Kind of a grab-bag post for today's "World Cup Wednesday." A couple odds and ends coupled with some half-formed ideas.
With any luck, the arrival of the EA FIFA World Cup game, hopefully a few more ideas with spring out my noggin. Look for a comprehensive review/thoughts in a few days after I give it a good 360 workout. For one, despite being developed in British Columbia, you know over the border from the U.S. the game did an abysmal job rendering the USMNT player faces.
"One Man" Teams:
This is a thought that's been kicking around for a while. Basically, here are four national teams which feature one player heads-and-shoulder more "famous" than the rest of his peers. Now I write famous in quotations, because it's more perception than anything else. Or specifically a perception by the worldwide English-speaking media, for better or worse.
Cameroon -- Samuel Eto'o. -- Quick, name another player on Cameroon. Quickly, I said. Who's that? Arsenal's Alex Song. Geremi?
Eto'o isn't only a lot more famous than his countrymen, he's clearly on another level of skill. When you think of the Indomitable Lions you're thoughts immediately turn toward Eto'o and then probably to Roger Milla dancing at the 1990 World Cup.
If Eto'o gets any support behind him, Cameroon may be able to edge past Denmark for Group E's second place behind the Netherlands.
Eto'o is on the level of players who you know you have to mark and try to contain, yet he's so good he usually makes an impact. In theory, playing on African soil should even give him an added boost.
Paraguay -- Roque Santa Cruz -- A spare part at Manchester City, Santa Cruz is still the standard-bearer for the Guaraníes. Really the only names on Paraguay even remotely familiar are Borussia Dortmund's Nelson Valdez and Salvador Cabañas, who's most famous, unfortunately, for being shot in the head in a Mexico City bar. Chances are, he's not even in South Africa come June.
To Paraguay's credit, it's qualified for its fourth consecutive World Cup. It seems the country has developed into one of those national teams where the sum is greater than the flair of the individual parts. (You'd think national team boss Gerardo Martino would put more of an effort into impressing the English speaking media than, you know, qualifying.)
And this is doubly incredible since Paraguay formerly featured one of football's true bat-shit crazy players -- José Luis Chilavert, who had me enraptured at France 1998. (I was beyond irate when France beat them in extra time in the Round of 16.)
South Korea -- Park Ji-Sung -- Obviously for the simple fact that Park plays for Manchester United makes him a demigod in South Korea. He's by leaps and bounds the most well-known South Korean player around the globe.
Park is a very good player, but fits into the structure at both the Red Devils at Old Trafford and the Red Devils in Seoul. Korea, naturally, is a squad where the entire ethos is build around hard-work and the sum of the parts are greater than an individual player.
Uruguay -- Diego Forlan -- Uruguay certainly have plenty of players playing at all corners of the earth, yet Forlan still stands taller than his countrymen.
A scoring-machine since moving from Manchester United to Villareal, Forlan is arguably one of the two or three most dangerous players in the entire tournament. At Villareal and Athletico Madrid he's scored in over 50 percent of his matches, while that rate dips closer to one in three for Uruguay.
You know, if he's healthy, Forlan is going to be out there. You know you have to mark him. But you also know he's probably going to find the net.
For whatever it's worth, he's around 66-to-1 to finish with the Golden Boot. That's worth a flier when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is at 40-to-1. (David Villa is the overall favorite, followed by Leo Messi, Wayne Rooney and Luis Fabiano.)
* * *
Davies Dilemma Part 432:
Not to sound like a downer, but until we actually see Charlie Davies in an actual game that counts, with the ball at his feet, isn't it far to presumptuous to expect him to make the U.S. World Cup roster.
All this back-and-forth coming from France the last two weeks is just too confusing. First he's not playing for Sochaux, then he's training with the first team. Maybe he's playing a game? Maybe he isn't.
Which is it?
I'd like to see a healthy Davies on the field in South Africa as much as the next guy. Without any concrete knowledge, all we have is idle speculation and Twitter chatter. The established media sites seem to have Davies out of the mix, yet the Twitter-verse is still very high on his chances.
U.S. fans have been driving themselves crazy about this for months, and with the FIFA-mandated May preliminary squad date quickly approach, let's just see how this plays out. We're going to know in two weeks if Davies is even remotely close to international duty.
Ultimately the decision comes down to Bob Bradley. For once, Bradley's stern, Princetonian mind might be an advantage since he's not going to let emotions cloud his judgment and make an honest assessment of whether or not Davies can help the team or not.
It would be, dare I say it, an ESPY-worthy story if Davies makes the U.S. roster for South Africa. The way the fans have rallied around Davies and vice-versa is truly a great story in-and-of itself.
