Jennings, Flynn, Evans lead an NBA rookie revival

MAMUDU, Your November 19, 2009 issue of Sporting News Today is now available, please click here. Here are some articles in Today's Issue Deveney: Nowitzki is NBA's best international player Nebraska's Suh tops SN's 2010 NFL mock draft Clemson's C.J. Spiller might be best Heisman choice MLB free agency: Quality closers outnumber No. 1 starters Nets lose 12th in row 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? Email him/her this link: www.sportingnewstoday.com.     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&116278&154414&17541&0000&1236487707&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 28202

Latest World Cup Blog Updates

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Japan Drive The Anti-Vuvuzela Bus Posted: 17 Nov 2009 10:10 AM PST It would seem this vuvuzela thing is, at the very least, unpopular. As a direct result of its popularity, of course. Xabi Alonso left the Confederations Cup poo-pooing the vuvuzela and its effect on the field of play. The cacophony a bit too intense for such things as hearing the whistles and one’s teammates – not things entirely insignificant. Japan, the latest team to enjoy some South African soil (in a nil-nil draw), have taken it one step further: they’ve officially requested the South African FA ban the vuvuzela. The South African FA almost assuredly won’t ban something which could conceivably give their team an advantage, but this is the first battle in a war which may overshadow the build-up to South Africa 2010. The Japanese, much like Xabi, are saying that communication between teammates is impossible with the trumpets raining down. “We have requested that the South African FA cut that noise out,” Japan Football Association (JFA) president Motoaki Inukai was quoted as saying in Tuesday’s edition of the Sankei Sports newspaper. “You can’t hear yourself speak. I will be bringing it up (with FIFA president Sepp Blatter),” Inukai added after Japan’s 0-0 draw with South Africa in Port Elizabeth. Japan defender Tulio said: “You can’t hear what your team mates are saying from two metres away. You have to go up to them to give instructions.” And while the South African FA likely won’t do anything, not without significant pushing from the political higher ups, there’s a very real chance South Africa will be sans vuvuzela. Remember it was banned at one point for the tournament before FIFA reconsidered, thinking it an integral part of the South African football experience. Which it surely is. The only problem is it’s creating a singularly South African football experience, not a World Cup experience. And that’s precisely the problem: it’s affecting the football. This has nothing to do with South Africa, Africa or trying to impose one’s football culture on the host. It simply has everything to do with knocking that little white ball around a green pitch. And while FIFA may be many things, they take the football very, very seriously. Some may say Japan is whining, but they won’t be the last and it won’t be long before the noise of the complaints drowns out anything emanating from the trumpets.

Gigi Buffon and Iker Casillas Reach 100 Caps Posted: 17 Nov 2009 08:45 AM PST A double international milestone was reached this past weekend, when both Italy’s Gigi Buffon and Spain’s Iker Casillas made their 100th international appearances on the same day. Nice little co-incidence as they are arguably (or maybe inarguably) the two best keepers in the world today. Let me tell you what this is not: This is not a Buffon vs Casillas “who’s better?” post. Because that’s not a very productive debate. Both are excellent and it’s very hard to find fault with either. So let’s leave it at that. Instead here are YouTube highlights of the two men in action. For the purposes of celebration, not comparison. Gigi Buffon for Juventus and Italy: Iker Casillas for Real Madrid and Spain: One thing worth noting: Iker Casillas is only 28. I’m not saying he’ll necessarily get even better, because that would be madness. But for a goalkeeper to have 100 international caps at 28 is quite frankly scary. I’ve heard Mohamed Al-Deayea is looking over his shoulder, just in case. Even Gigi Buffon is only 31, and has a good few international years left in the tank. So here’s a WorldCupBlog salute to two awe-inspiring goalkeepers, who we look forward to seeing in action at World Cup 2010. [thanks to alessio of Juventus Offside for the tip.]

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Teams get early chance to prove they belong among college basketball's elite

MAMUDU, Your November 18, 2009 issue of Sporting News Today is now available, please click here. Here are some articles in Today's Issue Firing Jauron just a start for Bills Hayes' Hot Seat: Iowa's BCS hopes rests on freshman QB Angels G.M. denies interest in Holliday Outfielders, designated hitters are the main free agency attractions Nets lose 11th straight, but Frank is 'encouraged' 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? Email him/her this link: www.sportingnewstoday.com.     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&116241&154422&17529&0000&1236487685&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 28202

Latest World Cup Blog Updates

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• World Cup 2010 Playoffs: Where We Stand
• Switzerland: U-17 World Cup Winners and Team of the Future. (Distant Future.)
• Which Teams Have Qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola?

