World Cup 2010 Blog: “The All Brazilian/Argentine World Cup Snub XI” plus 8 more

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• The All Brazilian/Argentine World Cup Snub XI
• World Cup 2010 Jerseys: Cameroon.
• Adidas Splits Personalities & Creates Coolness
• 10 World Cup Questions: Japan
• Daily Dose: From 2002 To May 12th, 2010.
• World Cup 2010 Jerseys: Honduras
• Cameroon World Cup Team Profile
• New Zealand World Cup 2010 Profile
• Salvador Cabañas and Charlie Davies Won’t Play in World Cup 2010, But Their Determination is Still an Inspiration

The All Brazilian/Argentine World Cup Snub XI Posted: 13 May 2010 04:10 AM PDT You may have heard that Brazil and Argentina don’t like each other; one might even say they hate each other. But one thing they can unite over is bashing their heads against the wall over their respective coaches and their curious (/stubborn) squad selections. It’s like Dunga is Dunga and Diego Maradona wants to be Dunga. Quite frankly, this isn’t good for anyone’s blood pressure. And in watching these lists come out – less head bashing, more four letter words – seeing the snubs was staggering. Nigh unbelievable. So we’ve created a 33rd World Cup team: Brazentina. Or Argentzil. Your preference. Most of the time, joke XI’s take a few minutes of scratching the ol’ noggin. This one took about the same amount of time it takes Usain Bolt to run the hundred – admittedly with celebration. Something like taking candy from a baby… Julio Sergio Javier Zanetti, Naldo, Gabi Milito, Marcelo Lucho Gonzalez, Esteban Cambiasso, Hernanes Pato, Lisandro Lopez, Ronaldinho Bench: Victor, Alex, Pablo Aimar, Neymar, Ever Banega, Adriano, yadda, yadda, yadda. There are plenty more to fill in all your own for a full, FIFA-official 23. Hell, you can even make your own Brazentina national squad, and maybe we can poll the best, then petition FIFA to allow it into the tournament at the expense of a team only showing up for the parting gifts. But back to the XI above: Would anyone else put that team in the quarterfinals at least? I would, even if the in-fighting may defy anything seen in World Cup history.

World Cup 2010 Jerseys: Cameroon. Posted: 13 May 2010 02:40 AM PDT The Indomitable Lions and Puma have combined to become the fashion bad boys of international football. They don’t really care for FIFA’s rules and don’t really want to hear about it. Back in early ‘02 they ran out a sleeveless kit which was met with lots of legal memos from the boys of FIFA, which then necessitated a quick change before the World Cup. They then responded with football’s first post-lion mauling onezie, a one-piece shirt-short combo that might actually have bloused if they’d used body paint. Both ideas failed, and in ‘06 they came back with one of the best kit graphics ever – the angry, and presumably indomitable, lion. Only problem is they forgot to make the World Cup. It appears both Puma and Cameroon have shied from their youthful wild ways in their old age, running out a kit very similar to Puma’s other African teams, and not much different from ‘06. A good shirt, but not quite the visionary rebellion for which we’d been hoping. Cameroon Home Shirt Want one? Buy the Cameroon World Cup home shirt in our store. The lion, for firsts, is no longer engulfing the front of the shirt in full battle roar, instead whimpering into the corner. Perhaps the stance of strength didn’t work last time – clearly, since they watched Germany from Cameroon (with a telescope) – and Puma’s kit designers got a hold of some Sun Tzu? The lion’s still roaring, but it’s not as forceful or fearsome; a roar of indifference. And yes, we can judge the strength of a lion’s roar – fair…err…game. Then again, the second lion is a nice touch, and they’re only one short of having a pride on their shirt with the pride. Puma may have dropped the ball here as well. Pride, lads – pride! Cameroon Away Shirt Want one? Buy the Cameroon World Cup away shirt in our store. The basic pattern is the same: the corner cutoff, the red trim on the sidelines and the rest of the shirt in one color – this time the other end of the flag, yellow – but with a twist. There are four thin red lines, raw and appearing hand-painted, running down the front of the kit, as well as four on the small portion of the back with Puma’s favored backless dress area designed for name and number. I quite like the front on the away edition, but the back just doesn’t cut it for me. Perhaps it’s the thick, thick font (although the detail of appearing painted on with brush imperfections is again very nice), the drooping back, or the worry that Roger will break a hip trying to celebrate his twelfth goal of the tournament. To be fair, Cameroon’s kits are nice, but rather pedestrian by their own lofty standards. Nothing more than a victim of their own success.

