Euro Football- World Cup 2010

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2011-05-18T08:44:00.000-07:00

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Play-off matches in CONCACAF

2011-05-16T07:48:00.000-07:00

The North, Central America and Caribbean Zone will contest play-off matches in June 2011 in order to reduce the number of teams included in the Preliminary Draw for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™ in Rio de Janeiro on 30 July 2011.

The region’s ten lowest ranked teams according to March’s FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking were paired against each other to produce a series of five play-off matches which will be played on a two-legged, home and away basis.

Montserrat-Belize
Anguilla-Dominican Republic
US Virgin Islands-British Virgin Islands
Aruba-St. Lucia
Bahamas-Turks and Caicos Islands

The winners of these fixtures will join the remaining 25 higher-ranked teams from the region in the Preliminary Draw.

The first leg will be played on Friday 3 June, with the return leg scheduled for Tuesday 7 June.

The teams taking part in this extra preliminary round of fixtures and their rank in the region according to March’s FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking are as follows:

26. Belize
27. Dominican Republic
28. British Virgin Islands
29. St. Lucia
30. Turks and Caicos Islands
31. Bahamas
32. Aruba
33. US Virgin Islands
34. Anguilla
35. Montserrat

World Cup 2010 day 12: Morning round up

2010-06-22T04:18:00.000-07:00

It is decision day for Group A and decision day for Group B today and while I hope for a miracle I can't see France or South Africa doing it and I can't see past Argentina - so the interesting game of the day is at 8.30pm, between Nigeria v South Korea.

However, miracles do happen and just in case, we will be following all the games today so you can keep up to date on the site or on Twitter here, if you like our off the cuff banter, which is probably not really off the cuff, be we just like how that sounds.

So apart from the four matches today, we have some news and we are going to start with the French, because it wouldn't be a World Cup day without some news about how it is all going wrong for them.

Team France Mutiny
According to reports, William Gallas, Eric Abidal and Thierry Henry are the ringleaders in the plot to make the entire team look like imbeciles and we applaud them - they succeeded.

French official Henri Monteil said: "Some went to see Domenech. They were crying, saying sorry for what happened. They were young players."

Daily Maradona Quote
We love Maradona, you know this. In one hour you can get quotes to last you a season but yesterday, he was doing the job of deflecting attention away from his team and pushing it on Brazil.

"Brazil can play badly but still win games, that's why they are still the great favourites."

Super Spain
Spain boss Vicente Del Bosque could be happy inside but his facial expressions say little about what he is thinking and despite winning 2-0 yesterday - he still sees room for improvement.

"We certainly paved the way for the third group match against Chile, but this hasn't been a great match. We had glorious opportunities, many opportunities, we should have won the game by more goals so I'm not entirely satisfied."

More to come from Spain is a good thing.

Plucky Portugal
Lastly for this morning, we turn to Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz who is extremely happy after the 7-0 win yesterday and we don't blame him.

"Scoring goals always improves confidence. Playing like we did today, it is a great motivation for the next match."

If Portugal beat Brazil they will win the group and play whoever comes second in Group H, whereas, if they come second, they will play the winner - looking at Group H, we're not sure what is best. Chile have looked very good and Spain are Spain.

World Cup 2010 Group B: Decision day

2010-06-22T04:17:00.000-07:00

This is the easiest group to predict the winner for, because for us, we can not see any other result than a win for Argentina and we also fancy that Messi is going to score tomorrow and we also wouldn't be surprised if Higuain got one or two again too.

In our little world, the Argentina versus Greece match is the sideshow. The real match, where the tension and nail biting is going to be taking place is in Durban, where Nigeria play South Korea, because we think it will be one of these two that come second in this group.

So continuing our format of this type of post, we have the group table first, then individual match predictions and the overall prediction for the group and we also want your predictions at the very bottom, so please let us know.

Both games kick off at 8.30pm South African time.

Nigeria v South Korea
Game of the day for us and one that Nigeria need to win but one that South Korea will go all out for too, because they will not play for a draw as they don't have a guarantee that Argentina will beat Greece.

World Cup 2010 Group A: Decision day

2010-06-22T04:15:00.000-07:00

Instead of two posts looking at two games tomorrow - we are doing one post to look at both, because at 4.00pm, South Africa time, both of the last games of the group kick off and at kick off all teams have a chance of going through.

