Rebecca Lowe, Ian Wright's spawn, and David Beckham

Er, yeah . . . how many of these did you make?

While SMiA loves anything footie-related, Rebecca Lowe may be the main reason we tune into Football Matters every week. [Guardian]

Ian Wright Wright Wright has a kid that likes to fight fight fight. [The Sun]

Becks finally sorts out the rest of his Galaxy career. [Daily Mail, Examiner]

Mein Gott! The EPL is getting too big. [Reuters]

Klinsmann feels the heat. [DW]

The original Ronaldo makes his return and takes one to the eye. At least it isn't a penis. [NY Times, Reuters]

Soccer in Somali. [CSM]

Argentina's Starting XI Almost Set

When there's no (for various reasons) Lio Messi, Carlos Tévez, Román Riquelme, Hernán Crespo, Pablo Aimar, or Esteban Cambiasso to pick from, this is what you get for tomorrow's match against Eygpt:

Roberto Abbondanzieri in goal; Javier Zanetti, Martín Demichelis, Nicolás Burdisso, and Gabriel Heinze along the back; Javier Mascherano, Fernando Gago, and Maxi Rodríguez in the middle; Luis González pulling the strings (enganche); Sergio Agüero and Fernando Cavenaghi up front.

Gabriel Milito picked up a knock against Valladolid over the weekend, thus Burdisso. Julio Cruz has a chance to partner el Kún, but everyone seems to be falling over themselves about how good Cavenaghi looks in training. My guess would be the Bordeaux man.

Concerning the worries that Demichelis might have had over his spot in the starting lineup, they seem to have been unfounded. He should, and mostly likely will, start in the back alongside Burdisso. That should make for a long evening.

Milito no estaría frente a Egipto (in Spanish) [TyC Sports]

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Quote Of The Day

"I am really, really happy that [Javier] Mascherano must go to Egypt to play a friendly. Things like that you just cannot understand. There is nothing you can do. The rules are the rules and the players must go. You can't speak to the coach [Alfio Basile]. You can say 'Be careful' but they are thinking about themselves. They need to check the players to see if they can manage with the team, so it will be very difficult. It's the same problem for all the top sides. Normally the best players are in the top sides and they are playing Champions League or playing for the title."

Rafael Benítez, on a winding rant concerning Argentina's meaningless friendly against the African champions on March 26th. He should count himself lucky that the South American World Cup qualifiers don't start up until mid-June.

Mascherano's flight to Egypt leaves Benítez fuming [Guardian]

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Who Makes The Money When Africans Move Abroad?

Well, in this case, it for sure as hell isn't the player. While we've highlighted the business of African player-trafficking in Europe (see here and here), little did I know it exists in Pakistan as well.










Plight of Nigerian footballer highlights player-trafficking in Pakistan [Play The Game]

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Quote Of The Day

"El-Salvador is the name of a country. It means the saviour. I could be the El-Salvador of Nigerian football. With the right atmosphere, I will do it again. I did it before. When I walk the streets of Nigeria today, people tell me great things I did and I feel proud. I want to do them again."

-Clemens Westerhof, fishing for a job with the Nigerian national squad. His selection would make this a return for the Dutchman, he managed the Super Eagles from 1989 to 1994.

I’m the El-Salvador of Nigerian football [Vanguard]

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Ghana's Beckham

If you're ready for a fashion show, the line starts behind me. Not missing an opportunity to piggy-back on the African Cup of Nations in Ghana, Stephen Appiah is set to try his hand in the clothing business. His line, StepApp, debuts next Monday throughout Africa, followed next month by Europe and the U.S.

One of my favorite players at Germany '06, Appiah becomes the first African soccer player with his own line of clothing. Presently, you can only check out some of his t-shirts, but who knows what he might have in store for us on Monday.

Appiah to unveil clothing range [BBC]

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Dog The Bounty Hunter: Belgian Edition

A Congolese player at FC Brussels who walked out after being racially abused by the Belgian club's president Johan Vermeersch has agreed to return. Zola Matumona quit the club after he and his fellow players were torn a new one by Vermeersch for a string of poor performances, with the club president telling him to think about things other than "trees and bananas". After a lengthy sitdown on Tuesday, Matumona agreed to return, accepting Vermeersch's excuses and dropping his planned legal action, the club announced.

The club's kit sponsor, South Korean car manufacturer Kia, terminated its contract over the row saying: "We don't want to be associated in any way with racism." While welcoming Tuesday's reconciliation Kia said it was standing by its original decision "because of the damage suffered by its mark's image".

After nine defeats from 12 games FC Brussels are lying one off the foot of the Belgian first division

Apologies for racist remark [Expatica Belguim]

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We Really Really Hate You

We've all seen the skilled bit of play-acting perpetrated by AC Milan's keeper Dida after he received a loving brush on the cheek from a Celtic fan. Of course we all know how that turned out, as UEFA seem to feel his performance was more suited to Julliard than the pitch. An altogether humiliating experience for the Brazilian keeper, but it did raise questions of just how fans are able to get onto the pitch, especially in the rarefied air of Champions League football.

But there's a lot to be done in Togo, apparently. Remember Manu Adebayor's drama with the Togolese over unpaid bonuses, just one among many crises that have afflicted the national team in the past? Well, things got worse as Mali won in Lome, securing their place in next year's African Nations Cup. Sevilla star Fredi Kanoute and Stoke City striker Mamady Sidibe took the worst of it for the players, with Kanoute requiring stitches and Sidibe suffering a knife wound to his arm.

CAF probe violent clashes at Mali v Togo qualifier [AFP]

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Quote Of The Day

"Yet, Mr. Yakubu the assemblyman is confident that people would find the money to pay their electric bills, if only for one reason: football (soccer). When a Ghanaian football team plays, fans in the village pay the equivalent of about 11 cents U.S. to watch the 90-minute match in the home of the one person who has his own generator and television. Yakubu believes that if electricity were available to all, people would instead put the money they now pay to watch football games toward paying for electric power and, eventually, their own television sets."

-Peter DiCampo, writing about life without electricity in the Ghanaian village of Wantugu.

Life without lights in a Ghanaian village [Christian Science Monitor]

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South Africa's Neighbors Stock Up On Candles

As we continue to count down to Africa's coming out party (while listening to FIFA's assurances), South Africa's neighbors are set to have their electricity cut back between June 11th and July 11th, 2010. South Africa's main power provider, Eskom, is holding out the right to cut the juice to countries like Namibia and Zimbabwe if local power needs are not being met.

Eskom is not willing to publicly say if they have the capacity to deal with the World Cup as well as it's residential and commercial exports. Johnny Dladla, managing director of the company's 2010 World Cup Committee, would only go so far as to say that "the system will still be tight."

Sounds like the price of candles and matches just went up.

South African Blackouts Ease as Industries Cut Usage [Bloomberg]

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Well, What Else Are They Going To Say?

Relax everybody, there's no need to worry, FIFA says that everything is on track for the 2010 World Cup. Not that I don't believe yesterday's statements made by FIFA spokesman Alain Leiblang, it just that it's completely naive to believe that the world governing body would come out publicly and say anything to the contrary.

As we've mentioned in this space many times before, the one's with the most to lose if South Africa 2010 doesn't come off is FIFA (Sepp Blatter specifically), not South Africa or the African continent as a whole. Let there be no doubt.

Fifa pleased with World Cup progress [Sunday Times]

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Become a Footballer . . . . Have a Beer

Very few things in this world promote a healthy lifestyle and inspire the dreams of children quite like alcohol. While the phenomenon of hooch is often blamed for the plight of Native Americans, Aborigines and essentially all of British culture, Ghana and Chelsea star Michael Essien disagrees:

"I am very excited to be Guinness's first football ambassador, and truly feel
proud to be part of the greatness that is African football. I hope I can act as
a source of inspiration for many football fans across Africa, in the same way
that Tony Yeboah and George Weah inspired me to reach greatness within my
football career."

That's right, Mike, nothing inspires kids like you hocking the creamy deliciousness of Guinness. Look what it's done for the Irish.

Essien on collision course with Mourinho [Ghana Web]

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The Prodigal Son Returns

Christmas came early for South African fans this year: Benni McCarthy has agreed to join the national squad for next month's African Cup of Nations qualifier in Cape Town.

McCarthy last played for Bafana Bafana at the 2006 Nations Cup in Egypt. He blamed the South African FA for demonizing him during after a pay dispute. Since then, it seems that he's gotten his club career on track, scoring 24 goals in 50 appearances for Blackburn last season.

South African coach Carlos Alberto Parreira had this to say:

I had a long, fruitful and frank discussion with Benni while in England over the weekend and he provided me with the assurance that he wants to play for his country. Leaving him out, in the circumstances, is a luxury we cannot afford.

All reports stated that the team looked weak up front last week against Scotland, opening the door for McCarthy's return. South Africa currently lead their African Cup of Nations group by three points over Zambia, their opponent next month.

Benni finally back for Bafana [Sunday Times]

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Sign, Sign, Everywhere A Sign

I guess it was only a matter of time before the 2010 World Cup hit a snag concerning South Africa's past. It seems that after apartheid's death in 1994, the World Cup host has been busily changing the names of it's cities to "better reflect the country's African character."

The only problem with that is that the new names have had trouble getting out to the international community. Who knew that Pretoria, South Africa's administrative capital, is now officially called Tshwane? Yeah, me neither.

As you can imagine, this business of changing the names of cities isn't popular with everybody in South Africa. But it seems that FIFA and the organizing committee have made a good move here to include both the old and new city names both on the World Cup tickets and on signs directing tourists and fans in and around the host country.

World Cup runs into apartheid name spat [Mail & Guardian]

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It Was Always Going To Be South Africa

Though the bidding for the 2010 World Cup saw entries from Egypt, Morocco, and a joint bid from Libya and Tunisia, FIFA always had South Africa earmarked for the continent's first World Cup. The 2010 host is the only country in Africa who, economically, could even remotely come close to putting on the world's biggest show.

This piece from the Economist puts a bright spin on the future, but even if Africa does continue to grow in percentage terms, it's still coming from a pretty low base. Money quote:

African markets are so undeveloped that the opportunity there is still quite small. According to Stanlib, a South African asset-management group, the market capitalisation of the whole continent is just $800 billion, of which South Africa itself makes up $600 billion. The rest of the continent’s markets, in other words, are worth a good deal less than Exxon Mobil. Put another way, China could buy every African quoted company with its foreign-exchange reserves.

In other words, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, and Tunisia: Thanks for trying, don't let the door hit you on your way out.

Into Africa [The Economist]

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Light Up Before Leaving Home

If you're planning on making it out to the World Cup in South Africa, here's a bit of advice: don't pack any Wacky Tobaccy in your satchel. It looks like it's going to be German Shepard territory in and around the stadiums in three years time.

While it seems that they'll mostly be on bomb/drug sniffing duty, maybe it'll deter fans from doing whatever damn thing they want.

Police dogs vital for 2010 [Sunday Times]
Pitch invasion raises red flag for 2010 [Sunday Times]

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What If...

FIFA used ad campaigns like the one above? The French might be on to something here, maybe the use of gay imagery is the sure fire way of luring visitors to the southern tip of Africa in 2010.

I guess someone thinks it works, this is an ad for the upcoming Rugby World Cup in France. It's currently running in Britain.

Advertizing Paris [The Daily Dish]

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Clock Is On, So We Know They Have Power

Well, with the clock on now, I guess this means that everything is going as planned and on schedule... right?

You can build your own World Cup countdown clock at home, I just put one together myself. My George Bush Leaves The White House countdown clock was feeling lonely.

2010 World Cup clock switched on [Sunday Times]

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Nigerian FA: Not Happy Campers

Here's an interesting article about the tug-of-war soccer finds itself in Nigeria. The country's FA is looking to remove itself from under government control. But like in most non-western countries, where the national team is the symbol of the nation, the Nigerian government isn't about to let go of such a prized asset.

But like everything else in this world, it all comes down to a matter of money: who gets it and how it's spent.

Stakeholders seek overhaul of Nigerian sports [Play The Game]

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Local Bank Employees Set To Get First Batch Of 2010 Tickets

The fine employees of South Africa's First National Bank are ready to try their luck in 10 different drawings the bank is holding between now and 2010. Each drawing will give away 400 World Cup tickets, 4,000 in all. The tickets made available will be to games at every stage of the tournament, from the first-round to the final.

I'm not sure, but this might just be the best chance that a person versed in the custodial arts has ever had of going to a World Cup match.

Bank’s workers to get first 2010 tickets [Sunday Times]

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