The four European World Cup Play-offs games are delicately posed heading into the second leg on Wednesday. Here is a look at each game, plus the big winner take all game in Africa.

Republic of Ireland 0-1 France
France were the one European team to win away from home on Saturday, putting them in the strongest position of all the teams playing on Wednesday.

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This week's main report looks at the World Cup play-off match between Ireland and France. Listen to our Irish football correspondent, Brendan, discussing whether Ireland can cause a huge upset and make it to South Africa 2010. The transcript can be found below, while vocabulary support can be found for the words in bold at the foot of the post.

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The play-off draw was by no means easy on Republic of Ireland and they have only FIFA officials to thank to for pitting them against underperforming but still very strong France side. This is obviously going to be most interesting duel in the World Cup play-offs and while we have no doubts both sets of players will be extremely motivated, it is the coaches that have the power to win this game for their team.

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Rafa wants Dutch youngster as soon as possible.

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Liverpool's owners are preparing to scoop £100m with a new rights issue, and will fund their manager's transfer-based desires, which include the 22-year-old Dutch midfielder Eljero Elia, who only joined Hamburg in August from FC Twente.

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Fernando Torres has a hernia that could require surgery if he is overplayed, Rafael Benítez has been warned.
Liverpool's medical staff delivered the worrying prognosis during the build-up to the club's crucial Champions League match against Lyons on Wednesday.
Steven Gerrard is definitely out of the group E tie at the Stade Gerland because of a groin problem. Click to continue reading...

Ronnie Whelan, who won six league titles with Liverpool, has accused Rafael Benítez of giving up on the title race.
And following Liverpool's fifth Premier League defeat, at Fulham, the former Irish international claimed that the Liverpool manager is concentrating only on the Champions League so further his career. Click to continue reading...

Following Liverpool's crushing 3-1 defeat at the hands of a determined Fulham side, even more questions are being asked of Reds manager Rafa Benitez. The Spaniard finds his team in sixth place in the table, with an astonishing five losses already on the season.

Following Liverpool's poor defeat, former Liverpool star Ronnie Whelan has suggested that time is running out for Benitez.

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Big Story
The future of Rafa Benitez dominates the British press this morning, as Liverpool slumped to their sixth defeat in seven games and fingers are being jabbed once again: former Liverpool star Ronnie Whelan suggests Rafa does not care about the Premier League; Sam Wallace concludes that Rafa is too clever for his own good; John Ley looks at the facts unnecessarily needed to prove Liverpool have had a poor start; and David Hytner looks at the club's growing injury crisis, the one mitigating factor that seems to be saving Rafa.

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Efsane Matt Busby ayakta, Bobby Charlton, Liam Whelan ve Mark Jones çömelmiş halde onu izliyorlar. Antrenörün futbolcuya katacağı şeyler sınırlıdır diyenlere gelsin. Sene 1953. Click to continue reading...

Another Premier League weekend is now in the books, and with some key match ups and exciting derbies now past us, here are the things that we learned from this weekend of Premiership action.

10Boring as Hull. Anyone who watched the Hull City v Portsmouth match on Saturday will know exactly what I mean.

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Tottenham Hotspur did not play particularly well against Stoke City, but we played well enough to win. Whilst readily acknowledging our opponents' sterling defensive qualities and admirable teamwork, we dominated for long periods and should have put this one to bed long before Whelan's late winner. A bright start showcased Huddlestone's long range passing, spreading the [. Click to continue reading...

The Premier League had again proven to be full of surprises. Hopefully not at our expense. Tottenham, top 4 wannabe, was brought down to earth when Stoke City's Glenn Whelan snatched a late winner in their1-0 victory at White Hart Lane. Click to continue reading...

Spurs plied on the pressure but an excellent Steve Simonsen and a dour Stoke defense kept them at bay. Crouch, Keane, Kranjcar, and Lennon tried and tried but all in vain. Twelve shots on goal, none that paid off. Stoke got two chances on goal as they were outclassed and on the second, Keane's Ireland team mate Glenn Whelan scored for Stoke.

