World Cup 2010 Blog: “The Maradona Files: Diego Puts His Beef On The Grill.” plus 9 more

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• The Maradona Files: Diego Puts His Beef On The Grill.
• The Average Age Of All World Cup Squads
• Slovakia World Cup Team Profile
• The Squad Deadline Day Wrap: Don’t Count Your Chicks.
• Daily Dose: June 1st, 2010.
• The Weekly Answers: World Cup Eye Test II
• World Cup Team Records Over The Past 365 Days
• This Is Why World Cup Previews Shouldn’t Come Out Early: Giuseppe Rossi/ESPN Edition.
• Soundoff: Your World Cup Group B Predictions…
• World Cup Trophy Gets Louis Vuitton Case, Becomes Clichéd Teenage Girl.

The Maradona Files: Diego Puts His Beef On The Grill. Posted: 02 Jun 2010 05:40 AM PDT The latest and greatest from one Diego Maradona, imploring all of Argentina’s opponents to…no one knows: “I’m not concerned [about a lack of warm-up games] because our practices carry you to a level you might not reach in a match, risking injury to one or more [players],” said Maradona. “We’re going to reach a level that the [Argentina] shirt deserves… Argentines should relax because to beat this team our rivals will have to put all their beef on the grill.” Perhaps Diego’s getting a bit too cozy with the South African Braai, which he ordered for his team every three days along with his double-wanded off-the-billboard-around-the-backboard-under-the-lid electric fire hose. Or maybe it has to do with Diego’s promise to run nude through Buenos Aires should they win the whole damn thing, in which case. In reality it’s probably an Argentine saying – like sock sucker – which means “go all out” or something of a sort. The non-Spanish speaking contingent pleads ignorance, but we’re also declaring henceforth all “go big or go home” scenarios shall henceforth be known as “putting all their beef on the grill”. But if Diego promises to put his beef on the grill…run.

The Average Age Of All World Cup Squads Posted: 02 Jun 2010 02:10 AM PDT Perusing the Italian squad earlier, I noticed something odd: people in their early 20’s. In fact there were 7 – seven! – players 25 or under in Marcello Lippi’s squad, which made me think perhaps this Italy squad was, dare I say, young (comparison and all that). Therefore I hacked out the average age of the Azzurri and came up with 28.2, which meant nothing aside from I could convince myself this team still wasn’t that old (having no comparison this time) for the time being. 31 teams and a lot of yelling at Pim Verbeek later, we have the average age of every team at the World Cup and Italy isn’t the oldest, but a team coached by an Italian is… Just cannot win. Group A France: 27.4 Mexico: 27.1 South Africa: 26.9 Uruguay: 26.7 Group B Argentina: 27.1 Greece: 27.7 Nigeria: 27.7 South Korea: 27.1 Group C Algeria: 27.2 England: 28.7 Slovenia: 26.7 USA: 26.9 Group D Australia: * Germany: 25.0 Ghana: 24.1 Serbia: 26.0 Group E Cameroon: 25.2 Denmark: 27.7 Japan: 27.8 Netherlands: 27.7 Group F Italy: 28.2 New Zealand: 27.3 Paraguay:28.1 Slovakia: 26.1 Group G Brazil: 28.6 Ivory Coast: 26.7 North Korea: 24.8 Portugal: 27.7 Group H Chile: 25.9 Honduras: 28.1 Spain: 25.9 Switzerland: 26.7 * – At this point, several hours after the FIFA deadline, Pim Verbeek hasn’t omitted anyone and is trying to sneak one past by bringing through a suspiciously large squad of 23. Either that or he doesn’t care about the people calculating meaningless statistics. And now the important part: all 32, from youngest (best) to oldest (less best). Ghana – 24.1 North Korea – 24.8 Germany – 25.0 Cameroon – 25.2 Spain – 25.9 Chile – 25.9 Serbia – 26.0 Slovakia – 26.1 Switzerland – 26.7 Ivory Coast – 26.7 Uruguay – 26.7 Slovenia – 26.7 South Africa – 26.9 USA – 26.9 Mexico – 27.1 Argentina – 27.1 South Korea – 27.1 Algeria – 27.2 New Zealand – 27.3 France – 27.4 Greece – 27.7 Nigeria – 27.7 Denmark – 27.7 Netherlands – 27.7 Portugal – 27.7 Japan – 27.8 Honduras – 28.1 Paraguay – 28.1 Italy – 28.2 Brazil – 28.6 England – 28.7

