World Cup 2010 Blog: “Paraguay World Cup Team Profile” plus 7 more

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• Paraguay World Cup Team Profile
• World Cup 2010 Jerseys: Algeria
• World Cup Warm-Ups Wrap: Peter Crouch is the New Diego Maradona
• Daily Dose: May 24th, 2010
• Sony 3D & Kaka: Blowing Your Mind, Amongst Other Things.
• World Cup 2010 Jerseys: Switzerland
• The Weekly Answers: World Cup Eyes
• Thou Shalt Pray For Thy World Cup Victory

Paraguay World Cup Team Profile Posted: 25 May 2010 01:40 AM PDT Paraguay’s World Cup 2010 will be the story of three strikers: the perpetually injured golden boy Roque Santa Cruz, the tragically absent Salvador Cabanas and his surprise replacement, Lucas Barrios. Cabanas was one of Paraguay’s key players throughout qualifying, leading the team in scoring and providing a fighting mentality atop the line. Unfortunately, not long after qualifying ended he was shot in the head in a Mexico City bar and though his life was saved, his World Cup, and perhaps playing career, wasn’t. This means Santa Cruz, Paraguay’s golden boy and a phenomenally gifted striker who’s been healthy enough to score more than 5 goals only once in his career (at 19), will need to avoid the inevitable injuries until mid-July. Or maybe it’ll be Barrios, the man who some were calling for Diego Maradona to bring to South Africa, but instead will be going with his mother’s Paraguay. Whatever the case, Paraguay certainly won’t be lacking for inspiration. Nickname: La Albirroja (White and red) FIFA World Ranking as of April 28th 2010: 30th Group F Matches: Italy v Paraguay, June 14th, 8:30p, Cape Town Slovakia v Paraguay, June 20th, 1:30p, Bloemfontein Paraguay v New Zealand, June 24th, 4p, Polokwane Buy your Paraguay World Cup tickets here. Kit: True to their nickname: white and red. Buy your Paraguay kits here. Coach: Gerardo Martino. Outside of a brief spell in Spain as a player, Martino’s entire career has been spent in South America, not giving him the global profile some coaches will enjoy. However, what he’s done with Paraguay has been nothing short of outstanding in his three years, taking to tops in qualifying before ultimately falling one point short of Brazil. They’ve drawn the short stick in the bracket, with Italy, Netherlands, Brazil and Spain looming, but if anyone can break Paraguay’s second round curse, it might be Gerardo. Key Players: They want not for attacking talent, even if it’s not entirely productive: Roque Santa Cruz has scored 7 goals since his total of 19 three years and is the footballing lemon – always liable to break down – while Oscar Cardozo can’t buy goals for Paraguay even though he can’t stop scoring for Benfica. Luckily there is the Borussia Dortmund duo of Lucas Barrios, who scored 19 himself this year, and Nelson Valdez, and even though the former has stolen headlines, the latter will likely see the significant minutes. Even though he hails from the Marcelo Bielsa football school, Martino’s mainly preferred a 4-4-2 with a comparatively unheralded Jonathan Santana, Victor Caceres, Cristian Riveros and Edgar Barreto across the pitch. And in the back, experience is the name of the game, if they can remember it, since the four plus keeper who were run out in qualifying - Dario Veron, Paulo da Silva, Julio Cesar Caceres, Claudio Morel Rodriguez and Justo Villa – are all on the other side of 30. Player with best YouTube video: There’s really only one answer: Lucas Barrios. Borussia famously signed him after watching some YouTubers, and we can only assume Paraguay did the same.* * – Dismiss the fact that Paraguayan head honchos likely saw him once or twice while keeping tabs on Nelson Valdez. Player with best name: You know, as much pub as he gets for his status, Roque Santa Cruz just rolls off the tongue like some cheesy romance novel lothario, doesn’t it? Don’t answer that. Player with best nickname: Dario Veron for Hechicero, The Wizard, simply because it’s inspiration to defenders the world over – not all wizards are #10’s. Qualification: They coasted near the top for awhile, beating Dunga’s Brazil and Diegos’ Argentina in the process, but settled out tied with Chile on points in second, one point from the top. Interesting: Their World Cup preparations got off to a potentially ominous start when $100k was stolen from their French hotel. It’s the black cat of World Cup training camp. (No, this isn’t quite as interesting to them.) National Anthem: Paraguayos, República o Muerte (Paraguayans, Republic or Death) World Cup History: Expectations: Paraguay are likely the favorites to finish just behind Italy, but some might be sleeping on Slovakia, who played awfully well away from home in qualifying(played well at home too), so it’s a proper two team battle for second, with the winner likely to face the Netherlands. Paraguay might expect the knockouts, but anything after that will be a bonus. Squad: Paraguay World Cup squad. Blog: Victor runs the point at the Paraguay World Cup Blog. - More World Cup 2010 Team Profiles.

