FIFA back down in poppy row

England will be allowed to wear poppies on their shirts against Spain on Saturday after all, albeit as an armband.

An extraordinary row had been stirred up after the Football Association announced the England team would sport the Remembrance Day flower for their friendly against the World Champions. Scotland and Wales plan to do the same for their games against Cyprus and Norway.

FIFA reacted monolithically by refusing to countenance it, citing their regulations against "political, religious or commercial" symbols on national team shirts.

Political leaders and royalty reacted with rage, the London media went into frenzy and two members of the English Defence League, a protest group which draws a number of soccer thugs, scaled the roof of FIFA House in Zurich to protest.

Ignoring the fact that several nations' shirts have Christian crosses or Islamic crescents on them, or that Adidas, FIFA's favourite manufacturer, Nike, Umbro and other brands already have their logos emblazoned on shirts, the accusation that the poppy was a political symbol was well wide of the mark.

Poppies are ubiquitous in England in the week leading up to the 11th of September commemoration of those who served and/or died in conflicts. Military veterans man the entrances and exits to every major railway station, adults and children alike wear them and no TV presenter would be seen dead without the little red flower in their lapel.

Indeed, the pressure to be seen honouring the fallen has led to some complaining of 'poppy fascism'.

But it is definitely not "political". All parties unite to lay wreaths at the Cenotaph in Whitehall, Britain's national war memorial. The poppy, which comes from Canadian John McCrae's 'In Flanders Fields' poem and American campaigner Moina Michael, succeeds in uniting the nation in quiet reflection, pacifists and non-pacifists alike.

On that basis, FIFA should never have interfered with something so close to a nation's heart which was a one-off because it just so happened England had a friendly at home a day after Armistice Day. The interventions of UK Prime Minister David Cameron and future king Prince William were probably due to their unpleasant experiences at the World Cup vote a year ago, where both left fuming at having been lied to by FIFA Ex.Co. members.

At the same time, did England need to wear a poppy? Their alternative plans of having a giant red flower on the pitch and having poppies on England training shirts and tracksuits and a minute's silence before kick-off surely would have made the point that football remembers too.

1,000 servicemen and women are due to attend to as part of the FA's 'Tickets for Troops' giveaway. Indeed, there has been a creeping military feel to England home games in the last few years. Now it is customary for uniformed soldiers to carry the flags around the field, to sometimes line up to be honoured and for the P.A. system to encourage the crowd to applaud, as 'Help for Heroes' collectors raise money for the families of those serving in Afghanistan.

The connection between the national team and the national army is becoming a little blurred in England, and FIFA were right to assume all national shirts should be left alone, but equally the strength of feeling in Britain on the issue was something they should have been aware of before clumsily putting their foot down.

In terms of football politics, England and FIFA look as far apart as ever, with the motherland of the game having given up the dream of ever hosting the World Cup again. Until regime change happens in Zurich, the FA can content themselves with mini-victories like this one.

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile


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USA shuts the Bradley chapter

The USA have fired Bob Bradley as their manager.

The New Jersey-born coach was relieved of his duties today after five years at the helm.

Last month's loss to Mexico in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final proved his undoing, as the US had led 2-0 in that game before capitulating embarrassingly 4-2 and the defeat also meant they missed out on the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup. In the group stage the USA had also lost a game to Panama, 67th in the FIFA World Rankings.

America's unexpected last-eight finish at the 2002 World Cup has set a perhaps unrealistic benchmark for future US elevens and compared to that unforgettable campaign in Korea, the national team has stagnated since.

Having taken over from Bruce Arena following the 2006 World Cup finals, Bradley led the US into the 2010 competition in South Africa, where his team beat Algeria with a dramatic last-gasp strike and drew with England and Slovenia to win the group, before they lost 2-1 to Ghana in the second round.

Under Bradley the US also won the CONCACAF Gold Cup in 2007, which allowed his team its finest hour at the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa. There the Americans beat European Champions Spain 2-0 in the semi-final and led Brazil by the same score in the final, before going down 3-2 to a Kaka-inspired second half comeback.

Last summer Bradley was linked with Aston Villa and Fulham. He previously coached Chicago Fire, Chivas USA and the Metrostars in Major League Soccer. The 53 year-old leaves the US ranked 30th in the world, one place higher than when he took over in 2006. Their highest position under Bradley was 12th in August 2009 following the Confederations Cup.

Jurgen Klinsmann, who has run a soccer consultancy in California for some years now and was offered the job back in 2006, appears to be the favourite once more, although 38 year-old Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis is an outside bet.



(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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Brazil - the next generation

Once again Brazil failed at the World Cup despite entering the competition as favourites. Robinho looked to have sent them on their way to the last four in Port Elizabeth before a Wesley Sneijder brace put the Dutch through instead. The expected fightback never came and for a second World Cup in a row the world's most valued soccer nation trooped off into the shadows.

So once again, young starlets are emerging post-tournament to raise the spirits of the seleçao.
And most hopes are being pinned on the Santos duo of Ganso and Neymar.

Paulo Henrique Chagas de Lima, known as 'Ganso', is a 21 year-old number ten, has drawn comparisons with Zinedine Zidane and seems the obvious replacement for Kaka once he hangs up his boots. His first game in the yellow and green was in last August's 2-0 friendly win over the USA.

The name of Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior, who turns 19 this week, has been in global circulation a little longer, as he exploded onto the scene as a 17 year-old striker, but only made his Brazil debut in the same friendly last summer, bagging the opening goal.