At the same time, is it worth using a roster space on a player who's health is nothing short of the biggest question mark in USMNT history?
Unfortunately sometimes winning games and the Hollywood ending don't go hand-in-hand.
However this plays out, the mere fact Davies will still have a professional career -- on the World Cup roster or not -- is a good enough story on its own.
And above all, isn't it crazy, how as U.S. fans were holding out hope for a player who basically broke his entire body in October? Is that how shallow the forward pool really is? If there were some other ready-made options would we all be so invested in Davies' remarkable recovery?
Despite my ingrained cynicism, I'm hoping this one ends in smiles all around. Honest.
Odds & Ends:
Two match officials selected from New Zealand for the World Cup, but none from the U.S. Not good, though judging by the first couple weeks of MLS, justified. ... This counts for nothing, but Argentina might be the most hirsute nation in the tournament. We could see a blast from the past to either 1978 or 1986 with some of the manes involved here. ... Odds for both the U.S. and Mexico to reach the last 16 are 21-to-10. For neither it's 3-to-1. ... A lot can happen in 12 years, but reading this story about Qatar's plans for the 2022 World Cup seem a tad far-fetched. ... In case you're wondering, Cote D'Ivoire could fall into the "One Man" theory with Didier Drogba. The nation still have big-time players like the Toure brothers, Salomon Kalou, etc. Drogba is the driving force, but there are clearly others around him. ... After Tuesday guess we can throw Ivica Olic as a player we'll miss in South Africa. How did Croatia finish behind Ukraine in England's qualifying group? Doesn't make sense. ... Michael Essien's injury makes me a lot less bullish than I was a couple weeks ago on Ghana's chances.
Prediction Pain:
Finally decided to set up an ESPN World Cup Prediction Group.
Nothing will be at stake, other than personal pride.
Plus you can tell everybody you're smarter than me, and you can't put a price on that, can you?
Follow this link for the info.
With any luck, the arrival of the EA FIFA World Cup game, hopefully a few more ideas with spring out my noggin. Look for a comprehensive review/thoughts in a few days after I give it a good 360 workout. For one, despite being developed in British Columbia, you know over the border from the U.S. the game did an abysmal job rendering the USMNT player faces.
"One Man" Teams:
This is a thought that's been kicking around for a while. Basically, here are four national teams which feature one player heads-and-shoulder more "famous" than the rest of his peers. Now I write famous in quotations, because it's more perception than anything else. Or specifically a perception by the worldwide English-speaking media, for better or worse.
Cameroon -- Samuel Eto'o. -- Quick, name another player on Cameroon. Quickly, I said. Who's that? Arsenal's Alex Song. Geremi?
Eto'o isn't only a lot more famous than his countrymen, he's clearly on another level of skill. When you think of the Indomitable Lions you're thoughts immediately turn toward Eto'o and then probably to Roger Milla dancing at the 1990 World Cup.
If Eto'o gets any support behind him, Cameroon may be able to edge past Denmark for Group E's second place behind the Netherlands.
Eto'o is on the level of players who you know you have to mark and try to contain, yet he's so good he usually makes an impact. In theory, playing on African soil should even give him an added boost.
Paraguay -- Roque Santa Cruz -- A spare part at Manchester City, Santa Cruz is still the standard-bearer for the Guaraníes. Really the only names on Paraguay even remotely familiar are Borussia Dortmund's Nelson Valdez and Salvador Cabañas, who's most famous, unfortunately, for being shot in the head in a Mexico City bar. Chances are, he's not even in South Africa come June.
To Paraguay's credit, it's qualified for its fourth consecutive World Cup. It seems the country has developed into one of those national teams where the sum is greater than the flair of the individual parts. (You'd think national team boss Gerardo Martino would put more of an effort into impressing the English speaking media than, you know, qualifying.)
And this is doubly incredible since Paraguay formerly featured one of football's true bat-shit crazy players -- José Luis Chilavert, who had me enraptured at France 1998. (I was beyond irate when France beat them in extra time in the Round of 16.)
South Korea -- Park Ji-Sung -- Obviously for the simple fact that Park plays for Manchester United makes him a demigod in South Korea. He's by leaps and bounds the most well-known South Korean player around the globe.
Park is a very good player, but fits into the structure at both the Red Devils at Old Trafford and the Red Devils in Seoul. Korea, naturally, is a squad where the entire ethos is build around hard-work and the sum of the parts are greater than an individual player.
