It's early November and we're still another seventh months until the tournament starts but I must admit that the injuries to Rio Ferdinand and Steven Gerrard are beginning to worry me. According to Radio 5, Gerrard hasn't trained for two weeks and Ferdinand's overall fitness this season may have contributed to some of his indifferent performances when he has appeared for Manchester United.

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Netherlands manager Bert van Marwijk has named his 23-man squad friendly international matches against Italy on November 14th and Paraguay on November 18th. Squad: Goalkeepers: Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax Amsterdam), Michel Vorm (Utrecht), Piet Velthuizen (Vitesse Arnhem) Defenders: John Heitinga (Everton), Joris Mathijsen (Hamburg SV), Edson Braafheid (Bayern Munich), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax Amsterdam), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), [. Click to continue reading...

France's do-or-die match against Ireland is just around the corner, with the first match taking place on November 14th in Ireland and the second taking place on the 18th at the Stade de France (boo...). I don't know about you guys, but I'll be praying extra hard that France don't screw up against a tough Irish team.

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Asociación de Fútbol Argentino (AFA) president, Julio Grondona and veteran midfielder Juan Sebastián Verón have officially presented the Argentina World Cup 2010 home kit to the public. The new Albiceleste first choice strip will make its on the field debut in Madrid on November 14th when Argentina meets Spain in a friendly. Click to continue reading...

Our leak was right! While naming his squad for the France's FIFA World Cup qualifying playoffs with Ireland earlier today, France coach Raymond Domenech unveiled the Les Bleus 2010 adidas home kit. The new France World Cup 2010 adidas home kit is expected to make its debut on November 18th when France host the Republic of [. Click to continue reading...

]Let the FIFA World Cup 2010 madness begin! The Chile national team recently qualified for their first FIFA World Cup since France 1998. As one might expect, the natives are excited and restless and would love to accompany their team to South Africa. However, the cost of the trip from Chile to South Africa with hotel [. Click to continue reading...

Before kick-off, Uruguay vs Argentina, World Cup 2010 qualifier. Centenario Stadium, Montevideo, Uruguay. October 14th, 2009.

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

Related posts:

1. Photo daily: Nacional fans, Uruguay Fans of Club Nacional de Football, Montevideo, Uruguay.

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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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You've got to give Steve McClaren some credit. The man was a pitiful England manager, but for a brief moment in time he was able to derail one of the most powerful forces in modern football: David Beckham.

When Becks stepped down as England's captain after the 2006 World Cup, McClaren dropped him entirely from the team.

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Conrad celebrating after the USA clinched qualification in the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Photo courtesy of Andy Mead/Yellow Card Journalism.
Tonight, the final Jimmy Conrad Show of the 2009 season takes place live from Fox and Hound in Overland Park from 8-9 p.m. CT. As an added incentive for fans who come out to the show, Conrad will be raffling off an autographed U. Click to continue reading...

After a very long and hard work, we are proud to announce that the new version of SL Predictor is up and running, offering a new experience for our members.

For the past couple of football season we tried to make all necessary adjustments to make SL Predictor a fun Virtual Betting Site combining the fun elements of football betting with the competitive elements of not only beating the bookie – but also proving your wits and superiority over the rest of SL Predictor members.

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It's November, which means it is time for SBI to crank out last month's Q&A installments.

While a few weeks have passed since questions were submitted, most questions are still just as relevent today as they were two to three weeks ago.

U.S. national team questions rule the day as usual, with more World Cup questions starting to filter in now that the Americans have qualified and the clock is ticking quickly toward South Africa.

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It's November, which means it is time for SBI to crank out last month's Q&A installments.

While a few weeks have passed since questions were submitted, most questions are still just as relevent today as they were two to three weeks ago.

U.S. national team questions rule the day as usual, with more World Cup questions starting to filter in now that the Americans have qualified and the clock is ticking quickly toward South Africa.

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For a long while there, Stephen Appiah was an international footballer only. The midfielder has not played a kick of club soccer since late 2007, but still managed to captain Ghana through a successful World Cup 2010 qualification campaign. Which is ridiculously impressive when you think about it.

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On Friday night in Asunción, adidas and the Asociación Paraguaya de Fútbol officially presented the Paraguay adidas World Cup 2010 home (or first choice) kit to be worn by Roque Santa Cruz and company in South Africa next year. La Albirroja (Red and Whites in English) are World Cup bound once again after finishing one point [. Click to continue reading...

Hungary vs. Sweden, Puskás Ferenc Stadion, September 5th 2009. Sweden won the 2010 World Cup qualifier 2-1.

Photo credit: photoreti via the Pitch Invasion photo pool.

Related posts:

1. Photo Daily: NK Maribor Fans Are Lonely Fans in Slovenia look lonely.

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Loose-lipped AC Milan exec Adriano Galliani has boasted that the club are on the verge of officially announcing a completed deal to bring L.A. Galaxy star David Beckham back for another January-to-June loan spell. He would then return (presumably for good) to MLS after appearing for England at World Cup 2010. Click to continue reading...

