World Cup Talk

ESPN gets World Cup soccer rights for $40m

2008-07-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

From The Times of India

MUMBAI: If cricket is the religion of India's masses, football is no more a mere bystander. Soccer viewership has been gaining by leaps and bounds and so has the acquisition rights to its property. In a hard-pitched battle, ESPN Star Sports has acquired the broadcast rights for the FIFA World Cup 2010 at an astounding $40 million. The rights to the earlier FIFA World Cup 2006 were bagged at a measly $8 million and those for 2002 went for just $3 million.

Both Ten Sports and Neo Sports were a part of the bidding process, with sources maintaining that the former had come close with its $35 million bid, while Neo Sports stuck to its $28 million bid. Sources informed that the whole process underwent a change when revised bids were asked for, from the three competing parties. ESPN turned out to be the highest bidder.

The high acquisition costs brings into focus the ever increasing popularity of international soccer in the Indian subcontinent," sources contend, adding, "The 2006 world cup was watched by over 50 million people in India alone, which was a 44% increase to the 2002 broadcast. The reach of Barclays Premier League too has grown at over 40% per annum since 2005," sources said.

As 32 teams get ready to battle for the coveted trophy in South Africa between June 11 to July 11, 2010, ESPN will showcase over 275 international football games, including the 2010 FIFA World Cup and the FIFA Confederations Cup. The rights are for India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal.

[Read more]

Soccer-Peru slash bans on Farfan and Pizarro

2008-07-05T13:11:00.000-07:00

From Reuters

LIMA, July 4 (Reuters) - Peru have slashed 18-month international bans on forwards Claudio Pizarro and Jefferson Farfan and defender Santiago Acasiete, freeing the trio to play for their country almost immediately.

However, a fourth player, striker Andres Mendoza, will have to serve his full ban, the Peruvian Football Federation (FPF) said in a statement.

The FPF said its disciplinary commission had reduced the bans on Pizarro, Farfan and Acasiete to three months, back-dated to start on April 7.

The players, who were suspended over alleged incidents at the team hotel in Lima after a World Cup qualifier against Brazil in November, have also been fined $10,000 each, with the money to be donated to a children's hospital.

The federation admitted at the time that its decision was based on evidence from a television presenter and hotel employees.

The return of Farfan, who recently joined Germany's Schalke 04 from PSV Eindhoven, and Chelsea striker Pizarro, would be a boost for Peru, who are bottom of the South American World Cup qualifying group with just three points from six games.

Peru gave a shambolic performance in their last outing as they were thrashed 6-0 by Uruguay in June, having also lost 4-0 to Mexico in a friendly 10 days before that.

[Read more]

Angola/Uganda: Football - National Squad Take On Uganda for World Cup

2008-06-20T21:01:00.000-07:00

From All Africa

The Angolan national soccer Team will have on Sunday in Luanda's Coqueiros Stadium a difficult mission in the home match against Uganda, for the fourth round of Group 3, qualifier for South Africa 2010 World Cup 2010.

After the surprising and unexpected loss last Saturday in Kampala, against Uganda by 1-3, the Angolan squad will face this match with determination for victory, if they do not do so they might be overtaken in the stand of group 3, where they share the lead with Uganda and Benin with six points each.

If Angola win the game, the path for the next phase, which is the last qualifier for the World Cup, will be opened.

The national team will suffer a change in the defence centre, as Kali will be substituted either by Locó or Jamba and who will be backed up by Rui Marques.

During the preparation week, coach Oliveira Gonçalves tried to correct mistakes made in the last match with tactical system, aimed at counter-measuring the motivated Ugandan national team by making history as they beat Angola for the first time.

[Read more]

U.S. team adds youth for World Cup qualifier at Barbados

2008-06-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

From USA Today

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. (AP) — U.S. coach Bob Bradley added youth to his roster for Sunday's World Cup qualifier at Barbados, taking an opportunity to give players experience after opening an eight-goal lead in the home-and-home series.

Three players with no national team experience were among the 18 picked for the roster: goalkeepers Dominic Cervi and Chris Switz, and forward Chad Barrett. Midfielders Danny Szetela and John Thorrington have appeared in just one match apiece with the national team.

