1. Home
  2. Europe
  3. Asia
  4. South America
  5. North America
  6. Africa
  7. More
  8. Club Football

Sir Alex Picks Brazil For World Cup 2010

November 21st, 2009 | By: Dave Martinez | 13 Comments

aaaaaabDidn't Sir Alex just finish lecturing the FA on their media overexposure of Wayne Rooney? Apparently, shedding a little bit of limelight his way isn't much of an issue at all. The Scot didn't mince words when picking his favorite to win the 2010 World Cup.

"I can't see past Brazil, actually," Ferguson was quoted in the Daily Mail. "They are going to be the ones in South Africa."

And the opinions are well founded in his belief that the Premiership is becoming less and less about developing English players, and more about contracting outsiders to become champions. Add on to that the continual pipeline of great Brazilian players being exported into foreign systems, and even this Argie would have a hard time denying his logic.

"Last season, there were 103 Brazilians in the Champions League and only 15 Englishmen. More Scots played in the Champions League last season than English players. I thought the 11/10 on Brazil to beat England was the bet of the century."

Ouch. But Fergie has never been one to mince words.

What are your thoughts on Sir Alex's early prediction?


Latest WCB Entries

Angola 2010: Africa Cup of Nations Groups and Schedule

November 20th, 2009 | By: Daryl | 7 Comments

can2010The groups for the Africa Cup of Nations 2010 were drawn today, which should go at least some way to cheering up teams like Egypt and Tunisia who very narrowly missed the World Cup 2010 boat.

The tournament takes place in Angola from January 10th to January 31st, 2010. We've got blogs and ... [read]

How Long Until We Forgive Thierry Henry?

November 20th, 2009 | By: Daryl | 47 Comments

henry sorry

Latest development in the already long running Thierry Henry handball incident (or "la main de dieu" as it's being called by some) is that Henry himself thinks a replay is a good idea:

"The fairest solution would be to replay the game but it is not in my control," said the Barcelona ... [read]

The 32 Teams of the 2010 World Cup

November 19th, 2009 | By: chris | 41 Comments

fifa-world-cup-2010Qualification is officially over. Playoffs won, tears shed, hearts broken and dreams renewed, it's all over. After Uruguay withstood the Costa Rican pressure late in the evening, the final 32 teams were written into stone - though not without a fair bit of controversy.

The following are those 32 teams who will take ... [read]

Ireland Demands Replay With Honest-To-Goodness Precedent

November 19th, 2009 | By: chris | 68 Comments

DV605831The furor over last night's game will not settle down anytime soon. Not tomorrow, not next week, not even before the traveling circus takes to South Africa next summer. Not unless something is done to eradicate the impact of The Hand of Henry on the outcome of the game.

The Irish FA, of ... [read]

XI Things We Learned From The World Cup Qualifying Playoffs

November 19th, 2009 | By: chris | 9 Comments

Uruguay Costa Rica WCup SoccerThe games didn't really have everything, did they? The results did - some upsets, some heroics, a few of the expected teams going in - but outside of the one game which forced a playoff (Egypt 2 - Algeria 0), some of these games were completely zapped of ... [read]

The Hand of Henry: What They Said.

November 19th, 2009 | By: chris | 26 Comments

SOCCER-WORLD/FRANCEWithout getting into a great deal of opinion, or any at all for that matter - there's surely plenty of that floating about - it would probably be prudent to look into the words on each side of the divide from those who were there, at the game and directly impacted. (What ... [read]

Algeria Takes The Champs-Élysées. Next: The World!

November 19th, 2009 | By: chris | 5 Comments

France Algeria Egypt Soccer Reaction

This is a picture of what's currently going down in the center of Paris. No, that is not a Frenchman celebrating the lack of video replay in football. No, that is not an Irishman infuriated by the lack of integrity by one Thierry Henry. Hell, it's not even ... [read]

Daily Dose: November 18th, 2009.

November 18th, 2009 | By: chris | 0 Comments

The Algerian post-match celebrations.

