Odds before the tournament of Zambia making it to the AFCON final probably weren't particularly high they've never won and have only been to two finals, the last nearly twenty years ago. ELO has them 56th in the world, but for all intents and purposes, they'll be at least second on the continent come Sunday after Emmanuel Mayuka's goal against Ghana today, cementing their late upset.

Including both diving and synchronized swimming.

His name is Narcisse Ekanga, and there is a pool of water near him or all around him, rather. There's also a rounding of the football gods cursing him with some really bad karma for the rest of AFCON.

There's actually a very real chance he was hurt on the landing after a genuine attempt to escape injury.

It's going to take quite a bit for Olympic qualifying of any type to make any type of news, unless David Beckham is personally championing his merits for the cause. Women's CONCACAF qualifiers? That will take something extraordinary. Like Costa Rica's keeper Julieth Arias and the dreaded bouncy backpass.

This guy is here to remind you. It's here, and it's...something.

This is not your prawn sandwich brigade. It's more like a carnival crossed with a drag show dashed with a touch of Japanese game show. Which makes the stands equally as watchable as the happenings on the pitch if not more so.

Tickets to the World Cup in Brazil are going to be fairly difficult to come by one would expect, if only in comparison to South Africa 2010. Gun violence is also something of a concern, so combining the two is obviously a natural course of action (work with me). Brazil's planning a "guns for tickets" drive ahead of the World Cup, netting at the very least a discount on tickets.

Literally.

Just the day you were waiting for, right? Ukraine's Euro 2012 coin collection: released. Specifically the coin above, for which you've been stocking away all those gift cards and envelopes full of cash.

It's a €46 coin selling at a price of €34,000.

Sadly, this guy is not on the list. (But he should be. And he is certainly fabulous.)

The men to earn hate and derision from entire nations take charge of the Euro 2012 next summer have been given their summons papers, along with, hopefully, a sizable security detail. Refereeing is one of those jobs that knowing the names at hand isn't necessarily a good thing, as the premier among them go unnoticed.

Big names and bad jokes ruled the day in Nyon as the Euro names were announced. And given that it's the Euros, where the quality has a higher density, Groups of Death are often just the groups. However, Group B is a clusterfuck of quality and Group C, should Bilic's boys get their acts together as they can, aren't tremendously far behind.

If you'd heard of the American Samoa national football team before this week, there's likely only one reason: Australia. A few years back, they took a beating that would leave even a ginger stepchild quaking in their boots at 31-0. They're also the joint-worst team in all the world. But in a successful effort to stave off symmetry, they won what was to be #31 earlier this week, then drew against the Cook Islands today in their WCQ, keeping them undefeated in two.

The Czech Republic national team might just be the bad boys of Europe, never seemingly far from the dark side of the press or contributing to a hooker's rent. They'd also been underachieving a bit, giving them due reason to celebrate their inclusion in Polkraine 2012.

Of course, taking it out on a detractor by singing "Radek Drulak has no cock.

The Southeast Asian Games are more of a local flavor, unlikely to get any sort of global pub unless something big happens. Well, it happened, and under tragic circumstances, as fans unable to get tickets for the final in Jakarta between the hosts and Malaysia burned down two ticket booths, while the pregame resulted in a stampede of those attempting to get in (possibly without tickets?

Nothin' left but the friendlies. Playoffs have ended, sadly for some tragically, really, since none of the aggregates were even close and the lineup is set with a couple of surprises, like Ireland and...no, just Ireland. The list of those who failed to RSVP is devoid of titanic names, leaving us with a heavy battle royale to be had in Polkraine.

No one really takes the Unofficial Football World Championships seriously; it's merely a nice bit of fun. But even with its inherent flaws the best team ever (as in...ever) is Scotland no one probably expected the trophy to head to Pyongyang anytime soon. Or ever. But they beat former title holders Japan (Spain -> Argentina -> Japan) today 1-0 in a WCQ and thus.

Tomorrow's match between Portugal and Bosnia-Herzegovina is just going to be the best.

Anyone care to keep a tally of the amount of distractions and projectiles tossed Cristiano's way?

[Spotted on Dirty Tackle]

There are or were, in a few cases -certain possibilities when it comes to international and the misbehavior of its participants: Gabriel Tamas might get drunk, Adrian Mutu might hit someone, Zlatan might care, the Czech national team may be found in the general vicinity of ladies of the night and someone somewhere in South America is going to get suspended for a party.