World Cup 2010

11 dates for your fixture diary this season

FourFourTwo Team — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 15:00:00 GMT

Sure, the Football League kicks off on Friday night and the opening weekend of the Premier League is a doozy (Manchester City-Spurs? Arsenal-Liverpool? Manchester United-Newcastle? Oh my!), but let’s look ahead a bit, shall we?

Set a date in your diary for these potentially cracking games...

Tow Law Town v Jarrow Roofing Boldon Community Association Football Club, FA Cup Extra Preliminary Round, August 14

Ritchie McLoughlin of Jarrow Roofing Boldon CAFC is Jose Mourinho’s nightmare: founder, chairman and manager of the club. But his meddling has helped them to some success in the Northern League, and they’ll take on Tow Law Town FC for a place in the preliminary round of the FA Cup. The Lawyers are surely favourites, having made it to the second qualifying round last year and once thumping Mansfield 5-1. This is going to be a classic.

Young Boys v Tottenham Hotspur, Champions League final qualifying round, August 17/18

For Spurs fans the waiting has lasted a lifetime – not just the Champions League, but the Champions League draw. And when at last it arrived and the perfect draw was presented – Young Boys of Berne with the second leg at home – the excitement hit an all-time high. Now wait for them to succumb to a last-minute bout of food poisoning and crash out before the group stages.

Sheffield Wednesday v Southampton, League One, September 25

Owls v Saints: a fixture fit for the Premier League. Well...not any more. Not even the Championship, in fact. Financial instability, unrealistic expectations and the pressure of past success weighing heavily on the shoulders of the players in both teams, both clubs not only hope but expect to return the second tier this season. No pressure in this clash then.

Barcelona v Real Madrid, La Liga, November 28

Messi, Villa, Xavi, Iniesta...unstoppable, surely? Not in the Special One’s eyes. Jose Mourinho proved he could stop Barcelona with Inter last season; now he’s determined to do it with Real Madrid in the most classic of el clasicos. To add just a bit more spice to the fixture, remember Jose’s spiritual home is the Nou Camp: he once pledged never to leave.

Bayern Munich v St.Pauli, Bundesliga, December 11

Bayern Munich: Champions League finalists, four-time European Cup winners and Bundesliga champions four years out of the last six. St. Pauli: a bunch of punk mentalists from Hamburg with a history of left-wing activism and a skull and crossbones for an emblem. Now the team which runs out to Hell’s Bells by AC/DC face the likes of Arjen Robben. Fight!

Manchester City v Aston Villa, Premier League, December 28

This promises to be a Christmas cracker of a tie fuelled with tension and animosity. Gareth Barry returns to play his former club, as does Richard Dunne the other way around, and as for James Milner, God alone knows who he’ll be turning out for on the day. How Martin O’Neill would love to stifle the City slickers and steal a very satisfying three points.

Bristol City v Cardiff, Championship, January 1

The New Year’s Day fixture is a special date in any fan’s diary, but when it draws two close rivals against each other, it’s even more mouthwatering. The Severnside derby between the Robins and the Bluebirds will be a fierce affair, not least because around 87 percent of the fans will have just stayed up all night drinking. Expect fireworks.

Wales v England, European Championships Qualifier, March 26

Dragons versus Lions, and just a week after the finale of the Six Nations rugby tournament too. The only thing that will be more ragged than the Millennium Stadium pitch (probably still better than Wembley’s even after two months of rugby being played on it) is the fans’ emotions, as England look to smash their youthful rivals and Wales seek revenge on centuries of imperialist oppression and patronising jokes about Gavin & Stacey.

South Africa v Egypt, Africa Cup of Nations Qualifier, March 27

Soccer City, South Africa: the scene of Andreas Iniesta’s winning strike in the 2010 World Cup final. But what about after the tournament? Will South Africa’s infrastructure allow a long-term investment in football? Here’s where we find out, in a positively wet tie between Bafana Bafana and Egypt, probably the best team in Africa. The World Cup hosts have a serious chance of not qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations – time for their fun-lovin’ fans to fill this giant stadium.

Hereford United v Shrewsbury Town, League Two, April 23

In recent years, the rivalry between Hereford and Shrewsbury has grown astronomically. However, this local derby has become even more significant as Graham Turner, at Hereford for the last 15 seasons as chairman, director of football and manager, has returned to the Shrews after a 26-year absence and snaffled one of the Bulls' most exciting players in recent times - Lionel Ainsworth - from under their noses. Also, there’s a slim chance this could turn out to be a play-off shootout. This promises to be an intriguing tie.

Manchester United v Chelsea, Premier League, May 7

Oh all right then, it’s time to be predictable: when you have a match like this in the third-from-last Premier League weekend, you can hardly ignore it. But just because we’re predictable doesn’t mean the game will be – far from it. United will be desperate to clinch this year’s title to pass Liverpool’s record, while Chelsea will be looking to clinch back-to-back championships. Ferguson versus Ancelotti, Rooney versus Drogba, Rio versus Terry...it’s a probable title decider that cannot be missed.

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Apocalypse now as bedlam reigns in Spain

Tim Stannard — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 11:40:00 GMT

“Oh! There’ll be an apocalypse!” was the cheerful prediction from the perkily pretty and madly-grinning Sandra, a waitress working in Madrid’s Plaza Dos de Mayo when asked what would happen if Iker Casillas were to lift the World Cup the following day.

Sandra wasn’t too far off.

At 6am on Monday morning, the streets of Madrid mirrored the cities, towns and villages of the rest of the World Cup-winning country - streets covered with detritus and drunks. Spread-eagled, staggering, stupefied and senseless supporters wrapped in flags unable to remember if they had jobs to go to in two hours time but not really caring if they did.

At 6 am on Monday morning, Spain smelt of sweat, beer and p*ss - the true smell of Champions.

Although the ho-down against Holland did not start until eight thirty in the evening, supporters began sitting patiently in front of the five giant screens set up along Madrid’s Paseo de Recoletes and up to the Cibeles fountain from midday.

By the time the match kicked off, there were 200,000 of them - a marvellously good-natured mass who had survived hours of truly terrible pop acts and 40 degree heat by singing the only chant any follower of la Roja needs to know - “Yo Soy Español! Español! Español!”

A few hours later, a new song had been added - “Campeones!”

After a truly tortuous, terrifying game that sent the near quarter of a million crowd into silence with the growing, nagging fear that the match would end in penalties and a Netherlands victory, San Iker lifted the beautiful, sparkling gold trophy into the air.

Spain had won the World Cup, something that LLL and perhaps millions of others around the country are still trying process.

When the final whistle was blown by the hapless Howard Webb, bedlam broke out in the Recoletes Fan Park. It was apocalypse, right frackin’ now.

Security fences crashed, fireworks banged, fans screamed, cried and piled onto each other. A black coffin with the words “Holland R.I.P.” that one imaginative group had brought along for the game was burned whilst people danced around the fire Lord of the Flies style.

For hours after the game, fans stood in the streets beeping everything they could or danced like loons in the few remaining fountains that had not been fenced off by city officials fearing mass destruction of some fairly historic property.

By 8 am, hungover but happy supporters were gathering around newspapers kiosks to pick up their bursting, bulging copies of Marca and AS.

It was almost as if they were looking for confirmation of what had happened the night before - a night dominated by Andrés Iniesta’s goal and Iker’s kiss, an image that will surely become the defining one of the World Cup win in Spain.

However, the World Cup party was only just starting to get going. The supporters had chatted in the kitchen and danced in the living room. Now it was time for 45 million people to move to the bedroom.

To the south of the city in the shadow of the Royal Palace and along the banks of the regenerated River Manzanares, fans started pouring into the scene of what eventually became the Pepe Reina show as La Selección took to the stage in front of hundreds of thousands of supporters, some of whom had been waiting up to 11 hours in the stunning heat and were being hosed down by firemen who looked like they had never had so much fun in their lives.

Before the players charged onto the stage, they had undertaken an insane open top bus tour of Madrid that brought an estimated 2.5 million people onto the streets to welcome their heroes home.

With fans hanging out of windows and helicopters whirring overhead, the bus spent three hours eking its way through the centre of the city before reaching its final destination, where the magnificently manic Liverpool goalkeeper proceeded to both insult and praise his team-mates one-by-one.

“The future of Barça, the future of Spain - Cesc Fabregas!” was the greeting for the Arsenal man as Reina and Carles Puyol wrestled a Barcelona shirt onto the horrified midfielder.

“The nervous-wreck of la Selección, Jesús Navas!”

"The truck of the team, Fernando Llorente!”

At midnight, it was all over with reality beginning to bite. The hundreds of thousands set about the near impossible task of getting home and tried to digest what had been one of the most exhausting, intense but exhilarating 24 hours anyone in the country can ever have experienced.

Spain are World Cup winners 2010. And that sounds very good, indeed.

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Celebrate good times...perhaps

Paul Simpson — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 13:57:00 GMT

West Germany’s players ought to have been on top of the world on 7 July 1974. Earlier that day they had left the brilliant Oranje traumatised and won the World Cup.

But their euphoria faded faster than you could say “Gerd Muller” when they heard the German FA had banned their wives from the celebratory banquet at Munich’s Hilton Hotel.

Susi Hoeness was the first wife to be asked to leave by a waiter. Her husband Uli tried to remonstrate with the German FA’s Hans Deckert only to be told: “It’s not for you to demand things you are not entitled to”. Hoeness told Deckert “Save your f****ing breath” and stormed out to a nearby disco, followed by Beckenbauer and most of his teammates.

Germany’s legendary keeper Sepp Maier fumed: “Germans can hold a World Cup perfectly and crush opponents with unflagging discipline but we don’t have the slightest idea about holding a party.”

This bizarre story, recounted in Uli Hesse’s superb Tor!, confirms that sometimes the seeds of failure are sown at the very peak of your success.

Gerd Muller immediately quit the national team in disgust, Wolfgang Overath and Jurgen Grabowski followed the next morning and Paul Breitner withdrew a few months later. After that disastrous party in Munich, West Germany would lose the 1976 European Championship on penalties and not win another World Cup until 1990.

Coach Helmut Schoen only stayed on because DFB president Hermann Neuberger begged him. Schoen regretted his change of heart when West Germany came third in the second group phase in Argentina in 1978, losing 3-2 to Austria. For the German press, this defeat was a national disgrace. So West Germany’s World Cup-winning coach quit with the prescient barb: “My biggest fear is that the road to football as total business will lead to the Harlem Globetrotters.”

The wives couldn’t dine with the winners in 1966 either. But at least they were given a meal in a room in Kensington’s Royal Garden Hotel near the official banquet. (You assume the WAGS’ mood soured when they realised that Pickles, the dog who had found the World Cup, had been allowed into the very banquet they’d been excluded from.)

After the dinner, some players headed to the club run by England’s greatest living drag act, Danny La Rue, but Jack Charlton led a breakaway movement to the Astor Club where, after much free champagne and beer, he and his cohorts were invited to a party in Leytonstone and there they awoke, bleary eyed, on various sofas a few hours later. Slinking back to the team hotel later that morning, Charlton was berated by his mother Cissie: “Where are you? I’ve been up to your room and your bed’s not been slept in.”

Mr & Mrs Moore: "Come on love, let's get wellied"

Obdulio Varela would have approved of Charlton’s spree. The legendary Uruguayan skipper was inspirational at centre-back when La Celeste beat Brazil in the Maracana to win the 1950 World Cup in Rio. But he wasn’t interested in having his photo taken and, as Eduardo Galeano recalls in his book Football In Sunshine And In Shadow, “He spent that night drinking beer in one Rio bar after another, his arm around defeated fans. The Brazilians cried. No one recognised him.”

Varela was just as anonymous when the world champions returned to Montevideo. He slipped away from the crush at the airport, hiding behind a Humphrey Bogart raincoat and a fedora. With the prize money from the Uruguayan FA, he could afford to buy a 1931 Ford. Galeano notes: “It was stolen a week later.”

There is no feeling in football like winning the World Cup. At Wembley in 1966, Bobby Charlton gave his brother a rare hug and asked: “What is there left to win now?” The ever practical Jack responded: “We’ll have to win it again.” Astonishingly, only 21 players have ever done that: 16 Brazilians, four Italians and one Argentinian. Only Pele has won it three times.

Spain should savour their glorious moment. Life – and football – will help them fall back to earth soon enough.

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Our memories of World Cup 2010

FourFourTwo Team — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:42:00 GMT

Now the curtain has come down on the 2010 World Cup, we thought it would be nice to share our abiding memories of the tournament with you...

Gary Parkinson - Editor, FourFourTwo.com

Best game I'd love to say Slovakia v Italy, but I didn't see it: I was covering Paraguay 0-0 New Zealand. Of the 50-odd games I did see, perhaps the best story was the oddly enjoyable Germany-England match. History in the making, it was statistically quite an even game, packed with drama – That 'Goal', England's plucky semi-fightback, Germany's skilful assassination – and tactical intrigue. I took no pleasure from England's defeat, but I took plenty from Germany's performance.

Best goal The magnificence of its pointlessness only improves Quagliarella's chip as Italy crashed out. Sublime in thought and execution, especially as his team-mates had just let loose the chains on All Hell.   

Best moment Iker Casillas's tears as Iniesta & Co. celebrated the World Cup-winning goal. Having led from the back by almost single-handedly keeping four clean sheets in the knockout stages, the captain richly deserves the honours bestowed upon him.

Funniest moment Tempting to go for Rob Green's fumble – oh come on, it was hilarious - or Yakubu's miss. Or John Terry hurling himself in front of Slovenia's late shots like an Essex-sent missile. Or Heskey lumbering on to conquer the Germans. But that would be to ignore the comedic tour de force that was the French squad's refusal to train and Domenech's impromptu recital of a handwritten ransom note from his own players. Highlight: that coach's Fawltyesque throwing away of his FIFA accreditation as he stormed from the deserted field.

Biggest surprise Capello's v-sign to the media in playing a 4-4-2 (actually more like a 4-2-3-1 but let's not carp) against Slovenia. "Our sources have told us it'll be a diamond," said the crisp salesman. "I've told you, as your manager: You're playing on the left wing, son," said Capello to his captain.

Biggest disappointment Spain. Such abundance of talent and domination of possession should yield far more than four successive 1-0 wins in the knockouts. It worked for them, but it didn't do anything for me. This was a laboured World Cup win on a par with France in 1998, and although that side had Stephane Guivarc'h instead of David Villa, the new Barcelona man's five goals all came in matches where he'd started playing off the plainly unfit Torres - illustrating the great paradox at the heart of the clamour for 4-2-3-1: you need a superb, on-form line-leader, or you're going to struggle. Few in Spain might agree today, but a few in England need to bear it in mind while naming their No.9.

Player of the tournament It's much harder to argue with FIFA's choice of Diego Forlan than it is to argue with wazzocks who haven't seen him since his spell at Old Trafford. Some of those wazzocks hold down highly-paid jobs as alleged experts. They need to lose those jobs.  

Young player of the tournament Again, FIFA made the right call in ennobling Thomas Müller. Fast, accurate, savvy and adaptable, he epitomises the future of forward play.  

Lesson I’ve learned It's possible to get by without much sleep, as long as you have the support of a good family, both at home and at work.

Hugh Sleight - Editor in Chief, FourFourTwo

Best game Germany 4 England 1. Goals, drama, controversy, brilliance - it was a game with everything. Worth 12 hours in a coach to and from Joburg to see it. We'll still be talking about it in 40 years time when Sepp Blatter Jr again refuses to introduce goal-line technology.

Best goal Technically, Luis Suarez's curler was the best, but my favourite has to be the Shearer-at-Blackburn-esque effort from Asamoah Gyan against the US. Defenders bouncing off him like it was a cartoon, followed by an old-fashioned larrup.

Best moment Tshabala's opening game scorcher to assuage doubts that the hosts would get roundly stuffed in every game. And Michael Carrick's very respectable mum suddenly blasting out "I'm England til I die" against Germany.

Funniest moment France's disintegration. They made England's players look like wise old owls. At what point do you decide to sacrifice potentially your only shot at the World Cup because you don't really like that bloke over there because he's slightly younger/posher/less like Patrice Evra than you?

Biggest surprise Germany's football. Even accounting for never writing off the Germans, no one expected such irresistible football. Who knew that Holland were the new Germany and Germany the new Holland?

Biggest disappointment Rooney, Torres, Ronaldo and the other stuttering stars.

Player of the tournament Xavi. Throughout the tournament, all the talk was that Spain hadn't really played well. Jesus. If only England could not play well as well as that! At the heart of this truly great team are the smart feet and sharp brain of Xavi.

Young player of the tournament Vladimir Weiss looks about 12 but excelled for Slovakia, Thomas Muller and Mesut Ozil were both exceptional but I'm going for Gyan again (even though he's 24...). He led the line brilliantly. His great misfortune was that England didn't top their group and give him the chance to double his goal tally against ’JT and Upsy‘.

Lesson I've learned That an awful lot of players win 100 caps these days.

David Hall - Editor, FourFourTwo magazine

Best game Japan vs Paraguay. Just kidding. Ghana vs Uruguay had it all. It was football with heart and soul… and a bit of cheating. It had the lot.

Best goal The first one of the tournament scored by South Africa’s Siphiwe Tshabalala. Had the whole office out of their seats and buzzing about the start of the World Cup.

Best moment Wesley Sneijder running to a TV camera to celebrate his goal against Brazil. A big star with a bit or personality. That’s what we like.

Funniest moment Seeing France’s bizarre World Cup build up (kart racing, road cycling and mountain climbing anyone?) degenerate into a farcical sulk-off between players and management.

Biggest surprise Diego Maradona. Aside from the expected fractious comments aimed at everyone from the Argentine press to Bastian Schweinsteiger, he conducted himself with a level of decorum that I certainly didn’t expect. It was a shame. I thought he’d chin at least one FIFA official.

Biggest disappointment England. I had the dubious pleasure of attending England vs Algeria, the highlight of which was buying a vuvuzela. Yes, it was that bad.

Player of the tournament Wesley Sneijder. Coming off the back of a treble-winning season with Inter, tiredness didn’t appear to be an issue for the Dutchman who pretty much ran the show for Holland. Winter breaks or not, he had a long few months at the office and consistently delivered.

Young player of the tournament Mesut Ozil. We had identified him as one to watch long before the World Cup started and our prediction rang true. Silky skills, great vision and surprising turns of pace made him one of the most complete midfielders at the tournament.

Lesson I’ve learned To never again get excited about England’s chances going into a major tournament. My anticipation and disappointment were significantly heightened by becoming FourFourTwo’s editor in January of a World Cup year. It was a rollercoaster… mainly travelling downwards.

Gregg Davies - News Editor, FourFourTwo.com

Best game Slovakia 3-2 Italy. Fascinating final 15 minutes, in which the holders looked dead, buried and set to bow out with barely a whimper, only to rally out of nowhere and finish a single goal short of qualifying. Super-sub Kamil Kopunek scoring with his first ever touch at a World Cup finals and Fabio Quagliarella’s delightful late chip added to the late drama.

Best goal Okay, so it may not have been everybody's pick for goal of the tournament, but I really enjoyed Nicklas Bendtner’s leveller for Denmark against Cameroon. A simple but brilliant move from the back, featuring two inch-perfect deliveries from Simon Kjaer (diagonal 50-yard effort) and Dennis Rommedahl (pin-point square pass across the penalty area).

Best moment The last-gasp goalline madness between Ghana and Uruguay ending with Luis Suarez’s handball and Asamoah Gyan squandering the chance to rewrite African football history books from 12 yards.

Funniest moment It's difficult for it not to be the French, with a pair of shambolic performances against Mexico and South Africa sandwiching their laughable conduct off the pitch. Some solace for the Republic of Ireland, but not much.

Biggest surprise Brazil hitting the self-destruct button the one time they faced adversity in the tournament. Having cruised through to the quarters, Felipe Melo - sorry, Wesley Sneijder’s equaliser was all it took for the Samba Boys to lose both the plot and their heads.

Biggest disappointment Wayne Rooney, above the plethora of big names who didn’t dazzle. With a season behind him that had filled England fans with so much anticipation, the forward looked like a lost soul in South Africa, one shot against Slovenia that struck an upright aside.

Player of the tournament Without David Villa’s goals Spain wouldn’t have come close to going all the way. But my vote goes to Diego Forlan – carrying his team and his country through to the last four, and one of the few players to truly master the wretched Jabulani ball.

Young player of the tournament Thomas Müller. Two caps and no goals before tournament began. Now five goals in eight appearances, netting his fifth goal of the competition against Uruguay with only his sixth shot on target of the tournament. Badly missed against Spain in the semi-final.

Lesson I’ve learned Bet against Paul the octopus at your peril.

James Maw - Features Editor, FourFourTwo.com

Best game Holland’s quarter-final victory over Brazil had everything - some great football, some atrocious defending and three - count ‘em - THREE moment of madness from Felipe Melo which resulted in Ronaldo advising him via Twitter not to return to Brazil.

Best goal Having lost their opening match to Switzerland, Spain were labouring a tad in the opening stages of their second match against Honduras. That was until David Villa embarked on a powerful run down the Spanish left – cutting inside and beating three men using a combination of power and guile before working the ball onto his right foot and driving it into the top corner.

Best moment Slovakia’s victory over Italy will live long in the memory, and the highlight was undoubtledly Kamil Kopúnek’s 89th minute goal. It was his first ever touch of a football in a World Cup finals and earned his country their first ever finals win. Oh, and it knocked the reigning champions out…

Funniest moment Argentina’s Gabriel Heinze giving a television camera an almighty whack after inadvertently smashing his face into it moments before.

Biggest surprise Fabio Capello’s use of substitutes during the Germany match. The baffled look on the faces of everybody in the packed southwest London watering hole in which I watched the match when England’s biggest goal-threat Jermain Defoe was replaced by Emile Heskey was hilarious, yet telling.

Biggest disappointment The reaction to Luis Suarez’s last minute handball against Ghana (above). I felt the way so many fans and pundits were willing to just accept this blatant act of cheating as ‘part of the game’ and the popular insistence that ‘anybody would do it’ is a damning indictment on the modern game. If the punishment isn’t enough to dissuade the offence then the punishment isn’t severe enough. Bring back hanging, or failing that, just award a goal for blatant and deliberate handball on the goalline.

Player of the tournament Maybe I’m just being contrary, but I felt Bastian Schweinsteiger displayed a consistent level of subtle brilliance as Germany marched to third place. The way he was so willing to sacrifice himself for the team by playing in a more disciplined and withdrawn role than he plays at club level is worthy of high praise (Steven Gerrard take note).

Young player of the tournament I’m not sure you can look beyond Thomas Mueller. For a player of his age and relative inexperience to so quickly become an integral part of such an impressive football machine is not something you see often. His willingness to support both the fullback and centre forward set him apart from most attackers in the tournament.

Lesson I’ve learned That honking a vuvuzela at full blast in a small kitchen in an abandoned office building at gone 10 on a Friday evening will make a noise not dissimilar to those heard in Jurassic Park.

Chris Hunt - Journalist, FourFourTwo.com’s man in South Africa

Best game Germany 4-0 Argentina. Just to see the look on Maradona’s face at the press conference afterwards. He just didn’t see it coming and he still has no idea why it happened.

Best goal For the emotion and for the occasion, it would have to be the first goal of the World Cup. Hammered into the net by Siphiwe Tshabalala, it gave South Africa an unexpected lead over Mexico in the opening game. The crowd went crazy and anyone who was in the stadium at the time won’t forget the experience.

Best moment Frank Lampard’s goal against Germany – well, it was my best moment when he scored it and my worst when the referee continued to play the game without reaching for his whistle.

Funniest moment When Joan Capdevila went down like an extremely heavy saco de patatas, it was Portuguese defender Costa who took the rap, but the TV replays showed a foot of clear air between to the two players, leading fans around the world to believe that it may have been the work of the ‘elbow of god’.

Biggest surprise The form of the Germans from their opening game even surprised the majority of their fans in South Africa, who had been conned into thinking they were crap by Joachim Löw. It’s just a shame this brilliant young team didn’t show up when it really mattered against Spain. It promised to be the game of the tournament but ended up an intriguing game of cat and mouse.

Biggest disappointment The performance of the French, who even managed to give those past masters of infighting, the Dutch, a lesson in how to destroy your team’s chances from the inside.

Player of the tournament A hard call as several players have unexpectedly shone at this World Cup, but I would say Arjen Robben. He may have missed the opening games, but along with Wesley Sneijder he has been a constant danger and the inspiration behind Holland’s charge to the World Cup final.

Young player of the tournament Pivotal in Germany’s run through the tournament, my vote would go to Mesut Ozil.

Lesson I’ve learned That the Dutch have reached the final of the World Cup wearing Nike shirts made from recycled plastic bottles. Apparently it takes eight bottles to make each shirt. Imagine what Johan Cruyff could have done with a shirt made from plastic bottles – although he probably would have demanded one with a different sponsor’s logo on it!

FEATURE: The FFT SA2010 Awards
FEATURE: The Draw Specialist's World Cup

Have your say HERE

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The Draw Specialist's World Cup

Rob Carey — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:00:00 GMT

After every day of World Cup action, the World Cup Breakfast newsletter gave the Draw Specialist chance to comment in cartoon on the day's occurences...

Day 1: The hosts bring us formation celebrations – and lots of vuvuzelas...

Day 2: Rob Green writes himself into legend

Day 3: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome The Joachim Löw Collection!

Day 4: Japan's star man makes Cameroon choke

Day 5: Anthropologists announce The Evolution Of Ronaldo

>> The Draw Specialist's World Cup: Part Two >>

Draw Specialist: Argentina 78 * France 98 * Home
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THE FFT SA2010 AWARDS

Nick Moore — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 06:00:00 GMT

So it’s all done for another four years. Time for us to ruminate, cogitate, digest then excrete the tournament’s highs and lows.

We’ve decided to damn and praise in the form of the first ever World Cup 2010 World Cup Awards for the World Cup. The dizzying highs, the death-defying lows, the silliest names, the coolest granddads, the best jumpers, the most random moats… they’re all here.

Drink it in, bask in it, bathe in it - then don your Zakumi pajamas, put it to bed and move on with your regular lives, people. See y’all in Brazil in four years' time – don’t forget to wind your watches back four hours and wear a hat made of bananas.

Must-have accessory
Joachim Löw’s ‘lucky’ blue jumper wasn’t jammy enough to counteract the infallible fortune bestowed by Paul the Octopus. But the natty cashmere number – modelled duskily by the brooding German sex god – did rapidly become a Teutonic fashion craze, with upscale clothier Strenesse selling out of the €199 items overnight. Essential.

Must have-accessory II (The Klumps)
Alright, it was the first winter World Cup since 1978, and pampered hacks got upset when nights were chilly. Still no need for the lengths this Honduran bloke went to.

Mustn’t have-accessory
Dunga’s chunky roll-neck. The Brazil gaffer and Barry Chuckle-alike donned a woolly pully that looked like it was designed by committee and would have been more at home on Captain Birdseye’s poop deck. And unlike Jogi’s sell-out garment, ‘Dungawear’ doesn’t seem to have caught on around Copacabana Beach, where it’s currently 34 degrees. Maybe next time he’ll go for some Dunga-rees.

Softest-sounding hardman
Waldo Ponce.

Coolest dude
You can’t help but admire Uruguay’s Seb Abreu for his breathtakingly bold (some would say idiotic) quarter-final shootout penalty chip against Ghana. The phenomenon known as El Loco back in Montevideo chose the crucial moment to ping a cavadinha. Known elsewhere as the 'falling leaf', this roughly translates as ‘small digging’: the taker watches which way the keeper is going before scooping the ball gently down the middle. Bonus points, too, for looking like he’d just wandered in from a Sepultura gig.

Biggest Curse
Mick Jagger. Stop going to England games, man!
Paul Simpson, June 29: Guilty – Jagger, Churchill & Blessed >>

Never blinking award
Like Great White sharks, snakes, seagulls, and halibut, Mesut Ozil is medically unable to blink. Let's get this lad a transfer to the Premiership - and an Optrex eyebath.

Names most closely resembling the warble of soul music backing singers
We can easily imagine The Supremes crooning Tshabalala and Toulalan as Diana Ross belts out a heartfelt ballad about her baby leaving her, poor lass.

Least recognisable Premier League player (in a good way)
Giovanni dos Santos

Least recognisable Premier League player (in a bad way)
Wayne Rooney, John Terry, Gareth Barry…

Biggest waste of taxpayers’ money
Alan Shearer. “Our knowledge of these two teams are limited,” smirked Shearer as Algeria prepared to take on Slovenia. So, you haven’t been arsed to read the document about the teams that a squadron of BBC researcher drones have toiled to put together then, Al? Too busy golfing with Hansen? The quality of TV analysis has become so desperate that we’re no longer surprised when an ex-footballer gets paid to trot out bleeding obvious clichés and knee-jerk wrongheadedness (“So much for Spain winning the World Cup,” grinned Shearer after their defeat the Swiss). But to openly flaunt your ignorance? A disgrace.

Least accurate sphere
The J*b*l*n*. Don't mention the ball!

Most accurate sphere (of sorts)
Paul the octopus.

Most remarkable media backlash
Australia's shoddy 4-0 defeat to Germany prompted an unprecedented witch-hunt Down Under. Coach Pim Verbeek was called upon to quit mid-tournament, his tactics were labelled "un-Australian," and rumours of a player revolt swirled round the camp. The departing Verbeek won't forget his brutal treatment in a hurry – and even when the Socceroos recovered to win a game, their government thoughtfully decided to overshadow them by eating itself.
Mike Tuckerman, June 24: Politics overshadow Socceroos win >>

Slowest assassin
Gareth Barry’s pathetic late attempt to “take out” Mesut Ozil. By the time the lumbering midfielder’s challenge was disgracefully hacking at thin air, the sprightly German was in another time zone. Like a Mercedes purring past a Raleigh tricycle, it was the entire game in miniature.

Scousest Mexican
Gerrado Torrado. Try saying it.

Best accidental jump into a moat
Serbian forward Milan Jovanovic deserved a good celebrate after scoring his nation’s winner against Germany. But when he jumped over the advertising hoardings delightedly he must have been surprised to find himself standing in the narrow but inexplicable body of water which runs round the perimeter of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium. If only the Northumbria Police could find a moat so quickly.

Most patriotic reaction to a national anthem
North Korean Jong Tae-Se bursting into tears before the Brazil game. Truly epic patriotic weeping.

Kicking the Busquets
A big thanks to everyone who booted Spanish midfielder Sergio Busquets – the tournament’s most-fouled player – for making this joke possible.

Best 44-year itch-scratching
Germany finally getting their own back for that 1966 Geoff Hurst goal-over-the-line business. Sure, Frank Lampard’s was BLOODY MILES across, but theirs was in the World Cup Final. Shall we call it quits, lads?

“Breaking African Hearts” Award
One billion people live in Africa, and each and every last one of them is now a heartbroken, bereft, blubbering mess because of Asamoah Gyan's last-minute penalty miss against Uruguay – making him a bigger b*st*rd than love rats Darren Day, Dwight Yorke and Grant Bovey combined.

Coolest granddad
Tim Cahill, whose gran’pappy has got a tattoo from his neck to his knees and is the chief of a village in Samoa. Respect gigantically due.

Biggest en masse switch to supporting another sport
England fans to Andy Murray for around six days in late June, until he went and blew it, too. Erm, when does the cricket start again?

Most laughable miss
Having been delivered the slowest and most accurate pass in history on a silver ruddy platter, Nigeria’s Yakubu somehow conspired to blunder from three feet out against South Korea, spooning it back past the post. So massively moronic that he even started laughing at himself.

Gaffer most gagging for a game
We’re surprised that badger-bearded boss Diego Maradona didn’t just storm onto the pitch in his grey suit towards the end of the Germany game, dribble past eight defenders and then head in his own cross, before being wrestled from the pitch calling the ref’s mum a pig-dog-whore-snake. You know he wanted to.

Red hot & Dutch
Wheeler-dealing, high-level ticket tout extraordinaire Robbie Earle was sacked by ITV after it transpired that he’d flogged a number of tickets for a Holland game. Unfortunately for him – but happily for lady-oglers everywhere – they ended up in the moisturised palms of a gaggle of attractive orange minidress-modelling Dutch stunners working for a beer company. More remarkably, the fallout from the story revealed that the pundit had been granted FOUR HUNDRED tickets for the tournament, including 40 for the final. Which presumably means that half the main stand at Soccer City yesterday was full of ITV pundits’ mates instead of real fans. Super news.

Tightest shirt in showbiz
Argentina’s not-really-a-right-back Jonas Gutierrez. Figure-hugging!

Least surprising big surprise
Diego Forlan! He’s not the player he was at Manchester United! He can score goals! What’s going on? Er... he’s been banging them all over the shop for six years since he left Old Trafford, you Premier-centric muppets!

Best childish playground chuckle of a name
New Zealand’s Shane Smeltz. Ha!

Service to broadcasting medal
The germs that scuttled down Jim Beglin’s throat and spared us all from his inane nonsense during the Germany vs Uruguay semi-final. Well infected, malevolent micro-organisms!

Best goal
Giovanni van Bronckhorst: 61mph of wrong, walloped vigorously over 41 yards past Uruguay keeper Fernando Muslera. Booooooom!

Most appropriate jig
South Africa’s excellent display of co-ordinated dancing following Siphiwe Tshabalala-lalalalala-ooooooh-daaaarling’s barmstorming opening goal of the tournament. Great moves and genuine jubilation.10.0! 10.0! 10.0! from the World Cup Brekkie jury…

Least appropriate jig
It’s tough to forgive Luis Suarez his nasty little last-minute handball against Ghana – even if every analyst in town has admitted that any professional in that situation would have done the same thing. But what is really unforgivable is him openly dancing a sodding samba when Gyan missed his penny, swinging his hips with even further gusto on the final whistle, and then declaring himself ‘the new hand of God’. Git.

Worst game
Paraguay vs New Zealand. A team unwilling to score against a team unable to score. Televisual Diazapam.

Worst day
No prizes for guessing who had to wear Dunga’s wally-jumper on the flight home to Rio after Brazil’s exit to Holland: Felipe Melo scored a horrible own goal then got red carded for a horrible challenge, setting a new and horrible record. Bozo. (And we know FIFA awarded the own goal to Sneijder, but they don't have jurisdiction over us, so tough, Sepp.)

FEATURE: Our memories of World Cup 2010
FEATURE: The Draw Specialist's World Cup

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Final makes aggro worthwhile for Webb

Chris Hunt — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 10:56:00 GMT

The England team may have left South Africa early but the country will still be represented at the 2010 World Cup Final.

When Howard Webb leads the Spanish and Dutch teams onto pitch of the Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg he will become the first Englishman since 1974 to take charge of the biggest game in football. Along with his assistant referees and countrymen, Darren Cann and Mike Mullarkey, the trio are the only full-time professionals to officiate at this tournament and they have been accorded the greatest accolade that their profession can bestow.

For Webb it is history in the making, as he also becomes the first man to referee the finals of both the Champions League and World Cup in the same year.

It has been a long journey for Webb, the former South Yorkshire policeman who grew up near the Orgreave Colliery during the miner’s strike of the 1980s.

“There were some really strong battles between the police and the striking miners,” recalls Webb of the period. “My father was a miner and I ended up becoming a policeman, and my first game as a referee was played three or four years after the strike on a pitch on the edge of the Orgreave coking plant where the main battles took place.”

Becoming a referee was not at the top of Webb’s list of childhood ambitions. Like any lad of his age he was football mad and aspired to play the game. “But by the age of 15 or 16 I realised that I hadn’t got the god-given talent to make it to the level that I wanted,” he says. “I was encouraged to become a referee by my father. He was the person who inspired me to take up the whistle and he’s been my biggest supporter as well as my fiercest critic. All three of our fathers will be in the stadium for the World Cup final and they’re all ex-referees.”

Another source of professional support and inspiration for Webb has been Jack Taylor, the referee who made history in 1974 by controversially awarding Holland the first ever penalty in a World Cup final. Occurring just a minute into the game, it was so early that the Germans had not even touched the ball when Taylor famously pointed to the spot.

“Jack Taylor is something of a refereeing legend in England,” explains Webb, “he was a great support to me in my early career. To take advice from someone like Jack was a real honour. We’ve spoken about his career and he tells some wonderful tales. He took a big decision in the first minute of that game in 1974 and part of our job in the final is also to take those sometimes courageous decisions, but we hope at the fulltime whistle people will be talking about a wonderful game of football and about all the players on show, not about the match officials. Of course, if a big decision has to be made, then we will step up to the plate and take the decision.”

Webb may have taken a five-year sabbatical from his job in the police to concentrate on football, but assistant Darren Cann believes the qualities needed to succeed in the force have helped Webb to become one of the finest referees in the game.

“I think Howard is the best man-manager in world football,” says Cann. “He controls the match as well as anybody and I think his physical presence certainly helps. He’s used to controlling people when he’s working with the police but now he takes those strengths onto the field of play.”

For all the authoritative qualities that have made Webb such a fine policeman and a successful referee, when told he was to officiate at the 2010 World Cup Final, the emotion of the occasion was enough to make this strong man cry. “All three of us shed a few tears after the announcement because this is the ultimate game. We cannot do any better in our careers than accept this wonderful honour of refereeing a World Cup final, so we had a few private moments together where we reflected on how we’d come to this point. We were greatly honoured and deeply thrilled by the appointment.”

To get the final gig, Webb has performed faultlessly at this World Cup. Always diplomatic off the pitch, he has only once stepped into the spotlight of controversy while on it. In that one moment he denied Italy’s appeal for an equalising goal against Slovakia, but it was Cann on the near touchline that made the call that day. However, unlike some of the other contentious decisions of this tournament, no action replay has yet been able to conclude whether it was a goal or not.

“It was the only decision that could be made from that position because Darren couldn’t see whether all of the ball had crossed the line,” says Webb. “Having looked back on the game it’s clearly the right decision. Sometimes things happen in football that are just impossible to see.

“Many people have said to us that the Italy v Slovakia game was one of the best of the tournament, certainly for excitement,” continues Webb. “It was a tight game with an exciting finish and from a referee’s point of view it means you have to work really hard right through to the end because you know the next decision could be a crucial one. It could be a match-changing decision and therefore you have to keep your focus right up to the very end and you have to be prepared to make a big decision if one comes along.”

“We see Howard as the pilot and Mike and I are the co-pilots and all we need to do is land the plane safely,” adds Cann. “There may be some turbulence along the way, there may be one or two unruly passengers throughout the course of the 90 minute flight, but we have to make sure that we keep our focus and that we make sure that with five minutes to go the runway is in sight. We need to make sure we keep that full concentration right up until the final whistle.”

The process of decision-making on the pitch has certainly been improved by the introduction of radio technology, which means that not only do the officials get to confer on key decisions, but also it opens a line of communication and reassurance throughout the game.

“Even with 70,000 people in the stadium, it could be quite a lonely place for the referee out in the middle of the pitch,” says Webb. “But now I’ve got my two mates in my ear, assisting me with decisions and making me aware of what’s happening behind my back. If they see friction between players they can alert me of it and there is a lot of motivation that goes on between us on that radio. We’re encouraging each other to keep working hard and to keep focussed.

Because of that it’s a much better place for me in the middle now, with my colleagues being able to speak to me on the radio. They’ll give me their opinions from the sidelines and they’ll encourage me if they think I’ve made a correct decision, so it’s a real positive thing.”

“There are times when a call isn’t black and white,” adds Cann, who quit his job as a bank manager in 2008 to turn professional in the run up to the World Cup. “If it’s a grey area and if you are thinking of wavering, then you have obviously got two other people on the microphones to give you that final push.”

For all that radio technology has helped the process of controlling a game of football, Webb is still non-committal about the introduction of other forms of technology, such a video replays or goal-line assistance.

“I’m a strong believer that football in its current form is a wonderful spectacle,” he says. “It’s a really beautiful game and some of the teams at this World Cup are playing fantastic football that is really attractive to watch. I certainly don’t feel that additional assistance would undermine my position but we have to consider that football is uniquely fluid in the way it is played and we need to take care that we don’t change the game.

“I can think of situations in matches that I did last season where within eight seconds of the ball being at one end, it’s at the other end and in the back of the goal. We need to make sure that we don’t introduce a stop-start culture. We need to protect the basic way that the game is played.”

While this refereeing trio carry the reputation of England into the final, Webb believes that it is of little consolation to football fans back home. “Whilst it’s extremely pleasing for us to make it this far in the tournament and to represent the Football Association at the final, I’m sure that your average football supporter in England really takes small comfort, if any, from the fact that we’ll be there instead of the England team.”

Yet he is proud of the achievement. For all the pressures that come with the job, on the eve of his greatest night in football, Webb believes that his trade is still worth the aggravation that comes as part of the package. “I choose to be here and I choose to be involved in this sport,” he says. “It’s not an easy job that we do and it can be very challenging, but nobody forces me to do it. When the game goes well it’s a wonderfully satisfying feeling, and there are thousands of people who would love to be in my shoes now.”

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The Mascot World Cup

Nick Moore — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 13:00:00 GMT

There have been 12 different World Cup mascots since Willie swaggered onto the scene in 1966. But which of these creations of varying preposterousness is the best with a ball at their foot or paw?

THE COMPETITORS

World Cup Willie (England 1966)
The first ever tournament emblem was a square-shouldered, hard-nut big cat called Willie who wore a Union Jack flag and looked like he’d break your arm with a pool cue if you spilled his pint.

Juanito (Mexico 1970)
Mexico’s mascot think-tank didn’t muck about finding an image to represent their land, plumping immediately for a lad in a comedy sombrero. Pot-bellied Juanito ended up looking curiously Chinese.

Tip and Tap (West Germany 1974)
Want to see some rabbits, boys? Germany’s rosy-cheeked duo resembled the unfortunate victims of a 1970s infomercial warning children about not accepting sweeties from suspicious men at the school gates. Disturbing.

Gauchito (Argentina 1978)
Argentina opted for a miniature cowboy (‘gaucho’) wearing a hat and neckerchief as their emblem. The strangely Maradona-esque scamp carries a whip to extend his handballing capabilities.

Naranjito (Spain 1982)
Naranja means orange in Spanish, meaning this little chap’s name is basically ‘Orange-o’: a shoddy moniker by anyone’s standards. Orange-o has a sinister round face, and is 10 times bigger than his football, making him a very large fruit indeed.

Pique (Mexico 1986)
Controversially, the second consecutive mascot to also be a foodstuff. The Mexicans stuck with their trusty sombrero formula, this time creating a living, breathing jalepeno pepper man with a massive 'tache to don the national headgear.

Ciao (Italy 1990)
History’s crappest mascot looks like the result of a brainstorming session held by troubled infants. The result is a disgracefully basic stick figure man with a ball for a head and body painted like the Italian flag.

Striker the World Cup Pup (USA 1994)
Disney’s lawyers must have been twitching when this smug-looking all-American hound was unveiled. Thankfully, we were spared a cartoon of his soccer antics, but he certainly looks confident in his skills.

Footix (France 1998)
The b*st*rd child of Woody Woodpecker and a Smurf, Footix’s rooster claws have morphed into boots, allowing him increased kicking prowess. His name – a portmanteau of “football” and “Asterix” –translates as “Footbally”. Rubbish.

Ato, Kaz and Nik (Japan and Korea 2002)
Korean and Japan’s hallucinogenic efforts were collectively known as The Spheriks. Selected from a shortlist by McDonalds customers, they looked like The Fimbles with radiation poisoning and a skin condition.

Goleo VI and Pille (Germany 2006)
Gol means goal! Leo means lion! Put ‘em together and what have you got? Goal Lion! This cumbersome oaf wore a Germany shirt and no shorts (naughty Goal Lion!) and was accompanied by comedy sidekick Pille, which means “ball”.

Zakumi (South Africa 2010)
The new kid on the block, Zakumi is a green-haired leopard. ZA’ stands for South Africa, while “kumi” means 10 in various tribal languages. Vaguely androgynous, he’staken a back seat to the vuvuzela as the cultural icon on this tourna.....PAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARP!!!

THE GAMES

ROUND ONE

World Cup Willie (England) v Gauchito (Argentina)
A barrio boy with a neckerchief and a spatula represents no competition for a grizzled, 250-kilo killing machine. Willie advances to the second round after gnawing off his opponent’s head.

Goleo (Germany) vs Tip and Tap (Germany)
The Teutonic derby is settled as the bare-midriffed jailbait brothers are disqualified for fielding too many players. Naïve.

Juanito (Mexico) vs Pique (Mexico)
A spicy derby? No. There’s a convincing victory for Juanito here: regardless of how chubby he may be, a boy will always defeat a pepper in a game of football. Pique resembles neither pepper nor man, and is only 50 per cent bigger than the ball itself. It was never going to happen.

Striker (USA) vs Footix (France)
The first major shock: as the fleet-footed beagle from the soccer-phobic USA outplays his rooster rival. Zut!

Ato, Kaz and Nik (Korea/ Japan) vs Ciao (Italy)
This game – and tournament itself – is brought into disrepute as shambolic scenes unfold. Not only are the Spheriks computer-generated and fielding three times too many players, they're also attempting to play a sport called “Atmoball”. Their opponent, Ciao, lumbers around idiotically for a while with a ball for a head, unable to see or kick. The fixture is eventually abandoned – and both teams disqualified – for being ridiculous.

Zakumi (South Africa) vs Naranjito (Spain)
Gok Wan knows that orange and red don’t co-ordinate, and Naranjito doesn’t look the part here: there’s only going to be one winner between a hungry leopard and a gigantic tangerine. Zakumi advances in front of a delighted home crowd including Nelson Mandela.

SEMI-FINALS

World Cup Willie vs Goleo
The Three Lions prevail in the battle of the two Lions, with Germany’s awkward feline proving no match for the burly yellow Englishman. The crowd goes wild, and Lonnie Donegan’s ’66 anthem rings out around the terraces:

“There's a football fellah,
You all know his name,
And the papers tell us,
He's in the Hall of Fame!”

Juanito v Striker vs Zakumi
Being an obese Mexican child, Juanito couldn't resist eating his jalepeno opponent after the previous round and was disqualified, leaving us with a face-off between an overenthusiastic puppy and a slightly camp teenage leopard in tight-fitting green disco shorts. It's a humdinger of a match, but the youngsters burn themselves out over 90 minutes, and Zakumi bags the winner during extra time, setting up a thrilling final with World Cup Willie.

THE FINAL

Zakumi v World Cup Willie
It’s the ultimate battle of youth against experience, as the wily lion who started it all struggles out onto the pitch for one last job against the new cat on the block. Willie’s a big man, but he’s out of shape, and 44 years of fags, pints and relentless lioness-menacing since the glory days of ’66 have caught up with him. He fights desperately, but the younger, leaner Zakumi’s energy levels eventually prevail. It’s a South African victory on home soil, and Nelson Mandela parps out a mighty clarion call on a golden vuvuzela in front of a sell-out Soccer City – immediately achieving world peace. Happy days.

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Humdinger or brain-bendingly appalling?

Nick Moore — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:00:00 GMT

The. World. Cup. Final.

Four of the most magical words in the English language.

For players, the very apex of their careers, the occasion they’ve been dreaming about since they first toe-poked a spheroid in a back alley, on a balmy beach, or around a disused electricity substation.

For fans, the very thought of it produces a jolt of pure ecstasy up the spine. A match they’ve been looking forward to for four years. A game they wouldn’t miss even if The Saturdays (or, er… the Chippendales) rang up and asked if they fancied bobbing round for a bubble bath.

The best match ever.

Except… it quite often isn’t. As frequent viewers know, football matches are regularly brain-bendingly appalling experiences. And the World Cup Final, despite being contested by the two top international sides, is no exception. And why should it be?

In a way, the match suffers a little from New Year’s Eve syndrome. Everyone expects it to be terrific fun, ordering in extra port and Scotch eggs and making a special sixties playlist on their iPod.

But then somebody adds ketamine to the punch, and you end up watching Jools Holland’s Hootenanny alone in your bedroom through a veil of terrified tears.

You can’t enforce merriment, and you can’t enforce a belter of a World Cup Final. It just has to happen.

So what odds a humdinger on Sunday? History offers a few lessons. While we shouldn’t expect a blinder to follow a thrilling tournament, the odds are definitely improved.

Brazil in 1970 played the best fancy keep-ball anyone had ever witnessed, and saved the best until the end, when they unleashed aesthetically-delightful merry hell on Italy.

1986, arguably the greatest tournament of them all, bowed out with a suitably enjoyable centrepiece, a 3-2 ding-dong-o-rama between Argentina and Germany.

1982, equally, was a boisterous blast of a summer with an enjoyable conclusion (Italy 3 Germany 1), and 2006 a rollercoaster competition that kept its biggest thrill – Zidane’s mental headbutt – for the last dance.

Meanwhile, 1990’s snoozefest concluded with a crime against humanity of an endgame that made most viewers claw at their own eyes and bay for mercy. 2002’s Japan-and-Korea carnival had a bubbly personality, but concluded with a dull date between Brazil and Germany.

1998, was a true mixed bag of a tournament, and often extremely poor, but is rescued in the collective memory by its newsworthy and thrilling final, as Les Blues overcame a weirdly out of sorts Brazil to send the usually nonchalant host nation apesh*t.

All of which suggests that we shouldn’t expect too much on Sunday night. 2010 has been a groundbreaking tournament with uniquely enthusiastic hosts.

It started tediously with a record amount of low-scoring meetings in the first round of group clashes, then picked up significantly, before dipping again a little in the round of 16.

The quarters and semis were decent. But South Africa went out early, too many big teams played poorly, and - bizarrely - Germany were the only team displaying any flair.

History will judge 2010 as an ‘average’ World Cup, so our bet is on a routine 2-1 or 1-0 final rather than a thriller. But an average World Cup is still better than any other sporting event on the planet by a country mile, and football’s all about the unexpected. So bring on a classic, Holland and Spain. It’s been a blast.

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Rorke's Drift, rugby & rainbow Bafana

Chris Hunt — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 12:18:00 GMT

The World Cup seems to have touched every bit of South Africa to one degree or another. The England team may have been knocked out of the tournament far too early, but on the day of the first semi-final there was still a noticeable English presence in the country, many of them trickling through the tourist trails of Kwazulu-Natal.

Handfuls of fans with no more games to go to deciding to end their World Cup scouring the battlefields of Isandlwana in search of Rorke’s Drift, the site of the nation’s one face-saving conflict of the Anglo-Zulu war.

While surveying the battlefields where so many British soldiers died for their country, it can’t have been a great stretch of the imagination for many of the fans to have wondered what could have happened at this World Cup if Wayne Rooney and the team had a bit of that spirit. We went out of the tournament with a crushing defeat like the one experienced by the British army at Isandlwana, whereas what we really needed was a courageous rearguard action like the one fought soon after at Rorke’s Drift.

The men who held Rorke's Drift (WAGs not pictured)

Despite the impact of a day on the battlefields, Hereford United fans Mark and Kevin still have the football on their minds when settling in for the evening at Rorke’s Drift Lodge, a delightful guest house nestling in the hills overlooking the battlefields.

Not only are they caught up in watching the Holland v Uruguay semi-final on the box, but they keep dashing away every 10 minutes or so to use the hotel’s incredibly slow dial-up internet connection to check the FIFA website for returned tickets for the final. They’ve travelled all over the world watching England play and after the team’s inglorious exit they have now set their sights on making it to their first World Cup final.

They won’t be the only ones here watching the tournament with interest tonight. Cut off as it may be from tarmac roads and, for many of its poverty-stricken Zulu residence, electricity, the modern village that surrounds the old Rorke’s Drift mission station has still managed to enjoy this World Cup experience.

In the school building just yards away from the famous stand made by Lieutenants John Chard (Stanley Baker in the film Zulu) and Gonville Bromhead (Michael Caine), a makeshift giant screen was erected to show all the Bafana Bafana matches.

“This is an area where children can walk 15 kilometres to school every day and for the football the locals came from many kilometres around to see the games,” explains Werner Miller of Rorke’s Drift Lodge. “Wherever there was a bit of electricity here you can be sure that the locals had a television and they were watching the games.

"Everybody supported Bafana, everybody in this area has been following the progress of the World Cup and they will be following all the way through to the final, I think you can be sure of that.”

Werner’s family are Boers going back five generations and his great-grandfather fought in the second Anglo-Boer War. Despite the heritage of conflict with the British Empire, it was on England that he wagered £100 to win the World Cup, and he reserves his strongest sporting antipathy for the Australians, a rivalry firmly rooted on the rugby field.

Springboks celebrate a peanut-hugging wallaby-slapping

While many white South Africans have taken an active interest in this World Cup, turning up to support the games, rugby remains their sport of choice. In fact, Werner is the only white South African I have encountered in a month at the tournament who actively watches Premiership football on a regular basis.

“The way people in the World Cup play this game, it is like a beautiful dance,” he says, going onto explain why many white South Africans feel alienated by the game. “For years we have watched football, but when we watch the Kaiser Chiefs playing the Orlando Pirates, of the 3,000 people in the stadium, 2,999 have vuvuzelas and we just don’t want to be there. We want to hear singing and we want to hear cheering, like at the rugby games, not the raucous racket of the vuvuzelas.

"But with the World Cup bringing international-class professional footballers to our shores, for once we’ve got to see how the game is played properly, so it’s definitely made the sport grow in popularity amongst rugby supporters over here.”

The World Cup has had more of a significant impact on this country than just converting the allegiance of a few white rugby fans. In the weeks leading up to the tournament there were worries of racial conflict in the Boer heartlands following the death of Eugene Terre'Blanche, while tensions were further stirred by the firebrand Youth ANC leader Julius Malema, who made headlines the same month with his rendition of banned song Kill The Boer. It could all have derailed the World Cup, but instead, argues Werner, it was the World Cup that helped bring South Africans closer together.

“People for once said, ‘Forget about what the politicians say – this is much bigger than them, this is South Africa’. And today we see both blacks and whites, who yesterday would not have two words for each other, all wearing Bafana shirts and at last having something in common to talk about. Whether or not we lost didn’t matter because as a nation, and as South Africans, we’ve all been drawn closer by this whole experience.”

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Spain’s happy hangover

Tim Stannard — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 09:18:00 GMT

*Buuuuuuuuuzzzzzzzzzzzzzz* What? Eh? Gaaah! Ow! Morning? What happened?.....Ouch....(Bump! Screech! Bang!) - Eh!” - Repeat for the next 12 hours.

This is pretty much how most of Spain is going to spend Thursday. If it is, indeed Thursday.

And that includes LLL, but mainly due to the fact the blog was only able to get up to eight minutes sleep at a time before some kind interfering horn action or wailing and screaming from the street interrupted LLL's somnambulant ways.

But it is going to be a day from one of the less unpleasant hell dimensions worth suffering.

Spain frackin’ did it! Bless every one of their 23 pairs of red cotton socks. And Vicente Del Bosque’s too. In fact, bless his magnificent moustache, whilst the blog is at it. May it be tickled by Paz Vega and Penelope Cruz for the rest of his days.

La Roja are in the World Cup final for the first time in their history, and Merciful Zeus they have a spiffing chance of winning it.

However, that’s all to be debated on Saturday and Sunday. For the immediate moment the feeling across the country is tingly relief, nervous exhaustion and a little bit of daylight-provoked pain.

Wednesday’s semi-final clash was the most complete performance by Vicente Del Bosque’s men so far in the tournament, with Germany mere spectators for much of the encounter.

But that didn’t mean that it wasn’t a torturous, nervy experience for the 93 minutes of the game with Spain missing their normal quota of chances and cries of “******** shoot you ********* ********s!” echoing from bars all over the country accompanying La Roja’s display.

Luckily, everyone lived happily ever after, and danced in the streets until sunrise after Captain Caveman himself, Carles Puyol, smashed a wonderful header home to inspire AS’s own homage to Cataluyna with their front page banner of “Visca España!”

“It was a goal that confirms that this team dominates in every department” writes the paper’s editor, Alfredo Relaño, who praises a victory that was achieved "with great football, with gusto and with solidarity.”

In the inside pages Tomás Roncero hints that Mrs Roncero may have to make room for someone else in their Spain-loving lives with the wonderfully crackpot columnist writing “I love Casillas” in English. “But I’m called Tomás, not Sara, however I’m obliged to send him this love letter.”

Every other male in Spain - aside from former King of Cataluyna, Joan Laporta, who must be seething at the way his former charges are helping their ‘other country’ in South Africa - now has the biggest of man-loves for Puyol and Gerard Piqué, who were both magnificent for the whole game.

Marca declare that La Selección are the “best in the world” and LLL has neither the inclination nor the energy to take issue with that statement, despite the World Cup trophy not yet being in their grasp.

Inside, the paper praises Del Bosque’s brave but inspirational decision to let Pedro loose on the German defence and drop Fernando Torres in the process - a tough decision says the Spain coach.

“Leaving Torres out was hard, as he’s a great player, a really important kid for the group,” admitted Del Bosque. “But let’s face it, he’s been playing like my Aunt May and we buried her 15 years ago.”

Marca has also published photographs taken of supporters watching the game in all the home villages and towns of the squad and each shows scenes of jubilation and joy, aside from some surely looking sedate so-and-so’s in Hospitalet de Llobregat, the base camp of renowned jolly japester, Víctor Valdés.

Thursday is going to be about cleaning up, from Seville to Santander, in a physical and mental way. Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be spent be cherishing the notion that La Roja have done it. No matter what happens on Sunday night, the word-less Spanish national anthem is going to be played at a World Cup final for the first time ever.

And perhaps, that’s when the fun really starts in Spain.

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Spain ready for most important date

Tim Stannard — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 11:05:00 GMT

The dead from the waist up LLL doesn’t really get excited about anything that doesn’t involve zombies. Or grapes. Or both.

However, the blog must confess that it had a sleepless Tuesday night. And that wasn’t just because it was about 1000 degrees in the Spanish capital, but because if Del Bosque’s boys beat Germany today, then frackin’ Spain will be in the frackin’ World Cup final with a very good chance of winning it against the jammy frackin Dutch!

And that is about the most thrilling thing that has happened here since Andalusia had its first inside toilet installed way back in 2007.

If the celebrations after doing one over the Dutch, on Sunday, are even as half as insane as those for the Euro 2008 win, then every fountain in the land will have a good 1000 pogo-ing people dancing in it and no bin will remain unburned.

Unfortunately, for all that to pass then Germany are going to have to be beaten. And for all the articles being written and pundits opining, no-one really has any clue what is going to happen in Wednesday’s semi-final clash, so it’s no wonder that the footballing world has been looking to an octopus for guidance.

And speaking of creepy, hairless organisms that shoot ink whenever threatened, Luis Aragonés has also been probed thoroughly for his views on the titanic Teutonic clash.

Despite being publicly told to shut his cakehole by the Marca director, Eduardo Inda, earlier in the tournament after criticising La Roja’s performances, the former Spain boss has now been given all the space he needs in the paper to ruminate on Wednesday’s clash - a cogitation that ended with the prediction that “I think Spain will go through (squirt, squirt).”

Inda agrees and has already begun taunting Sunday’s possible opponents with the jibe, “great! Holland are in the final, so what?” “If we go through tonight then we are champions,” predicts Marca’s main man attempting to match the paper’s genius “Zidane, we are going to retire you, tonight” boast from the 2006 World Cup clash against France.

In Wednesday’s editorial, the jar marked hyperbole has been as left as empty as Guti’s brain with the paper claiming that “we are at the most important date in Spanish football. La Roja are on the cusp of glory, and just two steps away from becoming legends.”

The vibe as AS more of concern that confidence and are quite rightly fretting over the footballing prowess of Germany with the paper’s editor Alfredo Relaño noting that “we call the Germans squareheads because deep down we envy their virtues.”

Both Schweinsteiger and Villa appear on the front cover with the Spain man trying to look mean and moody but instead giving the impression that he has trapped wind.

Wednesday’s edition also helpfully points out that there are 400,000 Germans living in Spain, but disappointedly fails to print their addresses as a handy guide as the nearest person taunt should la Roja prevail.

The Catalan papers may have joined in the hype over the clash a little bit more enthusiastically, but have discovered that their beloved Barcelona are broke with new president, Sandro Rosell admitting that he has “found a club that is indebted” and has had to borrow €150m from a credit syndicate to pay June’s bills.

However, Sport's Josep María Casanovas still has his eyes on the prize in Durban and says that “we have the players, the team and the ambition. There is no fear of Germany, on the contrary Germany respect us now.”

Aside from thoughts of becoming legends, touching glory and making history, the theme in Spain on the day of their semi-final dust-up is indecision when looking to who will be the winner.

Which is why LLL will be spending the final hours before the clash doing what everyone else is doing by pacing the streets going “SPAIN! No, Germany. SPAIN!, No Germany. SPAIN! No, Germany...”

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Octopus opinion: a load of tentacles

Daniel Moore — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 16:24:00 GMT

So our slippery friend Paul the Octopus has predicted a victory for Spain when they meet Joachim Löw’s German hotshots tomorrow night in Durban.

NEWS Germans shell-shocked by octopus pick

That’s all very well and good, Paul, but you’ve almost certainly got this one wrong. Despite losing several players (notably their captain) before the World Cup, Löw’s youthful, multi-ethnic squad – of the 82m people in Germany, nearly 20m are of non-German descent – have really stamped their mark on this year’s World Cup, with players such as Schalke’s Manuel Neuer, Bayern München’s Thomas Müller and Stuttgart’s Sami Khedira impressing fans and managers the world over.

But what about the player who has seemingly appeared out of thin air to help Germany to a place in the last four? That would be Neuer’s former Schalke team-mate Mesut Özil - the man today dubbed the ‘genie with the sad eyes’ by highly-respected German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. Their man following the national team around South Africa, Thomas Hummel, calls the midfield trickster of Turkish origin the “Ballartist der Bolplatz" – literally the ball artist of the football field.

It’s not hard to see why. Aside from an off-day against Serbia in the group stage, Özil has consistently brought flamboyance and effectiveness to Germany’s midfield – only Bastian Schweinsteiger has come close to matching the youngster's brilliance.

Eyes on the prize

This has led to their strikers being fed shedloads of chances, which in turn has led to four goals against Australia, four against England, and four against Argentina. That's impressive for any team, but for a squad younger than any of their predecessors in the previous 60 years? That’s damn near brilliant.

And what of those strikers who keep on banging the goals in for Germany? Before the World Cup you would maybe have been excused for thinking Miroslav Klose – another Germany player born outside the borders – had disappeared off the face of the earth. Well, he hadn’t, but he had fallen way down the Bayern München pecking order, with Ivica Olic, Mario Gomez and youngster Thomas Müller all selected ahead of him last season, meaning ‘Miro’ was only able to score three goals all campaign.

Yet Klose has scored four already this World Cup, and just two more goals will make him the highest World Cup goalscorer in history. You'd have to say he only has two games to do it, with age certainly not on his side at 32. Lukas Podolski, often played on the wing for a struggling Köln side last season, has netted twice at this World Cup, while man-of-the-moment Thomas Müller has four – one behind leading goalscorer David Villa of Spain, and not at all bad for a bloke who only made his full debut in March.

Even defender Arne Friedrich is getting in on the goal action, troubling the scoresheet for the first time on his 77th international appearance. With 13 World Cup goals in just five World Cup games, Germany could give Spain a tough time.

Löw has his team pumped up – miraculously, some might say, after their long-term captain Michael Ballack picked up an injury in the FA Cup final. However, just as many people may feel that the erstwhile leader's injury was a huge blessing in disguise.

So, as Germany face Spain, a nation hopes that, 20 years after they last won the World Cup as a divided country, and 20 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall reunited the two lands, Germany can get to this year’s World Cup final – where they’ll surely stand a great chance of triumph once again.

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Spain left with selection dilemma

Michael Cox — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 08:56:00 GMT

Michael Cox, editor of ZonalMarking.net, on the World Cup semi-finals and the selection posers facing each manager...

Spain and Holland have something in common at this tournament. Both have got to the semi-finals and yet have slightly underwhelmed with their progression – slightly odd, considering they are two matches away from the first World Cup win in their history.

Perhaps our expectations for them were simply too inflated. The sides feature some of the world’s best most technically-gifted footballers – Xavi, Andres Iniesta, David Villa, Xabi Alonso, Wesley Sneijder, Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie amongst others – and both countries’ football is generally associated with style and excitement rather than cold hard success in terms of results – probably as a consequence of both sides’ historical underachievement.

That flair has not been in evidence so far at this competition. Neither has won a game particularly convincingly throughout the tournament – each has only recorded one victory by a margin greater than a single goal – Holland with an opening day 2-0 win over Denmark, and Spain’s 2-0 win over minnows Honduras. We’ve yet to see a genuinely top-class performance from either team.

And yet, the results keep coming. This raises an interesting question about both – are they more pragmatic, unspectacular, efficient sides than their predecessors, that are happy to scrap to one-goal victories rather than play fancy football, or are they trying to play their traditional style of football and simply not clicking?

The answer probably lies somewhere in between. Both sides are slightly struggling in the same two departments – first, with a lack of width, as covered previously (Robben has returned for Holland, but his tendency to cut inside against Brazil was rather predictable) and secondly, with concerns about their main striker.

The problems with Fernando Torres’ form, fitness and confidence have been well-documented at this tournament, and a look at Spain’s performances after his departure in their most recent two games leads to the inevitable conclusion that he deserves to be dropped from the side.

Spain simply lack cohesion in the final third when he plays –the driving runs of Cesc Fabregas, the width of Pedro or Jesus Navas, or the more direct route of Fernando Llorente seem a better option.

Robin van Persie hasn’t been that much better, but his place is assured because of the relative lack of alternatives. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has a good record at international level but still lacks the true quality required, whilst the other option – pushing Dirk Kuyt forward and bringing in another winger – would destabilize the team because Kuyt’s defensive awareness has been vital for the Dutch so far.

Aside from suspensions, both Holland and Spain will probably play the same system and players in the final four.

All of this ignores the fact that both have done rather well to reach the last four of the competition – if it had been Italy or Germany battling through with narrow victories, we’d probably be slightly more convinced of their competence – it would be typical displays from both.

