1-0 at half time...9-1 after 90 minutes, with three of Jermain Defoe's goals coming in seven minutes before the hour mark. I know it's a while before Mr Capello announces the squad, but that's exactly the kind of performance I'd want from one of my strikers.

The� last� FIFA rankings before the draw were published on Friday.

Click to continue reading...

5 goals in the second half for Jermain Defoe today in a 9-1 Tottenham win.
9-1.
Roberto Martinez, Wigan manager, welcome to the hot seat.
Jermain Defoe, even if you don't score another goal all season, it looks like you just punched your ticket to South Africa with the England National Team. Click to continue reading...

The China national football team (simplified Chinese: 中国国家足球队; traditional Chinese: 中國國家足球隊) remains an Asian powerhouse despite failing to qualify for the FIFA 2010 World Cup in South Africa. They are currently ranked 97th in the world and feature are captained by Celtic FC midfield Zheng Zhi. Click to continue reading...

Dear Carlos,

Many many many congratulations from Denmark with the qualification to the FIFA World Cup 2010. It was fantastic for you and your team and especially for the "World Cup". The FIFA World Cup 2010 in South Africa would not be the same without a world class team as Portugal.

Click to continue reading...

Portugal have moved up to #5 in the FIFA World Rankings released yesterday and with this ranking and previous point system, they should be one of the top seeds when the top seed rankings are released and draw completed next month in South Africa.The top countrys will go into pot one and more importantly not seeded together in the first round. Click to continue reading...

The match fixing scandal has tainted 32 matches in the Bundesliga lower divisions. The investigation into it have been widened the dragnet. Former and current players of VfL Osnabruck have come under suspicion.

Thomas Cichon, former captain of Bundesliga third division side VfL Osnabruck who now plays for Moroka Swallows in South Africa, is alleged to have accepted an undisclosed amount of money to lose to Augsburg's (17 April 2009) by three goals.

Click to continue reading...

The World Cup dominates this week's show as we take a look back at the dramatic play-offs and we also have two England fans looking forward to the finals in South Africa next summer. You can also:

Read our football news review in the good, the bad and the ugly Check out a new football expression in English for Football Follow the weekly predictions battle between Damon and Damian in the Predictions competition For learners of English check out our Football Language Resources page with: Football glossary (a huge collection of football vocabulary, football cliches and football phrases) Worksheets and transcripts from previous podcasts
Automatically receive the podcast each week by clicking on the icon Click to continue reading...

The thing that we all knew happened: Henry is a fraud. However, in the tradition of French smooth frauds he is someone who made it into an art; in his country the books about thieves are popular.

But the ‘hand' is not the only thing that makes Henry what he is; it is simply incredible how people in England or football fans in general forget all the things this man did.

Click to continue reading...

Seven non-Titi related posts you may have missed during the last seven days... Japan sound the horn. For silencing the horn. Tell us who your biggest international rival is. What they'll all be wearing in Philadelphia next year. Who deserves the golden trashcan? Nothing like an international break to recharge the old batteries New Zealand headed to South Africa thanks to [. Click to continue reading...

Latest development in the already long running Thierry Henry handball incident (or "la main de dieu" as it's being called by some) is that Henry himself thinks a replay is a good idea:

"The fairest solution would be to replay the game but it is not in my control," said the Barcelona striker.

Click to continue reading...

Wembley Stadium panorama, pre-game, England-Slovenia, September 9th 2009.

Photo credit: _ToMick_ on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo Pool.

Related posts:

1. Photo Daily | September 14 | Russian Fans at Wembley Photo credit: The Revolution on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion photo pool.

Click to continue reading...

With 32 names in the bag (irrespective of how they got there) thoughts can now turn to the subject of the draw for the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa.
The first thing to be decided is which countries to seed. This is calculated just before the draw and is based on past performances in recent World Cups and the FIFA World Ranking. Click to continue reading...

Here is a look at the new France shirt for the 2010 World Cup. Les Bleus ( the likes of Anelka, Henry, Gourcuff and co.) will wear this jersey at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. France finished runners up at the 2006 World Cup, and qualified for the 2010 event in somewhat [...] Related posts:

1. Republic of Ireland vs France highlights goals- World Cup 2010 playoff This is the post for the first leg.

Click to continue reading...

The Daily Mail runs the rule over the teams that will be South Africa next summer for the world cup. Click to continue reading...

Who can wait a month? I had to speculate the pots and make my own groups:

GROUP A -- South Africa, Greece, North Korea, Paraguay
GROUP B -- Brazil, Slovenia, Honduras, Nigeria
GROUP C -- Germany, Denmark, New Zealand, Uruguay
GROUP D -- Spain, Slovakia, USA, Ghana
GROUP E -- Argentina, Netherlands, Mexico, Cameroon
GROUP F -- Italy, Serbia, South Korea, Chile
GROUP G -- France, Portugal, Australia, Algeria
GROUP H -- England, Switzerland, Japan, Ivory Coast

How about that Group E, eh? Click to continue reading...

Hugo Borst's column in the AD People ask me often - while the WC is still seven months away: "Do you think Holland will win the cup in South Africa?" Does God exist? Is there life on Mars? Does Oranje Angel have a Brazilian wax? There's a good chance, but how do we Click to continue reading...

Controversy surrounded France's qualification for the World Cup against Ireland. So much that French president Nicolas Sarkozy apologized while the Irish have demanded that the match should be replayed (this was rejected by FIFA).The problem is France's equalizer in extra time (that brought France ahead 2-1 on aggregate, and gave them the spot in South Africa) where Thierry Henry is clearly seen Click to continue reading...

