Less than 11 days until the 2010 World Cup. Four years of waiting is almost over…
World Cup 94: The Worst Jerseys Ever
This week’s NY Times Magazine has an interesting article about Ajax’s youth system. The author does a good job of pointing out how America’s pay to play youth soccer system does disservice to our player development system. On the upside, we aren’t taking seven year old kids away from grade school for soccer practice.
The article lays the US’s lack of creative players on our youth system’s tendency to group good players together and focus effort on developing team work, rather than individual brilliance. The current generation of Yanks playing abroad have a reputation for athleticism (something of a backhanded compliment), but not creativity or brilliance. Dempsey has had his moments with Fulham last season, but our best-known player, Landon Donovan, is known for his assists and passes, not for clinical finishing.
America’s most successful players abroad have traditionally been goalkeepers…the loneliest, most individualistic, and, some might argue, most analytical/least creative position on the pitch.
When Saturday Comes, the best soccer magazine I know of, has a great article in print this month about Kulula Airline, a South African company that has royally pissed off FIFA. FIFA, the organising organisation behind the World Cup, forces host cities to go to insane lengths to “protect” the organisation’s copyright on World Cup related terms: “Pubs can’t even write ‘watch 2010 games here’ on their chalkboards, but must instead put ‘watch the football’ or ‘today’s game’.”
Kulula advertised itself as “The Unofficial National Carrier of the ‘You-Know-What’”; FIFA complained, claiming that by printing an ad with a stadium, soccer balls, and South Africa’s flag, the airline was “creating an unauthorised association with the 2010 FIFA World Cup”. Kulula responded with the following ad:
According to WSC, Kulula charges $140 for a flight that the official FIFA airline charges $750 for. No wonder FIFA’s so angry.
Less than 11 days until the 2010 World Cup. Four years of waiting is almost over…
[caption id="attachment_923" align="alignright" width="370" caption="World Cup 94: The Worst Jerseys Ever"][/caption]
This week’s NY Times Magazine has an interesting article about Ajax’s youth system. The author does a good job of pointing out how America’s pay to play youth soccer system does disservice to our player development system. On the upside, we aren’t taking seven year old kids away from grade school for soccer practice.
The article lays the US’s lack of creative players on our youth system’s tendency to group good players together and focus effort on developing team work, rather than individual brilliance. The current generation of Yanks playing abroad have a reputation for athleticism (something of a backhanded compliment), but not creativity or brilliance. Dempsey has had his moments with Fulham last season, but our best-known player, Landon Donovan, is known for his assists and passes, not for clinical finishing.
America’s most successful players abroad have traditionally been goalkeepers…the loneliest, most individualistic, and, some might argue, most analytical/least creative position on the pitch.
When Saturday Comes, the best soccer magazine I know of, has a great article in print this month about Kulula Airline, a South African company that has royally pissed off FIFA. FIFA, the organising organisation behind the World Cup, forces host cities to go to insane lengths to “protect” the organisation’s copyright on World Cup related terms: “Pubs can’t even write ‘watch 2010 games here’ on their chalkboards, but must instead put ‘watch the football’ or ‘today’s game’.”
Kulula advertised itself as “The Unofficial National Carrier of the ‘You-Know-What’”; FIFA complained, claiming that by printing an ad with a stadium, soccer balls, and South Africa’s flag, the airline was “creating an unauthorised association with the 2010 FIFA World Cup”. Kulula responded with the following ad:
According to WSC, Kulula charges $140 for a flight that the official FIFA airline charges $750 for. No wonder FIFA’s so angry.
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