Moody striker would like spot-kick responsibilty When Inter Milan's Mario Balotelli won a penalty five minutes into their match against Palermo last night, he obviously felt that was justification for him taking it. Samuel Eto'o disagreed, pulled rank and placed the ball on the spot. Balotelli continued to stand next to the ball demanding to take the [. Click to continue reading...

A song for South Africa (well, France at least) Sometime we lack skill / And sometimes we lack speed / Who needs Steven Ireland? / Bring back Andy Reid We have all heard of World Cup songs, but World Cup play-off songs might be a new one. Here's To Trapattoni has been written by the Corrigan Brothers [. Click to continue reading...

Next time you see strikers of your club ending the hard to miss situation with terrible shot wide, just remember that you could end with something like this

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Brown-nosing Jack Warner England's 2018 World Cup bid team is planning to give luxury handbags to the wives of all 24 members of Fifa's voting committee. And Fifa vice-president Jack Warner - the most vociferous supporter of bidding countries showing exactly how much they want the tournament via the medium of gifts for committee members - [. Click to continue reading...

In anticipation of World Cup 2010, from time to time Premiership Talk will review some of the interesting topics in international football. This week we'll start with the list of the ten best players who have never appeared in the World Cup, courtesy of World Cup Odds. You can vote for your choice at their website.

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At last, a way of proving Obafemi Martins is actually 47 years old! Players representing their country at the forthcoming Under-17 World Cup will have their wrists scanned to make sure they are not too old to compete. FIFA has introduced the MRI scans for the tournament, which begins on Saturday, to end accusations that some [. Click to continue reading...

Hold on to your Ballacks. Frings are getting dangerous The security team responsible for ensuring the safety of the Germany national team has warned that players will be expected to wear bullet-proof vests during next summer's World Cup. While the garments will probably not be compulsory on the pitch, the squad will be expected to wear [. Click to continue reading...

Chelsea came out of a disappointing weekend in the Premier League at Villa Park with an emphatic 4-0 over Athletico Madrid at Stamford Bridge. The attack from the Londoners in their Group D encounter was relentless, as Ivory Coast International, Salomon Kalou scored in both the halves. Lampard scored one of the other goals, whereas Luis [. Click to continue reading...

Though the international break is now all but lost in our memory banks after the dramas of this weekend's latest round of beach ball infested Premier League action and a Champions League match day filled with more shocks than a lightning storm in Tokyo, I must drag your attention back to my post from last [. Click to continue reading...

With the Ballon d'Or nominations finally releasing this weekend, the headlines have mostly been devoted to the fact that world champions Italy have no representation whatsoever. But why blame the press for paying excessive attention to an irrelevant detail? After all, the award itself is destined to be heading Lionel Messi's way, which means very little is there to be talked about in terms of debating the winner, right?

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Argentina, Slovakia, Switzerland and Honduras are the latest national teams to book their ticket to South Africa and there are just nine more places left. Six more participants will be decided through play-offs, while we are still waiting for Cameroon, Tunisia and Algeria to ensure their place at the World Cup.

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Peter Crouch, for all his sins, made the strongest case possible to be included in the England squad for the World Cup in South Africa next summer. And, despite his two goals and general dominant display, it wasn't enough to stop ITV and Steve Bruce's love-in with David Beckham. The decision to award Goldenballs with the man of the match award was more like handing Osama Bin Laden the Nobel Peace Prize, rather than Fabio Capello's particular analogy. Click to continue reading...

The untold pain a late US goal caused to Honduran larynges These radio presenters were resigned to Honduras failing to qualify for the World Cup with Costa Rica still beating USA. An American goal five minutes into injury time changed all that. The duo embark on an entertaining riff on the word 'gol' before one of [. Click to continue reading...

1. The governing bodies have finally succeeded in stacking the deck so firmly in favour of the major footballing nations that it is almost impossible for them not to qualify. Portugal won just two of their first seven games, but still managed to reach the playoffs simply because over the course of such a long group, they had time to recover.

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Could Man United star Dimitar Berbatov be hitting some goal scoring form? Last night he scored not one, not two, but three goals for Bulgaria. This coincides with the news that Berbatov has become a dad- congratulations to him and his girlfriend.
The Bulgarian captain and Man United striker helped his team to a comfortable 6-2 win over Georgia at the Vassil Levski stadium in Sofia. Click to continue reading...

1. Peter Crouch's gangly legs are not supposed to be involved in six-yard tap-ins. They were made for bicycle kicks. 2. David Beckham has brown hair, a ginger moustache and a black beard. What is that all about? 3. Twin, dwarf, right-footed wingers is probably not a viable tactical option against decent opposition. Click to continue reading...

Now when will I get my chance Arsene?

Finally it's over. There will be no more interruption from my beloved Arsenal. Well, not at least until next season when the qualifying round for the European Championship begins anyway. I'm sure there will be more international games to come between now and next May but at least it would not be for a whole 12-14 days.