World Cup 2010 Jerseys: Algeria Posted: 24 May 2010 08:10 PM PDT We’re at the end of the African road, at least as far as Puma goes, and thus that precocious little fennec is the last you’ll get to see peeking at you from across the shoulder. A bit sad, isn’t it? I know very little about Algerian fashion. However, I do know a little something about Firefox’s logo – having seen it before and all that – and I can comfortably say that with a slight color tweak, Algeria’s going to make an awful lot of money selling these bad boys onto Mozilla once they’re done. Want one? Buy your Algeria World Cup home shirt in our store. Plain, plain, plain vanilla. All white with accented rings around the end of the sleeve and the fennec in the corner. In other words, they made one base shirt for Ghana and Algeria and varied it slightly in crest, mascot and accent color. The problem is they both look good, and the fox in the corner looking at you for that piece of bread in your hand does enough to detract from what could arguably be a much better shirt. So instead of wondering why Puma saved the money on a highly individualized shirt, you’re left thinking “I wonder if I can sneak one of those past customs as a pet”. Probably not, but you can at least download Firefox. Want one? Buy your Algeria World Cup away shirt in our store. It’s a break, if a slight break, from the Puma away line in that the lines do not look hand-painted, but rather off the press, as they are. Yet like so many of the Puma African kits, it seems almost the bastard lovechild of the other African away kits, such as the green and white stripe of Cote d’Ivoire and the thin red stripe of Cameroon. Generally, you’d chalk it up to laziness and production costs and move on, but here it may be down to something different – perhaps that African unity they’ve been on about. In that case, that special circumstance, dropping a neighborly bread crumb behind might just have a touch of genius about it. (So long as it’s intentional.)

