Now that the World Cup is over, the backlog of the various film spotlights can start. The Japanese spotlight is first with the following assorted titles on tap:
The Only Son (1936, Yasujirô Ozu)
There was a Father (1942, Yasujirô Ozu)
Tales of Ugetsu (1953, Kenji Mizoguchi)
Bakumatsu Taiyoden (1957, Yuzo Kawashima)
Good Morning (1959, Yasujirô Ozu)
Tokyo Olympiad (1965, Kon Ichikawa)
Patriotism (1966, Yukio Mishima)
Samurai Rebellion (1967, Masaki Kobayashi)
Cure (1997, Kiyoshi Kurosawa)
Fish Story (2009, Yoshihiro Nakamura)
The original intent was to find titles spread across a few decades but somehow the selection is more tilted towards the 1950's - late 1960's, with 3 titles from each decade. Also, Ozu has three titles but I had my eye on these three films for a while. Cure is the only 90's title and Fish Story is the only new selection which screened last week at Fantasia in Montreal.
The one big unknown is Bakumatsu Taiyoden, a title helmed by a director I have never read about. So I am quite excited to see if this is a rare discovery.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Soccer DNA
Form is temporary, class is permanent.
This time, Thierry Henry provided another working example of the old cricket proverb.
On Thursday, July 22, Henry made his debut for the New York Red Bulls against Arsenal's bitter rivals Spurs and as expected, Henry duly scored a goal. No matter where Henry goes, he will always have Arsenal DNA in his blood. The same can't be said about Arsenal's current captain.
This time, Thierry Henry provided another working example of the old cricket proverb.
On Thursday, July 22, Henry made his debut for the New York Red Bulls against Arsenal's bitter rivals Spurs and as expected, Henry duly scored a goal. No matter where Henry goes, he will always have Arsenal DNA in his blood. The same can't be said about Arsenal's current captain.
Friday, July 16, 2010
Inception
Dream within a dream within a dream
Inception (2010, USA/UK, Christopher Nolan)
Alejandro Amenábar beautifully explored the complex world of dreams and reality in Open Your Eyes, later remade into Vanilla Sky. However, the story of both films only explored one level of a dream world. Christopher Nolan has taken that core concept of dreams vs reality and gone two/three levels deeper, thereby creating a hyperlink dream maze that requires multiple hops to exit. Even though Inception traverses multiple dream levels and is bursting with fascinating ideas, it is a remarkably accessible film that manages to explains its ideas in a fluid manner without halting the plot progression. Ofcourse, since it is also a summer film, it contains the mandatory action sequences and explosions, without which the film might not have gotten booked in a multiplex in the first place. Thankfully, a majority of the explosive scenes shot in the Canadian snow-capped mountains arrive in the finale and don't derail the film too much.
Rating: 9/10
note: The story presented in Inception would certainly have made Jorge Luis Borges smile, given that Borges was a master of labyrinths and dreams within dreams.
Inception (2010, USA/UK, Christopher Nolan)
Alejandro Amenábar beautifully explored the complex world of dreams and reality in Open Your Eyes, later remade into Vanilla Sky. However, the story of both films only explored one level of a dream world. Christopher Nolan has taken that core concept of dreams vs reality and gone two/three levels deeper, thereby creating a hyperlink dream maze that requires multiple hops to exit. Even though Inception traverses multiple dream levels and is bursting with fascinating ideas, it is a remarkably accessible film that manages to explains its ideas in a fluid manner without halting the plot progression. Ofcourse, since it is also a summer film, it contains the mandatory action sequences and explosions, without which the film might not have gotten booked in a multiplex in the first place. Thankfully, a majority of the explosive scenes shot in the Canadian snow-capped mountains arrive in the finale and don't derail the film too much.
Rating: 9/10
note: The story presented in Inception would certainly have made Jorge Luis Borges smile, given that Borges was a master of labyrinths and dreams within dreams.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Ugly tactics & antics close off a good tournament
The Dutch are destined not to win the World Cup. Their total football failed to win the World Cup in 1974 and 1978 and on Sunday, their ugly brutal football failed to land the 2010 trophy. Yet, the Dutch ironically contributed to their own downfall. The architects of their total football Rinus Michels and Johan Cryuff found their way to Barcelona in the 1970's and laid the first seeds of Dutch footballing ideas in Catalunya. Louis Van Gaal and Frank Rijkaard nurtured those attacking philosophies further and contributed to Barcelona becoming an attacking force. And those Barcelona players were a huge reason why Spain won their first World Cup on July 11. In a way, Dutch footballing ideas taken from the Ajax academy and planted in Barcelona over a course of three decades led to a Dutch defeat. Although the Spanish added their own key ingredient of play-acting, cheating and diving to ensure the Dutch would have no chance. Sure Holland's tactics were brutal but the Spanish attempts to con the referee were no less ugly. Iniesta was especially guilty of such antics and his most clear cut dive was to get Van Der Wiel booked. Busquets complained to the ref about Dutch diving yet it is Busquets who took the biggest dive of the 2009/10 Champions League season when he performed a somersault at the hint of a slightest touch against Arsenal's Denilson. Oddly, the one Dutch player known for his diving chose the wrong time to become honest. Robben was through on goal for a 2nd time, after missing his first clear cut break away chance in the 62nd minute, and was clearly held back by Puyol yet Robben decided to stay on his feet for a change. Had Robben gone down, then Puyol would surely have gotten a red card.
If Spanish players can't take the kicks, then why must Arsenal put up with it?
Plenty of neutrals are praising Spain for their beautiful football but in reality, Spain were nothing special. They controlled the ball but that was because Holland opted to unsettle Spain by fouling them off the ball and disrupt their play. The Germans also decided to sit back and let Spain have all the possession but the Germans failed to pull off a Swiss result and created no counter opportunity.
It is funny to see the Dutch getting criticized for their negative play by English writers, especially since this is the tactic adopted week in week out by Blackburn, Stoke and Bolton when they play Arsenal. Yet, Arsenal are told to get on with it and are said to not like the physical aspect of the game. But the Spanish are treated as victims when Holland went all Blackburn on Spain. Arseblog sums it up perfectly:
When professional footballers speak before a game about how you have to kick Arsenal, literally, to compete in a game they have a little titter, complain about Arsene Wenger moaning and accuse us of being weak, needing to man-up. Yet they couldn't condemn the Dutch fast enough. And leaving aside van Bommel and de Jong there wasn't another dirty player on the pitch. Bookings are part and parcel of the game, Spain picked up a few too. There's another thing - why do they ignore the cynical side of the Spaniards? If you're going to have a go at dirty/foul play why not criticise the Spanish for the way they constantly crowded the referee waving imaginary cards?
Interestingly, Howard Webb freely gave out yellow cards during the final yet on many occasions in the English league, he has kept the card in his pocket for similar or worse tackles thereby allowing the English players to freely get stuck in against the opposition.
Tricks
A year ago I used to admire the Spanish ball movement but over the last few months it has become very hard to appreciate Spain because their Barcelona players have transformed into an ugly propaganda machine in their effort to bring Cesc back to Barcelona. Cesc has a legal contract with Arsenal yet Barcelona have tried every single disgusting trick to pressure Arsenal into selling their key player. Now it seems the dirty tricks of the Barca players have extended even to Pepe Reina who is a Liverpool player. I cannot understand why Reina, Puyol & Pique resorted to this trick of putting a Barca shirt on Cesc during the Spanish post world cup celebrations. Disgusting!
Nothing at stake = lots of goals
Before the tournament, I would have liked either Spain or Holland to have won the trophy on the basis of the amazing technical players they had. But after watching a terrible final, I rather the trophy was given to one of Germany or Uruguay who put on quite a show in the 3rd place game.
I have wanted the 3rd place game to be eliminated for a while now but the one positive thing about the fixture is that it traditionally provides plenty of goals. One would have to go back to 1978 to when the final had more goals than the 3rd place game (in France 98, both the 3rd place game and final had a total of 3 goals.) And so it was again on Saturday when the meaningless game provided 5 goals and plenty of excitement. Germany won the game 3-2 but Forlan came within inches of taking the game into extra-time when his last second free kick rebounded off the bar. The game also gave Muller & Forlan a chance to notch up their 5th goals of the tournament, a result which meant that Muller took home the golden ball. Back in 1998, Suker also took home the golden ball after scoring a 6th goal in a 2-1 win over the Dutch. Ofcourse, Just Fontaine made the most of this fixture when he grabbed 4 goals in France's 6-3 win over West Germany in 1958 taking his goal tally to 13, a record that will never be broken.
Regional overview
32 teams is too much for the World Cup, especially since many teams are there just to make up the numbers. Ideally, I would like to see the number trimmed back to 24 and a coefficient system used to determine how many teams from each confederation will be allowed for future tournaments. Such a coefficient system is currently used in the Champions League and ensures that club teams from the various countries try to perform well otherwise their nations risk losing key spots.
1) Europe
13 spots is too much for Europe, especially since Denmark, England, France, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, Switzerland and Serbia were plain awful. Slovakia provided a thrilling finale against Italy but were unadventurous against Paraguay. In the end, European teams took the top 3 spots in the tournament but only Germany and Spain can hold their heads up given the football they played.
2) Africa
Only Ghana did Africa proud whereas Nigeria, Ivory Coast & Cameroon look to have taken a few steps backwards in the last few years. Africa's 5 spots seems too generous given the poor football on display in 2010.
note: South Africa got the 6th African spot as hosts.
3) South America
Considering that there are only 10 countries in the confederation, 5 South American spots seems too much but in fairness all 5 teams did full justice to their World Cup places. Still, one spot can be trimmed, most likely the play-off spot between the 5th place South American team and the 4th place North & Central American team.
I am not sure if there is a possibility of 6 South American in 2014 since Brazil are the hosts. 6 would be too much for South America.
4) North & Central America
Mexico and USA carried the region's flag proudly although Honduras went home with no goals. Still, 3 spots seems to be a minimum for this region.
5) Asia
South Korea & Japan did amazingly well, especially when it came to free-kicks, scoring 3 goals from set-pieces. North Korea had a decent 55 minutes against Brazil but were clearly out of their depth in the other 2 games. Australia came in through the Asian qualifying path and should only improve as they have managed to establish some rivalries, especially with Japan, from playing in Asia. I would leave Asia's 4 spots untouched, although I would remove the option for a 5th team in a play-off with Oceania.
6) Oceania
New Zealand had the easiest path to the tournament and managed to leave as the only unbeaten team. That is quite a remarkable achievement but I still want to see Oceania merged completely with Asia, thereby providing New Zealand the same chance as Australia to frequently play better opposition.
Balancing the numbers
If 32 teams are to be reduced to 24, then I think this is how the 8 spots can be eliminated:
Europe should lose 4 automatic spots.
Africa should lose 2 automatic spots.
The additional play-off spot between Asia and Oceania should be eliminated.
The additional play-off spot between South America and North & Central America should be eliminated.
This would give a total of 23 automatic spots with Europe (9), South America (4), Africa (3), Asia & Oceania (4), North and Central America (3). The 24th spot can go to the host nation and have no bearing on the regional quota.
These numbers should not be fixed permanently and instead should change with every World Cup depending on how the various regional teams perform.
Also, an additional option could be to have more inter-regional play-offs such as between Europe & Africa, Europe & Asia, South America & North America to ensure teams that reach the World Cup are there on merit rather than making up the regional numbers.
Change is required
I can safely assume FIFA will not do anything with the regional numbers. Too much lobbying effort is spent by each federation to ensure their numbers are kept intact. Also, the FIFA president requires votes from each of the federations so one can assume any decision against one federation could endanger those votes.
However, as a minimum, FIFA must introduce goal-line technology to ensure that the games are not ruined by horrible decisions. Also, FIFA must have the power to ban divers after reviewing each game and reverse incorrect yellow card decisions in a game. Muller's yellow card seemed harsh in the Quarter-Final and caused him to miss the game with Spain where he might have made a difference. Laurent Blanc famously missed the 1998 World Cup final after Bilic dove in the semi-final earning Blanc a ridiculous red card.
Also, the number of games played by the top players in the world has to be reduced. FIFA has to eliminate the useless Confederation Cup, along with trimming some of the World Cup qualifying games. UEFA also needs to do their part by reducing the qualifying games for the European Championships especially since 24 teams will be allowed in future tournaments. 24 is almost half of the 53 teams that play in UEFA, so why should European teams have to play in a group of 5-6 teams to qualify for the European Cup?
