Not all World Cup Training is Focused on Football

May 24th, 2006 | by: WC Bob | View Comments

Ah, the life of a World Cup football player. Not only do you get to play in the world’s greatest sporting event, but you also get to have some fun during training. For the French team, the fun involved a three-hour hike on an alpine glacier Wednesday. I find it hard to believe that the coaches would put their players at risk by having them climb up an icy mountain, but it does sound like a good time and a good way for Gregory Coupet to conveniently push Fabien Barthez off a cliff. You know he wants to.

UPDATE: Barthez has to back out of the climb. Calf injury or fear of Coupet? You decide.

The activity is a little less rigorous for Germany with its players partaking in watch making classes when they aren’t training. It does sound like a relaxing hobby but one that could also lead to some serious cross-eyed players. Not that being cross-eyed is anything new for Oliver Kahn.

In England, the players got to put on construction hats and tour the new Wembley Stadium on Tuesday. Given the shoddy construction of the place and the propensity of England’s players to sustain weird foot injuries, it can only be considered a successful visit because none of the players were hurt by falling beams.

In Spain, Luis Aragones is focusing on the colors his players wear. The Kabbalah following coach apparently isn’t fond of the color yellow. Now we know what Ukraine, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia fans need to wear during their matches against Spain in Germany.

Finally, there is Brazil. We’ve already reported about the efforts of the Swiss town where they are training to remove the stench of pigs. But did you know that millions of people around the world are watching Brazil train live on television? Aragones is probably not one of them considering the colors that Brazil wears, but you can bet the broadcasts are being followed closely by a few folks in Croatia, Australia and Japan.