World Cup 2010 Blog: “Podcast: World Cup 2010 Group A (Highly Scientific) Preview” plus 1 more

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Podcast: World Cup 2010 Group A (Highly Scientific) Preview Posted: 12 Mar 2010 11:56 AM PST Ah, World Cup previews. They can be a bit dull and not particularly helfpul when it comes to predicting who will qualify from each group. One reason for this is that they focus too much on things like players and not enough on the really good things. Like quality of national anthem, team nickname and potential celebrity spokesperson. Until now. Allow me to introduce the first of the Total Football Soccer Show’s World Cup 2010 previews, broadcast yesterday on Richmond Independent Radio and now available as a podcast. For our preview of Group A (South Africa, France, Mexico, Uruguay) we came up with a highly scientific system for predicting which teams would advance, awarding points based on best team nickname and so on. To listen to the show and find out which two teams make it simply click here to open the mp3 file. If you like what you hear, you can also subscribe to the show via iTunes for the very reasonable cost of free.

Didier Drogba Wins African Footballer of the Year 2009 Posted: 12 Mar 2010 08:44 AM PST Didier Drogba has been named African Footballer of the Year 2009 by the Confederation of African Football. The award was voted on by all CAF member associations, who each picked their top three players (three points for first choice, two for second, one for third). Ivorian Drogba was the runaway winner with 92 points, Samuel Eto’o came second with 69 points and Michael Essien third with 42 points. Given Drogba’s form for Chelsea this season, it’s tough to argue with the votes. This is Drogba’s second African Footballer of the Year win, after he collected the award in 2006. You could even argue it’s his third if you count 2007, where Drogba won but couldn’t attend the ceremony and so they gave it to Fredi Kanoute instead. Double D had pledged to “withdraw from all voting for CAF awards” at the time, but appears to have mellowed. Good news is that though Drogba couldn’t attend the Awards Gala in Accra, Ghana, CAF were still happy to let a representative from the Ivorian Football Federation receive the award on his behalf. The Chelsea striker was the headline grabber, but he wasn’t the only winner. Other awards handed out were as follows: Inter-Club Player of the Year (which I assume means African-based player of the year) Tresor Mputu Mabi (T.P. Mazembe and DR Congo) National Team of the Year Algeria (presumably for their World Cup qualification achievement) Club of the Year T.P. Mazembe (DR Congo) (Winner of the 2009 CAF Champions League) Young Player of the Year Dominic Adiyiah (AC Milan and Ghana U-20) (Top scorer and Most Valuable Player at U-20 World Cup) Coach of the Year Sellas Tetteh (Ghana U-20) (Won U-20 World Cup with Ghana) Fair Play Award Al Hilal fans Best Supporters Club South Africa Supporters Club African Football Legend: Stephen Keshi (Nigeria) Jules Bocande (Senegal) Osvaldo Saturnino de Oliviera "Jesus" (Angola) Platinum Award: Prof. John Evans Atta Mills, President of the Republic of Ghana CAF Best XI Goalkeeper – Muteba Kidiaba (T.P Mazembe and DR Congo) Defenders – John Pantsil (Fulham and Ghana), Nadir Belhadj (Portsmouth and Algeria), Wael Gomaa (Al-Ahly and Egypt) Midfielders – Alexander Song (Arsenal and Cameroon), Michael Essien (Chelsea and Ghana), Seydou Keita (Barcelona and Mali), Yaya Toure (Barcelona and Cote d'Ivoire) Attackers – Tresor Mputu Mabi (T.P. Mazembe and DR Congo), Samuel Eto'o (Inter Milan and Cameroon), Didier Drogba (Chelsea and Cote d'Ivoire) Here’s how that CAF XI might line up: Kidiaba Pantsil – Gomaa – Belhadj Essien – Song – Toure – Keita Mputu Mabi – Drogba – Eto’o

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26-page Tournament Extra: As Selection Sunday draws near, all talk centers on fringe teams

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