There was a point yesterday – just before Sunderland scored their freak goal – when I was thinking: we need to change this game from the bench, but who can we bring on? We have no quality on the bench!

Silly me.

All it took was one Ramsey pot shot, one sublime cross from Arshavin and one trademark Henry finish to prove that Arsène Wenger still knows what he's doing.

Next year's CONCACAF Champions League competition will look significantly different from current and previous versions. Ted Howard, CONCACAF's acting general secretary, announced today that the preliminary round would be eliminated from the competition, and all 24 qualifying clubs will proceed directly to a group stage containing eight groups of three teams each.

So Bob Bradley calls:

"Sigi, I was reading your blog and saw your thing, whatever that thing was on Run of Play, was that even a thing? About being a woman without women, and I'm like really? You're such a douche."

"Really? I just think they should write about women's soccer more. Some.

Why watching the FA Cup 'with' Budweiser won't be everyone's glass of beer

It's only beginning to dawn, with the third round in sight, that the oldest cup competition in the world is now called "The FA Cup with Budweiser." Not the Budweiser FA Cup, as that would sound like they were endorsing alcohol.

After winning the group which consisted of Marseille, Borussia Dortmund and Olympiakos, Arsenal will now be put into pot 1 in the Champions league draw. Here we would face one of the group runners up in the first knockout round of the Champions League. I shall now analyse every possible opponent we could face in [.

I'm going to take a small break from writing about Arsenal today to vent on a subject that has infuriated me since listening to the European Championship draw on Friday evening, and that is the supreme arrogance of English pundits with regard to the national team. We all know that England are forever overhyped before major tournaments, but it is the dismissive contempt for many of the other countries (those not called Spain, Germany or Italy) that winds me up the most.

With co-hosts Poland and Ukraine placed in the first pot of the Euro 2012 draw, there was bound to be at least one brutally-tough group in next summer's tournament.

Group B gets the distinction as being the Group of Death, as the Netherlands, Germany, Portugal and Denmark will vie for two spots in the knockout round.

Big names and bad jokes ruled the day in Nyon as the Euro names were announced. And given that it's the Euros, where the quality has a higher density, Groups of Death are often just the groups. However, Group B is a clusterfuck of quality and Group C, should Bilic's boys get their acts together as they can, aren't tremendously far behind.

The draw for this upcoming summer's Euro 2012 tournament is set to go in Kiev, Ukraine, with 16 teams eager to find out who they'll be competing against for the continent's championship. With co-hosts Poland and Ukraine placed in the first pot, there's bound to be some treacherous group pairings for some of the world's top teams.

So the countdown really starts now. No more ifs, buts, I hope we avoid Spain drama, now is the time. Because of the frankly outdated rule involving host's seeding, Gli Azzurri do not sit in the top pot(despite being currently ranked as the 4th best side in Europe by UEFA).

Instead, [read more]

Euro 2012 finals draw: How will it all work?

England are in final pot to be drawn when the groups are sorted

View the full story here: The Mirror

A news article on 2011-12-01 21:00:29 from: The Mirror

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Euro 2012 draw preview: Meet the teams

England will find out which three teams they'll face in the group phase of Euro 2012 next summer when the draw is made in Kiev on Friday. Here's a bluffer's guide to the 16 nations who'll be taking part, based on how they are seeded for the draw.

In The Stands looks ahead to the draw for Euro 2012 which takes place on Friday in Kyiv, Ukraine with England situated in Pot 2. The long awaited draw for next summer's European Championship finally takes place at the Palace of Arts in Kyiv, Ukraine on Friday 2 December at 18.00CET (19.00 GMT time). With [.

By Chris Wright

It would be remiss of us to let the day pass without mentioning that, having never been further than the first round before, Southern League Premier Division side Stourbridge beat League Two stragglers Plymouth Argyle 2-0 on their own patch last night to reach the second round of the FA Cup for the first time in the club's history.

The final seedings for Euro 2012 have been revealed ahead of the group stage draw on December 2nd. The hosts Ukraine and Poland have already been placed in their groups with Poland in Group A and Ukraine in Group D. The remaining pots will have two countries in pot one and four countries in the other three pots, no team in the same pot can be placed in the same group.

