Interactive WC calendar

Not really much to talk about today (so far), but check out Spanish sports daily Marca's ultra-sweet, interactive World Cup calendar!

Should North Korea play in the World Cup?

Do you believe that North Korea should be allowed to play in the World Cup? This question had been on the plate for a while now, but it resurfaced last night after incidents at the Nigeria-North Korea warm-up friendly. (Notice that the incidents were unrelated to the game and to either team, and were instead the result of poor safety and security standards by the South Africans.... even if FIFA disagrees with the latter assessment; also see here).

To most people, that's a non-issue; North Korea are regular, fee-paying FIFA members, just as they are UN members. And unlike the UN, FIFA is not even a government or political body. Others claim, though, that the alleged human-rights violations of the North Korean dictatorships ought to rule out its national team from international competition.

What's your opinion?

First ref designations...

FIFA has designated the referees for the first 16 games of the World Cup. Here is the link to the related PDF document.

Only two of the "big names" will start. One is Benito Archundia (MEX), who'll ref Paraguay-Italy. He had also ref'd Italy in the 2006 semifinal against Germany, doing a fairly good job. That year, he shares the record for most games refereed with the Argentine Helizondo. The latter, now retired, had ref'd the final among much controversy for ejecting Zidane, supposedly after being told by an assistant who had seen the replay on live TV (if you didn't know, any form of instant replay is strictly forbidden in football, a rule itself under much scrutiny).

The other big name is Howard Webb (ENG), who just excellently refereed the Champions League final. He will be in charge of Spain-Switzerland, a fairly easy game. Finally, Carlos Simon (BRA) will take England-USA, easily the most anticipated game of the group stage... well, at least by the Americans.

More later on the latest injuries and what the press has begun to call the "captains' curse"... since after Ferdinand, Pirlo, Drogba, Ballack, and Essien, now also Robben and Mikel have added themselves to an ever-longer injury list!

Edit: for a full list of all the WC referees and their assistants, see this document.

Luck of the draw?

In one of today's friendlies, Italy and Switzerland tied it 1-1. That's good omen, if one believes in such things. A similar pre-Mundial friendly in 1982 also ended 1-1, and one more such friendly before Germany 2006 had the very same score. All three games were played in Geneva, and in '82 and '06 Italy went on to win the World Cup. I don't believe in such mumbo-jumbo, but the reptilian part of my brain does and it was seriously rooting for there not to be any more goals after the first two!

Superstition aside, Italy played a much more aggressive game than against Mexico just two days ago. Of course, it was a different team... literally: Lippi picked 11 different starters each time, so as to give everybody the chance to play and (importantly) himself the chance to experiment two radically different squads and tactics. Azzurri, of course, are still far from top shape and light-years away from 2006 shape, but we all know how pre-WC games don't really say anything if not to the coach and players.

More to say tomorrow on FIFA's referee designation for the first 16 games, even though Drogba's tentative recovery is still (in my opinion) the hottest discussion topic right now. More coming up on that too...

Injury time, literally

Trouble ahead for three of the most anticipated teams: England, Italy, and Ivory Coast.

Yesterday, England's centre back Rio Ferdinand suffered a knee injury during training. Capello's staff are not optimistic: Ferdinand's World Cup is "almost certainly over." If true, England loses its star defender and (according to Football365.com) one of their "few world-class footballers."

Even more shockingly, Didier Drogba injured his elbow during an Ivory Coast friendly against Japan. Some are optimistic right now about his chances to make it to South Africa, while others remain sceptical. The Associated Press reports that Drogba himself isn't very hopeful.

And to top off a disastrous day, Italy's Andrea Pirlo's (a significant contributor to Italy's 2006 win) old calf problems seem to be bothering him again. This could be disastrous for the team's game and morale, especially after the Camoranesi scare last week. Italy just lost a seemingly easy friendly to Mexico which evidenced some ugly teamwork and worrisome physical condition. Most of the Italian press suspends judgment: this article reports that Pirlo has left the team for now and that initial medical reports speak of a 15-20 day prognosis... which would put him out of injury list just before Italy's second game against New Zealand. Again, it doesn't look good.

Meanwhile, the usual "summer dance" of coaches doesn't stop just because it's World Cup time; and, if anything, it's even more hectic right now. As everybody knows now, Benitez left Liverpool after a (mostly losing) 6-year streak. As for Capello, after being tempted by FC Inter owner Massimo Moratti to return to Italy, he seems intentioned to see England through to Euro 2012. And of course, Cesare Prandelli signed to be Italy's next coach after the World Cup. Prandelli should have gotten this job two years ago, after Donadoni was rightfully kicked out the door and before Lippi was dragged out of retirement like a Hollywood action-movie hero, as if there were no other talented coaches around.....

North Korean FAIL

Apparently, North Korea tried to smuggle an extra striker in its squad by listing him as a goalie... and now that FIFA found out, the guy is only allowed to play in goal. HAHAHA! Are all dictatorships this stupid or is North Korea a special case?

Read the news here... or, really, anywhere on the 'net. Oh my lol.

Goalie problems for England, as always

Football 365 reports on England goalie's David James, who says:

"I don't want to look at this World Cup as a personal mission. I look at it as a team mission. Yes, you want to be No. 1, you want to play every game and lift the World Cup, but if that doesn't happen it will be a case of: 'If I'm there, my contribution will have aided whatever success we have.'

That's mighty fine, but the problem goes far beyond James himself. England is, in many respects, a team specular to Italy, in that it's got everything right but the goalkeeper (unlike Italy where, so far, everything needs work but that human wall Gigi Buffon, a certainty as much as a bare necessity for Lippi's weathered defense). Mind, I do think England has its best shot at winning a World Cup since 1990. That time they assembled a killer but tremendously unlucky team. This time around they've got all their ducks in a row, especially without whiny Becks, and Capello is a winner and a closer.

Still, the goalkeeper department is a problem. For one, all four of England's top teams have foreign goalies, and have had them for quite a while: Van der Saar for Man-Utd, Cech for Chelsea, Almunia for Arsenal, and Reina for Liverpool. Even more importantly, there isn't a significant new, young generation of English goalies elsewhere. This isn't merely a problem with England. Italy's top four teams in this year's Serie A also had foreign goalies, and if it weren't for Buffon we too would be in trouble. But a problem it is, and a pretty serious one.

To conclude, it's not like the goalie--whoever it is--needs to worry all that much against the uninspired and uninspiring U.S. forwards. England will get through the group stage just fine. But if they have any higher aspirations, they will need a good man for the job, and right now they just don't seem to have it.