Friday, July 16, 2010

How can you describe beauty and madness? The World Cup

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



See the album that features the most beautiful fans in the world:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/World-Cup-South-Africa-2010/112221802158015

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Spain Won The World Cup

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



Spain vs. Netherlands (1-0)

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Uruguay vs. Germany (2-3)

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



A German Fan

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Paraguay vs. Spain (0-1)

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



Paraguay Fan.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Germany beats Argentina to reach WCup semifinals

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



CAPE TOWN, South Africa (AP)—Germany’s goals flowed freely once again at the World Cup, this time battering Argentina 4-0 on Saturday to propel the three-time champions into the semifinals and send both Lionel Messi and Diego Maradona home.

Miroslav Klose scored two of the goals to take his World Cup tally to 14 in three tournaments, equaling the German record held by Gerd Mueller. Brazil striker Ronaldo has the overall World Cup record with 15 goals.

“I am so happy for Miroslav Klose to get two goals in his 100th game,” Germany coach Joachim Loew said.

“What he has already shown is of the very highest level,” Loew added of Klose, who scored only three goals in the Bundesliga last season but has four so far in South Africa. “It is entering history.”

Thomas Mueller gave Germany the lead with a third-minute header, and Klose celebrated his 100th international appearance with a simple tap-in in the 68th minute as Germany outplayed the Argentine defense again.

Arne Friedrich raced all the way up from defense to strike home the third goal in the 74th, and Klose scored his second in the 89th.

Friedrich celebrated with a bellyflop, and Klose did a somersault after his second goal.

“We play with so much happiness and that is good,” Friedrich said.

Klose’s somersault was his trademark celebration in previous tournaments and hadn’t been seen for months. With Bayern Munich, the striker spent the bulk of the season on the bench.

It was the third match at this year’s World Cup in which the Germans scored four goals following a 4-0 win over Australia and 4-1 win over England.

“What the team showed, it was not only international level, but the level of champions,” Loew said. “It was absolute class.”

With the three-time champion Germans dominating every sector of the field, Argentina paled in comparison and Messi left the tournament without a single goal, while Maradona failed to get his nation back into the World Cup final.

Maradona, speaking with all the melancholy of a World Cup-obsessed nation, said that “in a country where you breathe football, nobody will be happy about a game in which you lose 4-0.”

In the stands, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was clapping and celebrating while down below, Maradona clasped his hands before his face in frustration, unable to meet the demands of the tens of thousands of Argentine fans among the crowd of 64,100 at the Green Point Stadium.

“To lose like that is very painful,” Argentina striker Carlos Tevez said. “We played badly and sometimes when you make mistakes you go home.

“They did what we knew they were capable of doing.”

With all the pre-game hype and bad blood dominating the headlines, the game started as explosively as could be expected. Bastian Schweinsteiger curled in a tight free kick from the left in the third minute and Mueller glanced it toward the feet of an out-of-position goalkeeper Sergio Romero and into the net.

“The first cross produced a goal, and suddenly we were looking at a different game,” Maradona said. “They took advantage of all their chances.”

When Argentina started threatening in the second half, Germany’s teamwork paid off again on a break in the 68th when Lukas Podolski found Klose totally unmarked in the goalmouth and the Bayern Munich veteran celebrated with probably the simplest goal of his Germany career.

The Argentines soon collapsed, and Friedrich finished off the sort of teamwork that has turned the young German team into a favorite for the title.

With his second goal, Klose proved how lethal he still is at 32.

Argentina put its first shot on target in the 33rd minute when Manuel Neuer saved from Angel Di Maria. Gonzalo Higuain put the ball in the back of the net but it was preceded by a blatant offside in the 36th.

Messi, though, long found it tough to impose his skill on the game, in sharp contrast with his season at Barcelona.

With banners in the Argentine-dominated stands that read “Dios existe y esta a el banco,” or “God exists, he sits on the bench,” the Argentine fans counted on Maradona to turn things around at halftime.

But it only got worse.

Lineups:

Argentina: Sergio Romero, Martin Demichelis, Nicolas Burdisso, Gabriel Heinze, Nicolas Otamendi (Pastore, 70), Maxi Rodriguez, Javier Mascherano, Angel Di Maria (Kun Aguero, 75), Gonzalo Higuain, Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez.

