If you're taking time from your busy day to read this site, chances are you don't need me telling you that the World Cup is all sorts of wonderful, perhaps even double wonderful wrapped in a plate of warm fudge brownies, delivered on the backs of puppies.
But much like a tray of ever-so-delicious brownies (or anything other baked good) sometimes there is too much of a good thing.
Could there, gasp, actually be some things not to enjoy about the World Cup?
As we hit the stretch drive (under 30 days to go), let's examine some of the few negatives the World Cup brings with it. So grab some sour milk or bitter lemonade and let's play a little Devil's Advocate as we poor some cold water on the South African party.
* Too many previews -- The only day I went to Borders searching for a World Cup guide. Specifically the FourFourTwo version. It wasn't there.
It seemed this year, the World Cup went the way of Fantasy Football/Baseball guides, where the market was flooded with information. Much like the fantasy mags, the World Cup guides I flipped through all seem like they were printed in January, with the same stale info.
Is there such a thing as too much information? How is it possible for dozens and dozens or writers to say the same exact stuff about, say, Slovenia. (We get it, Milivoje Novakovič is pretty good.)
That's not to knock anybody individually, but the standard nation-by-nation write-ups lend to sounding the same and the main reason why I avoided doing it this time around.
By the same token, a majorly under-reported aspect of this particular World Cup seems to have been stuck in the shadows -- the altitude and the cold. (It's winter in South Africa.) Could, in a weird way, the fact that it could be chilly in places like Rustenberg work more in the favor of European teams than the South American and African? Just a thought to tuck away for our immediate, knee-jerk reactions on Twitter.
And previews in any sport, in-and-of themselves, usually are proven incorrect or off base fairly early on. It's the nature of the beast. Isn't that why we enjoy sports, for the unpredictability?
Wouldn't it make perfect sense after all the time, space and effort written about guys like Wayne Rooney and Leo Messi that, somebody else steals the show? These might be bad examples, but still ... we know some relative unknown is emerging as a breakout star and all we can do right now is throw out names and hope one sticks. By the same token, did anyone four years ago predict Zinedine Zidane churning on a vintage three weeks in his final acts as a pro?
ESPN's entry into the preview mag game? I'll say this in its favor, the last page had the full television schedule, which will prove quite handy.
But ESPN's foray into the World Cup preview game was nothing compared to Maxim, yes, Maxim, which for some reason I've been receiving at my house for the last four months without signing up for a subscription.
In the "lad mag"'s World Cup "preview" the term "Team U.K." was used. 'Nuff said.
Unfortunately I nearly flooded the second floor of my home trying to flush it down the toilet.
What it probably boils down to, is right now, I don't need cheese sticks or quesadilla flingers. I need the main course, the t-bone steak -- the games themselves. Admittedly, I'm in the extreme minority. I do, after all, write a soccer-related opinion blog so I don't exactly need a quick refresher course or to be reminded the World Cup is about to kick off on a daily basis.
(For something fresh to read, though not specific to the 2010 tournament, I can't pimp the "ESPN World Cup Companion" enough.)
* Shakira's music -- When I was in Germany four years ago, there were three songs that seemed to be played on a loop -- Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" (good), Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" (not as good) and Atomic Kitten's "All Together Now" (ear-bleedingly awful ... but I still love you Goleo).
Once again, the Colombian temptress# is back with a World Cup-themed song. And once again, let's say I'm not the target audience. Why is it that sports, especially on the global stage, attract such awful Black Eyed Peas-esque dance music?
At least the official World Cup song by K'Naan has grown on me over the last couple days mainly because of its placement in the official video game.
# -- Has there ever been a hotness-to-musical talent scaled skewed as highly as Shakira. Amazed people willingly chose to listen to her South American yodeling/animal guttural bleats. Oh right, because of the visual element implanted in your head from her videos. Got it.
