World Cup Reading Room - If you don't care, start caring. This is your planet, too.

I don't know how many of you care about the World Cup, which starts on June 11.

Me, I may get knee-deep in it. Thirty-two nations, billions of interested fans, and head-cases galore. It's way better than watching the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Never mind the games themselves. Let's get right to the head-cases.

Samuel Eto'o of Cameroon is one of the best soccer players in the world. But he's sensitive. He was angered and hurt by comments made about him by Cameroon soccer icon Roger Milla. so much so that he threatened to skip the World Cup.

Milla said Eto'o had done well playing for European professional teams, but had never lived up to such performance playing for the homeland national team.

So Eto'o threatened to skip the World Cup altogether. But Saturday, Cameroon Football  Federation president Iya Mohammed says it "fully supports the national coach Paul Le Guen, captain Samuel Eto'o and all of our national team."

Muhammad: "As the Indomitable Lions approach the final stretch of their preparations for the finals of the World Cup in South Africa, the Cameroonian Football Federation provides support for the national coach Paul Le Guen, captain Samuel Eto'o and all of our national team.

"Following statements made in the media by some major figures of our football which disturb the serenity of our national team, the Cameroon Football Federation invites the public to remain united around the athletes of the Indomitable Lions."

Thank goodness cooler heads have prevailed.

But a bigger problem surrounds World Cup 2010. Namely, the balls.

As

this story on bbcsport.com attests, we could have a major soccer ball problem on our hands, er, feet.

Italy striker Giampaolo Pazzini says the World Cup ball is a "disaster, both for goalkeepers and attackers."

Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar has also called the Adidas ball "horrible" and "terrible".

Pazzini said: "It moves so much and makes it difficult to control. You jump up to head a cross and suddenly the ball will move and you miss it. It is especially bad for the goalkeepers if it means they concede a goal because they can't judge the trajectory. It is like one of those balls you buy at the supermarket."

They aren't the only players complaining about this, my babies. These additional comments come courtesy of Reuters.com.

"It's a bit like a beachball," Spain goalkeeper Iker Casillas said Sunday.

"Now it isn't only the goalkeepers (complaining) it is the outfield players as well. It's sad that a competition as important as a World Cup has an element as vital as the ball with such abysmal characteristics."

Said Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon:

"The new model is absolutely inadequate and I believe it is shameful to play such an important competition, where so many champions are taking part, with a ball like that."

Here is Buffon's Web site. It's a little self-indulgent, in my humble opinion.

The U.S. team, meanwhile, took off Sunday for South Africa, where it hopes to have a long stay.

Hopefully, the Americans won't disappoint their fans in June. They did so Sunday at Dulles International Airport in Washington. From this Associated Press story:

The team entered the airport through the arrivals area - instead of departures - and went straight through security, bypassing the South African Airways ticket counter - where some employees had dressed in U.S. team jerseys - and a handful of disappointed fans who hoped to wish the team well.

The U.S. plays England in the June 12 opener for both. No matter what you or I say

 about the American team, it will sound kind compared to what the English media says about their nation's team if it stumbles.

Here's what Oliver Kay, the Times of London's soccer writer, said after England's 2-1 win over Japan Sunday in a friendly match.

England, like the rest, will be clinging to the hope that it is all right on the night, but a lot of hard work lies ahead. To watch the first half unfold yesterday - as just about every England player committed basic errors of control, concentration or judgment - was to see a team failing to function as a cohesive unit.

Richard Castillo of Times News World concurred, and then some in this column.

England is or at least was 1 of the favorite teams to win the World Cup this year but by the performance they made this afternoon, it looks like their dream is not going to happen. ...

But just in general almost nobody in England did manage to play a good game.