World Cup Corner

Didier Drogba of Chelsea and Ivory coast has been named the 2006 African Footballer of the Year on Thursday, beating out Samuel Eto’o of Barcelona, who would have won his 4th consecutive award.

Drogba, 28, is a first time winner and was captain of Ivory Coast when they reached the African Nations Cup final but lost out on penalties to Egypt. The Ivorians also participated in the 2006 World Cup tournament, where they made a good showing of themselves.

Full List of African Nations Awards:
African Footballer of the Year: Didier Drogba (Chelsea and Ivory Coast)
Team of the Year: Ghana
Club of the Year: Al Ahli (Egypt)
Coach of the Year: Manuel Jose (Al Ahli, Egypt)
Young African Player of the Year: Taye Taiwo (Olympique Marseille and Nigeria)
African club competition Player of the Year: Mohamed Aboutrika (Al Ahli, Egypt)
Women’s Footballer of the Year: Cynthia Uwak (Nigeria).

Over the weekend, I manage to watch a most remarkable DVD about Pele and that amazing New York Cosmos team in the NASL (North American Soccer League)
Once in a lifetime DVD

In the 1970s, the New York Cosmos with the backing of Time Warner managed to bring in an enormous amount of soccer publicity to the United States. With players such as Pele, Franz Beckenbaur, Giorgio Chinaglia, Rodney Marsh and John Cruyff, the NASL was indeed the league to play in at that time. Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos features narration by Matt Dillon with interviews with many of the team’s star players as it depicted the teams amazing rise and fall in a backdrop of rock star indulgence and excesses of sex, drugs and alcohol.

I highly recommend watching this interesting documentary. Who knows, it may be history repeating itself with David Beckham on his way to the MLS as the catalyst.

Scotland and England played the first football match that would eventually lead to the International FIFA World Cup. However, there was no way of knowing this at this first game played in 1872. During this time frame the sport was not popular worldwide as it is today.
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My good friend from Argentina sent me this pic. Apparently, he was disputing my blog on Argentina’s next golden generation.

Germany, the current FIFA Women’s World Cup holders have finally displaced traditional powerhouses USA from 1st spot in the FIFA Women’s World Ranking.
The germans had an excellent tournament in 2003 with 6 wins out of 6 and 20 goals scored. Most notably, it was the 3-0 defeat of the USA in the semi-finals that boosted the German’s point tally while at the same time decreasing their rivals tally.
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Another old picture… Imagine playing against this team!

The 2014 World Cup is to be held in South America as part of Fifa’s rotation policy and so far, the South American countries have ceded their bids to Brazil.

However, Columbia, who attempted a bid for the 86 World Cup, but had to pull out due to financial difficulties, is considering a 2014 bid. Mexico eventually hosted the 1986 tournament. Often referred to as “Maradona’s World Cup”. Colombia Football Association president Luis Bedoya said: “We have presented the letter of intent. We know it’s going to be a long, tough road.”

Columbia hosted and won the 2001 Copa America which was initially postponed due to security concerns.

Brazil are still favourites to host the 2014 tournament but Sepp Blatter (Fifa president) has said that no country will get the honor of hosting the 2014 World Cup undeservedly.

Argentina, like Brazil has been well known as a country that produces world class footballers at a frightening rate. In fact, the rivalry between both countries (who can claim a total of 7 World Cups between them), can be traced long before the sport had become a religion in both countries.
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The Vatican is preparing to fight it out with priests in Rome…. over a game of soccer.

February 2007 marks the inaugural Clericus Cup, and the Vatican has registered to be one of the participating 16 teams. The final will take place in the Italian capital of Rome at the end of June.
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Romario. One of the deadliest strikers of all time. No tricks, no flicks, no lung bursting runs, no hardman tackles. Just a simple knack of being at the right place at the right time. It would be fair to say that he is the greatest finisher of his generation. The apex of that wonderful Brazillian team that won USA 94.

At 40 years of age and his prime years behind him, Romario made the shock transfer to play for Miami FC in the United Soccer Leagues, the US second division.

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