World Cup 2010 Blog: “ESPN Ranks World Cup Players 1-50.” plus 3 more |  |
- ESPN Ranks World Cup Players 1-50.
- Brazil World Cup Team History: Part II (1958 – 1970, the Pelé Years)
- The New Thousand Year War: Zinedine Zidane v Marco Materazzi.
- Pepsi’s All Star Six-a-Side Team Lose via Didier Drogba Own Goal
| ESPN Ranks World Cup Players 1-50. Posted: 01 Mar 2010 11:10 PM PST
The reputation of the network, especially that of the website, hasn’t always been very good when it comes to the beautiful game, but they’re trying*, and it’s earning a bit of leeway (at least in these parts). So when ESPN’s 23-person panel announced the top 50 players going to the World Cup (bolding that so people can be yelled at for the inevitable ‘ZOMFG?!?!?! ZLATAN?!?!?! ARSHAVIN?!?!?!’ later), I went in with an open mind. It, much like any Top 50 list, will be polarizing and divisive; it’s not a night’s ride on a cobblestone street, but it’s not quite fresh pavement, either. A great deal of points seem to be handed out on reputation, past conquests or current team/league. (They may even do a bit of pandering to the English community, which of course ESPN has never, ever done.) These lists are mighty difficult tasks – they’re easy to botch and impossible to get right – so while it’s not perfect, it’s fairly tough to cast stones as well… Ah fuck it – if Craig Bellamy can do it, so can we. Off with their heads!
- On Saturday afternoon I was bopping around the interwebs checking football scores, Olympic finales and trying to find out just why nobody from Lagos will bother me for money through email. I’d vaguely paid attention to the Carling Cup final minute-by-minute at The Guardian, but hadn’t checked in since the 55th minute or so, when it was still 1-1. By the time I’d run through other leagues and alerted all of Nigeria to my mailing whereabouts, I caught that the game had finished 2-1, and I knew, without having to check the score and knowing he had not started, that Wayne Rooney had scored the winner. I just knew. And not in the ‘feel it deep in my soul because it’s what I subconsciously want and Miss Cleo told me‘ vein – I knew it like I know that 1+1=2, the sky is blue, grass green and that Francesco Totti is going to the World Cup. Such is his goal-scoring peerlessness right now. I’ve wondered since then about the Ballon d’Or, but despite his staggering totals already, this is a World Cup year and we’re only one game into the Champions League kayos, meaning that, in the eye of the Bd’O voters, what Wayne has done up until now will count for roughly 8% – if that – toward their considerations in October. And with that said, he belongs no further down this list, nor any list, than third. - Michael Essien seems quite the stretch to me, as doo David Villa and Franck Ribery at 11 & 12, respectively – the latter two a stretch in the opposite direction, however. It’s been a few years since I’ve thought of either as anything but Top 10 in the world. Though maybe the problem is more I see about 15 players worthy of being Top Ten in the world… Lesson learned: it’s always my fault. - Elite keepers – all two of them – deserve more respect. - When the @#$% is Kaka going to be judged on form and production rather than natural talents and mystique? It’s been years now. (And this from someone who thinks Kaka, when on form, might just be the reincarnation of that Jesus fella he’s always on about – which would really explain those t-shirts.) - In fact going down the list it seems they’ve taken the better players from the better teams in the world’s best leagues rather than simply the best players in the world, which is something you’d expect from a certain four-letter acronym. Are Robin Van Persie and Gonzalo Higuain really two spots better than Diego Forlan, a veritable assassin and two-time Golden Shoe winner in his prime? Can’t somebody give the man a hand. Or where are the mighty phenoms playing - If anyone finds Andrea Pirlo’s Top 23 form, please postmark it next day to Coverciano. Much obliged. - We’ll excuse the Landon Donovan bone to American readers at #50, what with ESPN being an American company and all. Almost inevitably, I’m no fan of this list. An impossible task, yes…but not that impossible, right?
