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Wednesday, October 7, 2009
MLB playoff extra: Mark McGwire, 32 other baseball insiders make their first-round forecast
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
World Cup 2006 Blog
World Cup 2006 Blog |  |
| Is the 2009 FIFA U-20 World Cup a Proper Tournament or Not? Posted: 05 Oct 2009 02:40 PM PDT
I have several good reasons for asking. First is the absence of certain eligible big name players. Bojan Krkic, Jack Wilshere, Mario Balotelli etcetera. But I’ve already had a rant about that, so won’t do so again. Second, as you can see in the above image from the Trinidad & Tobago vs Paraguay group game, several game are being played on artificial turf. There is a FIFA Quality Concept for Artificial Turf, and Sepp Blatter and co. have decreed that pitches meeting this standard are acceptable. And I completely understand this in places where it’s a necessity. But it’s not so understandable for a supposed showpiece international event, where proper grass fields could be grown for the occasion. We’re pretty sure FIFA has the money. Third but not least, it is apparently impossible to get knocked out of this tournament. Italy finished third in Group A, behind Egypt and Paraguay. But because the format allows for four of the six third placed teams to make the knockout stage, the Azzurrini still went through to the round of 16 and today beat Spain (who finished first in Group B without conceding even a single a goal) 3-1, in what looks like a pretty exciting game: Well done to the young Italians, and I don’t want to take anything away from their performance. But can we really take this tournament seriously if the best players aren’t there, the games aren’t played on real grass and teams can finish third in a group of four and still go through?        |
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Favre returns to form under MNF spotlight
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Monday, October 5, 2009
NFL Week 4: The champs hit their stride, and the upstarts keep surprising
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Sunday, October 4, 2009
College Football Extra: 25 pages of results and analysis
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Saturday, October 3, 2009
World Cup 2006 Blog
World Cup 2006 Blog | |
| Rio 2016: Olympic Football Returns. Posted: 02 Oct 2009 10:35 AM PDT
1. Rio …South America gets its first ever Olympic games. And this on the back of the 2014 World Cup which will be taking over Brazil*. I think it’s fair to say this should be enough to revive a dying sport: Olympic football. There have been numerous discussions of late debating the ways to turn Olympic football from an afterthought at worst and tinder for the club v country debate at best into a competition of relevance again. Some theorize it should be open to everyone, others think it should be kept strictly at an amateur level (which would lead to an Arsenal v Barcelona final). Others think it should be scrapped altogether, as the refusal of some clubs to release players causes the tournament’s legitimacy to come into question. This is a small part of the problem with the decline of Olympic football. The large part? No one seems to care. But now, Olympic football has hope. Why? Because it’s going to London in 2012, the birthplace of football and now Brazil four years later. Two absolutely football mad countries whose appeal lies in the stands as much as it does on the pitch. And simply because of that, people will care. Sure, the athletes are nice, but an international football tournament held in and around Rio? Who wouldn’t be over their heels by that? Four years after taking over Wembley? It’s no revelation that atmosphere can often make or break a tournament, and those are two footballing meccas. Players will want to Now if they can only figure out just who they want to send… *** In order to pass the friday, enjoy the Rio pitch:   |
Anybody who knows anything has been predicting Rio de Janeiro to win the 2016 summer Olympics bid, and today that | You are subscribed to email updates from World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010 To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
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College Football Extra: 13 pages of previews, predictions
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Friday, October 2, 2009
NFL Week 4 Extra: 14 pages of previews, predictions, fantasy tips
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Thursday, October 1, 2009
World Cup 2006 Blog
World Cup 2006 Blog | |
| Andre Ayew’s Left Foot Lights Up the U-20 World Cup Posted: 30 Sep 2009 03:40 PM PDT The group stage of the 2009 U-20 World Cup is flying a little under the radar right now. Mostly because the tournament isn’t as advertised. The U-20 World Cup should be a genuine showcase for the world’s best talent aged under 20. But the names we would have been excited to see - players like Bojan Krkic, Mario Balotelli, and Jack Wilshere - aren’t involved for various reasons, and the tournament is all the poorer for it. One big name brightspot is 19 year old Ghana captain Andre “Dede” Ayew. The fact that he’s the son of Abedi Pele is enough to get our attention. But after Dede more than held his own playing for Ghana in the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations as a just turned 18 year old, it’s pretty clear that he’s a promising player in his own right. Ayew confirmed that yesterday by leading Ghana to a 4-0 win over Group D opponents England, including an excellent excellent goal where he found the top right corner from distance with his left foot. Great photo of what I think is that strike above, conclusive video after the jump:
On that sort of form the Black Satellites (excellent name for the Black Stars junior team, eh?) are going to do very well in this U-20 World Cup. With two wins out of two they’ve already qualified for the next round, and will battle it out with Uruguay for Group D top spot on Friday. As for Andre Ayew, he’s currently contracted to Marseille, but on loan at newly promoted French Ligue 2 team AC Arles-Avignon. If he impresses there, and continues to impress in Egypt, then he just might be back for the real thing in South Africa next June. 2009 U-20 World Cup schedule here.   |
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Fire up the ice: Hot topics to start the NHL season
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