November 25th, 2009 | By:
Jan
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1 Comments"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
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November 24th, 2009 | By:
Aidan
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3 CommentsAsian Cup qualifying for Qatar 2011 is reaching the latter stages now, with the latest round of matches this week. For the uninitiated, the Asian Cup has 16 finalists coming from a variety of qualification routes – just to make things easy.
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November 24th, 2009 | By:
Aidan
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0 CommentsWith vuvuzelas still ringing in their ears from their weekend jaunt to South Africa, Japan eased closer to Asian Cup qualification with a 4-0 win in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
The result kept Japan on top of the Group A table ahead of Bahrain, although having played a game more. Bahrain bounced back from their heartbreaking encounter with New Zealand by hammering Yemen 4-0 at home in Manama.
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November 24th, 2009 | By:
Rami
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16 CommentsToday the Tunisian Football Federation made it official: Faouzi Benzarti will replace Humberto Coelho as our coach for the African Cup and beyond. Our World Cup exit hardly gave them a choice in the matter. Lest we forget, this is the man that many Tunisians were clamoring for back in 2008 when Roger Lemerre's contract was coming to an end. Everyone knew this, but the FTF, in their infinite wisdom, turned a blind eye to the opinions of prominent retired international players and club presidents (because really, what do they know right?)
Instead, after an unbelievably slow and torturous search, then FTF President Tahar Sioud decided that Humberto Coelho would be a better choice. The Portuguese manager came with a smile on his face, told Tunisians everything they want to hear, and then proceeded to defy the very principles he said he would instill.
If you click the first link in the previous paragraph you'll see that my initial reaction was skepticism. Back when we hired him, I wasn't really sold on Coelho for the mere fact that I didn't know him that well and didn't see much on his CV that made him stand out or compare to Lemerre results wise.
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November 23rd, 2009 | By:
sscouser
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5 CommentsGroup A of the Africa Cup of Nations Angola 2010 has Angola, Algeria, Mali and Malawi. According to the November 2009 rankings the teams rank as follows (World, Africa): Angola (94, 20), Mali (47, 7), Algeria (28, 4), Malawi (94, 21).
Malawi is the worst ranked team in the group
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November 23rd, 2009 | By:
tomasz
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16 CommentsThe 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.
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November 23rd, 2009 | By:
Daryl
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4 CommentsSpurs 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?
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November 23rd, 2009 | By:
Jan
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43 CommentsWe'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
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November 23rd, 2009 | By:
Jan
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1 Comments
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
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November 23rd, 2009 | By:
Afshin Afshar
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0 Comments
Team Melli lost to Jordan 1-0 in Amman in their return leg of their Asian Cup Qualifier. They still lead the group with seven points, but things look bad real bad. I have been watching Team Melli for decades and this is the lowest I have ever seen them, and
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The final six World Cup 2010 places all get decided today, with the second legs of the four European playoffs and the CONMEBOL vs CONCACAF game, plus the special Algeria vs Egypt single game playoff for the final African qualifying spot.
In honour of today's Algeria vs Egypt showdown in Sudan, I had planned on putting together a Top 10 Biggest International Rivalries post. But halfway through I realized it wasn't a great idea. Your own national team's rivalry will always feel bigger than anyone else's, so why include some in a Top ... 
It would seem this vuvuzela thing is, at the very least, unpopular. As a direct result of its popularity, of course. Xabi Alonso left the Confederations Cup poo-pooing the vuvuzela and its effect on the field of play. The cacophony a bit too intense for such things as hearing the whistles and ... 
A double international milestone was reached this past weekend, when both Italy's Gigi Buffon and Spain's Iker Casillas made their 100th international appearances on the same day. Nice little co-incidence as they are arguably (or maybe inarguably) the two best keepers in the world today.
This weekend was the World Cup qualifying climax in Africa, and there was plenty of qualification drama to go around. The winners of each of the five groups qualified for World Cup 2010, and everyone else missed out. But there was a pretty decent consolation prize for ... 
Ah, to be a fly on the wall.