Following the completion of the Euro 2012 Qualifying Play-Offs, from which Portugal, Croatia, Czech Republic and the Republic of Ireland all qualified this week, all sixteen teams that will be participating in Poland and the Ukraine next June are now known.

The Play-Offs saw the eight runners up of the qualifying groups comepte for the four remaining places at next year's tournament and the outcomes of all the games proved reasonably predictable.

UEFA confirmed the seedings for the Euro 2012 Finals, co-hosted by Poland and Ukraine today and are as follows:

Pot 1: Poland, Ukraine, Spain, Netherlands

Pot 2: Germany, Italy, England, Russia

Pot 3: Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Sweden

Pot 4: Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Republic of Ireland

The draw will take place in Kiev on Friday December 2.

Ireland are in the fourth group of seeds for the Euro 2012 finals draw, UEFA confirmed today.
Giovanni Trapattoni's 'Boys In Green', who completed a 5-1 aggregate play-off win against Estonia last night, have been drawn alongside Denmark, France and Czech Republic in Pot 4.
Euro 2012 co-hosts Poland and Ukraine, who have already been allocated to groups A and D respectively, are in the top group of seeds alongside reigning world and European champions Spain and 2010 World Cup finalists the Netherlands.

Se tienen ya formados los grupos que se sortearán para la Eurocopa 2012, el sorteo será el viernes 2 de Diciembre y con seguridad habrá un grupo de la muerte, pudiera ser que esten juntos en un grupo, España, Alemania, Portugal y Francia, vaya que sería a morir, les paso la nota en ingles via El Guardian.

With the completion of Tuesday's Euro 2012 playoff qualifiers, the four pots are set for next month's finals draw, and there's a pretty solid chance that we could see some stacked groups in the summer.

Co-hosts Poland and Ukraine occupying two of the four spots in the top pot, with defending Euro (and World Cup) champion Spain joining them.

UEFA has announced the seedings for the Euro 2012 draw in December with England placed in Pot 2 alongside Germany, Italy and Russia.

Republic of Ireland, who confirmed their place at the finals following a 5-1 aggregate play-off win over Estonia, are in Pot 4 and will be one of the bottom seeds when the draw is conducted in Kiev on Friday December 2.

By Chris Wright

UEFA have just announced the seeding of the 16 teams that will be plucked from the perspex goldfish bowls of doom in Kiev on December 2nd, and they look a little bit like this...

Top seeds: Spain, Holland, Poland, Ukraine

Second seeds: Germany, England, Russia, Italy

Third seeds: Croatia, Greece, Portugal, Sweden

Fourth seeds: Denmark, France, Czech Republic, Republic of Ireland

Lawdamussy.

Spain's centre-right People's Party said it will push Real Madrid and Barcelona to have more equitable distribution of income from television rights, according to PP policymaker Miriam Blasco.

"You have to support the small teams as well, because it's true that the Spanish league would not exist if it was not working for all the clubs," Blasco, a candidate to become Spain's top sports official after the election, said in an interview.

Nothin' left but the friendlies. Playoffs have ended, sadly for some tragically, really, since none of the aggregates were even close and the lineup is set with a couple of surprises, like Ireland and...no, just Ireland. The list of those who failed to RSVP is devoid of titanic names, leaving us with a heavy battle royale to be had in Polkraine.

Some fascinating comments by Barcelona president Sandro Rosell today in which he wants to see the Spanish league cut from 20 clubs to 16, limits placed on wealthy foreign owners and a more equitable sharing of TV revenue.

Speaking at the International Football Arena conference, Rosell said:

"My opinion is that our league has too many clubs.

After a nice rundown of what single entity means, Chris Schetter talks about how it could be used to improve esports competitions:

CS is a time-tested format that could easily enjoy the same footing that Starcraft does today. But it requires a proper foundation, and prizes aren't it.

I woke up this morning after another miserable sleep (my entire family has been sick all week) and patiently waited for the alarm to sound at 0530 hours. I then proceeded into my methodical habits for early morning Arsenal matches of slipping on whatever clothing was lying around, and immediately making a strong pot of coffee.