Okay, it will take something pretty miraculous for France or South Africa to go through, but both teams will be hoping for something special.

As you will see from the table below Uruguay and Mexico, if they draw, are going through but if one of them wins it gives a chance to South Africa and France and we fancy Uruguay and Mexico will want to win

We think Uruguay and Mexico will both want to win because we think it increases their chances of going further in the tournament. The runner up of this group will likely play Argentina in the last 16 stage while the winner will probably be playing either South Korea, Greece or Nigeria - assuming Argentina win and we think they will.

Mexico or Uruguay
There is an incentive for one of these teams to win and we think they will go for it.

Sing for South Africa, it is the last hope

2010-06-16T17:01:00.000-07:00

That wasn't nice but not really a surprise either. South Africa just didn't have enough, despite passages of play when they were passing the ball around like a team from South America. There was something missing.

South Africa really did need to win tonight and while it isn't over yet - it is going to be hard work and they are going to need quite a bit of luck after a night with little.

The first goal was a deflection; Diego Forlan picked up the ball 25 yards out, turned and shot. It hit Mokoena and bounced over Khune into the net - nothing either player could have done.

That was in the first half and there was hope - a draw would have been a good result at that point. But in the second half, the ball is played into the box, Suarez picks it up, knocks it past Khune who puts a foot out and does make contact, but the way Suarez dived, sorry fell, you'd think he was hit by a tank.

Khune was sent off, Josephs replaced him but could do nothing to stop Forlan smashing the penalty into the top of the net.

So, that was it. Game over. Tournament over probably. What next? Well, South Africa need Uruguay to not lose against Mexico and ideally Mexico and France to draw tomorrow. If that happens and South Africa beat France, all is good.

Time to Sing for South Africa
It is still possible. Can I make a suggestion though, whatever happens tomorrow, when South Africa play France, stop the vuvuzela and sing for Bafana Bafana. Sing the national anthem for 90 minutes - if that doesn't inspire them nothing will because I can promise you something - the vuvuzela doesn't inspire them, it just makes things equal.

South Africa
Khune, Gaxa, Masilela, Mokoena (c), Khumalo, Tshabalala, Pienaar (Josephs, 79), Modise, Letsholonyane (Moriri, 57), Dikgacoi, Katlego Mphela

Uruguay
Muslera, Lugano (c), Godin, Fucile (Alvaro Fernandez , 71), Pereira, Pereira, Perez (Gargano, 90), Arevalo Rios, Cavani (Sebastian Fernandez, 89), Suarez, Forlan

World Cup 2010 Day 6: Maradona lays into Platini and Pele

2010-06-16T16:59:00.000-07:00

You either love him or you hate him but you can not deny he was a fantastic football player - maybe the best ever - but Maradona is as mad as a hatter and Maradona doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut.

Today, with the world media waiting and a little frustrated that it has taken this long for Maradona to say something controversial at the 2010 World Cup, he lays into football legend Pelé and UEFA President and also not a bad footballer in his day, Michel Platini.

Maradona wasn't happy at a quote attributed to Pelé. Apparently, Pelé said that Maradona only took the job as Argentina coach because he needed the money.

Maradona fired back, saying Pelé "should go back to the museum."

He then took aim at Platini. Apparently Platini might have called into question his ability to coach.

"Platini? I'm not surprised. I've always had a very distant relationship with him," Maradona said. "It's always just hello and goodbye, nothing more than that.

"We all know how the French are, and Platini is French, and he believes he is better than the rest.

I'm surprised it took this long for Maradona to say something. How long before he does or says something really stupid?

Spain who? Switzerland beat Spain 1-0

2010-06-16T16:57:00.000-07:00

Well, that was a shock. Spain lose to Switzerland and Iker Casillas is beaten twice - only the post saving Spain from losing 2-0. You would think they will still qualify, but will they?

I'm not as convinced as I was - in fact I'd say that even if they did qualify, if they found today hard the last 16 and quarter finals are going to be like climbing Mount Everest in comparison.

It will be made even harder if the way Iniesta was limping when he was substituted turns out to be serious and we suspect it might be, as he does appear to have been rushed back - when it really wasn't necessary. But no doubt we will get more news on that very soon.

