The Republic of Ireland will take on France in the World Cup play-offs which commence next weekend in what will be an intriguing clash between the shrewd Italian coach Giovanni Trapattoni and the much-maligned French national team coach Raymond Domenech.

Trapattoni's record speaks for itself with successful spells almost everywhere he coached yet his most notable job prior to taking over Ireland ended in miserable failure with the Azzurri.

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French Ligue 1 big timers Paris Saint-Germain Football Club have made the novel move of working with internationally-renowned Paris cabaret Moulin Rouge for their 2010 calendar. The new PSG calendar (which can be yours for the low price of 14,95 €) features the club's players in formal attire accompanied by scantily clad members of the Moulin [. Click to continue reading...

Big brawler looks like famous headbutter Nicolay Valuev is the 7ft 2in opponent of British heavyweight boxer David Haye this weekend. He also looks like a bloated Zinedine Zidane.

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With much of the qualification process almost complete and South Africa 2010 looming large, it would make sense to assess some of the world's best custodians who will be present during the World Cup. Goalkeepers such as Petr Cech will be excluded from the discussion since their nation failed to qualify for next summer's big event.

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These are all from the Champions League and Europa League, and they are all of superb quality...Let's begin with a thunderbolt from Liverpool's Ryan Babel. I'm tellin' ya, Rafa... don't sell this one away on the cheap.Atlético Madrid's Sergio Aguero rescues his side a point against Chelsea with a choice free kick. Click to continue reading...

Today Raymond Domenech presented France's new kit to be used at the World Cup in 2010. Not my favorite one to be honest. What do you think?

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Our leak was right! While naming his squad for the France's FIFA World Cup qualifying playoffs with Ireland earlier today, France coach Raymond Domenech unveiled the Les Bleus 2010 adidas home kit. The new France World Cup 2010 adidas home kit is expected to make its debut on November 18th when France host the Republic of [. Click to continue reading...

Image via Wikipedia Although many have called it unfair, the seeding system adopted for the play off matches to decide the final four European teams that will make it to the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa, has produced four potentially exciting match ups. The two leg matches will be played on November 14th [. Click to continue reading...

Come in number 11 Marseille youngster Hatem Ben Arfa had a nasty wardrobe malfunction at the weekend. Preparing to come on as a substitute, Ben Arfa stripped off his tracksuit to reveal that he was masquerading as team-mate Mamadou 'Pixie Lott' Niang. Cue much hilarity and a quick sprint for the kitman to reunite Ben Arfa with [. Click to continue reading...

La Panthère - Bafé Gomis settles the Rhône derby (photo: Presse-Sports)"Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose." A saying used often in England, it comes from the French phrase meaning the more... Click to continue reading...

I'll get A few things up later, but for now, things are still accumulating nicely... Let's start with Denny Landzaat's classy Kakkerlakken consolation from yesterday. The trick is, you must watch through the entire highlight package to see it. You had to know I was gonna allude to this match somehow. Click to continue reading...

Sometimes it is very easy to tell merely a couple of months into the season whether or not the current league leader will run away with the title come the business end of the season. However, as fans of the sport, we often hope that a title race is full of twists and turns all the way till it reaches a dramatic finale.

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There's an unstoppable groin-pocalypse going on at Lyon right now and no one is immune to its devastation. From Reuters:

Olympique Lyon have been hit by a series of groin injuries with keeper Hugo Lloris, defenders Jean-Alain Boumsong, Aly Cissokho, Mathieu Bodmer, Cleber Anderson, Cris, midfielders Cesar Delgado, Jeremy Toulalan, Kim Kallstrom and striker Lisandro Lopez all suffering from the same problem before their trip to arch-rivals St Etienne on Saturday.

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Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has left Steve Finnan, Steven Reid, Andy Reid and Clinton Morrison out of his squad to face France in their World Cup 2010 qualifying play-off.
It had been rumoured that Finnan would be included to address issues with cover in defence. Click to continue reading...

Following recent leaks of the adidas Germany and Spain World Cup 2010 home jerseys, one of the shirt that France will supposedly wear in 2010 has appeared on the internet. As with all leaks, whether of not this kit is real is debatable. Also, its appearance at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa next year [. Click to continue reading...

Argentine ace and Barcelona star Lionel Messi has had quite a year.� After leading Barcelona to an unprecedented treble in the Champions League, La Liga and Copa del Ray he is now up for both the Ballon d'Or (European footballer of the year) and the equally prestigious FIFA World Player of the Year.

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Now that Argentina has qualified to the World Cup ensuring the presence of star player Lionel Messi, barring any injury or outlandish� suspension,� � how� does one� evaluate the comments made by FIFA President Sepp Blatter? Prior to the decisive� qualifiers which yielded � Argentina's qualification to South Africa as well as Portugal's opportunity to do so through a� two-legged playoff clash with Bosnia & Herzegovina, Blatter declared that the World Cup will not be affected if Messi or Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo were missing.

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If the Copa del Rey is played, but hardly anyone cares about it, did it really happen?� To say that some of the La Liga teams think of the cup as a nuisance would be quite an understatement.� With the overloaded fixture list consisting of European and domestic matches, the Copa del Rey is near the bottom of the top teams' priorities.

