WC TRAINING PICS FROM YESTERDAY

These include a few 'extra' pics of the Spain team, Chile, Yoann Gourcuff, Mexico, New Zealand, and single pics of Denmark, Brazil, Switzerland and Portugal.

WARNING: Portugal pic has CR in it.

Javi Martinez adjusts his tie on the plane.



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LA LIGA: REAL SOCIEDAD IS PROMOTED TO FIRST DIVISION

I almost forgot about this with the World Cup being a major distraction.

REAL SOCIEDAD IS BACK IN THE PRIMERA!



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MEXICAN PRIMERA GETS READY TO BEGIN: CLUB PUMAS UNAM

The Mexican Primera is due to start on July 23rd, about 2 weeks after the World Cup is finished.

Some of the teams are already holding regular practices.

These players are from Pumas UNAM.



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WC MATCHES: JAPAN VS CAMEROON

Japan won 1 - 0.

The most interesting thing about this match might have been this little bird on the pitch.



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WC MATCHES: THE NETHERLANDS VS DENMARK

The Netherlands won 2 - 0 on an own goal from Denmark and a strike from Dirk Kuyt.



It wasn't a terrible game, but it was a bit disappointing. I expected The Netherlands to come out gangbusters like Germany, but I think the Danish defense is to be credited for holding the Oranje for the entire first half.

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WC MATCHES: ITALY VS PARAGUAY

I am partisan. I am all for Paraguay (as I am for all the South American teams in the group stages). So this picspam is Paraguay-heavy.
This match ended in a 1 - 1 draw, which I suppose was fair. An interesting fact: everyone seems to be calling the Italian team "old" yet their average age is 28.2. (Paraguay's average age is 28.1) Another interesting statistic: the average age of a World Cup winning team is 29.

Pics from the match:



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COULD THIS BE THE WORST WORLD CUP IN HISTORY?

I've just read this very interesting blog in soccerlens.com:

http://soccerlens.com/is-this-the-worst-world-cup-ever/47528/#comment-125999

It really brings up a lot of issues that could be a factor in preventing teams from scoring goals, and in causing fans to lose interest.

Some of them:

- the FIFA seeding
- too many teams?
- player fatigue

And I'll add one of my own: the Jabulani ball. It wasn't mentioned in the article, but the only league that has used this ball for the last year is the Bundesliga. Those players have had almost a year to get used to it. The result: Germany's performance compared to all the others. Most of the players on the German NT play their club football in Germany.