The mere fact that the 2010 World Cup is to be staged in Africa for the very first time has added special significance to qualifying for all the African nations. 53 countries were reduced to 20 through two preliminary rounds. From five groups of four, there are five group winners progressing ... Click to continue reading...

The World Cups have, especially in the start, been the complete dominance of South America and Europe. Therefore, throughout the 1950's and 1960's, the "rest of the world", that is, Asia, Africa and Australia had to play between them for one meager qualifying spot.For the 1966 World Cup in England, this "rest-of-the-world" spot went to the small and closed Communist dictatorship of North Corea. Click to continue reading...

Azzurri coach Marcello Lippi has come under heavy criticism in recent months despite Italy's success in qualifying to the World Cup in South Africa. La Nazionale went through an alarming goal drought and was only able to overcome it after two unfortunate own goals from returning Georgia captain Kakha Kaladze.

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This is november Update to Africa world cup fixtures, take a look(source fifa.com):
14/11/09TBARepublic of Ireland-France14/11/09TBAPortugal-Bosnia-Herzegovina14/11/09TBAGreece-Ukraine14/11/09TBARussia-Slovenia14/11/09 15:00MaputoMozambique-Tunisia14/11/09 15:30FesMorocco-Cameroon14/11/09 15:30LomeTogo-Gabon14/11/09 15:30KigaliRwanda-Zambia14/11/09 16:00NairobiKenya-Nigeria14/11/09 16:00OuagadougouBurkina Faso-Malawi14/11/09 16:00AbidjanCôte d'Ivoire-Guinea14/11/09 19:30CairoEgypt-Algeria14/11/09 20:00San JoseCosta Rica-Uruguay14/11/09 20:00WellingtonNew Zealand-Bahrain14/11/09 20:00OmdurmanSudan-Benin15/11/09 17:00KumasiGhana-Mali18/11/09TBAFrance-Republic of Ireland18/11/09TBABosnia-Herzegovina-Portugal18/11/09TBAUkraine-Greece18/11/09TBASlovenia-Russia18/11/09 21:00MontevideoUruguay-Costa Rica Click to continue reading...

It was a 54th minute Alex Shinsky that the keeper should have done better on that won the day for the U.S. Under-17's.The World Cup group win moved our boys level on points with second place UAE, their closing day opponent. Here are the highlights.- Greg Seltzer Click to continue reading...

Tonight on 30 Rock, Liz and jack visit Kenneth's hometown. Oh my, this should be good...#1 - Via Columbus Dispatch all-star Shawn Mitchell, Crew defender Chad Marshall has been suddenly upgraded all the way to probable. Meanwhile, Real Salt Lake have picked up a few small knocks here and there.An upset course diverted? Click to continue reading...

Football in Namibia, October 12th, 2009

Photo credit: Mr. Curiousity on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.

Related posts:

1. Photo Daily: Football in Ghana
2. Photo Daily July 30 Football Fans in Jakarta
3. Photo Daily | September 12 | Football in Pakistan

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After Samuel Eto'o's alleged statements against Pep and others at Barca, he adressed the subject as expected at the presentation campaign for "Shoe Aid In Africa" which he's the face of. And Samu's statements were far from any sort of lashing out at the club:
"My relationship [with Guardiola] has never been bad. Click to continue reading...

Há vida para além do futebol.
Relatório da Amnistia Internacional sobre Angola.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people in Africa are forced from their homes. Despite regional and international law, African governments continue to evict people without any due process, consultation, adequate notice or compensation. Click to continue reading...

Better late then never, right? Enjoy some TV...Let's begin an overstuffed edition with Harkesy and JPD breaking down the MLS awards races. As usual, I skip all such clips and articles for several weeks ahead of the voting. Right or wrong, I'm gonna go with my brain's output on that ballot.Sticking with ESPN, Revs coach and Liverpool man Steve Nicol offers no quarter in laying the current "crisis" Click to continue reading...

Photo credit: sarahebsgaard on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.

