STAR WORLD CUP 2010 SOUTH AFRICA: May 2010

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Sunday, May 23, 2010

WORLD CUP 2010: Didier Drogba's place under threat as Chelsea's Ivory Coast star needs hernia operation

Concerned: Striker Drogba

Didier Drogba is sweating over a hernia operation that could put his chances of appearing at the World Cup in doubt.

The Ivory Coast striker has been nursing the problem since before the Africa Cup of Nations in January.

Drogba should be able to lead Chelsea's attack in the final few games of the season but the 32-year-old will have to go under the knife at some stage.

He told L'Equipe: 'I underwent surgery for a hernia problem six years ago, and today it is bothering me again.

'Just before the Africa Cup of Nations I got a knee to my kidney and the pain returned. I have felt pain ever since then and we can't go on like this for long.

'Do I need surgery? I don't know yet, but we have to do something. Before the World Cup? That is a good question and I don't have an answer.'

Drogba has 32 goals in all competitions as Chelsea sit at the top of the Premier League with four games to go. The Blues also have next month's FA Cup final against Portsmouth to look forward to.

WORLD CUP 2010: Fernando Torres knee operation 'a success' but star denies putting Spain before Liverpool

Anxious wait: Liverpool striker Fernando Torres

The operation on Fernando Torres's injured knee has been deemed a success, handing the striker hope that he will be fit in time to play in this summer's World Cup for Spain.

But Torres has been forced to deny putting country before club after having his second operation on the knee this campaign ended his Liverpool season.

The striker had surgery in Barcelona last night to repair damaged cartilage in his right knee, a problem which resurfaced after a similar operation in January.

That ruled him out of Liverpool's remaining four Barclays Premier League matches and their Europa League semi-final against former club Atletico Madrid but a six-week recovery period still gives him a good chance of going to the World Cup in South Africa.

But Torres said safeguarding his international place was not the overriding factor in the decision to operate again.

'It's not true. We exhausted all the possibilities before arriving at the final one,' said the 26-year-old. 'There were three options. One was that the meniscus was okay, the second was that the problem was not clear and the third that the meniscus was affected.

'On Friday afternoon in Liverpool the scan I had cleared up the doubts and made us see that I would almost definitely have to have an operation. "The meniscus was affected and the doctors said they had to operate.

'What's more, the injury happened in the second minute of the game (Europa League quarter-final second leg) against Benfica at Anfield and I played injured for 85 minutes

European champion: Fernando Torres in action for Spain

No good: Liverpool boss Benitez (right) has tried to protect Torres with numerous early substitutions

If I had been thinking about the World Cup and Spain I would have asked for a change (substitution). It wasn't like that, I wanted to get to the final of the Europa League with my team.'

The Liverpool star last week travelled to the Barcelona clinic for consultation by Eurostar due to the lack of flights after the volcanic eruption in Iceland.

There, Dr Ramon Cugat, who just four months previously had operated on damaged cartilage in Torres's same knee, carried out further surgery that Torres hopes will enable him to feature in South Africa in June.

'The trip was an adventure,' explained Torres. 'I arrived exhausted at 8.30 on Sunday evening and barely had time to have a shower at the hotel before going to the clinic where Dr Cugat was waiting for me. Three hours after I had the meniscus operation.'

And today the striker received a huge boost after the operation was described as 'a success', according to the Telegraph.

Torres is now likely to be out of action for around six weeks, sidelining him for the rest of Liverpool's season. A Reds spokesman confirmed: 'It was decided that he would need surgery on a torn cartilage in his right knee. This was carried out on Sunday and, as a guide, the usual rehabilitation period for this type of procedure is around six weeks.'

A recovery period of this length would give the forward hope of making Spain's World Cup squad. Manager Vicente del Bosque is due to name his 23-man squad for the finals on May 19 - just over four weeks away - before heading to South Africa in the first week of June - in six weeks' time.

Del Bosque must submit his final squad to FIFA by June 1. Spain's opening match is against Switzerland on June 16.

European champions Spain have a growing injury list, which includes Arsenal star Cesc Fabregas, who is recovering from a broken leg and is also a huge doubt for the finals.

But Torres is understood to be 'a certainty' to recover in time to take part, claims the Telegraph.

Torres' injuries have been partly blamed for Liverpool's disappointing campaign, which saw them exit the Champions League and Barclays Premier League title race early and could now also see them miss out on fourth place.

Crocked: Torres was injured again in the Europa League tie with Benfica

The latest setback means Torres will miss an encounter with former club Atletico Madrid for the second successive season.

'It is true this season has been complicated by injuries. It's been difficult and a shame I've not been able to play more games and score more goals,' Torres told his website.