World Cup Warm-Ups Wrap: Peter Crouch is the New Diego Maradona Posted: 24 May 2010 06:10 PM PDT Today was the first day of World Cup warm-up friendly action, with not one, not two, but nine of the World Cup 2010 teams stretching their legs. Read on for quick recaps of the six games played today and a few goal videos, including pearls from England’s Glen Johnson and Argentina’s Angel di Maria. The only video we don’t have is of Portugal’s goals against Cape Verde, but that’s mostly because they didn’t manage to score any. England 3-1 Mexico Most high profile game was arguably England vs Mexico at Wembley. Not a great performance from either team, and Mexico could have come away with a draw if they’d remembered their shooting boots (particularly Carlos Vela). But it finished 3-1 to England, with a header from Ledley King, a Maradona-86-esque effort goal from Peter Crouch (handball, not dribbling) and surprising evidence that Glen Johnson has a sweet left foot. Mexico’s reply came though Guillermo Franco at the end of the first half. Australia 2-1 New Zealand The biggest derby of the day also turned out to be the cruelest game. Plucky little New Zealand took a 1-0 lead away to Australia in the 16th minute through a Chris Killen goal, only for Australia to slide tackle their way back into the game, equalize in the 57th through young Dario Vidosic and then win 2-1 in the 94th minute thanks to Brett Holman. Japan 0-2 South Korea The battle of the World Cup 2002 hosts saw South Korea take a two goal victory in Japan. Park Ji-Sung opened the scoring after just six minutes by running straight through the Japanese defence, and then Park Chu-Young made it 2-0 from the penalty spot in the 90th. Apparenly Japan manager Takeshi Okada – who had been talking about making the semi-finals at World Cup 2010 – did not take the result well, and attempted to resign after the game: “As the president told me I should carry on, I guess I have no choice but do it,” Okada said. ”The players gave it everything they had but we have lost twice in one year (to South Korea) and I feel very sorry about that. ”It is our job to get results and we couldn’t do that and I feel responsible. We just have to move forward and keep believing in ourselves.” Inspiring words Takeshi. Argentina 5-0 Canada The beating of the day could probably have been predicted beforehand. Argentina put five good goals past Canada, even without Leo Messi. Liverpool’s Maxi Rodriguez bagged put an obtuse free kick off the post and in, and then benefited from a Canadian defensive mix up for his second. Angel di Maria scored the third with what looked like the outside of his little left foot, another defensive mistake allowed Carlos Teveza tap-in, before Kun Aguero came off the bench to roast defender Richard Hastings and make it five. Portugal 0-0 Cape Verde Actually, this should have been the beating of the day. But instead a full strength Portugal could only manage a 0-0 draw against tiny Cape Verde. Coach Carlos Queiroz was happy (!) though, so no need to worry Portugal fans. South Africa 1-1 Bulgaria World Cup hosts South Africa continued their build up with a perfectly respectable 1-1 draw vs Bulgaria in Johannesburg. The brilliantly named Golden Arrows defender Doctor Siyabonga Sangweni (I don’t know if that’s a nickname or an M.D. related title) headed Bafana Bafana in front, only for Ivan Stoyanov to ruin the paryt by equalizing. The World Cup warm up games continue tomorrow with: Georgia v. Cameroon Greece v. North Korea Ireland v. Paraguay United States v. Czech Republic Check out the full schedule of pre-World Cup friendlies by clicking that link.

Daily Dose: May 24th, 2010 Posted: 24 May 2010 05:10 PM PDT More on FIFA vs South Africa… Which World Cup team are you? (The Gaffer) “The Homes of Football” exhibition (some NSFW) (Stuart Clarke) Oceania’s international soccer stadiums (The Best Eleven) FOX’s Champions League final efforts assessed… (Dirty Tackle) … also, the TV ratings are in, and they’re… OK (EPL Talk) ZM’s team of the season (Zonal Marking) Dribbling with Jesus. Navas that is. (UEFA) Bonus link: (for us anyway) The Lost XI football team over at The Offside.

Sony 3D & Kaka: Blowing Your Mind, Amongst Other Things. Posted: 24 May 2010 03:40 PM PDT Nausea, indigestion, headache, cramping, ruptured spleen, various forms of cancer – no, these are not symptoms of imminent death, at least not exclusively, but rather side effects of football in Sony 3D without the proper equipment. Which makes it awfully convenient when you hold the the cure, as Sony does. Basically it’s the technological equivalent of the diseases leaked by pharmaceutical companies enabling them to market their product as the cure you need. Like AIDS, but without forgetting that one teensie tiny little part. Sony enlisted Kaka to play someone who looks and plays like Kaka, but you can’t definitively say is Kaka. Real Madrid fans argue that they don’t know what Kaka looks like anyway. We hear you. They then doubled the frames to appear in 3D when it actually isn’t; keeping with the mathematical theme, they also cut down the quality of football to a fraction, just so you can see how bad the football will look in 3D without a 3D television. For which they will provide the solution. Conveniently. (A bottle of Tylenol is much cheaper it should be said.) The ad itself is difficult to watch, which can’t be considered the most brilliant stroke of advertising genius the world has ever seen, so you won’t lose street cred for closing the window. Knowing very little about the details of 3D, Sony will be providing Fan Fests in seven cities – Berlin, London, Mexico City, Paris, Rio De Janeiro, Rome, and Sydney – where the games can be viewed in giant screens in 3D. Otherwise, you’ll have to wait for the release of their special discs and whatever else once the trophy has long been hoisted. And Sony wants you there, at the fan fests, in the cinemas, where they’ll be waiting with some Peptobismol and a consoling shoulder rub.

