Activity

Hello and thank you for reading. I realize I haven't updated this space since the end of last year, but I have a pretty large caché of articles I plan on uploading over the next few months, most of them on Mexico.

In the meantime, I've been regularly updating my Suite 101 and Bleacher Report sites with articles on English Premier League soccer, if anyone is interested in checking that out. It's a revenue share site, so the more people that read it and click on the ads, the more I get paid. The more I get paid by them, the less I work for the less interesting sites I write for, the more time I can spend with this blog.

Anyway, thank you for reading, hope everyone had a nice New Year and that good things are lurking in 2011.

If anyone's looking for music recommendations, I've been listening to a lot of early Floridian and Swedish Death Metal, and would say Death's Human, Entombed's Clandestine and Grave's Into the Grave are phenomenal and skull crushing records.

More soon...

Activity

Ozil Gum Trick

The English Premier League started up today, and I've had to witness a well-oiled Aston Villa beat the crud out of a creaky West Ham United. To make myself feel a little better, I've been watching the video of Ozil kicking his own gum into his mouth.

Ozil Gum Trick

World Cup Trivia Part XVI

Another Day, Another Despot
This is one of my all-time favorite, have-to-tell-everyone-I'm-talking-to-about-soccer/football World Cup trivia bits.

Mussolini famously exploited the 1934 World Cup Italy's propaganda value to maximum effect. Knowing that a winning Italy team would unite his country behind the Azzurri, Mussolini used the World Cup to show the power holders of the world the values of fascism and the "support" the leader had from his nation.

Of course, to insure that the Azzurri were to win the World Cup, Mussolini had to fingure out how they would beat sides like Uruguay, who had won the inaugural World Cup of 1930, and pretty much every Olympic and international tournament up to that point. To see to this, Il Duce had a closed-door meeting with the men who would be refeering these games.

Now, of course, anyone with half a brain knew what Mussolini was cooking up, but the tournament was such a farce--and here's the great tidbit I love so much and have been buiding up to--that a referee actually headed the ball the Azzurri in order to keeper their forward momentum going. When Azzurri scored off the header, the ref silenced the opposing team's protestations, stating calmy that he had know idea what they were talking about.

World Cup Trivia Part XVI

World Cup Trivia XV

Those Wild Eastern Asians...
There are a number of phenomenal tidbits from the 2002 World Cup South Korea/Japan, a few of which I will be bringing you on the first of what will hopefully be many factoids on this last day of World Cup 2010.

During the opening ceremony, which took place in Japan, the South Koreans put on a hell of show, with songs, dancing, marching, and a number of other festivities. And yet, it seems as though they completely forgot to mention the other country involved, opting instead to simply call the global showcase World Cup South Korean 2002. Whoops.

But of course, Japan suffered its fair share of momentary memory loss, too. Indeed, they somehow seemed to completely erase the South Korean flag from all of the tickets and paraphernalia for games that took place in Japan. Hmm.

To show their dedication and enthusiasm for the World Cup, the South Korean government installed jumbo jumbo trons (apparently, such things exist) in front of all the stadiums, so that upwards of a million people could be watching the game while it was happening, just outside the stadium.

The South Koreans also built a World Cup Fountain on the Hangang River, which at 633 feet, is the tallest fountain in the world.

To counter this, the Japanese built a stadium that uses computers to control the growth of the grass, so that optimal pitch conditions for each match can be produced. But of course the Japanese would go and do something like that.

Yet, despite all of these juicy bits, the best two WTF moments of World Cup 2002 came in the form of special gifts from the South Korean government.

Two referees disallowed perfectly legal goals from Spain and Italy in games against South Korean; those disallowed goals were enough to send La Roja and Azzurri home. The referees for those games were magically driving brand new Hyudais not long after the tournament ended.

And finally, Korean player Jung-Hwan Ang scored the winning, sudden-death goal against Italy in a extra time match during the knock-out round, he instantly became a national hero: he was awarded life insurance and free flights on the national airline for life, and exempt from military service. Not too shabby.

World Cup Trivia XV

World Cup Trivia XIV

Pissing and Hat Tricks
Argentina and Paraguay may have both lost today, but their World Cup legacy will live on thanks to more impressive--and downright bizarre--performances in times past. I give you today the stories of the Pissing Keeper and the only goalie to ever score a hat trick.

