The Africa Cup of Nations group stage draw was released on Friday at the Talatona Convention Centre in Luanda with the hosts Angola being drawn in a somewhat easy Group A alongside Algeria, Mali and Malawi. This tournament will be a must win for the 'Palancas Negras' after they failed to reach the Finals of the FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

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For the third time in row Barca failed to win their La Liga match after an international break. They are known to carry their form in La Liga to the UEFA Champions League, and if that happen we will definitely see holders Barca getting knocked out of the Champions League in the group stage. Click to continue reading...

Rafa Benitez has called on Lyon to restore France's battered reputation - and help Liverpool complete another Euro miracle.
The Reds need Lyon to go from 'cheats' to emblems of fair play against Fiorentina on Tuesday - even though the French club has already qualified for the Champions League group stage. Click to continue reading...

17 arrests for a match fixing scandal which affects 200 matches in nine European countries.

The matches include the Bundesliga second division, and the leagues in Belgium, Switzerland, Croatia, Slovenia, Turkey, Hungary, Bosnia and Austria. 12 Europa matches and 3 CL matches are said to be manipulated this year, and it is unclear as to whether it is the group stage or qualifying rounds.

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Following their defeat to Chelsea, I read a couple of articles writing off Manchester United's title hopes. This feels absurdly early to me, so ahead of this weekend's Premiership matches here are 4 reasons why I reckon Manchester United will be lifting the Premier League title in May 2010.

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2010 is on the horizon and it's safe to say that it's been a wonderful decade for football. We here at Footy Factor have taken the opportunity to celebrate the greatest teams, players, and matches of the past 10 years. Next up...

Upset of the Decade

Winner: Senegal 1 – France 0 (2002 World Cup, Group Stage).

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After an extended vacation, I am back writing the blog. The coming week could turn out to be the most important week for FC Barcelona this season. After achieving a historic treble, no team would like to be thrown out of UEFA Champions League in the group stage, but the chances are pretty high for that to happen. Click to continue reading...

The 2010 World Cup Qualification process has finished and all of the 32 teams have been determined. There aren't too many surprises as many of the favorites such as Brazil, Spain, Italy, and England will all be there. Some nations such as France and Argentina struggled to advance but in the end will be there in South Africa.

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I was pleasantly surprised to see the U.S. beating Denmark 1-0 at the half when I was able to tune in yesterday.
Jeff Cunningham with the goal? That was hard to comprehend too.
I must have been a bad luck charm because right after a starting watching, Denmark couldn't stop scoring and the Danes eventually pulled out the 3-1 win. Click to continue reading...

It has been all about Thierry Henry and his "Hand of God" this past 24 hours. Articles, comments, they are everywhere, lambasting the striker for his role in the controversial equaliser. I am a Gooner, and Henry scored the goal which mesmerized me into pledging my allegiance to Arsenal.

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Now that we know the teams that will be making it to South Africa for the World Cup finals, i think its time we all took the bold step of picking our favorites to win the tournament. I know many of you might say that the right time to do this will be after the group stage draw that will happen in about two weeks time on the 4th of December.

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The World Cup winners in 1930 and 1950 became the last team to qualify for South Africa 2010 thanks to a draw with Costa Rica at the Centenario in Montevideo. Substitute Sebastian Abreu - who plays for Aris Salonika in Greece -Â put the hosts ahead 70 minutes but Costa Rica equalised when Deportivo Saprissa's Walter Centeno scored four minutes later.

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So we approach the end of another Asian Cup qualifying round and how much closer are South ast Asian nations to qualifying? In 2007 thanks to some political compromise there were four countries in Asia's flagship national team competition; Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam. For 2011 in Qatar they may be just one. Click to continue reading...

At the Olympic Stadium, Greece drew 0-0 with Ukraine in the first leg of their World Cup playoff. Tomorrow night, the 2nd leg with take place at another Olympic Stadium, this time in Kyiv. It really should be a tough affair with it all to play for and a place in the tournament in South Africa.

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On Saturday night, Russia defeated Slovenia 2-1 in the first leg of their World Cup Playoff, in Russia. Russia had gone 2-0 up, thanks to a double from Diniyar Bilyaletdinov, however Slovenia scored in the 88th minute with a goal from Nejc Pecnik, that has kept the Slovenians alive in the tie, especially with a crucial away goal.

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A Singapore defeat is always good news for the media there. Reluctant to write about the game generally, once the national team fails to win the World Cup or even win a group stage game all the whiners come crawling out from under their toadstools they call home and sing the usual refrain. Chuffed to pieces they are at being given another opportunity to rant and rave. Click to continue reading...

Europe
With four places left to be filled, the eight best runners-up from the group stage took to the field on Saturday to kick-off the first leg of the European play-offs.
In Dublin, Ireland battled tenaciously against the visiting French team but somewhat frustrating played true to form, i. Click to continue reading...

Well, I just finished gnashing my teeth, rending my clothes, and dropping down to my knees, head thrust upward, yelling "Why, God? Why?!" I think now I can almost think rationally about this.