* The referee's whistle -- In the boldest prediction of the World Cup, I'll go out on a limb and guess at least one game during the tournament an official will make such an egregious call we'll get two or three days worth of talking heads on ESPN screaming why soccer doesn't use instant replay.
* (Possibly) Negative tactics -- If I've said this once, I've said it 1,000 times, the World Cup is great as a sporting spectacle, but sometimes the games aren't all that amazing, especially in the knockouts. Free-flowing, creative games turn into a mini-battles, in start-stop foul fests.
Maybe this doesn't happen, but it could. There's so much at stake and the tournament only rolls around every four years that coaches are also forced to play it close to the vest.
Nobody wants to see the return of "Bora Ball", do we? Or a repeat of Portgual/Holland. Hell, when Brazil is taking a defense-first approach with its team selection, what does it say for the 31 other teams?
And this kind of unattractive play invariably leads to 120 minutes of fatigue-soaked tension decided penalty kicks, which nobody on the planet likes to decide a match. It also triggers another mongo debate of America's mainstream media throwing its two cents in how to "fix" soccer.
Greece and Switzerland -- These are probably the two nations I'm the least interesting in watching play. Part of this is due to the fact that much more appealing European sides like Russia and Bosnia were left at home in favor of these defense-first squads. These two nations placed Nos. 1 and 2 in arguably UEFA's weakest qualifying group, which also included Israel, Latvia, Luxembourg and Moldova.
On top of that, they landed in manageable World Cup groups, meaning they could advance into the knockout stages, where defensive, conservative tactics are even more beneficial.
Compounding the issue is neither Greece or Switzerland seem to possess a dynamic player who draws your eyeballs to the set. They're two teams that don't bring much to the table, helping to fill out the numbers.
Put it this way, shouldn't Switzerland be disqualified from making the World Cup finals when it lost at home to Luxembourg?
So, yeah, overall I hate to play wear the black hat with relish in this situation, but figured it was worth at least mentioning a few of the World Cup's warts, without getting into the whole Sepp Blatter-fueled money grab and how a nation like South Africa probably would have been better suited pouring billions of dollars into, you know, schools, hospitals and infrastructure instead of a couple stadiums, which is a story on its own.
Maybe it's a bit too cynical when nearly everyone is in full flag-waving mode, but hey, isn't the World Cup occasionally of cynical tactics and players?
Anybody remember Marco Materazzi?
* * *
Two-minute guide to World Cup snark:
Perhaps it's because there's a statute of limitations of how many jokes you can make about Serbs being fanatical about their showers, but here is a quick look at how to make incisive, pithy comments about the nations participating at the World Cup.
Hell, print it out, fold it up like one of those handy-dandy pocket schedules and unfurl it whenever a joke is needed to zing polite company. You'll be the hit of your World Cup viewing parties or office water cooler.
If the World Cup is anything, it's a time to embrace your inner ugly American and beat the dead horse that is decades old stereotyping, right?
Fish in a Barrel Division:
* Germany -- Anything is in play with Das/Ze Germans. Anything. From the now almost two-decade old 'Sprockets' SNL sketch, to lederhosen to sausage to Jens Lehmann pissing on the field, making fun of German stereotypes is like hitting off a tee. Just watch 'Family Guy', hasn't Seth MacFarlane banked about two billion dollars in DVD sales on the basis of Hitler jokes?
* France -- The gift to late-night writers that keeps on giving. In fact, the hoary old chestnut of the French loving Jerry Lewis movies is right up there in the Comedy Trope Hall of Fame with slipping on a banana peel and yakety sax. When and if the French concede a goal all one must do is make a silly comment about surrender and voila, guffaws around the room. (Note, Quentin Tarantino turned the French-jokes dynamic on its head with "Inglorious Basterds.")
* Italy -- Making a fun a de Eye-talians is about as American as a pizza-pie. Oh, the current day Italians penchant for stripping down to their ever-so-snug briefs is pretty easy for ridicule, too.