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| Brazil World Cup Team History: Part II (1958 – 1970, the Pelé Years) Posted: 01 Mar 2010 05:10 PM PST
In Part I of Brazil’s World Cup team history, we relived the years 1930 to 1954. Number of World Cups Brazil won in those years? Big fat zero. But all that changed from 1958 onwards with the emergence of Pelé and Garrincha. Two players so talented that as a duo they were literally unbeatable. That’s a fact. Brazil never once lost a game when Pelé and Garrincha appeared together. So prepare yourself for Brazil 1958 to 1970, and three World Cup wins out of four. The Golden Years for the canary yellow shirts.
1958 World Cup in SwedenContrary to the popular image of Brazil as a carefree, samba dancing football nation, the squad took the 1958 World Cup very very seriously. According to Wikipedia:
It also helped that the 1958 Brazil squad featured a 17 year old Santos striker by the name of Edison Arantes do Nascimento (or Pelé, if you prefer) and the bendy legged dribbling genius of Garrincha. Brazil won their opening group game vs Austria 3-0, and drew the second game vs England 0-0. Incredibly, neither Pelé nor Garrincha started in either game. Before the all-important final group game vs the physically fit and imposing USSR, coach Feola was persuaded to give both Garrincha and Pelé their first World Cup starts. Here’s what happened: Brazil won 2-0, with Garrincha’s dribbling tearing the Russians to pieces. Watch the last 30 second of the above video again. It’s like the ball is glued to his foot. With all respect to Yuri Gagarain and co., putting the first man in space looks easy compared to tackling Garrincha. In the quarter-final vs Wales, Pelé scored his first World Cup goal as Brazil won 1-0. Not a bad goal to open his account wither either. Back to goal, chest, one touch to turn, and then bang, bottom corner: In the semi-final of the 1958 World Cup, Pelé grabbed a hat-trick as Brazil won a goal-filled game against France 5-2. At just 17 years and 244 days, that made Pelé the youngest scorer of a hat-trick in World Cup history. At time of writing he still is. The final was yet another 5-2 win, this time over hosts Sweden. Pelé scored twice, making him the youngest goalscorer in World Cup final history. Again, he still is. To see footage of the 1958 final, follow that link. Vava also bagged a brace, with future seleção coach Mario Zagallo getting the other goal.
1962 World Cup in ChileThe years up to 1958 had been marked by inconsistency and turmoil. The 1962 World Cup was all about consistency. Though Brazil had a new coach, Feola departing in 1960 and Aymoré Moreira taking charge, Brazil entered the tournament with the same midfield that had triumphed four years earlier. The midfield was: Mario Zagallo, Didi, Zito and Garrincha. An awesome foursome that The Guardian Sports Blog picked as their #1 midfield of all time, using the following phrase as justification:
The now 21 year old Pelé was of course expected to shine in Chile, but after scoring in the opening 2-0 win over Mexico, Pelé was injured in the following game, a 0-0 draw with Czechsolovakia. Brazil still beat Spain 2-1 in the final group game, and then Garrincha stepped it up a gear in the group stages. In the quarterfinal vs England, Garrincha scored two as Brazil won 3-1, including this beauty of a curled effort to seal the deal: Semi-final saw Brazil encounter hosts Chile. Garrincha did the business again with a vicious strike into the top corner in the 9th minute (0:43 in video below), a header (the man looked surprisingly good in the air) for the second. Brazil won 4-2 with Vava getting the other two goals: So to the final. Brazil’s second in a row. Believe it or not, the opponents in Santiago were Czechoslovakia. Want to see some more black and white YouTube footage? Of course you do! Czechoslovakia took a 15th minute lea, but it lasted only two minutes as Amarildo equalized in the 17th with a torpedo of a striker from an impossibly tight looking angle. Zito scored Brazil’s second after some more genius widework from Amarildo left three Czechoslovakian defenders on their arses (2:25 into the vid) and finally Vava added the third, becoming the first man to score in two World Cup finals. Job done, and Brazil were now clearly the team to beat. 1966 World Cup in England
1970 World Cup in MexicoIf you’re starting to feel sorry for Pelé, and the fact that he missed most of one World Cup through injury and then got savaged four years later, then you can stop now. Because it all came good for the great man in 1970, as the now 29 year old striker was the star of the Brazil team often held up as the greatest of all time. The old guard (Garrincha, Zito, Djalma Santos etc) had retired, and 1968 & 1962 winner was now the coach. The starting XI, according to V Brazil was as follows: Félix; Carlos Alberto (C), Brito, Piazza and Marco Antonio; Clodoaldo, Gérson and Pelé; Jairzinho, Tostão and Rivelino. There are far too many 1970 highlights to post individually. Pele’s goals, Rivelino’s free kick, Jairzinhos dribbling. Even Pele’s misses were brilliant. There was the long range chip vs Czechoslovakia, and – my favourite – the opposite way to the ball dummy that nearly came off vs Uruguay. But feast your eyes on this short FIFA Fever piece about the 1970 team to get an idea: Brazil’s results in 1970 were as follows: Group 3: Quarter-final: Brazil 4-2 Peru
- For more on Brazil, read Duvel’s Brazil World Cup Blog.
