Friday, June 5, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

World Cup 2006 Blog
Add to Google

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

Weekend Predictions: World Cup Qualifying

Posted: 05 Jun 2009 03:40 AM PDT

The big European leagues might have closed their doors for summer. But Weekend Predictions doesn’t quit so easily.

This weekend we’re previewing and predicting three World Cup Qualifiers: USA vs Honduras, Sweden vs Denmark, and Argentina vs Colombia. Read on for those predictions, and then leave your own in the comments.


USA vs Honduras (Chicago, Saturday 6th June, 7:30pm)


USA were apparently coasting through the hexagonal and all the way to South Africa 2010. Until they met Costa Rica on Wednesday night and were handed a 3-1 defeat/foobtalling lesson combo. Now it’s panic stations, with Michael Bradley suspended and chronic lack of decent full-backs

Honduras are a team on the rise and beat Mexico 3-1 back in April, but will be missing David Suazo through injury.

Prediction: Bob Bradley’s men to get back on track(ish) with a nervous 2-1 win. Onyewu to score off a set piece.

USA vs Honduras betting odds via PaddyPower

Sweden vs Denmark (Solna, Saturday 6th June, 8pm)


Several reasons this is exciting. First, it’s the big Scandinavian derby. Second, Denmark are currently top of Group 1, while home team Sweden desperately need the points. Third, when these two met in Euro 2008 qualifying, a drunken Danish fan attacked the ref.

Not saying that’s a good thing. And not saying it will happen again. But it’s an example of the type of wackiness that ensues when these two meet.

Oh, and it’s also Zlatan Ibrahimovic vs the future Zlatan Ibrahimovic. At least in Nicklas Bendtner’s head it is anyway.

Prediction: Home advantage is king. Sweden to win 1-0 with the real Zlatan on the scoresheet.

Sweden vs Denmark betting odds via PaddyPower.

p.s. We still need a new Sweden blogger.

Argentina vs Colombia (Buenos Aires, Saturday 6th June, 6pm)


Argentina will still be stinging from that 6-1 defeat vs Bolivia. But weird things happen at altitude, so it’s not quite the disaster it looks on paper. Still, it’s going to be interesting to see how successfully Diego Maradona’s men bounce back. (Also, is it weird that it now feels perfectly natural for El Diego to be ib charge of the albiceleste?)

This game is even more important for Colombia, who need to make up three points on Uruguay to take 5th place (which gets you a playoff vs the 4th place CONCACAF team).

Will be interesting to see what sort of state the pitch at El Monumental is in. There was a rock concert by Los Piojos (The Lice) there last weekend and a certain someone is not impressed.

“It’s disastrous,” Maradona told reporters. “I hoped we could look for another stadium but I was told that River is the only one approved by FIFA.”
“I’m not bothered about River wanting to earn money but I think they should be able to organise the dates properly,” he said.
“We’ve brought over (Lionel) Messi, (Sergio) Aguero, (Javier) Mascherano, (Fernando) Gago and we’re asking players who cost millions of euros to play on a piece of waste ground.
“I’m not interested in the finances of River but it’s horrible. Regrettably we have to play there.”

What could the world’s most famous Boca fan possibly have against River?

Prediction: The pitch will be fine and Argentina will win 3-1, with Leo Messi (who else?) amongst the goals.

Argentina vs Colombia betting odds via PaddyPower

Bonus Video: Fan footage of Los Pijos at El Monumental:

Time to look back at last week’s predictions. I scored a very disprespectable zero. So let’s move on to some other people’s scores.

Congratulations to:

Gold
Maximilian 9pts (Bordeaux to win Ligue 1, correct scorelines for English and German cup finals, plus Drogba to score)

Silver
Laurie: 8 pts (Correct scorelines on English and German cup finals, plus Bordeaux to win Ligue 1)

Bronze
wob: 7 pts (Correct scoreline in English and German cup finals, plus Drogba to score)

Special mention to Lilrashio for being the only one to predict Betis falling through the La Liga trapdoor (on the basis that Osasuna had two players from Iran).

So, what are your predictions for this weekend?

USA - Honduras
Sweden - Denmark
Argentina - Colombia

World Cup Trophy on Tour

Posted: 04 Jun 2009 03:10 PM PDT

Want to get your hands on the World Cup trophy? Well, you can’t. Not unless you’re an international footballer anyway. And even then it’s an uphill battle. But you might be able to get your photo taken with it.

From September 2009 to May 2010 the World Cup trophy will make like a world famous rock band and go on a fizzy drink sponsored 225 day world tour, covering 134,017 kilometers (83,274 miles) as it visits 86 countries.

From the fizzy pop press release:

During the Trophy Tour, fans will be given the chance to enjoy a rare close-up view of the authentic FIFA World Cup Trophy. Free tickets to the 2009/10 Trophy Tour will be made available to consumers via Coca-Cola promotions in countries on the route. At events in each city, fans will have the opportunity to have a souvenir photo taken of themselves with the trophy, view a special 3-D movie showcasing memorable moments of the FIFA World Cup, participate in interactive displays and enjoy other entertainment. Countries and dates of the route are subject to change.

There’s a PDF file with an itinerary of the trophy’s tour. Basically it starts off in Cairo, Egypt on September 24th, 2009 before working its way around the African continent and down to Cape Town, South Africa by December 3rd, 2009.

After a brief rest, the trophy arrives in Seoul, South Korea on January 17th, 2010 and works its way south and then east to South America, working north until Mexico and then east again to begin it’s European tour in Ireland. It keeps going east, though Russia, Kazakhstan, India and Japan and then Canada before ending a long journey in the USA on May 2nd (American city TBC, but the smart money’s on NYC, right?).

Finally, the trophy gets back to South Africa on May 4th, where it will sit and wait for a team captain to lift it on July 11th, 2010 in Johannesburg.

Here’s a map of the World Cup trophy tour. Click to enlarge, and then click again to make it so big your eyes hurt.
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)