Osiris_x11
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Good piece of writing I came across on www.crash.net...
Why you shouldn't back Spain in World Cup.
original concept by Octavio Estrada
When Roberto Baggio's penalty kick flew high into the crowd in Los Angeles in 1994, it produced a rare moment where football's World Cup and the Formula One world championship came together, the victorious Brazilian team unfurling a banner marking the passing of F1 legend Ayrton Senna earlier in the year.
Senna's death, while seeking his fourth world championship crown, hit hard in the hearts of race fans, but went some way to perpetuating a curious statistic that remains true to this day, and the advent of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Although football's crowning glory is only held every four years, it would have been expected, given certain countries excellence in both soccer in motorsport, that there would have been some convergence in which one nation could celebrate champions in both disciplines, but it is not so.
Some 20 years before the world championship, football was already hosting its global tournament, starting in 1930 in Uruguay. The host nation took the inaugural Jules Rimet trophy but, at that time, there was no South American success in what remained largely European-based races. The next two tournaments, in 1934 and 1938, were staged in Italy and France respectively, producing back-to-back successes for the Azzuri, and glory for dictator Benito Mussolini, but it was another leader beset by infamy, Adolfo Hitler, that was enjoying the greatest on-track successes, courtesy of the likes of Hans Stuck and Rudolf Caracciola.
Both football and motorsport took a backseat to the growing menace of World War Two, before Uruguay returned to the forefront by stealing the title in front of 150,000 spectators at Brazil's Maracana stadium in 1950, the first time that the World Cup and the F1 world championship occurred together. On four wheels, however, it was Italian Giuseppe Farina who came out on top, the first F1 world champion.
The World Cup moved on to Switzerland in 1954, where the Germans achieved a miracle to defeat the apparently invincible Hungarians who, having defeated their European rivals 8-3 in qualifying - had emerged shaken by the infamous 'Battle of Berne' with Brazil - in which three players were sent off and the teams fought afterwards in the dressing rooms. Led by the incomparable Puskas, Hungary were Olympic champions and unbeaten in 28 internationals, and took a 2-0 lead in the final - only to lose 3-2 after a German fightback.
On the track, meanwhile, focus had shifted to South American, where the equally incomparable Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio was in the process of claiming his second title, while his compatriots were not even represented
The next two World Cups heralded the rise of Brazil as football's dominant force, something that would be echoed in motorsport, but not for another 15-20 years. Success for the yellow shirted heroes, led by Pele, in Sweden in 1958, and Chile 1962, coincided, however, with a dearth of Brazilians in top flight motorsport, where the world crowns fell to Mike Hawthorn and Graham Hill in World Cup year.
That, it would appear, boded well for when football 'went home' to England in 1966. Jim Clark, albeit a Scot, took the world title in 1965, with Britain on the crest of a wave when it came to Formula One, but the 'jinx' struck again while the World Cup was on home soil, as Australia's Jack Brabham took the four-wheeled crown from John Surtees.
Brazil was back on top in Mexico in 1970 but, a young Emerson Fittipaldi aside, still lacked a regular threat in Formula One, as the title went, posthumously, to Jochen Rindt, representing a country, Austria, that has seldom looked like a footballing powerhouse, let alone a World Cup winner.
With Fittipaldi's rise to prominence, however, came a shrinking in Brazil's power in the 'beautiful game. Brazilians generally began to make their mark in the 1970s and '80, but that coincided with the country's barest spell in football since the World Cup had begun. Fittipaldi duly won the second of his world titles in the World Cup year of 1974 but, with the tournament being held in Germany, was matched by success for the home nation, which came from behind to beat Holland in the final.
In all, there were eight world titles for Brazil between 1972 and 1991 - shared almost equally between Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Senna, but their reign - interspersed by France's Alain Prost, Britons Jackie Stewart and Nigel Mansell, as well as Mario Andretti, Jody Scheckter and another Austrian, Niki Lauda - was not matched by similar success for the football team, which could only watch as Argentine, at home in 1978, and Italy, on Spanish soil in 1982, took the World Cup crown.
While Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller were celebrating on home soil in 1974, the closest Germany got to success on the track were the efforts of the likes of Jochen Mass and Rolf Stommelen, while Argentina came close to managing the elusive 'double' thanks to one Carlos Alberto Reutemann in 1978. The Ferrari driver was reckoned to have a great chance of success in the world championship, but managed only third on points, trailing Andretti and Lotus team-mate Ronnie Peterson.