* England -- Let's just use "The Simpsons" as our guides for Exhibit a) "Fresh'en ya drink guv'nah and b) The Big Book of British Smiles. Or hell, pretend you're an ESPN anchor and simply speak in a bad, broad English accent and say the words, "jolly" or "oi" or "cheerio" and mention something dated about 1980s hooliganism. A guaranteed laugh riot.
* Greece -- If you're of age, you can go back to the ancient Greek comedy trope of, "Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger." For more contemporary folks, whenever Greece fails to score during a game, an easy joke is saying something like, "That went about as well as Jesse and the Rippers gig at the Smash Club last night." If you're in more urbane, hip company who don't mind things getting a little blue, the folks over at Urban Dictionary certainly have some interesting things to say when you enter "Greek" into their system.
* Japan -- Apparently, the Inter-nets tell me that this Japan place is the Land of the Rising Crazy. Used underwear vending machines? Seizure-inducing television? Robots? Meeeeeeeeeeeestah Sparkle? Hideki Matsui's legendary porn collection? Anything kooky or zany is in play with Japan. Can you see that I am serious?
Oh no you didn't Division:
* The Netherlands -- Nice wooden shoes, tulips and windmills, jerks.
* New Zealand -- Throw another shrimp on the barbee, ride around on your kangaroos all day. Oh wait, Flight of the Conchords already did this. Mistakenly.
* Australia -- Speaking of Australia, two words: Corey Delaney. Oh, and any ass-less chaps-related "Mad Max" jokes are also quite accepted. (Fun fact, the bad guy from "The Road Warrior" -- Wez -- was played by an actor named Vernon Wells. He was also the uber-macho Bennett in "Commando.")
* Serbia -- Besides their devotion to showers, the Serbs also love tobacco in cigarette form. Fact. Ask Vlade Divac.
* Uruguay -- Read the name. Re-read the name. Snicker like a fourth-grader. Repeat.
* South Korea -- Fun fact, South Korea determines its new President every four years through an online game of "Starcraft". For reals, yo.
Your Country's So Boring, (aka Yo Mama So Fat Division):
* Denmark -- ... Why don't you go build a replica World Cup stadium out of Legos, you socialist pricks. ... Oh wait, what's that? Somebody already did? Damn you Danish effiency.
* Switzerland -- ... I don't even have a joke for you. At least you were, in a roundabout way, responsible for Clint Eastwood filming "The Eiger Sanction" in your lovely Alpine nation.
* Huh, what, this is a country you say Division:
* Slovakia/Slovenia -- Considering the state of the American educational system the last three decades, the average middle aged Yank couldn't locate America itself on the map. Hence force, the independent, strong, unique nations of Slovakia and Slovenia will wrongly and ignorantly be grouped into one vague, seemingly medieval, backwater nation where you might find a guy like Borat trying to buy-and-sell a wife.
Don't Go There Division:
* Unless you have the balls, or social ineptitude of Larry David, the following countries are probably off limits for crude, American ignoramus commentary: Ghana, South Africa, Cote D'Ivoire and Cameroon.
Geo-political Division:
* North Korea -- Suffice to say, nobody in Inter-nets land can burn Kim Jong-II better than Trey Parker and Matt Stone, so just do a bad "Team America" impression and you're golden.
* Chile -- Let's face it, nothing lights up a room or a blog comment like a good old fashioned Augusto Pinochet barb. ... Take my Augusto, please.
(After reading this I hope everyone understood the heavy, dripping like molasses sarcasm involved. In fact, it was trying to be sarcastic about sarcasm itself, which nearly caused my computer to implode upon itself like putting metal too close to the Orchid Station on "Lost". And full disclosure, most of these are recycled jokes from 'The Simpsons' -- our modern day cultural unifier -- anyway.)
* * *
USMNT Watch:
Is every player at the Princeton camp hurt, or does it just seem that way?