If Spanish players can't take the kicks, then why must Arsenal put up with it?
Plenty of neutrals are praising Spain for their beautiful football but in reality, Spain were nothing special. They controlled the ball but that was because Holland opted to unsettle Spain by fouling them off the ball and disrupt their play. The Germans also decided to sit back and let Spain have all the possession but the Germans failed to pull off a Swiss result and created no counter opportunity.
It is funny to see the Dutch getting criticized for their negative play by English writers, especially since this is the tactic adopted week in week out by Blackburn, Stoke and Bolton when they play Arsenal. Yet, Arsenal are told to get on with it and are said to not like the physical aspect of the game. But the Spanish are treated as victims when Holland went all Blackburn on Spain. Arseblog sums it up perfectly:
When professional footballers speak before a game about how you have to kick Arsenal, literally, to compete in a game they have a little titter, complain about Arsene Wenger moaning and accuse us of being weak, needing to man-up. Yet they couldn't condemn the Dutch fast enough. And leaving aside van Bommel and de Jong there wasn't another dirty player on the pitch. Bookings are part and parcel of the game, Spain picked up a few too. There's another thing - why do they ignore the cynical side of the Spaniards? If you're going to have a go at dirty/foul play why not criticise the Spanish for the way they constantly crowded the referee waving imaginary cards?
Interestingly, Howard Webb freely gave out yellow cards during the final yet on many occasions in the English league, he has kept the card in his pocket for similar or worse tackles thereby allowing the English players to freely get stuck in against the opposition.
Tricks
A year ago I used to admire the Spanish ball movement but over the last few months it has become very hard to appreciate Spain because their Barcelona players have transformed into an ugly propaganda machine in their effort to bring Cesc back to Barcelona. Cesc has a legal contract with Arsenal yet Barcelona have tried every single disgusting trick to pressure Arsenal into selling their key player. Now it seems the dirty tricks of the Barca players have extended even to Pepe Reina who is a Liverpool player. I cannot understand why Reina, Puyol & Pique resorted to this trick of putting a Barca shirt on Cesc during the Spanish post world cup celebrations. Disgusting!
Nothing at stake = lots of goals
Before the tournament, I would have liked either Spain or Holland to have won the trophy on the basis of the amazing technical players they had. But after watching a terrible final, I rather the trophy was given to one of Germany or Uruguay who put on quite a show in the 3rd place game.
I have wanted the 3rd place game to be eliminated for a while now but the one positive thing about the fixture is that it traditionally provides plenty of goals. One would have to go back to 1978 to when the final had more goals than the 3rd place game (in France 98, both the 3rd place game and final had a total of 3 goals.) And so it was again on Saturday when the meaningless game provided 5 goals and plenty of excitement. Germany won the game 3-2 but Forlan came within inches of taking the game into extra-time when his last second free kick rebounded off the bar. The game also gave Muller & Forlan a chance to notch up their 5th goals of the tournament, a result which meant that Muller took home the golden ball. Back in 1998, Suker also took home the golden ball after scoring a 6th goal in a 2-1 win over the Dutch. Ofcourse, Just Fontaine made the most of this fixture when he grabbed 4 goals in France's 6-3 win over West Germany in 1958 taking his goal tally to 13, a record that will never be broken.
Regional overview
32 teams is too much for the World Cup, especially since many teams are there just to make up the numbers. Ideally, I would like to see the number trimmed back to 24 and a coefficient system used to determine how many teams from each confederation will be allowed for future tournaments. Such a coefficient system is currently used in the Champions League and ensures that club teams from the various countries try to perform well otherwise their nations risk losing key spots.
1) Europe
13 spots is too much for Europe, especially since Denmark, England, France, Italy, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, Switzerland and Serbia were plain awful. Slovakia provided a thrilling finale against Italy but were unadventurous against Paraguay. In the end, European teams took the top 3 spots in the tournament but only Germany and Spain can hold their heads up given the football they played.
2) Africa
Only Ghana did Africa proud whereas Nigeria, Ivory Coast & Cameroon look to have taken a few steps backwards in the last few years. Africa's 5 spots seems too generous given the poor football on display in 2010.
note: South Africa got the 6th African spot as hosts.
3) South America
Considering that there are only 10 countries in the confederation, 5 South American spots seems too much but in fairness all 5 teams did full justice to their World Cup places. Still, one spot can be trimmed, most likely the play-off spot between the 5th place South American team and the 4th place North & Central American team.
I am not sure if there is a possibility of 6 South American in 2014 since Brazil are the hosts. 6 would be too much for South America.
4) North & Central America
Mexico and USA carried the region's flag proudly although Honduras went home with no goals. Still, 3 spots seems to be a minimum for this region.
5) Asia
South Korea & Japan did amazingly well, especially when it came to free-kicks, scoring 3 goals from set-pieces. North Korea had a decent 55 minutes against Brazil but were clearly out of their depth in the other 2 games. Australia came in through the Asian qualifying path and should only improve as they have managed to establish some rivalries, especially with Japan, from playing in Asia. I would leave Asia's 4 spots untouched, although I would remove the option for a 5th team in a play-off with Oceania.
6) Oceania
New Zealand had the easiest path to the tournament and managed to leave as the only unbeaten team. That is quite a remarkable achievement but I still want to see Oceania merged completely with Asia, thereby providing New Zealand the same chance as Australia to frequently play better opposition.
Balancing the numbers
If 32 teams are to be reduced to 24, then I think this is how the 8 spots can be eliminated:
Europe should lose 4 automatic spots.
Africa should lose 2 automatic spots.
The additional play-off spot between Asia and Oceania should be eliminated.
The additional play-off spot between South America and North & Central America should be eliminated.
This would give a total of 23 automatic spots with Europe (9), South America (4), Africa (3), Asia & Oceania (4), North and Central America (3). The 24th spot can go to the host nation and have no bearing on the regional quota.
These numbers should not be fixed permanently and instead should change with every World Cup depending on how the various regional teams perform.
Also, an additional option could be to have more inter-regional play-offs such as between Europe & Africa, Europe & Asia, South America & North America to ensure teams that reach the World Cup are there on merit rather than making up the regional numbers.
Change is required
I can safely assume FIFA will not do anything with the regional numbers. Too much lobbying effort is spent by each federation to ensure their numbers are kept intact. Also, the FIFA president requires votes from each of the federations so one can assume any decision against one federation could endanger those votes.
However, as a minimum, FIFA must introduce goal-line technology to ensure that the games are not ruined by horrible decisions. Also, FIFA must have the power to ban divers after reviewing each game and reverse incorrect yellow card decisions in a game. Muller's yellow card seemed harsh in the Quarter-Final and caused him to miss the game with Spain where he might have made a difference. Laurent Blanc famously missed the 1998 World Cup final after Bilic dove in the semi-final earning Blanc a ridiculous red card.
Also, the number of games played by the top players in the world has to be reduced. FIFA has to eliminate the useless Confederation Cup, along with trimming some of the World Cup qualifying games. UEFA also needs to do their part by reducing the qualifying games for the European Championships especially since 24 teams will be allowed in future tournaments. 24 is almost half of the 53 teams that play in UEFA, so why should European teams have to play in a group of 5-6 teams to qualify for the European Cup?
Friday, July 09, 2010
2010 Movie World Cup, Recap
A film spotlight based on the 2010 Soccer World Cup
The Rules and selection criteria were drafted back in November 2009, with the first film viewed back in Dec 2009 and the final film seen only days before the soccer World Cup kicked off on June 11, 2010. From the 32 film list there were many entries that looked as potential finalists:
England: Of Time and the City (2008, Terence Davies)
Japan: The Human Condition, part I (1959, Masaki Kobayashi)
Portugal: Colossal Youth (2006, Pedro Costa)
Paraguay: Paraguayan Hammock (2006, Paz Encina)
France: Sans soleil (1983, Chris Marker)
Brazil: Almost Brothers (2004, Lúcia Murat)
Spain: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Victor Erice)
Germany: Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922, Fritz Lang)
Italy: Il Divo (2008, Paolo Sorrentino)
Argentina: Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso)
South Korea: Like you Know it All (2009, Hong sang-soo)
USA: Ballast (2008, Lance Hammer)
Chile: Historias de fútbol (1997 Andrés Wood)
Of these, the English, Italian and Brazilian titles were hugely disappointing. Only the Argentine feature exceeded expectations and very early on it was evident that it was a potential winner. The following were a few pleasurable discoveries:
Mexico: In the Pit (2006, Juan Carlos Rulfo)
Honduras: El Porvenir (2008, Oscar Estrada)
Serbia: The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009, Mladen Djordjevic)
I wish I had spent more time digging up a Dutch title but I took a gamble with the 2009 feature Amsterdam (Ivo van Hove) and unfortunately, it didn't pay off.
Below is a more complete recap.
First Round
Following are the films listed in the order they finished in the group, with total points out of 9.
Group A -- Mexico (In the Pit, 8), Uruguay (Gigante, 8), France (Sans Soleil, 7), South Africa (U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha, 6)
Group B -- Argentina (Liverpool, 9), Greece (The Lost Monument, 8), South Korea (Like You Know it All, 8), Nigeria (Without Shame, 4)
Group C -- USA (Ballast, 9), Algeria (Daugther of Keltoum, 7), Slovenia (How I Killed a Saint, 6), England (Of Time and the City, 5)
Group D -- Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang, 9), Germany (Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler, 8), Australia (Celia, 6), Ghana (The Perfect Picture, 5)
Group E -- Japan (The Human Condition, part I, 9), Denmark (Flame and Citron, 8), Cameroon (A Trip to the Country, 7), Holland (Amsterdam, 5)
Group F -- Paraguay (Paraguayan Hammock, 8), Italy (Il Divo, 6), Slovakia (Orbis Pictus, 6), New Zealand (Black Sheep, 4)
Group G -- Portugal (Colossal Youth, 9), North Korea (North Korea: A Day in the Life, 7), Brazil (Almost Brothers, 6), Ivory Coast (Adanggaman, 5)
Group H -- Honduras (El Porvenir, 8), Spain (The Spirit of the Beehive, 7), Chile (Historias de fútbol, 6), Switzerland (A Crude Awakening, 5)
The top 2 films from each group advanced to the second round or the round of 16.
Second Round
Quarter-Finals
1) Mexico (In the Pit) 3-3 USA (Ballast)
2) Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Portugal (Colossal Youth)
3) Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang)
4) Denmark (Flame and Citron) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)
The Mexican, Japanese and Honduran films all advanced to the Semi-Finals on the basis of subjective penalty shoot-out wins.
Semi-Finals, 3rd Place & Final
Semi-Finals
Mexico (In the Pit) 3 - 2 Japan (The Human Condition, part I)
Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)
3rd Place
Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)
The Honduran film takes 3rd place on penalties.
Final
Mexico (In the Pit) 2-3 Argentina (Liverpool)
Overall, a very enjoyable festival with plenty of rich cinematic offerings. I especially relished the challenge of tracking down films from all 32 countries and such a task required a good investment of time and money. Some films were obviously a lot harder to find, such as the entries from Honduras, Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria but in the end it was worth it as the presence of a full set of 32 films made for a worthy competition.
The Rules and selection criteria were drafted back in November 2009, with the first film viewed back in Dec 2009 and the final film seen only days before the soccer World Cup kicked off on June 11, 2010. From the 32 film list there were many entries that looked as potential finalists:
England: Of Time and the City (2008, Terence Davies)
Japan: The Human Condition, part I (1959, Masaki Kobayashi)
Portugal: Colossal Youth (2006, Pedro Costa)
Paraguay: Paraguayan Hammock (2006, Paz Encina)
France: Sans soleil (1983, Chris Marker)
Brazil: Almost Brothers (2004, Lúcia Murat)
Spain: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Victor Erice)
Germany: Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler (1922, Fritz Lang)
Italy: Il Divo (2008, Paolo Sorrentino)
Argentina: Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso)
South Korea: Like you Know it All (2009, Hong sang-soo)
USA: Ballast (2008, Lance Hammer)
Chile: Historias de fútbol (1997 Andrés Wood)
Of these, the English, Italian and Brazilian titles were hugely disappointing. Only the Argentine feature exceeded expectations and very early on it was evident that it was a potential winner. The following were a few pleasurable discoveries:
Mexico: In the Pit (2006, Juan Carlos Rulfo)
Honduras: El Porvenir (2008, Oscar Estrada)
Serbia: The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009, Mladen Djordjevic)
I wish I had spent more time digging up a Dutch title but I took a gamble with the 2009 feature Amsterdam (Ivo van Hove) and unfortunately, it didn't pay off.