Slovakia World Cup Team Profile Posted: 01 Jun 2010 11:40 PM PDT For Slovakia’s World Cup debut (or their first without the Czecho prefix anyway) the team has been drawn into Group F along with Italy, Paraguay and New Zealand. Not exactly easy, but it could have been a lot worse. Which is good, because this team has a lot to offer. Slovakia is one of those teams you think you know nothing about, until you realize that some of their players are actually quite famous. I can’t reveal those players up here. That information is all below the jump. But I can tell you that the coach has a son by the same name, who will almost certainly feature, that Slovakia has one of world football’s youngest, paciest, dribbliest midfields, and that Slovakia also has maybe the best titled national anthem in all of the World Cup. Nickname: The repre. Short for “the representatives”. FIFA World Ranking as of May 26th 2010: #34. Group F Matches: Slovakia vs New Zealand – June 15th, 1:30pm, Rustenburg Slovakia vs Paraguay -June 20th, 1:30pm, Bloemfontein Slovakia vs Italy – June 24th, 4pm, Johannesburg (Ellis Park) Buy Slovakia World Cup tickets. Kit: Slovakia have an all blue uniform and an all white uniform, but there seems to be some confusion about which is the home kit and which is away. A slim majority say blue is home, so here’s an image: If you know the answer to the riddle of Slovakia’s home and away shirts, please us know in the comments. More World Cup jerseys in our store. Coach: That would be Vladimír Weiss, who was a former national team player in the ’80s and ’90s (spanning eras to play in both the Czechoslovakia and Slovakian teams). His coaching experience mostly centers around Artmedia Bratislava, the team he coached to two cups and two league titles, and also took to the Champions League group stage in the 2005/6 season (beating Celtic 5-0 in the qualifying rounds), plus a shortish spell in the Russian Premier League with Saturn Moscow. Weiss is only 45 years old and seems to enjoy an easy relationship with his players. Trivia you’ll definitely hear from TV commentators later this month: Weiss regularly picks his son Vladimir Jnr. to play in the Slovakian national team, but his own father (also called Vladimir) also played international football, for Czechoslovakia. So that’s three generations of the same family, all with the same name, all playing international football. Key Players: We mentioned coach’s son Vladimir Weiss Jnr., so let’s begin with him. He’s just 20 years old, but has already signed for Man City and played on loan at Bolton Wanderers in the English Premier League. Three best adjectives for VW Jnr: Short, quick and dribbly. If you think nepotism played a role in Weiss playing for Slovakia at such a young age, then take a look at what he did to Northern Ireland’s Johnny Evans in qualifying: Speaking of young Slovak attacking mids/wingers on the books of big English teams but out on loan somewhere smaller… 20 year old Miroslav Stoch has been at Chelsea since 2006 but spent last season helping FC Twente win the Eredivisie. More YouTube: However, when it comes to attacking midfielders, Slovakia’s main man is 22 year old captain Marek Hamšík, who plays in Serie A for Napoli. Hamsik seems a little too fond of his hair, but he’s more than just a flicks and tricks midfielder, he’s more of a lead the charge kind of guy who attacks through the middle at pace. It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that a successful Slovakian World Cup depends on Hamsik’s performance. Since we showed video for Weiss and Stoch, here’s one for Hamsik too. If those three don’t equal a pacy young midfield worth looking forward to watching at the World Cup, then I’m not sure what does. The most recognizable name at the back is Liverpool defender Martin Škrtel. He’s big, he’s quick, he’s strong, he’s ultra-competitive and he’s got a shaven head and tattooed arms. What more could you want from a center back? Except for him to not have a knee injury. Which Škrtel is still recovering from. Going forward it’s all about Bochum striker Stanislav Šesták. Top scorer in qualifying for Slovakia with six goals, and scorer of the two last minute goals against Poland that turned a 1-0 defeat into a 2-1 win, Šesták currently averages a goal every three games for his national team. Player with best YouTube video: This post already has far too many YouTube videos. So take a second look at the Weiss, Stoch and Hamsik clips and decide which one you think is best. I’m tempted to go with Stoch, but then I remember that his highlights come from the Dutch Eredivisie while Hamsik’s come from Serie A. Player with best name: Has to be Stanislav Šesták, for the double alliteration. Superb work sir. Player with best nickname: Nicknames seem thin on the ground for the Slovakia team, but apparently Liverpool’s Martin Škrtel is sometimes known as Squirtle. Qualification: Impressive. Finished ahead of Slovenia, Czech Republic, Northern Ireland and Poland to top Group 3. The home draw and away win over former compatriots the Czech Republic did wonders for self-esteem. Here’s Slovakia’s World Cup 2010 qualification via YouTube: Interesting: Slovakia have been described by one blogger as born again World Cup virgins. National Anthem: The excellently titled “Lightning Over the Tatras”. Dramatic. World Cup History: Slovakia only regained its independence in 1993, and so this will be the nation’s first World Cup. However, here’s what happened while Slovakia was part of Czechoslovakia: Expectations: Slovakia will fancy their chances against New Zealand. But maybe not so much against Italy. They seem quietly confident that qualification from Group F is very much achievable. Squad: Click for Slovakia World Cup squad. Blog: Paul and Neil are in charge of Slovakia World Cup Blog. - More World Cup 2010 Team Profiles.

