Ballgate 2010!!

Since Adidas released the official world cup ball back in January, the world's top strikers and goalkeepers have been complaining about the aerodynamics of the ball. The most recent criticism had come from Italian striker Giampaolo Pazzini and Brazilian number 1 keeper Julio Cesar, in which the latter called the ball an "utter disgrace" and the former calling it Terrible, and comparing it to the cheap ball you can buy at the supermarket.

Now it is understandable that some players maybe concerned about the ball since may rely on the ball dynamics to either score at stop a shot. However I argue that these are in most cases million dollar players who really should not be that concerned with the design of a ball, and be more concerned on doing what's necessary to help their side win matches.

The funny thing about these complaints is that none of them are new, during the 1998 and 2002 Adidas heard complaints about the match balls in those tournaments. Keepers especially were upset about the fact that the balls we designed to curl at faster and sharper angles, therefore making it impossible for them to stop shots. Some went as far as saying the balls were designed to aid free kick specialists like David Beckham and Zinedine Zidane who were Adidas sponsored players. Of course all these claims were discredited as 1998 & 2002 had one of the lowest goal totals of any recent world cup.

Past players have had to deal with ball improvements at a world cup and it has neither affected their play, or the overall quality of the matches during the world cup. I would also question the mental strength of players who during final preparations would be more worried about a ball to which they have no control over, than getting into the best form of there lives to play in the biggest tournament of their lives.

Frankly the fact that this has become a issues just a few weeks before the world cup is straight balls!

Check out the Adidas Trailer on the ball below:


And here is some critics about the ball-God help us!

Cheers,
Mike

Group D preview!

Group D maybe the one of the hardest groups to preview, as every team in this group is capable of making it to the round of 16. The group is headlined by European power Germany who normally are favorites in win every World Cup. The group also houses one of the African pre tournament favorites Ghana, who is coming off the high of winning the World U-20 world cup earlier this year in Egypt. After controversy helped to eliminate the Australia from the 2006 Cup, they are back in this group with alot to prove. However this could end in disaster for them if they are unable to unlock a very stingy back 4 of Serbia.

Got To check out this art work!

So I usually not a massive fan of ESPN's coverage of soccer, although I have to admit it has been getting better over the past 3 years. This year ESPN has the North American rights to show the majority of the games in the U.S (CBC are the rights holders here in Canada). In the build up to June 11th ESPN has released artwork for all 32 countries involved in this year's tournament, like the one for Argentina on the left. I must say that though some are pretty stereotypical, most look pretty good. Let me know what you think of the ads! I've added the link where you can see all 32 of them.

Click here for artwork link.

Cheers,

Mike

Can Football bridge the race gap in South Africa?

As we all get prepared for the thrilling games of the 2010 World Cup, one issue that is rumbling below the surface is the one of race relations in the host nation South Africa. Even after the downfall of Apartheid there is a massive divide in the identities and feelings between Blacks and Whites. This is best shown through attendance in the two most popular sports Football and Rugby. While Football has now been integrated and is mainly a "Black sport", Rugby is still a largely White sport and the Springbok (National Rugby team) sign of White Afrikaner nationalism.

As Farouk Chothia's article below states, the 1995 Rugby World Cup was seen as a bridging moment in which hate might have finally been buried. The film Invictus portrays the story, however it does not display the disharmony that took place afterwards in which racism showed it ugly head again. This question now becomes, can the World Cup of Football do what the Rugby one could not? Bring the isolated and divided peoples of South Africa together to support not just Bafana Banfana, but each other.

Click here for Farouk Chothia's article, a must read.

Cheers,
Mike

Group C Preview!

On the surface this should be one of the easiest groups to handicap. England is coming into the tournament as a favorite to at least reach the semi finals, coming off a strong qualifying campaign. The United States also enters the tournament off another strong CONCACAF qualifying group finishing first. The fortunes of the other two teams was not as smooth, both Algeria and Slovenia had to qualify on the last days via playoffs against Egypt and Russia respectively. However this can be be seen as an ability to perform under pressure, which could hurt the to group front runners if they underestimate their opponents.