Latest WCB Entries
December 4th, 2008 | By:
Laurie |
0 Comments
Apparently in France, when you get kidnapped and held against your will, you are tied to a chair by a beautiful model in her underwear who swears she won't release you for your Champions League game until your wear Puma's baby pink shoes.
For some reason I don't think this is the best way to get their objectives met. ... [read]
December 4th, 2008 | By:
chris |
4 Comments
The lads at UEFA experimented with a 5 man refereeing crew in Cyprus a couple weeks back, sitting an extra referee behind each of the goal lines to keep their eyes glued to the penalty areas looking for fouls, balls cross the goal line and inappropriate touching - with or without the ... [read]
December 3rd, 2008 | By:
chris |
6 CommentsStuff to read while you learn more than you wanted to know about ManU players......
Jermaine Pennant the last Red to be burgled. (Sniffing The Touchline)
Premier League teams as rock bands. (EPL Talk)
Real Madrid had to buy Huntelaar. (ESPN)
But Klaas can't save Real alone. (Reuters Soccer Blogs)
Salary cap is not a smart idea. (Guardian Unlimited)
The Joey Barton of Chinese football. (Unprofessional ... [read]
December 3rd, 2008 | By:
chris |
14 Comments
The Ballon d'Or is nothing if not a lightning rod for controversy and year-long verbal sparring matches with inflatable gloves. Yes, some deserving players win it. Others not so deserving also win it. In short, it's like nearly every other award handed out by any other organization in the world.
But perhaps worth ... [read]
December 3rd, 2008 | By:
Daryl |
6 Comments
At least three countries - Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland - are already planning a possible bid to host Euro 2016. Not as rival bids, but as triple co-hosts. Or tri-hosts, if you prefer. It's all "tentative" right now, but it could happen.
I've long believed that having European Championships co-hosts is a ... [read]
December 2nd, 2008 | By:
Chris |
2 Comments
The Homeless World Cup commenced Monday in Melbourne, Australia, opening up a week's worth of street soccer festivities and good deeds. As is the case with street footy, goals were plentiful, with the only game coming under 7 goals the 3-0 victory of Austria over hosts Australia. So maybe that homefield advantage we see so often in regular tournaments don't ... [read]
November 30th, 2008 | By:
Daryl |
22 Comments
Welsh video gamers are pretty unhappy right now, because their national team has ceased to exist. Not in the real world - John Toshack's team are still sitting third in World Cup 2010 European qualifying Group 4, and still won the recent friendly against Denmark - but in the world of FIFA ... [read]
November 27th, 2008 | By:
Daryl |
12 Comments
It's official: Argentina will host Copa America 2011. Argentinian FA president Julio Grondona (who's been in the job since 1979!) confirmed it yesterday.
Two interesting tidbits of information, that you might have know but I didn't until today:
First of all, Copa America hosting decisions are a lot fairer than other tournaments. Apparently it's ... [read]
November 25th, 2008 | By:
Laurie |
1 Comment
FIFA wants to keep its members pure.
Or at least that's the lesson they seem to hope people will pick up from the suspension of Peru from "all international sporting contact for its clubs, national teams, referees and officials" due to governmental meddling in the Peruvian football association (FPF.)
A good plan. ... [read]
November 25th, 2008 | By:
Daryl |
6 Comments
If you're not familiar with the Confederations Cup, then here's the lowdown:
It's an eight team tournament, made up of the six winners of the regional international tournaments (European Championships, Copa America etc) plus the World Cup holders and the World Cup hosts. It's two groups of four and then top two go ... [read]
November 20th, 2008 | By:
Chris |
3 Comments
After turning down the chance to, a) coach a relatively sizable European club for big bucks or b) tour the Mediterranean with [insert name of random secretary here] for the year, instead venturing to a new continent and a country whose football he knew little about, Sven's job security is suffering greatly ... [read]
November 20th, 2008 | By:
Chris |
3 Comments
So you want to promote the Confederations Cup 2009, the "soft opening" for World Cup 2010 in South Africa. A tournament which hasn't had much, if any, good PR. What do you do? Call in the hot chick cavalry and tell them to jump up and down. (They're all Miss Something Or ... [read]
November 20th, 2008 | By:
Daryl |
5 Comments
Brazil vs Portugal was billed as Kaka vs Ronaldo. If that was so, then someone raise Kaka's arm. Brazil won 6-2 with the Jesus-owned playmaker pulling the strings.
More importantly this was Dunga vs Carlos Queiroz, two embattled coaches who couldn't really afford a defeat. OK, it was only a friendly, but a 6-2 defeat to a former colony? That doesn't ... [read]
November 19th, 2008 | By:
Daryl |
10 Comments
There are some proper World Cup qualifiers on today, in Asia and CONCACAF. And there are some big friendlies happening too. Germany vs England and Brazil vs Portugal look huge on paper. But easily the most interesting game of the day is Scotland vs Argentina. It's not often you can say that, ... [read]
November 19th, 2008 | By:
Laurie |
2 Comments
Today's games: A dollop of Oceania, a dose of Asia, a lot of CONCACAF, and...San Marino vs. Czech Republic?