The Squad Deadline Day Wrap: Don’t Count Your Chicks. Posted: 01 Jun 2010 09:00 PM PDT Though many teams had already been there, done that, today, June 1st, was the Big Day. All World Cup squads of 23 had to be into FIFA, where Sepp would peruse to his liking and offer up silly suggestions to his man servant, Humberto. As is the case any time anything is announced in football, there were some surprises. Theo Walcott has dominated the English headlines, being informed by Don Fabio on a golf course, then pulling a Craig Bellamy on a nearby John Arne Riise (probably not – but we can hope), while Giuseppe Rossi has dominated the minds of Italy and Americans Who Hate Giuseppe Rossi (it must be an official group somewhere). Despite what the dos Santos family may tell you, those two are largely the biggest names to be dropped simply for the media furor which has surrounded them since day 1: Theo for his shocking inclusion and subsequent hype in ‘06, and Giuseppe for choosing his Italian blood over his American birth certificate. Both, however, will likely get another crack at a World Cup being so young. Those weren’t the only omissions. A few of the more important ones: - South Africa dropped Benni McCarthy, a much rumored move, but one which still takes a moment to register. - With Germany losing bodies left and right – Heiko Westermann the latest – Jogi Loew decided he needed some defenders who can defend and dropped Andreas Beck, which leaves the World Cup with a decided shortage of players with 12 year old boy haircuts. - Darren Bent was also dropped, which is a huge loss for Twitter and a huge boon to those who like their information in @#$%ing paragraphs. (Damn it.) - Rossi will get the pub, but Mattia Cassani was something of a surprise as well – or flabbergasting, in certain cases (that’d be me) – as some had been pegging him as a starter. - Sven cut some familiar Ivorian names, but perhaps most notably ‘08-09 Ivory Coast POY Bakari Kone. Of course just because they’re familiar to us doesn’t mean the same goes for Sven, who’s had the team for about a day and a half it feels (two weeks, but still). - Perhaps for fans of Serie A Jorge Martinez’s omission from the Uruguayan squad might be a bit of a surprise, but after looking at that attacking lineup, it’s doesn’t have a great deal to do with Jorge but rather the talent surrounding him. - One of the few cases where someone was actually sweating an inclusion came in Portugal, where Pepe, fresh off a five-month injury, was teetering on the bubble, but ultimately made it at the expense of Ze Castro. - Slovakia’s Vladimir Weiss has taken more than his fair share of injury worries, including Martin Skrtel, Filip Holosko and Robert Vittek, all of whom have a fitness climb. - Otto Rehhagel has named a squad which cut his squad by two, getting rid of the tough work early.

Daily Dose: June 1st, 2010. Posted: 01 Jun 2010 06:40 PM PDT Just remember: Italian referees rule all. [101gg] Explaining New Zealand’s nickname. (Studs Up) Robbie Findley is Dr. Strangelove? (Avoiding The Drop) The pitch expert charged with fixing Wembley is in charge of the WC. (Dispatch) Nice bring plaid back into style. (Football Fashion) Where are they now: Brazil ‘94 edition. (World Cup Wonderland) Testing your knowledge of calcio. (Italy Offside) The impact in Soweto. (guardian)

The Weekly Answers: World Cup Eye Test II Posted: 01 Jun 2010 05:40 PM PDT First there was the Sports Illustrated jinx, then came the Am I Collective mural curse, and now comes the World Cup Blog quiz spell. Everybody’s doomed. The rules stated each player was to be included on their country’s squad at the time, but each player seemed a pretty decent bet to make their squad. Within hours of posting, Michael Essien had gone down, and a few days Theo Walcott followed. What’s next – Jesus Navas suffers a relapse? Spotters in (). 1. Felipe Melo (shadowrogue99) 2. Carlos Tevez (Rob) 3. Theofanis Gekas 4. Theo Walcott (Adam Khan) 5. Yakubu 6. Alexander Frei 7. Jesus Navas (Adam Khan) 8. Jon Dahl Tomasson 9. Sebastian Abreu 10. Wilson Palacios 11. Ryan Nelsen 12. Michael Essien (Zala)

