Jabulani
If you hadn't already noticed by now, that ball moves and bounces beyond the expectations of the players. It has some comical results, seeing it bounce over some players, and also past some goalkeepers. The downside to it is that there seemed to have been less shots on target, especially from free kicks (has anyone seen a free kick on target yet?). But admist all the discussion of the ball's flight, the Japanese showed us how to cross it in their goal against Cameroon. Maybe being more light-weight as a person would give you an edge in ball control?
The goalkeeping has been up and down, Nigeria and Denmark seem to have produced the most consistent displays, Sorenson even actually held onto a shot swinging away from him, see people, they wear gloves for a reason! He was equally unfortunate that his same gloves gave the ball the spin that led to the second goal.
Referees
There has been little debate about the referees, I've only seen a few mistakes, and probably the undeserved red card against Cahill was the one bad decision that affected a group than any other. But let me congratulate the Uzbek referees, goodness, I thought they would screw up the first game, and I thought they got every offside call wrong in the first game, and every time the replay showed me they got it right. The linesmen must have been intent on being in the right place, because they got the close calls right too.
But on another level, I thought some games might be a bit of a flopalooza, particularly with the Mexicans, but the referees seem to be on top of any simulation, more so than before, there was a good example where a German was yellow-carded for his flop yesterday, and he went on to stay on his feet for the rest of the game.
Predictions
I've been trying to make predictions for the games, and I've gotten very few results right, but there's been considerably less goals than I originally thought, to be fair, there seems to be quite a few missed chances, and maybe as the group stage progresses, and people get to grips with their environment and the ball (right, Green?!) we'll see more goals.
Surprises for me so far are:
South Africa (for their passing and movement)
Japan (for winning outside their home country, and their ball control)
Ghana (in general, I didn't think they had much else other than Essein, I was wrong)
Denmark (Their well-organized defence against the Dutch was good news for them, the goals were flukes)
Non-surprises:
South Korea (seriously, Greece had it coming)
Nigeria (or rather, the holes in the Argentinian defence, Nigeria was wasteful)
England vs USA
There was some noise about two particular things, the lack of a holding midfielder in Barry's absence, and the US counter-attack. Neither were issues. People seem to forget that Gerrard covers the entire field, and tackles like a demon, he was first a holding midfielder noted for his tackles rather than his passing and his goals early on his career. Secondly, the one time I think the US genuinely tried to counter, Donovan didn't have the support. To counter, you need to do so as a team, and the only player I know who could run and pass with Donovan whilst progressing down the field at high speed was Charlie Davis.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
49 Hours and Counting!
I can't stand it, I was talking with a friend about the low that I'm going to get after games, I'm so excited about this damn tournament I'm already thinking about how deflated I'm going to be when all is said and done, boo!!
Anyway, I won't be doing match previews until after the group stages, but I'll be writing reviews of the matches I see. Yes, work and family won't stop for the WC (I should consider moving to Brazil in time for the next World Cup), though I'll do my damnedest best, I'll be trying to get to Newark two hours earlier than needed just so that I can catch the England-Algeria game in an airport bar next Friday.
However, I'll try and make predictions of the score for every game on twitter, and may even comment in real-time if I remember: http://www.twitter.com/samseaver
I linked this on twitter, but this has got to be the best WC calendar!
Anyway, I won't be doing match previews until after the group stages, but I'll be writing reviews of the matches I see. Yes, work and family won't stop for the WC (I should consider moving to Brazil in time for the next World Cup), though I'll do my damnedest best, I'll be trying to get to Newark two hours earlier than needed just so that I can catch the England-Algeria game in an airport bar next Friday.
However, I'll try and make predictions of the score for every game on twitter, and may even comment in real-time if I remember: http://www.twitter.com/samseaver
I linked this on twitter, but this has got to be the best WC calendar!
Saturday, June 5, 2010
Groups Review: E-H
As a reminder, I'm merely predicting a team's chances of getting beyond the group stages.
Group E:
The Netherlands, no doubt.
Denmark has a strong squad, when I look at it, I'm surprised to recognize so many Scandinavian names from the Premiership and elsewhere, Rommedahl is getting on a bit, but Bendtner must be raring to go, I see them having decisive victories over Cameroon and Japan.
I picked Cameroon to finish above Japan on the basis that they have a few defenders who play at the top level, as well as Eto'o, but I don't know much else about the team, they had a relatively easy group in qualifying, so we'll see.
I don't think we'll see much of Japan this time round, but to be honest, I don't know the team at all.
Prediction:
Netherlands
Denmark
Cameroon
Japan
Group F:
The Italians have a lot of established names, and even more established hairstyles, Camoranesi's ponytail and Gattuso's beard to name a few, they're the defending champions who only conceded two goals in the last World Cup, but "last" is the key here. Americans might be interested in Daniele De Rossi, who was born in the US, and even scored against them in the Confederations Cup last year.
