To echo our host's views on this, what took place between France and Ireland on Wednesday night really was a travesty. And lo and behold, here to rub salt in still-fresh wounds is soccer's top authority, FIFA.
For those who don't know, FIFA is about as honest, fair-minded and interested in bettering the world as your average African dictator -- and even that's probably an insult to African dictators. Click to continue reading...

(Just in case the thousands of others weren't doing it for you).
Thierry Henry's despicable handball in today's deciding World Cup qualifier against the Republic of Ireland was probably the biggest soccer fraud since Diego Maradona's infamous "hand of God" act in 1986. The stakes, then as now, are massive: a quarterfinals berth at the World Cup then, a spot in next year's South Africa tourney now. Click to continue reading...

The final spots for the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be determined within a few days. One of them includes the playoff between the AFC (Asia) and OFC (Oceanic) regions. The first leg was at Bahrain and ended in a 0-0 draw with New Zealand hosting the second leg on Saturday, November 14, 2009.

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First things first, the US MNT has added another friendly to the November schedule by announcing their stop in Slovakia four days before playing Denmark, which will make for a good pair of measuring stick matches against a couple of fellow World Cup qualifiers on European soil. Both Slavakia and Denmark finished atop their UEFA qualifying groups, so these matches should provide a good show of where we stand against quality competition several months removed from the Confederations Cup.

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That was bizarre. But it ended up being bizarre with a good ending, so whatevs.

With a shocking last second goal from Jonathan Bornstein off a corner, the US came back to draw 2-2 with a time wastey Costa Rica and finish atop the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying group. Atrocious defensive play marred the first half for the US and put them in that 2-0 hole, but their tenacity down the stretch was admirable and perhaps a credit to their desire to put a smile on Charlie Davies' face.

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Thought you'd never ask. First let's take a look at the teams that are already through as of Monday, Oct. 12, 2009 (in no particular order):
South Africa, Germany, Spain, Italy, Serbia, Holland, Denmark, England, Mexico, USA, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Australia, Japan, South Korea, North Korea. Click to continue reading...

Wow, what a game. For all the stick we've given him here, Conor Casey came up shockingly huge and deserves a lot of credit for his performance. Landy again left his mark. And holy crap did we get lucky after Stu Holden's handball.

More to come on this match later, but we're in the World Cup!

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Hey, remember when the US MNT finished second at the Confederations Cup? Me too. And so does Charlie Davies, who is still holding onto that moment as reason to believe in this team once the big dance (screw the NCAA tournament, this is bigger) rolls around in the summer:

"I think we showed we have the potential to really make an impact at the World Cup.

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It's been some time since my last post so let's catch up on some news from the 2010 World Cup and African football, shall we?
First off, some self-promotion ... my post on Africans in the UEFA Champions League from earlier today ... don't you dare miss it!
- Are you interested in the upcoming African Cup of Nations in Angola? Click to continue reading...

With a 5-1 victory at Wembley, the English national team was able to exorcise the ghosts of its last meeting with Croatia and advance to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. 5-1? Against effectively the same Croatia side that gave England fits in their 2007 meeting? You could write off last year's 4-1 England victory in Zagreb as a fluke, but this suddenly makes England look pretty good. Click to continue reading...

This is not a joke. England are all but qualified and can book their trip to South Africa with a win over Croatia Wednesday. Northern Ireland can win their group with victories in their last two games and a little help. Their neighbors to the south, the Republic of Ireland, have an outside shot of winning their group but should at least finish second. Click to continue reading...

The international break will be a moment of truth for several national teams, with two matchdays on the calendar over the next week. We have taken a look at the group standings and calendar and give you the following ranking of most crucial games (in order):
1. Portugal at Denmark, Sept. 5
It may lack the "sexiness" of some of the other match-ups, but Portugal v. Click to continue reading...

The U.S. Men's National Team took an early lead, then gave up a quick equalizer before succumbing to the winning goal eight minutes from time in their World Cup qualifier at Estadio Azteca yesterday. The win by Mexico puts its national team back on track to qualify for the 2010 World Cup. The Yanks will probably still qualify anyway, but they would have loved to have managed a victory (or at least a draw) at the Azteca, a place where they have famously never won in 19 attempts. Click to continue reading...

We're almost to the 2010 World Cup in Africa, as the continent is now half way through their last phase of Cup qualifying.
Where do we stand? Let's take a look at the standings for the five groups.
Remember, the five group winners go to the 2010 World Cup. The top three in each group advance to the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola. Click to continue reading...

We inch closer and closer to finding out which countries will represent the African continent in the first World Cup on African soil.
This weekend shed some light on which countries will make it - and which won't.
For a complete run down of the group standings, please click here. Click to continue reading...

Africa's road to the 2010 World Cup heats up this weekend with a full slate of action as countries compete for the 5 available spots in South Africa.
There are already some teams in trouble.
Like Cameroon and Morocco, who have collectively qualified for nine previous World Cup finals. Click to continue reading...

Kenya's coach Antoine Hey boycotted the team's trip to Abuja, Nigeria for Sunday's World Cup qualifying match against the Super Eagles, a day after Kenya's players protested over non-payment of their allowances.
Hey arrived at the airport 30 minutes after the plane had taken off, saying he'd been held up in the traffic. Click to continue reading...

Interesting article over at the World Cup Blog today, asking the question, 'If 2010 World Cup qualifying ended today, who would make the trip to South Africa?'
32 nations will make the cut. Who would be in? Let's take a look ...

