Can the USA shock England again?
Saturday, May 1st, 2010
Oh yes, after 50 years, they meet again.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup is almost here and South Africa is ready to take over the world as they play hosts to the biggest football tournament in the world.
As always, countries participating in the 19th FIFA World Cup are all looking forward for a fantastic campaign. England for one, is a country still trying to dominate the sport they introduced into the world. The United States on the other hand, is still trying to stay respectable in this sport since, let’s face it, they are still not known as that good of footballers.
And as stated, England and the United States will meet on June 12. This will be their first meeting since the Americans earned a shocking win over England back in the 1950 tournament in Brazil. And since the Americans did beat England the last time they faced on this stage, you can’t blame them for being confident coming into the
tournament.
”American fans are thinking we should advance out of the group, and I like that. I like how they’re thinking,” United States team captain Carlos Bocanegra said. ”We feel confident as well that this is a group we can get out of.”
After advancing to the quarterfinals in 2002, the best finish the Americans had since the initial World Cup in 1930, there were high expectation for the Americans at the 2006 tournament in Germany. But they were eliminated in the first round with losses to the Czech Republic and Ghana.
The U.S. famously upset England 1-0 in the first round of the 1950 tournament in Brazil, still considered by many as the greatest American victory in football. That makes their meeting this June one fixture football fans can’t afford to miss.
After playing England, USA will play Slovenia at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park on June 18 and completes the first round on June 23 against Algeria in Pretoria. The U.S. has never played either nation.
Odds on the U.S. winning were lowered from…
Can Mexico win the 2010 FIFA World Cup?
Saturday, May 1st, 2010
Can the El Tri continue to ride on the momentum that carried them where they are right now?
Mexico qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup by finishing second in CONCACAF qualifying, just one point behind the United States. They were undefeated at home but inconsistent on the road. They won impressively in Costa Rica 3-0 but fell in Honduras 1-3.
In the Gold Cup, Mexico was impressive as they advanced rather easily through the group stage and defeated Haiti 4-0 in the second round. In the semifinal, they drew with a tough Costa Rican team but advanced on penalties. In a memorable final, Mexico crushed the host United States 5-0. Though the United States did not field their best players, it was still an impressive victory.
Coming to the World Cup in South Africa, Mexico is the eight-time and current CONCACAF Gold Cup champions. They also won a FIFA Confederations Cup in 1999. The Mexican team is currently ranked No.17 in the world. They have a long, storied soccer tradition and have the nickname ”El Tri.”
One of the key players team Mexico has is Giovani dos Santos. Dos Santos is an intriguing player that has been hyped for years, and his first World Cup may be the time he finally breaks out as a legitimate star. Reared in Barcelona’s youth division, he played for the senior team at the tender age of 18.
Mexico is coached by Javier Aguirre, who has been a calming presence for the team. Mexico can attack from the wings and from set pieces and can be quite dangerous offensively. The 5-3-2 formation has some tradition in Mexico and Aguirre has been willing to use this formation as it accentuates the wing play.
The first eight seeds in the World Cup consist of the top seven ranked teams and the host nation. Mexico got lucky because they drew the host nation, South Africa. Instead of having to play a top-ranked team, Mexico is playing the second-lowest ranked team in the tournament.
Mexico has gone on to the second round in the past…
Frankie Edgar challenges BJ Penn
Saturday, April 10th, 2010
Edgar takes on Penn this Saturday.
Once again, BJ Penn is putting his UFC lightweight title up for grabs as he defends his belt again this time against Frankie Edgar in UFC 112. However, there are rumors that claim Penn is gearing up for another run at the welterweight title, leading most to believe that the reigning lightweight champ is not taking his challenger seriously.
However, while BJ Penn hasn’t denied the rumors of him moving up to welterweight, he says he’s not looking past Frankie Edgar. He knows how good of a fighter Edgar is and he can’t afford to take a guy of Edgar’s caliber lightly.
”Yeah, I think there is a possibility of that,” BJ Penn said in an interview, referring to a possible move to the welterweight division.
”I don’t in no way want to look past Frankie Edgar, he’s a good fighter. You never know what could happen. But if I go back to welterweight, maybe I’ll try to give it a run, maybe fight a couple of fights there, we’ll see how it goes.”
