SOUTH AFRICA 2010 has so far seen some ingenious football from both top-rated teams and underdogs. However, it has not been all about the football.
In some cases, ghost ‘traitors’ have been blamed, spirits sought after, players attacking coaches, referees accused of stealing goals and handsome players exciting female soccer fans.
There have been goal-scoring opportunities that have been squandered in a manner that has probably made Ghanaians, who used to malign Asamoah Gyan, rewrite their notes about the player.
As for the Jabulani, much has been written about it and so not anymore.
Traitors and bad spirits
So far, some teams at the tournament have struggled to shine and the devil has been blamed for their woes.
While France thought there was a traitor in the team, the Nigerians felt there was a spirit that needed to be exorcised.
In the France camp, Captain Patrice Evra was said to have blamed the team’s poor showing on a traitor among the squad, who allegedly spilled the beans when Anelka had a fracas with Coach Raymond Domenech.
“The problem of France is not Anelka, but the traitor among us,” he was quoted as saying. “We must eliminate the traitor from the group because he wants to hurt the team,” he further stated.
But if you know how France qualified for South Africa 2010, you would probably understand why they performed below par. Is it Irelands’ ghosts chasing them?
For Nigeria, it may be ex-Coach Shuaibu Amodu’s angry spirit hunting them.
Handsome players
This is the most interesting subject, though less talked about. Like David Beckham, some players at the ongoing Mundial appear more qualified to be used as cover faces for beauty magazines other than playing football.
They are handsome, sexy and less aggressive. The lucky names mentioned so far include Germany’s Mesut Ozil, Ghana’s Dede Ayew, Netherlands’ Sneider and Brazil’s Kaka and Maicon.
Another player who attracted some positive comments from some ladies who were watching Ghana and Germany’s game is Kevin-Prince Boateng’s half brother, Jerome Boateng, who caps for Germany. “He is tall, attractive and lovely,” one lady commented.
‘Unattractive’ players
One cannot mention handsome players without talking about those who appear unattractive. Indeed, there are some players whose physical appearance gives them a somewhat ‘hrrr’ face and these players cannot pass without comments being made about them.
So far, Argentina’s Carlos Tevez seems the number one victim of this classification. His serious-looking, non-smiling face, usually portraying himself like a hungry tiger hunting for its prey. Kader Keita has also been described in unpalatable words.
Tallest players
Some believe that height plays no part in the game of soccer but these people are mistaken. Aside skills and strength, the height of a player can give him or her some advantages over others, especially when competing for balls in the air.
England’s Peter Crouch and Czech Republic’s Jan Koller were the notable tall guys during Germany 2006. While Koller measured 2.02m, Crouch stood at 2.01m. Once again, Crouch is among the tallest players who participated in the tournament in South Africa. However, Serbia’s Nikola Îigiç is 0.01m taller than him.
Many of the other tall players, such as Germany’s Per Mertesacker, range between 1.80m and 2.0m.
Shortest players
Many people think that Argentina’s Lionel Messi is the shortest player at the Mundial currently but this is flawed. England’s Shaun Wright-Phillips measures 1.66m, while Messi’s is 1.69m. Germany’s Philip Lahm measures 1.70m.
And don’t be deceived into thinking that short players may be disadvantaged. Just as tall players have an advantage in the air, so do the short players have an advantage on the ground and they are actually the most gifted.
Their low centre of gravity gives them the opportunity to control and juggle with the ball and also turn and accelerate quickly.
Mysterious hairstyles and dressing
Another interesting part of the ongoing tournament is the types of hairstyles and dressing put up by some of the players. Indeed, as for hairstyles, nothing new. Brazilian Ronaldo and his famous crazy triangular tuft haircut at the 2002 World Cup gained much attention.
So the hairdos of Kevin-Prince Boateng and many others, with the dreadlocks, appeared to have passed with less comment. It is, however, John Paintsil’s one and a half sleeves that could not pass without comment.
The player prefers to go onto the pitch with one long sleeve for his right and a short sleeve on his left side. Reuters’ Timothy Collings said Paintsil’s dressing had “sparked the mystery of the missing sleeve.”