Needless to say, almost every big European club has been linked with the duo, especially with Neymar, and one hopes neither young man will risk hopping across the Atlantic too soon.

With Brazil sure to be a force in 2014 with the World Cup on home soil, this young pair from Pelé's old club could be following in the great man's footsteps and raising gold to the sky...





-Sean O'Conor

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Golazo from Yer Man!

Not every day the Northern Irish league is in the spotlight, but was there a more audacious strike in 2010 than this effort by Glentoran's Matty Burrows, which looks better on each viewing...



Burrows' strike makes it to the ten best goals of the year chosen by FIFA, along with usual suspects Messi, Neymar & Robben, plus Bafana Bafana's opening strike of the World Cup Finals:



* Here's one they missed, from Andrea Pirlo, as the Parma defence obligingly opens up.

- Sean O'Conor

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Eto'o is Africa's lion again

If Alexander the Great conquered the known world and beyond by the age of 30, Samuel Eto'o has come pretty close on the football field. He has just been named African Footballer of the Year for a record fourth time and shows no signs of calling a halt to an already illustrious career.

At 29, the Cameroonian captain has a soccer CV most of us would die for.

He is his country's captain and record goalscorer and has represented Cameroon in three FIFA World Cups, won an Olympic Games gold medal and won two African Nations Cups with the Indomitable Lions, while participating in a further four. He remains the all-time top scorer in that tournament and has netted 52 times in 101 games for his nation.

His club resumé includes Barcelona, Inter and Real Madrid and Eto'o has won the UEFA Champions League at all of them. This year he became the first footballer to win two continental trebles of league, cup and Champions League, having collected a clean sweep first at Barcelona and then at Inter.

Leaving Spain after five seasons and 171 strikes he joined José Mourinho at Inter in a swap deal with Zlatan Ibrahimovic and bagged 21 goals, not bad for an inaugural outing in defence-heavy Serie A.

A string of other garlands include a purple year in 2006 when he became La Liga's top gunner and won the Man of the Match award in the Champions League final. Most recently, Eto'o scored in the FIFA World Club Cup final as Inter were crowned the best team on the planet, their Cameroonian ace receiving the Golden Ball.

A lithe runner blessed with turbo-charged heels, a quick-thinking footballing brain and a lethal shot, Eto'o has also had his fair share of knockers, from coaches, players and journalists who have questioned his attitude and priorities, to 'fans' bellowing racist abuse at him in Spain and Italy.

Yet like all great players, he answers his critics on the field of play, a perfect pitch for this indomitable lion of Africa.

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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The only men who matter

2018 World Cup Decision - Zurich

Hours of debate and acres of column inches have been expended debating the pluses and minuses of the various 2018 World Cup bids, and the FIFA Executive Committee have their exhaustive technical study to go on (which rated England and Spain/Portugal as the safest bets) as well as the McKinsey report (which claimed the English bid would be the most lucrative).

Recent news has hurt several bids - the military exchanges between the two Koreas, the looming financial crises in Portugal and Spain, the Wikileaks diplomatic assessment of Russia as a gangster state and the pitch invasion at the Birmingham derby in England. Only the low countries' bid seems to have avoided the bad headlines, but it has missed the good ones too. The Dutch government's reluctance to turn the tournament into a tax haven for the tournament and bankroll FIFA to the tune of 300 million Euros probably dealt their bid the coup de grace.

Yet at the end of the day, the two-year lobbying process, which has become frenzied in Switzerland as the hours count down to the vote, tell the true tale about how World Cup hostings are decided - by forming alliances. With 22 different nationalities on the Executive Committee, international networking is a must.

According to all accounts, the low-key Spain/Portugal bid has been the most successful in making friends, despite a budget one third of England's or Russia's. The Iberians appear not only to have worked their cultural heritage in bagging the three South American votes on offer, but also struck a potentially winning alliance with Mohamed Bin-Hammam of Qatar, whose influence is believed to extend to two further members. England's repeated courting of Jack Warner seems to have translated into an understanding that CONCACAF's three votes will support them, although Rafael Salguero of Guatemala may be tempted to join his Hispanic brothers.

Cultural heritage is clearly a factor, which means not only the North and South American votes will head back to their ancestral homelands but also that the Egyptian delegate Hany Abo Rida is more likely to follow Mohamed Bin Hammam from the Asian confederation than vote with other (sub-Saharan) Africans. If Korean Chung Mong-Joon plumps as expected for the Dutch/Belgian bid, it will partly be down to his federation has hired four Dutch coaches in the last ten years.

Personal friendships and sentimental reasons will be factors too, as well as old sores and prejudices. Predicting the outright winner is only an approximate exercise given the voting format where the lowest-scoring bid's votes will be allocated elsewhere with each successive round until one nation has an overall majority. And who knows, one or two wavering candidates may even change their mind between rounds in the anonymous ballot boxes.

If England and the Iberians have say seven votes apiece to begin with, that still leaves six second preferences to swing it either way. All that does seem sure going into the final day is that the Dutch & Belgians have no hope of winning and that Spain & Portugal have a slender lead over England, who are narrowly ahead of Russia. Vladimir Putin's last-minute decision not to fly to Zurich while Prince William and David Cameron press the flesh sounds like an admission of defeat. Iberia is the favourite for now, but Angel Maria Villa Llona's boast that "all the fish is sold" a week ago may come back to haunt him if England turn an ear or two at the last minute.

