James McClean's Ireland international career has been given the green light by FIFA.
The move clears the way for the Derryman to be included in the Ireland squad to be announced by Giovanni Trapattoni tomorrow for the upcoming friendly against the Czech Republic In Lansdowne Road on February 29th.

The FAI today officially confirmed that Giovanni Trapattoni's Ireland will play the Czech Republic in a friendly in Dublin on February 29.
They said the friendly will be the first of two home matches to be played in the Aviva Stadium before Ireland go to the Euro Finals in June. The second friendly will take place at the end of May and the opposition will be revealed by the association soon.

EPL Talk and adidas have teamed together to offer one very lucky reader the chance to win all three of the following: Goalkeeper glove autographed by Petr Cech (Chelsea and Czech Republic), adidas Predator boots/cleats autographed by Xavi (Barcelona...
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In the spirit of the 125 anniversary celebrations, and in a follow up to Darren's recent blog about Arsenal's history, I now ask the question of whether the current team is the most multicultural team in history. I wasn't the first one to notice it, but we've recently used a couple of different lineups where every player hailed from a different country.

Nicolas Anelka

The former French international signed with Shanghai Shenhua, of the Chinese Super League, this week. Anelka's two year contract with Shenua will pay the 32-year-old 175,000-euros-a-week, which is nearly $12 million-a-year. The Montreal Impact attempted to negotiate a contact with Anelka to bring the striker to MLS, but the two sides could not reach an agreement on a salary that made the offer competitive with Shenhua's deal.

I was waiting for the Euro draw like a kid waiting for a Christmas present, finally the day came and I was waiting with bated breath to see what it was going to look like. So once the groups were in place the engineer in me wanted to break it down and analyse it. Surely, deep inside I knew I could beat a Shebby Singh or a Carlton Palmer hands down with my analytical skills.

Euro 2012 Gear - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The 14th European Championship for teams sanctioned by the UEFA is scheduled to be played between 8th June and 1st July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

Spain are the current holders of the cup they defeated Germany in the final in Austria / Switzerland version of the tournament in 2008.

Euro 2012 Gear - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

The 14th European Championship for teams sanctioned by the UEFA is scheduled to be played between 8th June and 1st July 2012 in Poland and Ukraine.

Spain are the current holders of the cup they defeated Germany in the final in Austria / Switzerland version of the tournament in 2008.

The Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has dismissed rumours linking the Czech Republic midfielder Tomas Rosicky with a move away from the Emirates. "Rosicky is at Arsenal and he remains at Arsenal," he told the club's official website. The 31-year-old was heavily linked with a move to Bundesliga outfit Wolfsburg this summer and recent reports suggest [.

The draw has been set for next summer's UEFA Euro 2012 and Greece are in Group A with Russia, Poland, and the Czech Republic. At first glance, it is a blessing that Greece avoided Germany, Spain, and the Netherlands but a twist of fate can happen anywhere, anytime, and to [read more]

The 2012 EURO's are slowly approaching, and just yesterday the groups for the initial stages of the tournament were drawn. Below are the resulting groups of the draw:


Group A
Poland, Greece, Russia, Czech Republic
Group B
Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Portugal


Group C
Spain, Italy, Republic of Ireland, Croatia


Group D
Ukraine, Sweden, France, England
As for just about every international tournament, a group of death naturally formed.

Tabela
Grupo A
8 June 2012
18:00 UTC+2 Poland Match 1 Greece National Stadium, Warsaw
8 June 2012
20:45 UTC+2 Russia Match 2 Czech Republic Municipal Stadium, Wrocław
12 June 2012
18:00 UTC+2 Greece Match 9 Czech Republic Municipal Stadium, Wrocław
12 June 2012
20:45 UTC+2 Poland Match 10 Russia National Stadium, Warsaw
16 June 2012
20:45 UTC+2 Czech Republic Match 17 Poland Municipal Stadium, Wrocław
16 June 2012
20:45 UTC+2 Greece Match 18 Russia National Stadium, Warsaw
Grupo B
9 June 2012
19:00 UTC+3 Netherlands Match 3 Denmark Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv
9 June 2012
21:45 UTC+3 Germany Match 4 Portugal Arena Lviv, Lviv
13 June 2012
19:00 UTC+3 Denmark Match 11 Portugal Arena Lviv, Lviv
13 June 2012
21:45 UTC+3 Netherlands Match 12 Germany Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv
17 June 2012
21:45 UTC+3 Portugal Match 19 Netherlands Metalist Stadium, Kharkiv
17 June 2012
21:45 UTC+3 Denmark Match 20 Germany Arena Lviv, Lviv
Grupo C
10 June 2012
18:00 UTC+2 Spain Match 5 Italy PGE Arena, Gdańsk
10 June 2012
20:45 UTC+2 Republic of Ireland Match 6 Croatia Municipal Stadium, Poznań
14 June 2012
18:00 UTC+2 Italy Match 13 Croatia Municipal Stadium, Poznań
14 June 2012
20:45 UTC+2 Spain Match 14 Republic of Ireland PGE Arena, Gdańsk
18 June 2012
20:45 UTC+2 Croatia Match 21 Spain PGE Arena, Gdańsk
18 June 2012
20:45 UTC+2 Italy Match 22 Republic of Ireland Municipal Stadium, P