The big news is that the injury is not quite as bad as it had been first thought. Originally, everyone was reporting 2-3 months, some of the more sensationalist English papers were saying out for the season.

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A number of players can stake a claim for being part of the best team in the world at this early period of the European domestic leagues. However, very few players standout the way those listed below have in terms of their contribution to their team, their role as leaders, and certainly their crucial involvement in their respective clubs.

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The days of the great broad expressway to South Africa 2010 are decisively past: the struggle now has moved onto a narrow mountain pass. Every victory won today was as thin as it may be decisive. And it wasn't merely Europe – many held their breath across the world today. Few have cause to exhale yet.

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It was an important day in all the regions as the final spots for the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa are being deteremined. In UEFA there are eight teams competing for four spots in two legged ties. The first leg was on Saturday with the second coming on Wednesday, November 18, 2009. There are two playoff matches between regions including the AFC/OFC Playoff and CONCACAF/CONMEBOL Playoff.

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by TRAVIS CLARK

One game, everything to play for. When tonight's World Cup playoff between Bahrain and New Zealand (2am, FSC) kicks off, the winner claims a spot in South Africa, while the loser faces the prospect of missing the tournament once again.

Neither side is a prominent soccer nation, yet the underlying feeling is that the winning nation's program would receive a much-needed shot in the arm.

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So we are just shy of being one-third of the way through the season and we're already at our third (!) interlull. When we return, it will be crunch time with 11 matches in the next 42 days, including Chelsea at home, Liverpool away, the final CL group stage fixtures, and, of course, City away in the Carling Cup quarterfinals.

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Recently, Palmeiras and Sport played some thrilling and decisive matches, with one side side usually celebrating at the end. Sport eliminated Palmeiras from Copa do Brasil. Palmeiras eliminated Sport from Libertadores and before that they battled in the group stage.

Last night in Sao Paulo, Palmeiras and Sport tied in 2 goals for the 35th round of Brasileirao.

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2009, has been a very complicated year for US National Team supporters. We've had the high of our first ever FIFA final combined with the low of a 5-0 loss to arch rival Mexico. We beat World Cup qualifier Honduras four times this year and gave Spain its only loss of the last three years.

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Nassim Ben Khalifa, the face of the U17 Swiss squad

In a few minutes the Swiss U-17 squad will take the field to face Colombia in the U17 World Cup semi-final. It is worth commenting that one has to look once or twice to find a name of Swiss extraction in the squad.

Nassim Ben Khalifa, their pre-eminent striker is a second generation Swiss with Tunisian roots.

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On Saturday 14th November 2009, Portugal play Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first leg of their World Cup playoff. This is a really tough one to predict for me, as Portugal have really struggled in the group stage and Bosnia appear to have a strong side. Sports retailers will certainly be hoping for a Portuguese victory, as they are likely to be one of the best selling World Cup Jerseys likely to be among the best selling kits next summer.

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On Saturday 14th November 2009, Portugal play Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first leg of their World Cup playoff. This is a really tough one to predict for me, as Portugal have really struggled in the group stage and Bosnia appear to have a strong side. Sports retailers will certainly be hoping for a Portuguese victory, as they are likely to be one of the best selling World Cup Jerseys likely to be among the best selling kits next summer.

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Tonight Chelsea travel to Madrid for the reverse fixture in our Champions League group stage against Atletico Madrid. In our first game we totally outplayed Madrid and kept Forlan and Aguero quiet. Expect it to be alot different as they are unbeaten at home this season. It will be interesting to see if Ancelotti rotates the squad from our last game. Click to continue reading...

The FIFA World Cup 2010 welcomes Chile to South Africa after they qualified in an impressive second place. This will be the first time they have qualified for the finals since 1998 (they were banned from qualifying for 1990 and 1994 after their 'keeper feigned injury during a qualification match against Brazil). Click to continue reading...

The timing could never had been better. Precisely ten years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, another barrier in Europe is being taken down: the wall between the strong and the weak of European football; between the Champions League and the Europa League; between the Big Four and the Little 16.

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There was a lot of action in topflight soccer last week, with a full suite of Champions League, Europa League and domestic competition on tap. After the dust settled, however, the number one team is the same one it's been for three weeks running now. Not that anybody should be surprised by that. There was plenty of movement elsewhere in the top 25 however. Click to continue reading...

The group stage is now in the books, with a few notable names getting tripped up at the first hurdle as the field narrowed from 32 to 16. Now things start to get really interesting as we move to the single elimination phase of our program. While my... Click to continue reading...

Liverpool will not be forced to sell off key players if the club make an early exit from the Champions League, co-owner Tom Hicks said.
"None of our star players will be sold, regardless of results," the American told the Sunday Mirror. "The club is doing very well due to rapidly growing commercial revenues. Click to continue reading...

This weekend could be the most important weekend of Chelsea's season and they may be looking back fondly in May when they are lifting the Premiership trophy.

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It was confirmed on Friday that the Chelsea transfer ban was being suspended by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

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