World Cup 2010 Blog: “World Cup Team History: Côte d’Ivoire.” plus 1 more

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World Cup Team History: Côte d’Ivoire. Posted: 08 Apr 2010 04:40 AM PDT For a country with such expectations going into South Africa, Côte d’Ivoire doesn’t have much of a World Cup history – and what little of it there is isn’t spectacular. So 2010 will be something of a fresh beginning, they’ll hope. World Cup 2006, Germany From the outset, it was never going to go well: Argentina, Holland, Serbia & Montenegro. The first two need no introduction, but Serbia & Montenegro had that Famous Four defense which conceded a lone goal in qualification. They’d become much less Famous after being shellacked by Argentina 6-0, but it was still a daunting task for the Ivory Coast/Cote d’Ivoire (however you prefer). Their first World Cup debut, as opposed to their second debut, was against Argentina, which really isn’t nice. No hospitable warm up or anything of the sort, even if expectations were tepid by lofty Argentine standards. The Superstar, Drogba, would get his goal, but it wouldn’t end well: a 2-1 loss. The next game was no great reprieve, coming up against the Netherlands. As was the case with the first game, they’d go down two goals – each game featuring one from a veteran poacher. From there, it would be bittersweet: Bakary Kone’s good finishing and even better cornrows would get a goal back, but it was Didier Zokora’s screamer off the woodwork which led to wondering what could’ve been. A draw possible, but another 2-1 loss, and an early exit from the World Cup, it would be. That brought up the mathematically meaningless game between CdI and S&M, as neither team had anything left to play for. This one begun with an all too familiar tone: an early 2-0 hole. But from there, it was the Ivory Coast’s comeback show. A penalty scored – twice – by Arouna Dindane, a header after sub Albert Nad had been sent off – followed by a superb dance routine at the corner with Didier Drogba – and another late, late penalty meant their first ever World Cup win. It also means the Ivory Coast is the only World Cup team in history to score a goal in every World Cup game in which they’ve played (or so says Wikipedia). No pressure in the Group O’Death… - For more on the Ivory Coast read Elliot’s Ivory Coast blog. - Find more World Cup team histories here.

Uruguay World Cup 2010 Team Profile Posted: 07 Apr 2010 08:44 AM PDT Uruguay have been drawn into World Cup 2010 Group A, along with France, Mexico and host nation South Africa. Not an easy group, but Uruguay will be glad to return to World Cup action after missing out in 2006. Read on for our Uruguay team profile, which is hopefully informative but isn’t meant to be authoritative. So if you disagree with anything in the preview, feel free to do so via the comments. Nickname: La Celeste Olímpica (The Olympic Sky Blue) or just La Celeste. FIFA World Ranking as of March 31st 2010: #18 Coach: The man in charge is Oscar Tabárez. There’s not a great deal of info about Tabárez out there (at least not in English anyway), but I can tell you he’s been in charge since 2006 and has managed more club teams than you’ve had hot dinners. From Peñarol in his native Uruguay, to Deportivo Cali in Colombia, Boca Juniors in Argentina, Real Ovideo in Spain and even the might Milan in Italy (though only briefly, in 1996). Tabárez has lead Uruguay before, coaching Enzo Francescoli and co. to the last 16 at the 1990 World Cup, and recently made the semi-finals of the Copa America in 2007. Key Players: The obvious standouts is striker Diego Forlan, who may need a haircut but has no trouble finding the back of the net. The Atletico Madrid striker won the Pichichi award fortop scorer in La Liga last season, as well the European Golden Shoe. If Forlan doesn’t get you then Luis Suarez might. The strong but nimble forward has been banging in goals for Ajax (where he’s captain at 23) and has formed a productive international partnership with Forlan. Last but not least is captain and central defender Diego Lugano, who earns his money in the Turkish Superlig with Fenerbahçe. Player with best YouTube video: Got to be Luis Suarez. The man can dribble. Player with best name: Diego Lugano. Because you know at least one commentator will accidentally call him Diego Luna in the coming months. Player with best nickname: Easily Diego Forlan, who’s known as “Cachabacha”, a fictional South American witch. I’ll leave you to guess why that is. Qualification: Only just. Uruguay could have secured automatic qualification by beating Argentina in the final game of CONMEBOL qualifying, but lost 1-0 to an 84th minute goal instead, and so had to face a play-off against CONCACAF’s Costa Rica, which La Celeste won 2-1 over two legs. Doesn’t matter how you get there though, as long as you get there. Interesting: The four stars above the Uruguay crest represent their two World Cup wins, plus two Olympic gold medals. But we’ll let it slide, because the two golds were won in 1924 and 1928, back when the summer Olympics was the only world championship for international football teams. National Anthem: Himno Nacional Uruguayo is apparently the longest national anthem in the world. For more on the anthem, read this. Kit: Sky blue shirt, black shorts, black socks. The 2010 home jersey looks like this: More detailed review here, or you can buy your Uruguay World Cup jersey in our store. World Cup History: 1930 – Champions 1950 – Champions 1954 – Semi-Final 1962 – First Round 1966 – Quarter-Final 1970 – Semi-Final 1974 – First Round 1986 – Second Round 1990 – Second Round 2002 – First Round Expectations: Group A is tough, but Uruguay will expect to make it to the last 16. Squad: TBA Blog: Esteban is following La Celesre on the Uruguay blog. - More World Cup 2010 Team Profiles.

