Injuries (or) Why I hate Andrea Pirlo and Love Didier Drogba

It is always unfortunate when somebody gets hurt, and it can be rough for a player, his team, and his supporters when he misses a big match. But to miss the World Cup?? That is absolutely heartbreaking.

Rio Ferdinand was named captain of his Country, and was preparing for his fourth World Cup, then he got hurt in training. Michael Ballack, Germany's captain, will miss what would have been his final chance at lifting the trophy. Now Arjen Robben, whose spectacular form this season led Bayern Munich to the Champion's League Final and put him amongst the top 10 players in the world, has hurt his hamstring and looks doubtful.

Andrea Pirlo is also hurt, although Italy are still hopeful he will feature in later matches of the tournament. I'll be honest, I can't stand Pirlo, and I hate watching the Italians, I hate the way they play, the playacting every time a defender breathes on them, the sense of entitlement at International tournaments, the accepted bribery and match fixing in Serie A, I despise all of it. I hope they lose every match 10-0, and that Pirlo has to sit and watch from the sidelines. In fact, I hope he gets bitten by a rare spider while watching from the sidelines and all of his hair falls out.

All of that aside, the real heartbreak is for the African players who have seen their dreams of representing their countries on their own continent shattered. Michael Essien is an outstanding player, and he will be sorely missed by Ghana, but the entire Black Stars midfield is looking extremely delicate. Sulley Muntari is nursing an injury, and Stephen Appiah has only played 2 matches all season. It was this outstanding midfield that got Ghana into the last 16 in 2006, and they had high hopes for this summer.


We all know the big one though. Didier Drogba, probably the world's best striker, the supreme ambassador of African football, the captain of Ivory Coast's "Golden Generation", has broken his arm. It is hard to understand for a lot of people how much Drogba means to African football. Most people know he helped to stop a civil war, but hearing these words does not really convey their meaning. Drogba has spoken out about issues such as AIDS and poverty that most professional athletes wouldn't go within a mile of. The video of Didier Drogba moving around during the World Cup following by tens of thousands of adoring supporters from all corners of the continent would have been a sight to behold, and might have given the rest of the world just a tinge of what he means to the nations of Africa.

World Cup - England - Part 2

John Terry and Rio Ferdinand have been partners in the England defense for a long time. Maybe too long. I think if you watched video of all the England defenders from this past season, and you couldn't see their faces nor did you know their reputation, you wouldn't even have Terry and Ferdinand in the squad.

Some may argue that their experience and guile makes them better choices than some of the younger central defenders who have had better seasons, but I think talent has to win out at the end of the day.

The same issue arises when one considers Jamie Carragher, whom Fabio Cappello has convinced to rejoin the England Squad. Carragher had a poor season. And he had a poor season in 2008-2009. When you are 32 years old and have had two consecutive bad seasons, you are not in a poor run of form, you are on the decline. There are ten English defenders better than Carragher, and most of them were nowhere near getting in this squad.

Gareth Barry is the holding midfielder, and he is a very good one. He shields the back four, is a great tackler, distributes the ball marvelously, which links the defense and attack, and he will also chip in with the odd goal. There is a problem though. He has a pretty serious ankle injury, that will keep him out of the opening match against the US, and possibly more matches after that.

Barry will be replaced in one of two ways. Michael Carrick could play the holding role. But he is not very good. Otherwise, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard could both play in the middle, with one of them dropping deep. As you can see, neither of these is an especially good option. This won't be enough of a hindrance to keep England from advancing to the knockout stages, but they will need a fit and on form Gareth Barry of they want to progress much farther than that.

That leaves the fullbacks. Ashley Cole and Glen Johnson will start and play 90 minutes every game, so depth is not an issue. Neither defends especially well, but they have such outstanding speed that they can usually cover up for their mistakes.

If England win Group C, and most of the other groups go as expected, their road to the semi-finals is free of traditional powers. This may be the best chance for Merry Old England to lift the World Cup trophy since 1970. Will they? I doubt it, I think the lack of pace in the center of defense will be their undoing, but the chance is there.