World Cup 2010 Blog: “What to expect if Marcel Desailly becomes Ghana coach” plus 2 more

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• What to expect if Marcel Desailly becomes Ghana coach
• Jose Mourinho Will Take Portugal Job, if Madrid Approve
• The Female Rivaldo

What to expect if Marcel Desailly becomes Ghana coach Posted: 17 Sep 2010 02:45 PM PDT Rumor has it Marcel Desailly has put his hat in the ring to succeed Milovan Rajevac as the Black Stars coach. If you remember, Rajevac left the Ghana post to coach Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia after leading them to the quarters of the World Cup this summer in South Africa.  The Ghana Association has reported receiving 50 CVs for the position and Desailly’s lack of experience has raised some eyebrows.  So what could Ghana expect from Desailly should they pick him out of the bunch (other than fantastic sideline reactions like the one above)? He will expect discipline and loyalty from his players – especially his captain.  After the France team boycotted training at the 2010 World Cup, allegedly at the urging of its captain (Evra), Desailly commented that he thought Evra should be held primarily responsible as the designated leader of the team…. And I think that Evra, who is the origin of the strike, should pay too. The captain made a mistake and he has to bear the consequences of his actions. He decided not to train, before realizing his mistake and apologizing. But he deserves at least a temporary suspension. He is an excellent player, our best left-back, but he should be suspended for two months, because the captain is the first one to be an example. His behavior affected the image of France throughout the world. He will announce his Starting XI to the team before the day of the game.  While commenting on the state of the England team this summer, he revealed he thought Capello was unfair to name his team only 2 hours before the match.  He should know how it feels – he played under Capello at Milan in the 1990s.  Considering the success he reaped under Capello’s system – one might wonder if Desailly changes his tune when he’s the one responsible for the picking the team. He has no patience for sex-scandal plagued stars who can’t maintain their performances on the field. Last season, when John Terry became embroiled in a series of scandals, Desailly made the following comments… He [Terry] has no credibility whatsoever within the club and this is being felt.  No one is following him. Frank Lampard, Joe Cole and the others who knew Wayne Bridge no longer allow him to be the leader. Perhaps his strong reaction is a result of his distaste for the food served at Terry’s wedding. He will always be optimistic. Before the 2010 World Cup, Desailly predicted the France National Team would prove all their critics wrong, saying there is no need for pessimism…“ There’s no reason for pessimism. Things are going to work out fine. I think this generation is even more talented than ours was. They just haven?t had the chance to show it yet. I think they have a big future. They seem to have a lot of belief and now we’ll see what they can do. They’ve taken a lot of criticism lately but they can put all that behind them by starting off with a good win. Now, if you know anything about the build-up to France’s 2010 trip to South Africa- you also probably know that the explosion that happened there off the field was almost as predictable as their failure on the field.  Therefore, I can only assume that he is an eternal optimist.  Except when it involves John Terry (see no patience for sex-scandal plagued stars above).  Plus his time being a pundit on ITV this summer makes me think he might just be an exceptionally happy individual (see his “happy dance” in the video below). He can handle the pressure. Every now and then. In future? I will come in [to coach], for sure, probably national team and not as an every day coaching clubs. The exposure is too much every day – today you are the man, the next day you are nothing. I can handle the pressure, but I don’t want to get back to that sort of pressure. Happy Dances. Is there such a thing as too much?

Jose Mourinho Will Take Portugal Job, if Madrid Approve Posted: 17 Sep 2010 10:30 AM PDT Jose Mourinho wants to take charge of the Portuguese national team. Temporarily anyway. The Portugal team has been managerless since firing Carlos Queiroz on September 9th, and are desperately in need of someone to take over for the two Euro 2012 qualifying games vs. Denmark and Iceland in October. And apparently Mourinho is their man. The small problem is that Mourinho already has a job. He’s the coach of Real Madrid, which is a role assume requires a fair number of man hours. And I’m sure Madrid have it in their power to tell Mourinho to focus on his work at the Bernabeu. So now it all depends on getting Madrid’s approval. “If there was an agreement with Real, I would work for the national team for zero euros. Prestige and money are not in short supply for me, thanks God. The only positive thing would be the feeling of pride at being in charge of the Portuguese national team,” said Mourinho. Seems odd to appoint a short term coach to a big job like Portugal, but this is a team in crisis. Former coach Carlos Queiroz was first banned for six months for intimidating an anti-doping agent, and then the team began Euro 2012 by drawing 4-4 with Cyprus and losing 1-0 to Norway. Mourinho’s made it clear this would be a part time gig – “my help would be limited” – but I for one am hoping Real give this the thumbs up, because I’m very interested to see how The Special One handles international management, if only for a couple of weeks. Plus, if Real Madrid somehow lose their man to international football then no worries. Big Sam Allardyce is ready to step in and win the double every season.

The Female Rivaldo Posted: 17 Sep 2010 09:06 AM PDT Are you asking yourself if this unnamed female is a brilliant player or a cheater, cheater, pumpkin eater? If so, the answer is both. Her name’s Ramona Bachmann, she’s Swiss and she scored a brilliant goal in a World Cup qualifying playoff (goal after the jump) to bring her team back into the game (somewhat – a 2-0 first leg mountain needed to be erased). But after all this good, she just sort of grabbed her face and threw herself to the ground in the goal mouth, in brilliant Rivaldo style, full with kicking legs for added emphasis. And upon really thinking about it, has anyone pulled off the two-faced Rivaldo in one play before? Probably, but this is really as good as it gets. The keeper was, of course, sent off for ‘hair pulling’ when she was only guilty of standing inside her own net. Something like being arrested for breaking and entering inside your own house after entering with the key. Fortunately ‘cheaters never prosper’ came good, and England still ran out 5-2 winners on aggregate.

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