Simon Kuper and Stefan Syzmanski titled the American version of their new book Soccernomics (review is here), but their title for the release in the UK is Why England Lose. In the book, Kuper and Syzmanski identified the US as a rising power in soccer and England as a permanent disappointment to their rabid fans.

There still 9 spots left for the World Cup. But one thing is for sure: 32 is not enough for the number of cool nations around. We are still months away from the World Cup, but here are nations that we already miss. And the reason we miss them? Some of them,at some point in some edition of the tournament, played nice football.

World Cup Qualifying is completed is completed. I've updated the 2010 World Cup Eliminations Timeline, which tells you exactly which date each team was eliminated and in what order. That won't require another update until June.
But the real exciting news is that with all the qualifiers completed, we can now focus on the World Cup seeds and the draw.

We've often chronicled the ups and downs of Kenyan football.
Now, with new coach Antoine Hey in place, Kenya is not only looking for on and off-field stability but a place in the 2010 World Cup.
Hey thinks he can lead them there.
The final group phase gets underway at the end of March, with Kenya's Harambee Stars hosting Tunisia in a group that also includes Nigeria and Mozambique.

405 days to go ...
We previously discussed the Top 10 African Youngsters at the 2010 World Cup.
But who are the top 10 world players who we'll be talking about by next summer's tournament?
According to John Molinaro of CBC Sports in Canada, these are the guys you should be paying attention to .

Kudos to EPL Talk for posting this just a bit ago. I found it to be something worth mentioning here.

The "World-Wide Leader" ESPN has announced more details regarding its coverage of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa next June.

Highlights of the announcement:

• ESPN will present all of its 2010 World Cup coverage from on-site in South Africa, totaling more than 65 hours of original content.

Yes this Friday is the big day for us all, we learn who exactly the US will be grouped with in next summer's World Cup. I recall the 2005 World Cup draw before the Cup in Germany the following summer, that was a stressful day as we learned the group of death was going to involve the US. Hopefully this time around things will go a little better for the US.

First, let me be the millionth person to say what an amazing draw for the USA. It's about as good as we could've hoped, and for the first time actually we're a favorite to advance. What exactly are the odds of us advancing after this lucky draw? Well, it depends on who you ask. It seems like everybody has a national team rating system these days, so let's take a look at how each of them rate our chances.

I love this time of year. Teams start showing off their new kits and the World Cup spirit starts entering our hearts! Here are the new uniforms for Germany, Japan and Mexico (Adidas is going strong on releasing the new kits huh?).

Germany's New Kit: well done.

Japan's New Kit: I want.

I know tomorrow we should get word of who exactly will be on the US roster for the Mexico game next week. I felt since it was a bit of a slow day around here I'd give my two cents. Feel free to do the same.

Goalkeepers: Tim Howard, Brad Guzan.

Defenders: Carlos Bocanegra, Jay DeMerit, Oguchi Onyewu, Jonathan Spector, Chad Marshall, Steve Cherundolo, Jonathan Bornstein.

Wednesday's round of World Cup qualifiers started with the marquee matchup between the United States and Mexico at Estadio Azteca. With all the pressure on Mexico, who needed a win to get their qualifications hopes back on solid ground, the United States was looking to secure its first win in the altitude of Mexico City.

Uzbekistan#8217;s hardcore training is in vain The Socceroos have become the first side to qualify for next year#8217;s World Cup in South Africa after a 2-0 win over Uzbekistan. A goal from Josh Kennedy (no relation to Dr Karl) and a Harry Kewell penalty gave Australia the victory they needed to secure qualification with three games [.

Quick trip down memory lane.It was December 2005. The World Cup Draw? Did anyone in America really even care?Me? I was pissed. Pissed that the U.S. had drawn about as tough a group as possible. Pissed that there wasn't too much, outside creepy message boards, to air my frustrations.So, what did I do?

So I woke up Sunday morning after this weird dream. Something about the U.S. national team beating Honduras 3-2 mixed with me being chased by Carlo Costly and Carlos Pavon in something straight out of the Michael Jackson 'Thriller' video. Odd. So odd I decided it was worth breaking my 10-month old self-imposed ban from Dunkin' Donuts coffee.

I am loving this Adidas new World Cup uniform release craziness. It's lovely to see that they are making all uniforms very unique. Trend watch: uniforms are getting more tight... nice!!! Here are Spain, South Africa and Russia's new kits:

Spain new kit: nice, nice.

Russia new kit: awesome.

The final part of our brief, statistical look at the candidates for the 2010 World Cup roster bring us to the midfield. By now, this should be old hat for readers. If you're new, here's the summary: Yanks Abroad and ESPN ranked the U.S. players they felt were in contention for the roster and I'm using statistics from ussoccer.

Photo by ISIphotos.com

Now that the CONCACAF Gold Cup and FIFA Confederations Cup are behind us, we can start taking stock of the U.

More Soon.

On the subject of obsessive fans I was speaking to somebody last night who was determined that he was going to make the trip to Japan to watch Scotland next weekend. I told him I thought he was mad. Most of the players, I said, don't want to go.No surprise then that Monday morning kicked off with Danny Fox, Robert Snodgrass, Kevin Thomson and Garry O'Connor withdrawing and a major question mark

This week's Quote of the Week comes with some bad news; Charlie Davies, USA International striker, was in a car accident and received serious injuries. While this news is bad, there is worse, he was in the car with two other people, one of which died. Ashley J. Roberta, 22, was pronounced dead at the scene of the crash, the only details on the third person, who was also the driver, are it is a female.

Time for more thoughts on the World Cup draw from yesterday. Most seem to still be happy with the US draw in Group C with England. Hell even the folks across the pond in England love this draw for themselves of course. I just wonder how long it will be before we see Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan in Revolutionary War uniforms hyping this opening match with the Red Coats.

