World Cup 2010 Blog: “WorldCupBlog’s South Africa Meetups” plus 1 more

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WorldCupBlog’s South Africa Meetups Posted: 16 May 2010 03:09 PM PDT Here at WorldCupBlog, we like to think of ourselves as more than a blog or football site. It may sound a bit cheesy to talk about a website being a community, but the fact that some of our bloggers, readers and commenters have been with us for years is proof that a community is exactly what it is. We’re constantly trying to think of ways to reach out and interact more with the users of this site, and in that spirit, we’ve worked in the last year to be more integrated with Facebook and Twitter. We’ve also changed our commenting system to have a more community feel. But a community isn’t just about typing to each other over the web. It’s about fans meeting, sharing a pint, and talking about the sport we love. With that in mind, during this World Cup we’re going to start what we hope will be a long tradition at WorldCupBlog, with three live fan meetups in South Africa. The details are still a little sketchy. We know that thousands of fans are descending on South Africa for the event, but we have never done this before and we don’t know how many of our regular readers will be in South Africa, and how many want to meet up. We don’t have times and exact places set up yet, but here are the dates and cities we will be meeting up during the tournament: 16 June in Durban : morning before Spain v. Switzerland 21 June in Cape Town : morning before Portuga v. North Korea 28 June in Durban : morning before the Round of 16 match Right now, we just want to know what level of interest there is in getting together. Those of us who are going to be in South Africa reporting on the World Cup are really excited to meet any fans and readers and get to know some of the people that make the site what it is. We hope that you are interested too. For those readers that aren’t headed to South Africa, we aren’t forgetting about you either. This is something we are going to be doing more and more, both during the tournament and after. We have bloggers in dozens of cities around the world, and we will be working with them to organize events like this in as many places as we can. So – the question at this point is – who’s game?

Blanc Confirmed to be Next France Coach; France Fans Rejoice Posted: 16 May 2010 08:16 AM PDT The day after Blanc’s final game as the coach of Bordeaux, the club released an official notice confirming Blanc’s departure and his tenure as the France coach after South Africa (pictured below).  While this isn’t really a surprise since Blanc’s “good friend” and former Bleus 98 teammate, Didier Deschamps, practically spilled the beans earlier this week in an interview with L’Equipe. Blanc, himself, refused to confirm on his acceptance of the position before Bordeaux finished its final workout session which took place on Sunday morning.  Bordeaux, who have Blanc officially contracted to work with them until June 2011, are expected to be compensated by the French Football Federation for releasing Blanc from his contract.   The announcement of Domenech’s successor by the FFF has raised eyebrows among fans and the current Les Bleus team.  The French captain, Thierry Henry, has been very open in his distaste for this announcement being made before the World Cup.  But, the FFF, unsurprisingly, refused to listen to public opinion and insisted the announcement take place. Blanc’s reign will not begin until after the South Africa World Cup when Domenech’s contract with the FFF runs out.  And while France fans are optimistic, Blanc will be joining the Bleus on a bit of a sad note in his career.  Bordeaux, which he led to a historic double league and cup title last year, has not faired nearly as well this year- not even qualifying for the Europa League.  The club, in its statement shifted part of the responsibility for the club’s failures this season on the FFF, blaming “members of the FFF” for “prejudicial statements”which, according to the club, “undoubtedly affected (his) end of season (…) and beyond, future seasons. “ In a statement, the FFF President Escalettes said that he was “delighted” in the “declaration of interest” from Blanc and invoked Blanc’s experience and history with Les Bleus. “The sporting past, personality, charisma of Laurent Blanc fit the profile-type of coach that the FFF National Research want after the World Cup in South Africa.” Regardless of his last season at Bordeaux this season, France has been looking forward to Blanc’s confirmation nearly as much as they are looking forward to Domenech leaving the post.  The appointment of Blanc should be formalized by the FFF by May 20 (Federal Council) or May 29 (general meeting).