Germany: Manuel Neuer, Philipp Lahm, Per Mertesacker, Arne Friedrich, Jerome Boateng (Marcell Jansen, 72), Bastian Schweinsteiger, Sami Khedira (Toni Kroos, 77), Thomas Mueller (Piotr Trochowski, 84), Mesut Oezil, Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose.

By RAF CASERT, AP Sports Writer

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Argentina vs. Germany (0-4)

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



German Fan Celebrates Victory.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Larissa Riquelme is incredibly popular for some reason

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



Sometimes television cameras at sporting events turn their powerful focus from the field of play to the giddy and/or inconsolable masses in the stands. And sometimes that focus sticks for more than just the few seconds until a beer ad can be readied or the athlete with a torn meniscus can be dragged off. In the case of Larissa Riquelme, that focus is sticking and has quickly heaved her to international popularity with at least half the population that has seen her.

Described as Paraguay's No. 1 fan, Riquelme is a model like so many others you've never ever heard of but seen pictured in popular alleys of the Internet. Yet because of her emphatic support of her national team and the hypnosis she holds over cameras far and wide, she now overflows from the pages of leading sports sites like Spain's AS.com, Italy's Corriere dello Sport and Brazil's Globo, and has become one of the most popular names in search engines and on Twitter. On Tuesday, Larissa Riquelme searches on Yahoo rocketed 241 percent.

First rising to global popularity as she cheered on Paraguay in the opening-match draw that shocked their Italian opponents, Riquelme intrigued viewers with the curious yet prominent way she carries her mobile phone. As Paraguay continued their improbable run, finishing atop their group and advancing to the knockout stage, the cameras continued to seek her out, even as she watched a continent away, back home in Asuncion.

Sitting front and center (even if she really wasn't) at a public viewing party for Paraguay's round of 16 match against Japan on Tuesday, the cameras just kept snapping as she urged her team to victory. Paraguay won on penalties, putting them in the quarterfinals for the first time ever, yet it was Larissa Riquelme's name near the top of Twitter's worldwide trending topics list and surging up as one of the top 2,000 Yahoo search terms.

Of course, her assertion that she will run through the streets in nothing but red and blue bodypaint should Paraguay somehow win the World Cup isn't hurting her quicksilver rise, which will probably outlast many people's memories of Paraguay's impressive run. But that's how these things go.

UPDATE: According to a new story from Globo (which accuses Larissa of overshadowing Paraguay's performance), her strategic mobile phone placement is just that. She was hired to publicly cheer Paraguay with the phone held firmly on display within her tank top. I don't think her new fans will feel at all betrayed by this sly marketing ploy.

By Brooks Peck

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Friday, July 2, 2010

Luis Suarez handball proves ... oddly heroic?

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



Strange scenes in the final minutes of Uruguay's quarterfinal victory over Ghana on penalty kicks Friday night. Uruguay's star striker Luis Suarez proving to be a bizarro-world hero of sorts as he ended up saving his team from last minute defeat at the death of extra time with a blatant and deliberate handball right on the goal line. It got him sent off and preceded a missed penalty kick from Ghana's PK master Asamoah Gyan and Uraguay's eventual shootout victory. After the game, Suarez announced that Maradona's Hand of God goal in the 1986 World Cup no longer holds the divine title:

"It was worth it to be sent off in this way. It was complicated and tough. We suffered to the end but the hand of God, it's mine now."

With the score even at 1-1 and the shootout looking inevitable, the lovable, last African team standing forced one last assault on the exhausted Uruguayans in the final minutes of extra time. What came next was a surreal, yet nerve-shredding game of pinball as Ghana tried to pound the ball into the goal from point-blank range. The Uruguayans somehow just kept fighting Ghana off. Finally, just as it seemed Ghana had produced one too many shots for Uruguay to stop, Suarez put up his hands and slapped the ball away as natural as if he were a volleyball player.

The red card came out for the clear offense and Suarez walked off sobbing as Gyan prepared to seal what seemed to be a sure win for Ghana with one last penalty kick. He was an automatic from the spot to that point - even scoring Ghana's only two goals in the group stage from there. But this time, he missed off the crossbar. Uruguay's subs ran to alert Suarez of their sudden turn in fortune and a deflated Ghana team was forced into a shootout with the suddenly reborn Uruguay. From there, the South Americans won the shootout 4-2, even finishing it off with a cheeky chip from the master of the art, Loco Abreu.

