TRAVEL LIGHT

Italy is considered one of the superpowers of football having been a World Cup Champion for three times. But last night, despite having football stars in their squad like Totti, Zambrotta and Del Piero, Italy played one of the lousiest match that I have ever seen. Last night’s match between USA and Italy ended in a draw 1-1.

Italy played like they were an under-19 team. Their forward thinks he’s playing basketball, he always play offisde. The Italian defense was so genorous to give away a score to the US by sending the ball straight to their own goal. In that match, the US squad was the more aggresive and was able to deliver more attempts at goal while Italy finds itself unable to penetrate the US defense. Worst of all, the Italians were playing against a team composed only of 9 men.

The match was not an upset, the match was a lousy Italian blow job. Cazzo!

Watching the World Cup has taken the best part of my blogging time. This means I have to be awake from 9:00PM till 5:00AM for three matches straight. This means I have to put blogging at the moment in the back burner. But I’m a happy man, I never expected that I can watch World Cup matches live. I’m watching a Live match while I’m writing this post. (oh, Ghana just scored a an early goal against Czech Republic just a minute in the openning of their match.)

All along I thought I would just settle on watching replay matches. In order to watch live matches on Cable you have to pay your provider with 6K for a Pay Per View subscription. No way Jose!

Bambit saved the day. She was able to discover an internet TV where live World Cup matches are being shown. But since it’s an American channel, one has to live with Americans doing football commentaries. You get confused whether you’re watching football or the NBA when you hear them bawl “hey guys, shoot that ball! shoot that ball!”. You have to endure listening to them repeating the word Soccer instead of Football. Quite a disorienting and annoying sound byte if one is used to listening European football commentators. But hey, it doesn’t matter even if its George Bush on the mike. Beggars can’t be choosers. What matters is now Bambit and I can watch the World Cup together without paying a singkong duling. Football is free.

…another goal by Ghana!! it’s now 2 nil…….

FIFA World Cup 2006 has started!

The opening match was between the host team Germany and Costa Rica. Germany won by 4 goals while Costa Rica scored 2.

Last night I kept on hopping from one channel to another hoping that a cable channel might show a live telecast of the match but to no avail. Out of frustration I decided to surf into our local channels instead, if only to amuse myself. When I switched to RPN 9, I was surprised that it was showing a football match instead of a usual Malacanang Press soap opera. The familiar white jersey of Germany and the Red jersey of Costa Rica playing immediately caught my attention. To my delight, it was the World Cup opening match! Although it was a delayed telecast, but what the heck, for only a few minutes late it was almost like watching the live match. I just hope this won’t be the first and last match that RPN 9 is going to show.

Here’s a pic of the match opening ceremonies. This is one thing that I love about the beautiful game, it exhorts fair play and it plays for a cause – SAY NO TO RACISM!

World Cup Records on Matches

First match:
Mexico 1, France 4 in Montevideo, Uruguay on 13/07/1930.

First tied match:
Italy 1, Spain 1 in Florence, Italy on 31/05/1934.

First match with extratime:
Austria vs France on 27/05/1934.

First Final with extratime:
Italy vs Czechoslovakia on 10/06/1934.

First scoreless match:
Brazil vs England in Stockholm, Sweden on 11 June, 1958.

First match decided on penalty shoot-out:
Semi-final between West Germany & France on 8 July, 1982 in which the Germans won the shootout 5:4.

First Final decided on penalty shoot-out:
The 1994 Final in which Brazil beat Italy 3:2 on penalty shoot-out after a 0:0 tie.

First match played indoor:
USA vs Switzerland at Pontiac Silverdome, Detroit, USA on 18/06/1994.

First match where a coach was sent off :
Paraguayan coach Cayetano Re in a match against Belgium on 11 June 1986.

Only finals with no Final:
The 1950 finals, where there was only a final pool without a knock-out Final.

Lowest attendance for a match:
300 spectators for the match between Romania & Peru in Montevideo on 14/07/1930.

Highest attendance for a match:
199,850 spectators for the “final” match between Brazil & Uruguay in Rio de Janeiro on 16/07/1950.

Most matches played by a country:
87 matches, by Brazil.

Most grand final matches played by a country:
7 finals, by Brazil (in 50,58,62,70,94,98,02) and Germany (in 54,66,74,82,86,90,02).

Most matches played by the same two countries in finals:
7 matches between Brazil and Sweden in 1938, 1950, 1958, 1978, 1990 & 1994 (2 times).

Read more…

World Cup Records Held by Players

First player to be sent off:
Peru’s captain Mario de Las Casas in a match against Romania on 14/07/1930.

First red-carded player:
Chile’s Carlos Caszely in a match against West Germany on 14/06/1974.

First goalkeeper to be sent-off:
Gianluca Pagliuca of Italy in a match against Norway on 23/06/1994.

Only player to have been sent off in successive finals tournaments:
Cameroon’s Rigobert Song who was sent off on 24/06/1994 (against Brazil) and on 23/06/1998 (against Chile).

