World Cup Qualifiers : Europe Results

A massive massive win for England against the Croats and a disappointing last few minutes for Portugal to go down to Denmark.
France finally win.
Czechs won't be happy not to have won against the Northern Ireland.
Germany after an astounding win played catch-up against the Fins.
Bosnia killed Estonia,were they playing baseball?
European champions,Spain continued their march with an impressive 4-0 win.
After a bad day over the weekend for the Dutch,they won over Macedonia.
Ireland lost their chance to get in 3points courtesy a goal-less draw against Montenegro.

So without much further ado here are the results for tonight's games :



Group 1
Sweden 2 - 1 Hungary
(Kallstrom 55',Holmen 64',Rudolf 90')
Albania 3 - 0 Malta
(Bogdani 45',Duro 83',Dallku 89')
Portugal 2 - 3 Denmark
(Nani 42',Bendtner 84',Deco(pen.) 86',Poulsen 90',Jensen 90')

Group 2
Moldova 1 - 2 Israel
(Picusciac 1',Golan 39',Saban 45')
Latvia 0 - 2 Greece
(Gekas 10',Gekas 49')
Switzerland 1 - 2 Luxembourg
(Strasser 29',NKufo 43',Leweck 86')

Group 3
San Marino 0 - 2 Poland
(Smolarek 35',Lewandowski 69')
Northern Ireland 0 - 0 Czech Republic
Slovenia 2 - 1 Slovakia
(Novakovic 23',Novakovic 81',Jakubko 83')

Group 4
Russia 2 - 1 Wales
(Pavlyuchenko (pen.) 22',Ledley 67',Pogrebnyak 81')
Azerbaijan 0 - 0 Liechtenstein
Finland 3 - 3 Germany
(Johansson 32',Klose 38',Vayrynen 43',Klose 45',Sjolund 53',Klose 83')

Group 5
Turkey 1 - 1 Belgium
(Sonck 31',Belozoglu(pen.) 74')
Bosnia 7 - 0 Estonia
(Misimovic 25',Misimovic(pen.) 29',Misimovic 57',Muslimovic 58',Dzeko 60',Dzeko 72',Ibricic 88')
Spain 4 - 0 Armenia
(Capdevila 7',Villa 16',Villa 79',Senna 82')

Group 6
Kazakhstan 1 - 3 Ukraine
(Nazarenko 45',Shevchenko 54',Ostapenko 68',Nazarenko 80')
Andorra 1 - 3 Belarus
(Verkhovstov 37',Pujol(pen.) 68',Rodionov 79',Hleb 89')
Croatia 1 - 4 England
(Walcott 26',Walcott 59',Rooney 63',Mandzukic 78',Walcott 82')
[VIDEO]

Group 7
Faroe Islands 0 - 1 Romania
(Cocis 59')
Lithuania 2 - 0 Austria
(Stankevicius 53',Danilevicius 58')
France 2 - 1 Serbia
(Henry 54',Anelka 64',Ivanovic 76')

Group 8
Montenegro 0 - 0 Ireland
Italy 2 - 0 Georgia
(D.Rossi 17',D.Rossi 90')

Group 9
Iceland 1 - 2 Scotland
(Broadfoot 18',Robson 59',Gudjohnsen(pen.) 77')
Republic of Macedonia 1 - 2 Holland
(Heitinga 46',Van der Vaart 60',Pandev(pen.) 78')

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World Cup Qualifiers : Europe Results

World Cup qualifiers for South Africa 2010 got underway yesterday and following are the results.


Europe-Group 1
Albania 0 - 0 Sweden
Hungary 0 - 0 Denmark
Malta 0 - 4 Portugal
(B.Said(o.g.) 24',Almedia 61',Simao 70',Nani 78')

Europe-Group 2
Moldova 1 - 2 Latvia
(Karlsons 8',Astafjevs 22',Alexeev 79')
Israel 2 - 2 Switzerland
(Yakin 45',NKufo 56',Benayoun 73',Sahar 90')
Luxembourg 0 - 3 Greece
(Torosidis 38',Gekas 45',Charisteas(pen.) 76')

Europe-Group 3
Poland 1 - 1 Slovenia
(Zewlakow (pen.) 17',Dedic 35')
Slovakia 2 - 1 Northern Ireland
(Skrtel 46',Hamsyk 70',Durica(o.g.) 81')

Europe-Group 4
Wales 1 - 0 Azerbaijan
(Vokes 83')
Liechtenstein 0 - 6 Germany
(Podolski 21',Podolski 48',Rolfes 65',Schweinsteiger 66',Hitzlsperger 75',Westermann 86')

Europe-Group 5
Armenia 0 - 2 Turkey
(Sanli 61',Senturk 78')
Belgium 3 - 2 Estonia
(Sonck 38',Zenjov 57',Defour 75',Sonck 80',Oper 90')
Spain 1 - 0 Bosnia
(Villa 58')

Europe-Group 6
Ukraine 1 - 0 Belarus
(Shevchenko (pen.) 90')
Andorra 0 - 2 England
(Joe Cole 49',Joe Cole 55')
[VIDEO]
Croatia 3 - 0 Kazakhstan
(Kovac 12',Modric 35',Petric 80')

Europe-Group 7
Romania 0 - 3 Lithuania
(Stankevicius 31',Mikoliunas 70',Kalonas 86')
Serbia 2 - 0 Faroe Islands
(Jacobsen (o.g.) 29',Zigic 87')
Austria 3 - 1 France
(Janko 8',Mexes(o.g.) 42',Govou 62',Ivanschitz 73')

Europe-Group 8
Georgia 1 - 2 Ireland
(Doyle 13',Whelan 70',Kenia 90')
Montenegro 2 - 2 Bulgaria
(Petrov 11',Vucinic 62',Jovetic 81',Georgiev 90')
Cyprus 1 - 2 Italy
(Natale 8',Alonefits 29',Natale 90')

Europe-Group 9
Macedonia 1 - 0 Scotland
(Naumoski 5')
Norway 2 - 2 Iceland
(Iversen(pen.) 36',Helguson 39',Iversen 50',Gudjohnsen 69')


Check out the tables on FIFA's official website here.

