Latest World Cup Blog Updates

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• 10 Things We Learned From the 2010 World Cup Draw
• The World Cup Group Stage Draws As Seen By Elo Rankings
• World Cup 2010 Groups: Who Plays Who in South Africa
• World Cup 2010 Draw Liveblogtacular.
• Meet the Adidas Jabulani, Official Matchball of World Cup 2010

10 Things We Learned From the 2010 World Cup Draw Posted: 04 Dec 2009 02:40 PM PST 1. Jérôme Valcke is in trouble when he gets home The FIFA General Secretary and World Cup 2010 Drawmaster drew a reaction from the crowd by double-kissing Charlize Theron on both cheeks. The married man might have a few tricky questions to answer in the near future. 2. World Cup 2010 will definitely be in South Africa After the draw in Cape Town today, we can definitely forget any last minute location changes. It’s settled. It’s in South Africa. 3. There is no Group of Death I know we all love identifying the toughest group, but there doesn’t have to be a “Group of Death” just because everyone wants there to be. When a group featuring North Korea is talked about as a GofD contender, that means there probably isn’t one. Speaking of which… 4. North Korea would like a re-draw They wait 44 years for a second shot at the World Cup, and then they get drawn with Brazil, Cote d’Ivoire and Portugal? No wonder Kim Jong-Il is paranoid. But… 5. …the draw is not rigged. Otherwise FIFA would surely have punished France for Henry’s handball by giving them tougher opponents than South Africa, Mexico and Uruguay. Unless maybe everything is rigged in France’s favour. Or maybe it’s all a big double-bluff. OK, now I’ve confused myself. 6. “Moral compensation” doesn’t get you into the World Cup draw Sepp Blatter’s hilariously vague suggestion that Ireland should receive “moral compensation” for missing out on World Cup 2010 probably wasn’t too comforting for any Irish fans watching today. Especially after France were drawn into Group A. 7. Being World Cup holders has certain benefits. It may not guarantee automatic qualification anymore (FIFA stopped that after 2002) but it does apparently get you an easy-looking group. Italy’s group stage opponents will be: Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia. Could be worse. 8. Must see group games: At first glance - South Africa vs Mexico June 11th, opening game Argentina vs Nigeria, June 12th England vs USA, June 12th Brazil vs Cote d’Ivoire, June 20th Cameroon vs Netherlands, June 24th Portugal vs Brazil, June 25th 9. England and USA in Group C means we’ll be seeing a lot of this video on ESPN 10. An open draw would have been much more exciting Just saying.

The World Cup Group Stage Draws As Seen By Elo Rankings Posted: 04 Dec 2009 01:10 PM PST It’s FIFA’s baby so their rankings have taken obvious priority, determining in some way nearly all parts of this draw, but anyone who knows anything – or equally nothing – will tell you that Elo puts out a far superior list of international rankings. In fact were we to compare the two in the realm that is this World Cup, Elo would be Brazil and FIFA would be North Korea. Or a pocketwatch. When discussing who would be the disappointment of the tournament the easy unanimous answer (when unanimous equals both) was Argentina based on past accomplishments. I then nominated Japan, who might just finish last in their group and probably occupy a higher ranking in my mind than on paper. When checking out the rankings, this was discovered: FIFA – 43 ELO – 17 That’s quite the disparity. In fact it’s the difference between being thought worthy of the World Cup 32 and not, which is no small claim. Stopping at Japan would be imprudent, so here’s a look at the entire draw as seen by the good people at Elo. (November, not October, FIFA ranking in parenthesis.) Group A: South Africa 83 (86) Mexico 8 (15) Uruguay 15 (19) France 9 (7) Group B: Argentina 7 (8) Nigeria 28 (22) South Korea 32 (52) Greece 23 (12) Group C: England 4 (9) USA 16 (14) Algeria 56 (28) Slovenia 47 (33) Group D: Germany 5 (6) Australia 19 (21) Serbia 14 (20) Ghana 42 (37) Group E: Netherlands 3 (3) Denmark 17t (26) Japan 17t (43) Cameroon 20 (11) Group F: Italy 6 (4) Paraguay 29 (30) New Zealand 74 (77) Slovakia 48 (34) Group G: Brazil 1 (2) North Korea 82 (84) Cote d'Ivoire 22 (16) Portugal 12 (5) Group H: Spain 2 (1) Switzerland 21 (18) Honduras 33 (38) Chile 11 (17) * – Germany would like a written explanation from FIFA as to how Portugal is better than them. They cite the ‘06 third-placed game, Euro 2008 qualifying and finals, as well as bludgeoning one of the difficult World Cup qualifying groups. Now let’s average out the scores for fun: Elo A: 28.75 B: 22.5 C: 30.75 D: 20 E: 14.25 F: 39.25 G: 29.25 H: 16.75 So according to Elo, the Group of Death is Group E, which isn’t all that surprising as there’s the Netherlands and then three evenly matched teams. And in the case of Denmark and Japan, the most evenly matched game in the World Cup groups (what with the organization being unable to separate the two in the rankings). Italy, meanwhile, were apparently given a gift for being defending champions, what with their group being by far the least impressive statistically. FIFA A: 31.75 B: 23.5 C: 21 D: 21 E: 20.75 F: 36.25 G: 26.75 H: 18.5 FIFA stake the claim that Spain head the Group O’Death, when they clearly don’t (Elo have them not far behind to be fair), as well as the fact that Groups C, D & E are all on par with each other. Slovenia and Algeria sheepishly cower in the corner. Elo are far from perfect, but they’re better. Nothing learned in that realm. What we did learn is that Group E should be a cracker, being defending champions does come with some rewards, and that Group H will be better than you think. And that outliers are the detriment to the statistician. Thanks, North Korea.