World Cup 2010 Jerseys: Switzerland Posted: 24 May 2010 12:40 PM PDT Switzerland Home Shirt Want one? Find your Switzerland home jersey in our store. In earlier reviews I’ve celebrated simplicity. The Greece jersey for example. But I’m struggling to say the same about this Swiss effort from Puma. There’s nothing really wrong with it. I like the red. I quite like the retro-ish collar. It’s just very… safe. Neutral even. Which might be the point. Maybe all national team jerseys should reflect that nation’s foreign policy? That’s another blog post for another time. Switzerland Away Shirt Want one? Find your Switzerland away jersey in our store. Again, I can’t avoid the Greece comparison here. I really wish Switzerland had gone with the red/white to white/red mirror image for the away jersey. Puma have gone halfway here, but in the process they’ve removed the collar, which was arguably the best thing about the Switzerland home shirt. Actually, removing the collar is like saying home games are formal, away games a little more casual. That’s my take on Switzerland’s World Cup jerseys. What do you think?

The Weekly Answers: World Cup Eyes Posted: 24 May 2010 11:40 AM PDT The verdict is in, and Mark Schwarzer wants an apology. Answers after the jump. 1. Mattia Cassani – Italy 2. Steve Mandanda – France (sairax) 3. Javier Hernandez – Mexico (andrea4m) 4. Walter Samuel – Argentina (sairax) 5. Geremi – Cameroon (nikoolaa) 6. Gary Medel – Chile 7. Per Mertesacker – Germany 8. Aaron Mokoena – South Africa 9. Junichi Inamoto – Japan 10. Mark Schwarzer – Australia 11. Jamie Carragher – England (Luka) 12. Juan Manuel Mata – Spain

Thou Shalt Pray For Thy World Cup Victory Posted: 24 May 2010 10:10 AM PDT You know it’s going to be an awfully good week when your Monday morning intertube coasting takes you to the Church of England official website, even if you’re a bit disappointed the whole thing isn’t written on proper papyrus scroll and unleashed onto the world wide as a scanned image file. Without apparently much else to pray for at the moment – that “peace on earth” mantra has been falling on deaf ears for quite some time – the Church of England has written three prays specifically for the World Cup. A nice gesture, but not really my cup of Jesus. Two are for those who care about the World Cup; the third is for those who wish to avoid 25 to life in the local pen six months in a mental rehabilitation facility. It’s much less fun than anticipated too. There are no lines wishing for a Wayne Rooney hat trick, Fabio Capello lifting the World Cup trophy along with the Picasso and Matisse he lifted from Paris, or for someone to point John Terry in the general direction of international class defending. Prayers for all those involved in the World Cup Lord of all the nations, who played the cosmos into being, guide, guard and protect all who work or play in the World Cup. May all find in this competition a source of celebration, an experience of common humanity and a growing attitude of generous sportsmanship to others. Amen. God of the nations, who has always called his people to be a blessing for the world, bless all who take part in the World Cup. Smile on South Africa in her hosting, on the nations represented in competition and on those who travel to join in the party. Amen. A prayer for those simply not interested Lord, as all around are gripped with World Cup fever, bless us with understanding, strengthen us with patience and grant us the gift of sympathy if needed. Amen. Let it be known that the prayer for those observing the inanity is merely the more verbose religious incarnation of “serenity now”.

