World Cup 2006 Blog |  |
| Country of Birth v Country of Employment Posted: 31 Mar 2009 02:18 PM PDT It’s really not uncommon to find international teams being coached by a foreigner. In fact, it’s getting to the point where most countries will go the way of club football eventually and prefer a national, but have it make little difference in the eventual selection. And this brings up an interesting conundrum: what happens when facing your own country? Marco Tardelli, known the world over for his tear-soaked celebration in World Cup 1982 (above), will deal with this tomorrow when the Italian national anthem is played at the San Nicola. As well as being an Italian legend, Marco is also a part of Giovanni Trapattoni’s Ireland staff. While he says he’ll respect his employers, Tardelli will also respect his country and whisper Fratelli d’Italia. But on the other hand, when you’re employed at the level of national team coach or assistant, one would expect your full commitment to the cause and singing the anthem of your opponent would seem to usher in a cloud of suspicion. We could say that it’s fairly easy to separate the two, but it’s not always that simple - neither for the employer nor the employee. If one must sing the anthem, must they always support their country in all cases? Yes, professionalism is nice but professionalism still refers to employment, and many things for many people are still placed higher on the shelf of values. Does this make it a case-by-case basis? Where do one’s values stand? Is this just sport or does the playing of the anthem stand for something more? Should everyone just duck and cover during the anthem and hope for the best? I know one thing - just thinking about this has sent my mind spinning into a whirlwind of confusion. I can only begin to understand how Marco feels.        |
| Midweek Predictions: Crouchy to Pull Out the Rope? Posted: 31 Mar 2009 10:49 AM PDT
Feel free to laugh at my feeble powers of prediction, but only if you’re brave enough to leave your own in the comments.
England vs Ukraine, April 1st, Wembley, 20:00 Think it’s fair to say England have injury problems. Fabio Capello had to sub the sub of a sub vs Slovakia on Saturday as Emile Heskey, Carlton Cole and Peter Crouch all got injured. Darren Bent was called up as a reinforcement only for him to need replacing with Gabby Agbonlahor. Crouchy is now fit enough to start though. Ukraine lost in-form Artem Kravet to a nasty sounding muscle tear in his hip, but the main goal threat will likely be the pony-tailed poacher Andriy Voronin. He’s on loan at Hertha and scoring Bundesliga goals for fun, but will want to remind Liverpool why they signed him in the first place. Meanwhile I’m sure Andriy Shevchenko would love to remind all of England that he is not as useless as those Chelsea performances led everyone to believe. Prediction: Have to admit I’m a little biased, but I’m predicting a respectable 1-0 win for England. Odds: England 2-5, Draw 10-3, Ukraine 15-2 Bonus Prediction: If Peter Crouch does score a hat-trick, he’ll “pull out the rope”. If Shevchenko scores, Wembley will go very very quiet. Also, don’t rule out England unveiling another new home shirt, since it was so much fun the last time. USA vs Trindidad & Tobago, April 1st, Nashville, 18:57 (apparently) Impressive comeback from the USA in El Salvador over the weekend, where Bob Bradley’s men overcame a two goal deficit and some unconvincing El Salvadorian injuries to get out of there with a 2-2 draw and a point. But it wasn’t the best of performances against a team they really should have beaten. Meanwhile Trinidad & Tobago are off to a slow start with two draws against El Salvador and Honduras. So they need a big performance if they want to get back to the World Cup. Prediction: Things don’t seem to be going all that well with T&T, so I’m backing the USA to get a convincing 3-1 win. Odds: USA 1-4, Draw, T&T 9-1 Bonus Prediction: Landon Donavon’s hairline to visibly recede during the 90 minutes. Brazil vs Peru, April 1st, Porto Alegre, 22:10
It’s still not quite happening for Brazil. Despite the many many talents at Dunga’s disposal, they were lucky to get a 0-0 draw in Ecudaor over the weekend (apparently Ecudaor outshout the Seleção 22-8). But this game may offer some relief. Peru are bottom of CONMEBOL qualifying, and word is that Brazil have some guy named Kaka available again after injury… Prediction: Brazil to win 2-0. Odds: Brazil 1-7, Draw 6-1, Peru 15-1 Time to check in on last week’s predictions. Here’s what I went with: And here’s what happened: So I get four points. One each for correctly predicting Argentina and Mexico victories, one for predicting Venezuela nil, one for predicting Costa Rica nil. Medals and congrats go to: Gold Silver Bronze This week there’s a bonus point on offer for naming a goalscorer. You pick a player from each game, and if he scores you get a bonus point. From tomorrow’s three games I’m picking Crouch, Altidore and Kaka. Here are the games again, let’s have your predictions.
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| North Korea and South Korea Shake Hands for Soccer Posted: 31 Mar 2009 07:47 AM PDT
This time around things are going a little better. South Korea are hosting in Seoul tomorrow (April 1st) and seems everyone will be able to sing whatever songs they want. The two head coaches Huh Jung-moo (left) Kim Jong-hun (right) have been pictured shaking hands to prove that everything’s OK. Don’t they look comfortable?
It would take some football match to knock that rocket launch out of the headlines (seriously, would have to finish 12-11 with a last minute winner scored by a goalkeeper or something) but here’s hoping the beautiful game can at least relieve a bit of tension - both local and global. Footballing wise, it’s still an important game. Here are the Asian World Cup Qualifying standings: North Korea are top, two points ahead of South Korea, who have a game in hand. So a South Korea win would see them jump to the top, and make them favourites to qualify. The top two from each group go to the World Cup anyway though, so there’s a genuine chance that 2010 could be the first World Cup to feature both Koreas. For more on this game, read South Korea World Cup Blog   |
World Cup qualification games happening everywhere except Africa tomorrow, so I’ve chosen three games and predicted the scores.
Remember what happened last time North Korea met South Korea in World Cup qualifying? It was a 
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