Predictions are inevitably risky given the difficulty in reading the minds of 22 diverse men and the secret nature of the ballot renders prognostications doubly moot, but these nevertheless are mine:

2018 decision - possible first round voting intentions

Spain/Portugal
Julio Grondona (Argentina)
Angel Maria Villa Llona (Spain)
Nicolas Leoz (Paraguay)
Ricardo Texeira (Brazil)
Mohamed Bin Hammam (Qatar)
Worawi Makudi (Thailand)
Hany Abo Rida (Egypt)

England
Geoff Thompson (England)
Jack Warner (Trinidad & Tobago)
Chuck Blazer (USA)
Senes Erzik (Turkey)
Junji Ogura (Japan)
Rafael Salguero (Guatemala)

Russia
Sepp Blatter (Switzerland)
Franz Beckenbauer (Germany)
Vitaly Mutko (Russia)
Marios Lefkaritis (Cyprus)
Jacques Anouma (Ivory Coast)
Issa Hayatou (Cameroon)

Holland/Belgium
Michel D'Hooge (Belgium)
Michel Platini (France)
Chung Mong-Joon (South Korea)

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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Fifa World Rankings 20 October

Fifa's World Rankings came out today. World Cup winners Spain remain in top spot followed by The Netherlands, Brazil and Germany who swap places

England are unbelievably in 6th place, one adrift of Argentina who remain in 5th.

Egypt is the highest African team in 11th. The USA are down again to 25th. Italy also continue their descent to 16th.


1 Spain
2 Netherlands
3 Brazil
4 Germany
5 Argentina
6 England
7 Uruguay
8 Portugal
9 Croatia
10 Russia
11 Egypt
12 Greece
13 Norway
14 Chile
15 Slovenia
16 Italy
17 Ghana
18 France
19 Côte d'Ivoire
20 Slovakia

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A Look Back At World Cup 2010 South Africa

As at the 2002 World Cup in Korea/Japan some of the stadiums built for the 2010 World Cup have already or will become white elephants, while a large proportion of South Africa's population still live in poverty.

Most of the profit made at the tournament has gone into the coffers at Fifa.

The managers of the World Cup stadium in Cape Town have pulled out of their 30-year contract as it has very little potential for ongoing business. Sail Stadefrance said it had projected “substantial losses” if it took up the project.

Western Province rugby team will not move to the new stadium, which is facing heavy losses and the running of which has been taken over by the city. Cape Town invested around R2-billion of its own money before the World Cup. Fifa rejected cheaper sites at Athlone and Newlands as ”not suitable”.

“We had no choice. It was Greenpoint or don't be involved in the World Cup.

At an overall cost of Rand 5 billion, Mr Blatter's real legacy to the poor of Africa.

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51 and counting

As if FIFA were not in enough hot water already over goal-line incidents.

In an interview with Germany's Focus magazine, President Sepp Blatter made an extraordinary admission that football's governing body was considering abolishing draws and extra-time in World Cup finals matches.

According to Blatter's admission, penalty shoot-outs could replace ties in the group games, while, mirabile dictu, the 'golden goal' could make a return to the knock-out stages in order to spice up extra-time before another shoot-out, if necessary.

What has prompted this sudden revelation of another potential volte-face, following FIFA's u-turn on technology last week?

Blatter is presumably reacting to the meagre 2.27 goals-per-game average from the 2010 World Cup, the second-lowest on record, narrowly beating Italia '90's 2.21 haul.

The opening round of two games per group yielded only 1.6 goals on average, with nothing beyond Germany's 4-0 trouncing of Australia to write home about. The tournament was dull in footballing terms, with the exception of Germany's brief but fantastic foray to the semi-finals, which yielded a rich harvest of breakaway goals and sent the lumbering old battleships of England and Argentina spiraling to the bottom with aplomb.

But a resoundingly negative final littered with bookings, gamesmanship and brutal tackles put an unhappy seal on what should have been a carnival of football. At the climax of Sepp's big show, the watching world was left unhappy and even the winners Spain took their crown having netted fewer times (eight in seven games) than any previous champions. Blatter felt responsible.

South Africa after all was the President's baby from the moment he first garnered African votes to win the top job in football with the promise of a World Cup hosting in return. Perhaps he is over-reacting to the bad impression the finals left on the field, or indeed looking to be a pro-active president as a re-election looms in 2011, although his throne looks safe.

With UEFA increasingly strutting its stuff and steaming ahead with its own innovations such as the extra linesmen, FIFA does not want to be seen to be an ostrich with its head in the sand, and while it is reassuring that they are open to change and eager to improve the aesthetic experience of top-level soccer, this latest shock still begs two questions - if it ain't broke, why fix it and if it is broken, what can we do?

We can all agree on the need for more attacking and entertaining football, though we surely do not want as much scoring as in basketball. Yet short of increasing the size of the goals to gargantuan proportions or reducing the number of players per side, can anything realistically be changed?

Is doing away with extra-time going to increase the amount of attacking play over 90 minutes? And will teams determined to play for spot-kicks anyway not welcome a half-hour less in which to have to run around? This has been tried before of course in many competitions.

Abolishing draws in the NASL and later, MLS, was resoundingly unpopular with fans, players and coaches. Replacing the award of a hard-earned point with the lottery of penalties left honest teams unpaid for having clawed back a deficit, and superior sides equally penniless for having failed to break down a stubborn defence only to lose on spot-kicks. So it seems unthinkable that if American fans succeeded in binning the shoot-out after four miserable seasons, FIFA is all set to re-introduce it at the highest level.