With Uruguay's advancement through such a weird turn of events confirmed, the debate over whether Suarez was a genius savior or a Thierry Henry-level cheat rages. It's obvious Suarez used his hands with purpose, but unlike Henry, he was immediately caught and punished and will now miss the semifinal against Holland. However, Ghana is now out of the tournament because of Suarez's decision to break the rules. Though Ghana did have a golden chance to make Suarez's efforts irrelevant with that Gyan penalty. Is there a correct moral view of this situation? Or is it just an unbelievable turn of events within a game that should be appreciated for its complexities? Luis Suarez doesn't care. His team plays on.

By Brooks Peck

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Uruguay 1(4) vs. Ghana 1(2)

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



Uruguay Fan.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Netherlands shocks Brazil 2-1

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



PORT ELIZABETH, South Africa (AP)—Soccer’s perennial World Cup underachievers from the Netherlands knocked off mighty Brazil on Friday, stamping the Dutch as a strong contender to finally win that elusive title.

Wesley Sneijder, one of the shortest players on the field, scored in the 68th minute on a header for a stunning 2-1 quarterfinals win over the five-time champions.

“It just slipped through from my bald head and it was a great feeling,” Sneijder said.

Brazil, which also went out in this round four years ago against France, lost its composure after falling behind, and defender Felipe Melo was ejected in the 73rd minute for stomping on the leg of Arjen Robben.

The Dutch made the championship match in 1974 and ’78, lost both, and rarely have lived up to their talent in other World Cups. They did this time, helped by an own goal off the head of unfortunate Felipe Melo that brought them into a 1-1 tie in the 53rd.

Robinho gave the Brazilians the lead on Felipe Melo’s brilliant low pass up the middle of the field that the striker put home with a low shot.

But soon, the Dutch took control, and the end of the match presented the unusual sight of the Brazilians scrambling wildly to find an equalizer.

It never came.

Instead, it was the Oranje and their fans doing the dancing.

The majority of the fans inside the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium were clad in Brazilian yellow—even though the team wore blue Friday. Many of the fans were wearing South Africa jerseys of the same color, though.

But long after the match ended, the only fans remaining were orange-shirted Netherlands supporters, waving their country’s red-white-and-blue flags and chanting “Oranje.”

“It was an amazing game. I think we showed the whole world how we can play,” Sneijder said. “Finally we won, we beat Brazil.”

After scoring, Sneijder sprinted around the field, tapping the front of his head, then ran to a TV camera and tapped the lens. He was in the middle of all the postgame celebrating, too, as his teammates swarmed him when the final whistle blew.

A few yards away, several Brazilian players lay on the turf, bewildered and beaten.

The Netherlands reached the semifinals for the first time since losing to Brazil on penalty kicks at the 1998 World Cup, and will next face either Uruguay or Ghana, which plays later Friday.

Having won all five matches so far, the Netherlands extended its team-record unbeaten streak to 24 games, stretching back to a September 2008 loss to Australia.

On a warm afternoon before a sellout crowd of 42,286 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium, Brazil dominated the first 45 minutes, then fell apart. Before the Dutch comeback, goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg timed his leap perfectly to deflect a shot by Kaka that was headed into the right corner of the net.

The one-goal lead wasn’t enough. Brazil began to unravel when Felipe Melo jumped in front of keeper Julio Cesar and inadvertently headed the ball into his net.

Sneijder’s goal followed a corner kick from Robben. Dirk Kuyt flicked the ball with his head to Sneijder in the middle of the 6-yard box and he rose high enough to deflect it into the left corner of the goal.

By ANDREW DAMPF, AP Sports Writer

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Dutch thrive on disharmonic convergence

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



JOHANNESBURG – For the most part, the World Cup’s most dysfunctional teams have packed up their egos and gone home, taking their strikes, mutinies and refusals to train with them.

With the quarterfinals upon us, one fractured squad is still here.

The Netherlands has charged toward glory despite the fact that its players don’t get along. Rumors and reports of strife in the Dutch camp have been prevalent since the start of the tournament, the disharmony including personality clashes, arguments and general unrest.
On Wednesday, two days ahead of his team’s showdown with Brazil in the last eight, head coach Bert van Marwijk even made it official, taking the unusual but possibly inspired step of bringing his squad’s issues into the open and admitting his players don’t like each other.

