World Cup 2010 Blog: “10 World Cup Questions: Brazil” plus 1 more

---

10 World Cup Questions: Brazil Posted: 19 Apr 2010 11:00 AM PDT Chris and myself have been trying our best to profile each of the 32 teams that will compete at World Cup 2010, but our knowledge about each team is miniscule (or at least mine is anyway) when compared to that of our team bloggers. If you’re unfamiliar with World Cup Blog, then allow me to explain: The blog you’re reading now is the front page, but the core of WCB is the multitude of team specific blogs, including one for each of the World Cup 2010 teams. The authors of these team blogs have forgotten more about their sides than I’ll ever know, so I decided to tap that knowledge by asking each of them a set of 10 questions. Over the next few weeks we’ll be publishing the answers from our team bloggers and sharing their expert knowledge and opinions here on the front page. Today it’s the turn of Duvel from Brazil World Cup Blog. Read on to see his 10 answers, which include the ridiculous imbalance in quality between Brazil’s right back and left back situations. 1. Who is Brazil’s best player? Kaka. Basically he is the guy that sparks the counter-attack, which is a big part of the team under Dunga. Additionally, when teams just load up the box against Brazil, he is the most creative player in Brazil's starting XI to try and break through. 2. What do you think of your coach? I think Dunga’s player selections have been rather dubious over the years. There has been speculation about his motivations for certain call-ups. I think it's an insane idea to pick a player like Julio Baptista, who rarely plays these days, over the likes of Ronaldinho. However, the team plays a much more consistent, disciplined form of football under Dunga, and he deserves credit for that. 3. What do you think of Brazil’s World Cup 2010 kits? The home kits aren't anything too different. The yellow dots/stars on the away kits are pretty stupid. 4. What is Brazil’s biggest strength? The right back position. In my opinion, Brazil has the two best right backs in the world on the same roster in Maicon and Dani Alves. 5. …and biggest weakness? Left back. Historically this is not a position Brazil has struggled at. However, since the retirement of Roberto Carlos this has been a bit of a black hole. Dunga has called a ton of players to this position. None have really stood out. He needs to give Fabio Aurelio an opportunity, which he has not up to this point. 6. If you could steal one player from any other World Cup 2010 team, then who would it be and why? Lionel Messi obviously because he is playing absolutely out of his mind. Hands down the best player in the world this year. A close second would be Phillip Lahm since he would fill a position of real need for our team. 7. Tell us one thing about the Brazil team that the rest of the world might not know… Dunga has called, to my count, 8 different left backs to the national team in the last two years. 8. What would you consider success/failure for Brazil at World Cup 2010? Only winning the World Cup would be considered success. Anything else is an absolute failure when you're talking about a nation blessed with the amount of talent Brazil has. 9. What are you most excited about at World Cup 2010? Call me crazy, but the nervousness of the lead up to the match, and the stress of watching it in progress. 10. Who do you think will win World Cup 2010? If Kaka stays healthy, and Michel Bastos is an average left back, Brazil will host the 2014 World Cup as cup holders. I think both things will happen. - Read more from Duvel over at the Brazil blog, and please ask any follow up questions in the comments.

The World Cup 2010 Commercials Have Begun Posted: 19 Apr 2010 09:25 AM PDT Have you seen this Visa World Cup related commercial yet? It’s about a slightly overweight (possibly English) gentleman who sees a goal on TV, jumps out of his armchair to celebrate, and keeps celebrating all the way to South Africa, where he somehow (and the commercial’s not very clear on this) gets selected to play for one of the 32 teams. Possibly he was picked for his celebratory skills? Good stuff, and it has me excited for the avalanche of expensively assembled football related commercials that will herald the arrival of World Cup 2010. A possibly naive question though: Do you ever wonder why certain companies even bother advertising? Visa is a good example. Their product and symbol is seemingly everywhere already. Very likely it’s in your wallet right now. Yet they still felt the need to put together this ad. Strikes me as money wasted, but I like the idea of companies so ubiquitous making unnecessary commericals purely to entertain us, and to give bloggers something to post on Monday afternoons. [vid spotted on It's Nice That] If that’s got you in a World Cup commercial mood then check out this ESPN tournament primer, and this classic bit of salesmanship from the swoosh. If you spot any quality World Cup commericals, please let us know in the comments, or send an email to tips[at]theoffside[dot]com.