'Golden goal' was another aberration best confined to the annals of past mistakes we have learnt from. Introduced as a compromised response to the dissatisfaction with the penalty shoot-outs of the 1990 and 1994 World Cups, golden goal, where the first goal in extra-time wins, debuted in Euro '96, when Oliver Bierhoff's 95th minute strike handed the trophy to Germany.

Laurent Blanc sent France through to the last eight of the 1998 World Cup with a golden goal in Lens, while at Euro 2000 the French were again the beneficiaries with a Zinedine Zidane penalty in the semi-final and a David Trezeguet winner in the final. Three years later on home soil, Thierry Henry bagged another golden goal to win the Confederations Cup.

The evidence of golden goal improving the contest as a whole was inconclusive. In fact, the spectacles of both the Euro '96 and Euro 2000 finals seemed to have been terminated prematurely by the rule, when it was the maximizing of entertainment which had lain behind its imposition in the first place.

Its penultimate hurrah came in the 2002 World Cup, when Senegal and South Korea advanced to the last eight and Turkey to the last four on golden goals. When it was quietly abolished by FIFA's International Board (IFAB) in 2004, there were few mourners and since then there has been no clamour whatsoever to revive it. Nor has UEFA's short-lived silver goal of Euro 2004 (whoever leads after 15 minutes of extra-time wins) been sorely missed by anyone.

No, if improving the spectacle is the aim, an already-failed experiment is not the means again.

Blatter must be feeling the strain of South Africa to have plucked this comedy rabbit out of the hat so soon after the finals. Some time in the Swiss Alps or some R&R beside Lake Zurich might be just the ticket in order for him to regain his composure.

As a German journalist immortally commented to Brian Glanville - "That man (Blatter) has 50 ideas a day, and 51 of them are bad."



(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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FIFA International Date results

The World Cup is over; tonight's international friendlies began a new era and prepared teams and fans for the first slew of new tournament qualifiers in early September.

International Friendlies - selected scores; 2010 World Cup qualifiers in bold

Tues 10th Aug 2010
Italy 0:1 Ivory Coast (London)

Weds 11th Aug 2010
Mexico 1:1 Spain
USA 0:2 Brazil
South Korea 2:1 Nigeria
Russia 1:0 Bulgaria
Finland 1:0 Belgium
England 2:1 Hungary
Armenia 1:3 Iran
Ukraine 1:1 Netherlands
Sweden 3:0 Scotland
Czech Rep 4:1 Latvia
Slovakia 1:1 Croatia
Turkey 2:0 Romania
Serbia 0:1 Greece
Denmark 2:2 Germany
Austria 0:1 Switzerland
Poland 0:3 Cameroon
South Africa 1:0 Ghana
Eire 0:1 Argentina
Slovenia 2:0 Australia
Norway 2:1 France
Angola 0:2 Uruguay (Lisbon)

Thu 12th Aug
Paraguay v Costa Rica
Panama v Venezuela
Bolivia v Colombia

- Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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Capello's England pick up the pieces

International friendly - England v Hungary, Wembley, Weds 11th Aug 8pm

Three major European nations came a cropper in South Africa.

Italy's ageing heroes went down fighting to Slovakia but could not stop the holders going home after the first round. France imploded in mutinous rancour, while England scraped through the group stage only to be humiliated by a rampant young Germany side.

Raymond Domenech and Marcello Lippi exited stage left but Fabio Capello remained in his job. There was little option for the Football Association, given that they had put pen to paper with a hefty two-year contract extension, the cancellation of which have cost them a pretty penny. Capello's admission that he expected failure in Africa while hastily jettisoning his employers' escape clause has cast him in a mercenary light.

Tomorrow at Wembley he returns to the limelight for the first time since his team and his reputation as a great coach were battered into the soil of Bloemfontein. With some irony, England's first opponents after their worst ever World Cup debacle are the ones who first exposed the Three Lions' tactical shortcomings and slew the myth of English invincibility.

Before 1953, England were still widely considered 'the masters' of the game in 1953 when the Mighty Magyars, the reigning Olympic champions, showed up at Wembley. Little did the 105,000 spectators coming through the gates know that a footballing trauma was in the offing, and some of them were surely still making their way through the turnstiles when Nandor Hidegkuti fired past Gil Merrick in the opening minute. If they had entered in hope they left in horror and stunned admiration.

To say Hungary's 6-3 victory was a jolt to the English psyche would be an understatement. The Three Lions went into soccer shellshock having being out-thought and out-gunned for 90 minutes by a team light years ahead in formation and tactics. 57 painful years (1966 apart) since that historic first home defeat by an overseas nation, what have we learnt? Barely six weeks ago, England were once again embarrassed by the superior tactics of a fellow European nation, as Germany exposed the obsolete rigidity of their favoured formation.

For the WM read 442, the latter shape now clearly bypassed by the 4231. Uruguay, it is true, took fourth place at the World Cup playing 442 but with a fluidity and technical finesse England's heavy legs could not match. While 442 is a shape easily-understandable to players, the gaps it leaves between its lines and the holes it leaves in midfield were starkly exposed in South Africa.

Capello has wisely shown a willingness to listen by immediately selecting a slew of young guns for his first friendly fixture since Bloemfontein, but the nagging doubt remains that England's current crop do not have the footballing brains to reach the level of Spain, the Netherlands or their conquerors, Germany.