Yes, that's our token European WC qualifier for the day. (Any others you may see going on are friendlies.)
Here's a look at the qualifying games taking place today, ... [read]
Latest Country News
December 4th, 2008 | By:
sscouser
|
0 CommentsWith no end to racism, hooliganism and violence in sight, it's always good to shine light on the efforts to erase the negativity from the beautiful game.
According to FIFA Law 5, the referee has the power to stop, suspend or terminate the match because of outside interference of any kind.:
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December 4th, 2008 | By:
Jan
|
4 Comments
Today, the AD broke the news that, despite what Van Basten lamented, Ajax took the initiative to sell Hunter this winter.
Last Summer, the alledged 40 Million euros offering by "someone representing Manchester City" was a bit vague. Also, Ajax didn't want to deal with vague agents and intermediaries.
So, maybe to
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December 4th, 2008 | By:
Andrea
|
0 CommentsToday the FMF announced that Mexico would play a friendly against Sweden on January 28th, 2009 in Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum at 7:30 pm PT. This will kick off the 5 game US Tour with more dates to come later. The squad will most likely feature local based players but will
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December 4th, 2008 | By:
Afshin Afshar
|
0 CommentsThere are reports coming out of Iran that German coach Eric Rothemuller (I am not sure about the spelling) has been contacted, again, by the Iranian Football Federation to serve on Team Melli’s coaching staff as one of Daei’s assistants.
The German’s name had come up in the past as a
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December 4th, 2008 | By:
Harun
|
0 CommentsNo - I'm not dead. Unfortunately, college exams really cut into the time I have to work on this blog. My schedule is looking a little better now, so here's the second (of... four?) squad overview post. This time I'll summarize the situation in Bosnia's back line, which is by far the weakest part of the team. Our fortunes in World Cup 2010 qualifying will largely depend on how things work out with this unit.
To begin with, Emir Spahić is the alpha and omega of Bosnia's defense. He's the current captain and unquestionably one of our strongest individual players. To those of you more familiar with our forwards and midfield players, this might come as a surprise; after all, Spahić has spent the last several seasons with an underachieving Lokomotiv Moscow. As far as I'm concerned, however, Spahić could be a regular in much stronger clubs. If he was younger, perhaps he'd even be attracting interest from them (Emir is 28). As it is, Spahić has stated his intention to leave Russia this winter, and several clubs have expressed interest. They include Wigan, Paris Saint Germain and Wolfsburg. He's already stated that he'd enjoy playing with Džeko and Misimović, so I think the latter might be the favorites for his signature. Whoever gets him will be stronger for a tenacious and hard-nosed central-back.
Here's a highlight video showing some of his defending (and, for whatever reason, numerous offensive blunders as well):
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December 3rd, 2008 | By:
Jan
|
20 Comments
Goose & Finnster having a laugh...
I wanted to post this many moons ago, already... But I didn't... Didn't want to rub it in too much (others are lurking here, you know). And I didn't want to blow my own trumpet too much...
But...
Fair is Fair...
The Netherlands Blog rules for months already.
I
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December 3rd, 2008 | By:
Julian
|
5 CommentsAC Milan were knocked out of the Coppa Italia today by Lazio. Sheva scored first for Milan (Yeah, I had to read that twice, too. It isn't a typo), but Zarate and Pandev both scored towards the end to win it for Lazio. Milan played with 10 men for the last 20 minutes or so as Emerson was sent off, which didn't help their chances either.
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December 3rd, 2008 | By:
Daryl
|
0 CommentsSo happy days are here again. We're top of World Cup Qualifying UEFA Group Four by five points and we just beat Germany in Berlin. Even better, the WAG culture appears to be disappearing and the team is now selected on form not fame, so big name players are no longer automatic picks (sorry Michael Owen.) And I couldn't be happier.
But it's worth remembering that the Fabio Capello revolution only came about because earlier this year we failed to qualify for Euro 2008. Remember how much that hurt? Part of me still wishes we'd gone to Swissaustria, but part of me is glad we failed because it led to the end of Steve McClaren.
But what if we'd qualified?
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December 3rd, 2008 | By:
j
|
0 CommentsThe Scottish Football Association revealed today that it is considering opening talks with Wales about co-hosting Euro 2016. The Republic of Ireland and Scotland were unsuccessful in their attempt to attract the Euro 2008 which were co-hosted by Switzerland and Austria. Please note this is in the earliest stages and
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December 3rd, 2008 | By:
Peter Katsiris
|
0 CommentsPAOK manager Fernando Santos admitted his desires to one day takeover the reigns of the Greek National Team. With the job not in any question whatsoever, it appears Santos is looking to line himself up as a future boss of the Greek national team.
"I would want to take over at
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Roy Keane is out, and the HABs blog has one less pretty manager to ogle. 