"We understand that we need to have a maturity about us to go and finish the job," Bradley said Friday. "We also have the chance to give some different players an opportunity in World Cup qualifying, which we believe will keep us fresh and sharp."

Goalkeeper Tim Howard is out with a sprained lower back and Eddie Johnson because of an unspecified illness.

Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey and Brian Ching, a trio that scored five of the eight goals last weekend, were allowed to skip this weekend's game along with defender Steve Cherundolo, midfielders Maurice Edu, Frankie Hejduk and Pablo Mastroeni, and goalkeeper Matt Reis.

[Read more]

CONCACAF World Cup Qualifying Preview: Mexico v. Belize

2008-06-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

From Goal.com

What: World Cup 2010 Qualifying
Who: Mexico v. Belize
When: Saturday, June 21
Where: El Volcan, Monterrey, Mexico

"It doesn't matter how many opportunities we missed. All that mattered was that we won."

So said Jesus Ramirez, Mexico’s interim coach, after el Tri’s 2-0 win over CONCACAF counterparts Belize. This is the kind of statement a coach should utter after a painful match against a juggernaut like Brazil or Argentina in a World Cup group match, not after a qualifying formality against lowly Belize.

1st LegBelize held CONCACAF giants Mexico scoreless for over an hour before Carlos Vela knocked in a rebound from a fantastic Luis Perez free kick. Jared Borgetti came on as a sub in the 77th minute and converted a penalty kick during stoppage time to finish the scoreline.

This was not the Mexico everyone expected to see. On the contrary, the match was a national disaster. Other than Andres Guardado and Fernando Arce, the Mexicans looked uninspired. What was most worrying was not that 14th-ranked Mexico only beat 172nd-ranked Belize by a two-goal margin, but that the two goals came from set pieces. Mexico outshot Belize 21-3 and amassed 17 corner kicks, yet ended with only two goals to show for it. Goals have been scarce for El Tri lately, a statistic that established itself as important when Mexico failed to qualify for the Olympics due to a chronic lack of finishing.

[Read more]

China 'depressed' by World Cup failure

2008-06-20T20:54:00.000-07:00

From The Age

Charlton midfielder Zheng Zhi says China are "very depressed" at being dumped out of World Cup qualification and are determined to restore some national pride in Sunday's match against Australia.

Chinese hopes of qualification ended last Saturday when they suffered a 2-1 loss to Iraq, the result rendering Sunday's match at ANZ Stadium a dead rubber with Australia already guaranteeing their progression.

Most had tipped China to bring a young Olympic squad for the match in preparation for August's Games but they have arrived with a near-full strength squad, minus Manchester City's Sun Jihai who is serving a five-game suspension.

Zhi, 27 and one of the stars of the squad, said the players were still reeling from the failure to progress from the group.

"Everybody is very sad and, you know, the World Cup is only every four years so as a player it is a very big regret that we missed a chance to qualify," Zhi said after the Chinese squad trained in western Sydney on Friday afternoon.

"For us it was a very good chance to go to the World Cup but we missed qualifying and we are very sad and we feel very depressed."

Asked why China had sent a strong squad, Zhi said: "Because it is a World Cup qualification match and normally it's the most important for a national team.

[Read more]

Chile beat Venezuela 3-2 to relegate Brazil in World Cup qualifiers

2008-06-20T20:51:00.000-07:00

From Bangkok Post

Caracas (dpa) - Chile beat Venezuela 3-2 on Thursday, with a goal from Humberto Suazo in injury time which pushed Brazil out of the positions that give South American teams direct access to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

In an exciting game in Puerto La Cruz, played mostly in heavy rain and on a wet pitch, host team Venezuela pulled ahead in the 58th minute with a goal from Giancarlo Maldonado.

Chile drew with a penalty kick converted by Suazo just eight minutes later, and Gonzalo Jara put the score 2-1 in the 71st minute. But eight minutes later, Venezuelan captain Juan Arango restored equality, but Suazo, two minutes into injury time, definitively upset the home crowd.

Both teams had many chances and made serious defensive mistakes, but Chile showed more clout overall and appeared to deserve the win.

