Soccerblog 20 November @ 08:45 AM EST
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.
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World Cup Qualifying is completed is completed. I've updated the 2010 World Cup Eliminations
Timeline, which tells you exactly which date each team was eliminated and in what order. That won't
require another update until June.
But the real exciting news is that with all the qualifiers completed, we can now focus on the World
Cup seeds and the draw.
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With much of the qualification process almost complete and South Africa 2010 looming large, it
would make sense to assess some of the world's best custodians who will be present during the World
Cup. Goalkeepers such as Petr Cech will be excluded from the discussion since their nation failed
to qualify for next summer's big event.
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Wayne Rooney contributed what looked like a good all round performance for Man Utd vs Blackburn
on Saturday, featuring some nice link play and a sweet sweet goal which he swept home to make it
2-0 (around 4:10 in the above video).
I saw about 15 minutes of the game live, and there was also a magic little
inside-of-the-foot-with-back-to-goal pass that somehow didn't make the Match of the Day cut.
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Introducing a new series of features on national teams travelling to the FIFA World Cup in South
Africa. We start with Switzerland.Stealth technologists would do well to examine the characteristics of the Swiss national team. It
seems that despite their successful qualification for the
World Cup, no-one seems to be
paying any attention to them.
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As Argentina fight to qualify for World Cup 2010 this week, here's a reminder of the 2006 World
Cup, as Argentinian fans watched their team's fourth penalty saved against Germany on their way to
defeat in the quarter-final stage.
Photo credit: Ali Brohi on Flickr, via the Pitch Invasion Photo
Pool.
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... that, when considering levels Under-20 and above, the U.S. Men's National Teams have
surrendered three penalty kick goals and seen eight men sent off in their last 19 FIFA cup
matches?That includes World Cup 2006, the 2007 Under-20 World Cup, the 2008 Summer Olympics,
Confederations Cup and the ongoing 2009 Under-20 World Cup.
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The chattering from the American peanut gallery is that Clint Dempsey should be permanently
dropped. The theory is that Dempsey doesn't give a proper effort and has held the US team back.
So the fans who advocate the permanent benching of Dempsey are comfortable:
- Dropping the only American to score in World Cup 2006
- The only American field player, who is a standout player for a European club side of some
note.
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Soccer Pie 23 September @ 02:59 AM EST
Swiss football referee, Massimo Busacca, who took charge of Champions League
finals between Manchester and Barcelona was banned for three games for raising the middle finger at
the fans.
One of the best referees in the world did this during the Swiss Cup game between Young Boys and
third-league team FC Baden.
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Serie A Talk 15 September @ 12:46 AM EST
With Brazilian striker Amauri close to becoming an Italian citizen, it looks like Bayern
Munich's Luca Toni will find it quite hard to represent Italy in South Africa. Azzurri Boss
Marcello Lippi has hinted on more than one occasion that Amauri will be very useful for the
national team.
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Soccer Pie 09 September @ 04:41 AM EST
The decision of the French national team officials to appoint Raymond Domenech
as Jacques Santini's successor will prove to be one of the worst in history. The colourful coach
has done wonders with one of the best European sides, transforming them into the team that
struggles against Faroe Islands.
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This is some fascinating news that really could influence the 2010-2011 Premier League season, if
not this current 2009-2010 campaign.
Chelsea have been banned from signing any new players until 2011 by FIFA.
The club was found guilty of inducing French winger Gael Kakuta, 18, to breach his contract with
Lens when he  joined in 2007.
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Soccer Pie 03 September @ 02:49 AM EST
Ryan Babel had been touted as one of the most exciting prospects in Europe when
he made a switch from Ajax to Liverpool but his career has since taken the wrong
turn. The player himself has to take part of the blame for this because he never really
repeat the performances from his time at Ajax, but in all fairness I have to say Rafa
Benitez never really gave him a real chance to shine.
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EPL Talk 13 August @ 02:59 PM EST
Every year the IFFHS releases its ranking list of the top football leagues in the world. The
Barclays Premier League won the honor for 2008, thanks largely to the fantastic performances in the
Champions League from English clubs. This ranking was released in April, but on the eve of the
Premier League season, I figured this would be a good time to revisit the list from last year.
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Let's all be honest with each other, ussoccer.com got a little stale having not changed in a long
time. In today's instant info society it seems like some sites change once every two years. I think
US Soccer had fallen down and couldn't get up since back before World Cup 2006. Anyone
know/Remember the last update?
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France's Champions Trophy took place with some success in French Canada a couple of weeks ago,
the regular preseason contest between the French league and cup winners held outside France for the
first time. Most of the impressive crowd of 34,000+ present in Montreal would have instantly
recognised the winners Bordeaux, of course, but their opponents may have been less familiar to fans
when they first read about the contest En Avant Guingamp are hardly a household name around the
world, after all.
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You can watch Kenny Cooper's 1860 Munich unveiling here. And after that, he got to work.For more on
the move, ESPN all-star Steve Davis (a very nice fellow I inexplicably called "Mark" a few times at
World Cup 2006) talks to Kenny Sr.By the way, Steve, FC Gang Green has finished 5th, 8th and 6th
the last three seasons.
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Following the World Cup 2006, the view of Owen Hargreaves in England shifted, much to the
annoyance of Sir Alex Ferguson. He had been trying to land Hargreaves for some time and new that
his impressive performances on the biggest football stage was only going to make Bayern Munich less
reluctant to sell him and push the transfer fee up.
