World Cup 2010 Blog: “World Cup 2010 National Anthems: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia” plus 1 more

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World Cup 2010 National Anthems: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia Posted: 31 Mar 2010 04:10 PM PDT Before every international football match, the national anthems of the two competing teams are played. It's all about tradition and patriotism, and it's one of my favourite ceremonial things about the World Cup. We're writing about the national anthems of the 32 team at World Cup 2010 four at a time, group by group. Last week we did Group B. So this week it's Group C: England, USA, Algeria and Slovenia. To find out why “God Save the Queen” isn’t actually England’s national anthem, why Roseanne Barr should never be allowed to sing anyone’s national anthem, adn why the Slovenian anthem is very much alcohol influences, read on. National Anthem of England (sort of) This is a little tricky. England doesn’t actually have a national anthem, since “God Save the Queen” is the national anthem of Great Britain. The Scotland and Wales teams sing “The Flower of Scotland” and “Land of my Fathers” respectively before football matches, but the England team sings “God Save the Queen.” It’s all to do with the semi-confusing crossover English people have between “British” and “English” identity, which we definitely don’t have time to get into here. The two best things about “God Save the Queen” are: 1. When there’s a male monarch the lyrics are switched to “God Save the King”. Otherwise the whole thing would be very embarrassing. Got to love a flexible anthem though. 2. England fans have developed a tradition of singing “Der-der-der-der-der-der!” along with the instrumentation just before “Send her victorious”. Important: the national anthem veriosn of “God Save the Queen” is not to be confused with the Sex Pistols version, which isn’t quite so enthusiastic about the monarchy: Lyrics to the British national anthem “God Save the Queen”: God save our gracious Queen, Long live our noble Queen, God save the Queen: Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us: God save the Queen. O Lord, our God, arise, Scatter her enemies, And make them fall. Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks, On Thee our hopes we fix, God save us all. Thy choicest gifts in store, On her be pleased to pour; Long may she reign: May she defend our laws, And ever give us cause To sing with heart and voice God save the Queen Not in this land alone But be God’s mercies known From shore to shore Lord make the nations see That men should brothers be And form one family The wide world over From every latent foe From the assassins blow God save the Queen O’er her thine arm extend For Britain’s sake defend Our mother, prince, and friend God save the Queen The National Anthem of the United States of America The lyrics to “The Star-Spangled Banner” are from the poem “Defence of Fort McHenry”, written by Francis Scott Key in 1814 and later set to the tune of “The Anacreontic Song”. It became widely known and recognized as a patriotic song in the USA and was eventually adopted as the official national anthem in 1931. One of my favourite things about “The Star Spangled Banner” is that celebrity singers are encouraged to add their personal touch when performing. Sometimes this goes well, as with Marvin Gaye before the 1983 NBA All-Star Game: Sometimes not so well, as with Roseanne Barr before a Major Leage Basebeall game in 1990: Shudder. Lyrics to the American national anthem “Star Spangled Banner”: Oh say can you see by the dawn’s early light What so proudly we hailed at the twilight’s last gleaming? Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, O’er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? And the rockets’ red glare, the bombs bursting in air, Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave? On the shore, dimly seen through the glass of the deep, Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes, What is that which the breeze, o’er the towering steep, As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses? Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam, In full glory reflected now shines in the stream: ‘Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. And where is that band who so vauntingly swore That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion, A home and a country should leave us no more! Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution. No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave: And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave. O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand Between their loved home and the war’s desolation! Blest with victory and peace, may the heav’n rescued land Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation. Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just, And this be our motto: ‘In God is our trust.’ And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave! National Anthem of Algeria Known as “Kassaman” (”The Pledge”), the Algerian national anthem was written by Mufdi Zakariah while he was a prisoner of French colonial forces, and later set to music by Egyptian composer Mohamed Fawzi and adopted as the national anthem in 1963, soon after Algerian achieved independence from France, a theme very strongly represented in the lyrics. Lyrics to “Kassaman” (”The Pledge”) in English: We swear by the lightning that destroys, By the streams of generous blood being shed, By the bright flags that wave, Flying proudly on the high mountains, That we have risen up, and whether we live or die, We are resolved that Algeria shall live - So be our witness -be our witness – be our witness! We are soldiers in revolt for truth And we have fought for our independence. When we spoke, none listened to us, So we have taken the noise of gunpowder as our rhythm And the sound of machine guns as our melody, We are resolved that Algeria shall live - So be our witness -be our witness -be our witness! O France, the time of reproof is over And we have ended it as a book is ended; O France, this is the day of reckoning So prepare to receive from us our answer! In our revolution is the end of empty talk; We are resolved that Algeria shall live - So be our witness -be our witness -be our witness! From our heroes we shall make an army come to being, From our dead we shall build up a glory, Our spirits shall ascend to immortality And on our shoulders we shall raise the standard. To the nation’s Liberation Front we have sworn an oath, We are resolved that Algeria shall live - So be our witness -be our witness -be our witness! The cry of the Fatherland sounds from the battlefields. Listen to it and answer the call! Let it be written with the blood of martyrs And be read to future generations. Oh, Glory, we have held out our hand to you, We are resolved that Algeria shall live - So be our witness -be our witness -be our witness! National Anthem of Slovenia “Zdravljica” (”A Toast”) is a poem written by France Prešeren in 1844. The seventh stanza of that poem is mostly about Slovenian unity and independence, and so was adopted as the Slovenian national anthem after indendence from Yugoslavia. The brilliant thing about Prešeren’s poem is that the lyrics to each verse of “The Toast” are designed to form the shape of a wine cup. This can be seen in the English translation, but is more obvious in the original Slovene. Here’s the first verse, just so you get the idea: Spet trte so rodile, prijat’li, vince nam sladkó, ki nam oživlja žile, srce razjásni in oko, ki utopi vse skrbi, v potrtih prsih up budi! Nice, eh? Here are the English language lyrics to “The Toast”: The vintage, friends, is over, And here sweet wine makes, once again, Sad eyes and hearts recover Puts fire into every vein. Drowns dull care Everywhere And summons hope out of despair. To whom with acclamation And song shall we our first toast give? God save our land and nation And all Slovenes where’er they live, Who own the same Blood and name, And who one glorious Mother claim. Let thunder out of heaven Strike down and smite our wanton foe! Now, as it once had thriven, May our dear realm in freedom grow. May fall the last Chains of the past Which bind us still and hold us fast! Let peace, glad conciliation, Come back to us throughout the land! Towards their destination Let Slavs henceforth go hand-in-hand! Thus again Will honour reign To justice pledged in our domain. To you, our pride past measure, Our girls! Your beauty, charm and grace! There surely is no treasure To equal maidens of such race. Sons you’ll bear, Who will dare Defy our foe no matter where. Our hope now, our to-morrow - The youths – we toast and toast with joy. No poisonous blight or sorrow Your love of homeland shall destroy. With us indeed You’re called to heed Its summons in this hour of need. God’s blessing on all nations, Who long and work for that bright day, When o’er earth’s habitations No war, no strife shall hold its sway; Who long to see That all men free, No more shall foes, but neighbours be. At last to our reunion - To us the toast! Let it resound, Since in this great communion By thoughts of brotherhood we’re bound May joyful cheer Ne’er disappear From all good hearts now gathered here. More World Cup 2010 national anthems here.

