By Ollie Irish

I would not mess with any of this lot...

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Rigobert Song, Cameroon - Could become the first man to be sent off at three different World Cups

Anyone I missed?

Photos: PA

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Perusing the Italian squad earlier, I noticed something odd: people in their early 20's. In fact there were 7 seven! players 25 or under in Marcello Lippi's squad, which made me think perhaps this Italy squad was, dare I say, young (comparison and all that). Therefore I hacked out the average age of the Azzurri and came up with 28.

Perusing the Italian squad earlier, I noticed something odd: people in their early 20's. In fact there were 7 seven! players 25 or under in Marcello Lippi's squad, which made me think perhaps this Italy squad was, dare I say, young (comparison and all that). Therefore I hacked out the average age of the Azzurri and came up with 28.

I personally really enjoyed Vanity Fair's idea to shoot football's biggest stars in patriotic underwear and nothing more.

From Vanity Fair's Fair Play Blog:

For the June issue of Vanity Fair, Annie Leibovitz set out to capture some of the sport's biggest stars, including Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba, Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o, and Brazil's Kaká.

For the June issue of Vanity Fair, Annie Leibovitz set out to capture some of the sport's biggest stars, including Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba, Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o, and Brazil's Kaká. Leibovitz's portraits are, well, revealing. And underwear has never looked so patriotic.

If you're unfamiliar with World Cup Blog, then allow me to explain: The blog you're reading now is the front page, but the core of WCB is the multitude of team specific blogs, including one for each of the World Cup 2010 teams.

The authors of these team blogs have forgotten more about their sides than I'll ever know, so I decided to tap that knowledge by asking each of them a set of 10 questions.

The latest FIFA rankings have been published, with the top nine positions remaining unchanged. Egypt was the month's big winner, jumping from 24th to 10th on the strength of their impressive Africa Cup of Nations triumph. Cameroon, meanwhile, slid from 11th to 20th after making a disappointing early exit from the tournament.

Cristiano Ronaldo once again did not score but not because of the lack of trying. He got a number of chances but failed to convert.

What must have heartened Carlos Quieroz was that Portugal was able to find goals from other sources including two from Raul Miereles and the final goal by Nani.

Alex Nyom

26-year old Cameroon goalkeeper Jules Alex Nyom who has played for the Twin Stars NPSL team since 2008, has signed a professional contract in Rovaniemi, Finland to play for RoPS.

RoPS played in the Finnish Premier Division (Veikkausliiga) in 2009 but was relegated to the second division (Ykkönen) after a poor season last year.

Denmark have released the new away shirt they will wear at the 2010 World Cup finals. Denmark qualified top of their group during qualification, finishing ahead of Portugal, however they face a tough qualification group in the finals after being drawn in Group E against Cameroon, the Netherlands and Japan.

African nations were late entrants into the World Cup. Morocco participated in 1970, and Zaire in 1974 with pathetic results. In 1978 Tunisia was the first African team to win a match in a World Cup when they defeated Mexico 3-1, and in 1982 two African teams, Cameroon and Algeria, had extraordinary results but without qualifying to the second round.

The German shoe and sportswear company, Puma, sponsors at least 12 African national football teams five of which qualified for the 2010 World Cup. To commemorate the World Cup year (and because it is good PR and to sell shirts), Puma commissioned artist Kehinde Wiley to create four new works of arts inspired by the footbal stars Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon, John Mensah of Ghana and Emmanuel Eboué of Ivory Coast.

The match between Russia and Cameroon in the first round of the 1994 was completely irrelevant for both teams. Russia had lost their previous two matches 2-0 and 3-1 to Brazil and Sweden respectively, while Cameroon had tied Sweden 2-2 and lost 3-0 to Brazil. This meant that while Cameroon had a small theoretical chance of progressing, Russia was out.

The player himself, Arsene Wenger and now Alex Song. The Cameroon International is the third Arsenal member this month to confirm captain Cesc Fabregas is going nowhere. Speaking to the News of the World, the 22-year ...

The U.S.A '94 World Cup Golden Boot, was shared by Russia's Oleg Salenko and Bulgaria's Hristov Stoickov, both 6 goals in the Finals.

Instead of inundate you with 2010 World Cup news a mere 5 days before the first game (South Africa-Mexico), let's ask the top 5 questions for the contenders before the start of the Cup (courtesy of Jesse Spector, New York Daily News although I added some too) ...
1 - Which big-name team is in the most danger of a first-round exit?

Arsenal players put in good performances at the World Cup today. Van Persie picked up an assist, Bendtner scored a nice goal and should have had an assist (don't know why he isn't credited with one) and Song worked hard in midfield and deserved more from the game.

The day started with Holland taking on Japan.

Yet again, Arsenal midfielder Alex Song not only helped his team with his strength and determination in midfield but also by finding the back of the net. On target against Chelsea on Monday, the Cameroon International ...

This is one of my favourite World Cup moments, mostly because it features two iconic footballers. First there's the legendary Roger Milla. The 38 year old striker who came out of retirement to play for Cameroon at the 1990 World Cup, after receiving a persuasive phone call from Cameroon's President Paul Biya.

Soccer America have posted a really good article on Red Bulls New York's recent draft pick Tony Tchani that describes his youth growing up in Cameroon and how he made it to the United States.

I didn't get to see most of the Italy-Cameroon game live yesterday. I was on my way to New York City instead (I'm a New Jersey native, home from college on spring break). PUMA was having their official unveiling of the Azzurri's new World cup jerseys, and when Daryl passed along the invite, I couldn't resist.