For some reason, it feels like Denmark has been one of the world's best footballing teams since the dawn of time. The truth of the matter is they've only ever reached three World Cups (two of them being as recent as 1998 and 2002) while their first (in 1986) was where they finally achieved any real prominence on the global stage. Click to continue reading...

When it came close to championship (world cup) there are lat of scammers out there when we are talking about tickets. So, all tickets for the event will be sold by FIFA on their website. We expect further information in 2008 and the registration process to start sometime in 2009. As and when we have further information we will let you know. Click to continue reading...

Ireland manager Giovanni Trapattoni has left Steve Finnan, Steven Reid, Andy Reid and Clinton Morrison out of his squad to face France in their World Cup 2010 qualifying play-off.
It had been rumoured that Finnan would be included to address issues with cover in defence. Click to continue reading...

Following recent leaks of the adidas Germany and Spain World Cup 2010 home jerseys, one of the shirt that France will supposedly wear in 2010 has appeared on the internet. As with all leaks, whether of not this kit is real is debatable. Also, its appearance at the FIFA World Cup in South Africa next year [. Click to continue reading...

Now that we have officially qualified for the World Cup, it is time for the first installment of Bradley's Babes: 23 for 2010 our attempt to answer the question, "Who should we take along?"Â Â But instead of taking the standard approach doing our best to guess who Bob will take to South Africa we decided to focus on who we would like him to take.

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Here's the thing : seeding in football - or any other sport for that matter - is a fair and reasonable thing to do.Otherwise, you might end up with a World Cup 2010 qualification group that consisted of Germany, England, Spain and Russia. And, yes, while that may be more exciting than the World Cup itself, it's not unreasonable to keep the best teams apart in order to ensure a thrilling and Click to continue reading...

Behind the scenes video and pitch-side highlights from the U.S.-Honduras match aka The Phantom Qualifier. U.S. is getting better & better at these...keep 'em coming Kammerman. Click to continue reading...

The Jimmy Conrad Show returns next week Tuesday for the 2009 recap edition. The show will take place from 8-9 p.m. CT at Fox and Hound in Overland Park. As an added bonus for fans who attend, Jimmy will be raffling off his game-worn, autographed jersey from the last round of U.S. World Cup Qualifiers. Click to continue reading...

Brazil coach Dunga has named his squad for the November's friendlies against England and Oman. Of note is that FC Porto striker Hulk , fellow striker Carlos Eduardo of TSG 1899 Hoffenheim and Michel Bastos of Olympique Lyon are included in the squad and could possibly make their international debuts. Click to continue reading...

Imagine if you have written the World Cup Song?

Well it looks like there are a few avenues, but this way you can win some money by writing a World Cup Song and putting your video on YouTube.

"This is the official place for lovers of World Cup Songs and the World Cup Song 2010 competition is FREE to enter for anyone with a song about South Africa 2010 or your countries' team.

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Move aside Bafana Bafana. The world has a new favourite South African team, and their name is Vakhegula Vakhegula, which means "Grannies" in the local Xitsonga dialect. Why? Because they're a team of grandmothers of course, ranging in age from 40somethinng to 80something and competing in an eight team local league in around the Nkowankowa township, 600 kilometers north of Johannesburg.

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The U.S. U-17s kick off the FIFA U-17 World Cup today against Spain at 1 p.m. CT on ESPNU, ESPN360.com and Galavision. Tune in to see how the next generation of U.S. players fares against European powerhouse Spain.
US Soccer also announced today that they will take on European qualifiers Slovakia November 14 in Bratislava. Click to continue reading...

The Croatian FA was happy to announce last week that Slaven Bilić will be staying as head of the national team, despite them not qualifying for the World Cup 2010. After talking with his players, staff, HNS Officials, and hearing opinions from the public, Bilić decided it was not yet ... Click to continue reading...

There was a time when the names Diego Armando Maradona, Carlos Bilardo and the Argentine National team were synonymous with success. The magical run to the 1986 World Cup made both men house hold names in the sport, and heroes back home.

Boy, does that seem like a life time ago.

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Capello should tap this man for ideas

Capello on how other sports can influence football and how he is going to use them to prepare the England team for the World Cup.

"It's important to understand the psychology of all these sports and they've helped me to improve my own style," said Capello.

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Its become almost automatic for the US to qualify for the World Cup nowadays. But there were forty years in the wilderness before the US qualified for the 1990 World Cup when Paul Caliguiri in the grandiloquent "The Shot Heard Around The World" scored against T&T to put the US through. He is therefore the grand poobah of clutch performers.

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In anticipation of World Cup 2010, from time to time Premiership Talk will review some of the interesting topics in international football. This week we'll start with the list of the ten best players who have never appeared in the World Cup, courtesy of World Cup Odds. You can vote for your choice at their website.

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"Dear Leaders"

I think even Kim Jong il woud be envious of the uninterrupted reign of Sepp Blatter.

He and his father, Kim il Sung's combined 37 year rule of North Korea have isolated that country and created an international crisis group that deals with that country's nuclear weapons.

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