Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Sporting News Today: NFL teams look for the 'next Tom Brady'

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Tuesday, April 7, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

World Cup 2006 Blog

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

If World Cup 2010 Qualifying Ended Today…

Posted: 06 Apr 2009 10:00 AM PDT

World Cup qualifying is a long and complicated process. A lot of quotas and playoffs are involved in get whittling down every nation on earth into the 32 teams that will go to South Africa and shake paws with Zakumi (pictured) in 2010.

We’ll know the lucky 32 are when qualification ends in November 2009. But if qualification ended today, the following teams would qualify for World Cup 2010:



CONMEBOL:
Paraguay, Brazil, Chile, Argentina

CONCACAF:
USA, Costa Rica, Honduras

Playoff: Uruguay (5th place CONMEBOL) vs Mexico (4th place CONCACAF)

ASIA:
Australia, Japan, S. Korea, N. Korea

Playoffs: Bahrain (3rd place Asia Group 1) vs Saudi Arabia (3rd place Asia Group 2 team)
Winner of that plays New Zealand (Oceania winner) for World Cup spot.

AFRICA:
South Africa (hosts), Gabon, Tunisia, Egypt, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire

EUROPE:
Denmark, Greece, N. Ireland, Germany, Spain, England, Serbia, Italy, Netherlands

Playoffs: France, Bosnia, Russia, Slovakia, Hungary, Switzerland, Scotland, Ireland
(Eight best second placed teams, who will be drawn into four two-legged play-offs. Winner of each playoff game goes to the World Cup).


Some pretty big upsets there. Honduras have been to just one World Cup before, going winless in the group stage of the 1982 World Cup. The Mexico vs Uruguay playoff game could go either way, but if Mexico don’t make it then the Mexican football federation have some tough questions to answer.

Australia’s “move” to Asia looks like paying off, and the presence of both Koreas would be a first.

African qualifying is only one game old, but if Gabon makes it then they’ll be the underdog story of the whole tournament. Nigeria and Cameroon will be shocked if they miss out.

Northern Ireland arguably deserve a spot at the World Cup after their close but no cigar heroics in Euro 2008 qualifying, but the big story would be who didn’t make it. Right now France could face a tricky playoff game, while Portugal wouldn’t even make the playoffs. Can you imagine a World Cup 2010 without Cristiano Ronaldo? Could very well happen.

Of course there’s are still plenty of games to go and all to play for. But when all is said and done in November, don’t be too shocked if the 32 teams with golden tickers aren’t the 32 we all expected.

Sporting News Today: Nine pages covering the Tar Heels' triumph

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Monday, April 6, 2009

Sporting News Today: MLB's first pitch, NCAA's final buzzer

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Sunday, April 5, 2009

Sporting News Today: Tar Heels, Spartans in Motor City rematch

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Saturday, April 4, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

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Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

Was Sven the Strangest International Appointment of All Time?

Posted: 03 Apr 2009 09:06 AM PDT

Sven-Göran Eriksson got his marching orders from the Mexican football federation yesterday. Not a huge surprise after some dreadful results (Mexico should not be losing to Jamaica) and seems it was the 3-1 loss away to Honduras that put the final nail in Sven’s Mexican managerial coffin.

“The decision was made because we could not risk Mexico’s participation in the World Cup,” said federation president Justino Compean. Which was a polite way of saying the federation didn’t trust Sven to get them to South Africa.


And so arguably the strangest and worst interntational managerial appointment of all time comes to a close. Steve McClaren and Steve Staunton were bad choices for England and Ireland respectively, but at least the two men were English and Irish.

From the second Sven was appointed, his face didn’t really fit. Mexican football is passionate to say the least, while Sven has that air of icy calm about him. I always though he seemed like a substitute teacher just filling in because the real guy was running late.

And he didn’t even speak Spanish when he took the job. If Mexico has to go down the route of hiring a fashionably foreign manager, they could at least have found someone who spoke the lingo. To be fair to Sven he seems to have mastered it less than a year after taking the job. So at least he got something out of his Mexican adventure.

Well, that plus the usual sweet sweet compensation package. From Times Online:

It is believed that the Mexican federation will have to pay Eriksson about £2 million after dismissing him, the Swede's third seven-figure payoff in three years. He is said to have received compensation of about

£3 million from the FA after standing down as England head coach in 2006 and another £1 million when he parted company with Manchester City.

So there you have it. Sven-Göran Eriksson: bad at international managemenet, good at getting paid to be sacked. Man’s a genius.


For more on the Mexican national team, visit Mexico World Cup Blog

Sporting News Today: This Motown foursome could become a new classic

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Friday, April 3, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

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Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

Bizarre Happenings In Wales v Germany

Posted: 02 Apr 2009 10:00 AM PDT

And no, this time it has nothing to do with a mascot. At least that we know of, anyway.

Craig Bellamy was left out of the starting lineup for a knee issue. At least that’s what they’re saying publicly. To open up the sans-Bellamy proceedings, Michael Ballack scored a fantastic goal in front of what looked to be precisely no one at Millenium Stadium in Cardiff. Clearly Bellamy’s ‘defeatism’ has spread. Wales had a real chance to climb back into a game they had no business being in when Serdar Tasci fell down (1:25), watched the ball into his his hand…swatted it away…in the box…all while the Welsh attacker tripped over his body. That’s at least one red card and two penalties. Or vice-versa. And yet no whistle sounded. Then Mario Gomez finally broke his German duck with a positively exquisite finish. From Welsh defender Ashley Williams.

Just wasn’t a Welsh day, was it?

(Oh, and Poldi slapped Ballack.)

The High Price of High Altitude: Bolivia 6 - Argentina 1

Posted: 02 Apr 2009 07:00 AM PDT

No good deed goes unpunished.

“Before becoming Argentina coach, Maradona had backed Bolivia’s campaign against a FIFA ban on matches at high altitude, taking part in a charity match in La Paz alongside President Evo Morales last year. The ban was later overturned.”

After captaining Argentina’s most embarrassing defeat in some time, do you think Maradona might change his mind? Maybe?

And if the sword was bad, the swordsman was worse:

Striker Joaquin Botero, who plays for Mexican second division team Correcaminos (Roadrunners), scored a hat-trick.

A player from the Mexican second division beating the likes of Lionel Messi, Kun Aguero, Esteban Cambiasso and Angel Di Maria - all seven minutes of him. Who’d have thunk it? A Cinderella story if ever there was one, surely, despite Botero’s long history of goal scoring above sea level.

Much of this will be blamed on the 3600m Argentina had to climb - not literally, then it would’ve been 12-1 or so - and that’s certainly a logical and valid reason. But while altitude does make a difference - you’ll hear no argument there - to turn a club which many consider, coach aside, to be a contender in South Africa to become the heavybag for a team which sits second bottom in qualifying is something else entirely. Something beyond environmental factors. Bolivia simply had their day.

Now how will Argentina be compensated for their troubles? With a trip to the thin airs of Quito in the next qualifying round. Out of the frying pan and into the fire? Certainly could be.