Adidas Splits Personalities & Creates Coolness Posted: 13 May 2010 01:10 AM PDT What I love about the two ads below is the split personalities: one polished, futuristic, clearly CGI and almost supernatural, featuring football stars with equally supernatural skills; the other features an African boy with no shoes, no pitch, no CGI and a makeshift ball. One in the universal realm, the other quintessentially African with a quintessentially African soundtrack. The two commercials couldn’t be any more different, and yet both have an obvious appeal; perhaps not to go out and pick up some adidas gear, but to simply say, “yeah, that’s cool”. Could anything more be asked? I’m very partial to the second, if only because we’ve seen the graphics treatment plenty, while we don’t get the African treatment nearly enough. adizero: Fast v Fast (Zizou, Messi, Villa) [101gg] The Unnamed Boy

10 World Cup Questions: Japan Posted: 12 May 2010 10:40 PM PDT 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. Today it's the turn of Aidan from Japan World Cup Blog. Read on for his 10 answers… 1. Who is Japan’s best player? The most hype at the moment is about Keisuke Honda of CSKA Moscow although he is still relatively inexperienced at international level. But I'll go for Honda over a more established figure such as Shunsuke Nakamura since I prefer to look to the future than the past, and he may be key to Japan's hopes. 2. What do you think of your coach? Where to start? Takeshi Okada is Mr Unpopular in Japan these days after the national team have slumped to new lows in recent times. He over relies on certain players whether their current form warrants it or not, but most worryingly of all he seems to lack any plan B. Japan play ok, not great but ok, when all players are available. When they aren't, such as when the European based players are otherwise engaged, it all goes horribly wrong, and he seems to have no ideas about how to fix this at all, or even any desire to fix it just stating that they play much better when everyone is available. He escaped the sack in February this year by the skin of his teeth, but surely won't last after the World Cup. More of his extravagant tournament aims later, but suffice to say he could well be left with egg on his face if things don't go well. 3. What do you think of Japan’s World Cup 2010 kits? I quite like the deep blue, which is darker than some other recent kits, and the design is rather stylish I think. Nobody can explain the red square below the neck though – strange stuff. 4. What is Japan’s biggest strength? Possibly the fact that nobody will rate us, or will know much about many of our players? Other than that, it's probably the high energy approach of the play, but I'm clutching at straws really. 5. …and biggest weakness? The coach. Japan has some decent players, none of them world beaters but what are you going to do? But the lack of ideas and even motivation is alarming, and the buck stops with the coach. If Japan go a goal down in their opening game I worry for the strength of character to pull things around. 6. If you could steal one player from any other World Cup 2010 team, then who would it be and why? Didier Drogba. Because Japan have a lot of nicey-nicey approach play but are not nearly ruthless enough where it matters most. Drogba would do nicely as a big, strong, tough striker who would not only take half-chances, but also be a bit more direct up front when needed. 7. Tell us one thing about your team that the rest of the world might not know… Although Japan are often referred to as the "Blue Samurai" in English, the Japanese usually refer to the team as Nippon Daihyou (日本代表) which literally means "The Japanese representatives"…not quite as catchy is it? To liven things up though, captain Yuji Nakazawa is nicknamed the Bomber…that's more like it! Can I add one more Japan fact? The melody of the Japanese national anthem was used by Puccini in his opera Turandot…how many other countries can say that? 8. What would you consider success/failure for your team at World Cup 2010? Well, Takeshi Okada thinks Japan can reach the semi-finals. Everyone else disagrees. If Japan could make it out of the group that for me would be a major achievement. Being realistic, Japan have never won a World Cup Finals match outside of Japan, and so you could even argue that a win of any kind would be a success. A failure would be to be beaten in every match. I would even say that a draw or two would not constitute total failure for Japan. 9. What are you most exited about at World Cup 2010? Literally everything! I can't wait. But if I had to name one thing, it will be the moment it finally kicks off, and all the anticipation will be over and the African World Cup atmosphere will hopefully be different to any other, and I'll be hoping the hosts get off to a good start. That, and the massive international beer collection I will have in my fridge to enhance my viewing pleasure. 10. Who do you think will win World Cup 2010? Spain. The players they have available in midfield and attack are better than anyone else in my opinion. Not so sure defensively though, but would love to see them win it. More from Aidan on Japan World Cup Blog.

