Group H is a toss up in a way. I see Spain as the clear favorite but the other three could all challenge for the second spot. Switzerland has good, European talent and Chile and Honduras all hold a little bit of a different style of play. This group should provide some interesting results.

H1 Spain

FIFA Rank : 1

Qualified : 1st place UEFA – Group 5

Player(s) to Watch : Xavi (Barcelona)

Xavi

H2 Switzerland

FIFA Rank : 18

Qualified : 1st place UEFA – Group 2

Player(s) to Watch : Gökhan Inler (Udinese)

Gökhan Inler

H3 Honduras

FIFA Rank : 38

Qualified : 3rd place CONCACAF

Player(s) to Watch : David Suazo (Inter Milan)

David Suazo

H4 Chile

FIFA Rank : 17

Qualified : 2nd place CONMEBOL

Player(s) to Watch : Humberto Suazo (Monterrey)

Humberto Suazo

Sorry Lads, I'm off to Glasgow.

Dublin won’t see a cent however, as todays Irish Independent states that Celtic Park is now one of the most likely venues for the friendly.

London (Emirates Stadium), Glasgow (Parkhead) and Manchester (Old Trafford or City of Manchester Stadium) are the more likely venues.

Arsenal’s ground is a front runner due to the fact that Brazil have played there before and also the FAI’s links to Arsenal through Liam Brady.

But there is a complication as the English FA have confirmed that England will play Egypt in a friendly in Wembley on Wednesday March 3rd.

Police would not be keen to allow two internationals go ahead in the same city on the same night so that would rule out the Emirates for Wednesday.

The same problem arises with Parkhead for that date as Scotland host the Czech Republic at Hampden on March 3rd, so if Parkhead is chosen for the Brazil game, it would have to go ahead on the Tuesday night.

The ‘Green Army’ will get to spend a few of the pennies in the South African jar then. With League of Ireland season tickets going for buttons by comparison, lets hope a few season ticket books find their way into the hands of broken hearted Ole Oles.

What you missed while a bird with a baquette was shutting down the large hadron collider…

• According to Arsenal, Robin van Persie’s ankle injury may cause him to miss the World Cup.
• David Villa is thinking of leaving Valencia for England in the summer.
• Fernando Torres says that Liverpool would be wrong to sack Rafa Benitez. He also admits that the club needs more players, which segues right into this rumor that the Reds are looking to bring Emile Heskey back in January.
• Manchester City started looking to replace Mark Hughes over the summer.
• In other news, Manchester City chief executive Garry Cook believes that Liverpool had approached Roberto Mancini as a contingency plan.
• Tottenham midfielder Sebastien Bassong was left out of Cameroon’s African Cup of Nations squad.
• Chelsea have lost Nicolas Anelka for a couple of matches with a knee injury, which is poor timing considering that Didier Drogba has to leave for the ACN on Sunday.
• Real Zaragoza has just about had enough of Jermaine Pennant.
• England will play a friendly against Egypt at Wembley on March 3rd.
• Spain manager Vicente del Bosque thinks that Barcelona winger Pedro could be called up for the World Cup.
• Pohang Steelers manager Sergio Farias is going to take a yearlong sabatical. Hope you guys have a good season next year!
• Soccernet’s version of  Unprofessional Foul’s “The Good, the Bad, the WTF” is nowhere near as good.

2009 has been a tough year for the pub industry and many have suffered the ultimate price, but for those of you who remain, will 2010 be any better? 

Here are a few things to look forward to in 2010:

The Commonwealth Games and The Winter Olympics: 2010 truly is a great year for sports fans.  The Common Wealth games will be held in New Delhi between 3rd and 14th October 2010 and the Winter Olympics between 12th and  28th February 2010 in Vancouver. 

A Barbeque Summer: Although we were sadly let down by the anticipated Barbeque Summer this year, there is still hope for 2010 with reports of temperatures reaching record highs.  Keep your fingers crossed….

The General election:  2010 will see a general election within the next 6 months.  There have been announcements of live political debates to be broadcast on TV.  Are you brave enough to show them in your pub?

The World Cup:  With England kicking off on the 12^th June against the USA, there is nothing that comes close to matching the atmosphere of the World Cup. As David Goldblatt says in his history of football The Ball is Round:

“Around half the planet watched the 2006 World Cup final,”  ”Three billion humans have never done anything simultaneously before.” And they won’t again until the summer of 2010.”

And where will the people of Britain watch it?  The Great British Pub, of course!

