Alhaji Righteous De Ambitious: May 3, 2010

Monday, May 3, 2010

World Cup 2010 Blog: “Italy’s World Cup Training Squad” plus 1 more

Posted: 03 May 2010 03:10 AM PDT

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It seems awfully early, but the FIFA ticker tells us it’s only 38 days away. Must be lying? No, apparently not.

With the ticker ticking, squads will start coming fast and furiously. The provisional list of 30 must be sent in by May 11th, but there are excuses for midweek training which can call for choosing a squad rather early, like a free week between domestic games. Marcello Lippi has taken this excuse and run with it, in the process giving us a glimpse into his World Cup provisional 30. And the size of his grapefruits.

There is one note: due to the Roma – Inter Coppa Italia final coming on Wednesday, no Roma or Inter players have been drafted in. But we’ll get to that later.

These are the 29 called up to join in training this week:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Federico Marchetti (Cagliari), Salvatore Sirigu (Palermo)

Defenders: Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa), Leonardo Bonucci (Bari), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Mattia Cassani (Palermo), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Fabio Grosso (Juventus), Nicola Legrottaglie (Juventus), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Gianluca Zambrotta (AC Milan)

Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Antonio Candreva (Juventus), Andrea Cossu (Cagliari), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Simone Pepe (Udinese), Andrea Pirlo (Milan)

Forwards: Marco Borriello (Milan), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli).

You’ll notice there are only 29 while 30 make the provisional squad list*. If Lippi has already made up his mind and this is largely the provisional squad, that one player will come from the week’s Coppa Italia: Daniele De Rossi. It’s an awfully strange indictment of Italian football that the top two teams, the two currently battling for the scudetto, may only combine to send one, but it’s altogether possible.

However, it’s purely a hypothesis, and others – including the wild card, Totti – still linger in the background as possibilities.

* – The final squad is a list of 23, meaning at least six on this list will be spending their summer somewhere other than a South African pitch. At least by invitation.

The two names missing which will cause no surprise but a mix of reactions are Antonio Cassano and Amauri. The former, a footballing genius and he knows it, is persona non grata under Lippi, who prioritizes team above all else – plenty will be disappointed by this. The latter hasn’t seen good form for quite some time and quite frankly isn’t worth the hullaballoo his citizenship application was stamped with – few, on the other hand, will see this as a folly.

That’s fine with Fanantonio – he’s got other stuff to do.

Qatar’s World Cup 2022 Fantasy Playground

Posted: 03 May 2010 01:10 AM PDT

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It’s off to see the future, and then the wizard.

Qatar has no time for World Cup 2010 – they’re looking to the future and beyond with their futuristic World Cup 2022 bid. It’s an awfully tantalizing bid for a number of reasons – billions of them, in fact; reasons which make it seem an awfully likely candidate, particularly if FIFA conduct business as usual.

With the bids in full swing, the campaign committee released the first five stadium designs. Jaws at the ready.

Before getting too far, there is, of course, a slight problem: climate. And if the maths of global warming proponents mean anything, Qatar during the summer months of 2022 will make the earth’s mantle seem a shady elm. No matter: air conditioned stadiums. Or stadia. However you prefer.

Each of the five stadiums will harness the power of the suns rays to provide a cool environment for players and fans by converting solar energy into electricity that will then be used to cool both fans and players at the stadiums.

Cool concept.

Each stadium has its own YouTube video on the bid page with a brief description. Some, like the Al-Rayyan Stadium, already exist and will simply be spruced up for the occasion and, at least in the case of the Al-Rayyan, will be spruced back down once the tournament ends. What’s a month?

Sepp’s backed the Qatar bid under a shit storm of handshake accusations – Sepp? never! – and the decision will come in 214 days. Here’s to hoping they build these whatever the outcome.