World Cup 2010 Groups: Who Plays Who in South Africa Posted: 04 Dec 2009 10:35 AM PST The draw for South Africa 2010 is done. We have our eight World Cup groups and they’re listed below. They’re listed below for reference and discussion, and we’ll add some analysis (group strength by FIFA ranking etc) as we go. Group A: South Africa Mexico Uruguay France Group B: Argentina Nigeria South Korea Greece Group C: England USA Algeria Slovenia Group D: Germany Australia Serbia Ghana Group E: Netherlands Denmark Japan Cameroon Group F: Italy Paraguay New Zealand Slovakia Group G: Brazil North Korea Cote d’Ivoire Portugal Group H: Spain Switzerland Honduras Chile A very generous friend volunteered to sit down with a calculator and the FIFA world rankings and figure out which group was the strongest. Here are the groups’ total FIFA world ranking (the rankings of all four teams combined.) The lower the number, the tougher the group, obviously: Group A: 127 Group B: 94 Group C: 84 Group D: 84 Group E: 83 Group F: 145 Group G: 107 Group H: 74 So mathematically Group H (Spain, Switzerland, Chile, Honduras) is the toughest group. But that’s mostly because there’s no low low team in there, like 84th ranked North Korea which drags down the standard of Group G for example.

World Cup 2010 Draw Liveblogtacular. Posted: 04 Dec 2009 08:48 AM PST

Meet the Adidas Jabulani, Official Matchball of World Cup 2010 Posted: 04 Dec 2009 06:10 AM PST The official matchball of World Cup 2010 was officially unveiled today. Officially. So now it’s all official. The adidas Jabulani (above) will be the ball used in all World Cup 2010 games in South Africa. There are plenty of technical details, some of which are after the jump. But the key ones as far as I’m concerned are: 1. It’s round, and 2. It bounces. According to the press release, “Jabulani” means “to celebrate” in the the Bantu language isiZulu (one of South Africa’s 11 official languages). The press release also explains how the ball is made from eight molded panels and is much rounder than previous balls (which were presumably all just cleverly disguised squares by comparison). If I’m honest, I find the technical stuff with footballs a bit silly. But I am a fan of the meaning behind the design, and in this respect the Jabulani doesn’t disappoint: Eleven different colors are used in the adidas "JABULANI," the eleventh adidas World Cup ball. These 11 colors represent the 11 players in every team, the 11 official languages of South Africa and the 11 South African tribes that make the country one of the most ethnologically diverse countries on the African continent. The colorful design brings together the tremendous diversity of the country in harmonious unity. Four triangle-shaped design elements on a white background lend the ball a unique appearance in African spirit. Like the outer facade of Johannesburg's Soccer City Stadium, individual design elements capture the colorfulness of South Africa. Here’s a much larger image of the ball: For an even larger image, please touch your nose to the screen. So what do you think? My take is that it’s not quite the magnificent wawa aba from Africa Cup of Nations 2008, but it will certainly do the job. If you’re interested in hearing a bit more about the Jabulani, here’s an adidas sanctioned video of the press conference where the ball was unveiled today:

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Previews, expert analysis on SEC, Big 12, ACC championships