Paraguay and Slovakia are stalemates for me, both doing good in their respective regions, and I might be more inclined towards Slovakia, but the Paraguayans have Santa-Cruz. I predict their match-up will be a no-score draw, and their chances of going through depends on how many goals they unload unto New Zealand.
New Zealand do have a bright spot for this tournament, they have their own Golden Boy who they're hoping will cause some upsets, 18 year old Chris Wood. It doesn't look as if he'll be starting games, but neither did Michael in 1998.
Prediction:
Italy
Paraguay*
Slovakia*
New Zealand
Group G:
Brazil, easy peasy lemon squeezy. I don't expect any high-scoring games, but they've got the defense that won Inter three trophies this year, which makes Brazil very scary in my book.
Portugal will lose against the Ivory Coast in the deciding match of the group. I don't like them, and I don't see Ronaldo making a difference except against DPR.
I see the Ivory Coast as being one of the more physical African teams, and thats saying something. Even Brazil might have a job whilst being manhandled. If Brazil's defense stays well positioned, they shouldn't have to worry about it. Portugal on the other hand.
Korea DPR: Oh Dear.
Prediction:
Brazil
Ivory Coast
Portugal
Korea DPR
Group H:
Spain will proceed at a gentle trot.
I'm having trouble with the rest of this group, I could put an asterix against all three of the other teams, and be OK with it. I'm naturally inclined towards a European defence, especially one that features Senderos who did well enough at Euro 2006 to get picked up by Arsenal, so I would think maybe Switzerland scrapes through here. I honestly do not know enough about Chile and Honduras, though I give the Chileans better credit in being a CONMEBOL team.
Prediction:
Spain
Switzerland
Chile
Honduras
If my predictions hold, we'll see these match-ups:
The Netherlands vs Paraguay
Italy vs Denmark
Spain vs Ivory Coast
Brazil vs Switzerland
Group E:
The Netherlands, no doubt.
Denmark has a strong squad, when I look at it, I'm surprised to recognize so many Scandinavian names from the Premiership and elsewhere, Rommedahl is getting on a bit, but Bendtner must be raring to go, I see them having decisive victories over Cameroon and Japan.
I picked Cameroon to finish above Japan on the basis that they have a few defenders who play at the top level, as well as Eto'o, but I don't know much else about the team, they had a relatively easy group in qualifying, so we'll see.
I don't think we'll see much of Japan this time round, but to be honest, I don't know the team at all.
Prediction:
Netherlands
Denmark
Cameroon
Japan
Group F:
The Italians have a lot of established names, and even more established hairstyles, Camoranesi's ponytail and Gattuso's beard to name a few, they're the defending champions who only conceded two goals in the last World Cup, but "last" is the key here. Americans might be interested in Daniele De Rossi, who was born in the US, and even scored against them in the Confederations Cup last year.
Paraguay and Slovakia are stalemates for me, both doing good in their respective regions, and I might be more inclined towards Slovakia, but the Paraguayans have Santa-Cruz. I predict their match-up will be a no-score draw, and their chances of going through depends on how many goals they unload unto New Zealand.
New Zealand do have a bright spot for this tournament, they have their own Golden Boy who they're hoping will cause some upsets, 18 year old Chris Wood. It doesn't look as if he'll be starting games, but neither did Michael in 1998.
Prediction:
Italy
Paraguay*
Slovakia*
New Zealand
Group G:
Brazil, easy peasy lemon squeezy. I don't expect any high-scoring games, but they've got the defense that won Inter three trophies this year, which makes Brazil very scary in my book.
Portugal will lose against the Ivory Coast in the deciding match of the group. I don't like them, and I don't see Ronaldo making a difference except against DPR.
I see the Ivory Coast as being one of the more physical African teams, and thats saying something. Even Brazil might have a job whilst being manhandled. If Brazil's defense stays well positioned, they shouldn't have to worry about it. Portugal on the other hand.
Korea DPR: Oh Dear.
Prediction:
Brazil
Ivory Coast
Portugal
Korea DPR
Group H:
Spain will proceed at a gentle trot.
I'm having trouble with the rest of this group, I could put an asterix against all three of the other teams, and be OK with it. I'm naturally inclined towards a European defence, especially one that features Senderos who did well enough at Euro 2006 to get picked up by Arsenal, so I would think maybe Switzerland scrapes through here. I honestly do not know enough about Chile and Honduras, though I give the Chileans better credit in being a CONMEBOL team.
Prediction:
Spain
Switzerland
Chile
Honduras
If my predictions hold, we'll see these match-ups:
The Netherlands vs Paraguay
Italy vs Denmark
Spain vs Ivory Coast
Brazil vs Switzerland
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Celebrations
A couple more memories that came back to me in all this World Cup fever were: Robert Earle's Salute, when he tied for Jamaica in their first game against Croatia. Robert Earle was the last of the 'Crazy Gang' who terrorized the Premier League, another famous member being Vinnie Jones. Earle had a chance to play for England, but he never did and ended up playing for the "Reggaez Boyz".
