Brazilian "Nicknames"

The reader Saneguy has asked the question, why do most of the Brazilian players have short names, like Oscar (real name Oscar dos Santos Emboaba Junior) or Hulk, (real name Givanildo Vieira De Sousa) etc. with the most famous one from the past of course being Pele, whose real name we all know is Edson Arantes do Nascimento.  (Although he hates the name Pele)

We can actually trace this behaviour back to ancient Rome, people had 3 names consisting of Preanomen (first name) and a Nomen (tribe name) and then a Cognomen (family name) and then because there weren't that many names they added nicknames to differentiate.

So far example, Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus, was Publius of the clan Cornelius of the family Scipio who was victorious in Africa hence the Africanus.

In Brazil  which was a Portuguese colony, most people have 4 names,  first name, then some form of holy name like of a saint and then a name connected to the mother and a name connected to the father, which is usually too much of a mouthful hence the nickname. 

Usually they are taken from the first name, such as Fred, is short for Frederico, Jo is short for joao and so on.

Sometimes, they have nothing to do with the name at all such as the ex-captain Dunga, whose name referred to the Portuguese term for the dwarf dopey, from snow white, a name given to him by his uncle because he was short as a child, and the name stuck even after he grew taller.

Hulk, has his name thanks to his physical resemblance to the said comic book hero. If he was green he would be a dead ringer for him.

Another popular instance is the adding of the ending "inho" which means little, so Ronaldinho was little Ronaldo and Juninho was little junior. It can go even further, at one point there was Ronaldinho and then Ronaldinho Gaucho, who was from the area of Gaucho, which was added to his name to differentiate between the players

Saneguy, I thank you for the question and I hope this answers you, Keep the questions coming in

Eng er Land Eng er Land (just a slight bias)

Before we look at group D, the result between Spain and Holland, shows why we love this game, I don't think anyone in the whole world expected that result (5-1 to Holland) even the most biased Dutch person.

Football even at the highest level is so unpredictable

Group D kicks off on Saturday with the game between Uruguay and Costa Rica (15/6 19.00 GMT).
Uruguay won the world cup the last time it was played in Brazil in 1950 as well as the inaugural event which was held in Uruguay in 1930. They are led by Louis Suarez, you can love him or hate him but you have to admire his skill, especially at biting people which he has now done twice (at least where he has been caught)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GopdzPxE2gk

His fitness is a bit unknown but they should have too much firepower for the Costa Ricans who are playing in their 4th world cup.

Prediction  Uruguay to win

The 2nd game sees En_ger_land V Italy (15/6 22.00 GMT).There are very few professional pundits who think that England will make it out of this group. I do not claim to be a professional pundit and I do believe( my heart beating my head) that England will advance to the next stage.

The game is due to be played in a brand new stadium in the middle of the Jungle at Manaus. Nobody knows why the Brazilians built a stadium there. After the 3 games due to be played there, it will turn into the proverbial white elephant. It is stiflingly hot and humid and these 2 European teams are really going to struggle with the conditions.

The Italians are notoriously slow starters in tournaments and for once England has a team full of youth and pace, perhaps they may catch the Italians with their togas down.

Prediction Going out on a limb, England to win or at least draw

An interesting foursome Group C Preview

This group consists of 4 teams from 4 continents, which should guarantee 4 very contrasting styles of football. We start with Columbia V Greece (14/6 16.00 GMT). Columbia have a potted history in the world cup, they were supposed to host it in 1986 but it was taken away from them due to economic reasons. In 1994 one of their players, Andres Escobar who shot and killed purportedly by the drug cartels a couple of days after scoring an own goal. At least he didn't suffer the Medellin necktie, a particularly gruesome way to go much favoured by the cartels.
On a footballing front, they are remembered for some interesting hairdos

valderama

and their famous goal keeper El Loco, who performed the strangest save ever seen in world football.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0bSvDkXqhw

They finished 2nd in South American qualifying and could do well.

Greece, are almost an anti football side, very dour and unappealing to the eye, a reflection of the current state of the Greek economy. They don't concede many goals, but they don't score many either.

Prediction  Columbia to win



On Sunday , we have Ivory Coast V Japan at the unearthly hour of 01.00 GMT.  If ever there was a clash between contrasting cultures then this is it. I look forward to seeing the Japanese, mainly diminutive in stature, match up against the far larger Africans, one thing we know, the Japanese won't be daunted. Ivory Coast are probably the best team in Africa at this moment in time. It is just a shame that because of the hour, not many people will see this game. Perhaps we may get a rendition of the Toure brothers chant, which is very popular round the world especially on youtube.