MAMUDU, Your December 05, 2009 issue of Sporting News Today is now available, please click here. Here are some articles in Today's Issue Hayes: Expect Texas, Alabama to play for the BCS title Young RBs Mendenhall, Moreno, McCoy keys to playoff runs Aikman on Saints' Payton, Pats' Belichick and Titans' Young LeBron: Cavs are adjusting to Shaq Custance: Iginla shows no sign of slowing down If you experience any problems with your issue, please click here to contact our customer service department. Know a friend who might like Sporting News Today? Email him/her this link: www.sportingnewstoday.com.     Trouble Viewing? If any of the above links do not work for you,   copy and paste this URL into your browser:   http://today.sportingnews.com/t=c/?1&117367&154396&17812&0000&1236488254&EIInjEOx9cS45     Please do not reply to this message. Questions may be submitted to Digital Support.   To stop receiving email notifications for digital issues of Sporting News Today,   click here.   Sporting News Today 120 West Morehead Street Suite 200 Charlotte, NC 28202

Latest World Cup Blog Updates

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World Cup 2010 Draw: What Are You Hoping For? Posted: 03 Dec 2009 11:10 PM PST Don’t know if you heard, but the draw for World Cup 2010 happens today in Cape Town, South Africa. Judging by my TV schedule, FIFA are set to make the relatively simple process of picking balls out of pots last something like three hours. But no point complaining. Better to just dive in and enjoy. Because it’s basically a big party. With Charlize Theron, David Beckham and a multitude of other famous footballers and noted South Africans. There’s even a video address from the now 91 year old Nelson Mandela. Plus Sepp Blatter. So something for everyone. Unless you like expletive filled homophobic rants, as Diego Maradona’s ban includes this event. Below you’ll find a quick recap of how it all works, followed by a very simple, but very important question: Who’s your team and what are you hoping for? First the recap. As Chris explained on Wednesday, we have four pots: Pot 1 (Seeded teams): South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England. Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania, North/Central America): Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Mexico and Honduras. Pot 3 (Africa, South America): Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile and Uruguay. Pot 4 (Europe): France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark and Slovakia. The eight groups (A to H) will be selected by Theron, Beckham et al drawing one team from each pot and hey presto you have a group of four. Only rule is that (with the exception of Europe) no group can have two teams from the same confederation. So when they draw the team from Pot 3 to go in South Africa’s group, it can’t be any of the African teams. I’m excited. You’re hopefully excited. Everyone is excited. And maybe a little anxious. Because no one wants to see their team in the dreaded Group of Death (which must exist, by law). So please share in the comments: Who is your team and who do you hope they get drawn with today? The ceremony (that’s the ceremony, not the actual drawing of balls) begins at 7pm Cape Town time, which is 12 noon USA eastern time, 5pm UK time. Chris will be LiveBlogging the event here on WorldCupBlog and following Charlize Theron’s movements. But not in a creepy way.