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World Cup 2010 Blog: “The Nike Ad That Came Before The Nike Ad” plus 3 more

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• The Nike Ad That Came Before The Nike Ad
• The Maradona Files: Diego’s Royal Bidet
• Mathieu Valbuena: The World Cup’s 40 Year Old Virgin?
• Slovakia: The Born-Again World Cup Virgin

The Nike Ad That Came Before The Nike Ad Posted: 24 May 2010 01:40 AM PDT In the real world, it’s awfully rare that I come across anything football-related in my travels, and yet I simply have not been able to escape That Nike Ad for the last week – obviously for good reason. The YouTube embed is positively everywhere, in the most obscure, unsporting of places, putting the virus into viral, and causing nightmares of Wayne Rooney doing Brad Pitt’s accent from Snatch. But before there was That Nike Ad by Wieden + Kennedy, there was Bloed Oranje by the same outfit, which makes no bones in calling out the 1974 Dutch edition. And it’s just as good. The scale isn’t quite the same and doesn’t glisten with as much polish, therefore it’s a bit apples and oranjes, but it can easily stand on the shelf right next to its more famous younger brother, even if their casting does leave a little something to be desired. Bloed Oranje is a Dutch campaign for South Africa 2010, one which culminated in a patriotic assault on The Dam in Amsterdam declaring the World Cup trophy already spoken for (bezet = taken). I went to the website for bloedoranje and…spoilers ahead… …it’s the KNVB official website. (Eventually.) High praise for such anarchy from the men upstairs, even if the permits were folded crisply into their back pockets and even the sticky stuff from the tape removed before anyone really knew what’d happened.

The Maradona Files: Diego’s Royal Bidet Posted: 24 May 2010 12:10 AM PDT Whether or not Argentina wins this one too, this summer’s World Cup will be just like 1986: all Maradona. His manner of squad announcements – breakin’ legs and spittin’ insults – was only a teaser, and the new levels of absurdity will be trumped every few days. The latest on the list: a special bidet being installed for his royal asshole. At least he’s had the good sense to finally wash out his mouth. Not to mention the strides he’s making in creating jobs for South Africans with his request – or the Argentina FA’s request on his behalf – that the bathroom be more or less gutted so he can sit upon his royal throne. The Argentine Football Association this week requested staff at the University of Pretoria’s High Performance Centre – the team’s base for the World Cup – to tear down the standard wash basins, toilet bowls and cisterns in the two bathrooms reserved for the football legend because they would not meet his “high standards”. The centre hastily replaced these on Thursday with fancy Eurosmart taps, basin mixers, dark wood vanity cabinets, and new toilet bowls, including a special bidet with two settings for Maradona’s bedroom. For those of you who are brave enough to come toe-to-toe with a mental image of Diego on the pot, do read on: The E-Bidet features a heated seat, a warm air blow-dryer and front and rear bidet wands. Therefore he’ll have hot air blown up his ass even while taking care of business. You really couldn’t make this stuff if you wanted to. That’s not all, however, for Diego’s crew or the rest of the divas at the World Cup. Ten hot dishes a day as well as 14 different salads for every meal; Three different pasta sauces with each meal and at least three puddings; A braai once in three days; and Ice cream to be available all day. Judging by the look of a braai, it’s a wonder Diego didn’t request a firehose on standby – “break glass in case of emergency” and all that. And we can EXCLUSIVELY reveal Diego has hired the Ice Cream Kid as Argentina’s team dietitian. In other Mariah Carey news: - Brazil request the pool be set at a firm 32C, along with “hot hot coffee, hot hot coffee and hot hot coffee, a lot of cookies – and no chocolate”, leading to rumors Ronaldinho might actually be called up. - Mexico have a priest on the payroll. - Italy are flying in their own gym equipment and pasta, doing everything possible to dispel the stereotypes. - New Zealand wants golf lessons for some of their players (there’s an early vacation joke in here somewhere). - Slovakia needs an electronic dartboard and two table tennis tables. - North Korea requires an entire hotel floor for reasons which are unknown. - Ghana just wants to watch some African TV. You know, they make it seem like everyone’s cutting vacations short for the World Cup, but it sounds suspiciously like everyone’s going on vacation.