You also have to wonder if the two domestic friendlies, plus the game vs. Australia in June is enough for Oguchi Onyewu to get up to game speed. When was the last time he went a full 90 minutes? September?
Sure, there's not as much running in a central defensive role as there would be in the other places on the field, but isn't game-sharpness and ability to read and react the keys to manning the spot? Onyewu can probably mask a lot of issues with his height, but I'm a little worried.
The other issue that seems to be gaining some steam is whether or not Jozy Altidore is an automatic start at forward.
If we know anything from Bob Bradley, this clearly won't be the case. Would a 4-5-1 type set up on June 12 with Brian Ching alone up top surprise anyone that's tracked this team the last four years? I'm not saying this is a good idea, but for better or worse, it's on the table. (In a way, this might not be the worst idea in the world sine you'd have to figure Fabio Capello is banking on Altidore starting and the U.S. in a 4-4-2.)
Maybe it's me, but are people (mainly advertisers) putting a lot more stock in Altidore's winning smile and failing to remember he only scored one goal for Hull City in the Premier League.
Seems like people are jumping the gun just a bit. Potential is one thing, but at a tournament like the World Cup it's put up, or shut up.
And I'm about as big a Jozy fan as there is, too. Hope I'm wrong here.
But much like a tray of ever-so-delicious brownies (or anything other baked good) sometimes there is too much of a good thing.
Could there, gasp, actually be some things not to enjoy about the World Cup?
As we hit the stretch drive (under 30 days to go), let's examine some of the few negatives the World Cup brings with it. So grab some sour milk or bitter lemonade and let's play a little Devil's Advocate as we poor some cold water on the South African party.
* Too many previews -- The only day I went to Borders searching for a World Cup guide. Specifically the FourFourTwo version. It wasn't there.
It seemed this year, the World Cup went the way of Fantasy Football/Baseball guides, where the market was flooded with information. Much like the fantasy mags, the World Cup guides I flipped through all seem like they were printed in January, with the same stale info.
Is there such a thing as too much information? How is it possible for dozens and dozens or writers to say the same exact stuff about, say, Slovenia. (We get it, Milivoje Novakovič is pretty good.)
That's not to knock anybody individually, but the standard nation-by-nation write-ups lend to sounding the same and the main reason why I avoided doing it this time around.
By the same token, a majorly under-reported aspect of this particular World Cup seems to have been stuck in the shadows -- the altitude and the cold. (It's winter in South Africa.) Could, in a weird way, the fact that it could be chilly in places like Rustenberg work more in the favor of European teams than the South American and African? Just a thought to tuck away for our immediate, knee-jerk reactions on Twitter.
And previews in any sport, in-and-of themselves, usually are proven incorrect or off base fairly early on. It's the nature of the beast. Isn't that why we enjoy sports, for the unpredictability?
Wouldn't it make perfect sense after all the time, space and effort written about guys like Wayne Rooney and Leo Messi that, somebody else steals the show? These might be bad examples, but still ... we know some relative unknown is emerging as a breakout star and all we can do right now is throw out names and hope one sticks. By the same token, did anyone four years ago predict Zinedine Zidane churning on a vintage three weeks in his final acts as a pro?
ESPN's entry into the preview mag game? I'll say this in its favor, the last page had the full television schedule, which will prove quite handy.
But ESPN's foray into the World Cup preview game was nothing compared to Maxim, yes, Maxim, which for some reason I've been receiving at my house for the last four months without signing up for a subscription.
In the "lad mag"'s World Cup "preview" the term "Team U.K." was used. 'Nuff said.
Unfortunately I nearly flooded the second floor of my home trying to flush it down the toilet.
What it probably boils down to, is right now, I don't need cheese sticks or quesadilla flingers. I need the main course, the t-bone steak -- the games themselves. Admittedly, I'm in the extreme minority. I do, after all, write a soccer-related opinion blog so I don't exactly need a quick refresher course or to be reminded the World Cup is about to kick off on a daily basis.