(A) Argetina's Sergio Goycochea was a world class goal keeper. His iron-willed performances in both the quater and semi final shootouts of the 1990 World Cup won those matches for Argentina. But his pre-shootout ritual was even more impressive.

In the quarter final game, against Yugoslavia, Goycochea had to pee something fierce. However, FIFA rules plainly state that players are not to leave the pitch while the game is going. So, between extra time and the shootout, the Argetine yanked up his shorts and pissed on the pitch.

In the semi final against Italy, the game again went to a penalty shootout. Well, the pissing worked last time, so why not? Once more the keeper wizzed on the pitch, and once more his team won.

(B) Paraguay's José Luis Chilavert was something of an anomaly: a goalie who also happened to be one of the best goal scorers on his team.

Chilavert's left foot was so incredibly powerful and accurate it proved near unblockable on free kicks and penalty kicks, and so he was routinely brought forward from the goal to score in clinch situations. Chilavert scored a total of 8 goals for the national team, and 62 throughout his career.

In the 1998 and 2002 World Cups, Chilavert led his team through the group phase and into the knockout rounds. He is the only goal keeper in the history of recorded football to have scored a hat trick, though alas, it didn't come in a world cup.

Still, not too shabby...

World Cup Trivia XIV

World Cup Trivia Part XIII

Though the United States is no longer in contention in South Africa 2010, I thought it would be fun to unearth a few tidbits about American performance in anticipation of tomorrow's two big games, Uruguay vs. Ghana and Brazil vs. Netherlands.

(A) Despite everything we've been led to believe, America and soccer weren't always strange bedfellows.

In the first World Cup ever, the United States were considered favorites to win. The USA was the only big country with a professional league that even bothered showing up. The team went on lose to Argentina in the quarter finals, but still, not bad for a team that went 40 years between performances (1950-1990).

(B) Twenty years later, in the 1950 World Cup, the US pulled off one of sport's great upsets of all time by beating the English. By now, we all know this story.

What history books are reluctant to tell us is that in qualifying for the World Cup of 1950, the United States lost five consecutive games with a combined score of 41-3. Yikes.

World Cup Trivia Part XIII

World Cup Trivia Part XII

The Amazing Story of Fritz Walter
I've been a bit morose the past few days, as México--where I spent the last 7 months living--the USA--the country I call home--and England--the country where my mom was born and raised--were all sent home in the last two days. Thank god Japan--where I spent eleven or so months of my life living--is still in it! That said, I've been lazy with these updates. But anyway...

Today I bring you the amazing story of West German player Fritz Walter, who was the captain of the '54 West Germany team that won the World Cup. But by all rights, Fritz should have died in the Gulag.

Like most young men of his age, Walter was conscripted by the Nazis and ended up fighting the Soviets on the eastern front. He was captured toward the end of the war and destined for shipment to Siberian work camps, where prisoners were expected to live 5 years.

While at a holding camp for prisoners of war, Walter caught a stray ball from a friendly game of football between guards and so dazzled them with his skill that he was quickly playing exhibition matches set up amongst the prisoners to show off his ability. Some say that he even coached teams and organized leagues in the detainment center, though how much of that is myth is hard to know.

When time came for the prisoners to board the train for the Gulag, a guard spoke up on Walter's behalf. The soldier managed to convince his superiors that Walter was in fact Austrian, not German, and that he didn't deserve the punishment.

The upper echelons of the power structure relented, and Fritz Walter was let go, only to be made the captain of the West German team upon return to his homeland. A little bit of football and kind heart in the coldness of the Soviet front was all it took to get him freed.

World Cup Trivia Part XII

World Cup Trivia Part XI

Peru vs. Argentina and the Military Junta
There are a handful of great stories and tidbits from the 1978 World Cup in Buenos Aires, a tournament that saw the country's military junta take to the games like MSG to Chinese food, seeing them quite rightly as an excellent opportunity to promote its nefarious agenda. Today, I bring you the story of Peru vs. Argentina (and the junta).

In order to make it to the final, Argetina were faced with beating Peru at least 4-0, needing goal difference to make it past South American rivals Brazil. As it turned out, that was something of a walk in the park. Argentina spanked the turd out of Peru; the final score was 6-0.