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And apparently Diego feels vindicated by this narrow escape Diego Maradona again enjoyed some jubilant celebrations after another late winner from his Argentina side. Mario Bolatti's scruffy goal five minutes from time ensured Argentina qualified for next year's World Cup. Despite their uneasy qualifying campaign and the uncertain performance in beating Uruguay last night, Maradona decided to [. Click to continue reading...

Dimitar Berbatov and Nani weren't the only players on the International scoresheet last night. Zoran Tosic also scored in Serbia's 2-1 defeat against Lithuania.

"VIDEO: Tosic Scores Skillful Goal For Serbia" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia. Click to continue reading...

England coach doesn't think Becks was man of the match Fabio Capello took a slight dig at David Beckham after his bearded substitute received the man of the match award against Belarus. The Italian compared ITV pundit and Sunderland manager Steve Bruce's decision to give the award to Beckham to Barack Obama receiving the Nobel peace [. Click to continue reading...

A roundup of news about Bolton Wanderers players who have been on international duty this week.

South Korea 2 – 0 Senegal

Bolton's Lee Chong–yong assisted Ki Sung-yong in getting on the score sheet in the friendly against Senegal in Seoul. Celtic's Sung–yong took South Korea ahead with a shot from 20 metres a few minutes before half–time.

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Dimitar Berbatov scored a hat-trick for Bulgaria in their 6-2 win over Georgia.

"VIDEO: Berbatov Bags Three For Bulgaria" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia. Click to continue reading...

Nani opened the scoring for Portugal in their 4-0 win over Malta which sees them through the play-offs.

"VIDEO: Nani's Great Goal For Portugal Tonight" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia. Click to continue reading...

Crocked Real Madrid star's pompous message of support to Portugal squad We know that arrogance isn't usually a trait you would associate with Cristiano Ronaldo but it seems his big head has got the better of him on this occasion. The self-appointed king/saviour/general of the Portuguese people/national team has felt the need to release a statement [. Click to continue reading...

For the home teams at least, its pretty much decided. With one match left to play tonight in each European group only the fate of England come next summer is secure. They sit six points of clear of current play-off place-holders Ukraine, who could be dispossessed by third place Croatia (a team who had a shockingly excellent run in the Euros last year) who have a much superior goal difference. Click to continue reading...

Svennis set to turn down North Korea role Notts County director of football Sven Goran Eriksson is reportedly set to reject an offer to coach North Korea at next summer's World Cup. The communist state wanted Eriksson to take the role on a temporary basis for the duration of the tournament. A 'close friend' of Eriksson's said: [. Click to continue reading...

Tabloid offers pretty low reward for pretty impossible task The Czech Republic recognises that its chances of qualifying for the World Cup are pretty bleak. They need to beat Northern Ireland tonight and hope that minnows San Marino can beat Slovenia to allow them to sneak into a play-off spot. Czech newspaper Blesk is offering San [. Click to continue reading...

An ulterior motive for England keeper's red card? Last time Robert Green faced Belarus it put paid to his World Cup dream. The England goalkeeper handed the opposition a goal when he injured himself taking a goal-kick. The injury ruled him out of the 2006 World Cup, so maybe he is better out of harm's way [. Click to continue reading...

Who is able to provide the Neville brothers with the bunk beds they long for? Channel Bee has been wading through TripAdvisor to find the best possible World Cup bases for England. But which South African hoteliers are willing to go furthest to accommodate the squad?

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1. Even great defenders can forget how to defend Rio Ferdinand picked up from his shocker in the Manchester derby last month with another somewhat dubious display of decision-making as Robert Green became England's first dismissal of the Capello era. However, the game presented a perfect ‘can do no wrong' opportunity for the English: win [. Click to continue reading...

Bees! Quick, call the fire brigade! The World Cup qualifier between Mexico and El Salvador was held up for ten minutes after a swarm of bees decided to make their home in the stadium. The pesky swarm decided El Salvador keeper Miguel Montes' net was the perfect vantage point to watch the game. Montes disagreed. Click to continue reading...

The World Cup is just around the corner and the players whose national teams have qualified for the biggest tournament in sports are trying to find a way to book themselves a ticket on the plane to South Africa. Some ‘smaller' national teams' coaches face problems as their key players are not getting enough playing time in their clubs, but who could have though Fabio Capello would have one such problem.

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Under-fire coach quite pleased with last-minute winner Argentina coach Diego Maradona knows his position is under-threat after a woeful qualifying campaign. So when you see his highlights from Saturday's match against Peru, you can tell he is a man under pressure (except for in the hair department, where he is brilliant Just For Men jet black). Click to continue reading...

Internationals breaks rarely make for interesting viewing. Even this one, which concludes the group stages in Europe, only has a few games that actually mean anything, and won't be half as exciting as the playoffs that follow. Those, of course, are being seeded at the last minute because FIFA panicked at the possibility of two of the big guns facing each other and causing one to miss the showpiece.

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"PICTURES: United Players In Action This Week" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia. Click to continue reading...