For the final part of the series, I caught up with Victor Sarto. Victor was born to Brazilian parents in the United States. He is a hardcore football fan, following his Brazilian team, Palmeiras, as well as the national team of course. He attended all the games at Stanford during the 94 World Cup…and went to the Brazil-Sweden semis…and the final. Despite him being born in the United States, he doesn’t really care for the American team. He doesn’t like their style of play nor most of their players. So, when Brazil plays the US, it’s a no-brainer, Victor says, just to clarify.

I thank Victor for agreeing to the interview.

What style of football does the national team play?

Ever since Zagallo became coach for Brazil in 98, Brazil’s teams have had a more offensive flavor, a stark change from our 86, 90, and 94 teams. Currently, I’d say that this team of our’s is the most offensive since 82. Kaka and Ronaldinho as our midfield playmakers. Technically, we have two volantes, or holding midfielders, but Ze Roberto’s natural position is O-Mid. He’s serviceable either way, although I would prefer someone else.

What do you think your country’s prospects are?

Brazil has been clear-cut favorites 3 recent cups. 82, 98, and now, in 2006. 82 and 98 ended in failure. Hopefully, third time is a charm. Our team as a whole has played well in recent games, most notably during last year’s Confederations Cup. Some of our players though, namely, Adriano, Dida Cafu, and Roberto Carlos are in a bit of a slump. I think we will walk out of our group with ease. However the 2nd round match up is a bit nerve-racking, since we will end up playing one of the teams from the other group of death: Italy, US, Czech Republic, or Ghana. To be honest, of all those teams, I’d prefer to play the Czechs, as I feel their offensive style will suit our play. The quarters, though, should be a nice reward for a tough 2nd round. We could face arguably the two weakest seeds in France and Spain…as well as some other teams with little World Cup expierence, such as Ukraine, Tunisia…and possibly Korea if they can get their act together.

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For part 31 of the series, I caught up with Vancity Eagle who preferred to remain anonymous. Vancity believes that a new world order of football is ahead of us as will be evident from 2010 when African and Asian teams starting making bigger impact. Needless to say, he loves the Côte d’Ivoire football team.

I thank Vancity for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Ivory Coast football history and the football culture which exists.

The team have always been a strong side in Africa, African champs in 92. Barely missed out in qualifying for US 94. Needed to tie Nigeria in their final game but lost. The people love the game and love to play it. Also, there is a fair amount of talent.

Tell us a bit about the Road to the World Cup – the qualification, and the emotions the fans went through at the time.

They were very strong throughout, beating Egypt home and away, however lost to Cameroon home and away. If it wasn’t for Egypt tying Cameroon in the final game, Ivory Coast wouldn’t have qualified. There was celebration every where after the qualification and every one celebrated.

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Tarick Weber joins us for part 30 of the series. Tarick is 17 years old. He loves his sport - be it football or any thing else. He plays with his mates on the street - cherishing the thrill. He follows the Dutch and English competitions closely, but follows the Dutch national team with even more interest.

I thank Tarick for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Dutch football history and the football culture which exists.

In the 70s, we were awesome in football with Cruyff most important - 2 wc finals, both lost. After that we had our ups and downs in football, but in 1989 we became European champions, most important player being Marco van Basten who is now our headcoach! In the 90’s we played very decent football, with Bergkamp being our top man, best we did is semi final in 1998 in the World Cup in France. In 2000 we lost to Italy in the semi’s of the EC in Holland and Belgium, we could have won easly with 2 penalties which were both missed, I couldn’t believe that we lost!

Dutch football culture is really funny, everyone is orange, and drinks a lot and a lot of beer. Brands do a lot of crazy advertising, very entertaining. Most people either invite a lot of people over and watch the game at home, or go to a bar to watch it on a big screen and have a few beers. Football is the biggest sport in Holland, and you can see that, as everyone follows it closely!

Tell us a bit about the Road to the World Cup – the qualification, and the emotions the fans went through at the time.

The qualification went easier then I expected. We won 2-0 against the Czech republic, a team we’ve had a lot of trouble with over the past few years, we always get them in qualification or big tournaments, and always have trouble with them, luckly for us we don’t have to play them in the group stages this year! Drawing twice against Macadonia was pretty stupid, but the rest was pretty good, not a lot of trouble to get there, it was good for a change to not play play-offs! I guess we had a very easy poule compared to other years.

