Battery), Mohammad Nosrati (Pas), Rahman Rezaei (Messina), Sattar Zare' (Barq), Hossein Ka'bi (Foulad), Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh (Saba Battery), Amir-Hossein Sadeqi (Esteqlal)

Midfielders: Javad Nekounam (Sharjah), Anderanik Teymourian (Abu Moslem), Mehdi Mahdavikia (Hamburger SV), Fereydoun Zandi (Kaiserslautern), Ali Karimi (Bayern Munich), Mehrzad Ma'danchi (Persepolis), Javad Kazemian (Persepolis)

Forwards: Ali Daei (Saba Battery), Vahid Hashemian (Hannover 96), Gholam-Reza Enayati (Esteqlal), Arash Borhani (Pas), Massoud Shojaei (Saipa), Rassoul Khatibi (Sepahan)

Argentina

Goalkeepers: Roberto Abbondanzieri (Boca Juniors), Leonardo Franco (Atletico Madrid), Oscar Ustari (Independiente).

Defenders: Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo La Coruna), Roberto Ayala (Valencia), Gabriel Heinze (Manchester United), Juan Pablo Sorin (Villarreal), Lionel Scaloni (West Ham), Gabriel Milito (Zaragoza), Nicolas Burdisso (Inter), Leandro Cufre (Roma).

Midfielders: Maximiliano Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid), Javier Mascherano (Corinthians), Esteban Cambiasso (Inter), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal), Julio Cruz (Inter Milan), Luis Gonzalez (Porto), Pablo Aimar (Valencia).

Forwards: Carlos Tevez (Corinthians), Hernan Crespo (Chelsea), Lionel Messi (Barcelona), Rodrigo Palacio (Boca Juniors), Javier Saviola (Sevilla).

Netherlands
Goalkeepers: Edwin van der Sar (Manchester United), Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax), Henk Timmer (AZ Alkmaar).

Defenders: Johnny Heitinga (Ajax), Khalid Boulahrouz (Hamburg), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (FC Barcelona), Tim de Cler (AZ Alkmaar), Kew Jaliens (AZ Alkmaar), Jan Kromkamp (Liverpool), Joris Mathijsen (AZ Alkmaar), Andre Ooijer (PSV Eindhoven).

Midfielders: Mark van Bommel (FC Barcelona), Phillip Cocu (PSV Eindhoven), Denny Landzaat (AZ Alkmaar), Hedwiges Maduro (Ajax), Wesley Sneijder (Ajax), Rafael van der Vaart (Hamburg).

Forwards: Ryan Babel (Ajax), Dirk Kuyt (Feyenoord), Ruud van Nistelrooy (Manchester United), Robin van Persie (Arsenal), Arjen Robben (Chelsea), Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink (PSV Eindhoven).

Serbia and Montenegro

Goalkeepers: Dragoslav Jevric (Anakaraspor), Oliver Kovacevic (CSKA Sofia), Vladimir Stojkovic (Nantes)

Defenders: Goran Gavrancic (Dynamo Kiev), Ivica Dragutinovic (FC Sevilla), Mladen Krstajic (Schalke 04), Nemanja Vidic (Manchester United), Milan Dudic (Red Star Belgrade), Nenad Djordjevic (Partizan Belgrade), Dusan Basta (Red Star Belgrade)

Midfielders: Dejan Stankovic (Inter Milan), Igor Duljaj (Shakhtar Donetsk), Predrag Djordjevic (Olympiakos Piraeus), Ognjen Koroman (Portsmouth), Albert Nadj (Partizan Belgrade), Sasa Ilic (Galatasaray), Zvonimir Vukic (Partizan Belgrade), Ivan Ergic (Basel)

Strikers: Savo Milosevic (Osasuna), Mateja Kezman (Atletico Madrid), Nikola Zigic (Red Star Belgrade), Danijel Ljuboja (VfB Stuttgart), Mirko Vucinic (Lecce)

Ivory Coast

Goalkeepers: Jean-Jacques Tizie (Esperance Tunis), Boubacar Barry Copa (KSK Beveren), Gerard Gnanhouan (Montpellier).

Defenders: Cyrille Domoraud (Creteil), Blaise Kouassi (ES Troyes), Abdoulaye Meite (Marseille), Etienne Arthur Boka (Strasbourg), Abib Kolo Toure (Arsenal), Emmanuel Eboue (Arsenal), Marc Zoro (FC Messina).

Midfielders: Didier Zokora (St Etienne), Emerse Fae (Nantes), Kanga Gauthier Akale (Auxerre), Romaric Ndri Koffi (Le Mans), Gnegneri Yaya Toure (Olympiakos), Gilles Yapi Yapo (Young Boys), Guy Roland Demel (Hamburg SV).

Strikers: Bakari Kone (Nice), Didier Drogba (Chelsea), Arouna Kone (PSV Eindhoven), Bonaventure Kalou (Paris Saint-Germain), Abdoul Kader Keita (Lille), Aruna Dindane (Lens).

England

Goalkeepers: Paul Robinson (Tottenham), David James (Manchester City), Robert Green (Norwich).

Defenders: Gary Neville (Manchester United), Sol Campbell (Arsenal), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), John Terry (Chelsea), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Ashley Cole (Arsenal), Wayne Bridge (Chelsea).

Midfielders: David Beckham (Real Madrid), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Michael Carrick (Tottenham), Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham).

Strikers: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Michael Owen (Newcastle), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Theo Walcott (Arsenal).

Sweden

Goalkeepers: John Alvbage (Viborg), Andreas Isaksson (Rennes), Rami Shaaban (Fredrikstad).

Defenders: Erik Edman (Rennes), Petter Hansson (Heerenveen), Teddy Lucic (Hacken), Olof Mellberg (Aston Villa), Mikael Nilsson (Panathinaikos), Fredrik Stenman (Bayer Leverkusen), Karl Svensson (IFK Goteborg).

Midfielders: Niclas Alexandersson (IFK Goteborg), Daniel Andersson (Malmo), Johan Elmander (Brondby), Mattias Jonson (Djurgarden), Kim Kallstrom (Rennes), Tobias Linderoth (Copenhagen), Fredrik Ljungberg (Arsenal), Anders Svensson (Elfsborg) and Christian Wilhelmsson (Anderlecht).

Strikers: Marcus Allback (Copenhagen), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Juventus), Henrik Larsson (Barcelona), Markus Rosenberg (Ajax).

Paraguay

Goalkeepers: Justo Villar (Newell's Old Boys), Derlis Gomez (Luqueno), Aldo Bobadilla (Libertad)

Defenders: Denis Caniza (Cruz Azul), Carlos Gamarra (Palmeiras), Julio Cesar Caceres (River Plate), Delio Toledo (Real Zaragoza), Paulo Da Silva (Toluca), Julio Manzur (Santos, Brazil), Jorge Nunez (Estudiantes)

Midfielders: Edgar Barreto (NEC Nijmegen), Roberto Acuna (Deportivo La Coruna), Carlos Humberto Paredes (Reggina), Julio Dos Santos (Bayern Munich), Christian Riveros (Libertad), Carlos Bonet (Libertad), Jose Montiel (Olimpia), Diego Gavilan (Newell's Old Boys)

Forwards: Roque Santa Cruz (Bayern Munich), Nelson Haedo Valdez (Werder Bremen), Jose Cardozo (no club), Salvador Cabanas (Jaguares), Nelson Cuevas (Pachuca)

Trinidad and Tobago

Goalkeepers: Kelvin Jack (Dundee), Shaka Hislop (West Ham United), Clayton Ince (Coventry City).

Defenders: Dennis Lawrence (Wrexham), Cyd Gray (CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh), Marvin Andrews (Glasgow Rangers), Brent Sancho (Gillingham), Ian Cox (Gillingham), Atiba Charles (W Connection), Avery John (New England Revolution).

Midfielders: Silvio Spann (unattached), Chris Birchall (Port Vale), Aurtis Whitley (CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh), Evans Wise (Waldhof Mannheim), Densill Theobald (Falkirk), Carlos Edwards (Luton Town), Russell Latapy (Falkirk).