Prediction, I want to sit on the fence on this one, but if I have to then Ivory Coast to Win

The preview for group D will appear an hour before the first game at 18.00 GMT tomorrow

Group B preview

The first game in Group B (Kick off 13/6 19.00 GMT) sees the holders Spain take on Holland in a repeat of the final from 4 years ago. That final is mostly remembered for being a rough game, in fact 14 yellow and one red card were brandished. The most famous incident is the foul by Dutch Midfielder Nigel de Jong, who forgot he was playing football and thought he was in a Kung Fu demonstration.  Amazingly, de Jong was only booked for the challenge, with the referee later claiming his view of the play was obstructed. See for yourselves and let me know what you think

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AcIicsfW660

Holland have played in 3 world cup finals and lost all of them (74. 78 and 2010) thus giving them the dubious distinction of being the only team to lose 3 finals in different continents. (The Germans have also lost 3 times in 66, 82 and 86, but only in 2 continents and they have won 3 times in 54, 74 and 90 all in Europe)
Brazil on the other hand have won in 3 different continents albeit different ones. Who can work that out.

Spain have undoubtedly been the best team in world football over the past four years and are reigning world and European champions. Under their teddy bear of a manager, the Maquis of Del Bosque (aka Vicente del Bosque) who was elevated to the Spanish nobility after winning the world cup, they managed to utilise the plethora of talent at their disposal to its full potential to finally shake off their under achieving reputation. Another factor is that Del Bosque has managed to quell the internecine strife between the players from Madrid and Barcelona which always hampered the Spanish teams performance in the past

teddy bear

Prediction for this one  A narrow win for Spain

The other 2 teams in this group are Australia and Chile. (kick off 13/6 22.00 GMT) Australians should stick to what they are good at, being nasty to the Aboriginals and drinking. A true Australian sporting record is held by the Tasmanian cricketer David Boon, who once drank 53 cans of beer on a flight from Oz to England. If there was a world sheep shearing competition, then they would be the favourites. Football is a game where physical contact is frowned upon so what is the point of playing that. Stick to Aussie rules football (which I enjoy greatly) and leave real football to the rest of the world.

Chile are dark horses this time round, their record in world cups is not very good, but this time they have some excellent players most notably Alexi (electric) Sanchez. I have inserted a link to a goal he scored this year for Barcelona and it is worth watching. Pay special attention to the commentary by a very excitable man from Newcastle, England. His use of superlatives is jaw dropping. I bet you have never heard of a player being described as running with a lobster down his shorts. Enjoy

Prediction for this one Chile to win

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GANG0qvQ1vo

Tomorrow Groups C and D

Let the fun begin ! Group A preview

The first game of the world cup used to be between the holders and A N Other, since 2006, it is the host nation and A N Other, who this time round is Croatia (kick off 20.00 GMT) however, before we get into the football, let’s play a game of word association. 

What is the first thing that pops into your mind when you hear the word Brazil?

I really would like to read your answers, please use the comments option below before you read on.

Brazil are the most successful team in the history of football, they have won the world cup on 5 occasions, the last time being in 2002 in S Korea, the pressure on them is tremendous, a nation expects. More to the point is that Brazil as a nation is not united behind this world cup, the country has economic woes and there has been rioting all over the country in the lead up to the tournament. If Brazil doesn’t win, the happy place we all envisage as Brazil might turn very ugly.

Despite this Brazil is the land of the Samba (one of the most popular answers I had when I played the word association in my office) and this is reflected in the way they dance around the football field with the ball at their feet, poetry in motion. Brazil is also known for its nuts (another popular choice) and this also comes out in the way they can sometimes melt down on the field and start playing in a crazy manner.

Croatia has only been in existence as an independent nation since the breakup of Yugoslavia in 1991. In their first world cup in 1998 they finished 3^rd and had the tournament top scorer in Davor Suker, and have only missed one world cup since them. It is always much easier to play when you are expected to lose but are actually rather good. Now to the part I hate, prediction time. Brazil to win this one.

The other 2 teams in the group are Mexico and Cameroon who face each other on Friday (kick off 16.00 GMT)

Cameroon, burst onto the world scene in 1990, when they beat the then holders, Argentina 1-0 in the opening game of the tournament, and only went out in the Quarter-finals losing 3-2 in extra time to England. Their star player at that tournament was Roger Milla, who was then aged 38 or so. He scored 4 goals and had one of the best celebrations when he ran to the corner flag and danced. Here is a link enjoy, 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaAq2LcbKPY

Cameroon also caused controversy in 2002 with their skin tight kit.