But for now, congratulations Switzerland - you actually do deserve it. No go forth and pick up four more points and you will qualified.

You'll see the table for Group H below - but Spain have nothing. That was not what what we predicted and we also got the full house prediction wrong. We are not having a good day.

Spain
Casillas (c), Pique, Puyol, Capdevila, Sergio Ramos, Iniesta (Pedrito, 77), Xavi, Alonso, Busquets (Torres, 61), Silva (G Jesus Navas, 61), Villa

Switzerland
Benaglio, Lichtsteiner, Senderos (Von Bergen, 35), Grichting, Ziegler, Huggel, Barnetta (Eggiman, 90+2), Inler (c), Fernandes, Nkufo, Derdiyok (Yakin, 79)

Chile beat Honduras - best game of World Cup so far?

2010-06-16T16:54:00.000-07:00

That was a good game. The result was as predicted but that match wasn't. The first half was very good with Chile attacking as soon as they got the ball - no waiting around and Honduras countered well - a joy to watch. Can I have some more please?

The second half started a little slower but that was to be expected as Chile were 1-0 and they were not going to play the same way when they had what they needed - but they didn't give up completely and that was refreshing.

The goal came in the 35th minute. Alexis Sanchez slipped Mauricio Isla clear down the right and he crossed the ball to Jean Beausejour and I'm guessing now but we will give it to him - it could have come off the defender - but it doesn't really matter.

They were the deserved winners of this match and I like teams that try to attack and if they do this in their next two matches they might get something.

Now for Spain - I cant wait.

Honduras
Valladares, Chavez, Figueroa, Izaguirre, Mendoza, Nunez (Martinez, 78), Wilson Palacios, Espinoza, Alvarez, Guevara (c)(Thomas, 65), Pavon (Georgie Welcome, 60)

Chile
Bravo (c), Ponce, Isla, Medel, Carmona, Vidal (Contreras, 81), Valdivia (Gonzalez, 87), Fernandez, Rodrigo Millar (Jara, 52), Sanchez, Beausejour

Honduras v Chile, World Cup Group H, Match 15

2010-06-16T16:52:00.000-07:00

This is another one of those matches that we were not really looking forward to when the fixtures came out - but we are quite looking forward to now.

You see, we are going to be surprised soon. If we had lost all of our fingers and only the thumb remained on our left hand, we could count the games on one hand in this World Cup that were really very good, but we know more are coming. We hope they are today.

We should see goals today too. We have Spain playing Switzerland later and I mean no disrespect to Honduras, but Chile should beat them this afternoon in the first game of the day.

Also, this is day six and today, the second round of matches start. South Africa v Uruguay is at 8.30pm - we will have our little preview up later.

Honduras v ChileKick off: 1.30pm - Venue: Ellis Park Stadium, Johannesburg - Group fixtures, results and table
Prediction
We think this could be a draw but we did have a little bet this morning and we put it on Chile. Actually we are that confident we had a double - we put it on Chile and Spain to both win - Spain is the banker bet of the day.

Click here for all the best prices and offers with Paddypower.
View from the Opposition
Honduras striker, David Suazo
I think there are circumstances and we are working to improve them. The goals will come when they come. The important thing is the hard work of the group, which is being consolidated. People should be calm and realize that things are improving.
Chile coach, Marcelo Bielsa
We respect [Spain], but without fear. Just the same as we respect Honduras and Switzerland, as both these teams count on excellent players. Honduras for example have David Suazo, an outstanding player who shines in Europe. They also have players playing in England and other European countries.
End Notes
They are playing this game early, hoping people will not fall asleep in the middle of it. I think it will be a good game - but I'm just hoping more than anything. I think it fair to say also that it wont be a full house but that we will get the sound of the vuvuzela - no need to worry about that.

England v USA betting preview World Cup 2010

2010-06-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

The World Cup is here and England get their World Cup campaign underway today, the England v USA odds make England strong favourites to win the game despite USA being no mugs, they beat Spain and went close to beating Brazil in last year’s Confederations Cup, which was held in South Africa, so they have proven form here.

The England World Cup odds have drifted plenty recently, England were 11/2 a couple of months ago but have since drifted out to 8/1 after several mediocre friendly displays, but that doesn’t seem to have dented confidence in the England camp with Fabio Capello’s players sure they can win the World Cup.