Italy's triumph in Spain '82 coincided with a plentiful supply of Italian drivers, but none with the quality - either in themselves or their teams - to mount a concerted assault on the world title. Finland's Keke Rosberg eventually came away with the crown, following a battle with Ferrari's Didier Pironi - French despite his Italian-sounding surname - and McLaren's Irish driver John Watson.
Prost's world title coincided with the World Cup in Mexico, ruling out a likely double with the French exiting in the semi-finals to Germany. Argentina provided the opposition in the final, eventually winning 3-2 under the guiding hand or Diego Maradona, but the country was not even represented in F1, where the closest South America got to the crown was Piquet and Senna in third and fourth. Brazil, however, departed the Word Cup after being beaten by France in the quarter finals and England, who could have mirrored a title that appeared destined for Mansell until the final round, exited to the 'hand of God' at the same stage.
Whether or not Italy had managed to win football's highest honour on home soil in 1990 is a moot point, for the best they could manage on track was Riccardo Patrese's seventh in the standings. As it was, however, Germany and Argentina were reunited for a second consecutive final, this time with the Europeans edging a boring encounter by a single goal. Formula One was still in the grip of Senna and Prost, with Michael Schumacher's debut still a year away, but their nation's efforts on the field are best forgotten, with Brazil going out to Argentina in the first knock-out phase, and the French failing to even qualify....
Brazil was back on form, as already noted, in 1994, beating Italy on penalties in LA, but lamenting the loss of their racing hero. While Senna had taken three poles in the opening three rounds since joining Williams, he struggled to match the meteoric Schumacher, who would go on to take his first F1 crown after a clash with Damon Hill in Adelaide. Germany, however, failed to rise to the occasion in the USA, bowing out to unfancied Bulgaria in the quarter-finals, while Hill's efforts were singularly unmatched by England, absent from the tournament in a year when there was no British representation.
Sadly for France, Prost was gone by the time the football tournament returned to its shores in 1998. Gone too was the system of support for young French talent, leaving Jean Alesi to uphold national honour, but managing only eleventh position in the standings, as the only Frenchman to score points. The four-wheeled title was fought out by Schumacher and Finland's Mika Hakkinen, but the McLaren man's success was never likely to be matched by his footballing counterparts, who failed to make their finals.
The host nation had hardly registered a blip on the Formula One radar - in the drivers' championship at least - when the World Cup ventured east to Korea and Japan for 2002, leaving Schumacher to equal Fangio's haul of five titles. With Germany, and Ferrari, dominating on track, it was appropriate that Brazil return to the fore on the field, overcoming their shock defeat to the host in France '98 to avert the closest threat to the F1-World Cup 'jinx' of them all. With Ronaldo in full flow, Germany had no answer to the South Americans in, fittingly in a motorsport-related way, Yokohama.
And so to Germany 2006. Spain has yet to fulfil its potential on football's world stage, but is once again highly-rated this time around. However, given both the 'curse' and Fernando Alonso's rapid start to the season, perhaps money would not be wisely spent in that direction. Germany, too, will hope to do well in front of its home crowds but, if that is the case, those writing off Schumacher's chances of a comeback in the F1 standings are looking good.
While Spanish and German fans should be the most concerned, the Brazilians should be the happiest with history. With Rubens Barrichello now at Honda, and Felipe Massa filling the understudy role at Ferrari, their latest group of footballing heroes - Ronaldinho, Kaka, Ronaldo, Adriano and co - look the best bet for success on the field.
.However, if the French can get their act together with a blend of veterans and rookies, Franck Montagny's berth at Super Aguri is unlikely to prevent success on the field. Kimi Raikkonen's Finland and Juan Montoya's Colombia have both again failed to qualify, while Giancarlo Fisichella's Forza Azzuri is unlikely to bring success as long as the team's fortunes prove as erratic as the Renault man's.
