World Cup 2010 Blog: “Euro 2012: Ukraine’s Stray Animal Problem” plus 1 more

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Euro 2012: Ukraine’s Stray Animal Problem Posted: 13 Sep 2010 03:00 PM PDT When a cow was slaughtered to bless the opening of Soccer City in the buildup to this summer’s World Cup, someone somewhere was surely protesting. However, where there are religious and cultural issues at hand, it’s a bit of a grey area and opinions are divided. This one’s a little bit less of a grey area, even for someone who’s anything but an animal lover (guilty): Ukraine may slaughter strays ahead of Euro 2012. Quick, somebody get Sarah McLachlan to do a commercial. Predictably, PETA’s pissed. Activist Tamara Tarnavska seems to be leading the charge while also informing us of all Euro 2012 has to offer (it’s like Vegas, but with football): "The idea is not to stop Euro 2012," she said. "Of course we cannot stop the fans. The fans want to see football [soccer], prostitutes in Kiev and vodka — I cannot stop them with the stray animals. But people who really care about the environment, who really care about the lives of others cannot visit Kiev or the other cities at this time." She continued: "Hundreds of thousands of animals [will be killed across Ukraine in the run-up to the tournament]. The Ukrainian authorities really haven't done anything to take care of the stray animals. No shelters or neutering work. Just catch and kill." "The problem will be resolved without question," said Deputy Prime Minister Borys Kolesnikov, whose portfolio consists exclusively in making sure that Ukraine is prepared to host Euro 2012. "There will be enough money to save all the animals." But Tarnavska says that so far her official appeals have gone unanswered. What's more, she fears that the money dedicated to preserving the country's animals will disappear down a black hole of corruption, as it has in the past. Stereotypes are bad, but also are typically generated for a reason and Ukrainian authorities have been in enough hot water over a lack of progress that even if the money for the safe removal of animals isn’t used to buy Committee Member X’s mistress a new mink, it may go to other things deemed more important, like roadways or vodka. So the animals need saving, and the spotlight has been thrust into use: Already she says the movement has garnered the signature of several celebrities, including George Clooney, Brigit Bardot and Ukrainian world heavyweight champion Vitali Klitschko. Then they should simply allow the Klitschko brothers to run around town punching animal officials in the face, acting the part of superhero, while George Clooney pretends to be a superhero pretty well (but not quite good enough for an Academy Award). Problem solved.

Children Recreate Football’s Greatest Moments Posted: 13 Sep 2010 01:14 PM PDT This commercial, when stumbling in entirely oblivious, comes to realization in stages, something along the lines of…this is half-decent for a home video…hey, that kid’s fairly ridiculous – is that Gato?…wait, that’s Maradona recreated…and finally…oh, it’s a commercial. But seriously, is that first kid Gato? This commercial would also serve as a lesson to all those with designs on tugging at the heart strings of a futbol mad nation.

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World Cup 2010 Blog: Help Wanted in Ghana: Black Stars Look for New Coach