It's Friday, so it must be World Cup preview podcast time again. This week it's the turn of Group E, which features the talents of Cameroon, Denmark, Japan and the Netherlands (and apparently Holland too). Your four co-hosts debate the merits of each team in various categories (some serious: Best Coach, some not so much: Best Celebrity Spokesperson) and then add up the points to see which two teams go through.

Another original video of FIFA's official theme song "Waving Flag" from Somalian-Canadian Artist K'naan. This video has great images highlighting Africa's natural beauty and the beautiful animals that inhabit the continent. I am hoping the African football nations do well and perhaps get past the quarterfinals, as only Sengal and Cameroon have been able to achieve that milestone.

Fifa's World Rankings were announced today. Brazil leapfrog Spain, who are now are second followed by Portugal, The Netherlands, Italy and Germany.
Spain and Brazil are among the bookies' favorites to win the World Cup next summer.
England are in 8th place, while Argentina move up to 7th and are looking a serious dark house for South Africa.

Vanity Fair has caught football fever. The June issue features some of the World Cups' finest in their patriotic boxers. Legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz has captured the likes of the Ghana's Sulley Muntari, US's Landon Donovan, Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Ivory Coast's Didier Drogba, Cameroon's Samuel Eto'o, and Brazil's Kaká and Pato.

Martin Skrtel is desperate to prove his fitness to earn a place in the Slovakian squad for what will be an historic World Cup for his nation.
Skrtel suffered a metatarsal injury in February, missing the climax of Liverpool's season, but is in Slovakia's provisional squad for South Africa 2010.

Below you'll find a complete list of the 32 coaches at World Cup 2010. You'll also find their nationality, and their age going into the tournament. Beneath that you'll find some amateur hour number crunching I did with pen, paper and the calculator on my cell phone to work out a few statistics.

Before you look at the list of coaches and the numbers, do yourself a favour and have a guess at how those numbers pan out.

I know. Everyone wants to win the World Cup. That's why they call it the World Cup.

But which of the 32 World Cup teams has the biggest reason for wanting to win it? Read on for a list of the 32 teams and my best guess at what's driving them to victory. Feel free to add/argue different reasons in the comments.

Martin Skrtel handed Slovakia a major boost ahead of the World Cup finals after the Liverpool centre-back completed 90 minutes in an international friendly draw with Cameroon on Saturday evening.
The Reds star turned in a commanding display for the Slovaks as the two teams played out a 1-1 draw in Austria - but he did receive a 64th minute yellow card.

Mexico's Primera División is arguably the richest professional soccer league outside of Europe, and its clubs are more than capable of attracting the best talent from all over the Americas. (With the exception of the very best talent, which will always head for Europe.) Once in a while, a Mexican club will contract a player from outside of the Americas, like Cameroon's François Omam-Biyik who played for América in the mid 1990s.

ESPN is playing the lead role in 2010 World Cup coverage worldwide even leaving the host nation's TV channel way behind. The top commentators of the game John Motson and Andy Gray have also signed up with ESPN and it does not end there (more details here).

Here is the gallery of 33 epic works of art made for ESPN one for every nation participating in the World Cup and one for the World cup.

La selección de Camerun en el mundial 2010 Sudafrica uniforme, alineaciones,estadísticas, historia y análisis (Leones indomables)

¿Como clasifico a la copa del mundo Sudáfrica 2010?
Pasaron en primer lugar de su grupo, 9 goles a favor y solo dos en contra solo perdieron uno y empataron otro en seis partidos.

By Ollie Irish

Let them entertain you...

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Samuel Eto'o, Cameroon - Knows he is Cameroon's main man and so tends to showboat much more in internationals

We miss anyone?

Spurs full-back's fashion statement(s) Cameroon defender Benoit Assou-Ekotto forgot that he wasn't a woman when he booked in for his hair appointment and accidentally order a high ponytail in a sort of bun. Realising his error, he promptly flashed his psychedelic pants to distract the photographers.

Blonde bombshell As practical jokes go, whoever mocked up the invitation from Sepp Blatter to Rigobert Song claiming that the 2010 World Cup was Abel Xavier-themed fancy dress did pretty well. In fact, the veteran defender is supposed to look like the Indomitable Lion from Cameroon's crest, apparently.

We just watched the Cameroon vs Denmark game, in which quite a few former Newcastle players and Magpie targets, played in the game. Vincent Aboubakar 18 year-old Cameroon International Jon Dahl Tomasson played at center-forward for Denmark and supposed loan target for next season Christian Poulsen played in midfield for Denmark but it was [.

Samuel Eto'o has won plenty of trophies, scored plenty of goals, and played in plenty of different systems. He has often played as a center-forward, finishing plays and scoring lots of goals, but for Inter Milan, under the orders of Jose Mourinho, Eto'o wasn't used as a finisher, but maybe more as a supporter.

It didn't take long for Arsenal to understand how much Alex Song is going to be missed. In their first game without the Cameroon International, the Gunners were completely dominated in midfield, as manager Arsene ...

Cameroon were 1-0 down to Zambia last night, and genuinely in danger of an early Africa Cup of Nations 2010 exit. Until. In the 68th minute, Geremi (who plays for either Newcastle or Ankaragücü, depending on who you ask) sprinted to prevent the ball going out for a throw and swung a hopeful ball in the general direction of the penalty area.

Japan is the second national team I am reviewing after Cameroon in my series about the 32 countries participating in the World Cup in South Africa. Japan is in Group E along with the Netherlands, Cameroon and Denmark. Japan doesn't have a long history in this competition having qualified only 4 times in 18 World Cups (counting the one in South Africa).