"The Nations Unleashed" (Part 3)

Sorry I haven't written a post this week. I've been pretty busy actually. I'm going to a new school called National Public School. It's supposed to be the best in Bangalore. Anyway, I don't think I'll have much time for posts soon- school is re-opening on June 2. I've been spending more time surfing the net and found some hilarious instances. Here are some BBC guidelines for the World Cup commentators:

1. Within one minute of kick off in the opening match (Germany vs. Costa Rica) of the world cup, the commentators must mention England.
2. The commentator should refer to Falkland Isles in passing at some point in the match if England play Argentina.

For more BBC Guidelines, visit : The Site of Doom.

Coming back to the World Cup, I'll forget the other top seeds for a few more days and have a look at some of the underdogs. There are a lot of surprise finalists and first time qualifiers this time. These include Angola, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Ukraine and Trinidad & Tobago. I'll begin with Ukraine, the highest seeded first time qualifier[26].

After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, he Ukraine National football team played its first match as Ukraine against Hungary on April 29, 1992. Despite having one of the best players in the world, Andriy Shevchenko, Ukraine has failed to qualify in any major event till 2005. There are 6 players named Andriy, the most famous being Shevchenko. the others are Rusol, Nesmachny, Husin, Voronin and Vorbei. Let me give you a factfile on Andriy Shevcheko, Ukrainian Captain and AC Milan Striker.

FACTFILE

• Andriy Shevchenko, nicknamed "Sheva" started his career with Ukrainian club, Dynamo Kyiv in 1994.
• He was named the European Footballer of the year in 2004.
• He was a boxer before he switched to soccer.
• He is the first ever Ukrainian player to win the Champions League.
• In November 2005, in the second rnd of the CL, he scored all 4 times in AC Milans 4-0 whitewashing of Turkish side Fenerbahce. He became only the 5th man in the history of the Champions League to do so.
• Brazilian Legend Pele has named him in his Top 125 living football players.
  

I was going through many soccer blogs the other day. To get more info and tidbits on other countries and players, I suggest you visit the following links:
Deadspin
Ukraine national football team (wikipedia version)