World Cup 2010 Blog: “Nigeria World Cup 2010 Team Profile” plus 3 more

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• Nigeria World Cup 2010 Team Profile
• Tricky Dick Goes On, Takes The Money And Runs.
• Greece World Cup 2010 Team Profile
• Just Another Day In The Life Of FIFA

Nigeria World Cup 2010 Team Profile Posted: 16 Apr 2010 04:10 AM PDT Nigeria can boast something only a half-dozen other teams in the world can right now: they’ll be playing the World Cup on their home continent come June. Beyond that, they can’t boast much because they don’t know much. The uninspiring performance at the African Cup of Nations saw Shaibu Amodu relieved of his duties atop the Nigerian coaching pyramid and Lars Lagerback rewarded for not taking Sweden to the World Cup with an all expense paid trip to that same World Cup. So they’re in a bit of transition right before summer festival. So maybe a shake-up will be good; or maybe a shake-up will be just that – a shake-up. Nickname: Super Eagles Group: B; Argentina, Greece, South Korea FIFA World Ranking as of March 31st 2010: 22nd Coach: Lars Lagerback. Fresh off their lackluster showing at the African Cup of Nations, they “reassigned” Shaibu Amodu in February, naming Lars Lagerback in his place for the summer. Lars is also coming fresh off a disappointing set – failing to get Sweden, his post for the last ten years, to South Africa. This means his first official game of the stint will be against Argentina. Joy. Key Players: The big names are concentrated towards the front, with a blend of speed, strength and size providing a bounty of physical gifts. Yakubu is nicknamed Yak because his shoulders dwarf most of the bovines (no other reason, swear); Obafemi Martins has pace and skills for days on end, ditto (to a lesser degree) for Victor Obinna; Chinedu Obasi provides something of a tall, speedy, skillful wild card; and beanpole captain Nwakwo Kanu is still going strong at 87…oh, only 33. (Seriously – he’s been around forever.) There’s little to go on in midfield with the new gaffer in town, but most will know Chelsea’s John Obi Mikel (or Mikel John Obi, or…however you prefer) and Ayilla Yussuf is no small talent currently catching his checks in Kiev. In the back Joseph Yobo is the central leader, with Chidi Odiah, an attacking fullback, on the right and Taye Taiwo, a tank with implanted cannon for a left leg, on the left. In net will be the quietly impressive Vincent Enyeama, who doesn’t get the pub of some other quality keepers simply because he plays in Israel. (And because he can’t get on most goalkeeper amusement rides – he’s 180cm.) Player with best YouTube video: Back in the day, the bee’s knees aspired to be Nwankwo Kanu. Player with best name: According to Wikipedia he only has one cap, but that cap accompanies what will be the best name by some distance at the World Cup if he makes it: Thankgod Amaefule. (Bit of a troublemaker for such a religious fellow, though.) Player with best nickname: Certain people were obviously born for certain nicknames: Yakubu “The Yak” Aiyegbeni is somewhere up the top of the list. Qualification: It wasn’t terribly easy, and it took a bit of help from Mozambqiue to just squeak into the tournament. Tunisia were ahead by two points heading into a last day, which meant Nigeria needed to get real lucky. They did: they beat Kenya 3-2 with an Obafemi goal nine minutes from time while Mozambique stunned Tunisia seven minutes from time for a 1-0 victory. Fashionably late, but still invited. Interesting: National Anthem: "Arise, O Compatriots" More on the Nigerian anthem here. Kit: The traditional all-green outfit for home. You can buy the Nigeria shirt in our store. World Cup History: Nigeria attained the highest-ever FIFA ranking for an African team at 5th in 1994. Expectations: The buzzword surrounding Nigeria in Angola was “craft” – as in they didn’t have any. They’re physically gifted, but lacking in technical quality, so much so there were rumblings of giving Jay-Jay Okocha a Roger Milla-esque comeback. They’re still good enough to at least scrap for the second spot in the groups, with the added bonus of African soil perhaps setting the bar a bit higher. Squad: TBA Blog: Bc Osunneye runs the Nigeria World Cup Blog. - More World Cup 2010 Team Profiles.