Germany, of course, are the team who have been by far the most exciting of the final four. They’ve scored twice as many goals as Spain, and four more than Holland, playing some wonderful football along the way.

The 4-1 win over England didn’t receive as much credit as it should have done in the British media, with England’s woes getting far more attention. The 4-0 victory over Argentina confirmed their class - results like that very rarely happen in the knockout stages of international tournaments – and let’s not forget that they started the competition as relative outsiders compared to England and Argentina.

The surprise in the semi-finals is Uruguay. They are unique in tactical terms, as they are the only one of the four not to have played a 4-2-3-1 (or close) throughout the competition. Indeed, Oscar Tabarez has deployed three separate formations and used his star man, Diego Forlan, in a variety of roles so far.

It will be interesting to see what happens in the absence of Luis Suarez. Sebastian Abreu looks the most likely replacement in what would be a straight swap, especially with the news that winger Nicolas Lodeiro is out of the tournament.

So the only team that are without suspensions – Spain – are the only side who have real selection and formation dilemmas as a whole. All four managers have big decisions to make ahead of the semi-final clashes.

More from Michael Cox:
June 28: Five defensive lessons
June 22: Mind the quality? Feel the width
June 17: Defences on top in first round
June 12: Back three back in fashion

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England can learn from North Korea

Nick Moore — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 13:40:00 GMT

As a short, fat chap with a natty line in witticisms and winning World Wars once said: “success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

But nobody seems to have told that to the unfortunate nations trailing home with their Jabulanis between their legs after underwhelming World Cup performances.

Many squads have been granted a ‘welcome home’ fit for a nonce ring carrying petri–dishes full of the H1N1 virus, and the levels of head-hanging and brow-beating have reached an unprecedented 8.6 on the Ian Beale Scale.

England haven’t even led the way. Sure, the tabloids have gone to town as our underachieving footy berks have committed the horrific sins of SMILING AS THEY SEE THEIR CHILDREN, GOING OUT FOR A NICE MEAL and ARROGANTLY BREATHING IN AND OUT. And a survey recently revealed that 62% of people are ‘ashamed to be English’ in the wake of the South African debacle. But that’s small beer compared to what’s been going on elsewhere around the globe.

The defeated champions, Italy, for example, were greeted by angry scenes upon their arrival at Fiumicino airport. You’ve got to admire a hate mob that can be bothered getting up at seven in the morning to vent its spleen, and 100 or so vexed Romans pounced on Marcello Lippi’s car, unleashing a cavalcade of vile abuse and rude hand gestures (the Italians are still the undoubted world champions of rude hand gestures, mind: they even have one that means “your mother slept with the whole village.”) “There’s a lot of bitterness,” acknowledged striker Fabio Quagliarella sheepishly. “But we understand how the fans feel.”

Meanwhile, in France, the hilarious carnival of self-destruction shows no sign of abating. The French League (LFP) has called for the entire French Football Federation (FFF) to resign. Tiny President Nicolas Sarkozy has scampered into the mix, calling for “explanations” and asking to “speak to the players personally,” while the players continue to lambast each other and question Raymond Domenech’s parentage.

Nigeria, however, have topped the lot. Their President – the incredibly-monikered Goodluck Jonathan – suspended the entire team from taking part in any international competition for two years. FIFA then gave Nigeria 24 hours to reverse the decision, otherwise they’d be expelled from world football.

You have to feel for the players here: it’s a bit like a child who has been unfairly sent to his room then getting nailed to the bed. And FIFA’s “stop refusing to play football, or we won’t let you play football” line is reminiscent of the American joke about unarmed British police: “stop… or I’ll shout stop again.”

History has thrown up even worse examples. In 2000, the Ivory Coast’s players were held for three days in a military detention camp – punishment by the country’s dictator due to a meagre showing at the African Cup of Nations.

The Elephant men were forced to perform squat thrusts and drill parades, as well as attend lectures on team unity and discipline. And then of course there was the Iraq team under the demented rule of Saddam’s son Uday Hussain, for whom thumb-screws and electrodes were the primary motivational tool. One poor lad even got his perm shaved off.

All of which brings us inevitably to North Korea. “I wouldn’t want to be one of their relatives today,” we muttered to each other as Portugal rained down goals upon the key Axis of Evil members. But it seems our fears for the plucky lads who ground out a commendable 2-1 loss to Brazil were perhaps unfounded.

“I think you are mistaken,” muttered coach Kim Jong-Hun – a man you definitely wouldn’t want to play poker against – when it was suggested that there would be “consequences” for his team’s failure when they returned home.

And indeed, the pro-Pyongyang newspaper Choson Sinbo reported that the players arrived home “stoney-faced” but “regained their smiles after being welcomed by their families and supporters crowding the airport.” And if the shadowy state’s media mouthpiece is reporting the story in such a way, it’s a fair bet that the squad – thumbs and spines still in tact – will live to fight another tournament. Heartening news.

“Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose or it doesn't turn out the way you want,” said coach Jong-Hun. “but if it doesn't turn out the way we want, there will be no further consequences for that.”

Amazing as it might sound, it might just be time for the English, French and Italians to learn a lesson from North Korea.

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Joyous Germans: How do we do it?!

Chris Hunt — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 10:02:00 GMT

How is it that the Germans always manage to perform on the greatest stage when it really matters, no matter how low the nation’s expectations are at the outset of a World Cup?

Who would have thought that their young team would so systematically dismantle the ambitions of Maradona’s charismatic Argentinians? Certainly not Maradona himself, who looked completely bemused that his side could have been so comprehensively taken apart.

At the press conference after the game Maradona could only attribute defeat to the fact that the Germans had scored very early on, and were able to score more goals than his side. His reasoning tells its own story and perhaps that is why he is now on an early plane home and pondering his future with the national team.

Before he left, journalists tried to push him on why stars such as Lionel Messi had failed to shine at this World Cup, but he was lost for an answer of worth. While Argentina had kicked off the competition with a squad crammed with some of the biggest names in football, the Germans had arrived shorn of their principal star, Michael Ballack, in a team peppered with talent from last summer's European Championship-winning Under-21 squad – players such as Mesut Özil, Thomas Müller, Sami Khedira, Jérôme Boateng and Manuel Neuer.

Somehow the Germans had managed to persuade world football that they had the country’s weakest team in years, yet in the manner of their quiet and efficient coach, Joachim Löw, they have methodically disassembled the majority of their opponents in this tournament, hitting four each past Australia, England and Argentina.

FEATURE, June 12: Why Germany will do well >>

“The result really didn’t correspond with what happened on the pitch,” pleaded Maradona after the defeat, but he only succeeded in making himself appear even more in denial.

"Sorry lads, no idea." "That's the problem..."

While Maradona was left to come to terms with his shortcomings in his own time, German fans at Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront were only just starting their night of partying. They may have been happy in their celebrations but they were just as confused as the Argentine coach, for this was a result that few had expected, leaving them to sing with broad smiles rather than the arrogant smirks of old.

“To be very honest with you, although my heart was with Germany, I actually bet my money on Argentina,” admitted 32-year-old Ben Brudler from Hamburg. “But I’m very lucky to have lost this money.”

Although this fast and attractive counter-attacking team don’t play like the pragmatic German sides of yesteryear, those efficient automatons who were always able to grind out World Cup results against the odds, Brudler still attributed the progress of the 2010 side to the traditional German team ethic. “I guess the individual players aren’t that strong but together the team is very strong,” he said. “There are no stars in this side but together they are great.

“It’s obvious that the Nationalmannschaft is just very good at tournaments,” he added. “It has always been that way and the team seems to be doing it again this time. When we start out at a World Cup we don’t expect to get too far but then somehow it always seems to happen.”

"Ein! Zwei! Ein-Zwei-Drei! Ein-Zwei-Drei-Vier! VIER-NULL!!"

How is it when everyone in the game was led to believe that this was a weak team, the Germans have managed to fool us all again? “Isn’t it the same every time?” laughed Matthias Hunecke from Oldenburg. “It’s probably because we are all a little bit conservative and we don’t arrive at the World Cup saying, ‘we’re going to win it’. We just say, ‘hopefully we’ll get in the next round’.

"Our main strength at this competition was that everybody thought we had quite a weak team but now you see it isn’t the case. I think a couple of our opponents might have underestimated us.”

“It’s just confidence,” explained 21-year-old Roland Heidemann from Munich. “The team’s confidence has built as the competition has progressed, and the experience in the side is coming through, thanks to players like Podolski and Klose. People might say it’s a young side but our experienced players are showing them what to do.

“It’s a mindset and we’re structural,” he added. “We saw that Argentina weren’t structural and that Maradona just let his team play without really coaching anybody. We showed structure and now people are starting to believe in the team back home – and people are starting to believe here too.”

And believe they are. With just Spain standing between Germany and an eighth World Cup final, you’d be hard pushed to find anyone in South Africa to bet against them.

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Paraguay paradise as cuartos conquered

Tim Stannard — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 08:23:00 GMT

In many ways Spain’s World Cup performances since the beginning of FIFA-time AD could be described as impotent. After all, la Roja hasn’t even experienced a good semi in the history of the competition, never mind reached a final.

This may explain why the reaction in the local media to the squeaky win over Paraguay has been nothing less than an explosion of relief and jubilation.

On Saturday night, Telecinco - the terrestrial broadcasters of Spain’s World Cup games - spent another boorish 90 minutes of shouting, ranting and making animal noises but manage to refrain from swearing on this occasion, after a slap on the wrists delivered after former Spain boss José Antonio Camacho shouted “F**k referee! Blow the whistle!” in the tense, dying seconds of the Portugal encounter.

“What a performance!” yelled J.J Santos, with his eyebrows in the familiar raised position - maintained unbroken since 1987 - as the station beamed pictures from villages all over Spain, dusting off giant paella pans and prepping a bull to torment to celebrate victory over Paraguay in the traditional manner.

Heck, even the channel’s pitchside-reporter-meets-glamour-girl Sara Carbonero sounded vaguely thrilled by the result, which is saying something considering she normally drones her touchline reports with the enthusiasm of someone being forced to read the Lisbon Treaty to a naked Sepp Blatter.

"I'm not starting till you put that thing away, Sepp"

The only televisual dissent from the notion that this wasn’t a brilliant performance from Spain was the reporter from rivals Canal Plus, who interjected “no kidding” when San Iker Casillas himself suggested that his side weren’t all that in the quarter-final clash.

In the printy press world, the semi-final bratwurst barnstormer against Germany means a joyful Marca have at least another week before having to come up with some excellent reasons detailing why Florentino Pérez was quite right to sell Wesley Sneijder last summer and replace him with Kaká - in both senses of the word.

“A whole life dreaming of a day like this!” screams Sunday's front cover over a picture of Iker Casillas on his knees.

“The curse is lifted,” squeal the inside pages recalling the four failures of the previous times Spain have reached los cuartos of the World Cup.

Not only have Spain won the chance to be spanked severely by Germany on Wednesday, it seems, but the country has had its atavistic - LLL didn’t know what it meant either - fatalism and fear of quarter-finals wiped out. That's the message from the paper’s editor Eduardo Inda – well, the first part anyway.

As La Liga Loca suspected, the first-half disallowed “seen ‘em given” goal by Paraguay has been airbrushed from the game’s narrative by Marca with their pet former referee attacking the man-in-the-middle for the fifth match in a row.

“The performance of the ref was an authentic disaster in every way,” blustered Rafa Guerrero in calling for at least 19 more penalties for La Selección during the game.

And not for the first time, the paper calls for something that hints of match-fixing to these blog’s sensitive ears by appealing directly to “Angel María Villar in his double responsibility as president of the Spanish FA and head of referees for FIFA” to select a referee in the Germany clash who is up to the paper’s required standards - i.e. give a yellow card every time someone goes anywhere near Xavi.

"Oh, you're in SO much trouble, ref"

AS main man Mad Tomás Roncero doesn't disappoint after the 1-0 win and calls for Spain’s “grandparents, fathers, mothers, children and grandchildren to open your windows and shout your joy to the whole world!”
Meanwhile the front cover of Sunday’s edition of the paper describes “blood, sweat and victory!” – an apt description considering the physical battering Pique, Puyol and Ramos have been taking for the team over the World Cup campaign.

Barcelona-based Sport have been fairly cool over the World Cup until now, but – perhaps realising that their readers will storm the paper's offices if there's another "Cesc is coming!" story – stuck Super Culé David Villa on Sunday's front cover to celebrate his fifth goal of the tournament.

However, Josep Maria Casanovas is first out of the blocks to sound a warning ahead of Wednesday’s clash: “Clearly Spain have got to improve against Germany if they want to go face-to-face with Holland or Uruguay.”

The paper’s Catalan cousins Mundo Deportivo are pleased as punch with the result, Santi Nolla calling the Spain side “the best in the history of Spanish football.”

“They have a plan. They know what it is to play, suffer but win,” declares the columnist before doing his duty for Barcelona by noting that Leo Messi won’t be taking part in the final four because “Maradona was there”.

All in all, the Spanish media are very happy bunnies indeed as they bask in the loveliness of banishing the semi-final curse. However, over the next few days their mood is likely to match that of the football fan in the street, which is already looking at the Germany clash with an understandable sense of dread and fear.

After all, La Furia Roja have come too far to fail now.

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Argentina: don’t mention the nerves

FourFourTwo Team — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 16:43:00 GMT

The worst pub stories and jokes, as we all know, are the ones for which ‘you had to be there.’ And in the same way that closing-time alcohol-fuelled feuds tend to reach their climax, the crossfire between the German and Argentine camp has also taken a totally avoidable route.

Pre-match tension, arguments about dodgy decisions in past meetings between the two and general dislike of the opposing nation are to be expected when the World Cup reaches the knock out phase.

But when Bastian Schweinsteiger said what we all already knew, and predicted that Argentina will try to provoke them in Saturday’s quarter final, he goaded Maradona into a response. “What’s wrong Schweinsteiger, are you nervous?” German captain Philipp Lahm then backed up his boys saying that Argentina are simply bad losers.

The anti-Maradona camp would be keen to point the finger at Diego for answering back and escalating the war of words, and on the face of it, it may look like Diego was picking a fight. But those who saw the Argentina coach ‘challenging’ the German midfielder would have seen a different side to the story.

Set up by his smiling interviewers, Maradona put it away: “Eshtash nerviosho, Schweinsteiger?!” The giggling Maradona was impersonating Nestor Kirchner, the former Argentina president, copying the famous phrase from Senor Kirchner when he challenged the media empire Clarin about their consistently anti-government editorial line.

The lisping was all part of the joke - a joke that those who speak Spanish and know the Kirchner/Clarin battle well would get. For the rest of us, you had to be there.

The fact that Diego was laughing and joking with journalists in the build up to the quarter-final in itself mildly ironic, and not just because this is the man who told reporters during qualifiers that "You can keep sucking it".

Upon the final whistle against Mexico, the Argentina players rounded on the national press, reflecting Maradona’s ‘it’s us against them’ attitude. It's bizarre that they should seriously think the Argentine media want the national team to fail, given that the 2010 account books rest largely upon the Albicieleste’s performance in South Africa. But it’s what the players (and Maradona when he’s not sending up politicians) all seem to believe.

Whether the press are supporting Argentina is one thing. Whether thousands of locals in South Africa are supporting them is beyond doubt. Those who have adopted Argentina as their team after SA have mostly done so for one reason. Messi. And as we all know, Messi has yet to score at the World Cup.

Maybe it will be Messi who’s nervous ahead of playing Germany. Maybe the Germans should be nervous because Messi is due a goal. He won’t admit it, but maybe Maradona’s nervous that Messi won’t perform in the quarter-finals.

The Flea won’t be at 100% - “He’s a bit bunged up,” said full-back Clemente Rodriguez about Messi’s “flu” which prevented him training on Thursday – but snotty-nosed or not, Messi will face Germany, and should line up with the same 10 team-mates who defeated Mexico.

Germany represent Argentina’s first big test of the tournament, and after the way Joachim Low’s men breezed to this stage, the opposite is true. Throw in some postmatch fighting from the 2006 clash between the two, expect lots of prematch nerves...

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Zeroes, heroes & hubris

Paul Simpson — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:12:00 GMT

Five thoughts prompted by this World Cup.

1 Uruguay and Year Zero
La Celeste fans must pray for the start of a decade. Here is Uruguay’s remarkable record in World Cups that fell in a year ending with a zero.

1930: Winners
1950: Winners
1970: Semi-finals
1990: Last 16
2010: Last eight at worst.

The most heartening aspect of Uruguay’s current campaign is that they have reclaimed their football history. Eduard Galeano – the famous Uruguayan author who wrote Football In Sun And Shadow, the most romantic book ever written about the World Cup – suggested that since 1950, Uruguayans, “betrayed by reality, have sought solace in memory”. (Which other great football nation does that remind you of?)

Galeano pointed out that, in the game that decided the 1950 World Cup, Uruguay committed half as many fouls as Brazil. Yet in the decades to come, defenders who “mistake fouling for courage” disfigured the Uruguayan game.

As Galeano noted despairingly: “We have reached the point where nothing is more Uruguayan than playing around the edge of a red card.” Since 1970, Uruguay’s most distinctive contribution to World Cups was to have Sergio Batista sent off after 56 seconds against Scotland in 1986, the fastest red card in the tournament’s history.

Luis Suarez’s frabjous strike against South Korea – surely the goal of the tournament – was a reminder that it was Uruguay, not England, who really taught the world to play football. Their Olympic-winning side of the 1920s was technically and tactically revolutionary, a vision of futuristic perfection that entranced Europe in the 1920s in much the same way Holland’s Total Football did in the 1970s.

2 Two knee-jerks don’t make a right
Watching the English media slink back from the precipice since Monday and conclude, with a remarkable degree of consensus, that sacking Fabio Capello is not the answer to England’s ills has been fascinating.

Sacking Capello may achieve nothing. But if retaining him is to achieve something, some things must change. And that’s not all down to the players. In private, Capello might want to reflect on how he came to be so comprehensively tactically outwitted by a manager whose only major honour as coach is the German Cup in 1997 with Stuttgart.

England’s players were abject. Kicker magazine rated Frank Lampard, England’s best performer in their eyes, as “satisfactory”.

But with England’s attack as narrow as a supermodel’s waist as we chased the game in the second half, did we really need to replace our one out-and-out winger with yet another player – Joe Cole – who would naturally drift inside from the right, just as Steven Gerrard was doing from the left in a desperate attempt to turn the game?

And why then bring on Emile Heskey (seven goals in 62 appearances) for Jermain Defoe (12 goals in 43) when, as Harry Redknapp noted, what we needed most was a goal? And why ignore Peter Crouch (21 goals in 40) to ask Heskey to meet crosses that were no longer being hit?

And why finally bring on Shaun Wright-Phillips? Answer: Because you have left two better options – Adam Johnson and Theo Walcott – at home and oddly prefer the out-of-form Phillips to the tricky, in-form, if occasionally infuriating Aaron Lennon.

"What's he doing NOW??!"

If the German plan was to tempt John Terry out of position and let Matthew Upson have the ball in the belief (largely proven) that he wouldn’t know what to do with it, why didn’t Capello use Michael Dawson who can, at least, pass? It is easy to scoff at Terry’s apparent inability to switch sides as a centre-back, but Alan Hansen argued persuasively that the move complicated matters unnecessarily – especially with the wayward Upson as his partner.

The players deserve their share of ignominy but their coach must accept culpability too. Capello’s saving grace might be that he is Italian. There is still enough of an aura around him to suggest this is an aberration. If Graham Taylor had presided over such a shambles, he would have been discarded faster than you could say turnip.

3 Let’s have a real debate about technology
On ITV, Marcel Desailly rejected the introduction of video technology to help referees on the grounds that this was a slippery slope and once we started down this route where would it all end?

In truth, life, society and sport are full of potential slippery slopes, many of which prove to have a suprising amount of friction. Three points for a win was introduced in 1981 in England, but I’ve not heard anyone say “Tell you what, why don’t we make it four?”

Just as patriotism is the last refuge of the scoundrel, the slippery-slope argument is the final recourse of the reactionary. In England in 1832, as parliament laboured over the Great Reform Act which gave around 2.2 million Englishmen the right to vote, London clubs were full of Tory grandees, marinated in the finest port inherited wealth could buy, fulminating that once we let the upper middle classes vote, where would it all end?

The other contention – that we can’t eliminate human error – is almost as specious. We'll probably never eliminate child poverty either but that hasn’t stopped us trying.

Technology may not be the only answer. At last year’s Leaders In Football conference, Graeme Le Saux suggested creating a cadre of professional referees who trained with Premier League clubs. Le Saux said that in 1998, England had let Paul Durkin referee a training game before the World Cup. Afterwards, Durkin admitted he would have sent three players off if that had been a real match because he would have judged malicious intent in many of the challenges.

The thought that there was probably no malice involved at all set Durkin thinking about how officials judge intent. These are the kind of nuances referees find hard to call but if they trained with players regularly, they might get more of these calls right. Le Saux’s idea would not bring Frank Lampard’s goal back. But it would reduce other errors.

"Hang on lads, I've had an idea..."

If there's one truth to be taken from the bizarre decisions taken at this World Cup it is that a multi-billion pound sport could drastically improve its image by investing in refereeing. And the sums involved aren’t huge. We’re talking millions – not much given that FIFA’s admin costs rose by $1.1bn between 2003 and 2006.

In the Telegraph, plain-speaking Brian Moore argues that football’s consideration of technology has been skewed by its insularity and hubris – what he calls the “show us your medals” mentality. He asks: “If football people know so much, how come the sport is in such a mess?”

4 England’s debacle will not affect the 2018 bid
Because Russia will win it. And if you’re a betting man, get yourself to Paddy Power and put a fiver on Qatar for 2022.

5 Oddest World Cup statistic 
The oddest figure in this World Cup isn’t eight (the average mark Arlene Phillips gave World Cup celebrations in her Strictly World Cup Dancing feature for the Daily Telegraph) but 80.4%. That is the percentage of points England won in competitive games with John Terry as skipper. Compared to 58.3% in the eight games since JT was stripped of the armband.

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A day out with the referees

Chris Hunt — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:35:00 GMT

Seconds after Frank Lampard’s now infamous shot ricocheted down from the crossbar and bounced well behind the German goal-line, there was an almost audible sense of disbelief in the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein when Jorge Larrionda failed to signal for a goal.

“Oh my god” was the referee’s reported reaction on seeing a replay of the incident during half-time, while fans spent the break raging about whether goal-line technology should be introduced to football.

After the game, England keeper David James was not among those calling for video replays or technological advances. “I think in this circumstance there were possibly only two people on the pitch who didn’t see that ball go over the line, one being the referee and one being the linesman,” he said. “You don’t need technology to tell that the ball is a yard over the line.

“Unfortunately the incident definitely changed the outcome of the game because it would have made it 2-2,” he continued. “It would have been a different game by virtue of the scoreline and a different game psychologically because they would have been under a lot of pressure and we would have been in the ascendancy. As for technology, it would be nice but in this instance I don’t think it was something that was needed.”

On the night James was in the minority. Even the British sports minister, Hugh Robertson, joined the clamour for goal-line technology. “Once the dust has settled, I hope FIFA reassess their opposition to using goal-line technology,” he announced with the smack of political opportunism.

However, Lampard’s overlooked goal was not the first and only decision to cause such outrage during the 2010 World Cup. In the USA’s earlier group game against Slovenia a dubious call by Malian referee Koman Coulibaly robbed the Americans of what looked to have been a winning goal, while just a couple of hours after the conclusion of the England v Germany game, Roberto Rosetti’s failure to rule out a clearly offside strike by Argentina’s Carlos Tevez against Mexico also prompted fierce debate.

Against a backdrop of heated discussion about the standard of World Cup refereeing, and calls for the introduction of technological assistance, it may have been seen as slightly bizarre that FIFA should choose to open the doors of its refereeing training camp to the press, with the promise of an “opportunity to meet referees and assistant referees”.

Faced with this invite the world’s media turned up in force, but they were not there to learn about the training regimen of top referees. To a man they were in search of Jorge Larrionda, wanting to hear his justification for over-ruling the infamous Lampard goal-that-wasn’t, or Roberto Rosetti for his opinion on allowing the Tevez goal to stand.

Arriving at the referee’s training base at the Odendaal High School in Pretoria, journalists and camera crews were promised full access to the referees and their assistants. “Who is here?” we asked. “It would be easier to say who won’t be here,” answered the FIFA representative, itemizing just the refereeing teams from that day’s games. Even English referee Howard Webb would be present, fresh from his game at Ellis Park the previous night.

“Can you point out Larrionda?” we all asked. “Don’t worry about that,” we were told by the FIFA official, “you’ll spot him by the crowd of people around him, just try and give him a little space and treat him with some respect.”

The training session was spread across two pitches, and after the general warming up exercises, the referees initially worked on their fitness and speed. However, of far more interest to the press was the whereabouts of Larrionda. No-one was quite certain what he looked like and many clutched small photographs of the official in the hope of identifying him, but although there were dozens of stretching referees on the training pitch, there wasn’t one that seemed to match up to pictures.

“He is here, don’t worry,” said the jovial FIFA official. “You’ll have plenty of time to talk to him after training, just give him a chance as everyone will want to talk to him.”

After the warming-up session, there was demonstration of offside training, with journalists given a chance to run the line so they could “experience the challenging work of the assistant referees”. This exercise was performed under match conditions, which meant the piping of vuvuzela sounds through the public address system for nearly half an hour. The referees seemed oblivious to the deafening cacophony

After the offside training, some of the referees joined in a bizarre circuit of the pitch, complete with tribal chants, alongside the local African footballers that had been recruited for the training games. Then the moment everyone had been waiting for. Referees were separated by confederation and there was a mad dash as we hurdled the perimeter fence and sprinted towards the South American officials. But there was no sign of Larrionda.

“Where is he,” we asked the clearly confused FIFA official, who returned moments later with an explanation. “It seems that he’s been receiving so many telephone calls at his hotel from certain sections of the media that he’s chosen not to come.”

In the absence of Larrionda, Howard Webb was sought out for his opinion on goal-line technology, but as with every other referee at the training session, the answers sounded uncannily similar.

“Should technology be used to help referees?” we asked.

“I’m open minded about anything that makes us more credible as match officials,” replied Webb, “but that’s a decision for FIFA to take and whatever tools I’m given I’ll use them to the best of my ability. We’ll just watch this space with interest and see where it goes.”

“Can the referees make a stand and demand the use of technology to assist them in their job?” we asked.

“Well, it’s not really our job to make a stand,” said Webb. “We go out there and do our job and you guys can apply pressure if you think that’s appropriate, but let’s hope that we don’t change the nature of the game by knee-jerk reactions. It’s for other people to decide and we’ll see where the deliberations go.”

“What’s your personal opinion?” we asked.

“I’ve got no personal view,” replied Webb, in a well-rehearsed line being spouted on every corner of the training pitch by referees of all nationalities.

It was a line echoed moments later by FIFA’s head of refereeing Jose-Maria Garcia-Aranda. One journalist was tiring of the same answer. “Do you have an opinion?” he demanded. “We’re not in North Korea, you must have an opinion?”

Aranda, it turned out, had no opinion. “If you are happy with that, you are welcome,” he answered, “and if not, then it is your problem.”

Elsewhere at the training ground there was at least one experienced former referee with an opinion and he could understand exactly what Uruguayan referee Larrionda must be going through.

Urs Meier was vilified by the British press in 2004 for disallowing Sol Campbell’s 89th minute goal against Portugal in the quarter-final of the European Championship. As a consequence Meier was dubbed ‘Urs hole’ and ‘idiot ref’ by the British press, and he received more than 16,000 abusive e-mails and death threats after the tabloid newspapers published his contact details.

“They gave telephone numbers, they gave addresses and they made a campaign against me,” he says today from the safety of his position as a pundit for German television. “It was a really a hard time and I can imagine what must be happening for the Uruguayan referee.”

While all the referees at this World Cup are sticking to the FIFA line, now he is retired Meier is free to back the use of goal-line technology. “It’s either a goal or it’s not a goal,” he says. “You don’t need video replays, you just need a chip in the ball and it is easy to make the right decision.

“A shot from 20 or 30 metres out, if it hits the crossbar and bounces down to the ground, it’s always a situation that you are unable to see. It really is a black zone for the referee and for the assistants. When this happens you cannot give the right decision unless you guess.

“Ten years ago there would only be one player who would try and hit a free-kick from 35 metres out, but today, with the new ball and the players, it happens in every game. If you have a shot from 40 metres out, where is the offside line? It’s 20 metres away from the goal and the assistant has to stand there, so it’s not possible to see the goal-line.”

Meier is not necessarily in favour of video replays or extra officials, as he feels this would not help incidents like the crowded goal-line clearance that occurred during the Italy v Slovakia game, but he is a firm believer in the technology of a chipped ball.

“If you have another player on the goal-line standing between the fifth official and the situation, then he couldn’t possibly see if it is a goal or not. You would need a lot of different cameras because you have a lot of different situations. With a chip in the ball it is easy. Also, when the keeper is over the ball, when he blocks the ball on the line, with a chip in the ball it’s easy to tell whether it’s over the line.”

Having listened to all of the 2010 World Cup referees refusing to voice an opinion on goal-line technology, Meier is certain that his former colleagues would be totally in favour of its introduction if they were free to speak. “In such a cases as the Germany v England game, of course it would help, and after the World Cup I’m sure they will all say yes,” he laughs.

Before we leave the training session, in another bizarrely-timed gesture we are handed a press statement by FIFA president Sepp Blatter, in which he apologised to the English and Mexican football associations for the mistakes of referees Rosetti and Larrionda, announcing that football's ruling body was now re-opening the discussion on the use of technology in football. “I deplore when we see a referee’s mistake,” he said, “but this is not the end of the World Cup or the end of football.”

Later on it is announced that that both Jorge Larrionda and Roberto Rosetti haven’t made the cut for the latter stages of the competition. For them, the World Cup is over, as it is for England and Mexico, but the debate will rage on regardless.

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Portugal fail to relive Age of Discovery

Sergio Santos — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 11:08:00 GMT

Few people outside Portugal may have heard of Bartolomeu Dias, but in Portuguese schools everyone learns about his feats during the so-called ‘Age of Discovery’.

Dias, the first European to have sailed around the southernmost tip of the African continent, gained near legendary status because he succeeded where others before had failed: he managed to overcome strong wind and severe storms around what was then called the ‘Cape of Storms’ to secure the much-coveted passage around Africa. The cape would later be renamed ‘Cape of Good Hope’ and a statue of Dias can today be seen in Cape Town – where the cape is located.

It is perhaps ironic that Portugal bowed out of the World Cup empty-handed, with no glory or pride in that very same city. Unlike Dias though, Queiroz didn’t dare to win, he was merely happy to wait for the wind to blow in the right direction. And that’s why he failed.

Against Spain, the Portuguese strategy was obvious from the start: frustrate the Spaniards’ superior football and hit them on the counter-attack; after all, Portugal was yet to concede a single goal in the tournament and our neighbours looked shaky in the group stages.

Throughout the first 45 minutes, that plan seemed to work. The high football IQ of Xavi and Iniesta could not find a pass for the deadly duo of Torres and Villa and the Portuguese – even with the usually ineffective Almeida alone upfront – created a few chances on their own.

The moment of the match came in the 58th minute as both managers decided it was time to change something; Del Bosque replaced Fernando Torres for Fernando Llorente and Queiroz opted to bring Danny for Hugo Almeida. On paper, it appeared Spain needed a Navas or Silva type player to provide more width to a side that could not break through the Portuguese watertight backline, but Llorente proved a handful for Carvalho and Alves with his strong presence and aerial threat while Danny made Almeida look like a star.

Five minutes later, Spain broke the deadlock through David Villa after a cheeky backheeled pass from Xavi. For the first time in the tournament, Portugal had to go on the offensive and it didn’t seem something they found easy to do.

The players were clueless and could barely muster a shot, while Spain were more than happy to just keep possession. Having wasted one substitution, Queiroz had to waste another as Pepe was still not ready to play the whole match. The third substitution summed up the Portugeezer problem with Queiroz; he introduced Liedson for Simão, deploying Danny to the wing and sticking rigidly to a formation that wasn’t working.

When the referee blew for full-time, nobody really cared that David Villa’s goal should have been ruled offside. Spain were worthy winners, but more than that, because Portugal showed no attacking intent – not even the last-ditch ‘Hail Mary’ pass long balls. We were worthy losers.

Queiroz: What happens now?

The Portugeezer will reserve his final judgment on Queiroz’s future until all the World Cup dust settles. He seemed rather upbeat for a guy who failed to achieve his self-imposed target of reaching the semi-finals, but in the next few weeks he will have to answer the following nagging questions:

· Why has Ricardo Costa been the team’s first choice right-back?

· Why has he relied so heavily on Pepe – a player who only played 15 minutes of football since December?

· Why has the team struggled so badly to score and why didn’t he take more attacking-minded players to South Africa?

· Can we actually say the team has improved since 2008?

What have you made of Portugal’s World Cup campaign? Have your say below…

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FA's stalling reflective of the nation

Nick Moore — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:41:00 GMT

If there has been one mental state that has summed up England’s World Cup campaign, it has been rabid indecision.

Whether it was who should mind the nets or partner Wayne Rooney, Fabio Capello – and the rest of the nation, as they bickered in sordid crack-dens and air-conditioned organic delicatessens – couldn’t seem to make up their mind conclusively about anything.

It’s little wonder then that, as the English stand on the side of the road rubbernecking the carnage, nobody quite knows what to do next. The FA have declared that they need a couple of weeks in which to ruminate and cogitate. And while it’s easy to scoff at them for fudging the matter, the great British public isn’t exactly thinking clearly on the topic either.

53% of FourFourTwo.com’s voters believe Capello is still the man to lead England, while 55.6% of Guardian-takers said that he would be wrong to resign. Daily Mail readers, so often derided as a uniformly-minded, amorphous bile-blob of loathing, can’t agree this time: an inconclusive 56% think Fabio should be axed; while even readers of The Sun – traditional ringleader of the bi-annual witchhunt against whichever poor sod happens to be picking the national team - aren’t joining the pike-wielding hate mob en masse. 41% of them declared that the Italian gaffer should stay put.

Delving deeper into the red-tops’ straw polls, Three Lions supporters seem more bewildered than a malarial Kerry Katona in an astrophysics exam. When The Sun asked whether they blame the players or manager, 45% pointed the finger at Rooney and company, 50% went for ‘both’ and just 5% singled out the gaffer alone. Yet 59% of those who have just absolved him want Don Fabio to be professionally decapitated.

The users of Goal.com, meanwhile, clicked their mice 39% in favour of a P45 and 39% against, while 22% stated that Fabio’s future “depends how he handles the fallout.” Which presumably means that if he buys them a nice box of Milk Tray, whisks them away to Tuscany for a romantic mini-break and promises not to behave like that ever again, they’ll let him off this time.

But what are the options? Absolutely desperate, it seems. Asked who should be in the hotseat for the first Euro 2012 qualifier, 27.5% plumped for Capello, 19% for Harry Redknapp and 18.5% for (now-new Liverpool incumbent) Roy Hodgson. So far, so reasonable-yet-underwhelming. But beneath that Holy Trinity on the target list comes David Beckham (12.8%), whose sole managerial contribution to date is looking incredibly rugged in a suit and clapping handsomely in South Africa.

A small, semi-sane contingent call for Martin O’Neill (7.2%) and Stuart Pearce (3.1%). But below them, madness lies. 1.7% want to see the return of Steve McClaren – the most-mocked gaffer in British football history. 1.1% are convinced that Sam Allardyce’s no-nonsense approach is the way to outwit Johnny Foreigner. And an incredible 0.9% think baseball caps and long throws are the future, scrawling their X in the box marked: “Tony Pulis, England manager” between swigs of meths and shouting ‘b*stard’ at traffic.

For the English, wild knee-jerking is an ever-present trait. Win a friendly, and the World Cup’s in the bag. Lose one and we’re the most pathetic shower of unmotivated disgraces since The French at WWII. This X Factor-generation schizophrenia, while wrong-headed and annoying, has become inevitable. The present indecision is, however, more concerning.

The man on the terrace has never been short of a saviour, an option, and a six-pint-of-lager solution that MIGHT... JUST… WORK. That if we just did this, England could suddenly be globe-crushers again. But the bar stool preachers are silent and worried. The opinion columns, even, are half-hearted (one newspaper opined that the player needed a more personal touch like… Sven Goran Eriksson). The road ahead is foggy. It’s a depressing thought, but it looks like England could be head for yet another hung parliament.

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Were Spain excellent...or just average?

Tim Stannard — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 10:44:00 GMT

La Liga Loca’s ‘Ladeez of Battlestar Galactica’ calendar - Cylon Boomer is next month’s model, yay! - says that July is almost upon us.

And that means the blog has been watching and droning on about football non-stop for some eleven months now. This might explain why LLL has even less of a clue than usual on what in jumping Josephine’s longjohns is going on in the wide, wide world of sport.

The blog thought that Spain’s footballing efforts against Switzerland and Honduras were quite good, whilst the performances against Chile and most recently of all, Portugal were a little like an average episode of CSI: it passes the time and entertains you in snatches with the occasional cool shot of a bullet going very slowly through a shoulder blade (ah, so that's what happened to Joan Capdevilla last night - ed.).

LLL senses that the good people of Madrid may agree. During Euro 2008, the singing/car horn tooting after each victory went on for days. On Tuesday night, it had all but stopped half-an-hour after the 1-0 win over Portugal, aside from the odd tool who decided to celebrate at 4.30 in the morning.

However, the sporting press don’t seem to follow this more modest vibe. The TV broadcasters of the Portugal clash spent 90 minutes shouting “Excellent Puyol! Excellent Busquets! Excellent Torres!” Every. Time. They. Did. Anything.

This is especially deluded in the case of the Liverpool striker who will surely be sent back to England forthwith branded with a big ‘damaged goods’ mark on his Fuenlabradan forehead, especially after Fernando Llorente’s fairly bright cameo appearance.

Marca have gone most nuts with the headline of “This is my Spain!”. “The reds get their rhythm and touch back that made them the best in the world!....The triumph of the masters!” continues the paper before declaring victory on Saturday in their editorial.

“Spain has everything. A beatable opponent but one we’ll have to be careful of in Paraguay and on top of everything else, a group of wonderful footballers capable of amazing the whole world.”

AS are just as nuts in their assessment of the 1-0 win against a team that barely bothered to attack with the paper happily going into stereotype mode with the headline “Bullfighters!”

“A good match, a good win and a good rival for the quarters,” smugs the paper’s editor Alfredo Relaño who puts Spain straight into a possible semi-final clash against Germany or Argentina where LLL expects La Selección to get their a**es handed to them unless they improve across the board over the next week.

Deeper inside the paper the wonderfully mad Tomás Roncero, who has been let loose in South Africa, writes that Spain has got back “its lyrics, its music, its prose, its verse, its tiki, its taka, its possession, its obsession...”

Even Luis Aragonés, who has been poking away at his former charges from the beginning of the tournament - as is his right Mr Marca Director, Eduardo Inda, who wrote a nasty, little editorial suggesting that the Euro 2008 winner “shuts up” - is a little chipper and notes that “the Spain we want to see was in the second half.

”How to deal with Cristiano Ronaldo’s - ahem - display in the Spain clash has left both Madridista papers in a bit of quandary. AS are less bent over Real Madrid’s spanking knee and so are happy to award the pouty-one zero points from three for his footballing stylings and snigger that he was “back to failing in a decisive game.”

Marca give him one point but did opine that the brave little Madrid soldier “walked alone with his eyes glazed and fury in his face.”

Ronaldo’s general hopelessness in the tournament gave Barcelona-based Sport a chance for a chuckle with Josep Maria Casanovas noting that the culé-for-life, product of La Masia and “great Barcelona signing, David Villa, had the Madrid star for breakfast in a spectacular manner before the eyes of the football world.”

But all the praise being thrown in Spain’s direction has got the blog genuinely thinking that it has lost the plot and has squashed its footballing compass.

Is it getting too old for this kind of (cough), as they say in Lethal Weapon?

Maybe La Furia Roja were back to their best? Maybe a final berth is in the bag?

Or maybe there are other voices in the wilderness who feel the same grumpy way as La Liga Loca?

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Guilty: Jagger, Churchill & Blessed

Paul Simpson — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:35:00 GMT

Leave Fabio Capello and Emile Heskey out of it: here are the people who really undid the Three Lions.

Mick Jagger, toxic football luvvie
Remember that Japanese horror movie Ringu, in which a cursed videotape killed everyone who watched it? The Rolling Stone is the World Cup equivalent of that cursed videotape. Not content with cheering the USA to defeat against Ghana on Saturday, he turned up in Bloemfontein to put the hex on England on Sunday.

Before this World Cup, the last time I remember seeing him at an England World Cup game was against Argentina in St Etienne in 1998. And we all remember how that ended. No wonder I’ve always preferred Keith Richards.

"Have you seen the Muller, Barry, standing in the shadow?"

Winston Churchill, Britain’s waning bulldog
The most famous British prime minister, the charismatic epitome of the cigar-chomping, brandy-slurping bulldog spirit that made this country great has had a worse World Cup than Fabio Capello.

The Sun, clocking that the Algeria game fell on the 70th anniversary of Churchill’s “finest hour speech” plastered its front page with the hope that that group match could be the England team’s finest hour and a half. Instead, it was their darkest – until Bloemfontein.

Maybe The Sun were harking back to the wrong party. Churchill was prime minister in 1954 when England got stuffed 4-2 by Uruguay in the quarter-final. That was our record defeat in a World Cup finals – until Bloemfontein.

Churchill’s imperious state funeral was held on 30 January 1965, a year and a half before Jules Rimet was gleaming in Bobby Moore’s hands. And the man running the country then was Huddersfield Town-supporting Labour leader Harold Wilson. As England have only ever won the World Cup under a Labour government, maybe the 71% of the British electorate who didn’t vote Labour in May are to blame.

"Win it for us, Alf, and I'll get you knighted"

Feruccio Valcareggi, the coach who was always in meetings
Capello’s only previous World Cup, 1974, was as disastrous as 2010. There were more factions in the squad than in the Italian parliament; in a vain attempt to keep everyone on side, Italy coach Valcareggi held so many team meetings (one even took place on a train after their game against Haiti) that Capello became allergic to them.

Literally: so severe was Capello's reaction that – and this isn’t widely known – he had to take massive doses of antihistamines before that clear-the-air session with the England players that didn’t clear any air at all.

Saatchi and Saatchi, agency of destruction
Why did Saatchis, creators of the Carlsberg team talk ad that put the nauseam into ad nauseam, decide it was a good idea to use the memory of Sir Bobby Robson to shift a few cans of lager?

Even the mock solemnity of the second’s silence as his image filled the screen felt bogus. Probably the most tasteless use of a dead England manager in a TV ad – in the world. As the official beer of the England team, Carlsberg’s mad men were storing up bad karma – and it was England, not Saatchis or Carlsberg, who paid the penalty.

Brian Blessed, ham actor who makes vuvuzelas seem subtle
A valiant, fabulously OTT attempt to drown out the vuvuzelas with some cod Shakespeare and show the Three Lions how to roar which might have worked if he’d been in the England dressing room and hadn’t finished off with a loud invoking of the spirit of Harry, England and the geographically promiscuous...

...St George, the least effective saint since Val Kilmer
What kind of English patriot is he anyway? He was born nine miles from Tel Aviv, the son of an official in the Roman army, probably slayed the dragon in Cappaddocia in Turkey and, some historians suggest, dealt on the black market.

More to the point, he also happens to be the patron saint of two other 2010 World Cup finalists (Greece and Portugal) and of the Free State of Bavaria, from whence came Gerd and Thomas, the Mullers who undid England in 1970 and 2010.

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How the Germans saw that 4-1 win

Daniel Moore — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:06:00 GMT

After the dreams of Fabio Capello's England were destroyed by Deutschland on Sunday, much of the German media turned its attention to events 44 years ago; when that Russian linesman allowed Geoff Hurst's 'goal' to stand and break the hearts of a nation.

This time, though, it couldn't have been easier for the Uruguayan officials to award a goal to England, after Frank Lampard's 20-yard effort lobbed over Manual Neuer in the Germany net and bounced a full two yards over the goal line – yet they didn't.

And with the England players hesitating to break into celebration – which may or may not have made the officials' minds up for them whether or not to award the goal – play was continued, and England's dreams ruthlessly dashed by Joachim Löw's devilishly talented team shortly after.

Germany daily paper Bild leads with the headline “Jetzt wissen die Engländer, wie wir uns die ganze Zeit gefühlt haben” – literally “Now the English know how we felt the whole time”. Perhaps after inflicting England's biggest ever World Cup defeat, the Germans ought to be entitled to indulge in a little Schadenfreude.

11 Freunde, the closest equivalent to FourFourTwo in Germany, explain how the Lampard 'goal' was almost identical to Hurst's effort in '66; Everybody in the stadium could see it, his effort hit the bar then bounced a metre over the line, yet the linesman unbelievably allowed play to continue. “Wembley goal revisited”, is how they described it.

One can't help but feel that, with dubious decisions aplenty already experienced in this thrilling World Cup, there was always going to be a massive controversy in a game that, from the outside at least, always looked a bigger occasion to England than it did to the Germans. Is it fate that that Wembley ghost has now been put to bed for the Germans, or just unbelievable coincidence?

Another article of interest from 11 Freunde concentrates today on the fact that Wayne Rooney, the man who “should have been England's biggest saviour in South Africa”, “never really arrived” at the World Cup – pointing the finger to a long, hard season domestically with Manchester United, and also to poor tactical decisions from England boss Fabio Capello which forced Rooney to constantly drop too deep into midfield during games.

The cynics amongst us, however, would rather point the finger at too many big-name superstars not doing their job for England, time after time after time. Surely world class players can adapt to different tactics? Or are they just not world class? Whatever they are, to this writer it would be no big loss to see the back of up to 50% of England's starting XI. Time for chances, and big ones at that.

As the for Germans, though, Löw's decision to continue with Bundesliga goal-shy strikers Podolski and Klose looks to have paid massive dividends, and 20-year-old Bayern München striker Müller twice finished expertly.

A youthful squad has a date with Argentina on Saturday; a win there and the country would really start to believe that a fourth World Cup could in touching distance.

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Five defensive lessons

Michael Cox — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 12:22:00 GMT

Michael Cox, editor of ZonalMarking.net, draws five defensive conclusions from the group stage...

The South American sides are defensively excellent. For a continent often characterised by flair and attacking football, the backbone of that continent’s success at this tournament so far has been well-organised, disciplined and resilient defensive play.

In 15 group games, those sides have conceded just six goals between them. Even taking into account the fact that this is a World Cup fairly light on goals, that is an extraordinary record.

Want a clean sheet? Defend deep and narrow. A good example is Australia – who were thrashed against Germany when they tried to keep a high defensive line, but fared rather better against Ghana and Serbia when the back four sat 20 yards deeper.

North Korea had a similar experience in reverse: their ultra-defensive approach worked well in the opening game against Brazil, but pushing up and giving Portugal space to exploit in behind resulted in the heaviest defeat of the World Cup. Switzerland kept a clean sheet against pre-tournament favourites Spain by sitting deep, but they lost the crucial second match against Chile when their high line was broken.

Defensive flexibility may be the future. In Europe we’re used to seeing sides play four at the back, and varying the attacking players according to the opponent. But Chile and Mexico have both fielded their defences in a reactive manner, shifting between three- and four-man defences according to the shape of their opponents.

Both like to have a spare centre-back – Marcelo Bielsa switches between the two systems with substitutions, whereas Javier Aguirre does so more fluidly, by moving Rafael Marquez and the two wing-backs forward or back as necessary. Both conceded just two goals in the groups, and have both outwitted opponents and dominated possession of the ball in deep positions.

A player ‘between the lines’ still causes problems. Most teams defend against a central playmaker in a 4-2-3-1 by instructing one of their defensive midfielders to pick him up and stay goal-side. It's notable that the teams who have let the opposition playmaker ‘go free’, almost treating them as a withdrawn striker rather than an attacking midfielder, have often been made to pay through strikes from distance.

Two prime examples are Japan v Holland, where Yuki Abe played in front of Wesley Sneijder, and Ghana v Germany, where Ghana’s midfield three pressed Germany’s two deeper midfielders, and let Mesut Ozil free between the lines. Both Sneijder and Ozil smashed the ball in from the edge of the area when in a dangerous amount of space, to score the only goal of the game.

The cooler climate means teams can play at various tempos when they don’t have the ball. Although the general approach has been to sit deep, we’ve also seen some pressing high up the pitch from Chile, Brazil, and Australia in their first match.

Intensive pressing has had mixed results – we might learn more in the second round. Chile’s pressing seemed to be working flawlessly until it resulted in clumsy tackles against Spain, and the high defensive line caused Oscar Bravo to perform a less than convincing sweeper impression. Regardless, tactical variety in a muted tournament is welcome – in Germany four years ago, it would have been impossible to press all over the pitch for 90 minutes.

More from Michael Cox:
June 22: Mind the quality? Feel the width
June 17: Defences on top in first round
June 12: Back three back in fashion

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Why Portugal will beat Spain

Sergio Santos — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:30:00 GMT

Surprised by the rather bland 0-0 draw between Portugal and Brazil last Friday? The Portugeezer wasn’t as both teams made a couple of changes on their starting XI and weren’t exactly firing on all cylinders.

Additionally, without prior knowledge of which team they could meet in the Last 16, there wasn’t an incentive strong enough for Queiroz’s men to attack from the start, which is why Portugal had settle for the runners-up spot while Brazil finished on top of Group G.

A few hours later, the last Group H matches were played to determine the remaining Second Round matches and guess what? We got Spain, our neighbours, current European Champions and probably the most talent-rich team of the tournament. Who else can brag about having Cesc Fabregas, Juan Mata, Pedro, David Silva and Jesus Navas on the bench?

Having tipped them to go the distance and win the tournament, the Portugeezer is disappointed with what he has seen from the Spaniards. They're not the team that played free-flowing attacking football at the Euro 2008 and during qualification – and only a red-hot David Villa has spared their blushes so far.

Three weeks ago, they thrashed Poland 6-0 and at last looked legitimate contenders. One week later, they were stunned by Switzerland and that loss may have shaken their confidence and reawaken their World Cupophobia.

On the other hand, Portugal have been quietly improving. The 7-0 rout of North Korea injected confidence into the players and they can't be disappointed with their showing against Brazil.

Fábio Coentrão was only converted to left-back this season but, boy, has he blossomed! He put in two encouraging performances against Ivory Coast and North Korea but the real test was against Brazil. You can’t get tougher opponents than Maicon and Dani Alves, but Coentrão held his own, which is more good news for a backline that has yet to concede a goal in the tournament.

"Coo-eee! Can I play?"

On paper, the Spanish team is not better. It is far better. They have multiple options for just about any position on the field, but for some reason they’ve been sluggish and this time Villa will come across the likes of Bruno Alves and Ricardo Carvalho.

If we were playing against Germany or France, we would lose. We have never fared well against those two teams, but football is also a matter of match-ups and we don’t have any kind of inferiority complex when playing against Spain.

Make no mistake, it will be a tough match no matter what, but despite being a critic of Carlos Queiroz’s choices, the Portugeezer sees Portugal being able to grind out a narrow win that will see us through. Somehow defying the odds, Portugal will frustrate Spain and book a quarter-final clash against Japan or Paraguay.

The Portugeezer’s prediction: 2-1

What do you think? Portugal or Spain?

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Theo would be spot on for England

James Maw — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 05:30:00 GMT

Should England do what some sections of the media seem certain they will do, and lose to Germany on penalties this afternoon, it won't be because the weight of history weighed heavily on the players' shoulders, or that the Germans cope better in high pressure situations.

No, it'll be because Fabio Capello didn't pick 21-year-old right-footed forward Theo Walcott in his 23-man squad.

At least that's what research undertaken by Lucozade Sport, with the help of the football analysts at Prozone, suggests.

They have analysed every penalty shoot out the 1998, 2002 and 2006 World Cups and the 2000, 2004 and 2008 European Championships to determine which players are successful from the spot and why.

That’s a total of 14 penalty shoot outs and 130 penalty kicks - 16 of which were taken by England, seven unsuccessfully so.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the high pressure involved, when a team is losing a shootout the likelihood of a successful penalty drops by approximately 18%.

That perhaps explains why the team who miss first generally go on to lose the shoot-out - 78.5% of the time, in fact.

Case in point would be England's last three shoot-out defeats. In all three the opposition (Argentina in 1998 and Portugal in 2004 and 2006) missed one of their penalties, but only after our brave boys had botched one first.

As you'd also expect, forwards are the most successful in shoot outs, scoring 75% of the penalties taken. But it's the defenders who follow in second, with a 72% success rate, with midfielders surprisingly bringing up the rear with 61%, despite taking half of those 130 kicks.

The research highlights 21 as being the optimum age for taking a penalty in a shoot-out - with players of that age converting 91% of spot-kicks taken.

Worryingly from England's point of view, Fabio Capello's squad has a grand total of zero 21-year-olds, whereas the Germany squad currently features four - Mesut Ozil, Holger Badstuber, Jerome Boateng and Marko Marin.

Although the statistics suggest England's lack of youth may be a hindrance, their lack of left-footers may prove a blessing.

A higher success rate is seen for right footed penalties (71%) than those taken with the left foot (52%) - so it might be worth telling Gareth Barry and Ashley Cole to make themselves comfortable on the halfway line if the teams can't be separated after 120 minutes.

Almost 87% of penalties aimed in the top left corner of the goal (see above) - the natural side for a right-footed to aim for - are successful. This is more than any other area of the goal - just don't tell Manuel Neuer.

A higher success rate is seen when the kick is taken with the inside of the boot (70%) than with the laces (62%) or the outside of the boot (50%). Although to be honest if you're going to try and be a clever dick in a World Cup shoot-out you deserve to miss.

To continue the debate visit facebook.com/lucozadesportfootball

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Hodge: England have the momentum

FourFourTwo Team — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 20:42:00 GMT

Former Nottingham Forest midfielder Steve Hodge - a member of England's 1986 World Cup squad - tells Luke Nicoli why Fabio Capello's side should be confident going into Sunday's match against Germany

Looking at the two sides on paper, we have the more experienced players and given the performance of both countries in their final group games, England will hope to have the momentum.

I watched Germany’s match against Ghana on Wednesday and although they won, they were put under pressure for long spells. If Ghana had a decent striker on the night, they could have scored a couple of goals, so we can take plenty of positives from that.

I also think Fabio Capello’s side will be buoyed not just by the Slovenia result but also the performance. It was greatly improved from the Algeria game and you could sense the confidence flowing through the players as a result. They will go into the Germany game really believing they can do it.

But as is often the case when it comes to England v Germany, it’s going to be a tight game between two very even teams. Maybe one touch of brilliance will separate the sides and we are all hoping Wayne Rooney will come good and be that man.

Although there has been a lot of talk surrounding his form and fitness, Rooney is still the first name on the team-sheet for me.

The German defenders would take a lot of confidence if they saw his name left off the team sheet, but if the worst-case scenario happens, then the back-up strikers must be ready to take their chance.

At the 1986 World Cup in Mexico, we suffered the loss of Bryan Robson to injury and Ray Wilkins to suspension at the group stage. In stepped Peter Beardsley and myself and I saw it as a chance to really make a name for myself on the highest stage. If it wasn’t for Maradona’s Hand of God, who knows what might have happened…

Four years later the boot was on the other foot as I was dropped for David Platt. In stepped Platty who became one of our stars of Italia 90 – earning a move to Italy in the process.

The World Cup really is a squad game; you are there because the manager rates you as one of the best players in the country in your position – so when you get your chance, you have to make the most of it.

Matthew Upson is the latest player to step up to the plate and I expect him to keep his place against the Germans. Despite his goal, I’m not sure Jermain Defoe will be quite so fortunate.

Knowing the Germans will have a robust defence, I think we could revert to playing Emile Heskey – big and strong – to take some of the knocks for Rooney, or maybe even Peter Crouch.

All will be revealed shortly before kick and then it’s all down to the players.

If we get past this one then there’s every chance we’ll meet a certain Diego Maradona. Haven't we been there before?!

Steve Hodge's book The Man With Maradona’s Shirt is out now. Published by Orion, costing £18.99.

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Why England are Aston Villa

Andy Mitten — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 06:02:00 GMT

Some World Cup observations...

1. Barcelona’s a great place to watch the World Cup. There are people from all around the world – especially the leading football nations like Argentina, Brazil, Portugal, England, Italy, Holland, Germany France and obviously Spain.

Add to that mix substantial expat communities from West Africa, Algeria, Chile, and it becomes a kaleidoscope of fans. And because the city centre is smaller than Paris, London or Sao Paulo, you get to see most of them. Bars all over town and on the beach are full of all nationalities and the atmosphere is brilliant. Fireworks light the night sky when any team wins.

Compared to England and the rash of George Crosses, there’s hardly any Spanish flags on show. That’s part because many locals put Catalonia before Spain, but I’ve yet to meet a Catalan who doesn’t want Spain to do well.

2. Emmanuel Adebayor brought a smile or two. It amused to hear the City striker describing Wayne Rooney’s team as "Manchester". As did hearing his mobile phone going off live on air. He didn’t answer it – but it was actually his wife ringing to say that she’d given birth to his daughter.

3. I love the national anthems. Always have done. It’s easy to be cynical about what you might see at sickly and forced patriotism, but the highlight for many footballers is representing their country at the World Cup. There’s some proper tunes too – Italy, France, England and Brazil stand out. Argentina’s wordless anthem seems to inspire their players like no other.

It’s great when the players sing and it was superb to see the Mexicans with their arms proudly across their chest. Patrice Evra even cried – though that was probably at the state of the team he was leading.

4. Andrew Cole's bigger than Socrates. I do a column with Andrew every week and he’s been out in South Africa. He bumped into Socrates as they were both working for the same charity. Cole completely buzzed off meeting the Brazilian legend – yet more people recognised Coley because he played for Manchester United until relatively recently and the Premiership is so big in South Africa.

5. Enough with the township clichés. I suspect that there are plenty of kids in South African townships who are bored with patronising visits from people they’ve never heard of. Good games of football are being spoiled for the sake of clichéd television which we’ve seen a millions times. It would be more interesting if the forgotten stories were unearthed – like South Africa’s little-known white underclass, the Zimbabwean refugees who are pushed to the fringes of Soweto.

6. England can't win the World Cup. I’m baffled by people thinking that they can. England have been ranked an average of eighth on the planet over the past two years because seven other national teams have consistently performed better. England won one World Cup 44 years ago on home territory. Since then, the English have failed to qualify three times and played in seven tournaments. Italia ’90 was their best showing – a semi final appearance.

England are the Aston Villa of world football – decent with talented players but with nowhere enough quality to compete with the best consistently. Brazil are struggling to fit Daniel Alves, the world’s best right back, in their team. Spain can’t find space for Cesc Fabregas, while Argentina can call on Carlos Tevez, Sergio Aguero, Lionel Messi, Diego Milito and Gonzalo Higuain up front.

Nobody expects Villa to win the Premiership, so why do some expect England to triumph in South Africa? Hope triumphs over reason and when England fail to deliver the pendulum swings too far the other way and players are slaughtered.

7. Celebrities aren't proper supporters. I’ve not watched any of that James Corden programme. Celebrity and football mix like the chairman of BP and a Louisiana shrimper. I’ve interviewed many celebrities about their footballing affinities and can count on one hand the number of genuine football fans – the type who’ve stood on an away end. Paul Heaton and Chris Ecclestone are two who spring to mind.

INTERVIEWS Judge for yourself: Heaton & the other celebrities

8. Mick McCarthy has become an unlikely star. He’s so no-nonsense and old fashioned-that he appears appalled the pitches aren’t caked in mud and that the teams wear coloured kits. I reckon he only went to Wolves because they were good in the 50s, a decade that serves as the reference point for his life despite him only living in it for 10 months.

He was born frustrated. When his local Barnsley paper celebrated the opening of the nearby M1, eight-year-old Mick would have been disappointed that things were changing too fast in the world and remarked trenchantly, "There’s nowt wrong with A-roads."

I remember him playing for Manchester City. Bet he wasn’t happy living in Manchester, a city with more than one rail station, clubs with foreign-sounding names like the Haçienda and cafes which had tables outside where people drank coffee. In the street.

I bet he settles any disputes off-air with a solid Yorkshire fist-fight on the condition that the loser must not go to hospital but sink nine pints. He obviously can’t wait to get home and to have a week in Filey.

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South America rules the World

Celso de Campos Jr — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 06:01:00 GMT

The group phase is over and with more than half of the tournament gone, there’s one undisputable winner, continent-wise: South America.

The five Conmebol representatives have played 15 group games, won 10 and drawn four – and Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay have topped their groups (with Chile topping highly-fancied Spain's group before their last-day clash). Surprise? Not exactly, at least for the locals.

The road to South Africa 2010 was tough in South America, with one of the hardest-fought qualifying sections ever seen. While powerhouses Brazil and Argentina struggled under new management (Dunga and Alfio Basile took over in 2006, the latter being replaced by Diego Maradona in 2009), other sparring partners took centre stage. Strong, convincing football left no doubt that they would put a fight at the World Cup – as we’re now witnessing.

Uruguay celebrate...

In particular, Paraguay and Chile's multi-talented and tactically disciplined generation of players have been storming the continent since 2006.

Paraguay started the qualifiers brilliantly, consecutively beating Uruguay (1-0), Ecuador (5-1), Chile (0-3) and Brazil (1-0, the only Seleção defeat in the qualifiers). Roque Santa Cruz, Nelson Haedo Valdez and Salvador Cabañas – oh, how Paraguay miss him – created an exciting and efficient attacking trio, which, backed up by the guarani’s traditional tough defence, secured the tournament lead for several weeks.

Paraguay celebrate...

In the qualifiers’ second round, when Paraguay cooled down and Brazil returned to the lead, it was Chile’s turn to step forward – showing the same attacking mindset that had gained Paraguay the continent’s respect. Matias Fernandez, Alexis Sanchez and Humberto Suazo (Conmebol's top scorer), set up by maestro Jorge Valdivia, helped Chile take the elevator and climb up to the second place overall.

A closer look at the final table gives a real idea of how close was the challenge for the title: Brazil finished with 34 points, with Chile and Paraguay tied for second with 33. Argentina came far behind, with 28, followed by Uruguay, with 24.

Chile celebrate...

Those two last places could have been switched if the Celeste had not lost to the Argentinians in the qualifier’s final match, in Montevideo – a crucial game that rescued the Albiceleste honor and might have turned Maradona’s boys from chumps to champs.

But where does all that sidekick strength come from? Besides the aforementioned great player breed of the recent years, I think there’s two things that might – might – help explain it.

First, the Copa Libertadores: South America’s own Champions League increases in importance and quality year after year. Clubs from Chile, Paraguay and other countries have benefited from regular interaction with the big boys and from the war-like atmosphere of the tournament – undoubtedly a great preparation to a World Cup.

(That can be also stretched to Mexico, another Latin America country that has also been impressive in South Africa – since early in the last decade, their teams have played in the Libertadores and other Conmebol competitions.)

And they’re not just taking part: the supporting cast have been knocking out a bunch of Brazilian and Argentinian leading names – only this year, Universidad de Chile eliminated Flamengo, Velez was sent home by Mexican Chivas Guadalajara, and so on.

Second, Argentina: let’s pay the due tribute the hermanos. There’s a great football interaction between the neighbours from the south and the rest of Spanish-speaking Latin America. There’s so many Argentinian coaches and players around there that we don’t even keep track of. Their experience, I’m sure, has elevated other countries’ games.

Chile celebrate...

Not coincidentally, Paraguay and Chile are coached by two Argentinians: Gerardo Martino and Marcelo Bielsa, respectively. Hats off to them.

I’m sure every South American is proud of this collective performance – proud, but not entirely happy. After all, Brazilian and Argentinians won’t be satisfied until the arch-enemy is knocked down. But we’ll have to wait till the next stage, at least...

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Germany: A problem for the fans

Chris Hunt — Sat, 26 Jun 2010 06:00:00 GMT

So, it’s the Germans again. Did we really need to face up to those demons this early in the World Cup?

If it hadn’t have been for a last-ditch USA goal against Algeria, or Robert Green’s goal-line comedy of errors earlier in the tournament against the Americans, we could have been spared this whole stressful experience. After all, no derby game in football can match the special intensity of the England-Germany clash, a rivalry rooted, as the terrace-chant informs us, in “Two Worlds Wars and one World Cup”.

Yet in the four decades since Alf Ramsey’s substitution of Bobby Charlton helped to throw away a comfortable lead during the 1970 World Cup quarter-final, beating Germany has often presented a psychological barrier for the English, a mindset made much worse by the scarring penalty shoot-out defeats of Italia 90 and Euro 96.

In more recent times the triumphs of Charleroi in 2000, and the ‘Rout of Munich’ that followed in 2001, finally enabled the English it was possible to break down this psychological wall... but still they managed to beat us in the final game at the old Wembley Stadium.

The pressure that will weigh on both the fans and the players is still immense, as very few derby games in world football can compare to this. Indeed, everything about the way the English fan approaches international competition has evolved from this rivalry, such as the terrace-inspiring theme to The Great Escape, the tiresome and never-ending ‘Ten German Bombers’ chant, the arms-outstretched recreation of a squadron of Lancaster bombers during the humming of The Dambusters March, and of course, the cry of “If it wasn’t for the English you’d be Krauts” regularly aimed at opponents.

Yet unlike other rivalries on the world football stage, there's no real malice in this – and more than a little irony. When the English think of Germany, it’s images from the classic British war films that come to mind, not the struggles and conflicts of the last century. Our football rivalry is a product of too many of those old Fifties and Sixties war films that we all watched as kids, magnified by the memory of our one epoch-making sporting victory at Wembley in 1966.