Of course there are those who believe that the 35,000 tons of free grain that made its way from Peru to Argentina in the months surrounding the tournament and the $50 million in interest-free loans the junta threw to Peru may have had something to do with the game's outcome.

And then there's the fact that Peru's goal keeper, who played like a maniac, lunging in strange directions and apparently turning a blind eye to a number of goals that should have been easy save, was born in Argentina, and was of Argentinian ancestry.

We may never know what really went down, but those are some very suspicous circumstances.

World Cup Trivia Part XI

World Cup Trivia Part X

The Sad Story of El Salvador
The Central American nation of El Salvador has made it to the World Cup twice, and went out in the first round both times. Yet despite their very short stay, the country has managed to make it into the record books on two accounts.

In the 1982 World Cup, in their game against Hungary, El Salvador allowed the briefest hat trick in the history of the global showcase. Hungarian footballer László Kiss, who also become the only substitute to score a hat-trick, scored three goals in about seven minutes.

The game also marked the only time in World Cup history that a team scored in the double digits. Sad as it is to report, Hungary beat the Salvadorian side brutally: the final score was 10-1.

El Salvadorians finally found consolation many years on when the two sides, now old, gray, slow, and somewhat portly, staged a rematch for fun. The teams drew 2-2.

World Cup Trivia Part X

World Cup Trivia Part IX

The Migros Incident
In honor of both Switzerland and Spain having played today, I bring you the story of the Migros Incident, one of the many bizarre occurrences of the 2010 World Cup South Africa.

Assuming that there was no way the lowly Swiss side could trump the almighty España of Xavi, Torres, Villa, et al, Swiss supermarket chain Migros offered a 10% discount on everything in the store provided their country win last week's fixture.

And guess what? Switzerland, thanks to some very thuggish defense and a seemingly disspirited Spanish side, took the match in a 1-0 victory.

Migros made good on their offer, and, if the experts on this type of thing are to be believed, took a net loss on the one day following the victory of $8.77 million.

If we've learned anything from this, it's don't bet against your country in the World Cup, no matter what.

World Cup Trivia Part IX

World Cup Trivia Part VIII

West Germany and the Adidas Advantage
Hard as it may be to believe in 2010, there was a time when Adidas was anything but a household name. In fact, the company began with just one man, Adi Dassler (hence the comany's name: Adi + Das, and seen at right fixing some boots) tinkering with shoes and cleats.

In 1954, Adi had designed shoes with replaceable cleats, which could be modified during a game to best fit weather conditions and the consistency of the pitch. The West Germans contracted Dassler to create boots for the entire team in anticipation of the '54 World Cup.

Having fought their way to the final game, West Germany faced the near undefeated Magnificent Magyars of Hungary, a team that had handed severe defeats to both England and Uruguay, and is largely considered one of the greatest sides to ever play the game. In addition to reinventing the way soccer was played after World War II, the Magyars were led by the Galloping Major, aka Ferenc Puskás, a man who, among other accomplishments, scored 514 goals in 529 games.

Yet to the disadvantage of the Maygars, who were considered by all to be the match's sure fire winners, a torrential downpour took hold of the day. The West Germans replaced the spikes on their Adidas boots with ones designed specifically for play on wet, slippery pitches, and ran circles around the befuddled Hungarians, who were skidding and falling across the pitch like penguins on ice.

Thus one of the great defeats in the history of football can be, at least partially, attributed to football. Another consideration was the Mygars brutally physical leadup to the final and Germany's relatively easy path in. And yet the fact remains that Adidas played a large part in World Cup history in 1954.

World Cup Trivia Part VIII

World Cup Trivia Part VII

Refereeing Snafus, Part I: Carding Madness
In today's installment of World Cup trivia, I will begin a new subsection detailing some of the great refereeing snafus in the history of the global football showcase.

(A) Thrice Warned
For those among you who know the most basic rules of soccer, you know quite well that if a player receives two yellow cards, they combine for a red, and he's sent out of the game. Interesting then that a World Cup referee would be unclear on this point.

