It took four long years of waiting for the World Cup to grip the world’s attention yet again, but how quickly those sixty four games got behind us!
If you perceived the World Cup to be a great football festival spiced up by the background sounds of the vuvuzelas, North Korea’s team will very strongly differ. Humiliated on the pitch during a 7:0 drubbing by Portugal, North Korea’s players and manager were as punishment forced onto stage for a six-hour barrage of criticism from 400 government officials, students, and journalists. The manager was also forced to become a construction worker where there are fears for his safety.
As if we needed any more reminding that in football winning is at least as important fun, high profile coaches from Brazil, Argentina and several others were also forced to resign following failure to meet their nations’ expectations.
How quickly the turn from hero to villain? Just look at Italy’s Marcello Lippi who was hailed as a genius after World Cup 2006 and then did not have a clue about what he was doing with his team selection for world cup 2010. His country man Fabio Capello was being hailed as the master to turn England’s golden generation into world beaters following their flawless qualifying campaign, only to survive the sack by the skin of his teeth, after one of the country’s worst ever world cups.
Great jubilation may have followed Spain’s triumph, Germany’s rampage, South Africa’s organization, Ghana’s run and Forlan’s genius, but this success is now shelved together with the rest of world cup history. More critical is that those who left with disappointment, like Asamoah Gyan who missed a last minute penalty that would have made Ghana Africa’s most successful world cup nation, put the tournament behind them and continue enjoying the beautiful game.
As the World of football awaits Brazil 2014, we now leave the nail biting to the Football Association administrators and the endangered species of managers to figure out a winning formula for their nations.
For the rest of the football world, it is time for us to turn our attention to the leagues in which the World’s best players feature. England’s Premier League had the greatest representation in the world cup with 108 players. I will thus dedicate my ink to analyzing the teams and with you predict the likely winners from this year’s English Premier League.
Do not miss the curtain raiser between the two most successful EPL teams of the past decade as they show down in the Community Shield tomorrow, Sunday. Staring next weekend, visit http://englishpremierleaguepredictions.blogspot.com/ and let’s break down the potential champion, champions’ league qualifiers, Europa league qualifiers and relegation candidates.
Saturday, August 7, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
World Cup 2010: The Last Team Standing
As we march into the final of World Cup 2010 with two teams that have never won it, there is little doubt that it has proved itself to be a World Cup of firsts.
Very few would have predicted at the start of the tournament that Netherlands would be sitting in the final so it may not be very wise to count them out of winning it despite the fact that Spain are clear favorites.
Spain’s possession football master class against Germany will have convinced any emerging doubters that the pre-tournament favorites remain the team to beat despite being dethroned by Brazil just before the World Cup as the World’s top ranked team.
It has been said time and again that Spain plays just like Barcelona and this should be of little surprise given who features in their midfield, the most critical part of the modern game. Even Dutch legend Johan Cruyff has been on record predicting a Spanish victory and great admiration of their style of play likened to his own “total football.”
For the superstitious, renowned psychic Paul the octopus has also tipped Spain to emerge triumphant. He is said to have an unblemished record in the tournament and has been spot on, correctly predicting all the results of his native Germany during the tournament. We however still have his prediction that Germany will finish 3rd to watch for.
Generally regarded as the best team to never lift the World Cup, Netherlands on the other hand finally has a chance to make amends for their failings of 1974 and 1978. The class of 2010 may not be as flamboyant as that “total football” era but they boast a record of 25 games unbeaten. This run includes a record 100% qualifying campaign and World Cup so far, potentially matching the great 1970 Brazil team as the only other team to achieve the feat.
Under Bert van Marwijk, Netherlands are clearly a team that has learnt how to win and they do not care whether this comes with flair or if they just have to grind out the result. While more star-studded predecessor squads often had success compromised by differences within the team, the class of 2010 seems to be unified in their quest. They are also not under as much pressure as their predecessors because not many genuinely gave them a chance before the tournament and they are likely to thrive as underdogs in the final.
Ardent believers that history tends to repeat itself will have very little to refer to for this clash. The records read Played 8: Holland 4 wins, 1 Draw, Spain 3 wins. Netherlands has however won the last two meetings in 2000 and 2001, but these were only friendly games, and Spain has since grown by leaps and bounds with especially their European Championship to draw confidence from. The only ‘modern’ competitive matches between these two came in the 1984 European Championship qualifiers but they had a win apiece.