With a great deal to look forward to and the prospect of so much change, I wish you all a happy and successful Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

Arsene moved to quash speculation about Robin van Persie’s career was in any way threatened by the injury suffered in a pointless international friendly. Wenger observed:

If you are very positive you would say [he'll be back in] April. If you’re a bit cautious you say May. It is virtually the rest of the season. Personally I thought let’s put in my head that he will not play again this season and hope that I will have a good surprise.

That he will be back before the end of the season should not be doubted. The player will be desperate to go to South Africa, the Dutch FA equally intent on taking him. However, scant regard for van Persie’s fitness will do more damage than good, something that the player and his national coach would do well to remember.

van Persie’s continued absence has forced Wenger’s hand, the manager admitting that he will be looking to strengthen the front line in the January transfer window:

if the right player turns up then we will do it.

As to whether or not this would preclude anyone who is unavailable for the Champions League, Wenger was unequivocal in stating that it would not:

We are going for the domestic title and the FA Cup aswell and doing that allows you to rest a player for the Champions League or play another player in the Premier League. Of course I would prefer the player who can play in both competitions and so it would mean the player has the quality to play in the long-term for Arsenal Football Club.

Speculation is rife that any number of players will be joining, recent additions to the list have included Luca Toni and bizarrely, Louis Saha. The Frenchman ticks the stereotypical box for nationality and would be a perfect fit having been injury-prone for a number of seasons. However, talk of players being cup-tied for UEFA competitions suggests that someone currently plying their trade in the Premier League is highly unlikely, albeit not entirely out of the question. That said, it is hard to see that anyone of the required abilities would be allowed to leave by a domestic rival.

Long-term target Chamakh of Bordeaux appears equally doubtful as an arrival with the French club still in the Champions League without a hefty fee being involved, something Arsene baulked at paying last summer. Perhaps if the situation became desperate, he may reconsider but if the Moroccan is to join, a freebie after the World Cup commentating commitments of the manager are over seems more likely. Edwin Dzeko is similarly doubtful with Wolfburg’s continued Europa League jaunt next year.

Wenger though has to act. Eduardo and Arshavin are his experienced front men with Vela the other option. Were either of the former to be injured, it would leave him truly short. Bendtner is expected to return next month but history shows us that he is likely to be back for a game or two before picking up a niggle or two on his return, making a full return probable in February. Either way, progress in the FA Cup will put pressure on the squad, the trip to Upton Park a tougher draw than in recent third round clashes and one requiring a stronger line-up than those occasions.

Whatever the case, it would be nice if it were all dealt with by the end of the first week of the transfer window. Last summer showed that not every deal has to be left to the last minute and it would quell speculation that Arsenal has little or no money, leaving that cliche to be applied to Liverpool.

’til Tomorrow.

Group G will be interesting considering the amount of talent in it. From the stars of Brazil and Portugal to the Ivory Coast, and Korea DPR, there should be plenty of entertainment in this group. Kore DPR is going to have a tough time getting goals, and not allowing them, but that will come as no surprise. The surprise will come when we see who advances from group G.

G1 Brazil

FIFA Rank : 2

Qualified : 1st place CONMEBOL

Player(s) to Watch : Kaka (Real Madrid)

Kaka

G2 Korea DPR

FIFA Rank : 84

Qualified : 2nd place AFC – Group B

Player(s) to Watch : Tae-Se Jong (Kawasaki Frontale)

Tae-Se Jong

G3 Ivory Coast

FIFA Rank : 16

Qualified : 1st place CFA – Group B

Player(s) to Watch : Didier Drogba (Chelsea)

Didier Drogba

G4 Portugal

FIFA Rank : 5

Qualified : Playoff

Player(s) to Watch : Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid)

Cristiano Ronaldo

What you missed while scientists were finding dark matter in a Minnesota mine…

• Leo Messi won an award I’d already thought he’d won: the FIFA World Player of the Year.
• Spain and Real Madrid both have their sights on Aston Villa centerback Carlos Cuellar.
• Rafa Benitez will have to sell players before he can buy in January; this should shock absolutely nobody.
• Roberto Mancini has revealed that he was contacted about the Manchester City management position two weeks ago.
• Roque Santa Cruz is angry that Mark Hughes was sacked.
• Landon Donovan and Hope Solo won the USSF Player of the Year award for their respective genders; this is Donovan’s third win (because, really, who else would you give that to?).
• Gary Neville says that the Premier League title isn’t a two horse race…especially since Ruud van Nistelrooy could be coming back to England in January.
• Sometimes, when Cristiano Ronaldo is swimming in his giant pool of money, he misses Manchester United a little bit.
• Mexico will play New Zealand in Pasadena to warm up for the World Cup.
• Marcello Lippi won’t be returning to Juventus after the World Cup.
• American midfielder Maurice Edu played in a reserve match for Rangers; this was his first appearance since May.
• Dundee United manager Craig Levein is the new manager of the Scottish National Team.

