Archive for June, 2009
From God-Awful to Perpetually Blessed… the CONMEBOL TOP 10.
Now you see them, come September you wont...
10 – Peru (FPF) Probably the worst fútbol body in the CONMEBOL, the days when Peru prevented Uruguay from going to the World Cup are long gone (1982); instead Peru has settled in recent years to playing “spoiler” in the World Cup Qualifiers. Similar to Uruguay in that they always give Brazil a hard time, they have in recent years allowed almost any country to walk into Lima and have their way. Who’s to blame? Some might argue the players, who had in-disciplinary issues, players like Claudio Pizarro & Jefferson Farfan who played in Europe of all places and should know better. Others would argue that Peru has been awful due primarily to the FPF (Peru’s fútbol body) itself, the Peruvian government attempted to strip the FPF president of his powers, in a move designed to stop the widespread corruption, however the move backfired on Peru when FIFA suspended Peru (at all levels)from international play, the suspension was lifted when the Government relented and the FPF president was restored. The latest debacle involves the players again who have threatened to quit playing until the Peruvian crisis is resolved, as of today, they might be forced to send an amateur squad when Peru faces Uruguay in the qualifiers.
Forget about 2010, Will Uruguay qualify for 2014???
The "Leader" Speaks, all should listen!!!
With all eyes on the Confederations Cup & the 2010 World Cup, the Führer, I mean Sepp Blatter, announced he may give Africa more World Cup slots depending on how African nations do in the upcoming World Cup. Currently Europe has 13 berths for the upcoming World Cup while Africa has a record six for next year’s tournament (South Africa got the extra slot as host nation)… South America has 4 & 1/2 while the CONCACAF has 3 & 1/2 as well, both conferences have to go through a playoff series to decide which “half” gets in… Why the CONCACAF has 3 is beyond me? Asia has 4 & 1/2 & gets the luxury of having to face the much weakened Oceania conference which no longer has Australia in it.
Why you should stop worrying about whether Uruguay qualifies to the World Cup and learn to embrace Diego Forlan!
You either love Diego Forlan or you hate him, there’s no grey area, and for those who can’t stand him, you have to put up with him because to have a contrasting opinion goes against the popular school of thought that the whole world has of Diego Forlan. The Argentineans love him & the Spaniards sing his praise, while only the shrewd & snobbish English saw any defects in his game.
Uruguay ’66: Greyhounds, Hand-Ball Protests, and How England “Rigged” the World Cup!
1966 was the first time Uruguay yelled, “Conspiracy Theory!” to justify their inability to go past the quarter-finals in a World Cup. In truth it was the second straight sub-par World Cup for Uruguay, a lot was expected of Uruguay in the 1960′s; Peñarol was a continental powerhouse, which is important since the majority of Uruguay’s National Team consisted of players from Peñarol. Yet Uruguay’s inability to escape the group stage in 1962 set the stage for their “controversial exit” in 1966. Even though Europeans may scoff at the notion, there is some smoke in the fiery allegations made about England rigging the World Cup.
Invasor: The horse that made Uruguay forget all about Germany.
Right after Uruguay failed to qualify to the 2006 World Cup — Uruguay was in a tailspin, it had been exposed as an aging team, besides not being able to qualify to Germany, Uruguayans the world over were reminded that the failures of past qualification tournaments were still present. And then came Invasor, that incredible Argentinean thoroughbred that became famous in Uruguay by winning the Uruguayan triple-crown in 2005; a feat that endeared this horse to the Uruguayan population.
Maybe Brazil is just unstoppable?
Watching the Brazilians blank Italy 3-0 in the Confederations Cup, I couldn’t stop thinking about the 4-0 drubbing that Uruguay suffered in Montevideo earlier this month; based on today’s game, Uruguay had no chance in the WCQ played on June 6th, maybe Brazil is just unstoppable? What else can it be? The scary thing about this win today is that they didn’t beat a Uruguayan squad that was made-up on the fly but a tried and tested Italian squad who are an elite European team and as per FIFA, one of the top 5 teams in the World.
