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Friday, September 18, 2009
NFL Week 2 extra: 14 pages of previews, predictions, fantasy tips
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Georgia Tech at Miami: Former heavyweights look to regain relevancy
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Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Week 1 stinkers: NFL players who need to panic after lousy opening outings
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Tuesday, September 15, 2009
World Cup 2006 Blog
World Cup 2006 Blog |  |
| Photo: Diego Maradona Gets A Brazilian Posted: 14 Sep 2009 02:30 PM PDT Sincerest apologies for any mental images that may conjure up. Late last week someone hacked the Argentina FA’s website and placed a (hopefully) Photoshopped pic of their coach on the site - more precisely, that one right there - with the words “A picture says a thousand words” underneath. This would imply that Diego is running the Argentine national team into the ground as though a Brazilian double agent. Which he is. (The running into the ground part, not the Brazilian double agent.) As you might guess, this did not go over well. The website has since been hurtled into oblivion and may never return. Much like Diego, if rumors persist.        |
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Sporting News Today: Can the Angels extend their streak of A.L. West dominance?
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Monday, September 14, 2009
World Cup 2006 Blog
World Cup 2006 Blog | |
| Top 10 Players Who Never Made A World Cup Posted: 13 Sep 2009 06:14 AM PDT
And while both Messi and Ronaldo have played at World Cups before, I thought it would be a timely reminder of ten players who weren’t lucky enough, for whatever reason, to play in the biggest tournament in World Football. It might be because they played for a country who never made it, or because they fell out with management, or because they had somebody better than them ahead of them. But food for thought - Stéphane Guivarc’h has played at a World Cup, and none of these players have. 10 Abedi Pele A World Cup in Africa, so its only right we start with the player who bought so much prominence to African Football in the first place. The three time African Footballer of the Year had success in Germany and Italy, but mostly in France, where he was an instrumental part of the Marseille side that picked up a Champions League medal (against a formidable AC Milan side, no less) unfortunately, despite the dual talents of himself and Tony Yeboah for Ghana, they never made a World Cup. 09 Johnny Giles and Ryan Giggs The two have a number of similarities. They played completely differently - Giggs known for his silky skills and speed, Giles known for his win-at-all-costs mentality, but they both helped to define clubs that dominated eras in English Football, Giles as part of the 1970s Leeds United team that won a number of titles and Giggs as part of Man United’s 1990/00s teams that won everything there was to win. Neither made it to a World Cup though - Giles Republic of Ireland never making the cup, exactly as Ryan Giggs’ Wales never did. 08 Matthew Le Tissier One of the best footballers of his generation, it remains a little bit of a mystery why Le Tiss, never made a World Cup although there are a couple of reasons. First, no-one knew exactly where he played, sometimes as an attacking midfielder, sometimes a forward. Second managers tended to want to play him in midfield, where England already had Paul Gascoigne, a national treasure and as big a talent. Lastly, he loyally spent his entire career at Southampton, meaning he was never tested on as big a stage as he should have been. 07 Eric Cantona He might have defined the Man United team of the 1990s, but he never made it to a World Cup for France, despite being first capped in the late 1980s. He had fallen out with management before the 1990 World Cup so wasn’t selected for France’s Italian adventure, he was apart of the squad that failed to make the 1994 World Cup, and he retired in 1997, a year before France won the World Cup. He probably wouldn’t have been picked anyway. 06 Duncan Edwards Speak to absolutely anyone of a certain age in England, and they’ll tell you how good Duncan Edwards was. Bobby Charlton called him the best player he ever played with. There is very little footage left of Edwards, who was killed in the 1958 Munich Air Disaster, but if he’s a tenth as good as people say, its a massive shame he never made a World Cup. 05 Valentino Mazzola Similarly to Edwards, was killed before his time. There was a time in Italy, where Juventus were not Turin’s most talented team. Torino snatched Mazzola during the war from under the nose of Juve, and he led Torino to league title after league title as they dominated the post-war Serie A. Sadly, the entire team was killed in an air crash leaving one of Italy’s most talented players with just 12 caps. 04 Bernd Schuster Voted second best player of the 1980 European Championships (which Germany won), Schuster sensationally retired from international football aged 24, after repeatedly falling out with the German FA. He decided to go home and see his baby son be born instead of playing for his country, which caused a national scandal and he walked away from the chance to play at any World Cup for his country. 