Below is a more complete recap.
First Round
Following are the films listed in the order they finished in the group, with total points out of 9.
Group A -- Mexico (In the Pit, 8), Uruguay (Gigante, 8), France (Sans Soleil, 7), South Africa (U-Carmen e-Khayelitsha, 6)
Group B -- Argentina (Liverpool, 9), Greece (The Lost Monument, 8), South Korea (Like You Know it All, 8), Nigeria (Without Shame, 4)
Group C -- USA (Ballast, 9), Algeria (Daugther of Keltoum, 7), Slovenia (How I Killed a Saint, 6), England (Of Time and the City, 5)
Group D -- Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang, 9), Germany (Dr. Mabuse: The Gambler, 8), Australia (Celia, 6), Ghana (The Perfect Picture, 5)
Group E -- Japan (The Human Condition, part I, 9), Denmark (Flame and Citron, 8), Cameroon (A Trip to the Country, 7), Holland (Amsterdam, 5)
Group F -- Paraguay (Paraguayan Hammock, 8), Italy (Il Divo, 6), Slovakia (Orbis Pictus, 6), New Zealand (Black Sheep, 4)
Group G -- Portugal (Colossal Youth, 9), North Korea (North Korea: A Day in the Life, 7), Brazil (Almost Brothers, 6), Ivory Coast (Adanggaman, 5)
Group H -- Honduras (El Porvenir, 8), Spain (The Spirit of the Beehive, 7), Chile (Historias de fútbol, 6), Switzerland (A Crude Awakening, 5)
The top 2 films from each group advanced to the second round or the round of 16.
Second Round
1) Mexico (In the Pit) 3-1 Greece (The Lost Monument)
2) USA (Ballast) 3-2 Germany (Dr. Mabuse The Gambler)
3) Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 3-0 Italy (Il Divo)
4) Portugal (Colossal Youth) 2-1 Spain (The Spirit of the Beehive)
5) Argentina (Liverpool) 3-1 Uruguay (Gigante)
6) Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang) 3-0 Algeria (Daughter of Keltoum)
7) Paraguay (Paraguayan Hammock) 2-3 Denmark (Flame and Citron)
8) Honduras (El Porvenir) 3-0 North Korea (North Korea: A Day in the Life)
Quarter-Finals
1) Mexico (In the Pit) 3-3 USA (Ballast)
2) Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Portugal (Colossal Youth)
3) Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang)
4) Denmark (Flame and Citron) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)
The Mexican, Japanese and Honduran films all advanced to the Semi-Finals on the basis of subjective penalty shoot-out wins.
Semi-Finals, 3rd Place & Final
Semi-Finals
Mexico (In the Pit) 3 - 2 Japan (The Human Condition, part I)
Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)
3rd Place
Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)
The Honduran film takes 3rd place on penalties.
Final
Mexico (In the Pit) 2-3 Argentina (Liverpool)
Overall, a very enjoyable festival with plenty of rich cinematic offerings. I especially relished the challenge of tracking down films from all 32 countries and such a task required a good investment of time and money. Some films were obviously a lot harder to find, such as the entries from Honduras, Cameroon, Ghana and Nigeria but in the end it was worth it as the presence of a full set of 32 films made for a worthy competition.
Thursday, July 08, 2010
2010 Movie World Cup, Semi-Finals, 3rd Place & Final
Semi-Final #1
In the Pit
Freeway construction site. A concrete cross ready to bear the burden of human's technological advances. Forgive us concrete, for we humans have sinned.
The end sequence of In the Pit is quite beautiful and gives an overview of the enormous construction site and hovers over some of the hundreds of workers involved. We only get to meet a few of the site workers in the film but there are many more stories waiting to be told.
The Human Condition
An intelligent and fascinating case study of human egos, greed and power.
Kaji has the difficult task of trying to implement his ideals across two parties, masters and slaves, who hate and distrust the other. Just three snapshots of his complex discussions:
1) Telling the labor bosses to steal less makes Kaji an instant enemy.
2) Kaji's ideas about fair labor conditions and practices are immediately dismissed by his supervisors as impractical.
3) Breaking the bad news to the prisoners -- Kaji almost always has bad news for the prisoners because his humane methods are either not recognized or undermined.
The Human Condition is a timeless film that will always be relevant because humans will never be able to treat others with respect and dignity. Egos, greed and lust for power will never go out of fashion.
Semi-Final #2
Liverpool is about a solitary man's journey while El Porvenir looks at the reasons why young men abandon isolation in favor of gangs. Death is implied yet never seen in Liverpool whereas El Porvenir examines the brutal killing that took place in April 2003 at the El Porvenir penal farm.
3rd Place Match
Penalty shoot-out! The Honduran film narrowly sneaks out third place on penalties.
Movie World Cup Final
Lisandro Alonso's beautiful film ends up as the best overall film when compared to the other 31 entries. The Brazilian film, In the Middle of the World, won the 2006 Movie World Cup and now another South American film takes the 2010 Movie World Cup. Unfortunately, no South American team will win the 2010 soccer World Cup despite a strong showing from all 5 South American teams in the opening rounds.
Mexico (In the Pit) 3 - 2 Japan (The Human Condition, part I)
In the Pit
Freeway construction site. A concrete cross ready to bear the burden of human's technological advances. Forgive us concrete, for we humans have sinned.
The Human Condition
An intelligent and fascinating case study of human egos, greed and power.
Kaji has the difficult task of trying to implement his ideals across two parties, masters and slaves, who hate and distrust the other. Just three snapshots of his complex discussions:
1) Telling the labor bosses to steal less makes Kaji an instant enemy.
The Human Condition is a timeless film that will always be relevant because humans will never be able to treat others with respect and dignity. Egos, greed and lust for power will never go out of fashion.
Semi-Final #2
Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)
Liverpool is about a solitary man's journey while El Porvenir looks at the reasons why young men abandon isolation in favor of gangs. Death is implied yet never seen in Liverpool whereas El Porvenir examines the brutal killing that took place in April 2003 at the El Porvenir penal farm.
3rd Place Match
Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)
Penalty shoot-out! The Honduran film narrowly sneaks out third place on penalties.
Movie World Cup Final
Mexico (In the Pit,2006, Juan Carlos Rulfo) 2-3 Argentina (Liverpool, 2008, Lisandro Alonso)
Lisandro Alonso's beautiful film ends up as the best overall film when compared to the other 31 entries. The Brazilian film, In the Middle of the World, won the 2006 Movie World Cup and now another South American film takes the 2010 Movie World Cup. Unfortunately, no South American team will win the 2010 soccer World Cup despite a strong showing from all 5 South American teams in the opening rounds.
Monday, July 05, 2010
Fate, High Drama, Penalty Kicks & Heroes/Villains
Uruguay vs Ghana, Extra Time, Quarter-Finals
Revisiting the now historic & dramatic final seconds of extra time during Uruguay's 1-1 tie with Ghana.
1) Free-kick is awarded to Ghana with less than 30 seconds on the clock.
2) Ghana's goal bound attempt is legally cleared off the line.
3) Ghana's second attempt is illegally punched off the line by Suarez.
4) A penalty is awarded to Ghana and a red card shown to Suarez.
5) Gyan steps up for a historic kick. The fate of a nation and an entire continent rests on his shoulders.
6) Incredibly the ball rings off the crossbar.
Gyan is shattered and the camera cuts to Suarez, the villain of this episode, who is now shown to be celebrating.
7) The match ends at 1-1 and heads to a penalty shoot-out.
Gyan shows tremendous mental strength and courage in being Ghana's first penalty taker. He once again goes for a high corner but this time successfully converts his kick.
Gyan's brave effort proves to be not enough as two of his teammates see their tame penalties saved allowing Abreu to chip Uruguay into the final four.
Ironic Penalties
Ironies are part and parcel of this game, especially those associated with penalties. People blame Roberto Baggio's penalty miss for costing Italy the 1994 World Cup but without Roberto Baggio's wonderful goals, including an extra time penalty kick against Nigeria in the second round, Italy would never have been in the final to begin with. Similarly, without Gyan, Ghana would not have been in the Quarter-Finals. Ghana failed to score a single goal from open play in the first round and the only reason that Ghana got to the second round was thanks to two successful penalty conversions from Gyan against Serbia and Australia. In both cases, it was a handball that gave Gyan the chance to score his vital goals. Gyan's penalty kicks enabled Ghana to be the only African team to make the second round at this World Cup so it is ironic that his miss dented Ghana's chances of making further history by becoming the first African country to make the semi-finals. Even though Gyan redeemed himself in the shoot-out, his failed attempt was the closest an African team has gotten to making the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Besides Ghana, in the last two decades, Cameroon and Senegal were the other two African teams who were within touching distance of the Semi-Finals but both Cameroon and Senegal lost in extra-time of Italia 1990 & Korea/Japan 2002 respectively. Although, penalties played a cruel part in Cameroon's elimination 20 years ago. Cameroon were leading 2-1 over England in regulation and were within 7 minutes of the Semi-finals but they gave away a penalty allowing England to tie the game up 2-2 and in extra time, they gave away another penalty to bow out of Italia 1990.
Revisiting the now historic & dramatic final seconds of extra time during Uruguay's 1-1 tie with Ghana.
1) Free-kick is awarded to Ghana with less than 30 seconds on the clock.
2) Ghana's goal bound attempt is legally cleared off the line.
3) Ghana's second attempt is illegally punched off the line by Suarez.
4) A penalty is awarded to Ghana and a red card shown to Suarez.
5) Gyan steps up for a historic kick. The fate of a nation and an entire continent rests on his shoulders.
6) Incredibly the ball rings off the crossbar.
Gyan is shattered and the camera cuts to Suarez, the villain of this episode, who is now shown to be celebrating.
7) The match ends at 1-1 and heads to a penalty shoot-out.
Gyan shows tremendous mental strength and courage in being Ghana's first penalty taker. He once again goes for a high corner but this time successfully converts his kick.
Gyan's brave effort proves to be not enough as two of his teammates see their tame penalties saved allowing Abreu to chip Uruguay into the final four.
Ironic Penalties
Ironies are part and parcel of this game, especially those associated with penalties. People blame Roberto Baggio's penalty miss for costing Italy the 1994 World Cup but without Roberto Baggio's wonderful goals, including an extra time penalty kick against Nigeria in the second round, Italy would never have been in the final to begin with. Similarly, without Gyan, Ghana would not have been in the Quarter-Finals. Ghana failed to score a single goal from open play in the first round and the only reason that Ghana got to the second round was thanks to two successful penalty conversions from Gyan against Serbia and Australia. In both cases, it was a handball that gave Gyan the chance to score his vital goals. Gyan's penalty kicks enabled Ghana to be the only African team to make the second round at this World Cup so it is ironic that his miss dented Ghana's chances of making further history by becoming the first African country to make the semi-finals. Even though Gyan redeemed himself in the shoot-out, his failed attempt was the closest an African team has gotten to making the semi-finals of the World Cup.
Besides Ghana, in the last two decades, Cameroon and Senegal were the other two African teams who were within touching distance of the Semi-Finals but both Cameroon and Senegal lost in extra-time of Italia 1990 & Korea/Japan 2002 respectively. Although, penalties played a cruel part in Cameroon's elimination 20 years ago. Cameroon were leading 2-1 over England in regulation and were within 7 minutes of the Semi-finals but they gave away a penalty allowing England to tie the game up 2-2 and in extra time, they gave away another penalty to bow out of Italia 1990.
2010 Movie World Cup, Quarter-Finals
The head-to-head rules for the Quarter-Finals are the same as the second round, meaning three categories are used to decide a winner -- Direction, Structure (story and editing) & Cinematography.
1) Mexico (In the Pit) 3-3 USA (Ballast)
Both films perfectly soak up the mood and noise of their locales with In the Pit focusing on a freeway construction site in Mexico City and Ballast observing a family's plight in the Mississippi Delta. However, Juan Carlos Rulfo has also created a film that explains a nation's economic and social situation and offers a meditative look at the mess that humans have created for themselves with their never ending car packed roads. The more roads that humans build, the faster they will be filled with cars so in a way, construction for easing car congestion will inevitably lead to more congestion. The Myth of Sisyphus is well and truly a reality.
2) Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 2-2 Portugal (Colossal Youth)
Two completely different styles at play here with The Human Condition being a narrative driven exercise and Colossal Youth a mesmerizing painting. In the end, the Japanese film wins out because of its rich and fascinating template of intriguing characters who provide an understanding into the political problems facing our world. Now, there is no denying the pleasure that exists in observing Ventura in Colossal Youth but in order to enjoy moments with Ventura we are forced to spend time with Vanda, whose conversations did not suit my cinematic palate. In a way, Colossal Youth demonstrated both the beauty and frustrations demonstrated by the Portuguese national team at this World Cup. On one hand, Portugal played some champagne football in their 7 goal classic against North Korea but on the other hand they were also guilty of mind numbing dullness in two 0-0 draws against Ivory Coast and Brazil. Portugal vs North Korea = Ventura, while Portugal vs Ivory Coast = Vanda. If only Cape Verde were present in this group instead of Ivory Coast, then maybe, just maybe a dream of a lava house would have been truly realized.
3) Argentina (Liverpool) 3-2 Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang)
Death is a common bond between these films but with a slight difference -- in the case of Liverpool death is indirectly implied outside the frame but in The Life and Death of a Porno Gang death is found brutally and explicitly at every turn. Liverpool also signifies nirvana where the main character is able to shed off his worldly worries and attain pure liberation. On the other hand, The Life and Death of a Porno Gang demonstrates multiple lives cruelly cut short with none of the characters ever coming close to living out their wishes.
4) Denmark (Flame and Citron) 2-2 Honduras (El Porvenir)
The Danish film shows the emotional wear and tear of characters trained to kill for their cause while the Honduran feature examines a social system which allows killing to easily take place. Flame and Citron is set during WWII at a time when resistance groups fought for freedom but as El Porvenir shows even when a nation gets freedom, its citizens cannot freely etch out a living.
Movie Quarter-Final Results
Mexico, Japan and Honduras advance on the back of subjective penalty shoot-out wins while the Argentine feature advances with yet another strong result.
All the films at this stage are quality works as demonstrated by the first round ratings -- 5 of the 8 films scored 9/9 and the remaining 3 netted 8/9. So this made for some very close decisions and interestingly, three of the quarter finals ended up being decided by a subjective penalty shoot-out after the head-to-head match-up ended in a tie.
Soccer World Cup Quarter-Finals
My prediction for 4 possible South American teams in the Semi-Finals came to a crashing end this past weekend. But thankfully, the 4 matches were all classics in their own right and provided plenty of drama and intriguing stories.
I did not see this one coming, especially after the first half when Holland were absolutely poor. How can one explain Brazil's implosion in the second half, especially Felipe Melo's moment of madness? Melo lost his mind and so did Brazil. Robinho and Fabiano are imposters who should spend their energy playing the game and not complaining. Dunga's decision to take extra defensive players to the World Cup backfired and when Brazil needed a goal, they had no creative force to call upon. Hopefully none of the existing Brazilians will ever play for the national team again and the 2014 Brazilian squad returns to its beautiful football roots.
Holland are in the semis for the first time since 1998 but this Dutch team is a world away from the 1974, 1978, 1988 Dutch squads known for beautiful football. Still, if there is a nation that deserves to win the World Cup based on the game's history, then it is Holland. But if the Dutch are to succeed, then they need Van Persie to stop getting injured and start scoring goals.
The hand of Suarez, a last minute penalty miss and a penalty shoot-out drama!! The end result is that Africa misses out on a historic semi-final berth while Uruguay is back in the semi-finals for the first time since 1970 when they lost 3-1 to Brazil.
Prior to the game, my mind expected Germany to win but my heart wanted Argentina to win. Yet, I didn't expect such a one sided demolition job. Wow! Maradona went the opposite way of Dunga in that he left out much needed defensive cover in the form of Cambiasso & Zanetti and opted for more offensive players. The end result was that Germany had enough freedom to find space in Argentina's hollow defense.
What would Spain do without David Villa? Once again, Villa comes to the rescue after both team's captains, Casillas & Villar, made vital penalty saves although Villar got 2 tries to save one kick.
Brazil's defensive setup vs Argentina's attacking lineup
Dunga opted for 8 defenders, 8 midfielders and only 4 forward whereas Maradona took 7 defenders, 7 midfielders and 6 attackers. On top of that, Argentina's midfield was far more adventurous and attack minded than Brazil's defensive midfield which featured more holding players such as Gilberto and Melo. A Brazil vs Argentina final would have been a great opportunity to observe the contrasting styles but both team's weakness did them in. Brazil had almost no creativity to pry open the Dutch team and were as ineffective as they were in the 1-0 loss to France in the last World Cup whereas Argentina lacked any defensive cover to stop the German runs.
So back to the drawing board for Brazil and Argentina.
South America 1 - Europe 3
South America's bright start has faded away and only Uruguay remain waving the continent's flag while the presence of Holland, Germany and Spain in the semi's means there is a strong possibility of a European team finally winning the World Cup outside of Europe.
Friday, June 25, 2010
2010 World Cup, 1st Round Soccer vs Film & Predictions Review
First Round Comparison
9 countries advanced to both the soccer World Cup and movie tournament’s second round as all 8 groups provided atleast one common nation, with Group A being the only group that provided the same two nations. Argentina, USA and Paraguay were the only three countries that topped both their soccer and movie groups.
Regional Comparison of the 16 Nations Advancing from the First Round
Soccer World Cup -- South America (5/5), Europe (6/13), North & Central America (2/3), Asia (2/3), Africa (1/6), Oceania (0/2).
Movie World Cup -- South America (3/5), Europe (7/13), North & Central America (3/3), Asia (2/3), Africa (1/6), Oceania (0/2).
It is quite remarkable that the regional representation is almost similar for both the soccer and film World Cups with the numbers for Asia, Africa and Oceania completely identical. In that sense, my film selections ended up being consistent with the different regional soccer team's performances. However, South American teams have stood out in the soccer World Cup with a brilliant performance as four of the five South American nations advanced in 1st place in their respective groups and Chile only gave up first place on the final day on goal-difference.
Predictions vs Actual Results in the Soccer World Cup
I correctly picked 12 out of 16 nations for my 2nd round picks. I clearly over-estimated Serbia's abilities while under-estimated South Korea, Ghana, Japan and Slovakia. Although I am still not convinced about Ghana because they failed to find the target from open play and had penalties to thank for their 2 strikes. One can argue that had Harry Kewell not used his arm then Ghana would have had a clear goal but Ghana owe a huge debt of gratitude for Zdravko Kuzmanovic’s gift of a handball. Serbia have only themselves to blame for their exit and their two needless handballs depicted the mental meltdown of their players. Vidic maybe reliable for Man Utd but he panicked against Germany and handled in a similar silly manner to Kuzmanovic.
Even though I didn't do too bad with my picks, I still got plenty of things wrong.
1) Group C
"Despite all their shortcomings, England will comfortably advance from this group along with USA."
Yes, both teams advanced but it was not very comfortable as England and USA needed 1-0 wins on the final day, with USA getting their winner in injury time.
"The big question will be whether the US can beat England to the group's #1 spot."
Yes this was answered as USA grabbed top spot but only on goal-difference. Prior to the World Cup, I thought that the only way the Americans could get top spot was if they beat England 2-1 otherwise if they only tied England 1-1, then they would finish in second place on goal difference because I expected England to beat Algeria 3-0 and Slovenia 2-0.
2) Group F
"I do not expect Italy to achieve anything and I am sure they will comply. It is hard to see this Italian team make it to the semi's but they have enough talent to win their group and advance to the next round."
Yes Italy did not achieve anything but instead of winning their easy group, they finished bottom.
"2nd spot will come down to Paraguay vs Slovakia with New Zealand finishing comfortably in 4th. For now, I am going to pick Paraguay to advance even though my instinct tells me Slovakia will go through."
Both Paraguay & Slovakia advanced but New Zealand finished impressively unbeaten in 3rd.
3) Group H
"Despite their injuries and possible fatigue, Spain should easily win the group. Chile had an excellent world cup campaign and should follow Spain out of this group. Ottmar Hitzfeld will ensure the Swiss put on a good display but Switzerland's style will be a complete contrast to Chile and Honduras."
Spain did win the group but it clearly was not a stroll.
Overall, I got the standings of all four teams correct for Group A, G and H but Group G & H were a bit easier to get right. I am most delighted with my group A predictions where I correctly picked the order of Uruguay, Mexico, South Africa and France. Most people I know expected France to not make it out of their group but quite a few of them expected South Africa to join Uruguay. I take pride in picking the game scores of the French games to be 0-0 with Uruguay, 0-2 Mexico and 0-1 South Africa. France lost 2-1 to South Africa but atleast I got 2 scores and goal difference correct for the French team. Ofcourse, with Raymond Domenech in charge, failure was the only option available for the French. The only reason that Domenech didn't fail miserably in 2006 was Zinedine Zidane.
Second Round
The only match-up similar in the second round of the soccer and movie world cup is Spain vs Portugal. In the movie world cup, Pedro Costa’s beautiful film narrowly advanced over Victor Erice’s feature but it is hard to see the Portuguese soccer team beat out a Xavi-Iniesta-David Villa powered Spanish team.
Still, good football awaits this weekend. Hopefully there will be goals.
9 countries advanced to both the soccer World Cup and movie tournament’s second round as all 8 groups provided atleast one common nation, with Group A being the only group that provided the same two nations. Argentina, USA and Paraguay were the only three countries that topped both their soccer and movie groups.
Regional Comparison of the 16 Nations Advancing from the First Round
Soccer World Cup -- South America (5/5), Europe (6/13), North & Central America (2/3), Asia (2/3), Africa (1/6), Oceania (0/2).
Movie World Cup -- South America (3/5), Europe (7/13), North & Central America (3/3), Asia (2/3), Africa (1/6), Oceania (0/2).
It is quite remarkable that the regional representation is almost similar for both the soccer and film World Cups with the numbers for Asia, Africa and Oceania completely identical. In that sense, my film selections ended up being consistent with the different regional soccer team's performances. However, South American teams have stood out in the soccer World Cup with a brilliant performance as four of the five South American nations advanced in 1st place in their respective groups and Chile only gave up first place on the final day on goal-difference.
Predictions vs Actual Results in the Soccer World Cup
I correctly picked 12 out of 16 nations for my 2nd round picks. I clearly over-estimated Serbia's abilities while under-estimated South Korea, Ghana, Japan and Slovakia. Although I am still not convinced about Ghana because they failed to find the target from open play and had penalties to thank for their 2 strikes. One can argue that had Harry Kewell not used his arm then Ghana would have had a clear goal but Ghana owe a huge debt of gratitude for Zdravko Kuzmanovic’s gift of a handball. Serbia have only themselves to blame for their exit and their two needless handballs depicted the mental meltdown of their players. Vidic maybe reliable for Man Utd but he panicked against Germany and handled in a similar silly manner to Kuzmanovic.
Even though I didn't do too bad with my picks, I still got plenty of things wrong.
1) Group C
"Despite all their shortcomings, England will comfortably advance from this group along with USA."
Yes, both teams advanced but it was not very comfortable as England and USA needed 1-0 wins on the final day, with USA getting their winner in injury time.
"The big question will be whether the US can beat England to the group's #1 spot."
Yes this was answered as USA grabbed top spot but only on goal-difference. Prior to the World Cup, I thought that the only way the Americans could get top spot was if they beat England 2-1 otherwise if they only tied England 1-1, then they would finish in second place on goal difference because I expected England to beat Algeria 3-0 and Slovenia 2-0.
2) Group F
"I do not expect Italy to achieve anything and I am sure they will comply. It is hard to see this Italian team make it to the semi's but they have enough talent to win their group and advance to the next round."
Yes Italy did not achieve anything but instead of winning their easy group, they finished bottom.
"2nd spot will come down to Paraguay vs Slovakia with New Zealand finishing comfortably in 4th. For now, I am going to pick Paraguay to advance even though my instinct tells me Slovakia will go through."
Both Paraguay & Slovakia advanced but New Zealand finished impressively unbeaten in 3rd.
3) Group H
"Despite their injuries and possible fatigue, Spain should easily win the group. Chile had an excellent world cup campaign and should follow Spain out of this group. Ottmar Hitzfeld will ensure the Swiss put on a good display but Switzerland's style will be a complete contrast to Chile and Honduras."
Spain did win the group but it clearly was not a stroll.