These images are etched into our collective consciousness. Maybe it’s time to let go, but 40 years of Sunday afternoon re-runs is a lot of our culture to shake off, especially as this Sunday afternoon we’ll be reliving it all once again when the England team of 2010 take on the indomitable spirit of German football. Odds are that ‘our brave boys’ will be praying that it doesn’t come down to penalties yet again, as in that particular art, the Germans are cunning masters.

For the fans in England, there is a real feeling that the Germans are beatable this time. However, while the players prepare for this contest in earnest and try to rebuild the fragile team unity that was very nearly ended by John Terry’s attempted putsch, out here on the ground in South Africa the biggest problem for fans has been travel arrangements.

For the thousands that took a gamble on match tickets, flights and hotels that followed the route taken if England had finished top of their group, there was the mad scramble to try to find out exactly where Bloemfontein actually was and whether it was driveable from base camp.

In the bars after the game, you could't hear celebrations (something that the French would have dearly loved to have been doing), but conversations about how to offload the surfeit of now-unnecessary tickets for the USA-Ghana clash in Rustenburg – and find a way to get into the most anticipated game of the World Cup so far.

Still, like their war movie predecessors, the English are an enterprising bunch, and even if it means tunnelling into the stadium with the assistance of Tom, Dick or Harry, I’m sure they’ll find a way into the ground.

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La Furia Roja: Losing Faith Rapidly

Tim Stannard — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 14:55:00 GMT

Before the World Cup began La Liga Loca would have put everything it owns on Spain winning the trophy. Admittedly, that isn’t a great deal, with the blog’s entire worldly possessions consisting of a bunch of Buffy box sets and an orange. Which it has just eaten.

But now LLL is not so sure. While it still has faith in the fancy footballing abilities of La Furia Roja, the blog is very worried indeed that the general sense of fatalism and blind panic that is sweeping the country could be heading to South Africa to infect Del Bosque’s boys.

If Spain are to win the World Cup, then the country needs an awful lot more spine. And balls. Spine and balls thrown into a blender and then chugged back with a pint of warm sangria.

La Selección is only facing a group game which it should be able to deal with comfortably enough before potentially taking on Portugal then Holland – and already its supporters and press are “filling their trousers” as the locals like to say. But in a considerably more vulgar fashion.

“Today, Spain face one of the most important games in its history,” frets Marca’s editorial on Friday in its description of a match that isn’t even in the knockout stages of a tournament, never mind a final. And an encounter that doesn’t even have to be won if the group’s other game swings in Spain’s direction.

It’s a lip-quivering line following on from the paper’s front cover, which has a montage of happy people with painted faces and the huge words “You Cannot Fail Us!” blasting out.

“The moment has come to bring a fist to the table and proclaim ‘I am here’,” yells the paper’s director, Eduardo Inda, carrying on the local tradition of making yourself known simply by being noisier than everyone else.

It would be a fine Churchillian stance from Inda if it weren't countered by his declaration on a video blog on the paper’s website threatening that, should Spain be knocked out, “Del Bosque should be sacked and a lot of our internationals can say good-bye to the national side” - a knee-jerk Real Madrid of a reaction if ever there was one.

It sums up a week which began with pomp and circumstance after the win against Honduras and become more lily-livered as the days have gone by, with many trying to get their retaliation in very early indeed should everything go Pete Tong on Friday night.

One of those has been Luis Aragónes, who has being punditing for foreign types and hasn’t been happy from day one of the World Cup – claiming that he could see the Switzerland defeat coming from a mile off and wasn’t much happier after the Honduras result, either.

“We're not on the right path,” grumbled the Euro 2008 winner, before muttering something about Thierry Henry.

Aragónes is till held in great affection by his former charges and Xavi responded to the criticism by replying that “No one has anything bad to say about Luis. He is saying what he sees in his own way, but we know him and know that there isn't any malice intended.”

Del Bosque has refused to rise to the bait - infuriating the polemic-hunting Spanish press in the process - and carried on in his usual calm, serene and relaxed manner.

“I am calm, serene and relaxed,” beamed the boss. “I only talk about La Selección and everyone is responsible for their own words.”

What Spain really needs on Friday is a thumping, whumping win over Chile to silence the doubters and give the drum-bashers a new lease of life. And that’s because the World Cup hasn’t even begun to get difficult for Del Bosque’s boys – should they get out of their group.

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One goal to change it all

Jason Davis — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:23:00 GMT

The above may sound like the tag-line from a overproduced and formulaic Hollywood sports movie - they do them fairly often - but it may end up describing, in an admittedly trite way, the longer effects of Landon Donovan's added time winner against Algeria on Wednesday.

There's reason to believe that the football culture in America lurched forward in a full-body spasm of World Cup joy thanks to Donovan's johnny-on-the-spot routine in Pretoria, with the World Cup and the Yanks now the hottest topics going.

The American media loves to play the "When will soccer's popularity explode?" card, one they keep up their sleeve to be predictably laid down every four years when the dog days of summer have dried up any other sports stories (the baseball season is LONG; what happens in June barely matters).

It's tired, to be frank, in part because the growth of the game is just too organic to be pinned down; people gravitate to football of their own volition, not because they’re targeted by marketing campaigns (*cough* Becks *cough*) or because the US National Team managed to find a measure of success in that little tournament they call the World Cup.

Those things may help, may push the roots a little deeper or plant the seed of interest in a few more minds, but there isn't going to be an identifiable moment when the American populace just "wakes up" to the world's game.

The subject is a tricky one for those of us that have already given ourselves over to football; it could even be called a matter of unwanted responsibility. It would be easier to just put aside this whole nonsense about the sport making it in America and stick to the business of supporting our teams, haranguing our managers, and going mental over matches.

Alas, we're also part evangelist, spreading the gospel of footy via whatever means available because we feel it to be our duty. Not all of us are inclined to the work, and the resistance can sometimes be too much to bear. Football has some odd stigmas attached to it in the States, and old habits die hard among the unconverted.

But what this team, and specifically Donovan's winner against Algeria, has done is removed our burden temporarily. The game always needed to speak for itself, and we could never be anything more than poor interpreters.

The goal also did something likely more important, proving to everyone here that football's popularity isn't as underground as many thought. This goes for the media, the country's general sports-obsessed contingency, and even the early adopters themselves.

In a way, this World Cup has made us self-aware, shown clearly that there are millions out there ready to shunt the old thinking aside and open themselves up to supporting a new game that isn't actually new. Ratings have been massive, the coverage thick; part of that is down to ESPN's commitment to the World Cup and some is the natural progression of football's rise in the public consciousness.

Maybe some of those people who jumped on the bandwagon during the Confederations Cup last year never really jumped off. After years of second-class status, it's all a mild surprise.

Make no mistake: Donovan's goal, magnified by the last-gasp nature of it all and the rough officiating the Americans have been subject to in the tournament, was a transcendent moment.

Oddly, it may be the first such American moment to occur on a football pitch with men, rather than women, playing the game, and it has certainly set off a wave of interest like we've never seen before.

Frustratingly, 2002, the high water mark for American success at a World Cup post-1930, couldn't penetrate the hardened layers of resistance. 2006 was a disaster that never really got off the ground. 2010 is something different, a coming together of a quality team that fights with every ounce of ability it has, a television network throwing its massive weight behind the World Cup, and a fan base that has grown steadily over the course of the last generation reaching its maturity.

To call it a perfect storm would deny its true impact; not only is it stronger than that, there's reason to think it should make a deeper mark on the sporting culture than a few downed trees and broken windows. We cross our fingers in the hope that it has fundamentally altered the weather patterns themselves.

Even if it doesn't, even if what we're experiencing is simply a brilliant burst of excitement destined to burn out like a FIFA-authorized World Cup edition supernova, football's place here is secure. The market is proven. Networks are committed.

Millions of people play the game every week. MLS is doing just fine, thank you, chipping away at the bedrock of a culturally diverse fan base for decent attendance and a hard won spot alongside the world's second tier leagues.

If this is all to end, with the game receding into the relative background for another four years, football will nevertheless continue to worm its way into the country's heart just as it was before. There's an undeniable air of inevitability.

One goal to change it all? For the U.S. fortunes in South Africa, certainly. For the fortunes of football in America, only time will tell.

Let Hollywood know I'd be happy to write the script.

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Italy returning to the dark ages

Richard Whittle — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:45:00 GMT

It hurts when you hit rock bottom and when you get this low there is little chance of bouncing back quickly.

Italy are now in a similar if not worse position to that after the tournament in 1974 when they arrived in Germany as World Cup runners-up and slinked home after the group stage.

Then of course there was the infamous tomato-throwing incident when the shame-faced players exited to North Korea in 1996, but it is doubtful anyone will waste lobbing any love apples this time around.

In fact, the general consensus was 'an accident waiting to happen' but even those who had predicted that the Azzurri would not escape the group stage could not have taken much pleasure from the ignominious manner in which the team undid the heroics of Berlin four years ago.

The zeroes of South Africa will only be remembered as the failures who could not even muster a decent result to finish above New Zealand – and the old adage that you should never go back will haunt Marcello Lippi for the rest of his life.

It was ‘in Marcello we trust’ when the legendary coach returned to take over the reins of the qualifying campaign.

However, without a win in 2010 and what seemed a personal animosity towards Antonio Cassano and Mario Balotelli the mask of invincibility was starting to slip on those handsome features long before the squad headed to the tournament.

Three group games and three different formations suggested that Lippi was making it up as he went along and at least he had the good grace to accept the blame for the fall from grace in what La Gazzetta dello Sport described as the 'Darkest Day'.

Is there now to be a new dawning for the national team as there was after ’74 when the likes of Paolo Rossi, Roberto Bettega and Antonio Cabrini came to the fore in Argentina?

On the face of it, the darkness has been closing in for some time and could be set to continue for the foreseeable future as Serie A club coaches continue to put collect strength ahead of individual talent.

Apart from Balotelli, supposedly the brightest young talent around; and we mean 'young' – not man-boys in their mid-20s – were all picked for this competition.

Domenico Criscito was the only player in his early 20s to see a significant game time but when things started to go off the rails he was first to be substituted, with the creaky Gianluca Zambrotta switching to left-back.

Leonardo Bonucci was never going to oust Fabio Cannavaro despite the fact that the captain’s failings had been evident all season long.

Lippi had high hopes for Claudio Marchisio but the Juventus midfielder was no Marco Tardelli – and after that it was a mixture of the old and mediocre to carry fading hopes of making the knock-out round.

It is, as they say, an end of an era - so at least there is something positive to come out of the whole sorry affair – but new coach Cesare Prandelli must make do with what is available on the domestic front.

There is little chance of getting much help from the top clubs and especially from Inter and AC Milan, who seemingly have no interest in cultivating local talent who can make the step up to the big time so it will be back to trawling the likes of Udinese, Fiorentina and the rest of the provinces for future internationals.

The knock-on effects of this World Cup debacle are set to be felt through the upcoming Euro 2012 qualifying maze where the likes of Northern Ireland, Estonia and Faroe Islands not to mention Serbia and Slovenia will be looking to cause a shock.

The Dark Ages have well and truly descended and we know that the Age of Enlightenment is a long way off when Cassano is once again being hailed as the country’s Renaissance Man.

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England fans hit Fever Pitch

Huw Davies — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 09:28:00 GMT

"That's the last time I follow England. What a load of rubbish. Four years of waiting for this? I'm never supporting them again, ever, and I don't care how they do in this World Cup."

What a load of codswallop, twaddle and dare I say, nonsense.

It's extraordinary how many people were heard saying something along these lines after England's pitiful showing – or non-showing – against Algeria. Ninety minutes of frustration, agony and boredom, and suddenly everyone is checking their family tree for a Brazilian great-uncle. After all, why support England if they're not going to do well, eh?

Incredible. I'm sure you thinking the same thing; that it's incredible that people would think this way. But, and here's the point: they're not. Not really. They may say they're not bothered about the World Cup any more – they may say they no longer support England (especially with exciting 'second teams' such as Chile, Japan and plat du jour Spain coming to the fore) – but one afternoon proved to me that wasn't the case. Yes, it was Wednesday's game against Slovenia, watched in Fever Pitch on Fulham Broadway.

On the face of it: a decent game. England looked pretty good, but thanks to favourable comparisons with the footballing atrocity that was their performance against Algeria, they were widely agreed to have been playing on a level several planes higher than God. Several reviews called England 'flawless', which makes you wonder what they expect from the Three Lions when they have to do more than beat a relative minnow 1-0.

This is not to take anything away from an impressive England, but rather give it to the even more impressive England fans back in Blighty. Yes, aside from a few empty seats, the big match atmosphere in South Africa has been excellent throughout – but if you're in England, you're barely missing out. How could you be, when you can watch the game in a bar such as Fever Pitch?

To call the atmosphere electric is to do electricity too great a credit. It was an electrical storm. Every half-chance for either team was greeted with a roar or groan that could probably have been heard by the players in South Africa. If you want a specific example, when Jermain Defoe shinned the ball through Samir Handanovic's greasy mitts to make it 1-0, I thought I'd gone deaf. My ears were genuinely ringing for 10 seconds afterwards.

It's so refreshing (no pun intended) to drink and watch football in bar so dedicated to those two pastimes. Obviously watching England-Algeria wasn't going to be great fun anywhere, but standing in another West London bar near a bunch of Friday nightists blithely unaware of the game and a gaggle of giggling girls who looked up once or twice during the full 90 minutes after booking a table right in front of the big screen (breathe) was enough to make a sane person – or, indeed an insane person – scream.

So thank God for Fever Pitch. Staff obviously excused, only one person in the whole place wasn't glued to one of the 13 screens and that was, well, me (what? I was tweeting. It's my job!).

And unbelievably, the bar is only there for the World Cup: the day after the final, it ceases to be. Frankly, you owe it to yourself as a football fan to watch at least one game there, starting with England vs Germany.

Oh God, England vs Germany. I don't think my heart can take it.

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East London's World Cup is over

Chris Hunt — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 08:54:00 GMT

Everywhere in South Africa is trying to get a little rub of the World Cup action. Arrive at East London Airport on the eastern cape and it’s immediately obvious that this is a city trying desperately hard to join in with the country’s 2010 football party.

It's a former industrial centre now in decline in the post-apartheid era, and within seconds of stepping off the plane visitors are greeted with signs associating the city with the tournament. “Be part of the game” says one banner paid for by the local municipality, oblivious to the fact that the nearest World Cup stadium is a good four-hour drive down the coast to Port Elizabeth.

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The flags of the competing nations hang alongside the roads of East London, football statues have been placed inside city roundabouts, a giant screen has been erected for the matches in the local shopping centre, and huge sums of money were unsuccessfully spent in trying to entice a team – any team – to use the city as its training base.

In the 100-day run-up to the finals, as with the rest of the country, every Friday in East London was deemed ‘Bafana Day’ and the local population gleefully turned up to work wearing South Africa’s colours.

Yet despite all these admirable efforts, the World Cup party only really seemed to take off in East London when the national team were playing. In a delightfully shabby bar known as Buccaneers, South Africans of every complexion crammed in to watch Bafana Bafana’s make-or-break game with France on the giant screen, while outside the streets were quiet and in the local chippie around the corner the only noises to be heard were the screams that accompanied South Africa’s opening goal. For the duration of the match, East London seemed largely closed.

Throughout the game the punters of Buccaneers remained on the edge of their seats, enlivened by the performance of their team but seemingly unaware of the true consequence of the game being played out on one smaller screen in the corner of the bar: Uruguay v Mexico.

For all the gallant efforts of Bafana, unless the Uruguayans were capable of upping the ante, South Africa’s World Cup was over. However, the fans seemed more intent in revelling in the moment that victory was achieved over Les Bleus. It was as if ejection from the World Cup was inevitable and all that was being played for was pride.

For just a moment in East London, with South Africa leading the French 2-0 and with the hosts forging forward with one attack after another, anything seemed possible, but after the final whistle there were few tears.

Later in the week, when reigning world champions Italy were going through the same experience against Slovakia, no-one in Buccaneers asked for the giant screen to be turned on and few noticed that the smaller TVs around the pub were tuned to Paraguay v New Zealand.

For the South Africans, maybe the World Cup is over, or maybe they’ll just eventually point their vuvuzelas at their second teams instead.

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Brazil-Portugal: Three points

Celso de Campos Jr — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 08:26:00 GMT

As we prepare for the Selecao's clash against Portugal, labelled the biggest game of the 2010 World Cup's group phase, the buzz in Brazil goes three ways.

1. Kaka's replacement
The unfair red card for "God's kid" against Ivory Coast turned into reality one of the hottest pre-tournament debates: who would fill in for Kaka if the Madrid ace wasn't available for some reason? (People just didn't expect that it would came because of a suspension...)

The country asked for Ronaldinho. Or Juve's Diego. Or Fenerbahce's Alex. Dunga called up Julio Baptista. Period.

So, for me, there's not much surprise on this one. For the gaffer, Julio Baptista is the man to feed the attack, with an extra effort from Robinho - which won't be that much extra, actually, since Robinho was already going back a lot to the midfield to help the struggling Kaka in the first two Selecao matches.

Obviously, Julio Baptista is not the most talented player at the National Team. But he earned his place fair and square. The big names didn't click - and Julio Baptista, quietly working hard, became of Dunga's most loyal soldiers. It was Baptista who supported Robinho in the 2007 Copa America, when Kaka and Ronaldinho asked out - and he opened the scoring in the 3-0 final rout of Argentina.

A personal bet here: with Julio Baptista and without Kaka, Brazil will play their best game so far in South Africa - against their strongest opponents yet.

2. Elano's replacement
A victim of the Ivory Coast violence - and I was surprised that some friends on the FourFourTwo live coverage thought the tackle on him was clean - Elano will sit out the Portugal match. He deserves the rest: he has been one of the Selecao foundations, playing fine sweaty football on a regular basis.

Ramires would be his natural replacement. (That's Dunga's way: for each starter, there is a sub.) But, surprise surprise! In yesterday's 'secret' practice, the coach tested Daniel Alves in the former Man City player's place. I can't explain the improvisation, since reports from South Africa say that Ramires is flying high in training, and the Benfica ace is a born midfielder.

We'll know the chosen one only right before the match - but I'm fine either way.

3. Dunga's bad temper
The coach muttered some swearwords towards a Brazilian journalist during the press conference following the Ivory Coast game. It was completely unnecessary, of course, not to mention unbefitting to his position.

NEWS: Hard-nosed Dunga tells of private pain

But it's not new that Dunga has been on a personal crusade against Brazilian football press. In fact, it started way back, in his playing days. They hit Dunga, he hits back. And I don't see anyone breaking the cycle. So we'll live with it.

One last note...
Brazil facing Portugal means that memories of the 1966 World Cup game are being recycled. In Brazil, it's more known as the day Pele was hunted alive. Watch it here, but not in front of the kids - compared to this, the Ivory Coast game was soft.

See Pele! Kick Pele! Stop Pele! Click to watch

I just heard some interviews of those Portuguese players, and was surprised to hear the grey-haired fellas keep claiming they didn't used any violence against the King. "He was already injured‚" said Eusebio. Oh. Portugal was a better squad, Eusebio's form was magical; there's no need for that. It's been almost 50 years since that clash - couldn't they drop this nonsense?

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Politics overshadow Socceroos win

Mike Tuckerman — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 10:20:00 GMT

Only in Australia could a bout of political maneuvering upstage one of our proudest football triumphs.

On the eve of the Socceroos’ vital Group D decider against Serbia, Australia’s ruling Labor party dropped the bombshell that deputy Julia Gillard was set to challenge embattled Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for leadership of the nation.

If and when the news filtered through to the Socceroos camp, the players must have sat back and laughed – after all, Australia’s national football team have always had to play second fiddle one way or another.

In the end, an historic first ever win over a European nation at the World Cup finals was not enough to see Australia progress to the Round of 16, with the Socceroos knocked out on goal difference despite outscoring both Ghana and Serbia in the group stage.

The 1-1 draw against Ghana in Rustenburg didn’t help – Harry Kewell’s harsh but technically correct sending off by referee Roberto Rosetti renewed Australia’s love affair with all things Italian – but it was the disastrous 4-0 defeat to Germany in Durban that proved the deciding factor.

With the group decided on goal difference, the Socceroos just couldn’t make up the four goals conceded to the Germans in what was undoubtedly their worst international performance in years.

That shouldn’t take away from a typically gutsy win against the dangerous Serbs in Nelspruit, during which the Socceroos rode their luck as Milos Krasic and Milan Jovanovic pounded the Australian defence in a one-sided first half, only for the team in yellow to turn the tables with a dominant second half display.

Tim Cahill returned from suspension to lead the Socceroos midfield with another all-action performance, and as so often it was the Everton midfielder who broke the deadlock with a trademark towering header with just over twenty minutes remaining.

Yet it was the introduction of much-maligned midfielder Brett Holman that made all the difference, as the player who scored the goal against Ghana made it two from two with an accurate strike from distance just four minutes after Cahill’s opener.

The goals saw Pim Verbeek urge his team forward in a desperate search for more, but in the end it was Ajax striker Marko Pantelic who obliged, coming on as a late substitute and beating the unlucky Schwarzer from close range after the Fulham goalkeeper had spilled a swerving effort from another substitute in Zoran Tosic.

So it was that the Socceroos were left to rue their fortunes, as they were knocked out by a Ghana side who scored both of their goals from the penalty spot to advance as group runners-up.

The Australian public thus bid farewell to two unpopular leaders within hours of each other, although the end of Pim Verbeek’s reign as Socceroos coach won’t have been greeted by too many sighs of disappointment.

On the same morning that ousted former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was wondering just where it all went wrong, Socceroos fans and media alike left no doubt that they lay the blame for Australia’s first-round exit squarely at the feet of Verbeek.

The Dutch tactician was roundly criticised for his overly conservative tactics against Germany, and ultimately the two second-half goals conceded following Cahill’s dismissal in that match proved costly.

A campaign that began with blind optimism almost ended in blind fury for the Socceroos faithful, however there’s a begrudging acknowledgement that Verbeek did the best he could with the limited stocks at his disposal, and that Australia must improve technically if it is to make the transition to a genuine world class team.

The coming days will herald the full inquest into what needs to be done in future, and the search now begins in earnest for Verbeek’s successor.

On a long morning for politicians and sports fans alike, it was once again a case of “so near, yet so far” for the Socceroos – a refrain no doubt being uttered by at least one former Prime Minister right now.

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Diego's gold reserves shine

FourFourTwo Team — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 12:02:00 GMT

Having assured qualification for the next second round with two wins, Maradona surprised nobody by trying out a couple of second-string players against Greece. Having used 108 players in his preparations for the World Cup, nobody expected any less.

Amongst his ‘reserve side’ were a striker who recently won the Italian treble, including the winning brace in the Champions League final. One of the defenders is the player lined up by Milan to rejuvenate their ageing backline. Another of is, of all Argentines, second only to Alfredo di Stefano in his trophy haul. Another can only lay modest claim to three Libertadores winners’ medals.

In midfield, Mascherano was replaced by the architect of the best league side in recent years in Argentine domestic football. And the last new face would be first name on the team sheet in any side other than Argentina.

Between them, Diego Milito, Nicolas Otamendi, Nicolas Burdisso, Clemente Rodriguez, Mario Bolatti and Kun Aguero made up the majority of a new-look Argentina. Not a bad reserve side.

Can you name these men? Diego can...

Throw in the late zip and ideas from Javier Pastore, plus the self-perpetuating legend of Martin Palermo with his late goal, and Argentina showed off the array of talent at Maradona’s disposal. They passed the ball around comfortably, rode the lunging Greek challenges, and secured a 100% record in the group phase, while resting big-name players in the process.

"Argentina celebrate again", wrote Clarin. La Nacion relished in "the world talking about Argentina". Olé invited supporters to choose the headline, so predictably most revolved around Martin ‘The Titan’ Palermo with predictable contributions… Pagina 12, meanwhile, pointed to something that those who don’t have goldfish memories are thinking. "They don’t stop surprising us."

Argentina are now amongst the favourites to win the tournament, despite the popular pre-World Cup opinion being that Maradona has no idea what he's doing, that the team's dire, that they’d implode and would be packing their bags much, much sooner rather than later.

Three wins in the group phase have changed the headlines, but have changed nothing from the chaotic build-up. The qualifiers were still a mess of internal wranglings, shocking displays, eccentric improvisation and soap opera media wars.

But we’ve all forgotten about Riquelme. Losing to Bolivia to 6-1 is a mere anecdote. Does anyone care about Zanetti or Cambiasso? For now, frankly, the answer is no.

"It’s do or die now," says Maradona. For now, even if it seemed unthinkable three months ago, they’re very much doing.

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Cacau set to fill the void for Germany

Daniel Moore — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 09:35:00 GMT

It's a funny old game. I mean how, within the space of a mere five days, can a team basking in adoration following a thumping 4-0 thrashing of Australia, find their coach preparing to gear up for a all-or-nothing game against Ghana to salvage their World Cup campaign?

Well, that's the reality for Joachim Löw's Germany side – providing Serbia inflict a second group defeat on Australia – with Berlin-born Kevin-Prince Boateng, the Portsmouth FC midfielder who put paid to Germany national captain Michael Ballack's World Cup hopes with a horrendous FA Cup final tackle, certain to act as the comedy villain against the country he represented from under 15 through to under 21 level.

General manager for Germany (yes, they do things a bit differently to England) Oliver Bierhoff last weekend claimed his team won't be targeting Boateng, telling Sky Sports: “We have to concentrate on the game and avoid being provoked, because we will not be playing against Kevin-Prince Boateng, but against Ghana”. Expect KPB to be booted off the pitch, then.

And should Germany do the unthinkable, and actually lose against Ghana, then Löw is ready to hand in his resignation. That's according to daily newspaper Bild, who say that, if the dream is ended tomorrow, then the Germans will board the 6:55pm Lufthansa Johannesburg to Frankfurt flight to head home – with Löw's resignation to follow shortly after. What a difference a week could make!

With his troops unable to find the back of the net against Serbia, and with their leading scorer from the last two World Cups, Miroslav Klose, suspended, the gaffer now needs to re-jig his team to ensure maximum points in their final group D game. So what options does 'Jogi' have in Klose's absence?

Step forward Claudemir Jerônimo Barreto; Cacau to you and I. Born and raised in Brazil, he arrived to Germany as an 18-year-old backing dancer, and last season was the third highest German Bundesliga goalscorer.

I say German, as Cacau passed his citizenship exams over a year ago and has been eligible for the national team ever since. You would be forgiven for assuming the two Germans ahead of him in the goalscorer stakes were Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski, first choice strike pairing for the national team. But that couldn’t be further from the truth – the Polish-born pairing conjured up a mere five league goals all season, three and two goals respectively.

So what, then, of the top two? Stefan Kießling of Bayer Leverkusen, top German goalscorer for season 2009/10 with a mammoth 21 league goals, seemingly isn't going to be given a look-in by Löw, while Kevin Kuranyi, with 18 league goals to his name last season, was culled from the final squad for a long-standing feud with the national team.

Kießling really should be given a chance, but is highly unlikely to get one, with the boss preferring Cacau during the World Cup warm up games last month.

Of course it's still a distinct possibility that Germany and England may meet in the last 16 stage of the tournament. That's if £6 million per year man Fabio Capello can inspire his multi millionaires to victory over the mighty Slovenia. Should that happen, then my money would be on the Germans. Naturally.

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FFT in SA: Port Elizabeth

Nick Moore — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 09:28:00 GMT

Just over an hour’s flight from Jo’burg, PE, as it is abbreviated locally, is known as ‘the Friendly City’ – and that’s certainly what FFT experienced on arrival: no sooner had we met a couple of locals than we’d been invited into the Townships for a barbecue (they call it a braai) in a local shebeen.

Shenbeens are shack-like structures that acted as illegal, speakeasy-style bars under apartheid. These days, they’re still the hub of South Africa’s poorest communities, but have also become something of a tourist trap. We enjoy some beautifully-seasoned meat, plus wine-bottle sized bottles of Castle Beer (for just 80p) and great company.

It’s certainly something we’d recommend, although shebeen tours are best enjoyed through an official organiser or with local guides rather than independently. Any English ‘firm’ who fancy their chances of swaggering round a township giving it the big one are likely to be in for a nasty surprise.

PE is also known as the ‘The Ten-Minute City’ because it’s so compact, and the city’s South East Coast location is its biggest asset: it’s bang in the centre of a 25-mile stretch of Algoa Bay with fine beaches, warm water and fairly safe swimming refreshingly devoid of shark attacks and drownings (but always look out for safe swimming signs).

This is South Africa’s main watersport centre, and the sea front, with its swaying palm trees, has been rapidly done up for the World Cup. It’s a very lively place for a night out. The Boardwalk area is particularly appealing: shops, arcades, clubs, bars, mini-golf and a casino are all built around a picturesque lake. Favourite local restaurants include El Greco, Oystercatcher and Catch 22 – which all serve up seafood caught just hours earlier.

For those interested in the history of the area, the Donkin Lighthouse is a popular monument, photo opportunity and great place to view the city from, and there is a three-mile culture trail. Port Elizabeth is rich in anti-apartheid history – Nelson Mandela was born nearby – and the South End Museum helps visitors to understand these dark times.

Like Rustenburg and Cape Town, PE is also a great base for a variety of activities. It’s well worth taking a day trip into the Eastern Cape. The Addo Elephant Park is situated to the city’s north, and in nearby Cannonville, you can camp alongside or canoe down the Sundays River. The city boasts an Oceanarium with sharks and dolphins, and you’re also just an hour away from sky dives, elephant rides, canoeing trips, scuba diving outings, spas and safaris. Check out GoExperiences to see just what a variety of entertainment the area has to offer.

Port Elizabeth still has a crime problem, and visitors should be vigilant. Officially licensed taxis are the best, safest and cheapest way to get around, and they’ll be everywhere this summer. During the tournament, the St George’s Park cricket ground (where England have played numerous test matches) will host the fans’ festival: a 24-hour party zone where you can eat, drink, and watch all the games.

The fanzone. Enjoy...

The Stadium
The spanking new, 48,000-capacity Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium is gorgeous. Like Cape Town, it boasts an enviable location, with the beautiful North End Lake on one side and the sparkling sea on the other, and its subtle ‘bubble’ design has drawn comparison with South Africa’s national flower, the Proteas.

The three-tier structure’s roof is designed to keep the city’s notorious wind out, and the crowd noise in. It has a real Premiership feel to it, and you can imagine that England’s fans will generate a tremendous atmosphere here for their final, and potentially decisive, ground game. We get a peek into the dressing rooms, too – the best we’ve seen yet, with spacious layout and state-of-the-art hydrotherapy pools for the Three Lions to rest their (hopefully victorious) limbs.

As the stadium is situated out of town, the city will run numerous rapid buses (the inexpensive BRT) from the city centre for fans, but it’s almost as cheap to hop in a taxi.

Accommodation
Port Elizabeth, an increasingly popular destination, is throwing up new hotels as fast as it can build them. There’s a brand new five star Radisson and some excellent accommodation situated around the Boardwalk. Many locals are renting out rooms and apartments during the tournament: log on to www.infoportelizabeth.com to find yourself a spot.

FFT's hosts were Sun International, Southern Africa’s leading hotel group.

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Algeria mystifies England

Chris Hunt — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 22:42:00 GMT

No one expected a scoreless draw from England’s Cape Town clash with Algeria, least of all Fabio Capello. After the game, the coach who'd led the team so confidently through qualification seemed completely lost for words as he struggled to comprehend what it was that had gone wrong.

“This is not the England that I know,” he said with a shake of his head. “I hope when we play the next game we have forgotten this performance and we play without fear, because the mistakes of the players have been incredible.”

In the two-year run up to the competition, Capello’s decision-making with England has looked faultless, but at this World Cup he has been confronted by many of the problems faced by his predecessors and he has ended up wondering how such a talented group can fail to perform when it really matters. This time, the players seemed just as bemused.

“It’s the last chance,” said captain Steven Gerrard of the group decider with Slovenia. “We need to find more spirit. We weren’t aggressive enough against Algeria, we never pressed the ball enough and we didn’t win it back quick enough. We didn’t show enough urgency and we certainly weren’t clinical enough around the box. In qualifying we had the majority of the team firing on all cylinders and we need to recover that spirit really quickly.”

Former captain John Terry didn’t shy away from the team’s poor performance but remained confident. “We still have a chance of going through the group and topping it,” he said, “so it’s in our hands. If we go and win the game we go through. We’ve made it difficult for ourselves but it’s still in our hands.

“I think as a group of players, we all need to relax and do what we do week in and week out,” he continued. “We shouldn’t be changing the way we play and we shouldn’t be worried about other teams from I’ve seen. Argentina probably looked the best so far, and although everyone went on about Germany, they got turned over. The other teams don’t worry me but it’s a must to get through the group if we want to go on.”

After the game David James remained the only player with a smile on his face, and he must have been privately pleased with his own performance – finally, a World Cup debut after many attempts, and as the oldest player in the competition. However, he expressed surprise when one international journalist insisted that England had started as favourites to win the World Cup. “I don’t know what bookie you use,” he laughed as he made his way out of stadium. It was the most pertinent comment of the night.

England fans had booed their team towards the end of the game and Rooney’s retort to the television cameras as he left the pitch angered many, but on the night his manager defended the travelling fans. “I think the fans can decide to do what they prefer,” he said. “I respect the fans because they follow us and always help us.”

Meanwhile, in the bars of Cape Town’s V&A Waterfront, there wasn’t the same level of anger directed at the team that could be heard back home, just a feeling of deja vu, as this kind of performance had seen so many times before.

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Mind the quality? Feel the width

Michael Cox — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 13:17:00 GMT

Michael Cox, editor of ZonalMarking.net, on how wingers could win (or save) this World Cup...

What are we lacking at the World Cup? The obvious answer is goals. So far, we’ve seen a rather miserable 2.1 goals per game at the halfway point of the competition, compared to 2.3 four years ago, 2.5 eight years ago, and 2.7 twelve years ago. It’s fairly easy to spot a trend.

A more specific answer might be width. This is a slightly surprising development at this World Cup, because the predominant system coming into the tournament, certainly amongst the European teams, was to play one striker supported by two wide players. Whether a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3, a good proportion of teams played this way, which necessitates having two players comfortable in wide positions.

Or at least, it means having two players who are comfortable starting in wide positions. The rise of the attacking full-back, and the greater desire for midfield players to provide goals, have seen many teams playing what the Italians term ‘mezzalas’ – players on the wing who don’t naturally belong there.

This has been particularly evident this season, with the popularity of inverted wingers – playing on the opposite flank to which their foot would usually dictate. Manchester City used Craig Bellamy and Adam Johnson on the ‘wrong’ sides, Aston Villa often did the same with Stewart Downing and Ashley Young.

Johnson: a left-footer on the right

Roy Hodgson used Simon Davies and Damien Duff – and indeed, Fulham were one of three sides to reach a European final with this system. Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben did it, whilst Atletico Madrid won the Europa League with Jose Antonio Reyes and Simao Sabrosa either side.

Although not many teams at the World Cup have been using such a system, it does point to the attributes managers are looking for from wide players at the moment – not the ability to get to the byline and swing in a cross, but the willingness to come inside, link up with the striker, and try to get a shot away.

The natural result of this has been for defences to play very narrow. If teams are trying to get their wide players inside to go through opponents, then packing the middle of the defence is an obvious solution. Of course, this leaves the flanks unoccupied.

But not many sides have been able to take advantage of this. The most obvious example was Spain’s first match against Switzerland. In their 4-2-3-1, Andres Iniesta and David Silva both looked to come inside, move behind the striker and pass their way through the defence. Both players had very poor games because they were denied space in the centre, with the full-backs coming narrow and the Swiss defending across the width of the penalty area.

It was notable that Spain offered much more threat when they brought on a natural wide player in Jesus Navas. Although his delivery was often disappointing, he was certainly Spain’s best hope of creating a goal.

Navas: desperate to get chalk on his boots

This wasn't just because he was in a part of the pitch where the Swiss were reluctant to venture, but because he suddenly offered a different point of attack, and because he helped stretch the defence. He also had a good game against Honduras, and if Vicente del Bosque insists on fielding David Villa in a wide-left position, natural width is certainly needed on the right.

Holland – who have been slightly underwhelming despite their two victories – are another side in desperate need of a winger in their first XI. The use of Rafael van der Vaart (starting left, drifting in) and Wesley Sneijder (starting central, drifting left) has resulted in their two most creative players occupying the same space.

They’ve looked far more impressive in the final 20 minutes of both games when Elijero Elia has come on as a substitute, and the return of Arjen Robben will be an even better solution. You could make similar observations about Mauro Camoranesi’s substitute appearances for Italy, and for Portugal Simao Sabrosa was 10 times more effective than Danny.

You can get past defences in three ways – you can go over them, through them, or around them. The immense popularity of defending deep and narrow eliminates the former two options, so it's up to the likes of Navas, Camoranesi, Robben and Simao - just two starts between them so far - to give this tournament a new lease of life.

More from Michael Cox:
June 17: Defences on top in first round
June 12: Back three back in fashion

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Spain down in the dumps despite win

Tim Stannard — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 11:54:00 GMT

Despite some tingly moments in Monday night’s 2-0 win over Honduras, the fountains of Spain remained unmolested and its car horns went untooted when the final whistle blew.

It’s the surest of sign that suffering Spain is full of some very unhappy campers, indeed.

This maudlin malaise is reflected in Tuesday’s sporting press which is in full brooding mode. “They weren’t that bad, but they weren’t that good” sniffed Barcelona-based Sport, a paper that enjoyed the smug knowledge that their new toy, David Villa, was one of the few positives from the World Cup encounter.

AS sum up the general sensation in Spain that La Selección is still lacking a certain footballing finesse and missing far too many chances to make Friday’s match against Chile a comfortable one.

“We won (but it doesn’t look like Spain)” says Tuesday’s headline with editor, Alfredo Relaño, mixing metaphors while complaining that he “didn’t like anything about the game...the line-up was like a dog with a thousand leashes that mixed differing tactics.”

“Confusion and bipolarity” was the less-than-impressed assessment in the paper’s match report.

There has been strong criticism of Jesús Navas and his iffy delivery - a little harsh in LLL’s humble opinion - but that is nothing compared to the battering received by poor old, not-even-bought-a-copy-of-Sporting-Life-nevermind-at-the-races Fernando Torres who is forehead branded with a rare zero in the AS match ratings due to his Honduran game from hell.

Villa and Torres together are like “ice cream and a sickly cake,” was the response from the normally insanely enthusiastic Tomás Roncero who argues that the pair simply cannot play together - something that Barcelona seem to disagree with, for starters, considering there are rumours of a bid for the Liverpool man.

Torres does get some sympathy from former Madrid manager, Bernd Schuster, who writes in Marca that the forward is still recovering from his spell on the sidelines and “is lacking those small details that return after an injury after 10 to 12 matches.” Not great news in a tournament which has just five potential games left for La Furia Roja.

Marca’s mood is a similar one to the rest of Spain. Vicente Del Bosque’s men “mixed brilliant moments with worrying aspects,” opined Santiago Segurola. His colleague, Roberto Palomar, was less kind and grumbled that Spain were “the world champions in missing chances.”

“It was like watching a heavyweight boxer chasing a featherweight all around the ring trying to whack him with a knockout punch,” complains Palomar who mocks the “500 bad centres” from Navas and “the 200 shots” from Torres.

The paper’s increasingly entertaining referee, Rafa Guerrero, is much more optimistic, though. And it’s not surprising considering Spain would be sitting at the top of their group with six points and a goal difference of plus five if the Marca man ruled the footballing world.

Rafa already feels that La Selección would have beaten the Swiss 1-0 had the game been officiated to his famously high standards. And that would have been topped off by a 4-0 victory over Honduras with two more penalties if it weren’t for the pesky ref who the retired Rafa said wasn’t up to the job even before the match had begun, on the general grounds that he came from Japan.

“The performance of Nishimura proves that in this World Cup, Spain is clearly being prejudiced,” rants Rafa.

The mood from Madrid to Marbella is likely to fluctuate between optimism and misery over the next four days. If Chile play at their best and Spain continue on their path of profligacy, then La Selección could be in some trouble, with Switzerland expected to beat Honduras.

But if just one or two more of those 47 chances being created per game go in - and FIFA give the side a referee that Rafa approves of - then Del Bosque’s boys should squeeze through to the infamous ‘octavos’, the round still feared by all supporters in Spain.

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Mutinous black sheep taint French flock

James Horncastle — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 10:52:00 GMT

It’s a lazy Sunday afternoon outside the sleepy town of Knysna and amidst the rolling hills that distinguish the countryside of the Western Cape, a solitary bus is parked, its curtains drawn, its engine turned off.

The slogan written across its windows, “All together for a new dream in blue”, mocking those inside who had just staged arguably the most notorious mutiny in World Cup history.

Minutes earlier, the French team had shocked 250 assembled journalists by announcing their intention not to train and to instead go on strike in protest at the treatment of Nicolas Anelka.

The disgraced Chelsea forward had been sent home the night before after he apparently refused to apologise for telling Raymond Domenech to “Go f**k yourself, you son of a whore” during the interval of France’s now infamous game against Mexico on Thursday night.

Anelka’s foul-mouthed tirade had somehow found its way out of the dressing room and onto the desk of French newspaper L’Équipe, who used it as their front-page splash on Saturday morning, throwing another bone of contention to an already divided pack of players.

Domenech’s mother was even quoted as saying: “I’d like to meet Monsieur Anelka and give him a piece of my mind.” However, despite a survey showing that 81.3% of people agreed with the French Football Federation’s decision to send Anelka home, the team predictably had another Bête Noir.

“France’s problem is not Anelka, but the traitor among us,” said a menacing-looking Patrice Evra. “We must eliminate the traitor from the group because he wants to hurt the team.” Initially, it looked as if Evra had found his traitor on Sunday when Raymond Domenech had to separate him from France’s fitness coach Robert Duverne, who stormed off into the distance, only stopping to throw his whistle and accreditation badge into the bushes with Gallic aplomb.

The pair would later deny the claims with Duverne going so far as to say: “I am of Italian origin, I speak with my hands, and if I got carried away, it’s because I wanted to convince them to train, because I am obsessed with the idea of beating South Africa 4-0.”

Meanwhile, the squad retired to the bus for crisis talks. A sheepish-looking Domenech emerged soon enough with a statement from the players scribbled on a piece of paper, which they forced him to read, leading sections of the French press to liken him to a pitiful hostage.

In their statement, the players laid out three points: 1) they affirmed their opposition to the decision taken to exclude Nicolas Anelka 2) they expressed their regret that the incident had been divulged to the media and 3) they added that at no point had the French Football Federation tried to protect the squad.

France’s team director Jean-Louis Valentin took the dignified and widely praised step of resigning in the hope that it would set an example for others to follow. “I’m sickened and disgusted,” he said before heading back to the hotel to pack his bags.

Meanwhile, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, even felt compelled to ask his Sports Minister Roselyne Bachelot to meet Evra, Domenech and the President of the French Football Federation, Jean-Pierre Escalettes, to call for “dignity and responsibility”.

The charismatic former Marseille boss Rolland Courbis greeted the turn to diplomacy with derision. “Without realising it the herd that is the French team has been tainted by two or three black sheep and these sheep influence the group,” he laughed. “Maybe Bachelot will find vaccines to fight against these black sheep.”

So who are the black sheep? Just weeks after being handed the captaincy, Evra hasn’t be able to put a foot right. Monday’s L’Équipe accused him of “confusing the captaincy of the French team with that of a team of boy scouts”, sometimes acting like a “gang leader” and “showing neither the dimension, the charisma, the standard or the stature to wear the armband.”

Instead of acting with a cool head after the Anelka debacle and respecting the Federation’s decision like his predecessors had done, the Manchester United full-back went on a vendetta, looking for a mole, which only served to increase the paranoia within the camp.

His somewhat surprising appointment also caused notable disruption within a squad that was selected under the misguided assumption that egos would be put to one side. Feeling snubbed, William Gallas inexplicably called a press silence and even gave Téléfoot journalist David Astorga the bird after Friday’s match against Mexico.

Franck Ribéry also had some explaining to do amid reports that he had a fight with Yoann Gourcuff on the plane and even got him off the team. The Bayern Munich winger arrived for an impromptu chat with Téléfoot just hours after the players’ strike and his eyes appeared to fill with tears as he defended himself: “When I see certain journalists on TV talking about me as if I am a school bully, I’m hurt. I’m not like that as a person,” he said. Even so, Ribéry’s very public campaign to play in his preferred position on the left when the balance of team would have been better served with him on the right, suggests otherwise.

The usually sphinx-like Zinedine Zidane had a blatant pop at both of them yesterday. “I didn’t agree with their decision not to participate in training,” he said. “When I was a player I never gave my opinion on the composition of the team. Sure, I was the captain, but I had a coach above me and I respected that. I followed the rules and that’s how it should be. We will remember two things about this World Cup: the winner’s name and the fact that the French team refused to train for their match against South Africa.”

Zidane should know of course, having provided arguably the most memorable moment from the last World Cup. Ultimately, though, the buck must stop with Domenech, whose methods have come under so much fire that by now they’re shot to pieces.

Shortly after mocking him as the French team’s new press attaché, L’Équipe wrote: “Raymond Domenech is at the bottom of the hole that he created. On a sporting and a media-related level, he is the origin of the greatest fiasco in the history of the French team.”

France were back in training yesterday wearing the scars of Sunday’s strike on their kit, which had disastrously lost four of its major sponsors. The suits at Crédit Agricole and Carrefour obviously agree with Domenech’s latest assessment of the strike as “unspeakably stupid.”

Nevertheless, Les Bleus can still qualify for the second round if they beat South Africa by a big scoreline tonight although they are dependant on Uruguay and Mexico not recording a draw. However, some are already looking to after the World Cup. “Laurent Blanc’s got a huge job to do,” said Paris-Saint Germain midfielder Claude Makélélé.

Luckily Le Président appears up for the challenge. When asked to comment on reports that he turned down Inter Milan yesterday, Blanc said: “I’d rather rebuild a side that can’t get any worse than manage one that can’t get any better.”

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Portugal must celebrate, not analyse

Sergio Santos — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 09:57:00 GMT

The Portuguese team knew a resounding victory against North Korea would put them in a good position to qualify for the Last 16 of the World Cup - and not only did they do that, but they did it in style.

The comprehensive 7-0 rout is guaranteed to make headlines until the next fixture against Brazil, but the match was not quite as easy as the scoreline suggests.

Before Raul Meireles scored in the 28th minute, Portugal were struggling to break through their opponents’ organized defence and it was only after the second goal in the second half that the Koreans revealed their amateurishness and the floodgates opened.

Getting it right

Just like any other Portuguese, Carlos Queiroz didn’t like his team’s performance against the Ivory Coast, and made four changes to his starting XI for the second match. Simão, Tiago, Hugo Almeida and Miguel replaced Danny, Deco, Liédson and Paulo Ferreira respectively and with the exception of the Valencia right-back, they were very active throughout the match and repaid the gaffer’s faith with goals and assists.

Whether the trashing of DPRK can be attributed to those changes or to the gap in quality between the two sides is another issue, but the national manager will be pleased to see his players rising to the challenge. With this dazzling victory and with Ronaldo admitting Tiago played better, the team morale has certainly been boosted and any story of unrest in the Portuguese camp has instantly been quelled – at least for now.

Finally the ketchup gave in

Last week, Ronaldo downplayed his lack of goals for the national team - comparing goal flow to ketchup stuck in the bottle. Sometimes, you try and it doesn’t come out and then, out of the blue, it all come out. And sure enough that was precisely how it worked out for Portugal.

In 40 minutes, the national team managed to score six goals, a goal every six minutes and 40 seconds, which is an incredible ratio! And Ronaldo, who had hit the post against Ivory Coast and managed to hit the woodwork again against North Korea, finally put an end to his 16-month goal drought for the national team and with a very funny and ‘not-so-Ronaldo-ish’ goal

One step away from the Last 16

The Portuguese team is still not certain to be in the Last 16, but honestly only a disaster of epic proportions would send Ronaldo and his posse packing on Friday. Though both Ivory Coast and Portugal could well both finish the group with four points, goal difference heavily favours the Selecção. Since the Elephants are on -2 and Portugal are on +7, it would take something special to see Sven-Goran Eriksson’s men get through.

Regardless of that, a match against Brazil is always a good exercise to answer some nagging questions such as: can Fábio Coentrão replicate his good showings against the likes of Robinho and Luis Fabiano? Can Hugo Almeida or Liédson score against a top side? And, in Tiago, do Portugal finally have a replacement for Deco?

We shall know it that soon, so stay tuned amigos and força Portugal!

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Why Domenech is right – and Henry isn’t

Paul Simpson — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 09:33:00 GMT

Let’s start with an easy question: is Raymond Domenech bonkers?

Most of us – on the evidence of his allegedly astrological approach to team selection, the way he sometimes seems to be smiling at a private joke while havoc reigns on the pitch in front of him, and the fact that his reaction to national disaster at Euro 2008 was to propose live on TV to his girlfriend – would probably conclude that he is, as they say in the north country, as barmy as a sack of badgers.

But let’s ask a trickier question: even if Domenech is bonkers, does that mean he is always wrong? The answer to which is err, actually, no.

Domenech is the man of the tournament; the eye of a hurricane that will only abate when les bleus are knocked out; the grassy knoll around which countless conspiracy theories rage; the theatrical student who has inspired one of the World Cup’s greatest melodramatic farces, a production which pundit Jean-Michel Larque, only partially motivated by a desire to promote his new book on France’s outgoing coach, says le foot will take years to recover from.

Domenech’s infamy back home is such, Larque suggests, that some amateur players have given up the game. Surely, if they’re that easily swayed, French football is better off without them?

And yet in the matter of Domenech v Henry, I agree with the coach. Henry’s internal exile to the bench seemed to be the spark that ignited the discontent that has simmered among the players throughout Domenech’s reign. And Henry’s omission has baffled many British pundits who subscribe to Alan Hansen’s theory that “form is temporary, class is permanent”.

The ugly truth is that class isn’t permanent – not in the competitive sense. Even great players decline. And the evidence of Henry’s decline is stark. His major contribution to France’s qualifying campaign was to give journalists, pundits and commentators grounds to indulge in a frankly inexcusable number of “helping hand” gags.

Last season, Henry started 19 games for Barcelona – he featured in nine others as a sub – scored four goals and racked up 12 assists. In 319 minutes in the UEFA Champions League, Henry couldn’t score, but then he only had one shot on goal.

Although publicly Pep Guardiola defended Henry, by February the French striker was behind Iniesta, Pedro and Bojan in the team selection. In March, the Barcelona coach warned Henry in public: “I need him to have the same ambition that made him the best over many years.” The striker tried to deflect talk that his legs were gone by blaming knee injuries but it was, as Guardiola hinted, his spirit that troubled many supporters at Camp Nou.

Karim Benzema – like poor excluded Robert Pires – is a Scorpio and didn’t make Domenech’s squad. With Benzema out (and out of form), not taking France’s record goalscorer to this World Cup would have been politically impossible but, given free rein, Domenech might have wanted to be so bold. And that may, actually, have been the right move.

It’s not as if we haven’t been here before. When he’s out of sorts, Henry can lower morale faster than a British Airways boss. In 2006/07, Henry was the sulky underperforming skipper in a dysfunctional Arsenal side that finished 21 points behind champions Manchester United.

In 2010, his marginalisation seems (and we can’t be certain because the unravelling of this French squad is, like Rashomon, a tale that differs dramatically according to the identity of the teller) to have been a catalyst for insurrection, revolution and hissy fits.

With the anarchy in the French camp, I wouldn’t be surprised if Henry plays tonight. The team against Mexico smacked of desperate political compromise: Yoann Gourcuff, arguably the best creator in the team, omitted so that Franck Ribery could not just play in the hole but disappear into it.

For all the good he’s done for football in a long and memorable career, I hope Henry scores a hat-trick against South Africa. And then does himself and France a huge favour by announcing his retirement from international football.

Until then I would suggest Henry consider the words of the great Italian striker Luigi Riva who is still revered for his courage, skill and discretion: “In a World Cup, the greatest are those who can go on the bench without breathing a word”.

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The long dribble to freedom

Jonathan Wilson — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 04:50:00 GMT

Marck Shinners still fears he’s going to wake up, open his eyes, look up from his bed and see once again the bars on the windows. In 1963, he was locked up by South Africa’s apartheid regime on Robben Island alongside Nelson Mandela and hundreds of other political dissidents.

Trapped, tortured and terrified, the inmates endured horrifying conditions inside a cruel institution that threatened to crush their souls. But, within just a matter of months of his arrival, Shinners and some of his fellow prisoners achieved the impossible: setting up Robben Island’s very own football league, establishing its own football association and even drawing up a constitution that fully conformed to FIFA guidelines.

After the Sharpeville Massacre in 1960, in which 69 unarmed anti-apartheid protestors were shot dead and more than 180 injured by police, the mood in South Africa had changed, with both the Pan-African Congress and the African National Congress, the two main anti-apartheid groups, moving away from a philosophy of peaceful resistance.

"There was an awareness," Shinners says, "that we were the victims of the system and that it was up to us to act; nobody was going to help us if we didn't help ourselves. I was a member of a student body related to the PAC.

"We became aware that the authorities were not going to listen to any plans for change, and we knew that we had to meet force with force. We were inspired by various uprisings around the world, by the Mau Mau in Kenya, by Cuba, Ghana and Algeria. We learned as much as we could about struggles for freedom around the world. We wanted to organise the students into agitating in the community. I was arrested for 'conspiring to overthrow the state' on March 22, 1963, and charged two months later. I was sentenced to 10 years on Robben Island."

As the opposition became increasingly radicalised, so the state crackdowns became tougher. There was no assumption of innocence; anyone arrested for a political crime had to prove they were not guilty. "The warders had a mandate to brutalise us, but not to kill us," remembers Tony Suze, who was jailed in 1963.

"The conditions were terrible," says Shinners. "The toilet facilities were just a bucket between the 70-80 people in a cell. We got two five-litre cans of water - one for drinking and one for washing. We were mixed in with hardened criminals. The warders were the most vicious men you could get. The authorities had taken the decision to inflict pain and humiliation on us, trying to ensure that we succumbed.

"The health facilities were terrible. They just gave you Epsom salts for anything - toothache, whatever. The diet was mainly fried maize and porridge. There was very little difference between the fresh water and the seawater.

"The clothes were never new and barely fitted, made of a thick material, so in the winter when you washed them they were always damp when you put them back on. We just had sandals, no shoes. Assaults were common, and you would be picked on if you complained."

PLAYING THE GAME
The prisoners did complain, though, usually by means of a complaints book that was passed around on a Saturday morning. Sedick Isaacs was a chemistry graduate, jailed in 1964 for instructing members of the PAC in the use of explosives.

"When I got to the prison we were starting to negotiate, just to be allowed to play sport so we could go outside and feel the sun," he says. "The prison regulations stated we were supposed to be allowed half an hour of exercise a day, but we were locked up from six on a Friday till Monday morning.

“We kept writing in the complaints book that we wanted an exercise period and we were entitled to one according to the prison rules. We had indoor games, but just ludo and board games, and even then we had to make them ourselves, and they would confiscate them if they found them. There was a sort of informal football - just a bag tied up so it looked like a ball that some of the chaps kicked around - but we wanted to formalise it."

These days, Isaacs, a thin man with a wispy moustache, is a professor of medicine at Cape Town University. Frankly, he looks it. Before being jailed, he had never taken part in any sport, and he admits he was probably the worst footballer on the island, but he quickly realised the value of football.

"I studied psychology while I was there," he says (he ended up getting two MAs in his 13 years on the island). "I got a book from the state library that explained about the effects of imprisonment. I saw prisoners who couldn't look people in the eye, who were not motivated to do anything. They'd studied the effects on prisoners in Nazi Germany, and shown how boredom and listlessness set in after the initial shock of imprisonment was over."

Determined to combat that, Isaacs helped organise a number of cultural activities - drama, music, education, and football. "You had to find a way to survive the assaults, the degradation, the emotional insults," Shinners says.

"We had to be able to come out as we'd gone in. Working in the quarries and on their building projects, we felt that with the passage of time we'd gain enough power to be able to make our demands with strikes and hunger strikes."

Having campaigned for football, Isaacs missed its arrival, as he spent a year in solitary confinement for trying to smuggle out a report on prison conditions. He might have been foiled in that attempt, but gradually awareness grew of how bad things were on the island.

A group of British journalists arrived to inspect the prison in 1964, and Shinners happened to be one of those called to answer their questions. "It was easy for me to point out people who had been assaulted," he says, "and after that attitudes began to change."

One of the concessions made was to allow the prisoners to play football. "Football transports you," says Suze. "You are able to forget. You focus on that because it becomes the centre of you life. You live in two different worlds. When you finished you had to go back to the cells, but football kept the sordid environment away from your mind because you played, talked, slept football."

It took time, though, to get to that stage. "When they told us we were going to be allowed to play, that seemed unimaginable, but at first it didn't quite meet our expectations," says Shinners. "A lot of the warders were rugby players who had no idea how football should be played, so we started complaining again to bring it under our control. They would just say 'OK, 11 of you and another 11 - you play'. They didn't think about ability or who could play in which positions.

“It was just about going out for exercise. And they'd not be bothered about time. Even in good conditions, it takes time to get a match under way. At first we had just 30 minutes, but that is not enough. By the time you were ready to start you'd be turning round to come home again because you didn't want to miss lunch, or because the warders were going off to play in the rugby league they had running.

"We had to explain how the game was played, so we turned to FIFA. That was another major achievement: eventually the authorities said they didn't care how we played. We put in place a structure - a referees' association, a first-aid group - people who could help in case of injuries.

“We even managed to get help to train up first-aid people. And football is a spectator sport. We knew we couldn't play with 22 while everybody else stayed in the cells. They said they couldn't allow hundreds and hundreds of prisoners out, but we said football was so important to us that we would make sure discipline was not a problem. It projected something of ourselves to the warders, and it was very important that we were organising ourselves."

ASSOCIATION FOOTBALL
And so was formed the Makana Football Association - named after a king who had died after being imprisoned on the island following the British invasion of the Eastern Cape.

Its constitution followed exactly guidelines laid down by FIFA and, in July this year, the MFA was given associate membership of FIFA. Goals were made from planks of wood and fishing nets washed up on the shore. A pitch was marked out on an area of sandy rough ground. It was decided that the 1400 or so prisoners on the island could support eight clubs, and the way things were in the early days, it made sense for the PAC to run four and the ANC four.

"The fact the teams were founded on political lines was not particularly happy for me," says Suze, who had played at the highest amateur level in South Africa (there was no professional structure) before his arrest. "But it was the most practical way of doing it."

The PAC took their four best players, surrounded them each with three more good players to form a nucleus, and then roughly divided the rest. "Although my team, Manong, was primarily PAC, I made it clear that we had no political affiliation," Suze says. "I came from a football background, and I respected the sport and loved the game. Ideologically, that was the right thing to do." And it also, as he acknowledged with a gentle chuckle, allowed him to recruit the best players.

At first, at least, participation was the key, and most clubs established second and third teams to play in lower divisions to try to ensure that anybody who wanted a game could play. "We had to make sure everybody had an involvement," says Marcus Solomon, who was imprisoned for being a member of a small Maoist group.

"We'd gone to jail for democracy, and this was a chance to show ourselves that we could put that into practice. It helped overcome tensions and differences, and to break down the barriers between political factions. That was one of the main messages - that sport is about developing people. It's a social activity."

Even those like Nelson Mandela who were held in isolation and so prevented from taking an active part in matches benefited. "Mandela said many times that he loved the game," the FIFA deputy general secretary Jerome Champagne says. "When the wardens on the island discovered that his only entertainment, his only pleasure, was watching the games through the bars and windows of his cell, they built a wall just to punish him."

Apartheid may have sprung from an extreme strand of Victorian thinking, but Solomon's belief in the value of sport is almost Victorian in its intensity. Football boomed in England in the nineteenth century as the public schools, following the ethos of muscular Christianity, encouraged sport as a means of building character, and Solomon believes it fulfilled a similar function at Robben Island.

“It kept you fit," he says. "It was relaxing and enjoyable and it helped to balance life. It was a diversion. You had to practise, know the rules and develop discipline. Sport brings harmony, helps to sustain life, to give you a balance between the emotional, physical and spiritual spheres. You had to know that you couldn't just go round kicking people - if things had run out of control there would have been great problems; you had to play according to the ideals of the game."

Occasionally, though, those ideals were tested. Shinners, the captain of Ghana, a PAC team, became close to Jacob Zuma, the current deputy president of the ANC and then the captain of Rangers, but rivalries did grow up, most notably between Ghana and Manong, the two leading PAC sides.

Prisoners began to define themselves not by political affiliation but by which team they supported, and so it was decided that, in order to try to calm tensions, after the league and knockout cup competitions had ended one season, to play an inter-cell competition. It went badly wrong.

GRUDGE MATCH
By chance, most of the best players on the island, including Suze, had ended up in Cell C4. Their team, the Atlantic Raiders, were favourites to win the competition, which inevitably meant that when they played the unfancied Blue Rock - "old guys who had trouble getting together a team", as Shinners put it - most of the support was against them.

Remarkably, and to general hilarity, they lost 1-0. "Emotions spilled over," Shinners says. "Their pride had been hurt, their noses put out of joint by being beaten by these old crocks. It was ironic: the attempt to break the aggression between teams actually led to the worst situation."

Atlantic Raiders protested ‘about nothing’, Suze now admits. "We were just being silly, being naughty," he says. Isaacs was not on the pitch, but he was a member of C4 and, just saw controversy as a way of staving off boredom.

“The referee of that game was Hary Gwala," he remembers. "He was a member of the Communist Party, an intellectual, who loved to discuss things in minute detail. The Raiders thought he would do that again, but he just made the decision and blew his whistle.

“The Raiders took the matter up with the MFA. My view was that anything that created discussion was interesting, so I decided to act as their defence. When it came to their next match, the Raiders held a sit-in protest, so all their players were charged with misconduct."

On it dragged, with appeal and counter-appeal. "It all got out of hand," Suze says. "It began as a group of good players being humiliated by a nondescript side, but one thing led to another and what had been a practical joke became a serious matter. We knew we were wrong and that we were being disruptive, but we couldn't see any way out."

What the dispute did do, though, was to test the procedural structures of the MFA. "The players in the end were found guilty and suspended," Isaacs says. "At the time in South Africa there was no due process. There was torture and coercion. This was a chance to show you could have due process and how it could work."

Quite aside from the effect it had on morale, or as a distraction from the grim reality, it became apparent that football had a symbolic function. It replicated the outside world‚ which is why club secretaries would write formal letters to each other, even if they happened to be sleeping in the next bunk ‚ but an idealised outside world in which there was justice, and even people who were transparently guilty got a fair hearing.

"Football has its own momentum," Shinners says. "There is a culture of transcendence. Football makes you transcend the area you find yourself in. People might not know you, but football gives you a sense of belonging. When we left the island, it was very clear that South Africa was changing, and that football was going to be important. South Africa had to come into the fold, but it needed transformation, and football kept people going during that time."

There are significant reasons to worry about the practicalities of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, but as a gesture, it could hardly be more potent. When FIFA granted The Rainbow Nation the right to host the World Cup, it emphatically welcomed them back into the fold.

Shinners is an eloquent man but about this he can barely articulate his feelings. "To see them bringing the World Cup to a country where colour used to undermine football, where the structures that refused to obey apartheid were victimized - To see everybody coming to this part of the world to pay homage - you feel you are dreaming to see that happening in your lifetime. You just feel sorry for the people you played with in prison who have passed on and will not see it. We did have a vision, but we never thought we'd see its fulfillment."

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SA loves Brazil and England

Chris Hunt — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 19:22:00 GMT

The weather didn’t read the script. The day that the Brazilians debuted at the 2010 World Cup, the temperature went into freefall. The balmy weather and winter sun that had seemed so apt to host the beautiful football of the South Americans was suddenly chased away by howling winds blowing up from the Cape.

At Soccer City one such gust took down the perimeter fencing, and in nearby Soweto, Anton Ferdinand’s planned visit to meet young footballers was postponed because of “adverse weather conditions”, with the winds deemed too strong for the keepie-uppies of a Premiership football star. Yet despite the weather, at Ellis Park in Johannesburg, the locals turned out in their thousands to support the Seleção.

It seems that every South African’s second team is Brazil. “We grew up looking at them as our heroes and now they are playing on our doorstep, so we can’t help but root for them,” explains 25-year-old Ralph Williams from Pretoria, who travelled to Johannesburg in his Brazil scarf for the game. “I have a passion for Brazilian football and I’m over the moon about seeing them.”

Henrique Faioli and Sabrina Cabeschi are two Brazilians who have lived in South Africa for the last two years and from their unique perspective they have seen many similarities between the two cultures that might make it logical for the local population to identify with their homeland.

It was no surprise to them that the South Africans turned up decked in Brazil scarves and flags. “I think the two countries have the same energy,” says Sabrina. “It’s the energy of having this mixed blood and mixed culture. I think South Africa will be just like Brazil in two generations.”

“We can feel this very strongly from the black South Africans,” adds Henrique. “It’s like a wish that in the future South Africa becomes how we see Brazil today, with the culture and the colours mixed from a long time ago. We think they see this future for their country.”

For Ralph Williams, the desire to get behind Kaka and the Samba Boys is less a cultural phenomenon and more to do with the way the Brazilians play the beautiful game. “I come from a mixed race so maybe you can say we relate to the Brazilians in that way, but the love of soccer is universal and for me personally, it’s just a football thing.”

Ntokozo Sithole and Allister Openshaw also share that belief. Arriving at Ellis Park together from their hometown of Benoni, Ntokozo is black and Allister is white, but both agree they are cheering for Brazil for purely football reasons. “They play with flair and that’s what you want to see, because the Brazilians will guarantee you goals,” says 34-year-old Allister.