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Harry Redknapp's Spurs side couldn't manage to break down a resilient Stoke side and the north London side also had Jonathan Woodgate injured yet again and then conceded a late Glenn Whelan winner.

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Jogaram em Dublin, no estádio Croke Park, para um público de 70.640 pessoas, as seleções do Eire (34º no ranking da FIFA) e Itália (4º do ranking da FIFA).
Antes desse jogo, as 2 seleções jogaram:
Copas do Mundo
1994
New York/New Jersey
18/06/1994
ITA
0:1 (0:1)
IRL
Group matches
1990
Rome
30/06/1990
ITA
1:0 (1:0)
IRL
Quarter-finals
Eliminatórias Copa do Mundo
2010
Bari
01/04/2009
ITA
1:1 (1:0)
IRL
First stage
Eliminatórias Eurocopa
1972
Dublin
10/05/1971
IRL
1:2 (1:1)
ITA
Preliminary round
1972
Florence
08/12/1970
ITA
3:0 (2:0)
IRL
Preliminary round
Amistosos
2005
Dublin
17/08/2005
IRL
1:2 (1:2)
ITA
1992
Foxboro
04/06/1992
IRL
0:2 (0:1)
ITA
1985
Dublin
05/02/1985
IRL
1:2 (0:2)
ITA
1926
Turin
21/03/1926
ITA
3:0 (3:0)
IRL
O quarteto de arbitragem foi assim definido:

• Referee: Terje HAUGE (NOR)
• Assistant Referee 1: Steinar HOLVIK (NOR)
• Assistant Referee 2: Frank ANDAS (NOR)
• Fourth official: Espen BERNTSEN (NOR),

Aos 8 minutos do primeiro tempo, 6 Glenn WHELAN abriu o placar para a seleção da Irlanda. Click to continue reading...

Big Jack: The Waterboy

As age catches up with us, cynicism is a number of unwanted traits we acquire. Suddenly, scanning through the history of our lives, we focus on memories of our younger years. We scoff sneerly at pastimes, hobbies, favoured television programmes, fashion sense and cringe at times when we embarrassed ourselves through the folly of our youth.

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As everybody's search for a USMNT v Honduras video continues, let's soak in some awesome...It also started so well for Ireland, with Glenn Whelan doing the ice-breaking honors in style.In the Under-20 World Cup, Italy's Giacomo Bonaventura single-handedly staves off the Hungary upset for a bit.Spain's Xavi and Cesc Fabregas play a two-man game where nobody else knows the rules. Click to continue reading...

(video gol, 1-0. Whelan)
(video gol, 1-1. Camoranesi)
(video gol, 2-1. Ledger)
(video gol, 2-2. Gilardino)
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The Republic of Ireland almost won against World Champions Italy at Croke Park tonight.The Irish took the lead twice, first from a great goal by Glenn Whelan from a Liam Lawrence corner only to be pegged back by a goal from Camoranesi from an Andre Pirlo corner.The Irish matched the Italians throughout the game and it looked like it was heading for a 1-1 draw until Sean St Ledger nodded a free-kick past Buffon in the 87th minute and it looked like Trappatoni's team were going to beat Italy for a famous victory. Click to continue reading...

The UEFA Region had its second to last matchday with some countries needing wins to keep their hopes of traveling to South Africa next summer alive. Some of the key matches were Republic of Ireland v Italy, France v Faroe Islands, and Portugal v Hungary.

Here's a recap of these matches along with video highlights from Saturday, October 10, 2009.

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Two unbeaten sides went head to head in this Group 8 match as Ireland gave Italy a stern test at Croke Park and almost ran out winners after a late goal from Sean St Ledger but Alberto Gilardino scored a last gasp equalizer.