“Being friendly with each other is not important so it doesn’t concern me,” Van Marwijk said. “Yes, there are some situations. That is the way of it. Some players don’t like each other; it is not important. It doesn’t concern me and it doesn’t concern them.”

The most public display of angst involved Van Marwijk himself when forward Robin van Persie raged at the coach after being substituted against Slovakia in a 2-1 win in the round of 16. Following that spat Van Marwijk called a team meeting in an attempt to clear the air.

Dutch squads have regularly suffered with internal strife in the past, a factor that is widely believed to have contributed to the way they often fall apart during the business end of major tournaments.

At the 1996 European Championships, Edgar Davids was sent home following a rift with other players and negative comments about head coach Guus Hiddink. This time around, a hopeful nation is praying that Van Marwijk can overcome the lack of cohesion and lead his team to victory over Brazil in Port Elizabeth on Friday.

The coach, though, seems to have little problem with the collision of egos. He even insisted that the edgy atmosphere between the players could have a positive effect.

“If everybody is happy and friendly all the time it is not always a good thing,” Van Marwijk said. “It is not always the best way to have a successful team.

“What matters is that everybody wants to win. They don’t have to want to win for each other. They just need to have that desire and belief and commitment. Other things don’t matter. Fortunately, our players understand that and are happy with it.”

The Netherlands will go into its clash against a rampant Brazil side as the underdog, but it is considered to have a fair fighting chance of upsetting the South American favorites. The technical and dynamic style employed by the Dutch gives them the opportunity to go head-to-head with Brazil, and the result could be one of the most entertaining games of the tournament so far.

And with some outstanding attacking talents such as Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder and Van Persie, the Netherlands won’t be fazed by the prospect of getting involved in a shootout against the World Cup’s most dominant force to date. There is just one thing that Van Marwijk will demand from his troops before they enter a match that provides a huge opportunity – a semifinal date against Uruguay or Ghana.

“There must be respect,” he said. “Anything else is irrelevant. But that is one thing they must have for each other. That is one thing that is crucial to function properly.

“I think we have taken some steps toward that.”

By Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Netherlands vs. Brazil (2-1)

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



Brazil is out.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

It’s football to you, soccer to me

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



JOHANNESBURG – No matter how much the United States continues to emerge as a competitive World Cup nation, there is little doubt that the international perception of American soccer will always be doused with suspicion.


The roots of calling the beautiful game "soccer" started in a surprising place.

Why? Because Americans don’t even call the sport by its proper name, of course. They don’t call it “football.” They call it “soccer.”

In the USA, football is that game that dominates winter Sundays and features Lycra, helmets and men so large they should come with their own zip code.

Elsewhere, football is football. The round-ball sport, the beautiful game, with its biggest prize to be handed out here on July 11.

Soccer? Pah, a silly American term created by a nation that has its own national obsession.

No country has been snootier toward the USA’s use of the term “soccer” than England. Before the Group C opener between the two sides in Rustenburg, the Sun newspaper even ran a spoof front page urging Fabio Capello’s side to win the “soccerball world series.”

But let’s take a halftime break here.

Coupled with their team’s humiliating exit from the World Cup it might be another rude awakening to the Brits that soccer isn’t an American term, it is actually an English one. And it isn’t some modern fad that shows disrespect to the world’s most popular sport, it dates back to the earliest days of the game’s professional history.

Indeed, until the last few decades, even Englishmen would routinely refer to their favorite pastime as soccer, just as often as they would say football.

Clive Toye, an Englishman who moved to the U.S. and became known as the father of modern American soccer, bringing Brazilian legend Pele to play for the New York Cosmos, takes up the story.

“Soccer is a synonym for football,” said Toye, who helped launch the North American Soccer League in the late 1960s. “And it has been used as such for more years than I can count. When I was a kid in England and grabbed a ball to go out and play … I would just as easily have said: ‘Let’s have a game of soccer’ as I would use the word ‘football’ instead. And I didn’t start it.”

To trace the origin of “soccer” we must go all the way back to 1863, and a meeting of gentlemen at a London pub, who congregated with the purpose of standardizing the rules of “football,” which was in its infant years as an organized sport but was growing rapidly in popularity.

Those assembled became the founding members of the Football Association (which still oversees the game in England to this day). And they decided to call their code Association Football, to differentiate it from Rugby Football.