Sven-Goran Eriksson let slip in private that he thought English players were not intelligent enough to compete for the big prizes, lacking the mental flexibility to adapt to different playing systems and understand the phases of the game.

Eriksson is largely considered a mild failure for guiding England to two World Cup quarter-finals, yet with the hindsight of two successive coaching calamities, his reign appears all the more impressive.

There is some truth in the accusation that England still think 'attack, attack, attack' when the going gets rough. When Germany scored their decisive third with 23 minutes remaining, there were nine red shirts buzzing around the opposing box, the sort of numbers you should only hurl forward in injury time.

England's limitations are exemplified by the almost identically speedy yet uncreative wingers they took to South Africa. Aaron Lennon and Shaun Wright-Phillips hared up the flanks but produced next to nothing of note, while Theo Walcott, left at home, is cut from the same cloth, famously lacking a footballing brain as Chris Waddle said.

While Germany's ace was their razor-sharp counter-attacking strategy, a move clearly honed on the training field, England were looking to their stars Wayne Rooney and Steven Gerrard to conjure up moments of magic, which never arrived.

In their fascinating book, 'Why England Lose', financial writers Simon Kuper and Stefan Szyminski argue that soccer success at the international level is dependent on a combination of population, GDP and an amorphous factor they call 'football experience'. While this explains Germany's and Brazil's historic triumphs it does not account for the prowess of the Netherlands, a country a third the size of England and with similar GDP but less football experience, who have reached three World Cup Finals and won the European Championship.

It remains the case that England's national football culture stresses individual endeavour and physical prowess above team telepathy. Greece proved in Euro 2004 that you do not need the best players to triumph in the end but rather a system that works so well the individuals melt into the background. The most impressive England performance in living memory, the 4-1 demolition of Holland at Euro '96, was clearly down to Terry Venables' inspired system, and prompted no less than Guus Hiddink, the Dutch coach that evening, to claim - "They taught us a lesson in possession and the use of space" - England?

Until the national mindset from school level upwards is changed to one of 'team first, me last', England will surely continue to disappoint at the highest level. It may take years before they can win a World Cup, but they cannot short-cut the process. The FA always promise a root-and-branch reform of the game after an exit or failure to qualify for a tournament, yet one never materialises as officials keep their heads down and avoid the blame and the national team quietly goes back to its ineffective practices.

England needs far more clubs and players, far more qualified coaches at all levels and a sea-change in the coaching mentality towards tactical sophistication and away from the fixation with 'passion', 'belief' and what the Itailans call fantasistas.

So while England will probably beat Hungary on Wednesday and sail through to Euro 2012, a similar fate to South Africa awaits in Eastern Europe in two years' time. History teaches us that English football's expectations mask a stark reality. In order to win Euro 2012, Capello, whose biography Gabriele Marcotti bravely subtitled 'Portrait of a Winner', really needs a miracle.

- Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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Football in Sun & Shadow - a look back at the 2010 World Cup

South Africa 2010 was being billed as a disaster ever since the Rainbow Nation romped home unopposed in the bidding war.

The country's high crime rate, political turmoil and level of HIV infection had given journalists a rich seam to of scare stories to mine, reviving a primal Western fear of darkest Africa as the World Cup boldy trod where no one had gone before.

As it transpired, Sepp Blatter's baby was delivered peacefully, with nothing more heinous than the high-decibel blast of plastic horns to assault the eardrums of fans across the world. Crime was an issue for the locals with their electric fences, multiple doors and roaming security staff, but it was soon obvious there was little risk of any visiting fans becoming another statistic.

The FIFA President was as disgusted by the ugly card-fest of a final as anyone, but will have slept soundly in the knowledge nothing seriously went wrong during his tournament.
Those of us who travelled to South Africa came away disappointed in the transport situation, which left us stuck for hours in traffic jams on inadequate roads, but fans could not complain about the cost of living in the Rainbow Nation, having shelled out an arm and a leg for the initial flight of course.

Frank Lampard's wrongly annulled strike against Germany followed by an offside Argentina goal on 'Technology Sunday' ensures that the TV replays debate is back on the agenda, and will never go away until something more advanced than the human eye is allowed to participate in decision making.

Talking of England, a milestone has surely been reached with no fans being arrested during the course of a World Cup for public order offences, apart from the dolt who briefly entered the dressing room in Cape Town. The team might have backfired once more, but the home of football happily failed to hit the headlines for hooliganism.

The Three Lions looked a more spent force than ever on the field, utterly eclipsed by a rampant young German team whose simple counter-attacking strategy wiped out Argentina as well before the Spanish passmasters reminded them who is still top dog.

The winners rarely wowed the crowds like they had at Euro 2008, showed a depressing tendency to surround the referee in order to get opponents booked and were not averse to the odd dive or two on their way to the trophy. And in bagging their first World Cup, Spain also took the prize as the lowest-scoring winners in the competition's history.

Yet la furia roja's final win was a huge relief to neutrals worldwide after the Netherlands, yes the Netherlands, had tried to foul their way to the Cup with the most unpleasant display seen in a final since Argentina in 1990. They gave the world an x-rated moment courtesy of Nigel De Jong's karate kick and to further blot their copybook, some Dutch players berated the referee when he had actually done them favours in not expelling De Jong and Mark Van Bommel, who after verbally abusing Howard Webb at the end, sealed his display of bad losing by not shaking hands with the Spaniards.