World Cup 2010 Jerseys: Argentina Posted: 31 Mar 2010 09:15 AM PDT Today we turn our sartorial eyes to Argentina, and the home and away shirts the team will wear at World Cup 2010. All World Cup 2010 jerseys are available in our World Cup 2010 jersey store, but the idea with these posts is that we play (uneducated) fashion critic and cast judgments over colours, patterns and forms. If those are even the correct terms. Read on for my best attempt at a review, and I’d love to hear your reactions in the comments. Argentina Home Shirt - Want one? Find your Argentina home shirt in our World Cup Store. We also have the #10 Messi and official TechFit jerseys available. I’ve always been a big fan of Argentina’s albiceleste stripes. It’s one of the iconic football images, even more so since so few teams wear a similar style. So this jersey is off to a good start. What I’m not entirely happy with is the way the stripes are interrupted. There’s a separate panel on the shoulders to accommodate the adidas three stripes, and that panel interrupts the flow if you ask me. Couldn’t adidas have gotten their striped in there without ruining the more important albiceleste stripes? So I’m not 100% sold on this version, but it’s still a classic design, and will likely look good when matched with black shorts and the black socks. Argentina Away Shirt - You like? Find your Argentina away jersey in our World Cup store. I’m giving this 10 out of 10. Not just because the dark blue contrasts nicely with the white trim, but because this kit is a very clear nod to the Argentina away shirt of the 1986 World Cup. Don’t believe me? Here’s a snapshot of Diego Maradona against England from that year: With Diego Maradona now in charge of the team, and Leo Messi doing Maradona-esque things with the ball, I see this away shirt as both homage to the past and optimism that the current team can maybe match that World Cup winning team of 1986. What do you think of Argentina’s home and away shirts for World Cup 2010?