Almost is nothing in sport. Costa Rica played much better over 90 minutes in Montevideo than they ever did in San José, and they had Uruguay reeling toward the end, suffering as they always do, but at the final whistle it was the South Americans progressing on to South Africa and the Central Americans returning home without an official match for another 16 months. Click to continue reading...

The year is 2010AD, Girls Aloud have split, Jedward are ruling the world with over 237 million albums sold, forcing many a music fan to throw themselves of various bridges throughout the world, Sir Dexy Longshot has left UKFF and now writes for Gardeners Weekly & Spurs are Premier League champions.

Click to continue reading...

On this episode of the EPL Talk Podcast, host Kartik Krishnaiyer and French Football expert Dave Trotter discuss one of the most controversial football stories of the year — the Thierry Henry handball incident for France against Ireland which ended up knocking the Republic Of Ireland out of the World Cup qualifying match while France will be making their way to South Africa next summer.

Click to continue reading...

All 32 teams for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa are now known.
The complete line up is:
Europe
Denmark, England, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland
Africa
Algeria, Cameroon, Cote D'Ivoire (Ivory Coast), Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa (hosts)
Asia
Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea
South America
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay
North & Central America, Caribbean
Honduras, Mexico, USA
Oceania
New Zealand
Tags
World Cup South Africa Click to continue reading...

Belated respect to the All Whites. New Zealand represent!
Bahrain's unexpected defeat leaves the Arab World with only one representative in South Africa. Sayef Mohammed Adnan's penalty miss in Wellington will have done more than just dampen the spirits on the Emir's beach.

Click to continue reading...

Yes, that was a handball. Deux handball, no less. Thierry Henry's last-gasp equalizer sent the French through to South Africa and sent Ireland scrambling to try to force a replay "in the interests of fair play."

I agree that's the fair thing to do. I don't think there's any way in hell it'll happen.

Click to continue reading...

Hosts South Africa

Europe England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Denmark, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, France

Africa Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria

Asia Japan, Australia, South Korea, North Korea

Oceania New Zealand

Concacaf United States, Mexico, Honduras

South America Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay

Interactive Guide

Click to continue reading...

On Friday December 4th we will find out how the group stages will look for the XIX World Cup to take place in South Africa next Summer.
We now know the 32 countries that qualified for the world Cup:
For CONCACAF it was The United States, Mexico and Honduras.
For CONMEBOL it was Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay. Click to continue reading...

Image via Wikipedia With Ireland reeling from "Le Hand of God" bookie Paddy Power have issued a whole host of special bets on the man who will forever be known as "cheating Thierry." Unfortunately for Irish fans and Justice Minister Dermot Ahern, the likelihood of justice prevailing look slim with odds of 33/1 the match gets [. Click to continue reading...

After some dramatic final round and playoff matches, the footballing nations which will grace the stadiums in South Africa are now complete. France, though should be feeling very sheepish as they cheated their way into South Africa.
No one would've expected Thierry Henry to do a "mini-Maradona" but unfortunately, footballers will always try to gain an advantage whether legally or illegally. Click to continue reading...

Just over two years ago the draw for the qualifying tournament for the 2010 World Cup was conducted. Now it has come to an end and all 32 teams that will compete in South Africa are finalised. The draw for the tournament proper will be done in two weeks and everyone ... Click to continue reading...

Congratulations FIFA, they've got the World Cup they wanted now haven't they, and I hope their proud of how they got it. It was a ridiculous decision to seed the World Cup play-offs in the first place, and ultimately prevent the the hard-work in qualifying of teams like Ukraine, Bosnia and of course the Republic of Ireland.

Click to continue reading...

In partnership with Russian Football Now, EPL Talk presents the thirteenth episode of RNF's podcast.

Russia was many's dark-horse in South Africa. One problem: getting there.

Slovenia completed their upset of Russia with a 1-0 win in Maribor, going through on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate.

Click to continue reading...

Portugal belatedly secured their place at next summer's World Cup with an impressive performance in Zenica. After scraping a 1-0 win in Lisbon at the weekend with a laboured showing on home turf, Carlos Queiroz's side upped their game to close out the qualifying play-off and book a ticket to South Africa. Click to continue reading...

Image via Wikipedia The Russians would be kicking themselves for not completing the match on Saturday as a shocker allowed Slovenia to qualify for South Africa at Russia's expense. The Russian team had a one goal advantage but squandered, missed and ultimately lost everything at the hands of the lesser favoured opponents. Click to continue reading...

This is a picture of what's currently going down in the center of Paris. No, that is not a Frenchman celebrating the lack of video replay in football. No, that is not an Irishman infuriated by the lack of integrity by one Thierry Henry. Hell, it's not even the CEO of Caran d'Ache.

Click to continue reading...

The qualification for the World Cup is over, and the 32 countries that will be at the World Cup in South Africa are ready.South America:Brazil: the five-time world champions have participated in all previous 18 World Cups.Paraguay: One of the strongest and most stable South American sides are participating in their seventh world cup, and fourth in a row. Click to continue reading...

Arsenal defender William Gallas insists he did not see France teammate Thierry Henry handle the ball ahead of him poking home France's equaliser against the Republic of Ireland.
Barcelona striker Henry clearly handled the ball before setting up his former Arsenal team-mate William Gallas to head Les Bleus into the finals in South Africa next summer. Click to continue reading...