Grupo D
11 June 2012
19:00 UTC+3 France Match 7 England Donbass Arena, Donetsk
11 June 2012
21:45 UTC+3 Ukraine Match 8 Sweden Olympic Stadium, Kiev
15 June 2012
21:45 UTC+3 Sweden Match 15 England Olympic Stadium, Kiev
15 June 2012
19:00 UTC+3 Ukraine Match 16 France Donbass Arena, Donetsk
19 June 2012
21:45 UTC+3 England Match 23 Ukraine Donbass Arena, Donetsk
19 June 2012
21:45 UTC+3 Sweden Match 24 France Olympic Stadium, Kiev

The draw for the 2012 European Championships were drawn today in Kiev in what was the most boring and complicated draw I ever saw. Group D is definitely the Group of Death, with Germany,Holland,Denmark and Portugal to fight it out for supremacy, While England's Group looks easier than usual with Ukraine, Sweden and France in Group D, the Rep.

With co-hosts Poland and Ukraine placed in the first pot of the Euro 2012 draw, there was bound to be at least one brutally-tough group in next summer's tournament.

Group B gets the distinction as being the Group of Death, as the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal and Denmark will vie for two spots in the knockout round.

Good draw for England in the Euro 2012 as they have been drawn against Ukraine, France and Sweden. It is by now way an easy group for England, but considering who England could have been drawn against, Fabio Capello cannot be too upset.

In every tournament there is a proverbial "Group of Death" and Euro 2012 is no exception.

The draw for the 2012 UEFA European Championship, to be held in Poland and Ukraine from 8th June – 1st July next year, has been made in the Ukrainian capital city of Kyiv this evening. Sixteen nations will contest this competition for the last time before the next tournament, to be held in France in 2016, will see an increase in the number of finals entrants to 24.

By Chris Wright

The interminable dancing and utterly pointless cavalcade of 'together as one' yadda yadda yadda-ing is finally over, the new Adidas Tango matchball has been rolled out and looks glorious (more on that later) and, as an aside to the entire carnival of shite, UEFA's all-important balls of destiny have been drawn from the hat of fate in Kiev.

The draw for this upcoming summer's Euro 2012 tournament is set to go in Kiev, Ukraine, with 16 teams eager to find out who they'll be competing against for the continent's championship. With co-hosts Poland and Ukraine placed in the first pot, there's bound to be some treacherous group pairings for some of the world's top teams.

Former Brazilian striker Ronaldo has accepted an offer to lead the Brazilian 2014 world cup organising committee. Ronaldo who holds the record of having scored the most goals in world cup finals history, will be confirmed in his new role today.

Ronaldo who recently retired after admitting that the injuries he had sustained over the course of his career had taken a toll on his fitness is regarded as one of the all time best out and out strikers in the game.

The Czech Republic national team might just be the bad boys of Europe, never seemingly far from the dark side of the press or contributing to a hooker's rent. They'd also been underachieving a bit, giving them due reason to celebrate their inclusion in Polkraine 2012.

Of course, taking it out on a detractor by singing "Radek Drulak has no cock.

The Czech Republic national team might just be the bad boys of Europe, never seemingly far from the dark side of the press or contributing to a hooker's rent. They'd also been underachieving a bit, giving them due reason to celebrate their inclusion in Polkraine 2012.

Of course, taking it out on a detractor by singing "Radek Drulak has no cock.

The back of this blogathon is broken now, right. Has to be? Surely tae goodness.
We're moving through the night with a run of guest debaters. So welcome, please, Ross McCafferty known to the Twitter world as @holyroodpatter
Given the somewhat combative nature of this very good cause, I thought that I would change the rules ever so slightly and disagree with a former post of Tom's (in the knowledge he is mandated to come back and disagree again!

Chelsea are eying to bounce back after the horror home defeat against Arsenal in their last last league matches by picking up a good result against Liverpool this weekend.

In order to confirm the three points, the Blues' goalie, Peter Cech, is also hoping that he would be able to keep a clean sheet against the Reds, as not conceding a goal has been a pretty rare occasion for the blues in the league this season.

Euro 2012 Nations A team by team preview - originally posted on Soccerlens.com

Update: Groups Draw details and the official match ball of Euro 2012 added. Scroll down to view.

With the 16 teams competing in Euro 2012 now selected and the qualifying process complete, all eyes look to Poland and Ukraine as time ticks down.

It's been a great 2-week break for fans from Ireland, Portugal, Croatia, and the Czech Republic but let's get back to club football and our fantasy lineups... I. Liverpool @ Chelsea: Both clubs have Champions League aspirations, and have ... Continue reading →

Following the completion of the Euro 2012 Qualifying Play-Offs, from which Portugal, Croatia, Czech Republic and the Republic of Ireland all qualified this week, all sixteen teams that will be participating in Poland and the Ukraine next June are now known.

