We’re allowed to talk about the 2010 World Cup until 2014. Later today our man, historian of African soccer, Peter Alegi, will deliver the keynote address at the 7th Sports in Africa Symposium at Ohio University. Since few of us are in Athens, don’t panic: The whole thing–including Peter’s keynote–will be webcasted live here. Here’s the description:
Sean Jacobs
This is worth remembering. In 2004 the Liberian footballer George Weah was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage Award at the Espys. (For those who don’t care: that’s sports channel ESPN’s versions of the Oscars.)
This is the man who scored the greatest goal of all time and the only African player to win the World Player of the Year and European Player of the Year. Beat that. (BTW, Weah is contemplating a run in Liberia’s presidential elections next year.)
If the choice of which team to root for in May 22nd’s European Champions League final was based on how many African players they fielded, then apparently you should root for Inter Milan.
Milan has three players on its roster:Samuel Eto’o, Sulley Muntari and McDonald Mariga. That’s of course if Muntari and Mariga get to play.
In contrast, Bayern Munich has zero African players in its team, argues Piers Edwards in his football blog on the BBC’s site. Oh, and Milan manager, Jose Mourinho, has a history of trusting African players (even if he inherited them from a previous manager) in key positions–think Didier Drogba, Michael Essien and John Mikel Obi. And Mourinho wife was born in Angola. That’s not how I pick a team to root for, but thanks for telling me.
FIFA and the South African organizers of the World Cup yesterday unveiled the official World Cup tune.
Sorry K’Naan. You’ll always have Coco Cola.
The song–non-sensical lyrics over a beat created on a Casio–is a collaboration between Shakira and Zolani, the lead singer of South African group Freshlyground, a band which reminds me of Mango Groove.
Waka Waka.
Africa’s World Cup
THE NEW SCHOOL, 66 WEST 12TH STREET. Room 510
Date: May 4, 2010
Time: 3-5 pm
FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.
The 2010 World Cup is historic: it will be the first time the tournament will be hosted on the African continent.
When FIFA, the world soccer governing body, awarded the World Cup to South Africa in May 2004, Nelson Mandela, South Africa’s first democratic president spoke for a lot of his compatriots and millions on the continent when he exclaimed: “I feel like a 15 year old.”
Africa has historically been shunned by world football—viewed mainly as a cheap source of talent for Europe’s football leagues. Expectations are therefore high for what will be Africa’s first World Cup tournament.
As the World Cup nears, I am going to be a bit soccer-centric. Last week I posted a goal by Cameroon’s Samuel Eto’o. Now its the turn of Spain’s Fernando Torres, who for now plays his club football in England. Here he scores for Liverpool against Sunderland last week. This World Cup is going to be crazy.
Celebrating the World Cup does not mean we can’t ask hard questions . No, not that the annoying vuvuzelas are banned, but that thousands of informal traders will lose income because of Fifa-imposed “exclusion zones” around stadiums which permit only approved businesses, that street children are forcibly removed from Durban’s city centre, and in Cape Town, coloured working class residents living next to a football stadium where some teams will train, were evicted and dumped in a camp far away from their houses and work by the city’s Democratic Alliance-run council.
In town to give some context is political economist Patrick Bond. He’ll speak on these and other matters tonight at New York University:
Cameroon’s football captain Samuel Eto’o scores for his club Internazionale Milano against Livorno in Italy’s Serie A.
I love these football-playing grandmas from Mafarana in South Africa’s Limpopo Province, bordering Mozambique and Zimbabwe. About 55 women take part in the games with the youngest 4 years old. Good for the grandmas.
But it looks like every journalist or photographer is heading up there before the 2010 World Cup.
