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In the modern world of football, Europe is the most powerful confederation in FIFA and its a shame that FIFA's most powerful confederation doesn't lead the way in how it runs its World Cup qualification.

When it comes to World Cup qualifying, Europe can look to other FIFA confederations on how it should be done.

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In the modern world of football, Europe is the most powerful confederation in FIFA and its a shame that FIFA's most powerful confederation doesn't lead the way in how it runs its World Cup qualification.
When it comes to World Cup qualifying, Europe can look to other FIFA confederations on how it should be done. Click to continue reading...

It has taken twenty-eight years, but New Zealand are back on the global stage in world football. Their 1-0 win against Bahrain this morning saw them through to the World Cup finals next summer. A record crowd for a football match in the country of over 35,000 packed out The Westpac Stadium in Wellington.

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Major League Soccer's decision to conduct its semifinal playoff rounds at the same time as this international break has severally hamstrung Bob Bradley's selection. With two very interesting friendlies against European sides that have already qualified for next summer's World Cup, these matchups would have provided an opportunity to test some of the best we have to offer.

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FIFA have established a new award named after Hungarian legend Ferenc Puskas that will be given to the player who scores "the most beautiful goal" of the year.
It will be inaugurated in December during the 2009 FIFA World Player Gala and presented to the player - man or woman - who has scored the "most beautiful goal" during the past year.

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Think for a moment about the organisation of tournaments such as the UEFA Champions League or the European Championships. How do you decide how many teams are eligible for entry into each competition, when those teams should enter the competition or what about the fixtures of those competitions?

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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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By Andrew Dixon -- MIAMI, FL (Oct 9, 2009) USSoccerPlayers -- Whenever critics around the world want to minimize the accomplishments of the United States National Team, the one refrain they always come back to is that relative weakness of the CONCACAF region. It's always "The only reason you qualify for so many World Cups is that you play in a weak confederation. Click to continue reading...

October has a full slate of World Cup Qualifiers on the schedule, a fact I set out in my Octoberfest post back in September. It is time for the top teams to secure their spots in South Africa in 2010, and it is time for the inferior squads to be sent home to start dreaming of 2014.

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KUALA LUMPUR: AFC has produced a unique educational pack tailored towards referees' instructors in order to enhance the learning and teaching experience for Asia's top educators.
The pack comprises 34 CDs and DVD that provide vast amounts of information on teaching methods, fitness aspects, laws of the game and other valuable tools. Click to continue reading...

Here's the latest on whether the U.S. qualifier will be moved, which could well help the American cause if it's played in another country:

NEW YORK (AP) -- Soccer officials are watching the security situation in Honduras, hoping they won't have to move next month's World Cup qualifier against the United States.

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The FIFA world rankings are something every football fan checks out once in a while, but sometimes they do leave you with a question, of how they're actually calculated. When India's latest rankings were announced, many Goal.com readers requested us to explain just how these rankings work.

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I really missed seeing Jack Warner doing the ceremonial handshakes last night. Apparently there was some kid on the island who took his eye off his piggy bank for a minute and Jack was tied up at the local Coinstar machine.
Most of you probably know that Jack Warner is not actually the President of the TTFF. Click to continue reading...

From CONCACAF.com
9/3/2009 - NEW YORK –The Seattle Sounders have become the first team to qualify for the 2010-2011 CONCACAF Champions League, cementing their place by beating D.C. United to win the U.S. Open Cup.
The Sounders' 2-1 victory in Washington Wednesday night made it the first team to clinch a place in the 24-team field and claim the first of four berths from the United States. Click to continue reading...

Al-Ahly (Arabic: النادي الأهلي‎) is an Egyptian football club based in Cairo. Founded in April 1907. Al-Ahly, which means national in Arabic, is the winningest club in Egypt, having won the Egyptian League thirty-four times and the Egyptian Cup thirty-five times. Al-Ahly was named as the African Club of the Century in 2000 by the Confederation [. Click to continue reading...

Tim Howard did his best but it wasn't enough. (Getty Images)

To say I am not disappointed would be lying. I am a bit disappointed in not pulling out the draw today but one thing I do know is soccer is never a kind sport when you want it to be. Excuses aside though we should be very thankful that the US showed up and play well today down in Mexico, it may have not been solid for 90 minutes but still better than in the past.

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The time has finally arrived. The U.S. men's national team is in Estadio Azteca today to take on Mexico in a crucial World Cup qualifier in Mexico City.

The Americans have never beaten Mexico in Mexico, but come in riding the confidence of a strong showing in this summer's Confederation's Cup.

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The time has finally arrived. The U.S. men's national team is in Estadio Azteca today to take on Mexico in a crucial World Cup qualifier in Mexico City.

The Americans have never beaten Mexico in Mexico, but come in riding the confidence of a strong showing in this summer's Confederation's Cup.

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So, the usual suspects are commenting on Facebook about yesterday's 5-0 loss to Mexico. There are plenty of theories and thoughts about what the result means in the bigger picture World Cup 2010.