(For something fresh to read, though not specific to the 2010 tournament, I can't pimp the "ESPN World Cup Companion" enough.)
* Shakira's music -- When I was in Germany four years ago, there were three songs that seemed to be played on a loop -- Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" (good), Shakira's "Hips Don't Lie" (not as good) and Atomic Kitten's "All Together Now" (ear-bleedingly awful ... but I still love you Goleo).
Once again, the Colombian temptress# is back with a World Cup-themed song. And once again, let's say I'm not the target audience. Why is it that sports, especially on the global stage, attract such awful Black Eyed Peas-esque dance music?
At least the official World Cup song by K'Naan has grown on me over the last couple days mainly because of its placement in the official video game.
# -- Has there ever been a hotness-to-musical talent scaled skewed as highly as Shakira. Amazed people willingly chose to listen to her South American yodeling/animal guttural bleats. Oh right, because of the visual element implanted in your head from her videos. Got it.
* The referee's whistle -- In the boldest prediction of the World Cup, I'll go out on a limb and guess at least one game during the tournament an official will make such an egregious call we'll get two or three days worth of talking heads on ESPN screaming why soccer doesn't use instant replay.
* (Possibly) Negative tactics -- If I've said this once, I've said it 1,000 times, the World Cup is great as a sporting spectacle, but sometimes the games aren't all that amazing, especially in the knockouts. Free-flowing, creative games turn into a mini-battles, in start-stop foul fests.
Maybe this doesn't happen, but it could. There's so much at stake and the tournament only rolls around every four years that coaches are also forced to play it close to the vest.
Nobody wants to see the return of "Bora Ball", do we? Or a repeat of Portgual/Holland. Hell, when Brazil is taking a defense-first approach with its team selection, what does it say for the 31 other teams?
And this kind of unattractive play invariably leads to 120 minutes of fatigue-soaked tension decided penalty kicks, which nobody on the planet likes to decide a match. It also triggers another mongo debate of America's mainstream media throwing its two cents in how to "fix" soccer.
Greece and Switzerland -- These are probably the two nations I'm the least interesting in watching play. Part of this is due to the fact that much more appealing European sides like Russia and Bosnia were left at home in favor of these defense-first squads. These two nations placed Nos. 1 and 2 in arguably UEFA's weakest qualifying group, which also included Israel, Latvia, Luxembourg and Moldova.
On top of that, they landed in manageable World Cup groups, meaning they could advance into the knockout stages, where defensive, conservative tactics are even more beneficial.
Compounding the issue is neither Greece or Switzerland seem to possess a dynamic player who draws your eyeballs to the set. They're two teams that don't bring much to the table, helping to fill out the numbers.
Put it this way, shouldn't Switzerland be disqualified from making the World Cup finals when it lost at home to Luxembourg?
So, yeah, overall I hate to play wear the black hat with relish in this situation, but figured it was worth at least mentioning a few of the World Cup's warts, without getting into the whole Sepp Blatter-fueled money grab and how a nation like South Africa probably would have been better suited pouring billions of dollars into, you know, schools, hospitals and infrastructure instead of a couple stadiums, which is a story on its own.
Maybe it's a bit too cynical when nearly everyone is in full flag-waving mode, but hey, isn't the World Cup occasionally of cynical tactics and players?
Anybody remember Marco Materazzi?
Two-minute guide to World Cup snark:
Perhaps it's because there's a statute of limitations of how many jokes you can make about Serbs being fanatical about their showers, but here is a quick look at how to make incisive, pithy comments about the nations participating at the World Cup.
Hell, print it out, fold it up like one of those handy-dandy pocket schedules and unfurl it whenever a joke is needed to zing polite company. You'll be the hit of your World Cup viewing parties or office water cooler.