03 George Weah Another case of the most talented player in the world playing for a country - Liberia - that were never good enough to make the cut. Weah mesmerised Europe, especially when he did things like this for AC Milan, and he won World, European and African footballer of the year. In 1994 there was undoubtedly a feeling that one of the best players in the game was not at the World Cup. 02 George Best Possibly the most famous big name never to make a World Cup, Best played for Northern Ireland, who never made the World Cup. You probably don’t need reminder of his ability on the ball though, as he lit up English football (and picked up a European Cup with Man United) for years and years. Eternal proof that you can’t qualify (let alone win) a World Cup with just the best player in the world playing for you. 01 Alfredo Di Stefano Described by Pele as better than a certain El Diego, and yet bizarrely, the Real Madrid legend never played in a World Cup. The reasons though, are more complicated than some of the others above. Born in Argentina, he played for his country, but they didn’t play in the 1950 World Cup. He then became a Colombian international, and never made a World Cup. He became a Spanish National in 1956, but the Spanish didn’t qualify for the 1958 World Cup. Finally he led them to the 1962 Finals, but he got injured before the tournament and couldn’t play.   |
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The NFL is back: 19 pages of Week 1 coverage
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Sunday, September 13, 2009
Sporting News Today: 31-page college football extra
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Saturday, September 12, 2009
World Cup 2006 Blog
World Cup 2006 Blog | |
| Why I Want Diego Maradona to Succeed Posted: 11 Sep 2009 08:58 AM PDT
Understandably, Argentina fans are not happy. To quote Julian D from the Argentina blog “I’m just as angry and annoyed as anyone here about Maradona. I now also want him out.” Rather than getting into whether El Diego should resign or be fired (neither looks like happening), I’ve been thinking about why I’d prefer to see him succeed. There are all kinds of reasons to dislike Maradona (Hand of God, etc) but I’d really much prefer to see him a) not get fired, and b) qualify for the World Cup with Argentina. As I understand it, Maradona is a national institution in Argentina. As the greatest ever player in a football obsessed nation, how could he not be? He’s the man who won the 1986 World Cup in glorious fashion, and that can’t ever be taken away from him. But failure to qualify for the 2010 World Cup would go some way to tarnishing his achievements. Not everyone (both inside and outside Argentina) approves of the way El Diego conducts himself. But until now that hadn’t mattered. He always had that legendary football career to bolster his reputation. No matter how many times Maradona fired an air rifle at reporters, he was still a footballing genius. And though playing football and coaching football are two very different things, in terms of reputation it’s the same thing. So if Maradona fails to get Argentina to South Africa, then that will be one of the things he’s remembered for. There will be some younger Argentina fans for whom this is their Maradona memory, which would be a shame. Of course, much of this is Maradona’s fault for thinking he was capable of coaching the Argentina national team. Even when his (very short) track record suggested otherwise. But from where I’m sitting, the Argentina FA are equally to blame. It was a shamelessly populist move from Julio Grondona and co, so they must share responsibility. But mostly I want Maradona to succeed because it will make an excellent story next summer. Can you imagine? A Maradona-led Argentina team in South Africa will provide all kinds of highs, lows, drama and entertainment. I also suspect that the team has a better chance of performing under Maradona in a tournament situation, where it all plays out in one intense month, than over the course of a season. But unless Argentina qualify, we’ll never know.   |
Diego Maradona’s spell in charge of Argentina is not going well. The albiceleste are fifth in CONMEBOL qualifying right now, and could very well wind up in a playoff game vs the fourth place CONCACAF team for a World Cup 2010 spot. Or they could finish sixth and just be eliminated.| 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 Week 2: 11 pages of Top 25 previews, predictions and player diaries
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