World cup 2010 news

With Diego Maradona coaching the nation's pride in the World Cup, Argentines are bracing themselves for bombshells: a startling outburst, a scandal or even the unspeakable -- a third World Cup trophy.... Read more...

Marcello Lippi will lead champions Italy in South Africa in their bid to become the first team since the great Brazil of Pele to retain the World Cup trophy. But even the most ardent of Italy fans cou... Read more...

You know it’s going to be an awfully good week when your Monday morning intertube coasting takes you to the Church of England official website, even if you’re a bit disappointed the whole thing isn’t written on proper papyrus scroll and unleashed onto the world wide as a scanned image file.

Without apparently much else to pray for at the moment – that “peace on earth” mantra has been falling on deaf ears for quite some time – the Church of England has written three prays specifically for the World Cup. A nice gesture, but not really my cup of Jesus.

Two are for those who care about the World Cup; the third is for those who wish to avoid 25 to life in the local pen six months in a mental rehabilitation facility.

It’s much less fun than anticipated too. There are no lines wishing for a Wayne Rooney hat trick, Fabio Capello lifting the World Cup trophy along with the Picasso and Matisse he lifted from Paris, or for someone to point John Terry in the general direction of international class defending.

Prayers for all those involved in the World Cup

Lord of all the nations, who played the cosmos into being,

guide, guard and protect all who work or play in the World Cup.

May all find in this competition a source of celebration,

an experience of common humanity and

a growing attitude of generous sportsmanship to others.

Amen.

God of the nations, who has always called his people to be a blessing for the world, bless all who take part in the World Cup.

Smile on South Africa in her hosting,

on the nations represented in competition and

on those who travel to join in the party.

Amen.

A prayer for those simply not interested

Lord, as all around are gripped with World Cup fever,

bless us with understanding,

strengthen us with patience and

grant us the gift of sympathy if needed.

Amen.

Let it be known that the prayer for those observing the inanity is merely the more verbose religious incarnation of “serenity now”.

In the real world, it’s awfully rare that I come across anything football-related in my travels, and yet I simply have not been able to escape That Nike Ad for the last week – obviously for good reason. The YouTube embed is positively everywhere, in the most obscure, unsporting of places, putting the virus into viral, and causing nightmares of Wayne Rooney doing Brad Pitt’s accent from Snatch.

But before there was That Nike Ad by Wieden + Kennedy, there was Bloed Oranje by the same outfit, which makes no bones in calling out the 1974 Dutch edition. And it’s just as good.

The scale isn’t quite the same and doesn’t glisten with as much polish, therefore it’s a bit apples and oranjes, but it can easily stand on the shelf right next to its more famous younger brother, even if their casting does leave a little something to be desired.

Bloed Oranje is a Dutch campaign for South Africa 2010, one which culminated in a patriotic assault on The Dam in Amsterdam declaring the World Cup trophy already spoken for (bezet = taken).

I went to the website for bloedoranje and…spoilers ahead…

…it’s the KNVB official website. (Eventually.) High praise for such anarchy from the men upstairs, even if the permits were folded crisply into their back pockets and even the sticky stuff from the tape removed before anyone really knew what’d happened.