If the World Cup is anything, it's a time to embrace your inner ugly American and beat the dead horse that is decades old stereotyping, right?
Fish in a Barrel Division:
* Germany -- Anything is in play with Das/Ze Germans. Anything. From the now almost two-decade old 'Sprockets' SNL sketch, to lederhosen to sausage to Jens Lehmann pissing on the field, making fun of German stereotypes is like hitting off a tee. Just watch 'Family Guy', hasn't Seth MacFarlane banked about two billion dollars in DVD sales on the basis of Hitler jokes?
* France -- The gift to late-night writers that keeps on giving. In fact, the hoary old chestnut of the French loving Jerry Lewis movies is right up there in the Comedy Trope Hall of Fame with slipping on a banana peel and yakety sax. When and if the French concede a goal all one must do is make a silly comment about surrender and voila, guffaws around the room. (Note, Quentin Tarantino turned the French-jokes dynamic on its head with "Inglorious Basterds.")
* Italy -- Making a fun a de Eye-talians is about as American as a pizza-pie. Oh, the current day Italians penchant for stripping down to their ever-so-snug briefs is pretty easy for ridicule, too.
* England -- Let's just use "The Simpsons" as our guides for Exhibit a) "Fresh'en ya drink guv'nah and b) The Big Book of British Smiles. Or hell, pretend you're an ESPN anchor and simply speak in a bad, broad English accent and say the words, "jolly" or "oi" or "cheerio" and mention something dated about 1980s hooliganism. A guaranteed laugh riot.
* Greece -- If you're of age, you can go back to the ancient Greek comedy trope of, "Cheeseburger, cheeseburger, cheeseburger." For more contemporary folks, whenever Greece fails to score during a game, an easy joke is saying something like, "That went about as well as Jesse and the Rippers gig at the Smash Club last night." If you're in more urbane, hip company who don't mind things getting a little blue, the folks over at Urban Dictionary certainly have some interesting things to say when you enter "Greek" into their system.
* Japan -- Apparently, the Inter-nets tell me that this Japan place is the Land of the Rising Crazy. Used underwear vending machines? Seizure-inducing television? Robots? Meeeeeeeeeeeestah Sparkle? Hideki Matsui's legendary porn collection? Anything kooky or zany is in play with Japan. Can you see that I am serious?
Oh no you didn't Division:
* The Netherlands -- Nice wooden shoes, tulips and windmills, jerks.
* New Zealand -- Throw another shrimp on the barbee, ride around on your kangaroos all day. Oh wait, Flight of the Conchords already did this. Mistakenly.
* Australia -- Speaking of Australia, two words: Corey Delaney. Oh, and any ass-less chaps-related "Mad Max" jokes are also quite accepted. (Fun fact, the bad guy from "The Road Warrior" -- Wez -- was played by an actor named Vernon Wells. He was also the uber-macho Bennett in "Commando.")
* Serbia -- Besides their devotion to showers, the Serbs also love tobacco in cigarette form. Fact. Ask Vlade Divac.
* Uruguay -- Read the name. Re-read the name. Snicker like a fourth-grader. Repeat.
* South Korea -- Fun fact, South Korea determines its new President every four years through an online game of "Starcraft". For reals, yo.
Your Country's So Boring, (aka Yo Mama So Fat Division):
* Denmark -- ... Why don't you go build a replica World Cup stadium out of Legos, you socialist pricks. ... Oh wait, what's that? Somebody already did? Damn you Danish effiency.
* Switzerland -- ... I don't even have a joke for you. At least you were, in a roundabout way, responsible for Clint Eastwood filming "The Eiger Sanction" in your lovely Alpine nation.
* Huh, what, this is a country you say Division:
* Slovakia/Slovenia -- Considering the state of the American educational system the last three decades, the average middle aged Yank couldn't locate America itself on the map. Hence force, the independent, strong, unique nations of Slovakia and Slovenia will wrongly and ignorantly be grouped into one vague, seemingly medieval, backwater nation where you might find a guy like Borat trying to buy-and-sell a wife.
