The World Cups have, especially in the start, been the complete dominance of South America and
Europe. Therefore, throughout the 1950's and 1960's, the "rest of the world", that is, Asia, Africa
and Australia had to play between them for one meager qualifying spot.For the 1966 World Cup in
England, this "rest-of-the-world" spot went to the small and closed Communist dictatorship of North
Corea.
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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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One of the players playing extremely well at the moment is Genoa fantasista Raffaele
Palladino. Palladino has always been a player that could do things with the ball that
others could only dream of doing, but he never had the consistency to show that talent at a high
level.
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Netherlands manager Bert van Marwijk has named his 23-man squad friendly international matches
against Italy on November 14th and Paraguay on November 18th. Squad: Goalkeepers: Maarten
Stekelenburg (Ajax Amsterdam), Michel Vorm (Utrecht), Piet Velthuizen (Vitesse Arnhem) Defenders:
John Heitinga (Everton), Joris Mathijsen (Hamburg SV), Edson Braafheid (Bayern Munich), Gregory van
der Wiel (Ajax Amsterdam), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), [.
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The US Under-17s are out of the Fifa U-17 World Cup after a tough loss to Italy.  I saw less
of their World Cup play than I wanted, but a few thoughts remain hard to shake.
Maturity is over-rated at least in soccer.  The game against the UAE
reminded me most why watching the occasional youth game is so refreshing: even in a pressure
situation the 'kids' tend to play with an offense-first mindset and a penchant for flair that will
very likely (and sadly) be taught out of them in the pro ranks.
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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.
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Juan Pablo Sorin officially ended his playing career yesterday in the farewell game between
Cruzeiro and the club where he began his footballing career, Argentinos Juniors.
Sorin's had a really impressive career.
From his success with River Plate to his transfer at a very young age to Juventus.
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goalpost.tv 05 November @ 07:53 AM EST
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 [.
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With the American team eliminated from the FIFA U-17 World Cup after a 2-1 loss to Italy, an
evaluation of the team's performance -- in their knockout round match Wednesday with Italy and in
the tournament in general -- is really a matter of recognizing that there are two sides to every
coin.
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UPDATE: According to ESPN Soccernet, Andrea Dossena's agent
Roberto La Florio played down any rumor that his client is set to join
Napoli. He told tuttomercatoweb.it,
"We will wait until the international break to evaluate and talk to Andrea .
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The U.S. Under-17 Men's National Team continued their quest for the FIFA U-17 World Cup this
morning with a Round of 16 match-up against Italy. Italy took a lead in the 29th minute through AC
Milan's Giacomo Beretta. Follow the match at U.S. soccer's Twitter, ESPN360.com or the U.S. Soccer
match tracker.
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Roma-Inter from May of 1999 is another highly entertaining game from one of the most
entertaining Serie A seasons of all time. The 1998-99 season had 3 leaders of the table (for the
first part of the season it was Fiorentina, who were winter champions but were then hurt by the
injury of Batistuta, then Lazio, who looked on their way to the Scudetto but fell off form towards
the end, and then Milan who surprised everyone and stole the Scudetto on the last day).
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I think headaches should be outlawed on Wednesdays. I mean, you are as far removed from the most
recent weekend as you are from getting to the next one. That's enough misery. A headache on
Wednesday is overkill. I vote "no" on Wednesday headaches. What say you?#1 - Chivas USA netminding
monster Zach Thornton was tabbed as the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year for a second time today.
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The Offside 04 November @ 12:46 PM EST
It's probably not news to you that Juve and Italy's Gigi Buffon is quite good at the old
goalkeeping. But just in case there was any doubt, take a look at his save vs Maccabi Haifa in
Champions League Group A yesterday. First the close-range block, then the elastic lean backwards to
palm it away from [.
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The United States exited the FIFA Under-17 World Cup at the knockout stage, losing 2-1 to Italy at
the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna, Nigeria. In the 18th-minute, Jack McInerney's penalty attempt
was saved by Italy keeper Francesco Bardi. This was Bardi's first game in the tournament, starting
in place of injured keeper Mattia Perin.
