http://www.worldcupblog.org/europe/ World Cup South Africa 2010 en-us World Cup Blog http://netherlands.worldcupblog.org/1/az-and-liverpool-are-out.html http://netherlands.worldcupblog.org/1/az-and-liverpool-are-out.html Jan Wed, 25 Nov 2009 09:10:48 -0600 "Some people say football is a matter of life and death... These people are wrong. Football is much more important..." Today, the sad news of the passing of a dear friend reached me and took my head away from football. I had some interesting post in mind. How Benitez is being punished for not signing Rafael van der Vaart. How AZ can muster passion but forgets to play football and therefore is out as well. How Barcelona is not only the silkiest team on the planet, but they're actually also the hardest working team... An interesting observation, really... People always hail their skills, but http://poland.worldcupblog.org/1/squad-watch-week-12-wisla-krakow-lose-the-ekstraklasa-becomes-more-interesting.html http://poland.worldcupblog.org/1/squad-watch-week-12-wisla-krakow-lose-the-ekstraklasa-becomes-more-interesting.html tomasz Mon, 23 Nov 2009 19:10:50 -0600 The Polish Ekstraklasa suddenly became interesting again after Wisla Krakow lost two games in a row. Now there is only a six point margin between the top six teams which guarantees a close title race in the remaining part of the season. Robert Lewandowski scored two goals for Lech Poznan in the weekend’s hit game against Ruch Chorzow, whereas GKS Belchatow has won for the seventh time in a row. http://england.worldcupblog.org/england-team-news/jermain-defoe-good-at-scoring-goals-but-good-enough-to-start-for-england.html http://england.worldcupblog.org/england-team-news/jermain-defoe-good-at-scoring-goals-but-good-enough-to-start-for-england.html Daryl Mon, 23 Nov 2009 17:24:45 -0600 Spurs beat Wigan 9-1 (not a typo) this weekend with England's own Jermain Defoe backing five of the goals. A hat-trick and two thirds of way to another hat-trick. My favourite thing about those five is the range it demonstrates in Defoe's finishing: From movement in the box to close range acrobatics to sniper like accuracy from a wide angle. No doubt about it, Jermain Defoe is good at scoring goals. But good enough to start for England? http://netherlands.worldcupblog.org/1/weekend-action-ajax-impresses-feyenoord-disappoints.html http://netherlands.worldcupblog.org/1/weekend-action-ajax-impresses-feyenoord-disappoints.html Jan Mon, 23 Nov 2009 13:58:28 -0600 We're playing again. After those two non-events that were the Oranje friendlies ( Kesler is counting the euros no doubt) and the Hand of Gaul we can focus on the competitions again. But first we need to discuss the rumor that Maradona will coach both Argentina and France at the World Cup :-). Ah, funny... Not! Feyenoord hosted a game against FC Utrecht in De Kuip and there was no need for electronic help devices or extra refs on the goal lines, simply because the ball never actually got there! The fans were the biggest losers in the boring 0-0 draw between two http://netherlands.worldcupblog.org/1/where-are-they-now-john-van-den-brom.html http://netherlands.worldcupblog.org/1/where-are-they-now-john-van-den-brom.html Jan Mon, 23 Nov 2009 10:09:05 -0600 John van den Brom (42 years old) only played twice for Oranje. The current AGOVV Apeldoorn coach did score and got a penalty for Holland. The ex-Vitesse and Ajax libero/midfielder tells us about his past, present and future. Past "Bert Jacobs was my coach at Vitesse. We were out in Arnhem, in some pub and he walked in: "I just spoke to Rinus Michels. You're selected for Oranje. Get the hell out of here and go home!". He came to look for me, eleven p.m in the city, haha... It was 1990, the time before mobile phones. The second time I was http://france.worldcupblog.org/euro-2008/domenech-is-not-frances-only-problem.html http://france.worldcupblog.org/euro-2008/domenech-is-not-frances-only-problem.html Inara Mon, 23 Nov 2009 00:00:14 -0600 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. http://netherlands.worldcupblog.org/1/dijkshoorn-van-vossen-can-suffer-huntelaar-cant.html http://netherlands.worldcupblog.org/1/dijkshoorn-van-vossen-can-suffer-huntelaar-cant.html Jan Sun, 22 Nov 2009 09:17:00 -0600 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 types of chips. And then being told of by the supervisor for putting the paprika in the regular shelf. Whatever. I couldn't care less. But Klaas Jan Huntelaar at AC Milan... I suffer for him. Which is weird. I grew up in a lower class family. We could live for a http://france.worldcupblog.org/euro-2008/calls-for-replay-seem-to-be-going-nowhere.html http://france.worldcupblog.org/euro-2008/calls-for-replay-seem-to-be-going-nowhere.html jeff Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:30:43 -0600 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 Cup. France's captain Thierry Henry played an outrageous handball to set up the decisive goal to send France to the World Cup, denying Ireland a chance to take the penalty kicks that they had famously been practicing. The Aftermath The aftermath has been sickening. I read that some eighty percent of French http://portugal.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2010/fifa-uefa-rankings.html http://portugal.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-2010/fifa-uefa-rankings.html Miguel Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:33:15 -0600 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 ranking featuring Spain on top and Portugal in 7th place behind Spain, Germany, Netherlands, Italy, England and Croatia in that order. As expected we secure top seed for the Euro 2012 avoiding the likes of the already mentioned teams as well as France (8th) and Russia (9th). The Poland-Ukraine Euro http://france.worldcupblog.org/euro-2008/post-game-recovery-or-but-im-sad.html http://france.worldcupblog.org/euro-2008/post-game-recovery-or-but-im-sad.html Laurie Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:08:45 -0600 A few years back, when my daughter was maybe three, she did one of those things which, before you have kids, you swear your little darling will never do. I can't even remember what it was. Bit her brother, maybe? And so I chastised her, causing her to burst into tears. Then I turned all my attention to comforting her brother. Eventually she realizes the sobbing isn't working, so she asks me if I'm going to do anything for her. I say no, because it was her behavior that caused all of this http://netherlands.worldcupblog.org/1/hugo-borst-oranje-winning-the-wc-fat-chance.html http://netherlands.worldcupblog.org/1/hugo-borst-oranje-winning-the-wc-fat-chance.html Jan Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:11:40 -0600 Hugo Borst's column in the AD People ask me often - while the WC is still seven months away: "Do you think Holland will win the cup in South Africa?" Does God exist? Is there life on Mars? Does Oranje Angel have a Brazilian wax? There's a good chance, but how do we know? I personally think we have a slight chance of winning the world title. A very slight chance. There's 32 nations competing, so statistically we start with something like a 3% chance. Then there's a number of really poor nations. New Zealand won't win it, for instance. The real number of