World Cup 2010 Playoffs: Where We Stand Posted: 16 Nov 2009 05:00 PM PST We’re halfway through the World Cup playoffs. It all gets decided on Wednesday, with the second legs of the four European playoffs and the CONMEBOL vs CONCACAF game, plus the special Algeria vs Egypt single game playoff for the final African qualifying spot. It’s all very very tight. The winners of these six ties get the the glory, the losers learn firsthand the meaning of the word “nearly”. By Wednesday evening we’ll know who the 32 World Cup 2010 qualifiers are. Feel free to lick your lips. Here’s a quick summary of what’s happening on Wednesday, and where we stand right now. All these games happen Wednesday November 18th. EUROPEAN PLAYOFFS: France (1) vs (0) Ireland Nicolas Anelka’s goal at Croke Park gives France a 1-0 lead and an away goal. Apparently there were was some sort of scuffle when Lassana Diarra said something to Keith Andrews at the final whistle, but I’m struggling to care too much about that to be honest. All that matters is that Ireland have a big task ahead of them at Stade de France. Bosnia and Herzegovina (0) vs (1) Portugal No C-Ron? No matter. Portugal won 1-0 at home with a header from Porto defender Bruno Alves. Bosnia were desparately unlucky with the Dzeko and Muslimovic crossbar then post combo. This isn’t over, but it’s advantage Portugal. Ukraine (0) vs (0) Greece Greece had ball in net, but it was ruled out for offside. Correctly I think, as though Theo Gekas was onside from Dimitrios Salpigidis’s pass, he was offside when Salpigidis was originally played through. Goalless in Athens, so second leg at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk is wide open. Slovenia (1) vs (2) Russia Two teams that only very narrowly missed out on qualifying automatically. Russia – wearing a snazzy looking new kit, ribbed for your footballing pleasure – took a two goal lead thanks to Diniyar Bilyaletdinov. Slovenia pulled one back in the 88th minute thanks to Nejc Pečnik. Much much more than a consolation goal, Pečnik’s close range header halved Slovenia’s deficit and netted them a crucial away goal. A 1-0 win in the Ljudski vrt stadium (yes, I had to look that up) would send Slovenia to World Cup 2010. CONMEBOL vs CONCACAF Uruguay (1) vs (0) Costa Rica I’d suspected that maybe Uruguay would struggle on Costa Rica’s artificial turf. They actually may have, as I didn’t see the whole game, but la celestse came away from San José with a 1-0 thanks to defender Diego Luna’s moment of calm as the ball was bouncing around the box. Uruguay with a 1-0 lead at at a packed Centenario? I don’t like Costa Rica’s chances. AFRICAN PLAYOFF Algeria vs Egypt (in Sudan) Egypt beat Algeria 2-0 in their final African qualifying Group C game on Saturday, putting the two teams level on both points and goal difference and forcing this drama-waiting-to-happen-one-game playoff. Sudan will provide a neutral venue for the game. For more on this clash of North African rivals, read the post from Saturday.

