World Cup 2006 Blog

Daily Dose: March 30th, 2009. Posted: 30 Mar 2009 06:30 PM PDT Stuff to read while you enjoy a patented Artur Boruc howler…… So after South Africa 2010 goes down the tubes we can criticize Polkraine 2012. (101 Great Goals) Dean Gordon makes a rookie mistake at 36, shows up at wrong stadium. (Dirty Tackle) Luton Town attempting to beat the drop via a 30 pt penalty. (Unprofessional Foul) Frank Sinatra now sets Joey Barton’s moods. (The Spoiler) Hoffenheim aren’t an original. (ESPN) The Prem’s unsung heroes. (SoccerLens) Drogba speaks on the Ivory Coast tragedy. (guardian) David Bentley needs help coping with the break. (Studs Up)

Lionel Messi: Worth Twice the Price of Admission. Posted: 30 Mar 2009 03:30 PM PDT For each moment that Maradona has been a pompous, self-serving blowhard, he’s matched it with genius - even with his words: “If that last chance had gone in, we would all have had to leave the stadium, pay for another ticket and come back in again.” That’s in reference to Messi’s ‘miss’ against Venezuela, capping a brilliant game during which the limelight shone firmly on the halos atop his heaven-sent feet. The boy’s a genius. For the rest of The Messi Show, highlights after the jump. [Spotted on 101 Great Goals]

CAF World Cup 2010 Qualifying Roundup Posted: 30 Mar 2009 10:20 AM PDT Remember our CAF World Cup 2010 qualifying preview on Friday? The general consensus was that nothing is ever as straightforward as it seems. Yes, there were favourites to win each group (and therefore qualify for WC 2010) but there’s a big difference between favourites and certainties. Just ask Emmanuel Adebayor. The Arsenal striker seemed a certainty not to play for Togo after being out for six weeks with a dodgy hamstring. But Togo called up Adebayor for the big Group A game vs Cameroon anyway. And they started him. And he scored the winner after just 11 minutes: Gabon also beat Morocco 2-1 in Casablanca, leaving Group A looking a little bit upside down: In Group B, Nigeria were held 0-0 away to Mozambique which leaves the Super Eagles already two points behind Tunisia (who beat Kenya 2-1). Group C is almost perfectly square after draws all round. But you’d still back Egypt to win it, right? Advantage Ghana in Group D with a 1-0 win over Benin, while Mali and Sudan drew 1-1. Fantastic result for unfancied Burkina Faso, who pulled off a 4-2 win over Guinea. But there was tragedy in Cote d’Ivoire, where 19 people were killed and 130 injured in Abidjan when a wall collapsed before Cote d’Ivoire’s 5-0 win over Malawi. FIFA are calling for an investigation. Source: FIFA.com The next round of CAF World Cup 2010 qualifiers are in June.

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Sporting News Today: Wildcats vs. Wildcats - which hoops job wins out?

MAMUDU, Your March 31, 2009 issue of Sporting News Today is now available, please click here. Here are some articles in Today's Issue Kentucky vs. Arizona: A look at two top coaching jobs No deal between Calipari and UK NFL Draft: Who makes sense for the Lions at No. 1? Heels hit Detroit clicking on all cylinders Scoping out baseball season's best games If you experience any problems with your issue, please click here to contact our customer service department. Know a friend who might like Sporting News Today? Just click here or email him/her the link: www.sportingnewstoday.com.     Trouble Viewing? If any of the above links do not work for you,   copy and paste this URL into your browser:   http://today.sportingnews.com/t=c/?1&37824&126170&13256&0000&1236448354&EIInjEOx9cS45     Please do not reply to this message. Questions may be submitted to Digital Support.   To stop receiving email notifications for digital issues of Sporting News Today,   click here.   Sporting News Today 120 West Morehead Street Suite 200 Charlotte, NC 28207