Overall, I got the standings of all four teams correct for Group A, G and H but Group G & H were a bit easier to get right. I am most delighted with my group A predictions where I correctly picked the order of Uruguay, Mexico, South Africa and France. Most people I know expected France to not make it out of their group but quite a few of them expected South Africa to join Uruguay. I take pride in picking the game scores of the French games to be 0-0 with Uruguay, 0-2 Mexico and 0-1 South Africa. France lost 2-1 to South Africa but atleast I got 2 scores and goal difference correct for the French team. Ofcourse, with Raymond Domenech in charge, failure was the only option available for the French. The only reason that Domenech didn't fail miserably in 2006 was Zinedine Zidane.
Second Round
The only match-up similar in the second round of the soccer and movie world cup is Spain vs Portugal. In the movie world cup, Pedro Costa’s beautiful film narrowly advanced over Victor Erice’s feature but it is hard to see the Portuguese soccer team beat out a Xavi-Iniesta-David Villa powered Spanish team.
Still, good football awaits this weekend. Hopefully there will be goals.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Cheats, Dives & Waka Waka
Evil handball vs Good handball
Every British soccer commentator has felt it their duty to talk about Thierry Henry's handball against the Irish every time the camera turned towards the French striker at this World Cup. In addition, every British newspaper finds ways to include the handball mention with any article related to the French team because they believe Henry's double juggle is no less than a war crime. And moments after the French lost 2-0 to Mexico, Soccernet decided the only headline they could come up with was "Irish Eyes are Smiling" and ignored any mention of Mexican joy at such a famous result. Yet, no one seems to find anything wrong about Luis Fabiano's double juggling of the ball to score Brazil's second goal against the Ivory Coast. This is how the Guardian summed it up.
Superb again from the Sevilla striker. Dinks the ball over Zokora, dinks the ball over Touré, (then brings the ball down with his arm), before cracking another fizzing shot past Barry. More than a hint of controversy about that one, but the skill was sublime in the build up.
So does that mean as long as the skill is sublime, then a double handball is ok? Or does it simply mean that as long as a double handball is not committed against a British team, then it is perfectly alright?
Canadian broadcasters did highlight the illegal usage of the arm but still dubbed it a beautiful goal of amazing skill. It is remarkable that Henry was blasted for cheating yet people find Fabiano's illegal goal perfectly acceptable. To add a comical touch to the whole matter, the ref asked Fabiano if he used his arm in scoring the goal. As expected, Fabiano said no but one can detect a hint of a smile in his response.
Today, a partial admittance came from Fabiano but it is still nonsense:
But in order to make the goal more beautiful, there had to be a doubtful element. It was a spectacular goal and I believe it was not a voluntary handball. It was a legitimate goal and it was one of the most beautiful goals that I've scored in my career. Where better to score such a goal than at the World Cup?"
I may be the only person on the planet who cannot see it as the beautiful goal that it is being called. If players can use their arm to bring the ball down, then I am sure we will see many such "beautiful goals".
Oh the acting...
Abdel-kader Keïta showed the world what cheating is all about when he got Kaka sent off by going down as if a sniper's bullet had hit him in the face. To make matters worse, Chile's Arturo Vidal decided to copy Abdel-kader Keïta and faked a slap to the face thereby getting Behrami sent off. Chile duly beat the Swiss 1-0 but it is hard to view that game after such an act of blatant cheating.
Such play-acting has become all too common and has tarnished this game. FIFA need to do something to stop this play-acting but as usual they remain silent while the World Cup continues to be ruined by cheats.
2002 Deja vu? or recurring travel blues?
French, Italian, Portuguese and English players all struggled and looked tired in 2002 when the World Cup was hosted in Asia for the first time. Even though Germany got to the 2002 final, they did it on the back of three consecutive 1-0 results. Now in Africa’s first World Cup, France, Italy and England are struggling once again but after a lackluster opener, atleast Portugal have found their shooting boots with a 7-0 win over North Korea.
Could it be that some of the current generation of European national players struggle or are not interested when the tournament is away from Europe? Or are the European nations just following history by performing poorly on foreign soil? Historically, European nations have not won a World Cup hosted outside of Europe in 8 attempts. On the other hand, European teams have won 9 out of 10 World Cups hosted in Europe. The sole non-European victory was provided by Brazil, ofcourse, who won the 1958 World Cup in Sweden by beating the hosts 5-2 in a memorable final when a young Pele announced his arrival on the world stage. Including the European triumph, Brazil have won the World Cup in 4 continents with a 1962 win in Chile, Mexico in 1970, USA in 1994 and Korea/Japan in 2002. Shockingly, Brazil lost the 1950 World Cup on home soil to Uruguay. After Brazil, Argentina are the only nation to have won in multiple continents as they won the 1978 World Cup at home (albeit with some luck in the final against Holland and maybe a bribe against Peru) and managed a famous (that goal and that handball) victory in Mexico 1986.
So a European winner in South Africa can dent the European travel blues theory although this theory will still get a stern test in 2014 when Brazil hosts the next World Cup. Safe to say, Brazil will be keen to erase memories of 1950 by achieving a home win four years from now.
Waka Waka -- This time for South America, not Africa
The record of the 6 African teams at this World Cup stands dismally at just one win (Ghana 1-0 Serbia), 4 draws (1-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-1) and 7 losses. The six teams have just managed 6 goals between them but have conceded 15, with South Africa and Ivory Coast letting in 3 each in their 3-0 and 3-1 losses to Uruguay and Brazil respectively.
Prior to the World Cup, a lot of soccer writers/commentators mentioned that an African team would reach the semi-finals in South Africa. I always found that statement puzzling because I could not envision any of the African teams to even make it out of their groups let alone reach the semis. As it stands, Cameroon have become the first team to be officially eliminated from the World Cup and going into the final group games, only Ghana is best poised to make the next round but they have a tough test against Germany and have to find a way to score a goal from open play as both Ghanaian goals in this tournament have come from the penalty spot. Algeria have already surpassed expectations with their 0-0 tie with England and still have an outside chance to make the second round but they have to score a goal for that to happen.
There isn't one easy explanation for all the African teams’ failures although all six teams have suffered from not having creative midfielders. In the case of Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon, the managers have to take a good chunk of the responsibility regardless of the time they have been employed in their jobs. Ivory Coast brought in Sven-Göran Eriksson in March and Nigeria hired Lars Lagerbäck in Febuary. A few months is not enough time for the managers to work with their teams especially if key players are plying their trade in Europe but Eriksson & Lagerbäck should have atleast established a tactical shape to utilize the players on hand. Although Paul Le Guen demonstrated that even a year may not be enough time to get things right as Le Guen's puzzling tactical decisions have aided Cameroon's poor display, especially in their opener against Japan when Alex Song was left on the bench and Cameroon's most lethal striker Samuel Eto'o was deployed wide right where he was rendered ineffective. On the other hand, in South Africa's case no amount of time may have been sufficient because their team lacks enough creative personnel. Even though Carlos Parreira is in his second tenure with South Africa, it is hard to see how much better he could have done given the resources at his disposal. South African players played above their strengths in the opener and almost got a winner but their weaknesses were on display against Uruguay.
On the other hand, South American teams continued their incredible unbeaten run at this World Cup thanks to Chile's win over Switzerland, Brazil's handball aided 3-1 victory over Ivory Coast and Paraguay's efficient 2-0 win over a dull and uninspired Slovakian team. The 5 South American teams now have 8 wins and 2 draws, scoring 18 goals and letting in just 4 goals.
Bragging rights for Europe and South America are also at stake in this World Cup as South America and Europe have split the previous 18 World Cup wins -- South America has won the cup 9 times (Brazil with 5, Uruguay and Argentina with 2 each) and Europe also has 9 wins (Italy with 4, Germany with 3, England and France with one each). Teams from the remaining four continents are still in contention at this World Cup so there is a still tiny (a generous 0.1%) chance that someone other than Europe or South America might succeed in Africa. But for now, things point to a South American champion in Africa.
Every British soccer commentator has felt it their duty to talk about Thierry Henry's handball against the Irish every time the camera turned towards the French striker at this World Cup. In addition, every British newspaper finds ways to include the handball mention with any article related to the French team because they believe Henry's double juggle is no less than a war crime. And moments after the French lost 2-0 to Mexico, Soccernet decided the only headline they could come up with was "Irish Eyes are Smiling" and ignored any mention of Mexican joy at such a famous result. Yet, no one seems to find anything wrong about Luis Fabiano's double juggling of the ball to score Brazil's second goal against the Ivory Coast. This is how the Guardian summed it up.
Superb again from the Sevilla striker. Dinks the ball over Zokora, dinks the ball over Touré, (then brings the ball down with his arm), before cracking another fizzing shot past Barry. More than a hint of controversy about that one, but the skill was sublime in the build up.
So does that mean as long as the skill is sublime, then a double handball is ok? Or does it simply mean that as long as a double handball is not committed against a British team, then it is perfectly alright?
Canadian broadcasters did highlight the illegal usage of the arm but still dubbed it a beautiful goal of amazing skill. It is remarkable that Henry was blasted for cheating yet people find Fabiano's illegal goal perfectly acceptable. To add a comical touch to the whole matter, the ref asked Fabiano if he used his arm in scoring the goal. As expected, Fabiano said no but one can detect a hint of a smile in his response.
Today, a partial admittance came from Fabiano but it is still nonsense:
But in order to make the goal more beautiful, there had to be a doubtful element. It was a spectacular goal and I believe it was not a voluntary handball. It was a legitimate goal and it was one of the most beautiful goals that I've scored in my career. Where better to score such a goal than at the World Cup?"
I may be the only person on the planet who cannot see it as the beautiful goal that it is being called. If players can use their arm to bring the ball down, then I am sure we will see many such "beautiful goals".
Oh the acting...
Abdel-kader Keïta showed the world what cheating is all about when he got Kaka sent off by going down as if a sniper's bullet had hit him in the face. To make matters worse, Chile's Arturo Vidal decided to copy Abdel-kader Keïta and faked a slap to the face thereby getting Behrami sent off. Chile duly beat the Swiss 1-0 but it is hard to view that game after such an act of blatant cheating.
Such play-acting has become all too common and has tarnished this game. FIFA need to do something to stop this play-acting but as usual they remain silent while the World Cup continues to be ruined by cheats.
2002 Deja vu? or recurring travel blues?
French, Italian, Portuguese and English players all struggled and looked tired in 2002 when the World Cup was hosted in Asia for the first time. Even though Germany got to the 2002 final, they did it on the back of three consecutive 1-0 results. Now in Africa’s first World Cup, France, Italy and England are struggling once again but after a lackluster opener, atleast Portugal have found their shooting boots with a 7-0 win over North Korea.
Could it be that some of the current generation of European national players struggle or are not interested when the tournament is away from Europe? Or are the European nations just following history by performing poorly on foreign soil? Historically, European nations have not won a World Cup hosted outside of Europe in 8 attempts. On the other hand, European teams have won 9 out of 10 World Cups hosted in Europe. The sole non-European victory was provided by Brazil, ofcourse, who won the 1958 World Cup in Sweden by beating the hosts 5-2 in a memorable final when a young Pele announced his arrival on the world stage. Including the European triumph, Brazil have won the World Cup in 4 continents with a 1962 win in Chile, Mexico in 1970, USA in 1994 and Korea/Japan in 2002. Shockingly, Brazil lost the 1950 World Cup on home soil to Uruguay. After Brazil, Argentina are the only nation to have won in multiple continents as they won the 1978 World Cup at home (albeit with some luck in the final against Holland and maybe a bribe against Peru) and managed a famous (that goal and that handball) victory in Mexico 1986.
So a European winner in South Africa can dent the European travel blues theory although this theory will still get a stern test in 2014 when Brazil hosts the next World Cup. Safe to say, Brazil will be keen to erase memories of 1950 by achieving a home win four years from now.
Waka Waka -- This time for South America, not Africa
The record of the 6 African teams at this World Cup stands dismally at just one win (Ghana 1-0 Serbia), 4 draws (1-1, 0-0, 0-0, 1-1) and 7 losses. The six teams have just managed 6 goals between them but have conceded 15, with South Africa and Ivory Coast letting in 3 each in their 3-0 and 3-1 losses to Uruguay and Brazil respectively.
Prior to the World Cup, a lot of soccer writers/commentators mentioned that an African team would reach the semi-finals in South Africa. I always found that statement puzzling because I could not envision any of the African teams to even make it out of their groups let alone reach the semis. As it stands, Cameroon have become the first team to be officially eliminated from the World Cup and going into the final group games, only Ghana is best poised to make the next round but they have a tough test against Germany and have to find a way to score a goal from open play as both Ghanaian goals in this tournament have come from the penalty spot. Algeria have already surpassed expectations with their 0-0 tie with England and still have an outside chance to make the second round but they have to score a goal for that to happen.
