Nicolas Anelka helped France take the lead in the first stage of the play-off with a strike in the 72nd minute. France now have a home advantage going into the second leg, which will be played on Nov 18th, 2009, which will be held in France. Trapattoni made a late decision to choose Liam Lawrence of Stoke City to play in the right of midfield for Ireland. Interesting Facts If [...]
New Zealand 1-0 Bahrain Ricki Herbert, former New Zealand footballer and the current coach of the national team led them to a place in the 2010 Football World Cup today, with a 1-0 win over Bahrain in Wellington, after 27 years. Herbert said: “Tonight’s about these boys. It’s about a group who believed and have never stopped believing and their dream continues.” “I’ve been very honest with everybody about the quality of [...]
The Irish take on France in the World Cup Playoff’s on November 14 in Dublin and November 18 in Paris : Goalkeepers : Given (Manchester City), Westwood (Coventry City), J.Murphy (Scunthorpe). Defenders : R.Dunne (Aston Villa), J.O’Shea (Manchester United), St.Ledger (Middlesbrough), Kilbane and McShane (Hull City), S.Kelly (Fulham), E.Nolan (Preston North End), O’Dea (Reading). Midfielders : McGeady (Celtic Glasgow), D.Duff (Fulham), K.Andrews (Blackburn Rovers), G.Whelan and L.Lawrence (Stoke City), L.Miller [...]
24 players that have been chosen for the two friendlies against England to be held at Doha, Qatar on November 14 and Oman in Muscat on November 17: Goalkeepers: J.Cesar (Inter Milan), A.Doni (AS Roma). Defenders: Maicon and Lucio (Inter Milan), Juan (AS Roma), F.Aurelio (Liverpool), D.Alves (Barcelona), Naldo (Werder Bremen), Luisao (Benfica), Bastos (Olympique Lyon). Midfielders: Kaka (Real Madrid), G.Silva (Panathinaikos), F.Melo (Juventus), Elano (Galatasaray), Lucas (Liverpool), Josue’ (Wolfsburg), [...]
FIFA president Sepp Blatter admitted that the World Cup 2010 play-off seedings could have been handled better. The seeding had been criticized especially by the Republic of Ireland coach Giovanni Trapattoni. Blatter told Gazzetta dello Sport: “We should have announced it from the start.” “There is something in the rules, but it isn’t clear. If we learn, we’ll change for 2014, but in 180 minutes anything is possible. There are [...]
Champions League October 20th, 2009 matches roundup English Premier League Mike Jones refereeing deflated! Referee from the controversial Sunderland v Liverpool encounter might face the axe from the remainder of the Premier League. He had earlier adjudged the “beach-ball goal” legitimate, which helped Sunderland secure a win over The Reds. Aston Villa 2-1 Chelsea Drogba put Chelsea ahead with a nice touch to get some space and then a shot [...]
Argentina clinch victory in the dying minutes of the game and keep their hopes of qualifying for the World Cup alive. Palermo has certainly made a successful come back to the big stage helping Argentina edge closer to qualifying, since being called upon by Maradona to join the World Cup 2010 squad. Maradona choose to keep star strikers Carlos Tevez and Aguero. Coach Maradona said: “The victory gives us new [...]
According to news coming in from Spain, Argentinian Clubs have started a campaign to substitute Coach Diego Maradona with Barcelona’s Coach – Pep Guardiola. Maradona has been under siege for jeopardizing Argentina’s hopes of qualifying for the World Cup 2010 in South Africa. Earlier, Ole – a Buenos Aires newspaper had reported that Maradona had threatened to drop European stars for the upcoming qualifiers against Peru and Uruguay. Players such [...]
Brazil thrash Argentina 3-1 to book a place in the World Cup 2010, South Africa. Argentina Coach, Diego Maradona took complete blame for the defeat. Brazil joined South Africa, Japan, Australia, Korea Republic, Netherlands, Korea DPR and Ghana as qualified teams for the Cup. Portugal ended up with a 1 – 1 draw against Denmark. With Portugal and Argentina both struggling to cement their place in the World Cup, the [...]