[101GG]

Hooligans force a player's premature retirement. (Dirty Tackle)
The Diego Ban and How It Affects You (Futfanatico)
Beginning the search for Scotland's next manager. (Inside Left)
The vignettes of Finland. (Nordic Football News)
But Nordic not always so good for Serie A. (SoccerLens)
Gabriel Obertan gets a side job. (Unprofessional Foul)

The World Cup 2010 draw pots. (Malawi WCB)

... [read]

Thierry Henry Handballs France into World Cup 2010. Would You Have Done the Same?

November 18th, 2009 | By: Daryl | 163 Comments

Algeria, Greece, Portugal and Slovenia all won their playoffs and qualified for the World Cup today. Uruguay vs Costa Rica is happening as I type. But there's one story that will be dominating the World Cup playoff headlines, and I think you already know what it is: Thierry Henry's handball for France vs Ireland.

With the aggregate score at 1-1 and ... [read]

World Cup Playoffs Live Chit Chat

November 18th, 2009 | By: chris | 9 Comments

FBL-WC2010-AFR2010-EGY–ALG-FANS

World Cup Playoffs Chit Chat ... [read]

Would You Rather: Club Win the League? Or Country Win the World Cup?

October 12th, 2009 | By: Daryl | 28 Comments

would you rather club vs country2Two new things on The Offside. First of all, Daily Dose will no longer be the last post of the day. We'll still do the Daily Dose obviously, because it's an Offside institution. But we'll also be adding an extra post afterwards to finish the day and ... [read]

Daily Dose: October 11th, 2009.

October 12th, 2009 | By: chris | 0 Comments

Stuff to read while you see Argentina's World Cup chances saved by the bar (1:00).....

The Barcelona blog returneth. Six times over. (Barca Offside)
Discovering the internet via Ukraine - England. (Studs Up)
MLS looking into the indoors. (USA Today)
The phenom taking Germany by storm...Diego who? (Deutsche Welle)
Six injury times you're glad you waited for the whistle. (The Spoiler)
Football Soccer needs cheerleaders. And ... [read]

The Atlantic League: A European Not-Quite-Super-But Still-Quite-Good-League for Celtic, Rangers and Others

October 12th, 2009 | By: Daryl | 7 Comments

atlantic leagueThere were some pretty bold claims made in Glasgow late last week. First, Celtic chief exec Peter Lawwell had this to say:

"We're looking for an opportunity to participate in an environment that gives us that global exposure. And hopefully, through time, that will come. We need someone to want us. And, ... [read]

Is Watching Football on the Internet The Future?

October 11th, 2009 | By: Rob | 6 Comments

Web FootballA while ago (by that I mean about this time last year), I did a post over at the Premier League Offside about why the Premier League ought to embrace the internet as the future, instead of just madly stamping down on p2p websites that stream football matches - and frankly ... [read]

The FFT100 - Agree? Disagree?

October 11th, 2009 | By: Rob | 45 Comments

xavi-hernandezEsteemed Football magazine FourFourTwo has released its latest issue, for me the most exciting one of the year, the one that contains the countdown of the 100 Best Players in The World, according to them.

This is the third year that they've run the list, Kaká and C-Ron being the previous winners. ... [read]

Latest Country News

France Flag

Domenech is Not France's Only Problem...

Team: France
November 23rd, 2009 | By: Inara | 1 Comments

Regardless of how France got to the World Cup and whether they deserve to be there, the reality is that this summer, Les Bleus will be in South Africa with Raymond Domenech as their coach. I'm not really interested in revisiting Henry's goal or the resulting fallout from that, as its been covered very well by Laurie, Jeff, and Daryl.

Instead, I'd like to discuss more practical matters. With the amount of talent France has, there is no fathomable reason that they should be completely outclassed by a weaker Irish side, and yet it did happen. Twice. And it's not just the Irish - so many times this year, France have looked lost at sea against opponents that aren't anywhere in their league.

