| |||||||||||
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Why the Raiders, Broncos, Lions are dangerous underdogs
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Latest World Cup Blog Updates
Latest World Cup Blog Updates |  |
| Soundoff: How Would You Seed for the World Cup 2010 Draw? Posted: 24 Nov 2009 04:10 AM PST
The four teams in each group will be drawn from four separate “pots” each containing eight teams, so as to keep the better teams away from each other in the group stage. So if, for example, Brazil and Spain are in Pot 1, they’ll definitely avoid each other in the group stage. Despite all the mock draws, no one actually knows for sure which teams will be in which pots, and we won’t know until December 2nd. Here’s what FIFA has to say:
Got that? So, rather than doing mock draw based on shaky guesswork, I thought it would be more interesting to The only rule right now is that our World Cup hosts South Africa will definitely be seeded in Pot 1. Might seem unfair as they’re absolutely not amongst the best eight teams in the world, or even close, but that’s the reward they get for building all those stadia and inviting the rest of us to come over and visit for the month. So… here are the 32 teams of World Cup 2010, in alphabetical order: Algeria And here’s what I’m asking/inviting you to do: Based on how you think the four pots either will be or should be divided, please do one of the following: 1. Split the 32 teams into four pots of eight (Pot 1 is the strongest, Pot 4 the weakest), or        |
| A Guus Hiddink and Diego Maradona Double Act at World Cup 2010? Posted: 23 Nov 2009 01:40 PM PST
…There are whispers being whispered that the Argentine Football Association may approach Guus Hiddink and offer him a role coaching Argentina alongside Diego Maradona at World Cup 2010. I’ll let that sink in for a second.
Plus, Hiddink’s Russia narrowly missed out on World Cup 2010 (on away goals to Slovenia) so he won’t have a team at World Cup 2010. The Dutchman has coached at the last three World Cup with three different teams (Netherlands, South Korea and Australia) and he certainly wasn’t planning to miss this one. No doubt that Maradona and Hiddink would be an odd couple. I’m not quite sure what one would make of the other. But as a neutral, I’m hoping this doesn’t come to pass. Here’s why: I’d much much prefer to see Hiddink coaching a less fancied team at World Cup 2010. Just because having Hiddink will give that team a fighting chance. In many many ways he would have been the perfect coach for the South African team before they rehired Carlos Alberto Parreira. More importantly, if Hiddink is co-coach then it ruins The Diego Maradona Experience. And I was looking forward to The Diego Maradona Experience at World Cup 2010. Because he’ll definitely deliver something dramatic. Either a complete disaster or a glorious triumph. Hiddink would do a lot take the edge off that. As a neutral I’d prefer the drama, but I can understand if Argentina fans feel differently. Last but not least, it ruins the potential Maradona narrative and robs El Diego of his shot at glory. Because if Argentina win the World Cup under Diego Maradona, then that’s a story to remember. If they win it with Hiddink, then it’s Hiddink’s World Cup, and not quite as exciting.   |
The internets are currently overflowing with World Cup 2010 mock draws and pretend groups of death right now. But don’t get confused. The draw for the eight groups of World Cup 2010 groups has not happened yet, and will not happen until Friday, December 4th, 2009 in Cape Town, South Africa.
