Alhaji Righteous De Ambitious: Apr 20, 2010

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

World Cup 2010 Blog: “10 World Cup Questions: Brazil” plus 1 more

Posted: 19 Apr 2010 11:00 AM PDT

brazil fans Chris and myself have been trying our best to profile each of the 32 teams that will compete at World Cup 2010, but our knowledge about each team is miniscule (or at least mine is anyway) when compared to that of our team bloggers.

If you’re unfamiliar with World Cup Blog, then allow me to explain: The blog you’re reading now is the front page, but the core of WCB is the multitude of team specific blogs, including one for each of the World Cup 2010 teams. The authors of these team blogs have forgotten more about their sides than I’ll ever know, so I decided to tap that knowledge by asking each of them a set of 10 questions.

Over the next few weeks we’ll be publishing the answers from our team bloggers and sharing their expert knowledge and opinions here on the front page. Today it’s the turn of Duvel from Brazil World Cup Blog. Read on to see his 10 answers, which include the ridiculous imbalance in quality between Brazil’s right back and left back situations.

1. Who is Brazil’s best player?
Kaka. Basically he is the guy that sparks the counter-attack, which is a big part of the team under Dunga. Additionally, when teams just load up the box against Brazil, he is the most creative player in Brazil's starting XI to try and break through.

2. What do you think of your coach?
I think Dunga’s player selections have been rather dubious over the years. There has been speculation about his motivations for certain call-ups. I think it's an insane idea to pick a player like Julio Baptista, who rarely plays these days, over the likes of Ronaldinho. However, the team plays a much more consistent, disciplined form of football under Dunga, and he deserves credit for that.

3. What do you think of Brazil’s World Cup 2010 kits?
The home kits aren't anything too different. The yellow dots/stars on the away kits are pretty stupid.

4. What is Brazil’s biggest strength?
The right back position. In my opinion, Brazil has the two best right backs in the world on the same roster in Maicon and Dani Alves.

5. …and biggest weakness?
Left back. Historically this is not a position Brazil has struggled at. However, since the retirement of Roberto Carlos this has been a bit of a black hole. Dunga has called a ton of players to this position. None have really stood out. He needs to give Fabio Aurelio an opportunity, which he has not up to this point.

6. If you could steal one player from any other World Cup 2010 team, then who would it be and why?
Lionel Messi obviously because he is playing absolutely out of his mind. Hands down the best player in the world this year. A close second would be Phillip Lahm since he would fill a position of real need for our team.

7. Tell us one thing about the Brazil team that the rest of the world might not know…
Dunga has called, to my count, 8 different left backs to the national team in the last two years.

8. What would you consider success/failure for Brazil at World Cup 2010?
Only winning the World Cup would be considered success. Anything else is an absolute failure when you're talking about a nation blessed with the amount of talent Brazil has.

9. What are you most excited about at World Cup 2010?
Call me crazy, but the nervousness of the lead up to the match, and the stress of watching it in progress.

10. Who do you think will win World Cup 2010?
If Kaka stays healthy, and Michel Bastos is an average left back, Brazil will host the 2014 World Cup as cup holders. I think both things will happen.

- Read more from Duvel over at the Brazil blog, and please ask any follow up questions in the comments.

The World Cup 2010 Commercials Have Begun

Posted: 19 Apr 2010 09:25 AM PDT

visa tv ad Have you seen this Visa World Cup related commercial yet? It’s about a slightly overweight (possibly English) gentleman who sees a goal on TV, jumps out of his armchair to celebrate, and keeps celebrating all the way to South Africa, where he somehow (and the commercial’s not very clear on this) gets selected to play for one of the 32 teams. Possibly he was picked for his celebratory skills?

Good stuff, and it has me excited for the avalanche of expensively assembled football related commercials that will herald the arrival of World Cup 2010. A possibly naive question though: Do you ever wonder why certain companies even bother advertising? Visa is a good example. Their product and symbol is seemingly everywhere already. Very likely it’s in your wallet right now. Yet they still felt the need to put together this ad. Strikes me as money wasted, but I like the idea of companies so ubiquitous making unnecessary commericals purely to entertain us, and to give bloggers something to post on Monday afternoons.

[vid spotted on It's Nice That]