World Cup 2010 Blog: “Italy’s World Cup Training Squad” plus 1 more |  |
| Italy’s World Cup Training Squad Posted: 03 May 2010 03:10 AM PDT It seems awfully early, but the FIFA ticker tells us it’s only 38 days away. Must be lying? No, apparently not. With the ticker ticking, squads will start coming fast and furiously. The provisional list of 30 must be sent in by May 11th, but there are excuses for midweek training which can call for choosing a squad rather early, like a free week between domestic games. Marcello Lippi has taken this excuse and run with it, in the process giving us a glimpse into his World Cup provisional 30. And the size of his grapefruits. These are the 29 called up to join in training this week:
You’ll notice there are only 29 while 30 make the provisional squad list*. If Lippi has already made up his mind and this is largely the provisional squad, that one player will come from the week’s Coppa Italia: Daniele De Rossi. It’s an awfully strange indictment of Italian football that the top two teams, the two currently battling for the scudetto, may only combine to send one, but it’s altogether possible. However, it’s purely a hypothesis, and others – including the wild card, Totti – still linger in the background as possibilities. * – The final squad is a list of 23, meaning at least six on this list will be spending their summer somewhere other than a South African pitch. At least by invitation. The two names missing which will cause no surprise but a mix of reactions are Antonio Cassano and Amauri. The former, a footballing genius and he knows it, is persona non grata under Lippi, who prioritizes team above all else – plenty will be disappointed by this. The latter hasn’t seen good form for quite some time and quite frankly isn’t worth the hullaballoo his citizenship application was stamped with – few, on the other hand, will see this as a folly. That’s fine with Fanantonio – he’s got other stuff to do.
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| Qatar’s World Cup 2022 Fantasy Playground Posted: 03 May 2010 01:10 AM PDT It’s off to see the future, and then the wizard. Qatar has no time for World Cup 2010 – they’re looking to the future and beyond with their futuristic World Cup 2022 bid. It’s an awfully tantalizing bid for a number of reasons – billions of them, in fact; reasons which make it seem an awfully likely candidate, particularly if FIFA conduct business as usual. With the bids in full swing, the campaign committee released the first five stadium designs. Jaws at the ready.
Cool concept. Each stadium has its own YouTube video on the bid page with a brief description. Some, like the Al-Rayyan Stadium, already exist and will simply be spruced up for the occasion and, at least in the case of the Al-Rayyan, will be spruced back down once the tournament ends. What’s a month? Sepp’s backed the Qatar bid under a shit storm of handshake accusations – Sepp? never! – and the decision will come in 214 days. Here’s to hoping they build these whatever the outcome.
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Here are the matches that the 32 World Cup teams will be using to tune their tactics and make the final squad decisions before the big show. Mexico is apparently from the “more is better” school of match scheduling. They are playing constantly throughout May and early June. Argentina, as far as published friendlies go, looks to be opting for training camp over match fitness, with only early home matches with Haiti and Canada. Giving themselves more time to soak up the coaching brilliance of Diego, no doubt. 
Will this finally be ‘the year’? They’re not quite a favorite – that’s somewhere between Brazil and Spain right now by most accounts – but they’re certain lurking in that second tier, somewhere behind the Braspana favorite and the darkhorse tag. While most won’t predict it, very few would be surprised if the Netherlands finally get their World Cup.
There’s a 
Only 16 teams entered the 1934 World Cup proper, but to be amongst those 16 the USA faced a playoff against Mexico three days before the tournament began. The playoff was in Rome, and so to all intents and purposes was part of the World Cup. Except officially it was a qualifier. Imagine if that still happened? If Thierry Henry’s handball against Ireland had been three days before World Cup 2010 began? Craziness.
This is a strange one. Because of the surprise 1-0 win over England, USA’s 1950 World Cup is considered a success. Yet the US actually lost the other two group games 3-1 to Spain and 5-2 to Chile, and finished bottom of the pile. However, that shouldn’t detract from what is one of the great World Cup upsets, now known as either the Miracle on Grass (like the 
We should’ve learned by now. It’s really our own fault. Yet it’s hard to click on the monthly FIFA standings and frantically look around like someone’s playing a joke. Which would explain why Sepp Blatter is sitting over there in a Richard Nixon mask. (How’d he get in here?)
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