C M Y K D3

Thursday, June 10, 2010 ■ THE LONDON FREE PRESS

sports
worldcup
■ D3

DID YOU KNOW? More than 3.5 million fans attended all 52 games of the 1994 World Cup in the United States, still the single tournament attendance record.

MORRIS DALLA COSTA
QMI Agency
As time draws near for the adventure in
South Africa to begin, we’ll be inundated
by analysis and predictions about potential
World Cup champions.
Teams will be dissected, decisions
debated and the minutia that is the compe-
tition, examined.
Yet while the games remain the focal
point, they are mere building blocks to a
World Cup experience that spills beyond
the touchlines, beyond emotions on the
pitch and beyond the wins and losses.
The team that w ins the final in
Johannesburg on July 11, will walk away
with the second-most important prize of
the event, the World Cup championship.
The first prize will always belong to the
footballing world, the country that stages
the event and the millions of people who
absorb and are absorbed by the joy and
magic of the spectacle.
The winning team can claim the moment.
Everyone else can claim the experience and
history, reliving it for years to come.
Football is called ‘The Beautiful Game’.
It goes far beyond the beauty of Lionel
Messi darting between two defenders, the
ballet that is a 12-pass movement for a
goal by Brazil, the determination of a Fabio
Cannavaro tackle, the relentlessness of an
overlapping run by Maicon, the thunder
of a Steven Gerrard free kick, the gravity-
defying stretch of Gianluigi Buffon making
a save.
10 The Beautiful Game is watching a bunch
of barefooted kids staging an impromptu
game on an empty parcel of land, in a park-
20 ing lot or a back street.
It’s watching as a country comes to a stand-
30
DID YOU KNOW? Thirteen nations took part in the first World Cup in Uruguay in 1930: seven from South America, four from Europe and two from North America.
40 In the final, Uruguay defeated Argentina 4–2 in front of a crowd of 93,000 people in Montevideo to win the first World Cup.
50
still when its country takes to the pitch.
It’s watching how a country no matter
how poor it might be, how battle-scarred
it is, how much hopelessness it may feel, Here are the predictions from our World Cup reporters
begins play as an equal and for two hours
dreams of the possibilities of being better
than anyone else.
It’s watching thousands of people of all
colours, creeds and nationalities escape
from the every day grind of survival, coming Columnist, Soccer Columnist/ Columnist, Toronto Sun
together in liberation. London Free Press Sportscaster,
It’s the noise, colour and revelry of every Winner: Spain
game, the anticipation of what that game Winner: Brazil Toronto Sun/Sun TV Runner-up: Brazil
will bring to the festivities and what part it Runner-up: Spain
Winner: Spain Third place: Argentina
will play in the history of the sport. Third place: France
Runner-up: England Darkhorse team: Ivory Coast
It’s standing in a stadium of 80,000 Darkhorse team: Chile
people getting goose bumps as the national Third place: Argentina Poised to disappoint: Portugal
Poised to disappoint: Portugal
anthems, any anthems, are sung at full-roar Darkhorse team: Serbia Golden boot: Lionel Messi, Argentina
Golden boot: David Villa, Spain
by swaying, hand-waving fans. Poised to disappoint: Germany Player of the tournament:
It’s standing mesmerized as fans pass Player of the tournament: Xavi, Spain
Golden boot: David Villa, Spain
giant country and team flags up and down Maicon, Brazil
Player of the tournament:
the stadium stands, the flag acting like a
Xavi, Spain
baptismal spray of holy water anointing the
beginning of each match.
It’s the spectacle of colour that adorns the
stadium for every match, massive sections
of orange for the Netherlands, azzurro for
the Italians, roja for the Spanish, the verde-
amarela of Brazil or the blanco-celeste of
Argentina.
It is a kaleidoscope of colour and noise,
chanting, singing, dancing, drums beating
the rhythm of the samba and vuvzuelas
blowing endlessly.
It is a time when the world comes
together with a shared purpose and
common goal — to enjoy the game for
everything it offers while celebrating its
role in making things better in the world
. . . if only for 30 days.
morris.dallacosta@sunmedia.ca

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70

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South Africa Argentina England Germany Holland Italy Brazil Spain
90 France Greece Algeria Austria Cameroon New Zealand Ivory Coast Chile
Mexico Nigeria Slovenia Ghana Denmark Paraguay North Korea Honduras
100 Uruguay South Korea U.S.A. Serbia Japan Slovakia Portugal Switzerland