With Holland no longer the home of cultured football, Spain carry the torch, ironically a seed which may have been sown by Johann Cruyff at Barcelona in the 1970s.
Ghana apart, there were no heroic campaigns to get excited about. The Black Stars won the sympathy vote as the final African competitor and their heartbreakingly self-inflicted exit was the stuff of Greek tragedy, but it seemed too little too late for the underdogs, who had mostly been wiped out in the first round. Japan & South Korea both showed Eastern promise before succumbing to South American power, which briefly looked like overwhelming the competition, and Uruguay can be proud of going furthest from that continent.

The football was not as negative and defensive as some recent tournaments have been, but rarely caught fire with no unforgettable contests. There were some fine goals however, and a number of long-range peaches, perhaps a result of the controversial Jabulani, the latest official World Cup ball to annoy those who have to play with it.

While Uruguay's advance to the semi-finals may mean the death of 4-4-2 has been prematurely announced, 2010 will go down as the year in tactics of 4-2-3-1 and twin defensive midfielders. Bastian Schweinsteiger and Sami Khedira for the Germans exemplified this, while De Jong and Van Bommel guarded Holland's approaches like two of the three heads of Cerberus.

While formations mutate, it seems nothing revolutionary can happen again in World Cup tactics and it was telling that the inheritors of Total Football finally opted to play a disruptive game instead of taking attacking ideas to the opposition. Even that most isolated of nations, North Korea, showed discipline and organisation in their narrow 2-1 loss to Brazil, a world away from their all-out attacking style in 1966, although it all fell apart for them again against Portugal.

No single theme hung over the tournament as heavily as penalty shoot-outs did in 1990 or player fatigue did in 2002, but only because the refereeing injustices did not affect the outcome of big games. Had Andres Iniesta strayed offside before receiving Cesc Fabregas' assist before scoring, or the Dutch seen a goal like Lampard's wrongly disallowed, the video issue would be burning like wildfire. As it transpires, some concession to technology, perhaps via the fourth official on goal-line decisions, seems likely sooner rather than later, certainly before the next World Cup.

FIFA are beginning to accept they are too remote in the eyes of the world, which perhaps prompted them to splash their logo over substitutes' bibs and TV replays in South Africa. They must be seen to be sensitive to public grievances over refereeing and technology, ticketing and other matters, so their tentative u-turn on video replays is cautiously propitious.

A global organisation of such magnitude demands more accountability and transparency.

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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World Cup 2010 Review

It took less than an hour of South Africa 2010 for South African hopes to be sent soaring as the man with the Motown ditty name, Siphiwe Tshabalala, blasted a crisply volleyed strike into the Mexican goal, cranking the vuvuzelas up to eleven. Ooh Tshabalala, Tshabalala ding dong. Played out to the soundtrack of a broken fridge the greatest show on earth was finally on the road but it was a false dawn for the hosts.

The joy lasted just 25 minutes before Rafael Marquez became the first to spoil the fun with a leveller that ultimately led to South Africa becoming the first hosts ever not to make the Last 16. Diego Forlan completed the party-pooping with two fine goals in a 3-0 win that propelled Uruguay to group winners and on to an eventual fourth place finish.

South Africa’s only consolation was beating an imploding France team in the final group game to condemn Les Blues to bottom place and home in shame, but a victory over a side coached by a walking dead man and chock full of incredible sulks is nothing to blow your horn about.

South Africa’s failure was mirrored by Nigeria, Algeria, Cameroon & Ivory Coast and so African attention switched to Ghana. The Black Stars carried the hopes of a continent on a glorious run to the quarter finals which ended in heartbreak against Uruguay as Luis Suarez’s ‘hand of the devil’ hammered the final nail into the Ghanaian coffin with a 120th minute handball that earned him a dismissal and Ghana the penalty chance to make history. Asamoah Gyan’s ballooned miss and subsequent success in a heartbreaking penalty shootout defeat provided this tournament’s Stuart ‘Psycho’ Pearce moment. African hopes withered and died but the vuvuzelas lived on, albeit with the pitch side microphones turned down.

Here’s a good quiz question – which was the only unbeaten team at South Africa 2010? Answer – New Zealand as I’m sure you already knew, you clever clogs. Three draws in the group stage saw the All Whites finish above an abysmal Italian side that went the same way as those moody Frenchies. Paraguay & Slovakia were the beneficiaries; both made it out of the group only to be sent packing by the two eventual finalists.

Spain did for Paraguay in the quarter finals en route to lifting the trophy on the back of four successive 1-0 wins, ensuring they became the lowest scoring champions ever with eight goals, five of them scored by David Villa who shared the golden boot with Germany’s Thomas Meuller and, very dubiously, Wesley Sneijder of Holland. Spain also became the first team to lift the trophy after losing their first game; to Switzerland, unsurprisingly 0-1.

Netherlands did not lose a game until the final where a late extra time Iniesta goal was all they deserved for attempting to clog their way to the trophy. Heavy footed spoiling tactics were an affront to the sublime total football attitude of their forebears but even then Arjen Robben had two gilt edged chances to win it. It was an inglorious end to a glorious run that featured wins over Slovakia, Brazil & Uruguay.

Brazil were generally disappointing with an unconvincing 2-1 victory over North Korea setting the tone in their opening game. They still managed to top a tricky group that included Ivory Coast & Portugal, and they saw off Chile easily enough in round two, but the Dutch were too strong in the quarter finals and Brazil were dispatched in a red mist of ill-discipline and acrimony.