'We (Liverpool) tried for it to be perfect but it hasn't been like that and the only thing now is to think about the prize of being in South Africa. I need to be positive and think there is the World Cup to come, which is now the most important.

'You wait four years for it and if things go well I don't intend to miss it. Today I start to work.'

England World Cup squad: what is James Milner's best position?

Milner's versatility means he can play anywhere across the midfield four, and could even fill in at full-back if necessary.

Deco Souza Player Football Tattoo

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Quibble with the beauty of many pebola-pebola world menggandrungi tattoo. Thus at this time may be more difficult to find pebola that do not have a tattoo on her body.

Daniel Agger With Tattoos

It pebola while the tattoo is well advanced. In addition to having a tattoo says, "Remember, you die" and "Remember, you're a human being," Agger Menat colleagues also. In fact, Agger claimed as carpenters best tattoo.

Saturday, May 22, 2010

U.S. soccer coach dropped star from World Cup team for 'cheating on team-mate's wife' as Capello considers Terry's fate

As Fabio Capello decides whether John Terry should remain England’s captain, he may be consoled to learn that a former U.S. football coach faced the same dilemma.

Steve Sampson has admitted dropping ex-Sheffield Wednesday player John Harkes from the 1998 World Cup side amid claims of an affair with team-mate Eric Wynalda’s wife.

The news comes just days after Terry was accused of having an affair with former Chelsea team-mate Wayne Bridge’s girlfriend.

Italian Capello, who has managed England for three years, has yet to formally announce whether Terry will keep the job he has held since 2006

Wynalda himself brought up the situation on the 'Fox Football Fone-In' on Monday during a discussion of Terry’s behaviour.

‘There’s a lot of similarities between what happened to us in “98 and what’s happening now to England,’ he said.

‘It’s an unfortunate time for England, because I know how that can affect a team firsthand. Obviously, we all know how we did in the World Cup in 98.’

In response, Sampson said he was glad to open up about the Harkes situation, which saw the U.S. lose all its games in the competition held in France.

‘Maybe people will have a little better of an understanding of what happened in the final months leading up to the World Cup,’ he said.

‘It wasn’t about losing 2-0 to Germany or losing to Iran. There was more to it than that that impacted I believe the outcome of this team.’

Sampson said he acted after former QPR player Roy Wegerle approached him between the February 1998 game against Belgium and the March game against Paraguay and told him of the affair.

But he defends hiding the real reason behind Harkes being dropped from the squad.

‘I felt that these are the kinds of issues that need to stay in the locker room and within the team and not be exposed to the public,’ he said.

‘The private issues for me were the most serious issues. I think I could have lived with everything else and kept John on the team if it had not been for the private issues.

‘It’s one thing to have an affair outside the team. It’s another to have one inside. There are just certain lines that one cannot cross.

‘Maybe now people will have a little bit more of an understanding as to why I made such a critical decision back in 1998.

‘The last thing I wanted to do was drop John Harkes from the team because I really did believe that he was an outstanding leader on the field.’

Wynalda said he felt he had to speak out following the revelations about Terry, as he said it reminded him of his own problems back in 1998.

‘I’m calling it an inappropriate relationship. It was a major contributor to why I’m no longer married.

‘I’ve suffered quite a bit through this whole process. My healing is over, so I’m OK to talk about it.’

Wynalda and his wife separated in 2003 before divorcing.

Harkes won 90 caps for his country before being dropped at the age of 31.

At the time Sampson claimed the player refused to play in a more defensive role and also cited ‘leadership issues.’

‘I am not going to rehash the things that have happened in the past,’ said Harkes.

‘1998 was devastating to me and my family. It was hard enough not to play in the World Cup, but it was even difficult to go through that time period, the most difficult time period of my life.’

Japan vs Cameroon in World Cup 2010

World Cup 2010 Japan vs. Cameroon with Japan in prospective. Japan just happened to be one of the toughest team in the Asian football region, Japan, who won three of the last five championships of the AFC Asian Cup, have very high expectation for winning the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™. This will be their fourth appearance at the global competition.

First on the list is an upgrade on the unsatisfactory performance at Germany 2006, when the Samurai Blue won 3-1 in their first hurdle and a reverse happened versus Australia, Croatia got a draw 0-0 and a loss with Brazil 4-1. Japan will face their first finals without Hidetoshi Nakata their iconic midfielder. The former Roma featured in each of the national games at France 1998, Korea/Japan 2002 and Germany 2006 before deciding to leave the game and retire, hang up his boots after the event at age 29.

Going to the road leading to South Africa, after comfortably reaching the final round of the Asian Zone qualifying for South Africa 2010, Japan got four, drew three and lost just one on their eight matches on Group 1. A 2-1 turn around in Australia and a heart breaking draw 0-0 at home versus the same teams were the draw back of the final phase, in spite of the fact that coach Takeshi Okada’s team was able to finish well clear of Qatar, Bahrain, and Uzbekistan in the five-team section.