You are subscribed to email updates from World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010 To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

World Cup 2010 Blog: Soundoff: Who Do You Most Want To See Your Team Knock Out in South Africa?

---

Soundoff: Who Do You Most Want To See Your Team Knock Out in South Africa? Posted: 17 Apr 2010 08:00 AM PDT Did a similar themed post over at the England World Cup Blog yesterday and thought it might be interesting to throw it open to everyone. Who is the team you would most like your team to beat in South Africa. For me, I’d like to see England beat Argentina to get a bit of revenge on Diego Maradona for 1986 and all that. Perhaps there is an age-old grudge that you would like to see finally settled. Perhaps you’d like to see your team beat the side that knocked you out four years ago, or perhaps you’re going to be traditional and hope your team beats your traditional rivals. Perhaps you just want to get one over the big boys, Spain and Brazil. That’d give your team the confidence to go a long long way. Perhaps you follow a smaller side, and you are just hoping to beat anyone. Maybe though, you’re not worried as long as your team goes as deep into the tournament as possible. Whichever way, let us know.

You are subscribed to email updates from World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010 To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610

World Cup 2010 Blog: “Podcast: World Cup 2010 Group E Preview: “In Summation: Vote Roger Milla”” plus 1 more

---

Podcast: World Cup 2010 Group E Preview: “In Summation: Vote Roger Milla” Posted: 16 Apr 2010 11:10 AM PDT It’s Friday, so it must be World Cup preview podcast time again. This week it’s the turn of Group E, which features the talents of Cameroon, Denmark, Japan and the Netherlands (and apparently Holland too). Your four co-hosts debate the merits of each team in various categories (some serious: Best Coach, some not so much: Best Celebrity Spokesperson) and then add up the points to see which two teams go through. This fifth episode of the Total Football Soccer Show’s World Cup previews was originally broadcast Thursday, April 15th on WRIR 97.3, and is now available as a podcast. Questions raised include: Did Sam Allardyce longball Hidetoshi Nakata into retirement? Why doesn’t Barack Obama phone Brian McBride? And how much would it suck to be Brian Laudrup? So… Cameroon, Denmark, Japan and the Netherlands. Which two of these these four fine football teams will make the grade? I can’t tell you. Partially because I can’t remember, but mostly because I want you to listen to the podcast and find out that way. - You can download the mp3 here and you can subscribe via iTunes here. - More World Cup 2010 preview podcasts.

