The Egyptians summon the Algerian envoy twice, recall their envoy from Algiers. Sudan summons the Egyptian envoy in Khartoum. The Algerian embassy is currently under siege in Cairo with thousands of fans trying to storm their compound. It's all happening in rapid succession.

Now Egypt has upped the ante threatening to pull out of football for two years in protest of what happened to fans, sports officials, and players in Sudan.

Sports pundits and fans are going full tilt at Thierry Henry calling him a "cheat", "morally reprehensible", "unsportsmanlike", "a snake oil salesman".

Richard Williams crosses that line when as a Brit he forgives Maradona's hand of God goal saying it amounts to breeding.

"To rank the incident in Paris alongside Diego Maradona's "Hand of God" in 1986 is misleading.

The Egyptian ambassador to Algeria was recalled by Cairo as the soccer feud between the two countries has now escalated into a full scale diplomatic row.

It is also believed that Hosni Mubarak himself called the Algerian ambassador, Abdel Qader Hadja hours before the recall of the Egyptian envoy, to voice his grievance over the assaults on Egyptian citizens who went to Khartoum to support the Egyptian team.

Two of his former projects, Australia and South Korea, that he nurtured to World Cup glory are in. Russia, his current and most talented team which in actuality should have the easiest of playoff passages, are out.

FIFA to Ireland: Thou shall not qualify. Internalize the meme, you will not win a playoff game.

Seems like a whole lot of past and present Arsenal connections have played or are playing a very influential part in the France vs Ireland match and its aftermath.

The latest is Liam Brady calling FIFA for a replay which he says would be only fair given that it was a clear handball by Thierry Henry that set up William Gallas equalizer.

Montevideo, Uruguay was the site of raucous celebrations as the Charruas drew the Ticos at the Centenario but thanks to their away win at Estadio Saprissa on November 14th clinched passage to the 2010 World Cup on goal aggregate.

Sebastian Abreu lost his markers after Diego Scotti centered his cross, to head the ball home past Keylor Navas to put the Uruguayans ahead but the Ticos equalized minutes later with Fernando Muslera diving to the left to get a hand on Alvaro Saborio's shot but unable in the end to keep it out of the back of the net.

Before Adebayor, Robinho and the other eight strikers at City, there used to be Georgios Samaras. Although highly touted by Stuart Pearce, he failed to make an impact in the two years while at the club.

When Sven Goran Ericksson was made manager Samaras was confined mostly to the bench.

L' Equipe on France's entry into the World Cup makes no excuses.

"Henry controlled the ball with his hand."

The article lambastes the team. When you call Kevin Doyle, the Leo Messi of the match then you know something is terribly wrong. If it was not for Hugo Lloris, France would not have qualified.

Slovenia wins over nine man Russia through Zlatko Dedic's toe poke goal in the 44th minute.

Raul Meireles second half strike sink Bosnia's hopes.

Antar Yahia became the hero of Algeria as they beat Egypt. His superb volley off a Ziani cross in the first half made the difference. The Fennecs enter the World Cup for the first time since 1986.

Thierry Henry clearly handled Florent Malouda's delivery and then picked out Gallas in front of goal, who drove home the equalizer in extra time. The referee Martin Hansson and his assistant did not see the infraction.

The goal nullified Robbie Keane's 32nd minute opener. And cruelly snuffed out Ireland's chances.

Naguib Sawiris feels that the match should be postponed

Want an Orascom cell phone?

Egypt's giant telecom company, Orascom had its Algiers compund burned and ransacked by thousands of Algerian fans. Property worth $5m was either destroyed or stolen according to Orascom's CEO Naguib Sawiris.

The USMNT meet Denmark, today at NRGi Park, Aarhus, 8:30 p.m. local time (2:30 p.m. ET), and the match will be broadcast live on ESPN Classic at 2:25 p.m.

There maybe a reason for Bob Bradley's faith in Jonathan Bornstein. They both began their national careers on 20 January, 2007 against Denmark and Bornstein repaid his coach's faith by scoring the game winner.

It took 20 seconds to shatter the France's march to the 1994 World Cup. In the 90' minute Emil Kostadinov lashed a ball past Bernard Lama to win the game for Bulgaria, 2-1 and shatter French hopes for qualifying for the 1994 World Cup. David Ginola could have run out the clock but his errant cross led to the Kostadinov disaster.

Doesn't the Iraqi Olympic Committee realize that soccer trumps everything? It brings every Shia, Sunni, Chaldean, and Kurd together.

After all what have they accomplished that can compare to the 2007 Asian Cup win. Now, they are busy trying to lord it over the Iraqi Football Association by dissolving it over '"financial irregularities and failure to hold elections.

Its all pretty confusing but it seems that Raymond Domenech was complaining that they were really playing the English B squad. Or some bowdlerized version which of course even if untrue is used to motivate your players. Which is what got Richard Dunne all bent out of shape. He had been using Domenech as comedy material before the match.