Mathieu Valbuena: The World Cup’s 40 Year Old Virgin? Posted: 23 May 2010 10:16 AM PDT Welcome to Domenech’s world Valbuena!  You are in for a long, bumpy ride… To my knowledge (which I will admit, is not exhaustive), there are no 40 year olds playing in the World Cup this summer.  Even Italy isn’t that desperate or naive, at least this summer (though I’m sure they would call Maldini if they thought he would actually come!).  But, football years are kind of like dog years, meaning that the threshhold for what is considered “old” is actually relatively young.  This is especially true in France, which has a strong youth training academy.  If players aren’t integrated into the national team set-up at a fairly young age, the chances of them getting called-up later is almost non-existant.   It’s even more strange to call-up a player to the World Cup that has not only never been capped, but hasn’t even been called-up before at any level (youth teams included).  But in South Africa this summer, Mathieu Valbuena has managed to overcome his lack of international caps, and has the opportunity to represent France for the first time in his career this summer.  Mathieu Valbuena (France, Marseille) Birthday:  September 28, 1984 (25 years) International Caps:  0 Mathieu Valbuena (aka the Small Bike, Leprachaun or Elf) started his career with Ligue 1’s Bordeaux, but he was dropped because of his height (5′5″).  From there, he moved to the lower divisions in France where his exploits earned him the title of Ligue 2 Player of the Year in 2006 and a contract with Olympique de Marseille.  His return to Ligue 1 was delayed by injuries, but eventually he won over the Marseille fans with his tenacious style, speed and goal scoring ability.  This was no small feat considering he was charged with the task of filling the big shoes left by Ribery when he left Marseille for Bayern.  And though Valbuena is not the type of player to score 15+ a season, he has developed a knack for scoring goals when Marseille needs them the most.  The most famous, of course, is his game winning goal at Anfield against Liverpool in the Champions League (see video below). Given Valbuena’s contributions to the club over the past few years, it was surprising when Deschamps declared at the beginning of the 09/10 season that Valbuena services were no longer needed at Marseille. At first it looked like Valbuena would not be playing at Marseille this season, but the transfer window passed without a deal being reached with any other clubs. Still, Deschamps used Valbuena sparingly and their relationship continued to deteriorate- culminating in Matthieu publicly criticizing Deschamps in interviews with the French press.  However, by chance, Valbuena was able to get more starting opportunities in Marseille’s side through injuries, suspensions and poor form of Marseille’s other attacking options (Niang, Brandao, Kone and Ben Arfa).  And he used these opportunities to his advantage, playing a huge role in Marseille’s Ligue 1 title win this season and finally earning himself a callup from Raymond Domenech to represent France this summer at the World Cup.   As a France and Marseille fan, I’m thrilled that Valbuena is finally getting the opportunity to showcase his skills on a bigger stage.  I’m sure he won’t be a starter in Domenech’s Starting XI (unless something goes tragically wrong…not entirely unlikely given our luck)- but I think his biggest contributions to the team will be off the field.  Valbuena was chosen over France’s more established, younger and talented Samir Nasri and Hatem Ben Arfa because he brings something to the team neither of those players have managed to do:  a good attitude.  Valbuena is just happy to be included and is willing to do anything it takes to make sure he doesn’t mess up this oppotunity or ruffle any feathers.  In short, his desire to please both Domenech and his other teammates will be a welcome change from the moody teenage angst often associated with the French youngsters.  I would be interested to know if any of our reader’s favorite teams will be taking any 40 year old virgins to the World Cup this summer- or are France the only team brave enough (or desperate enough) to try something new this summer?

