Thursday, September 10, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

World Cup 2006 Blog

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

Clash of the Dramatic Titans: KSA & Bahrain.

Posted: 09 Sep 2009 09:10 PM PDT

As Daryl mentioned Tuesday, Saudi Arabia v Bahrain was a huge match. Huge.

It didn’t disappoint. For fear of ruining the ending and the screaming commentary, we’ll just set it up:

The winner of the double legged tie goes on to play New Zealand for a spot in the World Cup. The first leg in Bahrain ended zero-zero, which meant any type of scoring draw sent Bahrain up against the Kiwis. Going into the 90th minute the scoreboard read 1-1, and four minutes went onto the clock.

Above is the final four minutes of the match. Enjoy.

Triple Nines International Day Open Livethreadblog.

Posted: 09 Sep 2009 04:00 PM PDT

Welcome to a running diary of all that’s happening today. Come inside, join us - both sexes.

Currently under discussion: Paraguay vs. Argentina and Trinidad & Tobago vs. US.

Were France Robbed by Rosetti?

Posted: 09 Sep 2009 03:41 PM PDT

That’s the question being asked on France WCB right now.

Ten minutes into today’s big big Serbia vs France World Cup qualifier in Belgrade, alliterative referee Roberto Rosetti awarded Serbia a penalty and sent young French keeper Hugo Lloris to the showers. Thereby more or less ending France’s chances of making up lost ground of the Group 7 leaders.

You can see the incident about 25 seconds into the above video. Did Hugo Lloris trip big Nicola Zigic?

Obviously Rosetti thought so. Though this is the same Roberto Rosetti that controversially red carded Man Utd’s Darren Fletcher in last season’s Champions League semi-final.

Nenad Milijas converted the pen of course, but France came back to draw 1-1 when Thierry Henry poked home after Vladimir Stojkovic spilled Nicolas Anelka’s shot.

Which leaves Group 7 looking a lot like this:


There are still two games left to play, but it’s looking very likely that France are looking at second place and a tricky playoff game. Which may not have been the case had they had 11 men on the field for longer than 10 minutes.

So take a look at the above video. Was it a penalty? Did Lloris deserve a red? And perhaps the bigger question.. given the recent rivalry between the two nations, why was an Italian referee in charge of an important France match?

NFL kickoff: Steelers vs. Titans analysis, Week 1 office pool tips, expert fantasy advice and more

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Wednesday, September 9, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

World Cup 2006 Blog

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

World Cup Qualifying Games to Watch on 09/09/09

Posted: 08 Sep 2009 03:53 PM PDT


Wednesday, September 9th, 2009 is a big big day for World Cup qualifying. Some teams will actually qualify. Some teams will be eliminated. And some will keep hope alive for at least another month.

For those with multiple televisions, here are seven games to keep an eye on:



Paraguay vs Argentina
After the 3-1 home defeat to Brazil, Diego Maradon’s Argentina are in serious trouble. Occupying the fourth and final automatic qualifying spot in South America, they need to start picking up points. But apart from Brazil, Paraguay is arguably the most dangerous team in the region right now.

Under head coach Argentinean Gerardo Martino, Paraguay are five points ahead of Argentina in third place and secure qualification with a win. If that happens, El Diego could find himself unemployed.


England vs Croatia
England famously failed to qualify for Euro 2008 when Croatia beat Steve McClaren’s team 3-2 at Wembley. But it’s Fabio Capello calling the shots now, and England can wash away the sins of Second Choice Steve by beating Croatia at Wembley and making their presence in South Africa next summer official.

Both sides are missing important players. Croatia are without playmaker Luka Modric, who fractured his fibula playing in the Premiership for Spurs, while England will be without Zagreb hat-trick hero Theo Walcott, who’s he’s been out injured since pre-season.

To add a little extra spice, Croatia coach Slaven Bilic has claims he’s spotted England’s secret weakness. Which will probably turn out to be Glen Johnson’s inability to stop Ivica Olić going past him.


Cameroon vs Gabon
Huge game in CAF Group A, where table topping Gabon travel to (surprisingly) third place Cameroon. Only the winner of the four team group qualifies, so Cameroon need a result while Gabon need to hang on. Second place Togo will be hoping both teams somehow lose.


Serbia vs France
Serbia lead UEFA Group 7 by four points, so if France want to catch the leaders then this is a must win. French preparations haven’t been helped by the Titi Henry vs Raymond Domenech bust up, and - if you ask me - their whole campaign hasn’t been helped by keeping the astrology loving manager employed. Serbia qualify with a win. Anything less than three points for France makes the playoffs a very real possibility.


Hungary vs Portugal
Let’s not beat around the bush here: Portugal are in deep deep doo doo. Fourth in Group 1 behind Denmark, Hungary and Sweden. A defeat here means an almost (but not mathematically certain) failure to qualify. And that would mean no C-Ron at World Cup 2010. Make of that what you will.

On the other hand, it seems that giving little Brazilian striker Liédson a Portuguese passport has solved their “striker? what striker?” problem. Liédson currently averages an international goal every 45 minutes (although to be fair he’s only actually played 45 minutes).


Scotland vs Netherlands
UEFA Group 9 (the one with only five teams) gets wrapped up this week. Netherlands are already qualified, but Scotland need a result to a) guarantee second place (Norway could still leapfrog them) and b) try and make sure they finish in the top 8 second place teams and therefore make the playoffs.

James the new Maradona? McFadden is suspended, but expect a classic gutsy Scottish performance whatever happens.


Saudi Arabia vs Bahrain
The Asian qualifying section is already in playoff mode, with these two fighting for the right to face New Zealand in a further playoff, and the winner of that game getting the golden ticket. This is the second leg, with the first leg finishing 0-0.


And yes, I know there are plenty of other games going on. There are actually 35 (I think) World Cup qualifying games happening on Wednesday. If there’s a big game not on the above list, and you want to share some info about it, please feel free to do so in the comments.

NFL Extra: 14 pages of analysis, predictions, schedules and more

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Tuesday, September 8, 2009

As NFL's Week 1 approaches, rookies prepare for impact

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Monday, September 7, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

World Cup 2006 Blog

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

Can You Imagine World Cup 2010 Without Cristiano Ronaldo?

Posted: 06 Sep 2009 12:04 PM PDT

You might not have to, because after Portugal could only draw 1-1 away to Denmark, they’re fourth in UEFA World Cup Qualifying Group 1 with just three games to go.

Based on the above video highlights (set to incongruously chilled out music) Portugal had plenty of chances to take the lead, but - same old story - just didn’t have anyone capable of finishing. Not even Cristiano Ronaldo.

Nicklas “underrated?” Bendtner showed how it was done, taking the ball down o his chest and smashing it into the roof of the net not long before halftime.

Carlos Queiroz (still somehow employed as Portugal’s head coach) brought on his secret weapon at halftime: Brazilian born striker Liédson, who is a Portuguese citizen through residency, and - after banging in over 100 goals for Sporting CP since joining in 2003 - exactly what Portugal was missing.

He showed that poacher’s instinct in the 85th by nodding home an equalizer. On his debut no less. So Portugal may have found the man they were looking for up front. But with just three games to go (vs Hungary home and away, and then Malta at home) is it too late to get Portugal - and C-Ron - to World Cup 2010?


MLB's Week Ahead: Checking in with the milestone chasers

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