Meet Group of Death, the Band. Here for Group of Death, the Draw Posted: 03 Dec 2009 05:16 PM PST Comment on the Facebook page for Group of Death, the perhaps slightly tongue-in-cheek heavy metal, footy-powered band: “I was inspired to give my first wedgie to a nerd after listening to this album!!“ Can a band aspire to higher praise than this? I think not. But with songs like, “Your love is like a boot to the face,” I’m pretty sure this will not be the last time they receive this kind of accolade. Chorus: Your love is like a boot to the face Your kick leaves a mark The heart can’t erase Your love is like a boot to the face I’m down on the ground Now you’re runnin’ in place All over my face Shakespeare is turning green with envy. Or maybe it’s decomposition. Whatever. I still challenge you to listen through it and not fight the earworm for the rest of the afternoon. Meet Group of Death, the self-proclaimed “world's foremost football (soccer)-inspired heavy metal band.” More musical talent than Spinal Tap. More profundity than Paris Hilton. More Facebook fans than your grandma. (Unless she plays in a metal band, in which case all bets are off.) They’re helping ESPN roll out their coverage of the World Cup draw, and following up with a concert at Nevada Smith’s in NYC at 5:00. To get us in the mood for tomorrow’s draw, I asked the band a few questions: – What’s the history of the group? How long have they been together? Where are they from? The Group of Death has been around for over 50 years (since 1958), but our membership changes all the time. We're like a soccer-inspired heavy metal version of Menudo. Except, you know how Menudo has an age limit? In the Group of Death, you have to retire when it becomes obvious that you can no longer shred. We call it getting Black Carded. Once you get that Black Card, you're out. It's pretty intense but everyone understands, it's all about the soccer-inspired music. When you lose that focus, you gotta go. Because our membership changes, we are the world's most global band (which is appropriate because soccer is the world's most global sport). We're huge in Southeastern Asia and many of the Central American countries. If you spend any amount of time in Belmopan, Belize, you wouldn't be able to escape the Group of Death. They love us over there. – What’s the story on how the group and ESPN linked up? ESPN contacted us and said, "we need you to melt the faces off of soccer's most diehard fans" and that is an exact quote. Obviously that was an easy request because that's what we do anyway. Every four years, the Group of Death gets together and plays a huge show at Nevada Smith's in New York City. We watch the World Cup draw, see which teams will be in the Group of Death and then we each pick a team. Then we get painted up and play an epic show. It's like the metal version of Bruce playing the Stone Pony in Asbury. It's the official start of our tour. – What role is the group playing for ESPN, and vice versa? It’s obviously a cross-promotional thing, but are there concerts or appearances involved? ESPN has been extremely supportive of the Group of Death. They understand our vision of bringing the world music that celebrates soccer (aka The Greatest Sport Ever). There have been rumblings about them wanting to be involved in our Greatest Hits album, but right now, that's just rumors. We're psyched to have them as partners though in any capacity. – in the group’s bio, you say: After the World Cup groups are chosen, the band assumes the identities of the four countries that represent the Group of Death thus creating synergy with the football universe. Care to explain further? Of course. There is an energy in the universe that bounces around, much like when you kick a ball around the pitch. We are a band that sings about all things football and how awesome it is. When we assume the identities of the World Cup Group of Death, we create a connection between the music and the game that is stronger than most life-forces known to human kind. If you come to a show, you'll understand what we are talking about. It's like the universe is at peace and all is right with the world. Which is true because we are rocking and another amazing World Cup is officially underway. – what’s your group’s role on Friday for the draw? Our role is to celebrate the dawn of the greatest tournament in the world by shredding the ears and blowing the minds of all the football-metal fans that love rocking out. It's a role that we take very seriously. – what happens next, after the draw? For World Cup? It's time for the Group of Death World Tour. We rock and roll all the way to Soccer City, Johannesburg and leave a trail of melted faces in our wake. Soccer. World Cup draw. Heavy metal. The building blocks are in place. Now it’s up to you to make it work. So go forth. Become a fan. Or the next wedgie may be yours. www.facebook.com/thegroupofdeath www.myspace.com/thegroupofdeath

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NFL Week 13 extra: Previews, predictions, office-pool pointers

MAMUDU, Your December 04, 2009 issue of Sporting News Today is now available, please click here. Here are some articles in Today's Issue Desperate times for Giants, Titans, Falcons, Dolphins Oregon beats Oregon State 37-33 to win Pac-10 title, Rose Bowl berth What we learned from '08 Florida-Alabama game Next year's MLB free agency class packed with star power DeCourcy: Michigan is a disappointment, Syracuse a surprise If you experience any problems with your issue, please click here to contact our customer service department. Know a friend who might like Sporting News Today? Email him/her this link: www.sportingnewstoday.com.     Trouble Viewing? If any of the above links do not work for you,   copy and paste this URL into your browser:   http://today.sportingnews.com/t=c/?1&117238&154393&17777&0000&1236488193&EIInjEOx9cS45     Please do not reply to this message. Questions may be submitted to Digital Support.   To stop receiving email notifications for digital issues of Sporting News Today,   click here.   Sporting News Today 120 West Morehead Street Suite 200 Charlotte, NC 28202

Latest World Cup Blog Updates

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World Cup Kits go High-Tech. And Female Fans Rejoice Posted: 02 Dec 2009 10:00 AM PST World Cup 2010 kits have gone high tech. Seriously high tech. How high tech, you ask? Well, according to the official Adidas press release: Through the use of compression fabrics and applied TPU bands in specific areas, TECHFIT is proven to increase a player's power by 5.3 per cent*, vertical leap by 4 percent*, sprint speed by 1.1 per cent* and enhance endurance by 0.8 per cent*. The adidas 2010 FIFA World Cup TECHFIT jerseys worn as a single layer are 45 percent lighter than wearing two pieces together. Power increase of 5.3%? Wow. But wait. There’s more. Female fans, if the recent French look is anything to go by, the performance maximization requires that these jerseys be extremely tight-fitting. As in: second-skin-tight. (Or, y’know, so I’ve been told.) And I’m surprised that nobody’s mentioned this, but given that these kits can do in one layer what it used to take two to accomplish? Goodbye base layers. Which is great for the players because…uh…compressions shorts and shirts under a kit add weight and…um.. Oh, who am I kidding? What I’m really saying, ladies, is that they’re taking away the undergarments, which means shirt swaps just got interesting again. (And that giant crashing sound you hear is the internet collapsing under the collective weight of Kickette readers rushing to send a million fruit baskets to the good researchers at Adidas.) But the good news for players of a certain body type is that this skintight fit is apparently not the only option. The second 2010 FIFA World Cup jersey option is the FORMOTION uniform, which features optimised garment construction with sculpted sleeve openings to accommodate maximum freedom of movement. I haven’t seen photos of this one, but I believe it may be known as the “Brazilian Ronaldo” option. Oh, what? I’m only thinking about his comfort.

