tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-155172302009-10-28T19:05:20.269Z2010 World Cup football news, views, World Cup betting tips, opinion plus results from the 2010 World Cup soccer tournament in South Africa.mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.comBlogger252125This is an XML content feed. It is intended to be viewed in a newsreader or syndicated to another site, subject to copyright and fair use.tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-66220580709377753572009-10-28T18:53:00.002Z2009-10-28T19:02:02.876Z

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

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/10/didnt-you-do-wellnow-go-away.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-27139288597811254412009-08-16T12:39:00.004+01:002009-08-16T12:48:45.254+01:00

This week, three days before the Scottish Premier League season started, Scotland had to play a World Cup 2010 qualifying match against Norway. They got hammered. 4-0 to Norway.Also in World Cup Qualifying action were France, Croatia and Germany, not to mention San Marino. I said : not to mention San Marino.The leagues in France and German started the week before, while the new Croatian season

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com1http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/08/its-time-to-reorganise-qualifiers.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-44224749973027196552009-08-08T10:43:00.002+01:002009-08-08T10:50:16.761+01:00

FIFA president Sepp Blatter is a man who has more than his fair share of ridiculous, unworkable and spurious ideas. But his latest is also possibly his greatest.The, um, 'great' man has suggested using cruise ships as alternatives for hotels at the 2010 World Cup Finals to overcome the shortage of hotel rooms in South Africa.Just one teeny, tiny problem. The South African government doesn't want

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/08/cruise-ship-hotels-for-2010-world-cup.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-62610961487435173362009-07-29T14:40:00.002+01:002009-07-29T14:54:52.587+01:00

No sooner has Sulaiman Al Fahim taken over at Portsmouth, than rumours start linking Argentina legend Diego Maradona with a role at the club.Al Fahim, you will remember, was the face of the group that took over Manchester City. He was the man that declared City would sign Cristiano Ronaldo for £134m and other similarly ridiculous things. He was soon sidelined by the group behind the Manchester

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/07/maradona-not-going-to-pompey.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-54569783165401393552009-07-24T12:31:00.002+01:002009-07-24T12:38:49.059+01:00

Following the collapse of a stadium that was 1,500 over capacity for Ivory Coast's World Cup qualifier against Malawi in March, the head of the Ivory Coast Football Federation and another man, who was responsible for ticketing at the match, have both been jailed.20 people died and over 130 were injured following a stampede caused by overcrowding and poor safety measures.While this is clearly a

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/07/ivorian-football-officials-jailed.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-48180238276704962662009-07-24T11:58:00.002+01:002009-07-24T12:28:11.809+01:00

Serious stories only, today, I'm afraid.There is a very real concern that the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will become a magnet for Africans looking to escape the troubles and economic hardship of their own countries.With up to 5 million illegal immigrants among a 45 million population, this is already a serious problem for the country and is one that needs to be addressed in the run up to the

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/07/come-to-south-africa-but-please-go-home.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-107936574530975712009-07-22T17:03:00.002+01:002009-07-22T17:08:29.476+01:00

England, and more recently Mexico, fans will both remember the reign of Sven Goran Eriksson as manager of their national sides with something less than fondness. To be fair to the guy, he did pretty well with England before it all imploded.However, to see him back in English football with...wait for it...Notts County, just makes me want to laugh out loud.Those of you from outside of England who

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/07/you-just-cant-make-it-up.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-55369661874834534552009-07-19T15:10:00.002+01:002009-07-19T15:20:55.393+01:00

ITV are lobbying the government to ensure that all World Cup and European Championship qualification matches involving the 'home' nations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland be added to the list of sporting events that is protected for 'free-to-air' broadcasters such as, well, them.Obviously, if this were to happen, it would diminish FIFA and UEFA's ability to profit from such

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/07/no-self-interest-in-this-move-at-all.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-59955913685707328662009-07-14T18:40:00.002+01:002009-07-14T18:46:16.141+01:00

