The World Cup Blog A-Z of 2007, Part Two

The year is almost done, so here’s the final part of the World Cup Blog A-Z of 2007. Part one (A-M) can be found here, part two (N-Z) is after the jump and features everything from Hope Solo’s tantrum to Ashley Young’s bout of exhibitionism. If any big stories are missing, let me know in the comments.

N - The long awaited and oft-delayed New Wembley finally opened in London. The first official game between England and Italy’s Under 21 sides saw Giampaolo Pazzini christen the stadium with a hat-trick in the 3-3 draw. Elsewhere the Super Eaglets of Nigeria won the U-17 World Cup in South Korea, beating Spain in a penalty shoot-out.

O - This past weekend saw the tragic death of Motherwell captain Phil O’Donnell, who suffered heart failure while being substituted towards the end of the game. As a mark of respect several Scottish Premier League games have been postponed, including the Old Firm derby that was scheduled for Wednesday, as O’Donnell spent five years at Celtic.

P - Sevilla’s Antonio Puerta collapsed on the field after suffering a heart attack in August, and later died. As with O’Donnell, the football world put differences aside to mourn his death.

Q - Struggling Championship side Queens Park Rangers became technically the richest club in the world when Lakshmi Mittal, the fifth richest man in the world bought a 20% share in the club.

R - The long running saga of Juan Roman Riquelme, exiled from the Villarreal first team but beloved by Argentina coach Alfio Basile, finally concluded when he rejoined Boca Juniors recently. But not in time for the Club World Cup. Another former favourite Ronaldinho found himself substituted regularly and finally benched at Barcelona, as questions were raised about his commitment. But Cristiano Ronaldo continued his journey to legend-hood with some devastating performances for Manchester United.

S - The accidental shooting of Lazio fan Gabriele Sandri sparked riots in Italy, causing several games to be postponed. Despite Milan’s Champions League and World Club Cup win, 2007 was a terrible year in Italian football, with the Sandri shooting and the policeman who was killed during the Catania vs Palermo game. Under first Walter Smith and then Alex McLeish, Scotland delivered pride back to the Tartan Army by beating France home and away and very nearly qualifying for Euro 2008. Meanwhile Hope Solo got the world’s attention when she threw a huge (partially justified) tantrum after being dropped for the USA vs Brazil Women’s World Cup semi-final.

T - The big debate in England (and particularly the United half of Sheffield) was over Third Party Ownership, and how that affected West Ham’s decision to field Carlos Tevez and Javier Mascherano. West Ham were eventually fined a record £5.5 million for their transgression, but were not docked points as expected, and Tevez scored a load of goals to keep them in the Premier League at Sheffield United’s expense.

U - The USA made a braveish attempt to compete in the Gold Cup and Copa America back to back that only partially payed off. They won the Gold Cup with a superb Benny Feilhaber strike to beat Mexico in an entertaining final, but didn’t have the strength in depth to do anything but lose three games at the Copa America.

V - Venezuela successfully hosted the Copa America in 2007 and also made a good start to World Cup 2010 Qualifying. But the fans got greedy and long-time coach Richard Paez resigned after being insulted during Venezuela’s 5-3 win over Bolivia. New coach Cesar Farias has some big shoes to fill, when WC qualifying resumes in June 2008.

W - The Women’s World Cup caused quite a stir, with the performance of Marta and the Brazil team shaming the Brazilian FA into starting a women’s competition back home. But it was Germany who won the tournament, beating Brazil 2-0 with borderline stereotypical efficiency to claim consecutive championships.

X - As in the X-Rated behaviour of a variety of mostly Premier League footballers. Worst offender, taste wise was Ashley Young who thought nothing of waving his tackle all over the internet.

Y - Argentina won the Youth World Cup for U-20 teams in Canada for a record sixth time. Standout players included Sergio Aguero and Angel Di Maria.

Z - 2007 was the first year without seeing Zinedine Zidane on the pitch. Despite occasional optimistic rumours of Zizou heading to MLS, it looks like we’ve seen the last of him now.

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