World Cup 2010 kicked off this past weekend. The U.S. Team is off to a surprisingly good start, having battled strongly favored England to a 1-1 tie.
It’s exciting watching the competition being played in South Africa (the first African nation to host the tournament), but could the fans please go easy on blowing those damn vuvuzela horns!?! Someone described the sound as like that of a swarm of giant mutant bees, and we can tell you that the constant drone gives you a headache before you’ve watched even 30 minutes of a match. We’ve taken to watching with the sound turned off and the captions on.
Watching the games got us to thinking: Just how old is too old to play soccer at this level?
The answer? 39 years, 314 days. That’s the age of the older player, goalie David James of England. Makes sense it would be a goalie doesn’t it? They don’t have to do all that running around. But the second oldest player is a forward, Cuauhtemoc Blanco of Mexico, who is 37 years, 145 days old. There are 20 players who are 35 or over at the start of the World Cup. Denmark has the distinction of having the team with more players over age 30; they have 10 of ’em.
We didn’t harbor any delusions there might actually be a boomer out there running around on the pitch for one of the World Cup teams. Soccer at this highest level is definitely a young person’s sport.
And speaking of young persons, can you guess who is the youngest player in the 2010 World Cup?
Midfielder Christian Eriksen of Denmark at only 18 years, 117 days old. Why in America, he’s not even old enough to hoist a glass of Carlsberg during the victory celebration!