Congratulations to Slovenia, a pair of bad managers, strange cures and daylight robbery all
feature in this week's good, the bad and the ugly. Vocabulary support can be found for the
words in bold at the foot of the post.
Good
It's been a good week for Uruguay, Algeria, Portugal, Greece, France, New Zealand and Slovenia
as they all booked their places in next year's World Cup finals with play-off victories over the
past few days.
The groups for the Africa Cup of Nations 2010 were drawn today, which should go at least some
way to cheering up teams like Egypt and Tunisia who very narrowly missed the World Cup 2010
boat.
The tournament takes place in Angola from January 10th to January 31st, 2010. We've got blogs
and bloggers for 12 of the 16 teams involved in the tournament.
The Egyptians summon the Algerian envoy twice, recall their envoy from Algiers. Sudan summons
the Egyptian envoy in Khartoum. The Algerian embassy is currently under siege in Cairo with
thousands of fans trying to storm their compound. It's all happening in rapid succession.
Now Egypt has upped the ante threatening to pull out of football for two years in protest of
what happened to fans, sports officials, and players in Sudan.
Egypt suspended its membership of the Union of North African Football Federations on Thursday,
complaining that Algerian fans had thrown stones at their supporters during the country's World Cup
exit. The Egyptian Football Federation wrote to its counterparts in Algeria, Libya, Morocco and
Tunisia charging that its fans had come under . Click to continue reading...
Qualification is officially over. Playoffs won, tears shed, hearts broken and dreams renewed,
it's all over. After Uruguay withstood the Costa Rican pressure late in the evening, the final 32
teams were written into stone though not without a fair bit of controversy.
The following are those 32 teams who will take part in South Africa 2010.
The Egyptian ambassador to Algeria was recalled by Cairo as the soccer feud between the two
countries has now escalated into a full scale diplomatic row.
It is also believed that Hosni Mubarak himself called the Algerian ambassador, Abdel Qader Hadja
hours before the recall of the Egyptian envoy, to voice his grievance over the assaults on Egyptian
citizens who went to Khartoum to support the Egyptian team.
In case you missed the goal of the World Cup playoffs. Here it is. Antar Yahia's screamer in
Sudan. Relive the goal. Relive the celebrations. Be in no doubt: This is for 1982. This is for the players
with the peppery hair and tears in their eyes. This is for the players who were robbed.
Following the controversial decision to allow France's goal to stand as Thierry Henry clearly
handled the ball prior to assisting William Gallas, it is only normal to have increased complaints
and ever growing displeasure at the level of refereeing.
204 nations entered the running for a place at World Cup 2010. From Burundi to Guam to Tahiti,
everybody wants to be involved in the planet's most popular spectacle. Click to continue reading...
The 32-team field is set for the 2010 World Cup and for the next two weeks until the World Cup
Draw on Dec. 4 you will see plenty of sample draws to give soccer fans around the world a sense of
where teams just might wind up.
The 32-team field is set for the 2010 World Cup and for the next two weeks until the World Cup
Draw on Dec. 4 you will see plenty of sample draws to give soccer fans around the world a sense of
where teams just might wind up.
The games didn't really have everything, did they? The results did some upsets, some heroics, a
few of the expected teams going in but outside of the one game which forced a playoff (Egypt 2
Algeria 0), some of these games were completely zapped of the necessary drama.
(Not, of course, that one played in the Stade de France.
Algeria qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1986 with a disciplined if patchy
display, in a match as testy as it was tense. Antar Yahia's winner emphasised the commitment to
attack the Algerians have shown throughout qualifying: the scorer was a right-back on a far from
unusual foray. Click to continue reading...
Image via Wikipedia The Russians would be kicking themselves for not completing the match on
Saturday as a shocker allowed Slovenia to qualify for South Africa at Russia's expense. The Russian
team had a one goal advantage but squandered, missed and ultimately lost everything at the hands of
the lesser favoured opponents. Click to continue reading...
With Uruguay seeing off Costa Rica, the field for World Cup 2010 has been completed.Africa -
Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, South AfricaAsia - Australia, Japan, North Korea,
South KoreaEurope - Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal,
Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, SwitzerlandNorth America - Honduras, Mexico, United
StatesOceania - New Click to continue reading...
We finally have all 32 countries who will be in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa!!!After the
games played on November 18th, Portugal, Greece, Uruguay, France, Algeria, and Slovenia have
qualified for the tournament. Here are the results:Bosnia 0 – 1 Portugal (agg. 0-2)Ukraine 0 –
1 Greece (agg. Click to continue reading...
No more. Done. Finito. Acabou. The fight for the 32 golden spots to play the most
exciting football (and sports) tournament on the planet has ended. Some big ones almost did not
manage. And some return after 24 years.
