Showing posts with label Serbia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Serbia. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Monday, June 14, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Predictions From Some Experts (and not-so experts)
Tomorrow you'll get our predictions. Today, we hear from others, experts and otherwise:
EA Sports 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa: Using the game - which apparently even measures for altitude -- Brazil wins it all, defeating Spain in the final. We have our doubts: The game also has England in the semis.
VIP Communications Customer Survey: 32.2% pick Brazil; 23.5% pick Spain; 12.3% pick England.
Rome Hartman, Executive Producer, BBC News America: Brazil to win.
Piers Edwards, BBC: Brazil over Argentina in the final. Also thinks the Dutch may do well.
For more, read here:
Grant Wahl, SI: Spain tops, Brazil 2nd, Netherlands 3rd in power rankings.
EA Sports 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa: Using the game - which apparently even measures for altitude -- Brazil wins it all, defeating Spain in the final. We have our doubts: The game also has England in the semis.
VIP Communications Customer Survey: 32.2% pick Brazil; 23.5% pick Spain; 12.3% pick England.
Rome Hartman, Executive Producer, BBC News America: Brazil to win.
Piers Edwards, BBC: Brazil over Argentina in the final. Also thinks the Dutch may do well.
For more, read here:
Grant Wahl, SI: Spain tops, Brazil 2nd, Netherlands 3rd in power rankings.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Could Countries With A Tradition of Racist Fans Underperform in South Africa?
It's been well-documented how extensive racism is in European soccer - with catcalls and "monkey chats" often directed at black players by fans. None of that is expected in South Africa to be sure. But it all raises an intriguing question: Could countries known for having trouble dealing with racism in soccer - most notably Spain, Italy, Slovakia, and Serbia - be more intimidated by playing in Africa and suffer as a result? It's not an outlandish conclusion.
Though Americans aren't exposed to it, racism sadly permeates world soccer. The black players on England's national teams have faced abuse in Croatia and Spain; Lazio's fans in Rome have been known to greet black players with "ooh, ooh" monkey chants whenever they touched the ball. This past year, Inter Milan's Mario Balotelli, born in Sicily to Ghanaian parents, has been greeted by opposing fans with the chant, "A Negro cannot be an Italian." In Russia, fans have turned on their own black players, shouting at them, "Russia for Russians" and throwing bananas on the field.
The reasons are complex why soccer stadiums can become Europe's "theaters of hatred," as one writer put it. Soccer crowds across Europe -- at least in the cheaper seats -- seem to include a disproportionate number of the supporters of the right-wing political parties that have sprung up across the continent.
To read more, go here:
Though Americans aren't exposed to it, racism sadly permeates world soccer. The black players on England's national teams have faced abuse in Croatia and Spain; Lazio's fans in Rome have been known to greet black players with "ooh, ooh" monkey chants whenever they touched the ball. This past year, Inter Milan's Mario Balotelli, born in Sicily to Ghanaian parents, has been greeted by opposing fans with the chant, "A Negro cannot be an Italian." In Russia, fans have turned on their own black players, shouting at them, "Russia for Russians" and throwing bananas on the field.
The reasons are complex why soccer stadiums can become Europe's "theaters of hatred," as one writer put it. Soccer crowds across Europe -- at least in the cheaper seats -- seem to include a disproportionate number of the supporters of the right-wing political parties that have sprung up across the continent.
To read more, go here:
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Surprise Selections (and other news) from Group D, the Group of Death -- Germany, Ghana, Serbia, and Australia
This may be the toughest group to call in South Africa because it is, in fact, the toughest: All four of these teams would qualify from most of the other groups. But that's why they call it the group of death.
So, it's on to recent developments with the teams, in an order of finish that could well be reversed:
GERMANY
There's a good argument that the most successful team in the history of the World Cup hasn't been Brazil but Germany. Winners three times, this team has never failed to get to the quarterfinals over the last seven tourneys and has finished third and second respectively at the last two.
But if there's ever going to be a tournament where the Germans stumble, it's turning out that this could be the one. The group is difficult and even if the Germans do emerge winning the group, they could face both Argentina and Spain on the road to another possible final. Captain and midfielder Michael Ballack was injured earlier this month at Chelsea and will miss the proceedings. The Germans are down to their third-string keeper (who is still admittedly miles better than anything England has to offer), after the first-string choice, Robert Enke, tragically committed suicide last autumn and the second-string choice, Rene Adler, got injured in the spring.
Even Bayern Munich's success at getting to the Champions League final will probably hurt this team. As we've pointed out before, European club success in a country actually hurts the national team because it makes it likelier that many of its players will be bushed by the time they get to South Africa.
For more, go here:
So, it's on to recent developments with the teams, in an order of finish that could well be reversed:
GERMANY
There's a good argument that the most successful team in the history of the World Cup hasn't been Brazil but Germany. Winners three times, this team has never failed to get to the quarterfinals over the last seven tourneys and has finished third and second respectively at the last two.
But if there's ever going to be a tournament where the Germans stumble, it's turning out that this could be the one. The group is difficult and even if the Germans do emerge winning the group, they could face both Argentina and Spain on the road to another possible final. Captain and midfielder Michael Ballack was injured earlier this month at Chelsea and will miss the proceedings. The Germans are down to their third-string keeper (who is still admittedly miles better than anything England has to offer), after the first-string choice, Robert Enke, tragically committed suicide last autumn and the second-string choice, Rene Adler, got injured in the spring.
Even Bayern Munich's success at getting to the Champions League final will probably hurt this team. As we've pointed out before, European club success in a country actually hurts the national team because it makes it likelier that many of its players will be bushed by the time they get to South Africa.
For more, go here:
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