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Monday, September 13, 2010

World Cup 2010 Blog: Help Wanted in Ghana: Black Stars Look for New Coach

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

Help Wanted in Ghana: Black Stars Look for New Coach

Posted: 12 Sep 2010 12:07 PM PDT

Ghana WC Celebration

Despite making it to the quarterfinals of the World Cup this summer in South Africa, the man that took them there has declined to extend his contract with the Black Stars. Milovan Rajevac, rejected the four-year extension offered by the Ghana Football Association (GFA) for a more lucrative financial deal with Saudi Arabian club, Al-Ahli. In addition to the World Cup quarters appearance, Rajevac helped Ghana reach the finals of the 2009 African Nations Championship and the 2010 African Cup of Nations since arriving in August 2008. Now, the GFA are scrambling to find a suitable replacement for their African Cup of Nations qualifier against Sudan in October.

The news that Rajevac was moving on was undoubtedly a hard pill to swallow for both the Federation and Ghana fans. However, the controversy surrounding why and how this breakdown happened has spawned a few rumors over the relationship between the Ghana Federation and Rajevac. For more on that, check out the Ghana World Cup Blog entry on the subject.

Regardless of how and why it happened, the show must go on and Ghana must decide who will take over the job.

GFA President, Kwasi Nyantakyi, told the BBC the Federation is meeting on Monday (September 13) to discuss the vacancy and to review the possible job candidates.

We have made no decision at this stage but everything should be clear after the meeting on Monday.

We will make all the major decisions about the way forward at the meeting.

The key issues to be determined in the meeting are who should be appointed in the interim to oversee the team’s qualifiers should a long-term candidate not be secured in the next few weeks as well as if a Ghanaian be given preference for the job.

Unless Ghana has already tracked down a few leads on available coaches, it seems likely an interim coach will be named. Akwasi Appiah, Rajeva’s assistant, has been named as a possible interim-coach. It remains to be seen if he will be offered the long-term job. From what I have sussed out, which admittedly is not based on a thorough background check, Appiah seems to have support in Ghana but not necessarily from the Federation.

Earlier this year the Ghana Federation was criticized for the disproportionate gap in salary they paid to Rajevac and Appiah. In 2008 he was heavily rumored to be offered the management position before agreeing to the position of assistant coach. The debate surrounding Appiah seems to overlap with the debate over the importance of having a Ghanaian leading the team. Given the success Rajevac achieved the past few years with Ghana, its hard to argue against their decision but some are questioning the logic behind GFA’s chronic devaluation of Ghanaian coaches as “not good enough.”

Friday, September 10, 2010

World Cup 2010 Blog: “Asamoah Gyan Would’ve Pulled A Luis Suarez Too” plus 1 more

Asamoah Gyan Would’ve Pulled A Luis Suarez Too

Posted: 09 Sep 2010 11:24 PM PDT

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That handball by Luis Suarez, rather unmistakable, and subsequent penalty miss by Asamoah Gyan rocked the world far beyond the shores of Ghana. They were something of the darling team, being the only remaining African team in an African World Cup. Since then Suarez has fluctuated between villain and hero so much, typically depending on location, he doesn’t know which way is up anymore (also aided by his constant diving).

Gyan, though missing the big penalty, has gone onto bigger things in his future with a big move this week while offering up some even bigger forgiveness. He’s a big man.

His Sunderland intro touched on the highly controversial moment from this summer:

“I’ve forgiven him it’s part of the game,” Gyan told the Daily Telegraph. “As I always say, if it was me, I would have done the same thing. In the last minute, if you’re going out, he made himself a hero in his country. It was cheating to handle the ball, but I would do the same. Maybe I will do it for Sunderland in one important game. He’s done a great job for his country.

“Suárez is a hero because he got his team to the semi-finals. He’s like a hero for that cheating. The referee should have done something about it, but that’s life. Penalties? For me, I have done a good job for my country. I think 90 per cent of the penalties have been scored by me despite that miss. That’s life.”

And with that we have possibly the most reasonable, objective and inarguable assessment of the Suarez handball, all from the man it ended up hurting the most.

That’s rarely life.

Trapped Chilean Miners Watched Ukraine vs Chile Football Match

Posted: 09 Sep 2010 01:00 PM PDT

chile

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, then you should know about the Chilean miners who are quite literally living under rock. The 33 men have been trapped nearly half a mile below the earth in a 500 square feet emergency shelter ever since the mine in Copiapo, Chile collapsed last month. It’s going to be months before workers can drill holes deep enough and wide enough to rescue the men. Months.

In the meantime, everyone’s thinking up ways to keep the trapped miner’s spirits up and their brains sane. Essentials like food and drink are being lowered down, but there’s also communication with loved ones and all kinds of group dynamic work being done. And, of course, there’s football. Because this past Tuesday the 33 Chilean men trapped in a 500 square feet room were able to watch Chile’s friendly away to Ukraine.

A small projecter and a fibre optic cable were lowered down into the shelter, allowing the men were able to project the game onto the wall. Unfortunately Chile lost the friendly match 2-1, but the miners did get to see their national team wearing t-shirts that read “Fuerza Mineros” before the game, which presumably left no doubt in any of the 33 men’s mind that those above ground were thinking of them.

One of the trapped miners is an ex-professional footballer named Franklin Lobos, and apparently he did a bit of post-match analysis via phone with rescue workers. Here’s a video news story about the miners watching the game from NDTV:

Great stuff, and a nice little reminder of just how important football can be. Even international friendlies.

Thursday, September 9, 2010

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World Cup 2010 Blog: “Cassano’s Superman Streaker Returns With A Kiss” plus 1 more

Cassano’s Superman Streaker Returns With A Kiss

Posted: 08 Sep 2010 09:00 AM PDT

You may remember Mario Ferri from the World Cup, back when he was giving Marcello Lippi the old “I told you so” over his refusal to call up Antonio Cassano. Well, new coach Cesare Prandelli has called up the mad genius and with predictable results – he’s quite good at football, you know.

So Mario, ultimately very pleased with these new developments, streaked onto the Franchi pitch last night, having hid in a bathroom since he’s banned in Italian stadia, during Italy-Faroe Islands to show his appreciation with a kiss for Antonio and a thumbs up for an amused Prandelli.

In the end, it’s all about the love.

Goofing Goalkeepers and Slide Tackling Strikers

Posted: 08 Sep 2010 07:09 AM PDT

reina and tevez Two of my favourite things in football combined not once but twice in yesterday’s international games, as a goalkeeper’s goof was met with a striker’s slide tackle in two separate games.

The most embarrassing of the two errors came from Spain’s Pepe Reina, deputizing for the World Cup winning Iker Casillas in the friendly against Argentina. Reina slipped while swinging at the ball for a routine kick up field, and the ever-alert, ever-willing-to-run Carlos Tevez beat Reina to the loose ball and scored with a very manly slide tackle. Argentina won the game 4-1, and Iker Casillas won’t lose any sleep over getting his place back. Spain and Liverpool fans be warned, the video of Reina’s goof is below:

Arguably the more important error came from Portugal goalkeeper Eduardo in a Euro 2012 qualifying game vs Norway. Eduardo took too long to clear the ball, allowing gigantic Norwegian striker John Carew to charge in with a slide tackle, which deflected the ball to Erik Huseklepp to score:

Norway won 1-0, and Portugal’s Euro 2012 qualifying campaign is looking all kinds of bad.

Image: AP

- Writer wanted on Norway World Cup Blog