Only non-playing reserve players to have been sent off in finals:
Yugoslavia’s Srecko Katanec on 30/6/90 and Argentina’s Claudio Caniggia on 12/6/02.

Fastest sending-off in finals:
Uruguay’s Jose Batista who was sent off in the 56th second of a group match against Scotland on 13/06/1986.

Fastest red card to a substitute:
Bolivia’s Marco Etcheverry who was sent off after 3 minutes of play as a substitute in the match against Germany on 17/06/1994.

First player to receive a yellow card:
Lovchev of the USSR in the 1970 opening match against Mexico on 31/5/1970.

Fastest yellow card to a player in finals:
Sergei Gorlukovich of Russia who was booked after one minute in a group match against Sweden on 24/6/94.

Fastest yellow card given to a substitute in finals:
Korea Republic’s Cha Doo-Ri after 20 seconds in a group match against Poland on 4 June 2002.

Fastest substitution in finals:
Italy’s Giuseppe Bergomi replacing Alessandro Nesta in the 4th minute in a First Round match against Austria on 23/6/98.

First substitution of a goalkeeper:
Romania’s Necula Raducanu who replaced Steve Adamache in a match against Brazil on 10 June 1970.

First player to take penalty shootout in World Cup finals:
Alain Giresse of France, who scored the first ever penalty in a shootout where France lost 4:5 to West Germany in the semi-final on 8 July 1982.

First player to take penalty shootout in a final:
Franco Baresi of Italy, who was the first player to take the shootout in the 1994 final but blasted it over the bar.

First time numbers were used on players’ shirts in World Cup:
In the 1938 finals in France.

Only player to have played in Final for two different countries:
Luis Monti who played for Argentina in the 1930 Final and for Uruguay in the 1934 Final.

Only player to have scored in finals for two different countries:
Robert Prosinecki who scored for Yugoslavia in 1990 and for Croatia in 1998.

Most goals by a player in a finals match:
5 goals, by Russia’s Oleg Salenko against Cameroon on 28/06/1994.

Most goals by a player in a Final
3 goals, by Geoff Hurst of England on 30/07/1966.

Most goals by a player in the same finals:
13 goals, by Just Fontaine of France in 6 matches of the 1958 finals.

Most headed goals by a player in the same finals:
5 goals, by Miroslav Klose of Germany in the 2002 finals.

Most goals by a player in finals in aggregate:
14 goals, by Gerd Mueller of West Germany in the 1970 and 1974 finals.

Most goals conceded by a goalkeeper in the same finals:
16 goals, by Korean goalkeeper Yung Hong Duk in two 1954 finals matches.

Only player to have appeared in the finals before and after the Second World War:
Erik Nilsson of Sweden and Alfred Bickel of Switzerland in the finals of 1938 & 1950.

Only European player to have won 2 World Cups:
Italy’s Giuseppe Meazza & Giovanni Ferrari both played in the 1934 & 1938 champion teams.

Only player to have won 3 World Cups:
Pele of Brazil in 1958, 1962 and 1970.

First player to score in World Cup:
Lucien Laurent of France in the 19th minute in the first World Cup match on 13/07/1930.

First player to score a penalty goal:
Mexico’s Manuel Rocquetas Rosas against Argentina on 19/07/1930.

First player to score an own goal:
Ernst Loertscher of Switzerland against West Germany on 9 June 1938.

First substitute to score a goal
Mexico’s Juan Basaguren in the match against El Salvador on 7 June 1970.

Read more…

Finally the list of National squads for World Cup 2006 is out.

Here’s the list of my favorite National teams with their respective squads including each player’s current professional Clubs:

Brazil squad:

Goalkeepers: Dida (AC Milan), Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), Rogerio Ceni (Sao Paulo)

Defenders: Cafu (AC Milan), Cicinho (Real Madrid), Lucio (Bayern Munich), Juan (Bayer Leverkusen), Roberto Carlos (Real Madrid), Gilberto (Hertha Berlin), Cris (Olympique Lyon), Luisao (Benfica)

Midfielders: Edmilson (Barcelona), Juninho Pernambucano (Olympique Lyon), Emerson (Juventus), Ze Roberto (Bayern Munich), Gilberto Silva (Arsenal), Kaka (AC Milan), Ricardinho (Corinthians)

Forwards: Ronaldo (Real Madrid), Robinho (Real Madrid), Ronaldinho (Barcelona), Adriano (Inter Milan), Fred (Olympique Lyon).

