Sunday, July 19, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

World Cup 2006 Blog

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

Gold CUpdates: Honduras Ousts Canada on Iffy Penalty, US Waits Till Extra Time over Panama

Posted: 18 Jul 2009 09:40 PM PDT

Couple of games Saturday in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Gold Cup.

Honduras 1-0 Canada

First, Honduras ousted Canada, 1-0. Anybody as shocked as I am? Anybody else have questions about the penalty? (About the 2:45 mark.)

Canada tonight is feeling hard done by the referees. I do not blame them.

USA 2-1 Panama

(No video available at posting time, but keep checking back — I’ll add it when I find it.)

The US left it till late (till extra time, to be exact) to take out Panama, but in the end they got the job done to advance to the semis.

Keep in mind here that this is technically the USA “B” squad. With the departure of Charlie Davies to his new club, Sochaux, isn’t everybody from the USA Confederations Cup A squad now gone? I think so.

Panama got the first strike in first half injury time thanks to Blas Perez. But USA’s Kyle Beckerman struck back early in the second half. The game stood at 1-1 through regular time, but in the end, USA’s Kenny Cooper won a penalty in the second period of extra time. He converted, and a tired Panama couldn’t come back.

USA now face Honduras yet again in the semis, on July 23. They beat them 2-0 in the group stages, but that was largely on the energy of second-half subs Benny Feilhaber and Charlie Davies. Will they have the same spark now that Feilhaber and Davies have gone home?

Posted by at No comments:

Sporting News Today: What's next for Michael Vick?

SNT Header

MAMUDU,

Your July 19, 2009 issue of Sporting News Today is now available, please click here.



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.

cover
 

  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&108548&147174&15405&0000&1236483791&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
Posted by at No comments:

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Sporting News Today: Three college football teams that still must learn to deal with the spotlight

SNT Header

MAMUDU,

Your July 18, 2009 issue of Sporting News Today is now available, please click here.



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.

cover
 

  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&108547&147145&15398&0000&1236483784&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
Posted by at No comments:

Friday, July 17, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

World Cup 2006 Blog

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

Sepp Blatter is a Diver

Posted: 16 Jul 2009 07:07 AM PDT

YouTube video of an elderly Swiss man falling over isn’t necessarily funny. But when that man is Sepp Blatter, we are legally obligated to post it on World Cup Blog.

[Guardian via 101GG]
Posted by at No comments:

Sporting News Today: NFL copycat coaches will deploy most explosive talents in varied ways in '09

SNT Header

MAMUDU,

Your July 17, 2009 issue of Sporting News Today is now available, please click here.



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.

cover
 

  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&108474&147109&15378&0000&1236483750&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
Posted by at No comments:

Thursday, July 16, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

World Cup 2006 Blog

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

World Cup Stadium Construction Workers Strike Nearly Over

Posted: 15 Jul 2009 08:40 AM PDT

Construction work on South Africa’s World Cup 2010 stadiums will soon get going again, as the National Union of Mineworkers (which also includes construction workers) claims to have reached an agreement with the companies about their disputed pay increase:

“The strike is over,” said Lesiba Seshoka, spokesman for the NUM. “We got a good offer.”

The workers had been asking for a 13% pay increase, were initially offered 10%, but have now reportedly negotiated and agreed on 12%.

Which should mean an end to any talk of switching the tournament to somewhere like England or the USA at the last minute. The 2010 World Cup is less than a year away, and it’s going to be in South Africa. Get used to it.

(and if you need help feeling optimistic about South Africa 2010, give this a read)
Posted by at No comments:

Sporting News Today: Pitchers, Pujols, playoff races biggest story lines heading into second half

SNT Header

MAMUDU,

Your July 16, 2009 issue of Sporting News Today is now available, please click here.



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.

cover
 

  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&108357&147037&15354&0000&1236483690&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
Posted by at No comments:

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

World Cup 2006 Blog

World Cup 2006 Blog

Link to World Cup Soccer - South Africa 2010

Why Isn’t Guadeloupe a FIFA Member?