Chile was the only South American team to win in both the fifth and the sixth round of the qualifiers. It beat Bolivia at high altitude in La Paz at the weekend.

Paraguay is the lone leader in the qualifiers with 13 points in six games, two more than Argentina and three more than Colombia and Chile. Brazil is fifth with nine points.

In South America's 10-team World Cup qualifiers, each side plays home and away with each of the other nine. The top four finishers win a place in the World Cup, with the fifth-place team facing a representative of the North, Central American and Caribbean region in a playoff.

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Italy to tackle Spain in Euro 2008 quarter-final

2008-06-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

From Herald Sun

ITALY came out on top in a tense three-way tussle for a place in Monday morning's Euro 2008 quarter-final against Spain.

The world champions beat 10-man France 2-0 and Romania lost by the same margin to Group C winners Netherlands.

Andrea Pirlo put Italy in front from the penalty spot in the 25th minute of yesterday's eagerly-anticipated repeat of the 2006 World Cup final after France's Eric Abidal clattered into Luca Toni in the penalty area and was shown a straight red by referee Lubos Michel at Letzigrund Stadium in Zurich.

Abidal's sending off was a second blow for France after key playmaker Franck Ribery was stretchered off after 10 minutes with a knee injury.

After France's elimination, defender Lilian Thuram, 36, and midfielder Claude Makelele, 35, announced their international retirements.

With the Netherlands leading 1-0 in Berne, Daniele De Rossi made sure of Italy's victory on 62 minutes when his free kick was deflected into the net off the foot of Thierry Henry, standing in as captain for the injured Patrick Vieira.

"I knew that it would turn out like this. We've got a great group that really sticks together and has the right spirit," Italian coach Roberto Donadoni said.

[Read more]

Croatia beats Austria 1-0 at Euro 2008

2008-06-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

From AP

VIENNA, Austria (AP) — Luka Modric scored from the penalty spot Sunday and Croatia held on for a 1-0 win over co-host Austria at the European Championship.

Modric put his team ahead in the fourth minute of the Group B match after Rene Aufhauser brought down Ivica Olic in the area. Dutch referee Pieter Vink awarded the penalty and Austria defender Emanuel Pogatetz was then given a yellow card for protesting.

With goalkeeper Juergen Macho diving to his right, Modric sent the ball low and into the middle of the net.

[Read more]

Euro 2008: Portugal off to a winning start against Turkey

2008-06-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

From Bangkok Post

Geneva, Switzerland (dpa) - A Pepe goal just after the hour set Portugal on their way to a 2-0 victory over Turkey in their opening Euro 2008 game Saturday.

Raul Meireles added a sumptuous second in injury-time.

Although Turkey posed sufficient threat on the break to ensure it was not a completely one-sided contest, Portugal were almost entirely dominant in terms of goal chances, and thoroughly deserved their win.

Twice they struck the post, through Cristiano Ronaldo and Nuno Gomes, and had a goal ruled out, before Pepe finally broke the deadlock after 61 minutes.

Gathering the ball on halfway, the Real Madrid centre-back advanced, exchanged passes with Nuno Gomes, and then lifted the ball - possibly with the help of a slight deflection - over Volkan Demirel.

Portugal's only real concern would be that they did not win more comprehensively.

Ronaldo was spasmodically exciting, but the real pluses were Deco and Joao Moutinho, who dominated the centre of midfield despite their lack of height.

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Soccer-Euro 2008 over for injured Swiss captain Frei

2008-06-08T12:04:00.000-07:00

From Reuters

FEUSISBERG, Switzerland, June 8 (Reuters) - Switzerland captain Alex Frei will play no further part in the co-host's Euro 2008 campaign, a team doctor said on Sunday.

"Frei has partially ruptured a ligament in his left knee and will be out for around six weeks," Cuno Wetzel told a news conference at the team's base in central Switzerland.

Swiss all-time leading international scorer Frei, 28, limped out of his team's opening 1-0 defeat against Czech Republic in tears on Saturday following a first-half foul by Zdenek Grygera.