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World Cup 2010 Blog: “South Africa Make The Fake House for World Cup 2010” plus 1 more

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South Africa Make The Fake House for World Cup 2010 Posted: 29 Mar 2010 12:50 PM PDT I wasn’t a huge fan, but I remember an episode of the sitcom Everybody Loves Raymond where Ray falls out with wife Debra because she’s cleaning the house before they have visitors. I couldn’t find a video clip, but thanks to the excellent OpenSubtitles.org I can quote the argument verbatim. Imagine Ray sitting down and Debra aggressively tidying around him: Ray: Ow! Why do you always do this? Every time we have people over we spend all day making the fake house. Debra: lt’s not fake. lt’s the way the house should be all the time. Ray: But it isn’t, so actually it’s like lying, huh, right? ls that what you’re about, lying to people? Debra: Could you just start clearing everything off the rug, please? What does this have to do with football you ask? Well, turns out South Africa are “making the fake house” for World Cup 2010 by removing the homeless population from World Cup venue cities and temporarily dumping them into overcrowded settlements. Basically the World Cup organizers want the streets looking nice and shiny for June and July 2010 and that involves moving the homeless far, far away. If the relocated people were being given somewhere relatively comfortable for the duration of World Cup 2010, then maybe this would be OK. But according to reports the 300 individuals who’ve been removed from Cape Town so far “have been taken to nearby Blikkiesdorp camp on Cape Flats, where 1,450 families are packed into an area designed for 450 people.” Similarly, 800 people have already been removed from Johannesburg. Johannesburg councillor Sipho Masigo was unrepentant. “Homelessness and begging are big problems in the city,” he said. “You have to clean your house before you have guests. There is nothing wrong with that. “The numbers of homeless are in the hundreds, leading up to thousands.” Clearly councilor Masigo is the Debra in this argument, while the role of Raymond is played by people like Bill Rogers and Warren Whitfield. Bill Rogers, who works with the homeless in Johannesburg, said: “Rather than help people permanently, the government’s obvious intention is to release them back on the streets after the World Cup.” Warren Whitfield, of homeless charity Addiction Action, added: “It’s a cosmetic fix to create an impression of South Africa for football fans which is not real. “We have huge problems with homelessness and that is what the world should see.” Apologies for making light of this with references to syndicated sitcoms. But this is one of those situations that makes me so depressed about the state of humanity that I need to approach it less than directly. What’s most depressing is that this isn’t rare when it comes to international sporting events. The Ghanaian government literally burned shanty towns to the ground to make Kumasi look a bit nicer for Africa Cup of Nations 2008, while China’s very polished hosting of the 2008 Olympics was apparently the result of an increase in human rights abuses. I’m sure we’ll continue to celebrate sporting events like the World Cup as the joyous global spectacles that they are. It’s hard not to, because they’re so damn enjoyable. But when we applaud the host nation for how smoothly everything seems to run during a given tournament, it’s worth remembering that the shiny spectacle we’re seeing is a fake house, and it was made to look that way by sweeping someone else’s suffering under the rug.

Sven Takes Côte d’Ivoire Job, Proving You Can’t Keep Swedes Away From World Cup 2010 Posted: 29 Mar 2010 07:42 AM PDT Sven-Göran Eriksson has been linked with the Cote d’Ivoire coaching job ever since Vahid Halilhodžić was shown the door for his team’s poor Africa Cup of Nations 2010 showing. Yet somehow I was still surprised when Sven was officially announced as the new Elephants boss yesterday. Mostly I’m wondering why they want him. Sven’s 2002 and 2006 England teams didn’t exactly light up the tournament. The 2006 version was especially uninspiring. Sven followed that up with a so-so season at Man City and then an almost laughable attempt to manage Mexico through what should have been an easy CONCACAF World Cup 2010 qualification hexagonal. Sven’s spell in Mexico ended like this: “We told Mr. Eriksson that his term with the national team has finished,” said Justino Compean, president of the Mexican Football Federation in a news conference. “We could not risk Mexico’s participation in the World Cup.” So how does a man who failed to achieve anything notable with England at two previous World Cups and then almost managed to keep Mexico out of this World Cup (don’t worry, El Tri still made thanks to Javier Aguirre’s rescue act) get offered a job coaching one of the more star-studded teams at World Cup 2010? The answer is: I don’t know. Maybe he’s better at coaching than he is at PR, and people in the game think very highly of him? Maybe he has a safe containing incriminating photos of every football association and federation president in the world? Or maybe it’s just because he’s Swedish, and 2010 is the year where Swedish managers are determined to be at the World Cup. Despite Sweden failing to qualify for World Cup 2010, Sven will be joined in South Africa by compatriot Lars Lagerback. Yes, the same Lars Lagerback who failed to get the Swedish national team to the big show, but recently took the Nigeria job. Seems Swedish managers can’t lose, even when they do so a lot. It’s massively unfair maybe, but at least this is good news for Swedish football fans, who may not have Sweden to support at World Cup 2010, but in the first World Cup ever on African soil, they’ll have not one but two African teams to cheer for.

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