Let's take a moment to interrupt ill-placed accusations of bigotry to answer a question.
As US fans, who do you most want to face in the first round? Of course, we'd all love to end up in South Africa's group because that would represent the easiest route to the knockout round, but odds are that we'll end up elsewhere.

Continuing the ominous rumblings after Ireland's controversial play-off elimination at the hand of Henry, MSN reported yesterday that the FAI, Irish football's governing body, has met with FIFA to discuss the possibility they be ‘reinstated to next year's finals while also calling for the use of video technology in crucial matches'.

ennui noun a feeling of utter weariness and discontent resulting from satiety or lack of interest; boredom.

That pretty much sums up how I've felt for some time about the Thierry Henry handball situation. You'll recall that I launched a preemptive backlash against the hysterical media coverage right after the incident happened, before most of the media accusations of cheating, etc.

For the second time in as many weeks, Arsene Wenger is being accused in the press of being disrespectful. The first accusations were leveled by Mark Hughes after Wenger refused to shake his hand following Hughes disgraceful behavior at Eastlands during the Carling Cup Quarterfinal. Now, following Arsenal's 1-nil defeat in Athens on Wednesday evening, Matthias Sammer is quoted by FourFourTwo as saying:

I'm disappointed about what Arsene Wenger did.

Is there a worse chairman in the history of the Premiership than Sulaiman Al-Fahim? I'm struggling to think of anyone who has misled, misinformed and treated the supporters of a club so clearly as Al-Fahim has in his 8 month relationship with Portsmouth. Today the HM Revenue & Customs have issues a winding up order against Portsmouth F.

Continuing the ominous rumblings after Ireland's controversial play-off elimination at the hand of Henry, MSN reported yesterday that the FAI, Irish football's governing body, has met with FIFA to discuss the possibility they be ‘reinstated to next year's finals while also calling for the use of video technology in crucial matches'.

PORT ELIZABETH -- The hangover has faded, and the buzz in the nation of South Africa has dimmed somewhat. There's only six months to go until the tournament begins, and while the general consensus is that South Africa will be ready, there's still work to be done. Infrastructure improvements continue at stadiums, venues and airports around the country as it prepares to greet an estimated 450,000 visitors next June.

Warning: it's very NSFW on several fronts Headbutts, accusations of homosexuality and paedophilia, and a very foul-mouthed Tony Pulis. Now we know why James Beattie wants to leave Stoke.

I was going to write another bit about Rooney's dive this weekend, but I bore myself with the diving dogma so no doubt any regular readers we do have are bored also. And then I saw Patrick Barclay had written a piece, and I like him, so I've reprinted that instead. And then I saw he's also commented on the penalty issue (goalkeepers advancing off their lines) which was going to be my other piece so I've just reprinted that too.

Man Yoo star's gong makes some people rich Ryan Giggs' surprise BBC Sports Personality of the Year victory might not have been such a shock to some punters. Accusations have been made that news of the 36-year-old's win was leaked in the 20 minutes before he received the trophy after a late flurry of bets forced [.

This is controversial stuff, I realize. I support Les Bleus and even blog about my adoration, but I'm firmly opposed to the current management setup (Domenech), and I'm willing to suffer accusations of being counter-productive to spread seeds of hope, when I find them, that France could have a fresh start before going into the 2010 World Cup.

Before next weekend's important encounter against a fellow title challenger in Martin O'Neil's Aston Villa, there's a small matter of Hull's visit to Ashburton Grove today. How small it is will depend on how we felt individually on the accusations from the Hull camp against our captain, Cesc Fabregas.