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Saturday, January 2, 2010
Bowl recap: New decade, new leaf for Big Ten
Friday, January 1, 2010
World Cup 2010 Blog: “Happy New Year Football Fans” plus 1 more
World Cup 2010 Blog: “Happy New Year Football Fans” plus 1 more |  |
| Posted: 31 Dec 2009 11:00 PM PST Here’s wishing all Offside and WorldCupBlog readers, commenters and bloggers a Happy New Year. Welcome to 2010. I know it’s just a calendar flipping over and starting again, but New Year always fills me with optimism. For life in general and for football in particular. 2010 gives me an especially good feeling, not just because it’s a new decade, but because it’s a World Cup year. Always the best years for football fans. Best of luck to everyone in the new year, and here’s hoping 2010 is a good one for the beautiful game.
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| World Cup Moments: Zaire’s Ilunga Mwepu Deals With a Brazilian Free Kick in 1974 Posted: 31 Dec 2009 06:40 AM PST You might not know the name Ilunga Mwepu. But you’ve probably seen him in action. Mwepu is the famous Zaire right back who cleared a Brazilian free kick in a 1974 World Cup group game by lashing it up the field. Before the Brazilians had chance to take it. Obviously you can’t do that. So obviously Mwepu was booked (much to his surprise, apparently). In some ways you have to credit Mwepu for his quick thinking. In other ways you have to despair at his lack of football knowledge. Mwepu has become a figure of fun since his inspired moment of madness. But seems he has a great sense of humour about the whole incident. Take his appearance on ’90s football comedy show Fantasy Football League for example. The show had a feature called Phoenix From the Flames, which re-created famous moments from football history. Mwepu agreed to appear, and also to make fun of himself by ruining the attempted recreation in trademark style. Apologies to any dog lovers out there. Obviously it’s hilarious. No point pretending otherwise. But according to Mwepu’s Wikipedia page, there was more going on than we realize. Mwepu claims that the Zaire players’ bonus money was being stolen by dictator Mobutu Sese Sekos’s guards, and the guards had threatened them with violence if they lost by more than three goals to Brazil. Under that sort of pressure, I might clear a free-kick before it’s taken too. Zaire (now the Democratic Republic of Congo) were the first sub-Saharan African nation to qualify for the World Cup. They lost their first group game 2-0 to Scotland, the second 9-0 to Yugoslavia and this final game against Brazil 3-0. Incredible to think how far sub-Saharan African football has come since 1974. At World Cup 2010 it will be the rest of the world fearing the free kicks of Cameroon, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Ghana. Maybe a North Korean or New Zealand player will kick one away? Or maybe not. For more World Cup Moments, click here.
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New Year's Day Bowl Extra: 12 pages of previews, predictions, analysis
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Thursday, December 31, 2009
Five NFL players poised for postseason success
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Wednesday, December 30, 2009
World Cup 2010 Blog: World Cup Moments: Alcides Ghiggia Silences the Maracana in 1950.
World Cup 2010 Blog: World Cup Moments: Alcides Ghiggia Silences the Maracana in 1950. | |
| World Cup Moments: Alcides Ghiggia Silences the Maracana in 1950. Posted: 29 Dec 2009 11:00 AM PST Before there was Pele, there was Alcides Ghiggia. Before there was Brazil, there was Uruguay. And before Brazil became champions, there was heartache. The heartache felt was in 1950, directly after the final. A final held on home soil, in Rio de Janiero, at the mecca known as the Maracana, and a final they lost despite being heavy favorites. They became the first team to lose a World Cup final on its home soil, Italy and Uruguay had won their home finals previously, and are only the second ever. (A blow so crushing they forced Sweden to feel their pain in 1958 under the same circumstances.) Brazil can breathe a bit easier now, but there was a day, as ludicrous as it may seem, when Brazilians thought they “would never win the World Cup” – thanks to Alcides Ghiggia. Brazil opened the scoreline in the 47th, earning a tremendous advantage now 1-0 up and needing only a draw. But it was a 13 minute period in which Alcides Ghiggia took the knife to Brazil and sent the stadium to its knees. In the 66th, Alcides, a pacy winger, burst down the right and cut a ball into the middle, where it was poked home by Juan Schiaffino – who, like Ghiggia, went on to play for Milan, Roma and the Italian national team back when this sort of thing was allowed – to draw level with Brazil. Still needing the full victory, Ghiggia did it again in the 79th, bursting to the right of the goal, but this time tucking it just inside the post. The stadium, as legend has it, went quiet. Uruguay had scored with eleven minutes remaining, taking the lead 2-1. When the whistle sounded Uruguay became World Cup winners for the second time in as many tries, doing so against neighbors and rivals Brazil. Ghiggia became a national icon for his heroics, the second goal a frozen moment of legend. But perhaps more famously, as Ghiggia once said himself, he silenced one of the world’s greatest stadiums:
The story of that final:
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Sporting News experts predict who'll be players of the next decade
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Tuesday, December 29, 2009
World Cup 2010 Blog: World Cup Moments: The Bobby Moore Tackle
World Cup 2010 Blog: World Cup Moments: The Bobby Moore Tackle | |
| World Cup Moments: The Bobby Moore Tackle Posted: 28 Dec 2009 08:40 AM PST Bobby Moore’s tackle on Brazilian winger Jairzinho at the 1970 World Cup is the stuff of legend in England. It’s known simply as “The Bobby Moore Tackle”. I’m posting it here mostly to find out how well know it is outside the land of the Three Lions. The tackle is from the famous England vs Brazil group game at the 1970 World Cup, which Brazil won 1-0. The Bobby Moore tackle was not – as many people think – on Pelé, but on the more dribbly Jairzinho instead. That doesn’t make it any less impressive though.
It wasn’t though. Moore timed his tackle to perfection, wins the ball, then calmly gets up and makes a pass out of defence. Job done. If you keep watching to the end of the video, England really should have scored from the resulting attack. You’ll also see a few slo-mo replays of The Bobby Moore Tackle from a couple of different angles. Think we can all agree it’s a super bit of defending. But I’m curious as to whether this tackle has an international reputation. If you’re reading this from outside England, then were you already familiar with this World Cup moment? Click here for more World Cup Moments, including the iconic moment at the end of this game where Pelé and Bobby Moore swapped shirts.
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