On June 11th the world will stop what its doing for a month and turn its attention to South Africa as the World Cup kicks off with a match between South Africa and Mexico.
Here at The Common Room, we love the beautiful game. We love everything it represents, especially on the national level. However, we do realize that in the US, it is much harder to follow than baseball, football, or basketball. Since soccer doesn't get much attention from the sports media here in the states, we are here to help you, our loyal readers with a guide to the World Cup. Today we are going to start with a little background on the 32 countries in the tournament.
Group A
South Africa
Fun Fact - Host Nation
Colors - Green and Yellow
Nickname - Bafana Bafana (The Boys)
FIFA Ranking - 90th
Coach - Carlos Alberto Parreira
Mexico
Colors - Red, Green, White, and Black
Nickname - El Tri
FIFA Ranking - 17
Coach - Javier Aguirre
France
Colors - Blue, White, and Red
Nickname - Les Bleus
FIFA Ranking - 10
Coach - Raymond Domenech
1998 World Cup Champions
Uruguay
Colors - Light Blue, Black, and White
Nickname - Charruas (Indigenous People of Uruguay)
FIFA Ranking - 18
Coach - Oscar Tabarez
1930 and 1950 World Cup Champions
Group B
Korea Republic
Colors - Red, Blue, and White
Nickname - Taegeuk Warriors (Taegeuk is the Korean equivalent of Yin and Yang)
FIFA Ranking - 47
Coach - Huh Jung Moo (really.)
Greece
Colors - Blue and White
Nickname - The Pirate Ship
FIFA Ranking - 12
Coach - Otto Rehhagel
Argentina
Colors - Blue and White
Nickname - La Albiceleste (White and Sky Blue)
FIFA Ranking - 7
Coach - Diego Maradona
1978 and 1986 World Cup Champions
Nigeria
Colors - Green and White
Nickname - The Super Eagles
FIFA Ranking - 20
Coach - Lars Lagerback
Group C
England
Colors - Red and White
Nickname - The Three Lions
FIFA Ranking - 8
Coach - Fabio Capello
1966 World Cup Champions
United States
Colors - Red, White, and Blue
Nickname - The Yanks
FIFA Ranking - 14
Coach - Bob Bradley
Slovenia
Colors - Green, Yellow, and White
Nickname - Zmajecki (Dragon)
FIFA Ranking - 23
Coach - Matjaz Kek
Algeria
Colors - Red, White, and Green
Nickname - Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes)
FIFA Ranking - 31
Coach - Rabah Saadane
Group D
Serbia
Colors - Red, White, and Blue
Nickname - The White Eagles
FIFA Ranking - 16
Coach - Radomir Antic
Ghana
Colors - Red, White, and Yellow
Nickname - The Black Stars
FIFA Ranking - 32
Coach - Milovan Rajevac
Australia
Colors - Green, Yellow, and Blue
Nickname - The Socceroos
FIFA Ranking - 20
Coach - Pim Verbeek
Germany
Colors - White, Black, and Red
Nickname - Die Mannschaft (The Team)
FIFA Ranking - 6
Coach -Joachim Low
1954, 1974, 1990 World Cup Champions
Group E
Netherlands
Colors - Orange, Blue, and White
Nickname - The Oranje
FIFA Ranking - 4
Coach -Bert van Merwijk
Denmark
Colors - Red and White
Nickname - Olsen's Eleven
FIFA Ranking - 35
Coach -Morten Olsen
Japan
Colors - Red, White, and Blue
Nickname - Samurai Blue
FIFA Ranking - 45
Coach -Takeshi Okada
Cameroon
Colors - Yellow, Green, and Red
Nickname - The Indomitable Lions
FIFA Ranking - 19
Coach - Paul Le Guen
Group F
Italy
Colors - Blue and White
Nickname - The Azzurri
FIFA Ranking - 5
Coach - Marcello Lippi
1934, 1938, 1982, 2006 World Cup Champions
Paraguay
Colors - Red, White, and Blue
Nickname - Guaranies (Indigenous People of Paraguay)
FIFA Ranking - 30
Coach - Gerardo Martino
New Zealand
Colors - White and Black
Nickname - The All Whites
FIFA Ranking - 78
Coach - Ricki Herbert
Slovakia
Colors - Blue and White
Nickname - Repre
FIFA Ranking - 38
Coach - Vladimir Weiss
Group G
Brazil
Colors - Blue and Yellow
Nickname - The Samba Kings
FIFA Ranking - 1
Coach -Dunga
1958, 1962, 1970, 1994, 2002 World Cup Champions
Cote d'Ivoire
Colors - Orange, Green, and White
Nickname - The Elephants
FIFA Ranking - 27
Coach -Sven-Goran Eriksson
Portugal
Colors - Red, Green, and White
Nickname - Seleccao de Quinas
FIFA Ranking - 3
Coach - Carlos Queiroz
North Korea
Colors - Red and White
Nickname - Chollina
FIFA Ranking - 106
Coach - Kim Jong-Hun
Group H
Honduras
Colors - Blue and White
Nickname - Los Catrachos
FIFA Ranking - 40
Coach - Reinaldo Rueda
Chile
Colors - Red, White, and Blue
Nickname - La Roja
FIFA Ranking - 15
Coach -Marcello Bielsa
Spain
Colors - Red, Blue, and Gold
Nickname - La Furia Roja
FIFA Ranking - 2
Coach - Vincente del Bosque
Switzerland
Colors - Red and White
Nickname - Schweizer Nati
FIFA Ranking - 21
Coach - Ottmar Hitzfeld
Thus concludes the first part of our World Cup coverage. We leave you with the Official Theme Song for World Cup 2010.
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