Posts Tagged ‘soccer’

Why South Africa Was Chosen For The 2010 FIFA World Cup

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

June 11, Friday is a date that will stay in all Africans and also the many soccer fans worldwide as the day Africa comes to be the venue for the FIFA World Cup. For the past 80 years, the FIFA World Cup host nations have alternated between Europe and the Americas Just how is the location for a FIFA World Cup decided?The latest selection policy is that any country can bid for the world cup as long as their continental confederation hasn’t hosted it in the past two years which makes a Africa very eligible. In the 2006 bidding, South Africa against Germany, the final count being 12 votes to 11. All countries that bid for the 2010 World Cup were African including South Africa, Morocco and Egypt. South Africa beat Morocco by 4 votes leading to this memorable event.Those are the ‘technical’ reasons why this years World Cup is being held in South Africa but is the country itself capable of holding such an event? I would answer with a resounding “Yes”.Here’s why:

* They’ve got a great team- that simple fact makes them deserving to have the great privilege of hosting the cup.If you’d ask me, having a World Cup in a country whose team isn’t even above average would be a disgrace. Even if  you look back, the soccer teams of countries hosting the cup are usually first class like Brazil (1950), Argentina(1978) and Italy(1990). If South Africa was added to the list, nobody would mind.

* You should see the stadiums- as part of their preparation for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, South Africa has constructed four brand new mind-blowing stadiums.One has a detractable glass roof, another with spectacular lighting, then there’s the ‘zebra’ inspired stadium located nearby the many game parks, and finally one that resembles the South African flag. Is there anything else you could want?

* Great Weather- wildlife aside, South Africa is renowned for it’s weather. It will be winter time when the World Football Tournament will take place. Don’t worry, our favorite players won’t freeze to death, South Africa’s winter temperature at midday, is warmer than most countries daily summer temperature! Lower temperatures have been proved to be better for athlete’s bodies so the average expected temperature of 20 degrees Celsius at 12pm noon will be great. With good weather, we can expect better performance..

* Africa- civilization as we know it has been thought to have begun in Africa and many African coutries hold soccer dear to their hearts. Could you think of a better venu for the world to unite? Also, during the Mandela era, football was a cause of unification and a force for the apartheid resistance. Having Soweto be the venue for the finals will add meaning and make the even even more memorable for the reason that Soweto has been the heart of South African soccer.

In my opinion, no controversy in the past four years can change the  fact that South Africa is the best place for  the 2010 FIFA World Cup and everyone should be proud that for the first time in  history, Africa is holidng a sporting event this big.

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Can Bob Bradley Properly Manage USA With His Son On The Team?

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Occasionally when you are the son of the manager, it can be a double edged sword. Those looking to cause shenanigans will claim that favouritism among father and son teams causes problems.  Nigel Clough is well acquainted with the difficulties of being the son of a team manager; his father Brian Clough, while managing Nigel at Nottingham Forest, refused to address his son by name, calling Nigel “our number 9”.  Managers who manage their sons may, far from being too lenient with their offspring, be too critical. It is a fine balancing act for the manager and the player and it can be problematic.

Not that this will be a problem for Bob Bradley and his son Michael during this summer’s World Cup Finals in South Africa.  One exception to the rule seems to be the Bradley family, US Coach Bob Bradley and his son Michael, who will compete in the World Cup Finals together this summer in South Africa.

Michael Bradley was born in Princeton, New Jersey when Bob was the coach of the Princeton University soccer team. As a youngster, when Bob moved to Illinois to coach the Chicago Fire in the MLS, Michael was brought up in Palatine and at an early age, grew to love the game in the same way as his father.

After an impressive career in Junior leagues, Michael signed up with the MLS Superdraft in 2004 and was selected 36th overall by the New York Metrostars, who just so happened to be coached by his father. Michael’s first professional season didn’t turn out as planned when he suffered an awful foot injury, but his second year kicked off to a fantastic start for both of the Bradleys; Bob succeeded in leading his team to playoffs and Michael played in all but two of the games and headed his first goal to a shocked Chivas USA, securing a spot in the playoffs.

His energetic performances at the heart of midfield as an anchor for Metrostars had caught the eye in foreign climes and in January 2006, New York Metrostars allowed Bradley to leave the club when he was sold to SC Heerenveen of Holland.   Bradley’s success continued with Holland as he played well enough to land the team a place in the UEFA Cup and achieving an incredible 20 goals in the 2007-2008 season.