Lucky Manuel is a 28-year-old student from neighbouring Zimbabwe, currently living in South Africa. Wearing his Brazil hat and clutching his vuvuzela tightly, he's thrilled to have the chance to see his heroes play. “As soon as the World Cup was announced I wanted to come and see Brazil,” he says, “but it’s all about the kind of soccer they play. I think they’ll go on to win the World Cup if we support them and I’ll be making lots of noise with my vuvezela.”

Nayan Gowan and his son, nine-year-old son Sudheer, have turned up for the game in their Brazil jackets and carrying the country’s flag. “I don’t think many people are aware of the African roots of some Brazilians, as the country is a mixture of many different cultures,” says Nayan, “but I believe their playing style is the reason that they are supported here. I believe Brazil and England are the two most popular teams with South Africans at this World Cup.”

One thing that every South African agrees on is that their would be no test of loyalties if the Brazilians were to face Bafana Bafana at any stage in the World Cup. “Then Bafana Bafana would win, no doubt about it,” says Ntokozo.

FROM THE ABSURD TO THE RIDICULOUS
The South African World Cup has already produced more than it fair share of bizarre and absurd stories, like the strange case of discrimination against chickens.

Apartheid may be long since over here but while French fans were able to take their symbolic rooster into the Greenpoint Stadium in Cape Town for the match against Uruguay, Nigerian fans were refused entry at Ellis Park in Johannesburg for their green-painted chickens. “No animals are allowed into stadiums,” a World Cup spokesman was quoted as saying, but it seems in South Africa at the moment, chickens are relegated to the back of the bus.

FIFA’s policy of trying to control every aspect of the World Cup continued with the threat to arrest 30 women dressed in orange mini-dresses at the Holland-Denmark game at Soccer City. The women were questioned under suspicion of breaking FIFA’s strict rules on ambush marketing.

Their offence? Wearing ‘Dutchy’ dresses with the tiny logo of the Bavaria Beer Company stitched onto the hem. “The orange dresses are part of a marketing and PR campaign already running in commercials of the brewery exclusively in the Dutch media and, as such, are recognisable items associated with the brewery in question,” said FIFA. Most fans seemed happy with the dresses...

The World Cup has had bigger problems than that to deal with. For just a short while the construction company behind the overhaul of the Loftus Versfield Stadium was threatening to prevent the use of the stadium in a dispute over payment, but they withdrew their High Court action just in time for the stadium to host its first World Cup game.

Other threats have come from the stadium workers in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg, whose protests about poor pay led to the police taking over the security at those stadium.

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When pundits aren't awful

Rob Hogan — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:47:00 GMT

RTE, Ireland's state broadcaster has blanket coverage of the World Cup, covering every match live on TV and online, with added highlights programmes and radio coverage. While so far the quality of the football hasn't exactly been spectacular, the entertainment provided by the studio 'panel' has been as interesting as ever.

Bill O'Herlihy has been anchoring football coverage for RTE since time began. One day he might be feeling a bit provocative, and gladly stirs things up between the team; the next day he feigns cluelessness and apathy; and then sometimes he's just clearly bored by it all. Despite his cheery, Humpty Dumpty style of anchoring, Bill is well-researched, which is more than can be said about some of the pundits.

In addition to Bill we have the three wise men: Eamon Dunphy, Johnny Giles and Liam Brady. Giles and Brady need no introduction; both legends of the game on both sides of the Irish Sea, they bring a wealth of experience and knowledge of the game to the table.

Neither Giles nor Brady is afraid to speak his mind and neither sits on the fence. (They wouldn't fit on it anyway, what with Shearer & Co clinging on to it for dear life.) Frustratingly though, both men sometimes don’t do their research and laugh off their ignorance of certain teams or players. As a result, it can be difficult to take them seriously.

But it's Dunphy who calls the shots, despite a playing career that's nowhere near a match for his fellow wise men (released by Manchester United, he played for York, Millwall, Charlton and Reading). The ghostwriter of Roy Keane’s autobiography, he alternates between intelligently discussing football one minute to just winding up as many people as possible - both in the studio and those watching at home - the next.

Dunphy is equally loved and reviled by viewers who have gotten used to outrageous comments. Like when discussing Sergio Ramos: "A nothing player, he's Paul McShane on steroids" or referring to Ronaldo: "He'll never be a player as long as he has a hole in his *rse."

One thing that all three panelists have in spades, however, is a genuine love for football, real passion that hasn't dwindled or been watered down throughout their combined 140 years in the game. That's what makes them so interesting and enjoyable to watch.

They don't try to sell us anything and they don't make excuses for players or teams who aren't performing well enough. If a game has been cr*p they say so; they know we're all gluttons for football, so regardless of the standard, chances are we'll just keep coming back for more. Just like they've been doing all these years.

Over the last few years RTE has been grooming younger Irish pundits, some with outstanding playing careers behind them (Denis Irwin, Ronnie Whelan), others not so outstanding (Kevin Kilbane). The results have been mixed.

As befitting his style as a player, Irwin's work has been reliable and unassuming with flashes of brilliance; Kilbane has been more of the same. Whelan, on the other hand, sometimes tries too hard to be controversial, often coming across as a bit of a moaner instead. According to his comments ahead of Uruguay's win over the hosts on Wednesday evening, he also seems to think Diego Forlan plays for Sevilla. Maybe he knows something we don't.

Sadly, I can’t see these three taking over from Dunphy, Giles and Brady in the future.

As well as the Irish influence on the panel, Graeme Souness has been a regular for RTE over the past few years, often covering Champions League games on Tuesday nights ahead of working for Sky on their Wednesday night coverage. Comparing his contributions to both is like comparing the work of two completely different personalities. On Sky, alongside Jamie "this a top, top game" Redknapp, Souness is restrained; on RTE he's much more forthright, honest and aggressive.

Unfortunately, his comfort with expressing himself led to an awkward gaffe ahead of Serbia vs Ghana when, while discussing Nemanja Vidic, he made reference to him being "raped" by Fernando Torres before stopping himself and using the much more restrained "torn apart". After a brief on-air apology from Bill's anchoring understudy Daragh Moloney, the broadcast continued.

Another former Liverpool midfielder offering his insight for RTE during the World Cup is Didi Hamman. Despite his funny accent, it's impossible not to take him seriously. With some previous experience on German television, Hamman has settled into his role with ease. He has a no-nonsense approach and does not suffer fools gladly.

Having played in a World Cup final as recently as 2002, his experience adds an extra weight to his analysis and while he's more restrained in his criticism than Dunphy or Whelan, he's not afraid to speak his mind. During half-time analysis of Greece v Nigeria he suggested Sani Kaita should never play for the team again after his red card.

Hamann has been well versed on the teams and players, as well as being articulate and astute in his observations and has been an excellent addition to the team, proving to be a big hit with the media and viewers alike.

Another jewel in the RTE crown is the Après Match team, three comedians/impressionists who perform live sketches after most broadcasts, making fun of the pundits, the coverage on other channels and current affairs.

So the next time your blood is boiling while watching so-called ‘experts’ earn their money for very little work, I suggest you look up Après Match on YouTube to calm yourself down. Actually, search for RTE football analysis there too, see what you're missing...

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Spain's secret of World Cup success

Tim Stannard — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 11:22:00 GMT

Spain’s oft-displayed disgust of Italian football is largely driven by envy.

So much so, it seems, that the initial gameplan of Spain in South Africa was to lift the World Cup in a manner that would make those pasta-chompers in Pisa weep with pride: by failing to win a single match in a conventional fashion all the way through to the final.

However, the message from the Spain camp since Wednesday’s defeat to Switzerland is that this plan has been cast onto the tapas bar floor of history with the realisation that the general gist of this summer’s footballing get-together is to win matches, thus allowing progress to the remaining stages of the tournament.

“We’re going to face the game as if it’s a final!” bellowed Vicente del Bosque, finally grasping the concept of cups. “This is a final for us!” whooped Carles Puyol in agreement.

“Our side plays better football than anyone else and is going to face each match as if it were a final!” cheerleadered the Lady Macbeth of the La Selección, Sara Carbonero, waving her pom-poms with gay abandon.

Although the various evil corporations who have paid good money to use the desperately bad acting skills of the Spanish squad in their TV spots have increased the frequency of the adverts, with The Man realising that a World Cup elimination could be a matter of hours away, there is a general vibe from the Spanish camp of confidence and calm ahead of the clash with Honduras.

“We aren’t going to change our style just because of one defeat,” claims Xabi Alonso, a message repeated by former Liverpool team-mate Fernando Torres who has been well and truly spooked by the notion of FIFA detention facilities and their rigorous rogue-state ways.

“If we die, then we will die following our own ideas, not by attempting something different,” claimed the striker that some predict will be starting for Spain alongside Davids Villa and Silva, with Andrés Iniesta still struggling with a muscle twang.

Should the worst happen on Monday night in Ellis Park then Marca’s pet referee Rafa Guerrero is already blaming the man in the middle for the defeat. Japan’s Yuichi Nishimura is the wrong choice, complains Guerrero, because he has insufficient international experience and “follows the rules to the letter of the law, like a good Japanese” and “tends to be excessively rigorous.”

“If there has to be some kind of gesture to the Oriental world then let it be peaceful and celebratory in a Japanese restaurant after the game,” opines the former ref.

Incidentally, Rafa also moans that Howard Webb, the referee for the Switzerland clash, wasn’t rigorous enough and “failed to see the offside for the Swiss goal and the penalty on Silva,” making every word of Monday’s column the gibberings of a clueless buffoon.

The two main Spanish supporters, Marca and AS, are split down the middle on how things are going to go. The former are calling for a tonking to remind the rest of the world who's really wearing the title-favourite trousers at this World Cup.

Monday’s editorial claims that the dark days of pessimism are over and that “Spain now face crucial matches with the character of winners and this personality is enough to bring confidence that we are going to save the situation. And score a lot of goals, too.”

AS are in more of a skittish mood, with director Alfredo Relaño unsure that Del Bosque has the team's line-up quite right. “He has given Senna’s job to two players, Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets,” moans the chief AS man before dithering over whether Torres, Cesc and Navas should be starting.

Now that the Spanish team have grasped the ‘Finals’ concept of the World Cup, a victory is generally expected. However, a win by a fairly chunky margin is also being called for to give Spain every chance of topping their group and avoiding a possible clash with the handballing Brazilians in the next round.

A defeat and it will be heads-on-sticks, run-for-the-hills time in Spain with the side's nickname ‘the Red Fury’ taking on a very different meaning indeed.

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Time for Lippi to make tough decisions

Richard Whittle — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 10:22:00 GMT

What a difference a couple of days make - and from the quiet confidence that Italy would progress from what has to be the most modest of groups at this World Cup, it is now a case of do-or-die against Slovakia on Thursday.

After being caught cold by workmanlike New Zealand, who in all honesty only did what was expected of them, the Italian players were not willing to step outside their comfort zone when they trooped back to the dressing room.

Having been informed that there would be no warming shower for at least 20 minutes following a technical fault in the heater, the players had plenty of time to contemplate what had been the most inept Azzurri performance at a World Cup since the 1-1 draw with Cameroon in ‘82.

Unlike in Spain, there seems little hope that the side will go on to ultimate glory considering that Marcello Lippi has shown all but his full hand in the first two games – to produce 1-1 draws in both.

The game against Paraguay had at least positives in the making, especially in the way the team reacted to going a goal down and in the manner in which they drove forward with purpose; first in search of the equaliser and then the winner, even if it was ultimately never to arrive.

The same eleven out-field players started yesterday and it seemed that the coach had at least settled on a formation capable of taking down the 78th ranked team in the world.

However, it was plain to see that confusion was still the order of the day in Lippi’s thinking on personnel for the job.

Having spent the first-half screaming at Simone Pepe to get to the by-line and whip in crosses, the best player against Paraguay became the fall guy for the team’s complete failings to even get the ball out wide - and was substituted at the break.

What Lippi sees in Claudio Marchisio is anyone’s guess: he cannot beat a man down the left flank – he isn’t even left-footed – and he cannot add invention behind the strikers but these are the two positions he has found himself in the last two games, but why?

The Juventus man’s strengths lie in his work-rate and the ability to make telling runs into the opposition area – a poorer version of Marco Tardelli – but that is Daniele De Rossi’s role so basically it is wasting a body on the pitch.

Another player who may as well have been sitting on the bench was of course Alberto Gilardino who cannot out-fox even the most run-of-the-mill defenders never-mind muscle them off the ball.

The Fiorentina man may not be expected to win the physical battles, but quick-movement and ability to turn defenders would help at least to create confusion in opposition minds – both of these aspects were missing so once again why continue with someone whose failings are there to see?

If he cannot play with his back to goal then hand the task to Giampaolo Pazzini who plainly can.

Lippi must consider a revamp for the match against Slovakia but one under-performer who will remain untouchable is of course Fabio Cannavaro.

The captain has been caught out in the last two games and okay, Shane Smeltz may have been offside but where was the man who used to be the world’s best defender? – On the seat of his pants.

Four years ago the opposition could not get anywhere near the area without running into the Azzurri leader, but yesterday an 18-year-old reserve skipped past him to almost score the winner.

Lippi has selected a squad that would probably be there at the death if the World Cup was played over a nine-month season, but with each of the three group games becoming mini-finals the team needs to be primed as if it was the run-in to the end of a campaign.

Time is running out and the coach needs to make some clear and tough decisions – and if not then Italy could end up like France in 2002: handing over their crown in the lamest manner possible.

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Aussie media put Kewell in a tizz

Mike Tuckerman — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:42:00 GMT

“It'll be a miracle if the Socceroos don't come out of this clash with anything less than a two/three goal defeat,” was what I told FourFourTwo.com contributor Uli Hesse before Australia’s opening World Cup clash with Germany, but even that turned out to be an optimistic assessment.

Australia saved their worst performance in years for the biggest stage of all, and the dismal display against Germany has kicked off an unseemly media war ahead of Saturday’s must-win encounter with Ghana.
Led in part by Fairfax columnist Mike Cockerill, senior players have hit back at the relentless criticism by launching a war of words, with talisman Harry Kewell pointing the finger at Australia’s most high-profile football journalist.

“Livid Kewell demands Fairfax football writer shows himself,” screams one headline in the Fairfax press, after a less-than-subtle editorial from Cockerill claimed that Kewell spent more time on the cover of magazines than on the football pitch.

It was the latest in a string of opinion pieces from Cockerill questioning Kewell’s commitment to the national team, and it clearly got under the former Leeds and Liverpool man’s skin. “Why isn’t he here?” asked Kewell, as the Australian press gathered outside training in Johannesburg – with Cockerill conspicuously absent. “Does anyone have any answers for me?”

Kewell has a far friendlier relationship with veteran journalist and respected author Matthew Hall, whose 2000 book The Away Game was eventually turned into a popular documentary first broadcast on SBS TV.
Yet SBS could also find themselves under scrutiny following a series of extraordinary attacks from their chief football analyst Craig Foster, with the ex-Portsmouth and Crystal Palace midfielder scathing in his criticism of Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek. In an astonishing tirade against the Dutchman, a raging Foster claimed on air that Verbeek should be sacked mid-tournament, before challenging the embattled coach to justify his selections or “get on the first plane to Morocco.”

Considered the spiritual home of football in Australia, SBS were awarded the broadcasting rights to the World Cup finals on the back of their long-standing commitment to the round-ball game.
However, the outspoken Foster has managed to polarise opinions with a series of stinging rebukes – some of which have been made in the form of off-the-cuff editorials after he has finished reading the nightly sports reports on SBS news show ‘World News Australia.’

It’s all reminiscent of the classic Australian comedy series Frontline (UK readers: think Drop the Dead Donkey crossed with Ron Burgundy), particularly the moment when hapless current affairs host Mike Moore gets himself into hot water after an impromptu decision to editoralise on air.

One of the stars of Frontline is now hosting a comedy-themed World Cup show on SBS, but so far there’s been no attempt to get the likes of Cockerill, Kewell, Verbeek and Foster into the same room together.
At the moment, the Socceroos have more pressing concerns to deal with, but if SBS are ever looking for a new show to knock cult classic Iron Chef off its perch, that’s one idea which is guaranteed to be a surefire ratings winner.

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The power of positive thinking

Chris Hunt — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 10:31:00 GMT

Robert Green may have gifted the USA a point with his absurd goalmouth fumble, but the England players are admirably sticking to Fabio Capello's mantra of positive thinking.

Whatever the state of the performance against the USA, and it was largely poor, this England coach seems to have instilled a sense of belief in the team that might help them survive the inevitable moments of crisis that occur in a tournament such as this, even the 'Hand of Clod'.

Capello understands that confidence is everything. It is the emotion that makes sporting success achievable and can turn the ordinary into the unbeatable, but it can be a fragile commodity.
An error like the one made by Robert Green is not in itself the problem, it is the ability to cope with the situation that is crucial. Negativity is contagious and can spread through a team like wildfire, and when that happens there is little hope. Capello has certainly impressed this on his team.

After the draw with the USA, to a man the England players presented themselves as interested only in the positive. "Tim Howard was 'Man Of The Match' and that was proof of how strong we were," said David James, without flinching. "Obviously with a 1-1 draw we haven't got the three points but with the amount of openings and chances that we created, it's something that we can take into the next game as a positive."

Despite squandering a fine chance early in the second-half, Emile Heskey was also resolutely on-message. "It was frustrating game and I'm disappointed that we didn't take some of our chances," he said, "but we've got to take the positives into the next game."

Glen Johnson, meanwhile, ignored compliments about his own performance in favour of stressing the team ethic, snapping back when a journalist asked whether it was too early to discuss whether this was England in crisis. "That's ridiculous," he insisted. "We've played just one game and the team spirit is fine. The boys will stick together through anything. We've put this behind us now."

For the man whose error cost England the win, there was no attempt to hide. After going through a post-match drugs test, Robert Green was one of the last players out of the dressing room but faced up to the press with confidence. He had only learnt the news that he was the starting keeper when the team was announced to the players five minutes before leaving for the stadium, and although at half-time he had offered his apologies for the error to his team-mates, after the game he was already prepared to move on.

"It was a mistake," he admitted, "but it's something that happens in life. I would have loved to have stopped it, as I do time and time again in training, but it was obviously a genuine mistake, a horrible mistake, but something to deal with and something that you prepare for mentally."

Right-back Johnson was among the players quick to leap to Green's defence. "Everyone makes mistakes and if you're a goalkeeper and you make a mistake it leads to a goal," he said. "But Rob's a great keeper and he deserves to wear the shirt." Emile Heskey echoed the sentiment: "He made a brilliant save in the second half, but people probably won't remember that because of the mistake he made. But he can bounce back from this."

For David James there was no satisfaction to be had from seeing his rival struggle. "We'll have a look at it on video and as goalkeepers we'll get together and help each other out," he said. James sidestepped the opportunity to blame his relegation to the bench on a rumoured injury earlier in the week. "As with Joe Hart, I was up for selection," the Portsmouth keeper insisted. "It was reported earlier on in the week that I had a problem with my knee, but it wasn't the case."

While there still may be question marks over the performance, and indeed over some of Capello's team selections for the USA game, no-one can question the infectious positivity that the Italian radiates, and maybe when push comes to shove, that will be enough to keep this team focused and inspire them to greater things.

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Should Capello smoke vulture brains?

Paul Simpson — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 09:59:00 GMT

Being England manager is a lot like having hiccups. Everybody is fervently convinced that their particular advice will cure your ills.

But Fabio Capello shouldn’t worry. The stats show that 58% of teams who draw their first group game make it to the last 16. And if a team is in the top 30 in the world when the tournament kicks off – as England were – that success rate soars to 69%.

If Capello feels in need of greater certainty South African gamblers would advise him to smoke a few vulture brains.

The host nation is home to nine species of vulture, seven of which are endangered, and Scientific American reports that local gamblers seeking a bit of extra luck will smoke a cigarette infused with dried, ground vulture brains which they believe will give them accurate visions of the future.

England should reach the last 16 - without having to harm any vultures. But that’s just the easy bit. What the nation really craves isn’t success but success with style, a performance that provokes the kind of plaudits that greeted Germany’s demolition of Australia.

When Podolski opened the scoring, my wife asked: “Why can’t England score goals like that?” I mumbled that we did sometimes, but was forced to hark back to Teddy Sheringham’s strike against the Dutch at Euro 96 as I strove to recall a goal – and a performance – of similar panache.

If England don’t win this tournament, the least supporters expect is for the team to play with a fluency and style that earns respect.

Following the World Cup on business in Toronto this week was an intriguing logistical challenge. The North American press have revelled in England’s discomfort, quoting Franz Beckenbauer’s withering analysis of the “kick and rush” football deployed against the USA, suggesting that Walter Jurman, the songwriter who famously wrote that all god’s children got rhythm might have changed his mind if he’d watched England’s opening performance, and even pointing out that English keepers, once the envy of the world, are prone to gaffes.

One paper even gloried in the day David Seaman, he of the “porn producer pony tail” failed to read Ronaldinho’s free-kick “even though the ball was in the air for longer than the average British Airways flight”.

Perhaps Rob Green’s slip was karmic payback for all the gags Jimmy Greaves and his ilk used to make about the quality of Scottish goalkeepers in the 1970s.

If I had to sum up the North American media’s response to the opening stages of this tournament in a word that word would be zzzzzzz. The main complaint is: where are the goals? The caption headlines on the evening sports reports in Toronto put it bluntly: “World Cup: goals disappearing”.

Jonathan Clegg, covering the finals for the Wall Street Journal, had an intriguing take on the goalscoring problem.

Fewer than half of the 32 finalists play with two upfront, the average goal per game has more than halved between 1954 and 2006 and since 1970 the average number of shots per game has slumped by 26%.

Clegg quotes Tony Cottee who says: “Managers are saying we don’t want goalscorers we want people to keep hold of the ball. They said to me when I was playing: ‘We don’t just want you scoring goals’. But isn’t that the point of football?” That is certainly the North American view.

And the sponsors would probably agree. If the goals per game figure dips under 2.21, the nadir achieved at Italia 90, expect a flurry of suggestions about bigger goals and the like from FIFA.

In Europe, the view is rather different. As Alvaro Vargas Llosa, author of Lessons From The Poor, points out in a thoughtful feature, “In Europe, this World Cup brings a strange sense of comfort in these troubled days, allowing Europeans to maintain an illusion of superiority no longer sustained in other fields. At the World Cup, Europe often excels while China is entirely irrelevant.”

World leaders hoping that success on the pitch will improve their standing in the polls shouldn’t hold their breath. Although England’s abrupt, tragic exit in 1970 is blamed for losing Harold Wilson the general election, Llosa points out that Italian prime minister Giovanni Spadolini was booted out of office in December 1982, five months after the Azzurri won the World Cup.

Chile’s president Sebastian Pinera who has been setting some ambitious and very public targets for his team might want to take note. Chile’s years of hurt – before their 1-0 win over Honduras they hadn’t won a World Cup match in 48 years – are finally over.

They looked fluid and fluent against a useful Honduras. My only disappointment was that defender Arturo Vidal didn’t head home in the opening minute thereby rendering my carefully crafted headline “Vidal so soon” utterly redundant.

Llosa suggests the World Cup is an exercise in upward mobility. For me, it’s all about glass ceilings.

The last truly shock winner of the tournament was West Germany in 1954, when German football wasn’t even fully professional.

Only seven nations have won the competition. And the odds on Spain turning seven into eight have just lengthened a tad. No nation has ever won the World Cup after losing its first game. Still, that’s what history is there for, isn’t it? To be rewritten.

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Silly Serbs and sobbing Slovaks

Jarek Zaba — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 08:00:00 GMT

It is now day eight and country four of my World Cup adventure, and boy has it flown by.

So far I have witnessed how the World Cup is being ‘enjoyed’ in Greece, Serbia and Slovakia - two losses and one last minute equaliser conceded - and what I have witnessed has been varied and surprising.

Talk of a curse is ever growing, and the Slovenians must surely fear my presence for their match against USA on Friday. Nonetheless, I remain confident that one of these teams will get it right when I’m there - though I will reluctantly accept that I am as cursed as they come if Italy somehow lose to the All Whites on Sunday.

In Belgrade – the second destination on my whistle-stop tour of the continent - I met with my impeccable host Snezana who took me to the river island location of Ada Ciganlija (Gypsy Island), a delightful collection of bars, food stalls and sports facilities creating something of a beach-like feel some 370km away from any coastline.

The atmosphere most definitely surpassed that of Thessaloniki, as those around eagerly dried themselves off from their dip in the river to take their seat before some of the many outdoor screens broadcasting the match.

I detected the place was genuinely ready to explode with joy the second the ball hit the Ghanaian net. There wasn’t a hint of the supposed violent intimidation Serb football followers are often associated with, and the sending off and penalty decisions were largely greeted with disappointed tut-tutting rather than an angry volley of ref abuse. I got the sense the Serbs were used to this kind of showpiece collapse.

Serbia weren’t terrible, but it’s fair to say that they were most definitely silly. Although my prophecy of a Serb victory wasn’t to be, my inclination that they could screw themselves over somewhere down the line turned out to be spot on. From the wholly unsurprising, although perhaps slightly harsh, two yellow cards for Aleksandar Lukovic for petty challenges, to the drastically idiotic handball from Zdravko Kuzmanovic, this was a game Serbia could well have won if they had kept their discipline.

It would appear that whether they fall under the name of Yugoslavia, Serbia & Montenegro or just plain old Serbia, they will remain susceptible to the same shortcomings. Snezana, offered an insight as to why: “It is a national characteristic of Serbia to not acknowledge when we make mistakes,” she said. “So we just make them again.” Her point was seemingly proven by a media whom she says described the team’s performance as merely unlucky.

Kuzmanovic appeared initially to go against the grain, appealing for forgiveness from his team-mates as well he should. But then again, he also said it was an attempt to head the ball, which if true must surely raise a massive question mark over his heading technique.

Although it’s fair to say Serbia weren’t exactly coasting until that point, they did offer a mild threat and could easily have nicked it. Now, a result against Germany, trouncers of the Aussies, is essential and the Serbs I spoke with weren’t exactly confident.

The Serbs I spoke to were all women, mind, but don’t let that put you off - they certainly seemed to have a bit more in their football locker than the average girl down the pub who asks you which way England are shooting in the 65th minute.

They even didn’t disappoint when I asked if they knew of Savo Milosevic: he is apparently from Snezana’s area of origin,along with Nemanja Vidic and coach Radomir Antic, a man who relegated Manchester City and subsequently made David Pleat dance.

Despite defeat, there were encouraging signs and perhaps the last word on the Beli Orlovi (White Eagles) should be given to Snezana’s friend Marija, who seemed most positive of all about the performance: “Well I am proud of them,” she declared. “They were running for the whole time. That is an excellent thing.” True say.

And then there were the Slovaks. Those poor Slovaks. If you truly believe in the curse of the World Cup Traveller (the list of believers is no doubt growing), then you’ll consider yourself vindicated by the following footage.

Whipping out my camera in the 92nd minute, I pressed record for what I believed would be my first taste of celebratory footage. Instead, watching screen-in-screen in horror, I got this.

In an attempt to quell the disappoint, corporate associates of the ‘Fan Fest’ Coca Cola thought it appropriate to immediately follow the gut-wrenching goal with a right good knees up, featuring some of the most laboured dancing one has ever witnessed.

Ultimately though, as bad as I felt for the Slovakians, New Zealand’s late and frankly undeserved equaliser at least made for some good footage, and some classic ‘gutted fan’ shots – this one taken some 10 minutes after the game had actually finished.

There were other undeniable positives to take from the day as well: I actually witnessed the ‘home’ team scoring a goal and, in the form of the Kia Fan Fest outside a recently built shopping centre on the banks of the Danube, I found somewhere which truly had a real World Cup atmosphere, as the locals reveled in their first ever tournament appearance as an independent nation. As well as a whole host of frustrated angry people, I also found my first group of happy football fans on my travels, bumping into five jubilant Kiwis.

But it was two Slovakians in particular that I was incredibly disappointed for when the Kiwi goal hit.

Wandering around the fan park at the start of the second half, seeking semi-fluent English speakers, I was fortunate enough to come across Vlastimil Danicek - or Vlasto to his friends - and his patriotically decorated son, David.

The writing over his body, in case you can‘t decipher, are names of Slovakian players. Vlasto was well aware, as knowledgeable as he truly was about the game, that this game presented their biggest opportunity for three points, and he feared the threat of Paraguay and Italy.

He had nothing but praise for the side and their coach Vladimir Weiss for getting this far, stating that with Martin Skrtel at the back, Marek Hamsik in the middle, and Robert Vittek up front the team was at its strongest it had ever been since its split from the Czechs.

He had much praise for the English game as well, revealing that he had a bet on England to reach the semi finals and sharing his belief that they were one of the strongest teams at the tournament. It has truly surprised me how highly England seem to be regarded on the continent, and I’ll be honest - I’m not sharing their confidence yet.

Later on, I happened to come across a group of Portuguese during their match against the Ivory Coast. Their thoughts can be summarised in five words: players good; Queiroz no good.

And finally, here is a collation of the various Robert Green related piss takes from the nations of the world, all of which were uttered within around 60 seconds of meeting these people...

Miguel from Portugal
“You need to watch that goalkeeper of yours.”

Vlasto from Slovakia
“We can lend you a goalkeeper if you like. Yours nearly made me throw my betting slip away.”

New Zealander, after I told him I didn’t fancy playing them in the latter rounds
“I’m up for it. I hear the tactic is just to kick the ball straight at the goalkeeper.”

Cheers lads. I’m thankful that I didn’t end up speaking to the American - he probably would have advised that our goal defence roster is in a bad period right now, and coach Capello needs to give them a shake-up in the locker room. Or something.

PART ONE: Watching the Cup with the Europeans
PART TWO: Greeks philosophical rather than passionate

Spain blame hubris and Howard Webb

Tim Stannard — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 15:09:00 GMT

With Spain’s marketing world expecting a comfortable win over Switzerland, the first advert to pop up after Wednesday’s 1-0 defeat was David Villa surrounded by a pack of lovely ladies, flogging hair gel and still sporting that stupid mini-beard worn and subsequently ditched by Tony Almeida in the first series of 24.

After Villa’s stupid, squished grinning face had disappeared from the screens it was the rest of his bottling team-mates and Vicente Del Bosque to follow selling all manner of products from petrol to pencils.

With the Spanish government rumoured to be begging the IMF for handouts, public worker pay-cuts announced and a general strike on the way, the locals are in no mood to tolerate Selección simpletons trying to get them to part with what little money they have left, especially when the failing footballers can’t seal their side of the deal in Durban.

And sensing the national spirits dropping faster than Sergio Ramos’ trousers when the Pussycat Dolls are in town, AS are blasting from their front page that “We can still do it!” with the editorial wheeling out the traditional “we have 17, 8, 4, 3 finals left!” cliché.

"Spain didn’t come to South Africa to win the first game, but win the World Cup,” boasts Juanma Trueba in his match report, potentially revealing a tiny flaw in Vicente del Bosque’s plan.

His paper is careful to avoid any criticism of the Madridista Iker Casillas and his mad moment and hurls hate-muck at Silva (fair enough), Navas (harsh), Torres (very harsh) and Villa (maybe).

Following fine Spanish tradition, AS also puts some of the blame for the defeat on the referee for not giving a card for every single foul on their players. “Howard Webb was against Spain in all the important decisions,” grumbled Thursday’s edition.

Marca’s pet referee Rafa Guerrero also attacks Webb by claiming that Switzerland’s goal should have been ruled out with Gelson Fernandes apparently being in an offside position when the ball fell to him. There is, of course, no mention of Iker’s two red card offences in the run up to the goal.

Nor did that topic surface in the post-match interview between the glove-wearer and and his ladyfriend, Telecinco reporter Sara Carbonero, although Marca claims that “the journalist and player fulfilled their roles quite naturally as to be expected from two great professionals.”

Marca are on more of a post-defeat downer than AS, with the front page suggesting that we might be witnessing “the same old Spain” in World Cups and Santiago Segurola warning that “this match puts them on the edge of the abyss.”

Even worse than the disappointment of millions of minions watching around the country, reports Marca, was the pain felt by a bunch of Spanish suit-wearing executive “VIPs” over in Durban on a probable freebie.

“I’m sad, it’s a shame we lost,” said the poor-bunny sales boss of The Phone House before returning to his 15-star hotel (which he probably doesn’t have to pay for) to drink champagne out of Penelope Cruz’s nostrils, no doubt.

Over in Cataluyna, the local press have already started shuffling away from La Furia Roja as if they are a bar buddy that’s suddenly gone from amiable to mad after one shot too many.

“Believing themselves to be superior was their crime,” writes Josep Maria Casanovas in Sport. “They lacked fluidity of play, ideas, width, but above all speed.”
Josep Artells in Mundo Deportivo blames an attitude where the players thought they deserved the win and “an excess of confidence and possession, a double-edged sword.”

However, LLL feels that they have all got it wrong. The message from the Spanish camp throughout the warm-up campaign has been a modest one that they will not be flamenco-dancing to a final victory in July. Indeed, the one plus point from the defeat was raised by Gerard Pique who hopes that “this nonsense that we are favourites will be dropped now.”

On any other day a few of Spain’s chances may have gone in to give La Furia Roja a nice easy victory. But they didn’t, leaving the path out of Group H a little trickier. However, despite the five days of pain that will be coming Spain’s way from a press that has the most wobbly of upper lips, there's no real need for panic just yet.

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Defences on top in the first round

Michael Cox — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 14:51:00 GMT

The most defensive World Cup ever? It’s certainly the lowest-scoring one, after the first round of matches. A lack of goals doesn’t always equate to defensive football, but in this tournament it’s hard to deny that the football has been slightly more reserved than normal.

What is to blame? The determination to avoid defeat is certainly key, but then there’s no reason why this should be a factor at this World Cup rather than any other. Altitude could have been a factor, but then there’s no obvious difference in the style of play we’ve seen in the games at altitude from the games at sea level.

The Jabulani ball may have been crucial in the lack of goals (we’ve seen few long-range goals, and the one notable exception – Diego Forlan’s – took a crucial deflection on the way) but it’s hard to make a case that it is breeding defensive football.

The perceived negative football has generally been down to the underdogs so far. Whilst France, Italy, Brazil, Spain and Holland have all failed to impress with their attacking flair, there’s been a distinct lack of attacking ambition from their opponents.

In France’s opening game against Uruguay, for example, the South Americans deployed a 3-4-1-2 system against France’s 4-3-3. The French wingers, Franck Ribery and Sidney Govou, pushed back the Uruguayan full-backs to the point where they were effectively fielding a flat back five. A flat back five was literally the case for North Korea against Spain, whilst Paraguay switched to that system for the final 15 minutes of their clash with Italy.

Deep, narrow and effective
Defending deep and narrow has become the defining tactic of the tournament for the underdogs, perhaps partially inspired by Jose Mourinho’s tactics at the Nou Camp in the Champions League semi-final. There was nothing new or novel about that performance, but it was a tremendous example of how that strategy can defeat a technically superior side who will dominate possession – and that was with 10 men.

The tendency to defend deep and narrow has emerged because so many top sides are intent on playing on the counter-attack. The importance of pace and movement has become more obvious in the last 10 years, and with players possessing those attributes, it’s simply a lot easier to attack when you have 60 rather than 20 yards of space in behind the defence.

Even considering the popularity of counter-attacking in modern football as a whole, there are a great number of favourites at this World Cup who depend on that style of football even more than usual.

Brazil are the classic example – they sit deep in numbers, then use the pace of Robinho and Kaka to run directly at defenders, and their unique formation means opposition midfielders are often drawn to Felipe Melo and Gilberto Silva, leaving Kaka and Elano unattended. It was no coincidence that their opening goal finally came seconds after North Korea had the ball in the Brazilian penalty area.

It’s also no coincidence that the goal came from a full-back, because these are consistently the players who have the most space on the pitch against teams defending deep, and the most time on the ball. They also have the ability to make late, unchecked runs in behind the defence.

A disappointing feature of France’s performance was how rarely Patrice Evra and Bacary Sagna actually got into the final 20 yards of the pitch, especially considering they were playing against a side with no wingers to cause them a threat at the other end. Sergio Ramos could have moved 20 yards higher up the pitch to stretch the Swiss defence, whilst Portugal's left-back Fabio Coentrao was disappointingly muted.

Making it work
But the most disappointing thing for those hoping for goalfests is that the defensive tactics from the underdogs have actually worked rather well. Switzerland beating Spain and Uruguay and Paraguay picking up a point against France and Italy respectively are clearly good results, pure and simple, but even the occasions where the underdogs were defeated showed how the deep and narrow approach can work well.

Denmark ran the Netherlands close and only went behind through a crazy own goal, North Korea almost caused Brazil a fright, Nigeria held Argentina to one goal from a set-piece.

The exception that proves the rule is Australia, the only side to use aggressive defensive tactics against one of the favourites. They tried to press right from the front of the pitch (fielding two midfielders upfront to help them close down effectively), but Germany were able to play around them, and take advantage of Australia’s crazily high defensive line to constantly get in behind.

It’s no coincidence that the standout player of the tournament so far, Mesut Ozil, was playing against a side that were defending high up the pitch, and that game served as a warning for other weaker teams not to replicate Pim Verbeek’s tactics.

You can blame sides defending deep for creating defensive football, but you can’t blame the managers for maximising their chances of getting a result.

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Five signs it won't be Portugal's year

Sergio Santos — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 11:54:00 GMT

The match against Ivory Coast was more of the same old Portugal and unfortunately that same old is not enough for a team that has, or at least likes to think it has, genuine aspirations to win the World Cup.

There were no clear tactics or ideas and unless something changes fairly quickly, there’s a chance Portugal will fall at the first hurdle.

Prior to the match, the media and Carlos Queiroz painted a portrait of Portugal as the perfect family. Photo-ops, cosy safari trips and group interviews with big grins and planted questions artificially created the notion that Portugal are a serious World Cup contender when we really aren’t.

There’s no shame in that, let’s just do our best and leave South Africa as late as possible and with our pride intact.

Now, it may seem like the Portugeezer is on a crusade against the national manager, but yet again Queiroz proved why he lacks the boldness and tactical acumen to lead the national team.

Selecting Danny instead of Simão was a risky decision that ultimately backfired, but it was one made to inject some unpredictability to the team. The real problem however was the manager’s inability to read the game and adapt.

Queiroz ended up making three substitutions, but not a single one stirred things up: Simão replaced Danny, Tiago replaced Deco and Ruben Amorim replaced Raul Meireles – all pretty much straight swaps.

Why was Liedson – forced to fend off Touré and Zokora all by himself – not given a proper partner upfront at some point? Why not adopting a more attacking approach against a team not renowned for their defenders?

For a manager who imposed a minimum target of reaching the semi-finals, accepting this kind of performance is inexcusable.

On Monday, we’ll play against a North Korean side that impressed against Brazil. It will be a battle between a group of skilled prima donnas against a group of subpar players with tremendous work ethic. If the Selecção for some reason underestimate the Koreans, they might just be served up a piping-hot slice of humble pie.

For the record, here are the five things that hint 2010 may just be the new 2002 for Portugal in terms of World Cup prospects:

1) Portugal struggled against the likes of Cape Verde, Cameroon and Mozambique; both the media and the manager dismissed the importance of these matches, despite it being clear the players were not gelling.

2) After putting in a good performance against Cameroon, Nani was ruled out of the competition due to a shoulder injury. Some people questioned the real reason behind that move and, with the Manchester United winger revealing he would be match-fit again within a week, one cannot help but think there’s more to this story than first meets the eye. And to think Didier Drogba had surgery on his broken arm and came off the bench to play against Portugal.

3) Deco criticizing Queiroz at the end of the match shows one thing: that the bond and respect between players and manager may not be as great as we were led to believe.

4) Word around the Portugal camp and in the pressg is already starting to shift from “We can beat Brazil” to “We can finish in second place and still beat Spain”, even if Spain may not finish on top of their group.

5) Curiously, Queiroz slammed the Ivorians’ tactics, saying they were too defensive when in fact it was the African team that controlled the match for large periods. Apart from Ronaldo’s exquisite effort in the eleventh minute that hit the post, the Portuguese team failed to create clear cut opportunities and could have been stomped by the Elephants.

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Why frustrated Anelka is firing blanks

James Horncastle — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:55:00 GMT

A month after Aimé Jacquet decided against including a precocious young Nicolas Anelka in his final squad for the 1998 World Cup, L’Équipe went to visit the then Arsenal striker in Trappes, the town just half an hour outside of Paris he calls home.

They found him watching France’s second round match against Paraguay, which had the entire nation on the edge of its seat. The game went to extra-time and was ultimately decided by a strike in the 113^th minute from Le Président himself, Laurent Blanc.

When asked if he would like to have been a part of it, an indifferent looking Anelka apparently replied: “It’s not that I don’t care about Les Bleus, but, at some point, you have to say stop. Otherwise you spend your life in front of the TV.” Anelka was just 19.

Four years later in 2002, an unconvincing spell on loan at Liverpool meant he was overlooked again despite performing well at the European Championship in Holland and Belgium. When Jacques Santini called Anelka up to replace the injured Sidney Govou in November, he point-blank refused, saying that he didn’t want to be ‘a stop-gap’. Anelka later demanded that Santini “get on his knees and apologise.”

His international career already appeared to be over and under Raymond Domenech it didn’t look like being resurrected as Anelka was ignored again in 2006. “I will not watch the World Cup,” he grumbled. “I feel Domenech called me back just so I could show my potential. I even scored. I think that right from the start, he had no intention of taking me on board anyway. I deserved a place.”

However, since November last year when he scored the winning goal in the first leg of France’s controversial play-off against the Republic of Ireland, Anelka has become a pillar of Domenech’s side. In fact, if he plays tonight, Anelka will set a personal record of starting eight consecutive matches for Les Bleus.

Nevertheless, his troubled history with France means the 31-year-old’s commitment still frequently comes into question. Wednesday’s L’Équipe even inquired whether Anelka really considers this summer’s World Cup in South Africa to be the pinnacle of his career, it of course being his first.

If Anelka does consider it to be so, why then is he having so much trouble working for the team as a lone central striker in both a 4-3-3 and a 4-2-3-1 formation? In each of France’s last four matches, Anelka has persistently dropped back into midfield to find the ball instead of maintaining his position and acting as the reference point for the attack as both systems clearly demand.

It’s the sort of role David Trezeguet excelled in; often disappearing, not playing any part in the build up, just being there when the move needed finishing. But Anelka, out of a need to touch the ball and feel included, can’t or maybe won’t make it work. The net result: he hasn’t recorded any shots on target in his last four matches and Les Bleus are struggling for goals.

“A centre-forward must call for the ball to be played deep and get on the end of crosses like Miroslav Klose did on Philipp Lahm’s ball for Germany’s second goal against Australia,” explained Bixente Lizarazu, left back of the great side of 1998 and 2000.

“Anelka does what he wants. He does what he likes. He will play the same match in whatever position you put him. If you put him at right-back, he would still play as a false nine.”

Statistics from France’s opening game against Uruguay last Friday show that Anelka received the ball just once in the opposition penalty area, but collected it 13 times around the half-way line. Luis Fernandez, his former coach at Paris-Saint Germain, claims this is indicative of the fact Anelka has never liked playing on his own up front.

“He grows frustrated very quickly in this position and rapidly ‘unhooks’ himself from the attack to find the ball. In Paris, with Jean-Louis Gasset, they were always saying to him: ‘Call out to the wings for the ball, then move, and ask for it in the box’. He didn’t want to. He always wanted to touch the ball.” Anelka’s apparent reluctance to play any other way supposedly led one former France manager to believe he didn’t like football at the highest level because of its emphasis on executing tactics to the letter, restricting his freedom of expression.

However, as Roger Lemerre’s former assistant René Girard countered: “It’s difficult to say that a player who is a regular at Chelsea with an Italian coach doesn’t like constraints.” World Cup winner Christophe Dugarry also believes Anelka has no problem playing as a lone striker, as he used to do everything required of him in that role when Zinedine Zidane asked him to do so; the implication being that there currently isn’t an authority figure within the French camp.

Of course, all the blame for France’s problems up front shouldn’t be left squarely on Anelka’s shoulders, even if his record at international level stands at only one goal every 300 minutes. Domenech has lined up seven different attacks in his last 12 matches, preventing his strikers from developing an understanding of each other’s movements and responsibilities.

It’s likely to be different again tonight against Mexico even though Domenech will persist with the 4-2-3-1 he used against Uruguay. Thierry Henry looks set to return to the starting XI as France’s central striker, but Anelka won’t be dropped. Instead, he’ll move to the right-hand side where he featured regularly during qualifying, taking the place of Sidney Govou

Anelka’s Chelsea team-mate Florent Malouda is certain to be back after his spat with Domenech last week. He will play on the left-hand side, meaning Franck Ribéry moves into the hole behind Henry at the expense of Yoann Gourcuff, undoubtedly the biggest casualty of France’s recent travails.

Expected France line-up (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Sagna, Gallas, Abidal, Evra; Toulalan, Diaby; Anelka, Ribéry, Malouda; Henry.

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Late in Joburg, Lucky in Rustenberg

Chris Hunt — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 10:21:00 GMT

“The time for Africa has come, it has arrived,” announced President Jacob Zuma as he opened the 2010 World Cup. Obviously Zuma had arrived at the stadium with a police escort and didn’t find himself gridlocked on the motorway while trying to find a Park & Ride like most ordinary fans.

No journey to Soccer City on opening day seemed to be simple. My own shuttle bus trip started four and a half hours before kick-off, but having travelled just a few miles in two hours, reaching the stadium in time for the opening ceremony was already looking to be a distant hope when the coach ground to a halt in the fast lane of the motorway, spluttered, and never started again.

The best the driver could offer was that we attempt hitch a lift, which is how I found myself weaving in and out of three lanes of crawling traffic, trying to cadge a ride from anyone who looked to be heading for the stadium.

Avoiding the hard shoulder because of the speeding police cars using it to escort rushing dignitaries to the ground, by a piece of good fortune I chanced upon a couple of laidback Aussies, Halil and Gary, who were cruising coolly down the central lane with music blaring out of their car windows. “Hop in,” they said, “we read FourFourTwo so we’ll get you there.”

The biggest question in the build up to the tournament was whether South Africa’s creaking transport infrastructure could cope with the pressure of the World Cup, and the answer on the tournament’s opening day surely has to be no.

The organisers had already announced that they wanted “to encourage fans not to rely solely on Park & Ride”, and as if to further dissuade people from using it, in Johannesburg they made it mandatory to purchase parking tickets in advance. The trouble is, the message hadn’t reached everyone, including my Chelsea-supporting Australian driver.

Unfazed by the news, Gary continued weaving from lane to lane, chasing the fastest-moving route, and on our eventual arrival at the Park & Walk site, as he had predicted, a fifty rand bribe (worth approximately £5) ensured entry to car park without a ticket. “It’s South Africa,” he said laughing. “Nothing here is a problem.”

It was far too late for the opening ceremony but we’d reached Soccer City just in time for the match itself, and we took some small consolation from the fact that both Jacob Zuma and Sepp Blatter had made it to the stadium without problems!

Getting Lucky in Rustenberg
At the England-USA game the much-predicted American invasion failed to materialise, and it was the English that turned up in the largest numbers once again. With stories of travel chaos circulating, and with the authorities unable to confirm to the Football Supporters Federation whether shuttle buses would be running fans the 12km from the town to stadium, many made the decision to turn up in the early afternoon for an 8.30pm kick-off.

With the Royal Bafokeng Stadium situated slap bang in the middle of nowhere, the day could have gone disastrously wrong for fans stranded in a largely bar-free zone, but circumstances conspired to make this a trip to remember.

Those who had already done their own local research arrived at the ground and went immediately in search of Lucky’s in Phokeng, a ‘pub’ run by the enterprising Lucky Ramaroa.

Lucky had managed to publicise his small and wonderfully down-at-heel bar to the football world as the only drinking establishment within walking distance of the stadium. It turned out that there were others (small and few), but Lucky’s really was the place to be, even though the very act of reaching it was a challenge.

It's situated three quarters of a mile from the stadium, so the walk to the bar took you through the kind of poverty-stricken areas that the guide books suggest are avoided at all cost. But whereas the stories of Soweto quite rightly discourage you from taking this kind of stroll into the unknown, the locals of Phokeng opened up their community, and in some instances their homes, to the travelling fans. This friendly little village was delighted to play its own small part in making the 2010 World Cup a success.

The majority of the patrons in the walled beer garden of Lucky’s proved to be English, but they mixed freely with Americans and locals, watching the Argentina-Nigeria game together and enjoying the World Cup experience.

The incredible atmosphere could only be dashed by a disappointing England performance, which the team delivered without hesitation that evening. For the Americans, a draw was enough reason to celebrate, and as their fans left the stadium, the result allowed them to deviate from their usual default chant of ‘USA, USA’, reworking ‘Who Let The Dogs Out’ at Robert Green’s expense: ‘Who let the goals in – Green, Green, Green’.

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Maradona's Messi conundrum

FourFourTwo Team — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:54:00 GMT

Why has Maradona failed to get the best out of the world’s best player? And what’s the solution? Simon Talbot investigates

Right from the start everyone desperately wanted Leo Messi to be the new Diego Maradona. Everyone, that is, except Maradona himself. That, at least, is the suspicious conclusion many have drawn from the New Maradona's mostly unhappy time in the Argentinian national team since the Old Maradona became coach.

With Barcelona, Messi has won it all; with Argentina, he almost lost the lot. But why? And what can be done to put it right? El Diego, the theory goes, knows that after countless false idols, there is finally a real pretender to his crown, a man who could be as good or even better than him – and he doesn’t like it.
If Messi succeeds, Maradona’s status as a deity, the man with his own church and a faithful flock, is undermined.

“Maradona is sabotaging Messi," insists Rene Housemann, a member of the 1978 World Cup-winning side. “Diego is burning the lad because he wants to continue being a myth, the greatest player ever. But Messi is already better than him.”

For others, Maradona remains untouchable; the blame lies elsewhere. If anyone doesn't want Messi to be the new Maradona it is Messi. La pulga has no interest in being el pelusa; quiet, mumbling, almost mute, he doesn’t have Diego’s character, his leadership. Or his talent.

Worse, having crossed the Atlantic at 12, he doesn’t have Diego’s commitment to Argentina. “What runs through his veins?” asked Olé. “Will Messi ever cry like Martin Palermo does?” And few Argentinians are as despised as those who depart: it’s no coincidence that Ché, Borges and Gardel died elsewhere, none of them embraced as Argentinian heroes.

On the face of it, the theories and accusations are, in Gonzalo Higuaín’s words, “ridiculous”. Few doubt Maradona’s love for the national team; sabotaging Messi would be sabotaging Argentina. It would mean hacking violently at his nose to spite his face: if Messi wins the World Cup, even single-handedly, Maradona’s status would be enhanced. The man who won two world titles – as player and coach.

As for Messi, people forget that he went to war with his club to represent Argentina at the Olympics and the Champions League qualifier he missed to face Brazil. "I make the same effort for Argentina as for Barcelona,” Messi insisted publicly; “I’d love to play as well as I do for Barça.”

But there’s no escaping that Messi hasn’t. One cartoon depicts him as a Catalan Superman and an Argentinian Clarke Kent; the albiceleste is his Kryptonite. “In blue-and-white I feel fragile, weak, a mere mortal,” says his cartoon character, “for Barcelona I am Supermessi.” For those who follow him in Europe, Messi’s Argentina displays are baffling; for those who only follow the national team, so are his Barcelona ones.

He scored just four in World Cup qualifying, few of them significant; 60 percent of those polled by Clarín would leave him out of the side.

Nor, despite Messi's public insistence that his relationship with Maradona is “brilliant”, is there any escaping the fact that emotionally, psychologically, his coach has failed to nurture him like Barcelona. Suspicions about jealousy linger: there’s little warmth. When Messi scored a marvellous hat-trick against Atletico Madrid, drawing a standing ovation from the Atletico fans, the watching Maradona barely flinched; when Di María scored a nice goal three days later for Benfica, Maradona was on his feet.

Messi is not like Maradona. In a dressing room full of strong personalities, of mickey-taking and machismo, he is uncomfortable. “You have to give Messi confidence. If you take that away, you’ll kill him,” insists Mario Kempes. Instead, Maradona has laid pressure upon him. “Messi,” he says pointedly, “should be the leader.” Compare that to Pep Guardiola's remark: “Messi,” he said after a rare bad performance, "can play poorly as often as he wants.” Guardiola will do “anything” to make Messi happy - including providing him with a team that works.

And that's the point. Many Argentinians want Messi to make them play. Maybe it’s the other way round. “I can’t do it all on my own,” he says. At Barcelona he doesn’t have to; support is always close, the right pass delivered at the right time.

With Barcelona, Messi plays on the right of a front three, free to come into the middle. He has two forwards with him; two midfielders, Xavi and Iniesta, joining him; and Dani Alves bombing past. With Argentina, he’s often one of two strikers and needs a pair of binoculars to see the midfield. Wingers Di Maria and Gutierrez are often wide midfielders more than creative attackers – against Nigeria Guttierez was right-back. Messi simply doesn’t see the ball: against Uruguay in qualifying, he tried just four runs in the whole game – half as many as an average match for Barcelona.

“At Barcelona, Messi gets the ball when his team has already had 20 touches: they leave him one-on-one and he always has three options,” explains former Huracan coach Angel Cappa. “For Argentina, they just give him the ball and pray that he sorts everything out.”

It’s hard to understand why Maradona doesn’t follow Barcelona’s tactical lead. One thought that has not apparently crossed his mind is to build the team around Messi. One thought that has is that Messi may yet, for all the shortcomings of the system and the side, simply rescue that team. “Messi,” says Maradona, “is the world’s best. Hopefully he can show that by winning the World Cup, then we can embrace him.” Then? Maradona should try embracing Messi now.

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World Cup Breakfast: Day 7

FourFourTwo Team — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 08:27:00 GMT

Sausage butties are all well and good but do they make you chuckle or tell you something you don't know? Our World Cup Breakfast newsletter, delivered daily at 7.30am, will give you food for thought.

In this morning's edition:

* Don't panic! The last World Cup that started this badly ended up the best one ever
* Why 60% of Argentines wanted to drop Messi
* The least suitable nickname at the World Cup
* Come in No.13, your time is up
* Day 6 round-up
* The Knitted Fan
* Win a wardrobe (sort of)
* Why France are the new Holland, and not in a good way
* Gazza on Italia 90, his favourite player & drinking with Robbo

Plus a daily competition, Draw Specialist, One To Watch and WAG.

Enjoy an online Breakfast here and sign up now if you haven't already done so...

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World Cup Breakfast: Day 6

FourFourTwo Team — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:25:00 GMT

Muesli's for mugs, Weetabix for wallies. Our World Cup Breakfast newsletter, delivered daily at 7.30am, will give you food for thought.

In this morning's edition:

* The World Cup's most prolific player revealed (you'll never guess)
* Spain: rubbish at tackling
* What's on David Villa's boots
* Honduras v El Salvador - it's war. No, really
* Day 5 round-up
* Win a BMX
* Are Spain the best team ever?
* Why Ossie wore No.1 at Spain 82
* Videos: The greatest World Cup goals ever

Plus a daily competition, Draw Specialist, One To Watch and WAG.

Enjoy an online Breakfast here and sign up now if you haven't already done so...

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War games: Honduras v El Salvador

FourFourTwo Team — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 18:37:00 GMT

Honduras and El Salvador's 1969 World Cup qualifiers sparked The Football War. As the two faced up again last summer in a bid to reach South Africa, Henry Mance wondered if they were still battling over the beautiful game 40 years on...

Sometimes the more you read about Latin America, the more you find yourself asking: are they that crazy? The usual answer – especially where Hugo Chavez or donkeys have got anything to do with it – is yes, indeed they are.

But even by Banana Republic standards, the idea that Honduras and El Salvador fought a war over football requires a double take. The tale dates from 1969, when the two countries followed up a series of three World Cup qualifiers almost immediately with a military conflict that killed somewhere between 2,000 and 6,000 people.

The fighting only lasted 100 hours before a regional outbreak of sanity brokered a truce. Yet by then the headlines had been written. This was ‘The Football War’. After all, as the great Polish reporter Ryszard Kapuscinski was told by a friend, in Latin America the line between politics and football is often vague.a

Peace and love? Not in 1969
If any qualifying campaign could have caused a war, this was it. Foul-tempered doesn’t even come close. Before the first game, held in the Honduran capital Tegucigalpa on June 8 1969, the El Salvadorian side were kept up all night by riotous fans outside their hotel. They went on to lose 1-0. When the goal was scored – after about 10 minutes of injury time – one El Salvadorian lady back home reportedly shot herself through the heart. She was given a televised funeral, intended to whip up nationalist fervour before the return fixture a week later.

Back on home territory, the El Salvadorians took the chance to repay Honduras’s inhospitality. As soon as the Hondurans arrived at the airport, they knew they’d bitten off more than they could chew.

Their star player was Enrique ‘The Rabbit’ Cardona, whose pace and prowess in front of goal had propelled him from a United Fruit Company banana farm to Atletico Madrid. The El Salvadorians welcomed Cardona with posters of him being sexually assaulted by a considerably larger rabbit. Other posters showed anyone vaguely black in the Honduran side with a bone through their nostrils.

“I was used to that kind of stuff, but I could see my team-mates were upset,” remembers Cardona. “Then on the Friday before the game, the El Salvadorians killed two people outside our hotel. We went to stay in the Embassy instead.” Whatever sleep they got presumably didn’t prepare them for a rag being raised instead of the Honduran national flag during the pre-match national anthem.

Given the circumstances, the 3-0 pummelling the Hondurans got on the pitch seemed a victory of sorts. The team coach was quoted as saying. “We’re awfully lucky that we lost. Otherwise we wouldn’t be alive today.” The results left both countries’ hopes of becoming the first Central American side to qualify for the World Cup hinging on a deciding third match, to be played in Mexico City.

According to the El Salvadorian coach at the time, the Argentine Gregorio ‘Goyo’ Bundio, the whole team was called to the president’s house before the game. “He gave us some sweet bread and soft drinks and told me that – as a foreigner – I had to defend the national colours, because this match was for our national dignity”.

Bundio and his assistant, who hadn’t actually been paid for six months, went as far as enrolling as military reservists – “We weren’t going to hide under the bed!” – but that show of patriotism would hardly appease the president if they didn’t win on the pitch. “How could we go back to El Salvador defeated?” remembers Bundio. “So we played 120 minutes in Mexico with the altitude, with the cold, and with the continual rain.”

An estimated five thousand Salvadorians had travelled to the game, some doing the 770-mile journey on motorbike. El Salvador twice took the lead, but Honduras drew level, thanks to build-up from Cardona. In the second half, Bundio told his defenders to deal the striker in the only way they could.

“They kicked me off the pitch!” remembers Cardona, more out of disbelief than indignance. “I got a boot right in the chest. I’ve played in Spain, in England, in Ireland, and it’s never happened to me since.” Honduras’s attacking threat was blunted, and right at the death Mon Rodríguez headed El Salvador’s winner.
Bundio puts the victory down to the details: not eating in the hotel for fear of food poisoning, buying new boots for the slippery Azteca pitch, and ensuring that his players all touched their testicles before the game “so they didn’t leave them in the dressing room”.

But his El Salvadorian side was also something more: an attack-minded 4-4-2, with players rotating in and out of the striking positions. It’s likely that the country with the better team went to the 1970 World Cup – but only after its army and propeller planes had invaded Honduras.

War plus the shooting
The fighting was nasty, brutish and almost farcical. Ryszard Kapuscinki spent some of it with a Honduran soldier who was more interested in collecting dead men’s shoes for his family than obeying orders. “We soldiers didn’t have a clue,” says another Honduran veteran, Jose Luis Gutiérrez, who lost two relatives and a close friend in the war. “Only later did it come out that they’d be planning it all along. We went to war not knowing what we were fighting for or why. They just told us to defend the national sovereignty.”

El Salvador, with a better-prepared military, had dreamed of extending its tiny territory right across Honduras to the Atlantic. Nonetheless, six days after the invasion, its forces were bogged down a few kilometres from the border. So the two governments signed up to a truce, and limited their future disagreements to minor skirmishes and major court cases.

Salvadorian soldiers aim for Honduras

Veteran Gutierrez got out of the conflict with only a bout of blood dysentery. Today, however, he still leaves his military ID at home when he travels across the border, just in case someone still bears a grudge. And football against that country is never just a game. “I watched the match against the US [which Honduras had just lost]. It didn’t bother me. But I get really worked up when we play El Salvador. The younger generations don’t, but those of us who lived it all first-hand do.”

And yet it doesn’t take long to realise that football only explains so much of the 1969 conflict. “Why would we invade them if we’d won the game?” says Ricardo Padilla, an El Salvadorian sports entrepreneur who is currently in the business of becoming president of the national FA.

At most, the qualifiers were the straw that broke the camel’s back. “They abused football. They took advantage of us,” complains one surviving player about the politicians of the day. The countries’ real squabbles were very much off the pitch. Hundreds of thousands of El Salvadorians were living in Honduras illegally and, to the fury of El Salvadorian government, Honduran politicians were from the Nick Griffin school for political opportunity.

In the months of the war, and the war itself, up to 300,000 El Salvadorians were expelled from Honduras. Had it all come to a head a year earlier, the war would lie in the annals of forgotten Latin American bloodbaths, alongside Ecuador-Peru and Bolivia-Chile. A whole line of souvenir shirts would never have been born.

War is a long time ago
Four decades later, all-out war has subsided into friendly banter. El Salvadorians accuse the whole Honduran nation of general laziness, but Hondurans themselves don’t much care. “Well, it’s true. They work harder than us,” shrugs one.

The 1969 war, claims Honduras’s Colombian coach Reinaldo Rueda before last June's fixture, “doesn’t even go through the players’ minds”. In any case, the two sides made footballing peace on route to the 1986 World Cup. In order to qualify for the finals, El Salvador needed Honduras – who were already through – to get a result at home against Mexico. A grudge-bearing country would have needed no second invitation to play as if it were managed by Ossie Ardiles, but Honduras decided to play properly and actually held Mexico 0-0. The El Salvadorians were so grateful they invited the Honduras squad to visit as a thank-you.

When El Salvador went on to lose 10-1 to Hungary in that World Cup, one of those in the stadium was ‘Rabbit’ Cardona. “I thought it would make me happy [to see them lose]. But it didn’t,” he says, as mangoes clatter onto the tin roof of his house.

FEATURE Ten of the best for Hungary as El Salvador suffer day of shame

Over the last few years the rivalry has been dulled by the fact that Honduras have quite simply been better. They are ranked 35 in the world before kick-off, just below the Republic of Ireland and above Ghana. You have to drop 75 places to find El Salvador, sandwiched between Cuba and Zimbabwe. Six of the Honduras squad play in Europe and four in North America; El Salvador’s team is almost entirely nationally based. The only El Salvadorian to have ever made a mark abroad – Jorge ‘Magico’ Gonzalez, who played for Cadiz in the 1980s – is now better known as a drug addict.

So low is the benchmark of success in El Salvadorian football that there is a plaque in the lobby of the national FA that congratulates the country on just building its headquarters, headquarters whose pitches don’t even meet FIFA standards. Then again, the association president Rodrigo Calvo probably has more urgent things to worry about: investigators recently raided his offices on a widely-believed suspicion that he’s been bulk-selling match tickets to the black market.

Head-to-head results against Honduras offer El Salvador little comfort. The teams have spent less time on the pitch than the 100 hours they spent on the battlefield. And now the threat of being invaded has receded, Honduras probably would like to play El Salvador more often. Of the 58 meetings between the two sides, they've won 28, compared to El Salvador’s 12. El Salvador have never won a qualifier in Honduras; last time they made the trip, they were spanked 5-0.

Yet in the week before the game, the momentum swings. Honduras lose in the USA, while El Salvador beat a post-Sven-Goran Eriksson Mexico line-up at home. Suddenly El Salvador have the third qualification spot to themselves.  That leaves the June 10 game in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, as mathematically crucial for both sides’ qualification chances. Throw in two major earthquakes in the country in the days before the encounter, and FIFA is quick to classify the game as “high-risk”.

However, the atmosphere is anything but. The whole country is so laid back that you begin to wonder how Reinaldo Rueda manages to get 11 players on the pitch on time. Compared to their British counterparts, the autograph-hunters and journalists hanging around the Honduran squad’s lodgings are so lethargic they appear almost normal human beings. “If David Beckham came here, they’d hassle him for 10 minutes then lose interest,” says one local hack.

There’s one man who does look in a hurry – a scout apparently working with Steve Bruce. He scurries around the hotel lobby, hugging Wilson Palacios, and sitting down for a coffee with the high-rated Hendry Thomas and Ramon Nunez. He tries to duck photos, apparently failing to realise that the hotel lobby has glass walls. Within 10 minutes, news of the meeting is splashed over local internet sites. As scouting goes, it’s so unsubtle that all involved really owe Sir Robert Baden-Powell a written apology.

The interest of Premier League clubs in Honduran polayers was sparked by the success story of Palacios, first at Wigan, now at Spurs, who is now the team’s undisputed star. He left Honduras as a creative midfielder whose Hollywood balls tended to go straight to video. Yet a year deciphering Bruce at Wigan made him into a polished ball-winner. The death of Palacios’s brother – found murdered 18 months after he was kidnapped, despite the payment of a $500,000 ransom – means that no one is expecting too much of the him against El Salvador.

El Salvador, meanwhile, don’t really have any stars. Apart from Eliseo ‘Cheyo’ Quintanilla who plays ‘in the hole’, they’re a young, hard-working side who have been developed by Mexican coach Carlos de los Cabos over the past couple of years. His Honduras counterpart Rueda complains that this gives them an almost unfair advantage, given that the squad can get together to train whenever it wants. But whether extra Playstation bonding can really overcome the gulf in class remains to be seen.

Back in opposition
On the day of the game, the atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium in San Pedro Sula is reminiscent of the 1960s that Honduras and El Salvador never had – a few V-signs apart, it’s all brotherly love. Of course, brotherly love is much easier to achieve when both teams play in the same colours – nobody can quite work out which fans to attack.