Forwards: Dwight Yorke (Sydney FC), Stern John (Coventry City), Kenwyne Jones (Southampton FC), Collin Samuel (Dundee United), Jason Scotland (St Johnstone), Cornell Glen (L.A. Galaxy), Anthony Wolfe (Jabloteh).

Germany

Goalkeepers: Jens Lehmann (Arsenal), Oliver Kahn (Bayern Munich), Timo Hildebrand (VfB Stuttgart).

Defenders: Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Per Mertesacker (Hannover 96), Phillipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Robert Huth (Chelsea), Marcell Jansen (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Christoph Metzelder (Borussia Dortmund), Jens Nowotny (Bayer Leverkusen).

Midfielders: Michael Ballack (Bayern Munich), Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Bernd Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen), Sebastian Kehl (Borussia Dortmund), David Odonkor (Borussia Dortmund).

Forwards: Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen), Gerald Asamoah (Schalke 04), Lukas Podolski (Cologne), Oliver Neuville (Borussia Moenchengladbach), Mike Hanke (Schalke 04).

Poland

Goalkeepers: Artur Boruc (Celtic), Lukasz Fabianski (Legia Warsaw ), Tomasz Kuszczak (West Bromwich Albion)

Defenders: Jacek Bak (Al Rayyan), Marcin Baszczynski (Wisla Krakow), Michal Zewlakow (Anderlecht), Mariusz Jop (FC Moscow), Seweryn Gancarczyk (Mettalist Kharkov), Mariusz Lewandowski (Shakhtar Donetsk), Dariusz Dudka (Wisla Krakow).

Midfielders: Euzebiusz Smolarek (Borussia Dortmund), Jacek Krzynowek (Bayer Leverkusen), Kamil Kosowski (Southampton), Radoslaw Sobolewski (Wisla Krakow), Miroslaw Szymkowiak (Trabonzspor), Sebastian Mila (Austria Vienna), Piotr Giza (Cracovia), Damian Gorawski (FC Moscow), Arkadiusz Radomski (Austria Vienna).

Forwards: Maciej Zurawski (Celtic), Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton), Ireneusz Jelen (Wisla Plock), Pawel Brozek (Wisla Krakow).

Costa Rica

Goalkeepers: Jose Francisco Porras (Saprissa), Wardy Alfaro (Alajuelense), Alvaro Mesen (Herediano).

Defenders: Jervis Drummond (Saprissa), Gabriel Badilla (Saprissa), Luis Mari­n (Alajuelense), Harold Wallace (Alajuelense), Michael Rodri­guez (Alajuelense), Gilberto Marti­nez (Brescia, ITA), Douglas Sequeira (Real Salt Lake, USA), Leonardo Gonzalez (Herediano), Michael Umaña (Brujas FC).

Midfielders: Walter Centeno (Saprissa), Christian Bolaños (Saprissa), Randall Azofeifa (Saprissa), Carlos Hernandez (Alajuelense), Mauricio Soli­s (Comunicaciones, GUA), Dany Fonseca (Brujas FC), Kurt Bernard (Puntarenas).

Strikers: Ronald Gomez (Saprissa), Alvaro Sabora­o (Saprissa), Vi­ctor Nuñez (Alajuelense), Paulo Wanchope (no club).

Ecuador

Goalkepers: Edwin Villafuerte (Deportivo Quito), Cristian Mora (Liga Deportiva Universitaria), Damian Lanza (Aucas)

Defenders: Ivan Hurtado (Al Arabi), Giovanny Espinoza, Paul Ambrossi, Neicer Reasco (all Liga Deportiva Universitaria), Ulises de la Cruz (Aston Villa), Jorge Guagua (El Nacional), Jose Luis Perlaza (Olmedo)

Midfielders: Marlon Ayovi, Luis Fernando Saritama (both Deportivo Quito), Edwin Tenorio (Barcelona), Edison Mendez, Patricio Urrutia (both Liga Deportiva Universitaria), Cristian Lara, Segundo Castillo (both El Nacional), Luis Antonio Valencia (Recreativo Huelva)

Strikers: Felix Borja, Cristian Benitez (both El Nacional), Ivan Kaviedes (Argentinos Juniors), Agustin Delgado (Liga Deportiva Universitaria), Carlos Tenorio (Al Saad).

Trinidad and Tobago attained independence from England in 1962. The islands of Trinidad and Tobago was fiercely contested amongst the Spanish, French, and the English before England consolidated their hold following the defeat of France in the Napoleonic Wars in 1815.

The ethnicities of T&T are rich and varied, ranging from the majority African and Indian populations, with smaller groups of Chinese, Portugese, English, French, Syrian and Lebanese minoriities and their mixed races. But like Angola with Portugal, T&T has longstanding and friendly links with England. This is true for sports, soccer seeing its share, with many players playing for the English and Scottish league. Most prominent of them is Dwight Yorke, Sydney FC and ex-Man U striker, Shaka Hislop, West Ham's goalkeeper, and Dennis Lawrence of Wrexham, who scored the all important goal against Bahrain that booked T&T's first berth to the World Cup.

T&T will meet England in their group B encounter on Thursday, June 15. If T&T pull of the upset, then it will be bigger and better than their 5-0 blackwashes of England in the cricket test series in the 1980's.

* Stacy- Marie draws my attention to Russell Latapy of Falkirk FC, who is as important to the T&T team as Dwight Yorke, Shaka Hislop, and Dennis Lawrence. Thanks , Stacy-Marie for the correct group encounter.

Angola won its independence from Portugal in 1975. It was the beginning of a long civil war between different factions like the UNITA right wing rebels supported by the USA and South Africa and led by Jonas Savimbi, the MPLA supported by Cuba, Soviet Russia, and the Portugese Communist parties, and the FLNA supported by the US and Zaire. In October 1975, Cuban troops landed in Luanda, the capital of Angola to aid MPLA fighters against the South African backed UNITA rebels. After 27 years of civil war Angola saw the emergence of a fragile democracy with the MPLA heading the government with UNITA as the chief opposition party. Jonas Savimbi of UNITA was assassinated in 2002.

The present president Jose Eduardo Dos Santos is an MPLA activist. Angola maintains a very close relationship with their former colonisers, Portugal. The Angola 23 man roster has 8 players playing for Portugese clubs led by veteran Mantorras, who plays for Benfica. And midfielders Figueiredo and Mendoca who play for Varzim, Portugal.

But for the Angolans, victory over Portugal would indeed be sweet when both teams meet up in their Group D encounter on Sunday, June 11th.

The WC 2006 is abuzz with the possibility of a Brazil- Netherlands, Brazil- England, or even a Brazil-France showdown in the finals. If Brazil is the constant, then all the other teams mentioned have as much right and talent to challenge Brazil. And if they do, no one will grudge them that distinction.

But what about the Ivory Coast, Togo, Ghana, Tunisia, and Angola who all qualified for this World Cup? Except for Tunisia, the other four qualified for the World Cup for the first time. And in doing so cast aside the traditional powerhouses like Senegal, Cameroun, South Africa and Egypt. What is more astounding is that in the African Cup of Nations held recently, the World Cup qualifiers Togo, Ghana, and Angola tumbled out in the group matches. The level of competition is that intense. The top rated African countries are Nigeria, Cameroun, and Egypt.

Amongst the WC qualifiers Tunisia finishes 4th, Ivory Coast 6th, Ghana is 8th, and Angola and Togo round off at 12th and 14th, respectively. In between there is Senegal, Morocco, Guinea, Zimbabwe, and Zambia.

The talent level in Africa is astounding. Hadji Diof, Kole Toure, Drogba, Adebayor, Eboue, Akwa, Figuerido, Essien, Sissoko, Camara, Eto'o, Amoah, and Fadiga. And this is just a few of the leading lights. Most of them play for the European clubs. They can and already give the Ronaldinhos, Ronaldo's, Kaka's a run for their money. Samuel Eto'o is on track as La Liga's top scorer. If there ever was a unified Africa team and I hope to God there will be one in the future, and they get a chance to play together on a fairly frequent basis, then Brazil will have more than they can handle. Forget the EU XI with England included. They would not be able to touch an Africa XI.

But we still consider African countries as rank outsiders based on the few African successes in the WC barring an exceptional performance by Cameroun in the 1990 World Cup when they reached the quarterfinals.