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| The New Thousand Year War: Zinedine Zidane v Marco Materazzi. Posted: 01 Mar 2010 12:48 PM PST
And yet as we grow nearer to shedding a digit from the number of days remaining – from three to two – you may have noticed pictures of Zinedine Zidane accompanying headlines this morning. Why? Who the hell knows, but get ready for a World Cup bombardment of Zidane v Materazzi: Four Years On. No drama here.
I’ve always thought the mother/sister/wife insult was rather complimentary, as it shows the opponent thinks you’re worthy enough of necessitating mind games. And how ill are we talking? ‘Deathbed’ ill or ‘ate some dodgy kung pao’ ill? These are two entirely different scenarios – most of the time. So when do you suppose we’ll first hear this during the opening match of World Cup 2010 between South Africa and Mexico? I’ll give it an honest ten minutes, less if watching ITV. Something to mention the day’s schedule, Uruguay versus France will follow the opener, before someone in the booth descends into “and of course we have to talk about Zidane” when of course they don’t. From there every red card will follow with a ZZ reference, every French foul a snarky quip and every headbutt a thirty minute Zizou montage. It was the biggest story of 2006, and there’s every chance it’ll be the most discussed at 2010. It’s football’s Thousand Year War – it’ll never end. So just kiss and make up already.
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| Pepsi’s All Star Six-a-Side Team Lose via Didier Drogba Own Goal Posted: 01 Mar 2010 10:06 AM PST
The above Pepsi commercial is just such an example. It features no less a sextet than Leo Messi, Thierry Henry, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, Kaka and Andrei Arshavin being challenged to a game by some (presumably South African?) locals, with a can of fizzy brown water as the prize. All kinds of happenings in this commercial. Including a pitch made of people and Leo Messi receiving a blow to the head. So much happens that it’s impossible to pick out one aspect to write about. Instead, here are my notes (yep, I took notes on a Pepsi commercial) in the form of bullet pointed ramblings: So yes, much craziness here. Let’s hope for more on-screen commercial craziness as we begin the approach to World Cup 2010.
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The Global Leader In Sports jumps through hoops for the Globe’s Sport once every four years during the World Cup, often conveniently with parent company ABC holding the broadcast rights – at least until recently. After losing Champions League rights they acquired some Premier League and La Liga rights, while launching 
Vicente Feola was back in charge for 1966, but Brazil’s preparation was a shambles. The national team’s popularity led to a lot of politicking, with Brazilian club sides apparently lobbying to have their players included in various sqauds. Under this pressur, Feola used no less than 46 players in the build up to the 1966 World Cup, which bred plenty of confusion and internal dispute. To make things worse, key players like Garrincha, Zito and Djalma Santos were well into their 30s (the latter was 37). Pelé and Garrincha both scored in the opening 2-0 win over Bulgaria, but Brazil failed to field both men again and went on to lose 3-1 to both Hungary and Portugal, with Pelé on the receiving end of multiple fouls in the latter game. The result was a surprise failure to advance beyond the group stage, and lots of lots of boot shaped bruises for Pelé.
Six games, six wins. Jairzinho was second top scorer with seven goals, Pele finished with four goals. Most importantly, Brazil lifted the Jules Rimet World Cup trophy for the third time, which meant they got to keep it. An incredible achievement that no nation has ever equalled. The dominance of the Brazil teams of 1958 to 1970 are the reason we have a different World Cup trophy today. However, it would be 24 years before Brazil got their hands on the new version. More on that in the as yet unwritten Part III.
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