Shunsuke Nakamura, recently of Celtic and now at Espanyol, has been told by Japan head coach Takeshi Okada that he must feature regularly for the Spanish side in order to be considered for the World Cup finals in South Africa 2010.While I'm all in favour of giving players an incentive to perform at their best, is Okada really trying to convince us that he will leave out the man who is by far

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/07/nakamura-must-play-regularly-to-get-in.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-10923020735389137102009-07-12T09:35:00.002+01:002009-07-12T09:50:27.983+01:00

Regular readers of this blog will know that I always enjoy the African qualifying groups a great deal. This is mainly because of the big teams ability to mess things up (see Cameroon this time around and Nigeria last time out), because of the frequent accusations of collusion and cheating; and, of course, the general air of chaos that surrounds football in Africa.So, here's a quick round up of

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/07/african-qualifying-round-up.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-32047059332252556902009-07-12T09:24:00.002+01:002009-07-12T09:34:10.706+01:00

Let's be honest, we're all armchair managers. It all seems so clear when you're sitting in the stands or watching on TV just exactly what the manager needs to do to win a game. Why the managers themselves can't see what you can see is, of course, one of the enduring mysteries of football.That's why I particularly enjoyed this piece in the South Africa Times giving the South Africa national coach

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/07/score-more-concede-lessits-easy-this.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-42615976980495735882009-06-30T14:12:00.003+01:002009-06-30T14:26:22.230+01:00

Sometimes; well, often really, I want to weep. Not, as you might think, because of all the suffering that goes on in the world or because I've stubbed my toe getting out of bed. Not even because I've been listening to Johnny Cash singing 'Hurt' - although that does get me every time.No, I mainly want to weep when people who should know better make outrageous claims for their products. I'm not

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com1http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/world-cup-will-cause-world-peace.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-77274226106433964172009-06-30T13:56:00.002+01:002009-06-30T14:10:35.390+01:00

It's been a quiet week in football in general, apart from the USA's sterling performance against Brazil in the Confederations Cup Final.So, bored journalists do what they are best at and that is : make something up.Take this headline in the Daily Mail from a couple of days ago:'We fear England could ruin our World Cup chances, reveals Brazilian superstar Kaka'Wow, you think. Kaka must have really

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/theres-no-newsso-lets-make-something.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-52861564844957323512009-06-23T18:19:00.002+01:002009-06-23T18:26:00.913+01:00

Would it be possible, do you think, to build twenty or so hotels in nine months? How long does building a hotel actually take, because if I could do it, then I would.I figure that if I can get 20 hotels open in nine months, that will leave me three months to market them to the hundreds of thousands of football fans that will be coming to the 2010 World Cup.Y'see, right now there's a slight

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/im-going-into-hotel-business.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-88908290993256604342009-06-23T18:08:00.002+01:002009-06-23T18:14:55.674+01:00

OK, so Barack Obama is going to attend the opening ceremony of the 2010 World Cup Finals. Nice of Sepp Blatter to announce this way, way in advance, so that security - already a contentious issue for these finals - can be compromised still further.And it gives any potential terrorist plenty of time to put a plan in place. Good thinking, Mr Blatter. I for one am in awe of your great generosity of

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/security-what-security.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-12928815728208796102009-06-23T17:59:00.002+01:002009-06-23T18:07:12.601+01:00

Well, after an impressive performance against Brazil and an even more impressive performance against Italy, Egypt somehow contrived to get knocked out of the Confederations Cup by being soundly beaten by USA.Worst still, some of the team were apparently robbed after celebrating that 1-0 win over Italy. Robbed, you say? By who?Well, if South Africa paper Sunday World is to be believed, they were

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com1http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/oopsi-spoke-to-soon.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-14120338853835732012009-06-20T16:50:00.002+01:002009-06-20T16:59:50.644+01:00

Anyone watching the Confederations Cup over the last week or so can't fail to have heard the continuing, defeaning drone coming from hundreds, if not thousands, of plastic horns known as Vuvuzelas.These are, apparently, extremely popular among South African football fans. However, such is the incessant din produced by this horns, that players (well Xabi Alonso anyway) have complained it knocks