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Here's the thing : seeding in football - or any other sport for that matter - is a fair and reasonable thing to do.Otherwise, you might end up with a World Cup 2010 qualification group that consisted of Germany, England, Spain and Russia. And, yes, while that may be more exciting than the World Cup itself, it's not unreasonable to keep the best teams apart in order to ensure a thrilling and Click to continue reading...

For almost 60 years, Lyon have been playing in the Stade de Gerland, a venerable old stadium built in 1914 and a World Cup finals venue in 1998. But their recent run of success of eight consecutive championships from 2002 to 2008 has Lyon planning a rich new future at the Grand Stade in eastern Lyon.

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French side locked up, stopped from playing matches The players and staff of Paris St Germain have been quarantined after three players complained they were suffering with symptoms of swine flu. Ludovic Giuly, Mamadou Sakho and Jeremy Clement have all been tested for the virus after complaining of fever, coughing and sore throats. Click to continue reading...

Sixty years ago today, our fine manager was born – Happy Birthday, maybe even you will raise a glass today, no doubt a few fans will

I am sure most of us thought ‘Who the heck is this man?' when he arrived at Highbury to take over from Rioch, and I am even more sure that many of us thought ‘He'll never last' – But he has and now having celebrated 13 years with the club, today he celebrates reaching the ripe old age of 60!

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While USS S365 is on the fritz, I'll drop some bits. A few may be a little behind, but I'll include them just in case somebody missed one...#1 - ESPN ace Steve Davis looks at the state of the USMNT defense. And if you're unaware, Jay DeMerit needed eye surgery for an infection.Both owww and ewww. Get well, JayD! Click to continue reading...

Pep Guardiola cannot believe it either.

After a workmanlike 1-0 victory against Almería and a mediocre showing in their 0-0 draw at the Mestalla against Valencia CF on Saturday, FC Barcelona looked to reverse their form in the Champions League against a supposed weaker team in FK Rubin Kazan.

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Quoth Dr. Frankenstein: It is alive!! I'm gonna try to get A few things up later, but the monster needs to meet with his pillow for a spell...Let's begin with the Catania's Daniele Dessena, who like Buster Bluth before him, has 'built the most bitchingly fast bike'.Our free kick master of the week is Valenciennes' Fahid Ben Khalfallah. Click to continue reading...

Morning everyone. A fantastic Tuesday to you all. Hope you all enjoyed the win over Birmingham at the weekend, which I missed because I was out of town at my cousin's first birthday party. Good result though, and we're right back in the title race with Chelsea losing. But on to other things.
A while back I talked about receiving an offer from SoccerPro. Click to continue reading...

For those on the inside looking out, nary a worse manager reigns in the international realm; for those on the outside looking in...

Viva la Domenech.

What he lacks in coaching abilities, he makes up for in deliciously idiotic words. He's kind of like Maradona without the playing career.

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The draw is in. Eight team compete for the last four spots from the European zone.

France line up against Ireland in a two match playoff next month. In the other head to head, Portugal face Bosnia, Russia play Slovenia, and Greece take on Ukraine.

Raymond Domenech who has survived innumerable calls for his dismissal gets one more chance to silence his critics.

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Most fans in France barely tolerate Raymond Domenech but he has found one in Catherine Renger, a well known chanteur who gives him a dose of unabashed adulation with her song Le Kiffe Raymond ( I fancy Raymond). The lyrics are unlike Leonard Cohen to be sure.

Go on Raymond, you're handsome, you're good
And I imagine just one golden match and then everyone would adore you
And if he attacked my penalty areas I would be without defenders
A transfer, a good pass and long live our colours
Yeah, you're good, you're classy

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The slightly controversial UEFA bridesmaid's draw has taken place and fortunately it's gone off without controversy. Somehow, someway, despite UEFA being involved, Liverpool and Chelsea will not meet. Who knew?

It's rather pedestrian, really, as perhaps the two best teams France and Russia were handed the easiest draw.

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The game swill be played November 14th & 18th. Should be some tense battles.Ireland v France Portugal v Bosnia Greece v Ukraine Russia v Slovenia- Greg Seltzer Click to continue reading...

The Republic of Ireland national football team will have to beat France in order to participate in the 2010 World Cup South Africa. This was decided in Zurich� this afternoon (Monday) in a controversial seeded draw.

The two sides (Ireland and France) last met in the 2006 World Cup qualifying stages sharing a 0-0 draw in Paris; a Thierry Henry goal was the difference between the two sides in Ireland.

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The European World Cup play-offs were drawn today (October 19) and the Republic of Ireland have drawn 1998 winners France.� The Irish will have to beat the French if they are to make it to South Africa and the game should be a cracking occassion.

Of course the French are the favourites with the World Cup 2010 betting odds.

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An impressive 1-0 win by Deportivo La Coruña over Sevilla on Saturday raises Depor to a tie of third place with Sevilla at fifteen points, four points behind league leaders FC Barcelona.� Los blanquiazules have won five of their first seven matches this season, and their only two losses came at the hands of Espanyol 2-3 and Real Madrid 2-3.

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Odd as it may sound, Clint Eastwood was Lyon's guest of honor for their match against Sochaux on Saturday. The elderly badass is in town for the first ever Lyon Film Festival, where he is to receive an award from French director Bertrand Tavernier for his contributions to cinema.

Eastwood probably won't be receiving any awards for his contributions to kicking a football anytime soon, though, as it appears he opted for the awkward high steppin' scoop kick on his ceremonial kickoff.

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