FIFA President Sepp Blatter revealed today that Ireland has asked to enter the World Cup as the 33rd team after Thierry Henry’s hand ball effectively ended their dreams of playing at the finals in South Africa. FIFA will be hosting an executive meeting on Wednesday, two days prior to the World Cup draw, to discuss this matter.
My guess is that FIFA agreed to talk about the incident and consider instating Ireland as #33 with the sole purpose of getting the Irish off their backs.
After making the move from Real Madrid to AC Milan during last summer’s transfer window, Klaas-Jan Huntelaar has been a shadow of his former self. 13 weeks into Serie A play, and 5 matchdays into the Champions League season and ‘The Hunter’s’ aim has been anything but deadly, failing to score even a single goal. This disturbing slip in form had sent Italian media outlets into full-blown rumour mode, claiming that the club and Rossoneri Vice-President Adriano Galletti were unhappy with the Dutchman’s play, and that the side were looking to move him out of the San Siro in favour of somebody who could live up to their potential. On Sunday evening, away at Catania, Milan manager Leonardo opted to leave the young Dutchman out of the starting XI in favour of the strike tandem of Marco Borriello and young Brazilian phenom Pato. However, late into the match Borriello was relieved of his services (it was a weak game on his part to say the least) by an eager to please, yet snake-bitten, Huntelaar. As the match progressed into the dying minutes it looked as though the striker would be able to do little to break the stalemate that had developed between the Italian giants and a defensively determined Catania squad. However, in the 93rd minute The Hunter showed a glimpse of his former self, taking dead aim at net and unleashing a bullet that squeaked beneath the outstretched keeper from the Sicilian outfit.
United Could Have Used This Intensity... Rooney Sits In Loss
Another matchday has come and gone. I want to take this opportunity to voice my displeasure with a trend that only seems to be exacerbated by time. The resting of quality players by teams that have already qualified. Now I understand that managers want to pace their top talent as it can be a very long season for some of Europe’s top teams. But come on people. This is the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, this is where you prove your mettle, where you show Europe, and indeed the world, that you are the best club team on the planet. Why spend all that money on acquiring the most sought after assets in the sport… to sit them in favour of players, who while talented in their own right, just don’t measure up. Perhaps I am irked by this more than usual today because the ‘tactical’ personnel selections played havoc with my predictions, but then I think, to hell with that. I look to other sports where true Ironmen suit up and head into battle 3 or 4 times weekly. Take for example top NHL teams. They play their top players (when healthy) every… single… game.
The beautiful game did not disappoint tonight, and the match results will give this prognosticator some food for thought going into the final matchday come early December. Despite making a number of seemingly routine ‘guestimations’ regarding the ties of the day, I was once again foiled by the anything-can-happen spirit of the competition. Most notable of the suprises of the day was the early exit of Liverpool FC, a team that has struggled both at home and throughout Europe this football season. Rumour has it they will be looking for some help in the form of a new blood during the transfer window in January (more on that to come).
Before getting into the results of this past half of the matchday, let’s get down to business on predicting the forecast for tomorrow’s clashes… some of which will undoubtedly end up being a footy fan’s dream.
We begin with Group A, where top teams Bordeaux and Juventus will look to do battle in the hopes of officially securing a trip to the next round of play. Bayern Munich will need every ounce of their hunger in order to beat Maccabi Haifa who can do no better than spoiler at this point the competition. Bayern must win to have any hope of continuing into the knockout round. Look for Bordeaux and Juventus to dance to a stalemate with Bayern to win.
We are ever nearing the end of the round robin phase of this year’s Champions League, and with the 5th matchday on the horizon, the story has yet to be fully written.
In Group E top dogs Lyon will face off against similarly high flying Fiorentina in a battle for top of the heap, while struggling Liverpool will take on Debrecen from Hungary, a team that has secured zero points to date in round robin play. Predictions: Lyon to dump Fiorentina. Liverpool to win… even they cant screw this one up.
