World Cup Round Up: Kahn and Lehmann continue catfight; Triumph for the Turkmen

Rarely has it been the case that we have seen a catfight as fun as the one taking place between Jens Lehmann and Oliver Kahn take place somewhere other than a the girl’s locker room at a middle school. Today, it is Oliver Kahn’s turn to strike back at Mad Jens. “Perhaps rather than talk about former colleagues, he should be grateful he has the chance to play in the national team while he doesn’t play for his club,” Kahn told football magazine Kicker. “That has never happened before in the history of German football.” Oh snap!

In real, actual, honest-to-goodness football news, Turkmenistan defeated Cambodia 1-0 in World Cup qualifying in front of 3,000 in Phnom Penh. The Turkmen would name a day of the week after the goal scorer Mamedaly Karadanov if the names of the week weren’t already named after the former president’s family members. The second leg will be played in Turkmenistan later this month.

Turkmenistan won’t make it to South Africa, which is too bad because they won’t be able to cash in on the record revenues the 2010 World Cup has already generated. Keep these numbers in mind the next time FIFA cries poor or goes after little old blogs with copyright infringement lawsuits.

If you are dying to learn more about Vanuatu and New Caledonia, the official FIFA site is eager to provide your brain with some fodder. Read it now because you won’t be hearing about either of these football teams for another four years once they are eliminated by New Zealand in Oceania qualifying.

Some football federations are touchier about their players’ behavior than others. China apparently wants its players to be model citizens on and off the pitch. That includes the questions they ask their military officials –don’t ask about the prostitutes.

It is a big week in Europe with a full slate of European qualifiers. If you are looking for a quick down and dirty preview, look no further.

Spanning the Blog

* Say hello to our newest blog, eh (Canada World Cup Blog)
* Making cheese of the Swiss (USA World Cup Blog)
* Rumors of a friendly (Australia World Cup Blog)
* They are goal orientated (Netherlands World Cup Blog)

Hey, we’ve got a new look to World Cup Blog and the capacity to add more blogs. If there is a national team that you are passionate about and you think it would be fun to blog about them, get in touch.