HexagonalBlog 18 November @ 12:39 AM EST
The announcement of the draw for the FIFA Club World Cup was actually last week, but got buried in
my run-up to the first leg of the CONCACAF/CONMEBOL playoff. Atlante, the 2008-09 CONCACAF
Champions League winners, received a beneficial draw when they were paired with the winners of the
Al Ahli (UAE) - Auckland City (New Zealand) match.
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Off the Post 12 November @ 06:19 AM EST
Stephen, here's the man who will fund your next ill-advised hair experiment Manchester City's squad
got an unexpected meeting with owner Sheikh Mansour when he paid a surprise visit to a training
session. City's squad - minus those on international duty - are in Abu Dhabi to play a friendly
against the United Arab Emirates national [.
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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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The Under-17 United States National Team advanced to the knockout stage of the U-17 World Cup with
a 1-0 win over United Arab Emirates. Jack McInerney put in a rebound in the 35th-minute for the
win. "We are really pleased with today's performance," US coach Wilmer Cabrera said. "I want to
congratulate UAE, who have a very good team and were very competitive.
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Soccerblog 01 November @ 12:36 PM EST
A 35th minute goal by Jack McInerney was enough for the USA to beat the UAE.
A snapshot by Nick Palodichuk was parried by Ahmad Shambih in the UAE goal and the ball fell to
the prowling McInerney who made no mistake.
The UAE also made it to the next round based on the Fair Play rankings.
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Soccerblog 01 November @ 09:05 AM EST
Jack McInerney and the US take on UAE
USA vs UAE, Ijebu Ode, 1 November 2009, 16:00 (local time)
Follow the match on ESPNU, ESPN360.com and Galavision starting at 10 AM.
The final day of the World Cup U-17 group stage.
A US win will get them into the last 16.
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U-17 World Cup on ESPNU and Galavision: USA - UAE at 10am. MLS playoffs: Chicago - New England on
Fox Soccer Channel at 2pm and Chivas USA - Los Angeles on ESPN2 at 5pm. EPL on Fox Soccer:
Birmingham Ciry - Manchester City at 11am. Championship on Setanta: Cardiff - Forest at noon and
West Bromwich Albion - Watford at 5pm.
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Du Nord 26 October @ 10:11 AM EST
The team kicks off their group stage matches today against Spain. The game is at 1pm Central time
and can be seen on ESPNU, Galavision and ESPN360.com.
dN
Paul Kennedy of Soccer America tells us about some of the top players on this USA team.
FIFA.com with a preview of the USA team.
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Dirty Tackle 09 October @ 02:11 PM EST
Last week, each Barcelona player got their very own brand new Audi as part of the German car
manufacturer's sponsorship of the club. Not bad, right? I wouldn't mind a new Audi.
Well Emerson (of the UAE club Al-Ain) laughs at them. Just one brand new Audi? Only punks get
just one brand new Audi.
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I'm about as excited as a ferret on Red Bull at the moment and no I didn't just win a game of
Connect Four... tonight I get to experience my first match in the UAE. It's the UFL Super Cup
between Al Ahli, the defending UFL champions and Al Ain, ...
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Now I am never one to blow my own trumpet but I wrote the following blog BEFORE Roy Hodgson was
touted as the Great Britain manager at the Olympics and was seen as a future England manager.
As ever PMP is on the pulse of the footballing world.
Either that or I just got lucky...
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EL SUPER RATON
Any one following the recent Gold Cup surely heard his name thrown around. He plays for a lowly
national squad and an un-heard of club in the U.A.E. None the less he was the tournaments second
best goal scorer tallying 3 goals and 1 assist. It is none other then El Super Raton, Blas
Perez.
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The Dubai-born businessman taking over Portsmouth wants the club to sign two of the biggest 'stars'
in the United Arab Emirates. Sulaiman Al Fahim has told reporters in the Middle East that Al Wahda
defender Hamdan Al Kamali and Al Ahli forward Ahmed Khalil. Pacy centre-back Al Kamali, 20,
captained the UAE Under 20 side that [.