If Spain is allowed to control the game the way they did against Germany, they will undoubtedly prevail.
Just like Mourinho did against Barcelona’s possession game in the just concluded European Champions League, Bert van Marwijk may however just uncover the strategy to have the last laugh. He does after all in Wesley Sneijder have the same weapon to call upon to shut up the mouths of his critics and probably put Paul the octopus out of business.
Very few would have predicted at the start of the tournament that Netherlands would be sitting in the final so it may not be very wise to count them out of winning it despite the fact that Spain are clear favorites.
Spain’s possession football master class against Germany will have convinced any emerging doubters that the pre-tournament favorites remain the team to beat despite being dethroned by Brazil just before the World Cup as the World’s top ranked team.
It has been said time and again that Spain plays just like Barcelona and this should be of little surprise given who features in their midfield, the most critical part of the modern game. Even Dutch legend Johan Cruyff has been on record predicting a Spanish victory and great admiration of their style of play likened to his own “total football.”
For the superstitious, renowned psychic Paul the octopus has also tipped Spain to emerge triumphant. He is said to have an unblemished record in the tournament and has been spot on, correctly predicting all the results of his native Germany during the tournament. We however still have his prediction that Germany will finish 3rd to watch for.
Generally regarded as the best team to never lift the World Cup, Netherlands on the other hand finally has a chance to make amends for their failings of 1974 and 1978. The class of 2010 may not be as flamboyant as that “total football” era but they boast a record of 25 games unbeaten. This run includes a record 100% qualifying campaign and World Cup so far, potentially matching the great 1970 Brazil team as the only other team to achieve the feat.
Under Bert van Marwijk, Netherlands are clearly a team that has learnt how to win and they do not care whether this comes with flair or if they just have to grind out the result. While more star-studded predecessor squads often had success compromised by differences within the team, the class of 2010 seems to be unified in their quest. They are also not under as much pressure as their predecessors because not many genuinely gave them a chance before the tournament and they are likely to thrive as underdogs in the final.
Ardent believers that history tends to repeat itself will have very little to refer to for this clash. The records read Played 8: Holland 4 wins, 1 Draw, Spain 3 wins. Netherlands has however won the last two meetings in 2000 and 2001, but these were only friendly games, and Spain has since grown by leaps and bounds with especially their European Championship to draw confidence from. The only ‘modern’ competitive matches between these two came in the 1984 European Championship qualifiers but they had a win apiece.
If Spain is allowed to control the game the way they did against Germany, they will undoubtedly prevail.
Just like Mourinho did against Barcelona’s possession game in the just concluded European Champions League, Bert van Marwijk may however just uncover the strategy to have the last laugh. He does after all in Wesley Sneijder have the same weapon to call upon to shut up the mouths of his critics and probably put Paul the octopus out of business.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Your Pick for World Cup 2010 Finalists
Many thought the quarter final trend would help direct predictions about this World Cup’s finalists. Unfortunately, after the preceding set of four games, we were left at exactly the same point we were before a ball was kicked in the quarter finals.
Out of the eight teams, there was an even distribution of four previous World Cup champions and four that had never won it. We have exactly the same ratio for the semifinals with two previous champions and two that have never won it, so trend can unfortunately not guide your predictions at this stage.
Although Uruguay are amongst a select group of only five teams that have won the world Cup more than once, you would have to consider Netherlands to be favorites in this one given how both teams have performed in recent months.
The Dutch never tasted defeat during the World Cup qualifiers while Uruguay needed a playoff win over Costa Rica to squeak into the tournament. That Netherlands has actually maintained a 100% record in the tournament is evidence that they simply do not know how to lose. Widely considered to be the best team to have never lifted the World Cup, Netherlands has added steel to their traditional flair with great success that has included a come from behind defeat on pre-tournament favorites and record five-time world champion, Brazil.
On the other hand though, there is a football cliché that you have to be lucky to win tournaments and Uruguay has had that not only in booking their place to participate in the tournament but more so in getting to the semi-finals. Staring in the face of defeat, Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan with a perfect 2-in-2 World Cup spot kick record hit one that would have won the game and a place in the semifinals against the cross bar. While it is so hard to compete against luck, there is no arguing against Uruguay’s defensive organization and Forlan’s creativity in the final third. While Uruguay will definitely miss Luis Suarez who literally snatched history from Ghana and Africa’s hands, they are a very well organized – competitive outfit which still has the potential to snatch another victory especially if luck continues to smile on them.
