DN page 18 FRIDAY, JUNE 11, 2010 FIFAWORLD CUP 2010 Spain hope to end decades of World Cup pain

DAVID LEGGE would represent the first FIFA Confederations Cup battling to be fit, getting potential banana skin for a semi-final, so count the Germany, Serbia and Aus- The exclusive FIFA country that has so often `Stars and Stripes’ among tralia. Victory over Den- World Cup winners club flattered only to deceive at potential party poopers. mark should see Cameroon could welcome a new mem- the tournament with Others are Cameroon, through to the last 16 and ber come mid-year with fourth the best finish, and Chile, Denmark, Ghana, while not the force of old, Spain favoured to win the that was 60 years ago. Ivory Coast, Mexico, Nige- Nigeria can defy the odds first tournament staged by Should Spain succeed at ria, Paraguay, Portugal, and advance by finishing Africa. a World Cup that kicks off Serbia and Uruguay - none above equally modest They are reigning Euro- on June 11 and is being strong enough to go all the rivals Greece and South pean champions, serial hosted by nine South way, but all capable of Korea. winners of competitive and African cities, they will embarrassing a more After the heroics of 2002 friendly games, boast a join Argentina, Brazil, formidable foe. semi-finalists South Korea, wily manager in Vicente England, Germany, Italy, All 19 World Cup hosts - no Asia qualifier got del Bosque, and a galaxy of France and Uruguay as Japan and South Korea beyond the first round in Barcelona and Real Madrid champions. shared the 2002 tourna- Germany four years ago stars like Xavi and captain But whichever nation ment - reached the second and the outlook this time is Iker Casillas. claims the 30-million-dol- round and this offers a equally bleak with 125-1 Add Cesc Fabregas and lar prize and world football glimmer of hope to lowly shot Australia most likely Fernando Torres from the bragging rights, South South Africa, who rely to upset the bookmakers. English Premiership elite Africa will also be winners heavily on Everton mid- Central America could and it is no surprise that with a glittering line-up of fielder Steven Pienaar. have two sides in the last `Red Fury’ have been national teams and stars Ranked 90 in the world, 16 - Mexico and the United installed as 4-1 favourites on show. Bafana Bafana (The Boys) States - but Honduras to lift the trophy on July 11 Only Croatia, Russia and face a mammoth task to appear condemned to an at the 90,000-seat Johan- Egypt are missing from the The Spain squad maintain that record with a early exit 28 years after nesburg Soccer City stadi- top 20 national teams in place among the top seeds their only previous appear- um. the world and Sweden Americas, South Africans nando Torres, Samuel Argentina have Messi, South Africa prepare to proving of little assistance ance. Spain face Chile, striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic are relishing the prospect Eto’o and Didier Drogba Brazil Kaka, England welcome about 300,000 as they must face 2006 run- And when all the drama Switzerland and Honduras is alone among the 23 stars of seeing live the heroes strut their stuff. All the for- Rooney, Germany leg- visitors 80 years after ners-up France, Mexico ends on July 11, one World in a first round group that shortlisted for the 2009 they watch weekly on TV. mer winners bar Uruguay endary fighting spirit, Italy Uruguay hosted and won and Uruguay. Cup record will surely should not prove overly FIFA World Footballer of The winter chill will give are potential challengers to street-wise warriors, and the first World Cup with The draw offered no remain intact. Frenchman taxing and finishing first the Year in not making it. way to unbridled excite- Spain along with the France tradition having the 12 challengers sailing favours to Africa with Just Fontaine scored 13 may set up an Iberian Weary from years of ment from Polokwane to Netherlands as Brazil seek qualified for two of the pre- to Montevideo. Drogba-inspired Ivory goals in 1958 and even showdown against Cris- doubts about security and Cape Town as Lionel a record sixth title and vious three finals, winning The last team to defeat Coast in the same group as mesmerising Messi and tiano Ronaldo-inspired their ability to host only Messi, Wayne Rooney, England their first since one. Spain were the United Brazil and Portugal and rampant Rooney can hard- Portugal. the second World Cup held Arjen Robben, Ronaldo, the late Bobby Moore lift- Inevitably, some teams States on a freezing South Ghana, whose midfield ly hope to better that. Ronaldo and company outside Europe or the Kaka, Franck Ribery, Fer- ed the Cup 44 years ago. will mock the form book as African night last June in a dynamo Michael Essien is JOHANNESBURG, AFP Fever pitch: Football’s Group - B just a game... isn’t it? RICHARD INGHAM sions among countries. Honduras whose relation- Rinus Michels, ``some- “There’s a dual message ship had already been thing like war”? The World Cup’s official sent out,” said Richard soured by illegal immigra- After all, very nature of message is this: football is a Giulianotti, a professor of tion and other problems. soccer is adversarial. vehicle of harmony, uniting applied social sciences at After El Salvador lost the Militaristic words such all nations in peace under Britain’s Durham Universi- first round of World Cup as captain, lieutenant, vic- the banner of sport. ty. qualifer 1-0, an 18-year-old tory, defeat, striker, attack, What if the truth were “One is the message of girl, Amelia Bolanos, shot marksman, strategy and not so pretty? What if, ‘back the nation fully’ and herself through the heart shield — all illustrate the instead of healing national the other is the universal out of grief. nature of a sport that is wounds and bringing peo- message of sport, the value In an instant, Bolanos fluid and fast-moving, yet ple together, the World Cup of fair play, respect for the became a national martyr, combative and strategic at did the reverse? opponent and so on. They her funeral attended by the the same time. In a 1945 essay, written obviously sit in opposition head of state and football Sociologists caution that after a bruising tour of to each other.” team. a special set of ingredients Britain by Moscow In late 19th-century When the Honduras is required to propel a Dynamo, George Orwell Britain, the rise of football squad arrived for the match from a simple game Argentina argued that a dangerous clubs was followed by the return match in San Sal- to a question of national orgy of patriotism develops first hooliganism in the vador, they had to be honour that can unleash when flags are waved, modern game. It became a escorted by armoured vehi- violence, suicide and diplo- anthems sung and a coun- cancer in English football cles and protected by sol- matic fisticuffs or worse. try elevates its team to the in the 1970s and early 80s diers wielding sub-machine The big factor is the cre- status of national champi- and is a problem in many guns. As the local crowd ation of the “in-group” — on. countries today. jeered, the organisers in essence, a form of tribal- “At the international Egypt and Algeria last burned the Honduran flag ism in which people have a level sport is frankly mimic year swapped diplomatic and hoisted a “dirty common identity or loyalty, warfare,” he said. and political blows over dishrag” in its place, which causes them to raise Many may contest this as frenzied qualifying matches according to contemporary emotional investment in a distorted and offer plenty to the World Cup that saw accounts. match. of examples where friend- several Algerian players After Honduras’ 3-0 To be in a soccer ``in- ship and camaraderie flour- injured by stone-throwing humiliation, the stage was group” does not mean you ished among strangers fans and retaliation against set for a vicious war that have to automatically cre- thanks to a big footy event. Egyptians in Algeria. left between 2,000 and ate an “out-group” to which Yet Pele’s ``beautiful A widely-forgotten foot- 6,000 people dead. you are hostile, explained game” also has an undeni- note in history is the So is top-flight football a Clifford Stott, a social psy- able ugly side, studded by ``Football War,” a real-life, sublimated form of con- chologist at Britain’s Uni- episodes of violence among four-day conflict in 1969 flict? Is it, to use the words versity of Liverpool. PARIS, crowds and sporadic ten- between El Salvador and of the great Dutch coach AFP

