Mexico’s New Colors
El Tri has presented its new second uniform. It ditched the all black kit in favor of an orangey red shirt with black details across the chest. Think Power Rangers meets Charlie Brown.
This is not the first time the Mexican side has turned to the magenta side of the color scale in lieu of a World Cup. For the 1930 tournament in Uruguay, the first participation of Mexico in this competition, they chose a classy burgundy long-sleeved shirt. Not that there is any correlation but it is worth noting that Mexico played three games, lost all three, scored four goals and allowed 13. It did not abandon the red for its appearances in the 1950, 1954, 1962, 1966 and 2002. Again, not that there is any correlation but the tally is not great: three wins, three ties, nine losses, twelve goals in favor, twenty nine goals against.
FIFA, wedding planner
Every four years, in the run up to the inaugural game of the World Cup, FIFA becomes something of an obnoxious wedding planner bossing the host country around. They smirk and twitch and chastise and diplomatically threaten and threaten and hold meetings and evaluate and hold secret meetings and threaten a bit more. This time around, Brazil has given FIFA a bit more anxiety than it is comfortable with. Last month Joseph Blatter complained about Brazil’s tardiness. The host has had seven years to prepare for the mega event coming its way in less than 200 days, and still “no country has ever been so far behind in preparations since I have been at FIFA”. Boom – FIFA beef. BEEFA, if you will.
His words had little effect: a couple of stadiums are still not complete; Curitiba almost lost its opportunity to be a host city and training facilities still lack grass, like the one in Manaus visited by England manager Roy Hodges last week. No biggie.
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One-touch passes…
FIFA announced it has distributed 1.5 million tickets to date. The system of distribution appears to be an arcane lottery style more suited for selecting victims of human sacrifice. So far, little more than half of the tickets have gone to Brazilians, the other half to international fans.
Good news for Selección Colombia: Falcao’s rehab is underway.
Bad news for Selección Colombia (and good news for Mexico too!): Fredy Guarín won’t play the first game. (Neither will 6’5 Croatian defender Josip Simunic). Now, let’s hope a UFO abducts Luka Modric in the next few months and maybe we’ll stand a chance.