The other semifinal will probably capture more attention as Spain the only truly surviving pre-tournament favorite facing arguably the best team in the tournament so far.
While many thought their inexperience would be exposed, the Germans have in stamping four consecutive goals against seasoned outfits of England and Argentina respectively done enough to create shock waves in any opponent’s camp.
Spain on the other hand had an unusually slow start to a major tournament losing to unfancied Switzerland in the opening game of the tournament. Many sports pundits believe that to win a tournament, a team needs to improve with each game and peak at the final hurdle.
With the experience of recently lifting the European Cup, generally considered to be tougher to win than the World Cup because the contesting teams are of a higher all round quality, you could say this Spain squad has now learnt how to win trophies.
With 3 previous titles under their belt, 3rd on the all time best list behind Italy and Brazil there will be no arguing against German pedigree. Thomas Muller with a record of 4 goals and 3 assists in the tournament will be a big loss for this game but with the traditional German organization and tactical awareness, they should be more than able to compensate for him.
Out of the eight teams, there was an even distribution of four previous World Cup champions and four that had never won it. We have exactly the same ratio for the semifinals with two previous champions and two that have never won it, so trend can unfortunately not guide your predictions at this stage.
Although Uruguay are amongst a select group of only five teams that have won the world Cup more than once, you would have to consider Netherlands to be favorites in this one given how both teams have performed in recent months.
The Dutch never tasted defeat during the World Cup qualifiers while Uruguay needed a playoff win over Costa Rica to squeak into the tournament. That Netherlands has actually maintained a 100% record in the tournament is evidence that they simply do not know how to lose. Widely considered to be the best team to have never lifted the World Cup, Netherlands has added steel to their traditional flair with great success that has included a come from behind defeat on pre-tournament favorites and record five-time world champion, Brazil.
On the other hand though, there is a football cliché that you have to be lucky to win tournaments and Uruguay has had that not only in booking their place to participate in the tournament but more so in getting to the semi-finals. Staring in the face of defeat, Ghana’s Asamoah Gyan with a perfect 2-in-2 World Cup spot kick record hit one that would have won the game and a place in the semifinals against the cross bar. While it is so hard to compete against luck, there is no arguing against Uruguay’s defensive organization and Forlan’s creativity in the final third. While Uruguay will definitely miss Luis Suarez who literally snatched history from Ghana and Africa’s hands, they are a very well organized – competitive outfit which still has the potential to snatch another victory especially if luck continues to smile on them.
The other semifinal will probably capture more attention as Spain the only truly surviving pre-tournament favorite facing arguably the best team in the tournament so far.
While many thought their inexperience would be exposed, the Germans have in stamping four consecutive goals against seasoned outfits of England and Argentina respectively done enough to create shock waves in any opponent’s camp.
Spain on the other hand had an unusually slow start to a major tournament losing to unfancied Switzerland in the opening game of the tournament. Many sports pundits believe that to win a tournament, a team needs to improve with each game and peak at the final hurdle.
With the experience of recently lifting the European Cup, generally considered to be tougher to win than the World Cup because the contesting teams are of a higher all round quality, you could say this Spain squad has now learnt how to win trophies.
With 3 previous titles under their belt, 3rd on the all time best list behind Italy and Brazil there will be no arguing against German pedigree. Thomas Muller with a record of 4 goals and 3 assists in the tournament will be a big loss for this game but with the traditional German organization and tactical awareness, they should be more than able to compensate for him.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
South Africa 2010: A World Cup of “Firsts”?
From that moment in Zurich when FIFA announced that South Africa would host the African continent’s first World Cup; the stage was arguably set for a number of World Cup “firsts”.
During the first round of the tournament, commentators were thriving on mentioning one monumental moment after another.
Slovakia contested in a World cup game for the first time as an independent nation against New Zealand while Slovenia won its first world cup point in the last gasp victory against Algeria.
In the last game of Group D, Kevin - Prince Boateng of Ghana and Jerome Boateng of Germany marked the first time that brothers played against each other in the tournament’s Eighty (80) year history.
While earlier World Cups have been graced by pairs of brothers featuring in the same national squad, Wilson, Johnny and Jerry Palacios of Honduras created a unique piece of history as the first trio to be listed in the same World Cup squad.
