Latest World Cup Blog Updates

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• World Cup 2010 Playoffs: Where We Stand
• Switzerland: U-17 World Cup Winners and Team of the Future. (Distant Future.)
• Which Teams Have Qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola?

World Cup 2010 Playoffs: Where We Stand Posted: 16 Nov 2009 05:00 PM PST We’re halfway through the World Cup playoffs. It all gets decided on Wednesday, with the second legs of the four European playoffs and the CONMEBOL vs CONCACAF game, plus the special Algeria vs Egypt single game playoff for the final African qualifying spot. It’s all very very tight. The winners of these six ties get the the glory, the losers learn firsthand the meaning of the word “nearly”. By Wednesday evening we’ll know who the 32 World Cup 2010 qualifiers are. Feel free to lick your lips. Here’s a quick summary of what’s happening on Wednesday, and where we stand right now. All these games happen Wednesday November 18th. EUROPEAN PLAYOFFS: France (1) vs (0) Ireland Nicolas Anelka’s goal at Croke Park gives France a 1-0 lead and an away goal. Apparently there were was some sort of scuffle when Lassana Diarra said something to Keith Andrews at the final whistle, but I’m struggling to care too much about that to be honest. All that matters is that Ireland have a big task ahead of them at Stade de France. Bosnia and Herzegovina (0) vs (1) Portugal No C-Ron? No matter. Portugal won 1-0 at home with a header from Porto defender Bruno Alves. Bosnia were desparately unlucky with the Dzeko and Muslimovic crossbar then post combo. This isn’t over, but it’s advantage Portugal. Ukraine (0) vs (0) Greece Greece had ball in net, but it was ruled out for offside. Correctly I think, as though Theo Gekas was onside from Dimitrios Salpigidis’s pass, he was offside when Salpigidis was originally played through. Goalless in Athens, so second leg at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk is wide open. Slovenia (1) vs (2) Russia Two teams that only very narrowly missed out on qualifying automatically. Russia – wearing a snazzy looking new kit, ribbed for your footballing pleasure – took a two goal lead thanks to Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. Slovenia pulled one back in the 88th minute thanks to Nejc Pečnik. Much much more than a consolation goal, Pečnik’s close range header halved Slovenia’s deficit and netted them a crucial away goal. A 1-0 win in the Ljudski vrt stadium (yes, I had to look that up) would send Slovenia to World Cup 2010. CONMEBOL vs CONCACAF Uruguay (1) vs (0) Costa Rica I’d suspected that maybe Uruguay would struggle on Costa Rica’s artificial turf. They actually may have, as I didn’t see the whole game, but la celestse came away from San José with a 1-0 thanks to defender Diego Luna’s moment of calm as the ball was bouncing around the box. Uruguay with a 1-0 lead at at a packed Centenario? I don’t like Costa Rica’s chances. AFRICAN PLAYOFF Algeria vs Egypt (in Sudan) Egypt beat Algeria 2-0 in their final African qualifying Group C game on Saturday, putting the two teams level on both points and goal difference and forcing this drama-waiting-to-happen-one-game playoff. Sudan will provide a neutral venue for the game. For more on this clash of North African rivals, read the post from Saturday.