Switzerland: U-17 World Cup Winners and Team of the Future. (Distant Future.) Posted: 16 Nov 2009 01:10 PM PST Be honest, you’d forgotten entirely about the Under 17 World Cup – and that’s if you were aware of its running in the first place. We’ll also accept admissions from those who confused it with the Under-20 World Cup (Lite) in Egypt won late last month by Ghana. But it happened, and Switzerland – yes, Switzerland – took home the trophy, their first of any kind in FIFA territory, from Lagos against what had to be the heavily favored and exceedingly overaged hometown Nigerians. What transpired, if the highlights are any indication, was a lot of dry spells in between a few decent chances for each side and a little karma for Nigeria’s dabbling with overaged players. Now let’s not feign interest: Switzerland winning the trophy is nice, but we’re interested in the next generation. The Golden Ball is far more important a trophy than the trinket they hand out for merely winning the thing. Why? That’s easy. The last three winners of the adidas Golden Ball for the U17 World Cup: 2007: Tony Kroos (Germany) 2005: Anderson (Brazil) 2003: Cesc (Spain) Not a bad batch of a talent right there. One, Cesc, has matched the talent and then some, while Anderson hasn’t quite, but is still very young and is still, despite the great wrath of Whiskey Face, playing out of position in Manchester. The latest, Tony Kroos, is still, at 19, a tried and true prodigy, if the immediate superstar expectations were a bit overzealous. Florent Sinama-Pongolle pulls up as the 2001 winner, and he’s nothing to shake a stick at either. Names like Bojan, Nuri Sahin, Giovani Dos Santos and David Silva dot the list of Silver and Bronze Ball winners in that same three-tournament period. They are all quite good and all still quite young as well. In short it’s all about the who, not the what. Which is why this year’s list is as important as anything which happened during the games (except for the participants, mind you). adidas Golden Ball: Sani Emmanuel (Nigeria) The diminutive Nigerian forward won 30.2 per cent of the votes for best player cast by the tournament’s accredited media representatives. Although he started most matches on the bench, his impact on the game and memorable goals were enough to convince the press that he was a deserving winner of the adidas Golden Ball. adidas Silver Ball: Nassim Ben Khalifa (Switzerland) The Swiss admitted that he’s been a Ronaldo fan for years, and from what we have seen, he has emulated him to perfection. With his blistering pace, exquisite technique and composure in the box, the Swiss No10 netted four times and provided three assists on the way to the title. With such a complete performance, it comes as little surprise that he won an impressive 22.7 per cent of the votes. adidas Bronze Ball: Ramon Azeez (Nigeria) Nigeria’s flying midfielder grabbed the media’s attention with his ability to provide balance in a clearly attack-minded team. He played in every game and even scored against Korea Republic. With 17.8 per cent of the votes, Azeez wins the adidas Bronze Ball, which may be of some consolation after defeat in the final. adidas Golden Glove: Benjamin Siegrist (Switzerland) The FIFA Technical Study Group (TSG) awarded Swiss goalkeeper Benjamin Siegrist the adidas Golden Glove for best goalkeeper in the tournament. The baby-faced giant, currently at Aston Villa in England, was one of the pillars of his team’s success, conceding just seven goals in as many games. He goes home with deserved recognition of his contribution to Switzerland’s historic victory. FIFA Fair Play Award: Nigeria Although just a step away from being crowned champions, Nigeria did win the FIFA Fair Play Award. Playing at home, John Obuh’s boys acquitted themselves magnificently, showing tremendous sportsmanship and thrilling the home fans with their high-quality football. * – We’d like to award the Irony Award to FIFA for handing the Fair Play Award to Nigeria roughly two months after they had over a dozen players booted from competitions for age cheating. Short memory, that Sepp. So after you’re done congratulating Switzerland and marking them down as a 2018 dark horse, make sure you remember the names… …just promise you won’t use the soundtrack in a YouTube compilation.

Which Teams Have Qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations in Angola? Posted: 16 Nov 2009 07:43 AM PST This weekend was the World Cup qualifying climax in Africa, and there was plenty of qualification drama to go around. The winners of each of the five groups qualified for World Cup 2010, and everyone else missed out. But there was a pretty decent consolation prize for the ten second and third placed teams, as World Cup qualifying doubles as Africa Cup of Nations qualifying and the top three in each group qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations (also known as the African Nations Cup, ACN and CAN) in Angola. Those 15 nations plus hosts Angola will compete for the trophy Egypt won in both 2006 and 2008. The 16 Angola 2010 teams will be: Angola Ghana Cote d’Ivoire Tunisia Algeria Egypt Cameroon Gabon Nigeria Mali Benin Burkina Faso Mozambique Zambia Togo Malawi Angola 2010 runs from January 10th to January 31st in 2010. It will be a nice straigthforward four groups of four, top two teams from each group makes the quarterfinals setup. The groups will be drawn this Friday, November 20th, 2009. UDPATE: I should have pointed this out firs time around, but South Africa have failed to qualify for Angola 2010. They entered qualification along with everyone else, but were knocked out at the second round (the first group stage). Big blow for South Africa not to qualify for Angola, as the tournament could have provided vital tournament practice.

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