The Japan star players are Shunsuke Nakamura a former Celtic playmaker, who in the summer 2009 made the swap from Glasgow to La Liga with Espanyol. Another European-based performer is Keisuke Honda young midfielder at Eredivisie outfit VVV Venlo and similar to Nakamura a gifted left-footer. Their leading from the back is Captain Yuji Nakazawa a 31-year-old defensive rock and who has over 90 senior caps to his credit is Japan’s entire time third-most capped player.

Their coach is National supremo Okada. He is far and wide taken into account to be one of the finest Japanese strategists of all time. He was at the driver seat during the Samurai Blue’s first appearance in FIFA World Cup at France 1998; he was able to successfully negotiate a complicated play-off meeting with Iran, and after that enjoyed spells at club level with Yokohama F Marinos and Consadole Sapporo.

The 53-year-old past international defender’s stint in Sapporo included stepping up the team from the second division into top flight. And the tactician led Marinos to successive J.League titles in 2003 and 2004. Having stepped away from his role in Yokohama in 2006, he took the load over the reins of the national team for a second time after a year when a stroke was suffered by Ivica Osim previous incumbent. Don’t fail to watch the World Cup 2010 Japan vs. Cameroon match.

World Cup 2010 – South Africa Is Only An App Away

With the FIFA World Cup Finals getting closer everyday, soccer fans all over the world are preparing themselves for the jewel in the footballing calendar. The scene is set for what could be one of the best tournaments in recent years, all we need now is an iPhone app to guide us through it.

WORLD CUP ‘10 from AldunceDesign is a complete guide to the FIFA World Cup in South Africa this Summer. It offers all the News, Views, Match Schedule and Results for the World Cup Finals in 2010.

All 32 National Teams are detailed in their respective groups, with schedule and stadium information on hand so you can track your teams progress on your iPhone all the way to the final (if you’re lucky enough). The in depth team information for each country is great and also comes with player profiles and each teams star players so you have all the information you need before your countries’ big games.

The matches can be displayed graphically on a map of South Africa and come with comprehensive write ups about the stadiums and their history. Another really useful feature is the detailed location map of each host city that could prove to be invulauable for any fans travelling to South Africa for the tournament.

In World Cup draw, poor placement might net Americans short straw once again

Team Americans

With FIFA doing everything in its power to help host South Africa receive a favorable draw and advance to the second round of the World Cup next year, you knew somebody would get the shaft.

And it might just be the United States.

The seedings for the 32-team field were announced Wednesday in preparation for Friday’s draw in Cape Town, and the odds are greater for the United States to be slotted into a tough bracket rather than an easy one.

The Americans were placed in Pot 2, with fellow CONCACAF teams Mexico and Honduras; New Zealand, the lone qualifier from Oceania; and the four Asian teams: Australia, Japan, North Korea and South Korea.

With Asia and Oceania considered the weakest of the six confederations, the U.S. was hoping to be paired with one of those teams. Now that can’t happen, and the result could be ugly.

As host, South Africa is given the A-1 slot and designated a top seed despite being the lowest ranked team in the tournament (No. 86) in the latest FIFA rankings.

Other Pot 1 teams are Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina and England.

Pot 3 consists of the other five African teams: Algeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Nigeria, and the other South Americans teams: Chile, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Pot 4 includes the remaining European teams: Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland.

Since no confederation other than Europe can play each other in the first round, if a team from a different confederation is drawn with another team from its region into one of the eight, four-team groups on Friday, it will bounce to the next available group (A through H) until it fits in.

Taking all that into consideration, here’s what could await the United States.

The best case scenario: South Africa, Chile, Slovakia or Slovenia.

The worst case scenario: Brazil, Ivory Coast, France or Portugal.

We’ll take it: Argentina, Ghana, Greece.

But FIFA is not worried about the United States. No host team has failed to advance to the second round in World Cup history and FIFA would like South Africa to reach the knockout stage to keep the country’s interest.

Once the quarterfinals come around the World Cup has a life of its own, interest will be high no matter who is playing.

With South Africa in a position to avoid playing the world’s top teams -- the other seven teams in Pot 1 are ranked in the top 10 -- it is likely to be in a group that would include either North Korea or New Zealand from Pot 2, Chile or Uruguay from Pot 3 and, maybe to make it seem somewhat fair, Switzerland or Denmark from Pot 4.

Remember, the draw is everything, and the United States has been hammered more times than gifted since it started qualifying regularly 20 years ago.

A recap:

1990: The U.S. qualified for the first time since 1950 and was considered the weakest team in the field. Not by coincidence, it was placed in a group with host Italy, along with Czechoslovakia and Austria. Record: 0-3.