He was one of the veterans on the team, and their chances didn't look so good being in the same group as Croatia and Argentina, but there was a growing sense of support in England, given colonial connection, and I remember Earle's goal, because it came out of nowhere, and being the first group game, all of a sudden there was this sense of potential. Earle's celebratory salute sticks in my mind (4:50, the video isn't really worth watching in its entirety)
The second celebration that sticks to my mind was actually in a lot of the early ESPN WC adverts. If I were a defender for my country, in a locked semi-final against the host country, and I happened to receive the pass at the end of extra-time, that would lead to my scoring the game-winning goal, I most certainly would run down the sidelines shaking my head like Fabio Grosso:
I'm positive if any sound was coming out of his mouth, all he could manage was a breathless squeal as if Timberlake walked into a sweet 16 party.
He was one of the veterans on the team, and their chances didn't look so good being in the same group as Croatia and Argentina, but there was a growing sense of support in England, given colonial connection, and I remember Earle's goal, because it came out of nowhere, and being the first group game, all of a sudden there was this sense of potential. Earle's celebratory salute sticks in my mind (4:50, the video isn't really worth watching in its entirety)
The second celebration that sticks to my mind was actually in a lot of the early ESPN WC adverts. If I were a defender for my country, in a locked semi-final against the host country, and I happened to receive the pass at the end of extra-time, that would lead to my scoring the game-winning goal, I most certainly would run down the sidelines shaking my head like Fabio Grosso:
I'm positive if any sound was coming out of his mouth, all he could manage was a breathless squeal as if Timberlake walked into a sweet 16 party.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Groups Review: A-D
I'm going spend some of my last posts before the actual event reviewing the groups, and making my predictions about who will make it to the next round. I'm not brave enough to predict who will win it all, especially as many of the top teams are strong contenders to make it all the way. I'll leave an asterix next to second and third place teams to say I think it could go either way (you might think I'm being chicken about the predictions, but I don't think you could say that to my face). Also, I will not be considering the recent friendlies, they are experimental.
A:
Many would think that France are an automatic choice, but looking over their roster, they don't seem to have the midfield, especially without Nasri. They also struggled to qualify, needing a last minute handball from Thierry Henry in the playoffs. Their best two strikers are now getting on a bit too.
Uruguay finished fifth in CONMEBOL and also had to win a playoff against Costa Rica, which in itself is not an easy feat. They are dangerous because of Forlan's form, he scored the game-winning goals of both the semi-final against Liverpool and the final against Fulham in the Europa cup, but I don't know much about the rest of the team.
I'd say that Mexico is the most likely to win the group, as they had the best form towards the end of the qualifiers, winning 5 of their last 6 games, after replacing Eriksson as their coach. Dos Santos was a player who started playing better under the new coach and is one to watch. Javier Hernandez was signed by Man Utd, and so will probably be my new foci of hatred, especially if Mexico ends up meeting England in the quarters.
Finally, South Africa are the host nation, and though I suspect they would finish last in their group, I wouldn't be surprised to see them pull off a win, especially against France (shades of '02 anyone?) Every host country in the World Cup has made it out of the first round, even USA in '94.
Prediction:
Mexico
Uruguay*
France*
South Africa
B:
When I see Argentina, I think group winners, and then I think, wait, they barely made it, and then I was watching the Champions League Final thinking "Gosh, Milito!" and then I was reminding myself who the coach is. I think Argentina will make it to the next round, but they'll struggle to do so, particularly against Korea.
I don't know many of the names on the Korea team, apart from the ones who play in England, but I understand that they have a work ethic that would frustrate teams more inclined to be spontaneous (see above).
Nigeria probably wouldn't be here, if it wasn't for a remarkable result between Tunisia and Mozambique. Nigeria actually succeeded in tying Tunisia in both group games, and I believe that's a good indicator of what's going to happen here, a lot of score draws.
Greece is not the team it was, one of the oldest in the field, still holding onto the fading glory of Euro 2004, but they boast the top scorer in the UEFA region (who'da thunk it?!) Theofanis Gekas, so things may be interesting.
Prediction:
Argentina
Korea*
Nigeria*
Greece
C:
England is the number one choice to win this group. I'm being objective too.
USA won the CONCACAF region, and had a fantastic run in the Confederations Cup last year, but between the first two games, and the rest of the cup, they were like Jekyll and Hyde, and Charlie Davis was the reason. His running opened up space and created goals, he was involved in almost all the goals the US scored, even Altidore's goal against Spain. I became a big fan of his after that cup, and was sorry to see him go down like that. The USA will not be the same team without him, and despite the attention they're giving to the England-USA match up, they should be focused on the game against Slovenia.
Algeria are the least likely to qualify, but cannot be discounted for the fact that they beat Egypt to get here. Egypt is the two-times defending CAF champion, and the highest ranked African team not in the World Cup, and so Algeria deserve some respect. How much, I cannot tell.