To be clear, this is just a rumour right now. Nothing more, and certainly nothing official. Plus Guus Hiddink is officially contracted to the Russian national team until July 2010. So let’s not get carried away. But…| 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 |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Three up, three down: NCAA hoops teams heading in both directions
| |||||||||||
Monday, November 23, 2009
NFL Week 11: Early-season darlings hit hard times
| |||||||||||
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Latest World Cup Blog Updates
Latest World Cup Blog Updates | |
| Sir Alex Picks Brazil For World Cup 2010 Posted: 21 Nov 2009 06:46 PM PST
“I can’t see past Brazil, actually,” Ferguson was quoted in the Daily Mail. “They are going to be the ones in South Africa.” And the opinions are well founded in his belief that the Premiership is becoming less and less about developing English players, and more about contracting outsiders to become champions. Add on to that the continual pipeline of great Brazilian players being exported into foreign systems, and even this Argie would have a hard time denying his logic. “Last season, there were 103 Brazilians in the Champions League and only 15 Englishmen. More Scots played in the Champions League last season than English players. I thought the 11/10 on Brazil to beat England was the bet of the century.” Ouch. But Fergie has never been one to mince words. What are your thoughts on Sir Alex’s early prediction?   |
Didn’t Sir Alex just finish | 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 |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
College football postgame: Coaches are center of attention after big wins, bad losses
| |||||||||||
College football postgame: Coaches are center of attention after big wins, bad losses
| |||||||||||
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Latest World Cup Blog Updates
Latest World Cup Blog Updates | |
| Angola 2010: Africa Cup of Nations Groups and Schedule Posted: 20 Nov 2009 03:06 PM PST
The tournament takes place in Angola from January 10th to January 31st, 2010. We’ve got blogs and bloggers for 12 of the 16 teams involved in the tournament. If you’d like to blog for one of the bloggerless teams then see the bottom of this post for details. The Angola 2010 groups and match schedule are after the jump. Click the links to visit the team blogs: Group A: Group B: Group C: Group D: Africa Cup of Nations 2010 Schedule: #01 – Jan 10th, Angola vs Mali (Group A) 17:00 kickoff #02 – Jan 11th, Malawi vs Algeria (Group A) 14:45 #05 – Jan 12th, Egypt vs Nigeria (Group C) 17:00 #07 – Jan 13th, Cameroon vs Gabon (Group D) 17:00 #09 – Jan 14th, Mali vs Algeria (Group A) 17:00 #11 – Jan 15th, Burkina Faso vs Togo (Group B) 17:00 #13 – Jan 16th, Nigeria vs Benin (Group C) 17:00 #15 – Jan 17th, Gabon vs Tunisa (Group D) 17:00 #17 – Jan 18th, Angola vs Algeria (Group A) 17:00 #19 – Jan 19th, Burkina Faso vs Ghana (Group B) 17:00 #21 – Jan 20th, Egypt vs Benin (Group C) 17:00 #23 – Jan 21st, Cameroon vs Tunisia (Group D) 17:00 Quarter-Finals‘ #25 – Jan 24th, 1st A vs 2nd B, 17:00 #27 – Jan 25th, 1st C vs 2nd D, 17:00 Semi-Finals Third place playoff Final Source: Official CAN 2010 website. Time difference: Angola is GMT+1. So it’s one hour ahead of the UK and six hours ahead of US eastern. So… a 17:00 (5pm) kickoff in Angola is 4pm in the UK and 11am on the east coast of the US. Details on how and where to watch the tournament as and when we get them. If you’re interested in blogging for one of the bloggerless Angola 2010 teams, then have a read of our application guidelines here and then get in touch.   |
| How Long Until We Forgive Thierry Henry? Posted: 20 Nov 2009 11:10 AM PST Latest development in the already long running Thierry Henry handball incident (or “la main de dieu” as it’s being called by some) is that Henry himself thinks a replay is a good idea:
Very nice of Titi, although very convenient that he’s saying this after FIFA ruled out any possibility of a replay:
But a good public relations move from Henry anyway. Yes, calling for a replay he knows to be impossible is a little transparent, but at least he’s owned up to handballing (if not premeditatedly cheating) and shown some remorse. Henry has also (sort of) apologized via a (poorly punctuated) Twitter message: Not everyone will agree, but it’s probably time we started thinking about forgiving Titi. Maybe not straight away, but definitely before World Cup 2010. He handballed, he got away with it. That’s really all that happened. If William Gallas had headed wide or – as Roy Keane asserts in his own super intense bordeline-psychotic way – an Irish defender had cleared the ball, then this whole thing would barely be worth mentioning. It’s also worth remembering that Henry is one of the good guys. He’s not Joey Barton, and doesn’t really deserve to be treated as such. Except maybe when he visits Ireland (which I don’t advise). More importantly, there are more serious problems in football right now. So how about it? Is anyone else ready to forgive and forget?   |
The groups for the Africa Cup of Nations 2010 were drawn today, which should go at least some way to cheering up teams like Egypt and Tunisia who very narrowly missed the World Cup 2010 boat.
| 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 |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
