Some advance warning: This post is going to be mildly critical of Zinedine Zidane. Nothing too harsh, because as for many people he was one of my favourite players to watch. The vision, the touch, the roulettes, the shiny bald patch. Loved it. But that's also the reason I'm about to mildly criticize him.

Yeah, I know, we're late to the party. Would you believe me if I said we were just waiting to see if this whole Facebook thing was going to catch on? No, me neither. But yes, The Offside and WorldCupBlog now has a Facebook fan page, which you can find here.

Here's why our Facebook page might actually be quite good: We're not going to use our Facebook page just to promote our own content.

While Maradona is busy making a shamockery of the Argentinean national side, the man who typically lurks behind Diego & Pele whether prudent or not in the discussion for the world's greatest ever player has returned to football. Johan Cruijff, arguably the greatest ever player/coach combination in football history, has returned to the bench Catalonia and don't you call it Spain.

For a long while there, Stephen Appiah was an international footballer only. The midfielder has not played a kick of club soccer since late 2007, but still managed to captain Ghana through a successful World Cup 2010 qualification campaign. Which is ridiculously impressive when you think about it.

FIFA has announced its shortlist of 23 players for the Men's World Player of the Year award, and 10 players for the Women's World Player of the Year Award. National team captains and coaches will now vote (but not for players from their own country) and this final five will be revealed in early December, with the winners announced at FIFA's World Player bash in Zurich on December 21st.

Move aside Bafana Bafana. The world has a new favourite South African team, and their name is Vakhegula Vakhegula, which means "Grannies" in the local Xitsonga dialect. Why? Because they're a team of grandmothers of course, ranging in age from 40somethinng to 80something and competing in an eight team local league in around the Nkowankowa township, 600 kilometers north of Johannesburg.

There was a time when the names Diego Armando Maradona, Carlos Bilardo and the Argentine National team were synonymous with success. The magical run to the 1986 World Cup made both men house hold names in the sport, and heroes back home.

Boy, does that seem like a life time ago.

Do you know who the unofficial world football champions are? It's not Italy, they're the official world champions by virtue of being World Cup holders. The unofficial world champions are in fact the Netherlands. Who says? The Unofficial Football World Championships people says, that's who.

All of days ago we were treated to a trailer of Fahrenheit 2010, the documentary which takes a look at the devious desires behind FIFA's insistence on a World Cup in South Africa. Not quite sure it'll have the clout to do any damage (read: bribes), but it shines more light on an already illuminated subject.

For those on the inside looking out, nary a worse manager reigns in the international realm; for those on the outside looking in...

Viva la Domenech.

What he lacks in coaching abilities, he makes up for in deliciously idiotic words. He's kind of like Maradona without the playing career.

While everyone was busy anxiously awaiting FIFA's latest release and the seeding for the playoff spots, UEFA was busy concocting a ranking of their own and releasing it under unsuspecting eyes. At this point it means little and will only serve to put Euro 2012 qualifying seeding into perspective, still some way off yet, but it's always interesting to see how others differ from the entirely rubbish FIFA ranking system.

The slightly controversial UEFA bridesmaid's draw has taken place and fortunately it's gone off without controversy. Somehow, someway, despite UEFA being involved, Liverpool and Chelsea will not meet. Who knew?

It's rather pedestrian, really, as perhaps the two best teams France and Russia were handed the easiest draw.

When you look at the list of nations bidding to host World Cups 2018 and 2022, it's very very easy to dismiss Indonesia. The nine other bids all have either superior football traditions or superior infrastructure or superior financial muscle. Or in most cases all three. There's also the question of letting a team ranked 129th in the world qualify automatically.

Yesterday's U20 final, Brazil vs. Ghana. So much potential for excitement. Ghana's Black Satellites (the baby version of the Black Stars) came into the final having scored 16 goals in the tournament. Brazil stood at 14. Surely a goal-fest was in order.

But no.

The game-changing moment happens at about the 1:10 mark in the video, when Ghana's Daniel Addo is sent off in the 37th.

Norwegian former professional footballer Bjorn Heidenstrom is on a mission. A mission to make the world's biggest football shirt.

He's cycling from Oslo, Norway all the way down to Cape Town, South Africa, and collecting signed shirts along the way. He's pictured above (right) taking possession of a signed shirt from Belgian club Mechelen, and has already collected many many more.