I read the article and I think there are some valid points in it, but I don't agree with everything. The hype before the World Cup is the same every year. It might be a bit more this time because it's the first tournament on the African continent, but generally, there's always a big hype.
The FIFA seeding is a problem, and I still don't think France qualified fairly. It's true that the majority of spectators prefer seeing the "big teams" in the World Cup and would rather have less of Algeria vs Slovenia, but sometimes it's the underdogs that make things interesting. Remember four years ago, when Australia almost kicked out Italy (who only managed to save themselves by a dive and an undeserved penalty)? Or when South Korea reached the semifinal in 2002? I personally would rather have seen Ireland in the World Cup because they have heart, the will to fight, and the potential to surprise. In comparison, France are pathetic, boring and also at loggerheads.
And if you have fewer teams, you'll have the same teams every four years, and that would be even more boring.
Club vs. Country is always a topic, as is player fatigue. I refuse to accept this as a valid argument for this World Cup because it applies to every World Cup. It just doesn't usually show that strongly.
The vuvuzelas are a problem. Definitely. It's not just that you don't hear the fan chants that provide the atmosphere, it's also that the players don't hear commands or shouts from their teammates, and for a defense this can be fatal. They can't resort to sign language, so they have to play more cautiously, which takes the speed out of the game and makes it tedious to watch. I wouldn't say the FIFA should forbid the vuvuzelas because they're part of the South African football culture, but there should be a rule that only allows a certain amount of vuvuzelas in a stadium.
The ball is always criticised, so I didn't even want to pay attention to this matter at first, but you do have a point. If the Bundesliga players have indeed had a year to get used to the ball (and the entire German squad is playing in the Bundesliga), then this does give them an advantage. Then again, why didn't the other leagues introduce the ball? I'm sure that nobody stopped them from doing it, they just thought it wouldn't make a difference.
Also, there are 84 players in this World Cup who earn their money in the Bundesliga, 61 of which don't play for Germany: Michael Bradley, Steven Cherundolo, Ricardo Clark (USA), Theofanis Gekas, Angelos Charisteas (Greece), Arturo Vidal (Chile), Tranquillo Barnetta, Eren Derdiyok, Diego Benaglio, Steve von Bergen, Pirmin Schwegler, Albert Bunjaku, Mario Eggimann (Switzerland), Daniel Jensen, Sören Larsen, Thomas Kahlenberg (Denmark), Hugo Almeida (Portugal), Isaac Vorsah, Hans Sarpei, Prince Tagoe (Ghana), Obafemi Martins, Chinedu Obasi (Nigeria), Eljero Elia, Joris Mathijsen, Mark van Bommel, Arjen Robben, Khalid Boulahrouz (Netherlands), Franck Ribéry (France), Martín Demichelis (Argentina), Guy Demel, Arthur Boka (Ivory Coast), Karim Ziani, Karim Matmour, Anthar Yahia (Algeria), Makoto Hasebe (Japan), Peter Pekarik, Stanislav Šesták, Erik Jendrišek, Radoslav Zabavník, Ján Ďurica (Slovakia), Nelson Valdez, Jonathan Santana, Lucas Barrios (Paraguay), Josué, Grafite (Brazil), Neven Subotić, Zdravko Kuzmanović, Gojko Kačar, Antonio Rukavina, Zoran Tošić (Serbia), Dario Vidosic (Australia), Milivoje Novakovič, Miso Brečko, Zlatko Dedič, Matej Mavrič (Slovenia), Ricardo Osorio (Mexico), Du-Ri Cha (South Korea), Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Mohamadou Idrissou, Georges Mandjeck, Joel Matip (Kameroun).
Okay, not sure you wanted to know this in such detail. But anyway, my point is that these players should have performed awesomely if it was just the Jabulani ball, and most of them didn't.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2010-06-17 05:26 pm (UTC)The FIFA seeding is a problem, and I still don't think France qualified fairly. It's true that the majority of spectators prefer seeing the "big teams" in the World Cup and would rather have less of Algeria vs Slovenia, but sometimes it's the underdogs that make things interesting. Remember four years ago, when Australia almost kicked out Italy (who only managed to save themselves by a dive and an undeserved penalty)? Or when South Korea reached the semifinal in 2002? I personally would rather have seen Ireland in the World Cup because they have heart, the will to fight, and the potential to surprise. In comparison, France are pathetic, boring and also at loggerheads.
And if you have fewer teams, you'll have the same teams every four years, and that would be even more boring.
Club vs. Country is always a topic, as is player fatigue. I refuse to accept this as a valid argument for this World Cup because it applies to every World Cup. It just doesn't usually show that strongly.
The vuvuzelas are a problem. Definitely. It's not just that you don't hear the fan chants that provide the atmosphere, it's also that the players don't hear commands or shouts from their teammates, and for a defense this can be fatal. They can't resort to sign language, so they have to play more cautiously, which takes the speed out of the game and makes it tedious to watch. I wouldn't say the FIFA should forbid the vuvuzelas because they're part of the South African football culture, but there should be a rule that only allows a certain amount of vuvuzelas in a stadium.
The ball is always criticised, so I didn't even want to pay attention to this matter at first, but you do have a point. If the Bundesliga players have indeed had a year to get used to the ball (and the entire German squad is playing in the Bundesliga), then this does give them an advantage. Then again, why didn't the other leagues introduce the ball? I'm sure that nobody stopped them from doing it, they just thought it wouldn't make a difference.
Also, there are 84 players in this World Cup who earn their money in the Bundesliga, 61 of which don't play for Germany: Michael Bradley, Steven Cherundolo, Ricardo Clark (USA), Theofanis Gekas, Angelos Charisteas (Greece), Arturo Vidal (Chile), Tranquillo Barnetta, Eren Derdiyok, Diego Benaglio, Steve von Bergen, Pirmin Schwegler, Albert Bunjaku, Mario Eggimann (Switzerland), Daniel Jensen, Sören Larsen, Thomas Kahlenberg (Denmark), Hugo Almeida (Portugal), Isaac Vorsah, Hans Sarpei, Prince Tagoe (Ghana), Obafemi Martins, Chinedu Obasi (Nigeria), Eljero Elia, Joris Mathijsen, Mark van Bommel, Arjen Robben, Khalid Boulahrouz (Netherlands), Franck Ribéry (France), Martín Demichelis (Argentina), Guy Demel, Arthur Boka (Ivory Coast), Karim Ziani, Karim Matmour, Anthar Yahia (Algeria), Makoto Hasebe (Japan), Peter Pekarik, Stanislav Šesták, Erik Jendrišek, Radoslav Zabavník, Ján Ďurica (Slovakia), Nelson Valdez, Jonathan Santana, Lucas Barrios (Paraguay), Josué, Grafite (Brazil), Neven Subotić, Zdravko Kuzmanović, Gojko Kačar, Antonio Rukavina, Zoran Tošić (Serbia), Dario Vidosic (Australia), Milivoje Novakovič, Miso Brečko, Zlatko Dedič, Matej Mavrič (Slovenia), Ricardo Osorio (Mexico), Du-Ri Cha (South Korea), Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, Mohamadou Idrissou, Georges Mandjeck, Joel Matip (Kameroun).
Okay, not sure you wanted to know this in such detail. But anyway, my point is that these players should have performed awesomely if it was just the Jabulani ball, and most of them didn't.