Slovenia pulled off a bigger upset than anyone might consider, seeing they beat Guus Hiddink, holding at home in the second leg-off of the playoff against Russia. If they can keep their defence organized like that, they can do well. However, they finished second to Slovakia in a rather underwhelming group, so I don't know if they'll perform at the next level.
Prediction:
England
USA
Slovenia
Algeria
D:
Germany is the de facto choice here, even without Ballack, and any of the other injuries they've been having.
Australia is a favourite of mine, as you might have garnered from my review of Germany '06, but I think it's going to be really close between three teams, and I read that Australia only have three true forwards, of which one is fully fit, so they may be expecting to force a few no-score draws, and consequently, would miss out.
Ghana would have given Germany a run for their money, but they're missing Essein now, a game-changer, and will be hoping to get at least one win over Australia or Serbia, which is likely, but may not be enough.
Serbia won their group, which included France, Romania and Austria, by a game to spare, with an impressive strike rate of 22 goals in 10 games, unexpected from a small nation, and this makes them the wild card here, they seem capable of beating everyone in this group.
Prediction:
Serbia
Germany
Ghana
Australia
If my predictions hold, then the next round would have these match-ups:
Mexico vs Korea
Uruguay vs Argentina
England vs Germany
Serbia vs USA
A:
Many would think that France are an automatic choice, but looking over their roster, they don't seem to have the midfield, especially without Nasri. They also struggled to qualify, needing a last minute handball from Thierry Henry in the playoffs. Their best two strikers are now getting on a bit too.
Uruguay finished fifth in CONMEBOL and also had to win a playoff against Costa Rica, which in itself is not an easy feat. They are dangerous because of Forlan's form, he scored the game-winning goals of both the semi-final against Liverpool and the final against Fulham in the Europa cup, but I don't know much about the rest of the team.
I'd say that Mexico is the most likely to win the group, as they had the best form towards the end of the qualifiers, winning 5 of their last 6 games, after replacing Eriksson as their coach. Dos Santos was a player who started playing better under the new coach and is one to watch. Javier Hernandez was signed by Man Utd, and so will probably be my new foci of hatred, especially if Mexico ends up meeting England in the quarters.
Finally, South Africa are the host nation, and though I suspect they would finish last in their group, I wouldn't be surprised to see them pull off a win, especially against France (shades of '02 anyone?) Every host country in the World Cup has made it out of the first round, even USA in '94.
Prediction:
Mexico
Uruguay*
France*
South Africa
B:
When I see Argentina, I think group winners, and then I think, wait, they barely made it, and then I was watching the Champions League Final thinking "Gosh, Milito!" and then I was reminding myself who the coach is. I think Argentina will make it to the next round, but they'll struggle to do so, particularly against Korea.
I don't know many of the names on the Korea team, apart from the ones who play in England, but I understand that they have a work ethic that would frustrate teams more inclined to be spontaneous (see above).
Nigeria probably wouldn't be here, if it wasn't for a remarkable result between Tunisia and Mozambique. Nigeria actually succeeded in tying Tunisia in both group games, and I believe that's a good indicator of what's going to happen here, a lot of score draws.
Greece is not the team it was, one of the oldest in the field, still holding onto the fading glory of Euro 2004, but they boast the top scorer in the UEFA region (who'da thunk it?!) Theofanis Gekas, so things may be interesting.
Prediction:
Argentina
Korea*
Nigeria*
Greece
C:
England is the number one choice to win this group. I'm being objective too.
USA won the CONCACAF region, and had a fantastic run in the Confederations Cup last year, but between the first two games, and the rest of the cup, they were like Jekyll and Hyde, and Charlie Davis was the reason. His running opened up space and created goals, he was involved in almost all the goals the US scored, even Altidore's goal against Spain. I became a big fan of his after that cup, and was sorry to see him go down like that. The USA will not be the same team without him, and despite the attention they're giving to the England-USA match up, they should be focused on the game against Slovenia.
Algeria are the least likely to qualify, but cannot be discounted for the fact that they beat Egypt to get here. Egypt is the two-times defending CAF champion, and the highest ranked African team not in the World Cup, and so Algeria deserve some respect. How much, I cannot tell.
Slovenia pulled off a bigger upset than anyone might consider, seeing they beat Guus Hiddink, holding at home in the second leg-off of the playoff against Russia. If they can keep their defence organized like that, they can do well. However, they finished second to Slovakia in a rather underwhelming group, so I don't know if they'll perform at the next level.
Prediction:
England
USA
Slovenia
Algeria
D:
Germany is the de facto choice here, even without Ballack, and any of the other injuries they've been having.
Australia is a favourite of mine, as you might have garnered from my review of Germany '06, but I think it's going to be really close between three teams, and I read that Australia only have three true forwards, of which one is fully fit, so they may be expecting to force a few no-score draws, and consequently, would miss out.