Slovakia: The Born-Again World Cup Virgin Posted: 23 May 2010 08:40 AM PDT   Slovkia teammates Martin Skrtel and Jan Durica celebrate after beating their former countrymen from the Czech Republic. When Slovakia arrives in South Africa this summer, they will be the sole World Cup virgin in the tournament. Technically. For those who either failed European History or failed to keep up with current events since they took European History, Slovakia use to be part of a former European football powerhouse: Czechoslovakia (Euro: 3rd in 1980, Champions 1976, 3rd in 1960; World Cup: Quarters 1990, Final 1962, Quarters 1938, Finals 1934). Though the countries split peacefully in 1993 in what is known as the “Velvet Divorce,” they actually played together in the qualification campaign for the 1994 World Cup in a united team creatively named “Representatives of Czechs and Slovaks.”  However, the team failed to qualify and after 1994 the sports teams were officially split. The Czech Republic rebounded quickly, finishing as runner up at Euro ‘96. And though their results have been mixed since 1996, the Czech Republic lost their World Cup virginity at World Cup 2006 in Germany.  Ironically, though first World Cup opponent USA was technically the more experienced of the two, the Czech Republic definitely delivered the better performance and earned a 3-0 win. While the Czech Republic, if only inconsistently, reminded the world of the their potent ability – Slovakia remained hidden in their shadow until their emergence as the top team in UEFA Group 3 of the World Cup qualifying campaign.  The group, which pitted Slovakia against their former countrymen, the Czech Republic as well as regional rivals Slovenia and Poland and Northern Ireland.  (NOTE:  Apparently San Marino was also in that group…but if you only score 1 goal, allow 47 goals against and lose every game, does that really count as participating?) Slovakia’s qualifying numbers and stats are impressive.  Though, let’s be honest, the number of past conquests don’t usually accurately describe the actual form and ability of the teams in question or allow you to predict how they will perform under pressure…but, when looking at their group- it seems like there is a real possibility they could make it past the initial group stage.    After all, there are other factors to consider- pressure, injuries, fatigue, mentality, confidence etc- to detemine how they will perform when it counts.  But for World Cup virgins, one of those factors is the status of the “underdog.”  The title has the power to motivate the team and place more pressure on the shoulders of the more experienced opposition.  Underdogs are easy to like since they haven’t been on the big stage long enough to piss people off and they tend to be pretty respectful and lack the obnoxious cocky attitude.  Spectators that aren’t explicit fans of the opposition tend to root for the underdog by default, people love a  good upset because it makes a dramatic story, Slovakia will be motivated in each World Cup match to prove themselves and, let’s be honest, they don’t really have anything to lose- no one expects them to win. Slovakia also demonstrated serious perseverance during their qualification campaign- so I doubt they will be easily broken down- either mentally or physically.  The Slovakian campaign was hardly smooth- they lost twice to Slovenia and qualified as first on their final match against Poland where they triumphed 1-0.  This display of maturity and determination suggests that, despite their recently rediscovered World Cup naivete, they may have the mental conditioning to succeed this summer in Africa.  If they do so-they will join an elite group of teams that managed to make a stunning debut in their first World Cup… Previous Successful Former World Cup Virgins Senegal, The Vengeful Virgin:  Senegal made it to the quarterfinals at their first World Cup in 2002.  This deal was sweetened by their famous win over its former colonial holder and (at the time) current reigning World Cup Champions, France, in game 1.  Now, this revenge probably didn’t heal all Senegal’s colonial wounds…but it certainly helped at least for a short period of time.   For more on Senegal’s 2002 World Cup journey- check out this review from Zonal Marking. Nigeria, The Well-Coached Virgin: Nigeria qualified for the knock-out stages in the 1994 World Cup edition held in the US ahead of Argentina (the Maradona Drug Suspension Edition) and Bulgaria (the Hristo Stoichkov edition).  The “golden age” of Nigerian football was ushered in by the work of Clemens Westerhof, is not only credited with introducing Nigeria’s most famous players to the world stage but also with demonstrating the potential of African football. Ireland, The Beginners Luck Virgin: Ireland may have used up all their luck in 1990 when they landed themselves in the quarterfinal.  Their group performance consisted of three close draws  against England, Egypt and the Netherlands- which allowed them to qualify for the first knock-out round versus Romania.  Like their games at the group stage, this was a close game that came down to penalties.  In the end, Ireland’s keeper produced a lucky save to put the Irish in the quarters where they eventually lost to Italy. For more information on Slovakia and how the team is preparing for this summer, check out the Slovakia blog!

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