There isn't one easy explanation for all the African teams’ failures although all six teams have suffered from not having creative midfielders. In the case of Ivory Coast, Nigeria and Cameroon, the managers have to take a good chunk of the responsibility regardless of the time they have been employed in their jobs. Ivory Coast brought in Sven-Göran Eriksson in March and Nigeria hired Lars Lagerbäck in Febuary. A few months is not enough time for the managers to work with their teams especially if key players are plying their trade in Europe but Eriksson & Lagerbäck should have atleast established a tactical shape to utilize the players on hand. Although Paul Le Guen demonstrated that even a year may not be enough time to get things right as Le Guen's puzzling tactical decisions have aided Cameroon's poor display, especially in their opener against Japan when Alex Song was left on the bench and Cameroon's most lethal striker Samuel Eto'o was deployed wide right where he was rendered ineffective. On the other hand, in South Africa's case no amount of time may have been sufficient because their team lacks enough creative personnel. Even though Carlos Parreira is in his second tenure with South Africa, it is hard to see how much better he could have done given the resources at his disposal. South African players played above their strengths in the opener and almost got a winner but their weaknesses were on display against Uruguay.
On the other hand, South American teams continued their incredible unbeaten run at this World Cup thanks to Chile's win over Switzerland, Brazil's handball aided 3-1 victory over Ivory Coast and Paraguay's efficient 2-0 win over a dull and uninspired Slovakian team. The 5 South American teams now have 8 wins and 2 draws, scoring 18 goals and letting in just 4 goals.
Bragging rights for Europe and South America are also at stake in this World Cup as South America and Europe have split the previous 18 World Cup wins -- South America has won the cup 9 times (Brazil with 5, Uruguay and Argentina with 2 each) and Europe also has 9 wins (Italy with 4, Germany with 3, England and France with one each). Teams from the remaining four continents are still in contention at this World Cup so there is a still tiny (a generous 0.1%) chance that someone other than Europe or South America might succeed in Africa. But for now, things point to a South American champion in Africa.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Signs of Life
The World Cup kicked off on June 11 but for me the tournament really started on Tuesday, June 15 when Brazil edged off North Korea 2-1. This was easily the biggest mismatch of the tournament with the #1 ranked Brazilians taking on the 105th ranked North Korean team. 5 time World Cup Champions Brazil are the favourites at every tournament and are the only country to have played in every single World Cup. On top of that, they are the nation most associated with the beautiful game and every single aspect of their game is constantly studied, analyzed and talked about. Their players are well paid professionals who play for some of the top European teams. On the other hand, North Korea is an isolated nation whose football is invisible from the international stage and who were last seen in the World Cup back in 1966. The North Koreans only have three players who play international club football with An Yong Hak and Jong Tae Se playing in Japan and Hong Yong Jo based in Russia. Yet for almost 55 minutes they kept Brazil at bay and even had more shots on target than Brazil in the opening 20 minutes. Such a display is one of the real charms of the World Cup. In fact, only in soccer can two teams with such a vast gulf in skill set compete equally because soccer is truly a global game that is accessible to anyone with or without money. All one needs is a ball and if a ball is not available, then any round object will do.
If North Korea’s brave effort was eye catching, then the Swiss result over Spain is truly amazing. Ofcourse, Switzerland hardly had the ball but when they did have it at their feet, they made the most of it, first by bundling it over the line and then almost doubling their lead only to be denied by the post. Spain may have had 99.9999% possession of the ball but for the best part of an hour, they hardly did anything with it. As has often been by demonstrated by Arsenal, making sideway passes is absolutely pointless unless there is an end product.
The Swiss victory has the potential to change everything because if Spain finishes second in their group, then they will face Brazil in the next round, as opposed to meeting Brazil in the final. This assumes that Chile does not knock Spain out of the world cup.
South American delight
The 6 matches played by the South American teams have yielded 4 wins and 2 draws -- Uruguay 3-0 South Africa, Argentina 1-0 Nigeria, Brazil 2-1 North Korea, Chile 1-0 Honduras, Paraguay 1-1 Italy and Uruguay 0-0 France.
There is a strong possibility that all 5 South American teams can progress to the next round and 4 South American teams can occupy all the semi final spots. It will be interesting to see if Chile can maintain its high tempo entertaining style as the tournament goes along and whether Paraguay & Uruguay can continue to post impressive results.
Based on the first week’s results, it won’t be surprizing to see a South American World Cup winner. Ofcourse, it would be a real fairy tale if a South American team other than Brazil or Argentina can win the title.
If North Korea’s brave effort was eye catching, then the Swiss result over Spain is truly amazing. Ofcourse, Switzerland hardly had the ball but when they did have it at their feet, they made the most of it, first by bundling it over the line and then almost doubling their lead only to be denied by the post. Spain may have had 99.9999% possession of the ball but for the best part of an hour, they hardly did anything with it. As has often been by demonstrated by Arsenal, making sideway passes is absolutely pointless unless there is an end product.
The Swiss victory has the potential to change everything because if Spain finishes second in their group, then they will face Brazil in the next round, as opposed to meeting Brazil in the final. This assumes that Chile does not knock Spain out of the world cup.
South American delight
The 6 matches played by the South American teams have yielded 4 wins and 2 draws -- Uruguay 3-0 South Africa, Argentina 1-0 Nigeria, Brazil 2-1 North Korea, Chile 1-0 Honduras, Paraguay 1-1 Italy and Uruguay 0-0 France.
There is a strong possibility that all 5 South American teams can progress to the next round and 4 South American teams can occupy all the semi final spots. It will be interesting to see if Chile can maintain its high tempo entertaining style as the tournament goes along and whether Paraguay & Uruguay can continue to post impressive results.
Based on the first week’s results, it won’t be surprizing to see a South American World Cup winner. Ofcourse, it would be a real fairy tale if a South American team other than Brazil or Argentina can win the title.
2010 Movie World Cup, Second Round
1) The match-ups will be as per the FIFA World Cup knock out round draw, such as the winner of Group A will play the runner-up from Group B.
2) Three categories will be used to decide the head-to-head film match-ups -- Direction, Structure (story and editing) & Cinematography.
If film A is better than film B in a category, then film A will get 1 point and film B will get 0. So the maximum score a film can earn is 3-0 when it prevails over the opposing film in all three categories.
If both film A and film B are equal in a category, then they each get 1 point. This could lead to a situation where two films can be tied 3-3. In that case, the winning film will be decided by a subjective vote, which I equate to a penalty shoot-out.
So here are the film match-ups and winning scores:
1) Mexico (In the Pit) 3-1 Greece (The Lost Monument)
The Mexican documentary is quite sublime and thoughtful and earns maximum points in all categories whereas the Greek short film earns a point on the strength of its cinematography.
2) USA (Ballast) 3-2 Germany (Dr. Mabuse The Gambler)
The German entry scores points on its structure and direction, both of which are years ahead of the film's production time but Ballast excels in all categories, especially the cinematography which accurately conveys the bleak mood.
3) Japan (The Human Condition, part I) 3-0 Italy (Il Divo)
Interestingly, both films depict humans at their backstabbing best. However, The Human Condition is a far more engaging look at the difficulty in dealing with manipulative and egoistic personalities.
4) Portugal (Colossal Youth) 2-1 Spain (The Spirit of the Beehive)
This is the only match-up where the two films split up scoring in the three categories, as Colossal Youth scores on direction and cinematography, while The Spirit of the Beehive earns a single point on the strength of its linear structure and editing. Almost every scene in The Spirit of the Beehive serves a purpose to the overall film's flow whereas Colossal Youth has some scenes which are questionable. On an amusing note, Mark Peranson does extract the purpose of one such scene in Colossal Youth:
The corporeal walkouts at Cannes, highly expected, began en masse during Vanda’s first scene, the camera unmoving in her doll’s house-like bedroom, as she engages Ventura in a seemingly endless conversation about diapers, or something; hacking up half a lung, she becomes trapped in some kind of loop (is it the methadone talking?), and to those not on her (or Costa’s) wavelength, I can easily see how it could be torture, especially on the ninth day of the festival. "That scene is in that place to get everyone out of the theatre who doesn’t want to be there, right?" I asked him. His answer: "Exactly."
5) Argentina (Liverpool) 3-1 Uruguay (Gigante)
The beautiful liberating cinema of Lisandro Alonso vs the structured contemplative cinema of Adrian Biniez. Gigante is thoughtful and amusing in a dry humorous manner and scores a point due to its direction.
6) Serbia (The Life and Death of a Porno Gang) 3-0 Algeria(Daughter of Keltoum)
Two completely different styles on display here. The Serbian feature strips away any emotion in displaying the cold savage human mind at work whereas the Algerian feature is filled with tender emotions which warm the heart. The Algerian film has lot of good qualities but if both films are judged objectively, then the Serbian feature easily comes out on top.
7) Paraguay (Paraguayan Hammock) 2-3 Denmark (Flame and Citron)
The only match-up where a group winner loses out to a runner-up film but it was certainly close and in the end, the Danish film's engaging story makes the slight difference. Flame and Citron gives some insight into its characters psyche whereas Paraguayan Hammock is content to keep its characters a bit distant.
8) Honduras (El Porvenir) 3-0 North Korea (North Korea: A Day in the Life)
The only match-up to feature two documentaries. The Honduran film features a far more in-depth analysis of its subject where the North Korean entry barely scratches the surface of its material. Ofcourse, the watchful eye of the North Korean government is a huge reason why Pieter Fleury's film cannot explore its subject freely.
Monday, June 14, 2010
2010 Movie World Cup, First Round Recap
Here is a recap of the 16 films advancing to the knock-out round. Also, the total points earned by each group are listed. Each group could have earned a maximum of 36 points, that is 9 points for a film x 4 films.
1) Group A -- Total points 29
Mexico: In the Pit (2006, Juan Carlos Rulfo)
Uruguay: Gigante (2009, Adrian Biniez)
2) Group B -- Total points 29
Argentina: Liverpool (2008, Lisandro Alonso)
Greece: The Lost Monument (2009, Stefanos Tsivopoulos)
3) Group C -- Total points 27
USA: Ballast (2008, Lance Hammer)
Algeria: Daughter of Keltoum (2001, Mehdi Charef)
4) Group D -- Total points 28
Serbia: The Life and Death of a Porno Gang (2009, Mladen Djordjevic)
Germany: Dr. Mabuse The Gambler (1922, Fritz Lang)
5) Group E -- Total points 29
Japan: The Human Condition, part I (1959, Masaki Kobayashi)
Denmark: Flame and Citron (2008, Ole Christian Madsen)
6) Group F -- Total points 24
Paraguay: Paraguayan Hammock (2006, Paz Encina)
Italy: Il Divo (2008, Paolo Sorrentino)
7) Group G -- Total points 27
Portugal: Colossal Youth (2006, Pedro Costa)
North Korea: A Day in the Life (2004, Pieter Fleury)
8) Group H -- Total points 26
Honduras: El Porvenir (2008, Oscar Estrada)
Spain: The Spirit of the Beehive (1973, Victor Erice)
Groups A, B and E had the highest points total of 29 out of a possible 36, which is 81%. The lowest total went to Group F with 24 (67%). Overall, just 5 points separated the top groups from the bottom group, so there was an overall decent selection of films with no group falling too far behind in the quality of films.
Group A was quite close overall with the top two getting 8 points, the French entry getting 7 and the South African title picking up 6.
Five of the Eight groups had a film earning 9/9 points and safe to say, it will be these films that will feature the longest in the competition. Thankfully, no group winner earned less than 8 points.
This is the regional breakdown of the 16 teams:
Europe -- 7 (Greece, Serbia, Germany, Denmark, Italy, Portugal and Spain
It is not surprizing that seven European films progressed because Europe had the largest representation providing 41% of all the films with a total of 13 European entries out of 32.
North and Central America -- 3 (Mexico, USA, Honduras)
The North and Central American region performed best with all 3 entries progressing to the next round.
South America -- 3 (Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay)
Three of the five South American films progressed.
Asia -- 2 (Japan, North Korea)
The Asian films did quite well with 2 out of their 3 entries moving on with the South Korean film narrowly missing out despite earning 8 points. Even though Australia booked their place in the soccer World Cup from the Asian qualifying zone, I am placing the Australian film as part of Oceania along with New Zealand. Both Oceania films failed to advance to the next round.
