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...

There are a number of international friendlies on Wednesday, November 18, 2009. Many of the top countries who have qualified for next summer's World Cup Final include Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Germany, and the United States. Our other site, Free Live Sports TV, will be providing live coverage of the matches at the links below.

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It is being reported locally that Indonesia's friendly against Iran has been cancelled and that they will play Singapore instead on 2 November in Singapore. Click to continue reading...

FIFA doesn't easily forgive or forget when it comes to World Cup seedings.
If the U.S. goes to South Africa next year, hanging over its head will be losses to Germany, Iran and Yugoslavia (1998) and to the Czech Republic and Ghana (2006). And, even should the U.S. remain high in the FIFA rankings and win the CONCACAF qualifying group, it has almost no chance of being selected as a seeded team. Click to continue reading...

Things have gone pretty quiet on the Persisam front but now comes news they are negotiating with Thai Port for international striker Pipat Thonkanya.
According to this article Persisam and Thai Port have agreed a price for the 30 year old and are now negotiating a release date.
I'm always wary whenever Persisam say they are interested in Thais. Click to continue reading...

Where is the Prince?
Last season the Nigerian came in from Iran where he had played for Sepahan and joined a Persitara team that alternated between dream and nightmare. Prince, an old shool English centre forward impressed, putting himself about, getting where the knocks were, working hard and scoring goals, some very spectacular. Click to continue reading...

If you were hoping to see a USA-Iran friendly later this year, you won't be getting your wish.

As might be expected, the current political instability in Iran has made scheduling a USA-Iran friendly a difficult proposition, but Iran's top soccer official has gone public stating that the teams will play each other after the 2010 World Cup.

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Los argentinos con todo y Maradona y Leo Messi pueden quedar fuera del mundial 2010 o por lo menos iran a repechaje. Este sabado Brasil los humillo en casa y los orgullosos argentinos no podran echarle la culpa a las porterias brasileras como las del vídeo.
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Gana en Futblog y Facebook la camiseta oficial de la seleccion nacional tricolor autografiada Click to continue reading...

ESPN probably thinks he's evil for getting suspended for tonight's nationally-televised game.
The bug eyes are creepy though.
Now the links:

• A lame Man. City fan. [Off the Post]
  
• Tevez still on the bench. Snicker. [Pies]
  
• How to sell out on a tackle.

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[101 Great Goals] On Wednesday, Maradona was so disgusted by Jesus Datolo's goal in this wholly useless friendly that he frolicked around on the ground in a tight embrace with his young stead. Nothing curious there. And just yesterday, we saw the same thing between two teammates of Esteghlal Ahwaz of the Iranian Premier League but they, [. Click to continue reading...

Getting bent out of shape. But Daniel Levy has never been a class act himself.

A note on Twitter. It was praised for its real time look into the Iran uprising against Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's tainted election. This is a great example of Twitter being used for all the wrong reasons.

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(Recently that is....) Just how sneaky and devious can the Makems really be? For instance, could they have infiltrated Iranian media to spread malicious rumours and create a second take-over hoax? I imagine the search keys 'Sirous Mahjoob' and 'Toon takeover' and the F5 key have been seriously hammered today. Click to continue reading...

Something to read after you peruse Emmanuel Adebayor's Michael-Owen-style brochure... Full thing available in PDF format at Arseblog. Marketing Gooch, Milan style (Studs Up) Homeless World Cup filmmaker competition (The Bit Bucket) Six things Newcastle United need to do (Newcastle Offside) Iraq playing at home for first time since 2002 (AP) Getting ready for Robocup 2009 (Oddity Central) Mehdi Mahdavikia's goodbye (Revolutionary [. Click to continue reading...

According to Grant Wahl's Twitter, ESPN does not own the rights to the big Mexico-US game from the Azteca on Aug. 12. The price is "extortionate".
Some people are taking this an yet another opportunity to talk about how much ESPN hates soccer, or ESPN sucks, or whatever else they want to blame ESPN for in the world (MJ? Click to continue reading...

DMB has admittedly had the year from hell (fell out of favor at Rangers and floundering at the national-team level).
He's chalking it up as an off year and vows to come back strong.
That would be lovely.
Now the links:

• C-Ron calls his former league too physical.

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Went to see Singapore take on Thailand in this Under 14 competition and the Thais wiped the floor with the hosts. Singapore went into the game on a bit of a high after losing 2-1 to Iran with Hanafi scoring the goal. Cue the headlines the next day calling him the new Indra.
Having seen Indra later on that evening I think I could be the new Indra! Click to continue reading...

Seven stories you might have missed this week... Don't like your team's new strip? Change it. Tell us who your team should sign this summer The most disappointing player of all time? So Spain have anything to worry about? Can an African team win the World Cup in 2010? The Vuvuzela: get used to it Four very suspicious "retirements" in Iran Click to continue reading...

Nico Pitney's Huffpost liveblog contains the following petition:

To the U.S. soccer team players:

Please consider wearing green wristbands in your upcoming match in the Confederations Cup finale. It would be a sign of solidarity and compassion for your fellow soccer brethren who were banned from the game they love and face unthinkable repercussions for simply adorning a green wristband symbolizing peace and freedom.

