The World Cup Awards: June 22nd, 2010

June 22nd, 2010 | by: chris | View Comments

Team of the Day: A bittersweet award: South Africa. A staggering performance, begging the question: were they holding back or was France really that bad?

Little bit of both, probably.

Player of the Day: Siphiwe Tshabalala. The saving grace is that Tshabalala was so integral to South Africa he’s due a move to Europe – should he so choose – based on his footballing merits alone. The billions of Tshabalala shirts and scrunchies whichever club wins his lotto will be able to sell will simply be a bonus.

YouTuber of the Day: Most French fans can laugh at this point. I think.

Stat of the Day: Via Eurosport.

Diego Maradona
Oh go on then. His men racked up a frightening 82 per cent possession against Greece – the highest of any World Cup match since 1966 – to keep their 100 per cent record intact.

I propose a new international footballing law which states Greece shall be punished with lashes of Claude Makelele’s noodle in relation to possession, the number of which shall be determined by their possession differential – in this case, 82 -18= 64 lashes from Claude The Beer Can. And if they shall ever earn the majority of possession, will be rewarded with an equal number of euros. ie 52 – 48 = €4.

They’d be a few 60-40 games away from saving their economy. We’re changing worlds here, people.

The Jabulani Award: This vid’s purpose was originally to highlight how brilliant Tzorvas was on the day. Then I got to the :23 mark – watch where that booming hit from Veron drops. It’s like he’s throwing a curveball with exact placement on the break.

Greece 0-2 Argentina (Highlights)

Ricardo | MySpace Video

FIFA should still probably pee test Argentina’s Jabulani – just to be sure.

Quote of the Day: Whilst the rest of the media was busy fluffing Cristiano for scoring an accidental goal, Mick McCarty was speaking truths:

Between this and throwing out his reserves against ManU, this man’s a legend.

(Three meaningful halves, three completely anonymous performances.)

What It Means: Seoul, South Korea.

The Putting A Wig On A Cardboard Cutout Of Salma Hayek At A Football Game Award: This is easily grounds for jail in some countries. What’s Spanish for “put the lotion in the basket”? (Nery Castillo?)

Fans of the Day: Embracing failure is always respectable. Especially when you had nothing to do with said failure.

Matchup of the Day: South Korea takes on Greece.

v.