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Footsmoke 10 June @ 12:40 AM EST
When More Billionaires Own More Teams
I view billionaires from kind of the same curious perspective I view species of mysterious
origin and function, like tapir or rare slime molds. I have lots of questions: How did they get
there? And what do they do? If I see one, will I know it? Generally, these questions don't have
easy answers.
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Footsmoke 10 June @ 12:40 AM EST
When More Billionaires Own More Teams
I view billionaires from kind of the same curious perspective I view species of mysterious
origin and function, like tapir or rare slime molds. I have lots of questions: How did they get
there? And what do they do? If I see one, will I know it? Generally, these questions don't have
easy answers.
Click to continue reading...
This weekend's round of Asian World Cup Qualifiers witnessed the filling of 3 of its 4 automatic
spots. In Group 1, Australia secured its spot in South Africa with a 0-0 draw against Qatar. 2010
will mark the 3rd time that the Socceroos will appear in The Great Tournament.
Japan also locked up the other automatic spot from Group 1 after their 1-0 road win against
Uzbekistan.
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It really is a magnificent seven. Asia's most successful team has booked a place at the World Cup
yet again. South Korea defeated UAE 2-0 in the early hours of Sunday morning Seoul time to seal a
place in South Africa.
First, the details. It was a comfortable win against the bottom team of the group.
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Australia, Japan and Korea Republic are the first three teams to qualify for the 2010 FIFA World
Cup as Asian qualifying continued on Saturday (overnight Friday for those of us in the states).
Japan used a 1-0 win against Uzbekistan, with the lone goal scored by Shinji Okazaki, to seal their
place in South Africa.
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The Offside 04 June @ 09:30 AM EST
Egypt's senior sides are reigning African champs and UAE's senior side just allowed goal-allergic
German striker Mario Gomez to put four past them in a friendly. Thus you'd expect the U-21 sides to
match up appropriately. Not the case during the 2009 Toulon Tournament's opening yesterday when
Mohammed Abdulla unleashed a vicious strike from distance, [.
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Soccerblog 03 June @ 02:57 AM EST
Mario Gómez' four goals against UAE in a friendly make him the fourth German after Gerd
Müller, Michael Ballack and Lukas Podolski to score four goals in an international match.The
germans beat the heat and the opposition quite effectively ending the game with the score reading 7
- 2.
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It is an interesting and, one can almost say, exciting squad. It is customary to bash the national
team coach of South Korea after he announces every important roster but ahead of the 2010 World Cup
qualifier in the United Arab Emirates on June 6, Huh Jung-moo looks to have done a good job.
Of course, naming the roster is only the first step towards completing the main job of taking the
Taeguk Warriors to Al Maktoum Stadium in Dubai and getting the three points that will put the 2002
semi-finalists on the brink of a place in South Africa in 12 months' time.
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Luis Acosta/AFP/Getty Images Atlante are the new champions of North America, the first winners of
the CONCACAF Champions League, and the recipients of an oversized fern and a trip to the UAE. The
Mexican clubs dominated this tournament, as all four entrants progressed to the knockout stage and
were only knocked out by each other.
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After almost eight months, the first edition of the CONCACAF Champions League has been reduced to
its final two teams. Cruz Azul and Atlante will play over two matches to decide who will represent
CONCACAF in the UAE in December for the FIFA Club World Cup. I'm doing something different for the
first leg.
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The draw for the U-20 World Cup took place in Luxor today. You can find the complete results here
or at FIFA's site, but I'll just list the groups with CONCACAF participants: Group A: Egypt,
Trinidad & Tobago, Paraguay, Italy Group C: USA, Germany, Cameroon, South Korea Group E: Brazil,
Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Australia Group F: UAE, South Africa, Honduras, Hungary The strength of
the U-20 teams is hard to figure out at first glance -- the reputation of the senior team doesn't
give much indication of the junior teams -- but it's safe to say that Costa Rica.