Read the rest of the article »

Benin  Flag

Benin's African Cup of Nations Draw

Team: Benin
November 22nd, 2009 | By: shane | 0 Comments

The draw for the 2010 African Cup of Nations was made in Angola on Friday. Benin, who are participating for just the third time, though it the third time in four editions, were placed into pot 3 alongside World Cup qualifiers Algeria, Togo and Zambia. The following is a rundown of their opponents:

Read the rest of the article »

Netherlands Flag

Dijkshoorn: Van Vossen can suffer, Huntelaar can't...

Team: Netherlands
November 22nd, 2009 | By: Jan | 12 Comments

I keep translating Bert Dijkshoorn's pieces. I love them :-) It's weird. Men who work in factories and have to sort apples all day... Put them in the right color box. I don't care, really. Or girls at the supermarket, sitting on their knees to fill up the shelves with new

Read the rest of the article »

France Flag

Calls for replay seem to be going nowhere

Team: France
November 22nd, 2009 | By: jeff | 13 Comments

The France-Ireland match and the aftermath have been extremely emotional for all involved. The Match France humiliated themselves with a pathetic performance, arguably the worst of the Domenech era, which is saying something. Ireland played very well, but blew multiple goal-scoring chances that would have booked their spot in the World

Read the rest of the article »

Portugal Flag

FIFA & UEFA rankings

Team: Portugal
November 21st, 2009 | By: Miguel | 4 Comments

Thanks to winning both matches of the play-offs Portugal climbed up FIFA's ranking to a surprising 5th place. This might stir up talks on whether we should go into the 1st pot of the WC2010 draw next December. I don't think it will happen, but... A day before UEFA released their

Read the rest of the article »

Iran Flag

Asian Cup 2011: Iran v Jordan

Team: Iran
November 21st, 2009 | By: Afshin Afshar | 1 Comments

On Sunday Iran will face Jordan for the return leg of their Asian Cup qualifier in Amman. Iran won the first leg and is sitting pretty on top of the Qualifying Group E, while Jordan is on the opposite end, all the way at the bottom. But, do not let

Read the rest of the article »

Cameroon Flag

African Cup of Nations Draw

Team: Cameroon
November 21st, 2009 | By: shane | 0 Comments

The draw for the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola transpired yesterday. Cameroon were placed into pot 1 as one of the top seeds along with hosts Angola, Côte d'Ivoire and reigning champions Egypt. Here are the three times that Cameroon have been drawn to face:

Read the rest of the article »

New Zealand Flag

Kiwis Coach forced to Put Club Before Country

Team: New Zealand
November 21st, 2009 | By: Craig | 0 Comments

Wellington Phoenix and New Zealand All Whites coach Ricki Herbert has been told he will not be going to South Africa on December 4 for the World Cup draw. Despite FIFA requesting all head coaches attend the gala event, the NZFC is hopeful that no one knows who we are

Read the rest of the article »

Malawi Flag

Africa Cup of Nations Angola 2010 Teams and November 2009 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings

Team: Malawi
November 21st, 2009 | By: sscouser | 2 Comments

The November 2009 Fifa/Coca-Cola World Ranking Publication was released earlier today. Africa Cup of Nations Angola 2010 Teams and November 2009 FIFA Rankings (World, Africa) Group A: Angola (94, 20), Mali (47, 7), Algeria (28, 4), Malawi (94, 21). Group B: Ivory Coast (16, 2), Ghana (37, 6), Togo (70, 13), Burkina

Read the rest of the article »

Malawi Flag

November 2009 FIFA/Coca-Cola World Rankings

Team: Malawi
November 21st, 2009 | By: sscouser | 1 Comments

The November FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking Publication was released today but the release was over-shadowed by the Africa Cup of Nations Angola 2010 draw and "The hand of Henry." FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking Publication Schedule Published: Monthly on Wednesdays Deadline: Thursday prior to the release date Initially, the release date for the November 2009 FIFA/Coca-Cola

Read the rest of the article »


 




Get Free Football Tips from our friends over at Online Betting Guide.

Latest comments

Euro 2008 Extras

Monthly Archives

closer
World Cup Blog