A quirk of British culture is the permanent need to familiarize names by shortening them. “My friend Brian Johnston was Johnners,” said Toye. “They took the third, fourth and fifth letters of Association and called it SOCcer. So there you are.”

So forget that English condescension and carry on calling it soccer, safe in the knowledge that you’re more in tune with the roots of the sport than those mocking Brits.

By Martin Rogers, Yahoo! Sports

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Nigeria’s president suspends soccer team

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) - The president of Nigeria has suspended the national soccer team from international competition for two years after its poor showing at the World Cup.

The announcement by President Goodluck Jonathan’s spokesman Wednesday also follows corruption allegations which surrounded the team in the run-up to the tournament. Spokesman Ima Niboro said all funds directed toward the Nigeria Football Federation would be examined and “all those found wanting will be sanctioned.”

Niboro gave no other specifics about the investigation, other than saying Jonathan’s decision came after reading a report submitted by the presidential soccer task force.
Federation spokesman Ademola Olajire told The Associated Press that he had no information about the suspension.

“We have not been directed,” Olajire said. “We have no letter” from the president.

The Nigerian Football Federation’s executive committee had earlier offered an apology to the government and “all football loving Nigerians” for the early exit.

Nigeria got eliminated from the World Cup after the group stage, having earned just one point—in a 2-2 draw with South Korea in its last game. Nigeria lost to Argentina 1-0 in its Group B opener and fell to Greece 2-1 in a game turned by the first-half expulsion of midfielder Sani Kaita.

The team, nicknamed the Super Eagles by loyal supporters and the Super Chickens by critics, faced almost countrywide derision after finishing third in the African Cup of Nations earlier in the year.

Nigeria fired coach Shaibu Amodu in February and later hired Swedish coach Lars Lagerback to take charge, but with only about four months before the World Cup.

Local newspapers questioned Lagerback’s selection and made allegations about endemic bribery in the program. The football federation also had to pay a reported $125,000 contract to cancel its reservations at the Hampshire Hotel north of Durban in South Africa. Nigerian officials apparently complained the three-star hotel was noisy, mosquito-infested and unsafe.

Analysts and watchdog groups say Nigeria, an oil-rich country of 150 million people, has one of the world’s most corrupt governments.

The Super Eagles haven’t won a World Cup match since 1998. The Nigerians went out with two losses and a draw in 2002 and did not qualify for the 2006 World Cup.

Nigeria now risks being banned by FIFA from all international soccer because of the political interference.

“At the time of writing, we have no official information on this matter,” FIFA said in a statement. “However, in general, FIFA’s position regarding political interference in football is well known.”

Nigeria’s next scheduled international match is a qualifier for the 2012 African Cup of Nations, at home against Madagascar in early September.

FIFA rules demand that national federations manage their affairs independently, or face suspension from world soccer.

National and club teams, plus referees, would be barred from participating in international matches and soccer officials prevented from attending meetings.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter had already expressed concern over the French government’s investigation into France’s first-round elimination from the World Cup.

“Definitely I can tell you that political interference will be dealt with by FIFA notwithstanding what kind of interference and what is the size of the country,” Blatter said Tuesday while discussing France.

By BASHIR ADIGUN and JON GAMBRELL, Associated Press Writers

Jon Gambrell reported from Lagos, Nigeria.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Argentina shows no respect

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



ERASMIA, South Africa (AP) - Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger accuses World Cup quarterfinals rival Argentina of showing no respect for opponents and referees, and urges his teammates not to be provoked.

Germany eliminated Argentina on penalty kicks four years ago at the same stage and there were chaotic scenes after the shootout, with both sides exchanging punches and kicks in a fracas that included team officials from both benches.

“The shootout is still in our memory, but what really weighs heavily on our minds is what happened after that match,” Schweinsteiger said Wednesday. “We have to remain calm and not get provoked and I hope the referee will be very alert.
“You could see their behavior at halftime of the game against Mexico. When you look at their body language and gesticulations, they way they try to influence the referees, they have no respect. It’s their mentality and character and we’ll have to adjust.”

Mexico and Argentina players had to be separated as they headed for the tunnel at halftime of the teams’ second-round game, with the Mexicans furious over Argentina’s first goal that came when scorer Carlos Tevez clearly was offside.

Argentina won 3-1.

Schweinsteiger also accused Argentine fans of taking the places of others in the stadiums and refusing to move. It was not clear where he got his evidence from.