Ghana would have given Germany a run for their money, but they're missing Essein now, a game-changer, and will be hoping to get at least one win over Australia or Serbia, which is likely, but may not be enough.
Serbia won their group, which included France, Romania and Austria, by a game to spare, with an impressive strike rate of 22 goals in 10 games, unexpected from a small nation, and this makes them the wild card here, they seem capable of beating everyone in this group.
Prediction:
Serbia
Germany
Ghana
Australia
If my predictions hold, then the next round would have these match-ups:
Mexico vs Korea
Uruguay vs Argentina
England vs Germany
Serbia vs USA
Friday, May 28, 2010
The "Real" World Cup
They call this tournament, the "World" Cup, and there's no doubt about its international pedigree, even the final 32 teams cover every corner of the globe, from New Zealand to Honduras, Paraguay to Japan, and South Africa to Denmark.
But, if you look closely, the international flavor starts to lose its salt. Out of the possible 72 semi-finalists in all 18 of the previous World Cup, only 4 teams were not European, Brazil, Argentina, or Uruguay. Read that again, FOUR, and I'm being generous because I'm counting the Soviet Union. Yawn, YAWN, Bloody Yawn!
2002: Korea
1966: Soviet Union
1962: Chile
1930: USA
There may be reasons why you might expect this empirically, such as the fact that UEFA sends the most teams to the tournament every time, and gets to do so because most of their teams are just great (the losers of the playoff qualifiers have the potential to make the semis alone). But the fact remains, its not as much of a "World" Cup as one might like. Many fans only plan for the group stages, because the expect their team to be going home early.
So, I started to think about a second World Cup, a "Real" World cup, one where there may be more equality in the results between teams from across the globe, one where you'd get more unpredictable games in the group stages, and one where you'd get more diverse semi-finals at least. If such a World Cup were to happen, and it had 32 teams, it would be inviting the losers, the non-qualifiers, the second best from all the regions.
First, I checked out the rankings, here is the ranking of the top 32 teams to not make it to the World Cup this year:
Here's how many teams that would be from each region:
OK, that's not going to work, so I'll go back to the format that the organizers use, where they restrict the number of entrants from UEFA. But with a few new rules of my own. In the following list, for each region, I'll detail the number of entrants, and why.
UEFA: 9
The original number of 13 is too much for my liking, and I decided to free up four spaces for the other regions. In addition to taking the 9 second-best UEFA teams, I will not include the ones that lost in the playoffs, simply because they're too good anyway, so Russia, Ukraine, and Republic of Ireland are out (Henry handball notwithstanding). Bosnia stays in because I like them for even making the playoffs, so there. My rules.
The 9 UEFA teams would be (with rankings):
Africa: 6
I award Africa one of the spots taken from UEFA:
Asia: 6
I award Asia one of the spots taken from UEFA, and I also give them an extra half a spot, because they lost their inter-continental playoff qualifier against New Zealand.
CONCACAF: 5
I award CONCACAF one of the spots taken from UEFA, and I also give them an extra half a spot, because they lost their inter-continental playoff qualifier against Uruguay.
CONMEBOL: 5
I award CONMEBOL one of the spots taken from UEFA, and I also take away the half a spot, because of Uruguay. Take note, this is literally the rest of the teams in the entire region.
Oceania: 1*
I would deduct half a spot because of New Zealand, but that means that the Pacific Islands would have no contenders. As it happens, there is one spot left, but how could I justify offering it to the lowliest of teams...I know, I'd make them the host nation:
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you New Caledonia 2010, the "Real" World Cup!
View Larger Map
At first glance, this seems like a fantastic mixture of teams, but sadly, ranking-wise, UEFA would dominate again. It looks like at least the African teams, particularly Egypt would make the Semis, and they'd be the first African team do do so.
But, if you look closely, the international flavor starts to lose its salt. Out of the possible 72 semi-finalists in all 18 of the previous World Cup, only 4 teams were not European, Brazil, Argentina, or Uruguay. Read that again, FOUR, and I'm being generous because I'm counting the Soviet Union. Yawn, YAWN, Bloody Yawn!
2002: Korea
1966: Soviet Union
1962: Chile
1930: USA
There may be reasons why you might expect this empirically, such as the fact that UEFA sends the most teams to the tournament every time, and gets to do so because most of their teams are just great (the losers of the playoff qualifiers have the potential to make the semis alone). But the fact remains, its not as much of a "World" Cup as one might like. Many fans only plan for the group stages, because the expect their team to be going home early.
So, I started to think about a second World Cup, a "Real" World cup, one where there may be more equality in the results between teams from across the globe, one where you'd get more unpredictable games in the group stages, and one where you'd get more diverse semi-finals at least. If such a World Cup were to happen, and it had 32 teams, it would be inviting the losers, the non-qualifiers, the second best from all the regions.
