World Cup Influence Found in Everyday Life
The World Cup is a little more than two weeks away and, before things get too serious, perhaps now is the time to acknowledge that there is a lighter side to the sport. It’s not all about scandal and corruption.
Take, for instance, the matter of pig farmer Alfred Stoeckli, whose 300 swine are raised in the Swiss village of Weggis, on land that overlooks the training site where the players of world champion Brazil will gather today.
Furthering Swiss-Brazilian relations, Stoeckli has decided to relocate his animals for a couple of weeks.
“Some Brazilian officials had already been here inspecting the site,” Stoeckli told Reuters. “They didn’t say anything about the farm, but I knew that the stench can be pretty bad when the wind is blowing, and I didn’t want some tabloid paper writing that Brazil’s World Cup preparations had been damaged by the smell of my pigs.”
Pigs or no pigs, the Brazilians still are favored to bring home the bacon.
Meanwhile, the clock ticks for Germany Coach Juergen Klinsmann and his players. Having spent a week soaking up the sun in Sardinia, the World Cup hosts relocated to Switzerland on Sunday. They will train there until May 30.
In their spare time, they will study watch-making.
“We have a lot of watch freaks in the squad,” said former international Oliver Bierhoff, now the team’s manager. “They’ll learn how to take a watch apart and put it back together again. It’s something a bit different.
“It must be a great feeling when you get all the bits back together and you hear it ticking.”
Or not.
Then there is Angola, whose team arrived at its training base in the German town of Celle, near Hanover, on Saturday, with visions of bonuses perhaps dancing in the players’ heads.
According to the Jornal de Angola newspaper in Luanda, Fernando Teles, president of the Banco Internacional de Credito, has promised $5,000 to every Angolan player who scores a goal at the World Cup.
Teles also is prepared to pay $5,000 to the best Angolan player in each first-round match, $50,000 to the team for each victory and another $50,000 if Angola advances from the opening round.
There is little chance of that in a group that includes Iran, Mexico and Portugal.
Coach Ricardo Lavolpe and his Mexico players left for Europe on Saturday after being blessed by Cardinal Norberto Rivera at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City.
Rivera handed out pictures of the Virgin of Guadalupe to each player. In return, the cardinal received an autographed soccer ball from the team.
The most valuable autograph signed in the past week, however, is that of German defender Michael Ballack, who joined English champion Chelsea from German champion Bayern Munich on a three-year contract that will pay him more than $200,000 a week.
In other words, if Teles needs help coming up with the cash to pay Angola’s bonuses, he knows where to turn.
Still on the matter of banks and money, Brazil’s Central Bank has agreed to suspend its rules and allow the country’s banks and other financial institutions to set their own hours during the June 9-July 9 World Cup so that employees can watch the tournament on television.
When Brazilian viewers tune in to Japan’s game against Brazil in Dortmund on June 22, they might have a tough time seeing all of Japanese striker Seiichiro Maki.
Maki, who plays for JEF United Chiba in the J League, was a surprise roster choice by Japan’s coach, former Brazilian World Cup star Zico.
To celebrate his suddenly lofty status, Maki has ordered a pair of “stealth boots” from Puma, according to Agence France-Presse.
The boots are lightweight and bright green, almost disappearing against a grass background, so it is said.
Maki can have no complaints, then, if his invisible feet are stepped on by Australia, Brazil and Croatia.
Meanwhile, Japanese fans can get a fishy sort tournament preview by visiting the Hakkeijima Sea Paradise in Yokohama.
There, quick-thinking promoters have organized a “world championship” featuring fish in the colors of the World Cup countries fighting for a ball stuffed with bait in an aquarium tank also containing two goal nets.
Japan, which wears blue, is represented by the Blue Palette Surgeonfish; Brazil is represented by a the Yellow Tang. Matches are held twice a day at feeding time.
No word on who leads.
Mixing animals and soccer is always a dodgy business, just ask Bavarian toy maker Nici AG.
The company filed for bankruptcy last week, having failed to make its expected windfall off “Goleo,” the soccer shirt-wearing lion that, along with an equally odious talking ball named “Pille,” is one of the two mascots for Germany ’06.
Goleo, naked from the waist down, became a figure of ridicule in Germany, where the eagle, not the lion, is the more powerful symbol.
Finally, a much better money-making idea was hit upon in Switzerland. In Weggis, the town now devoid of pigs, Philipp Musshafen, assistant manager of luxurious Park Hotel Weggis, is auctioning rooms on EBay.
Not just any rooms, of course; these are the rooms in which the Brazilian world champions will stay beginning tonight. The lakeside hotel has received worldwide publicity with headlines along the lines of “Spend a night in Ronaldinho’s bed.”
There is a catch, however. The auction winners will stay at the hotel only on June 3 -- hours after Ronaldinho and company have checked out. But they will be given autographed Brazilian jerseys to keep them warm.
As of Sunday afternoon, Ronaldinho’s room was leading the bidding at 515 Swiss francs ($423.38 U.S.), followed closely by Ronaldo’s at 505 ($415.16), with Roberto Carlos’ room at 401 francs ($329.66), and Adriano’s and Kaka’s at 302 ($248.27) each.
The auction ends May 29.