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/great-vuvuzelas-controversy.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-40825563645207462212009-06-15T19:40:00.004+01:002009-06-15T19:54:59.147+01:00

Yeah, I know I should have been working, but I couldn't help but watch the BBC website live coverage of the Confederations Cup match between Brazil and Egypt instead. As well, I mean.Anyway, it finished 4-3 to Brazil and you can check out the highlights here.Brazil just edged it, with a last minute Kaka penalty, but the most impressive thing about it was Egypt in the second half. They dominated

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/egypt-starting-to-look-good.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-82310309722042960442009-06-13T12:55:00.002+01:002009-06-13T13:09:58.912+01:00

Zimbabwe president Robert Mugabe is not a man noted for having self-doubts. Which, presumably, is why he's hopeful that a number of World Cup football squads will want to base their training camps in what is left of his country.The Unity government is trying to persuade Brazil, Nigeria and England to come to Zimbabwe, in the hope of attracting tourism from neighbouring countries.Tourism minister

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/who-are-you-trying-to-kid-robert.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-14647492299424066472009-06-10T22:22:00.003+01:002009-06-10T22:39:21.802+01:00

Today's European group qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup football tournament taught us a few things.Firstly, that Carlos Queiroz, the current Portugal manager, is not up to the job. Yeah, OK, it was a friendly and Queiroz rested a few players, but 0-0 against Estonia indicates the man is not capable of leading a talented squad of players to South Africa 2010.Sweden's 4-0 victory over Malta makes

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/russia-looking-strong-portugal-pretty.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-33304531189405128962009-06-10T22:13:00.005+01:002009-06-10T22:22:12.172+01:00

With a tip of the hat to the marvelous Football365 people, here's a - quite literally - Lazarus like resurrection from a footballer.Admittedly, this has nothing to do with World Cup football, but how often do you get to see a professional footballer (albeit a lower league Belgian player) suffer cardiac arrest and then be revived by an internally implanted defibrilator.I know this is prurient to

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/ever-seen-anything-like-thisno-didnt.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-90400545643366535452009-06-09T21:01:00.003+01:002009-06-09T21:13:57.396+01:00

There's always something faintly Xenophobic whenever a major sporting event is held outside of your own country, don't you think?It doesn't matter if you're English, German, American, French or wherever you are from, you will read reports in the newspapers about how everything in that other, somehow alien, country is behind schedule. You'll read about corruption, crime, poor quality of services,

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/south-africa-2010-its-all-going-to-go.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-53154192810741630512009-06-07T13:22:00.001+01:002009-06-07T13:26:04.128+01:00

From the Asian groups, Australia, Japan and South Korea all qualified for South Africa 2010. The quality of the football wasn't high, but all three sides did enough to get through.Hardly surprising names, I admit, but that just leaves one place for one of North Korea, Saudi Arabia and, at an outside bet, Iran.

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/australia-japan-and-south-korea-all.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-56199940273621805332009-06-07T12:57:00.002+01:002009-06-07T13:21:38.113+01:00

So, with yesterday's 2010 World Cup Qualifying matches out of the way, things are looking a little clearer, especially in the European groups.The Dutch have qualified already, from admittedly the weakest possible Group (Scotland are the next placed team, a mere 11 points behind the Netherlands).Almost certain to qualify now are England, who beat Kazakhstan 4-0 and then saw Croatia and Ukraine

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/its-looking-good-for-someand-terrible.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15517230.post-32243233723825280482009-06-05T18:21:00.003+01:002009-06-05T18:28:32.264+01:00

Have you heard about the 'bust-up' between England and former club teammates Gareth Barry and Gary Cahill yet?No? I'm not surprised. Because despite headlines in the Sun, Mirror and, yes, The Guardian newspapers, this is a prime example of how NOT to spin a story.What happened is this: Cahill tackled Barry in a practice match. He didn't help Barry back to his feet. Barry got up. Both players

mark_shttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12943304823090212030noreply@blogger.com0http://worldcuptoday.blogspot.com/2009/06/this-is-how-not-to-spin-story.html