soccer world cup

Sepp Blatter: What he said, really meant and definitely did not

Sepp Blatter Goes On The Warpath

What he said (via SkySports.com):

“The World Cup was theirs by right. When they came here with Beckham, Prince William and Prime Minister Cameron, they were certain of winning.They got two votes. Since then, they have looked for every means to justify their defeat.”

Beleaguered FIFA boss, Joseph Blatter, launches a tirade at the English Football Association for their opposition to his continued presence at the helm of international soccer.

England lost out to Russia in its bid for the 2018 World Cup.

The 75-year-old is fighting corruption charges and was recently in the center of a racism row with his seemingly flippant remark that such on-field incidents could be settled with a handshake.

Transparency International dealt another blow to FIFA’s pretensions of corruption reform severing ties with the soccer body for ignoring two of its recommendations.

Mark Pieth,  a Professor of Criminal Law and Criminology at the University of Basel,asked to oversee reforms, disclosed that he would be accepting payment from FIFA. Additionally, he would not be investigating old hoary scandals.

In an interview to Matin Dimanche, a French Swiss daily, Blatter denounced the English body claiming that they are more interested in hosting the World Cup than the Olympics.

Blatter said (via Goal.com):

In the 60s and 70s, the great sporting federations were in the main British. It’s no longer the case.The English have lost power and, most recently, the 2018 World Cup.They were very keen, more than for the Olympics. They thought that football should have come home.

What he really meant:

“The English are sore losers—according to me.”

What he definitely didn’t:

“Why don’t HRH The Duke Of Cambridge and I settle our differences with (what else) a handshake?”

Read Blatter’s original interview here.

Aussie press’ reactions to the second Test loss

“NOT since Australia’s darkest days in the mid ’80s has the Test team played so badly.

Has the national side which was so recently ranked number one in the world really fallen this far?

Australians are entitled to ask who is to blame?”

“It is hard to see where Australia’s next victory or Ponting’s next century is coming from.”

Malcolm Conn in The Australian.

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A Soccer ThreeSum!

Image by gnews pics via Flickr

Three days into the 2010 World Cup and it’s time to pen a few random thoughts:

1. The vuvuzelas (pronounced vu-vu-ZAY-las) have become synonymous with the South African edition of the soccer World Cup. It’s such a nuisance that the television volume has to be turned down low to be able to enjoy the games.  Am I the only one complaining? The only way to have fun with the vuvus is to join them! (I’ve shortened vuvuzelas to vuvus; just so difficult to wrap my tongue around 4 syllables!)

2. The only teams to have scored two goals or more in their games have been South Korea and Germany. And I was starting to despair that this edition of the World Cup would see a goal drought. It took a team from the Far East to relieve the tedium. And though Germany may be considered boring, dull workhorses, they  rarely shy away from scoring goals!