I have a feeling that is going to change dramatically in the next few World Cups. And soccer will be the better for it.The World Cup in South Africa 2010 will see the African countries come into their own, and for a long time to come.

Another detractor. And this one is Otto Pfister, Togo's coach to the World Cup. Pfister is German and he joins the growing swell of doubters that believe that Germany will not fare well in this World Cup. And his reason is "It's quite simple, you need skill and Germany doesn't have that. They don't even know who to put on the pitch."

He is skeptical of Germany even making it past the quarterfinals.

Angela Merkel has a lot of thinking to do. You might want to start by giving talented players who are not German in origin, their citizenship.

Soccerblog called it by stating that Thierry Henry would stay with Arsenal and that getting to the League final was key. Today, Henry indicated that he would sign a new contract with Arsenal. One of the reasons:

"I love Barcelona, but on Wednesday Arsenal showed they had heart. I hope to finalise details today."

From the Beeb

Banks in Brazil can shorten their hours to give employees a chance to watch the national soccer team's World Cup games on television, the Central Bank said on Wednesday.

All other businesses are going to face absentee rates above 50% - what else is new?

Futebol is Life!

PS- Ronaldinho may not have scored in the final yesterday, but they won all the same.

As promised!

Patrick Ace Ntsoelengoe

A few days ago I had written about the role that soccer played in the struggle against apartheid. But it was more an academic discourse and the article did not give it a face or a soul that makes such a struggle visceral or even personal. From Tony Karon's blog we learn that one of South Africa's legendary soccer players passed away last weekend, Ace Ntsolelengoe of the Minnesota Kicks and Kaizer Chiefs. Here is Tony's moving tribute to Ace.

As Chiefs boss Kaizer Motaung said this week, the skills of the back-to-back world footballer of the year, Ronaldinho, come closest to describing Ace’s style of play. Fans across the bridge at the Orlando West’s shanty ground, almost a kilometre from Ace’s stomping ground of Orlando stadium, would know when Ace was in possession, as the loud cries of “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaace” carried out of the stadium. A trademark of his game was his sudden decision to simply walk with the ball at his feet while the game was being played at furious pace

In the course of perusing Peter Alegi's article on soccer and apartheid in South Africa, a few other names cropped up. Dharam Mohan, Conrad Stuurman, Scara Sono, and Difference Mbanya.

Being from India, the name Dharam Mohan immediately caught my attention. A South African soccer player of Indian extraction!! He was the captain of Avalon Athletic, a racially integrated soccer club in Durban. From the little I could glean, he was also a player of extra-ordinary ability. As this letter from a former referee attests. I am curious to know about Indian soccer players in South Africa and their contribution to the struggle against apartheid. There seems to have been a number of Indian players in the South African soccer league like Bob Pillay, Sugar Singh, and Thiri Rampath. Curious is the virtual absence of a mention in the Indian press which is quick to trumpet every achievement of the Indian diaspora in sports. From Alexei Grewal to Vikash Dhorasoo to Mohini Bharadwaj.

So please write to Soccerblog if you have any more information about Dharam Mohan and other Indian soccer players in South Africa.

Does Thierry Henry want to be subjected to this? As good a player as he is.

What a tragic game.

Sol Campbell heads the first one in for Arsenal.

Henry misses twice in the first three minutes.

And then Lehmann (the mad German) gets the red card.

Ronaldinho is silent.

But Eto'o and Belletti score in the second half to send Arsenal packing. Barcelona do it again!

The English team loses gracefully, like all English teams do. Is this an omen for the Cup?

Read all about it>>

Video coming soon!

The Barca- Arsenal final was a less than fitting end to Thierry Henry's career with Arsenal if that is what he indeed chooses to do. Henry has been extremely tight lipped about his future plans. With Barcelona as one of the clubs that is willing to pay an outrageous amount for his transfer and the chance to play with Ronaldinho and Samuel Eto'o where he'll get a chance to shine with the big boys, who can fault him for being tempted?

But will he do it. And that is what Arsenal and Arsene Wenger are asking right now. No other player has been tied to the ascendence of Arsenal in recent years as much as Thierry Henry. He was a part of the glory days of Patrick Viera, Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Viera, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole and Emmanuel Petit that are all but gone. But he was a goal scorer then. Thierry Henry's role is different now.

The 2005-2006 season showed that Arsenal can do really well with the talent that they have and a bit more consistency. Thierry Henry through his leadership skills and experience has led the younger players to be Arsenal's gut in the future. Emmanuel Adebayor, Emmanuel Eboue, Kolo Toure, Frank Ljungberg, Matthieu Flamini, Phillipe Senderos, Theo Walcott and others. His contribution to Arsenal cannot be measured in terms of goals but just as invaluable as captain, as spokesperson, and as an overall intelligent player and scholar of the game. He has borne the vissicitudes of top flight football with impeccable grace and forged a relationship with Arsene Wenger that Alex Ferguson can only dream about with his players.

Soccerblog thinks that he will be back with Arsenal. The European champiosnhip showed that he does not have to be in the company of Ronaldinho or Samuel Eto'o to come close to the ultimate prize. There are a number of top flight players leaving La Liga and the Bundesliga joining the EPL. And if all goes according to plan then he will be locking horns with the likes of Michael Ballack, Andrei Shevchenko, and overseeing the rise of young Theo Walcott in his club. And then there is the new stadium to create another history, another era. In many ways, this phase of Thierry Henry's soccer career will be far more challenging. As player and and leader of a team that can beat the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid. And join the ranks of the legendary Alfredo Di Stefano, Ferenc Puskas, and Eusebio.

We are still awaiting the Barca- Arsenal final video. And as soon as we can get our paws on it, we'll post it out. Meanwhile, here is an excerpt from the Robo Cup Euro final 2006 to keep you entertained. A humanoid taking a free kick. No, it is not a resurrected Andreas Brehme or any of the other Germans. Just kidding!

Henrik Larsson, Barca midfielder

It was a match full of drama. Theater. Enthralling till the end. Barca pulled out as winners beating Arsenal 2-1

Arsenal reduced to 10 men after Jens Lehmann was sent off with his foul against Samuel Eto'o. But the hero was not Ronaldinho or Van Bommel, it was subsitute Henrik Larsson. The quiet Swedish midfielder showed that he still had the touch with his deft passes to Samuel Eto'o and Juliano Beletti that led to the goals late in the second half beating Arsenal, after Sol Campbell's header had given Arsenal the lead in the firs half.

Thierry Henry distinguished himself by proving to be a thorn in the initial forays into the Barcelona goal. He could have scored twice in the first three minutes. Some great goalkeeping from Victor Valdez prevented the damage.

Jens Lehmann was sent off in the 18th minute for upending Samuel Eto'o after the striker rounded the keeper. Manuel Almunia came in place of Lehmann to keep goal and Robert Pires was sacrificed. But against the run of play, Arsenal scored from Thierry Henry's free kick through Sol Campbell powering a header past the Barca goalkeeper. The free kick was gratis compliments of Norwegian referee Terje Hauge after being fooled by Emmanuel Eboue's theatrical tumble from Carlos Puyol's challenge.

But the subsitution of Van Bommel in the 61st minute by Barca coach Frank Rijkaard proved to be serendipitious. In came Henrik Larsson and in the next half an hour provided the touch needed for the equalizer and then the winner.
If Larssen's play is any indication then Sweden will will not be easy to beat in this World Cup. It was also Larsson's last match for Barca before he heads to hometown club Helsingborg. So he bowed out in style giving the Catalans and their club a final to remember.

Ronaldinho will show us how to play today!

"There are small and medium-sized towns in Brandenburg and other places where I would recommend that nobody with a different skin colour go," Uwe-Karsten Heye, a former government spokesman, told radio station Deutschlandradio Kultur...

"They would possibly not leave there alive..."

I wasn't kidding in my previous posts.

This just in:

Wayne Rooney's car and two belonging to his fiancée Coleen McLoughlin's family were vandalised last night outside the McLoughlin family home.

The Roonster can't catch a break.

Meanwhile Eriksson hints at Gerrard taking over as a forward...

Give this guy a call if you have a spare ticket!