But the midfielder praised Argentina as a team, saying the squad coached by Diego Maradona was better in “every sector” than the team Germany beat four years ago.

Schweinsteiger singled out veteran Juan Sebastian Veron.

“He has played very strongly here, I have been impressed,” Schweinsteiger said.

Schweinsteiger repeated that stopping Argentina star Lionel Messi will need a strong “collective effort.”

“Other teams also have done it. He hasn’t scored yet and we want to keep it that way,” said Schweinsteiger, who has played 78 games for Germany although he is still just 25.

“We’ll find the right game plan to hurt Argentina, although we know how strong Argentina is. At this level, you can’t make mistakes, it’s the details that decide the match.”

Thomas Mueller, who scored twice against England, could be the deciding factor in the match, which might be embarrasing to Maradona.

By now, he should have heard of Mueller. The last time Argentina played Germany in a friendly in March, Maradona felt so slighted when Mueller sat on the podium with him at the postmatch news conference that he stormed off and refused to return until Mueller left the stage to the coach alone.

Mueller had just made his debut for Germany then. Now, he leads his team at the World Cup with three goals.

Coach Joachim Loew said forward Cacau is unlikely to recover from a right thigh injury in time for the match.

Argentina beat Germany 1-0 with relative ease in that March friendly in Munich. Schweinsteiger said that result meant little.

“One, it was a friendly. Two, they did not create many chances either. Three, we have gained a lot of confidence by beating England and the good tactics we used in that game,” Schweinsteiger said.

Germany advanced to the quarterfinal with a 4-1 win.

Schweinsteiger said he expected the upcoming match to be a tactical affair, “just as it was in 2006.”

Argentina has only one win over Germany at the World Cup, in the 1986 final when Maradona was still playing. Overall in the World Cup, they have met five times and twice in the final.

Maradona led Argentina to that 3-2 win in Mexico, while in Italy in 1990, Germany won 1-0 on a penalty kick. Those were also the last times either team won the World Cup.

Germany won a group match 3-1 in 1958 and the two teams drew 0-0 in another group match in 1966.

By NESHA STARCEVIC, AP Sports Writer

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Spain vs. Portugal (1-0)

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



Portuguese Soccer Fan.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Paraguay vs. Japan (5-3)

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



A Japanese Soccer Fan.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Monday, June 28, 2010

Brazil vs. Chile (3-0)

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



Brazilian Fan.

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Netherlands vs. Slovakia (2-1)

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

Sunday, June 27, 2010

We’re all living in Maradona’s World Cup

eCommunity Members Events Forum Chat

World Cup South Africa 2010
Travel to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa Click this now



JOHANNESBURG – Diego Maradona dominated the World Cup in 1986 like few players ever. Argentina won the event, of course, and Maradona was the awarded the Golden Ball as its best player. That was just a small part of it.

In a 2-1 quarterfinal victory over hated England, he scored twice in the disparate fashions that perfectly define him.

There was the “bad” – the illegal, self-described “Hand of God” goal when he purposefully punched the ball in. And there was the “good” – a spectacular, darting 50-yard run that was voted greatest in the history of the World Cup and hailed by many as the “Goal of the Century.”

And that was just one game.

In front of the media he was controversial and colorful and charismatic. He never backed down. He backed everything up. There was simply nothing like him.

[Photos: More of Argentina’s wild and unpredictable coach]

In Argentina, some say, there is Eva Peron (“Evita”) and there is Maradona. He is some kind of Michael Jordan-Abraham Lincoln hybrid in his homeland’s history.

And now he’s back – nine lives, four World Cups, one friendship with Fidel Castro, a coke addiction (with multiple relapses), 100 pounds up and down (stomach stapled), a television career and who knows what else later.

It’s 1986 all over again. And while Maradona is wearing a gray suit and standing in the Argentine coaching box, not weaving through defenders, this World Cup is shaping up like that old one – all about Diego.

“I feel like I am putting on the jersey and going out on the pitch,” he said. “It’s beautiful. It’s beautiful indeed.”

His Argentinean team blasted through Mexico 3-1 on Sunday to set up a quarterfinal matchup Saturday against Germany, the 1986 runner-up (then just West Germany). It was a show of not just force but of spectacular ability – Carlos Tevez’s blast in the 52nd minute may be the prettiest goal of the event. Maradona’s team is playing brilliantly.

