Active Zone bike festival slated June 18-20

Let’s make the NBA Finals take a back seat for a while and welcome the world’s greatest sporting event next to the Olympics - the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Anyways, the Lakers have regained homecourt advantage. To the LA Nation - We Want Boston! To Beantown loyals - Beat LA!

I plan to lose some sleep tonight and watch Group A matches beginning at 10:30 between host South Africa and Mexico followed by Uruguay and France. I just hope Balls TV won’t have an avalanche of commercials during the games.

South Africa, being the host, is the lowest FIFA-ranked team in the tournament at #83. Going up against 17th-rank Mexico, who had 14 World Cup appearances is a huge task. I doubt if Bafana-Bafana will advance to the next round considering Uruguay and France are also in their group.

The South Africans will miss Benni McCarthy who was pulled off the team for disciplinary reasons. The burden will fall on English Premiere League stalwarts Steven Pienaar of Everton and Kagisho Dikgacoi of Fullham. Mexico meanwhile un-retired the talented Cuauhtemoc Blanco to guide young stars Guillermo Ochoa, Andres Guardado and team captain Rafael Marquez. 

The Uruguay-France match will be interesting. Both teams have tasted World Cup glory with Uruguay winning in 1930 and 1950. France last won in 1998 and was runner-up to Italy in 2006.

Thierry Henry, Nicolas Anelka and Djibiril Cisse will be the players to watch for Les Bleus. Henry, specially. His feet did the work as he scored three goals in 1998 when they hosted the WC and scored another three goals in 2006. This year, his hand was the reason why France is in the WC as there was a clear hand ball during that elimination match with Ireland in November. Check out Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez to man Uruguay’s charge versus the French.

Stars will be missed this year because of injuries and for some other reasons. Notables are:

England’s David Beckham and Rio Ferdinand. Becks has a torn ACL while team captain Ferdinand has knee and back injuries. In their Group C pairings, its the US who poses the most serious threat to the English side but the Americans will also miss Charlie Davies who has not fully recovered from a serious car crash in October of last year.

Germany’s Micheal Ballack and Rene Adler. Goalkeeper Adler has a rib injury, team captain Ballack has a torn medial collateral ligament. The Germans are in a bind as to who will be the man between the posts since veteran GK Jens Lehmann has retired and rising star Robert Enke committed suicide.

Ballack’s teammate at Chelsea, Michael Essien of Ghana would have been a factor when it faces Germany in Group D. Essien is out with a knee injury. The EPL’s top scorer for 2009-2010, Didier Drogba of Ivory Coast has a fractured elbow. They are in a strong group with Brazil and Portugal and Drogba’s scoring will be missed by the Ivorians.

Brazil has left out Ronaldinho and Alexander Pato from their WC lineup. AC Milan’s attacking combo did not impress Coach Dunga. It would have been fun to see these two running alongside Kaka. I still favor Brazil to hoist the cup though.

Again, it’s a coach’s decision for Argentina. Defender Javier Zanetti and defensive midfield Esteban Cambiasso did not merit Coach Diego Maradona’s attention. Maybe he knows best? Due to retirement, I will miss Holland’s Edwin Van Der Saar. oh well, more sleepless nights ahead, football nuts.

The World Cup is finally here. Ole! Ole! Ole!

E-mail me @ [email protected] – THE FREEMAN