Brazil open second stadium - FIFA World Cup 2014

Just few days after Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff opened the Castelao Arena in Fortaleza, the second stadium to be used at Brazil 2014 was opened as preparations gather pace.

President Rousseff was on hand to officially inaugurate the Mineiro stadium in Belo Horizonte which is expected to welcome thousands of football fans during the month-long finals in June and July 2014.

The Mineiro will seat more than 62,000 fans, will host 3 games during next year's Confederations Cup and a total of six games at the 2014 Brazil World Cup, including one of the semi-finals.

Redevelopments made to the stadium took three years and was said to have cost more than 211 million.

The Mineiro was delivered on time and within the budget despite concerns about Brazil's readiness to host the 2014 finals.

The same cannot be said for the remainder of the stadia that are coming in at 2.035 billion over budget.

"This is as good as Wembley, as good as [the Allianz Arena in] Munich, it's up there with the best stadiums in the world," Carlos Alberto Parreira said.

"A stadium like this is great news for both players and fans."

From Guest Reporter.

Ten World Cup Teams Influenced By One Club

1950 Italy - The Tragedy Of Il Grande Torino

The most poignant and tragic inclusion on the list is that of the 1950 Italy team. The Azzurri performed well below their World Cup pedigree in Brazil, being eliminated at the first group stage, but circumstances beyond their control dictated that the side was to be weakened. Il Grande Torino had won four Serie A titles on the trot in the years preceding 1949 and were in the clear to do so again, and also provided as many as 10 national squad members. However, Torino perished in May 1949 in the Superga Air Disaster on their return home from a match in Portugal. As a result it was a depleted Nazionale that travelled to Brazil. 

1954 Hungary - Military Service

Hungary's Golden Squad of 1954 was based almost exclusively around Honved, a small club from the village of Kispest, now a suburb of the capital. The coach, Gusztav Sebes, was allegedly able to persuade the authorities that players should be allowed to play there instead of performing active military service. It proved to be the breeding ground for Sebes' idea to have a deep-lying forward - a tactical innovation that was a key contributor in their demolishing of the English. Goalkeeper Grosics, Jozsef Boszik, Sandor Kocsis, Ferenc Puskas and Zoltan Czibor all played at Honved. The Magic Magyars were ousted in the final against West Germany. 

1966 England - West Ham 4-2 West Germany

Any old school Hammers fan will tell you that West Ham, and not just England, won the 1966 World Cup. The east London side provided the captain and the goalscorers in the final against West Germany. Bobby Moore, Martin Peters and the hat-trick hero, Geoff Hurst, were all graduates of the world renowned Academy of Football between 1958 and 1959. They were key components in Sir Alf Ramsey's team, even though the latter duo were very much newcomers to the international scene, with less than 10 caps between them heading into the finals. 

1974 West Germany - Bayern Munich; The Joy Of Six

Bayern provided the backbone for West Germany's 1974 success with no fewer than six players from the club appearing in the final. Sepp Meier, Paul Breitner, Hans-Georg Schwarzenbeck, Franz Beckenbauer, Gerd Mueller and Uli Hoeness all started for the Germans in their home city as they beat off the Dutch challenge. It was a golden era for that set of players, who won the European Cup and Bundesliga earlier that same season. Having six players from a single club in a final is still a World Cup record.


1982 Italy - ItaloJuve I

There is a saying in Italy that "a successful Juventus team makes a successful Italy team" and that was certainly true in 1982. The Bianconeri had just won yet another Scudetto to continue their dominance under Giovanni Trapattoni and provided six of the first choice starting XI of Italy's World Cup winners in Spain. Dino Zoff captained the Azzurri, hardman Claudio Gentile famously man marked Zico and Diego Maradona, libero Gaetano Scirea oozed class, midfielder Marco Tardelli performed the most famous World Cup celebration by scoring the second goal in the final, left back Antonio Cabrini had the looks, the brilliance to erase his penalty miss at 0-0 in the final, and of course striker Paolo Rossi was the ultimate hero after finishing the Mundial as top scorer with six goals in his final three games including an unforgettable hat-trick against Brazil and the opener in the final win over West Germany.

1986 Soviet Union - The Appliance Of Science Fails Lobanovsky

Valeri Lobanovsky was in charge of both USSR and Dynamo Kyiv at the time of the Mexico tournament and brought along no fewer than 12 of his club charges. The tactician received a lot of criticism for choosing his favourites from club level and as it transpired, the Soviet Union fared pretty poorly. Lobanovsky was renowned for his complex, methodical approach and stated that the non-Dynamo members of the squad were unable to produce his desired results. Igor Belanov's competiton was notable in that he scored a hat-trick in the second round defeat to Belgium and still ended up on the losing side. His club? Yes, you guessed it. 