This year, they almost didn’t get on their flight to Brazil as they were in dispute over the amount of bonuses they were due to be paid. To sum up, it is never dull when Cameroon is around.

The last team in the group is Mexico, probably the luckiest team to be in Brazil, as they only scraped through their qualifying group in injury time. They have twice made it through to the Quarter-Finals, the 2 times that they hosted the tournament.

Prediction, I like Cameroon, they add extra spice so Cameroon to win

Tomorrow, we will look at Groups B and C

How it all works, from qualifying through to the final

In June 2011, the first match in the qualification process for this year’s tournament took place. 203 teams were vying for the 31 places left up for grabs, after Brazil as hosts had secured an automatic place. Let us play a little game, I will list 3 nations that have attempted to qualify and you must guess where they are without using Google or Wikipedia at least to start with.

Tuvalu, Burundi, the Cook Islands.

I imagine that most of us would have had some difficulty finding some of the participating nations on a map if required to do so, but such is the lure of being in the finals tournament and the reason why it takes so long.

Another interesting nugget is that size doesn't matter at least in qualifying, India has never qualified and China has only ever qualified once and then lost all 3 of its games, between them they have over 2.5 billion citizens whereas say Slovenia who qualified in 2010 has only 2 million.

The process finished in November 2013 after 620 matches had been played and the draw to determine the 8 groups was held in December 2013.

There are 5 teams from Africa, 5 from S America, 4 from Central and North America, 5 from Asia and Australasia with 13 countries from Europe rounding out the 32. I already hear the inevitable question being asked, why the inequality, why so many for Europe?

The most likely answer is money and although FIFA, the governing body of world football is a non-profit organization, it does reportedly have one billion dollars in a Swiss bank account which is a reserve according to them. Reserve for what? Answers on a postcard can be sent to FIFA HQ in Zurich or posted in the comments section below.

Unfortunately FIFA lurches from one bribery scandal to another, but let us not get sidetracked.

Back to the format, in the first round, each team will play 3 games, one each against the other teams in their group, with there being 3 points for a win and 1 for a draw. If 2 teams finish level on points, the places will be determined by what is known as goal difference, i.e. how many goals scored for against goals conceded.

The top 2 sides from each group will proceed into the last 16 which is a straight knockout, the equivalent for our American readers of your sweet 16 in college basketball. We then have 8 teams left in the quarter-finals (elite 8) which will be whittled down to 4 who will play in the semi finals (final 4) and then 2 who will contest the final.

There is also a rather arcane game between the 2 losers of the semi-finals to see who will finish 3^rd, who cares, and even I can not remember who finished 3^rd 4 years ago

Now we know how it works the next post will preview groups A and B.

Here we go (again) An Introduction

It is hard to believe that 4 years have passed since the last tournament was held in South Africa, who can forget the noise of the vuvuzelas, those plastic horns that drove everyone mad and forced the TV networks to mute the level of noise from the stadiums on their broadcasts.

This Thursday, the focus of the majority of the population of the planet will be shifted to what is going on in Brazil. Although it can not be proven empirically, the level of violence in the world's trouble spots always seems to be reduced during a World Cup. I write seems, as perhaps it is due to the fact, that is is just not reported on as the world's press is concentrating on the important things in life (football)  rather than some genocide or famine in a remote part of Africa which no one has ever heard of or really cares about.

Anyway, as always with events such as these, it is relatively hard to ignore them even if one has no interest whatsoever in the wonderful game that is Association Football.

(Note to American readers, and I am not sorry to have to do this, but once again it is time to have to come to terms with the fact, that this is the real game of football, (and just for the record ,I am a great fan of American football) as the aim of the game is to kick a ball with your FOOT, not run with it in your hands or throw it to another player, on this blog, there will be no trace of that awful word beginning with "s" and ending in "r" which has no meaning in any language, yet which Americans insist on using)

Therefore, unless you are planning to travel to an isolated atoll in the pacific, or some such place with no communications with the outside world , I invite you to join me, as we attempt to find our way through the Brazilian rain forests and try to reach Rio De Janeiro, where the final is due to be played on Sunday July 13th having had an enjoyable journey and perhaps just perhaps having learnt some things as well on the way.

If you want to be able to join in the discussions about this global event, that will inevitably be going on wherever you maybe, at home with your family, in the office with your colleagues or with complete strangers on a bus, in a bar or just about anywhere you can think of, without seeming a complete idiot or even perhaps surprising people that you have some concept of what is going on, please stay with me for the next month.
You never know, some of you might surprise yourselves and start enjoying football.

Later today or tomorrow, I will post an overview of the tournament, how it works etc.

Until then.