Related posts:

1. Photo Daily | January 24 | Accra, Ghana
2. Photo Daily | January 31 | Ghana Fans at the ACN
3. Photo Daily | January 21 | Security in Ghana

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Brent Latham from ESPN Soccernet checks in with a story on the U.S. U-17 team for the upcoming FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria. A good portion of the team the U.S. is taking to Africa played here at our Swope Park Training Center last week, falling to a team made mostly of KCW Reserves 3-0.
In full national team news, Jermaine Jones has been cleared by FIFA to play for the United States after initially representing Germany in three friendlies. Click to continue reading...

I love a World Cup (any World Cup) for the rare opportunity of putting whole imagined nations on public display. Though the main event in South Africa is still eight months away, one junior version (U-20) just finished in Egypt and another (U-17) is just about to begin in Nigeria.

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Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger highlighted Alex Song's performance in victory over Birmingham City.
Song was again outstanding in his defensive role and Wenger told arsenal.com: "He is strong and smooth. He is not rigid, he is agile.
"He is a slalom player and is not a straight-line player. Click to continue reading...

Congratulations to Ghana for getting to spot kicks after going down a man late in the first half and rallying there to defeat Brazil for the 2009 FIFA Under-20 World Cup title.I have to admit, Black Satellites, you fooled me. I didn't think you could lock it down, I thought you'd resort to a toe-to-toe slugfest. Click to continue reading...

(video di Ghana-Brasile, i rigori)
La prima volta del Ghana, ma soprattutto la prima volta dell'Africa. Il continente nero, dopo quattro finali perse, sale finalmente sul tetto del mondo, nel campionato Under 20 di calcio. A trionfare, contro il Brasile, è un Ghana decisamente "europeo", molto solido, preciso, tatticamente intelligente. Click to continue reading...

I lived in Ghana for many years, and it is with happy nostalgia that I have seen that the Ghana U20 team has won the 2009 U20 World in Egypt, by defeating Brazil in the final, 4-3 after penalty kicks! This is the first time ever an African team wins this tournament, and breaks eight years of South American dominance in the tournament, although Ghana was also in the final in 1993, losing to Brazil Click to continue reading...

US MNT Player Power Rankings (10/15/09): The US Men's Soccer Team has qualified for the 2010 World Cup, which kicks off a mere 8 months from now. Now that we're in, the big question is who will represent the Red, White, & Blue at the world's biggest sports spectacle.

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... on this week's The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

The Good

What more could you want from a game? Argentina met Peru, the latter team with no chance of qualifying and seen by many as a whipping boy ready to roll over for Argentina and allow Maradona's team the chance to get to the finals, and produced a thrilling, nerve-shredding qualifier.

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With just one round of qualifying matches left, half of Africa's six places at next year's World Cup are still up for grabs, as teams battle desperately to be involved in the first finals to be held on the continent. Click to continue reading...

I know some folks like to find a little distraction when waiting and worrying takes over. Therefore, I've decided to continue with this bit of regularly scheduled NSC programming.However, my promised S365 column can wait until tomorrow. I was about to publish it when the Davies news got around, and obviously put it to the side. Click to continue reading...

Beyond the nation's borders, Italian football has certainly faded into the background in recent years. A devastating match-fixing scandal in 2006 bitterly overshadowed the country's World Cup triumph that year while the domestic league has clearly become a one-horse race ever since. Reigning champions Inter Milan have shown no signs of a slip up in the Serie A for the last three seasons and that trend continued with their strong start to the current season as well.

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Kaizer Chiefs became the new winners of the Macufe Cup as they beat last year's champions Bloemfontein Celtic 3-1 at Vodacom Park. Bloemfontein had won last year's tournament by beating Free State Stars in the final. It was sweet revenge for the Chiefs, who had been beaten 1-0 by Bloemfontein in the PSL in September. Click to continue reading...

The new Ivory Coast ( Côte d'Ivoire) home and away football shirts for the 2009-10 and 2010-11 season have been released by kit maker Puma. They will be worn by Ivory Coast during the 2010 African Cup of Nations tournament. The home shirt is primarily orange in colour. The ends of the sleeves are green in [. Click to continue reading...

