England plans big for the World Cup
Monday, March 1st, 2010
The World Cup, which is played every four years, never fails to capture the imagination of the English people.
And after failing to qualify for Euro 2008, it has been a long four years for England fans to wait and remember what it feels like to get behind their team in a major international competition. Now that England is in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, English football fans couldn’t be any happier.
England head to South Africa confident, having easily secured their place for this year’s World Cup. And for the first time in quite a long time, English fans can finally look forward to the World Cup with a sense of optimism.
With players such as Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard ranking amongst the best in the world, together with the other members of the talented England squad, Fabio Cappello could well be the man to guide England to World Cup glory for the first time since 1966.
The draw for the 2010 World Cup took place in Cape Town and with the way the countries have been drawn, it looks like lady luck is really smiling on England. They got a great draw coming up against USA, Slovenia and Algeria in Group C, making the English team as the clear favorites to win the group.
Looking back at England’s history in the World Cup, England has entered all 14 post-war competitions. They qualified through play in the preliminary competition on nine occasions (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1998 and 2002), as host country once (1966) and as reigning champions once (1970).
England have had only moderate success in the World Cup, and that is perhaps a fair indication of their standing in the world game. They won the tournament once, in 1966, when it was held on their own soil and they played all their matches on their home ground, Wembley Stadium, an advantage extended to no other team in World Cup history.
Their 4-2 extra-time victory against…
2010 FIFA World Cup Betting Tips
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
The rest of the world will be watching South Africa soon.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup is fast approaching and eyes will be set on South Africa with matches held in nine cities across the land. The world’s greatest footballers will be on display too as football fans around the world are eagerly anticipating a month of football bliss.
On that note, here’s an early rundown of the top five countries to watch out for in this year’s World Cup, starting with the country that won the last biggest tournament in football, the Euro 2008 champions Spain.
Though Spain has never won the World Cup, this may be their best chance ever. Their forwards score goals and their midfield is among the best in the world. At goalkeeping, Iker Casillas is equally very impressive, helping them to engineer a 15 game winning streak to set an international record earlier in 2009.
Although the United States‘ victory over Spain late in the year was one of the biggest upsets in a long time, Spain remains the team to beat. They are in Group H along with Switzerland, Honduras and Chile.
Another team to watch out for is Argentina primarily because they have on their roster the best footballer in the world right now in Lionel Messi. Argentina also has the best defensive midfielder in the world, Javier Mascherano along with a number of very talented youngsters, including Sergio Aguero.
Their manager knows what it takes to win. While they did suffer a bad loss, 6-1, to Boliva, at extreme altitude, Argentina will not have the same problems in June. Argentina is in Group B facing Nigeria, Korea and Greece in the first round of play.
Italy is also one of those teams…
USA plays for 2009 Confederations Cup
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
The United States defeated Spain, 2-nil. How about that.
In case you didn’t know, the United States just qualified for the final of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup by doing the unthinkable, holding Spain scoreless en route to a shocking 2-nil victory.
You read it, the United States soccer team just beat a bona fide football-crazy nation, beating Spain 2-0 in the Confederations Cup semifinals. Oh yeah, Spain is not just a football-crazy country by the way, Spain IS considered as the top-ranked country in the sport and for an American soccer team to go copping their asses like that was, fucking unbelievable, to say the least.
What’s even more shocking is the fact that the Americans were ready to go back home last weekend. Nobody saw that these guys will be able to come up with probably the biggest upset in sports since that United States hockey team shocked the Soviet Union at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.
The Americans’ win over the Spain football team enabled the Red, White and Blue to reach it’s first FIFA final since starting play in 1916. Yup, it took them that long to finally stop making a fool of themselves on that pitch.
Jozy Altidore kicked it off with a goal on the 27th minute before Clint Dempsey added another on the 74th minute to help the U.S. become the first country to beat Spain since Romania back in 2006.
‘’It goes to show what hard work and commitment to each other can bring,’’ said U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard, who made eight saves as he frustrated David Villa and Fernando Torres.
‘’Sometimes football is a funny thing.’’
The United States will face either defending champion Brazil or…
Champions League Final: Man-U V Barca
Monday, May 25th, 2009
Barcelona FC clashing against Manchester United in the final of the UEFA Champions League was something that everyone was dreaming about.
Manchester United advanced to the 2009 UEFA Champions League final in Rome after convincingly beating Arsenal 4-1 on aggregate. The Red Devils had to wait 24 hours after triumphing at the Emirates to know who will be their opponents come May 27 at the Stadio Olimpico.
And with all the controversy one could ever think of, it was revealed to be Pep Guardiola’s Catalan Giants FC Barcelona, after the Blaugrana controversially ousted Guus Hiddink’s Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
Barcelona and Manchester United are two clubs from two different countries with a completely different culture all together. However, history shows that as much as they have dissimilarities, they also have similarities, which give this UEFA Champions League final a real flavor of glamor and style.
This will be a battle between the young and the old, the inexperienced one and the wise one, the great warrior and the new combatant.
Barcelona’s 38-year-old coach Pep Guardiola is the new ‘kid’ on the block. The former Barcelona captain jumped a big step from being the manager of the club’s reserve team to coaching the senior side at a time when the Catalans were desperately searching for some fire in the pot.
On the other hand, Man-U’s Sir Alex Ferguson, 67, is Europe’s most experienced manager after winning everything there is to win with Manchester United. Last year, the Red Devils beat Barcelona, managed by Frank Rikjaard at the time, as they marched into the final where they ultimately beat Chelsea to clinch the trophy in style.
Ferguson has been with the Red Devils for more than 20 years now, but his desire to achieve success and break records has pushed him all the way to yet an impressive campaign this season as well.
This Manchester United – FC Barcelona fixture for the Champions League title is definitely a clash that will determine who the best player is between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. This hot debate has long been running but it might come to an end on May 27, when Europe’s two best clubs meet each other in Rome.
Lionel Messi has shown his best form for…
David Beckham may return to the Los Angeles Galaxy after AC Milan stint
Monday, March 9th, 2009
David Beckham is returning to the US after being loaned to AC Milan in the Italian Series A. David Beckham although would remain with the Los Angeles Galaxy in the Major League Soccer. In the weekend the Los Angeles Galaxy said that it has struck a million dollar agreement with AC Milan that David Beckham would play with them up until the end of the Italian Series A season ends.
It would be remembered that the Los Angeles Galaxy had an asking price of $10 million for the outright purchase of David Beckham’s contract yet the Italian Series A team only mustered $3 million.
Instead of agreeing to a price that both Soccer clubs would benefit from, the Los Angeles Galaxy and AC Milan found another way of bringing David Beckham to the Italian Series A and still be viable to play for the Los Angeles Galaxy.
The Los Angeles Galaxy and AC Milan agreed to keep David Beckham on loan with the Italian Series A club.
“I’m really grateful to the Los Angeles Galaxy and AC Milan for making this dream happen” David Beckham Said ” It allows me to play for AC Milan and the Los Angeles Galaxy in the same year, and also continue my commitment to develop soccer in the United States, which is something I am passionate about”
With that being…
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