Uruguay -- Diego Forlan -- Uruguay certainly have plenty of players playing at all corners of the earth, yet Forlan still stands taller than his countrymen.
A scoring-machine since moving from Manchester United to Villareal, Forlan is arguably one of the two or three most dangerous players in the entire tournament. At Villareal and Athletico Madrid he's scored in over 50 percent of his matches, while that rate dips closer to one in three for Uruguay.
You know, if he's healthy, Forlan is going to be out there. You know you have to mark him. But you also know he's probably going to find the net.
For whatever it's worth, he's around 66-to-1 to finish with the Golden Boot. That's worth a flier when Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is at 40-to-1. (David Villa is the overall favorite, followed by Leo Messi, Wayne Rooney and Luis Fabiano.)
Davies Dilemma Part 432:
Not to sound like a downer, but until we actually see Charlie Davies in an actual game that counts, with the ball at his feet, isn't it far to presumptuous to expect him to make the U.S. World Cup roster.
All this back-and-forth coming from France the last two weeks is just too confusing. First he's not playing for Sochaux, then he's training with the first team. Maybe he's playing a game? Maybe he isn't.
Which is it?
I'd like to see a healthy Davies on the field in South Africa as much as the next guy. Without any concrete knowledge, all we have is idle speculation and Twitter chatter. The established media sites seem to have Davies out of the mix, yet the Twitter-verse is still very high on his chances.
U.S. fans have been driving themselves crazy about this for months, and with the FIFA-mandated May preliminary squad date quickly approach, let's just see how this plays out. We're going to know in two weeks if Davies is even remotely close to international duty.
Ultimately the decision comes down to Bob Bradley. For once, Bradley's stern, Princetonian mind might be an advantage since he's not going to let emotions cloud his judgment and make an honest assessment of whether or not Davies can help the team or not.
It would be, dare I say it, an ESPY-worthy story if Davies makes the U.S. roster for South Africa. The way the fans have rallied around Davies and vice-versa is truly a great story in-and-of itself.
At the same time, is it worth using a roster space on a player who's health is nothing short of the biggest question mark in USMNT history?
Unfortunately sometimes winning games and the Hollywood ending don't go hand-in-hand.
However this plays out, the mere fact Davies will still have a professional career -- on the World Cup roster or not -- is a good enough story on its own.
And above all, isn't it crazy, how as U.S. fans were holding out hope for a player who basically broke his entire body in October? Is that how shallow the forward pool really is? If there were some other ready-made options would we all be so invested in Davies' remarkable recovery?
Despite my ingrained cynicism, I'm hoping this one ends in smiles all around. Honest.
Odds & Ends:
Two match officials selected from New Zealand for the World Cup, but none from the U.S. Not good, though judging by the first couple weeks of MLS, justified. ... This counts for nothing, but Argentina might be the most hirsute nation in the tournament. We could see a blast from the past to either 1978 or 1986 with some of the manes involved here. ... Odds for both the U.S. and Mexico to reach the last 16 are 21-to-10. For neither it's 3-to-1. ... A lot can happen in 12 years, but reading this story about Qatar's plans for the 2022 World Cup seem a tad far-fetched. ... In case you're wondering, Cote D'Ivoire could fall into the "One Man" theory with Didier Drogba. The nation still have big-time players like the Toure brothers, Salomon Kalou, etc. Drogba is the driving force, but there are clearly others around him. ... After Tuesday guess we can throw Ivica Olic as a player we'll miss in South Africa. How did Croatia finish behind Ukraine in England's qualifying group? Doesn't make sense. ... Michael Essien's injury makes me a lot less bullish than I was a couple weeks ago on Ghana's chances.
Prediction Pain:
Finally decided to set up an ESPN World Cup Prediction Group.
Nothing will be at stake, other than personal pride.
Plus you can tell everybody you're smarter than me, and you can't put a price on that, can you?
Follow this link for the info.
Labels: Soccer, USMNT, world cup 2010, world cup wednesdays
Funny. Huntelaar was actually my dark-horse pick for the Golden Boot this year. You can get a lot of goals beating up on group E. Especially if Denmark is having keeper injury issues...
I'd like Huntelaar a lot more if Holland weren't heading for a second round match against Brazil. Tough to see the Dutchies coming out of that one, my money's on Villa.
I'd also add Wilson Palcios/Honduras to the 'one man team' list. I suppose Maynor Figueroa is sort of well known, but if he hadn't scored from behind the center line, would he be?
Is Huntelaar even going to start? That's meant as an honest question, not a condescending comment. It seems like the Dutch would prefer a front line of Robben van Persie and Kuyt.