2010 World Cup Preview

With the World Cup only days away, you can probably find a preview in every newspaper, magazine, television show and website around the world. In these previews, you will likely find analysis about who will win each group and specific information about Argentina's great Lionel Messi and the impact Didier Drogba's injury will have on the Ivory Coast's chances. Well, you're not going to find this information here. Instead, I'm proud to provide a World Cup preview about stuff you probably didn't think you wanted to know!

The tallest players in the World Cup are Serbia's Nikola Zigic at 6'8" and England's Peter Crouch at 6'7". Crouch is listed at 165 pounds, which couldn't be correct, right? Los Angeles Lakers' Ron Artest is 6'7" and 260 pounds!

The shortest players are Danilo Tucios & Walter Martinez of Honduras; Aaron Lenon of England; and Arthur Boka of the Ivory Coast at 5'5". I feel tall compared to these guys!

There are only 18 players at the World Cup weighing 200 pounds or more, yet 3 are Americans led by the heaviest player in South Africa goalie Marcus Hahnemann at 227 pounds. U-S-A! U-S-A! Of these 18 players, 10 are goalies

The lightest player in South Africa is France's Mathieu Valbuena at 128 pounds.

The oldest player is the Netherlands' Sander Boschker born on October 20, 1970.

The youngest World Cup participant is Denmark's Christian Eriksen born on February 14, 1992. You feel old, don't you?

The player with the longest name is Sokratis Papastrathopoulos. You'll be shocked to discover that he plays for Greece.

The player with the shortest name is former Pittsburgh Pirate, Ed Ott. Actually, for a two-name player (as opposed to players known by only one name like Portugal's Deco) Japan's Yuki Abe and North Korea's Ri Jun-Il share the honor.

Where's Waldo (Ponce)? He's a defender for Chile.



If you still have the humor of a 13 year-old, here is your World Cup all-name team:

Kim Dong-Jin - South Korea
Kaka - Brazil
Pepe - Portugal
Danny Shittu - Nigeria
Jorg Butt - Germany
Gaetan Bong - Cameroon
Herculez Gomez - United States I just feel like this is an awesome name!

I share a birthday with America's Oguchi Onyewu and the Ivory Coast's Yaya Toure.

Germany's Jermone Boateng has a brother, Kevin-Prince Boateng, that plays for Ghana. Apparently Kevin-Prince Boateng became frustrated in not getting called up by the German team and decided to represent the country of his father's birth. Naturally, they will face each other in Group D.

Italy has two players named Fabio (Fabio Cannavaro and Fabio Quagliarella).



Is there any chance that Australia's Scott Chipperfield is related to magician David Copperfield?

Cameroon's Geremi spoke in class today.

Oakland Raider great Tim Brown, now apparently plays as a midfielder for New Zealand.

While you won't see David Beckham playing in South Africa, you may see Denmark's Mikkel Beckmann.

North Korea doesn't believe the rules apply to them.

Finally, don't forget to sign up for my World Cup fantasy league. Just go to the Yahoo World Cup group page, click join an existing group, and enter the group ID# (19911) and password (troy43).

P.S. Much of this post is also available on BlogCritics, though I added a little extra here.