A few years ago, the Hondurans used to chant “We’re going to the World Cup”, and the reply came: “To watch El Salvador play”. Now it’s just “Honduras”, followed by “Gay!” It’s hardly likely to cause a riot. Then as the players shake hands, the El Salvadorian captain, Ramon Sanchez, stops to hugs Wilson Palacios, presumably in sympathy at his brother’s death.

The love-in comes to an abrupt end with the referee’s whistle. Palacios, positioned like a Rottweiler on a leash from his centre-backs, treats the El Salvadorian midfield to a few reducers apiece. Such is Honduras’s early dominance that they start accusing El Salvador of timewasting... after about five minutes, which surely some kind of record. Erstwhile Birmingham City striker Carlo Costly – son of legendary defender Anthony Costly – has a brief slapping match with the El Salvadorian captain, before his veteran strike-partner Carlos Pavon pokes home the opener, his 10th goal against El Salvador.

A pre-game rumour had said that some gang members were planning on coming to the game. In the event, it turns out you don’t need gang members for there to be bloodshed at the Stadio Olímpico. Twenty minutes in, the Honduran police kick a middle-aged El Salvadorian fan down the stairs, while another gets a smack in the face. “But we’re Central American brothers...” another of the travelling contingent blurts out.

Then the El Salvadorians start turning on each other. A spilled beer quickly leads to broken nose, and two groups of a dozen, hard-arsed El Salvadorians wade in furiously. Nearby the police quickly decide they aren’t going to risk staining their riot shields for this lot. “You guys are crazy, fighting among the same nation,” says a passing Honduran, inexplicably selling green and white hats.

The blood more or less dries up in time for the El Salvadorians to jeer Costly as he misses the kind of stooping header that Harry Redknapp’s missus puts away for fun. From then on, the game gradually nods off. It becomes, if not exactly men against boys, then men against bigger men. El Salvador’s dainty side neatly spread the ball out to the wings, and Honduras dutifully head out their poor crosses.

The size difference is almost comical: following a clash of heads, El Salvador’s William Reyes tries to inject a rare bit of sportsmanship into the game by pulling the Honduran centre-back Osman Chavez to his feet, but Chavez is too heavy and Reyes wanders off slightly humiliated. It stays 1-0 until the final whistle. The chat varies from the predictable – “No way Honduras deserve to win playing like that” – to the inexplicable – “It is totally unforgivable to kill a cat”.

Outside the stadium, the Honduran president Manuel Zelaya, blessed with a moustache Super Mario would die for, is determined to soak up some reflected glory. He leans on the door of his parked 4x4, waving to the fans and kissing the odd baby. Seeing this cringe-worthy spectacle, the Hondurans turn the El Salvadorians’ chant against their own leader: “Gay! Gay! Gay!”

That’s about as blurred as the border between football and politics gets these days. The Football War that never really was is now barely a scuffle.

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Greeks philosophical rather than passionate

Jarek Zaba — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:00:00 GMT

I arrived in the Greek city of Thessaloniki on Friday, ready to experience my first 'home' match of my adventure - Greece vs South Korea.

Thessaloniki is a beautiful port city in the northern Macedonia region of the country. What I found there, however, was surprising - eventually settling on a bar in Aristotelous Square, I immediately began to question the viability of the trip.

Had I deluded myself into thinking this crowd round the big screen culture exists beyond our shores? Why was this establishment, and the many others I had passed, only half full? Why is no one wearing national team colours? And why the hell is that fella casually laughing immediately after South Korea score from a routine set piece?

I sat pondering these questions over a lonely beer during a disappointing first half, seemingly urging Greece on more than the Greeks were themselves in the vain hope an equaliser would kick some life into the semi-interested observers.

This was difficult to relate to. I’d prepared myself for a culture shock and I was eager to see things from a different perspective, but I was expecting deafening chanting and perhaps effigy-burning rather than general apathy.

Alas, there was an exception. To my left sat a young man who was, in commentator cliché speak, ‘kicking and heading every ball’, clearly frustrated with the total lack of imagination from his beloved Greek side.

To my relief, Kostas Champeropoulos, the least Greek looking guy in the bar with probably the most Greek name, spoke near perfect English, and was more than happy for me to join him and his friend George for the second half.

So what was behind the lack of blue-and-white draped souls shouting and screaming in futility at the numerous television screens around town? “In Greece I think it is a great shame,” said Kostas. “The fans and the media, they get very excited about clubs but not for the national team.”

“I saw England’s last game at Wembley against Mexico,” said George. “And the whole stadium was white. Sadly it is not the same in Greece.” So there you have it, England are actually revered for something - wearing colours.

But, there was more: “England are my favourite national team.” he continued, Kostas nodding in agreement. And there was further still: “I say they are going to win the World Cup.” Kostas stopped short of going along with this (he seemed the more sensible one), but they both seemed to harbour something of an inexplicable admiration for the Three Lions.

Kostas insisted that although Greece coach Otto Rehhagel had retained hero status for the team’s exploits in Portugal six years ago, he was not untouchable. “This team he has picked today, it is too slow,” he complained. “They are playing too many long balls and he picks too many ‘favourites’ regardless of form.

“And I’m not happy with this half time substitution. He has taken off Karagounis, who is old, and replaced him with Patsatzoglou who is even older. We have better faster younger players on the bench.” And just like magic, Loukas Vyntra is robbed of possession in the final third and Park Ji-Sung races past their entire backline with ease and fires home. Lack of pace indeed.

Kostas, ever the Greek, remained philosophical upon the final whistle. “Miracles can happen,” he said. “If we beat Nigeria, then you never know against Argentina. Maybe Maradona rests some players.”

Kostas’ faith in the miracle, I like to imagine, is a legacy from Euro 2004. Perhaps we’d all be a little less keen to write off our chances following one bad performance had we won a tournament at 150/1.

Truly, I can’t speak highly enough of my two Greek friends - aside from paying for my beer and showing me to the cab rank, they clearly knew their football and gave me a real education in the Greek game. Turns out everyone from outside Athens hates Athens because their clubs - Panathinaikos, Olympiakos and AEK - get favourable refereeing decisions and buy trophies, with smaller clubs unable to compete.

Doesn’t that sound familiar?

PART ONE: Watching the Cup with the Europeans

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Italy display a positive start

Richard Whittle — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:00:00 GMT

Considering that Italy left these shores with the good wishes of no one ringing in their ears, the display in the opening game of the tournament against Paraguay can only be seen as a positive start for the defending champions.

Less so the result which now leaves Marcello Lippi’s men having to find a hatful of goals against New Zealand as it looks as if the group will come down to goal-difference.

The evidence from the Cape Town draw suggests that Lippi needs to jettison his 4-2-3-1 formation forthwith and revert to a solid four in midfield and two up front.

Alberto Gilardino was a lonesome figure for long periods of the game and once again demonstrated that he lacks the physical power to battle for possession.

On the other hand, the team’s most physically-imposing operator Vincenzo Iaquinta was left to bull his way down the left flank where he was less of a threat.

Things certainly improved in the final third of the match when Simone Pepe, who put in his best performance to date in an Italy shirt, was switched to the left and Iaquinta pushed through the middle alongside Gilardino.

With goals now at a premium against the All Whites, there is no point in Lippi continuing with such a cagey approach heading into Sunday’s game.

Claudio Marchisio once again failed in the more advanced position through the middle but a move to the left with Pepe on the right would balance the side.

This would enable Riccardo Montolivo, who thankfully answered the call, to forge through the centre, leaving Daniele De Rossi in the holding role.

Lippi, of course, is the Zen master of tactical change to bring the best out of whatever personnel are available.

With Gigi Buffon out of the equation, he only had two substitutes at his disposal and he introduced two smart operators in Mauro Camoranesi – flailing challenges apart – and Antonio Di Natale who could move the ball quickly as the opposition dropped further and further back.

The only negative was that the final ball and movement in the area was lacking – but with Iaquinta as a focal point for the attack then Gilardino or either Giampaolo Pazzini or Di Natale would see more opportunities.

It seems that Lippi had to wait until the moment of battle to clear his head on how his side should approach the contest – and on four occasions the players were faced with different formations.

They adapted to the demands of their coach and it is this tactical variety that could still take the Azzurri a long way in the tournament.

Overall, the glass has to been seen as half-full so we will raise a glass to that at the moment.

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World Cup Breakfast: Day 5

FourFourTwo Team — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:51:00 GMT

Orange juice, cornflakes and coffee? Pah - try access, insight and humour. Our World Cup Breakfast newsletter, delivered daily at 7.30am, will give you food for thought.

In this morning's edition:

* Brazil's secret World Cup dossier - exclusive
* Inside North Korea's "Hermit Kingdom"
* Our inside tip for the Golden Boot
* Day 4 round-up
* Golden Generations: forever tarnished?
* What gets Buffon up in the morning

Plus a daily competition, Draw Specialist,One To Watch and WAG.

Enjoy an online Breakfast here and sign up now if you haven't already done so...

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Soweto 1976: the greatest games

FourFourTwo Team — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 06:05:00 GMT

At the height of apartheid, says Simon Kuper, thousands of black South Africans flocked to see 'the best game in the world' and a star who was 'better than Pele'...

It was a commercial on South African TV for something or other. Some boys in a field are picking teams. The setting must be the 1960s, because these are the boys who from the late 1960s through the 1980s would become the country’s footballing legends.

The leader of the boys is a big kid called Jomo (Jomo Sono, later of the New York Cosmos). There’s a boy named Kaizer (Kaizer Motaung, founder of the Kaizer Chiefs), another known as Ace (Ntsoelengoe, who played 11 years in the North American Soccer League).

Finally a tiny white kid called Gary (Bailey of Manchester United, meant to appeal to the white beer drinker) shows up. A black kid shouts in Xhosa, a southern African language: “Don’t pick him, he probably plays like a cow.” But Jomo throws Gary a ball, Gary catches it, and Jomo says, “OK Gary, you can be my goalkeeper.”

To black South Africans these players represent the golden age of their football. It’s what the fans regard as real South African football- the style many of them yearn to show the world at this World Cup.

Along with Nelson Mandela, and the music of Hugh Masekela and Miriam Makeba, this peculiar brand of football is probably the proudest product of black South Africa under apartheid. But hardly anyone outside South Africa ever saw it.

This football was played out mostly on Saturdays from about 1970 to 1985 in Orlando Stadium in Soweto, the black township just outside Johannesburg. Almost nothing of those Orlando Saturdays has been preserved. Hardly any of these games were televised, and even the few newspapers that covered them don’t tell the story.

The results and scorers can differ depending on which edition of the same paper you read. (One of the main football reporters of the period was a notorious drunk.) The people who ran South Africa didn’t care about Soweto: the place didn’t even appear on maps of the country.

And as for the people who were at those matches, many died young. The survivors inevitably tell different stories. You really had to be there. Sanza, now a DJ at a Johannesburg radio station, spent dozens of Saturdays of his childhood at Orlando Stadium. He told me how he remembers it.

Derby day in Soweto
It’s a Saturday in early 1976, the day of the Soweto derby: the Kaizer Chiefs against the Orlando Pirates. The Chiefs and Pirates are the biggest teams in South Africa, and they dwarf all others. It’s still that way today: in a survey of fans a couple of years ago, it turned out that South Africa’s best supported team after the the big two was Manchester United.

But in 1976, hardly any black South Africans know about Manchester United. In early 1976, apartheid is still going to last forever. South Africa on the morning of this Soweto derby is not quite the dark side of the moon, or North Korea, but it’s almost as isolated.

In January 1976 South Africa has become the last industrialised country on earth to introduce television – the apartheid government was scared of the device – but still no South African football matches are broadcast. The most that any of today’s fans have glimpsed of foreign football is the odd bit of footage in the “bioscope”, as South Africans call the cinema: a game recorded on 16mm film, shown sometimes years after it was played.

To today’s spectators, Chiefs vs Pirates is football. It’s the best game in the world. And though a visiting European might imagine that little Orlando Stadium with its multicoloured walls and uncovered stands belongs to an amateur club, in black South Africa it is Wembley and the Maracana in one.

The Orlando neighbourhood around the stadium is not so bad, by the standards of black South Africa in 1976. Black people had been forced out of Johannesburg in the 1930s and stuck in Orlando’s little “matchbox” houses, but these are not slums. At one point both Mandela and Desmond Tutu, the future archbishop, lived on the same Orlando street. However, in 1976, Mandela is serving a life sentence in prison on Robben Island.

The Soweto derby kicks off at 3pm today, but Sanza gets up at six in the morning. He needs to be at Orlando Stadium just after seven, to sell his apples: “If you woke up at 10 to seven the township is empty, man!”

By late morning Sanza’s apples are all gone. Well before kick-off, Orlando Stadium is already packed. Nobody spends a lot of time thinking about what the ground’s official capacity is, but it’s certainly a lot less than the 50,000 who have crammed in today. Some people are sitting on the scoreboard. Outside the gate, drunken men are crying because they cannot get in.

It’s “too full”, says Sanza. “And all the gangsters were there, and even thieves, because all the money is there. It was dangerous. If Pirates lose on the day, it’s hard to get out of the stadium. It’s a dull game without the violence, somehow. All those nicknames: ‘Welcome to the Slaughterhouse’, ‘Welcome to the House of Pain’. As kids we fought other kids even to sell apples. None of that now! That is all out of the window now.”

Life in urban black South Africa is smarter today: Sanza is dredging up his memories over coffee at Nino’s in a mall in what was once white Johannesburg. In Europe, Nino’s would be a tacky rip-off of Starbucks, but here it is glam. A fat grey-haired lady named Dorothy Masuku, a singing legend, walks in and lets Sanza kiss her hand as if we were in some nineteenth-century Café de Paris.

A peculiarity of the Chiefs-Pirates rivalry is that Chiefs are an offshoot of Pirates. The Orlando Pirates are the oldest big club in black South Africa. In 1937, when Orlando was just being settled, the club was founded either in the Leake Hall Boys’ Club or at house number 3799 in Orlando East, depending on whose memories you believe. It seems they named themselves Pirates after seeing the film Sea Hawk starring Errol Flynn.

Chiefs in 1976 are still a new team. The man they are named after, Kaizer Motaung, was a brilliant striker with the Pirates, later got himself to Atlanta Chiefs in the North American Soccer League, and after returning home to South Africa in 1969 joined together with allies who wanted to set up a breakaway club. Whereas the Pirates are something of an old-fashioned working man’s side, known as the “People’s Team”, the Chiefs are “the Phefeni Glamour Boys” or “hippies”.

In the 1970s, writes Peter Alegi, historian of South African football, Chiefs’ fans display “the V peace symbol, Afro hairstyles, colourful broad-collared shirts, and bell-bottom trousers”. Already, in 1976, the Chiefs have almost as many fans as the Pirates, not just all over South Africa but even as far north as Zambia. In the days after this match, some of these fans will devote some energy to finding out the score.

Pirate time
An hour before kick-off, the star of the game, Jomo Sono, a Pirate and son of a Pirate, born in Orlando East, arrives at Orlando Stadium. Earlier today he has visited the Indian market to watch pirated tapes of old FA Cup finals. Now he parks his car outside the ground, takes off his gorgeous snakeskin shoes, and practises kicking balls through tyres. In 1976 Sono is still only 20 years old. His glorious career in the US lies ahead of him. Soon, at the New York Cosmos, he will be understudy to Pele. But many South Africans know he is really the best player on earth.

Sono in his Cosmos pomp

Sometimes this hour before kick-off can be a pretty hairy time. The Pirates are not a brilliantly run club. Occasionally they split into factions. It’s been known to happen that two separate, rival elevens, each calling themselves the Orlando Pirates and dressed in the black-and-white club kit, will show up for kick-off claiming that they alone are the real thing and demanding to play.

Years after this afternoon’s match, a Pirates administrator named China Hlongwane will be stabbed 17 times by rivals on the pitch in front of 30,000 fans. Hlongwane survived the attack (perhaps because he was obese) and later survived an assassination attempt with an automatic assault rifle – only to die soon afterwards of a heart attack, writes Peter Auf der Heyde in his book about African football, Has Anybody Got a Whistle?

But today, thankfully, on the pitch at least, nobody is assassinated. Only one Pirates team shows up. The paid witchdoctors of the two teams take their seat in the stands. Already they have bathed their players in lamb’s blood and carried out their other prematch chores. Their work is done. Witchdoctors are so important – perhaps even more so than players – that they sometimes get lured by rival clubs.

Finally, Jomo Sono plays. In a time when the apartheid state tries to turn all blacks into unskilled labourers, here is a master craftsman. Sanza, who was born to be a DJ even if he first spent years selling ganja, says “When Jomo touches the ball, the entire stadium goes ‘Haaaaa!’ He stood on the ball with his hands raised. When the black man had nothing! Jomo Kenyatta! Because Jomo had a big head, like Kenyatta.” In 1976 Kenyatta is president of Kenya. But black South Africans aren’t allowed to have political representatives, and so heroes like Jomo Sono matter all the more.

Standing on the ball with hands raised was the sort of thing Soweto’s fans loved as much as a goal. It’s part of the game. In 1976, in the days before some evil mind has dreamed up the vuvuzela horn, they still show their approval by singing.

Keeping goal for Pirates this afternoon is Patson Banda, known as “Kamuzu” because every player on the pitch has a nickname. He too is only just 20 years old, but he’s already a veteran. In 1969 at the age of 13 he became first-choice goalkeeper of the Moroka Swallows. Aged 14 Banda joined Pirates. There he developed a special trick: before a match he would pretend to be injured, but a minute before kick-off he would suddenly run onto the field to replace the appointed goalkeeper.

“That is what you call psychological warfare,” he reminisced decades later. “Most teams feared me. So I would say, ‘This is what I will do today, I will deceive everyone, even my own teammates.’ As soon as I would appear all the fans, whether they were Pirates or Chiefs, would cheer. It was a successful ploy.” Presumably, though, it wore off over time.

The style of play that day in Soweto would strike any observer from 1970s’ England as belonging to a different sport than the football he knew. There are no puddles on the field, no flying tackles, no headers, no screams of “Win it!”

Many of the Chiefs and Pirates players aspire not to score a goal, still less win a tackle, but to do a trick that sends an opposing defender flying the wrong way, and then stand on the ball in triumph, or perhaps, as a flourish, step over it.

Banda says: “We played our own style. Black players are more talented than white. It has been said that white players can’t jump. South African supporters are not

Brazil's secret World Cup dossier

FourFourTwo Team — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 04:56:00 GMT

Samba spies have been hard at it trying to decipher the secrets of winning the World Cup. But FourFourTwo have got its hands on their work and can exclusively reveal its key findings. Titled 'Trends in International Football', Manoel Jairo Santos and Thiago Larghi's analysis how goals were scored at World Cup 2006, Copa America 2007 and Euro 2008

Key findings included:

46% of goals come from set pieces

65% result from the scoring team winning possession in their own half

50% are scored from a sequence of just four passes

80% result from six passes or fewer

A team is most likely to score 10-19 seconds after winning possession

Set pieces are decisive: the last two World Cup winners were the most efficient team in the tournament from dead-ball situations

There are no significant differences in how goals are scored at World Cups, European Championships and Copa Americas

Let's look at the evidence in full...

Number of passes in the build up to goals scored

The back four is still a firm favourite. No need to change the magazine's name yet, then.

Most popular systems of play

Goals from transition: how a team is most dangerous when it's just won possession

According to the authors: "An adequate pattern of attack emerged as a controlled game, trying to shoot at goal within seven passes." If that sounds suspiciouslly like 'Launch It!', there's still a place for sexy football. This report doesn't show how European champions Spain stretch the opposition with their slick passing before going for the kill.

As Jairo Santos and Lairghi say, "Football demands the integration of basic principles moderated by statistical results and experimentation" And anyway, they conclude: "We will try to prove ourselves wrong as soon as possible."

In the meantime: 'Crouchy! Get your nut on this!'

Odds: Brazil 11/1 to stuff North Korea 5-0

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Hype and hope in Portugal

Sergio Santos — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:06:00 GMT

There’s a belief in Portugal that we don’t perform when expectations are high. Perhaps unfortunately, big things are expected from the 2010 World Cup football squad.

Having followed our rocky road to South Africa though, the Portugeezer finds it difficult to understand why so many people are buying Carlos Queiroz’s pipe dream-turned-realistic goal of reaching the semi-finals of the competition.

After fending off Bosnia in the play-off back in November, the Selecção have played four friendly matches without looking particularly impressive in any of them. Portugal beat China 2-0 in a match where the players were jeered for their apparent lack of effort, were surprisingly held to a goalless draw by minnows Cape Verde, defeated a Cameroon side who played an hour without the red-carded Samuel Eto’o and breezed past Mozambique 3-0 in a match where the gap in quality was so big that even The Portugeezer without his glasses could see it.

Eto'o and Ronaldo before the friendly

Naturally, friendly matches mean little or nothing, and managers often use them for different purposes: some want to test a new formation, others want to see how youngsters handle the rigours of international football, while a few others simply want to check the players are gelling as a team.

But these friendlies neither tested the team nor helped instil more confidence in the players.

The squad without an attack
Quieroz's cause wasn't helped when Nani was ruled out of the World Cup after failing to shrug off a shoulder injury. The Manchester United winger enjoyed a good season at Old Trafford and could have showcased his increased consistency against the likes of Ivory Coast and Brazil.

Instead, will be replaced by... (drum roll)... Benfica's Ruben Amorim. Here’s why that decision is surprising: Unlike Nani, Amorim can’t dazzle defenders and is more of a utility man – someone who can play as right-back, central midfielder and even as right midfielder. If Queiroz had already been criticised for his lack of boldness, what does this move tell you?

Carlos & Co: Quieroz and his men

Sugarcoat it or not, here’s a fact: for this World Cup, Portugal team will just have two strikers (Liédson and Hugo Almeida) and three wingers – Simão, Danny and Ronaldo. Even if we can count on the attacking prowess of Duda and Fábio Coentrão, that’s not enough for a team that holds genuine aspirations of reaching the last stages of the competition.

Additionally, and even though The Portugeezer is a fan of Pepe, the Real Madrid player has only played 15 minutes (against Mozambique) since rupturing his knee ligaments in December. Even if the knee is fully healed, is Pepe mentally ready to do the dirty work expected for a holding midfielder? More than that, will he actually play?

Stomp or be stomped
As the country awaits the mouth-watering opener against Ivory Coast, there are still many question marks hovering around the real value of the Portuguese team. With players like Didier Drogba (apparently undergoing a Usain Bolt recovery), the Touré brothers, Zokora, Romaric and Kalou, Ivory Coast can be a tough nut to crack and they will give us a test us we haven’t experienced in a while.

Here’s a prediction for the match: the difference between getting stomped by an elephant and stomping one will be Deco and not Ronaldo. Why? Because even though CR9 is a naturally gifted athlete who can dribble, open up spaces and score from distance, Deco's high football IQ makes the team play.

What do you think? Will Portugal defeat Ivory Coast in Group G opening match?

OK amigos, it’s time to fasten your seatbelt and blow your vuvuzela as the biggest competition on the planet. Stay tuned as we’ll follow this journey together!

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"North Korea will win the World Cup"

FourFourTwo Team — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 03:05:00 GMT

The battle cry of football’s next superpower or a deluded rant from a nation run by propaganda? Neil Billingham visits the world’s most secretive state...

Well-seasoned travellers are used to being woken up in the morning by noise. In Africa the pandemonium comes from the hustle and bustle of daily life that begins at sunrise; in the Middle East it’s the piercing and emotive prayer call.

This sound is different. The stirring, triumphal music that begins at 7am is punctuated with stern-sounding speeches from a male speaker and cheerful, upbeat messages from a woman. The hubbub lasts for an hour and a half.

Every morning begins like this in North Korea. From the moment you arrive you are bombarded with propaganda, including huge roadside posters declaring ‘Death to the US imperialists’ and ‘Our missile programme is a guarantee for world peace and security’ and colossal war memorials and statues.

For a state that zealously honours its heroes, the only surprise is that there are no posters, monuments or recent media coverage dedicated to North Korea’s latest stars – the national football team. For on June 17, after a 0-0 draw in Riyadh, North Korea secured qualification for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1966. They did so at the expense of Asian heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Iran, and on their return to Pyongyang the squad were given a hero’s reception.

Dictatorships have a nasty habit of using football to promote their regimes, but five months after the team’s triumph in the Middle East it appears that leader Kim Jong-Il has yet to make the most of the achievement. His preferred weapon of propaganda at the moment is of course the nuclear one and, in May, North Korea claimed to have successfully tested a nuclear weapon as powerful as the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945.

So far, by comparison, the country’s historic qualification to the 2010 World Cup has been a low-key affair, but that didn’t deter FourFourTwo from visiting the nation that is described as the most secretive and secluded on the planet.

The national team are due to play a friendly match against a Brazilian team from Sao Paulo and, while this is hardly a must-see fixture in Planet Football’s calendar of events, it could be the only opportunity to witness North Korea playing in their own country before the World Cup in June.

The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, to give it the official title, doesn’t have the most restricted media in the world (Eritrea holds that accolade), but reporting from the ‘Hermit Kingdom’ is far from easy. On arrival at Pyongyang’s Sunan International Airport our laptops, mobile phones and personal cameras are taken off us by stony-faced customs officials with absurdly wide-brimmed military hats, seemingly straight out of a James Bond movie. The items are placed in clear plastic bags.

For a reporter it’s a strange feeling of nakedness to be without a laptop and mobile phone – and assurances that we will be able to pick everything up on our return don’t make the feeling any more palatable. Our official photographer is allowed his camera but he will be severely restricted in what he can and can’t snap. We are given two guides, both from the North Korea FA, and both will be by our side from the start of our trip to the end.

Unsurprisingly, our first stop is the monument to North Korea’s founder: the Great Leader, Kim Il-Sung, who died in 1994 and whose 60-foot bronze statue is the most popular tourist site in North Korea. Not that many tourists come here. Around 1,500 westerners visit every year, most of them during the Mass Games in September when tens of thousands perform a choreographed dance routine with gymnasts and children holding coloured cards.

Other sites we are taken to are the Arch of Triumph, the Juche Tower and the Korean War Museum, while football doesn’t even get mentioned by our guides. “We will start the football tomorrow,” says Kim Jong-Su, the  FA’s director of international relations.

1966 and all that
English football may constantly hark back to 1966, but it was also North Korea’s finest hour. From their Middlesbrough base, the team defeated Italy in their final group match and reached further than any Asian team had done before. Pak Doo-Ik’s solitary goal at Ayresome Park propelled them into the quarter-finals and sent the Azzurri home to a barrage of rotten tomatoes. Some 44 years later, the North Korean players from 1966 are still feted as heroes and FourFourTwo’s next appointment in Pyongyang is with four of them.

Again, the meeting is massively stage-managed. First we are taken with the players to the statue of the Great Leader, where they lay wreaths. Two of the players are wearing full military uniform, covered in medals. The other two also have a mass of medals but have civilian clothes.

After the flowers are laid we are taken to the Kim Il-Sung Stadium to conduct interviews with players from the 1966 side and today’s team. The questions for all the interviews had to be submitted well in advance of our visit and while this isn’t uncommon, even when interviewing top players in Europe, the nature of the answers is peculiar in the extreme.

First up is a frail and nervous-looking Pak Doo-Ik, who sits down gripping onto some sheets of paper before telling the translator that he is ready. The first question is an innocuous one about the 1966 World Cup. “I still remember with great fondness the passion that the people of England showed towards our team,” says the striker. “We couldn’t imagine that we could beat Italy...”

Mid-sentence, Pak Doo-Ik stops talking, turns to the translator and asks if he can start again. He then takes his glasses off, squints down at the sheet of paper for 30 seconds, puts his glasses back on and tells the translator he is ready. His answers are clearly pre-prepared and have probably been vetted. At 67, Pak Doo-Ik’s memory clearly isn’t as sharp as his ability in front of goal was 44 years ago, and he struggles to remember what he’s supposed to be saying.

Other interviews are equally odd. The coach of the current national team, Kim Jong-Hun, gives a variety of party-line responses like “thanks to the mercy of our Dear Leader I did a good job as national team coach,” before getting the translator to ask us about Sven Goran-Eriksson.

“Is Eriksson still at Notts County?” the translator asks on behalf of the coach. “Not any more,” we reply, but the interrogation continues, “So, do you think he is interested in coaching North Korea?” The vice president of the North Korea FA, Son Kwang-Ho, tells us that: “North Korea will win the World Cup,” and “it is because of the great support of our Dear Leader Kim Jong-Il that our national team will make this great achievement.”

It's grim up north
It’s not easy trying to get a clear picture of what life is like in North Korea. Like the interviews we do, everything is staged. From the stunning female traffic cops who are allegedly hand-picked by Kim Jong-Il, to the propaganda radios fitted in every home that can’t be turned off, everything is designed to give the impression that this is a thriving, buoyant and successful country. Quite something for a nation that is described as having one of the worst human rights record in the world and in the early 1990s saw nearly two million people die of starvation.

Thankfully, trying to get an honest picture of the capacity and capabilities of the country’s football team is much easier. The team’s performances in the two group phases of World Cup qualifying were certainly impressive, albeit based on a stingy defence that conceded only five goals in the whole campaign. That said, they only scored 12 times in those 14 matches and given they have been drawn in the ‘group of death’ with Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast, their prospects for South Africa look pretty bleak.

Their friendly match against Atletico Sorocaba in Pyongyang’s Kim Il-Sung Stadium doesn’t provide any evidence to contradict that view. The Brazilian side play in Sao Paulo’s second division but the South Americans are the better side in a fairly tame 0-0 draw.

North Korea are, in fairness, missing their three overseas players. The majority of the team play in the domestic league (which has 15 non-professional clubs) but their three stars ply their trade overseas: midfielder Ahn Young-Hak and striker Jong Tae-Se play and live in Japan courtesy of having grandparents who moved there during Japan’s occupation between 1910 and 1945.

The star of the national team, however, is captain and striker Hong Yong-Jo, who was the top scorer in World Cup qualifying. While playing for Pyongyang’s April 25, he attracted interest from Spurs and several clubs in Germany, but the government refused to sanction any transfer to a Western club.

A move to Serbia’s FK Bezanija was seen as more palatable and after a year in Belgrade he moved to Russia’s FC Rostov. “Football in North Korea is getting stronger every year”, he says. “Our youth teams are doing very well, our women’s team has been very successful and now we have qualified for the World Cup. We will go to South Africa full of confidence and hoping that we can do our nation proud.”

It’s hard to see any evidence of this at today’s match. It is played in a very strange atmosphere. The stadium is full to its 80,000 capacity, and such is the lack of information that many fans turn up thinking they are watching the Brazil national team.

However, even that doesn’t make for a fervent atmosphere – rarely have so many people produced so little noise. Instead, the match is like watching a Cirque du Soleil performance – periods of virtual silence with sudden bursts of applause when either side strings an impressive move together.

There's no half-time entertainment, just a propaganda video on the stadium’s big screen. The game ends with yet another burst of applause, the players politely swap shirts, the Brazilians leave the pitch, get onto their bus  and return to their hotel before heading back to Sao Paulo via Beijing.

Atletico Sorocaba’s vice-president Waldir Cipriani agrees to speak to FourFourTwo, but only on the club’s safe return to Brazil. “You had to be very careful what you said out there,” says Cipriani. “When I spoke to people I always said how beautiful the mountains and the flowers were.

"Of course I couldn’t say ‘your buildings are ugly and your cars are backward’ because you or your guides could get into trouble. We were in North Korea for four days and in that time we weren’t allowed to make phone calls or use the internet and at night there was no electricity in our hotel. It was unbelievable.”

Brazil’s national team coach Dunga has since been in contact with Atletico’s Sorocaba’s coach about the North Korea team, but Cipriani has no fears for the Selecao. “OK, so they had three of their best players missing,” says Cipriani. “I still think they will find it hard to even score a goal in South Africa.”

Despite the bold predictions of the North Korea FA, their team is likely to struggle to make any kind of impact in June. Given how tough their group is, there is a realistic possibility that the odd thumping could come their way. Which begs the question – how will the North Korean government deal with their team’s participation in South Africa?

In 2002, when neighbours South Korea co-hosted the World Cup the matches weren’t shown on TV and, on the morning of South Korea’s third-place match against Turkey, a North Korean gunboat attacked a South Korean patrol boat, resulting in 18 deaths. Eight years later, it seems inevitable that the Pyongyang regime will exploit their team’s involvement on the world stage this summer.

But how? Will it only permit media or TV coverage if the team plays well? Or will it again fan the flames of its nuclear programme to distract from poor performances on the football pitch? It’s impossible to say – and when it comes to guessing what will happen in North Korea this summer, the only thing you can expect is the unexpected.

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World Cup Breakfast: Day 4

FourFourTwo Team — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:04:00 GMT

How was your breakfast? Informative and amusing?

If not, try our newsletter, delivered daily at 7.30am.

In this morning's edition:

* Why Denmark have the best strikers in South Africa
* Interviewed: the WC player who used to be homeless
* Why South Africans eat pap
* The Paraguay striker with a 100% goal ratio
* Germans in their underwear
* Joachim Low's Take That tribute act

Plus a daily Draw Specialist, competition, One To Watch and WAG.

Enjoy an online Breakfast here and sign up now if you haven't already done so...

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Bring on the dark horses

Paul Simpson — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:56:00 GMT

Only six different teams have reached the 10 World Cup finals since 1970: Brazil, Italy, the Netherlands, (West) Germany, Argentina and France. Isn’t it about time someone smashed this cartel? Or at least emulate such great dark horses as Poland (1974), Croatia (1998) and Turkey (2002) by coming from nowhere to challenge the established order?

In search of just such a team that isn’t Spain, I watched Ghana beat Serbia 1-0. I fancied Serbia as dark horses on the strength of their qualifying record, all-round skill and camaraderie.

But until they went down to 10 men they disappointed. They had technical quality but lost shape as they ceded midfield, took too many touches and laboured over too many passes to trouble Ghana. But with Aleksandr Lukovic off, they switched to a more direct style and with Danko Lazovic (on for the industrious, underwhelming Nikola Zigic) marauding down the flank, finally created some clear chances.

A stupid handball and a cool penalty from Asamoah Gyan may have left Serbia with the proverbial ‘mountain to climb’ but if they can pass and move faster than they did against Ghana they could beat Germany and Australia.

And what of Ghana? England will not fancy meeting them in the last 16. They are quick, skilful, combative and fluent with Kwadwo Asamoah showing enough intelligence and passing range to suggest he could, as Jonathan Wilson says, be the best playmaker to emerge from West African football since Abedi Pele.

If Ghana have a flaw (apart from a keeper whose histrionics make Lady Gaga look like a wallflower), it is that they didn’t create the quality of chances their control of midfield deserved. If some attacking midfielders could heed Cruyff’s dictum that beauty in football is about doing the simple things brilliantly they would be a threat to anyone

"Gaga" Kingson: Never knowingly understated

I briefly considered Mexico as dark horses. Carlos Vela says they could win the tournament. On the evidence of the 1-1 draw with South Africa, I would suggest that Mexico’s greatest contribution to the history of this tournament will remain the moment striker Marcelino Bernal fell into the net and snapped the post in their knockout round tie against Bulgaria at USA 94, forcing the goals to be substituted.

Anguish, irony and revolution
Great footballers are usually cast as driven by unshakeable self-belief. But as Philippe Auclair points out in his book on Cantona, “all but a very few professionals are inhabited by a sometimes overwhelming sense of anguish”. And greatness may often be borne out of a player’s ability to conquer deep-rooted feelings of inadequacy.

Auclair’s national team are gripped by anguish and feelings of inadequacy. Footballers are cocooned from many realities, but this squad must surely sense that they are the most despised national team in the history of French football.

The fact that Raymond Domenech has now amassed more games as French coach than the great Michel Hidalgo is a bitter irony many French fans would rather ignore. France’s most famous goalkeeper Albert Camus once observed: “If you have no character, you have to have a method.” Domenech has neither.

The squad is in disarray with rumours of racial tension, Franck Ribery at odds with the world (and especially, it seems, Yoann Gourcuff), everybody believing they are worth a place in the starting XI and even the placid Florent Malouda rowing with Domenech. Thierry Henry is, understandably, having difficulty adjusting to his new role as impact sub.

Although The Guardian’s David Hytner referred to Henry’s “eye-catching cameo as substitute” against Uruguay, for me the eye-catching aspect of it was the sight of Henry strutting around the pitch like a peacock – as if through sheer aura, air of command and some authoritative pointing (which always looks good on telly even if it annoys your teammates) he could convince himself, his teammates and us that he is still a great striker.

Henry makes a subtle point

As Luigi Riva said of Italy’s disastrous 1974 World Cup, the most important people in any finals are the substitutes: if they cannot accept their role, you are doomed. The best thing may be for France to slink out of the World Cup in the group stages before the damage to team spirit becomes utterly irrevocable – so Laurent Blanc can start the biggest overhaul in French football since Clarefontaine was envisaged in the 1970s.

The geography of choking
Basel, Leon, Cagliari, St Etienne, Shizuoka and Rustenburg. Six cities in four continents where, in the 13 World Cup finals England have played in, they have taken the lead and failed to do the business.

In Leon, St Etienne and Shizuoka, England’s lack of ruthlessness proved fatal. Against Belgium in Basle in 1954, with England 3-1 up halfway through the second half and eventually drawing 4-4 after extra-time, it was merely embarrassing – as it was against Ireland in Cagliari in 1990. The only World Cup finals in which England defended leads with Teutonic efficiency was 1966. In five games Sir Alf Ramsey’s England took the lead and, although they made heavy weather of the final, they won all five.

Four years later, in circumstances that remain mysterious and controversial to this day, England blew a 2-0 lead to West Germany, starting an inglorious tradition which – if you acknowledge similar false starts against Germany at Euro 96, Portugal at Euro 2000 and France and Portugal at Euro 2004 – suggests a history of choking worthy of Devon Loch, Tim Henman and the All-Blacks combined.

Obviously it’s easy to blame the Hand Of Clod (as the News Of The World has) for the draw with the USA but I was intrigued by Paul Wilson’s observation in The Guardian that, as under the late, unlamented Sven, England defended so deep they invited the likes of Clint Dempsey to shoot. Is there some deep, almost atavistic instinct that compels England’s footballers to seek sanctuary near their own penalty area?

"Retreat!"

The other dismal echo of the Eriksson era was the aimless hoofing that greeted Peter Crouch’s introduction. For a moment – I watched the late rerun on BBC3 – I felt as if I had fallen through a crack in the time/space continuum and landed in Shizuoka in 2002 just in time to watch Sol Campbell belt the ball in the very general direction of the Brazil goal.

One final thought: rarely, in the field of sporting conflict, have I seen so much pace on the flanks (from full-backs and wingers) produce so few decent crosses as against the USA. You can blame Heskey for his tame shot against Tim Howard but you can’t blame him or Crouch for failing to connect with crosses that were never struck.

Still, this is all thoroughly Englandish. In 13 opening games in the World Cup, the Three Lions have won five, drawn six and lost two. As the USA are arguably the strongest other team in the group, things can only get better for England, Capello and certainly for Wayne Rooney, an undisputed genius who seems (hopefully temporarily) to have lost his way.

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Lippi still playing a guessing game

Richard Whittle — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 10:49:00 GMT

Marcello Lippi will keep everyone guessing right up to just before kick-off this evening, but let us hope that the Italy coach is not playing the guessing game as well.

For a man who likes nothing better than sailing off the shores of his beloved Viareggio, he seems to be heading into choppy waters without a clear idea on how to navigate them.

It seems for once that the master planner is not completely at ease with his starting line-up going into the Group F opener against Paraguay.

The party headed down to wet and windy Cape Town from their lofty Casa Azzurri retreat - which has been turned into a home from home to help ease the burden on a squad that has so many players making their debuts in a major tournament - not looking like a group that has retaining the title in its sights.

Lippi has spent the last five days rolling through different formations and switching players from one position to another to such an extent that Italy will start the campaign as the most versatile team in the competition.

Considering that Andrea Pirlo is missing until probably the final group game - although the playmaker has started jogging again - and that the new faces have been looking as pale as the skies, a draw would be the brightest outcome.

Most worryingly has been the sight of Giorgio Chiellini playing training games at left-back when his pace and ability to attack the ball are needed alongside Fabio Cannavaro who held the whole team together four years ago, but will be playing in Dubai next season – and enough has been said about the captain’s fading powers.

Christian Maggio has sealed the right-back role and this leaves Domenico Crisctio and another old war-horse Gianluca Zambrotta competing for the left-back spot, with hopefully the Genoa man getting the nod.

Riccardo Montolivo should partner Daniele De Rossi in the holding role, with Claudio Marchisio flanked by Simone Pepe and Vincenzo Iaquinta further ahead.

While Pepe will be inclined to hold his position out wide on the right and Marchisio’s natural inclination will be to drop back, Iaquinta will be busting a gut like the willing work-horse he is to support Alberto Gilardino.

It will be a formation that could easily be cast adrift as the game progresses - and if Italy can find a breakthrough then the opposition could well run aground against a five-man midfield.

If anyone can plot a course to a successful tournament it is Lippi, but he will need to steady the ship immediately to ensure a long voyage ahead.

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France are the new Holland: squabbling

James Horncastle — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 14:19:00 GMT

In 2008, Leos were in Raymond Domenech’s line of fire. Since April this year, it’s been any footballer with an over-inflated sense of self worth.
Interviewed in L’Équipe barely two months ago, the 58-year-old said of his players: “They must be clever and forget their ego to realise that the only thing that matters is the team, not them. If they don’t understand that I will need a gun.”

If the reports coming out of the French camp are correct, it’s time for Ray to unholster his sidearm and channel Michael Douglas’s character from Falling Down. Domenech’s decision to drop Florent Malouda to the bench for Friday night’s opening game against Uruguay was sadly all too predictable even if the pair looked to have patched up their differences, which first came to light two years ago.

According to Friday’s edition of L’Équipe, Malouda had been a little over zealous in training, diving recklessly into tackles that could have injured one of his team-mates on the eve of the finals. Domenech sent Patrice Évra over to calm ‘Flo’ down, but it didn’t work. A few seconds later, Domenech raised his voice and Malouda’s place in the starting line-up was gone.

Saturday’s Le Parisien had a different chain of events, claiming that the storm clouds first gathered a little earlier in the week. The first clash was apparently on Tuesday when Domenech asked Malouda to sit back on the left-hand side of midfield in France’s 4-3-3 and help out the team’s very own Ron Burgundy – anchorman Jérémy Toulalan – while Yoann Gourcuff was given license to roam further forward.

The Chelsea player didn’t just sulk. He stropped and is said to have asked: “Why me? I scored 15 goals for Chelsea this season and I’m a creator. Other players fit that profile.”

Le Parisien understands it was then that Domenech decided to replace Malouda with Abou Diaby. Call it spiteful, but Domenech had found an excuse to start the Arsenal midfielder, not that he needed one anyway. But starting him in place of Malouda never seemed on the cards.

As The French Connection reported a few days ago, Diaby was in line for a place in the starting XI after coming off the bench to good effect in each of France’s three warm-up matches.

"Ooh, a text from the boss... oh."

Sidney Govou was supposed to be the one to make way so the 24-year-old could play on the left of midfield with Malouda in front of him occupying the position he plays for Chelsea - providing, that is, Franck Ribéry also accepted to move over to the right of France’s attack.

Given Ribéry’s distaste for playing there, which he revealed to France Football in February, Domenech and some squad members were apparently pushing to drop Gourcuff for Diaby instead. Malouda’s place simply wasn’t up for discussion. He had become indispensable. Why should he have to play out of position?
Only last week, Malouda said of his relationship with Domenech: “If we had a problem, it was a problem of personality. He knows me well and he knows how to use me.”

The 29-year-old was referring to the seven-month ‘ban’ Domenech supposedly imposed on him between November 2008 and June 2009 after he reacted badly to being played as a defensive midfielder against Romania in a World Cup qualifier.

“I am not a clown, or a puppet,” Malouda said at the time. “He took me for somebody else. I don’t wish to talk of him or with him. He has a tendency to create conflicts and me, I never like to bring on conflict.” The former Lyon star proved that last night when after France’s sterile draw with Uruguay, he refused to have another crack at Domenech.

“It was a defensive decision. I learnt of it at 4pm before the pre-match meal. It didn’t stop me from digesting it, but there was genuine disappointment,” Malouda revealed.

“I think that it has nothing to do with what happened in training yesterday. It might seem surprising, but it was a defensive decision. That is how the coach presented it to me.” He then added: “I am not here to drag my feet. I have the desire to do well for this team.”

Despite Malouda’s apparent willingness to take Domenech’s decision on the chin, there is a sense that he has lit the blue-touch paper running through a French camp primed to explode. No matter how you look at it, part, if not all, of the blame for the smell of cordite lingering around Knysna emanates from Domenech’s questionable decision-making.

The flash points are everywhere. For example, how long will Thierry Henry accept a role on the bench when - as L’Équipe reported on Wednesday - Évra, Gallas and even Anelka would like him in the starting XI?

Can Gallas put aside his visible disappointment at not being named captain, which led to a press silence?

And how would Ribéry react to being asked to sacrifice himself and play on the right for the good of the team, as Patrick Vieira recently suggested?

"I'm bored. I'm the chairman of the bored."

Couple this week’s events with the fracture between young and old at Euro 2008 - when Gallas took action against Samir Nasri’s decision to sit in Henry’s place on the team bus - and it’s reasonable to conclude that France are the new Holland when it comes to major tournament in-fighting.

The potential may be there on paper, but the reality is bleak. Domenech may have got France to the final in 2006, but his record of just one win in the seven group stage matches that he has been involved in does not bode well for them.

Just like in 2006, Domenech used a different system from the one he deployed in the warm-up matches last night and got a 0-0 draw. But in 2006, he had Zinedine Zidane and, as Vincent Duluc noted in Saturday’s L’Équipe, from what we saw in Cape Town, his successor was not in South Africa.

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World Cup Breakfast: Day 3

FourFourTwo Team — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 14:00:00 GMT

Did you have a nice breakfast?

It would have tasted better with our newsletter, delivered daily at 7.30am.

In this morning's edition:

* Why we knew the Algeria-Slovenia game would be pants
* Tim Cahill's granddad and his extrarodinary tattoos
* Remember Raddy Antic? The Spanish do
* Meet Germany's playmaker
* How to win a World Cup, with Aime Jacquet

Plus a daily Draw Specialist, competition, One To Watch and WAG.

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The man in the middle for England-USA

Celso de Campos Jr — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 17:30:00 GMT

Wayne Rooney? Landon Donovan? Frank Lampard? Tim Howard?

No, we Brazilians believe the most likely man to decide the England vs United States World Cup clash could be referee Carlos Eugênio Simon.

Sad, but true.

Poor refereeing happens all around the world. However, there is no one around as prone to changing the result of a game as the 44-year old Brazilian international referee.

Had he worked in Europe, Simon (pronounced see-mon) would probably have had his career cut at the nascent – and on Saturday he would be a fine economist or hot-dog vendor in his home state of Rio Grande do Sul.

But he’s Brazilian. And not only do the CBF let him continue with his pedestrian refereeing, but it also rewards him with nominations for the World Cup.

South Africa 2010 is his third, and it’s not a coincidence that in the previous ones FIFA never let him go further than the round of 16.

But what amazed and revolted Brazilian football fans is that Simon received the go-ahead to attend another World Cup in a season that saw him reach rock bottom of his regrettable career.

Early in 2009, Simon became the butt of all jokes when he awarded this penalty in the Ceara State championship. Pundits dubbed it “The Phantom Penalty,” for obvious reasons – the forward was three meters away from the defender when he mysteriously collapsed.

In the second semester, it turned nasty. After Simon incredibly ruled out this goal against Fluminense, Palmeiras president Luiz Gonzaga Beluzzo lost his temper. The Big Green boss said that he would slap the referee if by some chance they met on the street, and accused Simon of being corrupt.

With so many absurd calls in one single season, the CBF decided to suspend Simon from the National Championship. In an official statement, the Brazilian football authority justified that he was being pulled out of the tournament because the “repetition of mistakes.”

Fans cheered. If even the CBF acknowledged his poor skills, it seemed that Simon’s bad deeds would have come to an end. Better late than never.

But early this year, the shock: as inexplicably as the Phantom Penalty, the same CBF who had put Simon on the “fridge” - as we say in Brazil - nominated him for World Cup duty again.

On behalf of Brazilian fans, I’m apologising to the world in advance for that choice.

That said, I really hope that Simon has a perfect evening in the England vs USA clash and that the saint patron of referees, if there is one, prevents him from making any of his trademark random calls.

Good luck to you, Simon.

And to us all.

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Why Germany will do well

FourFourTwo Team — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 15:54:00 GMT

Germany’s ‘efficiency’ and ‘mentality’ are again expected to come to the fore this summer, but how do they actually work? Ulrich Hesse, author of Tor!, the definitive book on German football, lifts the lid on their secrets...

"Can you believe we’ve reached the final of a World Cup with these players?"
Four years ago, I toured the southern parts of Britain on an invitation from the England Supporters Club and the Goethe Institute. The idea was to prepare people for the World Cup in Germany, and so I spoke to fans in Exeter, lectured students in London, appeared on a regional television show with Paul Durkin, and talked to scores of journalists.

I promised them the tournament was going to be wonderful and that the travelling fans would love the country.  I predicted everybody would be treated well and there would be no trouble. I even said Italy were going to win the World Cup. Then, invariably, someone asked about the Germany team.

Initially, I would simply state we were hopeless. Since I could sense a slightly sceptical reaction, I then held up a poster of Christoph Metzelder and asked people to put a name to the face. This always resulted in blank stares and silence.

At this point I pompously declared: "This man played in the 2002 World Cup Final and will be our starting centre-back for this tournament. And yet you have no idea who he is. That tells you everything you need to know about Germany’s chances at the World Cup."

In Islington, someone stood up while I was smiling smugly and resting my case. He said: "It doesn’t make any difference who you field: You’re gonna make the semis anyway."

And he was right. Of course he was. It’s just that one of the defining characteristics of us Germans is that we’re, well, German. We're much too sober to believe in supernatural powers or preordained destiny, because where would that leave discipline and hard work?

Could you name this man?

And yet, every two years, our national team seems to prove that regardless of preparation or performance, the result is always roughly the same. We should have learned to take that for granted, yet it never fails to amaze us – like it once amazed Franz Beckenbauer, sitting on a hotel bed in Mexico City.

That was two days before the 1986 World Cup final and the Kaiser was talking to a journalist from the magazine Der Spiegel. Beckenbauer, who had practically been begged into taking over a national team in disarray two years previously, was talking about his potential line-up when he abruptly burst into a ringing fit of laughter.

The reporter was bewildered, yet could do nothing but wait until Beckenbauer had regained his composure before asking him why he was so amused. Beckenbauer said: "God, can you believe we’ve reached the final of a World Cup with these players?"

The Kaiser may have been laughing back then, but he was dead serious when implying his side had no business playing Argentina for the biggest trophy in the game. "Luckily enough, we did not win the final," he said later. "Because that would have been a defeat for football." His squad, Beckenbauer recounted, "was not made up of artists, just players you could rely upon."  It reflected what the Bundesliga had to offer: "There wasn’t much – apart from those virtues you can almost always count on in German football: fighting spirit and a solid defence."

"Germany will do well in South Africa because they always do"
This, quite a few people outside of Germany will say, held true not only for 1986 but also applied to almost every major tournament played before and after. Germany always fielded a side that couldn’t honestly expect to make it far – and then did precisely that, against all odds and for no apparent reason.

This is, of course, a criminally sweeping generalisation. It’s also unfair because it disregards all those teams that did feature a lot of talent, from Beckenbauer and Karl-Heinz Rummenigge to Lothar Matthaus and Matthias Sammer. Still, there's more than just a grain of truth to the stereotype, and even the younger members of the current squad are quite aware of this aspect of the team’s history.

"You cannot really explain Germany’s track record rationally," Per Mertesacker, Werder Bremen’s 25-year-old centre back, says, "but we sure want to keep our run of good showings alive." He has been a regular since 2005, which is why he blithely adds: "After a third-place and a second-place finish at the last two tournaments, we’d now like to go one step further and win the thing."

Winning the World Cup? If Mertesacker was representing any other country, people would take one look at his team’s starting XI and dismiss that hope as a pipe dream. Only one international, Michael Ballack, is consistently playing at the highest level and can be considered a star – and he's injured. The others are players like Mertesacker himself – friendly and eager, but unassuming and a bit boring. Yet you have to take Mertesacker seriously, because he is German and the Germans, as football fans the world over know, always do well.

But why is that so? Mertesacker thinks the answer lies in teamwork. "Star players do not win you a tournament," he points out. "What you need is a well-balanced team. Also, a good atmosphere is crucial during a long tournament. And we all get along fine, we enjoy meeting up with the other internationals."

Germany’s national coaches have indeed always placed a premium on team spirit and never shied away from drastic measures to sustain it. Franz Beckenbauer sent home goalkeeper Uli Stein from the 1986 World Cup, Berti Vogts did the same with Stefan Effenberg in 1994. Two years later, the manager didn’t call Lothar Matthaus up to the Euro 96 squad because he was feuding with striker Jurgen Klinsmann.

Not pampering star players has, according to Mertesacker, another advantage: "There is a lot of pressure during a tournament like the World Cup, and it’s better to spread the load over many shoulders than to have a few stars on whom everything depends."

There’s another key word right there – pressure. For some reason Germany seems to produce players who can cope with it extremely well, which brings up the highly elusive concept of "mentality". Wynton Rufer, New Zealand’s greatest-ever footballer, has played in the Bundesliga for seven years and knows what he’s talking about. "Germany will do well in South Africa, because they always do," he says emphatically. "They simply have a winning mentality. If we ever create this winning mentality in New Zealand, we’ve taken a giant step forward."

"The pressure was inhuman"
Rufer is not alone in considering this mental aspect of the game more important than any other single factor. Some nine years ago, when Matthias Sammer was managing Borussia Dortmund, he once faced the press after a disappointing loss against Freiburg and said: "What we need is a winning mentality, because that's worth more than footballing quality."

Today Sammer is the German FA’s technical director and oversees the national youth teams. Last March, he instigated a debate about the guidelines for developing talent when he demanded the European Championship title of the under-17 team and then did the same with regard to the under-21s. He came under criticism for putting so much pressure on the youngsters, because there is a school of thought that says winning should not be the main focus in youth football. However, Sammer feels rather differently.

"The only way a player can aquire a winning mentality is by winning," he says forcefully. "It’s not something you can teach. But if you get used to winning from an early age, you want to have this feeling again and again. That’s how you get the hunger."

And by "winning", Sammer does not merely mean individual matches. "I want our young players to realise that money is one thing in the professional game – but that the recognition you get for winning a title is more valuable," he says, gesturing to underline every point. "If they learn it, they will live this winning mentality everywhere and carry it into club football."

Evidently, both the Under-17s and the Under-21s managed to cope with the pressure Sammer had created, as they did win the titles he demanded. But there is another aspect to Sammer’s stance, because preparing German players for pressure situations may be not just desirable but a sheer necessity. Because while it’s tempting to say that success breeds successs – meaning the Germans win because they have history of winning – it is equally true that success breeds pressure.

Oliver Kahn, famous for his mental strength, says: "I wouldn’t wish games like the World Cup qualifying play-offs against the Ukraine in 2001 on my worst enemy. We all knew that no Germany team had ever failed to qualify for a World Cup. We didn’t want to be the first. The pressure was inhuman."

"Germany have always been a tournament team"
Even a young player like Mertesacker is aware that a history of success is a double-edged sword. "You draw strength from past results," he says slowly, "but the past can also be a burden. Which makes it even more important that you collect types who can handle pressure."

Actually, Germans go one step further and seem to collect players who do better under pressure. Or, to put it slightly differently, perform at their top level when they have to. There is even a term in German for such a side – Turniermannschaft. Literally, it means a ‘tournament team’ and it is an expression you frequently hear every two years when Germany’s chances at a World Cup or the European Championships are discussed.

On the day after the Germans had eliminated a much-fancied Portuguese team from Euro 2008, Stern magazine’s headline simply read: ‘The Eternal Tournament Team’. They didn’t have to explain the meaning in the main text. The idea was: we have done it again, we have produced when the chips were down.

"Friendlies don’t mean anything," Kahn said after Germany’s loss to Argentina in March. "We will be ready when we have to be. That’s the way it has always been."

Indeed, with very few exceptions, (West) Germany’s most successful tournaments have opened inconspicuously. Sometimes there were humiliating debacles (versus Hungary in ’54), sometimes embarrassing losses (against Algeria in ’82), once there was even a politically unforgivable defeat (against East Germany in 1974). But the hallmark of a Turniermannschaft is that you lose when you can afford to, then you improve from round to round.

Every German knows this, even the Chancellor. Three months before the 2006 World Cup, Angela Merkel issued a statement to quieten the growing concern about the state of the team. It said: "Why don’t we just wait and see what we’re made of? Let us not forget that Germany have always been a tournament team."

There is a man in Islington who will agree and tell you it won’t be any different this summer. Me, I’m still too sober to believe in all this voodoo. But I’ve been proved wrong before.

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World Cup Breakfast: Day 2

FourFourTwo Team — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 08:48:00 GMT

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Subscribe to our newsletter and we'll bring you the World (Cup) as you munch your cornflakes.

In this morning's epistle:

* How many Argentinians wanted Maradona?
* What happened at Capello's last World Cup (swearing and ignominious failure)
* Profiled: the top scorer in UEFA qualifying
* Why Tevez is nearly as toothless as Heskey
* The best nickname in World Cup history
* Would a World Cup win mean Capello tops Ramsey?

Plus a daily Draw Specialist, competition, One To Watch and WAG.

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Make new summer plans, it's going to end in tears

James Maw — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:30:00 GMT

Back in December the World Cup seemed a lifetime away, and FourFourTwo just couldn’t wait to see how Fabio's boys would get on in South Africa, so the folk behind Championship Manager were kind enough to invite us over to watch a simulation of the entire tournament using a specially-coded version of their latest title...

June 12
England 3-1 USA
Rustenburg

There are few surprises throughout the England side – although e-Fabio prefers Jermain Defoe to Emile Heskey up front.

After a slow start, England click into gear and goals from Lampard and Rooney give England a 2-0 half-time lead. But in typical fashion, complacency kicks in, and US midfielder Michael Bradley pulls one back just after the break. Fortunately Steven Gerrard smashes one in from fully 30 yards, and England hold on for a confidence boosting 3-1 victory.

June 18
England 4-1 Algeria
Cape Town

Brimming with confidence after a win in their opening match, England romp into a three-goal lead within half an hour, with two Jermain Defoe strikes sandwiching a Wayne Rooney belter.

But yet again, Fabio’s boys lose focus and allow their opponents back into the game, with the Algerian's bundling home from close range. As Algeria press for a second, England catch them on the break and Rooney pokes home his second of the match. England are on a roll.

June 23
Slovenia 0-0 England
Port Elizabeth

With six points already on the board, England’s place in the last 16 is already secure going into the final round of group matches. It’s at this point in real life that hysteria would kick in back home, and you’d start to see those little flags adorn roughly 91 percent of the nation’s cars, endless fluffy news-pieces about people that have painted their house/pub/Labrador in support of the team, and people who show little if any interest in football for the other 48 weeks of the year start telling you that England have ‘the best team on paper’, but that ‘Lampard is sh*t’.

There’s nothing like a drab stalemate to curb misguided optimism.

June 26
England 3-0 Australia
Rustenburg

England face Group D runners-up and old sporting adversaries Australia in the first knock-out round, with the nation gripped by World Cup fever.

The Australian’s barely muster a single attack as a rampant England side coast into a 2-0 lead within 28 minutes, midfield duo Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard with a goal apiece. Wayne Rooney makes it three midway through the second half before defender Craig Moore is sent off for the Socceroos. J

ust as the Aussies think things can’t get any worse, Lucas Neill is sent off for mouthing off to the referee and the men from down under are forced to play the final five minutes with nine men. Of course, if this actually happens it’ll be impossible to get served a drink in London that night.

July 2
Argentina 1-0 England
Johannesburg

A grudge match for a million blazingly obvious reasons, you can imagine the hype that would pepper the run up to this quarter-final clash, particularly with the likes of Germany, Brazil and the Netherlands already crashing out of the competition.

England get off to the worst possible start when John Terry gets turned inside out by Lionel Messi, who promptly smashes the ball past Paul Robinson to give Argentina a seventh minute lead.

In a tight, cagey match, England only manage to get three efforts on target, with Argentinean defenders Walter Samuel and Gabriel Milito able to quell the tide of England pressure. England are outplayed, outclassed and out of the competition. E-Fabio’s head has been superimposed onto a root vegetable and little effigies of the computerised John Terry are being strung up across the East End.

So, if this simulation is anything to go by, England look set to go out with a whimper at the quarter-final stage, just like they had done four years previously, and in five World Cups prior to that. It might not be the most encouraging simulation ever – but you can’t deny it’s believable.

How the Rest of The Tournament Panned Out

The biggest casualties of the group stage were Germany, who on the verge of finishing second in Group D, before a late Asamoah Gyan goal saw them lose 1-0 to Ghana and crash out of the competition. 

The last sixteen saw Spain beat Brazil 1-0, Portugal overcome Chile and penalty shoot-out wins for Slovenia and Italy against Denmark and Holland respectively. In the quarter-finals, Ghana came from behind to beat France after extra-time, Portugal knocked out surprise packages, Slovenia, and Italy won a thrilling encounter against Spain 4-3. 

Ghana’s dream died in the semi-finals with a 2-0 defeat to Italy, while Argentina battled to an extra-time win over Portugal.  World Champions Italy faced England’s conquerors Argentina in the final, where a first half Alberto Gilardino goal was enough to give Italy a typically tight 1-0 victory.

Player of the Tournament

Davide Santon, Italy
The Inter Milan right back didn't make Italy's squad for the so-called 'real' World Cup, but announced himself onto the world stage with a string of brilliant performances for the eventual computerised winners. The most notable of which came in the final, where he managed to keep a leash on Lionel Messi (not literally – that would be weird and inappropriate).

Michael Essien, Ghana
‘The Bison’ may be spending most of the next month sprawled across a sun lounger, but he was the star of the simulated African side’s unlikely (and unreal) run to the semis, scoring goals against Serbia and France. The Chelsea star probably also kicked a few people and smiled a lot.

Liedson, Portugal
The Brazilian-born striker switched allegiances to Portugal earlier this season, and made up for lost time, winning the Golden Boot after scoring eight goals. Two of those came against the country of his birth, which could lead to an awkward atmosphere next time he pops back to his parents' place for tea and to get his washing done by mumsy.

Classic Matches
Portugal 7-2 North Korea
Liedson and Cristiano Ronaldo both grab hat-tricks as Portugal hammer the gallant North Koreans – who would probably have just been happy to have scored twice, were it not for the fear of impending ‘disciplinary action’ back home. Gulp.

France 3-2 Nigeria
The Super Eagles have France boss Raymond Domenech sweating again, before Thierry Henry grabs a late winner – presumably with his hand, or possibly some kind of stick.

Italy 4-3 Spain
We know what you’re thinking – the Azzuri’s results usually read like binary code, and there seems little chance they’d win in such a fashion. Maybe Marcelo Lippi had his team sheet back to front...

Shocks
Honduras’ 2-1 victory over Spain in the second round of matches blew Group H wide open, with Spurs’ midfielder Wilson Palacios scoring a 67th minute winner against the European champions. It's hard not to imagine Cesc Fabregas sobbing like a small child who’s lost his teddy.

Brazil blew a 2-0 lead against lowly North Korea, with Nigel Pearson look-a-like Lucio giving away a last minute penalty, and picking himself up a red card for his troubles. Striker Choe Kum-Chol slotted the spot-kick past Julio Cesar, and earned a famous draw for the side ranked over 80 places below the five time world champions in FIFA’s rankings. At least the Brazilian press can’t complain it wasn’t entertaining...

Ghana were surprise winners of Group D – ‘the Group of Death’ (human casualties: zero), after beating Germany 1-0 in their final group match. A late goal from curiously old looking Rennes forward Asamoah Gyan was enough to dump the 2002 finalists out of the competition.

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The A-Z of South African football

Jonathan Wilson — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 07:08:00 GMT

Introducing the world’s barmiest footballing nation including fans who make a spectacle with their spectacles and Archbishop Tutu offering FIFA officials tickets to heaven…

A is for... Argentina
The most famous game in South Africa’s apartheid history came in 1976, when  a multi-racial side – said to be the first selected on merit rather than by skin colour – played Argentina (although because of FIFA sanctions, they went under the guise of a South America XI). Astonishingly, South Africa won 5-0, with striker Ace Ntsoelengoe scoring four of the goals.

B is for... Bafana Bafana
The nickname was taken by the South Africa national team after their readmission to FIFA in 1992 following the end of apartheid. It's Zulu for ‘The Boys, The Boys’, and although some say it has negative or patronising connotations, it actually carries a sense of endearment, rather as ‘lads’ would in English.

C is for... CAF
South Africa was one of the four original members – along with Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia – of the Confederation of African Football when it was founded in 1957. Although it is often claimed that their failure to take part in the first Africa Cup of Nations, held that year in Sudan, was down to their refusal to send a mixed-race side, the reason was more to do with finances than racial discrimination.

D is for... Disaster at Ellis Park
The 2001 tragedy – at one of 2010’s World Cup venues – in which 43 people were killed still haunts South African football. With the ground already overcrowded and thousands outside trying to get in, an equaliser from Orlando Pirates in their derby against Kaizer Chiefs led to a fatal stampede.

E is for... Essop ‘Smiley’ Moosa
In November 1972, Berea Park beat Rangers 3-1 in the semi-final of the NFL Cup – a competition for white sides – their victory inspired by a 19-year-old prodigy with suspiciously bronzed skin called Arthur Williams, who seemed extremely popular with fans in one of the non-white pens.