Group F looks to be taken by the Italians, but it is the second spot that will be interesting. Slovakia is surprisingly good, and beat the U.S.A in a friendly just recently. Paraguay has the players to get things done, and had to go through a tough qualifying stage to get to South Africa.

F1 Italy

FIFA Rank : 4

Qualified : 1st place UEFA – Group 8

Player(s) to Watch : Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma)

Daniele De Rossi

F2 Paraguay

FIFA Rank : 30

Qualified : 3rd place CONMEBOL

Player(s) to Watch : Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn)

Roque Santa Cruz

F3 New Zealand

FIFA Rank : 77

Qualified : Playoff

Player(s) to Watch : Ryan Nelson (Blackburn)

Ryan Nelsen

F4 Slovakia

FIFA Rank : 34

Qualified : 1st place UEFA – Group 3

Player(s) to Watch : Marek Hamsik (SS Lazio)

Marek Hamsik

In a bizarre turn of events, the Order of the Shiny Tracksuit (Cuffe Street), the mostly Thomist rival to the Cartesian Order of the Shiny Tracksuit (Aungier Street) and best known for awarding its Sportsman of the Decade award to Thierry Henry, has awarded Green Party Deputy Paul Gogarty its Sportsman of the Decade award.
.
Spokesperson Terence Scully of the Order said: “It was fucking deadly the way he just told that specky four-eyed bollix Fuck You. I never seen a TD on the telly do the like of that before.”

 
When asked about the rumor that Mr. Gogarty had only been chosen after the Tiger Woods scandal broke, Mr. Scully retorted:  ”Golf isn’t politics! Sure it isn’t even a real fucking sport!”

Do you want World Cup 2010 tickets for all matches at the 2010 Cup in South Africa. The greatest show on earth takes place in South Africa from the 11th June 2010 to the 11th July 2010. Over 500 000 ticket applications for the 2010 World Cup have already been made. 32 world best teams will participate in the upcoming football world cup.

You can choose matches by date or match’s number. Click here to get free world cup 2010 tickets.

Zakumi birthday is the 16th June, the same as South Africa’s Youth Day! He was born in 1994, the year that we got our freedom. He is therefore part of the “born free” South African generation. Zakumi is actually a leopard.  He is green and yellow, the colours all South African sports teams wear. The name ‘Zakumi’ is a composition of ‘ZA’ standing for South Africa and ‘kumi’, which translates into ‘10′ in various languages across Africa. the word “Zakumi” itself means  “come here,” a friendly invite to Africa perhaps? 

Zakumi is described as “jolly, self-confident, adventurous, spontaneous, and actually quite shrewd little fellow. He loves to perform and always follows his instinct and intuition, yet sometimes has the tendency to exaggerate a bit. You will often find him fooling about and teasing people but not in a mean way. He is warm-hearted and caring, and wants to make as many friends as possible.”

Zakumi’s will be leading the World into the 2010 World Cup, and with that wicked hair-do, he’s undoubedtly going to be the most legendary mascot of them all. FIFA has been using mascots for the World Cup since 1966., and previous World Cup mascots include a lion, an orange, a dog, a cockerel and a stick figure soccer player.

“He wants to create a good mood for the fans and raise the excitement for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the first on African soil. He is a proud South African and wants to ensure that the world will come together in South Africa,”  Lucas Radebe, South Africa’s football icon and close friend of Zakumi.

Previous Mascots:

Who is your Favourite?

Group E is another tough group, Holland has been playing much better than in past years and looked poised to finally make a run at a World Cup. Denmark, Japan, and Cameroon could all be dark horses in 2010, don’t be surprised to see any of them in the later rounds.

E1 Netherlands

FIFA Rank : 3

Qualified : 1st place UEFA – Group 9

Player(s) to Watch : Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan)

Wesley Sneijder

E2 Denmark

FIFA Rank : 26

Qualified : 1st place UEFA – Group 1

Player(s) to Watch : Thomas Sorensen (Stoke City)

Thomas Sorensen

E3 Japan

FIFA Rank : 43

Qualified : 2nd place AFC – Group A

Player(s) to Watch : Shunsuke Nakamura (Espanyol)

Shunsuke Nakamura

E4 Cameroon

FIFA Rank : 11

Qualified : 1st place CAF – Group A

Player(s) to Watch : Samuel Eto’o (Inter Milan)

Samuel Eto’o

The World Cup 2010, the World Football Championships are the biggest football event on the world. Every 4 years FIFA organizes the World Cup tournament to crown the king of World Football. The draw has taken place in Cape Town and England have been drawn in Group C and will face the United States, Algeria and Slovenia. If England were to progress to the next round they would face a team from Group D which includes Germany, Australia, Ghana and Serbia. England will kick off on the 12th June 2010 against the United States.

