Fans losing interest in World Cup

With the exit of two football giants Brazil and Argentina from the FIFA World Cup 2010, fans have either lost interest or have found new favourites.As both teams stormed their way into the quarter-finals, expectations soared high, but the enthusiasm was shortlived.The first shock came when five-time champion Brazil lost to the Netherlands on Thursday. Fans had expecting and had their hopes pinned on Diego Maradona's Argentina. But their expectations got a drubbing after Germany outplayed Argentina 4-0 Friday for a semi-final spot.

"After Brazil crashed out of the quarterfinals, the only attraction was Argentina. But everything seems to have gone haywire. Now I am least interested in this World Cup," says a MBA student."It was really pathetic to see the way Argentina lost to Germany," said Saibal Roy, an engineer, who cut short his sleeping hours to see Messi in action.The German victory has broken many hearts here.

The soccer crazy city and fans are now gunning for revenge against Germany and the Netherlands, who knocked out Argentina and Brazil. So Spain and Uraguay are the new favourites that will keep their football appetite alive.

Germany is aiming to reach a record eighth final, while Spain is looking to get to its first. The winner will play either two-time champion Uruguay or the Netherlands in the final at Soccer City on Sunday. The first semi finals will be played on 6th July between Netherlands and Uruguay at 2:30PM. The second semi final match will be played on 7th July between Spain and Germany.

The stage is all set for quarter finals of the FIFA World Cup 2010

The stage is all set for the much awaited quarter finals of the FIFA World Cup 2010.Next round of the fifa world cup-2010 will be starting from 2 July,2010. After fighting hard Eight teams have reached the last 8 (quarter finals) of the FIFA 2010.

Paraguay became the first team in this World Cup to win a penalty shoot-out when they beat Japan 5-3 on spot kicks. Ghana edged to beat the ever-battling USA in the first knockout stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup to book themselves a place in the quarterfinals for the first time. Ghana made Africa proud and by entering quarter final, Ghana emerged the third African country to have ever reached the quarterfinals after Cameroon and Senegal in 1990 and 2002 respectively and also became the first African country to reach that stage in a World Cup staged in Africa.

Schedule of Quarter Finals

• Netherlands Vs Brazil – July 2 at 7:30pm India Time (IST)
• Uruguay Vs Ghana – July 3 at 12:00 am India Time (IST)
• Argentina Vs Germany – July 3 at 7:30pm India Time (IST)
• Paraguay Vs Spain – July 4 at 12:00 am India Time (IST)

Vuvuzelas too distracting World Cup 2010

Vuvuzelas, the plastic horns, have gotten on the nerves of the players, coaches, fans as well as broadcasting companies. Thousands of the vuvuzelas being blown in the stadium creates a buzzing noise that goes on from the start of the match right until the end.

For the viewer, it removes much of the pleasure of watching a football match. You can’t hear the roar of the supporters every time their team launches an attack, the “oohs” every time the ball misses the net, the cheers when it goes in. Indeed, the ebb and flow of sound that is so much part of the whole experience of watching a football match is absent. All you can hear is the monotonous drone of the vuvuzelas.It may be unpleasant having to listen to the vuvuzelas in the comfort of your sitting room but the people really suffering are the players.

The Indian football team may be far from qualifying for the FIFA World Cup, but the Indian football captain Bhaichung Bhutia certainly feels the pains of the players who are being forced to play with the bee-buzzing noise of vuvuzelas in the background.“It is causing too much of an irritation. It has to be banned immediately. This kind of noise does not help football,” Bhutia said.

The players and the coaches have already raised a cry over the disturbing vuvuzelas while the TV channel have brought to the notice of the FIFA World Cup organising committee that the noise was drowning out the commentary.Over 10,000 England fans have travelled to South Africa to show their support and there are many more fans already there. But forget about the supporters forming a 12th man. If we can’t hear them at home the players certainly can’t hear them in the stadium. They might as well not be there. If this tournament is to be rescued, Fifa needs to ban the vuvuzela straight away.

In a typically wet response, Fifa President Sepp Blatter has refused to entertain any such requests, saying “we should not try to europeanise an African World Cup”. So it’s racist to try and prevent a stadium sounding like a traffic jam is it? What balls, not least because the majority of people blowing the vuvuzelas in the stadiums are the visiting fans. Like Blatter, they think it’s the “African” thing to do.

Courtesy:
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyyoung/100043517/world-cup-2010-ban-the-vuvuzela/
http://news.oneindia.in/2010/06/15/fifa-vuvuzelas-too-distracting-jabulani-too-fast.html