Doin' it fer the kids

The next two World Cup Qualifiers are crucial ones for some teams. By the summer of next year we may or may not see Argentina and Portugal. We most probably will not see Maradona (who is actually promising threatening to quit anyway) and Carlos Queiroz this time next week even if they somehow scrape through.

In Group 8 there is still a chance for the Republic of Ireland to automatically qualify, but they will have to beat Italy at home on Saturday to do that.

At the moment the Italians are top of the group, 4 points ahead of Ireland – who are 5 ahead of third placed Bulgaria. A win would obviously secure it. A runners up spot will put them into a lottery.

- A lottery which now, because of a whim by Sepp Blatter, has a seeding.
From the Irish Times:

Republic of Ireland full-back Kevin Kilbane has hit out at the decision to seed the World Cup play-offs. The 32-year-old could win his 99th cap against Italy on Saturday evening as the Irish attempt to overhaul the reigning champions at the top of Group Eight with just two games to play.

However, with the Italians enjoying a four-point lead as they head for Dublin, the chances are that Giovanni Trapattoni’s men will have to settle for a place in the runners-up lottery, provided they do not allow third-placed Bulgaria to close a five-point gap on them.

FIFA’s decision to seed the draw, which was announced last week, means Ireland would come up against one of the stronger sides left in the competition, and that has come as a major blow.

Sending positive thoughts to them for Saturday’s game which hey, you can actually watch on TV.
Wonder if anybody will tune in to watch this…? Yeah maybe one or two…

Sending positive tunes as well with the official song for the 2002 World Cup.

Not included in that above photo some of you will keenly remember (Ugh !) was a certain person who (what is known as doing a Sarah Palin now) quit the team right before the tournament began.

Actually is he still at Ipsw….? Just checking.

This World Cup was their reappearance after their fantastic time in the USA in ’94, then hitting a low by not qualifying for France ’98. And despite losing a midfield general Ireland still did well…not 1994 Quarter Finals standard… but still they got to the knockout stages and were only beaten by Spain after extra time and pens.

» Relieve all those moments and remind yourself of that time with the Beeb’s World Cup 2002 page.

For the song the FAI asked Dave Couse, who was the singer of the (difficult to Google) band A House, to re-record one of their songs: Here Come The Good Times.

Before hitting the studio (along with guest appearances from Mick McCarthy, Aslan’s Christy Dignam, Dustin The Turkey and some boy band members), listeners to Today FM’s Ray D’Arcy Show were asked to phone and text in to suggest some new football-related lyrics for Couse to record.

One of those lines in the song goes;   "...With Keane to lead us there is nothing to fear..."

[See post to listen to audio] » Irish World Cup Squad – Here Come The Good Times

… and of course the original, which was released as a 2 part CD single collection and included cover versions of songs done by T-Rex, The Damned and err…Donna Summer…

[See post to listen to audio] » A House – Here Come The Good Times

[See post to listen to audio] » A House – Children of the Revolution

[See post to listen to audio] » A House – I Feel Love

[See post to listen to audio] » A House – All We Need

[See post to listen to audio] » A House – Everybody Needs Something

This is part 2 of a World Cup theme post. Part 1 is here.

Some more World Cup Qualifiers coming up. Time to roll out some more WC feem toons.

For the first time in it’s history the World Cup tournament is held in Asia, specifically Japan & South Korea.

This time FIFA and the authorities get a bit posh and got Vangelis to do an official anthem AND… an official theme song by Anastacia too:

[See post to listen to audio] » Vangelis – 2002 FIFA WC Official Anthem

» Anastacia – Boom (Album Version)

I’m not done with this yet though…

There was a tie in to the tournament with an effort to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS. The project was called “Love United” and they roped in some world famous footie players to help them publicise the issue.

Roped them in with a song and yes once again we have singing footballers – captured on video too:

Representing England and trying to look hard singing a love-type ballad is one Sol Campbell.

[See post to listen to audio]
» Love United – Live For Love United

Also appearing on the vid (in case you didn’t catch them all) are:
Fabien Barthez (Fra), Selim Benachour (Tun), Laurent Blanc (Fra), Alain Boghossian (Fra), Sol Campbell (Eng), Vincent Candela (Fra), Fabio Cannavaro (Ita), Roberto Carlos (Bra), Marcel Desailly (Fra), Didier Deschamps (Fra), El Hadji Diouf (Sen), Youri Djorkaeff (Fra), Christophe Dugarry (Fra), Luis Figo (Por), Ivan Helguera (Spa), Thierry Henry (Fra), Franck Leboeuf (Fra), Frederik Liundberd (Sve), Bixente Lizarazu (Fra), Patrick M’Boma (Cam), Claude Makélélé (Fra), Rafael Marquez (Mex), Johan Micoud (Fra), Salomon Olembé (Cam), Emmanuel Petit (Fra), Robert Pires (Fra), Ulrich Ramé (Fra), Ronaldinho (Bra), Willy Sagnol (Fra), Roque Santa Cruz (Par), Mehmet Scholl (Ger), Michael Silvestre (Fra), Jacques Songo’o (Cam), Hakan Sukur (Tur), Piotr Swierczewski (Pol), Lilian Thuram (Fra), Francesco Totti (Ita), Daniel Van Buyten (Bel), Gregory Vanney (Usa), Juan S. Veron (Arg), Patrick Vieira (Fra), Paulo Wanchope (Cos), Sylvain Wiltord (Fra), Young-Pyo Lee (Cor), Zinedine Zidane (Fra).

I’m still not finished …

*BONUS* -> I’ve collected together (some) of the song from the official soundtrack. I ordered a copy of the CD but the seller didn’t send it. Got me money refunded though.

Click here to get it.

Alright done with that. Now onto Germany for the 2006 finals.

Yet again the local talent was ignored and for this one FIFA whispered sweet nothings into Simon Collwell’s ear and he gave them his musical progeny, along with Toni Braxton:

[See post to listen to audio] » Il Divo – The Time Of Our Lives

- I’ve still got more WC 2006 related material I want to share, but this will do for now.