“They are doing the things perfectly well,” he said after.

Throughout it all, Maradona acted like Maradona, an over-caffeinated presence on the sideline and a stand-up comic in the press conference. He screams and cheers. He complains and cajoles. He smiles. He prays. He blesses himself. He hugs. Actually, he hugs a lot. He even kisses his players.

Pushing 50 yet wearing earrings and a salt-and-pepper goatee, he remains the biggest presence in the building – and that includes his megastar players such as Lionel Messi and Tevez.

“Victory always feels great,” Maradona said. “As a coach, as a player, there is not a major difference.”

As always it’s not what Maradona has done – getting his team to play as well as anyone. It’s how he’s done it.

He had no managerial experience when he got Argentina’s national team job in 2008. The man had been a wreck since his playing days (and even during them). He battled multiple addictions. He ate and ate. He had health issues, family issues, authority issues. He was distracted by politics.

Needless to say, organization was never a personal strong point.

So when he got the job, many in the media ridiculed the decision. When the team looked a mess during qualifying (Maradona used nearly 100 different players) they hit even harder. Diego Maradona as a coach? Diego Maradona as the calming influence on a team with so much talent and potential?

“Many journalists should apologize to the players,” he said last week, as Argentina rolled through group play. “I’m not suggesting you drop your trousers, but it would be honest and great so we all get along better.”

Yes, this is Diego Maradona. Don’t think that was his wildest quote of the World Cup, either.

Diego Maradona isn't shy about showing affection for his players.

When former Brazilian star Pele said Maradona was only coaching because he needed the money (which might be true since last year the Italian government claimed he still owed them $37 million euros in back taxes from his playing days there), Maradona couldn’t remain silent. He declared Pele should “go back to the museum.”

He got into a war of words with Union of European Football Associations president Michel Platini before dismissing Platini as arrogant – “That Platini, well, he’s French, what do you expect?”

He later apologized by saying, “[Platini] says he has never said what you [reporters] told me he said, so through you I would like to apologize to Mr. Platini … but not to Pele.”

Sunday’s press conference contained everything from his declaring a question “stupid,” reminiscing about being triple-teamed as a player, lamenting that as a coach he can’t swear on the sideline and asking that the questions (even stupid ones) continue since he was having so much fun talking.

“Finally I get a chance to speak and he wants to send me off,” he said of the moderator.

Each FIFA press conference features a game ball stationed next to the microphone. It’s nothing more than a decorative prop. When this session finally ended, Maradona stood up, stared at the ball and promptly scooped it up as walked off.

There was much laughter; Diego stole FIFA’s ball.

In the most curious way, all the fears of what Maradona would do and say at the World Cup have come true, yet not as a detriment to his team.

He’s been outlandish. He’s made this about himself. He’s picked fights and created trouble and made bold decisions that run in the face of fans and media (such as handing over the captainship to Messi, whose loyalty to the national team many fans have questioned due to previous subpar performances for the Albicelestes).

He has completely overshadowed his players.

Yet in doing so, he’s allowed his guys to stay out of the spotlight, to just shrug off the antics or their coach and laugh at the situation. Flying under the radar, with all the pressure on Diego Maradona, no one is playing looser, freer or with more confidence than the Argentineans.

“My relationship with the boys is excellent,” he said.

Just as when Maradona would make an open-field move that appeared too daring, too selfish and too risky only to find a way to make it brilliant, here he is again.

He actually may have even matured some. There was a brief, but quickly escalating, skirmish between some players at the end of the first half Sunday. Cursing and hair pulling were part of it. Maradona wasn’t offended by a potential fight. “What’s wrong with that?” he said.

Then again, he is the coach now so he raced to the middle of it and, quite surprisingly, busted it up. “We separated them before anything else could’ve happened,” he said.

Maradona the peacemaker?

We’ve seen it all. Except we’ve seen this act all before. It’s 2010. It’s 1986. It’s the World Cup shaping up to be all about Diego Maradona once again.

By Dan Wetzel, Yahoo! Sports

Labels: , , , , , , , , ,


Proceed now to World Cup South Africa | Home Shopping Online

Follow Us and Share

World Cup South Africa World Cup South Africa

Add to Google Add to My Yahoo!

Business Marketing by Aredconsult
 0 Comments

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Comments [Atom]