The game against USA looks as though it should be high scoring, USA’s strength seems to be in attack and that should play to England’s strengths, they are not the best at breaking down stubborn teams but when they are attacked, they can counter attack and make the most out of Wayne Rooney’s lethal finishing. Wayne Rooney is going to be a major figure for England this summer and England need to get the most out of the Man Utd striker if they are to win the World Cup.

With goals set be plentiful on Saturday it should pay to back over 2.5 goals which looks great value at just under evens. Those looking for a bigger priced bet should concentrate on the correct score market, where it could pay to cover two outcomes, 2-1 and 3-1 wins for England. We know England have struggled to keep clean sheets under Fabio Capello, they have just six in twenty five games under the Italian’s leadership, and whichever one comes in you should win a nice amount.

Although confidence in England has been fairly low recently, a goal or two for Rooney against USA and his odds look set to crash and he is well worth backing now. Click the following link for the Wayne Rooney World Cup Golden Boot odds and take advantage of some great free bet offers whilst you are there.

New Zealand v Slovakia, World Cup Group F, Match 12

2010-06-15T03:55:00.000-07:00

After Italy drew with Paraguay last night, three points for one of these two today will put them in a very good position in Group F and that should be incentive enough for both sides to go out want to win.

Don't get me wrong, all sides want to win, but some sides go out not to lose, some sides don't want to risk what can happen. Both these sides are going to go out to win this afternoon and that is what makes the game interesting.

So, with the prospect of good game and two more good games to come, to the match details.

New Zealand v SlovakiaKick off: 1.30pm - Venue: Royal Bafokeng Stadium, Rustenburg - Fixtures, Results and Table
Prediction
This will be a bit like watching two teams fighting relegation on the last day of the season. Think of it as Birmingham City and West Brom in April next year. It will be a nervous affair but they will both want to win.

In this scenario, think of Birmingham City as New Zealand because we here think West Brom will win and while it won't be comfortable or sexy football - it will be a win nonetheless for Slovakia and they will lead the group.

We have predicted eight out of eleven results correctly so far and we know we're going to go on a run of not getting any right but if you can bet on this match with a free bet worth £25, what is the risk? Put it on Slovakia.
View from the Opposition
New Zealand coach, Ricki Herbert
I understand why we are the underdogs but we don't fear anyone. Anything can happen in a cup competition. If Senegal can beat France (in 2002), we can beat Italy!
Slovakia coach, Vladimir Weiss
We will play against a very difficult opponent, so it will be with modesty, but we will try to go further. It's not an easy group, but in our group I can't say there is a favourite.
Twittering all day
Seeing as our mission for the next month is to watch every World Cup game and not shave, we will be Twittering from here all day, like we have done every day for a week. We might also get involved here, in the comment system below. Join us - spread some love, link to the page and get involved. It might be fun.

End Notes
After reading what Ricki Herbert and Vladimir Weiss had to say, we are a little confused, but that doesn't change our view that this will be good game to watch and that Slovakia will steal it, just.

Beckenbauer hits out at how England play football

2010-06-15T03:54:00.000-07:00

Franz Beckenbauer has hit out at how England play football or don't play football and has said that English football has gone backwards into the "bad old days of kick and rush" football.

The thing with Herr Beckenbauer is, he'll say something completely different next week and last week he was saying how he thinks England are one of the teams that can win the World Cup.

"What I saw of the English against the USA had very little to do with football. It looked to me as if the English have gone backwards into the bad old days of kick and rush." Beckenbauer said in South African newspaper The Times.

"I am not sure if the England coach Fabio Capello can still change much there. The English are being punished for the fact that there are very few English players in the Premier League as clubs use better foreign players from all over the world."

There is no doubting the man has pedigree. He was a fantastic defender who pretty much won everything in his playing career and didn't do that badly as a manager - winning the World Cup with Germany and the Bundesliga twice as well as the UEFA Cup, but these days he is best knows as a football politician and while you have to take notice of what he has said, there might very well be a reason why he is saying it.

England have played one game and nobody can sensibly base an opinion on England on one game, but is he right or is he just squaring up for a bit of free publicity?

Galls and Carrasso pull out of World Cup training

2010-06-15T03:53:00.001-07:00

French defender and third choice keeper Cedric Carrasso pulled out of training yesterday - both with muscle worries.

