World Cup 2010
Posted by John Beech on June 16, 2010
As regular readers may have spotted, I have so far restrained myself from blogging on this event. This is not because it hasn’t caught my attention – well, the Maicon goal will certainly be up with the all-time great goals, but otherwise it hasn’t lived up to expectations; plenty of time yet though.
Those expectations have of course been mainly media-driven. Even the normally sound BBC football news website has given itself over to the World Cup, with news on English club football (where I’m usually coming from) being rather thin on the ground.
A posting by Wyn Grant on Football Economy called The price clubs pay for the World Cup did catch my attention however. He points out just how vulnerable English clubs are to injuries sustained on World Cup duty, with Chelsea the most exposed with 16 players in South Africa. Definitely worth clicking through.
Another site worth exploring for its particular angle on the World Cup is that of Play the Game‘s South Africa 2010. Some interesting articles there, especially on the legacy for South Africa of such an event – well worth exploring.
If you are a vuvuzelaphile, probably feeling withdrawal symptoms from the stream of news reports on various injuries and how dire some of the matches have been, you can get a fix of that particular swarming beastie here. If, like me, you are beginning to feel just a tiny bit vuvuzela-ed out, then be afraid, very afraid, especially if you are a fan of Bury, Coventry City or Sheffield Wednesday – they are going to be on sale in your club shop next season (1).
John Beech said
VUVUZELA UPDATE
While Bury, Coventry and Sheffield Wednesday will be selling vuvuzelas next season, the BBC reports (1) that Southampton, Ipswich, Cardiff and Leicester have banned them, It will be interesting to see what impact, if any, these two opposing approaches have on attendances.