His absence is likely to be sorely felt by the co-hosts who had already lost fellow forward Blaise Nkufo to injury before the tournament got underway.

"Of course it hurts for us to lose our captain and one of our most important players, our goal-getter," Switzerland coach Koebi Kuhn told Sunday's news conference.

"But I have already told the team that the looking back is over. It doesn't help us to look back. We have to look ahead to our next match which we will just have to win without Alex.

[Read more]

2010 World Cup qualifying

2007-11-26T09:25:00.000-08:00

From Sign On San Diego

The qualifying draw for soccer's 2010 World Cup was held yesterday in Durban, South Africa, for all continental confederations except South America and Oceania, which started qualifying earlier this year. The highlights:

United States: Gets the Caribbean island nation of Dominica or Barbados first, followed by a semifinal group that likely will include Trinidad and Tobago, Guatemala and Cuba.

Mexico: Opens against the winner of Belize vs. St. Kitts and Nevis. Its semifinal group likely would include Jamaica, Honduras and Canada.

England: Just days after the Croatians eliminate it from Euro 2008 qualifying, England gets them again. The group winner qualifies for 2010; the second-place team goes to a last-chance playoff.

Italy: The defending champion no longer gets an automatic bye into the next World Cup. But the Italians got a relatively easy route to South Africa, drawn into Group 8 with Bulgaria and Ireland.

France: The 2006 runner-up is in Group 7 with several tricky opponents, among them Romania, Serbia and Austria.

Australia: Leaves Oceania for Asia's guaranteed spots and a supposedly easier path to the World Cup, and instead it draws into a brutal four-team group with China, Qatar and reigning Asian champion Iraq. Only two advance to the next round.

North Korea: Lands in Group 3 of Asian qualifying with South Korea, meaning they will play matches on each other's soil.

[Read more]

World Cup 2010 qualifiers - Nigeria, South Africa to battle it out.

2007-11-26T09:24:00.000-08:00

From Click Afrique

In a glittering ceremony in Durban South Africa, FIFA held the draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It was a memorable night for all and provided some mouth-watering match ups.....

Durban on South Africa’s Indian Ocean coast yesterday played host to the draw for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. As the tens of millions of football fans across the globe watched, draw assistants George Weah, Ali Daei, Marcel Desailly, Kasey Keller, Kaizer Motaung, Abedi Pele, Doreen Nabwire, Jomo Sono, Lucas Radebe and Christian Karembeu literally had the fate of 170 nations in their hands.

The African draw intriguingly doubles as the draw for the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola. So although South Africa qualifies automatically for the 2010 World Cup as hosts, it needed to also navigate through the qualifying series to win a spot at Angola 2010.

The African zone of the qualifiers places the 48 teams into 12 groups of 4 teams with the group winners and eight best runners up advancing into five groups of four and the winners of these groups go through to the World Cup Final proper.

For the African Cup of Nations qualifiers the top three teams in each of the five groups and Angola will qualify for the competition.

The drew threw up some intriguing matches particularly for hosts South Africa who drew continental power house Nigeria in group 4, while 2002 finalists Senegal will face Algeria finalists from 1982 and 1986.

The twelve groups for the initial phase of the African Qualifiers are:

Group 1 CameroonCape Verde IslandsTanzaniaMauritius
Group 2 Guinea ZimbabweNamibia Kenya
Group 3AngolaBeninUgandaNiger
Group 4NigeriaSouth AfricaEquatorial GuineaSierra Leone
Group 5GhanaLibyaGabonLesotho
Group 6 Senegal Algeria Liberia Gambia
Group 7 Cote d IvoireMozambiqueBotswanaMadagascar
Group 8 Morocco EthiopiaRwanda Mauritania
Group 9Tunisia Burkina FasoBurundi Seychelles
Group 10 Mali Congo Sudan Chad
Group 11 Togo Zambia Eritrea Swaziland
Group 12Egypt Congo DRMalawi Djibouti

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Soccer, 2010 World Cup: Brazil routs Ecuador to join Paraguay on second place in World Cup qualifying

2007-10-18T21:23:00.000-07:00

From iht

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil - AC Milan's Kaka scored a pair of goals to lead Brazil to a 5-0 rout of Ecuador on Wednesday for its first win in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South America.