Tricky Dick Goes On, Takes The Money And Runs. Posted: 16 Apr 2010 01:10 AM PDT There was breaking (sort of) and surprising (not really) news that Dick Advocaat left one of his coaching spots (he’s still filling in at AZ) as Belgian gaffer less than one year after taking the reins, with the good money saying he did so to take the big money with Russia. Fret not, you are not suffering through a bout of déjà vu. In 2008 he signed on with the Soccerroos, only to cancel the deal when his current club offered him a mammoth new contract. How do we know? Dick told us: "I couldn't refuse this offer. It was quite a lot of money, to be honest. It was not double, it was more. Much more." So between this and hist recent highly successful stint with Zenit in Russia, it’s pretty easy to put one and one together to make rubles. The fact that no reason was given makes it even more likely. However, there’s potentially more lurking behind the scenes, as Dick isn’t the first one to resign from the current constitution Belgian national team. The medical staff resigned last year because, as they say, they’re Europe’s “childish snobs”. Seemingly unable to gel, the dressing room has reportedly ”divided into factions”. Newspaper La Dernière Heure was told last month by an ‘insider’ that: “There is the [Daniel] van Buyten clan, the France-based players, the trio of [Timmy] Simons, Sonck and [Stijn] Stijnen, the guys from Amsterdam, the guys from AZ, and then, of course, the Standard and Anderlecht factions.” The fall-out from the reigns of Vandereycken and Vercauteren also saw the entire medical staff resign. ”The mentality of some of the players is deplorable,” former national team doctor Marc Goossens told the Guardian. ”We got fed up with the many intolerable things that made it impossible for us to do our jobs… they are pseudo-stars… with the sick attitude of childish snobs.” The appeal of the Belgian nat’l team is and was massive; there’s a tremendous generation of young talent coming up, including Defour, Hazard, Verthongen, Fellaini, Witsel, Vermaelen, etc. The only apparent problem is they know it. And really, self-realization is the diciest of dice rolls. So if/when Dick is named the next coach of Russia, we can be damn sure he checked the checks first, but also knowing he likely got a convincing helping hand. Hopefully then he’ll reveal the offer to have been triple, too. Until then, let’s petition FIFA for a rule which states every time Dick emerges from a tunnel, it must be accompanied by his soundtrack:

Greece World Cup 2010 Team Profile Posted: 15 Apr 2010 03:06 PM PDT We all know that Greece won Euro 2004, but did you know the team has appeared in only one previous World Cup, and is still waiting for its first World Cup goal and win? They stand a good chance of achieving both those firsts in World Cup Group B this June, where Greece will face Argentina, Nigeria and South Korea. Read on for the profile, as well as some excellent YouTubage of Giorgos Karagounis. Nickname: Galanoleyki (blue and white, colours of flag) or, since Euro 2004, To Piratiko (The Pirate Ship) FIFA World Ranking as of March 31st 2010: #11 Coach: German Otto Rehhagel is in charge, and has been since 2001. Quite a stint. Rehhagel is apparently a little on the arrogant and/or stubborn side, but is also famed for his motivational skills. He took a lot of credit for Greece’s historic Euro 2004 victory (the Greek fans call him “King Otto”) but also took a bit of criticism for Greece’s defensive tactics throughout the tournament. Those same tactics failed spectacularly at Euro 2008, and to Rehhagel’s credit he innovated during World Cup 2010 qualifying. The current approach isn’t necessarily pretty, as it’s all about getting the ball to the big strikers as quickly as possible, but it’s not as cautious as the Euro 2004 approach. Also, looking at that image, I’m starting an internet rumour here and now that the apparently 71 year old Rehhagel has a portrait of himself looking very very old hidden somewhere in his house. Key Players: The 6′4″ Liverpool defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos is a ponytailed monster in central defence. Kostas Katsouranis does the defensive midfield work, but is no fool with the ball. That said, the playmaking responsibilities will fall at the capable feet of #10 and captain Giorgos Karagounis, who’s now 33 and in his third spell with Panathinaikos, but has also played for Benfica and Inter. He also takes a mean free kick, but more on that later. Going forward, the big men are 6′3″ Angelos Charisteas and 6′4″ Georgios Samaras, but top scorer in World Cup qualifying (not just for Greece, but in all of Europe) was Theofanis Gekas with 10. He’s not big and he’s not fast, but if we judge players solely on goals scored in World Cup qualifying then Theofanis Gekas is better than Wayne Rooney. Player with best YouTube video: Has to be Giorgos Karagounis. Check out this bit of bodyswerving for Inter: Also check out his repertoire of long range shots and scary free kicks. Free kick skills are especially useful if you are (as this video claims) “the best diver in the world”. Don’t judge. Talent is talent. Player with best name: Has to be Avraam Papadopoulos, because that surname is fun to say. Player with best nickname: Greek nicknames are hard to come by. Only player I could find anything for was Giorgos Karagounis, who is apparently known as “Kara” (which is a bit obvious) but also “Typara”. If anyone can explain the Typara nickname then please share in the comments. Qualification: Finished just one point behind Switzerland in UEFA Group 2, scoring an impressive 20 and conceding 10. Second place was enough for a playoff vs Ukraine. A first leg 0-0 draw in Athens was not a great result, but Rehhagel’s men went to Donetsk and won 1-0 away to secure a World Cup spot. Panathinaikos winger Dimitris Salpigidis got the all important goal. Interesting: At 71 years old, Otto Rehegal will be oldest coach of a World Cup team in South Africa. That’s if you believe he’s really 71 of course. He’ll also be the second longest serving coach in South Africa, just behind Denmark’s Morten Olsen. National Anthem: The Greek national anthem is called “Hymn to Liberty”. Kit: White shirt, white shorts, white socks, but with plenty of blue touches. Home jersey looks like this: Like it? Buy a Greece home jersey from our World Cup store. World Cup History: 1994 – Round 1 Expectations: Incredibly for a European Championship winner, Greece has never won a World Cup game, or scored a goal. Qualification for the knockout stage is a possibility, but I suspect that even a first World Cup win would be greeted warmly. Squad: TBA Blog: Peter and Chris are manning the Greece blog. - More World Cup 2010 Team Profiles.

Just Another Day In The Life Of FIFA Posted: 15 Apr 2010 12:10 PM PDT As is often the case with FIFA, they mucked something up initially. Unlike FIFA, they actually admitted the errors of their ways and righted a wrong. Previously, World Cup tickets in South Africa were only available through the internet or a complex computerized system which was, among other things, so off-putting hundreds of thousands of tickets for the world’s biggest sporting event remained unsold. With the tournament now less than two months away, they made tickets available “over the counter”, payable with cash. Cue bedlam. This was supposed to be a good thing – and judging by the reports of 500k sold for 500k available tickets, it was a wild success…unless you’re treating those numbers with a healthy dose of skepticism – but it appears to be a clusterfuck in typical FIFA fashion. From the BBC’s report: Thousands of fans who queued overnight in South Africa finally got their hands on World Cup tickets, but scuffles broke out as computers crashed. Some 500,000 tickets were sold at various venues on Thursday. But police used pepper spray to control frustrated fans and in Cape Town a 64-year-old man died from a heart attack. BBC Sport’s news correspondent Gordon Farquhar said Fifa’s integrated ticketing computer had encountered problems, resulting in long waiting times for queuing fans. After three and a half hours in Cape Town, only 32 people out of a crowd of about 1,000 had managed to buy tickets. “No one’s informed us about what’s going on. No one’s directing the public outside,” said Theo Spangenberg, who had been waiting for 16 hours and still had not made it inside the newly opened ticketing centre. “For a World Cup, an international event of this nature, it’s a really, really bad show.” The death is tragic but there’s little to say it had anything to do with the sales; pepper spray, however, leads one to think their planning was not in tip-top form. The AFP’s news report, sadly unembeddable, shows a bit of the atmosphere in the midst of technical and tactical difficulties. It sounds like in the end the tickets might just get sold and the stadiums might just fill up on gameday, but the journey to success was rendered a trudge through quicksand thanks to FIFA. Just another day in the life of football’s governing body. (If you’re feeling particularly anti-FIFA today, Unprofessional Foul has a nice look on keepin’ it in the family.)

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