June 11 South Africa vs. Mexico (10:00 a.m.) Uruguay vs. France (2:30 p.m.)
June 12 South Korea vs. Greece (7:30 a.m.) Argentina vs. Nigeria(10:00 a.m.) England vs. U.S.A. (2:30 p.m.)
June 13 Algeria vs. Slovenia (7:30 a.m.) Serbia vs. Ghana (10:00 a.m.) Germany vs. Australia (2:30 p.m.)
June 14 Holland vs. Denmark (7:30 a.m.) Japan vs. Cameroon (10:00 a.m.) Italy vs. Paraguay (2:30 p.m.)
June 15 New Zealand vs. Slovakia (7:30 a.m.) Ivory Coast vs. Portugal (10:00 a.m.) Brazil vs. North Korea (2:30 p.m.)
June 16 Honduras vs. Chile (7:30 a.m.) Spain vs. Switzerland(10:00 a.m.) South Africa vs. Uruguay (2:30 p.m.)
June 17 Argentina vs. South Korea (7:30 a.m.) Greece vs. Nigeria (10:00 a.m.) France vs. Mexico (2:30 p.m.)
June 18 Germany vs. Serbia (7:30 a.m.) Slovenia vs. U.S.A. (10:00 a.m.) England vs. Algeria (2:30 p.m.)
June 19 Holland vs. Japan (7:30 a.m.) Ghana vs. Australia (10:00 a.m.) Cameroon vs. Denmark (2:30 p.m.)
June 20 Slovakia vs. Paraguay (7:30 a.m.) Italy vs. New Zealand (10:00 a.m.) Brazil vs. Ivory Coast (2:30 p.m.)
June 21 Portugal vs. North Korea (7:30 a.m.) Chile vs. Switzerland (10:00 a.m.) Spain vs. Honduras (2:30 p.m.)
June 22 Mexico vs. Uruguay (10:00 a.m.) France vs. South Africa (10:00 a.m.) Nigeria vs. South Korea (2:30 p.m.) Greece vs. Argentina (2:30 p.m.)
June 23 U.S.A. vs. Algeria (10:00 a.m.) Slovenia vs. England (10:00 a.m.) Australia vs. Serbia (2:30 p.m.) Ghana vs. Germany (2:30 p.m.)
June 24 Paraguay vs. New Zealand (10:00 a.m.) Slovakia vs. Italy (10:00 a.m.) Denmark vs. Japan (2:30 p.m.) Cameroon vs. Holland (2:30 p.m.)
June 25 North Korea vs. Ivory Coast (10:00 a.m.) Portugal vs. Brazil (10:00 a.m.) Switzerland vs. Honduras (2:30 p.m.) Chile vs. Spain (2:30 p.m.)

June 26
A1 vs. B2 (10:00 a.m.)
July 2
C1 vs. D2 (2:30 p.m.) July 6
Winners 1 vs. 3 (2:30 p.m.)
June 28
Winners A vs. C (2:30 p.m.) July 11
Winners 5 vs. 7 (10:00 a.m.)
E1 vs. F2 (10:00 a.m.) Winner of semi-final 1
G1 vs. H2 (2:30 p.m.) July 10 vs.
June 27
B1 vs. A2 (2:30 p.m.)
Runners-up SF1 vs. SF2, Port Elizabeth (2:30 p.m.) Winner of semi-final 2
July 3 Johannesburg (2:30 p.m.)
D1 vs. C2 (10:00 a.m.) July 7
Winners 2 vs. 4 (10:00 a.m.)
June 29 Winners B vs. D (2:30 p.m.)
Winners 6 vs. 8 (2:30 p.m.)
F1 vs. E2 (10:00 a.m.)
H1 vs. G2 (2:30 p.m.)

All times are Eastern Standard Time

Canadian firm puts grass on the fields n worldcupbriefs

argentina settles down lippi takes on critics
MIKE DAVIES tice fields across South Africa, Pick said. “From the photographs lot of the employees of the com- Coach Diego Maradona seems Marcello Lippi is getting tired of

35 line banner ad
QMI Agency
PETERBOROUGH — When
Pickseed Canada executives tune
into Friday’s World Cup opener
they’ll be looking at much more
than soccer, they’ll be looking at
their product.
Lindsay houses the global
headquarters for Pickseed,
which — through its U.S.-based
subsidiary Seed Research of
Oregon (SRO) and its Manitoba
growers — is supplying most of
the natural grass for the World
Cup. That’s 75 playing and prac-
including Johannesburg’s Soccer
City Stadium.
Agricol, a South African dis-
tributor that has marketed Pick-
seed products for nearly 20 years,
landed the contract. Pickseed
was founded in Lindsay in 1947
by Otto Pick. When he passed
away in 1959, the company was
taken over by his wife Marie, who
has since passed away, and sons
Martin, who lives in Cavan, and
Tom, who lives in Bethany.
“I’m not much of a soccer fan,
but I’ll certainly be watching to
see how the field looks,” Martin
and news pieces we’ve seen it’s
a pretty sensational operation
they’ve developed over there.”
Pick said it’s a major coup to
earn the contract ahead of Euro-
pean companies who special-
ize in grass designed for soccer
facilities.
A special blend of perennial
rye grass and Kentucky blue grass
was created at the SRO facility
and 165,000 pounds of the turf-
grass was grown in Manitoba. It
was shipped to South Africa last
fall.
“I know it’s really energized a
pany as far as their interest in the
World Cup,” said Ig Roppolo, Pick-
seed’s executive vice-president of
eastern sales. Roppolo is a former
coach and executive in the Peter-
borough Youth Soccer Club.
The World Cup is not the
first famous sporting facilities
or events associated with Pick-
seed products, president and
CEO Robert Clark said. Augusta
National Golf Course in Augusta,
Ga., where the Masters is held,
and Toronto’s BMO Field are
among the famous lawns seeded
with their products.
to have settled on Carlos Tevez,
Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain
as starting strikers for Argentina’s
opener against Nigeria on Saturday.
Argentina is the favourite to win
Group B, which also includes Greece
and South Korea. Defender Gabriel
Heinze said the team is united with
none of the confusion and bickering
that existed during qualifying, when
the mercurial coach used 107 play-
ers. “We’re all really good without
any problems and fired up to get on
the field,” Heinze said. “We’ve been
practising at a very good level, and
you’ll see it Saturday.”
hearing that Italy’s players are too
old to win the World Cup again.
And he doesn’t appreciate the
rampant skepticism over his squad
— even back home. Lippi lashed
out at Italy’s critics Wednesday
at his first chance upon landing
in South Africa, pleading for them
to at least give the team a chance
to prove itself. The 62-year-old
coach recalled there wasn’t much
optimism surrounding his squad
four years ago, either, and declared
he wouldn’t let anyone “jump on the
bandwagon” if Italy does well this
time, too.