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Soccerlens looks at our Brazilian future.

Dear Mr Spooky blog makes me laugh.

101 Great Goals shows footage of the Confederations Cup semi in which USA beat Spain aka Liverpool.

The Guardian writes about how Iran's politics is having an effect on their football.

"RoM Reads" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia. Click to continue reading...

Momentous times for Iran, last week they were eliminated from participating in the soccer World Cup Finals in South Africa in 2010. During their fateful last game, several of the nation's players wore rebel green armbands in solidarity with their compatriots fighting in the streets. Soccer in Iran is more popular than politics and revolution.

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Four of the six Iranian footballers who wore green armbands in Iran's 1-1 draw with South Korea in a recent World Cup qualifier have been handed life bans from the national team.
Ali Karimi, 31, team captain Mehdi Mahdavikia, 32, Hosein Ka'abi, 24 and Vahid Hashemian, 32 have been "retired" from national team duty and are reported to have had their passports confiscated. Click to continue reading...

I will never understand this.

Rival fan groups in Argentina, who support and love the very same team Huracan, a club favored to win the championship went to war with each other during and after a home win against Arsenal (Argentina's Arsenal, not Wenger's), resulting in two deaths.

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I know the country is not the "miss congeniality", but how cool is that? Since 1966, when Portugal eliminated them with a 5-3, North Korea does not play a World Cup. Even cooler? South Korea will be there, forcing commentators to say "North" or "South" instead of just "Korea". The qualification came after a 0 draw with Saudi Arabia.

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The Daily Show With Jon StewartMon - Thurs 11p / 10cIrandecision 2009 - Iranian Soccer Solidaritythedailyshow.comDaily Show Full EpisodesPolitical HumorJason Jones in Iran- Greg Seltzer Click to continue reading...

Group 2
North Korea have become the fourth and final team from Asia to win an automatic qualification spot for World Cup 2010.
The North Koreans went into yesterday's final round of matches in Group 2 already occupying second place behind South Korea and only needed a draw to confirm their place in South Africa next year. Click to continue reading...

Something to read while admitting you were duped by a Liverpool Sign Bent headline today... From World Cup winners to mid-table mediocrity (ThreeMatchBan) Michael Owen's biggest selling point... (Studs Up) Are football kits getting worse? (Football Filter) Shamrock Rovers prepare to face Ronaldo (BBC) Selecting the albiceleste, soap opera style (Kickette) Bafana Bafana fans aren't booing Booth (Reuters Soccer Blog) Team Melli [. Click to continue reading...

South Korea's match with Iran in Seoul was always going to be a tense affair, what with the political situation in Iran and the fact that the visitors needed a win to stay in contention for a World Cup place.
However there was a moment of light relief. When Korea equalised Iran's opener, through Man Utd's Park Ji-sung, they decide the best way to celebrate is to get down on their hands and knees and form some kind of train (0. Click to continue reading...

"VIDEO: Captain Park Scores Against Iran" was originally published at The Republik of Mancunia. Click to continue reading...

Err, what just happened?
News has reached us that North Korea have qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time since 1966 following a goalless draw in Saudi Arabia.
Iran's failure to defeat South Korea in Seoul earlier meant that North Korea only needed a draw in Riyadh and they held out to join their neighbours, South Korea in the finals. Click to continue reading...

Regardless of your politics you have to admit that it takes big, brass balls the size of Bruce Arena's ego to do what some members of Iran's national team did today. If you hadn't heard, 8 members of the selection wore green armbands showing support for the opposition of sitting president/despot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during their World Cup qualifier against South Korea.

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World Cup qualifying: Iran needed to beat South Korea to qualify for SA 2010. The political dimension of the game, however, made it, shall we say, a political football...
Eight Iranian players wore green wristbands and the captain, Ali Karimi, wore a green armband, showing support for the embattled Mir Hossein Mousavi. Click to continue reading...

During the first half of the Group 2 Asian World Cup qualifier in Seoul between South Korea and Iran six of the Iranian team including the captain wore green wristbands in a show of support for the ongoing protests over the disputed elections in Iran.
The players removed their wristbands for the second half after officials of the Iranian team asked them to do so. Click to continue reading...

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart Mon Thurs 11p / 10c Long Island Wants to Secede www.thedailyshow.com Daily Show
Full Episodes Political Humor Jason Jones in Iran

Three hour traffic jams? "Cocksuckers from Massapequa?" The conjoined twin of New Jersey? "No homos?" Yep, that's my home.

One thing the Senator got wrong, though.

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For South Korea, the 2010 World Cup qualification campaign is almost over and first place in the group guaranteed. There is still one act to be played out however and it promises to be an intriguing one.
The final game takes place on Wednesday. South Korea have bagged the first of two automatic qualification spots which leaves one up for grabs. Click to continue reading...

El Barça tras haber logrado el ansiado 'triplete' está buscando piezas que le ayude a mejorar aún más su calidad para la temporada que viene, una temporada que será muy dura ya que habrá mundial y copa de áfrica y el Barça jugara 3 competiciones más (supercopa de españa, supercopa de europa y mundialito). Click to continue reading...