Posted on 06/17/2014 10:58:24 PM PDT by Berlin_Freeper
Thirty-two of the world's best football teams are now competing for the iconic golden World Cup trophy -- but the planet's most populous nation is not among them.
Team China failed to qualify for the "beautiful game's" showpiece event in Brazil. In fact China's World Cup dream turned into a nightmare as early as 2011, when it was eliminated in a regional qualifying round.
But for all the interest in football in this country of more than one billion people, it is a huge source of frustration that they can't field a competitive national team.
"China's weakness in football is a pain point and there is certainly an ambition to improve," said Scott Kronick, President of Ogilvy Public Relations Asia Pacific. Indeed, a multitude of Chinese -- from the state president, to a Peking University student, to a Beijing taxi driver -- share one Chinese dream: that Team China will one day win in the World Cup finals.
(Excerpt) Read more at ktuu.com ...
What seemed like a fairly tepid 25-yard effort from Lee Keun-Ho turned into an absolute disaster as Akinfeev let it slip through his hands to see his side go 1-0 behind.
Memories for Capello must have immediately turned to one thing - Robert Green.
'Kid's mistake' - Is it time for Capello to axe Akinfeev?
The Russia No.1 has come under scrutiny in recent months due to patchy club form and his high-profile blunder against Korea in the World Cup means no easing of pressure.
...he walked into the throng of Russian reporters and faced the music - albeit with his eyes to the floor like a condemned man.
"It was a kid's mistake," he said. "I take full responsibility for it. The goalkeeper of the national team should not be making errors like that."
‘Ochoa’s Wikipedia page was hacked to hail him as “the Mexican Jesus after his performance against Brazil.”
More like “the Mexican Tomaszewski”.*
*Old school England fans will get it.’
Cloughie’s Clown!
I’m hopelessly biased, of course, but I agree with you on Banks’s save from Pele’s header. I always smile when the Freeper ‘safeasthebanks’ posts on here. There was an old saying when Gordon was in goal: Safe As The Banks of England.
The holders face Chile in the Maracana and must get something from their second Group B outing following their stunning 5-1 defeat by the Netherlands.
Australia v Netherlands
Spain v Chile
Cameroon v Croatia
Thanks for all the updates/posts.
Very welcome EEGator!
Former Australia coach Verbeek dismisses Socceroos
Former Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek said Australia were no hope of beating the Netherlands, wouldn't score a goal and had a defence that was vulnerable and inexperienced.
Dutchman Verbeek, who was axed as Australian coach after the 2010 World Cup in which the Socceroos failed to progress past the first round, saw nothing in the new generation of players wearing the green and gold that suggested an upset was on the cards.
"It's a bit frustrating when you're in a team group and that happens because we're there trying to play together – people are not selfish in this squad – trying to get results and a fixation with one player can become, rather than a debate, a bit of an agenda.
Spain Playing for World Cup Survival Vs Chile
The magnitude of Spain's opening 5-1 loss to Netherlands comes into sharper focus Wednesday when the defending champions must fend off World Cup elimination against Chile, less than a week into the tournament.
Spain were crushed 5-1 by the Netherlands in their opening Group B game on Friday and will be eliminated if they lose to Chile on Wednesday and the Dutch avoid defeat against Australia. The same set of results would carry Chile into the Round of 16, but Sampaoli expects to encounter a very different Spain at Rio de Janeiro's Maracanã.
Spain Hopes to Reverse Maracana Luck Vs Chile
"The Maracana is mythical, but the only wish is for the result to be completely different from last year's Confederations Cup final and we can win," Spain midfielder Juan Mata said.
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