I believe today's game has the potential to be one of the best match-ups in years. The Gunners have a strong defense plus Henry and of course Barcelona has Ronaldinho and Messi (if one is to believe the reports).

Here are some comments on the game:

"I think Arsenal have a good chance. I suppose he (Arsene Wenger) will play Henry up front and five in midfield. If they do that, I think they will cause Barcelona a lot of problems." - England coach Sven-Goran Eriksson

"It's not a question of being more cautious, it's about concentration. There's always pressure and everybody's used to it." - Barca's Henrik Larsson

"Thierry Henry's probably had a lot on his mind and to do what he has done he's been unbelievable. He's a great captain and he gets everybody up for the game which you want your captain to do. He's scores goals and sets them up. What more do you want in a player? He's a great person as well." - Arsenal's Ashley Cole

"There's been a lot of stuff written about the pressure on Arsenal's youngsters, but there's a lot of pressure on Barcelona because they've only won the European Cup once and are expected to win." - Ex-England boss Graham Taylor

"All I want is that my players show how they can play, nothing more." - Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard

"When you get to the final you want to take the cup home and I am convinced we are ready for the challenge. We have peaked at the right moment." - Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger

Meanwhile, referees show they are stupid once again.

You can watch the game on your PC here>>

From a press release... At least they're trying:

As global excitement over the 2006 FIFA World Cup reaches fever pitch, members of the Green Goal team met today in Germany to review the projects of the most environmentally-friendly football tournament ever.

Green Goal, set up by the German Organizing Committee and whose squad includes the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Oeko Institute, agreed that environmental messages contained in a short and witty film will be presented on giant screens as part of the pre-match warm up before each and every match.

The film, which is set to be screened for the first time in Berlin next week, ends with the slogan ‘World Champion for the Environment—We are working on it”.

The review of the Green Goal programme was conducted at the Headquarters of the Organizing Committee in the lush suburbs of Frankfurt, within sight of the stadium where the much expected Netherlands-Argentina football drama and other games will unfold next month.

Following a meeting with Wolfgang Niersbach, the Executive Vice-President of the Organizing Committee, the Director of the UNEP Division of Communications and Public Information, Eric Falt – who is responsible for the organization’s sports and environment initiative – said today:

“Environmental considerations will take centre stage in this competition for the very first time, with clear and measurable objectives, and we hope that it will leave a lasting legacy”.

Green Goal, whose stars include German football legend Franz Beckenbauer and former UNEP Executive Director Klaus Toepfer, also put the final touches to the Climate Neutral scheme, which will offset all 100,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide generated within Germany by transportation, construction and maintenance of the stadia, and the presence of 3.2 million expected spectators.

As part of an environmentally sound transport plan, fans purchasing tickets for the matches in the 12 World Cup venues will be able to use them for free access to local public transportation during 24 hours, as part of the Kombi ticket scheme.

The Kombi ticket commitment alone will cost the World Cup 2006 Organizing Committee some two million Euros, but should save large amounts of greenhouse gases by reducing private car use.

Other energy savings schemes centre around the stadia themselves. For example, the latest high-tech energy management systems have been installed in the Munich Arena and should realize a 20 per cent reduction in electricity consumption on both and match and non-match days.

In addition, the pitch at the Berlin Olympiastadion and other stadia will be watered from a new rainwater harvesting system, and water-free urinals in the mens’ toilets will feature at numerous key locations.

With the issue of waste avoidance foremost on their minds, the organizers have also introduced the reusable “Cup of the Cup”. Fans will pay a deposit of one Euro for the cup which will be the only one sold and used for drinks at the grounds.

Today it was also announced that 300 volunteers, trained to educate fans about the aims and objectives of Green Goal, are to be located inside each of the 12 stadia.

A Green Goal brochure, featuring the logos of supporting organizations, including UNEP, the German Environment Ministry, DBU, FIFA, Deutsche

Telekom, Plastics Europe, Coca Cola, Deutsche Bahn, EnBW and Total, was already made available for fans at railway stations in the 12 tournament cities.

The brochure, a key element for public awareness, was sent this week to 25,000 journalists around the world.
[Now why did they have to kill trees to send this out- every journalist in the world has an email account!]

“Environmental considerations and impacts, including those that add to climate change, are increasingly being factored into important sporting events. The Olympic movement, in which UNEP is an active partner, has in many respects led the way,” said Mr Falt.

“The Organizing Committee for the 2006 FIFA World Cup is keen to bring the same considerations to the football world. We are encouraged by both their plans and their enthusiasm and look forward to working with them and FIFA, and to sound, reliable and verifiable outcomes in areas such as energy efficiency, waste handling and water savings,” he added.

More info>>

Julio Cruz is surprised to be on the Argentinian team. I'm sure Veron is surprised as well. Here's part of the reason why:

A German stuffed toy manufacturer that has exclusive rights to produce the official World Cup mascot -- Goleo VI, a shaggy-maned lion in a football shirt -- has filed for insolvency because no one wants to buy it.

Ouch. It seems that no one wants a stuffed lion walking around the house without a pair of shorts on. This is another example of weak product design. How could they create a mascot for soccer without soccer gear?

Design 101, failed.

FIFA cashes out at €28 million...

Hey, at Soccer Blog we even tried to juice up the Goleo story - see Part I, Part II, and Part III.

Gerald Asamoah, Schalke striker

Hat tip to Alfred Worcester for drawing our attention to the hosts announcing their final 23.

Goal
23 Timo Hildebrand (VfB Stuttgart)
12 Oliver Kahn (FC Bayern München)
1 Jens Lehmann (FC Arsenal London)

Defense
3 Arne Friedrich (Hertha BSC Berlin)
4 Robert Huth (FC Chelsea London)
2 Marcell Jansen (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
16 Philipp Lahm (FC Bayern München)
17 Per Mertesacker (Hannover 96)
21 Christoph Metzelder (Borussia Dortmund)
6 Jens Nowotny (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)

Mid-field
13 Michael Ballack (FC Bayern München)
18 Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen)
8 Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen)
15 Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart)
5 Sebastian Kehl (Borussia Dortmund)
22 David Odonkor (Borussia Dortmund)
19 Bernd Schneider (Bayer 04 Leverkusen)
7 Bastian Schweinsteiger (FC Bayern München)

Strikers
14 Gerald Asamoah (FC Schalke 04)
9 Mike Hanke (VfL Wolfsburg)
11 Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen)
10 Oliver Neuville (Borussia Mönchengladbach)
20 Lukas Podolski (1. FC Köln)

I guess the 100,000 petition to get Mehmet Scholl into the squad did not impress Klinsmann. But Scholl has been an injury liability in the past and Klinsi decided to play safe. Michael Ballack gets help from Torsten Frings and Bastien Schweinsteiger in the midfield. Gerald Asamoah and Lukas Podolski make up the attack along with veterans Miroslav Klose and Oliver Neuville. In goal, Germany have Jens Lehmann who has had a stellar year for Arsenal. He will rely on Robert Huth and Philip Lamm to keep the opposing attack at bay.

The pressure is on Germany as the host to do well. Recent WC's have all been favorable to the hosts. The French winning outright in 1998 and South Korea and Japan exceeding expectations in 2002. Klinsmann has a personal stake in the matter, to show up the Bayern cabal and put to rest all those below the belt shots of his being in a California state of mind.

The old man keeps going after #1000. Last Friday Romario scored two goals for his USL team and handed them their first victory!

Here's a Nike advertisement from his better days:

This was a "just-do-it" ad, but it's still joga bonito!

Juninho Pernambucano made it. I'm sure he's happy now.

Now they have to put their heads down and play as a team... Parreira said it right:

"We know the World Cup is a treacherous competition. There are just seven games, it's knockout from the fourth game onwards and the technically weaker teams can spring surprises. We have to treat each game as a final and give each opponent our full respect, otherwise anybody could surprise us. We don't allow negative thoughts anywhere near us. Nobody is prepared for a defeat, we are prepared to win."