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World Cup 2010 Blog: “Which Champions League Dutchman Will Be a World Cup Hero?” plus 2 more

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• Which Champions League Dutchman Will Be a World Cup Hero?
• Rewind: Czech Republic 0-2 Ghana at World Cup 2006
• Italy finally going to the World Cup without a #10 headache

Which Champions League Dutchman Will Be a World Cup Hero? Posted: 15 May 2010 02:43 PM PDT A quick question for all you readers out there on this fine Saturday. A week from today, Inter and Bayern Munich face off in the Champions League final in Madrid. Each team has a Netherlands international who has had a very strong year. The question is, which one (Wesley Sneijder or Arjen Robben) will make more of an impact at the World Cup? We have a few videos to make the case for each. Sneijder can do this: Robben watches this and says “Oh yes? Very nice. But I can do this.”: Don’t ask me why Robben speaks with a Special1TV Jose voice in my head. He just does. Also, I’m not sure if that’s the most or least appropriate music ever for a highlight video. Maybe most, just by virtue of not being “Remember the Name”. Complicating the argument, they have exactly the same number of silent or soft J’s in their names. Discuss. Supporting the Oranje at the World Cup? Learn about the Netherlands squad and their opponents in Group E, then put on your Netherlands jersey and keep up to date with all of the team news with Netherlands World Cup Blog. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Rewind: Czech Republic 0-2 Ghana at World Cup 2006 Posted: 15 May 2010 09:22 AM PDT As the World Cup group stage grows tantalizingly close, we can start to look over those 48 group fixtures and think about which will shock us, which will be the surprise of the group stage. In 2006, to my mind anyway, we were a bit short on group stage surprises. In general, the teams that were supposed to win did, moreso I’d say than at a lot of World Cups past. The most surprising result to me was Ghana’s 2-0 win over the Czech Republic in Group E. It’s worth a second look. It was the second round of matches in Group E, and the favorites had already put their stamp on the group during their first times out. Italy had beaten Ghana 2-0, one goal in each half from Pirlo first and then Iaquinta. The Czechs had demolished the USA 3-0, on two goals from Man of the Match Tomas Rosicky (and one from Jan Koller, he of the big tall head). It looked all too straight-forward to guess who would be coming out of that group. Moreover, Ghana had reason to be nervous. It was, after all, their first-ever World Cup. They had plenty of talent, especially in a stacked midfield of Addo, Essien, Appiah and Muntari, but didn’t have the international experience of the Czech side. And they faced a goalkeeper in Petr Cech who was on the shortlist for best in the world at the time. That list was going to be topped this tournament by Gigi Buffon, but still … Cech was on great form. The shock started early, as Gyan Asamoah took a lovely ball in (and admittedly, a defensive error) and snuck the ball past a diving Cech for 1-0 after only 2 minutes. Cech made a brilliant save just after halftime to deny Gyan a second. When Tomas Ujfalusi got himself sent off after the hour mark, it was still 1-0 to the Black Stars, and Sully Muntari made it official in the 82nd minute. The first win, the first points, in Ghana’s World Cup history. And it would not be their last, and USA fans are well aware. They would beat the Americans 2-1 in the final group match to qualify ahead of the Czechs and USA, and only one point behind Italy. A game to remember not just for Ghanaian fans, but one that, for me, sticks out overall from the group stage of World Cup 2006. Supporting Ghana at the World Cup? Learn about the Ghana squad and their opponents in Group D, then put on your Ghana jersey and keep up to date with all of the team news with Ghana World Cup Blog. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Italy finally going to the World Cup without a #10 headache Posted: 15 May 2010 07:44 AM PDT Italy has always been known to produce some of the best creative players in the world. We’re talking about the #10 players, the players that can change games at any instant, the players that are worth the whole ticket price. In Italy, this player is called the “fantasista” (literally one that creates fantasy). Because of Italy’s traditional defensive mindset, years ago there was only room for one creative player on the field, and with usually two of these players on the roster, the whole debate would commence as to who would start and who would ride the pine. There have been many of these debates throughout the years. You could go all the way back to the 1970 World Cup in Mexico, where Italy had two of the best creative players the peninsula has ever produced on the roster: Sandro Mazzola and Gianni Rivera. Italy manager Ferruccio Valcareggi believed that Rivera and Mazzola could not play together on the field, creating the famous “staffetta” (the Italian term for relay race). While fans had their opinions about the situation (favoring Mazzola, favoring Rivera, or wanting Valcareggi to field both and create a Brazilian-style attack), Valcareggi’s staffetta solution meant that Sandro Mazzola would play the first 45 minutes and then at half-time Gianni Rivera would take his place and