Williams, of course, was a fake name, and the player was actually Essop Moosa, the brilliant Mamelodi Sundowns winger. Although nothing in the NFL rules said teams had to be all-white, Moosa, whose ID book classified him as ‘Indian’, was warned by police not to try the stunt again.

To make things even worse, Indians and Coloureds were then banned from playing in the ‘African’ league, despite technically being ‘black’, by virtue of not being ‘white’. Rejected on all sides, Moosa fell into severe depression and spent time in a psychiatric hospital. His (much) younger brother Zane would later play for the post-apartheid national side.

F is for... Farce
The integration of football was a slow and difficult process, with the proliferation of leagues and mergers leading to confusion that entrepreneurs tried to exploit. The most bewildering example came on the opening day of the 1986-87 season, when a packed house at Ellis Park and millions watching on TV saw two sets of players wearing Orlando Pirates shirts walk out for a game against Jomo Cosmos, each claiming to be the ‘true’ version.

Even worse, the leader of one of the factions, China Hlongwane, was surrounded on the pitch by furious rivals and stabbed repeatedly before being dragged away to hospital where, remarkably, he made a full recovery.

G is for... Gary Bailey
Although he was born in Ipswich, Bailey grew up in South Africa and began his career with Wits University in Johannesburg. He joined Manchester United in 1978, going on to win the FA Cup in both 1983 and 1985, and was part of England’s squad at the 1986 World Cup. He returned to South Africa to join Kaizer Chiefs in 1988, and is now one of the country’s most recognisable sports broadcasters.

H is for... Helmet, Miner’s
Also known as a makarapa and standard gear for the South African fan – usually in club colours, along with a pair of outsize plastic glasses. The helmets came about after a fan was hit on the head with a missile, and Kaizer Chiefs fanatic Alfred Baloyi was given one by a construction worker friend as protection. A talented artist, Baloyi began painting his helmet.

I is for... India
A team of Indians from South Africa toured the mother country in 1921. Attendances exceeded 100,000, and the tour helped lead to the foundation of the All-India Football Association. A reciprocal tour was undertaken in 1933, but attracted far less attention than rugby or cricket tours.

J is for... Jeff Butler
An Englishman who had led Kaizer Chiefs to the league title, and is rated by many their greatest ever coach, Butler was the first national coach of South Africa after their readmission to FIFA. He was soon dismissed, however, when it emerged that he hadn’t actually played for Notts County, as he claimed on his CV, although his cousin had.

K is for... Kaizer Motaung
A star of South African football in the 60s, Motaung left Orlando Pirates to join the NASL’s Atlanta Chiefs in 1968. Fans in his township clubbed together before his departure to buy the best possible clothes, to show Americans that Africans knew how to dress with style. On his return, Motuang poached several of Pirates’ best players to found a new club, Kaizer Chiefs, thus establishing the biggest rivalry in South African football.

L is for... Lucas Radebe
Arguably the most successful South African footballer of his generation, and Nelson Mandela’s idol, but it’s amazing he survived long enough to reach such a lofty status.

During his days with Kaizer Chiefs, he became an activist against the regime, carrying a knife and a sjambok (a rhino-hide whip) to mete out a crude form of justice, while hijacking company cars to strike against businesses allied to the government. A decade later, he was playing for Leeds United in the Champions League semi-final.

M is for... Mark Williams
Hardly a big name (although he must be the only player ever to have played for both Wolverhampton Wanderers and Brazilian side Corinthians), but in 1996 Williams achieved immortality, coming off the bench to score the two goals that gave South Africa victory over Tunisia in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations. Glory achieved, he drifted back into obscurity: the five goals he scored in that tournament represented more than half his overall total for his country.

N is for... Nicknames
The quality of South African football may not be high, but the quality of their nicknames is stratospheric. At one stage, Kaizer Chiefs had a team that included Trevor Mthimkulu, known as ‘AK47’ for the ferocity of his tackling; Theophilius ‘Doctor’ Khumalo, so called for the cerebral quality of his play and the forward Fani ‘Saddam’ Madida, merciless in front of goal.

In the ’30s, Orlando Pirates were led by the bearded striker Sam ‘Baboon Shepherd’ Shabangu; 60 years later his place had been taken by Jerry ‘Legs of Thunder’ Sikhosana. Perhaps best of all, though, was the Moroka Swallows frontman Thomas ‘Who’s Fooling Who’ Hlongwane.

O is for... Orlando Pirates
Founded in 1937 in the Soweto township of Orlando, the Pirates are the oldest of South Africa’s modern giants. They’re the only southern hemisphere side to have won the African Champions League, beating ASEC 1-0 in Abidjan to complete a 3-2 aggregate victory in the final in 1995.

P is for... Piano and Shoeshine
The name given to the style of football that developed in South Africa during the years of isolation. Without foreign opposition to administer chastening defeats with a more scientific football approach, a heavily skills-orientated method evolved, focused as much on performing tricks and embarrassing an opponent as creating chances or scoring goals. Style (and fun) over substance.

Q is for... Question
It’s still being asked in these parts: why did the late Charles Dempsey, the delegate for the Oceanian Football Confederation, abstain, giving Germany a 12-11 victory over South Africa in the voting to decide who should host the 2006 World Cup finals? Had the result been a tie, the casting vote would have gone to FIFA President Sepp Blatter, who was firmly behind South Africa. Known as ‘Albert Steptoe’ back home in New Zealand, Dempsey would say no more than that he had been under "intolerable pressure".

R is for... Robben Island
Football was one of the very few diversions in the place where Nelson Mandela was imprisoned for 18 years, and took on great importance in the prisoners’ lives. They established a football association according to FIFA statutes, with three divisions, complex transfer procedures and a formal disciplinary process, thus giving prisoners a sense of justice they were denied in the outside world.

S is for... Shosholoza
A folk song with the rhythm of a steam train, originally sung by migrant workers, the shosholoza has been adopted as the anthem of the South Africa national team:

Shosholoza, shosholoza (Moving fast, moving strong)
Ku lezontaba (Through those mountains)
Stimela sphuma eSouth Africa (Train from South Africa)
Wenu yabaleka (You are leaving)
Wenu yabaleka (You are leaving)
Ku lezontaba (Through those mountains)
Stimela siphum’ eSouth Africa (Train from South Africa)

T is for... Tanti
Victor ‘Tanti’ Julius was the first black player openly to play for a white team, turning out as a striker for Arcadia Shepherds against Highlands Park in Pretoria in February 1977. Initially other clubs threatened to expel The Arcs from the league but when they ran onto the pitch with Tanti in their side, "The crowd," according to the club’s then chairman Saul Sacks, "rose as one man, even the whites". No action was taken, mixed football became inevitable, and Tanti was the club’s top scorer for the next three seasons.

U is for... Umgeni Stars
The Stars were one of four inaugural members – along with Pietermaritzburg County, Natal Wasps and Durban Alpha – of an all-white league established in Natal in 1882, the first in South Africa. Six more clubs joined the following year. The game then spread to Cape Town, particularly among the British military, and by the First World War was the predominant sport among the white working class, Indians and blacks.

V is for... Vuvuzela
Xabi Alonso wants them banned because they’re "annoying" and "distracting" and BBC pundit Lee Dixon called them "quite irritating", but locals insist they’re an integral part of South African football culture. Sometimes called a lepatata, the metre-long plastic horns are said to originate from the kudu horns used to draw villagers to meetings, while fans blow them more vigorously in the final quarter of games, trying to kill off their opponents in accordance with the myth that baboons are killed by a lot of noise.

W is for... Wedding
Jomo Sono is one of the greatest players in South Africa’s history, good enough to play in the NASL with New York Cosmos alongside Pele. But he is best known for an incident that happened on his wedding day. He’d arranged to miss Orlando Pirates’ game against Highlands North, but scheduled the wedding for the morning so he could listen to the game on the radio afterwards.

With the Pirates 2-0 down, his father-in-law joined him in the car outside the reception and, seeing how miserable his new son-in-law was, suggested Sono drive to the ground and play the second half. He did just that, and inspired his beloved Pirates to a 4-2 victory. Sono later bought Highlands, renaming them Jomo Cosmos.

X is for... X
As in ‘cross’. If a fan crosses his arms across his chest, it’s a safe bet he supports Orlando Pirates. The gesture began as a response to Kaizer Chiefs, whose logo features, perhaps oddly, a native American chief in full headdress raising his fingers in the peace sign. Chiefs fans adopted the signal, allowing them to identify each other across linguistic barriers, and Pirates responded with their own version drawn from the skull and crossbones motif on their badge.

Y is for... Yellow Card
Collecting a booking was the only thing that went wrong for Pierre Issa in South Africa’s second game of the 1998 World Cup, a 1-1 draw against Denmark, which must have been a relief. In the first, a 3-0 defeat to France, the Marseille defender – on his club ground – had managed to score two own-goals and fluff South Africa’s best chance.

Z is for... Zurich
The Swiss city has twice been the scene of great triumphs for South African football, and once for a great defeat. It was there in 1992 that FIFA voted to readmit South Africa to international competition, there that they were denied the right to host the 18th World Cup, and there again in 2004 it was decided that it should host the 19th. "I’ll buy all the FIFA executives first-class air tickets to heaven," said a rejoicing Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

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Would triumph make Capello England's greatest?

FourFourTwo Team — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 04:00:00 GMT

If England win the World Cup will Fabio Capello be considered England’s greatest ever manager? We hear both sides of the argument...

Gabriele Marcotti - Author of Capello: Portrait of a Winner

If England win the World Cup they will become the first country to win the tournament with a foreign manager, the first to win a World Cup in Africa and the first European country to win it outside  of their own continent. If you put all those ingredients together – and couple them with the uncertainty surrounding the make-up of the England team – then it would be hard not to consider him the greatest.

The fact is that winning the World Cup in the modern era is a lot harder than it was in ’66. There are more teams involved, there are more professional footballers than ever before and the World Cup is now far more representative.

You could obviously argue that Sir Alf Ramsey achieved so much with England beyond simply winning the World Cup, by reaching the semis of the 1968 European Championships and the quarter-finals of the 1970 World Cup. The counter argument would be that England were at home in 1966 and that a lot of people in Portugal and Germany would probably cast all sorts of shadows over that victory.

Capello is very mindful of his place in history. There was talk of him managing Italy after Marcello Lippi, but he turned it down because if he won the World Cup with Italy in 2010 he would only be equalling his predecessor’s achievement. If he does it with England he can really make history.

Jimmy Armfield - Member of England’s 1966 World Cup squad

There’s absolutely no doubt that Fabio Capello has done a fantastic job since he took over from Steve McClaren, but to consider him the greatest would be premature – he would have to go on and keep achieving.

In the period he has been involved, there’s no one in football who would doubt that he is a manager of the very highest class. He has experience both as a player and a manager in Italy and Spain, and you can’t dispute the fact that England qualified very well for the World Cup, which is something we haven’t always done in the past.

If England do win the World Cup for the first time since ’66, then it would be real achievement because it’s away from home and, of course, you now have to play more matches.

The simple truth is, though, that you can only do what you can at the time and back in ‘66 we were the best team in the tournament, which brought its own pressures.
If win, then perhaps Capello would be viewed as the greatest ever, but I think at this stage he could only be classed alongside Alf [Ramsey] rather than be seen to have surpassed him.

It’s extremely difficult to compare players, teams and managers from different eras and Alf could only do what he had to do – and he did that very well. There was only one Alf Ramsey and English football has never come across anyone like him before or since.

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Barra brava mix with Maradona's men

Joel Richards — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:16:00 GMT

All is not well in the world of Argentine NGOs.

Typically, when you say NGO, you’d think a group of centre-left-minded, do-gooding progressive thinkers joined together to do their bit for the world. Sure, they put on those heart-wrenching ads to get you to sponsor a child in India. Or they force you to slalom your way down the road as you try to avoid the army of bibbed fund-raisers trying to get your card details. But basically they do good work.

So the theory goes.

One Argentine NGO, which was actually set up by a government aide but we’ll let that one slide, promised to travel to the world’s biggest party and help the people of South Africa. Back home they were ‘social leaders’ and at the World Cup they would help build schools and show their solidarity with those living in squalor.

But come match day, especially Argentina’s matchday, this group of 20- to 40-year-old men would be at the stadium. Argentine United Fans (HUA) was set up as an NGO to hide its real aim – to finance the tickets and travel of hundreds of the infamous barra bravas, the scourge of Argentine football.

Despite nearly a year of complaints, outrage and busy bodies pointing out that several have criminal records so shouldn’t be allowed to travel, and the whole project was just wrong, they still organised, and they still sent over 200 barras to South Africa.

No sooner did they arrive than six of the HUA leaders were deported because of their criminal past. This left a large group of barras with violent tendencies without a leader to keep them in line.

Back home, The Deported made their way through Ezeiza airport, threatening journalists and wearing masks to avoid being seen – kind of ironic given that every Argentine police station displays their mug shot.

While the deported bosses now promise to work out a way to return to South Africa, a power struggle is set to begin amongst those who stayed. Oh, and their tickets haven’t come through either – so it won’t just be the chill you’ll be worried about at Argentina’s fan zones.

Another group, similar in their DNA, are keen to stress their non-government status. “The government didn’t pay for us to come, neither did AFA,” said Ramon Ortiz, on behalf of the 43 known barras who took the same flight as the national team to South Africa. “We deal with Maradona and Bilardo. We are the official national team fans.”

"Official national team fans" in this case translates as the official barra. Bilardo was quick to say that he didn’t know where all this came from, but then the barras visited the team’s training camp the day after arriving. They claimed they had lost their luggage, and – having flown on the same flight as the national team to South Africa – thought (of course!) that their bags had been mixed up with the players' kit.

While this latest chapter in the barra brava story plays out, a real NGO, Salvemos al Futbol (Let's Save Football), together with a group of families of the victims of violence in football, are starting civil action back in Argentina. They want answers. They want those responsible for this to face the courts. They, like the rest of us, want to know just what the barra brava are doing in South Africa.

Maybe those fund raisers aren’t so bad after all.

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The back three: back in style

Michael Cox — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 23:55:00 GMT

Michael Cox, editor of ZonalMarking.net, on how a discredited system is coming back into fashion...

There hasn’t been a great amount of tactical variety in European football recently. With two-striker systems largely abandoned in favour of formations featuring one central striker supported by two wingers, top-level football in the past half-decade has largely consisted of 4-2-3-1 and 4-3-3.

There have been variations within these systems, of course. We’ve seen hints of teams using false nines and inverted wingers (playing on the opposite side to which their foot would generally dictate) have recently become popular. But these have all been developments in attack – we’ve seen nothing of interest in defence, bar the further rise of attacking full-backs.

European football is still fixated with the four-man defence. The three-man defence effectively died out because it only worked against two-man strikeforces. When teams played one striker supported by two wingers, the three-man defence had no natural solution – either the two outside centre-backs would be drawn out of position to the flanks, or the wing-backs would be forced to stay at home, meaning a 5 v 3, and a shortfall somewhere else on the pitch.

The World Cup, though, will see plenty of three-man defences – mainly from non-European sides that have evolved differently in tactical terms – meaning it will be a refreshing change from simple 4-2-3-1 v 4-3-3 battles we’ve become used to.

The three types of three
These three-man defences can broadly be broken down into three groups. Firstly, we have sides that consistently play a three-man defence in the traditional fashion: three solid centre-backs, supported when not in possession by two wing-backs.

New Zealand are a good example of this, expected to field a 3-4-3 system with Blackburn’s Ryan Nelsen at the heart of it. North Korea play a more defensive version, as the wing-backs rarely look to get forward and one defensive midfielder sits solidly ahead of the three centre-backs, forming what amounts to a 3-3-2-2 system.

Secondly, we have teams that specifically change their defence according to how many strikers they are facing. Chile have attracted a lot of attention in South America with their exciting 3-3-1-3 shape, but Marcelo Bielsa has encountered the traditional problems when facing one- or three-man attacks: the defenders get dragged out of position.

In those circumstances, Bielsa instead moves the wing-backs backwards and replaces a central defender with a central midfielder, creating a 4-2-1-3 instead. The three forwards and playmaker never change – the central striker plays a traditional role and the outside forwards press the opposition full-backs – but Bielsa insists on having one ‘spare’ defender: three against two, or four against three, but never three against three (or one).

Bielsa: "Quick! They've changed shape!"

This is very similar to the approach favoured by Greece’s Otto Rehhagel - he too insists on having an extra defender, as he did in Euro 2004. With European sides predominantly using three-man attacks, however, Rehhagel works the other way around – he prefers 4-3-3, and then switches to 3-4-3 when necessary.

Finally, we have the teams that shift from one system to another within games. Mexico are a good example of this – they play two centre-backs and two players comfortable at both full-back and wing-back, with Rafael Marquez either playing as a centre-back in 3-4-3, or a defensive midfielder in a 4-3-3, with the wing-backs shuttling up and down as necessary.

Like the above teams, they always maintain three forwards, but the key to Mexico’s ability to shift within games is Marquez – equally comfortable in central defence or central midfield.

Brazil have also displayed tendencies to shift between the two systems. They start with a four-man defence, but Gilberto Silva can drop into the backline to create a three – allowing Maicon and Michel Bastos to storm up the flanks and create something approaching a 3-3-1-3 system.

Are these teams tactically backward, are they one step ahead of the European sides, or are they merely displaying strategy formed in a different footballing culture? New Zealand and North Korea will probably find themselves embarrassed, but Chile and Mexico are genuinely exciting prospects. Arrigo Sacchi claims that there has been nothing new in footballing tactics in the past 20 years, and a mini-revolution at this tournament would certainly be welcome.

It has been argued that Greece won Euro 2004 because they deployed strict man-marking, a problem which the rest of the European sides had forgotten how to solve. If they’ve also forgotten how to solve the problem of a three-man defence, we could be in for some shocks.

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Security and Soweto

Chris Hunt — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 17:26:00 GMT

Security has been a big issue for everyone coming to this World Cup, not least for the teams, but each football nation has a completely different way of approaching the policing of its players.

Turn up at the England training camp, for instance, and it’s like a military checkpoint. With solid metal gates ringed by airport-style anti-ram barriers, each entrant then drives through a funnel of police with bomb detectors, who methodically scan every car to enter the premises.

The American approach aspires to this kind of professionalism, even if it’s only because everything else the country does on the world stage is performed to this scale. However, although they quite rightly take security issues very seriously, all the effort does seem slightly absurd when interest levels in the football team don’t seem to warrant all the fuss.

No more than 25 members of the media wait to watch training at the Pilditch Stadium in Pretoria, and most seem to be on first name terms with the US press officer, but nevertheless we are all asked to deposit our ‘equipment’ onto a table and stand in a taped-off holding pen, big enough to contain several hundred if necessary.

We watch a painfully slow and disinterested sniffer dog inspect the ‘equipment’, and then he has a go at the 10 vehicles already in the car park. Next we're all patted down by security, with the proceedings acted out under the instruction of what appears to be two students on dress-down Wednesday. The US media insist the ‘students’ are actually undercover State Department officials, although I take some convincing.

In comparison, entrance to the Argentina training session the previous evening was an exercise in chaos. In keeping with the Maradona regime, it all seemed planned on the hoof. Some 200 journalists, photographers and cameramen were expected to squeeze through a small opening in a temporary fence, like shoppers looking for a bargain in the New Year sales.

No sniffer dogs, no full-body searches, no scanners, just several bemused security guards trying to catch sight of the laminated passes worn by the accredited media. It proved to be the last line of defence in the attempt to keep out the blue-and-white draped fans, who had made it through the first secure perimeter and were now just one fence away from their team.

Perhaps the football teams of the World Cup can learn a lesson or two from the security issues that the fans are having to contend with. Even at the official FIFA ticketing centres, where everyone has to collect their match tickets, a sign on the door insists: ‘guns and weapons to be handed in to management for safekeeping otherwise entry will be denied’. Wouldn't that work on the gate of the England training camp?

THAT'S NO WAY TO SOWETO
In the build-up to the World Cup every South African that I have encountered has advised against anything other than an organised trip into Soweto, and I duly agreed never to venture into the area unsupervised.

However, within a day of arriving in South Africa I found myself journeying deep into the heart of the township in an attempt to find Arsene Wenger, who was holding a press conference at the Nike Football Training Centre, a Soweto-based community facility offering coaching to thousands of local kids. If Nike are behind it, I reason, then it has to be safe.

Armed only with just a street name, a satnav and a vaguely sketched map, I set out in search of the elusive Wenger, driving far past the ‘Welcome to Soweto’ greeting that starts the journey. Eventually the satnav tells me that I’ve reached my location, although patently I haven’t. I’m in a dead end side street that leads absolutely nowhere and I seem to have become a novelty attraction for the locals.

Now, I’ve seen quite a lot of coverage of Soweto on the BBC News in the last couple of weeks, and although they’ve made it seem very inviting and cosmopolitan, it didn’t really appear that way to me. There were no local arts projects to be seen, and not a sign of any beautifully painted African street art. It was a detour into abject deprivation, one that reminds us all of the problems facing the staging of this World Cup, and the reasons why it had to be so.

It’s admirable that Nike have chosen to launch their global search for the world’s young football talent in a community like this, but GPS co-ordinates for the training centre would have been a godsend. I never actually made it to Wenger’s press conference – and for just a short while I thought I might never even make it out of the township.

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World Cup Breakfast

FourFourTwo Team — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 11:36:00 GMT

It's a late breakfast on the first day, but our daily newsletter should now be in your inbox.

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FIFA threaten Mexico's potty-mouth

Tim Stannard — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 10:04:00 GMT

Mexico manager Javier Aguirre must have been most alarmed to learn of those uptight, pontificating, busybody, killjoy do-gooders at FIFA ordering referees to listen out for on-pitch profanities and to smite the offender down with a red card.

It's not that his enchilado-chomping players are in any particular danger of falling foul of this puritanical regime – mummy's boys like Carlos Vela are more likely to scream like a girl on coming into contact with a goose, much less say 'boo' to it.

It's Aguirre himself who must be quite concerned that he'll be spending much of the tournament in the stands having his eardrums blasted through his nostrils by vuvuzelas. Away from the heat of the battle of football – what Aguirre genuinely considers to be a battle, anyway – the main man of Mexico is charming, dry, open and never fails to be entertaining. With a splendid greying flat-top perched upon his head, the former Atletico Madrid manager is always a pleasure to probe after games, no matter the result and no matter how very, very irate he has appeared just minutes before.

It's during matches that Aguirre goes a little bit bonkers, with his typical muttering, prowling and gesticulating from the touchline. And then there's his habit of picking fights with officials, fans, his own footballers, opposition players and even their technical staff.

During Aguirre's fairly successful spell at the Vicente Calderon that saw him lead the Rojiblancos into the Champions League – before being sacked, as is the way at Atleti – he once directed a stream of abuse at the poor old Villarreal team doctor for no good reason, other than his side not playing particularly well at the time.

However, he did apologise later on with the excuse that he thought Villarreal's doc was the club's kitman, as if that was just cause for his rant.

But that was mere pacifist peanuts to last July when Aguirre got more than a little frustrated during a CONCACAF Gold Cup clash against Panama and decided to kick a passing opposition player – a throwback, perhaps, to Aguirre's playing days, when he was a fine footballer who participated in his home country World Cup of 1986.

Aguirre chops the mother down - click to watch

Javier Aguirre takes his football very seriously indeed and is not bluffing with anyone's muffin when he said in Thursday's pre-match press conference that he has no qualms at all with ruining South Africa's big day in the Group A opening clash by beating them, despite being a big admirer of Nelson Mandela.

The Mexico manager's initial aim is to take Mexico past the quarter-final stages and will be doing everything within and above the law to achieve it.

After his two-and-half-season spell at Atletico Madrid and having picked a fight with everyone there in an effort to spur the club into meeting its potential, Aguirre admitted that he had to go and see a "neurologist, a cardiologist, a dentist and a nutritionist". But soon after he was mentally and physically back in business and ready for the challenge of a second spell in charge of Mexico that began in June 2009.

A successful run in the World Cup, especially with what is a fairly modest squad, could help the English-speaking Aguirre achieve is his main ambition - a move to the Premier League.

"My dream is to go to England‚" admitted Aguirre in an interview in May 2009. "I think my destiny will be to head there in 2011. I'm sure of it."

If Aguirre performs to his potty-mouthed best during the World Cup, his profile will certainly be raised one way or another, especially if he beats the host nation on Friday afternoon.

Although the opening clash is set to be full of joy and jubilation, zest and zing – and a rendition of that god awful Black Eyed Peas song – the only thing on the Mexican manager's profane mind is winning. And maybe making a few suggestions of what the referee can do with himself after the tournament, too.

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Socceroos struggle for form and flair

Mike Tuckerman — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 07:30:00 GMT

He’s a canny strategist, this Pim Verbeek. Lull the world into thinking that the Socceroos are easybeats and then POW! Suddenly Australia are walking away with a narrow 1-0 win over Germany.

At least, that’s the scenario that the most hopeful of Socceroos supporters have imagined for Australia’s opening World Cup clash against Germany. Far more likely is a mauling at the hands of die Mannschaft, as Australia go into just their third World Cup out of form and seemingly out of luck.

Even captain Lucas Neill seems wary, telling reporters that Australia would be “delighted with a draw” against Germany, where previously nothing short of a fervent call to arms would have passed the Galatasaray defender’s lips.

Such is the mood following three poor performances in pre-World Cup friendlies in which the disjointed football on display far outweighed the significance of the actual results.

New Zealand were dispatched 2-1 in desperately fortunate circumstances at the Melbourne Cricket Ground – midfielder Brett Holman scored the winner with virtually the last kick of the game – before Denmark succumbed to a lucky Josh Kennedy goal in Australia’s first hit-out on South Africa soil.

However, it was coach Verbeek’s decision to play a more attacking style in Australia’s final warm-up game that exposed the cracks in the Socceroos’ game plan, as the USA took full advantage of individual errors and a creaking defence to comfortably win 3-1.

Schwarzer beaten by brilliantly-named brace-bagger Edson Buddle

So out of form is midfield mainstay Vinnie Grella that speculation is mounting over his possible omission in favour of understudy Carl Valeri, while fellow veteran Mark Bresciano currently seems incapable of picking out a team-mate standing more than five yards away.

They’re just two of Australia’s regular starting XI currently struggling for form, and with injury doubts looming over star men Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell, there’s a gloomy pall hanging over the Socceroos ahead of their opening clash with the Germans at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.

Which, ironically, could all work in Australia’s favour. Traditionally, the Socceroos have always saved their best for stirring backs-to-the-wall displays, and with most critics writing off Pim Verbeek’s team ahead of their World Cup opener, the Socceroos may just consider themselves a chance to cause a major upset.

Not that Verbeek seems overly concerned – he’s already declared that the final two group games will decide who goes through, as Australia jostle with Ghana and Serbia for the predicted runner-up place behind group favourites Germany.

Yet for many Socceroos fans there’s no escaping the fact that the swashbuckling swagger of 2006 has been replaced by a more defensive outlook this time around, with the source generally pinpointed as Verbeek.

The Dutchman has already announced that he will leave after the World Cup to become the technical director for the Moroccan youth set-up, and Verbeek’s critics have pointed out that for all his talk of “leaving a legacy” in Australia, he will instead depart having relied upon the same players who excelled in Germany four years ago.

With Verbeek having already assured himself further employment regardless of Australia’s results in South Africa, he may need to steer the Socceroos to the knockouts just to keep his reputation intact.

There’s no doubt that the former Korea Republic coach has done a good job in not only guiding Australia to the World Cup finals, but also strengthening the battle-hardened resolve with which the Socceroos approach most international fixtures.

But battle-hardened or not, there’s a growing sense of unease in Australia that for all our tough talking and fighting spirit, we may just be out of our depth against a team with a genuine World Cup pedigree like Germany.

So it's with a mixture of excitement and trepidation that most Australians approach the Socceroos’ opening World Cup clash, as the nation waits with bated breath for a result that could either see Pim Verbeek annointed our latest tactical genius, or merely a common traitor to the cause.

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Handball, Henry, hysteria & history

Rob Hogan — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 21:19:00 GMT

With the World Cup just a few weeks away, citizens of the lucky 32 nations that are participating will be getting excited. In Ireland, though, things are a little different.

As has been pointed out, most notably (and repeatedly) by Roy Keane, for a long time the attitude in this country to major tournaments was that we were just happy to be there. The notion of actually competing was another thing all together.

Generally, if we managed to get past the group stages the campaign was a success, and we would be ole ole ole-ing all the way to bar before calling in sick in the morning. Luckily for our embattled economy, there won't be much of that this time around. But despite Ireland's absence, there will be plenty of people paying attention.

The World Cup does funny things to people in this country. While there has always been support for the game in Dublin, particularly on the north side of the county, it wasn't until 'Big Jack' took us the European Championships in 1988 that football gained a wider audience. A victory over England, the auld enemy, only heightened appeal, and this was buoyed by qualification for and good performances at Italia 90 and USA 94.

Drumming up support: Ireland v Italy at USA 94

Since then, when the World Cup rolls around, the geeky guy in the office who normally wouldn't know his Aguero from his Olic happily unleashes his inner Frank Skinner. The fat guy down the pub who usually turns his back on the TV when the football is on turns out to be a doctor - specialising in metatarsals no less.

And if you want to know the odds on who will be top goalscorer, first goalscorer or last goalscorer, sure all you have to do is ask the person next to you. They'll fill you in. When it comes to the World Cup, the Johnny Come Latelys and the hardcore element are, for once, united.

This time around though, there's a more sinister edge, borne at the hands of a mercurial Frenchman. Before Thierry Henry fondled the ball back in November, the Republic of Ireland football team had never been the victim of any major refereeing catastrophe in such a crucial game.

Apoplexy 1, Perspective 0
While England can point to the Hand of God in '86 or Sol Campbell's disallowed header in '98, we have generally been beaten fairly when we have lost on big occasions, so the reaction to these defeats has been fairly reserved – you know, because we were just happy to be there and all that.

The hysteria that followed the 'Hand of Henry' was something never before experienced here. The internet offered a platform for anyone and everyone to air their grievances, while the tabloids had a field day painting Henry as the villain of the piece.

Protesters outside Dublin's French embassy

Various campaigns cropped up, including one to boycott the Cuisine de France bakery company, despite the fact that they're Irish-owned, while others demanded that the Frenchman should offer an apology to the nation. Suffice to say, perspective went flying out the window in a lot of cases. Henry did actually offer an apology of sorts via his twitter page, saying, "I'm not the referee - but if I hurt someone, I'm sorry."

After the initial eruption of anger died down, we started to get on with our lives and the World Cup was put to the back of people's minds for a few months. But now, as football fever spreads across every playground, office and pub in the country, the hand of Henry is waving at us again, taunting us. The sense of injustice that lay dormant has awoken, and the people aren't happy.

A couple of weeks ago Paraguay visited Dublin for a World Cup warm up with Trappatoni's men. On the eve of their flight here, the Paraguay camp were relieved of approximately €100,000 worth of cash and possessions from their hotel in France. As the reporter on The Six O'Clock News quipped, "well, that's one thing we have in common - we've both been robbed by the French!" Hilarious.

The fact that Ireland won the game 2-1 has only intensified the feeling of injustice being felt by some. 'Ireland are two good - but THEY'RE going to the World Cup' screamed the back page of the Daily Star the following morning.

Holding out for a villain
What happened? How did we, as supporters, go from suffering defeats gracefully to becoming so bitter and angry at the flick of a hand? Perhaps it's down to not being the victim of such a situation in the past, or maybe it's because we've grown tired of being every other country’s happy, chatty mate, or maybe it's because, as a nation, we've taken a bit of a kicking lately.

After the boom years of the late-nineties up until a few years ago, the country finds itself on its knees. After a long night at a free bar we’ve woken up with a crippling hangover. Businesses everywhere are closing down or upping sticks, leaving thousands behind, jobless.

Families are losing sons and daughters to Australia, America and anywhere else that will employ them because they can't find work here, and there is no end in the sight to the doom and gloom that has enveloped us for almost two years now. We need somebody to blame, and by this stage we're bored of crucifying our politicians. Step forward Thierry.

"Bonsoir! Je suis votre bête noir..."

Henry was rewarded for his actions with a place in South Africa, but he's almost as much of a victim as we are. His countless medals, accolades and achievements will be forever overshadowed by that handball incident and he will be forever vilified in Ireland and in other countries, who curiously took up our case when, truth be told, it was none of their business. Yes, it was a blatant handball, but he got away with it. If Robbie Keane had done the same at the other end we wouldn't have given it a second thought.

Week after week, supporters in Ireland celebrate goals scored in dubious circumstances and heap praise on the shoulders of the 'clever' players who score them or win the penalties that result in them. When the stakes are high, and opportunity knocks, only a fool doesn't open the door. Anyway (and whisper it), would you have fancied Ireland in a penalty shootout against France?

Certain sections of the supporters have put it behind them and are looking forward to the tournament in the hope of seeing some good football and worthy winners. And some, ahead of a fairly even Euro 2012 qualifying group, have taken heart from the World Cup campaign and are looking forward expectantly. Unfortunately, others have yet to let go.

With bookmakers offering money-back specials involving France and the media gleefully fuelling the anti-French sentiment, some sections of our supporters – hardened and fair-weather alike – have found themselves united once again. But not for the love of the game: rather, by a common enemy - that dastardly Henry and his conniving teammates.

What price on an England v France final? Now that would be something. Hang on, I'll ask the guy beside me...

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Optimism, backsides, Diego & Viv

Chris Hunt — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:50:00 GMT

It’s always good to be optimistic at the outset of another World Cup campaign, and former England defender Viv Anderson is certainly optimistic. Four days before the start of the tournament he could be found trying to entice travelling football fans to buy signed copies of his new autobiography outside a bookshop at Heathrow’s Terminal 3.

Unfortunately for him, a great many of the Johannesburg-bound fans at the airport seem to be either American soccer boys or flag-waving Mexicans, but it doesn’t dent his faith in Capello and the England squad. “I’m confident we’ll reach the semis at least,” he smiles as he signs. “We’ve got a good manager and a great team, and Rooney scored in today’s training game, which helps because he hasn’t scored for six games.”

When it comes to the World Cup, we have to bow to Anderson’s greater judgement. He certainly knows what he’s talking about. Having travelled to Spain in 1982 and to Mexico in 1986, he was only the second outfield player, after George Eastham in the Sixties, to have been in two England World Cup squads without ever getting onto the pitch. So if anyone can give us a little bit of insight into not winning the World Cup, then it’s Viv Anderson.

Also a veteran of the 1982 and 1986 World Cups – but with a little more pitch-time – Diego Maradona has a keener understanding of what it takes to lift that famous trophy, and he has a ton of optimism too, but as an international coach who struggled to inspire his team through World Cup qualification, he's still to convince that this great of the world game has got what it takes to get his message over to a hugely talented squad.

On the training pitch of the Absa Tuks Stadium in a suburb of Pretoria, Maradona is not so much coaching his team to glory as refereeing an informal kickabout. He ambles aimlessly around the pitch with a whistle in his mouth, joking with them, cajoling them, but most of the time he just seems to be ignored by them as they carry on with their game around him.

"Get out of here!"

He’s slow, jogs with a slight limp, and hardly looks the football god of old, but there are many back in his home country prepared to forgive him almost anything – even losing the World Cup if it comes to it.

“Most of the Argentinian people don’t like Maradona as a coach,” admits 29-year-old Nicolas Gonzalez, from Buenos Aires, as he waits patiently outside the training ground for a glimpse of his heroes. “But we loved him as a player, so we are prepared to forgive him and during the World Cup we are going to support him no matter what. I might have different opinions to him about the team, but during the World Cup he is God.”

His friend, 27-year-old Martin Urrere from Rosario, agrees. “If Maradona doesn’t win the World Cup with this team then some people will continue to support him and some people will shout at him like he is the devil. He’s not a good manager, but I'm one of those that will support him no matter what.”

Back on the pitch the training session has ended well for Messi and Tevez and their team-mates in the orange bibs. They have roundly defeated the remainder of the squad, and those wearing the blue training tops must now pay a forfeit. Maradona joins the losers on the goalline and together they turn away and provocatively offer up their backsides as a target to the victors, who fire in a barrage of powerfully hit shots from distance.

Apparently it’s a commonplace training ground ritual in Argentina, but you couldn’t really imagine Fabio Capello or Marcello Lippi doing it in the build-up to their World Cup opening games. Or does Maradona really know something about motivation that the world’s leading coaches have yet to grasp?

“Let’s put it this way, I don’t think any other coaches would be coming here to learn from Maradona,” says one watching Argentine journalist. “What he does is not from the coaching manual, but he has broad shoulders and he wants to fire up the heart of the team.”

Whether Maradona’s unusual mix of motivational techniques and coaching tomfoolery will be enough to win the World Cup for Argentina remains to be seen. We'll have to ask Viv Anderson next time, but for the time being it seems that the Argentina players are as forgiving as the fans.

“The legend of Maradona will always be there,” says Roma defender Nicolas Burdisso after training, “and he will still be our legend after he finishes being our coach.”

The question is, how soon will that be?

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Who will Cantona be supporting?

Paul Simpson — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 20:17:00 GMT

When Eric Cantona was eight, he wept as his beloved Holland lost the 1974 World Cup final to Franz Beckenbauer’s West Germany.

The Marsellais legend’s romance with Dutch football began with Cruyff, Total Football and Ajax and ran so deep that in the summer of 1981, when the Netherlands played France in a crucial World Cup qualifier, he prayed for French defeat. As Philippe Auclair notes in his seminal biography Cantona The Rebel Who Would Be King, Eric was “Marsellais first, footballer second, Frenchman a distant third.”

As the hype mounts, the cash-ins promoted by high-tech Arthur Daleys (“Pssst, wanna buy a football-shaped telly?” Er, no thanks) multiply in our inboxes and FIFA’s No.2 blazer Jerome Valcke tries to convince us he knows more about striking a football than such no-marks as Kaka, it is easy to forget what a joyous, transcendent experience a World Cup is.

Even the bad ones produce moments that have a globally resonant, melodramatic power that would take a director like James Cameron billions of dollars and years of hard labour to match.

Ernst Happel’s backside
And unlike Leo and Kate on the prow of the Titanic, these moments don’t turn stale through time and repetition. Maradona’s slalom against England in 1986 looks more stupendous the more often you watch it.

We will all have our own moments. Some are obvious (Roger Milla’s wiggle). Some are idiosyncratic: for me the whole of Bulgaria 2 West Germany 1 in USA 94 is a treasured memory, far more emotionally satisfying than England’s mediocre ‘vengeance’ over the Germans at Euro 2000. And some are obscure but enduring (Austrians of a certain age will never forget Ernst Happel passing the ball with his bum against Switzerland in 1954).

Happel and Lofthouse: rubbish at hide-and-seek

It doesn’t matter what our moments are; the point is they live with us and we wouldn’t have them if it wasn’t for the World Cup.

The true meaning of 2010 might not be clear until 2030. We won’t know till then which watching youngsters, like Cantona in 1974, have been forced – by tears or joy – to conclude that their lives will not be complete until they too play on such a stage.

It sounds painfully obvious to say that the best way to enjoy these finals is to focus on the football, but it’s easy to have your tournament polluted by the foul dust that surrounds the game. There's the cheesy marketing: is it just me or does everyone watching Barnesy’s Mars advert fear he’s about to keel over clutching his chest?.

There's the headline-grabbing pontificating: will the World Cup cost the British economy a billion in lost productivity – or make it a billion in sales of lager, flags and patriotic confectionery? My answer: Ask someone who gives a toss.

And there's the moronic inferno of the media: the absence of WAGs, once lauded by those who felt it was time England got serious about winning World Cups, is now being mourned by editors worried that their coverage will turn off Femail (sic) readers in droves.

The Princess and the Three Lions
Care to guess the headline on the front of the Daily Mirror on the Monday after England won the World Cup? “A BOUNCING BABY GIRL FOR PRINCESS ALEX”.

Yup, as Tim de Lisle notes in an intriguing essay in the latest Intelligent Life magazine, for Britain’s most popular tabloid “winning the World Cup was not as big as the birth of Marina Ogilvy, the Queen’s first cousin once removed”.

How times have changed. Mostly for the better. My addiction to squad profiles has spun out of control (I especially recommend Gabriele Marcotti’s pithy, forensic verdicts in The Times preview) as I try and categorise the teams: Unknown Quantities, Dark Horses, Flattering To Deceive, Racing Certainties and so on.

SQUAD PROFILES: Plus 736 player profiles, breaking news & exclusive interviews

Such rampant nerdiness was interrupted briefly by the sight of James Corden on the front cover of The Times' World Cup supplement and the headline “Smithy and me”. (And no, it’s not a celebritous confrontation with Alan ‘Smudger’ Smith.)

There are many questions England fans will be asking before the action starts. How many sitters will Emile Heskey miss? Can we finally write off the Germans? And, top of the list, can a central defender with almost no cartilage last the tournament? At the very bottom of that list, I’d suggest not even in the top zillion, is how the bloke out of Gavin & Stacey feels.

SimmoScore: Marcotti 1, Corden 0

To save you the time, the answer is: a bit funny because people confuse him with Smithy, his alter ego in Gavin & Stacey. The piece has its funny moments, but given that at this very moment his cheerful, anthemic unofficial World Cup anthem Shout is hurtling to No1 faster than an Arjen Robben free-kick, it seems an odd complaint. If you’ve striven so desperately to jump on to a bandwagon, it seems perverse, at the moment of landing, to turn around, throw a hissy fit and shout: “Stop the bandwagon I want to get off!”

Having advised everyone to focus on the football, I've been sidetracked by Smithy. Which, in a roundabout and utterly inconsistent way, proves my point. It is so easy to be taken in by the sideshows when the main event is upon us.
Cantona famously never played in the World Cup finals but the wayward genius will, I’m sure, be watching. He certainly won’t be rooting for Raymond Domenech’s France – or Dunga’s Gradgrindian Brazil.

If I had to hazard a guess, I’d argue that, as a footballer, he’ll be cheering on his old love Holland (Perennial Underachievers, Dark Horses and, given their record of squabbling themselves out of contention, also an Unknown Quantity). But he might be grudgingly chuffed if Spain did the business.

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Group H: Chile

FourFourTwo Team — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:42:00 GMT

Qualifying ahead of Argentina bodes well for a disrupted country, says Henry Mance...

More than a decade after the peak of Ivan Zamorano and Marcelo Salas, Chile are again being fancied for their attacking football. Only now it’s all about the coach.

Marcelo Bielsa was wanted by Colombia before qualifying began but, when they balked at his rigorous technical demands, he headed to Chile instead. Expectations were shattered: having finished 10th out of ten in qualifying for the 2002 World Cup, and seventh for the 2006 edition, Chile came second this time, scoring 32 goals in the process.

Then local club Rangers launched a lawsuit against the national FA over a disputed relegation, and FIFA threatened to revoke the country’s ticket to South Africa. That brought back memories of Chile’s ban from the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, after goalkeeper Roberto ‘The Condor’ Rojas had cut himself with a razor blade to fake being hit by a flare. Rangers saw the wasps’ nest and dropped the court case, and Chile stayed in the draw.

Three months later, more problems. The February earthquake disrupted the team’s preparations, causing same-day friendlies against North Korea and Costa Rica to be cancelled. Nonetheless, Chilean fans expect to beat Switzerland and Honduras to qualify for the second round. Even Spain coach Vicente del Bosque is wary: “Bielsa has achieved, in the midst of all the frenzy, an organised team which always attacks.”

Strengths
As he did with Argentina, Bielsa has made Chile into a fast team that gets its creativity from the wings and its goals from just about everywhere. Critics say it’s predictable, but the system has suited Chile’s youngsters, several of whom played a similar style in the 2007 U-20 World Cup (where Chile finished third).

Weaknesses
Look no further than the back three (or four), who are out of form or, in the case of West Brom’s Gonzalo Jara, out of fitness. Bielsa has had fewer than half the friendlies he wanted to prepare. Some Chilean pessimists fear a repeat of his time with Argentina in 2002: after topping qualification by 12 points, they fell flat at the finals.

Interesting fact
Despite the earthquake, incoming President Sebastian Pinera used his first weeks in power to organise an over-50s friendly with Bolivian leader Evo Morales.

The Coach: Marcelo ‘El Loco’ Bielsa
The man whose wisdom has already given rise to a self-help book, Bielsa’s discipline and artfulness make him an old-schooler’s dream. “He’s transformed us into a more professional group, and now we work with tenacity in training,” says midfielder Jorge Valdivia.

Key Player: Alexis Sanchez
Chile don’t have a celebrity player, but they will soon. Alexis Sanchez – the Boy Wonder – can dribble and then some. His biggest enemy seems to be gravity: stay up, lad.

Probable Team (3-3-1-3):  Bravo;  Ponce, Medel, Jara;  Carmona, Millar, Vidal;  Fernandez;  Sanchez, Suazo, Gonzalez

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
 Honduras, June 16, 12.30pm, Nelspruit
Switzerland,  June 21, 3pm, Nelson Madela Bay/Port Elizabeth
Spain, June 25, 7.30pm, Tshwane/Pretoria

Qualified 2nd in CONMEBOL
Argentina (A) 0-2 
Peru (H) 2-0
 Uruguay (A) 2-2
  Paraguay (H) 0-3
  Bolivia (A) 2-0  
Venezuela (A) 3-2  
Brazil (H) 0-3
  Colombia (H) 4-0 
Ecuador (A) 0-1
  Argentina (H) 1-0  
Peru (A) 3-1
  Uruguay (H) 0-0
  Paraguay (H) 2-0
  Bolivia (H) 4-0  
Venezuela (H) 2-2
  Brazil (A) 2-4  
Colombia (A) 4-2
  Ecuador (H) 1-0

World Cup record
1930 1st Round 
1950 1st Round
1962 Third Place
1966 First Round
1974 First Round
1982 First Round
1994 Disqualified

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Group H: Honduras

FourFourTwo Team — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 11:30:00 GMT

They knocked out the lights of Costa Rica and Jamaica in qualifying, says Jamie Trecker, but Honduras have an uphill struggle in South Africa.

Tiny Honduras is better known for its Byzantine politics than for its football. In fact, a key World Cup qualifying match against the USA was nearly called off last year after a coup ousted the sitting president, plunging the country into a constitutional crisis.

The match eventually did take place as scheduled and the Hondurans lost, 3-2, apparently ending their World Cup dream. But thanks to two big pieces of help from the Americans, Honduras qualified for their first World Cup since 1982, and only their second appearance ever.

The first bit of help happened 14 years ago when MLS was formed in the United States. While that league may not be the answer to USA player development issues, there’s no doubt that countries like Honduras have seen their player pool widened as MLS has continued to attract Latin American talent.

The second came on the final night of qualifying: a fortuitous and unlikely goal, scored very late against Costa Rica by American defender Jonathan Bornstein. That 94th minute tally allowed Honduras to slip into the final automatic berth – and made Bornstein perhaps the first Jewish folk hero in the Central American country.

Costa Rica, which once had led the six-team group and seemed certain for South Africa, wound up losing the play-off to Uruguay. It’s hard to argue that the same fate would not have awaited Honduras had it come to that.

Even with that helping hand (or foot) it’s hard to argue that Honduras won’t just be making up numbers this summer. They qualified out of a region that is mediocre at best, and struggled at that. In a group with Spain and Chile, they’re going to have to put in some otherworldly performances to get through.

Strengths
 This is the best Honduran team ever. Sadly, that’s like saying you’re watching the best Eurovision song contest ever. Honduras are a defence-first side, playing at times with seven men behind the ball. Nonetheless, they do have a few guys that can hurt the opposition up top. Carlos Pavon may be 36 but be he doesn’t act it, and with Wilson Palacios rampaging forward, he and Carlo Costly provide a threat. Fortunately, an injury hasn't proved too Costly and Palacios and David Suazo are also on the mend.

Weaknesses
Age, and heart. The former they cannot help; the latter is troubling. Honduras’ heads tend to drop when they go behind. Do that at the World Cup and they’ll be packing their bags early.

Interesting fact
 A loss in the qualifying round for the 1970 World Cup ignited a six-day war against neighbouring El Salvador. It is known today as, simply, the ‘Football War’, because it was sparked by riots in the aftermath of the game. (The war was actually fought over convoluted issues of immigration.)

The Coach: Reinaldo Ruedo
 The Colombian has been in charge of the side since 2006, and has helped transform Los Catrachos into a rising power in a weak region. Interestingly enough, Rueda never played professional football: his reputation was secured during his tenure with Colombia’s youth teams, which he rebuilt in the early noughties. Unfortunately, Rueda has long been in dispute with the Honduran Federation over unpaid wages, an all too common occurrence in Central America.

Key Player: Wilson Palacios
The highest-profile player could rise from top Prem talent to world-class player if he takes his Spurs form into the World Cup.

Probable Team (4-4-2): Valladares; Figueroa, J Palacios, Chavez, Izaguirre; Sabillon, Guevara, W Palacios, De Leon; Costly, Pavon

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Chile, June 16, 12.30pm, Nelspruit
Spain, June 21, 7.30pm, Johannesburg
Switzerland, June 25, 7.30pm, Mangaung/Bloemfontein

Qualified 3rd in CONCACAF
  Costa Rica (A) 0-2 
Trinidad and Tobago (A) 1-1  
Mexico (H) 3-1
  USA (A) 1-2
  El Salvador (A) 1-0
  USA (H) 2-3
 Mexico (A) 0-1  
Trinidad and Tobago (H) 4-1  
Costa Rica (H) 4-0  
El Salvador (H) 1-0

World Cup record
1982 1st Round

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Group H: Switzerland

Jonathan Wilson — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:53:00 GMT

Good organisation and low expectations mean a young, star-struck Swiss team could spring a surprise...

Ottmar Hitzfeld’s reign as Switzerland coach couldn’t have got off to a worse start. They began qualifying by conceding a late equaliser away to Israel, and were then beaten 2-1 at home by Luxembourg. Five wins in a row, though, steadied the ship.

“We had a difficult start with the defeat against Luxembourg, but we fought back and claimed an important win in Greece,” said the midfielder Tranquillo Barnetta. “Every game was like a final for us. The home match against Greece proved decisive and I think we deserved to win the group in the end.”

Still, their progress has been efficient rather than thrilling and, while beating Greece home and away is some achievement, the suspicion is that they benefited greatly from being drawn in the simplest of the European groups.

Generally, though, the sense is that Switzerland are rising. Their Under-17 team won the World Championship in Nigeria last year, continuing the emergence of a crop of talented young players – many of them from immigrant communities, as Swiss liberals keep pointing out, hoping to head off the rise of the militant right with an example of multicultural success such as France enjoyed in 1998.

The squad is notably youthful, with the likes of the 21-year-old Bayer Leverkusen forward Eren Derdiyok and the 23-year-old St Etienne midfielder Gelson Fernandes already fixtures.

Their draw in South Africa is not easy, but it could have been far worse. “Our goal has to be to survive the group stage. It’s a big challenge, but that's the aim,” says Barnetta. “It’s great that we’re going to have to opportunity to play against a big football nation like Spain. It’s an honour to be able to pit yourself against the best in the world. The two other teams are decent sides as well and I think all three of us will see second place as the target.”

Strengths
Hitzfeld has made Switzerland well-organised, and they will be difficult to beat. There is quality in midfield, and even if they may not be particularly incisive, the likes of Gokhan Inler and Barnetta will retain possession, while Fernandes adds bite.

Weaknesses
The only time they scored more than twice in any game in qualifying was away to Luxembourg, when they went goal crazy and racked up three. Those who saw them sleepwalk to the last 16 in Germany three years ago can be forgiven for wondering if anything had changed: this is not a side with pizzazz or goals.

Interesting fact
Switzerland were eliminated from the 2006 World Cup without conceding a goal in the tournament, going out on penalties to Ukraine after an agonising 120 minutes of 0-0 football.

The Coach: Ottmar Hitzfeld
One of only two coaches to win the European Cup/Champions League with two different sides (Borussia Dortmund and Bayern Munich), Hitzfeld replaced Kobi Kuhn in 2008. Although born on the German side of the order, he began his playing career in Switzerland winning two league titles with Basel, and had to learn German German as opposed to Swiss German when he became Dortmund coach in 1991.

Key Player: Alexander Frei
The Basel forward averages better than a goal every other game for Switzerland, and they will need him to provide the cutting edge. Crucially, he looks set to miss the opening game against Spain with an ankle injury.

Probable Team (4-4-2): Benaglio; Lichtsteiner, Grichting, Senderos, Magnin; Padalino, Fernandes, Inler, Barnetta; Nkufo, Frei

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Spain, June 16, 3pm, Durban
Chile, June 21, 3pm, Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth
Honduras, June 25, 7.30pm, Mangaung/Bloemfontein

Qualified Top of UEFA Group 2
Israel (A) 2-2
Luxembourg (H) 1-2
Latvia (H) 2-1
Greece (A) 2-1
Moldova (A) 2-0
Moldova (H) 2-0
Greece (H) 2-0
Latvia (A) 2-2
Luxembourg (A) 3-0
Israel (H) 0-0

World Cup record
1934 Quarter-Final
1938 Quarter-Final
1950 1st Round
1954 Quarter-Final
1962 1st Round
1966 1st Round
1994 2nd Round
2006 2nd Round

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FFT in SA: Cape Town

Nick Moore — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:30:00 GMT

FFT's whistle-stop tour of South Africa hits its picture-postcard hot-spot...

Cape Town is one of those rare cities that takes your breath away as soon as you arrive. Its main attractions are immediately on display: it's sandwiched between the glittering Atlantic Ocean (don’t try to swim in it, mind, it’s as cold as Scarborough and 10 times more dangerous), and the glorious Table Mountain.

A return trip to the top of TM costs 170 rand (about £17) and is an absolute must for any visitor: the views on a clear day rival anything you’ve ever seen. Having said that, half the time, the peak is shrouded in cloud – aka ‘the tablecloth’ – so you might be able to see sod-all.

Table with a view

There’s a cracking little restaurant at the top, and there’s also good news for Millwall’s botany club – incredibly, there are 30% more different species of plants on Table Mountain than in the whole of Europe.

From the summit you can pick out the wondrous Cape Town Stadium (more of which later) and Robben Island, the prison where Nelson Mandela spent nearly two decades. It’s now a world-class museum, and if you choose to visit, it’s likely that your tour guide will be a former inmate who battled the harsh apartheid regime. Truly humbling.

At ground level, make sure you stroll around the V&A Waterfront and picturesque harbour. Nobel Square has statues of South Africa’s four Nobel Prize winners (including Mandela – who is everywhere in this country, and Desmond Tutu), and next door there’s a great aquarium. There are also numerous superb restaurants (including a Nobu and Maison), plus bars and cafes galore to lounge in and soak up the majestic views.

Statuesque defending there

The Grand Parade will be the site of one of the biggest fans’ festivals at the World Cup. This is a historic place: the square’s City Hall is where Nelson Mandela made his famous speech upon his release, and it’s flanked by the Castle of Good Hope, the oldest surviving colonial building in South Africa. The six flags on display represent the six different national regimes that have run the country.

Those interested in their history should also stop in on the National Library of South Africa, the Natural History Museum or St George’s Gothic Cathedral, and visit District 6 – not the set of a recent sci-fi movies, but rather a shameful reminder of the apartheid regime. This desolate area of the city is where 60,000 black residents were forcibly removed.

Wannabe WAGs, meanwhile, should hit St George’s Mall, where you’ll find western goods at African prices, and Green Market Square, where you can pick up traditional African crafts – perfect for the folks back home.

The fans’ festival will connect to the stadium via a 2km ‘fans’ walk’. It will show all the tournament’s games on a big screen and serve local food and drink. There will also be fans’ parks at the Cape Flats Townships and Tombo Hall.

The clubs and bars of Long Street and Adderly Street – Cape Town’s prime nightlife areas – will also be buzzing. While you’re safe in these areas, it’s advisable to get a taxi between them and your accommodation.

If you’ve got a decent budget, take high tea at the Mount Nelson Hotel, where John Lennon was once mistaken for being a tramp, or try to get a table at one of Africa’s best hotels, the perfectly-situated Table Bay – which is where Barack Obama lays his head when he’s in town.

Further out of the city, beach areas like Mouille Point and Grainger Bay have lots of places to stay, eat and drink. Clifton Beach and Camps Bay have some of the best nightlife on the continent, are very safe and enjoy truly spectacular sunsets. Fourth Beach in Clifton is known as Africa’s Copacabana – so if the sun is shining (which it often is during winter) this is the place to head for a kickabout. Jeff Bay, meanwhile is a centre of South African surfing and another great place to stay.

Fourth Beach (first three not pictured)

A good amount of extra accommodation has been laid on for the World Cup. Many locals are leaving the cities and renting out their homes – or at least renting out a room – for the duration of the tournament, and camping is also an inexpensive option. Find out more here.

The ‘Mother City’ is also perfectly placed for any number of mouth-watering day trips. We visited the rich vineyards of Stellenbosch, Franschhoek and Paarl on a tasty but head-spinning day tour. An hour’s drive out of the city takes you deep into the heart of Africa’s only great wine-producing regions, sampling a glorious range of reds and whites.

The other pictures were mysteriously blurry...

The country is now the world’s seventh biggest wine producer, and you can visit huge vineyards or tiny, specialist boutique winemakers according to your taste. There are inexpensive coach tours available, but many people choose to hire a minibus and get the driver to take them to out-of-the-way corners of the region, which also houses some of the country’s best restaurants. Essential for booze-hounds.

Alternatively, head up the coast and see the penguins in the wild at Simonstown, Boulders Bay.

The Stadium
England play Algeria at Cape Town Stadium on Monday 21 June. FIFA representative Danny Jordaan recently said that the 68,000-capacity Green Point Stadium was the most beautiful ground he’d ever seen, and he’s apparently inspected venues in over 200 countries. It’s hard to argue.

With its Teflon mesh roof, gentle African contours and silver-grey seats glinting like the sun on the sea, this is set to be the iconic view of World Cup 2010; no wonder the BBC chose to situate their studio behind this stadium rather than at Johannesburg's Soccer City.

Granville, fetch a chainsaw for those posts...

The venue is set amid pleasant parkland, and can be walked to easily from the city centre via the fans’ park. Like the Royal Bafokeng, it is spacious and open. If you’re lucky enough to have a ticket on the top tier, you can also enjoy unbelievable views of Table Mountain.

The inner sanctum...

FourFourTwo was lucky enough to be allowed access all areas: there’s a huge mixing zone reminiscent of Wembley, and the changing rooms are enormous, with giant black leather seats a bit like Mastermind and personal safes for each player – just in case Wazza & Co are worried about their expensive watches getting half-inched while they’re out on the pitch...

FFT's hosts were Sun International, Southern Africa’s leading hotel group.

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Group H: Spain

FourFourTwo Team — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 10:18:00 GMT

The European Champions won every one of their 10 qualifying games and are brimming with confidence, writes Simon Talbot.

Something shifted in Vienna. When Fernando Torres brushed past Phillipp Lahm and lifted the ball beyond Jens Lehmann and into the net, not only had he scored the most important goal in Spain’s footballing history, he appeared to have altered their footballing future too. Euro 2008 was Spain’s first success for 44 years but surely not their last. Torres’s goal represented the end of a long journey, and the beginning of another.

As one headline put it: “Spain come into this World Cup as genuine favourites.” The “unlike every other time” went without saying. Every four years, the Spanish allowed themselves to believe but, deep down, they didn’t really believe. This time, they do. Every four years, they were declared tournament dark horses. Forget dark horses – this time they are favourites. Proper favourites.

Euro 2008 changed everything; washed away tears and fears, bringing belief. It reinforced a footballing identity previously questioned, providing certainty and commitment to a technical, ball-playing style. And it confirmed that this is a special generation of players. As Fernando Torres told FFT just after that goal: “If we’d said four years ago that Spain would win the European Championships and go into the World Cup with a chance of winning it, you’d have said we were mad. But not now.”

Spain’s record has been extraordinary. Even changing coaches has not slowed their stride. If anything, it has quickened it. When Vicente del Bosque took over from Luis Aragones, he announced that he would “respect the legacy” left by the former coach, making changes but doing so “gently”. The changes he has made have been seamless and successful: Gerard Pique is a fixture already and the addition of width with Jesus Navas has given Spain greater attacking variety.

The results speak volumes. Del Bosque won his first 13 games, a world record for a new coach. There is change but mostly there is continuity. Since Andres Iniesta scored against England at Old Trafford in 2007, Spain have played 45 games under two coaches and lost just once, against the USA in the semi-final of the Confederations Cup. They have won 41 times, scoring 103; 33 of their last 34 competitive matches have been victories and friendlies saw them defeat Argentina, England and France.

No wonder everyone has them down as favourites. The task has been to stress humility, to curb the enthusiasm and relieve the pressure. “We can win the World Cup,” says David Villa, “but only if we’re humble and go into every game knowing it’s going to be tough.”

“We are not the favourites, but we have to accept that people have us down as favourites,” Del Bosque says. “The problem is that people don’t seem to realise that Brazil, Italy, England, Germany and the rest have very good sides too.”

But the excitement is natural. It is not just that Spain are winning; it is that they appear so in control.  

Strengths
Their greatest strength is their mastery of the ball, based upon a midfield of Xabi Alonso, Xavi, Iniesta and Silva that never seem to misplace a single pass. So good are they that there has rarely been a starting place for Cesc Fabregas – arguably the Premier League’s outstanding midfielder. After a recent friendly in Paris, Thierry Henry said it all when he shrugged: “You can’t get the ball off them.”

With Fernando Torres and David Villa ahead of them, Spain’s forward line is deadly, too, while the defence is tougher than is often assumed. Pique is on course to become the world’s best centre-back: strong, quick, intelligent and impeccable on the ball. And then there’s Iker Casillas – the man they call Saint Iker, the goalkeeper with unrivalled reflexes.

Weaknesses
 They are well hidden. But one place where Spain can be attacked is at full-back where Sergio Ramos is athletic but not always well positioned and Joan Capdevila is limited. The trouble is, to get at the full-backs you have to get the ball off them – and for opponent after opponent that has proven the toughest of tasks.

Interesting fact
Despite Spain winning every game, Fernando Torres didn't score a single goal in qualifying. And since you ask, he started seven of the 10 matches, in which Spain netted 18 goals.

The Coach: Vicente del Bosque
The man with the warm smile and bushy tache, has slowly shifted the Seleccion’s approach. Nothing was broken, so he hasn’t fixed a thing. What he has done is fine-tune and make the occasional addition. Popular and respected, he has brought width and variety and experimented with a five-man midfield in the absence of Torres. Like everything else, it worked.

Key Player: Gerard Pique
From Manchester United reserve to treble winner in just a couple of years – a good World Cup would secure the Barcelona man's place as the best defender in the world.

Probable Team (4-4-2): Casillas; Ramos, Pique, Puyol, Capdevila; Iniesta, Alonso, Xavi, Silva; Torres, Villa

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Switzerland, June 16, 3pm, Durban
Honduras, June 21, 7.30pm, Johannesburg
Chile, June 25, 7.30pm, Tshwane/Pretoria

Qualified Top of UEFA Group 5
Bosnia-Herzegovina (H) 1-0
Armenia (H) 4-0
Estonia (A) 3-0
Belgium (A) 2-1
Turkey (H) 1-0
Turkey (A) 2-1
Belgium (H) 5-0
Estonia (H) 3-0
Armenia (A) 2-1
Bosnia-Herzegovina (A) 5-2

World Cup record
1934 Quarter-Final
1950 Fourth Place
1962 1st Round
1966 1st Round
1978 1st Round
1982 2nd Round
1986 Quarter-Final
1990 2nd Round
1994 Quarter-Final
1998 1st Round
2002 Quarter-Final
2006 2nd Round

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Group G: Ivory Coast

Jonathan Wilson — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:42:00 GMT

The Elephants were struggling even before Didier Drogba's injury...

Do golden generations ever win anything? By general consent this crop of Ivorian players – Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, Kolo Toure, Salomon Kalou, Emmanuel Eboue, Didier Zokora – is the one of the greatest ever produced by any African country, and yet they have never won a Cup of Nations and their only victory at a World Cup was against  Serbia-Montenegro when both were already out.

Troublingly, there are signs that they are already past their peak: they lost in the final of the Cup of Nations in 2006, the semi-final in 2008 and the quarter-final in January. 

That latest defeat to Algeria, which came despite Kader Keita giving Ivory Coast an 89th-minute lead, prompted the dismissal of Vahid Halilhodzic as coach. He pointed out, with some justification, that he had been sacked after losing just one game in two years, and that a freakish one his side should have won. Then again, Ivory Coast had been sluggish in all their three games in the tournament (but after the Togo shootings, perhaps a slight lack of focus was understandable). 

The real problem was not so much sacking the Bosnian as doing so without having lined up a replacement. Guus Hiddink, Philippe Troussier, Mark Hughes and Bernd Schuster were all linked with the job before Sven-Goran Eriksson finally got in on the final weekend in March. That left him with an absurdly short period of time to work with his side and try to instil a fluency and cohesion.

This is a team that has grown up together, so perhaps that is not as big a factor as it may have been, but once again the slack administration of African football is hindering its development. 

Strengths 
Drogba, if he can return from a broken arm in time to play a part in the tournament, is a great leader of the line and, when his mind is right, a great captain. Yaya Toure is one of the best holding midfielders in the world, Emmanuel Eboue seems to be coming back into form and Salomon Kalou is a better, more skilful forward than he tends to show at Chelsea. The spine is there.  

Weaknesses 
The goalkeeper, Boubacar Barry, is a liability, as is centre-back Sol Bamba. Kolo Toure is not what he was, making the team desperately vulnerable to crosses.

There is a general lack of imagination and creativity, so they are unlikely to trouble teams who can live with their strength.  

Interesting fact
 Ivory Coast won the Cup of Nations in 1992 without conceding a goal, something for which two local witch-doctors claimed credit. When they weren’t paid, they cursed the team, who struggled until 2004 when the government paid them off with $2000 and a bottle of whisky. Ivory  Coast promptly qualified for their first World Cup.  