Play-acting players
Some players at the tournament have earned the unenviable reputation of exaggerating injuries. Brazil’s Luis Fabiano and teammate, Lucio, have been blacklisted for such actions. Luckily, Ivorian star Didier Drogba, who has been noted as very skilful in pretences, has exhibited very less of this trait at the Mundial.
Brazil’s Kaka was said to have been a victim of play-acting when Kader Kieta of Cote d’lvoire exaggerated a shove.
Paradoxes
Christopher Opoku of Metro TV, Ghana, couched it succinctly when he described the ongoing World Cup as obiara nye obiara World Cup, literally meaning “everybody is a ‘nobody’.”
What Chris implied was that no team has been guaranteed a win at the tournament irrespective of its muscles, history and rating. No wonder Italy and France, the defending Champions and runners-up respectively, have been forced to take an early shower.
Many who christened Brazil’s group as the ‘Group of Death’ may have to revise their notes, since Group ‘D’ has turned out to be the one in which each of the teams had an equal opportunity of progressing to the next stage.
Ghana beat Serbia, who in turn, beat Germany and the latter returns to beat Ghana. Germany mauls Australia, who gathers courage to draw against Ghana and went on to disgrace the Serbians who defeated Germany. No logic, it is simply football!
Incredible goal misses
The biggest miss in the tournament has so far been that of Ayigbeni. In one of the most interesting games at the ongoing Mundial, when Nigeria locked horns with South Korea, Nigeria’s lead striker, Yakubu Ayigbeni found himself with a wide open net and, inexplicably, missed it off the side of his foot.
There he stood, shocked, bewildered and ashamed. It was the chance to put Nigeria through to the next stage, but he squandered it. Though Ayigbeni’s wastefulness has been the most evident, there have been equally gift-wrapped chances that have been squandered by highly rated players.
In Ghana’s match against Germany, two clear opportunities were wasted by Thomas Muller and Kwadwo Asamoah. Emile Heskey of England has been one of the noted squanderers of chances, shooting out of target in the most unassumable ways.
And in a penalty where Germany was given the opportunity to equalise against Serbia, Lucas Podolski, Germany’s guaranteed spot kick scorer, fired outside the net.
Big teams embarrassment
Italy and France would probably be biting their nails and wishing they had not even gone to South Africa, in the first place. These two, current cup holders and the first runners-up, have been embarrassed in a manner they had never dream about.
While Italy managed to draw two games and lost to no less a side than Slovakia, their compatriots drew once and lost the remaining to a determined Mexico and the high-spirited host nation.
Spain, Germany, England and Denmark equally had their turns. Spain were made to eat humble pie baked by Switzerland, Germany bowed down unwillingly to Serbia and England could not put a goal through the net in their game against Algeria, despite the presence of Rooney, Gerrard and Lampard. As for Denmark, they could not outwit a leisurely-playing Japanese side, even with potent striker in the person of Nicklas Bendtner.
Refereeing follies
Some refereeing at the 2010 Mundial has been incredibly amazing. Referees and their assistants have judged clean goals as offside goals and punished players for no crime.
The United States of America seem to have been the team to have suffered worst from this sort of bad refereeing. No wonder the USA team captain, Landon Donovan, expressed disgust over referee Koman Coulibaly’s decision to rule out their goal in their match against Slovenia. “I don't know how they stole that third goal from us,” he was quoted as saying.
As if not enough, in their game against Algeria, Clint Dempsey of the USA scored to put his team in front, but his goal was ruled out, once again on the same grounds of offside.
It was the same show of poor refereeing in Italy’s game against Slovakia and many other games. The exit of Brazil’s Kaka during his team’s match against Cote d’lvoire was, similarly, blamed by some sports writers on poor officiating.
Yahoo sports Martin Rogers, for instance, criticised French referee Stephane Lannoy for his decision to yellow card Kaka, even though, in Rogers’ view, Keita was not looking where he was going and collided heavily with the Brazilian midfielder.
“Kaka merely held his ground for the inevitable contact and the incident in no way warranted a free kick, let alone a yellow card,” Rogers analysed.
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