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Don't let the skeptics tell you Grenada is a poor opponent. This side qualified for the Gold Cup
by beating World Cup 2006 and current Hexagonal participant Trinidad and Tobago. This is also a
team that gave Costa Rica such a scare in the second round of CONCACAF World Cup qualifying that
Hernan Medford was sacked as the Ticos manager.
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Cristiano Ronaldo has split the opinions of Manchester United fans for some time. For United
fans who follow England, they weren't best pleased following the World Cup 2006 incident with Wayne
Rooney. Then there were the dives and the temper tantrums. Then there was his behaviour last
summer. Then there was his lack of effort last season.
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In a press release sent out within the past hour, ESPN has detailed it's plans for World Cup
2010 coverage.The most refreshing piece of news is that all coverage will be provided on air from
South Africa. Bob Ley who was ESPN and ABC's lead US National Team play by play announcer for many
years returns to studio duty for this World Cup and Chris Fowler of College Gameday fame joins the
team.
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Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated is reporting this morning that FIFA has confirmed the
rumor that has been swirling since last Wednesday's historic US win over Spain, that Michael
Bradley is being investigated by FIFA for a supposed confrontation in the tunnel.
A Spanish news source without a byline or sources cited, claimed that Bradley had verbally
attacked referee Jorge Larrionda who had red carded Bradley late in the game for a rather innocuous
tackle on Xabi Alonso.
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Grant Wahl of Sports Illustrated is reporting this morning that FIFA has confirmed the
rumor that has been swirling since last Wednesday's historic US win over Spain, that Michael
Bradley is being investigated by FIFA for a supposed confrontation in the tunnel.
A Spanish news source without a byline or sources cited, claimed that Bradley had verbally
attacked referee Jorge Larrionda who had red carded Bradley late in the game for a rather innocuous
tackle on Xabi Alonso.
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The USA stunned FIFA ranked numero uno Spain this afternoon with a 2-0 victory in the
Confederations Cup semifinals. The Americans were able to maximize their chances and frustrate a
better team by largely closing down space quickly.
Does this prove that Bob Bradley is the guy to coach this team for the next year, all the way to
the World Cup?
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On English language websites yesterday the big news surrounding ESPN is about the network
acquiring Setanta's package to air Premier League matches in the UK. But perhaps bigger news was
made stateside as ESPN returned to showing regular European league football for the first time
since losing La Liga rights in the early part of this decade.
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Soccerblog 15 June @ 06:15 PM EST
Bob Bradley, its been great coasting along in the CONCACAF on decaf but for the big leagues you
need something stronger.
Unfortunately, this is what happens when you play in a region that creates a set of inflated
expectations akin to playing the grandiosely named World Series. The US baseball team always gets
found out in the World Baseball Classic just like the US team today against Italy.
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So often the score doesn't tell the story. It'd be easy to see a 3-1 final and think the U.S. men
were beaten badly at Italy's hands Monday in the Confederations Cup.
The reality: This was a far better effort, particularly in the first half, than the U.S. men have
given in most World Cup qualifiers.
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As promised, here is a Confederations Cup kickoff T5L to get you all set for tomorrow. I will be
doing a detailed LIVE so all you 9-to-5'ers won't miss a single shot, save or smarmy wisecrack.This
time around, I'm basically tabbing the most important positional showdowns that await for Monday's
World Cup 2006 rematch with Italy.
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The Confederations Cup in South Africa gets underway today with Iraq playing South Africa, the
host nation. In case you are not familiar with the Confederations Cup, it's a competition to
prepare the host nation of the World Cup and takes place the summer before the competition. In
other words, its sort of a dress-rehearsal for the World Cup.
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The Confederations Cup in South Africa gets underway today with Iraq playing South Africa, the
host nation. In case you are not familiar with the Confederations Cup, it's a competition to
prepare the host nation of the World Cup and takes place the summer before the competition. In
other words, its sort of a dress-rehearsal for the World Cup.
Click to continue reading...
Futblog 12 June @ 09:33 PM EST
Golden Teamgeist at Berlin
Originally uploaded by CLF Estamos a poco mas de 364 dÃas del Mundial Sudáfrica 2010, por eso me
parece bien recordar al mundial pasado Alemania 2006, en esta foto se encuentra el monumento La
Puerta de Brandenburgo en Berlin, con el Kaiser Franz Beckenbauer revelando el balón dorado de la
final.
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Soccerblog 11 June @ 12:44 AM EST
Maradona needs your help! Step into Messi's shoes, and be the
12th man for Argentina.
This exclusive SoccerBlog.com offer is brought to
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Sign up for SoccerInsights - SoccerBlog.
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SoccerLens 06 June @ 02:29 AM EST
Every World Cup qualifying match is important whether its UEFA or CONCACAF, whether you are in
first, or last; which is why watching the United States last night was one of the most frustrating
94 minutes since World Cup 2006.
From the outset, from the 4-3-3 laid out by Bob Bradley to his player selection, nothing seemed
to make sense.
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This week marks the fourth anniversary of the opening of the Allianz Arena (or Fußball Arena
München for UEFA-organised matches), home to FC Bayern München and TSV 1860 München and made
famous during the 2006 World Cup. A number of remarkable photos of the stadium's unique aesthetic
have appeared on Flickr over the years, so today we take a look at it from up close, afar and in
all its colour-shifting glory.
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In perhaps one of the worst games played for the US National team since the loss to the Czech
Republic in World Cup 2006, the boys in red, white and blue were outplayed in almost every aspect
last night.
We didn't compete hard enough. We got beat to balls and they caused us problems we couldn't
figure out.
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