First, I checked out the rankings, here is the ranking of the top 32 teams to not make it to the World Cup this year:
| Ranking | Country | Region |
|---|---|---|
| 9 | Croatia | UEFA |
| 11 | Russia | UEFA |
| 13 | Egypt | CAF |
| 22 | Norway | UEFA |
| 24 | Israel | UEFA |
| 25 | Ukraine | UEFA |
| 28 | Romania | UEFA |
| 29 | Czech Republic | UEFA |
| 33 | Turkey | UEFA |
| 34 | Colombia | CONMEBOL |
| 36 | Ecuador | CONMEBOL |
| 37 | Sweden | UEFA |
| 39 | Bulgaria | UEFA |
| 41 | Gabon | CAF |
| 42 | Costa Rica | CONCACAF |
| 43 | EIRE | UEFA |
| 44 | Scotland | UEFA |
| 46 | Latvia | UEFA |
| 48 | Lithuania | UEFA |
| 49 | Venezuela | CONMEBOL |
| 49 | Finland | UEFA |
| 51 | Bosnia | UEFA |
| 52 | Burkina Faso | CAF |
| 53 | Peru | CONMEBOL |
| 54 | Mali | CAF |
| 55 | Tunisia | CAF |
| 56 | Hungary | UEFA |
| 57 | N. Ireland | UEFA |
| 58 | Poland | UEFA |
| 59 | Benin | CAF |
| 60 | Iran | AFC |
| 60 | FYR Macedonia | UEFA |
Here's how many teams that would be from each region:
| Region | Number |
|---|---|
| UEFA | 20 |
| CAF | 6 |
| CONMEBOL | 4 |
| CONCACAF | 1 |
| AFC | 1 |
| OFC | 0 |
OK, that's not going to work, so I'll go back to the format that the organizers use, where they restrict the number of entrants from UEFA. But with a few new rules of my own. In the following list, for each region, I'll detail the number of entrants, and why.
UEFA: 9
The original number of 13 is too much for my liking, and I decided to free up four spaces for the other regions. In addition to taking the 9 second-best UEFA teams, I will not include the ones that lost in the playoffs, simply because they're too good anyway, so Russia, Ukraine, and Republic of Ireland are out (Henry handball notwithstanding). Bosnia stays in because I like them for even making the playoffs, so there. My rules.
The 9 UEFA teams would be (with rankings):
| Ranking | Country |
|---|---|
| 9 | Croatia |
| 24 | Israel |
| 29 | Bosnia-Herzegovina |
| 29 | Czech Republic |
| 37 | Sweden |
| 46 | Latvia |
| 49 | Finland |
| 56 | Hungary |
| 57 | Northern Ireland |
Africa: 6
I award Africa one of the spots taken from UEFA:
| Ranking | Country |
|---|---|
| 13 | Egypt |
| 41 | Gabon |
| 52 | Burkina Faso |
| 54 | Mali |
| 55 | Tunisia |
| 59 | Benin |
Asia: 6
I award Asia one of the spots taken from UEFA, and I also give them an extra half a spot, because they lost their inter-continental playoff qualifier against New Zealand.
| Ranking | Country |
|---|---|
| 60 | Iran |
| 66 | Saudi Arabia |
| 69 | Bahrain |
| 94 | Uzbekistan |
| 95 | Qatar |
| 100 | United Arab Emirates |
CONCACAF: 5
I award CONCACAF one of the spots taken from UEFA, and I also give them an extra half a spot, because they lost their inter-continental playoff qualifier against Uruguay.
| Ranking | Country |
|---|---|
| 42 | Costa Rica |
| 71 | El Salvador |
| 79 | Jamaica |
| 91 | Trinidad and Tobago |
| 115 | Guatemala |
CONMEBOL: 5
I award CONMEBOL one of the spots taken from UEFA, and I also take away the half a spot, because of Uruguay. Take note, this is literally the rest of the teams in the entire region.
| Ranking | Country |
|---|---|
| 36 | Ecuador |
| 34 | Columbia |
| 49 | Venezuela |
| 53 | Peru |
| 67 | Bolivia |
Oceania: 1*
I would deduct half a spot because of New Zealand, but that means that the Pacific Islands would have no contenders. As it happens, there is one spot left, but how could I justify offering it to the lowliest of teams...I know, I'd make them the host nation:
| Ranking | Country |
|---|---|
| 146 | New Caledonia |
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you New Caledonia 2010, the "Real" World Cup!
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At first glance, this seems like a fantastic mixture of teams, but sadly, ranking-wise, UEFA would dominate again. It looks like at least the African teams, particularly Egypt would make the Semis, and they'd be the first African team do do so.
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
World Cup Memories: Germany '06
Germany '06
Erika and I were in Europe in the latter part of the tournament. I had actually scored two tickets for a game through the lottery: Ukraine vs Tunisia. Yea, I know, whoop-de-doo, but the whole experience was very educating. Here's what it taught us: If you're going to a World Cup game, plan on arriving at the stadium a good three hours before kick-off time. I kid you not.