1990 West Germany v Netherlands - The Milan Derby

One of the most fascinating club v club, country v country clashes in World Cup history occurred in San Siro in 1990. West Germany met Holland in the second round with a fascinating subplot. Inter's Andreas Brehme, Lothar Matthaeus and Juergen Klinsmann lined up for the Germans against Milan's Frank Rijkaard, Marco van Basten and Ruud Gullit. Goals from Brehme and Klinsmann helped decide a bad tempered tie between two of international football's greatest rivals. Rijkaard and Rudi Voeller saw red for fighting after only 20 minutes, with Rijkaard disgracing himself by aiming two wads of spit on his opponent's perm. 

2002 Germany - The Curse Of Neverkusen

The Werkself may not have supplied many German representatives in the squad as a whole but members of the Bayer side played a vital role for the Nationalmannschaft in the far east. With a former Leverkusen striker as coach, Voeller, the Germans lined up with Carsten Ramelow, Michael Ballack, Bernd Schneider and Oliver Neuville in key positions. That quartet, along with their club-mates had just come off a hugely bittersweet season after losing out on the Bundesliga title, the DFB Pokal and the Champions League at the final hurdle. There was more anguish in store as the Nationalelf lost in the final to Brazil.

2006 Italy - ItaloJuve II

The lead-up to the 2006 World Cup provided Italian football with some of its blackest days. Calciopoli engulfed the peninsula with Juventus among those clubs hardest hit with punishments. The Old Lady was sent down to Serie B for her part in the scandal but the Turin club still played a huge role in helping the Azzurri claim the world title. Gianluigi Buffon, Gianluca Zambrotta, Fabio Cannavaro, Mauro Camoranesi and Alessandro Del Piero all appeared in the final against France and another Juventino, David Trezeguet, missed the vital penalty kick for Les Bleus.

2010 Spain - Barcelona's Tiki-Tactics

This edition of the Spain squad sees a large chunk of the current Barcelona side transplanted into the red of the national team. Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Pedro Rodriguez and David Villa have all played an integral part in getting la Furia Roja to the final. Indeed, a non-Barcelona player has yet to score for Spain in these championships. This is all the more remarkable considering that Spain do not play with a Barca blueprint; Vicente Del Bosque has his own way of doing things with the players at his disposal. That is a testament to the adaptability of the Blaugrana representatives in his panel.

Spain vs Netherlands - Some interesting facts

• This will be the seventh all-European final and means that a European nation will win the tournament for a record 10th time.

• It will be the first final to not include one of Brazil, (West)Germany, Argentina or Italy

• Netherlands go into the final unbeaten and if they are victorious on Sunday, they will become only the fifth side to register a 100% record in WC finals so far, joining Uruguay in 1930, Italy in 1938, and Brazil in 1970 and 2002.

• The Dutch also had a 100% record in qualification for South Africa and could become only the second nation ever to win all their qualifiers and finals games, after Brazil achieved this feat in 1970.

• The Dutch are now unbeaten in 25 successive international matches and have conceded more than one goal in only one of their last 14 games in World Cup finals tournaments (1-2 v Croatia in the 1998 third-place play-off).

• Spain are the first reigning European champions to participate in the World Cup final since West Germany in 1982 and are the 12th different side to reach a World Cup final.

• If Spain - who have seven goals - are to avoid becoming the lowest scoring winners of all time, they will need to net at least four. Italy (1938), England (1966) and Brazil (1994) all won the tournament with 11.

• Xavi has created 25 goalscoring chances in this tournament - eight more than any other player. He has made 560 passes at this tournament, completing 509 so far. Only Dunga (Brazil 1994) has completed more in a single World Cup tournament since 1966.

Sneijder and Villa vying for Golden Ball

Ahead of Sunday's World Cup final between Netherlands and Spain, the tournament's joint top-scorers Wesley Sneijder and David Villa have both been named on a ten-man shortlist for the Golden Ball award.

FIFA announced the contenders for the award given to the player of the tournament in a press conference on Friday and finalists Spain are represented by Villa, who has scored five goals in the competition, as well as Andres Iniesta and his midfield partner Xavi - who was named the best player at Euro 2008.

Fellow finalists Netherlands are represented by both Sneijder and winger Arjen Robben, while beaten semi-finalists Germany have seen holding midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger and playmaker Mesut Ozil make the list.