World Cup 2006 Blog

Craig Bellamy: Not a Good Loser. Or Statistician. Posted: 30 Mar 2009 04:10 AM PDT When you lose to a team you expected to beat, you’re supposed to show at least some humility, right? At least credit the opposition with something? Not Mr. Craig Bellamy. In his post match interview after Wales 2-0 home defeat to Finland, Bellamy showed a worrying lack of humility. According to him, Finland are “not a good side”, which is at least a vague criticism. But he was a little more specific about Finnish goalscorer Jonatan Johansson “Johansson … yeah … he’s scored. Don’t know how. I don’t think he’s a good enough player to score.” Quick bit of info: Craig Bellamy’s international goal tally: 16. Jonatan Johansson’s international goal tally: 18 OK, Johansson has had 39 more caps and four more years to get those goals. But 18 is still the bigger number. Also, not sure how Wales fans will feel about Bellamy’s review of the match: “You’ve just seen two poor sides trying to contest this group, and none of us got a glimmer of hope of qualifying”. Not sure how Sky Sports will feel about it either, after paying good money to screen the game. To be fair to Bellamy, he’s doing this interview after a tough tough defeat and is obviously all emotional. And there’s a lot to be said for players expressing their actual opinions instead of just doing the old PR dance. So in a way this is a good thing. But there has to be a happy middle ground somewhere. A way to express your opinion without insulting your teammates, the opposition team and one particular opposition player in general. Which I believe is exactly what the YouTuber who added the owl-Bellamy-sheep post-script to that interview is trying to say. [vid spotted on 101GG]

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Sporting News Today: With Final Four set, our predictions are in

MAMUDU, Your March 30, 2009 issue of Sporting News Today is now available, please click here. Here are some articles in Today's Issue Tar Heels look ready to roll in Motown Weis, Irish dialing up intensity at spring drills He's back: Tiger erases five-shot deficit QB Freeman has NFL scouts weighing risks, rewards NASCAR: Daring pass propels Johnson at Martinsville If you experience any problems with your issue, please click here to contact our customer service department. Know a friend who might like Sporting News Today? Just click here or email him/her the link: www.sportingnewstoday.com.     Trouble Viewing? If any of the above links do not work for you,   copy and paste this URL into your browser:   http://today.sportingnews.com/t=c/?1&37734&125441&13235&0000&1236448079&EIInjEOx9cS45     Please do not reply to this message. Questions may be submitted to Digital Support.   To stop receiving email notifications for digital issues of Sporting News Today,   click here.   Sporting News Today 120 West Morehead Street Suite 200 Charlotte, NC 28207

World Cup 2006 Blog

A Few Highlights from This Weekend’s International Matches Posted: 29 Mar 2009 11:23 AM PDT I’ve been sitting here waiting for motivation to strike and give me the energy to write up a comprehensive rundown of this weekend’s World Cup qualifiers. And waiting, and waiting, and… Oh, screw it. Here are a few highlights instead. First (just because you knew I would put France first and I don’t want to disappoint you) is Franck Ribery’s wonderstrike (after some sweet moves by Yoann Gourcuff) against Lithuania — the only really brilliant moment in an otherwise kind of lackluster game. (Jeff has a great match summary here.) Next, we have Portugal-Sweden, a tantalizing rematch of Cristiano Ronaldo and Zlatan Ibrahimovic! What a scorefest this must have been! True excitement! Goals galore! And…um… Wait. Ibra suspended…Ronaldo misses late chance… Nil-nil. Never mind. When does a draw feel like a win? When you’re the US and go down 2-0 playing away. Jozy Altidore and Frankie Hejduk managed to get the US an important road point. (USA World Cup blogger Marlon’s post-game thoughts here.) And for sheer prettiness (unless you’re a Venezuela fan), you definitely want to check out the highlights of Argentina 4-0 Venezuala. Goals by Lionel Messi, Carlos Tevez, Maxi Rodriguez and Kun Aguero. What do you think? Is Maradona actually a decent coach, or does he just have too much talent under him to screw it up? For more game highlights, check out TVGolo.com and/or 101 Great Goals.