Me I think Mexico was a very enjoyable team to watch with their passing and finishing and the result reminded me of why I didn't get very excited following the US win in the Confederation's Cup over Spain.

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So, the usual suspects are commenting on Facebook about yesterday's 5-0 loss to Mexico. There are plenty of theories and thoughts about what the result means in the bigger picture World Cup 2010.

Me I think Mexico was a very enjoyable team to watch with their passing and finishing and the result reminded me of why I didn't get very excited following the US win in the Confederation's Cup over Spain.

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It's flying under the radar even by American soccer standards, thanks in part to the extensive coverage of the cash cow "World Football Challenge" going on across the country, but the final stages of the Gold Cup the CONCACAF confederation's biennial championship are upon us. Tonight I'll be attending the semi-finals of the Gold Cup at Soldier Field, Chicago.

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As most of you probably heard sometime between yesterday afternoon and this morning, there will be no ESPN broadcast for the US-Mexico World Cup qualifier next month. Sad times I know.

Apparently the game in English will be shown on a channel most either have never heard of or even have on their TVs.

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I'm having a very hard time resisting the temptation to call JOHN JAGOU this morning.
I don't want to wait until this afternoon to get his take on Mexican Coach Javier Aguirre's send off last night during El Tri's match against Panama.
I mean sure, maybe Sven Goren Erikkson didn't exactly get the job done down there but in the "credit where credit is due" department he never kicked an opposing player in the junk, either:
According to Aguirre, using the now-familiar Mexican team player-and/or-official non-apology format, the problem was of course not that he was guilty of doing something stupid; rather, he was simply defending the integrity of the game, serving as sort of an auxiliary referee:
"I didn't have good conduct in those two or three minutes, that in my opinion, were brought on by a waste of time by part of the opponent that tried to defend a ball when the referee had called a throw in. Click to continue reading...

After impressing in the Confederation's Cup Luis Fabiano has become one of Sir Alex Ferguson's and Manchester United's transfer targets. Yesterday Man United missed out on signing Karim Benzema and...
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Bob Bradley and Sunil Gulati briefed reporters this afternoon on the eve of the Gold Cup. Here's some of the more interesting tidbits:
On the team's approach to the Gold Cup:
Bob Bradley: "Our goal clearly is to defend our championship. We know that at times there are many different factors that get considered when putting a roster together. Click to continue reading...

US head coach Bob Bradley has announced seven additions to the Gold Cup roster after CONCACAF allowed the Americans to name a 30-man roster following their Confederation's Cup participation. Click to continue reading...

Hi all, In today's football season, it's hard to determine when it stops and starts, what with play offs, cup finals, qualification games, confederation cups and now the up coming CL qualification games... But let's say we're in pre season warm up phase now. Which means it's time for me to check how Click to continue reading...

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.

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As we wait for the dust from the Confederation's Cup to settle here's a moment of goalkeeping madness from the Japanese J league .

>> SoccerBlog.com EXCLUSIVE ADIDAS offer: Step into Messi's Shoes!

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Could this week be the most exciting week in Arsenal's transfer history?

With the Confederation's Cup over and Brazil crowned champions, it is time to see if Arsenal's pursuit of Felippe Melo is indeed a true pursuit or merely more newspaper talk. Arsenal are reported to have offered Phillipe Senderos as part of the deal, but Wenger will not accept Fiorentina's valuation of £21 million for the Brazilian international.

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South Africa fought hard and pushed Brazil to the brink in Thursday's Confederation's Cup semifinals, but ultimately a questionable free kick call and a brilliant shot by Barcelona's Dani Alves kept South Africa from pulling off the second upset of the semifinals.

Now we could focus on Ramires going down like a sniper shot him (U.

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South Africa fought hard and pushed Brazil to the brink in Thursday's Confederation's Cup semifinals, but ultimately a questionable free kick call and a brilliant shot by Barcelona's Dani Alves kept South Africa from pulling off the second upset of the semifinals.

Now we could focus on Ramires going down like a sniper shot him (U.

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We're making our way around the world with these patches, and today we have part four, Spain:In case you haven't been following, each patch in the Confederations Cup is different. All eight teams' patches have a unique look, each with the trophy from their confederation's continental championship. Click to continue reading...

Team USA are set to play the undefeated Spanish team in the FIFA Confederation Cup Semi-finals today, June 24th, 2009.

Spanish midfielder Xavi (C) attempts a pass while South African midfielder Steven Pienaar (R) tries to intercept during the first half of a Confederations Cup match at Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein, South Africa, on June 20.

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Group A of the Confederation's Cup has concluded it's games leaving it's first 2 victims in Iraq and New Zealand. Hosts South African advance and so does the record breaking Spanish team (now with 15 straight wins). The final standing like this for Group A Confederations Cup: FIFA Confederations Cup - Groups & Standings Group A Table [. Click to continue reading...