The Coach: Sven-Goran Eriksson
A vacant job, oodles of cash, a golden generation going nowhere and no pressure to develop things long term: it had Sven written all over it. The former England manager’s legendary sangfroid will be a major advantage in a country that feels success is long overdue, but lacks either the infrastructure or the spread of players over different positions to achieve it. 

Key Player: Didier Drogba 
Drogba is as a patriotic as they come, and for all his success at club level, he would probably feel unfulfilled if he didn’t make more of an impact with Ivory Coast.   The team is relying upon a speedy recovery.

Probable Team (4-3-3): Barry; Eboue, K Toure, Bamba, Tiene; Zokora, Y Toure, Tiote; Gervinho, Drogba, Kalou

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Portugal, June 15, 3pm, Port Elizabeth
Brazil, June 20, 7.30pm, Johannesburg
North Korea, June 25, 3pm, Nelspruit

Qualified 1st in Africa Group E
Malawi (H) 5-0
Guinea (A) 2-1
Burkina Faso (A) 3-2
Burkina Faso (H) 5-0
Malawi (A) 1-1
Guinea (H) 3-0

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Group G: Portugal

FourFourTwo Team — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 09:18:00 GMT

They may have Ronaldo, but injuries and an unpopular manager spell trouble for Portugal, says Ben Lyttleton.

Portugal came through a tough qualifying group with more questions than answers for coach Carlos Queiroz, who has baffled supporters with some of his selections and failed to win over players preferring the more laid-back approach of his predecessor Luiz Felipe Scolari.

That, along with a draw that has pitted them alongside Brazil and Ivory Coast and with a potential Round of 16 tie against Spain, explains the pessimism around the team’s supporters – despite FA president Gilberto Madail’s public demand that Portugal improve on 2006’s fourth-placed finish.

Queiroz has also upset fans of Benfica, who have enjoyed a superb season domestically and in Europe, by ignoring the claims of goalkeeper Quim (he prefers to pick Chelsea’s Hilario as back-up to Eduardo, so the first-choice need not fear for his place) and left-back Fabio Coentrao, with his place going to Duda.

His biggest decision has been to pick the recently-naturalised Liedson at centre-forward, allowing Cristiano Ronaldo to go back to the wing in a 4-3-3 system, or just behind him in a 4-4-2, which Liedson prefers. Queiroz has also made the risky call to use Pepe, the Real Madrid centre-back out injured for most of the season, in a midfield alongside Raul Meireles and Deco.

But considering fans booed the team in their March friendly against China in Coimbra, no one is holding out much hope for a long campaign in South Africa.

Strengths
 Pepe has only moved to midfield because the central defensive partnership of Ricardo Carvalho and Bruno Alves is so strong, and with Rolando the first reserve, Carvalho’s latest ankle injury is not the drama it could have been. Ronaldo is much less individualistic than he used to be for his country.

Weaknesses
 Injuries have come at a bad time for Portugal: Jose Bosingwa is out at right-back, leaving Paulo Ferreira to fill in, while Porto’s in-form left-winger Varela broke his leg in March and will miss out. Now Nani has injured his collarbone in training attempting a spectacular flying shot.

Liedson’s call-up was a sign of how desperate Queiroz has become for a regular goalscorer that has been lacking for so long.

Interesting fact 
He may be the most expensive player in the world and scored a hatful of goals for Real Madrid, but Cristiano Ronaldo’s last goal for Portugal was against the Czech Republic in Euro 2008.

The Coach: Carlos Queiroz 
Queiroz has been an unpopular national team boss. The players don’t respond to his methods, complaining he acts like a school teacher, forcing them to watch hours of videos. The joyful atmosphere built by Scolari is now a distant memory – and with Queiroz contracted until 2012, there will be no let-up soon.

There are also complaints he does not use friendlies to try different players or tactics: Ariza Makukula, top scorer in the Turkish league, has been continually ignored as have Benfica’s players despite their lofty position in Portugal.

Key Player: Cristiano Ronaldo
At some point he will take his club form onto the biggest stage.

Probable Team (4-3-3):  Eduardo;  Ferreira, Carvalho, Alves, Duda;  Meireles, Pepe, Deco;  Simao, Liedson, C Ronaldo

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Ivory Coast, June 15, 3pm, Nelson Mandela Bay/Port Elizabeth
Korea DPR, June 21, 12.30pm, Cape Town
Brazil, June 25, 3pm, Durban

Qualified 2nd in UEFA Group One
Malta (A) 4-0
Denmark (H) 2-3
Sweden (A) 0-0
Albania (H) 0-0
Sweden (H) 0-0
Albania (A) 2-1
Denmark (A) 1-1
Hungary (A) 1-0
Hungary (H) 3-0
Malta (H) 4-0
Bosnia-Herzegovina (H) 1-0
Bosnia-Herzegovina (A) 1-0

World Cup record
1966 Semi-Final
1986 1st Round
2002 1st Round
2006 Semi-Final

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Group G: North Korea

John Duerden — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 08:44:00 GMT

Recreating their own personal glory of 1966 looks to be mission impossible for North Korea. Or is it?

The team with a 100 per cent record of reaching the quarter-final stage at the World Cup are given little chance of collecting even a single point in South Africa.

A group with Brazil, Ivory Coast and Portugal was North Korea’s reward for slugging it out through three rounds of qualification over a period of almost two years. Progressing to the second round would be as big a shock as 1966 when, in their first and only appearance on the global stage to date, DPRK defeated Italy in Middlesbrough to book a quarter-final match with Portugal. Incredibly, the Chollima raced into a 3-0 lead at Goodison Park before succumbing to the magic of Eusebio and losing 5-3. 

After a dismal failure to qualify for the 1994 tournament, no attempts were even made in 1998 and 2002. The team returned in 2006 but were undone by bad luck and poor goalkeeping. The nucleus has stayed together, however, and one thing can be said about this North Korea team: it is as united a unit as they come. 

This was evident when surviving the Asian version of the Group of Death in the final round of qualification. Saudi Arabia, Iran, South Korea and UAE had 15 World Cup appearances between them but North Korea shocked the West Asian nations by finishing second. A goalless draw in Riyadh – a typically redoubtable defensive performance - on the final matchday was enough.

 Training time together is also ample. The majority of the team play in the league north of the 38th Parallel. Standards and attendances may be low but three overseas-based players add a little class and international experience.

 Striker Jong Tae-se grabs the headlines. Japan-born but educated in the North Korean system, the Kawasaki Frontale frontman is fast, fierce and powerful. He says he is not ready for his desired destination of the Premier League but ‘The People’s Rooney’ could prove himself wrong this summer.

Russian-based Hong Yong-jo provides the guile behind the single striker and the set-piece threat while An Yong-hak is a terrier in the middle.   

Strengths 
Well-organised, hard-working and with teamwork to die for, the East Asians will be no easy beats in South Africa. The proverbial 110 per cent will be given for the full 90.

Expectations are low, as is pressure. The fact that the team is in such a tough group allows for their natural defensive game.  

Weaknesses
 It is clear that the team has problems scoring goals – 11 were scored in 14 games in the second and third rounds of qualification.

The majority of the team has little international experience. A crash course against South American, African and European teams in the build-up to June may be too little too late.

Interesting fact #1
Six of North Korea's squad play for April 25, one of the most successful teams in the country and named after Military Foundation Day. The club belongs to the Korean People's Army.

Interesting fact #2
North Korea are the only nation in this year's World Cup finals not to feature in the top 100 of the official FIFA rankings.

The   Coach: Kim Jong-hun
Kim did a sterling job during qualification and was mobbed by his players as the final whistle sounded in Riyadh. Links with the likes of Guus Hiddink and Sven-Goran Eriksson have weakened his position but he is feisty, as he demonstrated in Seoul last April. Kim walked out of the press conference after blasting the referee and accusing South Korea of giving his star players food poisoning.

Key Player: Jong Tae-se
The 24 year-old wants a goal a game in South Africa and no defender will relish playing against the whirlwind of a striker.

Probable Team ( 5-3-2):   Ri Myong-guk;  Ji Yun-nam, Ri Jun-il , Ri Kwang-chon, Pak Chol-jin , Cha Jong-hyok; Kim Yong-jun,  An Yong-hak, Mun In-guk; Hong Yong-jo , Jong Tae-se

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Brazil, June 15, 7.30pm, Johannesburg
Portugal, June 21, 12.30pm, Cape Town
Ivory Coast, June 25, 3pm, Nelspruit

Qualified 2nd in AFC Group 2

United Arab Emirates (A) 2-1
Korea Republic (H) 1-1
Iran (A) 1-2
Saudi Arabia (H) 1-0
United Arab Emirates (H) 2-0
Korea Republic (A) 0-1
Iran (H) 0-0
Saudi Arabia (A) 0-0

World Cup record

1966 Quarter-Final

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Group G: Brazil

Celso de Campos Jr — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 07:00:00 GMT

A sixth World Cup is within Brazil's grasp – with or without beautiful football.

Forget everything you’ve ever heard about Brazil. Drop the beautiful game clichés, skip the image of a symphony of samba virtuosos, leave behind the previous World Cup memories of triumphs – and failures. For better or worse, masterfully conducted by novice coach Dunga they rely, perhaps for the first time in history, on the collective rather than the individual. It had to happen someday – even to Brazil: the stars are there, but the supporting cast has finally taken centre stage.

Dunga took over in 2006, just after the fiasco in Germany, where the hype around the Brazilians had reached unprecedented levels. Combining the winning generation of Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Cafu and Roberto Carlos with top prospects like Kaka and Robinho, Brazil were again the team to beat. But they were beaten by their own errors, most notably sloppy preparation, which allowed players to practice at their own will. Sergeant Dunga’s first assignment was to make sure this would never happen again.

The new coach started to create a squad at his own image: raw, hard-working, spirited – but not exactly beautiful. In next to no time, a breed of blue-collar players took the national team by storm – people like Elano, Julio Baptista, Josue and Felipe Melo. This immediately put Dunga in the line of fire, just as it had done in his playing days, when ‘Dopey’ was synonymous with ugly football. Triumph at the 2007 Copa America temporary silenced the critics, but they were back after the 2008 Olympic Games, where Brazil could only manage bronze, leaving Dunga’s tenure hanging by a thread.

Ultimately, the Brazilian Football Confederation decided to back the coach. Dunga’s squad are rarely brilliant but their efficiency can’t be questioned, after they cruised through World Cup qualifying, won the 2009 Confederations Cup and won a series of friendlies against Italy, Argentina, Portugal and England.

In each of those triumphs, fan favourites Kaka and Robinho were less of a factor than the defensive dominance and leadership of Lucio, the consistency of Julio Cesar in goal and Luis Fabiano’s unerring finishing skills. No wonder Ronaldo or Adriano were unable to get a look in – and no Ronaldinho either.

“To choose a few players between so many talents is one of the toughest things about the job. But I set up a group in which I believe. With this group of players, I can promise hard work and total commitment,” said Dunga.

Kits featuring Kaka and Robinho’s names flood Brazil’s streets but it’s going to be the unsung, less marketed heroes who will decide this Brazilian team’s place in history – for better or worse.

Strengths
The defence. You read it right: defence. Brazil’s perennial Achilles’ heel has been mastered under Dunga. Goalkeeper Julio César brings the security that has been absent since 2002 World Cup winner Marcos retired. Lucio and Juan comprise one of the most reliable partnerships in Selecao history. On the right, the gaffer can choose between Maicon and Dani Alves. Brazil’s defensive midfielders, although individually questionable, provide protection for the defenders as part of a now tried and tested system.

Weaknesses
Key players under Dunga, Kaka and Robinho have endured rollercoaster seasons. The former has been considered something of a flop at Real Madrid, a far cry from the World Player of the Year we saw in 2007. The stepover king, meanwhile, never showed his full potential in Europe and had to return to Santos to rediscover his old swagger. If both bring their club form into the national team, Dunga needs to act quickly and courageously – benching Kaka, for instance, won’t be the most popular decision. Good job popularity has never been his priority.

Interesting fact
Brazil find themselves in the Group of Death and could well be the biggest casualty of them all. The last time they failed to make it past the group stages was in 1966...

The Coach: Dunga
A wild punt from the Brazilian Football Confederation, Dunga, who had never had a coaching job before taking over the national team, has survived the critics and earned the respect of the fans. They might not agree with the 1994 World Cup-winning captain’s ideas or selections, but his results back them up.

Key Player: Lucio
A record sixth triumph would also mean a second World Cup win for Lucio, who is now captain after playing every game in 2002.

Probable Team (4-2-3-1): Julio Cesar; Maicon, Lucio, Juan, Andre Santos; Gilberto Silva, Felipe Melo; Ramires, Kaka, Nilmar; Luis Fabiano

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
North Korea, June 15, 7.30pm, Johannesburg
Ivory Coast,  June 20, 7.30, Johannesburg
Portugal, June 25, 3pm, Durban

Qualified Top of CONMEBOL 
Colombia (A) 0-0 
Ecuador (H) 5-0
Peru (A) 1-1
 Uruguay (H) 2-1
 Paraguay (A) 0-2
 Argentina (H) 0-0
 Chile (A) 3-0
 Bolivia (H) 0-0
 Venezuela (A) 4-0
Colombia (H) 0-0
 Ecuador (A) 1-1
 Peru (H) 3-0
 Uruguay (A) 4-0
Paraguay (H) 2-1
 Argentina (A) 3-1
 Chile (H) 4-2
 Bolivia (A) 1-2
 Venezuela (H) 0-0

World Cup record
1930 1st Round
1934 1st Round
1938 Semi-Final
1950 Runners-up
1954 Quarter-Final
1958 Winners
1962 Winners
1966 1st Round
1970 Winners
1974 Fourth Place
1978 Third Place
1982 2nd Round
1986 Quarter-Final
1990 Second Round
1994 Winners
1998 Runners-up
2002 Winners
2006 Quarter-Final

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FFT in SA: Rustenberg

Nick Moore — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:20:00 GMT

Our guide to England's group destinations starts off a little Rusty…

England’s World Cup begins here with a game against the USA on June 12. Most fans will drive, taxi or get coaches in from Johannesburg, which takes under two hours, or fly into Pilanesburg or Rustenburg airports. Make sure you plan ahead for getting there and back: there are no realistic public transport options, and South Africa’s overstretched system could see you stranded otherwise.

The city of Rustenburg itself isn’t necessarily the sort of place you’d normally visit: it’s an administrative capital and a platinum mining base – think Doncaster with sunshine. Driving round initially, there doesn’t seem to be much to see apart from numerous car showrooms – and England fans may feel that they’ve been robbed of an interesting place to stay on the first leg of their visit.

They’d be wrong. While ‘Rusty’ is little more than a pleasant town (albeit a safe one with ample accommodation, high employment, a low crime rate and some decent nightlife) it’s a perfect base for two of Africa’s most spectacular attractions.

Nature lovers will go wild for the reserves and safari parks of Magaliesberg, where they can spot the ‘Big Five’ animals and take part in numerous outdoor pursuits: mountain-biking, climbing, rambling, hot-air ballooning, horse-riding, fishing, bird-watching, botany and much, much more.

For fans seeking for a more visceral thrill, it’s just half an hour to South Africa’s answer to Vegas and ‘Kingdom of Pleasure’. Sun City is a 1500-hectare playground: casinos, hotels, bars and leisure facilities chucked together in a stunningly beautiful jungle setting. At the majestic Palace of the Lost City you can surf a roaring lagoon at the Valley of Waves, sunbathe on an incredible man-made beach, try the water slides and whizz around on a hired quad bike or Segway (all for a tenner’s entrance fee).

Sun City: Simply bonkers

Sporting types can get wet at the ‘Waterworld Lake’ (speedboating, water skiing etc) or have a round at the two lavish championship golf courses. After losing your rands at the Sun City Hotel’s Harlequins Casino, fans can enjoy some live entertainment, and the resort is also putting up some truly gigantic TV screens for the World Cup’s matches. You can even feed and ride elephants.

The bars and restaurants of the Cabanas, Cascades and Palace are world-class too: no wonder when previous guests include the likes of Michael Jackson and Elton John, who have both played spectacular gigs here.

Never knowingly understated...

Back in Rustenburg, the fans’ park will be set up at Fields College, just a short distance from the city centre. With a capacity of 20,000, it’ll show all the World Cup games and is open for the business of partying from 10am to 11pm. "We're stocking a lot of beer for the English," a tourist office official tells us. "And we’re looking forward to drinking them with you."

If you don’t fancy joining the locals for a lager straight away, though, Rusty also offers some interesting Boer War history at the Rustenburg Museum, and the Waterfall Shopping Mall is a good place to while away half a day picking up some bargains.

The Stadium
England’s opening game is to be held at the Royal Bafokeng Sports Palace Stadium. The smart 42,389 capacity open-air bowl has been built in the heart of the Royal Bafokeng nation, and is owned and funded (at the cost of 120 million rand) by the local tribe, who operate many of the platinum mines.

As it's 13 kilometres outside the city, most fans will arrive by coach, taxi and park-and-ride along the ‘Avenue of Legends’ – a road with lots of posters of Maradona, Zidane and David Beckham, in other words. Plan your journey well ahead and arrive early.

The view from the bench...

Inside, the ground is similar to many of the venues fans will remember from Germany 2006: spacious, with lots of legroom and wide-open concourses and stairwells, meaning there’s no crowding or claustrophobic crushes. It feels properly African too, though: you can see the Magaliesburg mountains and savannah from the stands.

...and the dressing room

Despite having an athletics track around it, every seat is close to the action, although it’s hard to say how much of the noise generated by the England fans will be lost into the African air. Don’t worry about a brolly, either, Mr. McClaren (if you’re coming, that is). The weather here is pleasant all year round, so pack sun cream for this leg of the trip. Winter is known as the ‘secret season’ in this part of South Africa.

Accommodation
With 14,000 hotel rooms, Rustenburg offers an option to suit every budget. You could rest your head in a nearby safari park in Pilanesberg, or even rent a room from a local Bafokeng tribesman. Find out more at www.rustenburgaccommodation.co.za and www.magliesmeander.co.za

FFT's hosts were Sun International, Southern Africa’s leading hotel group.

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FFT in SA: Intro

Nick Moore — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 16:10:00 GMT

South Africa has never seen a sporting event on the scale of the World Cup before, and they’re very, very excited about it. Equally, the World Cup has never witnessed anything quite like South Africa. This will be a uniquely thrilling venue for the greatest tournament on earth.

But with a new continent comes uncertainty. What’s it really like out there? Is it the all-singing carnival that the shiny adverts portray, or are the doom-mongers right about the country’s crime problems? Is it going to be a nightmare to get about? What’s the accommodation situation really like? How are the stadiums looking?

There was only one way to find out. FourFourTwo travelled to the three cities that England will be playing at this summer – Rustenburg, Cape Town and Port Elizabeth – on a hectic five-day fact-finding mission. Notebook in hand, we’ve been to the stadiums. Inside the dressing rooms. And, indeed, inside the dressing room toilets.

We’ve ventured into the townships. We’ve got drunk in a shebeen. We’ve fed elephants, been savaged by insects, tried our luck in the casinos of Sun City, toured the wine country of Stellenbosch, had a braai with the locals and made sure that no stone of the bushveld was left unturned.

So if you’re going out to follow England, read these blogs for our exclusive insider guide to the best of everything South Africa has to offer. If it’s anything like our trip, you’re in for a hell of a ride.

Getting there
We fly in via Cape Town on the first leg of our adventure, although most visitors will pass through Johannesburg. While those watching at home will particularly enjoy this World Cup because of the time difference (South Africa is just one hour ahead), it’s also a real boon for travellers. There’s no bewildering jet-lag to deal with, and provided you can get some overnight kip on the plane, you can wake up fresh on the other side of the globe 12 hours later – particularly if you have your own pillow, eh Wayne?

Fly direct to Jo’burg and Cape Town with British Airways, South African Airways, KLM, Lufthansa, Swiss, Virgin, Emirates or Etihad.

FFT's hosts were Sun International, Southern Africa’s leading hotel group.

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How to deal with World Cup virgins

Damian Hall — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:05:00 GMT

 Lots of non-football fans will be watching the World Cup, which can only be a good thing. But the great uninitiated hordes of Johnny and Jenny Come Latelys will be asking you lots of questions about the game. Sometimes silly ones.

Some newbies may be genuinely interested in the World Cup, and some won’t be. We’ve compiled a set of answers to their inevitable questions – for both cases. Use answer A for the genuine ones, B for those who are secretly itching to do something else.

From the offside rule to why David Beckham/Gary Lineker/Jonny Wilkinson isn’t playing, your guide to everything World Cup virgins need to know, so you can watch games in (relative) peace. It’s quizzactly what you need…

Q: C’mon Ing’lund! So, you know about football: will England win the World Cup then, or what?
ANSWER A: It’s unlikely. If Wayne Rooney stays fit and other countries don’t notice our goalkeeper is bobbins we should get to the quarter-finals, maybe even sneak into the semis. But then we’ll most likely face Brazil, who are better than us. They will probably beat us. Probably on penalties and with a red card involved somewhere. We know it’s coming but it will still hurt. Please don’t stab any Russians afterwards.
ANSWER B: Yeah, deffo. And stick your money on Gazza as top scorer.

Q: Sigh. Why do England always lose on penalties?
A: England have the worst record at penalty shootouts. They lack mental fortitude – they don’t think they will win. The Germans, for example, think they will win at penalties, so they usually do. Belief is really important in football.
B: Because they never practise them.

Q: You know what – I’ve had an idea – why don't they practise them?
A: They do. But taking a kick in front of your mates in training is a world away from game conditions, with 60,000 fans screaming abuse at you and millions watching on the box.
B: That’s a cracking idea. Did you apply for England manager last time round? No? You should next time.

Q: But surely penalties are easy? Even I can do it!
A: Well, like we say, it’s easy if… No, you’re right. It is easy. They should be able to score from 12 yards.
B: I don’t know why you didn’t make the squad.

"Ooh, he caught it. Is that bad?"

Q: Will England lose on penalties again this time?
A: If it comes to it, probably, yes. Though manager Fabio Capello has instilled a new fairly un-English, single-minded mentality into the squad, so you never know...
B: Yes.

Q: Wait, Fab who? That’s not a very English name…
A: The England manager is Italian. There aren’t any good English managers about (we realised too late that Roy Hodgson was a secret genius). The last one was English and couldn’t even qualify us for the European Championships, which was embarrassing. So we went with this guy. He’s been pretty good so far.
B: He’s from Doncaster.

Q: So, what’s this offside thing they keep going on about?
A: Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once. When the ball’s played forward, all attackers in the opponent's half must have at least two opposition players (which usually includes the goalkeeper) between them and the goal. There are a few nuances, but that’s the gist of it. Yes, sometimes the referee and assistant referees get it wrong.
B: You’ll only ask me again in 10 minutes, so I might as well tell you that… When anyone goes off the side of the pitch, they’re offside.

Q: So, why don’t they have television replays like almost every other sport?
A: They should have, obviously. Something to do with the head of FIFA, Sepp Blatter, being a big berk.
B: David Beckham said he didn’t want it. His word is the law.

Q: Ooh yeah, why isn’t David Beckham playing? He’s still way hot.
A: He’s injured. Plus he would have been used only sparingly, as a sub, anyway.
B: He’s injured. He got poisoned by the ink from too many tattoos.

"Thanks for remembering me!"

Q: What about little Michael Owen? I remember that amazing goal he scored in the 1996 World Cup final against Scotland that time...
A: He’s injured too. And wasn’t picked by Fab when he was “fit”. He’s broken.
B: He transferred to Germany, the traitor.

Q: Oh look, John Terry. Boooooo! I hope he scores a home goal.
A: It’s an OWN goal. A goal scored against a team by one of their own!
B: Me too.

Q: Why is this commentator, Clive Tilsly, such a buffoon?
A: I share your pain. He can’t help it. He went to the university of buffoonery.
B: I share your pain. He can’t help it. He went to the university of buffoonery.

Q: And that Ronaldo – he’s brilliant – why isn’t he playing for England?
A: Because he’s a slimy Portuguese winker.
B: Oh look, I think Peaches Geldof just walked past the pub. Quick! Autograph! Run!

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Group F: Slovakia

FourFourTwo Team — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:23:00 GMT

The World Cup debutants have Marek Hamsik and a kind draw but have to overcome injury and inconsistency, writes Neil Billingham.

In qualifying for their first major tournament as an independent nation, Slovakia has ended 34 years of hurt.

After providing nine of the players for Czechoslovakia in their defeat of West Germany in the final of the 1976 European Championship Final in Belgrade, the achievements of Slovak football had slipped into anonymity. While Czech midfielder Antonin Panenka grabbed the headlines for his legendary chipped penalty in the shoot-out in the 1976 final the Czechs also went on to taste more success after the ‘Velvet Divorce’ of Czechoslovakia in 1994. Which is why the Slovak’s 2-1 victory in Prague last year and subsequent qualification for South Africa 2010 was all the sweeter.

“Our country is very proud,” says Miroslav Karhan, Slovakia’s most capped player. “Qualifying for the World Cup is important for the identity of our young nation but we know it’s going to be hard work to perform well in South Africa.”

Away victories in qualifying against the Czechs, Poland, Northern Ireland and San Marino came about thanks to a combination of experienced campaigners and talented youngsters. The likes of Karhan and striker Robert Vittek provided stability while Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel and Napoli midfielder Marek Hamsik offered a touch of class. The coach’s son Vladimir Weiss also made an impact in qualifying and gave the team another attacking edge.

Strengths
 Much responsibility for Slovakia’s success will fall on the shoulders of 22-year-old Marek Hamsik and the coach knows it. “He is a world class player,” says Weiss. “With Marek in the team the players’ heads don’t go down and we’ve turned a few games around because of that”.

Coach Vladimir Weiss has engendered a great spirit within the squad that thrives on playing the role of underdog.

The draw has also been kind to Slovakia. They may be up against reigning champions Italy but they open their campaign against minnows New Zealand before what is likely to be a crucial match against Paraguay. “The Paraguay match is likely to decide who will qualify for the second stage and I think the second stage is a realistic target for us,” says Miroslav Karhan. It is, but much will depend on who is fit and in form come their first match on June 15.

Weaknesses 
The big problem facing Weiss Senior is that few of his players are playing regularly with their clubs. Skrtel broke his foot in February and will be short of match fitness. Weiss Junior has failed to make an impact at Manchester City or in his loan spell at Bolton. Striker Stanislas Sestak is injury prone, and even captain Vittek was rumoured to have been one of the last names on the squad sheet.

Despite winning their qualifying group, the two defeats to Slovenia offered a worrying insight into the inconsistency of the team and Slovak sports teams have a history of freezing on the big occasion.

Interesting fact
Coach Vladimir Weiss's dad and player Vladimir Weiss's grandad (also Vladimir) played for Czechoslovakia.

The Coach: Vladimir Weiss
Massively popular coach who, after successful spells with Artmedia Bratislava, has given the national team a hard edge that it never possessed before. The 46-year-old will be the youngest coach in South Africa and has taken a set of players who aren’t always first choice for their clubs and got the best out of them. His hard work, spirit and occasional genius will ensure Slovakia will be resolute and awkward opponents this summer.

Key Player: Marek Hamsik
Napoli midfielder Hamsik is already on the radar of many of Europe’s top clubs and a good World Cup could see his transfer value soar.

Probable Team (4-2-3-1): Mucha; Pekarik, Durica, Skrtel, Zabavnik; Strba, Karhan; Weiss, Hamsik, Stoch; Sestak

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
New Zealand, June 15, 12.30pm, Rustenburg
Paraguay, June 20, 12.30pm, Bloemfontein
Italy, June 24, 3pm, Johannesburg

Qualified Top of UEFA Group Three
Northern Ireland (H) 2-1
Slovenia (A) 1-2
San Marino (A) 1-3
Poland (H) 2-1
Czech Republic (A) 2-1
San Marino (H) 7-0
Czech Republic (H) 2-2
Northern Ireland (A) 2-0
Slovenia (H) 0-2
Poland (A) 1-0

World Cup record
2010 First appearance

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Group F: New Zealand

FourFourTwo Team — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 14:02:00 GMT

The All Whites had a simple route to South Africa but staying there will be a harder task, says James Montague.

On the face of it, New Zealand couldn't have hoped for an easier path to the World Cup.

With Australia getting bored of tonking the likes of American Samoa and jumping the Oceania ship to play in the Asian Confederation, the All Whites navigated the most tepid of waters to reach their second finals. With New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and Bahrain (combined population: two million, a little less than Greater Manchester) all dispatched, some have questioned the validity of their presence at football’s top table. A disappointing Confederations Cup campaign last summer, where they were well beaten by South Africa and humiliated 5-0 by Spain, didn’t help.

 But football success for most is, or at least should be, a relative concept, and whispers about the ease of New Zealand’s qualification are unfair when taken out of context. The team is made up largely of solid, unspectacular pros such as Blackburn Rovers’ Ryan Nelsen and successful A-League exports like Gold Coast United’s Shane Smeltz, augmented by talented youngsters like West Brom's Chris Wood. New Zealand has just one professional club, and it doesn’t even play in the national league. And let’s not forget the historic prejudice for the oval-balled game. Qualification remains a remarkable achievement. 

A kind draw has raised slim hopes that reaching the second round is possible, and the All Whites will hope they can improve on their only other appearance in the finals, in 1982, when they lost heavily to Brazil, the Soviet Union and Scotland.

But New Zealand Football know that the real benefits of qualification will be felt years down the line. “Making it [to Spain 82] was one thing and not making fools of ourselves when we got there was another but I think we gave a good show of ourselves,” recalls ex-All Whites goalkeeper and current New Zealand Football president Frank Van Hattum. “But the World Cup has spin-offs: it gives football credibility [in New Zealand]. We will create heroes, stars and superstars. And kids get off on that.”  

Strengths
 In a squad drawn from the lower leagues of English football, Australia's A-League and New Zealand’s semi-pro ranks, glamour and guile are in short supply. But as their 0-0 draw in the brutal humidity of Bahrain proved, tenacity and stout defensive organisation are hardy alternatives.   

Weaknesses
 As rank outsiders alongside North Korea, New Zealand’s weaknesses are almost insurmountable. But the biggest hurdle will be scoring goals. They failed to score at last summer’s Confederations Cup and only managed to score once over 180 minutes against Bahrain. They did beat Vanuatu 4-1 in qualification though...

  Interesting fact
 The goal that beat Bahrain and sent the All Whites to South Africa was scored by an Englishman. Sort of. Plymouth Argyle striker Rory Fallon represented England youth during his spell at Barnsley, but switched just before last year’s crucial play offs after FIFA relaxed rules governing players who hold dual nationalities.  

The Coach: Ricki Herbert 
You’ll recognise the type: brash and confident, Herbert is the archetypical Antipodean leader we’ve come to begrudgingly respect through England's various failings in cricket and rugby over the years. It has been a great 12 months for Herbert, another alumnus from that 1982 World Cup team: he also guided New Zealand's only professional team, the Wellington Phoenix, to the play-offs in this season’s Australian A-League.   

Key Player:  Ryan Nelsen
 If the Blackburn defender can lead his team to the second round for the first time, then the ghosts of ’82, forever hanging over Kiwi football, will be banished forever.

Probable Team (4-4-2):   Paston;  Sigmund, Vicelich, Nelsen, Lochhead ; Killen, Brown, Elliot, Bertos;  Smeltz, Fallon

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Slovakia, June 15, 12.30pm, Rustenburg
Italy, June 20, 3pm, Nelspruit
Paraguay, June 24, 3pm, Polokwane

Qualified Top of OFC Group
Fiji (A) 2-0
Vanuatu (A) 2-1
Vanuatu (H) 4-1
New Caledonia (A) 3-1
New Caledonia (H) 3-0
Fiji (H) 0-2
Bahrain (A) 0-0
Bahrain (H) 1-0

World Cup record
1982 1st Round

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Group F: Paraguay

FourFourTwo Team — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:31:00 GMT

The South Americans need to recreate the form of a few years ago, says Henry Mance.

If the World Cup is about peaking at the right time, then someone forgot to tell Paraguay. The Albirroja set the pace in South American qualifying in 2007 and 2008, with wins away to Chile and at home to Brazil, but then stuttered in the later stages. They eventually finished third, which felt like something of a letdown despite their highest-ever points tally. “No one imagines a perfect qualifying campaign,” shrugged coach Gerardo Martino. 

Qualification, though, has not recently been Paraguay’s problem. This is their third consecutive World Cup finals. The difference is that this time they were without the golden defensive generation of Carlos Gamarra, Celso Ayala and Jose Luis Chilavert, all now retired. And overall they managed well, conceding fewer goals than any side except Brazil and neutralising Leo Messi in Asuncion. 

But what will make Paraguay worth watching in South Africa is the forward line, built around Borussia Dortmund’s Nelson Haedo Valdez. “We were lucky with the draw,” says Haedo. “Now we’re hoping to get into the second round.” If they do that, equalling their best World Cup performances, expect them to show more than the unreconstructed grit that nearly defied France in 1998 and Germany in 2002. 

Strengths
 Paraguay are a hard-working side, strong on team spirit and attacking options. Salvador Cabanas – the best South American player in qualifying, according to coach Martino – is still recovering after being shot in January (the bullet is permanently lodged in his skull). But that still leaves Roque Santa Cruz, Oscar Cardozo and Haedo.

  Weaknesses
 Midfield is the problem area. There’s a lack of creativity, with naturalised Argentine Nelson Ortigoza the closest thing to a playmaker. And when Paraguay played 4-3-3 in the qualifiers, they were overrun. So Martino has to a job to do if he is to include his glut of attacking talent without leaving the midfield vulnerable. 

 Interesting fact 
The Paraguayans speak Guarani on the field to avoid being understood by Spanish-speaking opponents. Cabanas’ first word after being shot was in the language.   

The Coach: Gerardo Martino 
Once a cerebral but average player, ‘Tata’ has become a calm, polite tactician. In other words, he’s the absolute antithesis of fellow Argentine Diego Maradona. Martino made his name winning the Paraguayan league with Club Libertad and Cerro Porteno.  

Key  Player: Oscar Cardozo 
Nicknamed the Bamboo Tree because of his height, Cardozo is quick with a stinging left foot. Cabanas’ absence should give him the chance to reproduce his Benfica form. “He’s got a special toughness for the big battles,” says Martino. 

Probable Team (4-3-3):  Villar;  Veron, Caceres, Da Silva, Morel;  Vera, Riveros, Santana;  Cardozo, Santa Cruz, Valdez. 

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Italy, June 14, 7.30pm, Cape Town
Slovakia, June 20, 12.30pm, Mangaung/Bloemfontein
New Zealand, June 24, 3pm, Polokwane

Qualified 3rd in CONMEBOL Group
Peru (A) 0-0
Uruguay (H) 1-0
Ecuador (H) 5-1
Chile (A) 3-0
Brazil (H) 2-0
Bolivia (A) 2-4
Argentina (A) 1-1
Venezuela (H) 2-0
Colombia (A) 1-0
Peru (H) 1-0
Uruguay (A) 2-0
Ecuador (A) 1-1
Chile (H) 0-2
Brazil (A) 1-2
Bolivia (H) 1-0
Argentina (H) 1-0
Venezuela (A) 2-1
Colombia (H) 2-0

World Cup record
1930 1st Round
1950 1st Round
1958 1st Round
1986 2nd Round
1998 2nd Round
2002 2nd Round
2006 1st Round

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Group F: Italy

FourFourTwo Team — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:30:00 GMT

The World Champions aren't considered frontrunners this year despite the easiest of groups, explains Matthew Barker.

Italy remains very much a country for old men. Calcio’s mystifying reluctance to put any faith in players under 25 may be steadily changing at club level, but Marcello Lippi seems more excited by the prospect of coaxing Francesco Totti and Alessandro Nesta out of international retirement than giving the likes of Inter’s Mario Balotelli a run out in a pre-World Cup friendly. Stubborn old Tuscan that he is, the Azzurri coach has already seen off the very vocal pro-Antonio Cassano lobby and is now staring down the Balotelli brigade with equal steely resolve.

Instead, Lippi is determined to stick with his mid-thirtysomething veterans from four years ago, a decent chunk of whom play for a Juventus team that has at best been inconsistent this season and at worst downright woeful (and indeed their club seems pretty keen to offload them come the summer).

Italians are mostly miffed that their national side lacks any sort of playmaker, a classic fantasista who can change a game with a moment’s little flash of inspiration. It’s exactly the sort of thing that an in-form, positive-minded Cassano can get up to, of course.

But Lippi is a firm believer in the power of squad spirit; he likes things to be nice and calm and the last thing he wants is anyone coming in and causing a commotion - exactly the sort of thing an out-of-form, negative-minded Cassano can get up to, of course. “I choose players that have moral qualities as much as technical abilities,” he explains. “In a World Cup, collective strength can be more important than actual talent.”

Few commentators seriously expect the team to retain the trophy. There’s a very real danger that this underwhelming Azzurri side could go on and repeat the miserable performance of their Mexico 1986 predecessors, when Enzo Bearzot’s world champions stumbled their way through the group stage before being knocked out at the first time of asking by the French.

“I know full well that if we lose in South Africa they’ll massacre me,” admitted Lippi recently. He may be right, but if a poor showing provokes a shake-up of the game’s more conservative traits it could turn out to be one of the best things to happen to Italian football for a while.

Strengths
 Bags of experience, the confidence that comes from being winners and a compact, tight-knit squad. Lippi will possibly look to foster a bit of a siege mentality, especially if the Italian press start getting a few digs in early on. Previous flirtations with 4-3-3 and 3-5-2 formations have failed dismally (see the Confederations Cup), but giving Andrea Pirlo a more advanced role behind a front two in recent friendlies looked promising. He'll miss the first match through injury, though, and potentially one or two more...

Weaknesses
 With little inspirational spark in that bullish midfield and the lack of a consistent target man up front, there could be too much reliance on breaking up play and not enough on creativity (not that that’s ever been a massive problem in the past).

Interesting fact
This year is the 100th anniversary of the Azzurri’s first ever game, a 6-2 win against France played at Milan’s Arena Civica. In the 700 games since then, they’ve won 378 times, drawn 185 and lost 137.

The Coach: Marcello Lippi
As a World Cup winner, Lippi still enjoys plenty of goodwill and the majority of Italians are happy enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, at least until the tournament actually gets underway. However, there is a growing unease at his perceived arrogance, and his unshifting loyalty to a Juve side clearly past its best is prompting many a dark mutter over morning cappuccinos.

Key Player: Alberto Gilardino
A fringe striker last time round, the Fiorentina man is very much the focal point of Italy’s attack this time around. An excellent all-rounder capable of playing for one of the top clubs if he has a good tournament.

Probable Team (4-3-1-2): Buffon; Zambrotta, Cannavaro, Chiellini, Grosso; Camoranesi, Gattuso, De Rossi; Pirlo; Gilardino, Di Natale

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

 Fixtures
Paraguay, June 14, 7.30pm, Cape Town,
New Zealand, June 20, 3pm, Nelspruit
Slovakia, June 24, 3pm,  Johannesburg

Qualified Top of UEFA Group Eight 
Cyprus (A) 2-1 
Georgia (H) 2-0
 Bulgaria (A) 0-0
 Montenegro (H) 2-1
 Montenegro (A) 2-0
 Ireland (H) 1-1
 Georgia (A) 2-0
 Bulgaria (H) 2-0
 Ireland (A) 2-2
 Cyprus (H) 3-2

World Cup record
1934 Winners
  1938 Winners 
 1950 1st Round 
 1954 1st Round
1962 1st Round
1966 1st Round
  1970 Runners Up
  1974 1st Round
  1978 Fourth Place
  1982 Winners
  1986 2nd Round 
 1990 Semi-Final
  1994 Runners-up
  1998 Quarter-Final
  2002 2nd Round 
 2006 Winners 

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Spain in sensational send-off for South Africa

Tim Stannard — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 11:00:00 GMT

More often than not, things don’t always go to plan in Spain despite the best of intentions.

Take the country’s half-hearted attempt at a smoking ban in bars and restaurants, for example, that saw just 4,000 from a possible 350,000 venues bothering to follow the law.

An act designed to improve the health of workers and patrons sees bars actively advertising the fact that the clientele can smoke until their blackened lungs ooze out of their ears in their premises with the result that the number of Spaniards taking up the habit has increased since the legislation was introduced back in 2006.

LLL feared the worst when Spain decided to play their final World Cup warm-up game in Murcia, probably the hottest part of the country in June and at a stadium whose pitch ruined the career of Maxi Rodríguez by knacking his ankle.

However, some would suggest that moving to Anfield was far worse for the future of the Argentine midfielder. But certainly not the blog who fears the wrath of humourless Liverpool fans far too much.

More often than not, the venues for Spain’s games are selected through favours owed or money paid between the local and national football federations rather than actual suitability.

But as it happened, a break in the melty weather and a playing surface that was more than adequate made for the perfect send-off for the Spanish players before they travel to South Africa. That and thrashing the pants off Poland.

NEWS: Torres on target as Spain thrash Poland

The 6-0 scoreline was flattering to opponents who could do nothing to fight against la Furia Roja. Vicente del Bosque began the game by unleashing a front four diamond of Villa, Silva, Iniesta and Xavi supported by Busquets and a very advanced Xabi Alonso.

Over the course of the match, that foursome was replaced by the multi-haircut sporting Torres, Cesc, Pedro and Navas who were all in no mood to take pity on the Poles with the former three grabbing second half goals.

LLL has always felt that pre-World Cup games don’t mean a ferret’s foo-foo in the general scheme of things, but the cathartic thrashing of Poland certainly can’t have done Spain any harm at all.

It has certainly given the press permission for a bit of tub-thumping, something that they have been careful to avoid so far.

“For once we are going to the World Cup with real possibilities,” writes AS editor Alfredo Relaño. “Everyone is afraid of us, everyone admires us. This scoreline will increase this feeling.”

Marca are just as chirpy with Wednesday’s headline tooting Spain as “the best in the world” but with the warning “now they have to show it” in brackets below.

And that is the feeling in the paper’s editorial which warns that Spain must not fall into “a false triumphalism. In the same way we issued a call for calm and for confidence in the national side when the football was not so good a week ago, we shouldn’t make too many exaggerated conclusions from last night’s game.”

Over in the Catalan capital and Mundo Deportivo’s front page praises the contribution of the Barça contingent, of which Villa is now a member - something the blog is continuously forgetting.

However, the editorial has special praise for half-man, half-glow worm, Iniesta who had a bright first-half cameo appearance before being taken off as a precaution against another possible muscle injury.

NEWS: Spain suffer Iniesta scare

“The blaugrana goes into the World Cup with an impressive hunger for football,” writes Santi Nolla who praises the midfielder’s generosity. “To play at his side is a delight for any footballer.”

Aside from Arbeloa filling in for Sergio Ramos, Del Bosque probably played Spain’s starting line-up that will face Switzerland next Tuesday - a line up that “uses triangles as a way of hypnosis,” say AS as their favourite form of attack.

But Del Bosque proved once again that his is a team that isn’t necessarily weaker when changes are made, something that is not necessarily true of many other leading sides in the competition.

Three goals were scored against Poland in with Team A, on Wednesday night. Three goals were scored by team B.

The squad now have Wednesday off before travelling to South Africa the next day. They have all earned the right the board the plane feeling that they could be returning with the World Cup in a month’s time.

More from La Liga Loca

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Italy waiting to exhale

Richard Whittle — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:31:00 GMT

Italy flew out of Milan’s Malpensa Airport under cover of darkness surrounded by the same patriotic fervour than now accompanies Republic Day. So, still no real enthusiasm for Marcello Lippi’s boys as they boarded their flight for South Africa – apart from the pre-teens who had forced their fathers to drive out to the airport to wave a flag.

And for many of the departing heroes-in-waiting it looked as if they had never been on a long-haul before, such were the worried faces and stiff postures as they climbed off the team coach.

The thought of spending 10 hours in an airtight tube was troubling a few members of the non-playing staff, who stood around furtively sucking on one last sneaky ciggie.

Old lags like Rino Gattuso, Gigi Buffon, Gianluca Zambrotta and Fabio Cannavaro were all businesslike but for the new boys the enormity of the task ahead was beginning to dawn on them. Either that, or they'd forgotten to pack.

It was back into the thin air after the pre-tournament training camp at Sestriere before landing in Johannesburg this morning to transfer to Irene-Centrion, which sits just 600m lower than their base camp, 2000m up.

The altitude training has been a central feature of the Azzurri build-up but now the team needs to hit the ground running, with Paraguay - to be played at sea level in Cape Town – just five days away.

Quagliarella on the coach

It's not all hot air, this altitude lark, according the Institute of Italian Medicine and Science who have been advising the Italian Football Federation on their preparation.

The boffins say anything over 500m makes stamina a problem – but then so does dropping back down to sea level, as Italy will do in their first game. The second match against New Zealand is back on the mark at 600m, while the real dividends will be felt in the final group game against Slovakia in Johannesburg.

Now free of the general pessimism back home, Lippi can get down to plotting his way through the group stage in peace. The party will be cocooned at what has been christened "Casa Azzurri" (Blue Home) and the coach will be putting on his fatherly best to gauge who is ready for the big kick-off.

The experiment of playing Juventus midfielder Claudio Marchisio in a more advanced role was as off-synch as his singing of the national anthem at the weekend. With Andrea Pirlo sidelined for the first two games at least and all the inexperienced players except Domenico Criscito failing to really shine, it will be back to basics for the opener and a solid 4-4-2.

Everyone has been holding their breath long enough for the competition to start and if Italy are to last the course then they will have exhale nice and slowly come next Monday.

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Group E: Cameroon

Jonathan Wilson — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 10:06:00 GMT

The Indomitable Lions can count themselves a little lucky to have qualified, but they'll need more than good fortune to progress past a tough group...

Graham Gooch once described New Zealand’s bowling attack as being like facing a World XI at one end and Ilford Seconds at the other. Cameroon’s forward line feels much the same, with Samuel Eto’o in the Richard Hadlee role. In Angola for the African Cup of Nations, as Cameroon stuttered their way through the group before losing to Egypt in the quarter-final, there was a distinct sense of everybody looking at Eto’o and wondering when he was going to do something to turn the game.

That is not uncommon, but the problem with Eto’o is that his great gift as a player is his movement, something developed by studying matches on television to see where the space occurs. What that means, though, is that he needs team-mates capable both of reading his movement and of then delivering the pass; with Cameroon he doesn’t have them.

By being, by some distance, the highest-profile player in the squad, Eto’o inevitably becomes the dominant figure in the dressing room, and with his turbulent personality, that is not always a good thing.

When Paul Le Guen took over the Cameroon job from Otto Pfister last summer, he took the captaincy from Rigobert Song and gave it to Eto’o. That was partly to do with Song’s age, but it was also a political gesture designed to get Eto’o, who had been looking increasingly disaffected, back onside. It worked to the extent that Cameroon won their last four qualifiers to make it to South Africa, but the Cup of Nations suggested it isn’t necessarily a long-term solution.

“The younger players in the team have shown that they are capable of taking over from the older generation,” the Mallorca forward Achille Webo claimed after Angola. “They proved they can play with the best.” That seems a very generous assessment a side struggling in the transition from one generation to the next.

Former Liverpool and West Ham full-back Rigobert Song will be appearing in his fourth World Cup Finals having turned out in 1994, 1998 and 2002. The 33-year-old, uncle of Arsenal’s Alexandre Song, is still the youngest player to be sent off in a World Cup after his dismissal in the USA finals, aged 17.

Strengths
Eto’o, of course, for all the issues that surround him, remains one of the best forwards in the world, while Alex Song offers a powerful presence at the back of the midfield. A back four of Geremi, Nicolas Nkoulou, Aurleien Chedjou and Henri Bedimo, though, looks rather better on paper than in the reality.

Weaknesses
Like so many West African sides, Cameroon struggle for creativity, which amounts to Real Betis’ Achille Emana and not much else. Even in the glory days of a decade ago when they won back-to-back Cups of Nations, the focus was on power and discipline; these aren’t the glory days.

Interesting fact
Cameroon’s qualification may have been saved by the death of the long-time Gabon president Omar Bongo, which forced the postponement of their qualifier in Libreville. By the time the game was rearranged, Le Guen had arrived and Cameroon were rejuvenated.

The Coach: Paul Le Guen
Which is the true Le Guen: the one that led Lyon to three straight titles, or the one that subsequently struggled to achieve consistency with either Rangers or PSV? The infighting of Cameroon football politics may not be the best place to find out, and his overriding emotion after defeat in the Cup of Nations quarter-final seemed to be tiredness.

Key player: Samuel Eto’o
The Inter star – playing in his third World Cup – will be largely feeding on scraps, but Eto’o has the sharpness to make the most of what does fall to him.

Probable Team (4-1-2-3): Kameni; Geremi, Chedjou, Nkoulou, Bedimo; A Song; Mandjeck, Eyong; Emana, Eto’o, Idrissou

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Japan, June 14, 3pm, Mangaung/Bloemfontein
Denmark,  June 19, 7.30pm, Tshwane/Pretoria
Holland, June 24, 7.30pm, Cape Town

Qualified 1st in Africa Group A
Togo (A) 0-1
 Morocco (H) 0-0 
Gabon (A) 2-0 
Gabon (H) 2-1 
Togo (H) 3-0
 Morocco (A) 2-0

World Cup record
1982 1st Round
1990 Quarter-Final
1994 1st Round
1998 1st Round
2002 1st Round

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Group E: Japan

John Duerden — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 09:42:00 GMT

The co-hosts of 2002 can't wait to put the disappointment of the last World Cup behind them, but they're short of a top-class finisher...

This World Cup can’t come soon enough for Japan. The nation is desperate to put the nightmare that was 2006 well and truly behind them. Four years ago, Zico took the-then Asian champions to Germany full of hope and expectations of a performance that would match the second round of 2002. The Samurai Blue never recovered from Australia’s late show in the Kaiserslautern heat. 

The intervening years have been unremarkable, although former Yugoslavia boss Ivica Osim had the team playing some good stuff in 2007 before a stroke necessitated a change. The media loved the Bosnian’s press conferences but are much less enamoured of his successor. Takeshi Okada is disliked by the pack and the feeling is mutual.

 It is not difficult to guess why his appointment wasn’t greeted with excitement. The former Yokohama F Marinos boss was in charge at the 1998 World Cup when Japan lost all three games. He is charged with delivering a first overseas win for the nation. On recent evidence, there is still work to do.  Qualification was never in doubt but performances were patchy. Recent form is worse. Three home games in February saw goalless draws against Venezuela and China and a 3-1 loss to South Korea. Fans jeered and the Japan FA demanded improvements. 

Undeterred, however, Okada once again declared that he wants to reach the semi-finals in South Africa. “South Korea reached the last four – why can’t we?” he asked. Aimed to boost confidence, it has created pressure on the team and is mentioned every time a player or manager is interviewed. In reality, getting out of a tough group would be hailed as a success for a side that has still to win an overseas World Cup match. 

But there is hope. Keisuke Honda’s performances in Eredivisie with VVV Venlo and the Champions League for CSKA Moscow have fans excited. With the likes of Makoto Hasebe at Wolfsburg, 2009 Asian Player of the Year Yasuhito Endo in midfield and rumoured Arsenal and Manchester United target Takayuki Morimoto of Catania in attack – if Okada picks him – Japan have talent.

  Strengths
 Technically, the Japanese team is excellent, and only the top teams around the world can keep the ball and move it around better than the East Asians. The full-backs get forward well, especially Atsuto Uchida, and at speed. Set-pieces are a threat and not just the usual Nakamura or Endo specials. The big central defensive pairing of Yuji Nakazawa and Marcus Tulio Tanaka get their fair share of goals.  

Weaknesses 
Japan may keep the ball well but they do sometimes give the impression of not really knowing what to do with it when they approach the opposition goal. Lack of a finisher may cost them – Okada’s favourite strikers, such as Yoshito Okubo and Keiji Tamada, are not prolific.   

Interesting fact
During a patchy qualifying campaign, the president of the Japanese FA urged fans to boo the national side in an attempt to toughen them up. "I want the supporters to boo their hearts out," said Motoaki Inukai. "It's good for the players."

The Coach: Takeshi Okada
 Okada is not as media-savvy or friendly as his foreign predecessors and his reluctance to select some overseas-based players has puzzled many. Results in the big games have not been bad at all but Japan have rarely clicked under Okada, who is accused of having his favourites and sticking with them no matter what – especially in attack.

Key Player: Keisuke Honda 
The nine million euros that CSKA forked out for the attacking midfielder in January already looks to be a bargain. Honda scores, creates and makes things happen.

Probable Team (4-4-1-1): Narazaki; Uchida, Tanaka, Nakazawa, Tokunaga; Matsui, Hasebe, Endo, Nakamura; Honda; Okazaki

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Cameroon, June 14, 3pm, Mangaung/Bloemfontein
Holland, June 19, 12.30pm, Durban
Denmark, June 24, 7.30pm, Rustenburg

Qualified 2nd in Asia Group 1
Thailand (H) 4-1
Bahrain (A) 0-1
Oman (H) 3-0
Oman (A) 1-1
Thailand (A) 3-0
Bahrain (H) 1-0
Bahrain (A) 3-2 
Uzbekistan (H) 1-1
Qatar (A) 3-0 
Australia (H) 0-0 
Bahrain (H) 1-0 
Uzbekistan (A) 1-0 
Qatar (H) 1-1 
Australia (A) 1-2

World Cup record
1998 1st Round
2002 2nd Round
2006 1st Round

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Group E: Denmark

FourFourTwo Team — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 09:27:00 GMT

Spirited and strong down the middle, Denmark won't be easy to topple – unless teams get down the flanks, says Dan Brennan 

 This is arguably the strongest Danish team since the side that gatecrashed Euro 92 and won it.

The current crop are unlikely to emulate that feat this summer, but having qualified from a tough group ahead of Portugal, and having ended Sweden’s hopes, they will travel to South Africa fearing nobody and confident of progressing to the knockout stage.

Unlike previous vintage Danish sides, there are no stars, but there is plenty of quality, and more importantly, according to striker Soren Larsen, their top scorer during the qualifiers, there is a robust work ethic.

“Our main strength is our team spirit. We keep things tight and try to get forward with plenty of passing down the flanks. It’s very similar to the Netherlands, really, but not quite at the same level. We fight for one another, so if someone makes a mistake, we run the extra 100 metres to help them out.”

Given that the Netherlands are among the teams in their group, top spot is probably beyond them, but Denmark's organisational nous should be enough to see off Japan and Cameroon.

Strengths
The spine. Goalkeeper Tomas Sorensen has proved an able successor to the mighty Peter Schmeichel, and with the extremely talented centre-back pairing of Kjaer and Agger ahead of him, Denmark boast a very solid central-defensive unit – the key to seven clean sheets in 10 qualifiers.

The Danish defence is further bolstered by holding midfielder Christian Poulsen. While his primary role is to sit deep and protect the back four, the Juve player is also afforded more licence to indulge his attacking instincts than he ever gets in Italy.

At the spearhead of their attack, Nicklas Bendtner continues to improve and is far more consistent for country than for club. Meanwhile, in 18-year-old playmaker Christian Eriksen they have a real star in the making, one who could finally provide the Danes with an heir to Michael Laudrup.

The Ajax teenager could well be joining Bendtner at Arsenal next season, after a glowing reference from Dennis Bergkamp; he's unlikely to figure in the starting XI in South Africa, but could prove an effective wild card from the bench.

Weaknesses
The flanks. The full-back positions are the weak links at the back, while on the wings, they rely far too much on ageing pair Jesper Gronkjaer and Dennis Rommedahl, both of whom have slowed down since their days in English football. In addition, injury may deprive them of Soren Larsen, their top scorer in qualifying with 10 goals, which may place too much of a burden on Bendtner’s shoulders.

Interesting fact
Denmark scored the first goal at the 1908 Olympics in London, which was widely regarded as the prototype tournament for the World Cup.

The Coach: Morten Olsen
Afforded the sort of time most managers can only dream of, Olsen has overseen the gradual rebirth of the Danish team, after being put in charge a decade ago following their failure to make Euro 2000.

A firm advocate of attacking football, his dogmatic adherence to 4-3-3, or variations thereof, has seen him accused of tactical inflexibility, particularly given that ‘The Olsen Gang’ (named after a popular Danish cop show) shows a lack of Dutch-style flair in wide positions.

Key Player: Nicklas Bendtner
The Arsenal man’s goals fuelled Denmark’s qualification campaign. Already a legend in his own mind, he claims he’s destined to be the world’s best striker. Now would be a good time to prove it.

Probable Team (4-1-3-1-1): Sorensen; Jacobsen, Agger, Kjær, Mtiliga; Poulsen; Rommedahl, Jensen, Grønkjær; Tomasson; Bendtner

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Holland, June 14, 12.30pm, Johannesburg
Cameroon, June 19, 7.30pm, Tshwane /Pretoria
Japan, June 24, 7.30pm, Rustenburg

Qualified Top of UEFA Group 1
Hungary (A) 0-0
Portugal (A) 3-2
Malta (H) 3-0
Malta (A) 3-0
Albania (H) 3-0
Sweden (A) 1-0
Portugal (H) 1-1
Albania (A) 1-1
Sweden (H) 1-0
Hungary (H) 0-1

World Cup record
1986 2nd Round
1998 Quarter-final
2002 2nd Round

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Group E: Holland

FourFourTwo Team — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 09:16:00 GMT

They have almost too much attacking talent to choose from – but, asks Ben Lyttleton, will Holland be undone by defensive worries again?

 Holland may not have had the toughest World Cup qualifying group but no team made it to South Africa in more impressive circumstances: eight wins from eight (against Norway, Scotland, Macedonia and Iceland) with 17 goals scored and only two conceded. Little wonder the Dutch FA recently signed a new deal with coach Bert van Marwijik taking him through to Euro 2012.

Van Marwijik took over a Holland side that had showed all its frailties at Euro 2008: although brilliant in their group wins against Italy (3-0) and France (4-1), the team capitulated in the quarter-finals to a Russia side coached by Guus Hiddink. They were without winger Arjen Robben for that match and missed him greatly.

Van Marwijk hasn't had to make many changes to Marco van Basten’s squad, simply replacing the retired Edwin van der Sar with Martin Stekelenburg and reinstating Mark van Bommel – not so much because the experienced midfielder is his son-in-law as because Van Bommel had fallen out with Van Basten.

Significantly for this squad, there are no divisions and everyone seems to love and respect one another. “The vibe is very good at the moment, really good,” said Robben. “We were a team in 2008 and we know each other well now. It’s hard to explain, but compared to a few years ago, we’re close to being a club team.”

The team ethic is something that the understated Van Marwijk has been pushing ever since he took over. “We might not have the world-class players at all spots, but like my Feyenoord side in 2002" – the one that won the UEFA Cup beating Inter Milan, Borussia Dortmund, Rangers and PSV – "we might have the better team.”

Strengths
Holland’s real strength is in their attacking quartet, with Wesley Sneijder set to start behind a front three of Robben, Robin van Persie and Dirk Kuyt – if, that is, they're all fit. Van Persie hasn't played since injuring ankle ligaments on international duty back in November. It could be a blessing if he reaches the World Cup in peak fitness.

Van Marwijk also has options: Rafael van der Vaart could replace or accompany Sneijder, one of Serie A’s players of the season. Eljero Alia and Ryan Babel offer pacey alternatives out wide, while Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is a more orthodox centre-forward option.

“In this team, the players who can make the difference on their own are all forwards,” says Andre Ooijer, one of few squad members the wrong side of 30. “We have enormous talent up front, but our real outstanding quality is that everyone has the same attitude, which is that first of all we mustn’t concede goals. We play as a unit, very compact, and we’ll stick with that philosophy in South Africa.” 

Weaknesses
The biggest question-marks are in defence, where goalkeeper Stekelenburg lacks the ball-playing and leadership skills of Van der Sar, injury-wracked centre-half Ooijer almost missed out, and Giovanni van Bronckhorst is still first-choice left-back in the absence of any decent competition. On the other side, Ajax youngster Gregory van der Wiel is secure at right-back.

Van Bommel’s partner in holding midfield is Nigel de Jong, who was recently warned by Van Marwijk to tone down his tackling after breaking the leg of USA midfielder Stuart Holden in a 2-1 friendly win back in March. “He got away with a yellow card in that game but it could easily be red at the World Cup, and that would leave us in trouble,” he said. “He needs to watch himself.”

Interesting fact
It’s official: Arjen Robben’s reputation as The Man with Glass Ankles is unfair. The winger has played more than 30 games in each of the last two seasons. “Specialists compared me to a Formula 1 race car,” he said, “whenever one little screw is loose, the engine can be blown. But my muscle problems are behind me now.” We'll see.

The Coach: Bert van Marwijk
There was a six-year gap, and a spell at Borussia Dortmund, between the only two trophies Bert van Marwijk has won, the 2002 UEFA Cup and 2008 Dutch Cup, both with Feyenoord. The coach has quietly impressed with his no-nonsense style and has high hopes this summer. “We are not going to this tournament to be a part of it, but we’re going there so we can win it,” he said.

Key Player: Robin van Persie
The Arsenal striker gave notice of his talent with a stunning World Cup goal against Ivory Coast four years ago and will be desperate to lead the line for Holland after another season on the Ashburton sidelines.

Probable Team (4-2-1-3) Stekelenburg; Van der Wiel, Ooijer, Mathijsen, Van Bronckhorst; Van Bommel, De Jong; Sneijder; Kuyt, Van Persie, Robben

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Denmark, June 14, 12.30pm, Johannesburg
Japan, June 19, 12.30pm, Durban
Cameroon, June 24, 7.30pm, Cape Town

Qualified Top of UEFA Group 9
FYR Macedonia (A) 2-1
Iceland (H) 2-0
Norway (A) 1-0
Scotland (H) 3-0
FYR Macedonia (H) 4-0
Iceland (A) 2-1
Norway (H) 2-0
Scotland (A) 1-0

World Cup record
1934 1st Round
1938 1st Round
1974 Runners-up
1978 Runners-up
1990 2nd Round
1994 Quarter-final
1998 Semi-final
2006 2nd Round

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Why France might change for Diaby

James Horncastle — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 09:00:00 GMT

Abou Diaby has been compared with Patrick Vieira ever since he joined Arsenal four years ago. The similarities were there for the laziest of observers to notice: their club, position, lanky gait, marauding runs and ability to recover the ball like a diver looking for pearls.

Like Vieira in 1998, Diaby looked as if he would be going to his first World Cup as a substitute. However, his last three performances from the bench against Costa Rica, Tunisia and China have been so pulsating and full of drive that they have led to calls for him to be given a starting berth.

Almost 90 per cent of L’Équipe readers feel he deserves such a chance, crowning the appraisal Arsène Wenger gave in February that his protégé is “going step-by-step higher and higher.” Diaby made 40 appearances for Arsenal this season, the most since his transfer from Auxerre in 2006, and also scored seven important goals.

The physical frailties that marred his first three years in England, the nadir being a fractured and dislocated ankle that required three operations, finally appear to be behind him. “I'm a lot more rigorous in the physical sector and less lax in training,” Diaby admitted last month.

The 24-year-old has always been a prodigious talent. He started his career as a No.10, but found competition from Hatem Ben Arfa at the National Institute of Football [INF] in Clairefontaine, which may have contributed to a much-scrutinised scrap.

Rush of young blood: click to watch

Diaby was moved deeper, but the experience helped him. Claude Dusseau, his mentor at the INF, said: “It’s simple. Abou is the hybrid player par excellence. At the INF I made him play on the right. Abou didn’t like it at all.

"Yet he went on his merry way without a fuss or any soul-searching. It was at that moment that he became conscious of his qualities. He then progressed at a crazy speed.”

Guy Roux, his former coach at Auxerre who had Diaby for just 10 games in Ligue 1 before Arsenal came calling, naturally agreed with Dusseau. “He’s the kind of player that catches the eye of football experts straight away. It’s not something you can explain, it’s like being drawn to the charms of a beautiful woman.”

Former Arsenal team-mate Kolo Toure has a less flattering nickname for Diaby, calling him ‘The Spider’ because he spins his web all over the pitch.

The question for Raymond Domenech is whether the rise in Diaby’s stock will be enough to force a change in his plans. Diaby came on for Malouda on Friday night, playing on the left of midfield in France’s much-discussed 4-3-3.

If he were to start there, Domenech would move Malouda to the left-hand side of France’s attack and face the unenviable task of asking Franck Ribéry to swap flanks and play on the right, something the Bayern Munich star has complained about in the past.

The second option, advocated by former Nantes boss Raynald Denoueix, isn’t exactly palatable either, as it involves dropping Yoann Gourcuff. “I would rather see Gourcuff replaced,” he said, “because the Evra-Malouda- Ribéry triangle works well.”

However, what Denoueix ignores is that the triangle often gets congested and renders France more predictable, whatever the individual talent available on that side of the pitch.

Domenech could yet change the system, like he did four years ago when he swapped a 4-4-2 for a 4-2-3-1 on the eve of the finals because of Djibril Cissé’s injury against China. However, too many chops and changes could leave France at risk of death by a thousand cuts.

“Domenech mustn’t change the system,” insists Christophe Dugarry, who believes that the experimentation should have started two years ago and not two weeks before the World Cup.

Naturally the best person to ask about Diaby and his place in France’s team was Vieira. Speaking to Canal +, the Manchester City midfielder went with option No.1. “For the good of the French team, I think that Ribéry must sacrifice himself and play on the right because it’s the team that should come first and it’s the team that benefits from the change.”

That would mean dropping Sidney Govou, who has operated as a first defender protecting Bacary Sagna rather than offering anything in attack – which is partly to blame for the imbalance between the left and right going forward.

Diaby’s reputation as a “hybrid midfielder par excellence” would bring steel and silk to the midfield; Gourcuff would benefit from having another player with defensive qualities beside him, but he wouldn’t lose one who’s technically gifted in the final third either, as Diaby’s assist against Costa Rica showed.