Earlier this summer, the football world was shocked by the tragic death of Espanyol captain Dani Jarque, dead of a heart attack at the age of 26 years.

And now, Antonio De Negris, a striker for Greek team Larissa, and a former Mexixcan international who was capped 16 times is dead at 31 years of age of a suspected heart attack.

Watch More Football Highlights at MySoccerPlace.net

Haris Seferovic takes advantage of a slow reacting Nigerian defense to head the ball home in the 63' minute off a corner. There were some tense moments for the Swiss when Stanley Okoro's header hit the upright but Siegrist saved the ball in the scramble.

Ramsey was incandescent in Wales 3-0 victory over a disjointed Scotland side. The third goal reminded me of the way Fabregas took off against Spurs for his goal. And now George Burley faces the axe.

A brief statement on Arsenal's website updates RVP's status. He will be traveling back to London this week and resuming his care with the Arsenal medical staff at London Colney.

They also confirm the 6 week convalescence period.

Elsewhere in the Arsenal blog world:

Arseblog mentions, the silver lining is the pretty straightforward series of fixtures till Xmas other than Chelsea and Liverpool (both clubs have their injury woes too).

It is hard to see England overcome Brazil even if they were at full strength with Steven Gerrard, Frank Lampard, Rio Ferdinand, John Terry, and Glen Johnson given how the Brazilians moved with ease around the pitch. Meanwhile, the English attack was barely able to make a dent.

Fabio Capello probably knows by now that Brazil is the team to beat.

Sani Abacha stadium in Kano, Nigeria was one of the venues of
the U-17 World Cup.

Why would you name a stadium after a military dictator notorious for the execution of Ken Saro Wiwa and 8 other Ogoni activists in 1995 for protesting the exploitation of their land by multinational oil companies?

Could this man be back as Nigeria's coach?

A Diego Maradona comparison is too tantalizing. A team that has managed to qualify for the 2010 World Cup despite the incompetence of the coach. Nigeria needed help from Mozambique who beat Tunisia, 1-0. For their part Nigeria overcame Kenya, 3-2 with a brace from Obafemi Martins in a tense match.

A 63' strike by Haris Seferovic gives Switzerland their first ever FIFA world title. They withstood a furious onslaught by the Super Eaglets. Nigeria outscored the Swiss in every statistical department except the one that counted most.

For his potty mouthed outburst following Argentina's win over Uruguay. (translation)

Here is an even more graphic video.

Till three weeks ago, Maradona remained unrepentant.

"I was getting it off my chest, and I don't regret it," Maradona said. "I gave my mother a kiss on the forehead and told her: 'If I was wrong I ask your forgiveness, but nobody else'.

Switzerland vs Nigeria, Sunday 15 November, Abuja, 19.00 (local time)

Can the Eaglets make it a weekend to remember for Nigeria with their senior counterparts pipping the Tunisians with their 3-2 victory over Kenya for a 2010 World Cup spot?

The Golden Eaglets have a team full of homegrown talent in marked contrast to the number of players on the Swiss team who have found homes in Europe's top leagues.

The Algeria vs Egypt match was played In the backdrop of potentially escalating violence, a build up to the game which saw the stoning of the bus carrying Algerians and injuries to three of their players.

Following the match, violence broke out in Marseille. In Egypt, 32 fans including 20 Algerians were hurt in clashes in Cairo and Nasr City.

Positives:

A) The USA with their below full strength team played patient ball control. They took their time to build up their attack. Having no Donovan and Davies meant that the US had to give up their fast counterattacking edge. But the tactical switch was achieved quite effectively showing that the US is capable of this approach.

As an Arsenal fan, this is disastrous news.

RVP is feared to have torn his ankle ligaments as he went down after a heavy challenge from Giorgio Chiellini in the Italy vs Netherlands friendly. He is undergoing an ankle scan in the Netherlands to ascertain the exact damage.

Wenger must be going out of his mind.

From the NYT's "The Lede"

Coca Cola invokes the infamous 1989 match between Algeria and Egypt as part of their present ad campaign. Its all about marketing emotions and Coca Cola brings it up without any reference to the violent underbelly of that encounter.

A cellphone camera captures the stoning of the bus carrying the Algerian soccer players by Egyptian fans as they travel through Cairo.

Matches between these two countries have never ended well.

Their last appearance was in the 1982 World Cup. This time they beat Bahrain, 1-0 with Plymouth's Rory Fallon scoring a goal just before half time.

The All Whites had to go through some very anxious moments in the second half as Abdulla Omar was brought down in the box by Toney Lochhead for a penalty.

From the US Soccer website's game notes:

There are a few instances in sporting history of father's coaching their son's at the highest level. A couple of famous ones include - Cesare and Paolo Maldini in soccer and Cal Ripken Sr. and Jr. in baseball.

"But how about having two teams with this phenomenon playing against each other - anyone heard of that happening?