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Germany squad:

Goalkeepers: Jens Lehmann (Arsenal/ENG), Oliver Kahn (Bayern Munich), Timo Hildebrand (VfB Stuttgart)

Defenders: Arne Friedrich (Hertha Berlin), Robert Huth (Chelsea/ENG), Marcell Jansen (Borussia Monchengladbach), Per Mertesacker (Hannover), Christoph Metzelder (Borussia Dortmund), Philipp Lahm (Bayern Munich), Jens Nowotny (Bayer Leverkusen)

Midfielders: Michael Ballack (Bayern Munich), Bastian Schweinsteiger (Bayern Munich), Tim Borowski (Werder Bremen), Torsten Frings (Werder Bremen), Sebastian Kehl (Borussia Dortmund), Bernd Schneider (Bayer Leverkusen), Thomas Hitzlsperger (VfB Stuttgart), David Odonkor (Borussia Dortmund)

Fowards: Miroslav Klose (Werder Bremen), Lukas Podolski (FC Cologne), Mike Hanke (VfL Wolfsburg), Oliver Neuville (Borussia Monchengladbach), Gerald Asamoah (Schalke 04)

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Argentina squad:

Goalkeepers: Roberto Abbondanzieri (Boca Juniors), Leonardo Franco (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Oscar Ustari (Independiente)

Defenders: Nicolas Burdisso (Inter Milan/ITA), Gabriel Milito (Zaragoza/ESP), Juan Pablo Sorin (Villarreal/ESP), Fabricio Coloccini (Deportivo La Coruna/ESP), Leandro Cufre (Roma/ITA), Roberto Ayala (Valencia/ESP), Gabriel Heinze (Manchester United/ENG)

Midfielders: Maximiliano Rodriguez (Atletico Madrid/ESP), Esteban Cambiasso (Inter Milan/ITA), Juan Roman Riquelme (Villarreal/ESP), Lionel Scaloni (West Ham/ENG), Luis Gonzalez (Porto/POR), Javier Mascherano (Corinthians/BRA), Pablo Aimar (Valencia/ESP)

Forwards: Lionel Messi (Barcelona/ESP), Hernan Crespo (Chelsea/ENG), Carlos Tevez (Corinthians/BRA), Javier Saviola (Sevilla/ESP), Julio Cruz (Inter Milan/ITA), Rodrigo Palacio (Boca Juniors)

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England squad:

Goalkeepers: Paul Robinson (Tottenham Hotspur), David James (Manchester City), Robert Green (Norwich City)

Defenders: Gary Neville (Manchester United), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), John Terry (Chelsea), Ashley Cole (Arsenal), Sol Campbell (Arsenal), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Wayne Bridge (Chelsea)

Midfielders: David Beckham (Real Madrid), Michael Carrick (Tottenham Hotspur), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Owen Hargreaves (Bayern Munich), Jermaine Jenas (Tottenham Hotspur), Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham Hotspur)

Forwards: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Michael Owen (Newcastle United), Peter Crouch (Liverpool), Theo Walcott (Arsenal)

On stand-by: Scott Carson (Liverpool), Luke Young (Charlton Athletic), Nigel Reo-Coker (West Ham United), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham Hotspur) Andrew Johnson (Crystal Palace).

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Italy squad:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Angelo Peruzzi (Lazio), Marco Amelia (Livorno)

Defenders: Massimo Oddo (Lazio), Cristian Zaccardo (Palermo), Marco Materazzi (Inter Milan), Andrea Barzagli (Palermo), Alessandro Nesta (AC Milan), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Gianluca Zambrotta (Juventus), Fabio Grosso (Palermo)

Midfielders: Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan), Simone Perrotta (Roma), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Simone Barone (Palermo), Francesco Totti (Roma)

Forwards: Luca Toni (Fiorentina), Alberto Gilardino (AC Milan), Filippo Inzaghi (AC Milan), Alessandro Del Piero (Juventus), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Udinese)

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For the list of squads of other National teams, visit the Fifa World Cup website.

Last Saturday evening while typhoon Caloy was pouring rain and blowing gusty winds over Metro Manila, I was glued on the TV set watching, what else – Football. But it was not any ordinary Football match, it was a live telecast of the FA Cup Final match between Liverpool FC and West Ham United. A match that will go down as one of the greatest in the competition’s 134-year history. Liverpool FC repeated the drama it played during last year’s UEFA Champions League Finals by winning the match via a penalty shoot-out.

The match started with West Ham United getting the first score courtesy of a Liverpool own goal and then earning its second score by a shot on goal. Liverpool managed to tag along by scoring their first goal before the first half ended. Liverpool started the second half with an equalizer by Steven Gerrard. But West Ham United immediately got the lead again by shooting another goal making the score 3-2. As the second half comes to a close and while West Ham United fans were already celebrating their imminent victory, the miracle of the match happened. Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard suddenly scored a goal equalizing the score to 3-3 as the clock marked exactly 90 minutes with an added 1 minute injury time – just a whistle away to full time. A 30 minute extra-time was played still resulting to a 3-3 standstill. The rest is already history. Liverpool lifted the FA Cup after defeating West Ham United in a sudden death penalty shoot out.

This FA Cup finals had shown that England is already warming up for the World Cup next month. BBC has recorded a peak of 11 million viewers who watched the FA Cup finals on BBC. According to BBC these figures are only for viewers who watched the match at home, and do not include those who saw it in pubs or clubs or from other channels. I wonder how many in the Philippines were able to watch the match? Perhaps a thousand, I wish.