World Cup Team Records Over The Past 365 Days Posted: 01 Jun 2010 04:10 PM PDT One of the oldest sports cliches in the book is it’s good to be hot later than earlier, or some sort of variation, which is awfully true. But whereas the World Cup is technically the “finals”, does that mean it’s better to be hot coming into the World Cup, or better to be hotter in, say, the knockouts? Zinedine Zidane says the latter – just so long as you don’t get too hot, too late. Following are the records, including friendlies, of all 32 World Cup teams from the last 365 days. * – Some are playing friendlies now. The source, RSoccer, is awfully up-to-date, but not real time, so those friendlies happening now do not count. It’s also worth noting – several times – this does not take into account strength of opposition. So though Portugal may look fantabulous on paper, going nil-nil with Cape Verde is still raising the red (fire engine red) flag. Group A France: 6-4-2, +8 Mexico: 16-6-4, +34 South Africa: 8-7-8, +8 Uruguay: 5-2-4, +2 Group B Argentina: 10-0-4, +12 Greece: 3-3-3, -1 Nigeria: 8-5-2, +11 South Korea: 11-3-4, +16 Group C Algeria: 8-1-6, -5 England: 8-1-2, +21 Slovenia: 6-0-2, +15 USA: 12-2-11, -2 Group D Australia: 7-3-1, +8 Germany: 7-2-1, +19 Ghana: 8-3-6, +6 Serbia: 8-1-2, +16 Group E Cameroon: 7-6-3, +9 Denmark: 7-3-3, +12 Japan: 10-4-6, +17 Netherlands: 6-4-0, +9 Group F Italy: 7-4-2, +8 New Zealand: 3-3-6, -8 Paraguay: 4-3-1, -6 Slovakia: 4-3-3, +7 Group G Brazil: 13-1-1, +23 Ivory Coast: 8-5-2, +13 North Korea: 4-8-5, +10 Portugal: 8-3-0, +16 Group H Chile: 12-2-2, +19 Honduras: 10-1-8, +9 Spain: 14-0-1, +34 Switzerland: 2-3-2, +2 RSoccer also ranks the teams first to last. It’s a personal choice whether or not the rankings are given any weight, I chose the “or not”. The awards: Most wins: 16 – Mexico (26g) Fewest losses: 0 – Portugal (11g), Netherlands (10g) Most goals: 52 – Mexico Fewest goals conceded: 2 – Portugal Most goals conceded: 43 – USA Best differential: +34 -Spain

This Is Why World Cup Previews Shouldn’t Come Out Early: Giuseppe Rossi/ESPN Edition. Posted: 01 Jun 2010 02:40 PM PDT Marcello Lippi named his team today and Giuseppe Rossi ain’t on it. (Largely because of rough form due to injuries and the death of his father.) Does this now imply America has no hope at the World Cup?

Soundoff: Your World Cup Group B Predictions… Posted: 01 Jun 2010 12:40 PM PDT Time for us all to do our World Cup Group B predictions. Who we think will qualify, and how the group will finish #1 to #4. I found making my Group A predictions head hurtintgly hard, and was hoping Group B would be a little easier on what’s left of my grey matter. World Cup Group B hasn’t been talked up too much, but is actually very strong. The four teams – Argentina, Greece, Nigeria, South Korea – all have perceived flaws, but all four are more than capable of finishing in the top two. My predictions #1 to #4 are below, and please leave your own in the comments. Argentina have Diego Maradona in charge, which could very well end in tears. Or fires. Or something else not good. But Argentina still have an embarrassing wealth of talent to choose from, are still the seeded team in Group B and are still the favourites. I’d go one step further and predict they’re going to come out swinging. Maradona might be crazy, but I suspect he’ll have his players fired up and ready to make an impression, which they’ll do by dominating Group B. 1. Argentina 2. South Korea 3. Greece 4. Nigeria It was tempting to pick Nigeria as the second placed team because the pressure will be on for them to make it to the knockouts. But that isn’t necessarily a good thing. I believe the pressure to succeed in the first African World Cup, plus a lack of creativity in central midfield means the Super Eagles will struggle for goals, just as they did at Africa Cup of Nations 2010. I’d also would have liked to predict Greece in the runner up spot, because Otto Rehhagel knows his business and because after such a horrible horrible year filled with economic collapse and rioting, the powers that be owe Greece some good fortune. But South Korea’s form and experience has to make them second favourites here. Asia’s most consistent team will take second place. So that’s my Group B prediction. I’m not 100% confident of it, and I won’t be backing it up with any money, but it’s my best guess. How do you see Group B finishing? - Feel the need to flex your prediction muscles further? Enter our World Cup Bracket competition.

World Cup Trophy Gets Louis Vuitton Case, Becomes Clichéd Teenage Girl. Posted: 01 Jun 2010 10:40 AM PDT The World Cup trophy case was unveiled today with various people who had a hand in designing the case and Naomi Campbell, who aside from being regular party to court hearings is also close with Nelson Mandela. The case was made by Louis Vuitton, which is why you can see his logo all over the side of the case, rather than anything World Cup related, like hundreds of Sepp caricatures. It’s also a shame they didn’t complete the cliché trifecta with a Burberry scarf and the trophy sitting comfortably in an Ugg boot. Isn’t the World Cup trophy supposed to be wholly unique?

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