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World Cup 2010 Blog: “World Cup Moments: The Graham Poll, Mwepu Ilunga & Diana Ross Trio of High Comedy” plus 2 more

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• World Cup Moments: The Graham Poll, Mwepu Ilunga & Diana Ross Trio of High Comedy
• World Cup Moments: France’s Green and White Stripes Shirts From 1978
• France World Cup 2010 Team Profile

World Cup Moments: The Graham Poll, Mwepu Ilunga & Diana Ross Trio of High Comedy Posted: 07 Apr 2010 05:40 AM PDT Most of the World Cup’s greatest moments involve tears from someone – either good or bad. These also involved tears, but more the “bellowing into laughter” kind – the light side of football. The wrong way – Zaire, 1974 Zaire had a rough go of World Cup 1974. While Holland were enthralling with Total Football, they were being totally blown out. A 3-0 with Brazil gets the most pub, but that was a close game compared to the 9-0 they suffered against Yugoslavia the game previous. As one would expect, 9-0 losses typically represent the low mark of a World Cup experience. (If it doesn’t, support groups should be formed.) If anything could represent the high mark of a 0, 14, -14 World Cup record, it was Mwepu Ilunga’s confusion before a Brazilian free kick. With Brazil setting up for a free kick 20m from Zaire’s goal, Ilunga had a sudden bout of amnesia and forgot that it was not, in fact, their free kick. Ilunga, like any good footballer, disagrees with the notion he did anything wrong and stands his ground. *** The third yellow – Josip Simunic v Australia, 2006 There are many times when football fans think a referee should retire based on a colossal faux pas. Most don’t comply; Graham Poll, however, did. In the final group match between Australia & Croatia, the Aussies needed only a draw to advance through to the knockout. Between the 85th & 87th minutes and the score an even 202, both team had a player sent off, making it 10 v 10. In the 90th, Croatia were handicapped further after Josip Simunic – that’s Australian-born Josip Simunic – received his second yellow. Only Poll hadn’t noticed two yellows equal a red, and allowed Simunic to continue on…until the 93rd, when he received his third yellow and a long (well, three minute) overdue shower. Australia still went through and Poll retired from international refereeing on the back of his little oopsie. *** The Diana Ross penalty, 1994 If there was ever proof the only diva who should be taking penalties is Cristiano Ronaldo, this is it. Ridiculous things happen when non-footballers, particularly non-footballers wearing non-footballing shoes, are asked to perform the simplest of footballing tasks. This was to be the case when FIFA asked Diana Ross to “kick off” the 1994 World Cup with the simplest of tasks: put the ball into an exploding goal frame. Diana tried the Paradinha-with-backslide, which even the greatest of footballers would find difficult. She failed miserably. - For more World Cup Moments, go here.

