Pool Party 2010

Get out your vuvezelas... after 4 long years the World Cup Friends Pool returns as the beautiful game's premiere tournament heads to the African continent for the first time.

Through three Champions League Finals and Euro2008 we've kept the torch lit since the original World Cup 2006 Friends Pool. If you're a returning pooler, you know the drill. If you're new, a quick browse through this blog's archive will give you a sense of how it works. Half the proceeds will go to L'Athlétique d'Haiti, a youth soccer program in the Cité Soleil and Bel Air slums of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

Click the image below (then click it again) to get a full-size view of the essential WC Pool info. We'll publish posts for Round 1 picks in a few weeks. The first matches are on Friday, June 11. Stay tuned...

World Cup Americanized

Tip of the hat to this great blog post translating each of the 32 World Cup teams into a corresponding American sports team. Click here for the link.

Cellar Dwellar

I thought you all might enjoy a quick recap of The Jerver's performance in these cup competitions since their inception four years ago. I have been known by many different team names over the years, starting as Perfect Pitch during the inaugural World Cup pool in 2006, moving on to SaMo in 2007 and 2008, then on to the current Crown City Football Club in 2009. Luckily for my competitors my performance has been more consistent than my nomenclature.

Take a look:

Champions League 2009: 8th Place (8 teams)
Euro 2008: Tied for 6th Place (8 teams)
Champions League 2008: 6th Place (11 teams)
Champions League 2007: 8th Place (8 teams)
World Cup 2006: Tied for 5th Place (9 teams)

In review, I started mediocre and got worse...fast.

Good luck to all who choose to enter this year's World Cup pool. It is evident that you will have to go through Pasadena to capture the cellar of the standings. Though despite remarkably poor performances in every single competition, Crown City continues to evade relegation to the second division pool and keeps alive a tradition of making cash contributions to friends and co-workers. The Continentalist is at least a bottle of Laphroiag heavier thanks to my reliably incorrect selections.

Ever confident of inevitable turnaround, checks can be made to Chris Jervey, Football Forecaster Extraordinaire.

On a brighter note...the World Cup is awesome. And right around the corner!