play the second 45 minutes. Italy reached the final with this method, but they lost to Brazil 4-0. In more modern times, Italy has still always had this problem about fielding only one creative player. At the 1990 World Cup, Italy manager Azeglio Vicini had the following dilemma: Sampdoria striker Gianluca Vialli, who was expected to have a great tournament, or the young emerging Roberto Baggio, who had just been transferred to Juventus and was highly talented. After two disappointing games from Vialli, Baggio took over and showed all his talent, leading Italy to third place (even if Vicini started Vialli over Baggio in the semi-final). At the 1994 World Cup in the United States, although both Roberto Baggio and Gianfranco Zola were on the roster, there were no arguments as to who the starter would be. Baggio was in the form of his life and lead Italy to the final and Zola was the understudy. Fast forward 4 years to France ‘98 and we encounter one of the national team’s biggest debates: Baggio or Del Piero? Roberto Baggio had arguably the best season of his life, scoring 22 goals for Bologna and finishing top scorer of Serie A. Alessandro Del Piero was the emerging star of Italian football and seen by many to be Baggio’s heir. He also had a great season, scoring 32 goals in all competitions, playing a Champions League final, and winning the Scudetto. However an injury late in the season hindered his form. Although Baggio started the first two matches (because of Del Piero’s injury struggles), after that manager Cesare Maldini chose Del Piero. The Juventus striker failed to shine and could never get going, meanwhile an in-form Roberto Baggio was left to wither on the bench. And then to conclude, 2002 and 2006, the era of Totti-Del Piero. As Francesco Totti emerged onto the international stage at Euro 2000, the new debate of #10’s began with Totti vs. Del Piero. At the 2002 World Cup, manager Giovanni Trapattoni firmly chose Totti. He made it well known that Totti was Italy’s leader up front and a lot of the weight was on his shoulders. Totti even took the #10 kit from Del Piero. Totti started all 3 group games, and Del Piero subbed in late for him in 2 of them, even scoring a late goal vs. Mexico. In the Round of 16 game vs. South Korea, Trapattoni finally did what passed Italy managers failed to do: play both players at the same time. Totti and Del Piero were on the field at the same time in dream trident with Christian Vieri. It was working, as Italy were winning the match, but then in the 61st minute Trap decided to go defensive and take off Del Piero. We know how it went from there. Four years ago at the 2006 World Cup, it was again Totti-Del Piero. Totti recovered amazingly from his serious injury and Lippi decided to bring him to the World Cup. He was out of form, but Lippi couldn’t deny his sublime technique. Lippi chose Totti. Totti started all three group games, and Del Piero made sub appearances in the first two. In the Round of 16, Lippi dropped Totti and decided to field a trident of Del Piero-Toni-Gilardino. The game was 0-0 and late on Lippi subbed off Del Piero for Totti. Totti came in, provided the pass to Grosso that caused the penalty kick, and finished it to put Italy through. From then on out it was Totti all the way, although Del Piero got his chances to shine (scoring vs. Germany and scoring a penalty vs. France). Now we come to 2010. Marcello Lippi recently named his 30-man preliminary roster for the World Cup. If you search the roster for a name like Totti or Del Piero, they aren’t there. Neither is Italy’s other great fantasista, Antonio Cassano. Only two traditional number #10 type players are on the roster: Andrea Cossu and Antonio Di Natale. Cagliari’s Andrea Cossu is a unpredictable player that has excellent technique, but most probably he won’t make the final cut. Which leaves one: Antonio Di Natale. The Udinese captain has had the season of his life, scoring 28 goals so far in Serie A and leading Udinese from the relegation basement to safety. Although he has played 31 times for Italy and scored 9 goals, Di Natale has never really replicated his club form with the national side. Sure he has been brilliant in some games, but his national team performance record is very inconsistent. And yet, Lippi is putting faith the 32 year old Neapolitan to be Italy’s talisman this summer. With no real other fantasisti on the roster besides Giuseppe Rossi, who is 1) more of a striker 2) we don’t even know if he’s making the cut, Antonio Di Natale is Italy’s lone creative player in the attacking department. There are no national debates or arguments this year, it’s either Di Natale or no Di Natale. It’s a big weight to carry, and if Lippi had brought another creative player like Totti I think it would be easier on Di Natale. If Totti was even used as a sub, at least we know that if Di Natale is having an off day Lippi could throw on Totti and see if he can create something. But now Italy has Di Natale with no back-up. As an Italy fan, I hope he continues his club form in South Africa this summer, but his Azzurri record makes me believe otherwise. Time will only tell, but one thing is for certain, no headaches for Lippi this summer with journalists constantly asking him which player is going to play. For more on Italy and the World Cup, check out Julian and Paul’s Italy World Cup Blog.

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