Having spent 26 years working his way from the smallest leagues in Britain to the World Cup, English referee Graham Poll retired less than a year after a single, but incredibly heinous, error. While referring a game in group stage of the '06 World Cup, Poll awarded Croatian footballer Josip Simunic three yellow cards before realizing his snafu and booting Simunic. Whoops.

(B) The Overzealous Russian
Russian referee Valentin Ivanov went a bit bats with the carding during a second round match of the '06 World Cup between Holland and Portugal.

In a game that, by World Cup standards, wasn't even particularly physical, Ivanov managed to toss out twelve yellow cards and four reds. Each team lost two players and more than half of the men on the pitch were cautioned.

World Cup Trivia Part VII

World Cup Trivia Part VI

The Story of Joe Gaetjens
The story of Joe Gaetjens has been making the rounds in the American media of late, especially given the US v. England match of last week. In honor of the United States taking on Slovenia today--and in honor of this being my hundredth post on this blog, and my being more or less American--I give you the harrowing tale of a co-opted Haitian man.

Having failed to make a living playing soccer professionally in Haiti, Joe Gaetjens came to the United States to study accounting at Columbia University on a Haitian government scholarship. While working as a chef, Gaetjens was cajoled by a co-worker into joining the Brookhattan soccer team in New York, with which team Gaetjens became the top goal scorer in the American Soccer League.

In preparation for the World Cup of 1950, hosted by Brazil, the United States co-opted Gaetjens by having him officially state that he intended to declare American citizenship. According to rules at the time, this allowed Gaetjens to play for the American team.

In the first round of the 1950 World Cup, the United States took on England. In one of the great upsets in the history of sport, America defeated the Britons 1-0. Gaetjens scored the only goal of that game.

In 1954, Joe returned to Haiti to live the life of an entrepreneur. In 1964, Haitian president François "Papa Doc" Duvalier declared himself rule for life--read: officially became military dictator--and began the purge of all who stood in opposition to him.

Unfortunately for Gaetjens, who had no interest in politics, the footballer’s brothers were connected to a group in the Dominican Republic that was rumored to be staging a coup against the Haitian president. Famous as he was, Gaetjens was something of a public figurehead for this group, despite his disinterest and non-participation.

On the morning of July 8th 1964, Gaetjens was arrested by the Haitian secret police, never to be seen again. His body was never found. It is assumed that Joe was tortured and/or murdered within a month of his disappearance.

Posthumously, Joe Gaetjens was inducted into the American Soccer Hall of Fame. The film The Game of Their Lives depicts his exploits with the American soccer team, and stars Gavin Rossdale as a British player and, weirdly enough, Scotsman Gerard Butler as the American goalkeeper.

World Cup Trivia Part VI

World Cup Trivia Part V

Pickles the Dog
Not long before the start of the '66 World Cup in England, the Jules Rimet World Cup trophy was on display at a rare stamp exhibit in Westminster Central Hall. The promotional value of having the trophy on British soil was exponentially raised on 20th March, when it was stolen.

Enter Pickles, the dog. When out for a walk one day with owner David Corbett, Pickles came upon something wrapped in newspaper, wedged in the bottom of a hedge in Beulah Hill, South London. Recalls Corbett:

"I thought it was a bomb. There was a lot of IRA action at the time. Even when I starting taking off the paper and saw it was a statue, nothing really stirred. Then I noticed it said Brazil, West Germany and so on and ran into my wife immediately. It wasn't very World Cuppy, though. Very small."

Pickles became an instant celebrity in the UK. Corbett received a reward of £6000, equivalent to £170,000 in 2008. Pickles was invited to the celebratory gala upon England's victory in the tournament, where he was permitted to lick all of the plates clean.

Pickles was signed by a talent agent (the footballers on England's winning national side weren't, mind you), who secured the dog a role in The Spy With the Cold Nose, and a number of television shows. Yet unfortunately for Pickles, mo' money, mo' problems.

Pickles met a grizzle demise while chasing a cat. His collar snagged and choked the poor canine hero to death. In 2006, Pickles was immortalized in the British television movie Pickles: The Dog Who Won The World Cup.

World Cup Trivia Part V

World Cup Trivia Part IV

Sex and Death
For today's edition of World Cup Trivia, we'll learn an interesting factoid about the presently ongoing 2010 World Cup South Africa, and some tasty, albiet terrifying, treats about a certain Middle Eastern team's training incentives.