Oh yeah, and just when he said in his interview that he’s in no way looking past Frankie Edgar, he immediately went on about his chances against the large 170-pound fighters in the welterweight division like Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch.
”I think I could do good against some of the top welterweights,” Penn said. ”Yeah, pretty big guys, but you gotta live some times, you gotta step up sometime, huh?”
Penn also talked about a possible rematch with former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes, depending of course on the outcome of Hughes’ match with Renzo Gracie, also scheduled for UFC 112 this Saturday.
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out…
Silva – Maia in UFC 112
Saturday, April 10th, 2010
The Spider will be in action again.
For the first time in history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, MMA athletes will slug it out in Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE, on April 10 as UFC 112: Invincible features middleweight title holder Anderson ”The Spider” Silva facing off against Demian Maia.
Middleweight champion Anderson Silva is 25-4 with 19 wins by TKO. He is a striker and has a dangerous jiu jitsu game. He is arguably the best fighter on the planet and has the resume to prove it. Silva is a perfect 10-0 in the UFC, including a successful title defense over Thales Leites last April before again moving up to 205 pounds to beat Forrest Griffin in August.
His opponent, Demian Maia, replaced an injured Vitor Belfort to get a shot at Silva. Maia (12-1) returned to action back in UFC 109, rebounding from his first career loss, a 21-second knockout to Nate Marquardt in August, with a unanimous decision over Dan Miller, which improved his UFC record to 6-1, including a previous victory over top 185-pound contender Chael Sonnen.
A left eyelid cut prompted the Nevada State Athletic Commission to medically suspended Maia until August, but he was not suspended from training and will apparently be healed and cleared to fight Silva this Saturday.
”It’s always tough when a top fighter like Vitor Belfort has to pull out of a big title fight, but we have found a high quality replacement,” said UFC President Dana White in a press release.
Top contender Chael Sonnen was not available due to injuries sustained in his fight with Nate Marquardt, so Demian Maia stepped in to fight for the title. Maia is an Abu Dhabi grappling champion and a five-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion. He is 12-1 in MMA and is coming off a win over Dan Miller in UFC 109.
The Anderson Silva – Demian Maia fight will be…
Bet on these 2010 FIFA World Cup Games
Sunday, April 4th, 2010
We only have a couple of months left before the biggest tournament of the year gets going.
That’s right, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the premier international football tournament in the world, will run between June 11 to July 11 in South Africa. It will be the culmination of a qualification process that began in August of 2007 and involved 204 of the 208 FIFA national teams.
As expected, there are some intriguing matchups to see in the 19th FIFA World Cup and one fixture that football fans shouldn’t miss is this one between Italy and Paraguay. Italy and Spain are the top two teams in continental Europe. Italy faces Paraguay, Slovakia, and New Zealand. If they lose one of those games it will cause a national crisis, and quite possibly yet another governmental collapse. Luckily, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue for them.
Playing Paraguay is arguably one of the biggest challenges to Italy, it’s also one of the most exciting fixtures in the tournament. Both teams focus on defense first, and neither scores a lot of goals. But Paraguay isn’t as strong as they seem in my eyes.
Another matchup to watch out for is Portugal vs. Brazil. Fans are so looking forward for this matchup that tickets for the match were already sold out four and a half months before it takes place.
The game between Portugal and Brazil has proven to be one of the most in-demand matches of the whole tournament. The matchup between the cross-Atlantic rivals is generating so much interest for a variety of reasons. The two countries have strong historical and cultural ties, as well as sharing a common language.
Portugal beat Brazil in their only World Cup meeting so far, in 1966, contributing to an early exit for the South Americans. In recent years there has been the added spice of Portugal’s naturalized Brazilian players donning the shirt of the Seleccao. Injury permitting; Pepe, Deco and Liedson are all likely to line up against the country of their birth in Durban.
Another matchup to look forward to is the match between Chile and Spain on June 25. Spain will face Chile as the European champions. Spain was held to be the favorite in the lead up to the World Cup finals qualifications, at least until a hiccup against the USA in the semis of the Confederation Cup saw them finish third runner-up.
La Roja, the No.1 ranked outfit in the FIFA world ranking…
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