Switzerland: U-17 World Cup Winners and Team of the Future. (Distant Future.) Posted: 16 Nov 2009 01:10 PM PST Be honest, you’d forgotten entirely about the Under 17 World Cup – and that’s if you were aware of its running in the first place. We’ll also accept admissions from those who confused it with the Under-20 World Cup (Lite) in Egypt won late last month by Ghana. But it happened, and Switzerland – yes, Switzerland – took home the trophy, their first of any kind in FIFA territory, from Lagos against what had to be the heavily favored and exceedingly overaged hometown Nigerians. What transpired, if the highlights are any indication, was a lot of dry spells in between a few decent chances for each side and a little karma for Nigeria’s dabbling with overaged players. Now let’s not feign interest: Switzerland winning the trophy is nice, but we’re interested in the next generation. The Golden Ball is far more important a trophy than the trinket they hand out for merely winning the thing. Why? That’s easy. The last three winners of the adidas Golden Ball for the U17 World Cup: 2007: Tony Kroos (Germany) 2005: Anderson (Brazil) 2003: Cesc (Spain) Not a bad batch of a talent right there. One, Cesc, has matched the talent and then some, while Anderson hasn’t quite, but is still very young and is still, despite the great wrath of Whiskey Face, playing out of position in Manchester. The latest, Tony Kroos, is still, at 19, a tried and true prodigy, if the immediate superstar expectations were a bit overzealous. Florent Sinama-Pongolle pulls up as the 2001 winner, and he’s nothing to shake a stick at either. Names like Bojan, Nuri Sahin, Giovani Dos Santos and David Silva dot the list of Silver and Bronze Ball winners in that same three-tournament period. They are all quite good and all still quite young as well. In short it’s all about the who, not the what. Which is why this year’s list is as important as anything which happened during the games (except for the participants, mind you). adidas Golden Ball: Sani Emmanuel (Nigeria) The diminutive Nigerian forward won 30.2 per cent of the votes for best player cast by the tournament’s accredited media representatives. Although he started most matches on the bench, his impact on the game and memorable goals were enough to convince the press that he was a deserving winner of the adidas Golden Ball. adidas Silver Ball: Nassim Ben Khalifa (Switzerland) The Swiss admitted that he’s been a Ronaldo fan for years, and from what we have seen, he has emulated him to perfection. With his blistering pace, exquisite technique and composure in the box, the Swiss No10 netted four times and provided three assists on the way to the title. With such a complete performance, it comes as little surprise that he won an impressive 22.7 per cent of the votes. adidas Bronze Ball: Ramon Azeez (Nigeria) Nigeria’s flying midfielder grabbed the media’s attention with his ability to provide balance in a clearly attack-minded team. He played in every game and even scored against Korea Republic. With 17.8 per cent of the votes, Azeez wins the adidas Bronze Ball, which may be of some consolation after defeat in the final. adidas Golden Glove: Benjamin Siegrist (Switzerland) The FIFA Technical Study Group (TSG) awarded Swiss goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist the adidas Golden Glove for best goalkeeper in the tournament. The baby-faced giant, currently at Aston Villa in England, was one of the pillars of his team’s success, conceding just seven goals in as many games. He goes home with deserved recognition of his contribution to Switzerland’s historic victory. FIFA Fair Play Award: Nigeria Although just a step away from being crowned champions, Nigeria did win the FIFA Fair Play Award. Playing at home, John Obuh’s boys acquitted themselves magnificently, showing tremendous sportsmanship and thrilling the home fans with their high-quality football. * – We’d like to award the Irony Award to FIFA for handing the Fair Play Award to Nigeria roughly two months after they had over a dozen players booted from competitions for age cheating. Short memory, that Sepp. So after you’re done congratulating Switzerland and marking them down as a 2018 dark horse, make sure you remember the names… …just promise you won’t use the soundtrack in a YouTube compilation.

Which Teams Have Qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola? Posted: 16 Nov 2009 07:43 AM PST This weekend was the World Cup qualifying climax in Africa, and there was plenty of qualification drama to go around. The winners of each of the five groups qualified for World Cup 2010, and everyone else missed out. But there was a pretty decent consolation prize for the ten second and third placed teams, as World Cup qualifying doubles as Africa Cup of Nations qualifying and the top three in each group qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations (also known as the African Nations Cup, ACN and CAN) in Angola. Those 15 nations plus hosts Angola will compete for the trophy Egypt won in both 2006 and 2008. The 16 Angola 2010 teams will be: Angola Ghana Cote d’Ivoire Tunisia Algeria Egypt Cameroon Gabon Nigeria Mali Benin Burkina Faso Mozambique Zambia Togo Malawi Angola 2010 runs from January 10th to January 31st in 2010. It will be a nice straigthforward four groups of four, top two teams from each group makes the quarterfinals setup. The groups will be drawn this Friday, November 20th, 2009. UDPATE: I should have pointed this out firs time around, but South Africa have failed to qualify for Angola 2010. They entered qualification along with everyone else, but were knocked out at the second round (the first group stage). Big blow for South Africa not to qualify for Angola, as the tournament could have provided vital tournament practice.

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