We are one day away from world's largest sporting event. What? How can that be Ryan? Aren't the Olympics the world's largest sporting event? Well of course they are! I choose to disqualify them from actual consideration based on the inclusion of ridiculous "sports" such as race-walking and ballroom dancing.
With that out of the way, I plan to blog every day of the World Cup. Frankly it is a herculean task for me considering I rarely blog more than once every two months. Guaranteed fresh content every day including World Cup fun facts, possible cartoons, and general updates as to the status of our soon to be arriving spawn.
As I am in the full grip of World Cup fever, the constant need for information regarding the tournament has lead me to read up on all the teams participating in the tournament. While in the midst of my single minded obsession, I come up with a number of cool things for me to share with you!
Day one 1: Meet the Algerians! (*cough* the French *cough*)
Nicknamed the Desert Foxes, Algeria comes in as an underdogs to reach the second round, but beware the quality that lies under the surface. Did you know?: The majority of the Algerian national team was born in France. Keen to not allow the next Zinedine Zidane escape their grasp, the Algerian football federation has been aggressively courting their heritage players. Who is this Zinedine Zidane you speak of Ryan? Well Zindeine Zidane, or Zizou as he is lovingly referred to in France, was the star of France's World Cup winning squad in 1998 and one of the world's greatest players. Zidane is the child of Algerian immigrants, which helped make his transcendent performance in 1998 even more meaningful when you consider the massive immigration backlash occurring in many European countries including France in the last decade or so.
Algeria will be a very tough team and certainly not one any American should take lightly. The majority of their players play for European clubs and are used to that rough and tumble style. I certainly expect them to throw their absolute best.
Highlighted player: Adlane GUEDIOURA. Plays for Wolverhampton Wanderers in the English Premier League. His father was a striker for the Algerian national team in the 1980's and his mother played basketball for Spain. He holds an Economics degree and speaks several languages.
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