In today's World Cup Wonders, we reveal some of the lighter behind-the-scenes moments of the 2010 tournament; magic moments forever etched on the goalposts of history. Here's five fun facts you won't find on the back page - Let's get Wondering!
1. URUGUAY coach Oscar Tabarez may have led his squad of brave, ambiguously ethnic men to the top of Group A, but DID YOU KNOW that Tabarez is the also the first son of Huitzilopochtli, the left-handed hummingbird god of the sun? Born in 1307, Tabarez was forever exiled from the fabled city of Tenochtitlan on his 18th birthday for hiding the great Lake Xochimilco from the water-dwelling dog-monkey, Ahuizotl.
2. DID YOU KNOW that Japanese defender Marcus Tulio Tanaka is renowned in his
homeland for his cutlery-related japes? Unknown in Japan until the late 19th century, forks are held by many Japanese to be an ill omen - but not for Tanaka! In his first international game, the wily defender slipped a sterling three-tined affair into goalie Shaka Hislop's sock, causing the Trinidadian considerable discomfort - the strategy was a success, and Tanaka's been hiding forks ever since! Hislop later died of his injuries.
3. NIGHTINGALES' EGGS were commonly used during the Tang dynasty to play cuju; the game what would one day be known as "Football". The graceful creatures would rarely surrender their young willingly, leading to a mutual antipathy between songbirds and Chinamen that continues today. Games would last for anything up to a minute, with many ending in a tie.
4. DUTCH players must take regular lead supplements to counteract the effects of the rarefied Table Mountain air on their lowland constitutions. Midfielder Orlando Engelaar was dropped from the 2010 squad after quite literally evaporating during an early morning run. RUMOUR HAS IT that coach Bert Van Marwijk requested for Engelaar's essence to be pumped into the ball before each match, perhaps leading to the Dutch team's current run of form.
5. FIFA PRESIDENT Sepp Blatter was owned by Leonardo da Vinci; the Florentine polymath won him from a rival artist after a fierce duel outside the gates of Milan. Spending much of the following centuries in the hands of private French collections, Blatter was smuggled to England during the Napoleonic Wars, where he remains to this day, hanging in the Sainsbury Wing of the National Gallery.
Keep Wondering Wonder-fans!
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