Mexican transfers may usher in a new era.
Mexico’s World Cup may have been dissapointing but British managers did recognise some of the brighter aspects of their tournament. Three players have already crossed the atlantic from the Primera Division De Mexico and a few more may follow. Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez had already moved from Chivas Guadalajara to Manchester United before leaving for South [...]

England – A new dawn or the same old mistakes?
England’s performance in South Africa was in many respects very disappointing, but it shouldn’t have been completely unexpected. Since being knocked out of the World Cup by West Germany in 1970, England’s World Cup and European Championship performances have been the standard of an average world side who will qualify most of the time but [...]

Black Stars’ Glorious Run Ended by Cruel Hand of Fate
Friday July 2nd was the day that Uruguay beat Ghana 4-2 on penalties after a 1-1 draw. The result is there in black and white, but only tells a fraction of what happened. World Cup exits are painful at the best of times, but few teams suffered the level of heartbreak endured by Ghana on [...]

Italy Shall Overcome – Rest Azzurred
‘imbarazzare’ (embarrassing) ’una baraonda’ (a shambles) ’disonorare’ (disgrace); just some of the words used to describe Italy‘s world cup performance.  Aside from the collapse of 2006 finalists France; the defending champions’ failure to even get out of their group was undoubtedly the shock of the summer. The pessimistic Azzurri followers claimed that the writing was already on the wall without [...]

An Historic Victory, a Record Breaking Feat and a Petty Attack
Switzerland World Cup 2010 Review Switzerland went into the World Cup finals in South Africa with fairly low expectations and qualification out of a tricky group was the reasonable target set. Coach Ottmar Hitzfeld believed his side were capable of realising their aim, but the German tactician was well aware of his Swiss team’s capabilities and [...]

Controversially Successful World Cup for La Celeste
Uruguay took their final bow in South Africa against Germany on Saturday, and the sheer fact that it was their seventh game of the tournament is testament to how well they have done. Oscar Tabarez led his team to their first World Cup semi-final since 1970. Having scraped through the qualifiers via a play-off with [...]

Ivory Coast fail to inspire African dream
Luck, or a lack of it, played a part in Ivory Coast’s disappointing World Cup campaign. But the team hailed as the country’s ‘Golden Generation’ have only themselves to blame, in a campaign which crumbled under the expectations of a continent. Bad luck placed them, once again, in arguably the toughest group in the tournament. [...]

Chile Revels In The Beauty Of Youth
“While the chances of winning the title are limited, the opportunity of pleasing the fans watching you is in your hands. Luckily, Chile has grasped that”. The above quote came from Johann Cruyff, writing shortly after Chile were eliminated from the tournament at the hands of Brazil. Following on from the group stage, the secular [...]

Extra-Time Delight Sees Spain Seal Maiden Win
Spain 1-0 Holland Iniesta 116’ Attendance – 84, 490 Howard Webb leads out the two teams An Andres Iniesta strike deep into the second period of extra-time sealed a historic World Cup triumph for Spain over a boisterous Holland side. In a disappointing stop-start final, the defining moment sparked mass celebrations from the Spanish, as [...]

Bafana Bafana Bouncing, a Uruguayan Trouncing, and a French Side That’s Renouncing: A Review of South Africa’s World Cup Campaign
At the end of their encounter with France, Carlos Parreira turned to a camera and tearfully said, ‘I feel at home here, these boys have been unbelievable. I will always remember this country.’ This moment will always stay in my mind; it summed up the whole spirit of South Africa perfectly. Whilst South Africa didn’t qualify, their [...]