Can Erol: A deserved win for Spain!

Spain’s goalkeeper Iker Casillas kisses the World Cup trophy as team mate Carles Puyol (R) celebrates after their final match victory over Netherlands at the 2010 World Cup at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg July 11, 2010. REUTERS/David Gray Finally,the ?holy? month is over. We are all done with the most boring world cup ever. … Read more

Can Erol: [in Quarter finals] Is there any surprise? Certainly not!

Uruguay’s Sebastian Eguren carries Luis Suarez (top) as they celebrate after the team won a penalty shootout against Ghana in a 2010 World Cup quarter-final soccer match at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg July 2, 2010. REUTERS/Henry Romero Is there any surprise? Certainly not! The quarter finals were really amazing and past with remarkable games … Read more

We are headed for Quarter Finals!

Netherland’s Arjen Robben (L) celebrates his goal as Slovakia’s Vladimir Weiss reacts with dejection during their 2010 World Cup second round soccer match at Moses Mabhida stadium in Durban June 28, 2010. REUTERS/Paul Hanna The second round in South Africa is over. Actually, there is no surprising result for me except the game between Ghana … Read more

Can Erol: First Round is Over: The desperate of all: France, Italy and Switzerland

Italy’s Riccardo Montolivo (rear) reacts, after Italy’s missed goal chance, during their 2010 World Cup Group F soccer match against Slovakia at Ellis Park stadium in Johannesburg June 24, 2010. REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon It was quite certain that France would fail with Raymond Domenech. We can easily say that nothing positive about him. He did not … Read more

Day 9&10: South America rules the World Cup!

The second games are over now. Argentina, Chile and the Netherlands have taken all the points up to now. England, France and Italy are constructing the miserable side of the campaign however they still have the chance to qualify for the upper round. North American teams have been showing great performance since the opening. On … Read more

World Cup: Day 6&7&8: Surprises begin at last!

I have been in coaching education program for the last 2 days so I could not write anything about the World Cup but I still managed to follow the games. The first shocking result occured in Spain-Switzerland game. Switzerland made a remarkable team defense and they started the campaign with 3 points. Spain played quite well through the game but they were unlucky in finding the net. In the other game of the group, Chile made a great start with their positive football and 1-0 victory over Honduras. In the last game of day 6, Uruguay demolished South Africa with the fascinating performance of Diego Forlan who scored an amazing opening goal in the game.
A day later, the second surprise of the tournament showed up. Mexico beat the latest World Cup runner-up France by 2 goals. However, the result was not that much surprising for many because of an untalented man: Raymond Domenech. He has many skillful players such as Malouda, Ribery and Gourcuff but he cannot construct any harmony on the pitch. He is absolutely the man on target in his country nowadays.
Beckham
In the second games of Group B, Argentina had an embarressing win over South Korea with the hat-trick of Gonzalo Higuain. It is clearly seen that Maradona is loading enormous level of motivation to his team from the sideline. It will never be a surprise for him to raise the World Cup in his hands on the 11th of July. In the other game of the group, Greece bet Nigeria with the simple mistake of the successful goalkeeper Enyeama who was selected as the man of the match despite his mistake. Nigeria still has the chance to qualify for the second round despite having no points up to now.
Casillas

On the 8th day, there was only one game from Group D in which Germany was expected to lead dominancy after the first game against Australia but they were defeated by Serbia by the touch of Jovanovic, the new Liverpool player, within the six-yard box. Miroslav Klose was sent off in the first half but Germany still intended to play in an offensive style. They had the chance to equalize with a penalty but Lukas Podolski had been denied by the goalie in the 59th minute. After that moment, Serbia had some positions denied by the posts and they managed to get 3 points at the end of 90 minutes.

In Group C, Capello’s England still have lack of organization and efficiency on the pitch. Algeria applied a great strategy over them and in some moments of the game they came close to have a goal. For Capello, the scene is very dark and it seems that it cannot be lightened up by some inutile players such as Heskey, Carragher and Lennon. The game between Slovenia and the USA was probably the most contested game of the campaign up to now. Slovenia was 2-0 ahead in the first half but the USA did not give up and made a fantastic comeback. They also scored a third goal but it was contraversially cancelled by the referee. I hope we will be continuing to watch games like this one in the following days. At least, it will help us to call our attentions for the game more than the damn vuvuzela.

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Can: Day 5: Boredom continues in South Africa

It has been 5 days but there is still nothing “original” to talk about the World Cup. Yesterday, I was quite sure that the game between Ivory Coast and Portugal will satisfy the expectations for classy football but all hopes had been melt down with the preferences of Sven-Goran Eriksson, Ivory Coast coach, and the … Read more

Routledge’s nice gesture in support of 2010 FIFA South Africa World Cup: 90 free articles

In support of the 2010 FIFA South Africa World Cup, Routledge Journals made 90 related research articles free to access. The articles are compiled to six themes: Culture, society and media; History; Economics; Politics and policy; Science and nutrition. Please have a look on the selection of articles here<>. Please note the access is available … Read more

Can Erol: Day 2 & 3: Germany is simply the best of all!

Maradona, as usual
Up to now, there has been 8 games and we watched 16 teams. I can clearly say that Germany is the most organised and powerful team in these 3 days. They stunned Australia with the magnificent play of Lucas Podolski who was also selected as the man of the match. Despite the absence of Michael Ballack, they organised quite well in all 3 blocks and had an easy win. The first game of Group D was between Ghana and Serbia. Serbia was simply the favorite of the game, however the remarkable stamina of the whole Ghana team drove them for a spectecular win at the end. Gyan Asamoah was on the scoresheet.

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Can Erol on World Cup- Day 1: Group A: Lack of Quality (#worldcup)

The World Cup started with the first day games in Group A. Nelson Mandela could not show up for the opening game because of the tragic death of his grand daughter yesterday. Mexico and South Africa started the game with high level of anxiety. Galatasaray player Dos Santos was the first player to miss a … Read more

2010 World Cup begins. Can Erol to post for Erkan’s Field Diary

Can Erol, a former student of mine, and a graduate student at Bilgi Cultural Studies program accepted my offer to be a guest author. He will be writing about World Cup 2010. His opening follows, which is followed by my roundup: Opening Day for World Cup 2010 World Cup 2010 starts today in South Africa. … Read more

A video: WAKA WAKA – South Africa 2010 World Cup Official Song- “This Time for Africa” by Shakira

From Turkey only Nihat Kahveci makes is to World Cup by being in this video for a moment:p http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ztr96RbMW8 We are pleased to share with you the final version of the song “Waka Waka”, chosen by the FIFA to be the Official Song of the upcoming World Cup. Nos complace compartir con ustedes la versión … Read more