World Cup 2010 Blog: “David Beckham’s World Cup XI” plus 8 more |  |
- David Beckham’s World Cup XI
- Preview: Germany v Uruguay, 3rd Place Game.
- World Cup Final: Octopus vs Parakeet
- Coca Cola Is Ready To Move On To 2014
- In Defence of the World Cup Third Place Playoff
- World Cup Best Young Player Shortlist
- World Cup Golden Ball Nominees
- UAE Has The Right Idea, Declares A Fatwa On The Vuvuzela
- Paul The Octopus Gives The Final Order: Get Ready For A Spanish Celebration.
| Posted: 09 Jul 2010 08:09 PM PDT
However… what better and more basic way to judge David Beckham’s coaching talents than by looking at the World Cup Best XI he chose for Yahoo!? Assuming Beckham really did make this selection himself (my uneducated guess is he didn’t write the explanations in the article but did select the XI), he’s gone for Uruguay’s Fernando Muslera in goal, with a back four of Sergio Ramos, Ashley Cole, Carles Puyol and John Mensah. His midfield contains Bastian Schweinsteiger, Wesley Sneijder and Xavi, and his attacking line up is Thomas Mueller, Digeo Forlan and David Villa. On the bench he’s got Michael Bradley, Maicon and Leo Messi. Which would be an interesting conversation to watch take place on the sidelines if nothing else. I’m not 100% sure how Beckham’s team would line up, but here’s my best guess: Muslera I know, Forlan doesn’t really play on the left. Beckham’s team is actually a little like a Rubik’s Cube of footballers. Everytime you think you have a formation, someone is out of position. Which actually sounds a lot like the England team for the past 10 years, so maybe Becks really is the perfect man for that job.
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| Preview: Germany v Uruguay, 3rd Place Game. Posted: 09 Jul 2010 12:40 PM PDT
BIG PICTURE The big picture is the story of a few small pictures. The most prominent and historical is Miroslav Klose's pursuit of the all-time goal scoring record, currently sitting one behind Ronaldo at 14, but maybe not sitting much at all with a back injury going into the game. On an individual level, it's an enormous game for Klose and Germany – who will be feeding him Jabulanis ad nauseam should he play. The other striker being watched is Diego Forlan, arguably one of the favorites for Golden Ball as player of the tournament despite on the losing end of the semifinal, and his propensity for shooting from absolutely anywhere on the pitch, including corners, which makes spectating fun. And then there are the subplots: the return of hero/villain Luis Suarez + hands; the potential Golden Ball runs of both Bastian Schweinsteiger and Mesut Ozil; the chance to see just how much of a difference Thomas Mueller makes in this side; and one last chance to see this phase of an evolving Germany, who will be one of the co-favorites for Polkraine 2012 and perhaps Brazil 2014. WHAT'S AT STAKE Pride and final standing, but those are relatively minimal to the outside observer. A losing semifinalist is a losing semifinalist, whether they win the consolation game or not. A win will help, but ultimately it does not change history. So the rest is for individual glory. OUR PREDICTION We won't see Uruguay recreating their tactics against France or Germany continually being pressed back into their own third a la Spain, which means this one should be enjoyable with a decent number of goals. So….3-2 Germany. Because Paul picked them too. And Klose gets one. FAN RESOURCES
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| World Cup Final: Octopus vs Parakeet Posted: 09 Jul 2010 12:39 PM PDT Paul the octopus has spoken, and he’s chosen Spain to win the World Cup. But Mani the parakeet has answered, and he’s chosen the Netherlands. One of them is going to be wrong. Yep, we have a new non-human World Cup prognosticator on the scene, and it’s a 13 year old parakeet from Singapore who predicts the winner by picking up one of two cards. According to this Associated Press story on The Guardian webiste:
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