Today marks the launch of a new venture on They Think It's All Over... as I try my hand at reviewing. It is an avenue I have been considering for a while and now I have finally gotten under way with a review of England's new home shirt, thanks to a partnership with SoccerPro.com. I'm looking [...]

Only 393 days until the 2010 World Cup starts!
Excited? Have your tickets yet?
My computer's been broken the past few weeks. So I've no idea what the latest news is concerning the world's biggest sporting event.
Instead of regurgitating a load of news, here's a list of required reading to get you all caught up, complete with my oh-so-witty commentary .

The Polish international winger competed in over 80 league matches with Legia Warsaw. I believe it is time for Guerreiro, originally from Brazil, to take his samba style to either Holland or Belgium.
As Poland gears up for the 2010 WC and Euro 2012, Guerreiro will be vital to the nation's success at each tournament.

Once again I'll be looking at the impact of the results:
Trinidad & Tobago vs El Salvador
This is simply put, a must win match for both teams. A lot of people glance at El Salvador's position in the standings and think that they're in the hunt, but a closer look at the schedule suggests otherwise.

My obsession with Moses Mabhida Stadium has taken me and my camera there in all kinds of weather yesterday the weather was grey and every now and they it was drizzling, but Durban's 2010 World Cup Stadium still took my breath away, like it does, every time I look at it through my lens.

People's Park

I first jumped out of the car on the bridge that crosses highway to take some pics across the People's Park with the oval walking track that is being constructed- they have cleared all that rubbish and railway yard stuff, and the actual track is taking shake in front of the stadium in the Kings Park Sporting Precinct.

El Tri needs a solid result this evening as the team looks to gain back some confidence heading into the match up against Costa Rica...
Read on at Goal.com -- Mexico Face Bolivia With Costa Rica On Their Minds

"Football is a big sport and, face it, sometimes it's not a friend of patience."
Under the guidance of Sven Goran Eriksson, England progressed to the quarter-final stage in three successive tournaments, stretching from the 2002 World Cup held in South Korea and Japan through to the Berlin showpiece four years later.

After all the fuss has died down

A special place is reserved for people like Tom Henning Ovrebo. Just like Anders Frisk, Graham Poll, Robert Mugabe, and Osama Bin Laden before him, Tom has achieved household name status and established himself on Interpol's top ten most wanted overnight.

The witch hunt began to take shape in the Sky Sports studio last Wednesday night.

386 days until the start of the 2010 World Cup ...
More importantly, 25 days until South Africa's dry run - the 2009 Confederations Cup.
So how important is the Confederations Cup?
Is it just a dry run for the host country?
Or is it a prestigious football championship, to be fought over like a continental title?

Well they beat Andorra 6-0, are top of the group by ten points and you can expect every Englishman to talk it up from here on it.
England 2010: No chance...although Mr Capello has this Irishman a tad concerned.
Still Wayne Rooney ain't Zidane, Messi or Kaka is he..and he's the best they've got.

For South Korea, the 2010 World Cup qualification campaign is almost over and first place in the group guaranteed. There is still one act to be played out however and it promises to be an intriguing one.
The final game takes place on Wednesday. South Korea have bagged the first of two automatic qualification spots which leaves one up for grabs.

According to this report at Tribal Football -- AC Milan's Ronaldinho fears missing 2010 World Cup -- Ronaldinho is worried and has vowed to return to form.

Will we never see this again?

Win A Branded Sony Ericsson SE W995 handset worth £500 & A Chance To Go To The 2010 World Cup!

Sony Ericsson are official sponsors of the FIFA World Cup 2010™ in South Africa. To support this sponsorship, Sony Ericsson are launching a fantastic promotion.

Australia's remarkable run of results has come crashing to a halt at the Seoul World Cup Stadium as Korea downed the Socceroos 3-1 tonight in an International Friendly. With both teams safely through to the World Cup Finals as top of their Asian qualifying groups, this was a chance for both managers to test some new players, and Aussie coach Pim Verbeek rang in the changes in what was a homecoming for him, as he coached South Korea before taking the Australian job.

News that may finally get some folks off the MLS front office executive's backs for a little bit. Today the league announced that next year's schedule would include a two week break during the World Cup in South Africa.

The two week break will be during the group phase of the World Cup starting June 11 through the June 25.

The University of Denver's Alex Tarnoczi, above in a scrimmage against Stanford, was named to Top Drawer Soccer's National Team of the Week for the week ending Sept. 13. (photo by George Tanner/ColoradoSoccerNow.com)

Another roundup of notable news from the beautiful game in this beautiful state.

Well that's the Bafana Bafana's 16th new jersey in 11 years and let's hope it is the lucky strip that will take the team past the opening round of the 2010 World Cup.

New Bafana Bafana Jersey

According to Kickoff, "the New Bafana Bafana kit is not much different from the current one, other than it being a whole lot sleeker and bearing a small South African flag, it was the one chosen from 21 alternatives by the Bafana players and technical team.

FIFA President Sepp Blatter told reporters at a meeting of the Confederation of African Football in Lagos, Nigeria today that it would not be easy for an African team to win the 2010 World Cup, even though the event will be held in the continent.
The FIFA president noted that it would be difficult for African teams to contend with the teams from Europe and South America, adding that "Africa may be ready to win in five years time.

'I'll Sell My House in South Africa if Nigeria Fail to Qualify for the 2010 World Cup!'
These words, or something to that affect, were spoken by former Nigeria technical adviser Clemence Westerhof, who said he'd sell his property in South Africa should Nigeria fail to qualify for the 2010 World Cup.