Training was taking place in Knysna and half way through Gallas walked off with the problem. "It's a muscle problem, nothing serious," a team spokesman said without elaborating.

When trying to track down Gallas for a comment it was like watching a Benny Hill sketch - he was running form the press refusing to speak to the media. We suspect him walking off was more precautionary then anything else.

When the training session had finished, the players, the players went straight back into their bus without stopping to sign autographs to waiting fans. It appears the stubbornness of Galls in not speaking with the media has spread through the squad and now means supporters are ignored too.

France are in Group A and play their next match against Mexico on Thursday in Polokwane.

I like to win - Brazil coach Dunga

2010-06-15T03:51:00.000-07:00

Ahead of their World Cup opening match later this evening, Brazil coach Dunga has defended 'his' style of football to the waiting media and had a strong argument that is hard to fault.

“In Brazil, they’re always saying we don’t play beautiful football any more,” Dunga told reporters. “But there’s one point I’d like to make: in 1989, Brazil had not won the Copa America for 30 or 40 years and the World Cup for 20 years.

“Since then, we have won the World Cup in 1994, finished runners-up in 1998, won the World Cup again in 2002, the Copa America in 1989, plus four more times...”

“I’ve seen attendances rise at Brazilian games, including lots of young people under 40. Everyone has his taste and is entitled to express how he wants the team to play. I like to win. In any case, a team which scores more than 100 goals must have some creativity.”

You can not argue with facts like that and we like Brazil and we really do think they are favourites for this World Cup and we haven't even seen them play yet.

We are keeping our feet on the ground - Sergio Ramos

2010-06-15T03:50:00.000-07:00

"After a long period in Spain and here in South Africa we're keen to play the match and we want to show what we've been doing for a long time," said the Spanish defender. "It's true that the first game is important. The first game is crucial for confidence and for the mood of the players."

Spain play Switzerland in their first game on Wednesday as the last two teams to play the first game in the group stages. That evening, South Africa will play their second game against Uruguay in Pretoria.

But, he is also not getting carried away. "It's the fans, the press and the other teams who have put us down as favourites, but we are keeping our feet on the ground, as we have been doing," said Ramos. "It would be a mistake to think we are the favourites."

Well, we here don't actually think they are favourites. There is a big difference in winning the European Championships and winning the World Cup and despite the unquestionable quality - we don't think Spain are ready.

Daniele De Rossi scores to save a point for Italy

2010-06-15T03:48:00.000-07:00

In fact, I'll go so far to say had they played the first half like they played the second, they would have won, but they didn't and they would have learnt a lesson from that.

Paraguay are clearly not in South Africa to make up the numbers. They played some good football at times and I suspect they came out in the second half wanting to keep what they had rather than push for more, which didn't work out.

Italy clearly missed Andrea Pirlo in the middle but he will be back and if Italy can play like they did in the second for the rest of the tournament, then they will be hard to beat, if only because they will create chances.

Antolin Alacaraz put Paraguay ahead in the 40th minute when a free kick, from what seems like the Paraguay half it is that far out, is played in long and he jumps higher than everyone else to head the ball into the net past Buffon. They took the lead into the break.

After the break, Buffon didn't come back out and Italy had a job to do and they were well up for it. It took nearly twenty minutes for them to get the equaliser and it came from a corner. Simone Pepe crosses and the Paraguay keeper comes but doesn't get anywhere near it and Daniele De Rossi finds the ball at his feet. I wouldn't have missed that and he didn't.

Final score was 1-1 and Italy will be happiest but also maybe a little disappointed. Paraguay won't try to play a half of football defending again and if you are following our predictions, you will know that is eight out of eleven correct - who would have predicted a draw; just us!

Italy
Buffon (Marchetti, 46), Criscito, Chiellini, Cannavaro (c), Zambrotta, De Rossi, Pepe, Marchisio (Camoranesi, 59), Montolivo, Iaquinta, Gilardino (Di Natale, 72)

Paraguay
Villar (c), Morel Rodriguez, Da Silva, Torres (Santana, 60), Alcaraz, Caceres, Vera, Caceres, Riveros Nunez, Valdez (Santa Cruz, 68), Barrios (Cardozo, 76)

Germany thrash Australia with some excellent football

2010-06-13T18:16:00.000-07:00

Germany were excellent. There is no other word for it, just excellent. I could quite happily watch that game again tonight and I think I might. Yes, the opposition were not world class but Australia are no mugs and they could still do well in this tournament. It was just that Germany were, I'm using the word again, simply excellent.