Africa -- 1 (Algeria)
Unfortunately, only one of the six African titles advanced as the Algerian film took second place spot in Group C. The limited availability of films from some of the African countries such as Ghana, Ivory Coast and Cameroon meant that I had a very limited selection to choose from thereby forcing me to pick the first title I came across from these nations.
Thursday, June 10, 2010
2010 Movie World Cup, Group G
Group G -- Brazil, Ivory Coast, North Korea, Portugal
Films: Almost Brothers, Adanggaman, North Korea: A Day in the Life, Colossal Youth
Brazil: Almost Brothers (2004, Lúcia Murat)
The film has an interesting setup in linking the Brazilian military junta's political imprisonments in the 1970's to a modern day depiction of favela gangs. The story starts off in the 1950's when two men from vastly different social backgrounds are brought together by their common love for music. Two decades later, their sons find themselves as cell mates during the military junta's crackdown. The two develop a frienship in the prison but find themselves on opposite sides after an experiment to treat all inmates as equals fails leading to a prison divided on racial grounds. And another few decades later, the two friends find themselves on opposing sides again, with Miguel a politician seeking to improve slum life and Jorginho stuck in prison yet running a slum gang remotely via phone. To complicate matters, Miguel's daugther is involved with a gang member who works for Jorginho.
There are some engaging prison sequences in the film and some interesting moments involving a friendship continously put to the test due to racial, social and political divisions but overall, it is a disappointing effort given the previously thorough depiction of Favela/gang life on film. The presentation of the story across decades with constant cuts disrupts any flow the film builds and weakens both the present and past portrayals.
Ivory Coast: Adanggaman (2000, Roger Gnoan M'Bala)
Adanggaman blends fact and fiction in its depiction of slavery from an African perspective in the 1600s. The film starts off with Ossei's clash with his parents over his refusal to marry as per tradition and their wishes. But after an attack on his village, Ossei finds himself on the run and is eventually captured to be sold as a slave.
North Korea: A Day in the Life (2004, Pieter Fleury)
A lot of credit must be given to Pieter Fleury for making an accurate film depicting state of things inside North Korea despite working under the watchful eye of the North Korean government. The government chose the family that Fleury could interview and probably limited where his camera could go. Still, despite being confined in a rigid framework, Fleury has emerged with a film that confirms what one reads about North Korea and its controlled environment.
The chosen family, from grandfather to the young granddaughter, utter anti-US messages every chance they get, thereby pleasing the North Korean officials who probably reviewed the footage. Besides filming inside the family home, Fleury also films in a factory, an office, a local school, an English language learning class and all these sites confirm people are working/talking under a watchful eye. The family and the office workers words don't ever seem genuine and thereby serve as evidence of the staged nature of the interview. In the factory, Fleury's camera is able to give a truthful view of the working conditions that exist. The employees have daily targets to meet and even if there is a power shortage (which are frequent and almost daily), it is up to the employees to work harder and faster to make up for the lost time. Fleury is also able to capture a discussion among a group of school teachers about whether the lessons and stories they teach in school will accurately emphasize their great leader's generosity. It is amazing to think that tiny footage could have escaped the North Korean censors as it clearly shows that only things related to the great leader are to be taught in the classroom. There are also radio annoucements included in the film which convey the daily propaganda fed to the people about the great cause of their nation and beliefs. And the film ends by giving us a good look at the great leader, naturally.
The film won a special Award for Best Documentary at Pyongyang Film Festival in 2004, so obviously the North Korean powers were pleased by the image the film presents. It is remarkable that the film manages to depict exactly what the government would have wanted to stop anyway. There are subtle things that maybe the government didn't pick up such as the office workers body language giving away the artificial nature of the interview. The documentary comes off as a comedy in its observation of people's routines but ofcourse it is no laughing matter considering that these people have to spend each day under the watchful eye of the great leader and his followers. Orwell's fictional 1984 is still a reality.
Portugal: Colossal Youth (2006, Pedro Costa)
Colossal Youth is a living breathing painting that lets us observe its beauty and allows us to listen in to the sounds flowing within the canvas.
The mesmerizing opening shot is an indication of the beauty that lies ahead.
The film completes the Fontainhas trilogy and picks up after most of the residents from In Vanda's Room have been relocated to pristine lifeless clean apartment complexes.
Vanda is back as well, along with her cough, but this time around it is Ventura who is the camera's main focal point. Here he goes looking for Vanda.
Ventura has to select his apartment but he is taking his time and is in no hurry. The clean walls of the apartment hold no joy for Ventura as his heart is torn in between Fontainhas and his dream Lava House in Cape Verde.
Fontainhas provides Ventura an opportunity to do most of his thinking from his red throne where he can view the disappearing neighbourhood.
And there is just one scene where Costa's camera gives a glimpse of life that exists beyond the two worlds of Fontainhas and the apartment complex. This scene shows lights glittering in the distance and is the first indication of a city's existence in both Colossal Youth and In Vanda's Room.
Otherwise, Costa's camera is only focused on the relevant details, be it alleys, walls or faces.
And finally, the music and words of the infectious liberation song that Ventura plays on the record player stay long in the mind even after all the credits have taken leave.
Standings and Points (Maximum out of 9)
Colossal Youth: 9
North Korea: A Day in the Life: 7
Almost Brothers: 6
Adanggaman: 5
The big surprize has to be the North Korean elimination of Brazil who were the defending movie world cup champions from 2006. Since the Brazilian film In the Middle of the World had won my 2006 movie world cup, I had put some pressure on myself to ensure I got a good Brazilian film for a worthy title defense. After I failed to get my first pick of Garapa (José Padilha), I had little to choose between my 2nd pick of Margarette's Feast and 3rd pick Almost Brothers. In the end, I went with Almost Brothers by default because my 2nd pick was not readily available. Yet, I am sure I could have made a better selection than Almost Brothers.
Technically the North Korean entry is a Dutch film made by a dutch director. However, it is set entirely in North Korea and the work got the approval of the government so I see no problem in using it to represent North Korea in this movie world cup.
Soccer Group Prediction
This group was initially labeled as a Group of Death because of the stellar players on display for Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast. But this group does appear to be light weight with Brazil clear favourites to take top spot and advance along with Portugal in 2nd place.
Brazil might not play with too much flair and score many goals but they will get their 3 wins. Drogba's possible absence will be felt dearly by Ivory Coast who need his experience to muscle in some goals. Plus, it is hard to see what Sven-Göran Eriksson can accomplish with the limited time he has had with Ivory Coast. If Portugal's golden generation of Luis Figo and Rui Costa could not win anything for the national team, then it is hard to see the current squad do much at the world cup. Ronaldo will be busy doing his step-overs but they will amount to nothing. It will be interesting to see if Portugal can get rid of their diving and play acting. North Korea are an unknown entity but are unlikely to repeat the shock result of 1966 when they beat Italy 1-0.
Brazil, Portugal and North Korea are also tied historically to the 1966 World Cup. In 1966, Portugal were in the same group as Brazil and the two took part in an ugly game when the Portuguese players kicked Pele out of the world cup. Even today, it is hard to watch those images of Pele being repeatedly hacked and fouled in one of the earliest examples of ugly football. North Korea's last match in the World Cup was a Quarter-Final tie in 1966 against Portugal where they raced to a shock 3-0 lead before Eusebio took over and scored 4 goals en route to a 5-3 Portugese win. No repeat of that score line will take place when these two meet but atleast the North Korean team will be encouraged that a previous generation of national players scored three goals in the opening 25 minutes against Portugal.
Films: Almost Brothers, Adanggaman, North Korea: A Day in the Life, Colossal Youth
Brazil: Almost Brothers (2004, Lúcia Murat)
The film has an interesting setup in linking the Brazilian military junta's political imprisonments in the 1970's to a modern day depiction of favela gangs. The story starts off in the 1950's when two men from vastly different social backgrounds are brought together by their common love for music. Two decades later, their sons find themselves as cell mates during the military junta's crackdown. The two develop a frienship in the prison but find themselves on opposite sides after an experiment to treat all inmates as equals fails leading to a prison divided on racial grounds. And another few decades later, the two friends find themselves on opposing sides again, with Miguel a politician seeking to improve slum life and Jorginho stuck in prison yet running a slum gang remotely via phone. To complicate matters, Miguel's daugther is involved with a gang member who works for Jorginho.
There are some engaging prison sequences in the film and some interesting moments involving a friendship continously put to the test due to racial, social and political divisions but overall, it is a disappointing effort given the previously thorough depiction of Favela/gang life on film. The presentation of the story across decades with constant cuts disrupts any flow the film builds and weakens both the present and past portrayals.
Ivory Coast: Adanggaman (2000, Roger Gnoan M'Bala)
Adanggaman blends fact and fiction in its depiction of slavery from an African perspective in the 1600s. The film starts off with Ossei's clash with his parents over his refusal to marry as per tradition and their wishes. But after an attack on his village, Ossei finds himself on the run and is eventually captured to be sold as a slave.
North Korea: A Day in the Life (2004, Pieter Fleury)
A lot of credit must be given to Pieter Fleury for making an accurate film depicting state of things inside North Korea despite working under the watchful eye of the North Korean government. The government chose the family that Fleury could interview and probably limited where his camera could go. Still, despite being confined in a rigid framework, Fleury has emerged with a film that confirms what one reads about North Korea and its controlled environment.
The chosen family, from grandfather to the young granddaughter, utter anti-US messages every chance they get, thereby pleasing the North Korean officials who probably reviewed the footage. Besides filming inside the family home, Fleury also films in a factory, an office, a local school, an English language learning class and all these sites confirm people are working/talking under a watchful eye. The family and the office workers words don't ever seem genuine and thereby serve as evidence of the staged nature of the interview. In the factory, Fleury's camera is able to give a truthful view of the working conditions that exist. The employees have daily targets to meet and even if there is a power shortage (which are frequent and almost daily), it is up to the employees to work harder and faster to make up for the lost time. Fleury is also able to capture a discussion among a group of school teachers about whether the lessons and stories they teach in school will accurately emphasize their great leader's generosity. It is amazing to think that tiny footage could have escaped the North Korean censors as it clearly shows that only things related to the great leader are to be taught in the classroom. There are also radio annoucements included in the film which convey the daily propaganda fed to the people about the great cause of their nation and beliefs. And the film ends by giving us a good look at the great leader, naturally.
The film won a special Award for Best Documentary at Pyongyang Film Festival in 2004, so obviously the North Korean powers were pleased by the image the film presents. It is remarkable that the film manages to depict exactly what the government would have wanted to stop anyway. There are subtle things that maybe the government didn't pick up such as the office workers body language giving away the artificial nature of the interview. The documentary comes off as a comedy in its observation of people's routines but ofcourse it is no laughing matter considering that these people have to spend each day under the watchful eye of the great leader and his followers. Orwell's fictional 1984 is still a reality.
Portugal: Colossal Youth (2006, Pedro Costa)
Colossal Youth is a living breathing painting that lets us observe its beauty and allows us to listen in to the sounds flowing within the canvas.
The mesmerizing opening shot is an indication of the beauty that lies ahead.
Vanda is back as well, along with her cough, but this time around it is Ventura who is the camera's main focal point. Here he goes looking for Vanda.
And finally, the music and words of the infectious liberation song that Ventura plays on the record player stay long in the mind even after all the credits have taken leave.
Standings and Points (Maximum out of 9)
Colossal Youth: 9
North Korea: A Day in the Life: 7
Almost Brothers: 6
Adanggaman: 5
The big surprize has to be the North Korean elimination of Brazil who were the defending movie world cup champions from 2006. Since the Brazilian film In the Middle of the World had won my 2006 movie world cup, I had put some pressure on myself to ensure I got a good Brazilian film for a worthy title defense. After I failed to get my first pick of Garapa (José Padilha), I had little to choose between my 2nd pick of Margarette's Feast and 3rd pick Almost Brothers. In the end, I went with Almost Brothers by default because my 2nd pick was not readily available. Yet, I am sure I could have made a better selection than Almost Brothers.
Technically the North Korean entry is a Dutch film made by a dutch director. However, it is set entirely in North Korea and the work got the approval of the government so I see no problem in using it to represent North Korea in this movie world cup.
Soccer Group Prediction
This group was initially labeled as a Group of Death because of the stellar players on display for Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast. But this group does appear to be light weight with Brazil clear favourites to take top spot and advance along with Portugal in 2nd place.