England, meanwhile, may well take greater comfort in Jenson Button's poor start than in the news that Wayne Rooney's foot appears to be healing....
http://www.crash.net/feature_view~cid~1~id~9469.htm
Why you shouldn't back Spain in World Cup.
original concept by Octavio Estrada
When Roberto Baggio's penalty kick flew high into the crowd in Los Angeles in 1994, it produced a rare moment where football's World Cup and the Formula One world championship came together, the victorious Brazilian team unfurling a banner marking the passing of F1 legend Ayrton Senna earlier in the year.
Senna's death, while seeking his fourth world championship crown, hit hard in the hearts of race fans, but went some way to perpetuating a curious statistic that remains true to this day, and the advent of the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
Although football's crowning glory is only held every four years, it would have been expected, given certain countries excellence in both soccer in motorsport, that there would have been some convergence in which one nation could celebrate champions in both disciplines, but it is not so.
Some 20 years before the world championship, football was already hosting its global tournament, starting in 1930 in Uruguay. The host nation took the inaugural Jules Rimet trophy but, at that time, there was no South American success in what remained largely European-based races. The next two tournaments, in 1934 and 1938, were staged in Italy and France respectively, producing back-to-back successes for the Azzuri, and glory for dictator Benito Mussolini, but it was another leader beset by infamy, Adolfo Hitler, that was enjoying the greatest on-track successes, courtesy of the likes of Hans Stuck and Rudolf Caracciola.
Both football and motorsport took a backseat to the growing menace of World War Two, before Uruguay returned to the forefront by stealing the title in front of 150,000 spectators at Brazil's Maracana stadium in 1950, the first time that the World Cup and the F1 world championship occurred together. On four wheels, however, it was Italian Giuseppe Farina who came out on top, the first F1 world champion.
The World Cup moved on to Switzerland in 1954, where the Germans achieved a miracle to defeat the apparently invincible Hungarians who, having defeated their European rivals 8-3 in qualifying - had emerged shaken by the infamous 'Battle of Berne' with Brazil - in which three players were sent off and the teams fought afterwards in the dressing rooms. Led by the incomparable Puskas, Hungary were Olympic champions and unbeaten in 28 internationals, and took a 2-0 lead in the final - only to lose 3-2 after a German fightback.
On the track, meanwhile, focus had shifted to South American, where the equally incomparable Argentine Juan Manuel Fangio was in the process of claiming his second title, while his compatriots were not even represented
The next two World Cups heralded the rise of Brazil as football's dominant force, something that would be echoed in motorsport, but not for another 15-20 years. Success for the yellow shirted heroes, led by Pele, in Sweden in 1958, and Chile 1962, coincided, however, with a dearth of Brazilians in top flight motorsport, where the world crowns fell to Mike Hawthorn and Graham Hill in World Cup year.
That, it would appear, boded well for when football 'went home' to England in 1966. Jim Clark, albeit a Scot, took the world title in 1965, with Britain on the crest of a wave when it came to Formula One, but the 'jinx' struck again while the World Cup was on home soil, as Australia's Jack Brabham took the four-wheeled crown from John Surtees.
Brazil was back on top in Mexico in 1970 but, a young Emerson Fittipaldi aside, still lacked a regular threat in Formula One, as the title went, posthumously, to Jochen Rindt, representing a country, Austria, that has seldom looked like a footballing powerhouse, let alone a World Cup winner.
With Fittipaldi's rise to prominence, however, came a shrinking in Brazil's power in the 'beautiful game. Brazilians generally began to make their mark in the 1970s and '80, but that coincided with the country's barest spell in football since the World Cup had begun. Fittipaldi duly won the second of his world titles in the World Cup year of 1974 but, with the tournament being held in Germany, was matched by success for the home nation, which came from behind to beat Holland in the final.
In all, there were eight world titles for Brazil between 1972 and 1991 - shared almost equally between Fittipaldi, Nelson Piquet and Senna, but their reign - interspersed by France's Alain Prost, Britons Jackie Stewart and Nigel Mansell, as well as Mario Andretti, Jody Scheckter and another Austrian, Niki Lauda - was not matched by similar success for the football team, which could only watch as Argentine, at home in 1978, and Italy, on Spanish soil in 1982, took the World Cup crown.
While Franz Beckenbauer and Gerd Muller were celebrating on home soil in 1974, the closest Germany got to success on the track were the efforts of the likes of Jochen Mass and Rolf Stommelen, while Argentina came close to managing the elusive 'double' thanks to one Carlos Alberto Reutemann in 1978. The Ferrari driver was reckoned to have a great chance of success in the world championship, but managed only third on points, trailing Andretti and Lotus team-mate Ronnie Peterson.