The remaining training sessions will reveal whether Domenech intends to make the change. Diaby’s inclusion would be welcome against Uruguay on Friday, but as his former mentor Dusseau says: “He alone can’t revolutionise the team’s play. He needs to be given time.”

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Group D: Ghana

Jonathan Wilson — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:48:00 GMT

Promising youngsters replacing crocked veterans has worked for them at the back, but Ghana may not have enough in the final third...

Of the World Cup-qualified sides, only Ghana were remotely impressive at the Cup of Nations in Angola – a tournament that, in a positive way, raised more questions than it answered for their coach Milovan Rajevac.

Ghana arrived in Angola with low expectations, having lost midfielders Michael Essien, Stephen Appiah and Laryea Kingston plus defenders John Paintsil and John Mensah to injury, along with Sulley Muntari for disciplinary reasons. A squad drawn largely from the team that won the U20 World Cup in 2009 blossomed in their absence to reach the final.

The issue now is how to fit the returning absentees back into a team that – almost uniquely in that tournament – appeared balanced and coherent, even if they did attract criticism for their supposedly negative style.

“I believe in winning football, in tournaments you have to get results, that is what is important for me and the rest of the team,” said an unrepentant Rajevac, a Serb who will face his compatriots in a potentially crucial group opener. “What is the point of playing around with the ball in your own half if you are not scoring goals? We had to decide on what we wanted to do; whether we wanted to be entertainers or win our matches.

"Considering what we had to deal with before the tournament, we can consider our experiences in Angola a success. The youngsters did well, but they also need guidance and that’s where the experience of guys like Mensah and Essien and Appiah comes in.”

Strengths
 It may be that a back four of such youth has never performed as impressively as Ghana’s did in Angola. Sammy Inkoom, a remarkably mature right-back for 20, will surely keep his place ahead of Paintsil – and while Mensah will presumably be restored at centre-back, Rajevac at least knows that if the Sunderland man's injury problems do continue, Lee Addy and Isaac Vorsah are a fine partnership. Vorsah will presumably switch to left-back at the expense of Hans Sarpei.

Weaknesses 
They will undeniably miss the drive of Essien, but they have a more fundamental problem: goals. Ghana looked defensively sound in Angola, but only scored four in five games. Asamoah Gyan had an awful 2008 Cup of Nations and while he was back to his leggy best at this year's tournament as an ideal lone front man, he's far from prolific.

Even without Essien, Sulley Muntari should add thrust from midfield, but the creative burden rests largely on Udinese’s 21-year-old playmaker Kwadwo Asamoah. He is a player of immense promise, but this may be a tournament too soon for him.

Interesting fact
The black star on Ghana’s shirt, from which they draw their nickname, was a symbol of the pan-Africanism move to independence from the colonial European powers in the 1950s.

The Coach: Milovan Rajevac
There were eyebrows raised when a little-known 56-year-old Serbian, the high point of whose career was leading Borac Cacak to promotion, replaced Claude Leroy in 2008. Nonetheless, he has made Ghana the most tactically intelligent West African team, and has been such a success that a number of other little-known Serbs found themselves alongside the usual suspects in the running for the Nigeria job.

Key Player: Asamoah Gyan
Muntari may have won the Champions League with Internazionale, but it is Gyan – and more specifically his ability to hold the ball up and create space or others – that will be key to whether Ghana can progress.

Probable Team (4-2-3-1): Kingson; Inkoom, Mensah, Addy, Vorsah; Boateng, Annan; D Ayew, Asamoah, Muntari; Gyan

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Serbia, June 13, 3pm, Tshwane
Australia, June 19, 3pm, Rustenburg
Germany, June 23, 7.30pm, Johannesburg

Qualified Top of Africa Group D
Benin (H) 1-0
Mali (A) 2-0
Sudan (A) 2-0
Sudan (H) 2-0
Benin (A) 1-0
Mali (H) 2-2

World Cup record
2006 2nd Round

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Group D: Serbia

Jonathan Wilson — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 20:25:00 GMT

Talented players, balanced attack, tactical flexibility: beating Serbia will require a good team - or their own self-destruction...

This is a gifted Serbia side, but the question, as ever, will be whether they can hold it together over the six-week span of a major tournament.

Four years ago Serbia-Montenegro – as it technically still was - went to Germany with high hopes having conceded a single goal in 10 qualifying games. But Savo Milosevic got involved in a spat between Mateja Kezman and Nemanja Vidic, then Vidic hurt his back, and coach Ilija Petkovic – already under pressure for alleged nepotism having tried to called up his son as a late replacement for the injured Mirko Vucinic – mystifyingly changed tactics. They shipped 10 goals in three games, including six to Argentina.

This time, coach Raddy Antic insists the leopard has changed its spots. “We’ve created a really positive atmosphere and our confidence is high,” he says. “We’ve genuinely turned into a big family, and that’s definitely the biggest success.” He must take credit for that, having made conscious efforts to create a sense of togetherness.

The friendly against Bulgaria last November, for instance, was designated as a farewell game for Milosevic, even though he hadn’t played international football since the last World Cup. The former Aston Villa forward wandered about for 35 minutes, during which time he scored twice and missed two penalties, Serbia went on to win 6-1, and everybody shared a warm glow from celebrating the career of a fine servant of Serbian football.

Encouragingly, when the pressure was on at the end of the qualifiers and they needed a home win against Romania to secure top spot in the group – just the sort of game in which past sides might have faltered – they were superb, and won 5-1. “My ambitions,” Antic says, “are much bigger than just qualification.”

Strengths
This is an extremely well-balanced, tactically flexible side. They have the brute power of Birmingham new boy Nikola Zigic as a leader of the line, supported by a technically gifted midfield, with Milos Krasic providing pace and width on the right and Milan Jovanovic a more cerebral, less explosive option on the left.

Inter's Dejan Stankovic and Wolves' Nenad Milijas offer a creator and a destroyer in the centre of midfield, and they can be supplemented by an additional holder such as Gojko Kacar if Antic opts to play with a lone striker.

Weaknesses
There are major doubts over goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic: a Wigan loanee last season, he has played fewer than two dozen league games in the last three years. There are also minor doubts about whether Marko Pantelic is good enough as a support striker – which may persuade Antic to go in with a 4-2-3-1.

Interesting fact
This will be Dejan Stankovic’s third World Cup for a third different country (Yugoslavia in 1998, Serbia-Montengro in 2006 and Serbia this time).

The Coach: Raddy Antic
In England he is still best remembered as the curly-haired figure who scored a late winner at Manchester City in 1983 to keep Luton up and prompt David Pleat’s famous jig across the Maine Road pitch, but he has an impressive managerial record in Spain, where he coached both Barcelona and Real Madrid and led Atletico Madrid to the double in 1995-96.

Key Player: Milos Krasic
Quick and skilful, Krasic has caught the eye for CSKA Moscow in the Champions League this season, and gives Serbia a cutting edge.

Probable Team (4-4-2): Stojkovic; Ivanovic, Vidic, Lukovic, Dragutinovic; Krasic, Milijas, Stankovic, Jovanovic; Pantelic, Zigic

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Ghana, June 13, 3pm, Tshwane/Pretoria
Germany, June 18, 12.30pm, Nelson Mandela Bay
Australia, June 23, 7.30pm, Nelspruit

Qualified Top of UEFA Group 7
Faroe Islands (H) 2-0
France (A) 1-2
Lithuania (H) 3-0
Austria (A) 3-1
Romania (A) 3-2
Austria (H) 1-0
Faroe Islands (A) 2-0
France (H) 1-1
Romania (H) 5-0
Lithuania (A) 1-2

World Cup record
South Africa 2010 is their first World Cup finals

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Group D: Australia

FourFourTwo Team — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:45:00 GMT

They'd be proud to be described as "B*ggers to beat", but the Socceroos need a cutting edge, warns Sam Pilger...

After three decades in the international wilderness, Australia have broken new ground by qualifying for consecutive World Cup finals for the first time in their history. Their strong, experienced squad is capable of repeating the heroics of Germany four years ago when they reached the second round before being narrowly – and controversially – beaten by eventual world champions Italy.

“Our main aim is getting out of the group again, because that’s when teams build momentum,” says Australia’s talisman Tim Cahill. “So long as we do that anything can happen... now we want to go a step further and reach the quarter-finals. As a nation we want to test ourselves and go further than ever before.”

Such bullish optimism is based on a impressive qualifying campaign in which Australia, playing for the first time as part of the Asian Football Confederation, topped their first round group and then emphatically qualified by finishing top of their eight-game final group with six wins, two draws and only one goal conceded.

This was achieved with a largely defensive 4-2-3-1 formation rigidly adhered to by Australia’s Dutch coach Pim Verbeek that had Australians pining for the comparatively attacking instincts of his illustrious predecessor Guus Hiddink. Nonetheless, Verbeek’s methods have proved highly successful, delivering qualification for South Africa, as well as outstanding away wins against Holland and the Republic of Ireland in friendlies, and the country’s highest ever FIFA ranking of 14th in September last year.

Strengths
“Our strength is our experience,” says the Australian captain Lucas Neill. "We've been to the World Cup before, we know what to expect." The veterans of Germany 2006 make Australia a very tough side to break down, with the ageless Mark Schwarzer (37) in goal, who kept 10 clean sheets in qualifying and is coming off a decent season with Fulham.

Schwarzer is protected by two defensive barriers: a back four led by Neill (32) and Craig Moore (34), and the holding midfield duo of Jason Culina (29) and Blackburn’s Vinnie Grella (30).

Weaknesses
Where do goals come from? That's the biggest concern for an Australian side that lacks real pace up front and managed only 12 goals in eight qualifiers against modest Qatar, Japan, Bahrain and Uzbekistan. Though never prolific for his country, Mark Viduka provided a crucial focal point; he hasn't been replaced since his retirement.

After 16 goalless caps Middlesbrough’s Scott McDonald was axed by Verbeek, who now has few options: Josh Kennedy seems to be an impact substitute, Nikita Rukavytsya has just three caps and old hands Tim Cahill and Harry Kewell are more effective coming from midfield.

Interesting fact
With English fathers, Harry Kewell and Tim Cahill could both have been lining up for England at this World Cup.

The Coach: Pim Verbeek
A journeyman coach who has held 13 positions over the last three decades, the Dutchman is making his third consecutive visit to the World Cup finals after being South Korea’s assistant manager alongside Guus Hiddink in 2002 and Dick Advocaat in 2006. Appointed by Australia in December 2007, the 54-year-old will leave his post after the tournament.

Key Player: Tim Cahill
After becoming the first Australian to ever score at the World Cup in Germany four years ago, the Everton midfielder remains his country’s most potent goal threat.

Probable Team (4-2-3-1): Schwarzer; Wilkshire, Neill, Moore, Carney; Culina, Grella; Emerton, Cahill, Bresciano; Kewell

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Germany, June 13, 7.30pm, Durban
Ghana, June 16, 3pm, Rustenberg
Serbia, June 23, 7.30pm, Nelspruit

Qualified Top of Asia Group 1
Qatar (H) 3-0
China (A) 0-0
Iraq (H) 1-0
Iraq (A) 0-1
Qatar (A) 3-1
China (H) 0-1
Uzbekistan (A) 1-0
Qatar (H) 4-0
Bahrain (A) 1-0
Japan (A) 0-0
Uzbekistan (H) 2-0
Qatar (A) 0-0
Bahrain (H) 2-0
Japan (H) 2-1

World Cup record
1974 1st Round
2006 2nd Round

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Group D: Germany

FourFourTwo Team — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 19:20:00 GMT

Rarely far from the medal positions, Germany have been getting closer to glory, says Ulrich Hesse – and might be fun to watch

Germany manager Joachim Low has repeatedly stated that he aims to win the title in South Africa, and his players are equally outspoken: “We came third in 2006 on home soil, then we were runners-up at the 2008 European Championships,” declared injured captain Michael Ballack. “Now we want to reach the pinnacle.”

Indeed, when you take a look at the side’s recent history, it seems the Germans have good reasons to be optimistic. Low’s team not only has more individual quality, experience and depth than the side Jurgen Klinsmann took within a whisker of the 2006 final, they have also proven they can rise to the occasion – Germany’s qualifying campaign was near-perfect and highlighted by two impressive wins in the crunch matches with strong opponents many experts fancied, Guus Hiddink’s Russia.

However, it’s equally true that the public euphoria fuelled by the team of four years ago has cooled considerably. Klinsmann’s assistant turned successor did manage to sustain the team’s enthusiasm, verve and offensive instincts for some time, but as early as late-2007 most observers felt that despite all talks of a footballing revolution, the Germany team looked quite familiar again – grinding out results through determination and team-spirit rather than class and skill.

Which is why the second-place finish at Euro 2008 was not seen as a triumph in Germany but as a slightly worrying throwback to the 1980s, when one good game was usually enough for the team to make the final of a big tournament. Add to this the fact that the Germans still haven’t managed to produce a player of true world class – nobody who’s up there with Messi, Ronaldo, Rooney, Kaká, Torres, Robben or Ribéry – and you can understand why many pundits are more cautious than Low.

“Germany are not among the big favourites,” says former Real Madrid star Gunter Netzer. “It would be a success to simply do well at the World Cup. The title would be an extraordinary achievement.” This sentiment is echoed by Diego Maradona. “Germany are not among the favourites,” he said in March, after Argentina had beaten Germany narrowly but quite comfortably.

But of course none of this means anything, because we are, after all, talking about the one team that always defy predictions and consistently overachieve. “When it comes to Germany,” Franz Beckenbauer said with a smile when he was asked about the World Cup favourites, “you just never know. Everything is possible.”

Strengths
Germany are particularly strong in midfield, where Low has so many attacking options that even a fit Ballack would have had to curb his offensive instincts and play as a holding midfielder, perhaps alongside a creative player such as Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Despite a loss of form since the end of the winter break, German-born Turk Mesut Ozil is a playmaker in the classic mould, and most of the wide-man options – youngsters like Thomas Muller or Marko Marin and even a trained striker like Lukas Podolski – are goalscoring threats as well. Many of these names may not ring a bell, but few teams in South Africa will have such an attack-minded midfield.

That's not to mention that Germany have turned their lack of outstanding individual talent into a major strength: three of the past four tournaments have been marked by a great atmosphere within the squad – which then resulted in almost palpable team spirit, commitment and confidence on the pitch. Looked at in this way, Ballack's absence might even be a boon: after all, his hectoring once provoked Lukas Podolski into slapping him on the pitch.

Weaknesses
Promoted in Ballack's absence to be Germany's youngest-ever World Cup captain, full-back Philipp Lahm is currently the team's best player – which makes it slightly surprising that the team looks vulnerable at the back. Yet Low still hasn’t found his man for the other wing (Lahm can play on either side) and he is also unsure of the best partner for Bremen’s towering centre-back Per Mertesacker.

Under these circumstances, it is a bit unfortunate that behind this shaky back four will be a young keeper who’s never been to a tournament: Schalke’s Manuel Neuer. “You can’t win the title with relatively inexperienced keepers,” Jens Lehmann argues, saying the 24-year-old doesn't "play regularly in the Champions League, at the highest level.” However, Neuer has more talent and quality than many of the defenders in the squad: his position is the lesser worry.

Interesting fact
Despite their consistently good showings, Germany haven't beaten any of the (other) traditional football powers – Argentina, Brazil, England, France, Holland, Italy and Spain – in open play for 20 years. Wins against Argentina in 2006 and England in 1996 were on penalties.

The Coach: Joachim Low
Well-liked and respected, if not loved, by both the public and the German FA (DFB). Yet his future is very much unclear, no matter how his side fares in South Africa. In February, contract talks between Low and the DFB broke down and were deferred until after the end of the World Cup. The bone of contention appears to be the role of Low’s sidekick Oliver Bierhoff, the non-coaching 'general manager' who has few friends within the DFB.

Probable Team (4-2-3-1): Neuer; Boateng, Friedrich, Mertesacker, Lahm; Khedira, Schweinsteiger; Muller, Ozil, Podolski; Klose

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Australia, June 13, 7.30pm, Durban
Serbia, June 18, 12.30pm, Nelson Mandela Bay
Ghana, June 23, 7.30pm, Johannesburg

Qualified Top of UEFA Group 4
Liechtenstein (A) 6-0
 Finland (A) 3-3
Russia (H) 2-1
Wales (H) 1-0
Liechtenstein (H) 4-0
Wales (A) 2-0
Azerbaijan (A) 2-0
Azerbaijan (H) 4-0
 Russia (A) 1-0
 Finland (H) 1-1

World Cup record
1934 Semi-final
1938 1st Round
1954 Winners
1958 Semi-final
1962 Quarter-final
1966 Runners-up
1970 Semi-Final
1974 Winners
1978 Quarter-final
1982 Runners-up
1986 Runners-up
1990 Winners
1994 Quarter-final
1998 Quarter-final
2002 Runners-up
2006 Third Place

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Group C: Slovenia

Jonathan Wilson — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 18:08:00 GMT

Tiny but tidy, organised if slightly dull, Slovenia might be able to put themselves on the map...

For a nation of just two million people with a historical suspicion of sports that don’t involve sliding down a hill very quickly, to qualify for one World Cup was astonishing; to do it twice in eight years with totally different teams is barely credible.

“It’s very important for the whole country,” says their coach Matjaz Kek. “Our nation has only existed for 20 years and every win in sport can help make sure that people around the world have heard of us.” So delighted was Slovenian Prime Minister Borut Pahor that he came good on a promise to clean the team’s boots if they made it to South Africa.

No prime ministerial polishing was in the offing when they lost 1-0 to Northern Ireland in Belfast last April, but that night Kek told his players calmly that all they had to do to qualify was win their four remaining games. They did just that, the pick of them being a 2-0 win in Slovakia, to set up a play-off against Russia.

Slovenia found themselves 2-0 down after an hour, but nicked an away goal, and then were relatively comfortable 1-0 winners at home (although they were helped by the absurd dismissal of Russia’s Alexander Kerzhakov).

The lessons were obvious: Slovenia are not to be underestimated, and they have sufficient self-belief to keep battling even as the game seems to be going against them. “We have a very young team and we must work and try very hard in training,” says Kek. “We have discipline and great motivation. We’re a small country but we have the chance to do something good."

Strengths
Slovenia’s qualification, above all else, is a triumph of organisation. They set up in a straightforward 4-4-2, play a neat, short-passing style, keep things simple and work extremely hard. This side is not as exciting as the team of eight years ago, but they may be better placed to make it through the group without a turbulent ego like Zlatko Zahovic, who quit the squad in 2002 after a bust-up with manager Srecko Katanec.

Their highest-profile player is probably the Cologne target-man Mile Novakovic, but having dragged himself up from lower league football in Austria, he has nothing like Zahovic’s self-regard.

Weaknesses
Auxerre’s Valter Birsa is slowly finding his feet at international level and the 19-year-old Internazionale playmaker Rene Krhin has potential as a creator, but this is a team lacking obvious flair or creativity. They will keep things tight, and they have the capacity to retain possession, but it is hard to see how they could ever take the initiative in a game.

Interesting fact
Slovenia is the smallest country to qualify for two non-consecutive World Cups.

The Coach: Matjaz Kek
When the undemonstrative Kek led Maribor to successive championships, his critics said it was because they were richer than everybody else. At first, fans nicknamed him ‘Kekec’, a slang term for a fool; now everybody’s remembered that Kekec was the resourceful hero of a popular Slovenian film of the 1950s, who defeated his enemy by setting an owl on him in a narrow tunnel.

Key Man: Zlatko Dedic
To call him a B-grade Craig Bellamy sounds harsh, but his tireless running off Novakovic is reminiscent of the Welsh forward.

Probable Team (4-4-2): Handanovic; Brecko, Cesar, Suler, Jokic; Birsa, Koren, Radosavljevic, Kirm; Dedic, Novakovic

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Algeria, June 13, 12.30pm, Polokwane
England, June 18, 7.30pm, Cape Town
USA, June 23, 3pm, Tshwane/Pretoria

Qualified Runners-up in UEFA Group 3
Poland (A) 1-1
Slovakia (H) 2-1
Northern Ireland (H) 2-0
Czech Republic (A) 0-1
Czech Republic (H) 0-0
Northern Ireland (A) 0-1
San Marino (H) 5-0
Poland (H) 3-0
Slovakia (A) 2-0
San Marino (A) 3-0
Play-off
Russia (A) 1-2
Russia (H) 1-0

World Cup record
2002 1st Round

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Group C: Algeria

FourFourTwo Team — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 17:40:00 GMT

Capable of brilliance yet deeply inconsistent, Algeria can be a danger to others or an embarrassment to themselves, says James Montague...

Blood, fire and the expectations of history: Algeria have had to overcome some pretty big hurdles to reach this, their third World Cup finals. Last year's two do-or-die qualifying matches against bitter rivals Egypt sparked riots in Marseilles, London and Algiers and fomented a diplomatic incident between the two countries’ governments.

Despite having the windows of their team bus smashed out by irate Egyptians before their game in Cairo, leaving several with bad cuts to the face, the Desert Foxes somehow squeezed past an Egyptian team that would later win their third successive Africa Cup of Nations and justifiably lay a claim for being one of the greatest African teams of all time.

Yet qualification revealed a schizophrenia that makes Algeria impossible to second-guess. Two months after qualifying Algeria were hammered 3-0 by lowly Malawi in their opening Cup of Nations game. A week after that they beat the Ivory Coast 3-2. In the semis they crashed out 4-0 – to Egypt.

The only certainty most Algerians agree on is that the current team isn’t a patch on the great side of the 1980s who reached successive World Cups in Spain and Mexico, led by former African Footballer of the Year Lakhdar Beloumi.

But history breeds expectation and Algerians, like most of the Arab world, will still expect victory against the Great Satan. With the likes of Majid Bougherra, Hassan Yebda, Nadir Belhadj and the mercurial touches of Rafik Saifi, there is talent to trouble England and Slovenia. Whether they do or not depends entirely on which Algeria team actually turns up.

Strengths
Given the manner of their qualification, an indomitable spirit is a given. But the Desert Foxes also have an abundance of pace and can attack quickly from the back. Unless, perhaps, they plump for the discredited 3-5-2 formation that saw them succumb so meekly to Malawi.

Weaknesses
Notwithstanding the loss of Lazio playmaker Mourad Meghni (aka 'Le Petit Zidane'), Algeria’s main problem is between the sticks. Faouzi Chaouchi became a national hero after a stunning performance against Egypt in Sudan, but he was soon found out during a shocking Cup of Nations, culminating in a crazy red card against Egypt.

 Interesting fact
The greatest Algerian to play the game never actually pulled on the white and green shirt. Zinedine Zidane's parents emigrated to France in 1953 before the start of the Algerian War – but despite being proud of his Algerian heritage, Zizou has denied turning down Les Fennecs for Les Bleus. He might represent them yet: the country's president has asked Zidane to coach the national team after the World Cup.

The Coach: Rabah Saadane
Such was the pressure on Saadane during the qualification campaign that even a coach of his experience – who has already led Algeria once to the World Cup, in 1986 – was driven to tears at a press conference before one match against Egypt. Rumours of disquiet with the coach amongst the players persist, despite Algeria’s unexpected fourth-place finish at the Cup of Nations.

Key Player: Rafik Saifi
Saifi has been an enigma to many a French coach. Such is his extraordinary ability he was dubbed the ‘Algerian Cantona’ – but that equally has a lot to do with his volatile temper. At 35, this is his last chance to make good on that latent talent.

 Probable Team (4-4-2): Chaouchi; Yahia, Bougherra, Halliche, Belhadj; Yebda, Abdoun, Mansouri, Ziani; Saifi, Ghezzal

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Slovenia, June 13, 12.30pm, Polokwane
England, June 18, 8.30 pm, Cape Town
 USA, June 23, 4pm, Tshwane/Pretoria 

How they qualified Top of Africa Group C 
Rwanda (A) 0-0
Egypt (H) 3-1
 Zambia (A) 2-0
 Zambia (H) 1-0
 Rwanda (H) 3-1
Egypt (A) 0-2
 Egypt (H) 1-0

World Cup record
1982 1st Round
1986 1st Round

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Group C: USA

FourFourTwo Team — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 16:14:00 GMT

No longer a joke or a novelty, the US need to take it to the next level, says Jamie Trecker...

The United States enter the World Cup as a team in transition. No longer the unknowns or the underdogs after a strong showing in the Far East in 2002, the Americans have struggled to live up to their ambition of being a legitimate World Cup contender.

They have certainly made incredible progress, though. Since 1990, the US have gone from fielding all-amateur sides to forming a robust top-flight league and now place many of their key players with European teams.

Where once it was rare to for a Yank to even get a scout from a foreign club watching them, today hundreds of Americans are playing abroad at all levels of the game, and names like Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, Tim Howard and Marcus Hahnemann are well-known by Premier League fans.

But the USA still fail to win big games, particularly on the road. The Americans thought they'd broken that duck when they upset Spain in the Confederations Cup and followed that up by pushing Brazil in the final, but they soon reverted to type and lost embarrassingly to Mexico in New York. They remain a hungry team, but one that sadly can’t make it over the final hurdle.

Strengths
The biggest attribute the Americans bring to the table is a never-say-die work ethic. They’re not the most technically gifted side in the world, but they are tough to play against because of this. Donovan and Dempsey are legitimate stars and Tim Howard is a proven top-notch keeper. If the ‘good’ DaMarcus Beasley shows up, the Americans gain a deadly winger to boot, something Walter Smith has seen little of at Rangers.

Weaknesses
The US have several. At a fundamental level, this team are reactive, meaning they are half a step behind any talented opponents. They lack playmaking vision and organisation. And most damagingly, they are very vulnerable in the back. The Americans leak bad goals and have shown few signs of addressing this over the past 18 months.

Interesting fact
The USA's best World Cup campaign was better than Spain's. The Americans finished third back in 1930, a step ahead of Spain's fourth place 20 years later.

The Coach: Bob Bradley
Widely viewed as the second-choice candidate after Jurgen Klinsmann backed out, Bradley has faced withering criticism from fans over the team’s play and lack of cohesion. Nonetheless, the US qualified for their sixth straight World Cup on schedule, and Bradley has remained at the helm.

Key Player: Landon Donovan
His loan spell at Everton this year turned a European also-ran into a major star. With Chelsea among the chasers, Donovan has the potential to command the highest transfer fee ever for an American this summer; a strong showing at the World Cup would put him over the top.

Probable Team (4-4-2): Howard; Spector, DeMerit, Onyewu, Bocanegra; Bradley, Clark, Dempsey, Beasley; Donovan, Altidore

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
England, June 12, 7.30pm, Rustenburg
Slovenia, June 18, 3pm, Johannesburg
Algeria, June 23, 3pm, Tshwane/Pretoria

Qualified Top in CONCACAF Final Stage
Mexico (H) 2-0
El Salvador (A) 2-2
Trinidad and Tobago (H) 3-0
Costa Rica (A) 1-3
Honduras (H) 2-1
Mexico (A) 1-2
El Salvador (H) 2-1
Trinidad and Tobago (A) 1-0
Honduras (A) 3-2
Costa Rica (H) 2-2

World Cup record
1930 Semi-final
1934 1st Round
1950 1st Round
1990 1st Round
1994 2nd Round
1998 1st Round
2002 Quarter-final
2006 1st Round

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Group C: England

Jonathan Wilson — Tue, 08 Jun 2010 15:53:00 GMT

With a great manager and strong squad, the Three Lions are two-thirds there – but will they be scythed down by luck?

Three things determine whether a side will be successful at a World Cup: the coach, the squad and circumstance.

England have an A-grade coach in Fabio Capello, and a squad that, with its mix of top-class players and a couple of obvious flaws, can probably be regarded as B+. The two together are enough for optimism; all that remains is for circumstance - injuries, form, refereeing decisions, climate, luck, bedroom shenanigans - to come good.

The climate - the first winter World Cup in which England will have competed for 48 years - should allow them to play at the sort of high tempo that comes naturally, but injuries and form are already reason for concern. The loss of David Beckham (and Michael Owen) was unfortunate, but he would only ever had been a second option; more worrying are the injuries which put question marks over Ashley Cole and Aaron Lennon.

Cole is not merely the country's best left-back, but offers a vital overlapping presence on the wing; Lennon is vital as a source of pace, particularly with Theo Walcott out of the picture. John Terry's mid-season slump and the loss of Rio Ferdinand are a further source of anxiety in an area where England had seemed secure.

Still, if they are fit and firing, and if Wayne Rooney avoids injury, England probably go to South Africa with as good a chance of winning the World Cup as at any time since 1970. Spain and Brazil are better sides, but England are high among the pack of other contenders.

They were hugely impressive in qualifying, winning every game until they were over the line and finishing as top scorers in the European section. The snivellers - of whom there are many, for past disappointment has made cynicism the easiest option where England are concerned - would claim they had an easy path, but it was the only European qualifying group to feature three teams who had played at the previous World Cup; six of the other eight groups only contained one.

Even if Capello has been taken aback by the tabloid obsession with his players' personal lives, he has, by and large, restored discipline after the indulgences of the end of the Sven-Goran Eriksson reign and the stagnation of the Steve McClaren era. Even the players seem to have take up the mood of realism, with Rio Ferdinand admitting they have in the past been "carried away" by the "hype and euphoria".

"The whole circus that followed the England squad last time at the World Cup was a joke, and I wouldn't like to see that again," he said. "It's a distraction and is detrimental to our chances. I love my kids and my missus as much as anybody else, but if it meant me winning the World Cup and not seeing them for four weeks, I'd take that." Would that he had the chance.

Giant steps: Capello shrinks the pitch

Capello had given his side a sense of purpose and tactical rigour, and even seems to have solved the age-old Gerrard-Lampard conundrum by given them clearly defined roles: Frank Lampard as a left-sided holder alongside Gareth Barry, and Steven Gerrard on the left of an attacking midfield trident with licence to cut inside.

Strengths
Rooney is probably the most complete centre-forward in the world, capable of both leading the line and dropping deep or wide to create play, and blessed with the dazzle and the sense of timing to turn games when his side most needs it. He is the key figure in a front six that, if fit, has great balance - as 34 goals in 10 competitive games under Capello suggests.

Weaknesses
The obvious weakness is in goal, where no outstanding candidate has emerged from half a dozen reasonably good ones. Rob Green looks likely to get the nod, but he has had far from an unblemished season.

That is part of a wider concern about the back four, which leaked six goals in 10 qualifiers – not overly troubling, but probably more than they should have conceded given how dominant England at times were. Glen Johnson is yet really to convince at right-back - although England have only the rather reluctant Jamie Carragher as competition - while Ferdinand's absence continues Capello's search for a regular, reliable centre-back pairing.

Then there is the issue of centre-forward and the ongoing Emile Heskey debate. He is a brave, selfless player who creates space for others and Rooney, in particular, seems to relish playing with him, but the fear always lurks that if a chance fell to him at a vital moment, he is as likely to hit the corner-flag as the back of the net. His attributes probably outweigh his flaws, but he is a scapegoat waiting to happen.

Interesting fact
Proportionally, England have drawn more games at World Cup finals than any other side to have reached four or more tournaments.

The Coach: Fabio Capello
A record of nine titles in 14 years with four different clubs across two countries tells its own story. More than that, Capello has done it in a variety of styles - under-defensive with AC Milan in 1993-94, joyously attacking with Roma in 2000-01. He is the arch-pragmatist, a brilliant leader adept at getting the best out of the players he has available.

Key Player: Wayne Rooney
He threatened to lead England to glory at Euro 2004 before a broken metatarsal intervened, and the same injury restricted him at the 2006; this, hopefully, will be his first fully-fit major tournament. If he can reproduce his Manchester United form, it gives England a great chance.

Probable Team (4-2-3-1): Green; Johnson, King, Terry, A Cole; Barry, Lampard; Lennon, Rooney, Gerrard; Heskey

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
USA, June 12, 7.30pm, Rustenburg
Algeria, June 18, 7.30pm, Cape Town
Slovenia, June 23, 3pm, Nelson Mandela Bay

Qualified Top in UEFA Group 6
Andorra (A) 2-0
Croatia (A) 4-1
Kazakhstan (H) 5-1
Belarus (A) 3-1
Ukraine (H) 2-1
Kazakhstan (A) 4-0
Andorra (H) 6-0
Croatia (H) 5-1
Ukraine (A) 0-1
Belarus (H) 3-0

World Cup record
1950 1st Round
1954 Quarter-final
1958 1st Round
1962 Quarter-final
1966 Winners
1970 Quarter-final
1982 Second Round
1986 Quarter-final
1990 Semi-final
1998 Second Round
2002 Quarter-final
2006 Quarter-final

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Group B: Greece

Jonathan Wilson — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:32:00 GMT

Some had wondered whether Otto Rehhagel had outlived his usefulness. Success in Euro 2004 was followed by failure to qualify for the World Cup in 2006 or Euro 2008. The Greek FA remained patient, though, and Rehhagel repaid their faith with a first World Cup qualification since 1994.

“This is fantastic,” said Dimitris Salpigidis, who scored the winner in the play-off victory over Ukraine. “It’s a massive success for us, and something for Greeks all over the world to celebrate. All those people who have made negative comments about us now have their answer.”

Greece, though, still have a (partly justified) reputation for tedium, born largely of memories of their victory in Euro 2004, which was based on stifling the opposition and catching them out with dead balls.

They averaged two goals a game in qualifying, but that probably said more about the deficiencies of Moldova, Latvia and Luxembourg than it did about Greece. Although they took four points off Israel, two defeats to Switzerland should be cause for concern.

That goals record, certainly, shouldn’t be taken as evidence that they have changed their approach since Euro 2004. Come the play-off, they stifled a Ukraine side that had struggled for rhythm in qualifying, drawing 0-0 at home before a 1-0 win in Donetsk.

Suddenly Rehhagel was talking about “passion” and “competitiveness” again, and the spirit of 2004 seemed reborn. A crop of tall, muscular forwards would suggest this squad is, in fact, probably stronger than that of six years ago. They will not be subtle or pretty to watch, but Greece will be rugged, and may be effective.

Strengths
Greece’s greatest strength probably remains the wiliness of their coach, Otto Rehhagel. He still believes man-marking has a place, and isn’t ashamed to play three at the back in the face of most modern footballing wisdom (although he will switch to a back four as and when necessary).

As such, Greece are likely to be the most tactically fluid side at the World Cup, at least defensively. Rehhagel with have his back-line meticulously drilled, and the team are sure to be a threat from set-pieces.

Weaknesses
It's hard to see much subtlety in Greece’s gameplan, and if they come up against a team comfortable at dealing with their aerial presence it's hard to see where goals will come from. The midfield is industrious, and wing-backs Giourkas Seitaridis and Vasilis Torosidis work the flanks relentlessly, but it's hard to see how Greece could control possession or come up with a moment of inspiration to unlock resolute opposition.

Interesting fact
In 2004 Rehhagel was named Greek of the Year, the first foreigner to win the award.

The Coach: Otto Rehhagel
The term veteran doesn’t quite seem adequate for the 71-year-old, who is the only man to have both played and managed over a 1000 games in the Bundesliga. He won a German Cup with Fortuna Dusseldorf, then led Werder Bremen to two championships, two cups and a Cup Winners’ Cup before winning the league again with Kaiserslautern in 1998.

Key Player: Theofanis Gekas
He may not have set the world alight at Portsmouth, but Gekas was top scorer in the European section of qualifying.

Probable team (3-4-3): Chalkias; Papodopoulos, Moras, Kyrgiakos; Seitiridis, Karagounis, Katsouranis, Torosidis; Salpigidis, Gekas, Charisteas

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
South Korea, June 12, 12.30pm, Nelson Mandela Bay
Nigeria, June 17, 3pm, Mangaung/Bloemfontein
Argentina, June 22, 7.30pm, Polokwane

Qualified via play-offs after finishing runners-up in UEFA Group Two
Latvia (A) 2-0
Moldova (H) 3-0
Switzerland (H) 1-2
Israel (A) 1-1
Israel (H) 2-1
Switzerland (A) 0-2
Moldova (A) 1-1
Latvia (H) 5-2
Play-off
Luxembourg (H) 2-1
Luxembourg (A) 3-0

World Cup record
1994 1st Round

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Group B: South Korea

John Duerden — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 23:01:00 GMT

Organised yet fluid, unbeaten in qualification yet vulnerable in friendlies, with young stars but an ageing backbone, South Korea are a mass of contradictions...

With eight appearances on the global stage to their name, South Korea can be proud of their World Cup finals appearance record. In South Africa, the Asian Tigers will be desperate to match that quantity with quality - and prove that they’ve got the ability to warrant global respect as a team.

Their home tournament in 2002 saw South Korea clock their first ever tournament win, and bag a place in the last four. Last time provided a debut victory on foreign soil. This one is all about surviving the first round for the first time ever overseas. For Korea, the second round equals success.

The omens so far are mixed. Qualification from Asia’s Group of Death was smooth: they were unbeaten against their northern neighbours, westerly giants Saudi Arabia and Iran, plus whipping-boys UAE.

However, the Seoul media and public are uncertain at the moment as to whether this is a good team or not. Calls for Guus Hiddink’s return in February after a chaotic 3-0 defeat against China was followed by fulsome praise as Ivory Coast were beaten 2-0 in London.

Much hope rests on the ‘Fab Four’. This offensive quartet consists of Manchester United’s Park Ji-sung, Lee Chung-yong of Bolton Wanderers, Celtic’s Ki Sung-young and AS Monaco star Park Chu-young.

Park aside, the Fab Four are young. But as the competition approaches, more 2002 veterans are crawling out of the woodwork. Goalkeeper Lee Woon-jae is still there at 36, Lee Young-pyo is now a likely left-back starter and Frieburg’s Cha Du-ri has just been recalled to the right-back spot. Further forward, Ahn Jung-Hwan (now 34) and Kim Nam-il (33) are both in the frame.

Strengths
The Fab Four’s fine form gives hope that one of Korea’s traditional weaknesses – an inability to convert chances into goals - is now not a problem. Especially as the stamina, pace, teamwork and never-say-die attitude are all still there, a clinical Korea would pose problems for all Group B opponents and the movement in attack – from the two Parks and the skilful Lee - is a part of Korea’s game that has improved over the years.

Weaknesses
Ask any Red Devil what concerns them about the World Cup – apart from the fact that the Seoul media seems to believe that a trip to Johannesburg means almost certain death – and they will all say the defence.

The country has failed to produce a commanding centre-back since ‘the Eternal Libero’ Hong Myong-bo retired in 2002 and the number of different partnerships tried over the years would surprise even the most itchy-fingered tinkerman. It’s still hard to predict exactly which two stoppers will take the pitch against Greece but whoever it is, recent inability to defend set pieces is a gift that the Greeks (and others) would gratefully accept.

Interesting fact
South Korea were the 17th best performers at the 2006 World Cup.

The Coach: Huh Jung-moo
Hiddink’s predecessor returned in December 2007 to an underwhelming reception – hardly surprising as he was, at the very best, third-choice after public rejections from Mick McCarthy and Gerard Houllier. It didn’t start too well but a willingness to trust in young players and a knack for getting a result gained the respect – if not affection – from the fans.

Key Player: Park Chu-young
He’s always been able to link midfield and attack, and now the intelligent striker has added goals to his CV. One of Asia’s best.

Probable Team (4-4-2): Lee Woon-jae; Cha Duri, Cho Yong-hyong, Lee Jung-soo, Lee Young-pyo; Lee Chung-young, Ki Song-yong, Kim Jung-woo, Park Ji-sung; Park Chu-young, Lee Dong-gook

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Greece, June 12, 12.30pm, Nelson Mandela Bay
Argentina, June 17, 12.30pm, Johannesburg
Nigeria, June 22, 7.30pm, Durban

Qualified First in AFC Group 2
Korea DPR (A) 1-1
United Arab Emirates (H) 4-1
Saudi Arabia (A) 2-0
Iran (A) 1-1
Korea DPR (H) 1-0
United Arab Emirates (A) 2-0
Saudi Arabia (H) 0-0
Iran (H) 1-1

World Cup record
1954 1st Round
1986 1st Round
1990 1st Round
1994 1st Round
1998 1st Round
2002 Semi-final
2006 1st Round

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Group B: Nigeria

Jonathan Wilson — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:51:00 GMT

They might be the biggest nation in African football, but Nigeria are far from the best...

We’ve been here before. Far, far too often.

One in six Africans is Nigerian, Nigeria has as deep a passion for the game as any country in the world, and it has produced as many top-class players as any other African country, and yet once again they head into a major tournament in disarray.

Shaibu Amodu, specifically, has been here before. He was sacked as coach before the 2002 World Cup after leading Nigeria through qualifying and to third in the Cup of Nations, and he was sacked again in February – after leading Nigeria through qualifying and to third in the Cup of Nations.

“Obviously we went to Angola to win the Nations Cup,” says forward Chinedu Obasi. “We wanted to be the top team in Africa again, but things didn’t go according to plan. The World Cup has to be different for us because there is so much at stake. We know that we’ll have a tough job. We’re up against some tough teams like Argentina, with top players like Lionel Messi. It’s important for us to prove that we can play our own game against the best.”

This time, as Glenn Hoddle alleges he turned down the job after being asked to pay a bung, it is the former Sweden coach Lars Lagerback who is left to pick up the pieces and try somehow to form a coherent unit in a couple of warm-up games. Nothing in football is so sure as Nigeria’s ability to shoot themselves in the foot.

Strengths
That Nigeria reached the semi-finals in Angola was a minor miracle brought about by the doughtiness of their defensive play. Although they will miss John Obi Mikel, Dickson Etuhu and Yusuf Ayila will shield a back four in which the central partnership of Danny Shittu and Joseph Yobo will be key.

Taye Taiwo offers attacking thrust and a ferocious shot from left-back – assuming he is recalled ahead of Elderson Echiejile of Rennes, who took his place in the later stages in Angola.

Weaknesses
Besides missing Mikel's muscle, there is a chronic lack of flair about Nigeria’s midfield and front line. But by far the biggest problems for them are the debilitating politicking within the FA, and the constant pressure applied by a press corps seemingly unable to accept that the current generation is several levels below the side of Kanu, Jay-Jay Okocha, and Sunday Oliseh that won the Olympics so thrillingly in 1996.

Interesting fact
Indicative of their tendency to fluff their lines, Nigeria have appeared in the semi-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations 13 times.

The Coach: Lars Lagerback
After 20 years working with various levels of the Sweden national team, taking over Nigeria will be a major culture shock for Lagerback. Working with Tommy Soderberg from 2000-04, and then as sole national coach, he led Sweden to the final stages of an unprecedented five straight international tournaments, but stood down after their failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.

Key Player: Peter Odemwingie
If Nigeria are to have any impact on the World Cup, they need the best form possible from the winger – the one attacking spark in Angola.

Probable team (4-3-3): Enyeama; Mohamed, Yobo, Shittu, Taiwo; Ayila, Ideye, Etuhu; Obasi, Yakubu, Odemwingie

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Argentina, June 12, 3pm, Johannesburg
Greece, June 17, 3pm, Mangaung/Bloemfontein
South Korea, June 22, 7.30pm, Durban

Qualified Top of CAF Group B
Mozambique (A) 0-0
Kenya (H) 3-0
Tunisia (A) 0-0
Tunisia (H) 2-2
Mozambique (H) 1-0
Kenya (A) 3-2

World Cup record
1994 2nd Round
1998 2nd Round
2002 1st Round

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Group B: Argentina

FourFourTwo Team — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 22:28:00 GMT

Many might expect Maradona's men to self-destruct – but, says Martin Mazur, the dressing room is united, and stuffed with rather good players

Argentinians know that Brazil took 24 years to win their first World Cup after Pele. And precisely 24 years after Maradona led them to glory in 1986, they feel the time to win the trophy back has come. But can they pull it off?

“Yes, I firmly believe victories bring more victories and we are going down that road,” said captain Javier Mascherano after defeating Germany in Munich, the last big friendly before heading for South Africa.

In the last two years Argentina have rarely played well, but there are mystic signs surrounding the team, all emanating from Mexico 86 - starting with Maradona himself, sitting on the bench and barking out orders alongside Carlos Bilardo and a backroom staff including players of that generation.

The omens continue with the fact that they were a minute away from not qualifying, in a decisive game against Peru at home, just as in 1985, and will now play the first World Cup game against South Korea, exactly as it was in Mexico.

And then there's a hungry Lionel Messi, undoubtedly the world’s best player, even if he hasn’t been able to perform to his best in an Argentina shirt. “To be a legend you must win a World Cup,” says the all-too-aware mini-magician, obsessed with lifting the trophy just as he did the U20 World Cup and the Olympic title.

“We need new heroes,” admits Maradona, adding that he would like to see “the Mascheranos and the Heinzes” coming back home with the trophy. Messi is the greatest hope, but not the only one: the addition of Real Madrid’s Gonzalo Higuain has finally ended the search for a classic No.9 in the mould of Batistuta and Crespo.

Messi and Higuain aside, though, Maradona’s Argentina hardly resemble the attack-minded formations of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Underlining the example of Italy in 2006, the gaffer is convinced that World Cups are won with good defences. Having witnessed as a player the Italian school of catenaccio, he’s not willing to give away anything in the back, even if it means picking four powerful centre-backs to fill the back four, plus Mascherano patrolling as anchorman.

The result is his 4-1-3-2, which proved to be effective but very cautious, leaving Messi either too deep or too isolated, and with no attacking full-backs to drag markers out of position – movement that Maradona promises will be improved before the World Cup. “I ask Leo to do one thing, while in Barcelona, Guardiola asks him to do a different thing,” says Diego. “The important thing is we’re both very happy with his performances.”

Where to play Messi and how to bring the best out of him has become a national obsession, but inside Argentina’s bunker there are no worries. “We are lucky that he is Argentinian, we just have to let him be,” says veteran Juan Sebastian Veron, who has risen to the challenge of replacing playmaker Juan Román Riquelme to become the team’s spiritual leader.

Flanked by two pacy wingers (Benfica's much-admired Angel di Maria and Newcastle's Jonas Guttierez), Veron dictates the tempo with his long and short passing. With Veron, Messi becomes more involved. Without him, Argentina look confused, Messi less active. But while bringing the former Man United man back has been arguably Maradona’s best decision, picking Sergio Romero as his No.1 was the riskiest one and it’s paid off.

After losing to Brazil at home to three set-pieces, Argentina have also raised the average height of their team, with the aerially dominant powerful Martin Demichelis and Walter Samuel supplemented by Gabriel Heinze, who Maradona confusingly seems to have soft spot for.

A physical game based on muscle and peppered with quick (counter-)attacks, set-pieces and a little inspiration from the deadly dwarves. That’s Argentina’s masterplan for World Cup glory.

Strengths
A rock-solid defence. This is also a squad dominated by versatile footballers: 80 percent play in two or more positions. Messi is playing the best football of his career, Higuain too, with Carlos Tevez and Sergio Aguero providing good options from the bench. The dressing room is also, believe it or not, united.

Weaknesses
Defensive full-backs mean this team doesn’t have a surprise element. There are also question marks over Veron’s fitness and the ability to keep the ball against the very best teams, while Argentina’s physical approach could lead to disciplinary problems – not something you need at the World Cup.

Interesting fact
Martin Palermo returned to the national team 10 years after the 1999 Copa America in which he’d missed three penalties against Colombia. The Boca striker scored the vital goal against Peru that practically secured Argentina’s ticket to South Africa and is the leading goalscorer under Maradona with six.

The Coach: Diego Maradona 
Has the rare chance to emulate Mario Zagallo and Franz Beckenbauer and win the trophy as player and manager. Having tried out 100 players in less than 18 months, he has made many decisions, good and bad. His motivational skills will be more useful during a knockout tournament than they were during the qualifiers.

Key Man: Angel di Maria
 Opposition defences will concentrate only on Messi at their peril. As Everton discovered to their cost, the 22-year-old Benfica winger is an electrifying dribbler and increasing goal threat. The World Cup could secure his move to one of Europe’s biggest clubs – and future greatness.

Probable Team (4-1-3-2): Romero; Otamendi, Demichelis, Samuel, Heinze; Mascherano; Gutiérrez, Verón, Di María; Messi; Higuaín

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Nigeria, June 12, 4pm, Johannesburg
South Korea, June 17, 1.30pm, Johannesburg
Greece, June 22, 8.30pm, Polokwane

Qualified Fourth in CONMEBOL group
Chile (H) 2-0
Venezuela (A) 2-0
Bolivia (H) 3-0
Colombia (A) 2-1
Ecuador (H) 1-1
Brazil (A) 0-0
Paraguay (H) 1-1
Peru (A) 1-1
Uruguay (H) 2-1
Chile (A) 0-1
Venezuela (H) 4-0
Bolivia (A) 1-6
Columbia (H) 1-0
Ecuador (A) 0-2
Brazil (H) 1-3
Paraguay (A) 1-0
Peru (H) 2-1
Uruguay (A) 1-0

World Cup record
1930 Runners-up
1934 1st Round
1958 1st Round
1962 1st Round
1966 Quarter-final
1974 2nd Round
1978 Winner
1982 2nd Round
1986 Winner
1990 Runners-up
1994 Quarter-final
1998 Quarter-final
2002 1st Round
2006 Quarter-final

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Group A: Uruguay

FourFourTwo Team — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:37:00 GMT

They're inconsistent and rely on a 21-year-old, but as Henry Mance reports, Uruguay will always give it their best shot...

Never write off the Uruguayans. This is a country that enjoys triumph in adversity: locals draw a line from the 1950 Final victory in the Maracana to the play-off wins that have taken them to the last two World Cups – even if they know that it’s not as much a line as a downwards slope.

So fancy a cliché or two about Uruguay’s legendary garra charrúa or Indian fighting spirit? Diego Forlan doesn’t mind if you do. “It’s not a myth. We play tough, we have done for years and it’s now something intrinsic to the national team,” says the captain.

It’s clear England aren’t the only ones looking forward to a winter World Cup. “We’ll be in a city which will seem like Montevideo,” enthuses coach Oscar Washingon Tabarez. "We’re going to arrive already adapted to the climate."

In fact Tabarez is optimistic all round, even though Uruguay are drawn against France, Mexico and South Africa. “This is not a group of death... It’s open for any team.”

Strengths
After years of divisions – between players from Nacional and Penarol, and between players based at home and those abroad – this Uruguay squad appears unified and motivated, with Tabarez gradually excluding disruptive players. And after trying three comedy goalkeepers, the coach also seems to have found a serious one: Lazio’s Fernando Muslera.

Weaknesses
The qualifiers showed their alarming inconsistency – Uruguay ran Brazil close in Sao Paulo, then capitulated 4-0 to them in Montevideo. Coach Tabarez attributes that to the transition from one generation of players to the next, but that process is far from complete.

The creative burden, for example, lies squarely on shoulders of Ajax star Nicolas Lodeiro, 21, who only came into the team during the play-off with Costa Rica; it probably won't help that he's being being labelled the Uruguayan Messi. And at the back, versatile Juventus defender Martin Caceres has missed much of the season through injury and was a doubt for the finals.

Interesting fact
Alcides Ghiggia, who scored the winner against Brazil in 1950, is the only survivor of that Uruguay team; at 83, he's the oldest man alive to have scored in a World Cup Final.

The Coach: Oscar Washington Tabarez
Tabarez first took Uruguay to the World Cup in 1990 – the last time they got into second round. Since returning to the national set-up in 2006, he has won plaudits for his independence and strictness.

Key Player: Diego Forlan
Relatively subdued for Atletico Madrid this season, Forlan has massive responsibility as creator and goalscorer for Uruguay. This is presumably his last chance to improve his current World Cup goals tally of one.

Probable Team (4-4-2): Muslera; M Pereira, Godin, Lugano, Caceres; Perez, Gargano, A Pereira, Lodeiro; Forlan, Suarez.

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
INTERVIEW: Diego Forlan on Uruguay, England and what would happen if Wales won the World Cup
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
France, June 11, 7.30pm, Cape Town
South Africa, June 16, 7.30pm, Tshwane/Pretoria
Mexico, June 22, 8pm, Rustenburg

Qualified Fifth in CONMEBOL group
Bolivia (H) 5-0
Paraguay (A) 0-1
Chile (H) 2-2
Brazil (A) 2-1
Venezuela (H) 1-1
Peru (H) 6-0
Colombia (A) 1-0
Ecuador (H) 0-0
Argentina (A) 1-2
Bolivia (A) 2-2
Paraguay (H) 2-0
Chile (H) 0-0
Brazil (H) 0-4
Venezuela (A) 2-2
Peru (A) 0-1
Colombia (H) 3-1
Ecuador (A) 2-1
Argentina (H) 0-1
Play-off
Costa Rica (A) 1-0
Costa Rica (H) 1-1

World Cup record
1930 Winners
1950 Winners
1954 Semi-Final
1962 1st Round
1966 Quarter-Final
1970 Semi-Final
1974 1st Round
1986 2nd Round
1990 2nd Round
2002 1st Round

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Group A: Mexico

FourFourTwo Team — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 21:14:00 GMT

They passed pretty patterns ariound Capello's England in a friendly – but, says Jamie Trecker, Mexico are fortunate to be involved...

Mexico enter their fifth straight World Cup finals re-energised, and darn lucky. A dismal run of form under ex-coach Sven Goran-Eriksson almost saw the Tricolores locked out of South Africa, but under his replacement, Javier Aguirre, Mexico were able to steady the ship.

Yet this escape highlights how far the proud Mexicans have fallen. Once the undisputed kings of CONCACAF, in recent years the Mexicans have found themselves playing second fiddle to their bigger and bitter rivals to the North. It's difficult to fully express just how humiliating this is for Mexicans, whose national identity is closely intertwined with their national sport.

In fact, from 1999 until last summer, Mexico had failed to beat their rivals on American soil, creating an enormous psychological hurdle for the team. That was finally overcome when Mexico trashed USA’s B squad 5-0 in the Gold Cup finals. The relief was palpable; post-game, striker Carlos Vela told Mexican television that “it was about time [we] won a game here in America”.

Aguirre got the job done by relying on a core group of older players – particularly the 37-year-old Cuauhtemoc Blanco – and it got the team to South Africa, right enough. How that same group will fare this summer is another matter entirely.

Strengths
The Mexicans are technically gifted and nimble. When firing on all cylinders they can hurt you with a counter-attack that relies on teasing flank play and raw speed.

Despite appearances in the Wembley friendly, their defence can be stingy, and with good reason: like the Italians, they can absorb and absorb, at times putting all 11 guys behind the ball. They have a history of spectacular goalkeepers and very tough-nosed midfielders. Which leads us to...

Weaknesses
They foul early and often, and can be downright dirty. Refs take notice of this, and Mexico usually pay a stiff price. Also, the old saw about Mexicans not travelling well is true: currently, only Rafa Marquez and Blanco have a strong overseas track record – and Blanco’s was in MLS, hardly a top-calibre league. The fact that this has become a point of pride for Mexican fans, who delight in having their best players at home, is perverse.

This insularity and lack of familiarity with foreign teams and players hurts Mexico on the world stage, and they struggle against European and African sides. In 2006, they barely squeaked into the knockout stage on four points in a very weak group. That noted, when paired against Argentina, they let it all hang out – and more than matched the Albicelestes before losing in extra-time.

Interesting fact
Mexico play most of their games in the United States. Why? Money: the Mexican immigrants in the US fill the States’ cavernous football arenas and pay top dollar.

The Coach: Javier Aguirre
 Nicknamed ‘El Vasco’ (The Basque), the former Atletico Madrid coach is something of a minor deity in Mexico. A two-time coach for the national team, he is widely credited with twice-reviving their World Cup qualification fortunes. That halo will last right up until Mexico crash out of the cup, at which point he’ll become just like every other coach in the notoriously fickle country: fired.

Key Player: Carlos Vela
The slight striker hasn’t been more than a bit-part player for Arsenal, but he could be the key for a team that relies heavily on the ageing Blanco for firepower.

Probable team (4-2-3-1): Ochoa; Osorio, Marquez, Magallon, Salcido; Torrado, Guardado; Vela, Blanco, Dos Santos; Franco

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
South Africa, June 11, 3pm, Johannesburg
France, June 17, 7.30pm, Polokwane
Uruguay, June 22, 3pm, Rustenburg

Qualified Runners-up in CONCACAF Final Stage
USA (H) 2-0
Costa Rica (H) 2-0
Honduras (A) 1-3
El Salvador (A) 1-2
Trinidad & Tobago (H) 2-1
USA (H) 2-1
Costa Rica (A) 3-0
Honduras (H) 1-0
El Salvador (H) 4-1
Trinidad & Tobago (A) 2-2

World Cup record
1930 1st Round
1950 1st Round
1954 1st Round
1958 1st Round
1962 1st Round
1966 1st Round
1970 Quarter-Final
1978 1st Round
1986 Quarter-Final
1994 2nd Round
1998 2nd Round
2002 2nd Round
2006 2nd Round

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Group A: South Africa

FourFourTwo Team — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 20:44:00 GMT

The World Cup has never had lower-ranking hosts, reveals Piers Edwards – so they'll have to produce a few surprises to stay at the party...

South Africa wouldn't be at the finals at all unless they were the hosts. For since their last appearance in 2002, Bafana Bafana have gone backwards – absent from Germany 2006 and this year’s Cup of Nations as well.

Twenty years ago, even contesting – let alone hosting – the World Cup seemed unimaginable since South Africa was still serving an apartheid-related FIFA ban (which lasted for nearly three decades). As political reform swept the country in the early 1990s, South Africa returned to the international fold, playing their first match in 1992.

Incredibly, just four years later, South Africa - one of the Confederation of African Football’s founding fathers - won the Africa Cup of Nations on home soil, at the first time of asking.

As the country hosts Africa’s first World Cup, many fans merely hope to make the second round. Grouped with Mexico and former champions France (1998) and Uruguay (1930 and 1950), it’s no easy task for the competition’s lowest-ranked host nation in history.

Coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, who led Brazil to 1994 World Cup glory, likens the task of qualifying from Group A to climbing Mount Everest. Nonetheless, the FA president has set Parreira a quarter-final target. “I think this World Cup will be full of surprises and I hope we can be one of them,” says towering defender Matthew Booth. They'll have to be to stay involved after the first fortnight.

Strengths
Strengths are few but defence is one of them. Kaizer Chiefs’ Itumeleng Khune is a reliable stopper and Siboniso Gaxa a capable right-back yet question marks surround centre-back and captain Aaron Mokoena – with many feeling the experienced Portsmouth man has become a liability.

South Africa’s midfield holds its own - thanks to the unsung work of MacBeth Sibaya. He’s often partnered by Fulham’s Kagiso Dikgacoi in a somewhat defensive central pairing. To their right is domestic league golden boy Teko Modise of the Orlando Pirates, but on the other side Everton's Steven Pienaar is a class above his colleagues. In reserve, skilful left-footer Siphiwe Tshabalala can be dangerous.

Weaknesses
South Africa’s attack is a serious concern. In late 2009, Bafana Bafana scored once in seven games – meaning Parreira recalled Benni McCarthy, the controversial striker who had often ignored call-ups. Katlego Mphela, the local league’s top scorer with 17 goals, will partner him but injury to either will hamper South Africa’s hopes. Underlying the lack of goals is a problem of creativity: Bafana don’t make too many chances and the team’s crossing is often sub-standard.

Interesting fact
No World Cup host has failed to make the second round – but South Africa haven't managed it in their two previous attempts. To help, the Premier Soccer League ended in March, the earliest finish in its history, to allow the squad adequate time to prepare with camps in Brazil, Germany and Johannesburg.

The Coach: Carlos Alberto Parreira
In his second stint, having quit in April 2008 to care for his then cancer-stricken wife, the Brazilian was reappointed to replace beleaguered compatriot Joel Santana. He will be leading his fifth different nation at a World Cup – after Kuwait (1982), UAE (1990), Brazil (1994 & 2006) and Saudi Arabia (1998) – but he has never guided a non-Brazilian side to victory in the group stages.

Key Player: Steven Pienaar
The heartbeat of the side. Without his creativity, accuracy and sense of urgency, the hosts have little chance.

Probable Team (4-4-2):  Khune; Gaxa, Mokoena, Gould, Masilela; Modise, Sibaya, Dikgacoi, Pienaar; McCarthy, Mphela.

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Mexico, June 11, 3pm, Johannesburg
Uruguay, June 16, 7.30pm, Tshwane/Pretoria
France, June 22, 3pm, Mangaung/Bloemfontein

Qualified Automatically as hosts

World Cup record
1998 1st Round
2002 1st Round

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Group A: France

FourFourTwo Team — Mon, 07 Jun 2010 19:41:00 GMT

Winners in 1998, finalists in 2006 - but as Jean-Claude Malet explains, the French aren't fancied by many this time...

It’s hard to remember a time when fans, pundits and former players were so down on the national team.

A mediocre qualifying campaign which saw Les Bleus having to rely on that handball by Thierry Henry to get past the luckless Irish in the play-offs, coming off the back of a desperately poor showing at Euro 2008, has most French pundits rating the team’s chances of bringing the Jules Rimet trophy back to its spiritual home at somewhere between slim and none.

Disenchantment with the class of 2010 erupted at the March friendly against Spain, at the same Stade de France where 12 years earlier Zinedine Zidane inspired the greatest night in the national team’s history. As France got the runaround from Xavi & Co, the Paris crowd were merciless in their booing - not only of coach Raymond Domenech, the habitual butt of public dissatisfaction, but of a team who seemed to lack any coherence.

Not even Franck Ribery, the man closest to assuming Zidane-style levels of popularity in the current side, was spared the abuse.

The last eight of the Champions League featured more players from France than from any other nation, but there is a total failure to translate that individual quality into a coherent framework.

Jogging the memory: the current crop run from the past

“This team can’t play together,” argues Emmanuel Petit, just one of the veterans of France 98 whose criticisms of the current set-up have rankled with some of their modern-day successors. “When you see the individuals with their clubs, there is a world of difference with what they achieve in the French shirt.”

He’s got a point. The only position not currently under scrutiny is goalkeeper, thanks to the excellence of the now undisputed No.1 Hugo Lloris.

In attack, Henry looks a fading force, his wide-left place under threat from Ribery’s insistence that that is his best position - not that the Bayern Munich man has been on top of his game of late, what with certain events off the field proving a distraction.

Meanwhile, Karim Benzema has faced such a struggle to justify his reputation since moving to Madrid that Domenech has preferred to hand Djibril Cisse an international recall after two years.

The defence is also unconvincing. Philippe Mexes, the man once supposed to be the next Laurent Blanc, has been unable to get a game and missed the cut. No one in the current side carries the authority of Blanc or Didier Deschamps, men capable of willing the team to get over the line.

In one respect – the creation of an ‘us against the world’ mentality within the camp – Domenech appears to have been successful. There are parallels here with ’98, when few rated Aime Jacquet’s chances of lifting the prize beforehand. But set that against the poverty of recent displays, and the prospects of a repeat performance 12 years on seem at best debatable.

"Please be good, Franck." "What do you mean?"

Strengths
Given France’s aforementioned representation in the latter stages of the Champions League, surely there have to be 23 players good enough to do a job at the World Cup finals? On paper at least, the team look as good as just about anyone.

In Hugo Lloris, they have perhaps the outstanding young goalkeeper in world football, and if Yoann Gourcuff starts to play for France like he does for Bordeaux, comparisons with Zidane won’t seem so far-fetched. Meanwhile, for one reason and another Ribery hasn't played too much football this season, and might well arrive in South Africa in good nick.

Weaknesses
The current team simply does not add up to the sum of its parts. There is a complete lack of confidence, and the better players are either past their best or have spent too long on the treatment table. And with nobody replacing the fading Henry as a key influence, who will get the goals?

Henry is not a natural captain, and neither of the two Diarras or Toulalan have yet acquired the stature of a Didier Deschamps in the middle. Perhaps most pertinently of all, coach Domenech has yet to reveal an ability to shuffle his pack or deliver the telling substitution or tactical switch to turn a situation around.

The Coach: Raymond Domenech
Domenech, a feisty defender as a player, is quite probably the only Frenchman more unpopular than Nicolas Sarkozy right now. Who can forget his cringe-making proposal of marriage to his girlfriend moments after France’s pathetic elimination at Euro 2008?

More substantially, the charge against him is that, despite the playing riches at his disposal, his team continue to deliver sub-standard performances. Domenech continues to insist everything will be fine once the action starts in South Africa, and let’s not forget that without that infamous Zidane headbutt in the last final, chances are he’d be going into these finals defending the trophy.

Key Man: Franck Ribery
The most popular French footballer since Zidane retired, the little dynamo has had an indifferent season by his standards, and will know that these finals offer him his best chance to make his reputation truly global.

Probable Team (4-2-3-1): Lloris; Sagna, Gallas, Abidal, Evra; Lassana Diarra, Toulalan; Ribery, Gourcuff, Henry; Anelka

World Cup Talentspotter: More details on the players
INTERVIEW: Yoann Gourcuff on Zidane, South Africa and Domenech
Q&A: FFT interviews a player from every nation

Fixtures
Uruguay June 11, 7.30pm, Cape Town
Mexico June 17, 7.30pm, Polokwane
South Africa, June 22, 3pm, Manguang/Bloemfontein

Qualified Via play-off after finishing runners-up in UEFA Group 7
Austria (A) 1-3
Serbia (H) 2-1
Romania (A) 2-2
Lithuania (A) 1-0
Lithuania (H) 1-0
Faroe Islands (A) 1-0
Romania (H) 1-1
Serbia (A) 1-1
Faroe Islands (H) 5-0
Austria (H) 3-1
Play-off
Republic of Ireland (A) 1-0
Republic of Ireland (H) 1-1

World Cup record
1930 1st Round
1934 1st Round
1938 Quarter-Final
1954 1st Round
1958 Semi-Final
1966 1st Round
1978 1st Round
1982 Semi-Final
1986 Semi-Final
1998 Winners
2002 1st Round
2006 Runners up

More World Cup stuff: Features * Lists * Interviews

FFT.com: Features * News * Interviews * Home
Interact: Twitter * Facebook * Forum