Goalkeepers
Dida (AC Milan), Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Rogerio Ceni (Sao Paulo)

Defenders
Cafu (AC Milan), Cicinho (Real Madrid), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Juan (Bayer Leverkusen), Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid), Gilberto (Hertha Berlin), Cris (Olympique Lyon), Luisao (Benfica)

Midfielders
Edmilson (Barcelona), Juninho Pernambucano (Olympique Lyon), Emerson (Juventus), Ze Roberto (Bayern Munich), Gilberto Silva (Arsenal), Kaka (AC Milan), Ricardinho (Corinthians)

Strikers
Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Robinho (Real Madrid), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Adriano (Inter Milan), Fred (Olympique Lyon)

We will do the Hexa!

Good luck RVN! Next time keep your gob shut!

Pass the Hähnchen 'pon the left hand side...

What was the agency thinking?

"If he's not right, then he has to look after himself. He can't take risks. He's got a huge future ahead of him, so he has to be careful.

"He shouldn't rush it. Everyone in our country wants him fit but he's got to think of himself as well."

Sure...

Remember schmaltzy Escape to Victory. The soccer movie by John Huston with a beefed up Sly Stallone playing the goalkeeper, Capt. Robert Hatch. It was all about a soccer match between the good old allied prisoners and their jailers, the beastly Nazis. With stakes involved. It helped that the players representing the Allies included Pele, Bobby Moore, and Osvaldo Ardiles. The honor of the Germans were shouldered by ex-players of Ipswich Town. And Max Von Sydow, who by the looks of it has always had problems tieing his shoelaces, let alone kick a beer can.

So of course, the Allied not only kicked ass but managed to escape. The best part was Sylvester Stallone with his lines, playing the Allied goalkeeper underscoring the total ignorance of an American to soccer.

[Just before the football match]
Hatch: Where do I stand for a corner kick?

and

Hatch: This frigging game is ruining my life

Its gratifying to note that contemporary day Americans are much more knowledgeable about soccer than Robert Hatch circa 1944. But then again its Hollywood, so anything is possible including a fantasy about the US winning the World Cup, where they beat the evil and dastardly Iranians in the finals and thereby save the planet from nuclear annihilation. Mahmoud Ahmedinejad played by Art Malik, plots revenge and becomes Shakira in the closing ceremony of the World Cup. But his voice gives him away and he is charged by Sony Music for impersonation and panned by Simon Cowell for the worst rendition of Underneath My Clothes. Which is worse than nuclear annihilation, believe you me. But it rids us of Ahmedinejad, without Bush and Cheney resorting to their Aw Shucks bombing of Iran and the messy democracy to follow amongst the idle Iranians. Lives are spared and FIFA awards the 2022 World Cup to Iran. Taylor Twellman finally makes it to the US team at age 42.

Lest, I get carried away, here is the Imdb info on Escape to Victory. Pele choreographed the whole game and Stallone insisted that he score the match winner. He was gently reminded that it was not what a goalkeeper does.

The New England Revolution made short shrift of Chivas USA after falling behind. But the game was settled with goals from Andy Dorman, Sharlie Joseph, and Taylor Twellman, 3-1.

Taylor Twellman. Yoohoo! Give this man a break, Bruce Arena. By all means take Brian Ching but please take this man too because he produces goals. Five shots on goal and he has scored three times. Predatory is not just good, its excellent.

Simon and Schuster, UK has just published Pele's autobiography. We all know Pele, the legend, the player. But in this autobiography, Pele talks about the man, the son, the husband, the parent, and the humanitarian.

A quintessential quandary of any legend is how are his or her children going to react to living with a legend. And that is true for sports too. The primacy is the issue and its balance: Does the game take over or does parenting? With excess the relationship is fraught. Or can you strike a balance? Or in some exceptions ala Richard Dawkins, do we get children who show far more empathy and understanding of the peculiar problems that confront famous parents?

Do they take the fame and talent of their parent in stride and eke out their own niche and identity with their own talent and interest in the same or a different sport (Archie Manning and Peyton Manning in American football or Yannick Noah in tennis and Joaquin Noah, his son with basketball) or do they do something completely different and learn to take their parents fame as a peripheral issue in their lives but try and emulate their parents high standard to their chosen interest (Floyd Patterson in boxing and his son, Floyd Patterson II in music) or do they fall apart with the pressure and expectations put on them. By themselves and their peers. A dysfunctional relationship as seen in Ted Williams, baseball legend and his son, John Henry Williams.

Or in the case of Edson Arantes Do Nascimento aka Pele, and his son Edinho, who became a goalkeeper for Santos (the irony was not lost on Pele). But injuries forced out Edinho and he soon turned his interests onto other things, including an unsuccesful stint in Brazilian motocross which led infamously to a death of a motorcyclist. Soon he was taking drugs and involved in drug trafficking. He was arrested and spent time in jail. Pele went through the most difficult time in his life. After Edinho's release, he joined a drug rehab center and was on his way to recovery. Pele was ecstatic at his son's turnaround. But Edinho again fell foul of the law and was re-arrested. This as late as February 2006. Which means that Pele is still dealing with his son's drug problems.

It should be a fascinating read into the life of a legend that defines the yardstick of an entire sport. Like Donald Bradman, Michael Jordan, or Nadia Comaneci.

Simon and Schuster, UK. Pele: The Autobiography, published by Simon & Schuster on May 15, priced £18.99. Copyright (c) 2006 Edson Arantes do Nascimento

The two spectacular piledrivers from Steven Gerrard and some fantastic goal keeping from Jose Reina. The 2006 FA Cup final was an instant classic.

Clarence Westerhof has joined a group of 10 other names being considered for coaching the Indian soccer squad. Westerhof coached the Nigerian team for the 1994 World Cup with players like Jay Jay Okocha and Daniel Amokachi in its ranks. The Dutchman has also coached Zimbabwe and South Africa.

The other big names being considered include Argentina's 1978 World Cup winner Jorge Mario Olguin, Croatian Milos Hrstic, who represented Yugoslavia in the 1982 World Cup, and Brazilian Milton Queiroz da Paixao.

This will be a mammoth undertaking: To make the Indian soccer team play 90 minutes as a team with short passes, first timers, sliding tackles, and hard running. Too often have we seen the wasted long ball drifting down to a 5'2" player who gets promptly dispossesed. By minute 35, the Indian team needs an oxygen tent. And if white men can't jump, then an Indian cannot do a sliding tackle.

If Dutch coaching is any indication of success as demonstrated by Guus Hiddink, Leo Beenhakker, Frank Rijkaard, Marco Van Basten, Ronald Koeman, Dick Advocaat, then Clarence Westerhof should be considered seriously.

We all recognize soccer for the beautiful game that it is. And for its power to unite a country as in Cote D'Ivoire and inflame passions between countries, in El Salvador and Honduras (The Soccer Wars).

But it is also the one sport that has seen an intimate connection and is intertwined in the struggle against apartheid and South Africa's freedom.

The polarization in the races between the White Afrikaaners and the Blacks, Indians, and the Coloreds was reflected in the choice of sports. Cricket and rugby for the colonials and soccer and boxing for the indigenous. The formation of the Orlando Pirates in the 1930's and in the next decade their rivals, the Moloka Swallows saw the first organized attempts at a soccer league for the blacks. It was a form of escape from the grinding poverty and regular harrassment of the police. The muddy grounds of the squatter camps and a ball, was all you needed. And the migration of thousands of people to the outskirts of Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town looking for jobs provided the audience and the players. The British form of soccer was soon transformed and Africanized by incorporating traditional customs practised by the Zulus, Xhosas, Ndebeles, and the Coloreds. Soccer became a dynamic, protean form of entertainment and social release for them.

The 1950's and 60's saw soccer being thrust into the forefront of apartheid politics. The White colonials made it impossible for the indigent population to secure playing fields. This led to the resistance of many workers to the strict control of their lives through the colonial and capitalist demands of the white overlords with respect to their wages, working hours, and social practices. In 1951 Africans, Coloureds, and Indians came together to form the South African Soccer Federation, which opposed apartheid in sport. 1961 to 1966 saw the rapid expansion of teams under the anti- racist South African Soccer League. Their efforts to isolate the apartheid regime led to the succesful international sports boycott of the world with South Africa from 1961 to 1992 until the fall of apartheid.

