World Cup 2010 Blog: The Girls Of Germany Sing For Holland

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The Girls Of Germany Sing For Holland Posted: 18 May 2012 11:34 AM PDT I haven’t the slightest clue what’s going on here, but no one’s complaining. The lasses in the German shirts are singing the Dutch national anthem in a suspiciously bouncy van. Obviously this has some link to these rivals in the same Euros group. Outside of that, its effectiveness is up for debate. It’d be more effective if they all showed up at the Oranje’s hotel on the night of the 12th before these two kick off on the 13th, if only to be photographed. YouTube doesn’t really get done what a front page worth of distractions will do – just ask Cruyff. [Spotted on 101gg]

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World Cup 2010 Blog: Roy Hodgson Names Squad, Already Confused

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Roy Hodgson Names Squad, Already Confused Posted: 16 May 2012 08:05 AM PDT The Roy Hodgson era has begun for England with a slight stumble, and a delightfully promising one at that. He named his official 23 today, and two of the names garnering the most attention seem to be Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Andy Carroll, two youngsters with lots of potential, but actual contributions to the Euros up for liberal speculation. The former is 18 and uncapped, thus making this a rather big deal for him. But Roy’s pretty comfortable with the selection for reasons which don’t actually exist, which has to be reaffirming for the fans. This was Roy’s justification of the selection… The Arsenal midfielder was one of the surprise inclusions to the 23, after starting just six Premier League matches this season. "He is a very exciting player who has made an impression on me, not least in his performance against AC Milan at the Emirates," Hodgson said. "I was there live and saw how well he dealt with Pirlo and Ambrosini. He can play wide or central and for future and can continue as he started." Squad sheets on the day: Nowhere will you find Massimo Ambrosini or Andrea Pirlo. In fact, Pirlo’s checks are now being cut by Juventus, which makes this whole scenario implausible, if not impossible. Perhaps he simply confused him with Zlatan? Long hair all looks the same from a distance. Which might explain the Carroll selection as well. (The remainder of the squad can be found here.)

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World Cup 2010 Blog: The Japanese Women Turn To “Supergirl”

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The Japanese Women Turn To “Supergirl” Posted: 15 May 2012 09:15 AM PDT Guess which one she is. World class keepers on the male side tend to be fairly tall, and even the bejeweled Iker Casillas is considered undersized at 182cm, or under six feet. The keepers of Europe’s better national teams typically range over 190cm – Neuer, Buffon, Cech, Hart, Stekelenburg, et cetera, et cetera. Japan’s a different story, and especially on the female side of the game. Wikipedia can give a hint. Which is why finding a 187cm female keeper is like finding the Holy Grail, enough to dub her Supergirl. One has to wonder if this project was official, maintaining tryouts and the like, or they just asked employees to be on the lookout for really tall gals during lunch hour. Erina Yamane, who at 187 centimeters (6 feet, two inches) looks down on Japan’s senior men’s goalkeeper Eiji Kawashima, has made the cut for London, local media reported on Tuesday. “I thought it was a joke,” Yamane, a product of the Japan Football Association’s ‘Supergirl Project’ designed to unearth a future goalkeeper, told the Nikkan Sports newspaper. “I didn’t think I was ready to play at an Olympics,” added the 21-year-old, whose L-League team, Tepco Mareeze, run by Tokyo Electric Power Co., was shut down after last year’s nuclear crisis, forcing her to move to Chiba Ladies. “The Olympics wasn’t even on my radar to be honest. I’ll just do whatever I can for the team.” No pressure.

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World Cup 2010 Blog: Euro 2012 Squads Begin Rolling Out

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Euro 2012 Squads Begin Rolling Out Posted: 07 May 2012 10:39 AM PDT Most domestic seasons haven’t closed, yet the names of those heading off to the lands of continental glory in the Polkraine are already dropping, along with some of the squads to be whittled down in the coming weeks (the deadline being May 29th). Today Giovanni Trappatoni announced Ireland’s formal 23 and Germany a damn close 27. Meanwhile, Bert van Marwijk & Co. decided to call up a decent portion of the country’s population for its preliminary squad – 36 in total. Ireland: Keepers: Shay Given, Keiren Westwood, David Forde Defenders: Richard Dunne, John O’Shea, Sean St.Ledger, Darren O’Dea, Stephen Ward, Stephen Kelly, Kevin Foley, Midfielders: Glenn Whelan, Darron Gibson, Keith Andrews, Keith Fahey, Damien Duff, Aiden McGeady, Stephen Hunt, James McClean, Forwards: Robbie Keane, Kevin Doyle, Simon Cox, Shane Long, Jonathan Walters. Standby list: Darren Randolph, Paul McShane, Paul Green, Seamus Coleman, Andy Keogh Germany: Goalkeeper: Manuel Neuer, Marc-Andre ter Stegen, Tim Wiese, Ron-Robert Zieler Defense: Holger Badstuber, Jerome Boateng, Benedikt Höwedes, Mats Hummels, Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Marcel Schmelzer Midfield: Lars Bender, Sven Bender, Julian Draxler, Mario Götze, Ilkay Gündogan, Sami Khedira, Toni Kroos, Thomas Müller, Mesut Özil, Lukas Podolski, Marco Reus, Andre Schürrle, Bastian Schweinsteiger Striker: Cacau, Mario Gomez, Miroslav Klose Netherlands: Goalkeepers: Jasper Cillessen (Ajax), Tim Krul (Newcastle United/ENG), Erwin Mulder (Feyenoord), Maarten Stekelenburg (Roma/ITA), Michel Vorm (Swansea City/WAL) Defenders: Vurnon Anita (Ajax), Khalid Boulahrouz (Stuttgart/GER), Wilfred Bouma (PSV Eindhoven), Alexander Buttner (Vitesse Arnhem), John Heitinga (Everton/ENG), Hedwiges Maduro (Valencia/ESP), Joris Mathijsen (Malaga/ESP), Nick Viergever (AZ Alkmaar), Ron Vlaar, Stefan de Vrij (both Feyenoord), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax), Jetro Willems (PSV Eindhoven) Midfielders: Ibrahim Afellay (Barcelona/ESP), Mark van Bommel, Urby Emanuelson (both AC Milan/ITA), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City/ENG), Siem de Jong (Ajax), Adam Maher (AZ Alkmaar), Stijn Schaars (Sporting Lisbon/POR), Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan/ITA), Kevin Strootman (PSV Eindhoven), Rafael van der Vaart (Tottenham Hotspur/ENG) Forwards: Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV Eindhoven), Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (Schalke/GER), Ola John, Luuk de Jong (both FC Twente), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool/ENG), Jeremain Lens (PSV Eindhoven), Luciano Narsingh (Heerenveen), Robin van Persie (Arsenal/ENG), Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich/GER)

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