Now that WCH has been going strong for several months, we thought it was about time we introduced the team! Below are introductions to a selection of our contributors with reference to their footballing prowess. Tune into WCH next week for pen portraits of Herr Neil, Herr Danny and Herr Paul.
Jimu
Starting off as a lanky […]

We’re all well acquainted with those lists of amazing facts which are trotted out for big sporting events. For example, prior to Wimbledon several periodicals (every year without fail) will inform us that an “incredible” 856,000 strawberries and 75,000,000 tonnes of cream will be eaten over the tennis fortnight!
Of course these stats are utterly boring […]

World Cup Hippo is excited to offer you the opportunity to win in our Picture the Wirtschaftswunder competition.
It’s easy to enter - all you need to do is have a think about the economic miracle that happened in Germany after the Second World War, and then render those ideas and feelings in a piece of […]

Apparently Sven Goran Eriksson is furious about interruptions to the England squad’s preparation for this year’s World Cup. However, Sven is neither concerned about the players’ frenetic domestic schedules, nor about media speculation over the England managerial post. No, Sven is angry about the ridiculous British custom of putting our clocks backward an hour for […]

Herr Hippo has selected the best English team available from those players who are uncapped at senior level. This selection raises several important questions:

Does Herr Hippo know his future England dark horses from his future lower league journeymen?
How many of these players might win a full England cap in the future? (I think the two […]

Herr Hippo fancies an outsider to win World Cup 2006. The international tournaments that have taken place in this millennium so far suggest that the big footballing nations no longer monopolise the global stage, and that a certain X-factor is required for success. Greece triumphed at Euro 2004, and South Korea and the USA also performed much better than expected at the […]

You may think that the World Cup mascot is an unnecessary addition to Earth’s greatest sporting event. However, the mascot is no less than the symbolic representation of the spatial and temporal setting of the World Cup finals. Its job is to capture the spirit of the tournament and the host nation. Below, Herr Hippo […]

A crossfield ball, a half-chance spurned
Tactical changes, the tide has turned;
A wall of sound: a clown shoots high
‘Stay at home Klinsmann, keep your powder dry’
Tension mounts and Brazilians roll
Three bags full for young Mr Cole
The whistle blows; emotions run high
Football, the world, eins, zwei, drei.