Brazil might not play with too much flair and score many goals but they will get their 3 wins. Drogba's possible absence will be felt dearly by Ivory Coast who need his experience to muscle in some goals. Plus, it is hard to see what Sven-Göran Eriksson can accomplish with the limited time he has had with Ivory Coast. If Portugal's golden generation of Luis Figo and Rui Costa could not win anything for the national team, then it is hard to see the current squad do much at the world cup. Ronaldo will be busy doing his step-overs but they will amount to nothing. It will be interesting to see if Portugal can get rid of their diving and play acting. North Korea are an unknown entity but are unlikely to repeat the shock result of 1966 when they beat Italy 1-0.
Brazil, Portugal and North Korea are also tied historically to the 1966 World Cup. In 1966, Portugal were in the same group as Brazil and the two took part in an ugly game when the Portuguese players kicked Pele out of the world cup. Even today, it is hard to watch those images of Pele being repeatedly hacked and fouled in one of the earliest examples of ugly football. North Korea's last match in the World Cup was a Quarter-Final tie in 1966 against Portugal where they raced to a shock 3-0 lead before Eusebio took over and scored 4 goals en route to a 5-3 Portugese win. No repeat of that score line will take place when these two meet but atleast the North Korean team will be encouraged that a previous generation of national players scored three goals in the opening 25 minutes against Portugal.
2010 Movie World Cup, Group E
Group E -- Holland, Cameroon, Japan, Denmark
Films: Amsterdam, A Trip to the Country, The Human Condition, part I, Flame & Citron
Holland: Amsterdam (2009, Ivo van Hove)
Amsterdam depicts a modern cosmopolitan mosaic of Dutch life and tackles issues such as racism, illegal immigration, crime, broken marriages and familial bonds by juggling multiple story lines which converge with a bang, literally in the form of an accident. Marisa Tomei has a small role where she plays a woman frustrated in her marriage.
Cameroon: A Trip to the Country (2000, Jean-Marie Téno)
A great thing about this movie world cup is that it gives me a chance to catch up with director's works from different countries. I had read about Jean-Marie Téno previously but had never seen anything by him, so I was delighted to view his A Trip to the Country.
Jean-Marie Téno travels from the capital Yaoundé to the Cameroonian country side to highlight some concerns relevant to the local economy such as the decline in agriculture and lack of infrastructure and also examines attitudes related to the desire for westernization and emulation of the west.
The film's ending gives a perfect example about the infrastructural and organizational problems in African soccer and brings to mind an incident when in the mid 1990's the Cameroonian soccer team almost walked out of the tournament due to a dispute about payment/bonuses. Similarly, in the ending of A Trip to the Country a local soccer championship game is almost disrupted due to money issues. As narrated in the film, all local teams had to pay increased registration fees to enter the tournament whose winner would get a trophy and prize money. However, moments before the final's kick-off, the finalists are informed there's going to be no trophy nor any prize money handed out. The players are not happy but are told by the officials to play.
When the game eventually starts, the players have to play on a terrible pitch with the ball occasionally getting lost in the tall grass.
If organizational and infrastructure problems can plague the national team, then it is not surprizing to see these problems taking place at the root level of the game. Although such problems are not confined just to Cameroon but inflict many other African nations as well, thereby making it hard for an African team to mount a serious World cup challenge.
Japan: The Human Condition, part I (1959, Masaki Kobayashi)
Part I of Masaki Kobayashi's 9+ hour, 3 part film, is a brilliant depiction of opposing values and beliefs in treatment of prisoners and human beings. The person caught in the middle of an ideological tug of war is Keiji (Tatsuya Nakadai), the supervisor of a Japanese controlled World War II labor camp. Keiji's desire to have the Chinese prisoners treated properly bring him in constant conflict with his supervisors and even the prisoners themselves. The film is a fascinating case study in showing how diplomacy cannot thrive in an environment of doubt, violence and inflated egos. The examples the film represents regarding the treatment of captured prisoners/citizens of a conquered nation are relevant even today as the world is engulfed in a state of perpetual war where distrust and anger grows on both warring sides.
Denmark: Flame and Citron (2008, Ole Christian Madsen)
A slick and polished production about the brutal emotional wear and tear that political killing takes on an individual. The film is based on two WWII Danish resistance fighters who made their name by tracking down and shooting Nazi party members. Things get complicated when Flame learns that he may have been involved in killing innocent people. Citron refuses to acknowledge that he killed any innocent person because he wants to believe his murders were for a just cause. The information available to the duo only gets more murky and vague as the film goes along, thereby increasing their doubts and shaking their convictions.
Flame and Citron is a smart and stellar film that knows when to let the two lead actors expressions speak for themselves and does not bog the film down with needless words. There are some eye catching camera angles in the film with one of my favourite being the scene in which the Nazis raid Flame's safe house. Flame is shown to be quietly seated at the dinner table when the camera cuts to a close-up of his troubled face followed by a quick cut to show us the view from Flame's eyes which see an army of Nazis swiftly moving towards the house. Another close up gives us a look at Flame's calculating face. Any other person would have panicked in that instance but true to his character, Flame remains calm before making his next move.
Standings and Points (Maximum out of 9)
The Human Condition, part I: 9
Flame and Citron: 8
A Trip to the Country: 7
Amsterdam: 5
Flame and Citron was a very late substitute entry because the original choosen Danish entry Allegro became unavailable and amazingly, it ends up being one of the best films out of the 32.
I took a gamble with the Dutch title by picking a film I knew nothing about it in the hope of discovering a gem. Unfortunately, the gamble with Amsterdam didn't pay off. But part of the fun with this movie world cup has been trying to discover some worthy titles without reading too much about a movie before hand. So there have been some pleasant surprizes and some disappointments as well.
Soccer Group Prediction
Like the film group, this group should present a diverse set of styles and provide plenty of entertainment. However, Holland should easily win this group but the big questions around the Dutch squad have to do with Robben and Van Persie's fitness. Both are technically world class players but the duo are equally injury prone. Some say that Van Persie is just unlucky with injuries as his injury issues problems came in three seperate incidents over the last three years -- the first was caused by his post goal celebration against Man Utd and the next two took place in meaningless international friendlies against Austria and Italy. Van Persie began the 2009/10 season in fine form but Chiellini's awful tackle in the Italy game put him out for almost the entire season. Whatever the case, these injuries have certainly weakened Van Persie and it is hard to depend on him being fully fit to get through an entire tournament let along a full soccer season.
Denmark should progress to the next round in 2nd place because Cameroon have to sort out their internal team squabbles, most recently with Samuel Eto'o threatening to walk out of the team. Eto'o is clearly Cameroon's best player but equally important has to be Alex Song, who has emerged as one of best players in the Arsenal team. I had high hopes for Japan back in 2002 but since then they have been fading and it is hard to see them make any impact at this World Cup.
Note: Friends keep telling me the fact that Eto'o has stayed around means he is committed to the national team and that Cameroon will take 2nd place behind the Dutch.
Films: Amsterdam, A Trip to the Country, The Human Condition, part I, Flame & Citron
Holland: Amsterdam (2009, Ivo van Hove)
Amsterdam depicts a modern cosmopolitan mosaic of Dutch life and tackles issues such as racism, illegal immigration, crime, broken marriages and familial bonds by juggling multiple story lines which converge with a bang, literally in the form of an accident. Marisa Tomei has a small role where she plays a woman frustrated in her marriage.
Cameroon: A Trip to the Country (2000, Jean-Marie Téno)
A great thing about this movie world cup is that it gives me a chance to catch up with director's works from different countries. I had read about Jean-Marie Téno previously but had never seen anything by him, so I was delighted to view his A Trip to the Country.
Jean-Marie Téno travels from the capital Yaoundé to the Cameroonian country side to highlight some concerns relevant to the local economy such as the decline in agriculture and lack of infrastructure and also examines attitudes related to the desire for westernization and emulation of the west.
The film's ending gives a perfect example about the infrastructural and organizational problems in African soccer and brings to mind an incident when in the mid 1990's the Cameroonian soccer team almost walked out of the tournament due to a dispute about payment/bonuses. Similarly, in the ending of A Trip to the Country a local soccer championship game is almost disrupted due to money issues. As narrated in the film, all local teams had to pay increased registration fees to enter the tournament whose winner would get a trophy and prize money. However, moments before the final's kick-off, the finalists are informed there's going to be no trophy nor any prize money handed out. The players are not happy but are told by the officials to play.
When the game eventually starts, the players have to play on a terrible pitch with the ball occasionally getting lost in the tall grass.
If organizational and infrastructure problems can plague the national team, then it is not surprizing to see these problems taking place at the root level of the game. Although such problems are not confined just to Cameroon but inflict many other African nations as well, thereby making it hard for an African team to mount a serious World cup challenge.
Japan: The Human Condition, part I (1959, Masaki Kobayashi)
Part I of Masaki Kobayashi's 9+ hour, 3 part film, is a brilliant depiction of opposing values and beliefs in treatment of prisoners and human beings. The person caught in the middle of an ideological tug of war is Keiji (Tatsuya Nakadai), the supervisor of a Japanese controlled World War II labor camp. Keiji's desire to have the Chinese prisoners treated properly bring him in constant conflict with his supervisors and even the prisoners themselves. The film is a fascinating case study in showing how diplomacy cannot thrive in an environment of doubt, violence and inflated egos. The examples the film represents regarding the treatment of captured prisoners/citizens of a conquered nation are relevant even today as the world is engulfed in a state of perpetual war where distrust and anger grows on both warring sides.
Denmark: Flame and Citron (2008, Ole Christian Madsen)
A slick and polished production about the brutal emotional wear and tear that political killing takes on an individual. The film is based on two WWII Danish resistance fighters who made their name by tracking down and shooting Nazi party members. Things get complicated when Flame learns that he may have been involved in killing innocent people. Citron refuses to acknowledge that he killed any innocent person because he wants to believe his murders were for a just cause. The information available to the duo only gets more murky and vague as the film goes along, thereby increasing their doubts and shaking their convictions.
Flame and Citron is a smart and stellar film that knows when to let the two lead actors expressions speak for themselves and does not bog the film down with needless words. There are some eye catching camera angles in the film with one of my favourite being the scene in which the Nazis raid Flame's safe house. Flame is shown to be quietly seated at the dinner table when the camera cuts to a close-up of his troubled face followed by a quick cut to show us the view from Flame's eyes which see an army of Nazis swiftly moving towards the house. Another close up gives us a look at Flame's calculating face. Any other person would have panicked in that instance but true to his character, Flame remains calm before making his next move.
Standings and Points (Maximum out of 9)
The Human Condition, part I: 9
Flame and Citron: 8
A Trip to the Country: 7
Amsterdam: 5
Flame and Citron was a very late substitute entry because the original choosen Danish entry Allegro became unavailable and amazingly, it ends up being one of the best films out of the 32.
I took a gamble with the Dutch title by picking a film I knew nothing about it in the hope of discovering a gem. Unfortunately, the gamble with Amsterdam didn't pay off. But part of the fun with this movie world cup has been trying to discover some worthy titles without reading too much about a movie before hand. So there have been some pleasant surprizes and some disappointments as well.
Soccer Group Prediction
Like the film group, this group should present a diverse set of styles and provide plenty of entertainment. However, Holland should easily win this group but the big questions around the Dutch squad have to do with Robben and Van Persie's fitness. Both are technically world class players but the duo are equally injury prone. Some say that Van Persie is just unlucky with injuries as his injury issues problems came in three seperate incidents over the last three years -- the first was caused by his post goal celebration against Man Utd and the next two took place in meaningless international friendlies against Austria and Italy. Van Persie began the 2009/10 season in fine form but Chiellini's awful tackle in the Italy game put him out for almost the entire season. Whatever the case, these injuries have certainly weakened Van Persie and it is hard to depend on him being fully fit to get through an entire tournament let along a full soccer season.
Denmark should progress to the next round in 2nd place because Cameroon have to sort out their internal team squabbles, most recently with Samuel Eto'o threatening to walk out of the team. Eto'o is clearly Cameroon's best player but equally important has to be Alex Song, who has emerged as one of best players in the Arsenal team. I had high hopes for Japan back in 2002 but since then they have been fading and it is hard to see them make any impact at this World Cup.
Note: Friends keep telling me the fact that Eto'o has stayed around means he is committed to the national team and that Cameroon will take 2nd place behind the Dutch.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)