Today was the day for the last 6 squads to qualify. The brave (or lucky?
Antar Yahia became the hero of Algeria as they beat Egypt. His superb volley off a Ziani cross
in the first half made the difference. The Fennecs enter the World Cup for the first time since
1986.
Algeria, Greece, Portugal and Slovenia all won their playoffs and qualified for the World Cup
today. Uruguay vs Costa Rica is happening as I type. But there's one story that will be dominating
the World Cup playoff headlines, and I think you already know what it is: Thierry Henry's handball
for France vs Ireland.
It has been a bleak season for VfL Bochum. The club sits 17th in the table, switched coaches
instead of fortunes and only had Hertha Berlin to cheer them up. A trip to the national team can be
a welcome change of scene for the players. Bochum's central defender Anthar Yahia and their striker
Zlatko Dedic chose to make the most of it by sending their nations to South Africa in a decisive
World Cup playoff.
The original headline for this piece was going to be '...And Then There Was One' as in there's
only one place left in the finals: congratulations to Algeria,
France, Greece, Portugal and
Slovenia, all of whom have qualified before.
It will be talked about for a long time: a World Cup berth "handed" to France. Thierry's Henry
helping hand assist (and a blown offside call) teed up William Gallas for the extra time clincher
to leave Ireland feeling backhanded...... but that was hardly the only drama on hand.Earlier,
Algeria, Greece and Slovenia procured invites to South Africa via upsets, with Portugal closing out
a tidy sweep Click to continue reading...
No ramblings. No preamble. No time. Have to run out for work, so not too much time to marinate on
the USMNT/Denmark game. You're getting bullet points. Enjoy. * Danish Tex Mex? Who would have
figured? I'm sure salted cod and salsa make an excellent burrito combo. * Missed the first 15-odd
minutes watching the ends of the Algeria/Egypt hate-cast and the Ukraine/Greece snooze-fest. Click to continue reading...
(video gol 1-0. Yahia) Ci ha provato in tutti i modi l'Egitto, sostenuto in tribuna anche dai Mubarak. Fino alla fine, ha
tentato di rimediare allo svantaggio subito al 40' del primo tempo quando Yahia aveva impallinato
il portiere egiziano con un destro ad incrociare di rara bellezza. Click to continue reading...
A stunning strike from Antar Yahia earned Algeria a place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa
after a bad tempered encounter between the two north African nations.
Figthing erupts early on
Said goes close for Egypt
Yahia almost puts Algeria one up
Algeria go close again
Algerian keeper makes a great save
0-1 Yahia
Ghezzal goes close to making it two nil
Egypt almost equalize
Egypt thwarted again
Don't forget to check out Online Football Manager!
A stunning strike from Antar Yahia earned Algeria a place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa
after a bad tempered encounter between the two north African nations.
Figthing erupts early on
Said goes close for Egypt
Yahia almost puts Algeria one up
Algeria go close again
Algerian keeper makes a great save
0-1 Yahia
Ghezzal goes close to making it two nil
Egypt almost equalize
Egypt thwarted again
Don't forget to check out Online Football Manager!
Big Story There is an excellent debate going on at the pages of A More
Splendid Life about the future of soccer journalism (or really, the future of
journalism in general), with his post yesterday on the impending doom for us all as the "so-called
"newspaper model" seems as yet irreplaceable when it comes to affording a living wage for
journalists".
African rivals Algeria and Egypt meet in Sudan today for a decisive FIFA World Cup 2010 qualifier
that will see the victorious side book their place in South Africa next year. Now you can check out
the action LIVE and for FREE courtesy of FIFA.com at this link. Kick off is at 12:30 EST. Here's
the spiel from [. Click to continue reading...
1. Two-face, footie version -- via Dirty Tackle 2. Bosnian superfans -- via Futbolita 3. Messi getting wiggy -- via La Permanente a Messi 4. Toni's got a gun! -- via Kickette 5. Egypt v. Algeria -- via Goal! Click to continue reading...
The final six World Cup 2010 places all get decided today, with the second legs of the four
European playoffs and the CONMEBOL vs CONCACAF game, plus the special Algeria vs Egypt single game
playoff for the final African qualifying spot.
It's all very very tight. The winners of these six ties get the the glory, the losers learn
firsthand the meaning of the word "nearly".
The securities have been tightened, people has been pouring in from all circles and the atmosphere
has started to be nerve wrecking as Egypt will face Algeria at Khartoum, Omdurman. This is going to
be highly tense encounter between these two African nations and both are ready to fight it out
again after a tense [. Click to continue reading...