Daily Dose: From 2002 To May 12th, 2010. Posted: 12 May 2010 08:40 PM PDT Watch out for the footballitis – tis the season. (Classic 2002 ad) The wacky & weird of the Bundesliga. (DW) 1982 World Cup disarray. (World Cup Wonderland) Tony Adams’ Azerbaijan allure. (BBC) Games you can play with the World Cup. (The DA) Nike is trying to steal your money with a US LA Lakers kit. (Unprofessional Foul) Where the UEFA Cup/Europa League finalists stand. (The Best Eleven) Japan names its extra seven with a big surprise. (Japan WCB)

World Cup 2010 Jerseys: Honduras Posted: 12 May 2010 07:10 PM PDT So far all the World Cup jerseys we’re reviewed have been Nike, adidas or Puma. So this Honduras jersey review is the first time we’re venturing outside of the big three, since there manufacturers are the good people from Joma. If you’re not familiar with Joma, they’re actually a very well respected Spanish sports company, who also make some damn fine boots. Read on to see how they do with their one World Cup 2010 jersey. Here’s how Joma explain their designs on the official website: “The design is full of symbolism, Joma joins the joy that the Honduran people respecting the national flag colors,” which you can see above. To do this Joma have put together three jerseys. Home, away, and third. All of which are variations of blue and white. An idea I kind of like. Unless they play against a team that wears a predominantly blue and white jersey. Honduras Home Shirt You Like? Find your Honduras World Cup home jersey in our store. It’s a bit plain maybe. But I sort of like the boldness of placing the badge slap bang in the middle. And from what I’ve seen, the squad number will go directly underneath the badge, filling the shirt out nicely. One extra thing. According to Joma, there’s an inscription inside the jersey that reads: “Forward National Team Put Claw and Heart Enthusiasm and Determination.” Which probably sounds better in Spanish, grammatically speaking. Honduras Away Shirt You Like? Find your Honduras World Cup home jersey in our store. This is my favourite of the three. Still with the crest in the middle, but with the strong blue and white stripes making it a lot more interesting than the home jersey. Honduras Third Shirt Again, variation on a theme. But again, I like. I’m thinking of the design as “fake stripes”. You think it’s going to be stripes, but then it’s all the same colour. But again, I love the commitment to the blue. Even more so when it’s across all three jerseys. That’s my take on Honduras’ World Cup jerseys. What do you think?