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Help Wanted in Ghana: Black Stars Look for New Coach Posted: 12 Sep 2010 12:07 PM PDT Despite making it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup this summer in South Africa, the man that took them there has declined to extend his contract with the Black Stars. Milovan Rajevac, rejected the four-year extension offered by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for a more lucrative financial deal with Saudi Arabian club, Al-Ahli. In addition to the World Cup quarters appearance, Rajevac helped Ghana reach the finals of the 2009 African Nations Championship and the 2010 African Cup of Nations since arriving in August 2008. Now, the GFA are scrambling to find a suitable replacement for their African Cup of Nations qualifier against Sudan in October. The news that Rajevac was moving on was undoubtedly a hard pill to swallow for both the Federation and Ghana fans.  However, the controversy surrounding why and how this breakdown happened has spawned a few rumors over the relationship between the Ghana Federation and Rajevac.  For more on that, check out the Ghana World Cup Blog entry on the subject. Regardless of how and why it happened, the show must go on and Ghana must decide who will take over the job. GFA President, Kwasi Nyantakyi, told the BBC the Federation is meeting on Monday (September 13) to discuss the vacancy and to review the possible job candidates. We have made no decision at this stage but everything should be clear after the meeting on Monday. We will make all the major decisions about the way forward at the meeting. The key issues to be determined in the meeting are who should be appointed in the interim to oversee the team’s qualifiers should a long-term candidate not be secured in the next few weeks as well as if a Ghanaian be given preference for the job. Unless Ghana has already tracked down a few leads on available coaches, it seems likely an interim coach will be named.  Akwasi Appiah, Rajeva’s assistant, has been named as a possible interim-coach.  It remains to be seen if he will be offered the long-term job.  From what I have sussed out, which admittedly is not based on a thorough background check, Appiah seems to have support in Ghana but not necessarily from the Federation. Earlier this year the Ghana Federation was criticized for the disproportionate gap in salary they paid to Rajevac and Appiah.  In 2008 he was heavily rumored to be offered the management position before agreeing to the position of assistant coach.  The debate surrounding Appiah seems to overlap with the debate over the importance of having a Ghanaian leading the team.  Given the success Rajevac achieved the past few years with Ghana, its hard to argue against their decision but some are questioning the logic behind GFA’s chronic devaluation of Ghanaian coaches as “not good enough.”

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World Cup 2010 Blog: “Asamoah Gyan Would’ve Pulled A Luis Suarez Too” plus 1 more

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Asamoah Gyan Would’ve Pulled A Luis Suarez Too Posted: 09 Sep 2010 11:24 PM PDT That handball by Luis Suarez, rather unmistakable, and subsequent penalty miss by Asamoah Gyan rocked the world far beyond the shores of Ghana. They were something of the darling team, being the only remaining African team in an African World Cup. Since then Suarez has fluctuated between villain and hero so much, typically depending on location, he doesn’t know which way is up anymore (also aided by his constant diving). Gyan, though missing the big penalty, has gone onto bigger things in his future with a big move this week while offering up some even bigger forgiveness. He’s a big man. His Sunderland intro touched on the highly controversial moment from this summer: “I’ve forgiven him it’s part of the game,” Gyan told the Daily Telegraph. “As I always say, if it was me, I would have done the same thing. In the last minute, if you’re going out, he made himself a hero in his country. It was cheating to handle the ball, but I would do the same. Maybe I will do it for Sunderland in one important game. He’s done a great job for his country. “Suárez is a hero because he got his team to the semi-finals. He’s like a hero for that cheating. The referee should have done something about it, but that’s life. Penalties? For me, I have done a good job for my country. I think 90 per cent of the penalties have been scored by me despite that miss. That’s life.” And with that we have possibly the most reasonable, objective and inarguable assessment of the Suarez handball, all from the man it ended up hurting the most. That’s rarely life.

Trapped Chilean Miners Watched Ukraine vs Chile Football Match Posted: 09 Sep 2010 01:00 PM PDT Unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you should know about the Chilean miners who are quite literally living under rock. The 33 men have been trapped nearly half a mile below the earth in a 500 square feet emergency shelter ever since the mine in Copiapo, Chile collapsed last month. It’s going to be months before workers can drill holes deep enough and wide enough to rescue the men. Months. In the meantime, everyone’s thinking up ways to keep the trapped miner’s spirits up and their brains sane. Essentials like food and drink are being lowered down, but there’s also communication with loved ones and all kinds of group dynamic work being done. And, of course, there’s football. Because this past Tuesday the 33 Chilean men trapped in a 500 square feet room were able to watch Chile’s friendly away to Ukraine. A small projecter and a fibre optic cable were lowered down into the shelter, allowing the men were able to project the game onto the wall. Unfortunately Chile lost the friendly match 2-1, but the miners did get to see their national team wearing t-shirts that read “Fuerza Mineros” before the game, which presumably left no doubt in any of the 33 men’s mind that those above ground were thinking of them. One of the trapped miners is an ex-professional footballer named Franklin Lobos, and apparently he did a bit of post-match analysis via phone with rescue workers. Here’s a video news story about the miners watching the game from NDTV: Great stuff, and a nice little reminder of just how important football can be. Even international friendlies.

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