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World Cup College

Well Struck: Jack Warner’s Noose, Thomas Hobbes’ Favorite Side & the Real Group of Death

If the sports section had stories as good as these, I’d start reading it again…or at least the three column inches currently engulfed by Wilbon and Boswell:

World Cup College: England’s tension between neo-realism and Hobbes’ mechanism

Zonal Marking’s 23-man all-World Cup-side

Soccer Spieler dares look back to name the real Group of Death

Tim Vickery’s advice to Brazil: Hire Leonardo and start attacking

Isn’t it time to take down the World Cup flags?

Said & Done wraps the World Cup: Jack Warner’s noose, how many teachers executive hospitality costs in South Africa would have employed, and the best FIFA expenses ever claimed

Watford Academy: Jockeys + ballet + school = the envy of Europe

Sleep well, Minus the Shooting and World Cup College — you will be missed

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Reaction Formations

This World Cup was the death knell of the 4-4-2 as an attacking formation, says Jonathan Wilson at Sports Illustrated — unlike the regnant 4-2-3-1, it doesn’t easily create triangles, which are necessary to maintaining possession. But can anything beat the 4-2-3-1? A W-W (or 2-3-2-3) might be the reactive wave, says Dr. Ted at World Cup College, in which “the attacking midfielder can be shut-out by two defensive midfielders.”

An #Englandfail Compendium

When it comes to stylish self-laceration, the French have nothing on the English. England crashed out of World Cup 2010 because its players are soccer-stupid (Martin Samuel/Daily Mail), because it’s an island nation with insular thinking (The Ball is Round), because of the creaky old 4-4-2 (Glenn Moore/Telegraph), because they play with too much passion (Musa Okwonga/New York Times-Goal), because they’re basically Everton (World Cup College), because Capello got 10 things wrong (Richard Williams/Guardian), because of so many things (Left Back in the Changing Room). It needs to take a step backwards and play youth for a cycle or two (twofootedtackle). It even needs to get off the plane better (Barney Ronay/The Guardian).

The N-Effect and England’s Choke Jobs

The N-Effect describes the phenomenon whereby people work harder when they think they have fewer rivals – which explains England’s win over Slovenia and its two previous 2010 World Cup losses. Whaaaa? Yes: Must-win situations allowed England’s players to focus on the present, whereas the Algeria and U.S. matches gave the English room to subconsciously fret about their chances to win the whole tournament, and choke. “This is why second place in Group C may be the best outcome for England.” (Dr. Ted/World Cup College)

Formations and Being-in-the-World

Teams line up in a formation…but average-position graphics reveal those formations as Cartesian coordinates to be “poor representations of on-pitch reality.” But what formations should reflect, rather, is something akin to Heidegger’s notion of Dasein, of being-in-the-world — akin to us considering our location to be walking close to a friend rather than on a slab of sidewalk. Formations are “existence inextricably linked to meaningful human activity…they do not simply represent what exists on a pitch, but show us how humans organize their understanding of the game.” (Dr. Ted/World Cup College)

World Cup: Why You’re Addicted

Your first World Cup is probably the one that provides you with your sharpest memories and metaphors — and there’s a scientific reason for that. The conditions of watching the matches on TV — in detachment — means that you enjoy all of the parapathic emotions involved, from elation to disgust. This arousal is not only which is crucial to memory and narrative formation — it’s an addiction machine, making you crave more and more arousal. Excited yet? (Dr. Paul/World Cup College)