All World Cup 2010 Best Name Team

In celebration of the first few days of games I'm going to publish my First Team All World Cup 2010 Best Name Team. And yes, it does say 'team' twice in the award so deal with it. I'll opt for the traditional 4-4-2 formation; however, if there is a tie at a certain position I reserve the right to have multiple players at a given position in the squad. Here we go:

Goalkeeper: Hans-Jörg Butt (Germany). How can you go wrong with the hyphen, the umlaut, and the reference to the gluteus maximus? I think you know the answer.

Goalkeeper (Hon. Mention): Faouzi Chaouchi (Algeria). Say whhaaaaaaattttt? Does his name rhyme or is that just how I'm saying it in my head?

Goalkeeper (Hon. Mention 2): Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi (Japan). He was the starter at the 1998 and 2006 games for Japan, has played for Portsmouth in the Premier league and is now a backup at the age of 34 to starter Narazaki.

Defender1: Oh Beom-Seok (South Korea). Again, I'm a sucker for hyphens. And when your first name is the start of an unimportant sentence in the English language, I know you’re a winner. Also there are 7 players with the first name ‘Kim’ on the South Korean team so I give Mr Oh here some love for being original.

Defender2: Patrick Mtiliga (Denmark). Not part of any games for the Danes during qualifying, Mtiliga made the team after impressing for Malaga this season.

Defender3: Sokratis Papastathopoulos (Greece). I don’t think this needs explanation. You can always count on the Greeks for some great names and they did not disappoint us here.

Defender4: Waldo “Waldonator” Ponce (Chile). Great first name, great nickname, shares a birthday with Jay Z. He’s a winner.

Defender (Hon. Mention): Avraam Papadopoulos (Greece). Although originally born in Australia, he now plays for the Greek giants Olympiakos.

Defender (Hon. Mention): Souleymane Bamba (Ivory Coast). La la bamba, la la bamba . . .

Mid1: Jesper Gronkjaer (Denmark). Very manly last name, not so sure about the first name though.

Mid2: Jean Beausejour (Chile). His father was thought to have died in the earthquake in Haiti, but thankfully he later turned up alive. I like names with 6 vowels and 4 consonants, although I can’t pronounce them.

Mid3: Romaric AKA Christian Koffi Ndri (Ivory Coast). Clearly, his nickname follows from his given name.

Mid4: Aleksandar Radosavljevic (Slovenia). If I had a nickel for every time I wished my name had the letters ‘v’, ‘l’, and ‘j’ consecutively in my name I’d have one nickel. He has played for sides Triglav Kanj, Celje, Shinnik Yaroslavl, and Tom Tomsk, among others.

Mid (Hon. Mention): Demy De Zeeuw (Netherlands). His name is enhanced by being born in Apeldoorn, Netherlands

Striker1: Maxim Choupo-Moting (Cameroon). He lost a little name credibility when I found out his first name was Eric, but overall I think this is a great, and regal at that, name from front to back. Gotta love the hypens.

Striker2: Prince Tagoe (Nigeria). Tagoe has run the gamut and player in countries from Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Ghana, and Germany. Originally diagnosed with a heart condition when he went to Hoffenheim, he was later allowed to play after team doctors medically cleared him. Gotta root for this type of guy- he’s been all over, great name (Prince Fielder has nothing on him!), and all kinds of adversity.

Striker (Hon. Mention): Georgie Welcome (Honduras). Known for his eye catching finishing in the Honduran leagues, Georgie, at 6’4”, will undoubtedly give defenders trouble. Not to mention the plethora of puns that are available if he scores.

Manager: Bert van Marwijk (Netherlands).

Assistant: Hun Jung Moo (South Korea). Moooooo. Seems an affable guy, and who wouldn’t be after his team demolished Greece 2-0 (should’ve been more like 5 or 6-0).

In case one of the managers loses their voice: Tie: Pim Verbeek (Australia) and Matjaz Kek (Slovenia). I’m not sure if they speak the same language(s) but they surely did give their elementary school teachers a tough time during attendance.

Interesting link to how much each World Cup 2010 manager gets paid:
http://www.just-football.com/2009/12/world-cup-2010-managers-salaries-aka/

Hope you enjoyed the column!

Praying for Rooney’s Ankle,

Matt