I'm not going to get carried away with this performance though, there is still a long road ahead for all teams and the teams that start well are not always the teams that end well, but if they could keep up that quality of football, I'd put money on them right now. That was the best performance we have seen so far in this tournament by a country mile.

Two goals in each half did it. The first from Podolski came from some clever play down the right and the ball found its way to the other side of the penalty box for him to fire home. The second was from Klose - he jumped the highest and powered his header past Schwarzer in goal for Australia.

The third and fourth came after Tim Cahill was sent off for Australia and when Australia were doing their best to get something out of the game. The third was scored by Muller after a perfectly weighted pass was played to him on the edge of the box, he pulled it back to beat his man and shot, while the fourth was scored by Cacau, on just moments earlier for Klose, with his first touch of the ball.

Sublime football that will get the German press and supporters believing something special is possible and you know what, you can't blame them.

Germany
Neuer, Friedrich, Holger Badstuber, Lahm (c), Mertesacker, Khedira, Schweinsteiger, Ozil (Gomez, 73), Podolski (Marin, 81), Klose (Cacau, 69), Muller

Australia
Schwarzer, Neill (c), Moore, Emerton (Jedinak, 74), Chipperfield, Cahill (sent off), Culina, Wilkshire, Grella (Holman, 46), Valeri, Garcia (Rukavytsya, 64)

The match of the week: Iceland - Netherlands

2009-09-04T01:46:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, the Netherlands can secure a spot at next year’s World Cup in South Africa if they beat Iceland in Reykjavík. Holland’s eighth away win would also break the record for most consecutive away wins in European World Cup qualification.

Holland’s last WC qualification away match in which they did not win was on 9 October 2004 against FYR Macedonia (2-2).

The Netherlands have conceded only one goal in their last seven WC qualification away matches.

Longest away winning streaks – World Cup qualification UEFA
# Nation Start date Match that ended streak

7 Netherlands 17 Nov 2004 Still running
7 West Germany 28 Mar 1954 Scotland - West Germany (16 Apr 1969) 1-1
7 West Germany 03 Dec 1980 Sweden - West Germany (25 Sep 1985) 2-2
7 Sweden 28 Mar 2001 Croatia - Sweden (08 Oct 2005) 1-0
6 Romania 08 Sep 1993 Republic of Ireland - Romania (11 Oct 1997) 1-1
5 England 15 Oct 1949 Republic of Ireland - England (19 May 1957) 1-1
5 Poland 16 Oct 1976 Belgium - Poland (01 May 1985) 2-0
5 Turkey 11 Oct 2000 Greece - Turkey (08 Sep 2004) 0-0

World Cup qualification away match winning streak Netherlands
Nr. Date Match Result

7 15 Oct 2008 Norway - Netherlands 0-1
6 10 Sep 2008 FYR Macedonia - Netherlands 1-2
5 08 Oct 2005 Czech Republic - Netherlands 0-2
4 03 Sep 2005 Armenia - Netherlands 0-1
3 08 Jun 2005 Finland - Netherlands 0-4
2 26 Mar 2005 Romania - Netherlands 0-2
1 17 Nov 2004 Andorra - Netherlands 0-3

Germany’s Mario Gomez scored

2009-09-04T01:39:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday, Germany’s Mario Gomez scored four goals in a friendly against the United Arab Emirates (7-2).

According to Infostrada, Gomez is the third German player to score at least four goals in an international match since 2004. Michael Ballack (2004) and Lukas Podolski (2006) also achieved this feat recently.

Gottfried Fuchs holds the record with 10 goals. That record was set at the 1912 Olympic Games against Russia (16-0).

Gomez is the 12th German player to score at least four goals in a single match.