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For part 29 of the series, Scott Fontaine - who has traveled extensively including Africa joins us. He is a sports journalist who has covered events ranging from baseball to rugby to tennis.

I thank Scott for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Road to the World Cup – the qualification, and the emotions the fans went through at the time.

I wasn’t there at the time, but all the reports I read was that people were celebrating more and more with each victory. When the bid was secure, there was partying nationwide.

What do you think Togo’s prospects are at the World Cup?

Not good, but people realize this. Most are content — and surprised — to just have qualified. That being said, if qualifying becomes a trend, I think winning will become an expectation in the future.

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I caught up with Nicholas Watanabe for part 28 of the series. Nicholas is half Japanese half American, born in U.S. but went to Middle school and High School in Japan. He started playing football in Japan and has attended many J League matches in person.

I thank Nicholas for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Japanese football history and the football culture which exists.

The first notable date in Japanese football history was in the 1968 olympics where Japan won the bronze medal. Since then its been a rough road, winning Asia Cup for the first time in 1992. In 1998 they made their first appearance in World Cup. The last few years have shown Japanese soccer come to light and evolve as they have won the last two Asia Cups (2000 and 2004) and have made the knockout stage of the World Cup in 2002.

Tell us a bit about the Road to the World Cup – the qualification, and the emotions the fans went through at the time.

This time the road to World Cup was quite tense. Though Japan was the first to qualify their play throughout the qualifiers was quite poor. In many cases Japan beat countries that they had easily handled in the past by margins of only a goal or two. A lot of the blame was placed on the new coach Zico, who has been criticized by fans since day one. I think many fans were unhappy, and some even demonstrated outside of the Japanese Football Association offices in Tokyo.

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Zvonimir from Croatia joins us for part 27. Zvonimir is twenty and lives in the capital, Zagreb. He has been following the national team since the EC ‘96 qualifiers when he was 8. The first match he went to was Croatia-Ukraine 4-0 in ‘95. He is also a Dinamo Zagreb supporter.

I think Zvonimir for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Croatia football history and the football culture which exists.

Although the Repubilc of Croatia is a teenager, we have a rich football history. The first football club was HASK, founded in 1903 in Zagreb (the tradition of HASK will later be continued by Dinamo Zagreb). Back then Croatia was a part of the Austro-Hungarian empire. After the WWI Croatia entered the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes and this country was admitted into FIFa. In 1930 the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (the same country but renamed in 1929) participated in the first World Cup in Uruguay.

During the WWII football didn’t die in the Independent State of Croatia but obviously people had other worries on their minds. A couple of friendlies were played with national teams like Switzerland and Slovakia. After the WWII the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia was formed, which Croatia was a part of, and that’s how it stayed until the declaration of independance in the early 90’s. Croatian players participated in the Yugoslavian EC and WC campaignes with a lot of success, a Croat Dražan Jerkovic shared the top goalscorer title in Chile ‘62.

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Vladyslav Fedotov from Ukraine joins us for part 26 of the series. Vladyslav was born in USSR - Ukrainian Republic - now Ukraine in 1979. He has an MA in Engerering from Ukraine university and a Diploma in Hospitality Management from Swiss University. At the moment, he is doing his internship in Hilton , Hilton Head Island , SC. He never really played football, but became a big fan after Euro Cup in 1992, Vladyslav says.

I thank Vladyslav for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Ukranian football history and the football culture which exists.

If Ukraine has something to be proud of , it would be football!!! Not the national team - it’s a first time we qualified to the World Cup, its more clubs and great players. Since the Soviet time Ukrainian players Individually were the best in USSR team - the best is Oleg Blohin (now head coach ) became the best player in Europe in 75 and 85 - years when Dinamo (KIEV) - the best USSR and Ukrainian club ever - won Cup of Cups in 75 and Cup of Cups and European Super Cup in 85.

