Overloaded

An interesting read with a smell of madness.

An Argentinian sports newspaper did some digging on the income of the coaches of the 32 national teams that came to SA to compete for the golden worldcup.

Some of these gentlemen have been fired in the meantime as their team underperformed, like France and Brazil f.i.

Anyway the massive, crazy difference between some coaches is mindblowing.

Far ahead of anybody else is England's Fabio Capello who earns a wapping US$9.9million per year. That's about Rand75,500,000. Or just less than Rand6,300,000 per month. Kick that! And looking at England's play and results at the worldcup, we can honestly say: it's a joke!!!!!

Bafana Bafana's Brazilian coach Perreira comes 10th with US$1.9 million annual cash.

Italy's Lippi - another big looser at this cup - is 2nd with US$4.1 million. That's still Rand2,600,000 per month. For not winning a single game as outgoing world champion! Crazy!

The rest of the top ten are Aguirre from Mexico, who resigned in the meantime; German coach Loew, who currently is in a money dispute with the German football association; the Dutch coach is on 5th spot; Hitzfeld from Switzerland on 6th; Spain's del Bosque gets US$2.2 million; our well known Carlos Queiroz is the 8th best earner as Portugal's coach; followed by Dutchman Verbeek coaching Australia.

So of the top ten best paid national coaches, only 2 are in the semi finals. And 4 of them didn't even make it further than the group stages.

The digraced French coach Domenech is on 19th spot with US$720.000 annual income. Well no more that is.

Dunga is on the 11th spot and Maradona just behind him. The 2nd best paid coach of an African team, after Perreira, is Le Guen who coached Cameroon. Still worth just under a million US$ per year. And Cameroon got nil points at this worldcup.

Tabarez who has put Uruguay in the semi finals only gets US$300,000 annual salary. 30th Out of 32. Tell that to Capello!!!!

Euro revenge

Can't escape the world cup fever as it's crunchtime. The semis are on its way in a few days.

Friday and Saturday were hectic. Latin America came in full strength into the quarter finals with 4 out of the 8 teams coming from South America.

The quarters started with first Holland send superstars Brazil packing. Then the shock of the 120th minute in the Ghana vs Uruguay game at Soccer City. It was 1-1 and Ghana had a penalty in the last minute of extra time. But the ball hit the crossbar and went over. Unbelievable. And then in the penalty shoot out Uruguay got the upperhand. High drama. The last African team kicked out.

And Friday evening ended with some tabloid trash suspense of Paris Hilton's little illegal smoke activity in PE.

Then day 2 of the quarters. Yesterday the big Germany - Argentina clash at a packed Greenpoint stadium. The German machine just rolled and rolled and rolled and rolled. Maradona was in shock. 4-0!!! And then in the shadow of the Cape Town game came last night's match between Spain and Paraguay. Drama also here with a missed penalty by Paraguay directly followed by a penalty on the other end of the pitch for Spain. Spain's Alfonso scored the penalty but was ordered to re-take it by the referee as Spanish players entered the penaltybox area too soon (meaning before Alonso kicked the ball). So Alonso had to re-do it all. But then he missed the re-take!! Not for the weak at heart. Spain anyway took the game away later with a narrow 1-0 victory. From the 4 Latin American teams in the quarter finals only one made it through to the semis. The Latin American supremacy got slaughtered in the quarter finals. It's Euro revenge time.

It's now Holland vs Uruguay in Cape Town on Tuesday, and Germany against Spain on Wednesday in Durban. It smells like a Dutch-German final. Euro revenge till the end.

Hup Hup Holland

I said it..... Holland would beat Brazil. And so it happened. Superheros Brazil are out in the quarter finals of the 2010 world cup. Goodbye!

Next time more chance when you play on homesoil. See ya in 2014.

Tonight the streets of The Netherlands will be filled with loud, drunken cries of "hup hup Holland".

Latin American wave

It's going fast. Quarter finals are alreay up next.

And it is for sure a Latin American affair. Of the 8 quarter finalists, 4 are from South America. African teams have not lived up to the hopes and expectations at this African world cup. Of the 6 African nations present only 1 - Ghana - made it through the group stage. Nigeria lost all its games. Cameroon was expected to go through as it was in a reasonable group but it also left South Africa without a single point. Host Bafana Bafana was a mixed bag, but not good enough to go through. Algeria who kept African champions Egypt out of the world cup, only got 1 point out of 3 games. Drogba's Ivory Coast was in a hardcore group with Portugal and Brazil. They paid the price. They ended third and returned home. So Africa's hopes are on Ghana. We will know on Friday evening if there will be an African team in the semis.

Europe is a mixed bag. Holland is cruising. Spain had a surprise loss against Switzerland as a worldcup starter, but seems to be growing. Germany is like a well oiled machine. The slip up against Serbia seems forgotten as the tank rolls on. England, Italy and France were a big disappointment. France was at war with itself. Current world champions Italy left South Africa with only 2 draws out of 3 games. And England, with all its hope and expectations and superstars and bold tabloid headlines....; got trashed by Germany after a game with a ridiculous linesman blunder but also with a ridiculous non-existent England defence.

So Latin America. 7 Out of 8 South American teams made it through to the round of 16. And now half of the quarter final is latin american. And kepe in mind that the next world cup in 2014 will be in in their territory. It will be in Brazil.

My old guess of a Brazil - Spain final is still possible, but Germany, Argentina and Holland are creeping up the bookies.

So let's try another guess at this stage before the quarter finals.
Holland - Brazil: Holland through
Uruguay - Ghana: Ghana through
Argentina - Germany: Germany through (although I hope it's Argentina)
Paraguay - Spain: Spain through

That gives the following semis. Holland vs Ghana and Germany vs Spain. Then I wouild predict a Holland - Germany final with a Dutch victory, but hope for a Holland - Spain one with the cup heading to Madrid.

Whistle chaos

The linesmen and referee errors at the world cup are starting to get out of control and killing the beautifull game.

Just thinking f.i. about Argentinian offside goal against Mexico; America's disallowed but fine goal against Slovenia; England's very obvious goal against Germany that the linesman did not call and thus not on the scoreboard; the ridiculous red cards for Brazilian Kaka and Aussie Kewell;.... Just getting ridiculous and out of control.

Something needs to be done...

Hippo Hollow

Near (in SA terms) worldcup town Nelspruit lies Hazyview on the edge of Kruger Park.

And in Hazyview you can find Hippo Hollow, a magnificent estate with cabins/lodges along a river which is the home to hippos and crocs.

And while having breakfast near the river you can, as I just did, maybe spot some elephants on the other side of the river edge eating and playing and scratching their backs to the trees. Nice way to have breakfast and to forget worldcup madness for a while.

Check it out: www.hippohollow.co.za

Hard reality

Eish. Some teams are facing up to some hard reality at the beginning of the world cup.

The host's dream has crashlanded as they face elimination. Spain is still in shock from the kick by the little boys from the Alps. England is in disarray after uninspired draws against the US and Algeria. France is just a shadow of its former self. Nigeria has lost its 2 first games and can start packing. Germany smashed Australia but then lost against Serbia with a headcahe as result. Current worldchampions couldn't beat Paraguay.

Eish.