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There was a moment during Wednesday's World Cup qualification match between South Korea and UAE in
Seoul that may prove to be a turning point in the team's fortunes.
Korea dominated the match at Seoul World Cup Stadium, just like they had numerous times in the
past. With 20 minutes of the match remaining, it was 2-0 and really should have been more.
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A World Cup qualifier against UAE would not usually be a huge game but Wednesday's clash in Seoul
promises to be a big, big night for South Korean football.
What should happen in such a situation, and what has usually happened in the past, is that the host
enjoys a fairly comfortable victory and takes a step towards what would be a seventh successive
World Cup.
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The Offside 08 October @ 08:30 PM EST
Some news to read as you steal $19,000 worth of bras: How to make your national team? With black
magic, of course (mCalcio) Financial crisis hits West Ham (West Ham Offside) The Lampard-Gerrard
problem (England World Cup blog) And a poll about the Lampard-Gerrard problem (Liverpool Offside)
Rio Ferdinand sticks it to Sepp Blatter (SoccerLens) Why Chelsea are better off [.
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Where is this?
And which Aussie footballers were playing in the region this week? Answer below.
Matildas Stars Caitlin Munoz and Heather Garriock...
The Mosque in the UAE.
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EPL Talk 16 September @ 12:00 PM EST
Here are the top 10 football-related stories today that caught my eye: Newcastle's Tony Jimenez In
UAE To Find Club Buyer (Arabian Business) The Return Of The Ligapokal (Bundesliga Talk) La Liga
Team Of The Week: Numancia (La Liga Talk) How The Donovan Deal to Bayern Munich Could Have Killed
MLS (Major League Soccer Talk) Goal Of The Week In [.
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Group A:Singapore,Bahrain,Iran,Uzbekistan Group B:Korea Republic,India,Indonesia,Syria Group
C:China,Australia,Turkmenistan,Saudi Arabia Group D:Japan,Malaysia,UAE,Yemen Our boys have been
drawn alongside giants Bahrain,Iran and Uzbekistan.I think we are in the hardest group of all.The
team will be training in Japan to toughen up themselves for the competition.
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Canberra United. It feels good, doesn't it, to have a team in Canberra finally.
Ivan Slavich is on one of the supporters family buses to Sydney to show support for a Canberra
A-League team. Why not get your club to have your own football singing bus. I'm sure there'll be a
Tuggeranong United bus.
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The Offside 02 September @ 02:47 PM EST
topic du jour It appears stealing the closing act was not enough, as Manchester City's new owners
would like to steal tomorrow's matinee, the following evening performance, and the rest of the
shows from here on out. Their point was made by the frankly shocking snatch of Robinho and equally
as surprising bids for David Villa, [.
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And so to the fourth and final part of our round -up of the May and June World Cup 2010 qualifiers.
Today we cover the Asia and Oceania sections...
Asia
Overview
A complicated process here. In Round 1, thirty-eight teams faced each other in nineteen
home-and-away matches. Of the nineteen winners, the eleven highest-ranking teams (and by that we
think FIFA mean those teams that won by the biggest margins) received a bye to Round 3 while the
other eight played out Round 2 as a series of four home-and-away ties.
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14/01/09 Oman v Indonesia, Iran v Singapore, Jordan v Thailand, Malaysia v UAE
28/01/09 Indonesia v Australia, Singapore v Jordan, Thailand v Iran, India v Malaysia
14/11/09 Kuwait v Indonesia, Singapore v Thailand, Uzbekistan v Malaysia
18/11/09 Indonesia v Kuwait, Thailand v Singapore, Malaysia v Uzbekistan
06/01/10 Indonesia v Oman, Singapore v Iran, Thailand v Jordan, UAE v Malaysia
03/03/10 Australia v Indonesia, Iran v Thailand, Jordan v Singapore, Malaysia v India
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