10 World Cup Questions: Netherlands Posted: 16 Apr 2010 07:10 AM PDT Chris and myself have been trying our best to profile each of the 32 teams that will compete at World Cup 2010, but our knowledge about each team is miniscule (or at least mine is anyway) when compared to that of our team bloggers. If you’re unfamiliar with World Cup Blog, then allow me to explain: The blog you’re reading now is the front page, but the core of WCB is the multitude of team specific blogs, including one for each of the World Cup 2010 teams. The authors of these team blogs have forgotten more about their sides than I’ll ever know, so I decided to tap that knowledge by asking each of them a set of 10 questions. Over the next few weeks we’ll be publishing the answers from our team bloggers and sharing their expert knowledge and opinions here on the front page. First up is Jan from the very popular Netherlands blog. His 10 answers are below, so read on to become an Oranje expert. 1. Who is your best player? We have many “best players”, which is one of our strengths. Arjen Robben, Robin van Persie and Wesley Sneijder will most probably compete for this tag, but holding midfielders Nigel de Jong and Mark van Bommel might claim this title too. But who knows, maybe old hand Van Nistelrooy will finally claim his place at the highest level… Or will it be newcomer Eljero Elia? 2. What do you think of your coach? Bert van Marwijk might not be the most inspiring coach the Dutch ever produced (amongst Cruyff, Hiddink, Van Gaal) but he seems to have the right profile for team manager. We try not to think about our 2002 campaign under Van Gaal… Van Marwijk is a decent man, doesn’t say or do silly things, is diplomatic and respectful to his players and is above all a realist. He might not discover new ways to play football or perform air-karate kicks along the touch line. He will never insult the media or be caught with his pants down somewhere. He won’t be the most adventurous coach, which is good because the Dutch would like to win a world cup this time, thank you very much…. 3. What do you think of the Netherlands World Cup 2010 kits? I can’t be bothered, really. I don’t care what they wear as long as it’s orange and as long as they win games. I did like the vintage WC2006 kits but other than that I am not fuzzed at all. I do like the blue socks, white shorts, orange shirts combination, 4. What’s your team’s biggest strength? Our pass and move game combined with “total football”. Most of our players have tremendous technical skills and we are always looking forward, looking to create something. Another big strength – since recently – is that we can play as a team. 5. …and biggest weakness? Our biggest strength is also our biggest weakness. We tend to rely on our creative skills to win games. When the going gets tough, we need to be willing and able to work and battle for a result and that’s where we let ourselves down regularly. Another typical Dutch issue is the Battle of the Ego’s. Infighting and power-struggles and all that jazz. Lastly, we tend to think we’re the champs already after two decent games… 6. If you could steal one player from any other World Cup 2010 team, then who would it be and why? We wouldn’t. There would be the language barrier and…sorry…just kiddin’. But I don’t think we would steal a player… Maybe a central defender like John Terry. Our offensive players can compete with the best of the planet and so can our holding midfielders. Our defenders don’t have the international status of big name players, but their statistics are pretty good. So, we’ll stick to the lads we have. 7. Tell us one thing about your team that the rest of the world might not know… Ah, where to start… The Dutch play in Orange due to the link to the Royal Family of Holland, who are named Van Oranje (of Orange). Our most successful and famous squad – the WC1974 squad – shouldn’t have qualified for the World Cup. We played our last qualification game against Belgium. Belgium scored a surefire goal but it was disallowed for off side. The replay clearly showed it wasn’t. We missed a number of center backs due to injuries (Drost, Israel, Laseroms, Hulshof, Mansveld) so coach Michels had to improvise. Young midfielder Arie Haan was put libero and debutant Rijsbergen became stopper. The risk of these two young players was compensated by goalie Jan Jongbloed, a very fast runner and good with his feet. He essentially played libero. Johan Cruyff didn’t go to the World Cup 1978 in Argentina. The rumor was that Danny – his wife – was jealous and didn’t want another Bild-swimming pool incident and told Johan not to go. Recently, Johan disclosed information how right before the WC, some Dutch burglar broke into JC’s house with a gun, trying to rob the Cruyffs. He tied Danny up and had JC at gunpoint. Some hero-stunt got them out of there but Johan decided not to leave Danny alone after that. 8. What would you consider success/failure for your team at World Cup 2010? I personally believe we need to go for gold. But if we are ousted at quarter final level after a great game against a better opponent, I wouldn’t be too sad. If we get to the semis with luck I might be less impressed. But all in all, I want them to win it with great football. 9. What are you most exited about at World Cup 2010? Just the mere fact that it’s on . Waited 4 years for it. I also believe Holland has a squad that could win it. 10. Who do you think will win World Cup 2010? The obvious answer is Holland or Spain. England has a good squad too. Germany is always a contender. And then there’s the South Americans… Brazil and Argentina. The latter have Messi, but they also have Maradona. And who knows, one of the African nations may get far this time around. - More from Jan on Netherlands World Cup Blog.

You are subscribed to email updates from World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010 To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610