Friday, October 21, 2011

World Cup 2010 Blog: FIFA Announces World Cup 2014 Dates, Venues

World Cup 2010 Blog: FIFA Announces World Cup 2014 Dates, Venues

Link to International Football News - World Cup Blog

FIFA Announces World Cup 2014 Dates, Venues

Posted: 20 Oct 2011 10:06 AM PDT

maracana60anos_div62

In case you were planning on skipping off to the wonderful land of the World Cup in 2014 and were waiting on details to make some travel plans, FIFA’s gone ahead and set in motion a few of the details, if we’re a long, long way from knowing the names of the participants. Unless you’re of the idea that FIFA’s corrupt and someone somewhere knows, in which case…start making phone calls.

The opening match is in Sao Paulo, with Brazil one of the teams on show, while the final will be the only place it can – the Maracana.

The half schedule is here, in pretty, pretty PDF.

Kickoff times, just because.

Opening Match: 17.00
Group Stage matches: 13.00, 16.00, 19.00, 22.00
Round of 16/Quarter-finals: 13.00, 17.00
Semi-finals: 17.00
Match for Third Place: 17.00
Final: 16.00

Also, there’s further information about the Confederations Cup here, but…who really cares?


Thursday, October 20, 2011

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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

World Cup 2010 Blog: Where’s The Steroid-Injected Beef?

World Cup 2010 Blog: Where’s The Steroid-Injected Beef?

Link to International Football News - World Cup Blog

Where’s The Steroid-Injected Beef?

Posted: 18 Oct 2011 07:37 AM PDT

hot-beef-sundaes-signWhen questions of cheating and the Under 17 World Cup come ’round, usually it’s more “Why does Nigeria’s defensive mid using a cane?” rather than “Where’s the beef…for testing purposes?” Luckily, the tournament was held in Mexico this year, which means questions of tainted food were never going to be too far off. And we weren’t disappointed:

Over half of the participants of this year’s u17 World Cup tested positive for steroids due to tainted beef.

So basically most of the tournament’s participants were cheater, cheater, ground chuck eaters.


"It was an enormous surprise that 109 samples showed traces of clenbuterol, that means 52.4 percent of the players."

Mexican authorities have admitted the country has been affected by the practice of injecting cattle with the steroid, which is banned by WADA.

The players of the Mexico team that won the tournament tested negative because they had stuck to a diet of fish and vegetables.

"It's not a doping problem, it's a public health problem. When, in the first week of the tournament, we detected three cases and then another it was quite a surprise," Dvorak said.

Now taking bets on when Mexico will be allowed to host another World Cup-type tournament.

(After much deliberation, ‘Whenever Colombia’s financial backing collapses again.’ will be accepted as a valid answer.)


Friday, October 14, 2011

World Cup 2010 Blog: Polkraine 2012 Group Stage Now Sans Wayne Rooney

World Cup 2010 Blog: Polkraine 2012 Group Stage Now Sans Wayne Rooney

Link to International Football News - World Cup Blog

Polkraine 2012 Group Stage Now Sans Wayne Rooney

Posted: 13 Oct 2011 10:09 AM PDT

Among the many things deemed illegal in football, playing the upper calf area rather than the ball is one. Wayne Rooney forgot this simple law against Montenegro last week, and now he’s been suspended for the entire Euro 2012 group stage by UEFA. Obviously an appeal will be launched, but…


But Uefa’s policy is to suspend the player for one game, with a panel deciding on a case-by-case basis what, if any, additional punishment there should be. Instead of issuing a longer ban, Uefa had the option to hand out a warning or a fine

That would seem unlikely given the circumstances of the decision in the first place.

So Wayne Rooney’s not brilliant. As you were.


Thursday, October 13, 2011

World Cup 2010 Blog: “Silva Scores To A Score” plus 1 more

World Cup 2010 Blog: “Silva Scores To A Score” plus 1 more

Link to International Football News - World Cup Blog

Silva Scores To A Score

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 09:14 AM PDT

Not everyone enjoys watching Spain. Why? Jealousy. Or perhaps the side effects of medication. Nonetheless, there was undoubted beauty to be found in last night’s performance against Scotland – perhaps even the Scots in the crowd would agree.

Sit back and enjoy.

[101gg]

(This infographic is also quite excellent.)


Turning Back Dinho’s Clock

Posted: 12 Oct 2011 07:36 AM PDT

Several years ago, there was talk that he might be the Greatest Ever, and he was most certainly one of the most entertaining ever while at the top of his game. A premature peak and thus here we are in 2011, flabbergasted that he’s scored a fabulous goal for the Selecao. Because it’s his first since 2008.

Two thousand and eight.