Italy's triumph in Spain '82 coincided with a plentiful supply of Italian drivers, but none with the quality - either in themselves or their teams - to mount a concerted assault on the world title. Finland's Keke Rosberg eventually came away with the crown, following a battle with Ferrari's Didier Pironi - French despite his Italian-sounding surname - and McLaren's Irish driver John Watson.
Prost's world title coincided with the World Cup in Mexico, ruling out a likely double with the French exiting in the semi-finals to Germany. Argentina provided the opposition in the final, eventually winning 3-2 under the guiding hand or Diego Maradona, but the country was not even represented in F1, where the closest South America got to the crown was Piquet and Senna in third and fourth. Brazil, however, departed the Word Cup after being beaten by France in the quarter finals and England, who could have mirrored a title that appeared destined for Mansell until the final round, exited to the 'hand of God' at the same stage.
Whether or not Italy had managed to win football's highest honour on home soil in 1990 is a moot point, for the best they could manage on track was Riccardo Patrese's seventh in the standings. As it was, however, Germany and Argentina were reunited for a second consecutive final, this time with the Europeans edging a boring encounter by a single goal. Formula One was still in the grip of Senna and Prost, with Michael Schumacher's debut still a year away, but their nation's efforts on the field are best forgotten, with Brazil going out to Argentina in the first knock-out phase, and the French failing to even qualify....
Brazil was back on form, as already noted, in 1994, beating Italy on penalties in LA, but lamenting the loss of their racing hero. While Senna had taken three poles in the opening three rounds since joining Williams, he struggled to match the meteoric Schumacher, who would go on to take his first F1 crown after a clash with Damon Hill in Adelaide. Germany, however, failed to rise to the occasion in the USA, bowing out to unfancied Bulgaria in the quarter-finals, while Hill's efforts were singularly unmatched by England, absent from the tournament in a year when there was no British representation.
Sadly for France, Prost was gone by the time the football tournament returned to its shores in 1998. Gone too was the system of support for young French talent, leaving Jean Alesi to uphold national honour, but managing only eleventh position in the standings, as the only Frenchman to score points. The four-wheeled title was fought out by Schumacher and Finland's Mika Hakkinen, but the McLaren man's success was never likely to be matched by his footballing counterparts, who failed to make their finals.
The host nation had hardly registered a blip on the Formula One radar - in the drivers' championship at least - when the World Cup ventured east to Korea and Japan for 2002, leaving Schumacher to equal Fangio's haul of five titles. With Germany, and Ferrari, dominating on track, it was appropriate that Brazil return to the fore on the field, overcoming their shock defeat to the host in France '98 to avert the closest threat to the F1-World Cup 'jinx' of them all. With Ronaldo in full flow, Germany had no answer to the South Americans in, fittingly in a motorsport-related way, Yokohama.
And so to Germany 2006. Spain has yet to fulfil its potential on football's world stage, but is once again highly-rated this time around. However, given both the 'curse' and Fernando Alonso's rapid start to the season, perhaps money would not be wisely spent in that direction. Germany, too, will hope to do well in front of its home crowds but, if that is the case, those writing off Schumacher's chances of a comeback in the F1 standings are looking good.
While Spanish and German fans should be the most concerned, the Brazilians should be the happiest with history. With Rubens Barrichello now at Honda, and Felipe Massa filling the understudy role at Ferrari, their latest group of footballing heroes - Ronaldinho, Kaka, Ronaldo, Adriano and co - look the best bet for success on the field.
.However, if the French can get their act together with a blend of veterans and rookies, Franck Montagny's berth at Super Aguri is unlikely to prevent success on the field. Kimi Raikkonen's Finland and Juan Montoya's Colombia have both again failed to qualify, while Giancarlo Fisichella's Forza Azzuri is unlikely to bring success as long as the team's fortunes prove as erratic as the Renault man's.
England, meanwhile, may well take greater comfort in Jenson Button's poor start than in the news that Wayne Rooney's foot appears to be healing....
http://www.crash.net/feature_view~cid~1~id~9469.htm