With this development, FIFA welcomed South Africa back into world soccer on 3 July 1992. On 7 July 1992, at Durban's King's Park stadium, South Africa played its first official international contest in three decades. An integrated national team, nicknamed Bafana Bafana (Zulu for The Boys'), defeated Cameroon 1-0, thanks to a Doctor Khumalo penalty kick.

The world will see the new South Africa in WC 2010. Implicit in this, is the world's recognition that soccer played a transformative role in ending decades of apartheid rule and providing succour to thousands of people during those dark days.

Dr Peter Alegi writes

For an in depth look at soccer and its role in ending apartheid one should read Dr. Peter Alegi's thought provoking book Laduma! Soccer, Politics and Society in South Africa (Pietermaritzburg: University of KwaZulu - Natal Press, 2004).

Djibril Cisse, Liverpool striker

Raymond Domenech has solved the goalkeeper quandary by keeping Fabian Barthez as his first pick. Gregory Coupet will get a look in if Barthez suffers a meltdown or goes out with injuries. Look out for some vintage Barthez moments in this WC, unless Linda Evangelista has slowed him down.

Pascal Chimbonda, the Wigan defender in the news recently for his transfer shenanigans is also in. Vikash Dhorasoo of PSG, France via Mauritius via India, has also found a spot. Djibril Cisse, Liverpool striker could finally heave a sigh of relief too. He is in. Missing out Roberto Pires, of Arsenal and Nicholas Anelka, and this would be the third WC in a row that he has been overlooked.

Veterans Claude Makelele, Lillian Thuram, and Zinedine Zidane have come back from retirement and will noticeably increase the average age of this French squad but will also give it the foundation that proved to be so succesful for the French in 1998. This will be Zizou's swansong, so his performance will be extra special.

Thierry Henry, David Trezeguet, and Louis Saha make up the potent French sharpshooting team. Opposing defences will have a tough time with keeping away this sort of firepower. And then there is Patrick Viera, the X factor. When he is on, look out.

Domenech's criteria: Players with a team spirit.

"They have to renounce personal pride and put themselves at the team's disposal."

Goalkeepers: Fabien Barthez (Olympique Marseille), Gregory Coupet (Olympique Lyon), Mickael Landreau (Nantes).

Defenders: Eric Abidal (Olympique Lyon), Jean-Alain Boumsong (Newcastle United), Pascal Chimbonda (Wigan Athletic), William Gallas (Chelsea), Gael Givet (Monaco) Willy Sagnol (Bayern Munich), Mikael Silvestre (Manchester United), Lilian Thuram (Juventus).

Midfielders: Vikash Dhorasoo (Paris St Germain), Alou Diarra (Racing Lens), Claude Makelele (Chelsea), Florent Malouda (Olympique Lyon), Patrick Vieira (Juventus), Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid).

Strikers: Djibril Cisse (Liverpool), Thierry Henry (Arsenal), Franck Ribery (Olympique Marseille), Louis Saha (Manchester United), David Trezeguet (Juventus), Sylvain Wiltord (Olympique Lyon).

Paolo Di Canio wants the good old days back. The days of the brownshirt. And it helps that he plays for Lazio, the club that prospered under the benevolence of Benito Mussolini. Outside the Olympico stadium is a huge obelisk emblazoned with the words "Mussolini, Il Duce." In a gesture emblematic of what ails Italian soccer, he regularly celebrates his goals by raising his arm in the fascist salute. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, owner of AC Milan, stated that the salute "did not have any significance" and described the player as 'an exhibitionist but a good lad'

He has a tattoo emblazoned on his arm that reads DVX, the Latin symbol for Duce, ala Mussolini. In a match last year against bitter rivals, AS Roma he ran to the part of the field that held his supporters, the fascist Irrudicibli and performed the fascist salute. He repeated the gesture against Livorno and Juventus. Di Canio is an accomplished striker and impressed EPL fans playing for West Ham before returning to Lazio but he does the image of soccer too much damage with his ultranationalist and fascistic attitude. For this gesture he was fined a paltry sum of 10,000 Euros and banned for a match by the Italian Football Federation

The Italian Football Federation should do much more. DI Canio should have been banned for a season and paid a stiffer fine. The Italian national team has not one single player of any other ethnicity other than Italian and there is no danger of it happening anytime soon. Lazio has one non- white brave soul playing for them, the Cote D'Ivoire player Christian Manfredini with a distinctly Italian sounding last name.

And Italy is not a country that is going to be over run by immigrants. There are 2.5 miilion immigrants out of a population of 60 million. That is about 4% of the population. So we're not talking about the Paolo Di Canio salute having anything to do with the oppression of Italians by a group of hard working immigrants taking over that country. It is just a gratuitous and self serving gesture. But it sends a message to the rest of the world, of a country that has very little tolerance for outsiders. In fact, there are more Italian immigrants to the rest of the world. During the period 1820 and 1920 over 4,190,000 people emigrated from Italy to the United States.

One of the well known toughs in movies throughout the world. I saw his film debut in Lock, Stock, and two Smoking Barrels. Now he is gone onto much bigger roles and is playing Zeljko Raznatovic alias Arkan in the new movie "The Filthy War" due for release in 2007.

But Vinnie Jones was also a well known enforcer in English Premier League soccer and holds the record for the quickest booking, 3 seconds into the game. He played for Wimbledon, Leeds United, Sheffield United, Chelsea and Queens Park Rangers. Internationally, he played for Wales, qualifying for that nationality through his grandparents. He played 384 league games and scored 33 goals in his soccer career, most of them with Wimbledon FC.

What made him notorious through the soccer world; he leapt to fame when a photographer at a match snapped him "marking" Newcastle United's Paul Gascoigne by grabbing his testicles. The photo shows Gazza in distinct discomfort.

Stephen Appiah, Ghana WC captain

Ghana became the first of the Africa zone qualifying teams to name their final 23 squad. Michael Essien of Chelsea and Stephen Appiah of Fehnerbache, the midfield nucleus responsible for taking Ghana to the World Cup are in as expected. As was Matthew Amoah of Borussia Dortmund. But coach Ratomir Dujkovic also included some surprises including a call-up for uncapped defender Habib Mohamed and recalls for Shilla Alhassan Illiasu and Razak Pimpong, who had played no part in Ghana's national side in recent years.

Goalkeepers: Sammy Adjei (Moadan Sport Ashdod, Israel), Richard Kingston (Ankaraspor, Turkey), George Owu (AsantiGold).

Defenders: Eric Addo (PSV Eindhoven, Netherlands), Issah Ahmed (Randers, Denmark), Shilla Alhassan Illiasu (Asante Kotoko), Samuel Osei Kuffour (AS Roma, Italy), John Mensah (Stade Rennes, France), Habib Mohammed (King Faisal Babes, Ghana), John Painstil (Hapoel Tel Aviv, Israel), Emmanuel Pappoe (Hapoel Kfar Saba, Israel), Daniel Quaye (Hearts of Oak), Hans Sarpei (VfL Wolfsburg, Germany)

Midfielders: Otto Addo (FSV Mainz, Germany), Stephen Appiah (Fenerbahce, Turkey), Derek Boateng (AIK Stockholm, Sweden), Haminu Dramani (Red Star Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro), Michael Essien (Chelsea, England), Sulley Ali Muntari (Udinese, Italy)

Strikers: Matthew Amoah (Borussia Dortmund, Germany), Asamoah Gyan (Modena, Italy), Razak Pimpong (FC Copenhagen, Denmark), Alex Tachie-Mensah (St. Gallen, Switzerland)

Brilliant. I think we all know that Gerrard's going to be a real force this summer!

PS- Patience, we're still waiting on the FA Cup video.

I have to hand it to Steven Gerrard. He's ready for the Cup, the World Cup that is.

Proving himself in today's FA Cup final, Gerrard makes me believe that we can still go all the way this summer - without Rooney.

Poor West Ham. They played a great game, only to watch it slip away in the 90th minute. Here's the blow by blow account of the game.

Video to follow soon...

The brilliant George Weah (who almost became PM in Liberia) is standing up against racism in the game, and asks FIFA to intensify the fight against ignorance.

Weah said that people should not forget that only a small minority in European football is racist. "I believe it's perpetrated by a minority of people who are ignorant, they see people of different colour on the pitch and feel offended," he told the BBC in Accra.