The Play-Offs saw the eight runners up of the qualifying groups comepte for the four remaining places at next year's tournament and the outcomes of all the games proved reasonably predictable.

Over the past few months Arsenal scouts have been looking at many players creative midfielders in particular. It is well known that the club are keen on Mario Goetze with scouts making regular visits to see him in action, he will get no better chance to impress than next week against Arsenal at the Emirates.

In this week's review section, we congratulate The Czech Republic, The Republic of Ireland, Portugal and Croatia on Euro 2012 qualification

UEFA confirmed the seedings for the Euro 2012 Finals, co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine today and are as follows:

Pot 1: Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Netherlands

Pot 2: Germany, Italy, England, Russia

Pot 3: Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Sweden

Pot 4: Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Republic of Ireland

The draw will take place in Kiev on Friday December 2.

Ireland are in the fourth group of seeds for the Euro 2012 finals draw, UEFA confirmed today.
Giovanni Trapattoni's 'Boys In Green', who completed a 5-1 aggregate play-off win against Estonia last night, have been drawn alongside Denmark, France and Czech Republic in Pot 4.
Euro 2012 co-hosts Poland and Ukraine, who have already been allocated to groups A and D respectively, are in the top group of seeds alongside reigning world and European champions Spain and 2010 World Cup finalists the Netherlands.

There will be a distinct Premier League flavor to next summer's Euro 2012 tournament after Ireland, Portugal, Croatia, and the Czech Republic joined England and others in the competition by qualifying yesterday. While the Guardian writers have picked their 23-man ... Continue reading →

Se tienen ya formados los grupos que se sortearán para la Eurocopa 2012, el sorteo será el viernes 2 de Diciembre y con seguridad habrá un grupo de la muerte, pudiera ser que esten juntos en un grupo, España, Alemania, Portugal y Francia, vaya que sería a morir, les paso la nota en ingles via El Guardian.

With the completion of Tuesday's Euro 2012 playoff qualifiers, the four pots are set for next month's finals draw, and there's a pretty solid chance that we could see some stacked groups in the summer.

Co-hosts Poland and Ukraine occupying two of the four spots in the top pot, with defending Euro (and World Cup) champion Spain joining them.

UEFA has announced the seedings for the Euro 2012 draw in December with England placed in Pot 2 alongside Germany, Italy and Russia.

Republic of Ireland, who confirmed their place at the finals following a 5-1 aggregate play-off win over Estonia, are in Pot 4 and will be one of the bottom seeds when the draw is conducted in Kiev on Friday December 2.

The last four teams are ready for the Euro 2012 in Poland and Ucraine:Portugal: After 0-0 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Portuguese lived up to the expectations and dispatched the Bosnians with a resounding 6-2.Ireland: The Irish are back in a major footballing tournament, after 1-1 at home against Estonia, which was enough after their 0-4 victory in Tallinn.

The last four teams are ready for the Euro 2012 in Poland and Ucraine:Portugal: After 0-0 in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Portuguese lived up to the expectations and dispatched the Bosnians with a resounding 6-2.Ireland: The Irish are back in a major footballing tournament, after 1-1 at home against Estonia, which was enough after their 0-4 victory in Tallinn.

By Chris Wright

UEFA have just announced the seeding of the 16 teams that will be plucked from the perspex goldfish bowls of doom in Kiev on December 2nd, and they look a little bit like this...

Top seeds: Spain, Holland, Poland, Ukraine

Second seeds: Germany, England, Russia, Italy

Third seeds: Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Sweden

Fourth seeds: Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Republic of Ireland

Lawdamussy.

Nothin' left but the friendlies. Playoffs have ended, sadly for some tragically, really, since none of the aggregates were even close and the lineup is set with a couple of surprises, like Ireland and...no, just Ireland. The list of those who failed to RSVP is devoid of titanic names, leaving us with a heavy battle royale to be had in Polkraine.

After the first leg of the Euro 2012 play-offs, there were a wide variety of results to compare and analyze before the second leg on Tuesday. Some ties already look finished, while some are still very much alive.

We take a look at one thing we learned from each match.

Croatia remain world class

A 3-0 demolition of Turkey reaffirms that despite missing out on the World Cup, Croatia are still a team with enough quality and talent to win the European Championships.

Czech Republic vs Montenegro 2-0 Goals Video Pilar Sivok Euro 2012 Play-Off Highlights is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Czech Republic vs Montenegro 2-0 Goals Video Pilar Sivok Euro 2012 Play-Off Highlights is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Czech Republic vs Montenegro 2011 ( Czech Republic Montenegro video below) Final score and result:- Czech Republic vs Montenegro 2-0 ( Pilar, Sivok) Generali Arena, Prague- 11 November, 2011- First Leg- [.