Portugal racked up the biggest score of the tournament when they beat North Korea 7-0 but Cristiano Ronaldo failed to fire consistently and joined the growing ranks of underperforming super stars. Finishing second to Brazil ensured they met Spain to become the first of La Roja’s 1-0 victims.

For many an observer, Brazil had looked the most balanced team going into the finals. By the end of the first round of games it was Argentina who had snatched that title; and this for a team who were being guided by a madman.

Interlude: Diego Maradona is a madman; fact not opinion. His use of over 100 players in qualifying was topped when he selected 30 year old Ariel Garce for his final 23 man squad. Garce is a journeyman defender of 4 caps (3 friendlies in 2003 & a 4th recently against Haiti) who was taken because Maradona had a dream that Argentina won the World Cup and the only face he could remember was Garce’s. This story even beats Raymond Domenech’s cosmic selection strategy.

Maradona prowled the touchline in beard and suit and looked like he might bring himself on for Messi at any moment. In the end Messi ran out of steam, Maradona ran out of players to try and Argentina were walloped by those pesky Germans in the quarter finals.

Which brings us neatly to the only two football ‘super powers’ yet to be mentioned. The first, Germany, did as they always do – they brought their A-game to the finals and came third, scoring four goals in three separate matches and only being outdone by Puyol’s thumping header in the semi finals. They were very close to being world champions yet again with a team built on youth, ethics and teamwork.

The second, England, are a ‘super power’ in their own minds but actually couldn’t be further away from a second world title after a disastrous campaign in which their talisman left his heart at home, the coach lost his sanity, the defence lost each other, and the country finally realised they are simply not good enough. It’s like proud parents discovering that the apple of their eye has been placed in the remedial class at school. It was all topped off with an embarrassing Last 16 tonking by Germany and the most unbelievable non-decision in a World Cup game since the last unbelievable non-decision...which ironically involved England and a certain Argentine hand.

There were some players who made a name for themselves in South Africa (Thomas Mueller, Robert Vittek, Keisuke Honda, Mesut Özil, Asamoah Gyan, Landon Donovan), some who enhanced an already growing reputation (Diego Forlan, Wesley Sneijder), and several superstars who simply crashed & burned (Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres, Kaka). There was also one, Miroslav Klose, who was cruelly denied by injury the chance to become the World Cup’s all-time leading scorer.

Ultimately the best team won and Paul the Octopus predicted it but South Africa 2010 will probably not be remembered for the football or Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s semi final goal, it will mostly be remembered for one thing – those bloody vuvuzelas.

BruiseLee

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World Cup 2010 Memorabilia

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa is over but make sure you have something in hand to remember a great tournament.

What better than a Cotapaxi World Cup pen?

Cotapaxi plastic pens are made of the finest ABS and Poly Carbonate Plastics.

Each Cotapaxi World Cup pen comes equipped with their patented gel refill that has a stainless steel point and a Tungsten Carbide Ball which allows for the smoothest writing on the planet.



Cotapaxi cares about our planet and that is why every Cotapexi Pen is covered by our free refills for life program.

Buy these World Cup 2010 souvenir pens

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From clogs of war to winsome whiners

The mystique surrounding the Netherlands took a severe battering in Soweto.

Eight yellow and one red card for two bookable offences were the proof the Dutch did not play the Beautiful Game at the World Cup Final.

Nigel de Jong's karate kick on Xabi Alonso will live long in the memory, as will the cheek of Mark Van Bommel in berating the match officials after a game in which he was lucky to even participate let alone stay on the field, following persistently rough challenges in both the semi-final and final.

Spain were no angels with five bookings themselves, but kept it cleaner than the Dutch, whose ugly approach brought back memories of Argentina in the final of Italia '90, having decided pre-game they could not beat their opponents with superior football.

This was not the brilliant orange of qualification but a rotten apple of a team in the end, taking the greatest stage of all to spoil and disrupt instead of triumph and entertain. Holland left its talent on the drawing board in favour of its studs and Nelson Mandela and the 17 heads of state in attendance must have been as repelled as the rest of the billion or so watchers worldwide.

That the Dutch chose the beast over beauty was a de facto betrayal of their heritage, a legacy the Spanish had cherished since Johann Cruyff's days at the Camp Nou and polished into a finished article called tiki-taka, which has now conquered the world. The Netherlands used to be special in so many eyes, a small nation over-achieving at football thanks to a religious commitment to honing skill and intelligence in players and a tactical enlightenment which flowered most wondrously in their 'total football' of the 1970s. Ajax has been a beacon to the soccer world in its player development and it is a feather in their cap if their fans really do boo a 4-0 win achieved without panache.

All the respect built up over the years was shattered, perhaps irreparably, in Soweto, and the world may start to look elsewhere in future for the torch-bearers of the Intelligent Game, starting with the Dutch's vanquishers, Spain.

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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2010 World Cup Final Wrapped Up

With the 2010 FIFA World Cup having reached a conclusion, Ben Shires and the Wrapped Up team are back for one final flurry of World Cup wrap up action.

In this episode... we see how a World Cup game might look in the year 3244 PLUS Diego Maradona demonstrates how to awaken the Maradona within YOU! If you like this, join us on Facebook




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Spain win World Cup

Spain have won the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa thanks to a 116th-minute winner from midfielder Andres Iniesta.

The Barcelona star converted a pass from substitute Cesc Fabregas with just four minutes of extra-time remaining, after the two sides failed to break the deadlock in normal time.

The Dutch were confident of victory before the game, however Spain's win continued the remarkable soothsaying run of Paul the Octopus, who before the match predicted that Vicente Del Bosque's team would come up trumps.