The draw for the European Championship qualifying playoffs took place on Thursday morning and no country is happier with the results than Ireland.

The Irish, who missed out on the 2010 World Cup after facing the tough draw (and Thierry Henry handball) of France, drew Estonia out of the eight-team pot, giving Ireland the easiest draw in the pot.

Last night was the final night of the group stage. If a team didn't win their group, they have to go to a playoff stage (drawing is streaming on UEFA's site Thursday).Play-off drawPot 1 (seeded teams) Croatia (coefficient 32.723)Portugal (31.202)Republic of Ireland (28.203)Czech Republic (27.982)Pot 2 (unseeded teams) Turkey (27.

Surprising losses for Portugal and the Netherlands on the last day of Euro 2012 qualifiers provided an unexpected end to a campaign. Portugal lost 2-1 away to Denmark while the Netherlands were beaten 3-2 by Sweden.

Although, the Netherlands lost, they had already qualified for the tournament and they were only looking to cement their perfect record in Group E by not losing a single game.

So, anyone care to talk about Tuesday night? I wasn't privy to any of the goings-on or morbidly curious enough to indulge in what you might call highlights, but the gentle murmurings about town seem to murmur thusly: that Gomes was bad, GDS even more so and Pavlyuchenko a poor first-touch away from being publicly lynched.

So, anyone care to talk about Tuesday night? I wasn't privy to any of the goings-on or morbidly curious enough to indulge in what you might call highlights, but the gentle murmurings about town seem to murmur thusly: that Gomes was bad, GDS even more so and Pavlyuchenko a poor first-touch away from being publicly lynched.

...and then calmly shifts it on to Sami Khedira's lack of "sufficient intelligence."
"My player knows about these situations and fell for the trap.That's why I make him partly responsible for the defeat and I don't have a problem doing so. It is also our fault, mine and my players.An important part of the meeting I had with my players today covered similar situations to those of Khedira's red card.

POLL: Which Pot 4 team will go furthest in the Champions League? is a post from: Just Football

You've read the analysis and you know all about the eight teams in The Pot 4 Club. Now to have your say. We're asking who you think will go furthest of the eight pot 4 seeded teams in this season's Champions League.

Arsenal visit Dortmund, the self-professed football capital of the world, to open a Champions League group phase that promises to be the toughest one in recent years. BVB are by far the best team from the fourth pot and could quite possible provide a sterner challenge than the other two teams in the group.

The Game Considered by many as the toughest opposition in Pot D, Borussia Dortmund tomorrow host Arsenal in what will hopefully be an entertaining game of football. It is not easy to predict what will happen tomorrow ...

Why Warnock's wrong about the Carling Cup and Twitter cowards get my goat plus my new tattoo

Shamoe on the managers who treat the Carling Cup as a second-class pot and claim they are glad to be out of it. Neil Warnock, who has never won a major trophy in his life, reckons QPR are better off without the distraction of the Carling Cup after they were humbled by Rochdale.

Arsenal will face Marseille and Olympiakos in the Champions League after the names came out of the 'hat' today. The draw for the group stage took place in Monaco just now.

Marseille? Samir Nasri will get a chance to face his former cl...oh, no wait, he's gone hasn't he! Arsenal got to this stage for the 14th consecutive year after completing a 3-1 aggregate triumph over Udinese last night.

Dixon, Dixon, he's our man.

Just a quick link for everyone. The official Goal of the Week page is up and, as we all knew it should be, Alex Dixon's golaso is up for Goal of the Week. Follow this link here to vote for Atascocita's finest.

And, just to sweeten the pot for you, among the contenders is a certain Ghanian who shall not be named, some Irish fella and a pair of players to be named later.

David Dein reckons Arsenal fans must give manager Arsene Wenger the respect he deserves or risk losing him.

The Beeb reports that AW is under increasing pressure from supporters after six seasons without a pot and that when asked if Wenger could leave, the former Arsenal vice-chairman said: "That's always an option open to him.