After Bradley’s success with Holland, bigger clubs started paying attention, including Birmingham City, whose relegation from the Premier League preventing them from getting him in their soccer gear. Instead , Borussia Moenchengladbach picked up midfielder Bradley, who has proven to be an asset, playing 58 games in the Bundesliga and racking up seven goals.

On the back of such impressive performances, Bradley’s promotion to the National Team ranks was assured. Bob Bradley began coaching the team in 2006, leading Michael to become  the core of the US midfield, setting up plays so that offensive players such as Landon Donovan can exercise the freedom to get towards the goal.

The US team is thankful for the father and son duo as they head on to the World Cup Finals in South Africa this summer.

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Why England Soccer Competition Causes Injuries At Crucial TImes

Wednesday, June 23rd, 2010

Rio Ferdinand, captain of both Manchester United and England, is devastated after, just days prior to the beginning of the World Cup, he has been ruled out as a competitor due to an injury to his knee ligaments that the player suffered during training.

 

A number of people are superstitious about the reasons for the injury, chalking it up to bad luck. Some may point to Ferdinand’s injury hit season being proof that something like this was almost inevitable for the United star, others have been quick to state that it is the old “injury jinx” striking again just before a major finals event.

Personally, I would like to think that the reason for a rapid loss of players in England’s soccer uniform when it comes time to compete is more related to the intensity of the numerous games that England and other players in the Premier League face.

Playing for a top side also means taking part in four competitions a season.    Among these are The Premier League, The FA Cup, The Champions League or Europa Cup, The Carling Cup and The FA Cup.   This list doesn’t include any of the pre- and post-season games that occur in a season, or the number of pre-season friendlies in which a team can participate.

In addition to the number of games England plays, the speed and intensity of an average match is high. Whereas on the continent the game is often played in a more stop/start fashion, in England it is often full blood from the first whistle and played at a speed and pace which makes injuries inevitable.  A number of top players are known to engage in between forty and fifty difficult games in a single season, plus training.

Players suffer under the weight of constant physical stress. With so much time spent playing, it should be more surprising when a player doesn’t get injured.

Consider England’s present line-up. Rio Ferdinand, Bobby Zamora, Owen Hargreaves, and Michael Owen all suffered injuries this year, leaving the squad, which originally had 30 men insanely short staffed. Theo Walcott was omitted, by Capello, due to the fact Capello feels he hasn’t been the same player since he injured a shoulder against Stoke in 2008.

The players on the team that are fit, didn’t get that way easily Ledley King needs specialist training to keep his knees in prime condition. Other recovering athletes with injuries this season include Steven Gerard, and Joe Cole, Ashley Cole, Aaron Lennon, Glen Johnson, Wayne Rooney and David James. People like Gareth Barry will be missing the first game of the World Cup finals against the United States.  England’s most capped player, David Beckham sustained in Achilles injury several months ago, which ruled him out as a player in the World Cup finals.

It’s an odd quirk of fate that our love of the game in England, our thirst and desire for big games at a quicker pace, more often, is seemingly at odds with the ability to produce that which almost all England fans craves more than anything else: A second World Cup winning team.

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Real Estate Land Juegos Motos Real Estate Marketing | Soccer – How Often You Should Perform Soccer Conditioning

Monday, June 21st, 2010

In Sweden there’s been kind of a trend to do a lot of long distance running during the first part of the pre-season, and then as you progress towards the regular season you start to decrease the distance the players are running.

When you first think about it, it looks like a pretty decent idea, right?

Well, it isn’t. I am so tired of hearing coaches talk about “creating a conditioning foundation for the players so they have base to stand on” when the season starts. But here’s where it gets weird in my opinion.

Every pre-season you do a lot of conditioning, and then when the season starts you stop doing all intense-related work because you are afraid the players might get sore or tired during the in-season period. So when the season is over the players have a few weeks (months?) off from training, and then when they start the pre-season again, you start doing all the conditioning all over again.

I have seen this happen for the last 10 years and experienced it myself as a player. At the end of the pre-season, you feel like you  are unbeatable, but somewhere during the season you lose that feeling, and when the next pre-season starts again, it feels like you’re starting again from square one. I like to sum this up and give you my idea and explanation on how YOU should set it up. To sum it up, I’d like to quote Will Smith:

“If you stay ready, you ain’t gotta get ready”

With that being said, if you work on maintaining a good level of conditioning all year round you don’t have to build it back up when the pre-season starts again, you can either take it to the next level or plain and simple just work on what soccer really is all about – playing soccer!