Ronaldinho, Vagner Love and Elano completed the scoring to leave Brazil unbeaten in qualifying, following a 0-0 draw in its opening game against Colombia last Sunday. For winless Ecuador it was the second straight loss, coming after a 1-0 defeat in its home opener against Venezuela last week.

In other qualifiers Wednesday, Chile downed Peru 2-0, Paraguay beat Uruguay 1-0, while Colombia and Bolivia settled for goalless draw.

Brazil and Paraguay now share second place in the qualifying standings with four points, behind Argentina on six. Uruguay, Chile and Venezuela have three points each, Colombia has two, Bolivia and Peru have one and Ecuador is yet to earn a point. The top four teams advance to the World Cup, while the fifth placed finisher enters a playoff with the fourth-placed CONCACAF qualifier.

Brazil got on the board after 19 minutes when winger Maicon danced up the right side and sent a crossed pass over the goal mouth for striker Vagner Love to tap the ball home for a 1-0 lead.
[Read more]

After Loss to Chile, Peru's 2010 World Cup Commission will not Fire Del Solar

2007-10-18T21:22:00.000-07:00

From Living Peru

LIP-ir) -- Peru's 2010 World Cup Commission has announced that it has decided to support Peru's national soccer coach José “Chemo” Del Solar.

The World Cup commission stated it would not fire Peru's new coach even if the team did not do well in its upcoming games against Brazil and Ecuador.

After Peru lost to Chile 2 - 0 yesterday, José Mallqui, a member of the 2010 World Cup Commission told Andina news agency that the commission would respect the contract they had with del Solar.

José Guillermo del Solar has a contract to continue coaching the national squad throughout the entire first round of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, which are to end on December 11 2008, the same day Peru will go up against Bolivia.

"It is very clear to us as a commission that we need continue giving del Solar all of our support. It hasn't crossed our mind to dismiss him or hire another coach," said Mallqui. "It is clear that if we want to reach a World Cup we have to be strong in Lima and achieve a tie when on an away game. I hope the team does better against Brazil."

Peru's following 2010 World Cup qualifiers will be on November 17 and 22. Peru's national soccer team is to go up against Brazil and Ecuador. After its tie with Paraguay, Peru is currently in eighth place in team rankings

[Read more]

2010 World Cup Qualifying

2007-10-10T10:25:00.000-07:00

From ESPN

Qualifying for the next World Cup is now in progress across the globe in the race to join South Africa in the finals.

Again there will be 32 participating nations. South Africa will be joined by five other African nations, plus 13 from Europe, four from South America and Asia and three from Concacaf. There will also be two places decided by an Oceania/Asia play-off and a Concacaf/South America play-off.

Qualifying for the next World Cup is now in progress across the globe in the race to join South Africa in the finals.

Again there will be 32 participating nations. South Africa will be joined by five other African nations, plus 13 from Europe, four from South America and Asia and three from Concacaf. There will also be two places decided by an Oceania/Asia play-off and a Concacaf/South America play-off.

SOUTH AMERICA
As in previous years, Conmebol qualifying will be done on a single league basis of the ten nations. The top four qualify automatically with the fifth place team playing off against a nation from Concacaf.
• Live Scores Current Standings Future Fixtures

ASIA
The minor nations in the Asia region will be play a first round of qualifiers this month, ranked based on previous World Cup performance. After Bhutan and Guam withdrew, Kuwait and Indonesia were given a bye into the second round.

In round one, there will be 17 two-legged ties. From the remaining 19 nations, the top 11 ranked teams will automatically move into round three (Kuwait are guaranteed this while Indonesia's fate depends which other nations win). The eight lowest ranked nations will play another two-legged play-off. This will take a total of 15 teams into round three.
• First Round - latest scores and scorers Fixtures in Asia

Australia, South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Iran and now also Kuwait will not join in qualifying until the third round next year. The 20 nations will be drawn into five groups of four teams playing on a round-robin basis. The top two teams in each group qualify for the fourth round.
Match dates in 2008: February 6, March 26, June 7, June 14, September 6, September 10.
In Round Four, the ten nations which are left are drawn into two groups of five. The top two teams will qualify for the World Cup.