1-0 Whelan

1-1 Camoranesi

2-1 St Ledger

2-2 Gilardino
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In November 2008, Jamie Carragher made history by breaking a Liverpool FC record set by Ron Yeats in 1969. Normally, this would be a reason to celebrate, but not in Carra's case - breaking the record has now made him the club's unluckiest player ever.
I am, of course, talking about own goals! Click to continue reading...

Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has announced a provisional 27 man squad for the upcoming World Cup group 8 qualifiers against Italy & Montenegro in Croke Park next month.
Goalkeepers
Shay Given, Manchester City
Keiren Westwood, Coventry City
Joe Murphy, Scunthorpe United
Defenders
John O'Shea, Manchester United
Kevin Foley, Wolves
Richard Dunne, Aston Villa
Stephen Kelly, Fulham
Kevin Kilbane, Hull City
Eddie Nolan, Preston North End
Sean St. Click to continue reading...

Former Liverpool defender and BBC pundit Mark Lawrenson says the Reds need to choose a defensive system which suits their players and the rigours of Premier League football.
Liverpool have often been criticised for employing a zonal making system when defending set-pieces and Lawrenson believes it is now time manager Rafa Benitez used a hybrid way of defending. Click to continue reading...

It's difficult to know where to start on this one. There were some encouraging things in Saturday's match, but the depressing things definitely outweighed them. You can view limited highlights (I use the term loosely) here, I'm trying to find the full ones and I'll update the post when I do.

One of the best chances for the Wanderers was scuffed by Gary Cahill, he headed a cross from Matty Taylor right over the bar.

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The bullish noises coming from Anfield last week that Liverpool is now on course to be the richest, most popular club in the world were tempered a little bit by their timing.
Having worked so hard to seal one of the most lucrative sponsorship deals around, Liverpool's owners would surely have been eager to have announced it a few weeks ago when Rafael Benitez might have been able to find some way to spend some money. Click to continue reading...

Stoke City may be a small club, but that never seems to faze them when they walk out in front of the crowd at The Britannia. Saturday was no different.

Chelsea was visiting, and they brought their undefeated record with them, too. Stoke was ready for a battle, though. It's pretty hard to describe how different Stoke is as a team when they are playing at home.

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Ireland central midfielder Glenn Whelan has signed a new four-year contract with Stoke City.
The Dublin born player joined the Potters in January 2008 from Sheffield Wednesday for £500,000.
"I'm obviously delighted, once we got it all sorted, it was just a case of getting it signed and I'm really happy. Click to continue reading...

Delap: Stoke City's Wild Card

Stoke City vs Chelsea FC at the Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent, 3pm local time. Conditions: pitch good, weather fine.

Line-ups

Chelsea: Cech, A Cole, Terry, Ivanovic, Bosingwa, Ballack, Malouda, Kalou, Mikel, Lampard, Drogba

Stoke City: Sorenson (Simonsen), Faye, Collins, Huth, Higginbotham, Delap, Shawcross, Etherington, Whelan, Kitson (Tuncay), Beattie (Fuller)

1st Half

Stoke, playing five at the back, begin marking the ball closely.

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Robbie Keane was Ireland's hero once again as he snatched victory in Cyprus to keep our World Cup dream very much alive.
The striker glanced home Damien Duff's 83rd-minute cross to claim his 40th senior international goal and three precious points, just as it looked as thought Ireland would have to settle for a fourth successive draw during the qualifying campaign. Click to continue reading...

Stoke City were very, very good to me last season. Their fixture list fell just perfect so that their last few months were a cake walk. Not that I cleaned up, but I did get good returns from Lawrence, Beattie and Wilkinson. Meanwhile, Fuller and Shawcross were point machines.
Now it's second season syndrome. Click to continue reading...

Well, that didn't take long. I've been concerned about United's lack of presence in the transfer market, but that problem has finally been addressed this afternoon. Wigan chairman Dave Whelan has confirmed that Manchester United have made a bid for Ecuadorian winger Antonio Valencia.

No concrete figures to be had, but the best estimates indicate that Valencia could be a United player for around £15 million.

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