World Cup 2010 Blog: “Preview: Uruguay vs. Netherlands, Semifinal” plus 7 more |  |
- Preview: Uruguay vs. Netherlands, Semifinal
- Podcast: Uruguay vs Netherlands Preview with Jan from Netherlands World Cup Blog
- Nike Thanks US For Writing The Future
- Paul The Octopus Was Hacked
- When Worlds Collide: The FIFA Ballon d’Or
- El Diego: “Cycle Is Over”
- Semifinal Referees Announced
- Argentina Get a Surprisingly Warm Welcome Home
| Preview: Uruguay vs. Netherlands, Semifinal Posted: 06 Jul 2010 01:00 AM PDT
THE BIG PICTURE The Netherlands have to be favourites here. There were no last minute handballs in their 2-1 win over Brazil in the quarters, and Oranje are the only team left with a 100% record of winning every game at World Cup 2010. Attacking mid Wesley Sneijder has been awarded what we thought was Felipe Melo’s own goal from that quarterfinal, which puts him joint second top scorer in the tournament. I’d say Sneijder’s a good candidate for player of the tournament at this point. The Dutch will be missing right back Gregory van der Wiel and defensive mid Nigel de Jong through suspension. Demy de Zeeuw seems the obvious choice to replace de Jong, but the Man City man’s hard but just about fair tackling will be a big miss. Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie are both expected to be fit. For much more, read Jan at the Netherlands blog. WHAT’S AT STAKE Bet on Uruguay vs. Netherlands OUR PREDICTION Read more about the World Cup 2010 Semifinals FAN RESOURCES
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| Podcast: Uruguay vs Netherlands Preview with Jan from Netherlands World Cup Blog Posted: 05 Jul 2010 11:46 PM PDT
I’ve been in touch with Jan via email and via his blog for a good few years now, but never had the pleasure of speaking to him until recording this podcast just a few hours ago. Turns out Jan is every bit as smart and funny and insightful and all round nice on the phone as you’d expect him to be. I asked Jan about this Netherlands team, how it compares with the Euro ‘88 team, whether the defence was underrated coming into the tournament and -most importantly – how is Gio van Bronckhurst still going? We also discuss Dutch football culture and attitudes, which is a fascinating subject in and of itself. Click play below to listen… If you like what you hear you can subscribe to future shows via iTunes and/or visit the Total Football Soccer Show on Facebook. For more from Jan, go to Netherlands World Cup Blog.
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| Nike Thanks US For Writing The Future Posted: 05 Jul 2010 05:51 PM PDT After utter failure at predicting the short-term future this year – although Rooney’s fail-beard was spot on (do you think he’s contractually obligated to sport one for ManU come opening day now?) – Nike has done the only smart thing possible: gone with a long enough time frame such that there is no accountability. Who’s going to remember in 5-10 years if this year’s US team didn’t exactly spark America’s rise into relevance when contention is discussed? Exactly – no one. Nike: Write The (You heard it here first when they run out that marketing scheme in 2014.) [101gg]
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| Posted: 05 Jul 2010 03:36 PM PDT
Paul the ‘Pus is so incredibly good at what he does – eating delicious bivalves and correctly predicting Germany’s outcomes by which flag he chooses (he’s five for five) – he’s struck fear into the hearts and minds of German opposition. Of course, should the opposite occur it would send Germany into tumult, destroying the confidence of Jogi’s lads in the process and spearheading the Spanish to victory. So the Spanish, presumably, doctored up the old Serbia photo, in which Paul correctly picked a German loss. And it fooled everybody. Everybody. Little bit of a ‘74 reverse, no? The real thing happens tomorrow – so rest peacefully until then, Germany.
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| When Worlds Collide: The FIFA Ballon d’Or Posted: 05 Jul 2010 01:12 PM PDT
So it’s official: the sport’s grandest award and the trinket FIFA hand out in the shadows have now combined to create one Super Award which will be given to the sport’s player of the year. Or here’s the alternative director’s ending: FIFA convinced the people at France Football to slap their name on the award for street cred in return for the some fancy watches Sepp has sitting in his dungeon lair, along with the boxes upon boxes of short shorts and hot pants female players are still refusing to wear. We’ll go with the second one. Well, it helps them anyway.
That sound you hear is the global media tripping over all the political wranglings in the background.
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| Posted: 05 Jul 2010 09:05 AM PDT
It’s not necessarily a resignation, but it certainly seems like Argentina’s Diego Maradona experiment is over, even if nothing is official.
For most neutral fans, this will seem like a disappointment because he provided the fringe which keeps people entertained throughout the mundane. However, for Argentina it’s probably the best news possible as while he’s a nice sideshow, sideline antics and cheeky press conferences don’t win football matches – they see you blown out in the quarterfinals. And allow you to put your hands down your pants in private as opposed to public. Of course knowing Maradona, he could just be talking about his latest steroid/sports drink cycle. Wait and see, I suppose.
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| Posted: 05 Jul 2010 08:26 AM PDT
Normally this is a routine exercise in seeing and forgetting within seconds, but the stature of the game and simple fact that this tournament has been so poorly refereed the semifinal referee announcement is arguably as big as the teams themselves. Ten officiating teams still remain in South Africa and of those, eight will be watching the semifinals from somewhere which is not the middle of the action. The lucky two: Ravshan Irmatov (Uzbekistan) and Viktor Kassai (Hungary). Their games thus far: South Africa v Mexico (g) Of those four games, the only questionable call I remember is Thomas Mueller’s handball yellow which will keep him out of the semifinal and was well harsh. Of course that’s partly because it’s so recent, but also because Irmatov is largely the consensus for best referee at this World Cup. Brazil v North Korea (g) Again, nothing which stands out like so many in this World Cup. Which is precisely how these two got these semifinal gigs in the first place.
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| Argentina Get a Surprisingly Warm Welcome Home Posted: 05 Jul 2010 08:04 AM PDT
Thousands of fans gathered to cheer the players as the team bus left the airport in Buenos Aries, including banners showing support for the idea of Diego Maradona remaining in charge of the team, with the Copa America taking place in Argentina next year. You can see the players’ reactions towards the end of the video, and seems they’re somewhat surprised by the warmth of the welcome. I say well done to those flag-waving Argentina fans, who might be an example to us all. Because supporting your team means exactly that. It means supporting your team even after a 4-0 quarterfinal defeat and letting the players know you’re still behind them, even when they’ve failed to meet your expectations.
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