1994: As host, the U.S. was given the A-1 slot and grouped with mid-level European teams Romania and Switzerland, as well as Colombia, the group favorite. So what happens? The U.S. upsets Colombia, ties Switzerland and loses to Romania and only advances to the second round as one of the top third-place teams. Go figure. Record: 1-1-1.

1998: A cocky American squad gets drawn into the Group of Death, the name given to the toughest bracket. Germany, Yugoslalvia and Iran drop-kick the U.S. out of the tournament and when the dust clears the Americans finish dead last in the 32-team field. Record: 0-3.

2002: Based on the 1998 performance, the U.S. gets no respect and is again placed in a group with the host nation, this time South Korea. Poland and Portugal are there, too. But the Americans are at the top of their game, advance to the knockout stage and beat Mexico in the second round, only to be eliminated by Germany, 1-0, in a game they outplayed the Germans and deserved better. Record: 2-2-1.

2006: A cocky American squad (they should have learned their lesson in 1998) talks a bit too much before the draw and their reward is, that’s right, the Group of Death: Italy, Ghana and the Czech Republic. It’s another early flight home. Record: 0-2-1.

Team Ghana

Qualifying was pretty much a straight forward affair, Ghana defeated Sudan 2-0 in Accra to become the first African side to reach the 2010 World Cup in South Africa from the qualifiers, goals from midfield duo Sulley Muntari and Michael Essien doing the trick for the Black Stars, qualification assured then with two games left to play, impressive?Ghana make only their second appearance at a World Cup following their successful debuts in 2006 when they made it through the group stages which included eventual winners Italy before falling to world football royalty in Brazil 3-0, no disgrace in that I think you’ll agree and they were the only African nation to make it through the group stages in 2006.

Also in Ghana’s favour is the fact they are well used to life in big tournaments as they always seem to be in the latter stages of the African Cup of Nations including the one just passed were they made the final with a relatively young squad compared to the winners Egypt.

I think Ghana have the edge over Serbia and yes possibly even the Aussies, their players are used to big if not massive occasions, they nearly all play top level European football and the star quality of their squad which includes Michael Essien, Stephen Appiah, Sulley Muntari and John Mensah means they have one hell of a chance of getting through this very tough group.

Final Prep for Coach Rajevac and the Black stars comes in the shape of European powerhouses The Netherlands, this will be a stern test of Ghanian metal but if they can get a result what a boost it would be for them prior to the World Cup opener against Serbia in Pretoria.

Provisional Squad:

Richard Kingson (Wigan), Daniel Agyei (Liberty Professionals), Stephen Ahorlu (Hearts of Lions), Stephen Adams (Aduana Stars); Samuel Inkoom (Basle), Eric Addo (Roda JC), Jonathan Mensah (Granada), Lee Addy (Bechem Chelsea), Rahim Ayew (Zamalek), Hans Sarpei (Bayer Leverkusen), John Mensah (Lyon), Isaac Vorsah (Hoffenheim), John Pantsil (Fulham); Sulley Muntari (Inter Milan), Derek Boateng (Getafe), Anthony Annan (Rosenborg), Emmanuel Agyemang-Badu, Kwadwo Asamoah (both Udinese), Andre Ayew (Marseille), Michael Essien (Chelsea), Stephen Appiah (Bologna), Haminu Draman (Lokomotiv Moscow), Quincy Owusu Abeyie (Al Sadd), Bernard Kumordzie (Panionios), Laryea Kingston (Hearts), Kevin-Prince Boateng (Portsmouth); Matthew Amoah (NAC Breda), Asamoah Gyan (Rennes), Prince Tagoe (Hoffenheim), Dominic Adiyiah (AC Milan)

Michael Ballack: Germany star player at World Cup 2010

Michael Ballack

Ballack's record with Germany is an immensely proud one. From June 2005, Germany has never lost a game when he has scored.

That streak held true as the captain added four goals during Germany's campaign to reach next summer's finals.

His international debut did not come until April 28, 1999, when he came on as a substitute for Dietmar Hamann in a match against Scotland. Ballack only played 63 minutes at Euro 2000 but in the 2002 World Cup, he scored in matches against the United States and South Korea during the knock-out rounds as Germany progressed to the final. However, after a booking during the semi-final match against South Korea and was suspended for the final, which Germany went on to lose 2-0 to Brazil.

Following Euro 2004, Jurgen Klinsmann replaced Rudi Völler at the helm of the national team and Ballack took over from Oliver Kahn as captain.

In the 2006 World Cup, he was unable to start in Germany's first game against Costa Rica due to a calf strain, but appeared in the following five matches. Germany were eliminated in the semi-finals but they managed to clinch third place in a match against Portugal, with Ballack named man of the match in the games against Ecuador and Argentina.