FIFA Announces World Cup Seeds; Karma Announces French Retribution. Posted: 02 Dec 2009 06:52 AM PST The seedings for the World Cup draw were announced today and there were a couple of surprises. Namely the news that the great Fabio Capello has effectively wiped Euro 2008 from statistical history and that France will need a small miracle not to be drawn into a Group of Death. Going into today’s meeting it was undecided which methodology FIFA would use to determine the seeds for Friday’s draw. It could’ve been the most recent FIFA rankings, it could’ve been the whims of the committee members or, and this one had to be considered the likeliest, it could’ve been whichever countries gave the biggest timepiece to Sepp Blatter. In the end they went with none of the above, instead using the all too rubbish October 2009 FIFA rankings when teams had played an equal number of qualifying games. France making way for England is, obviously the bigger news, but a second glance over the names will reveal that somehow, someway FIFA have deduced that Maradona’s Argentina are one of the seven best teams in the world. This despite ample evidence to the contrary – that evidence being known as World Cup 2010 Qualifying*, of course. * – Yeah, yeah – FIFA Rankings criteria spreads back aways. South Africa as the host team gets a free pass. Based on their friendly form, so too will the other clubs in their group. Hopefully they’re merely the sleeping tiger ready to pounce once the cage is opened. Otherwise, all standard. Pot 1 (Seeded teams): South Africa, Brazil, Spain, Holland, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England. Pot 2 (Asia, Oceania, North/Central America): Japan, South Korea, North Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the United States, Mexico and Honduras. Pot 3 (Africa, South America): Ivory Coast, Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Paraguay, Chile and Uruguay. Pot 4 (Europe): France, Portugal, Slovenia, Switzerland, Greece, Serbia, Denmark and Slovakia. Europe will, obviously, be the only continent allowed to two teams in the same group, simply based on numbers. And from there on it’s simple: pick one from each pot. Now, if we were to be totally original and peg a Group O’Death on the back of this it would likely be: Brazil, Japan, Ghana, France. Or just as easily swap in Ivory Coast for Ghana should you so desire. France are by some margin the biggest losers, and while the karma angle is easy, it’s really just down to the fact that they haven’t been very good for about two years now. Euro 2008 was a slight disaster and, by keeping that same astrologist on the sidelines, World Cup qualifying didn’t go a great deal more smoothly. You could even say it went less smoothly, given the backlash of the manner in which they qualified. (Notice I managed to avoid “manner in which they handed in their qualification”. Please pass this along to every announcer, journalist and boob assigned to next summer’s tournament.) So basically, it’s down to no one but themselves. But if any Irish fans ask you, tell them France got their just desserts.

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Neuheisel: Hard to go against Oregon in tonight's war for the Roses

MAMUDU, Your December 03, 2009 issue of Sporting News Today is now available, please click here. Here are some articles in Today's Issue Kobe or LeBron? Big O, Bill Bradley help SN pick NBA's best Wisconsin, Illinois wins help Big Ten win Big Ten-ACC Challenge My Profile: New Braves closer Billy Wagner McNeal: Five things we learned from MLB's arbitration deadline Why the Chargers are the AFC's team to beat If you experience any problems with your issue, please click here to contact our customer service department. Know a friend who might like Sporting News Today? Email him/her this link: www.sportingnewstoday.com.     Trouble Viewing? If any of the above links do not work for you,   copy and paste this URL into your browser:   http://today.sportingnews.com/t=c/?1&117143&154398&17754&0000&1236488146&EIInjEOx9cS45     Please do not reply to this message. Questions may be submitted to Digital Support.   To stop receiving email notifications for digital issues of Sporting News Today,   click here.   Sporting News Today 120 West Morehead Street Suite 200 Charlotte, NC 28202