Let's begin with the sex. Paraguayan underwear and bikini model model Dallys Ferreira (seen at right), ever the patriot, has come up with a unique and rather rewarding incentives program for her nation's 2010 World Cup team: sex. Lots of it. Lasting all night. With everyone on the team.

Ferreira regularly mentions her nymphomania in interviews. After announcing that she would lay with her country's team if they won--and we're not sure here if she'd take them all at once, one at a time, one per day, in pairs, at gun point, etc--she said that she's a very passionate woman in bed, and that her sexual appetite takes her far beyond societal norms for sexual behavior. I say, good show.

Now a little death. Ever the opportunist, Sadam Hussein understood well the propogandic and nationalist advantages of having a succesful football side. He placed his son, Uday Hussein, in direct control of the team.

Uday quickly went to work building a thirty cell prison and iron maiden within the team's practice facitilities. Toenails were torn from players who underperformed.

When qualification for the '86 World Cup began, Uday mentioned in passing that the team's plane might explode on the way back to Iraq if they didn't make into the tournament. Luckily, the succeeded. In '94, when the they failed to breach the group phase, team members were forced to kick stone balls until all of the bones in their feet were crushed.

And yet is seems as though dirty deeds get the final laugh. Iraq won not a single game in the '86 tournament, while the 31-seeded Paraguay tied reigning world champions and 5th-ranked Italy yesterday.

World Cup Trivia Part IV

World Cup Live Blogging via Twitter

Hello readers. Stuck at work while the World Cup matches are going on? Don't have a television? Have no real idea of what's going on in a soccer match, only speak English, and can only get the games on Univision?

Have no fear. I have begun a Twitter account (which somewhat surprisingly I am not at all ashamed of) that I will be using to keep live blogs of one or two matches each day for the rest of the World Cup.

Tomorrow, 6/15, I'll be covering Ivory Coast v. Portugal, at 10am Eastern Standard Time, and Brazil v. North Korea, showing at 2:30pm Eastern Standard Time.

Thanks for reading, and don't forget to check back daily for my World Cup Trivia updates. In the meantime, check out the very strange World Cup body painting series I stumbled upon in my internet travels.

World Cup Live Blogging via Twitter

World Cup Trivia Part II

Uruguay 1930
While football (soccer) hooliganism is largely attributed to the British, who admittedly were the instigators of the Heysel Stadium Disaster, violence and the sport has a very long international history, going all the way back to the first World Cup, Uruguay 1930.

When Argentina and Uruguay met in the finals, thousands of Argentinians traveled over the Uruguay River to watch the match. When Uruguay won, the locals celebrated by trouncing the visiting Argentine fans and beating them to a pulp.

In an act of vengeance, the Argentinians arrived home to Buenos Aires and marched straight to the Uruguay Consulate, stoning the building and attacking employees.

World Cup Trivia Part II

World Cup Trivia Part I

England '66
In honor of 2010's World Cup South Africa, presently ongoing, I thought it would be fun to post some interesting and bizarre factoids re: World Cup history each day for the rest of the tournament.

In honor of today's England v. American game, I thought we'd start with a few interesting tidbits from the '66 tournament in England.

So here are our inaugural World Cup Factoids:

(A) In the final game, between England and Germany, Briton Geoff Hurst scored the third point of his hat trick with a rocket off the crossbeam of the goal. The ball fell directly downward, coming to a complete stop on, or near, the goal line. Whether or not it actually went into the goal is a matter of great dispute, though Soviet linesman Tofik Bakhramov counted it. Apparently, when asked how he was so sure point was scored, the stoic Soviet replied simply: "Stalingrad," in reference to the German siege of the city that cost over a million Russian lives.

Since the '66 tournament, forensic evidence (and yes, this is true) has been used to prove that goal in fact did not go in.

(B) After England's controversial victory over Argentina in the semi-finals, an Argentinian newspaper reported: "First they steal the malvides from us, now they steal the World Cup." In a hilarious act of defiance, the paper financed an expedition to the Maldives in order to plant an Argentinian flag.

Stay tuned for more tidbits everyday for the rest of the tournament, after which regular posts will resume.

And go England!

World Cup Trivia Part I