Match dates in 2008: October 15, November 19.

Match dates in 2009: February 11, March 28, April 1, June 6, June 10, June 17, September 5, September 9.

The two teams which finish third will then play-off and the winning nation then faces a further play-off against a country from Oceania for a place in South Africa.

Play-off dates: October 10, 2009 and October 14, 2009. Then November 14, 2009 and November 21, 2009.

AFRICA
The preliminary round initially was to feature the ten lowest-ranked nations but São Tomé & Príncipe and the Central African Republic both withdrew meaning Swaziland and Seychelles received a bye.

It means there are three matches remaining, of which Somalia-Djibouti will be played as a one-off match while Madagascar-Comoros and Sierra Leone-Guinea-Bissau will be two legged.
• Preliminary Round - latest scores and scorers Fixtures in Africa

The five nations move into the first group round in which 48 nations will be drawn into 12 groups of four. The 12 group winners and eight best runners-up will go through.
The second group round sees the 20 remaining nations drawn into five groups of four. The group winners will qualify.

The qualifers will also double up for the 2010 African Nations Cup finals. The top three teams in the final group will qualify for this. Because of this South Africa will participate and if they win their group the second place team will go to the World Cup. Also, as Angola are the ANC holders all teams from their group will qualify for that tournament.

OCEANIA
The first stage of this region was completed last month as New Caledonia, Fiji and Vanuatu made it through to the next stage.

Also part of the 2007 Pacific Games, ten nations were drawn into two groups of five. The top two went through to the semi-finals. Both finalists qualified for the next stage of World Cup qualiying along with the winner of the 3rd/4th place play-off.

• First round final standings Latest results
Those three nations joined New Zealand in round two. This is also the 2008 OFC Nations Cup. The four countries play on a league basis with the top two then playing off for the right to take on the qualifying nation from Asia.

• Upcoming matches in Oceania Fixtures for the confederation

EUROPE
Eight groups of six teams and one group of five will be drawn on November 25.
The nine group winners qualify automatically. The best eight of the nine runners-up will play a two-legged play-off to qualify. Qualifying begins in August 2008.

CONCACAF
Qualifying will be the same as for 2006. The first round sees 11 preliminary matches between the lowest ranked nations, with qualifying beginning early in 2008.

The rest of the nations join qualifying in the second round when they will be seeded again based on FIFA World Ranking. The winners of the 12 two-legged ties will move into round three.
This next round is done on a league basis, with three groups of four countries. The top two teams in each group advance.

The final stage sees one, six-team group from which the top three will qualify. The fourth placed team earns a play-off against a nation from South America.

[Read more]

FIFA pleased with progress South Africa making for 2010 World Cup

2007-10-09T09:02:00.001-07:00

From AFP

CAPE TOWN, Oct 9, 2007 (AFP) — World football's governing body FIFA said Tuesday that South Africa's programme of stadium building remained on schedule, despite a recent strike by construction workers in Cape Town.

"So far, things are all right," FIFA spokesman Alain Leiblang told journalists in Cape Town as a FIFA delelation wrapped up a tour of the 2010 World Cup hosts.

"All things are on track. I don't want to say for the future, but for the two cities that we have inspected everything is correct."

Amid a three-day inspection of four of the country's nine tournament host cities, Leiblang said outstanding issues were merely a matter of detail.

No serious shortcomings had been identified, and there was littles concern over recent labour disputes between workers and stadium construction companies in Cape Town and Durban.
"This is nothing. I have known much worse," said Leiblang -- referring to a general strike in France as it prepared to host the same tournament in 1998.

"So far, we have a calender, we have a time schedule, it is on track."

[Read more]

Lebanon crush India 4-1 in 2010 World Cup qualifier

2007-10-09T08:59:00.000-07:00

From India Times

NEW DELHI, October 9: Lebanon rallied from a goal down to crush India 4-1 at the Saida International Stadium in Sidon in the first leg of the opening round of Asian football qualifiers for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, according to information reaching here.