Posted: 14 Jul 2009 01:51 PM PDT

Guadeloupe made the semi-finals of the Gold Cup back in 2007, and have (so far) made the quarterfinals of the 2009 Gold Cup (they play Costa Rica this Sunday, 19th July).

The team includes some French Ligue 1, Ligue 2 and Championnat National (basically Ligue 3) players. That fact, coupled with the recent Gold Cup successes suggests that if this team was allowed to enter World Cup qualification in the CONCACAF region, they’d have at least something like a decent shot at making it.

But that’s not going to happen any time soon, because Guadeloupe is not a member of FIFA and so not allowed to attempt World Cup qualification. Which leads to the question: Why not?


As with most things, it’s all about politics. Guadeloupe is not an independent nation, it’s an overseas department (basically: a part of) France. Similarly, the Ligue Guadeloupéenne de Football organization that runs the team is really just a branch of the French Football Federation.

So maybe “Why isn’t Guadeloupe in FIFA?” is the wrong question. Maybe the real question should be “Why is Guadeloupe in CONCACAF?” Or at least “Why is it in one but not the other?” According to Wikipedia the answer is that…

“…Guadeloupe is a member of CONCACAF and CFU [Caribbean Football Union], and thus eligible for all competitions organized by both. Indeed, according to the status of the FFF [French Football Federation] (article 34, paragraph 6): “[...]Under the control of related continental confederations, and with the agreement of the FFF, those leagues can organize international sport events at a regional level or set up teams in order to partipate [sic] to them.”

There was an interesting discussion about the Guadeloupe national football team on the BBC World Football Phone-In this past weekend (click here to listen, right at the start) where Sean Wheelock suggested that Guadeloupe could become a FIFA member if France allowed it to do so.

I’m not 100% sure that that’s true, at least not without Guadeloupe devolving it’s relationship with France so that it was no longer an overseas department. And that’s a whole other issue, separate from football.

It’s also true that the Guadeloupe team benefits from not being a full FIFA member, because that frees it from certain restrictions. For example, the 2007 Gold Cup squad included Jocelyn Angloma, who played 37 times for France. And the current squad includes players who can represent Guadeloupe in the Gold Cup without ruining their future eligibility for the French national team. This may be a little unfair on other Gold Cup teams, but the current rule is that you can’t play for Guadeloupe in the Gold Cup if you’ve represented the French national team within the past five years.

This is one of those messy situations where a team falls somewhere between existing and not. But it’s hard to blame FIFA or CONCACAF for the complexities of colonial or post-colonial politics. Instead, I think it’s worth putting this in context:

Guadeloupe is in the same situation as fellow French “overseas departments” Martinique and French Guiana. No one’s asking why Martinique or French Guiana aren’t FIFA members, because Martinique and French Guiana aren’t tearing it up at the 2009 Gold Cup right now. So maybe the thing to do is to not worry about the politics of France, FIFA or anyone else, and just enjoy Guadeloupe’s performances.

This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Football Returns To Baghdad

Posted: 14 Jul 2009 06:00 AM PDT

It was but a mere friendly against a walkover opponent, but in terms of symbolism it was on par with a World Cup final. More than six years after its last international game in Baghdad - and with an Asian trophy in its cabinet since then - Iraq returned to Al-Shaab Stadium and thumped fellow recent home-returnees Palestine 4-0. The game of football itself was largely irrelevant, though Iraq could certainly use the lift after a disappointing Confederations Cup trip, but what happened in the stands certainly wasn’t. Obviously there were massive security concerns, but that didn’t deter fans from packing the stadium to capacity and celebrating every goal as though they just won the World Cup. And, to a degree, they did. It may not have been the World Cup, but it was their World Cup. The type of story which makes this the beautiful game it is.
Posted by at No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)