Uruguay striker Diego Forlan is on the shortlist after scoring four goals and Ghana's Asamoah Gyan, who missed a crucial penalty in a quarter-final against the South American side, has also been recognised for his three goals in the Black Stars' campaign.

The list is completed by Lionel Messi, who despite failing to score a goal in South Africa still looked in dominant form in the group stages before Argentina succumbed to Germany in the quarter-finals.

The award was first given to Paolo Rossi in 1982 and the Italy striker has been followed by Diego Maradona (1986), Salvatore Schillaci (1990), Romario (1994), Ronaldo (1998), Oliver Kahn (2002) and Zinedine Zidane (2006).

Germany forward Thomas Muller heads the shortlist for the award given to the best young player of the World Cup, with Mexico's Giovani dos Santos and Ghana's Andre Ayew his rivals for the prestigious prize.

The Bayern Munich star, who just 12 months ago was playing for the club's reserve side, set the tournament alight with four goals and three assists in Germany's run to the semi-finals. However, suspension prevented him from playing in the defeat to Spain.

If Muller does claim the award he will follow in the footsteps of team-mate Lukas Podolski who took the honour in 2006, beating Cristiano Ronaldo, Antonio Valencia, Cesc Fabregas, Lionel Messi and Tranquilo Barnetta.

Full shortlist for the Golden Ball award: Wesley Sneijder, Asamoah Gyan, Diego Forlan, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, Mesut Ozil, Arjen Robben, Bastian Schweinsteiger, David Villa, Xavi.

Full shortlist for the best young player award: Thomas Muller, Andre Ayew, Giovani dos Santos.

An explanation: 2010 World Cup team nicknames

Algeria -  Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes)
Why: Algeria is over 80% desert. The Fennec (Arabic for fox) is a small nocturnal fox found in northern Africa.

Argentina - La Albicelestes (The White & Sky Blue)
Why: The colors of the stripes on their jerseys, and on the Argentina flag.

Australia - Socceroos
Why: Soccer + Kangaroos = Socceroos.

Brazil - Seleção (The Selection), Canarinhos (Little Canary), Verde e Amarelo (Green and Yellow), the Samba Kings.
Why: The Selection is self-explanatory. The jerseys are canary yellow with green trim. Samba Kings is a reference to both Brazil's style of play, and a Brazilian style of dance. Apparently they are the kings at both.

Cameroon - Les Lions Indomptables (The Indomitable Lions)
Plenty of lions in Cameroon, not many of whom are particularly submissive.

Chile - La Roja (The Red), El Equipo de Todos (Everbody's Team)
Why: Red is the color of the Chile jersey, and they're Everybody's Team because most neutrals enjoy their attacking style.

Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) - Les Elephants (The Elephants)
Why: The Ivory Coast was once home to thousands of elephants, and a roaring ivory trade. Now there are only a few hundred elephants left. Because of the previously roaring ivory trade.

Denmark - Danish Dynamite, Olsen-Banden (The Olsen Gang), Olsen's Elleve (Olsen's Eleven)
Why: The brilliant Denmark team of the 1980s was called Danish Dynamite, while the current are nicknamed after coach Morten Olsen. Sounds like a short term strategy for a nickname, but Olsen has been in charge since the year 2000. Plus Olsen's Eleven is a world class pun.

England - The Three Lions
Why: There are three lions on the Football Association crest, in reference to the total number of lions ever spotted in England. Or because of the English coat of arms.

France - Les Bleus (The Blues)
Why: France's jerseys are blue.

Germany - Nationalmannschaft (National Team)
Why: Because it's true.

Ghana - The Black Stars
Why: There's a massive black star in the middle of the Ghanaian flag.

Greece - Galanoleyki (blue and white), To Piratiko (The Pirate Ship)
Why: Blue and white are the colors of the jersey and the flag. The Pirate Ship was a nickname earned at Euro 2004, when Greek commentator Georgios Helakis referenced a boat in host nation Portugal's opening ceremony and said Greece should "become pirates and steal the victory". Which they did.

Honduras - Los Catrachos
Why: Because that's how other Central Americans refer to Hondurans, in honor of General Xatruch.

Italy - Azzurri (Sky Blues)
Why: Because Italy's jerseys are blue.

Japan - Blue Samurai
Why: Jerseys are blue, and Samurai were "the military nobility in pre-Industrial Japan." Also, Samurai sounds badass.

Mexico - El Tri (The Three)
Why: Three colors of the Mexican flag are green, white and red.

Netherlands - The Oranje (The Orange), sometime La Naranja Mecanica (Clockwork Orange)
Why: Orange is the national color of the Netherlands and the color of their jerseys, all of which can be traced back to the House of Orange-Nassau royal family. Clockwork Orange is - I believe - half a reference to Anthony Burgess' novel, half a reference to Total Football.