Sunil Chhetri put the visiting Indians ahead on the half-hour mark in Monday night's clash, but the home side hit back to draw level through Roda Antar five minutes later.

Goals by Mohammad Ghaddar and Mahmoud El Ali within a minute of each other in the 61st and 62nd minutes put the Indians on back foot. Lebanon added a fourth through Ghaddar 15 minutes before the final whistle to complete the rout.

The teams face off in the second leg in Chennai on October 28.

[Read more]

Socceroos take shape for 2010

2007-09-12T09:11:00.000-07:00

From The Age

THE day after Australia controversially crashed out of the World Cup, departing coach Guus Hiddink briefed a handful of journalists — this writer included — on the pitfalls that lay in wait as the Socceroos sought to establish themselves in Asia.

Hiddink said that Australia had harnessed its best players in a generation, that he had got them super fit and that they had extracted every ounce they could out of themselves in reaching the last 16 before going out in heartbreaking fashion to ultimate champion Italy.

The need to replenish the talent pool was great, he warned, pointing out that of the 23 players he took to Germany only 14 or 15 were up to the standard needed to compete at the highest level.

Fifteen months later, after an interregnum presided over by his former assistant Graham Arnold, Hiddink is due to be replaced by another Dutchman, Dick Advocaat, whose appointment will be officially announced within weeks, if not days.

Of his own time at the helm, Arnold said some of the criticism he wore, particularly during the Asian Cup campaign, was from people who just wanted to "hammer Australian coaches".
"I've worn a lot of flak because I'm Australian, at the end of the day. Australia makes and develops good coaches but some people think that because you're Australian you don't belong here."

[Read more]

Peru's National Soccer Team Prepares for 2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying Rounds

2007-09-04T09:31:00.000-07:00

From Living in Peru

(LIP-ir) -- With just a little over a month before Peru's National Soccer Team plays Paraguay to begin elimination rounds for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the team begins its practices.

Before Peru's National Team plays Paraguay, it will have two more friendlies, one against Colombia and the other against Bolivia.

Peru's new coach, José Guillermo "Chemo" Del Solar, brought his team together today for a light practice. Peru's local players and international players which arrived to Lima last night all participated in the practice.

Peru's La Republica newspaper reported today that players in Europe, such as Paolo Guerrero - HSV striker and Claudio Pizarro - Chelsea striker, would be arriving to Peru throughout this week.

The players on Peru's National Selection, which are currently practicing at the Villa Deportiva Nacional (Videna) are: Leao Butrón, Diego Penny, José Carvallo, Amilton Prado, John Galliquio, Juan Jayo, Rainer Torres, Pedro García, Damián Ismodes, William Chiroque and Juan Gonzáles Vigil.

[Read more]

Fifa to assess Zim World Cup role

2007-09-04T09:28:00.000-07:00

From BBC

A delegation of officials from Fifa are to travel to Zimbabwe to assess the country's capacity to host visitors and teams for the 2010 World Cup.

Though the tournament will be hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe were hoping to play a role in accommodating those travelling to the event.

Karikoga Kaseke, the chief executive officer of the Zimbabwe Tourism Authority (ZTA), said:

"Fifa have specifically requested to see hotels in Harare, Bulawayo and Victoria Falls as well as other service facilities in the tourism sector."

Zimbabwe, which plans to invest $20m on hotels and stadiums, is one of the host country's neighbours hoping to host training camps, accommodation and fan parks for teams and visitors during the tournament.

[Read more]

American Samoa, first nation eliminated in World Cup qualifying, outscored 38-1

2007-09-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

From The Candadian Press

APIA, Samoa (AP) — American Samoa, the first of the 204 teams in qualifying for the 2010 World Cup to be eliminated, completed its matches with a 4-0 loss to Tonga on Saturday in the Oceania region.

American Samoa finished 0-4 in Group B and was outscored 38-1. American Samoa was outscored 34-1 in going 0-4 in qualifying for the 2006 tournament and set FIFA marks for futility in 2002 qualifying, when it was outscored 57-0 and allowed a record 31 goals against Australia.