South Africa created less enviable history as the first host nation to be knocked out in the first round, while the United States took pride in topping a World Cup group for the first time since 1930. Ghana made it to the quarter finals for the first time in its very short World Cup history.
If the endless list of “firsts” at the inception of the tournament created a sense of expectation that we would have a first time World Cup winner, this was quickly diminished as we progressed through the second round.
After all the optimism the United States team had generated with its strong finishes to a series of first round games, they must have been hit with a sense of déjà vu when the final score read 1:2 to Ghana in the next round, the same score line of their last World Cup meeting in 2006.
When England faced Germany for the fifth time in World Cup history, not even their vastly superior experience would help them overcome an opponent that has consistently had their number since England’s famous 1966 triumph in the final.
Continuing with the familiar run, Argentina beat Mexico just like it did in 2002 and South Korea failed to win its first knock out game away from home soil.
So what trend is likely to prevail at the last hurdle and should guide our predictions on who will win World Cup 2010?
Of all quarter finalists, only Spain, Ghana, Paraguay and Netherlands have never won the World Cup.
Many predict that one of the most successful World Cup nations in Brazil or Germany will prevail. That no European team has ever lifted the World Cup on a foreign continent may lead many to quickly place their expectations on Brazil but this is quickly diluted by the fact that only two World Cups have been played outside Europe or South America.
During the first round of the tournament, commentators were thriving on mentioning one monumental moment after another.
Slovakia contested in a World cup game for the first time as an independent nation against New Zealand while Slovenia won its first world cup point in the last gasp victory against Algeria.
In the last game of Group D, Kevin - Prince Boateng of Ghana and Jerome Boateng of Germany marked the first time that brothers played against each other in the tournament’s Eighty (80) year history.
While earlier World Cups have been graced by pairs of brothers featuring in the same national squad, Wilson, Johnny and Jerry Palacios of Honduras created a unique piece of history as the first trio to be listed in the same World Cup squad.
South Africa created less enviable history as the first host nation to be knocked out in the first round, while the United States took pride in topping a World Cup group for the first time since 1930. Ghana made it to the quarter finals for the first time in its very short World Cup history.
If the endless list of “firsts” at the inception of the tournament created a sense of expectation that we would have a first time World Cup winner, this was quickly diminished as we progressed through the second round.
After all the optimism the United States team had generated with its strong finishes to a series of first round games, they must have been hit with a sense of déjà vu when the final score read 1:2 to Ghana in the next round, the same score line of their last World Cup meeting in 2006.
When England faced Germany for the fifth time in World Cup history, not even their vastly superior experience would help them overcome an opponent that has consistently had their number since England’s famous 1966 triumph in the final.
Continuing with the familiar run, Argentina beat Mexico just like it did in 2002 and South Korea failed to win its first knock out game away from home soil.
So what trend is likely to prevail at the last hurdle and should guide our predictions on who will win World Cup 2010?
Of all quarter finalists, only Spain, Ghana, Paraguay and Netherlands have never won the World Cup.
Many predict that one of the most successful World Cup nations in Brazil or Germany will prevail. That no European team has ever lifted the World Cup on a foreign continent may lead many to quickly place their expectations on Brazil but this is quickly diluted by the fact that only two World Cups have been played outside Europe or South America.
Friday, June 25, 2010
South Africa 2010: A World Cup of Surprises
South Africa 2010 could so far be summed up as a World Cup full of surprises.
Previous World cup exploits by Cameroon (1990) and Senegal (2002) had led soccer pundits to predict that Africa was the rising force of World soccer. Ghana and Nigeria’s dominance of the World’s junior soccer tournaments illustrated the continent’s potential with the prediction seemingly justified by stars like Drogba, Essien and Eto’ consistently mentioned amongst the World’s top ten players.
The World has started to appreciate Africa’s natural talent with a multitude of European based stars playing for the largest clubs on the globe. With so many recognizable stars, the cooperation of weather and match officials as well as vocal support accorded to host nations, you could almost hear Africa say in unison, “This is it!” One of the African teams would at last break into the semi-finals.
Going into the last round of group games, Cameroon had already won the infamous title of the first team to be eliminated and it looked to be the familiar tale of “if only(s)” for African teams yet again!