The group of death appears to be Group G as Brazil face the Ivory Coast, Portugal and North Korea. As a result of this and the fact that England have been handed an easier group on paper, bookmakers have slashed England’s price in as short as 5/1 second favorites ahead of Brazil.

Below are World Cup Betting Odds of your favorite team on some online sports betting sites:

• Spain – 4, 9/2
• England – 5, 11/2
• Brazil – 5, 11/2
• Argentina – 8, 9
• Italy – 10, 11, 12
• Germany – 9, 12, 14
• Holland – 11, 12, 14
• Portugal – 20, 25, 28
• Ivory Coast – 25, 28, 33
• Chile – 33, 40, 50
• France – 12, 14, 16
• Serbia – 50, 66, 80
• Ghana – 50, 66, 77, 80
• USA – 50, 66, 80
• Nigeria – 80, 100
• Mexico – 50, 80, 125
• Soth Africa – 80, 100, 125
• Uruguay – 66, 80, 100
• Denmark – 66, 80, 100
• Australia – 100, 125
• Greece – 66, 125, 150
• Switzerland – 100, 125, 175
• North Korea – 750, 1000, 2000
• Honduras – 400, 750, 1000
• New Zealand – 750, 1000, 1500
• South Korea – 125, 200, 250
• Slovenia – 150, 175, 200
• Algeria – 150, 250, 500
• Paraguay – 40, 50
• Japan – 125, 200, 250

The hosts will consider themeselves a little unlucky, although having such a low world ranking, they were always going to find it tough. South Africa have been drawn with France, Mexico and Uruguay in Group A and it’s feasible that they could end up winless, despite being the host country. Argentina head Group B and they will face Nigeria, South Korea and Greece, whilst Germany head up a tricky looking Group D that also contains Australia, Ghana and Serbia.

The Netherlands should have too much for Denmark, Japan and Cameroon in Group E whilst Italy probably had the pick of the draws for the seeded teams in Group F as they will face Paraguay, New Zealand and Slovakia. Tournament favourites Spain should also breeze through Group H as they face Switzerland, Honduras and Chile

The Englands Midfielder David Beckham is supposedly close to a deal which will see him make a loan return to AC Milan. David Beckham is with the England squad in the Ukraine, ahead of the important match on Saturday, which could decide the Ukraine’s World Cup 2010 fate. Now that England know who they’ll have to beat in the group stages to make it to their inevitable exit at the semi-final stage, David Beckham, who isn’t guaranteed a place in the squad, has been rallying the troops. “Fabio and his staff have given us this mentality that we can beat anyone,” Beckham said, not adding “except Brazil”.

2010 WORLD CUP SOUTH AFRICA

2010 World Cup Stadium Locations

Sports Betting Source: Online Casino Admin

At the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, ManUp, an new, international anti-violence campaign will officially launch its first Youth Summit.

ManUp’s Youth Summit will host participants from over 50 countries, utilizing sports and music to engage participants about ending violence against women and girls. I met ManUp co-founder, Jimmie Briggs at the St. John’s conference a couple of months ago and heard him speak about the project. The idea and implementation is engaging and refreshing. It’s also very impressive. They’ve recruited some very important partners and I wish them the best.

Read Jimmie Briggs’ letter about why he does this work, written to his daughter entitled Why I go

Jimmie’s journey and all the pain he has seen always comes to mind whenever I see something a million times less horrible, but still inappropriate, offensive or violent and am tempted to let myself off the hook through excuses. It’s none of my business. I don’t know them. I don’t know what to say. It’s late. It’s early. Thanks Jimmie, for the work you do shining a light into dark places.

Okay, this is it. These are my choices for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. I’m a huge England fan so my picks might be a little biased. But, hey, can’t a guy dream. It’s been a while. It’s time for us to take it back home.