Don't Go There Division:
* Unless you have the balls, or social ineptitude of Larry David, the following countries are probably off limits for crude, American ignoramus commentary: Ghana, South Africa, Cote D'Ivoire and Cameroon.
Geo-political Division:
* North Korea -- Suffice to say, nobody in Inter-nets land can burn Kim Jong-II better than Trey Parker and Matt Stone, so just do a bad "Team America" impression and you're golden.
* Chile -- Let's face it, nothing lights up a room or a blog comment like a good old fashioned Augusto Pinochet barb. ... Take my Augusto, please.
(After reading this I hope everyone understood the heavy, dripping like molasses sarcasm involved. In fact, it was trying to be sarcastic about sarcasm itself, which nearly caused my computer to implode upon itself like putting metal too close to the Orchid Station on "Lost". And full disclosure, most of these are recycled jokes from 'The Simpsons' -- our modern day cultural unifier -- anyway.)
USMNT Watch:
Is every player at the Princeton camp hurt, or does it just seem that way?
You also have to wonder if the two domestic friendlies, plus the game vs. Australia in June is enough for Oguchi Onyewu to get up to game speed. When was the last time he went a full 90 minutes? September?
Sure, there's not as much running in a central defensive role as there would be in the other places on the field, but isn't game-sharpness and ability to read and react the keys to manning the spot? Onyewu can probably mask a lot of issues with his height, but I'm a little worried.
The other issue that seems to be gaining some steam is whether or not Jozy Altidore is an automatic start at forward.
If we know anything from Bob Bradley, this clearly won't be the case. Would a 4-5-1 type set up on June 12 with Brian Ching alone up top surprise anyone that's tracked this team the last four years? I'm not saying this is a good idea, but for better or worse, it's on the table. (In a way, this might not be the worst idea in the world sine you'd have to figure Fabio Capello is banking on Altidore starting and the U.S. in a 4-4-2.)
Maybe it's me, but are people (mainly advertisers) putting a lot more stock in Altidore's winning smile and failing to remember he only scored one goal for Hull City in the Premier League.
Seems like people are jumping the gun just a bit. Potential is one thing, but at a tournament like the World Cup it's put up, or shut up.
And I'm about as big a Jozy fan as there is, too. Hope I'm wrong here.
Labels: 2010 world cup, Soccer, world cup wednesdays
I would guess there's just too many shenanigans around a 2nd group stage (78 with Argentina, Brazil and Chile and 82 with West Germany, Austria, and Algeria), but I always felt the group stages made for a better game than the knockout rounds. Eight groups of 4 become 4 groups of 4 which then become a "Final Four" so to speak.
Great post with lots of depth but I'm gonna focus on the 'who does playing in South Africa help' issue.
Altitude - lots of teams are training at altitude even before they go to South Africa and then doing more low-ox practicing there as well. Why is USMNT in New Jersey and not Colorado?
Winter - It IS winter in South Africa, but why does that help the Europeans? Aren't teams from Europe gonna be expecting summer? Seems to me that South American teams (also from the same, southerly hemisphere as Joburg) will be the ones with that advantage.
BUT - since the vast majority of the big nations have many/most of their players from clubs in Europe - it hardly matters. I guess North Korea doesn't have many guys in Ligue1, but even a 'smallish' nation like Uruguay has plenty of players who have spent the last months in Europe - they are just as 'European' as England. The ultimate 'south american' team, Brazil, has just three players (Robinho, Gilberto and Kleberson) who DON'T play in Europe.
I think we are looking for an angle here, but un-sure much of one exists.
I really don't think the US coming in 4th and Uruguay winning back in the 50s really matters much. Are any of those guides worth it? Without even knowing the final, 23-man rosters - how much insight can anyone offer?