My players have a really great level of conditioning and therefore I am able to really work on developing their ability to play soccer, and develop their ability to play it at a high speed and a high level.

real estate land Stall. Again, this is precisely what it sound like: You’re “stalling” the footbag with various parts of your body, in order to exert more control over it. Think of it as catching the bag with the inside or outside of your foot, or your toe. There’s also a move called a “clipper stall,” which is an inside stall made while your foot is behind the opposite leg.

Arm Stall. You might think this move is a bit odd, since it involves arms instead of feet and legs. But many of the best footbag artists use whatever body parts make for the best maneuvers. To initiate this move, it’s important to kick the footbag high enough that you can reach it with your elbow. Then catch the bag in the crook of your elbow, and immediately straighten your arm to “bump” the footbag back into the game.

juegos motos For instance, let me give you one example of one of the absolute best drills to improve the players condition as well as their ability to make good decisions during a soccer game:

= Small-Sided Games

The variations are endless, and by making a few small adjustments, you make these drills so intense and demanding that it’s insane.

At the end of a game when the players are tired, the team where the players can make the best decisions is the team that will win the game. Sure, you may be able to run a mile at a pretty decent time, but that’s got nothing to do with soccer.

real estate marketing Over-and-Under. This is the most advanced move on this list, and can take weeks to learn, even if you’ve mastered the more basic moves presented here. First, kick the ball into play from a toe stall. Then twirl the kicking foot around your other leg and catch the ball in an inside stall. Then toss it back into play and keep going You can be published without charge. You can to republish this article in your website or blog. Please provide links Active.

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Englands Up And Coming Soccer Stars

Saturday, June 19th, 2010

With the 2010 World Cup finals well on the way, several of England’s players may be facing their last chance to win.   Players that will be well into their thirties, and likely not playing at the time of the World Cup in 2014 in Brazil include Ashley Cole, John Terry, Rio Ferdinand, Gareth Barry, Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampert.  David Beckham and David James.

So who is Fabio Capello going to be looking at to replace some of these key players in the next few years? Some likely replacements include…

Joe Hart    (Manchester City, Goalkeeper) – Hart has enjoyed a superb season on loan at Birmingham and he deservedly forced his way into the squad as third choice keeper for the finals. However with James now nearing 40 and Green not altogether impressive, Hart may well find himself elevated to senior keeper role sooner rather than later, especially if he can start to force his way into the first team at Manchester City, or another big Premier League club. Once Joe Hart secures this, England might not have to look for new number one for a while. 


Kieran Gibbs    (Arsenal, Defender)
– Although Gibbs may have had a rough start to his career at Arsenal due to injury, his future looks bright.  A talented player who can play anywhere along the left flank, Gibbs will grow in confidence as he gains more experience.  He’ll push Clichy hard for a spot in the Arsenal team next season and should make the step up from England U21’s to the National team at some point in the future.

Jonjo Shelvey    (Liverpool, Midfielder) – Replacing Steven Gerrard for Liverpool and England is going to be a tough task but Shelvey, whom Liverpool recently signed from Charlton, is the man the Reds feel will eventually fulfil that role. Still only 17, Shelvey may take a couple of years to progress through the ranks at Anfield, but if he does and he can prove to be anywhere near as effective as Gerrard has been over the past few years, it won’t be long before England come calling too.

Daniel Sturridge (Chelsea, Attacker) – Daniel Sturridge, Chelsea’s current attacker, was not able to fully stretch his wings under Anelka and Drogba’s fierce partnership, looks an enormously promising.    Sturridge should become a consistent contributor for Chelsea next season and may well push hard to claim Anelka’s spot in Ancelotti’s side. Sturridge’s never-failing ability to make great goals could lead to an impressive role on Chelsea’s and England’s teams.


Connor Wickham (Ipswich Town, Attacker)
– If you haven’t heard of Connor Wickham, don’t be alarmed. The enormous talent is being linked to a Premiership giant and is only 17 years old. A clinical striker who has improved a great deal since forcing his way into the first team at Portman Road just a few days after his 16th birthday.    Watch for Wickham to join a big team with an even bigger price tag.

While we will be very sad to see our soccer heroes go, we also can’t help but to be excited for the stars of tomorrow.

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