Teams

                                                                        FIFA Ranking                         Odds To Win

                                                                        (November)                                   (Paddy Power)

Algeria                                                                        28                                                1/500

Argentina                                                                     8                                                1/9  

Australia                                                                     21                                                1/125

Brazil                                                                              2                                                1/5

Cameroon                                                                    11                                                1/80

Chile                                                                              17                                                1/50

Cote D’Ivoire                                                               16                                                1/25

Denmark                                                                     26                                                1/80

England                                                                         9                                                1/5

France                                                                            7                                                1/12

Germany                                                                        6                                                1/14

Ghana                                                                          37                                                1/75

Greece                                                                           12                                                1/125

Honduras                                                                    38                                                1/400

Italy                                                                                  4                                                1/12

Japan                                                                             43                                                1/200

Korea DPR                                                                    84                                                1/1000

Korea Republic                                                            52                                                1/250

Mexico                                                                            15                                                1/50

Netherlands                                                                    3                                                1/14

New Zealand                                                                77                                                1/750

Nigeria                                                                           22                                                1/100

Paraguay                                                                        30                                                1/40

Portugal                                                                             5                                                1/25

Serbia                                                                               20                                                1/66

Slovakia                                                                           34                                                1/200

Slovenia                                                                           33                                                1/175

South Africa                                                                    86                                                1/80

Spain                                                                                    1                                                1/4

Switzerland                                                                     18                                                1/175

Uruguay                                                                           19                                                1/80

USA                                                                                   14                                                1/66

Groups

Group A                                    Group B                                    Group C

1 Mexico                                     1 Nigeria                                    1 England

2 France                                    2 Argentina                                2 USA

3 Uruguay                                    3 Greece                                    3 Slovenia

4 South Africa                        4 Korea Republic                        4 Algeria

Group D                                    Group E                                    Group F

1 Germany                                    1 Netherlands                              1 Italy

2 Serbia                                         2 Denmark                                   2 Slovakia

3 Australia                                    3 Cameroon                                 3 Paraguay

4 Ghana                                        4 Japan                                          4 New Zealand

Group G                                    Group H

1 Brazil                                     1 Spain

2 Cote D’Ivoire                        2 Chile

3 Portugal                                 3 Switzerland

4 Korea DPR                             4 Honduras

 Round of 16

Game 1                                                             Game 2

(C1) England                                                            (A1) Mexico

                      V                                                                        V

(D2) Serbia                                                             (B2) Argentina

Game 3                                                             Game 4

(E1) Netherlands                                                (G1) Brazil

          V                                                                                    V

(F2) Slovakia                                                            (H2) Chile

Game 5                                                             Game 6

(B1) Nigeria                                                            (D1) Germany

         V                                                                                     V

(A2) France                                                             (C2) USA

Game 7                                                             Game 8

(F1) Italy                                                            (H1) Spain

       V                                                                                     V

(E2) Denmark                                                 (G2) Cote D’Ivoire

Quarter Finals

Game 9                                                             Game 10

(W1) Mexico                                                            (W3) Netherlands

        V                                                                                     V

(W2) England                                                            (W4) Brazil

Game 11                                                            Game 12

(W5) Nigeria                                                            (W7) Denmark

        V                                                                                     V

(W6) Germany                                                         (W8) Spain

 Semi Finals

Game 13                                                             Game 14

(W9) England                                                            (W11) Germany

         V                                                                                     V

(W10) Brazil                                                            (W12) Spain

Finals                                                            Third Place

(W13) England                                                (L13) Brazil

V                                                                                     V

(W14) Spain                                                            (L14 ) Germany

source: Fin24
Dec 15 2009 22:06 Michael Hamlyn

Cape Town – Fifty air traffic controllers are currently being trained and an additional 16 international air traffic controllers are being recruited, in order to cope with the expected flood of aircraft movements during next year’s soccer World Cup.

According to a written reply to a parliamentary question given by Transport Minister Sbu Ndebele to Greg Krumbock of the Democratic Alliance on Tuesday, the international controllers will only be appointed on a fixed term employment of six months.

The minister added that the Air Traffic and Navigation Services company (ATNS) has also entered into a memorandum of understanding with the South African Air Force for the training of aerodrome controllers. In terms of this memorandum, six ATNS personnel are [continue reading]

source: News24
2009-12-14 19:59

Cape Town – Amid a swirl of balloons and popping champagne corks, Cape Town mayor Dan Plato received the key to the city’s R4.5bn stadium on Monday afternoon.

Plato told the crowd that assembled in the stadium that it would become a world landmark.

“Looking around, what a wonderful piece of artwork,” Plato said.

“Cape Town stadium will become one of the world’s sporting landmarks.”

The stadium, built in the suburb of Green Point, took 32 months to complete. It was the biggest project of its kind ever undertaken in Cape Town.

About 2 500 workers had been employed and 1 200 artisans received training from contractors during the [continue reading]