Weah joins Zoro, Issa Hayatou, and Barcelona's Samuel Eto'o as they struggle to find a way to get Europe to clean up its act.

At Soccer Blog we believe it can be done. Today's English game is a testament to what can happen when racism is fought on all fronts. Let's go FIFA, it's time to step up!

Ahn Jung Hwan celebrating his golden goal (S.Korea- Italy QF, WC 2002)

Italians are poor losers when it comes to football and their teams tend to play the most unattractive type of football. The World Cups they have won in the past have been done so playing defensive and soporific football. Their success in scoring goals have been through a group of opportunistic strikers, Paolo Rossi, Roberto Bettega, and Salvatore Schillaci.

So lets go back down memory lane and revisit what I thought was WC 2002's most hysterical moment. The Ahn Jung Hwan moment. The Italy vs South Korea quarterfinal.

The Italians had a number of chances to put away the game. But the Koreans equalized in time through Seol Ki-Hyeon with just two minutes left to play. Then Christian Vieri flubbed an open chance from 6 feet away to win the game for Italy a minute before the game was over. And the game went to extra time with the sudden death rule. There were a couple of questionable calls that umpire Byron Moreno made. Suddenly, the Italians found a scapegoat for their failure to score. An offside decision overruled a goal and Totti's dramatic dive and histrionic Italian appeals did not lead to a penalty kick. In fact, Totti's gamesmanship earned him the red card and he was off the field. Moments before the game was going to be decided on penalty kicks, Korean striker Ahn Jung Hwan headed in the match deciding goal. Italy was eliminated. Ciao!

Francesco Totti being sent off

The fall out was immense. And the Italians went berserk. FIFA was beseiged by hundred of thousands of irate callers demanding the head of Byron Moreno. Kickbacks were alleged. Death threats issued. The minister of public affairs called the umpire a disgrace. The Rome prosecutors office opened up an investigation into the umpire's conduct. Moreno further enraged the Italians by firing back stating the allegations of financial impropriety was a bit rich coming from the country that invented the concept of the backhander.

Christian has more on Italian style corruption in football

As Nick Hornsby writes, "at one stage it seemed only a matter of time before a small flotilla of Italian gunships would set sail across the Atlantic, to prepare the way for a full-scale invasion of Ecuador."

But the laughathon did not stop there. Luciano Gaucci, president of Perugia FC, the Italian club that Ahn Jung Hwan played for decided to sack him for his unacceptable goal. Quote. 'That gentleman will never set foot in Perugia again,' Gaucci said. 'I have no intention of paying a salary to someone who has ruined Italian soccer.' Close quote.

(Excerpted from Nick Hornsby article in the 07-15- 2002 edition of the New Yorker. (Subscription needed))

So the question is who will be Italy's Ahn Jung Hwan in this World Cup? Italy meets the US, Ghana, and the Czech Republic in their group.

Ghana has defender Samuel Osei Kuffour of AS Roma, midfielder Sulley Ali Muntari of Udinese and striker Asamoah Gyan of Modena. And the Czech Republic have star Pavel Nedved playing for Juventus. Anyone of them can ruin Italian soccer again. But me thinks the fascist Ultras of Udinese, AS Roma, or Modena will get their shorts in a twist if anyone of the Ghanian players score against Italy. And I would think that the Ghanians playing for the Italian Serie should be careful before returning to their clubs knowing Ultras behavior.

The US has no player in the Italian Serie A.

What's going on in the Calcio?

From the NY Times:

Players and managers being threatened and blackmailed; numerous discussions over refereeing assignments before games; the alleged collusion of coaches, federation officials and a popular soccer talk-show host; the blacklisting of those who challenged the corruption; and, of course, the lavish greasing of palms.

and

The Agnelli family — which owns the Fiat automotive group — is a major shareholder in Juventus. Juventus, the current leader in Serie A, Italy's top division, has been a dominant force in Italian soccer for decades, winning 28 league titles. On Sunday, the team can clinch its 29th.

The investigations have heightened suspicions among many soccer fans here that Juventus has received favorable treatment from referees over the years.

From Berlusconi's feed by Agenzia Giornalistica Italia:

The Juventus fans feel deprived of their dream. Outrages, let down, furious with the football world, but especially with their club, Juventus, and its top managers Antonio Giraudo and Luciano Moggi, and goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon. Everyone wants to understand how far the situation has gone. In Turin's streets and bars, everyone wonders "how on earth did it go so far? People such as Moggi, Giraudo, Buffon earn in 1 year what people like us don't earn in a lifetime. They should start living with the wage of a worker, a retired person, an employee. They took away our dream of football, a clean football". The people feel a mixture of rage, astonishment and delusion. The most frequent phrase here is 'turn the page'. "Change men and methods, not only at Juventus, but in the entire football world. We must remove all that is rotten. We're sick and tired of fraudsters and cheaters - say some senior citizens - from the football world to the Cirio and Parmalat crashed. These people were depicted as top-notch managers on our papers". Nobody even mentions the word 'champioship', everyone wonders if the 41 people under investigation will become more, if other teams, aside Juventus, AC Milan, Fiorentina and Lazio are involved. They wonder what will happen to Buffon and Moggi after they is heard by the attorneys. Nobody excuses anyone.

From the BBC:

Instructions to the referee: "Make sure you see everything. Even that which isn't there."

and

Inter Milan coach Roberto Mancini said: "I won't stay in Italy if the winners of the championship have already been decided before we take the field.

"It wouldn't take much to change things - we need proper rules and honest people. Otherwise we should suspend the championship.

From the Guardian:

Italy's goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon was questioned by magistrates on Saturday over alleged betting improprieties -- part of a string of scandals which has rocked the nation just weeks before the start of the World Cup.

and

"...the Italian Football Federation withdrew a referee it was planning to send to the World Cup finals, Massimo De Santis, along with two assistant referees, all of whom are under investigation in the probe."

Ciao Italia! I don't see how Italy's going to have a good summer at the Copa... The Italians have shown us the ugly game - Jogo Feio!

Meanwhile we learn from SI that even the pope is displeased. The scandals were denounced by the Vatican as an "offense to sports'' and an "offense to the joy of childhood.'' Ironically, that last phrase can be applied to the church as well.

Harold Wilson: Soccer & Politics

"Have you noticed how we only win the World Cup under a Labor Government?" Harold Wilson remarked after England's victory in 1966. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Wilson was Britain's Labor Prime Minister in 1966 - the only year, as of this writing, that England has won the World Cup.

Considering that the major party in English politics have been the Tories and they have been there in power since the World Cup began in 1930 except for the Labor governments of Clement Attlee, Harold Wilson, and the New Labor party of Tony Blair since 1994, this might be encouraging news for English prospects in the World Cup. But time is running out. Tony Blair was in power in the 1998 and 2002 World Cup and England did not win the Cup. And this is Blair's last term which he might not survive if Gordon Brown and his supporters have their way.

Or is it because this is not the Labor party but the neo-liberal version. Will the real Labor Party step up and guide England to World Cup glory once again? We might have to wait a long time.

In the May 11th edition of MSNBC's , Countdown with Keith Olbermann, Arsenal's owners were mentioned in the Worst Person segment of the programme. Curious?? Since when has the MSM mentioned English soccer or soccer for that matter. I thought it was going to be on the move from Highbury to the new stadium at Ashburton Grove and the ridiculously priced tickets that are going to pay for the stadium.

But as it turns out Olbermann's broadside was aimed at something more sinister. Here is his nomination for Arsenal.

"The runner-up, the owners of the venerable British soccer team Arsenal and the stadium at which it has played for nearly a century, Highbury. As it moves to a new stadium, Arsenal had been selling off the seats from Highbury until it was discovered that the paint on those seats contained traces of cadmium. It is a toxic medical -- metal that, among other things, can reduce men's fertility."

An extreme form of birth control? But there is nothing to worry. As Arsenal fans don't park their arses on these seats all that much, at least not when the match is in progress. They prefer standing and singing as Thierry Henry scores goals galore. At least we hope so. Although it must be a darned problem getting through those metal detectors at airports.