North Korea - The Chollima
Why: The Chollima, or "thousand mile horse", is part of Korean mythology.

New Zealand - The All Whites
Why: Racism. No, not really. The famous New Zealand rugby union team go Johnny Cash and wear black head to toe, and so are known as The All Blacks. To differentiate themselves the soccer team has wears all white.

Nigeria - The Super Eagles
Why: The Nigerian Football Federation crest features an eagle perched atop a football. A super eagle.

Paraguay - La Albirroja (The White-Red), Guaraní.
Why: The jerseys are white and red, while the Guaraní are a people indigenous to Paraguay.

Portugal - Selecção das Quinas (Team of the Five)
Why: Refers to the five shields on both the Portuguese Football Federation crest and Portuguese flag, representing the five kings conquered by King Alfonso I.

Serbia - Beli Orlovi (The White Eagles)
Why: The Serbian coat of arms features a double headed (mutant?) white eagle.

Slovakia: Repre
Why: A lack of imagination? Repre is short for reprezentacny tim (representative team).

Slovenia: Zmajceki (Dragons).
Why: The coat of arms of capital city Ljubljana features a giant dragon sitting atop a castle.

South Africa - Bafana Bafana (The Boys The Boys)
Why: A term of endearment. Even after the 3-0 defeat to Uruguay.

South Korea - The Taeguk Warriors
Why: Taeguk is a Korean symbol of balance. The yin and the yang. You can see it in the center of the Korean flag.

Spain - La Furia Roja (The Red Fury)
Why: Red jerseys. Furious red jerseys.

Switzerland - The Schweizer Nati (The Swiss National Team)
Why: Because nicknames are hard to come by if you spend all your time being neutral.

Uruguay - La Celeste (The Sky Blue)
Why: Sky blue jerseys.

USA - The Yanks
Why: Shortening of Yankees, a colloquial term for Americans.

World Cup 2010 Teams Nicknames

Algeria – Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes)
Argentina – Albicelestes (White and Sky blue)
Australia – Socceroos
Brazil – Seleção (The Selection). Also Canarinhos (Little Canary) and Verde e Amarelo (Green and Yellow).
Cameroon – Lions Indomptables (Indomitable Lions)
Chile – La Roja (The Red)
Cote d’Ivoire – Les Éléphants (The Elephants)
Denmark – Olsens Elleve (Olsen’s Eleven) – In honour of popular head coach Morten Olsen.
England – The Three Lions – From the FA crest.
France – Les Bleus (The Blues)
Germany – National Mannschaft (National Team) or DFB Elf (DFB Eleven) or National Elf (National Eleven). The nickname Die Mannschaft (the team) is only used by non-German media.
Ghana – The Black Stars
Greece – To Piratiko (The Pirate Ship) – Since Euro 2004. But another common nickname is apparently Galanoleyki, though I have no idea what that means.
Honduras – Los Catrachos which is apparently how other Central Americans refer to Hondurans. Also La H (The H) – The crest is a large H, which looks extremely cool on the shirt..
Italy – Azzurri (Sky Blues)
Japan – Blue Samurai
Mexico – El Tri (after the three colours or “tricolor” on the Mexican flag).
Netherlands – Oranje
North Korea – Chollima (some sort of mythical horse)
New Zealand – All Whites (rugby union team are the All Blacks)
Nigeria – Super Eagles
Paraguay – La Albirroja (The White-Red) or Guaraní (an indigenous people)
Portugal – Selecção das Quinas (Team of the Five Shields) – Referring to the five shields on the FA crest. I think.
Serbia – Beli Orlovi (White Eagles) – Referring to the white double headed eagle on the Serbia coat of arms.
Slovakia – Repre (at least according to Wikipedia, but there’s no explanation as to what this means).
Slovenia – Zmajceki (Dragons) – Because there’s a dragon on the crest of capital city Ljubljana.
South Africa – Bafana Bafana (The Boys)
South Korea – Taeguk Warriors. Fans are often called The Red Devils.
Spain – La Furia Roja (Red Fury)
Switzerland – Schweizer Nati
United States – Often referred to as the MNT (Men’s National Team) or The Yanks.
Uruguay – La Celeste (The Sky Blue)

Record TV audience for World Cup opener

The opening game of the 2010 World Cup between hosts South Africa and Mexico drew a record TV audience in recent history of sports viewing in South Africa, data made available to FIFA on Monday showed.