Cameroon World Cup Team Profile Posted: 12 May 2010 05:40 PM PDT There’s something awfully intriguing about Cameroon. Each and every tournament the world waits for them to break out of their shells and begin to fulfill that potential. One on African soil would seem to be as good as any, but then the last two African Cup of Nations didn’t go so brilliantly. And while this one is on their home continent and they’ll want to do well, it may be a bit about growth. This team is awfully young with some key members infants in the world of international football, and Brazil ‘14 might be the place to make their mark once again. Of course it’s a young man’s game, so they might just have the leg up. Nickname: Indomitable Lions FIFA World Ranking as of April 28th 2010: 27th Group X Matches: Japan v Cameroon, June 14th, 4p, Bloemfontein Cameroon v Denmark, June 19th, 8:30p, Pretoria Cameroon v Netherlands, June 24th, 8:30p, Cape Town Buy your Cameroon World Cup tickets here. Kit: Their classic green with with angry lion for the home kit. Buy the Cameroon kits in out store. Coach: Paul Le Guen is something of a fan of bold moves; he also has his own methods and is a slave to the present, rather than the past. Taking Rigobert Song’s captain band and giving it to superstar Samuel Eto’o was the biggest of his bold moves, what with Song having been around longer than most of Cameroonian soil (or so it seems). He also left off Stephane Mbia from his World Cup squad, and named nine without caps to the 30 man. However, whatever he’s doing seems to have worked, because Cameroon were off to a disastrous start to qualifying (0-1-1) before Paul came in and led them to a pretty cushy spot in South Africa with four straight wins. They were less impressive at the African Cup of Nations, but he inspires more confidence than they once had. Key Players: It starts and goes for a long, long way with Samuel Eto’o, Cameroon’s best player by some margin. In a word or three: he scores goals. A lot of them. Samuel has pace and finishing ability like few, if any, in the world. Much of the squad is awfully young. The midfield is filled with talent yet to reach or just into their primes, including Achille Emana (27) and the exceptionally physically talented trio of Jean Makoun (26), Alex Song (22) and Eyong Enoh (24). Defensively, Geremi and Rigobert Song have been around so long it’s impossible to believe they’re 31 and 33, respectively, particularly when factoring in the 242 caps between them. Finishing out that back four recently has been the talented Nicolas N’Koulou and and French-conversion Benoit Assou-Ekotto at leftback. The keeper is perhaps Africa’s best, Carlos Kameni. Player with best YouTube video: Eto’o’s career up until this year looks awfully good. So does a name with multiple apostrophes. Player with best name: There’s only one contestant: Jean II Makoun. Anyone who throws Roman numerals into the middle of their name simply cannot be topped. Player with best nickname: They have what is simply the best nickname in world football, no individual is worthy of a sniff: Indomitable. Lions. Could there be anything more fearsomely fearsome? And what does an indomitable lion look like? Rather badass – like the Steve McQueen of sub-Saharan cats. Qualification: As said above, the start was as bumpy as a Cameroonian dirt road, but they settled out nicely in the end conceding once – a 90th minute goal at that – in Le Guen’s four games. Interesting: Cameroon hold two dubious World Cup card records: Rigobert Song is one of two men to have been sent off twice in a World Cup career (along with Zinedine Zidane), while the ‘02 game v Germany is tied with Netherlands v Portugal of ‘06 for most cards in a WC game (16). In short: they like cards. National Anthem: Chant de Ralliement (The Rallying Song) World Cup History: Expectations: It’s very much relative to the group, as the Netherlands are clear favorites to win Group E, but Cameroon should be right in the thick of the fight for that second spot, and it wouldn’t be wholly surprising to see them into the knockouts. Squad: Cameroon World Cup squad. Blog: Shane takes care of the Cameroon World Cup Blog. - More World Cup 2010 Team Profiles.

New Zealand World Cup 2010 Profile Posted: 12 May 2010 02:50 PM PDT New Zealand have qualified for World Cup 2010. That in itself is an achievement, having only ever qualified once before in 1982. Lifting the trophy is not realistic. Getting out of Group F is probably not realistic. But a good performance at World Cup 2010 would do wonders for growing the sport of soccer in New Zealand. Read on for a team profile of the team that should be everyone’s favourite World Cup 2010 underdog. Nickname: The All Whites. In contrast to the more famous rugby team, who are known as the All Blacks. FIFA World Ranking as of April 28th 2010: #78 Group F Matches: New Zealand vs Slovakia – June 15th, Rustenburg, 1:30pm New Zealand vs Italy – June 20th, Nelspruit, 4pm New Zealand vs Paraguay – June 24th, 4pm Kit: New Zealand will be rocking this all white number: Find your New Zealand World Cup jersey in our store. Coach: 49 year old Ricki Herbert is Mr. New Zealand. He played for the All Whites in their one previous World Cup campaign in 1982, and currently coaches not just the national team, but also the Wellington Phoenix, who are the one New Zealand based team in the A-League. So he has two full time jobs. Presumably the man doesn’t sleep. Bonus side note that impresses me but maybe doesn’t impress anyone else: He used to play for Wolves. Key Players: Captain Ryan Nelsen plays centre back for Blackburn Rovers and will happily challenge you in the air. Midfielder Tim Brown is a defensive midfielder but goes box to box and is capable of unleashing a shot. Forward Chris Killen has played for Celtic, and is currently at Middlesbrough, while West Brom striker Chris Wood is just 18 years old and tipped for big things, but the man with the best goalscoring record is Gold Coast United striker Shane Smeltz. One possibly important thing is that five of the 30 man preliminary squad – including Tim Brown – also play under Herbert for Wellington Phoenix. That has to be good for team spirit. Unless they all hate him. Though I’m pretty sure they don’t. Much will depend on Nelsen – probably the All Whites most accomplished player – holding things together at the back. Even if the scorelines go badly, we can expect some heroic performances from the New Zealand captain. Player with best YouTube video: Chris Wood scoring for West Brom against Huddersfield. Not for the quality of the goal, more for the camerawork and the celebration. Probably even better. Here is the New Zealand U-17 team doing the Haka (usually only performed by rugby union team) after beating Tahiti: Player with best name: It’s Shane Smeltz. Player with best nickname: I’ve seen Ryan Nelsen referred to as both “Nellie” and “Admiral Nelsen” in this BigSoccer thread. Qualification: Since Australia upped sticks and moved to Asia, New Zeland owned the Oceania qualifying group. Beating the likes of New Caledonia and the Solomon Islands with ease. But ruling Oceania is only worth half a World Cup qualifying spot. So it was all about the World Cup playoff with Bahrain. A 0-0 draw in Bahrain was followed by a 1-0 win at home with this goal from Rory Fallon: And this penalty save from Mark Paston to prevent Bahrain equalizing (and going ahead on away goals) Interesting: Shane Smeltz was born in Germany. National Anthem: “God Defend New Zealand” World Cup History: 1982 – First Round. That’s it. Expectations: Honestly, it would be a miracle if New Zealand get out of the group stage. It would also be an achievement if they finished third rather than fourth. But even a brave performance and three close defeats would be honourable. Squad: New Zealand World Cup Squad Blog: Craig mans the New Zealand World Cup Blog. - More World Cup 2010 Team Profiles.