Ukraine became independent in 1991. Since then there was only one major victory - Dinamo (Kiev ) semi - final of Champions League with Schevchenko and Rebrov . The next season Shevchenko beacame AC Milans player. 2 years ago he became the best Europe player with AC Milan winning Champions League. Ukraine now is rooting for AC Milan , when national teams are not doing well at all in European Cups.

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For part 25 of the series, I caught up with Pasha. Pasha is in his 30s and is a huge football fan. Currently, he is blogging at the Angola World Cup Blog. Pasha loves the exciting football Angola play and is following them religiously.

I thank Pasha for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Angola football history and the football culture which exists.

Angola has a very rich football history. The game is immensely popular in the country. As you know, there was war in Angola for many years and that held back the development of the sport. But there is peace now and with our team making the World Cup the potential for Angola to become an African power is very real.

Tell us a bit about the Road to the World Cup – the qualification, and the emotions the fans went through at the time.

It was a very exciting time. It came down to the last game. We had to beat Rwanda and by the grace of God we pulled off the victory. We finished ahead of Nigeria, which was a real accomplishment. Naturally the people in Angola are very, very proud of the Palancas Negras qualifying for the World Cup.

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For part 24 of the series, I caught up with Geoff Whitehouse from Spain. Geoff is a half-spanish Barca fan living and working in London. His family have been members of Barca since about 1920 - so they always spent the summer watching football, discussing the last season and what would happen the next season.

The first match Geoff can remember well was Barcelona vs Atleto during the Terry Venebales era under Nunez’s presidency. He vividly recalls when they lost that season’s UEFA cup to Steaua Bucharest - as his grandad was so unhappy!! Since then, Geoff says that he has been lucky enough to see some great players - Koeman, Laudrup, Ronaldo, Rivaldo, Romario, Figo etc.

I thank Geoff for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Spanish football history and the football culture which exists.

God, where to start - there is so much to say that it would be impossible to really put it here. I would recommened people to read “Morbo” by Phil Ball - it charts the history, rivalry etc, perhaps that will help people to understand why Barca don’t like Espanyol.

The professional league started quite late, as many clubs were already in existence. In 1928, 10 teams formed the first league - Barca, Real Madrid, Atletic Bilbao, Real Sociedad, Arenas Club de Getxo, Real Union, Atletic Madrid, RCD Espanyol, CE Europa and Racing Santander. Many of these clubs, notably Barca, were founded by foreigners.

The 40s and 50s saw what many see as the golden era where foregien players were restricted, but Real and Barca claimed their players - Puskas, di Stefano, Kubala etc were spanish nationals.

Perhaps for those who don’t know the best way to explain the culture is the geogrpahy - there is very strong regional indentity within teams - Barcelona’s club motto “El Barça és més que un club” literally means Barça is more than a club. Many catalans, whether they live in Barcelona or not support the club, depsite the region also having Valencia. Much of this, in terms of the Madrid-Barcelona rivalry stems from the Civil War in the 1940s. The national league was suspended during the war.

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Bruno Ribeiro, currently graduating in Social Psychology, joins us for part 23 of the series. Bruno is a football fanatic, with FC Porto being the team he supports. The interest he has in the sport drove him to start his own blog, Lugar Cativo, about three years ago; nowadays he is also part of the cast of Terceiro Anel, one of the most successful Portuguese football blogs.

I thank Bruno for agreeing to the interview.

Tell us a bit about the Portuguese football history and the football culture which exists.

First of all: we breed football! The sport dominates society; which is pretty much pathetic some times!

Now, about our history. Football have always been Portugal main sport since the beginning of the 20th century; it’s impact in Portuguese’s life was/is so great that Salazar’s dictatorship took advantage of it to ‘distract’ the mob of the country problems.

Portugal always had great players, but some difficulties to build good squads. It’s a bit of strange that we’re only to our fourth World Cup, one everyone recognize our quality! I believe that our problem was a um of bad management of the Football Federation and a perpetual feeling of inferiority, which prevent us of showing our true quality along the years.

We’ve never achieved anything more then two Under’20 World Cups, back in ‘89 and ‘91. The closest we were of actually win some silverware was Euro’04, where we loss at home with Greece; European Cup tends to show the best of us. At the World Cup level, only in ‘66 we did something to be proud of, finishing 3rd at expenses of the USSR in a year where Eusebio marvelled the world.

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