Another Champions League matchday is upon us, the fifth of this year’s annual competition featuring some of the worlds greatest football clubs and players. One of the greats who may likely miss the matchday is Barcelona striker Lionel Messi who recently sustained a thigh muscle injury on Saturday night during a 1-1 tie against Athletic Bilbao. Messi helped lead his club to a Champions League title in the 2008-2009 with a league-leading 9 goals.
Goal.com reports that he will more than likely be fit enough to play next Saturday in domestic play for Barcelona’s clash (“El Classico” for all you football snobs) against Real Madrid for tops in La Liga. His participation in Tuesday’s bout against division leading Inter Milan will be a game-time decision. This is a critical match for Barcelona as they sit third in their group standings, and need the win to take control of the division, which will more than likely secure their spot in the Round of 16.
Tottenham Hotspur routed Wigan Athletic today 9-1 in a Premiership match that really didn’t get started until the second half of play. This stunning victory has kept Tottenham level with North London rivals Arsenal, as both teams sit tied for third with 25 points. While the Spurs’ team play was admirable, it was Jermain Defoe who separated the wheat from the chaff. After being used only sparingly in the qualification run up to the 2010 World Cup, Defoe has made his case for being included in the England squad that travels to South Africa next summer. Defoe, already having a solid season with 7 goals in 13 starts entering this afternoon’s clash with Wigan, managed to add 5 (count them… 5) to that tally, all coming in the second 45 minutes of play. Notably his goals equaled the Premiership record for most scored by an individual in a regular season match. Defoe will now share this record with Newcastle and England legend Alan Shearer as well as retired Manchester United striker Andy Cole. Moreover, what is perhaps even more impressive is that the prospective Spurs forward managed to help himself to three of his five goals in under 7 minutes of play, a feat never before achieved in the EPL.
As the Bard once remarked “Brevity is the soul of wit”, so to the whole Thierry Henry Hand of God, miracle at the Stade de France I choose only one word: disgusting.
My (lost and useless) hope is that FIFA will render unto fans of the beautiful game a true and just decision regarding this clear infraction, especially considering the admission of guilt on the part of the nonchalant superstar himself. Good thing I wont be holding my breath.
The field has been set as all 32 teams have qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup with such powerhouses and perennial favourites as Brazil, Argentina, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, England, and the Netherlands booking their tickets . They will be joined by dark horses from the USA, Portugal, Ghana, Mexico, Côte d’Ivoire and the teams I’d like to put into the “No Chance” column Honduras, South Africa, Denmark, Japan, Korea, New Zealand etc.
This is the first time in the tournament’s history that the games will be played in Africa. African soccer nations have not fared too well at the world championship but in recent years the game and style of the teams and players has changed dramatically and I truly expect one of the six qualifying teams-Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire, and South Africa – to break through in ’10.
FIFA should be ashamed. Period. For the first time in the history of World Cup Qualification, teams relegated to a playoff situation to ensure qualification have been seeded in order to avoid traditionally ‘top’ squads from eliminating each other, prospectively avoiding revenue losses in the tens of millions of Euros. FIFA’s reasoning? Well, to be honest, we haven’t been given any official reasoning regarding this decision, other than it was deemed to be for the good of the sport and that it was agreed to (hastily) nearly unanimously by the football’s governing body. So much for FIFA’s FAIR PLAY programmeI suppose.
Ireland’s response was perhaps the most irate with Manager Giovanni Trapattoni claiming that a decision such as this strikes at the pureness that lies at the heart of the beautiful game. Keeper Shay Given offered a more succinct, yet equally eloquent description of his feelings regarding the seeding system: “Disgusting”. It begs the question that had teams like Portugal, France and even Russia been more successful in their qualification attempt, and smaller nations such as Serbia, Denmark or Switzerland been swapped into their position, would FIFA have adopted a similar stance? Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by TheBaron44 
Top Cheese 