I’ve felt like I’m in a nightmare where I’m watching Tucker Carlson and Paul Begala on Crossfire. Yeah, they brought it back … in my dream. A lot of talk, and not a lot being said. But now we’re hearing a bit more from MLS owner-types about the league’s viability and disrespectful players. There’s a difference between being disrespectful and, at least for some of the players, wanting a bit of financial security. Continue Reading »
If you love perms or Didier Drogba, you’ll love the Les Éléphants shirt …
Spain is trying to conquer the world again. This time, they might succeed.
According to FIFA, South Africa’s strategy to win the right to host the 2010 World Cup was simple but powerful. South Africa argued that it had the best stadia facilities in Africa. It had commercial backing from leading corporations. It had the continent’s strongest economy, a sophisticated media and broadcast industry, and an enormous South African support base from the South African population. Members of the South African Organizing Committee and those lobbying on its behalf also repeatedly suggested that getting the World Cup would be part of Africa’s renaissance strategy.
Historically, facilities, commercial backing, a stable economy, media and broadcast capability, and local support have all been vital and necessary components of a successful World Cup bid. But in positioning itself to win the right to host the World Cup, it seems that South Africa might have lost sight of the fact that South Africa is not Germany or France or South Korea/Japan or the United States. Continue Reading »
More: Development | Social Change
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Wynalda’s point on Fox Football Phone-In was basically this: Pick five guys from Arsenal and five from Chelsea. Drop the ball in the middle and place bets on who will come up with the ball.
Presented with this scenario, I think most people will come to the same conclusion, which sums up the issue with Arsenal. On any given day, Arsenal can beat anyone. But over the course of a season, a number of games will come down to Wynalda’s scenario. Can you win a fight or not? Pretty football might be successful most of the time, but if you can’t win the Wynalda scenario, your chances of success in the Premier League are limited. And that’s precisely what we saw over the weekend.
More: Team Talk | The Game
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Not too far from Nairobi’s City Centre lies Kibera, the second largest slum in Africa. Unfortunately, it has been incredibly difficult to accurately determine the number of residents in large slums across the developing world. The estimate is that Kibera houses anywhere from 600,000 to 1.2 million residents (and I use the term “houses” loosely) in a space of approximately 2.5 square kilometers (or 1.5 square miles). As a side note, Map Kibera (www.mapkibera.org) is an interesting new project in Kibera to start to map the area and start to provide some order in a relatively chaotic area. That this project is necessary in a place with the population of many major cities attests to the level of disorganization that ails slums in developing nations.
U.S. football fans are all too familiar with the “challenges” Landon Donovan faced when he first went to Germany. You know, he missed home and all. And we all know how Americans struggle to adapt to German culture. It’s soooo alien.
All jokes aside, adapting to new leagues and countries is a common issue in international football. But the stories that typically hit the wires usually involve players who can’t cope with the weather, or miss their families, or need to adapt to new cuisine, or languages. Ahem … José Antonio Reyes.
More: Globalization | Outside the Lines
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Argentine newspaper Clarín recently reported that the Barra Bravas of several teams in the Argentine First Division have struck a deal with the Argentine government to provide security for government events (whatever that means) in exchange for tickets to the World Cup in South Africa — paid for by the government. That is, airfare paid for by Argentine taxpayers. Needless to say, many Argentines are not pleased by this news.
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Football for Change is a feature in which Nutmeg Radio highlights work being done by organizations across the globe using soccer to promote development.
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