But it is disturbing to note that the Arsenal owners stack up against such luminaries as Neal Boortz, Michael Savage, and Bill O' Reilly for the worst person award. The winner of the 11th May edition of Countdown- Neal Boortz. Here is what he had to say on the Columbine tragedy.

But the winner, radio commentator Neal Boortz, who said that offering counseling to kids traumatized by shootings in schools was just an attempt to sell them on the idea that government is, quote, "responsible for everything." He said there should not have been counseling offered to the students at Columbine. "I had a friend," Boortz said, "that died of leukemia. Never once did they run a bunch of damned counselors into the school the next day assist me in getting my feeling out about this issue." Yeah, Neal, and look how good you turned out.

Ex-PM and AC Milan owner Silvio Berlusconi said Friday that Shevchenko might be headed for the English Premiership this summer.

Apparently as he was entering a government building, Berlusconi was stopped by a group of schoolchildren and asked to pass on his regards to the 29-year-old Ukranian international. Replied Berlusconi: "Do you know that he's leaving? He wants to go to England."

Will Chelsea be the next Barcelona?

... he'd be Theo Walcott!?

I'm kidding, but you get the point. Walcott made Sven's team because he's fast: 100 metres in 11.52 seconds.

Compare that to Gatlin's 100 metres in 9.76sec!

Wow.

Bang a gong!

Listen to this, children:

"Already free of the protective casing around his foot, Rooney is walking without discomfort and will step up his training next week. He has abandoned the oxygen tent that was supposed to hasten his recovery because it was making him feel nauseous, but, otherwise, the United medical staff are delighted. He sustained one main fracture and another small crack, but recent scans have put Rooney and his doctors in good heart."

The Times says the Roonster could be back against Sweden!

Will these guys be tough enough for England, Sweden and Paraguay?

Goalkeepers
Kelvin Jack (Dundee), Shaka Hislop (West Ham United), Clayton Ince (Coventry City).

Defenders
Dennis Lawrence (Wrexham), Cyd Gray (CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh), Marvin Andrews (Glasgow Rangers), Brent Sancho (Gillingham), Ian Cox (Gillingham), Atiba Charles (W Connection), Avery John (New England Revolution).

Midfielders
Silvio Spann (unattached), Chris Birchall (Port Vale), Aurtis Whitley (CL Financial San Juan Jabloteh), Evans Wise (Waldhof Mannheim), Densill Theobald (Falkirk), Carlos Edwards (Luton Town), Russell Latapy (Falkirk).

Forwards
Dwight Yorke (Sydney FC), Stern John (Coventry City), Kenwyne Jones (Southampton FC), Collin Samuel (Dundee United), Jason Scotland (St Johnstone), Cornell Glen (LA Galaxy), Anthony Wolfe (Jabloteh).

Leo Beenhakker has rolled his dice. I'm rooting for at least one upset here - maybe they can get England or Sweden! :-)

Could it be that Rooney might get back in time?

Apparently his foot is fit enough to allow him to ride a bike...

Here's the official story>>

Sebastian Diesler is out through injury. Germany's midfield is too reliant on Ballack to make up the gap. It is high time to get Mehmet Scholl into the German team. He has been Bayern Munich's pillar in the midfield for over a decade now and just won an 8th Bundesliga title with the club.

Scholl was sidelined for the 1998 and 2002 World Cup due to injury and is still prone to ailments. But there is no reason for him not to go this time. A fan initiative named ”Mehmet for Germany” hopes to gather 100,000 signatures in support of Scholl's inclusion by mid-May. Please sign the petition.

Lets do this Germany: Even Lotthar Mattheus is calling for his selection. And apart from Scholl being one of contemporary Germany's creative and productive players, the name Mehmet has a nice ring to it.

Lukas, Sebastien, Michael, Jens, and Mehmet.

Alan Shearer will be missed. A gutsy forward who played through repeated injuries to his knees and England's ups and downs through two World Cup in '94 and '98. He was Newcastle's record striker scoring 206 goals and also captain of the WC '98 English squad. His retirement came in the wake of another knee injury sustained three weeks ago that sidelined him from future matches.

In his testimonial match against Celtic attended by over 55,000 fans and an old boy squad of Les Ferdinand, Gary Speed, Steve Watson, and Robert Lee; Shearer kicked off the match and came on to score the penalty that gave Newcastle victory over Celtic 3-2.

Alan Shearer factoid: The youngest player in English first dvision soccer to score a hat trick. He was 17 years and 8 months when he scored for Chelsea against Arsenal in 1988.

And what of the future: He is the qunitessential Geordie, so there is speculation that he might take over in a managerial/coaching capacity with Newcastle on a permanent basis. Or an ambassadorial role. For now he wants to bring his six golf handicap down.

Alan Shearer

Back in the day. It was the New York Cosmos that brought soccer to America, leading with Pele - the game's biggest ambassador. Joining him were Beckenbauer, Cruyff, Chinaglia, Carlos Alberto and a supporting cast of crazies. Now it's all on film, a documentary due for release on the 19th of this month in the UK.

Visit the film's official site here>>

There's a lesson here for the Red Bulls. The Cosmos may have failed at a business model, but they succeeded as a brand. I bet you Beckenbauer is going to bring some fireworks back to New York after the World Cup.

We just have to wait and see...

Roy Keane blocked Alex Ferguson from giving a tribute to him on his testimonial night. Apparently Ferguson asked Keane, 34, if he could address the Old Trafford crowd after the game against Celtic on Tuesday. But Keane said no — and made only a brief statement himself, thanking the fans and players. So says the Sun.

Ferguson has a way of alienating players doesn't he?

Here's a clip from the testimonial:

and here's a look at Kean's career:

Can politics be far behind when the World Cup is organized? Now, many EU members are demanding that FIFA ban the Iranian soccer team from playing in the World Cup because their president Mahmoud Ahmedinejad has called for Israel's destruction. One form of exculpation of Germany's guilt in the Holocaust is to legally proceed against deniers, of whom Ahmedinejad is one of them.

But why should the Iranian players be punished for the statement of their president? They earned the right to play in the World Cup just like other teams that had to go through the qualifying rounds. No Iranian player in public statements has subscribed to the annihilation nor wished ill will against Israel.

This is different from apartheid in South Africa for which they were banned from international sports for decades. That form of discrimination was systematized and targeted the black population on measures best described by the authors of The Bell Curve.

Iran is home to millions of youth that actively oppose the fundamentalism of the elderly clerics in charge of Iran. They are the ones that bring Iran close to the rest of the world with their movies, music, and art. And their soccer. This ban will marginalize this youth movement. Angela Merkel should stay steadfast in her opposition to the demand of a ban on the Iranian team.

Soccer Blog says, "Let Soccer Be the Winner."

"Sponsors are absolutely not allowed to grant advantages to public representatives, with whom they have possible official ties," Karlsruhe District Attorney Rainer Bogs told German television. Such interaction between sponsors and government employees or politicians is against German law.

Now they tell us!

The thing that gets me is that "some 500,000 of the World Cup's three million tickets went to 21 companies". So one out of every six people in the stadium is a corporate guest. Well done, FIFA.

Not even 10 percent of those surveyed could say that Ballack is a spokesman for sporting goods maker Adidas.

So why do companies spend so much on ineffective advertising?

BBDO executive Zilligen knows exactly how this works. If some ad agency exec has, with great difficulty, actually convinced the marketing director of some company to steer clear of the World Cup, his efforts can quickly be dashed by the wife of the company's CEO, who happens to see a commercial on TV featuring Ballack and his ilk. All she has to do is ask her husband: "Aren't you guys doing anything?" He responds: "I have no idea." And the next day the marketing director will have to explain why they aren't hoping on the bandwagon.

This is just plain bad marketing.

From Spiegel Online:

If the 17-year-old Borussia Dortmund wunderkind Nuri Sahin would rather play for Turkey despite growing up in Germany, why should other Turks living in Berlin or the Ruhr Valley decide to become German citizens?

This kind of question cannot be asked in the US.

We're still a long way from being a multicultural society in Germany. Not even close.

Earlier I had posted about the racist hot-spots in Germany. I'm afraid that we are not taking this seriously enough.

Here's a story about Adebowale Ogungbure. See the video for more details: