The official World Cup trash talk challenge begins

“Sorry Huh Huh, your side will crumble, you will cry, your mum will cry”. It’s heartwarming to see proper fans using comment boxes to offer their mature and well considered opinions. So begins the World Cup Bafana Bafana 2010 official World Cup trash talk challenge. Send in your examples of players, managers and fans having a go if you see any. Meanwhile, what pairing of World Cup winners and minnows is this referring to?

A new poll says 51% of South Africans fear a terrorist attack during the World Cup. Well, at least 51% of the people asked do, which is pretty much how market research works. Ask a small minority and then assume they are somehow representative of the wider population. Fine, here are the results you fear mongers.

Is it just me or are World Player of the Millennium (or similar) competitions meaningless to everyone? I only ask because World Soccer says Ronaldinho is the outstanding player of the decade. OK, there was a time when he was so good it could take your breath away, but that was a few years ago, or even further back, probably around 2004 – 2005, when the Brazilian was World Soccer World Player of the Year two years in a row. He hasn’t been the greatest player on the planet for a few years. Hang on a minute, I’ve just spotted a possible fondness for Barcelona amongst the World Soccer readership:

WORLD PLAYER OF THE YEAR % of votes
1 Lionel Messi (Barcelona & Argentina) 43.2
2 Andres Iniesta (Barcelona & Spain) 21.5
3 Xavi (Barcelona & Spain) 11.2
4 Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United/Real Madrid & Portugal) 6.4
5 Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Internazionale/Barcelona & Sweden) 4.2
6 David Villa (Valencia & Spain) 2.5
7 Diego Forlan (Atletico Madrid & Uruguay) 2.1
8 Fernando Torres (Liverpool & Spain) 1.3
9 Wayne Rooney (Manchester United & England) 0.8
10 Didier Drogba (Chelsea & Ivory Coast) 0.5
Others 6.3

WORLD TEAM OF THE YEAR % of votes
1 Barcelona 75.9

WORLD MANAGER OF THE YEAR % of votes
1 Pep Guardiola (Barcelona) 62.1

Who did Ronaldinho play for from 2003 – 2008? See the full article here.

Fabio Capello is doing very nicely, thank you, compared with the other managers preparing for South Africa. Huh Jung-moo of South Korea, the one who will watch his side crumble and then break down crying before his mother follows suit, does less well. Mind you, he’ll probably still do better than North Korea’s coach, who is rumoured to be in line for absolutely nothing if his side does well next year. He didn’t even make this list.