Fancied Ivory Coast were again unlucky to be drawn in the group of death and looked all but eliminated after North Korea’s 7:0 thumping by Portugal. The draw against their qualification rivals in the opening match they had dominated for long spells suddenly looked like a disastrous result.
Host nation South Africa’s chances of advancing from the group stages were very remote given its ranking as 83rd in World soccer. Given the comedy in the French camp, South Africa approached their last game with genuine hope. They simply needed to somehow find the finishing needed to accumulate a handful of goals as long as Mexico and Uruguay did not connive to draw their last game.
Algeria also given nearly no chance of advancing from its group when the draw was made had fallen to a very unlucky last minute goal against Slovenia but won a morale boosting 0:0 draw against the fancied English. They simply needed to win against a very determined United States team, a tall order given that Algeria had not scored a goal in the tournament.
Ghana the youngest side in tournament were the first and eventually only African side to win a game from the first two group games. To guarantee qualification, they needed a draw against a German side needing a win to survive and boasting an enviable record of having never failed to advance from the World Cup group stages.
Africa risked not having a qualifier from the group stages and South Africa would make history as the first host nation to fail to advance to the World cup knock out stage. The positive surprise at that point was that Africa had proved to be a successful host of the World’s most popular sporting event.
At the end of the group stage, defending Champions Italy had been eliminated while pre-tournament favorites Spain and England barely scraped through their groups.
Ghana is Africa’s sole representative in the next round while South Korea and Japan may make the soccer pundits switch their allegiance to Asia as the rising force of World soccer.
“Clueless” Maradona has Argentina flying high as the tournament’s most successful team so far!
For a tournament that has so far seen surprises aplenty and the tag of favorites hold no water during match ups, stay tuned for a few first times and surprising teams to grace the treasured last eight.
Previous World cup exploits by Cameroon (1990) and Senegal (2002) had led soccer pundits to predict that Africa was the rising force of World soccer. Ghana and Nigeria’s dominance of the World’s junior soccer tournaments illustrated the continent’s potential with the prediction seemingly justified by stars like Drogba, Essien and Eto’ consistently mentioned amongst the World’s top ten players.
The World has started to appreciate Africa’s natural talent with a multitude of European based stars playing for the largest clubs on the globe. With so many recognizable stars, the cooperation of weather and match officials as well as vocal support accorded to host nations, you could almost hear Africa say in unison, “This is it!” One of the African teams would at last break into the semi-finals.
Going into the last round of group games, Cameroon had already won the infamous title of the first team to be eliminated and it looked to be the familiar tale of “if only(s)” for African teams yet again!
Fancied Ivory Coast were again unlucky to be drawn in the group of death and looked all but eliminated after North Korea’s 7:0 thumping by Portugal. The draw against their qualification rivals in the opening match they had dominated for long spells suddenly looked like a disastrous result.
Host nation South Africa’s chances of advancing from the group stages were very remote given its ranking as 83rd in World soccer. Given the comedy in the French camp, South Africa approached their last game with genuine hope. They simply needed to somehow find the finishing needed to accumulate a handful of goals as long as Mexico and Uruguay did not connive to draw their last game.
Algeria also given nearly no chance of advancing from its group when the draw was made had fallen to a very unlucky last minute goal against Slovenia but won a morale boosting 0:0 draw against the fancied English. They simply needed to win against a very determined United States team, a tall order given that Algeria had not scored a goal in the tournament.
Ghana the youngest side in tournament were the first and eventually only African side to win a game from the first two group games. To guarantee qualification, they needed a draw against a German side needing a win to survive and boasting an enviable record of having never failed to advance from the World Cup group stages.
Africa risked not having a qualifier from the group stages and South Africa would make history as the first host nation to fail to advance to the World cup knock out stage. The positive surprise at that point was that Africa had proved to be a successful host of the World’s most popular sporting event.
At the end of the group stage, defending Champions Italy had been eliminated while pre-tournament favorites Spain and England barely scraped through their groups.
Ghana is Africa’s sole representative in the next round while South Korea and Japan may make the soccer pundits switch their allegiance to Asia as the rising force of World soccer.
“Clueless” Maradona has Argentina flying high as the tournament’s most successful team so far!
For a tournament that has so far seen surprises aplenty and the tag of favorites hold no water during match ups, stay tuned for a few first times and surprising teams to grace the treasured last eight.
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