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The game is in the 20th minute and U.S. ace Jack McInerney has just seen a penalty kick saved by
the the Italy keeper.As always, you can follow along at the U.S. Matchtracker or watch on
ESPN360.Back with the major updates only, followed by the wrap...--29'Beretta puts Italy ahead
1-0.- Greg Seltzer
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The U.S. Under-17 men's national team will look to extend its winning streak to three games
today when it takes on Italy in the second round of the Under-17 World Cup in Nigeria (10pm,
ESPN360.com).
The Americans defeated Malawi and United Arab Emirates to reach this stage, and now face a
strong Italian team that rolled to the second round.
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We'll have live commentary of the US-Italy U-17 World Cup knock out stage match beginning at 11
am ET/8 am PT.
No related posts.
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Yanks Abroad 04 November @ 07:44 AM EST
The United States will face perennial world soccer power Italy on Wednesday in the FIFA U-17 World
Cup, and making it to the knockout stage of the tournament has been behind the backbone of a stingy
defense.
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According to Simone Bargellini at Sky Sports News, Liverpool defender
Andrea Dossena has been linked with Napoli. His agent
Roberto La Florio said,
"It is clear that in January Napoli will sign new players, especially in the role of Dossena
.
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Having been linked with Manchester United and Real Madrid earlier this year, Inter Milan's right
back Maicon has now found himself linked with none other than Manchester City. His agent, Antonio
Caliendo, has quashed these rumors, suggesting that City is too small of a club for Maicon.
"Every day there's a story linking Maicon to a different club," said Caliendo.
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After finishing second in Group E at the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup, the U.S. continues its run in
the Round of 16 when they face Italy on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. CT). Despite
an opening loss to eventual group winner Spain, the Americans bounced back for key wins against
Malawi and United Arab Emirates to earn six points and a chance to play against the Group F
winners.
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After finishing second in Group E at the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup, the U.S. continues its run in
the Round of 16 when they face Italy on Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 4 p.m. local time (9 a.m. CT). Despite
an opening loss to eventual group winner Spain, the Americans bounced back for key wins against
Malawi and United Arab Emirates to earn six points and a chance to play against the Group F
winners.
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Dirty Tackle 03 November @ 02:22 PM EST
There has been a steady stream of rumors about Maicon potentially leaving Inter since last
summer, though nothing has come of them and it seems nothing will. Says Maicon's agent, Antonio
Caliendo:
"Every day there's a story linking Maicon to a different club. First it was Real Madrid, then
Manchester United and now City.
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Yanks Abroad 03 November @ 12:49 PM EST
The United States U-17 team takes on Italy in a round of 16 match-up Wednesday night in Kaduna,
looking to advance against the European powers in the FIFA U-17 World Cup.
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A few nice goals this week, but nothing extraordinary. Giuseppe Mascara scored one of his
trademark wonder-goals, and Marco Borriello got back on the scoresheet with 2 goals (the second a
nice scissor kick) after almost a year. Diego Milito got back to his scoring ways as well after
being absent through injury, and Mirko Vucinic finally scored his first goal of the season.
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Dirty Tackle 02 November @ 03:19 PM EST
When we last left Jose Mourinho's tongue, it was being stuck out at the crowd after an injury
time winner against Udinese. Here it makes another appearance, albeit just a cameo, after Inter's
second goal against Livorno on Sunday, accompanied by some kind of Michael Jackson type hand
motion.
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Napoli won vs. Juventus in Torino for the first time since November 20, 1988, when Maradona's
Napoli won 5-3. Since then, there had been 11 wins and 5 ties, and Napoli hadn't scored in Torino
since March of 1998. This Napoli side has been rejuvenated under Walter Mazzarri, and they have
shown they have a never say die attitude that keeps them working for the full 90 minutes.
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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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HexagonalBlog 02 November @ 12:52 AM EST
The group phase of the U-17 World Cup is now over, and Mexico and the USA are the only two CONCACAF
sides in the knockout stages. USA defeated UAE 1-0 on Sunday to finish second in their group, while
Mexico beat Japan 2-0 on Friday to finish second in Group B. Now the Mexicans will face South Korea
in their round of 16 match, and the Americans will play Italy.
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Dirty Tackle 01 November @ 08:02 PM EST
After disappointing performances in Sampdoria's 5-1 thrashing by Juventus and 0-0 draw with
newly promoted giant tripper uppers Bari not to mention the fact that he only has one goal in 10
league matches this season Antonio Cassano was jeered by a section of his home supporters on Sunday
and as you might have expected, he has severely overreacted.
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