Mon 26 Nov 2007
The city of Durban, situated on South Africa’s east coast, was the venue for the qualifying draw of football’s premier event, the FIFA World Cup. South Africa will host this tournament in 2010.
Here are the European groups
Group 1 : Albania, Denmark, Hungary, Malta, Sweden, Portugal
Fri 23 Nov 2007
To track the last time that England failed to qualify for a major international event, we need to turn the clock a decade and a half back to USA ‘94. England finished third behind Norway and Netherlands in their group, and as a result never made the trip across the Atlantic. This time around, Steve McLaren’s boys went into the last round of games needing just a single point to go through. That point would not have been necessary had Andorra managed to hold Russia or even beat them. Andorra were the weakest team in the group, and nothing much could be expected from them. And therefore England had all to play for against Croatia, and the game was at the Mecca of English football- Wembley.
Sun 18 Nov 2007
Here are the results from European qualifying on Saturday, 17th November.
The teams which have confirmed their place in next summer’s European Championships are
Group B - Italy and France.
Group D- Germany and Czech Republic.
Group E- Croatia through. Battle between England and Russia for the other spot.
Wed 14 Nov 2007
Liverpool and England midfielder Steven Gerrard has said that he would not be against a rule that imposes quotas in the Premiership.
This comes a short while after both Steve Coppell and Sir Alex Ferguson reportedly said that they were in favour of a rule that would limit the number of foreigners taking the pitch.
Even the English Prime Minister has something to say on the issue.
So the big question is- Do we need a quota system ?
Sat 10 Nov 2007
It is remarkable how one moment can make or break a football game. For bottom of the table Derby County, that moment came five minutes into the second half, with West Ham leading 1-0. Gary Teale’s cross into the box from the right was retrieved by Eddie Lewis, who crossed was intercepted by Kenny Miller’s head. Given Miller’s position, the ball should have gone into the back of the net. It however, did not, and at the other end West Ham scored another four in the next 20 minutes to win the game 5-0. Biggest home defeat of the season for Derby, although the margin was one in comparison to their 0-6 loss to Liverpool. For Alan Curbishley, it was as close to perfect as he could imagine. The win was West Ham’s biggest since 2000, which ironically came against Curbishley managed Charlton Athletic.
Sat 10 Nov 2007
Diego Armando Maradona is undoubtedly the beautiful game’s most controversial character. Like George Best, Garrincha and many others, Maradona was in the news for his off field antics as much as he was for his exploits on the field. Many consider him to be the best player to grace the football pitch, even better than the legendary Pele. Various football pundits have questioned the circumstances behind some of his actions, and although various theories have been propounded, none have been actually clarified.
Thu 8 Nov 2007
Sat 3 Nov 2007
Spanish club Valencia have appointed legendary Dutch defender Ronald Koeman as their new manager. Koeman succeeds Quique Flores, who was sacked by Los Che on October 29, following a string of bad performances. This is not Koeman’s first managerial stint in Spain- he served as Louis Van Gaal’s assistant at Barcelona between 1998 and 2000.