We were on the train into Berlin the same day, and when we got off, we looked at the clock, and judged that we had a few hours to find our hostel and to get in the seats before the national anthems. Oh, boy. We were wondering around south Berlin trying to find the bloody hostel in the first place, and by the time we checked in, and legged it back onto the subway, we were sweating like pigs. But that wasn't the end of it, we actually arrived at the Berlin Stadium with time to spare, but found that we had to run two miles around the stadium to get our tickets, and would have had to run two miles back to the gates just to get in when some nice security guards let us in the media entrance. By then, the anthems were done and the game had started, but we did managed to catch most of it.
The Ukraine had to win or tie to be sure of progress, we were in nose-bleed seats, next to a nervous young Ukranian who kept chewing nails, and kindly pointed out Shevchenko for us as I couldn't make out numbers.
This is us in Berlin Stadium, looking pretty jaded from all that running
Being in Germany for this World Cup, we were hosted by the German/Irish family of an exchange student we knew, and the atmosphere was amazing, the Germans were so pumped up, as any nation would be, at one point, making our way through central Berlin, we were swept up in a stream of fans singing their hearts out, on their way to watch a game on the big screen in the city's heart, it was awesome. Our hosts were telling us, this was the first time since the second world war, that the German people dared to be so patriotic, once again they were unfurling their flags and singing their songs about Klinsmann et al. It seemed like a really good time to experience Germany, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.
Anyway....I'm sorry to say, we were on a train in the Czech Republic at the same time that England lost to Portugal, so that dulled the pain somewhat. Cristiano Ronaldo, my latest source of hatred due to his starring role scoring goals and diving for Manchester United, became the national focus of enmity after this dual provocation (note the wink at 1:26):
The devil incarnate is now featured in the latest Nike commercial, and I sure hope he finds the same form he did in Germany '06. What, you didn't notice how few goals he scored? 1 goals in 6 games, and it was a penalty against Iran *snicker*. UPDATE: Looks like he's having trouble once again.
My mate Palfie was at the game, and he was kind enough to re-live the penalties with me, as he made a video on his camera. We both sat there in the pub with our beers, compatriots in misery. Though Jamie missed his second penalty (he was asked to retake it), I'm still excited he might be back in the squad, because he was the best penalty-taker at the time.
The two best games of the group stages were the first one, where Germany beat Costa-Rica in a six-goal thriller:
It wasn't really over until Frings scored one of the best goals in the tournament. I wonder where Wanchope is now, you could pick out his gangly stride from a mile away.
The second was when Australia beat Japan in a 3-1 comeback. Tim Cahill was substituted on with ten minutes to go, and scored the two goals for Australia to seal it in an exciting finish:
I was rooting for Australia because of Harry Kewell, I should do a "Where are they now?" segment for all these ex-Premier-league footballers I keep seeing in these videos.
The world was introduced to the neanderthal charms of Carlos Hirsute Tevez in this tournament, and I spent much of my time deriding his appearance: "He must handball a lot if he's dragging his knuckles like that?!"
I remember the Portugal-Holland game, notably for the combination of atrocious refereeing, letting the game get out of control, and the sniping by both sides, which led to then Barcelona club team-mates, Deco and van Bronckhorst, sharing a step after both having been sent off. It was an amusing sight of a friendship between supposed enemies in the midst of the game, you can see it right at the end of this video:
Technically, I think they were supposed to go back to the dressing room, but given the environment, they just thought "screw it" and sat there.
Erika and I were in a pub near the hostel for the Mexico-Argentina game. There were two Mexicans who'd made the long trip for their team, and everyone was rooting for Mexico with them, it seemed wonderful when Mexico had a fast start, but they couldn't hold on, and it just made us hate Argentina all the more when Rodriguez looped his goal in. The Mexicans were humble about it, seeming to say, "Ah well, it was Argentina after all" and they went on to sing a song for the entire pub, a kind of hispanic ballad of loss, and the Germans loved them and bought them lots of beer. Note to self: sing something when your team loses.
Australia threatened to be the surprise, taking Italy almost all the way in the round of 16, and the irony would have been so sweet, why? Check out the Australian coach. Yup, Guus Hiddink, architect of the Italian downfall at the hands of the Koreans, was at it again.
And so, we come to the final, and Zidane's header. No, I don't mean the headbutt, I mean the header. It seemed strange to me that nobody nowhere in all I read would connect an open header that Zidane missed, with his response to being provoked by Materazzi, they were only 6 minutes apart, check it out at the 1:18 mark. I remember seeing the replay of Zidane's response to that miss, he was furious, he just stood there and shouted. In my mind, Zidane, in his last ever game for France, and rueing such a great chance with 15 minutes left of extra time, was replaying the header in his head when Materazzi spoke up.