CONMEBOL:

Paraguay, Brazil, Chile, Argentina

CONCACAF:
USA, Costa Rica, Honduras

Playoff: Uruguay (5th place CONMEBOL) vs Mexico (4th place CONCACAF)

ASIA:
Australia, Japan, S.

Click to continue reading...

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While much of the world watch Spain defeat England and Diego Maradona's Argentina floor France, the African continent saw a slew of international friendlies.
How did the African teams fare? Let's find out!
Egypt 2 Ghana 2
Probably the match of the list, African champions Egypt played out a thrilling to-and-fro encounter with visitors Ghana. Click to continue reading...

The draw for the final round of qualifying for the 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations took place today in Zurich, Switzerland.
So what happened?
African champions Egypt were handed what many would consider to be the best of the five group draws.

The Egyptians will face Algeria, Zambia and Rwanda in Group C as they attempt to reach their third World Cup finals.

Click to continue reading...

With 607 days until the opening of the 2010 World Cup South Africa, African Cup qualifying is heading to its final stage.
20 countries advanced into the final round of African qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup after an eventful weekend.
Along with the perennial crop of heavyweights, including nine previous Cup participants, the likes of Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda and Sudan also progressed, indication of the constantly shifting power balance on the continent. Click to continue reading...

With the final stages of the 2nd round of African World Cup qualifying upon up this weekend, here's a nice article from ESPN's Jon Carter about this weekend's games.
Click the link for the full article ... below's a free preview ...

African teams have raised the bar at the World Cup in recent tournaments and with Ghana impressing in Germany in 2006 and Senegal having made the quarter-finals in 2002, the expectations of the continent are high.

Click to continue reading...

Interesting article from the Bangkok Post about how confusing the 2010 African World Cup qualifiers are. As they put it, 'FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) are on course to score an own goal' with their qualifier rules.
Basically, there's a situation where South Africa may have to lose or draw to make it to the next round (weird, I know. Click to continue reading...

With Europe getting their World Cup qualification schedule under way, I thought it'd be fitting to see where Africa is in their drive to South Africa. Remember, the Africans started their Cup qualification months ago. 
So how fares Africa? 
Apart from Nigeria who have already booked their place into the next stage out of Group 4, the qualifiers remain very contested with many surprises expected this weekend. Click to continue reading...

Aside from the swirling mass of journalist- and blogger-fabricated rumors swirling the Internet (Ronaldinho to sign with the LA Galaxy? Come on!), there is little going on in the football/soccer world. And to that I say, thank goodness!
I love the game as much (if not more) than the next fanatic, but after a string of USA friendlies at the beginning of June, then three weeks of non-stop Euro 2008 action and 2010 World Cup qualifiers on top of all of that, I need a breather. Click to continue reading...

The two groups have been drawn for Asia's final round of World Cup Qualification. Each group has five teams with the top two from each group advancing to South Africa. The third place teams in the groups will meet in a two-legged playoff with the winner playing the champion of Oceania.
Here are the two groups:
Group A
Australia
Japan
Bahrain
Uzbekistan
Qatar
Group B
South Korea
Iran
Saudi Arabia
North Korea
UAE
Although both groups have their difficulties, it looks to me like Group B is the tougher one since three of the teams made it to Germany in 2006 (S Korea, Iran & Saudi Arabia), plus North Korea is always capable of a surprise. Click to continue reading...

I have always been staggered by the fact that India does so poorly on the international sporting stage. India is a cricket power, I know, and they're strong at field hockey as well (though they have struggled of late), but what about the Olympics? The land of over one billion people claimed just one medal, a bronze, at the 2000 Games and just one silver at the 2004 Olympics. Click to continue reading...

FIFA has denied Iraq's appeal to disqualify Qatar from World Cup Qualifying even though it admits Qatar did not play by the rules.
This Sunday saw Qatar beat Iraq 1-0 to advance to the final round of Asian WCQ, however one of their players was not eligible to play for Qatar.
Marcio Passos De Albuquerque, know as Emerson, was born in Brazil and represented Brazil at youth level, thus he was ineligible. Click to continue reading...

US 1-0 Barbados
In a game that saw the favorites look tired and even more defensive minded then normal, the underdogs had their chance to run the game. But unlike the Italy-Spain Euro match, the US was able to see their opposition out of the competition.
Yesterday's game was a flashback for me as right from the opening moments, it reminded me of some late-80's games due to the horrible video production. Click to continue reading...

USA vs. Barbados
Sunday - 2:55p ET/11:55a PT
TV: ESPN Classic & Galavision (Spanish)
Bob Bradley has released his 18-man roster for the second leg of the US-Barbados World Cup Qualifier. With the US up 8-0, the starting lineup is likely to include a number of younger players. Click to continue reading...

The Canadian men's team wants to make their first world cup appearance since 1986 and they think playing at Montreal's Saputo Stadium is the way to do it.
Tonight sees them take to the Saputo grass pitch for the first time as they try to finish off St Vincent & the Grenadines in the return leg of a two-game series and many players think this field will give them what they need to win. Click to continue reading...

A couple days slimming his roster down to 12, it looks like US coach Bob Bradley is about to fatten things up with the addition of a bunch of MLSers.
Various reports have Bradley calling Drew Moor (FC Dallas), Chris Seitz (Real Salt Lake), John Thorrington (Chicago Fire), Chris Rolfe (Chicago Fire) and Chad Barrett (Chicago Fire). Click to continue reading...