Most goals in single match for German national team

# Player Match

10 Gottfried Fuchs Germany - Russia (01 Jul 1912) 16-0

6 Wilhelm Hahnemann Germany - Finland (01 Sep 1940) 13-0

4 Julius Hirsch Netherlands - Germany (24 Mar 1912) 5-5

4 Fritz Förderer Germany - Russia (01 Jul 1912) 16-0

4 Georg Frank Germany - Switzerland (10 Feb 1929) 7-1

4 Josef Rasselnberg Luxembourg - Germany (11 Mar 1934) 1-9

4 Edmund Conen Germany - Finland (01 Sep 1940) 13-0

4 Edmund Conen Germany - Bulgaria (20 Oct 1940) 7-3

4 Ernst Willimowski Switzerland - Germany (18 Oct 1942) 3-5

4 Gerd Müller West Germany - Albania (08 Apr 1967) 6-0

4 Gerd Müller West Germany - Cyprus (21 May 1969) 12-0

4 Gerd Müller West Germany - Soviet Union (26 May 1972) 4-1

4 Gerd Müller West Germany - Switzerland (15 Nov 1972) 5-1

4 Michael Ballack Germany - Malta (27 May 2004) 7-0

4 Lukas Podolski San Marino - Germany (06 Sep 2006) 0-13

4 Mario Gomez United Arab Emirates - Germany (02 Jun 2009) 2-7

FIFA fielding World Cup bids from lineup of 11 candidates

2009-04-06T03:34:00.000-07:00

FIFA appears to have bidders lining up to host the 2018 and 2022 World Cups.Football's governing body will confirm Tuesday which candidates - nine individual nations and a pair of two-country proposals - have followed up their initial interest last month by formally registering for the contest.

They are: Australia, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, United States and South Korea, plus joint bids from Belgium-Netherlands and Spain-Portugal.All want one of the two prizes on offer - hosting 32 teams and hundreds of thousands of visitors for a four-week festival of football that is the planet's most-watched sports event.

FIFA's 24-man executive committee will choose the two winning bids in December 2010."(The World Cup) is unrivalled in its power to awaken emotions, capture the imagination and unite people all over the world in celebration," FIFA gushed when launching the hosting rights competition in January.

The tournament generates billions of dollars through television, tourist and marketing. But it also requires billions of dollars of investment to stage, once the bills for building and upgrading stadiums, roads, airports and hotels are added up.Candidates must provide about 12 stadiums holding at least 40,000 fans for group matches, with one stadium of at least 80,000 capacity to stage the opening match and final.

"Much work awaits us, but we are optimistic because our bid is fully supported by the government," said Nugraha Besoes, secretary general of the All Indonesia Football Association.Australia's bid alone has 23 million euros (C$38 million) of government support and was delivered in person by national federation chairman Frank Lowy to FIFA president Sepp Blatter in Zurich on Sunday. It points to Australia's successful hosting of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

"We have a demonstrable track record in staging major sporting events," Australian federation spokeswoman Bonita Mersiades said. "A World Cup event here would be trouble-free. And we have a country that people want to come and see."Four of the bids come from FIFA's Asian confederation, two from the CONCACAF region of the Americas and five from Europe.Because South Africa is hosting in 2010, African nations were eligible to bid only for the 2022 World Cup. None came forward.South American countries were barred from joining either race because Brazil will host the 2014 tournament.

A European country is considered favourite to win in 2018 to avoid the continent which provides almost half the tournament's teams being deprived of the event for three straight editions.The World Cup had never left Europe for consecutive tournaments until FIFA introduced a policy of continental rotation that enabled South Africa and then Brazil to make winning bids.With Europe's television markets being a rich source of revenue for FIFA, broadcasters there would not be impressed if the 2018 World Cup went to Asia or Australia where matches would be played outside of their prime time hours.

FIFA relies on the World Cup for 90 per cent of its income, and expects to earn 2.46 billion euros (C$4.05 billion) in television and marketing revenue from the 2010 tournament in South Africa.England's bid was submitted Monday with chairman David Triesman saying it was for both editions.

"By declaring our interest for both the 2018 and 2022 tournaments we are maximizing our chances of winning the right to host the world's greatest sporting occasion," he saidRussian Football Union spokesman Andrei Malasolov said it had no preference on hosting in 2018 or 2022 and would leave it to FIFA to decide.Five of the bidders have previously staged a World Cup: England in 1966; Mexico in 1970 and 1986; the United States in 1994; and South Korea and Japan as co-hosts in 2002.Blatter has said the co-hosting experience was not a happy one and that he prefers bids from a solo host.

