World Cup Round Up: Hiddink with Russia until 2010, South American Football Decline?
It is pretty much a given that Guus Hiddink will be on the sidelines managing a team during the 2010 World Cup. The man who has guided Holland, South Korea and Australia at the big show announced today that he will be with Russia until 2010. This squelches the rumors that he will become Chelsea’s next manager. At least for now. Hiddink’s name always surfaces when there are job openings and it is certainly no given that Russia will even qualify for South Africa 2010.
The craziness that is Oceania World Cup qualifying sees Fiji launching a protest ahead of their upcoming game in Auckland. The Fijians are pissed off because their starting goalkeeper was denied a visa to enter New Zealand. The problem apparently stems from the fact that Simione Tamanisau’s father is in the Fijian military. New Zealand hasn’t let in military members of their families since a coup took place in Fiji last year. Damn coups. They always hurt the keepers the most.
Evidently we are all to believe that South American football is in decline because their teams didn’t do that well in Germany in 2006. That is the angle that the official FIFA site is taking and they sit down with Carlos Parriera, Jose Pekerman, Anibal Ruiz and Luis Suarez to sort things out.
What better way to prepare for an upcoming World Cup qualifier than to play a bunch of out of shape politicians? That is what they did in Benin and you will be shocked to find out that the president of the country scored the game tying goal in the final minute. Surely that match was not fixed.
For the nine millionth time, we can read about the club versus country debate. This time it takes place in Utopia, which I think are ranked 54th in the FIFA World Rankings.
East Timor will play their upcoming World Cup qualifier against Hong Kong in Bali because they don’t have a proper stadium on their own island and because everyone knows that the food and women in Bali are tremendous.
The players in Uruguay take their federation to task for charging too much for World Cup qualifying tickets. Keep fighting the good fight, gentlemen.
The list is out for the 2007 FIFA Player of the Year award and what a list it is. Clearly the people who put it together didn’t actually watch any football over the past year. No Totti, no Fabregas and lots of retreads from years gone by.
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Comments
By I Bet Fair | October 10th, 2007 at 3:44 pm 
I think South American football has been in decline for the last 20 years. Technically, the continent boasts some awesome players - Messi, Kaka, Riquelme….the list goes on, but they were caught out tactically in the 2006 World Cup. Strictly speaking FIFA should examine their qualifying places for the next couple of tournaments, although it will never happen - can you imagine the fuss!! But Uefa should be pressing Fifa for an extra World Cup place and South America is one of the prime candidates to lose one for me.
By Soccer » Blog Archives » World Cup Round Up: Hiddink with Russia until 2010, South American ... | October 10th, 2007 at 6:19 pm […] World Cup Round Up: Hiddink with Russia until 2010, South American …It is pretty much a given that Guus Hiddink will be on the sidelines managing a team during the 2010 World Cup. The man who has guided Holland, South Korea and Australia at the big show announced today that he will be with Russia until … […]
By 2010 World Cup Fans | October 12th, 2007 at 3:36 pm South American football is no way in decline. they just had bad luck in 2006. Brazil and Argentina will be back again in 2010 for sure.
And the news from Benin is great to see because it showed some care for the team and the government was doing their best to support the team. Way to go!
By Afro American | October 15th, 2007 at 8:19 am I am from India and can not argument on the any team of football because my is very poor for this game.
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