A 49-year-old Diego Maradona shows how it's done during Argentina team practice at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Jabulani ball and all.
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Interesting statistics courtesy of the New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/sports/soccer/2010-world-cup-team-rankings.html?ref=global-home Italy have crashed out of the World Cup. And it was a horrible crash, bottom of their group! But it was no accident. The writing was on the wall. Below is the picture that tells the story.  Switzerland's defence was bound to come unstuck after the incessant pounding of a non-stop Chilean attack. Unfortunately, Switzerland's manager Ottmar Hitzfeld didn't seem to have a plan B after Chile's 75th minute goal.
A card-happy referee and a dubious goal (offside) do nothing to change what is ultimately a fair result. Credit to the Chileans who kept pouring forward even after scoring what turned out to be the game winner. They could've retreated defensively and attempted to protect their advantage; instead they lashed the Swiss with wave after wave of continuous strikes. Depending on the results of the remaining 3 matches in the group (Honduras-Spain, Chile-Spain and Honduras-Switzerland) Chile may come to regret all their missed chances if goal difference comes into play All I will do is quote what our 9-year-old said after Portugal's 7th goal:
"This is a really sad moment for North Korea." Poor sportsmanship by Ivory Coast, or Cote d'Ivoire as they like to be called. Terrible refereeing by the French official who allowed the handballs that made Brasil's second goal. But more importantly the Ivory Coast players were unpunished for some terrible fouls on the Brasilians, they did everything possible to intimidate the boys from Brasil and with some shameful play-acting Keita got Kaka sent off. Terrible.
Another poor performance by Italy and a fully deserved point by New Zealand. People talk about slow starts in the World Cup but the Italians have major problems.
Another great game in the World Cup. Slovenia's first goal from a long-range shot should put to rest all the criticisms of the Adidas Jabulani ball. Then Slovenia made it 2-0 and by the end of the half the Americans looked dead and buried.
But in football it is said that 2-0 is the worst lead you can have. The US stormed into the second half with tremendous fighting spirit, scored an early goal, equalized and then netted a third rwhich was disallowed for a reason unbeknownst to anyone except the referee. |
Omar al-Issawi
The desert in the blog title is figurative, not literal. Archives
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