However, the two joint proposals from Europe can be converted to a single-nation option up to the May 2010 deadline for candidates to submit their bid book.Until then, bidders have other dates in their diary. FIFA will send out more details of bidding and hosting requirements next month, while candidates must send a signed bidding agreement to Zurich by Dec. 11. Candidates will also be visited by FIFA officials and executives over the coming year.Winning bidders also get to host an eight-team Confederations Cup tournament as a test event exactly one year before their World Cup.

The Canadian Press

Karel Bruckner has announced his retirement from the game

2009-04-06T03:28:00.000-07:00

The 69-year-old was in charge of the Czechs for seven years, leading them to the semi-finals of Euro 2004.

After stepping down as coach at the end of last summer's European Championships, Bruckner then accepted the Austria job but resigned at the start of this month following a run of just one win in seven matches.

Former Czech Republic and Austria coach Bruckner has now announced he will not return to coaching."My career as a coach is over," he told citing ill health as one of the reasons behind his decision."My health and age have become a handicap.

This week I'm going to become a normal pensioner."

Italy to bid for Euro 2016

2009-04-05T19:24:00.000-07:00

Italy will make a bid to host Euro 2016, Italian football federation (FIGC) president Giancarlo Abete said on Monday.

"Italy will present its declaration of interest for the 2016 European championships by (the deadline of) March 9," Abete told a news conference after a FIGC board meeting. He said the decision had been taken after recent consultations with the government.

Italy was beaten in a bid for Euro 2012 by Poland and Ukraine. The country's hooliganism problem was reported to be partly to blame.

"Italy is interested because we cannot shun the challenge of major international events and because we must start virtuous circles that give hope to our football," Abete told Rai radio earlier on Monday, according to Reuters.

The announcement came on the day that Scotland and Wales dropped plans to co-host Euro 2016 due to the financial demands of the expanded tournament.

Euro 2012 will be the last to feature 16 teams after UEFA voted last year to expand the tournament to 24.

Cristiano Ronaldo: “I hope to visit South Africa”

2009-04-05T19:16:00.000-07:00

Cristiano Ronaldo says he would like to visit South Africa one day. Well in just 468 days he could well get his wish should Portugal qualify for the FIFA World Cup in 2010.

The Manchester United and Portugal star was talking to Kick Off editor Neil Greig at Old Trafford, Manchester during the launch of Nike’s Mercurial Vapor Superfly boot.

Asked whether he had been to Mzansi and what he knew about the country, the winger said: “Last season Manchester United went there and the lads say it is an unbelievable place to go. I hope to go there one day too.”

Speaking right at the end of what was an interesting 40 minute press conference, Ronaldo looked more comfortable and relaxed than when he first walked in.

Facing around 100 media people from all over the globe was probably just as nerve wracking for him than it would be for anyone, highlighting that the superstar is just human after all.

But by now Ronaldo was smiling, joking and was visibly interested in getting his thoughts across about South Africa.

“I know quite a few parts of the world, but not South Africa. I wish to go there one day,” he says.

And Ronaldo will identify with the majority of South Africa’s children, having also spent a large part of his youth playing street football in Madeira, Portugal.

His message to South African kids who love to express themselves with skills learnt on the street, but also desire to reach the highest level like him, is a simple one.

“I started to play sometimes in Madeira in the street. The kids there still love to play football and all would love to be professional footballers one day.

“What the kids (in South Africa) have to do is believe in themselves and try all the time. Everyone has an opportunity and if someone catches the opportunities it is very good. But believe is the best word.”

France announces bid to host Euro 2016 too!!!

2009-04-05T19:14:00.000-07:00

The French soccer federation launched its bid to host the 2016 European Championship. "We are now officially candidates to host the 2016 Euros and we launch the bid today", French federation president Jean-Pierre Escalettes said during a news conference.

Remember that Italy's federation said last week it was also interested in hosting the 2016 championship after losing out to Poland and Ukraine for the 2012 tournament.

Britains Scotland and Wales abandoned plans for a joint bid due to the global economic downturn, but Sweden and Norway are said to be still considering a joint bid.

Although they lost against Argentina without inconvenience, France has won the last two major tournaments it hosted — the 1998 World Cup and 1984 Euro and they know that it is Nasri time!!!