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Sporting News Today: Feels like '85 as Villanova joins Big East's Final Four party

MAMUDU, Your March 29, 2009 issue of Sporting News Today is now available, please click here. Here are some articles in Today's Issue Super Nova: Wildcats back in Final Four for first time since '85 DeCourcy: Spartans seniors get one last shot at keeping Izzo's streak alive Final Four oasis awaits UConn after latest desert run NFL: Super Steelers primed for another run Virginia wins longest-ever Div. I lacrosse match If you experience any problems with your issue, please click here to contact our customer service department. Know a friend who might like Sporting News Today? Just click here or email him/her the link: www.sportingnewstoday.com.     Trouble Viewing? If any of the above links do not work for you,   copy and paste this URL into your browser:   http://today.sportingnews.com/t=c/?1&37685&125367&13233&0000&1236448072&EIInjEOx9cS45     Please do not reply to this message. Questions may be submitted to Digital Support.   To stop receiving email notifications for digital issues of Sporting News Today,   click here.   Sporting News Today 120 West Morehead Street Suite 200 Charlotte, NC 28207

World Cup 2006 Blog

CAF World Cup 2010 Qualifying: Get Ready for the Hurt Posted: 27 Mar 2009 07:10 AM PDT Obviously every team wants to go to the World Cup. Every time. But if you’re an African team then you definitely want to get to the first World Cup held on Africa soil, more than any other World Cup that’s gone before. Imagine missing out on South Africa 2010? That’s going to hurt. The bad news is that for fifteen of the twenty teams left in CAF qualifying, hurt is on the way. The final phase of qualifying begins this weekend. Five groups of four and only the winners of each group go to the big show. Here are the groups, and the opening round of games: Group A Togo Cameroon Morocco Gabon Togo vs Cameroon (Accra, March 28th, 16:00) Morocco vs Gabon (Casablanca, March 29th, 20:00) Group B Mozambique Nigeria Kenya Tunisia Kenya vs Tunisia (Nairobi, March 28th, 16:00) Mozambique vs Nigeria (Maputo, March 28th, 15:00) Group C Rwanda Algeria Egypt Zambia Rwanda vs Algeria (Kigali, March 28th, 15:30) Egypt vs Zambia (Cairo, March 29th, 19:30) Group D Ghana Benin Sudan Mali Sudan vs Mali (Omdurman, March 28th, 20:00) Ghana vs Benin (Kumasi, March 29th, 17:00) Group E Côte d’Ivoire Malawi Burkina Faso Guinea Burkina Faso vs Guinea (Ouagadougou, March 28th, 18:00) Côte d’Ivoire vs Malawi (Abidjan, March 29th, 17:00) Source: FIFA.com Want to know how serious these games are? Emmanuel Adebayor is in the Togo squad to play Cameroon, despite not actually being fit enough to play. With so much at stake, and many of these groups a lot tighter than they appear (eg you might look at Group D and think “Ghana, easy”, but Mali’s Kanoute, Diarra and Keita would beg to differ) we should see some absolutely classic games in this round of CAF World Cup qualification. The top three from each group also qualify for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola, so everyone will have something to play for, right until the final ball is kicked. Whoever eventually makes it to South Africa, these games will be worth watching.

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Sporting News Today: Eight teams, one elite matchup

MAMUDU, Your March 28, 2009 issue of Sporting News Today is now available, please click here. Here are some articles in Today's Issue Elite Eight highlighted by elite matchup DeCourcy: With Donovan out, pressure mounts for UK Alabama hires VCU's Grant as coach Redskins' Hall calls ex-coach Petrino 'one of the worst' Tebow to take some snaps under center If you experience any problems with your issue, please click here to contact our customer service department. Know a friend who might like Sporting News Today? Just click here or email him/her the link: www.sportingnewstoday.com.     Trouble Viewing? If any of the above links do not work for you,   copy and paste this URL into your browser:   http://today.sportingnews.com/t=c/?1&37684&125271&13224&0000&1236448058&EIInjEOx9cS45     Please do not reply to this message. Questions may be submitted to Digital Support.   To stop receiving email notifications for digital issues of Sporting News Today,   click here.   Sporting News Today 120 West Morehead Street Suite 200 Charlotte, NC 28207