Pio Palu scored twice for Tonga (1-2), fourth in Group B behind the Solomon Islands (3-0), and Vanuatu and Samoa (2-1 each). Substitute Godwin Bebeu and Henry Faarodo scored second-half goals as the Solomons won 2-0 over Vanuatu.

In Group A, Teariki Mateariki scored a pair of goals to lead the Cook Islands over Tuvalu 4-1, and Osea Vakatalesau got two goals in Fiji's 4-0 victory over Tahiti.

[Read more]

African Talking Point: The 2010 African Qualifiers

2007-08-23T07:51:00.000-07:00

From Goal.com

In this edition of African Talking Point, we look at the qualifiers for the 2010 African Nations Cup and World Cup finals and welcome your valuable comments.

South Africa will host the first World Cup to be staged on African soil in 2010. Yet still, they will participate in the qualifying rounds.

What if they cannot make it through the qualifying rounds? They will still qualify for the World Cup as hosts.

Their participation in the qualifiers is mainly to secure qualification for the 2010 African Nations Cup in Angola, the Confederation of African Football (Caf) announced.

Caf also used the used the 2006 World Cup qualifiers to determine the sixteen teams that participated in the African Nations Cup in Egypt last year.

The qualifiers for the 2010 World Cup from the African Zone will be combined with the preliminaries for the 2010 African Nations Cup.

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Will the PSL broadcast deal affect 2010 FIFA World Cup viewership?

2007-08-23T07:49:00.000-07:00

From Biz Community

At present, over half (55%) of South Africans say that they would not subscribe to a pay channel in order to be able to view the 2010 FIFA World Cup matches, if SuperSport is awarded broadcast rights to the games, reveals a recent dipstick by African Response.

These findings stem from a short interview conducted with 399 respondents, in response to the PSL (Premier Soccer League) having recently awarded broadcasting rights to SuperSport, worth more than R1 billion. Giving the pay channel exclusive TV rights to all PSL fixtures will mean that SABC 1, SABC 2, SABC 3 and e.tv will be prohibited from broadcasting any PSL soccer matches.

The deal, which will hold for the next five years, was recently announced by the PSL chairperson Irvin Khoza. Regardless of the fact that the case is still in arbitration, the PSL says that its decision to award the broadcast rights for all soccer matches to SuperSport, is definite. If the deal holds for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, only 22% of respondents say that they are willing to subscribe to the pay channel, which could leave the remaining, average South African soccer fan, unable to view the 2010 FIFA World Cup matches.

The latest 2010 barometer results reflect that overall public confidence in South Africa's readiness to host the 2010 FIFA World Cup stands at 76%.

The results contained in this press release, represent the views of 399 respondents interviewed in July this year. The full African Response Barometer is released on a quarterly basis. Previous reports can be found at www.africanresponse.co.za.

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S African organizers confident on 2010 World Cup preparation

2007-08-15T09:58:00.000-07:00

From China View

JOHANNESBURG, Aug. 15 (Xinhua) -- South African organizers for the first soccer World Cup in Africa on Wednesday reiterated their confidence that the country can deliver a successful tournament while beating pessimism on the African continent.

Much preparatory work had been done and many others are well on the track for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, Danny Jordaan, chief executive of the tournament's Local Organizing Committee (LOC), said in Johannesburg on Wednesday, citing the finalized match schedule, sold broadcast rights, established website and new stadiums under construction.

Jordaan said the preliminary draw, the first official event as run-up to the 2010 World Cup, will be held in Durban on November 25, with the highest number of countries ever had entered for the event.

"If it's not going to happen, why would 204 countries want to participate and win one of the 32 places?" he told a 2010 National Communications Partnership Conference.

A total of 197 teams had entered the preliminary draw to decide qualifying groups that eventually produced 32 teams for the 2006 World Cup in Germany.

South Africa and FIFA, the world soccer governing body, have repeatedly fended off suspicions over the country's ability to host a World Cup, particularly rumors that South Africa could be replaced by other countries as the host.

Jordaan said much work had already been completed. Nine host cities had been confirmed, stadium contracts had been signed, legislation had been finalized, match schedules completed, all senior managers appointed and 95 percent of the broadcast rights had been sold.

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