Football fans were no doubt relieved that the Oberhausen-based oracle was not turned into octopus paella after Germany's narrow semi-final defeat to the Spaniards, as the eight-legged marine oddity once again picked the winner.

Spain are now the current European and World champions - and deservedly so - following an outstanding 2010 World Cup campaign.

Copyright © Mike Tuckerman & Soccerphile.com

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World Cup 2010 Semi Finals Wrapped Up

Ben Shires and the Wrapped Up team are back to wrap up the round in which four teams became two - the 2010 FIFA World Cup semi finals. There's a trippy recreation of the Van Bronckhorst goal with commentary from a couple of Dutch stoners, PLUS we see why nobody would refuse an offer from Fabio Capello...

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Winning the Cup with the Art of War

"Now the general who wins a battle makes many calculations in his temple ere the battle is fought."

Vicente Del Bosque and Bert Van Maarwijk will probably not be sleeping too soundly tonight, wondering if they
have left any stones unturned in their quest to win the World Cup tomorrow night.

Whichever coach triumphs will see his name etched into the annals of the game forever as the first Spanish or Dutch World Cup-winning manager; the expectations are huge, the nervous anticipation inevitable as their heads hit the pillows in South Africa.
Questions will be scurrying through their minds - How can the Dutch contain the tiki-taka of Xabi Alonso, Andres Iniesta and Xavi, how can they shut down David Villa and stop Pedro or Fernando Torres running amok in their last third?
Will the Spanish have the steel to avoid the meaningful attentions of Mark Van Bommel and Nigel De Jong? Can their defence cope with the craft of Wesley Sneijder in the middle and the high-speed threat of Arjen Robben slicing down the flank?

If Del Bosque or Van Maarwijk have exhausted their years of football knowledge for answers, perhaps they could turn over two and a half thousand years back to the Chinese wisdom of Sun Tzu's 'The Art of War', a perennial favourite for learning how to beat your enemy and win. Hey, if it worked in the 6th century B.C....

• He will win whose army is animated by the same spirit throughout all its ranks
• Attack is the secret of defence; defence is the planning of an attack
• Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him
• If your opponent is of choleric temper, seek to irritate him
• If he is in superior strength, evade him
• If his forces are united, separate them
• Attack him where he is unprepared, appear where you are not expected
• Show them a little prospect of gain to lure them, then attack and overcome them
• The highest form of generalship is to balk the enemy's plans
• He will win who is not interfered with by the sovereign
• Prevent the junction of the enemy's forces, disrupt them, cut their supply lines
• The rule is, not to besiege walled cities if it can possibly be avoided
• He will invariably conquer who knows whether it is right to take the offensive or defensive
• If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

Tiki-taka halts Teutonic march to the final

FIFA World Cup semi-final - Spain 1:0 Germany

So in the end the Germans were human after all.

After a double demolition of England and Argentina which sent shockwaves throughout the soccer world, Joachim Low's lions were mown down by raging Spanish bulls.

Yogi was lost in the woods as Spain revived their Euro 2008 glory to hand him a sobering football lesson in Durban. Germany, so awesome in the knock-out stages that they had begun to acquire an unbeatable whiff, were cowed by the defiantly intricate passing of the European Champions, who persisted with their Beautiful Game in the face of the tournament's most dangerous outfit.

It was indeed a victory for football as the winners delighted at times and never resorted to a route one approach or launched the ball aimlessly out of defence. The Spanish allegiance to one-touch passing to feet rarely placed them in danger and ultimately had the desired effect of tiring out the chasing Germans physically, while their taking the game to them won the psychological battle.

Scoring first was key in the end as it prevented Germany playing their counter-attacking game which had speared England and Argentina so successfully. When the Germans did play on the rebound, Spanish bodies scuttled back and Gerard Pique and Carlos Puyol held up the 'No Pasaran' banners.

After proving such a razor-sharp attacking force in previous rounds, the Germans were a blunt butter knife last night, limited to a single shot on target from substitute Toni Kroos. The suspension of Thomas Mueller had removed the Mannschaft's right-wing menace, but Bastian Schweinsteiger also failed to exert an influence, pinned back from advancing by the red shirts buzzing around him, while Mesut Ozil's rising star waned for a second match in succession.

Vicente del Bosque's tactical plan triumphed. Painfully aware how lethal Germany were on the break, he shrewdly dropped the sluggish Fernando Torres to add an extra body in the middle, with a twin shield between defence and midfield of Xabi Alonso and Sergio Busquets to block any German advances. Busquets in particular watched Ozil like a hawk and the passing in midfield from Alonso, Iniesta and Xavi was so crisp that Germany were left to chase.

In the event it was Spain's taking the game to Germany which handed them victory. They refused to be scared by Germany's previous results and their quick passing and commitment to possession in all areas of the field zapped their frightening opponents' venom.

"They are the masters of the game. You can see it in every pass. They can hardly be beaten," admitted Low ruefully.

German sub Marcell Jansen concurred: "Spain's organisation and tactics are in a different league," he said. "When they attack, the whole team comes forward, and when they defend, they all work together to keep it tight."

So many critics had hailed Germany's youth as the key to their winning, but the young guns of Deutschland were handed a footballing lesson by some old masters in Durban and put back in their place as a promising team of the future.

The spirit of 2008 breathes again. A beautiful team winning at the Beautiful Game. What is not to celebrate?

(c) Sean O'Conor & Soccerphile

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