World Cup Moments: France’s Green and White Stripes Shirts From 1978 Posted: 06 Apr 2010 07:10 PM PDT I’ve read two different explanations for why France wore green and white shirts in their group game vs Hungary at the 1978 World Cup in Argentina. Explanation #1 is that Argentinean television was to blame: Argentina was a country still viewing television broadcasts in black and white back then, so all matches had to feature one team wearing a dark-coloured strip, the other a light-coloured strip. As France’s blue shirts and Hungary’s red ones were deemed to be of too similar a shade for monochrome TV, France were asked to wear a change strip. They didn’t have one. Explanation #2 is that this was a mistake caused by both teams bringing only one set of jerseys to the game, which were both the same colour: The two teams were horrified when it was discovered they had arrived armed only with their road uniforms, which were both white. I’m inclined to go with explanation #2, if only because you can see in the above photo that Hungary clearly had their white away kits handy. So if France had brought their blue home kits, there wouldn’t have been a problem. Either way, the the game was apparently in danger of being abandoned unless a solution was found, and so someone had the idea that France could borrow the green and white striped jerseys of local team Club Atlético Kimberley. So France played against Hungary in the 1978 World Cup wearing the slightly queazy combination of green and white striped jerseys with their traditional blue shorts and red socks. Which is at least one too many colours for a successful uniform.Also, because the French jerseys were 50% white, and the Hungary jerseys were 100% white, it’s still pretty hard to tell the teams apart if you ask me. France won the game 3-1 in their one-off jerseys, but had already lost 2-1 to both Italy and Argentina and so failed to progress. Maybe they should have worn the green and white for all three games? - More World Cup Moments here.

France World Cup 2010 Team Profile Posted: 06 Apr 2010 08:44 AM PDT France will be in Group A, along with South Africa, Uruguay and Mexico. All is not rosy, especially with coach Raymond Domenech, but this is still a team with talent galore to choose from and still the nation that only missed out on winning World Cup 2006 on penalty kicks. Or was it headbutts? Either way, read on for the France team profile, and don’t be afraid to disagree in the comments. Nickname: Les Bleus. (The Blues.) FIFA World Ranking as of March 31st 2010: #8 Coach: Raymond Domenech. Possibly the least popular coach in international football right now. Most fans can’t believe he wasn’t fired after France’s Euro 2008 performance. Whether he’s selecting players based on astrology or proposing to his girlfriend on television after exiting a major tournament, it’s impossible to guess what DomDom will do next. The major source of frustration for France fans right now is Domenech’s insistence on playing two defensive midfielders and only one striker. Key Players: Bordeaux’s Yoann Gourcuff is busy filling the Zinedine Zidane shaped hole in attacking midfield, left winger Florent Malouda is murdering right backs in the Premier League with Chelsea, while Bayern Munich’s Franck Ribery is arguably the most talented of all France’s attacking options, and can play right, left or center. Going forward there’s Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka, young Real Madrid striker Karim Benzema and more to choose from, which seems almost unfair. Until you remember the madman France has entrusted with the choosing process, and the fact that he usually opts to play with just one striker. Player with best YouTube video: I expected it to be Thierry Henry, but this Franck Ribery compilations wins hands down: Honourable mentioned for this Henry video though, from his Arsenal days: Player with best name: Steve Mandanda. Because it’s fun to say. Player with best nickname: I love that Henry happily goes by “Titi”, but the award has to go to Lassana Diarra, who’s shirt at Real Madrid simply reads “Lass”. Qualification: France made a poor start to UEFA Group 7, losing the opening game 3-1 to Austria, and eventually finished in second place, one point behind Serbia. This meant a playoff against Ireland, which has now gone down in football history thanks to Thierry Henry. If you don’t know about this infamous incident already, then Henry handballed (not one, but twice) to set up the goal for William Gallas that won the playoff for France and sent them to World Cup 2010. Interesting: French singer (and former “adult” film actress) Catherine Ringer became an internet sensation last year with a song professing her attraction to Raymond Domenech: “Je Kiffe Raymond”. National Anthem: “La Marseillaise” (”The Song of Marseille”) More on the France national anthem (and other Group A anthems) here. Kit: Blue shirt, white shorts, red socks. Like the flag. Read our France jersey review here and/or buy your France jersey from our store. World Cup History: 1930 – First Round 1934 – First Round 1938 – Quarter-Finals 1954 – First Round 1958 – Semi-Finals 1966 – First Round 1978 – First Round 1982 – Semi-Finals 1986 – Semi-Finals 1998 – Champions 2002 – First Round 2006 – Final Expectations: I’d suggest anything less than quart-finals would be considered a failure. Squad: TBA Blog: We have Sarah, Laurie, Jeff, Inara and new signing Jean-François covering Les Bleus on the France blog. - More World Cup 2010 Team Profiles.

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