The US is going to South Africa. As I followed Grant Wahl's twitter feed of Saturday's game from San Pedro Sula, an odd experience of using a 2009 technology to get around the 1980 closed circuit, I was surprised, impressed, and pleased with the fortitude Bob Bradley's men showed in Honduras. Having not been able to watch, I imagine the game to have played much like the Confederation's Cup this summer: the US offering just enough tactical and technical savvy to complement their most distinctive quality of sheer determination.

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Here are the results from the 2010 World Cup CAF qualifiers ( third round) played on October 11, 2009 ( Sunday) Benin 1-0 Ghana ( Mohamed Aoudou 90+2′)- Group D Inconsequential game for the Black Stars as they had already qualified prior to the fixture. However Benin finish second in the group as a result of their [. Click to continue reading...

We've had two more teams clinching their place in South Africa today, with the Ivory Coast and Germany nudging the number of qualified up to 13.Die Mannschaft did the deed with a 1-0 tabletop showdown victory at Russia, despite going down a man for the final 25 minutes. Germany will be making their 15th consecutive finals appearance next summer. Click to continue reading...

[Photo: Reuter] Our scheduled Cardinals boasting has been postponed until Game 2. They don't really drop playoff openers, so it's very weird for me. I'm not sure what to do. Never mind, I'm confident Adam will set things Wainwright...#1 - I had no idea someone did an MLS computer ranking! Why didn't someone tell me? Click to continue reading...

Futty Danso

The reason Mamadou "Futty" Danso wore the rather odd number 98 for the Portland Timbers this year says a lot about globalization and soccer. The story starts in his native Gambia, where he grew up carefully watching African players who found success on the international scene.

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Something to read while you enjoy Pablo Hernandez's juggletastic goal for Valencia vs Atletico Madrid this weekend: The Irish national team's new stadium. Eventually. (Pitch Invasion) Should MLS table-toppers be allowed to choose their playoff victims? (Prost Amerika Soccer) A Favre farewell (Hertha Berlin Offside) Football beats politics in Germany (BallSpiel) Brazil: The Next Generation (Brazil WCB) Is FIFA holding Africa [. Click to continue reading...

Urgh, I forgot to change Cut of the Day until now... sorry!Anyway, here is the first decent highlight reel. I may switch it out if a better (or English language) clip surfaces.- Greg Seltzer Click to continue reading...

I was held up too much to post about an hour ago, and the line-ups are now out. The U.S. (who seem to have switched to 4-4-2?) are listed by position and Cameroon by ordinal jersey number.Perk; Williams, Opara, Agbossoumonde, Flores, Arguez, Cruz, Jeffrey, Duka, Taylor, SheaBeyokol; Yaya, Fomen, Boumal, Owona, Teieku, Essengue, Tiko, Bapidit, Djousse, Akono EfaBack in a few with my usual prattle. Click to continue reading...

I'll be back in the morning to open up U.S. v Cameroon LIVE with a bit of commentary, my expected line-up and a prediction, later followed of course by the official line-ups, the game action filtered through my smarmy lens and the eventual highlight reel.With all that packed into tomorrow's post, I will simply usher everyone into the reading room. Click to continue reading...

You are missing a barnburner. It got even better after Paraguay had star defender Ronald Huth sent off. If you're away from a TV, here is the FIFA stream. You can also expect an update here with extended highlights (once I find some, of course).I'll open the On tap reading room for tomorrow's U.S. v Cameroon U-20 World Cup clash later on. Click to continue reading...

[Photo: NBC]I am extremely, extremely disappointed in your behavior, Michael Gary Scott. Very, very disappointed indeed...#1 - Delayed from yesterday by another publisher malfunction, my capsule preview for the Under-20 World Cup is now up. Hosts Egypt opened the proceedings last night with a thorough 4-1 rout of CONCACAF's Trinidad & Tobago. Click to continue reading...