Republic of Korea Penalties - Science is on the spot

RICHARD INGHAM Anything faster than this tage to the keeper. If the for penalty takers to use is boosts the chance of a miss penalty succeeds, people to pick a spot and shoot to Few moments in football because of inaccuracy, will pat him on the shoulder it, ignoring the goalkeeper are as extraordinary as the while anything slower helps and say hard luck, because in the process,” said lead penalty, the moment when the goalie to intercept it. few expected him to save it. researcher Greg Wood. a dream can crumble or Moving swiftly to take If he does save it, he will be Practice is essential, he glory is made - and a player the penalty (less than three praised to the rafters. In said. The Hungarian great is either cursed as a choker seconds after the whistle is other words, all the onus Ferenc Puskas would train or enters the pantheon of blown) gives the striker the lies with the penalty-taker. again and again, shooting legends. element of surprise, while This problem was at a 25-centimetre (one- In the nearly 119 years delaying the strike by more explored last year by a team foot) disc hung 80 centime- since the very first penalty than 13 seconds makes the at the University of Exeter tres (a yard) from the bar. kick, in a match between keeper unsettled, according in southwest England, “The idea that you can- Wolverhampton Wanderers to the researchers, who which asked members of not recreate the anxiety a and Accrington Stanley, the looked at decades of inter- the university football penalty-taker feels during a 11-metre (12-yard) spot has national matches involving squad to wear special glass- shootout is no excuse for determined more and more England. es, recording eye move- not practising,” said Wood. tournaments, including the Waiting for the goalkeep- ments, while they took two “Do you think other elite 2006 World Cup final. er to move also boosted series of penalties. performers don’t practice Nigeria As the importance of the chances. However, waiting In the first series, the basic aiming shots in darts, penalty has grown, so has longer than 0.41 millisec- players were simply asked snooker or golf for the research. Scientists see it as onds caused a scoring to do their best to score. In same reasons? The skills a duel between shooter and chance to be halved. A the second, they were told need to be ingrained so goalkeeper where biome- runup of four to six steps the results would be record- they are robust under pres- chanics and psychology can was the most successful ed and shared with the sure.” give either side a critical approach, while a long other players, with a boun- As for helping the goalie, edge. runup of 10 metres (yards) ty of 50 pounds (72 dollars, experiments suggest look- A mathematical study of was the least. 57 euros) for the best penal- ing at a players’ hips during penalties at Liverpool’s Seen only through the ty-taker. the end of the runup gives John Moores University prism of statistics, the bal- The more anxious the a tip as to where the ball puts the death nail into the ance in penalties is tilted penalty-taker was, the like- will be struck. Researchers ``blast-it-and-hope” massively in favour of the lier he was to look at, and at the University of Hong approach. taker: between two-thirds focus on, the centrally-posi- Kong also suggest that if a The perfect penalty, it and three-quarters of tioned goalkeeper. And keeper moves just six to 10 found, is a ball that is strikes result in a goal, because gaze control and centimetres (three to five struck high, targeted pre- according to various analy- motor control are tightly inches) off centre, that is cisely to the right or left of ses in top-flight European coordinated, the player’s enough to tempt the taker the goalie, and fast, travel- club soccer. shot also centralised, mak- into directing the kick to ling at 25-29 metres per sec- But in a counter-intuitive ing it far easier for the shot the side of the goal where ond (90-104 kilometers or way, these figures also give to be saved. there is more space. PARIS, 56-65 miles per hour). the psychological advan- “The optimum strategy AFP Greece =