Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Cup miscellany

Apologies for the lack of posts. I've had a very busy work week, and this weekend I attended a music festival, so I've had very little free time, and the free time I have had, I've spent... well, watching soccer.

Not too much World Cup news over the last few days; people are focused on the domestic European leagues winding down and the Champions League semis. Here's a round up:
  • DaMarcus Beasley was charged with drunk driving last week. It's just the latest bad event in what's been a rough year for the Beas; he hasn't been able to hold a place in the PSV starting line-up and has sometimes been disappointing when he's gotten on the field. Let's hope these distractions don't spill over into his World Cup performances.
  • The Dutch named a provisional 33 player squad for the Cup, with cuts to come later. One player in doubt might be the magnificently-named Rafael Van der Vaart, who faces an upcoming surgery.
  • Costa Rica has named 28 players on their provisional squad. World Cup goal scorer Winston Parks was left off, while LA Galaxy reject Michael Umana was deemed worthy of inclusion. Good luck with that.
  • Everyone wants a piece of Liechtenstein.
  • Need a place to stay in Germany this summer? How about this dude's shed?
  • An Ecuadorian shaman has exorcised all the evil spirits in Leipzig. No that's not quite true:

Tzamarenda Naychapi -- a priest who practices magic for healing, divination and controlling events -- let out a loud scream to chase away evil spirits in the centre of the pitch at Leipzig's Zentralstadion on Monday. (Emphasis mine)

As long as you're a midfielder, you're probably safe; however, goalkeepers should keep crucifixes at the ready. And if ever any player falls over in the attacking third and starts writhing around in pain after the tiniest contact from an opposing defender, you'll know that it's not cowardly opportunism designed to win a free kick; rather it's because the shaman couldn't be bothered to schlep his necromantic ass down to that end of the field.

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