Here's the thing : seeding in football - or any other sport for that matter - is a fair and reasonable thing to do.Otherwise, you might end up with a World Cup 2010 qualification group that consisted of Germany, England, Spain and Russia. And, yes, while that may be more exciting than the World Cup itself, it's not unreasonable to keep the best teams apart in order to ensure a thrilling and Click to continue reading...

This week, three days before the Scottish Premier League season started, Scotland had to play a World Cup 2010 qualifying match against Norway. They got hammered. 4-0 to Norway.Also in World Cup Qualifying action were France, Croatia and Germany, not to mention San Marino. I said : not to mention San Marino. Click to continue reading...

FIFA president Sepp Blatter is a man who has more than his fair share of ridiculous, unworkable and spurious ideas. But his latest is also possibly his greatest.The, um, 'great' man has suggested using cruise ships as alternatives for hotels at the 2010 World Cup Finals to overcome the shortage of hotel rooms in South Africa. Click to continue reading...

No sooner has Sulaiman Al Fahim taken over at Portsmouth, than rumours start linking Argentina legend Diego Maradona with a role at the club.Al Fahim, you will remember, was the face of the group that took over Manchester City. He was the man that declared City would sign Cristiano Ronaldo for £134m and other similarly ridiculous things. Click to continue reading...

Following the collapse of a stadium that was 1,500 over capacity for Ivory Coast's World Cup qualifier against Malawi in March, the head of the Ivory Coast Football Federation and another man, who was responsible for ticketing at the match, have both been jailed.20 people died and over 130 were injured following a stampede caused by overcrowding and poor safety measures. Click to continue reading...

Serious stories only, today, I'm afraid.There is a very real concern that the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will become a magnet for Africans looking to escape the troubles and economic hardship of their own countries.With up to 5 million illegal immigrants among a 45 million population, this is already a serious problem for the country and is one that needs to be addressed in the run up to the Click to continue reading...

England, and more recently Mexico, fans will both remember the reign of Sven Goran Eriksson as manager of their national sides with something less than fondness. To be fair to the guy, he did pretty well with England before it all imploded.However, to see him back in English football with...wait for it. Click to continue reading...

ITV are lobbying the government to ensure that all World Cup and European Championship qualification matches involving the 'home' nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland be added to the list of sporting events that is protected for 'free-to-air' broadcasters such as, well, them.Obviously, if this were to happen, it would diminish FIFA and UEFA's ability to profit from such Click to continue reading...

Shunsuke Nakamura, recently of Celtic and now at Espanyol, has been told by Japan head coach Takeshi Okada that he must feature regularly for the Spanish side in order to be considered for the World Cup finals in South Africa 2010.While I'm all in favour of giving players an incentive to perform at their best, is Okada really trying to convince us that he will leave out the man who is by far Click to continue reading...

Regular readers of this blog will know that I always enjoy the African qualifying groups a great deal. This is mainly because of the big teams ability to mess things up (see Cameroon this time around and Nigeria last time out), because of the frequent accusations of collusion and cheating; and, of course, the general air of chaos that surrounds football in Africa. Click to continue reading...

Let's be honest, we're all armchair managers. It all seems so clear when you're sitting in the stands or watching on TV just exactly what the manager needs to do to win a game. Why the managers themselves can't see what you can see is, of course, one of the enduring mysteries of football.That's why I particularly enjoyed this piece in the South Africa Times giving the South Africa national coach Click to continue reading...

Sometimes; well, often really, I want to weep. Not, as you might think, because of all the suffering that goes on in the world or because I've stubbed my toe getting out of bed. Not even because I've been listening to Johnny Cash singing 'Hurt' - although that does get me every time.No, I mainly want to weep when people who should know better make outrageous claims for their products. Click to continue reading...

It's been a quiet week in football in general, apart from the USA's sterling performance against Brazil in the Confederations Cup Final.So, bored journalists do what they are best at and that is : make something up.Take this headline in the Daily Mail from a couple of days ago:'We fear England could ruin our World Cup chances, reveals Brazilian superstar Kaka'Wow, you think. Click to continue reading...

Would it be possible, do you think, to build twenty or so hotels in nine months? How long does building a hotel actually take, because if I could do it, then I would.I figure that if I can get 20 hotels open in nine months, that will leave me three months to market them to the hundreds of thousands of football fans that will be coming to the 2010 World Cup. Click to continue reading...

OK, so Barack Obama is going to attend the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup Finals. Nice of Sepp Blatter to announce this way, way in advance, so that security - already a contentious issue for these finals - can be compromised still further.And it gives any potential terrorist plenty of time to put a plan in place. Click to continue reading...