Salvador Cabañas and Charlie Davies Won’t Play in World Cup 2010, But Their Determination is Still an Inspiration Posted: 12 May 2010 10:00 AM PDT There were plenty of players left out of preliminary World Cup squads yesterday. In fact, the majority of people eligible to play were left out. For example, I can play right back as well as center back, yet Fabio Capello didn’t call me. Instead he called Jamie Carragher, who had declared himself unavailable for international duty. I never did that. Does that seem fair to you? Me neither. Slightly higher profile names left out of squads include Karim Benzema, Javier Zanetti (what more can that man do?) and Alexandre Pato. I feel bad for all three (especially Zanetti, who was controversially left out in 2006, and will be 40 years old in 2014) but there are two men who didn’t make squads yesterday whose stories are genuinely inspirational: Salvador Cabañas and Charlie Davies. Both men were involved in horrific incidents. Paraguayan striker Cabañas was quite literally shot in the head in Mexico City back in January of this year. It’s a miracle he survived. Yet just a few days after the incident Cabañas apparently told to his father: “Dad, I will play in the World Cup.” Cabañas has made a remarkable recovery from an incident that usually ends your life. However, the bullet is still lodged in his skull which is causing short term memory loss and also makes it uncertain that Cabañas will ever be able to play again. American striker Charlie Davies also suffered a horrific incident. He was in a car crash in Northern Virginian in October 2009, in which one passenger – Ashley Roberta – lost her life. Davies survived, but suffered multiple injuries, including a shattered right leg, ruptured bladder, broken left elbow and facial fractures. Incredibly, Davies has worked incredibly hard, and has recovered and rehabilitated enough that he was thisclose to making the USA World Cup roster. He didn’t actually make it, but he was in the reckoning right until the end. Here’s what USA head coach Bob Bradley had to say when naming his 30 man squad yesterday: "He remained part of the consideration right up until yesterday. We just felt right now for Charlie it is in his best interest to continue his rehab and continue so that he can get back to the level that he was playing last year before the accident." There’s been some uproar from US fans that Bradley didn’t give Davies a chance to prove himself in training camp and pre-World Cup friendlies, but I think the reality is that Davies wasn’t quite rehabilitated enough to play for Sochaux yet and it wouldn’t have been fair to ask him to play in the World Cup. The way I see it, Salvador Cabañas and Charlie Davies were two men who were always long shots to make it to the World Cup. It would have been inspirational if they had made it. But it would have been inspirational mostly because of how long their odds were. Which to me makes it all the more impressive that they were so determined to play. So we won’t see Cabañas or Davies playing in South Africa this summer, and broadcasters won’t have a heart-tugging story to tell us in the pre-match of Paraguay or USA games. But just because these two men won’t be there, that doesn’t make their stories any less inspirational.

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