Erika and I were in Europe in the latter part of the tournament. I had actually scored two tickets for a game through the lottery: Ukraine vs Tunisia. Yea, I know, whoop-de-doo, but the whole experience was very educating. Here's what it taught us: If you're going to a World Cup game, plan on arriving at the stadium a good three hours before kick-off time. I kid you not.
We were on the train into Berlin the same day, and when we got off, we looked at the clock, and judged that we had a few hours to find our hostel and to get in the seats before the national anthems. Oh, boy. We were wondering around south Berlin trying to find the bloody hostel in the first place, and by the time we checked in, and legged it back onto the subway, we were sweating like pigs. But that wasn't the end of it, we actually arrived at the Berlin Stadium with time to spare, but found that we had to run two miles around the stadium to get our tickets, and would have had to run two miles back to the gates just to get in when some nice security guards let us in the media entrance. By then, the anthems were done and the game had started, but we did managed to catch most of it.
The Ukraine had to win or tie to be sure of progress, we were in nose-bleed seats, next to a nervous young Ukranian who kept chewing nails, and kindly pointed out Shevchenko for us as I couldn't make out numbers.
This is us in Berlin Stadium, looking pretty jaded from all that running
Being in Germany for this World Cup, we were hosted by the German/Irish family of an exchange student we knew, and the atmosphere was amazing, the Germans were so pumped up, as any nation would be, at one point, making our way through central Berlin, we were swept up in a stream of fans singing their hearts out, on their way to watch a game on the big screen in the city's heart, it was awesome. Our hosts were telling us, this was the first time since the second world war, that the German people dared to be so patriotic, once again they were unfurling their flags and singing their songs about Klinsmann et al. It seemed like a really good time to experience Germany, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit.
Anyway....I'm sorry to say, we were on a train in the Czech Republic at the same time that England lost to Portugal, so that dulled the pain somewhat. Cristiano Ronaldo, my latest source of hatred due to his starring role scoring goals and diving for Manchester United, became the national focus of enmity after this dual provocation (note the wink at 1:26):
The devil incarnate is now featured in the latest Nike commercial, and I sure hope he finds the same form he did in Germany '06. What, you didn't notice how few goals he scored? 1 goals in 6 games, and it was a penalty against Iran *snicker*. UPDATE: Looks like he's having trouble once again.
My mate Palfie was at the game, and he was kind enough to re-live the penalties with me, as he made a video on his camera. We both sat there in the pub with our beers, compatriots in misery. Though Jamie missed his second penalty (he was asked to retake it), I'm still excited he might be back in the squad, because he was the best penalty-taker at the time.
The two best games of the group stages were the first one, where Germany beat Costa-Rica in a six-goal thriller:
It wasn't really over until Frings scored one of the best goals in the tournament. I wonder where Wanchope is now, you could pick out his gangly stride from a mile away.
The second was when Australia beat Japan in a 3-1 comeback. Tim Cahill was substituted on with ten minutes to go, and scored the two goals for Australia to seal it in an exciting finish:
I was rooting for Australia because of Harry Kewell, I should do a "Where are they now?" segment for all these ex-Premier-league footballers I keep seeing in these videos.
The world was introduced to the neanderthal charms of Carlos Hirsute Tevez in this tournament, and I spent much of my time deriding his appearance: "He must handball a lot if he's dragging his knuckles like that?!"
I remember the Portugal-Holland game, notably for the combination of atrocious refereeing, letting the game get out of control, and the sniping by both sides, which led to then Barcelona club team-mates, Deco and van Bronckhorst, sharing a step after both having been sent off. It was an amusing sight of a friendship between supposed enemies in the midst of the game, you can see it right at the end of this video:
Technically, I think they were supposed to go back to the dressing room, but given the environment, they just thought "screw it" and sat there.
Erika and I were in a pub near the hostel for the Mexico-Argentina game. There were two Mexicans who'd made the long trip for their team, and everyone was rooting for Mexico with them, it seemed wonderful when Mexico had a fast start, but they couldn't hold on, and it just made us hate Argentina all the more when Rodriguez looped his goal in. The Mexicans were humble about it, seeming to say, "Ah well, it was Argentina after all" and they went on to sing a song for the entire pub, a kind of hispanic ballad of loss, and the Germans loved them and bought them lots of beer. Note to self: sing something when your team loses.
Australia threatened to be the surprise, taking Italy almost all the way in the round of 16, and the irony would have been so sweet, why? Check out the Australian coach. Yup, Guus Hiddink, architect of the Italian downfall at the hands of the Koreans, was at it again.
And so, we come to the final, and Zidane's header. No, I don't mean the headbutt, I mean the header. It seemed strange to me that nobody nowhere in all I read would connect an open header that Zidane missed, with his response to being provoked by Materazzi, they were only 6 minutes apart, check it out at the 1:18 mark. I remember seeing the replay of Zidane's response to that miss, he was furious, he just stood there and shouted. In my mind, Zidane, in his last ever game for France, and rueing such a great chance with 15 minutes left of extra time, was replaying the header in his head when Materazzi spoke up.
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