The average combined in-home audience for the 11 June match was 10,146,793 viewers on the two local channels SABC1 and SuperSport 3, according to data from SABC. This combined audience is 39 percent higher than last year's highest sports TV audience which was also broadcast across both channels, namely the semifinal of the FIFA Confederations Cup 2009 (7.35 million) when Brazil knocked out hosts South Africa.

SABC1 recorded an average audience of 8,895,965 viewers during the match, which equates to a 76 percent market share, while SuperSport 3 registered an average audience of 1,250,828 viewers for an 11% market share.

The average combined in-home audience in South Africa for the day's second encounter, Uruguay vs France, was almost half the opening game's at 5,661,539.

Viewing figures were similarly robust for other countries whose data has been made available to FIFA over the weekend by the respective official broadcasters:

In Mexico, a combined average of nearly 19 percent of the population with access to television watched coverage of the opening game in-home. This is 15 percent higher than the average audiences achieved for the three group stage matches at the 2006 FIFA World Cup and ranks inside the top five in-home television audiences for a football match achieved in recent years in Mexico.

Univision in the United States gained an average of 5.4 million viewers for their coverage of the opening game. This ranks among the top ten audiences for a football match in the United States in recent years and is twice the size of the Univision audience for the opening game of the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

The highest confirmed in-home audience of the opening two days was achieved in China, where an average of nearly 24 million viewers watched the CCTV5 coverage of Greece vs South Korea.

An average of almost one in five people in Germany watched the England vs United States match, the highest rating of all confirmed in-home audiences.

Beginners’ Guide to the World Cup 2010

Regular World Cup Blog readers are soccer-savvy. I know this because they keep correcting me when I get things wrong. So I know they know all about the World Cup. However, the great thing about the World Cup is that it’s not just for the serious football fan. As a global event (maybe THE global event?), the World Cup attracts the attention of those who aren’t usually fans of the beautiful game. Bless their hearts.

So, based on a couple of conversations I’ve had with non-football fans who will be watching, this post is a Beginners’ Guide to the World Cup. It’s a series of questions about the big event. Slightly tongue-in-cheek, but hopefully informative too. Read on for the questions, and the answers.

When is the World Cup? Soon. June 11th to July 11th.

Where is the World Cup? South Africa. It’s the first World Cup to be hosted by an African country.

Is South Africa the Nelson Mandela country? Yes, it is.

Will the World Cup be on TV? Of course it will. Find out what channel is showing the World Cup in your country. US viewers can check out ESPN’s World Cup schedule, UK viewers can watch the World Cup in HD. Sri Lanakn viewers can watch on SLRC/Channel Eye or ESPN/Star.

How many teams are in the World Cup? There will be 32 teams in the World Cup.

How many World Cup games per day? Three, to begin with.

Who’s favorite to win the World Cup? Spain and Brazil are the teams with the shortest odds.

Can I bet on it? Yes you can.

How does this World Cup work then? The 32 teams are divided into eight groups of four. Each group plays round robin with three points for a win, one point for a draw, zero for a loss. The top two teams from each group advance to the knockout round. From there it’s single elimination. Check out the World Cup 2010 schedule and our World Cup wall chart for more.

Wait… single elimination? Isn’t football full of draws? Not in the knockout rounds. From the Second Round of the World Cup onwards, the teams play 90 minutes. If the score is level, they play 30 minutes of “extra time”. If scores are still level, it’s penalty kicks to decide the winner. The victor moves forward, the loser goes home.

Will David Beckham be playing in the World Cup ? No. He’s injured.

How about Pele? No. He’s retired.

Then Maradona? He s not playing but he is the Coach of Argentina team.

How about that headbutt guy from last time? Zinedine Zidane? No, he retired from football after the 2006 World Cup.

So… no Beckham, no Pele, no headbutt guy. Which players are worth watching at this World Cup then? Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney, Kaka, Samuel Eto’o, Didier Drogba, Arjen Robben, Franck Ribery, Xavi Hernandez, Fernando Torres, Take your pick.

Who should I support at the World Cup? We can’t tell you that. But once you decide, you should buy a World Cup jersey to show that you’re a fan.

Which World Cup games should I watch? Everything from the Second Round onwards has the potential for heart-stopping drama. In the group stage, the games to watch are the opener: South Africa vs Mexico (June 11th), the colonial revenge matches: USA vs England (June 12th), Portugal vs Brazil (June 25th), and anything involving Argentina, because Diego Maradona is the coach and Leo Messi is the star player.

Are there any Colombian singers involved in all of this? What an odd question. But yes, as it happens, Shakira is singing the official song of World Cup 2010.

Are you a World Cup beginner? If so, do you have any questions you want answering? Post them in the comments.