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India win AFC Cup

India win the AFC Cup 2008 in New Delhi.


I know I don't cover Asian football scene but this is too hard to miss and ignore considering am Indian so call me ignorant or biased but yeah well.

India won the game 4-1 against Tajikistan after Sunil Chettri scored a hat-trick to get India the glorious victory.The fourth was scored by the invincible Baichung Bhutia.

India now qualify for 2011 Asian Games automatically,a feat they only managed in 1984.

Game had been shifted to Delhi after Hyderabad the original venue was not able to be prepared with a horrible pitch after a downpour left the final postponed and also on the verge of being shifted to Malaysia.

Great achievement for India.GO INDIAN FOOTBALL!

Trapattoni recalls Finnan

Finnan comes back from retirement.


Liverpool's aging defender Steve Finnan has decided to come out of retirement and help his national side qualify for the World Cup in 2010.

Another Premiership player,Andy O'Brien has rejected the call up.

Finnan is amongst six players who have returned for Republic of Ireland after missing friendlies in May against Serbia and Colombia.

Trapattoni had this to say,

"I am happy that Steve Finnan has agreed to return to international football. He is an experienced player and he still has a lot to give to the team."

I respect Andy O'Brien's decision and I thank him for letting us know. Stephen Ireland has told us he is not yet ready to make himself available but has indicated that he may do so in the future. As I have said before, my door remains open."

Ireland's qualifiers open next month but they start the campaign against Norway to get the team up and running.

Full squad: Given (Newcastle), Kiely (West Brom), Bruce (Ipswich), Delaney (QPR), Dunne (Manchester City), Finnan (Liverpool), Foley (Wolves), Kilbane (Wigan), J O'Brien (Bolton), O'Shea (Manchester United), Duff (Newcastle), Hunt (Reading), McGeady (Celtic), Miller (Sunderland), A Reid (Sunderland), S Reid (Blackburn), Whelan (Stoke), Doyle (Reading), Keane (Liverpool), Keogh (Wolves), Long (Reading), Murphy (Sunderland).

Messi not going to Olympics

Messi would not be playing in the Olympics starting in 3days.


The ruling comes from the Court of Arbitration which represents the European clubs against FIFA's appeal to European clubs to release players under 23 for the Olympic Games.

This decision has left FIFA "disappointed" but would respect the ruling.The decision comes majorly in favour of Barcelona,Werder Bremen and Schalke 04 which had Messi,Diego and Rafinha as their squad members up for the Olympics.

The reason stated for the court's ruling is that the Olympics don't feature on FIFA's calendar.

FIFA President,Sepp Blatter had this to say following the judgement,

"FIFA is surprised and disappointed by this decision, but we respect it,"

"Nevertheless, I appeal to the clubs: 'Let your players take part in the Olympic Games! It would be an act of solidarity in perfect harmony with the Olympic spirit. It would be wonderful for the players, for the fans and for the game itself'."

Bundesliga season begins before the conclusion of Olympics and Schalke will also be playing a Champions League qualifier.
Barcelona also have a Champions League qualifier scheduled before the Olympic Games draw to a close.

The situation for the future would be review after these games so that the same embarrassing situation for FIFA can be avoided during the Olympics Games in 2012 in London.

Del Bosque is new Spain coach

Former Real Madrid manager Vicente Del Bosque has been appointed as new Spanish national team manager.




Vicente Del Bosque replaces Luis Aragones who led the Spanish side to Euro 2008 title who were otherwise referred to as perennial under achievers.

He makes his debut against Denmark on August 20.

He would be signing a deal tomorrow and is expected to ink a deal for two years and the main aim would be to guide Spain to South Africa,World Cup 2010.

He has won 2 Champions league,two La Liga titles,Spanish Super Cup,European Super Cup and Inter Continental Cup all in a span of four years which would be the biggest successful spell in modern history.After which,shockingly he was not offered a contract renewal.

He is the right man for the Spanish team,experience,has handled big pressure situations before and has been known for an attacking mindset which would be good for the Spanish side.

Portuguese Media : Welcome Queiroz

Carlos Queiroz is most likely to become general manager for Portugal.



Despite the offer of a pay rise at Old Trafford,Sir Alex's team man Carlos Queiroz is most probably the successor for Luis Felipe Scolari who left after Euro 2008 and took over at Chelsea.
Chairman of Portugal's football affairs had this to say,

"I am optimistic and I believe that this subject will be closed soon. I have spoken about mid-July but really it could be sooner.”

Queiroz has prior experience of managing national sides UAE and South Africa.He has been at Manchester United for a long long time and has been also linked as the man to replace Sir Alex when he finally retires but there has been no official talk on this issue.
His exit might see a different United side who is a link to stop the Ronaldo transfer from happening and man who motivates the team and has been credited with the water tight defense of Manchester United who conceded only 22 goals last season.


It's all sounding too difficult to go through that easily especially when Manchester United and their big-wigs are involved but really an experience of managing UAE and then South Africa and now Portugal,this would be a huge leap.Portugal would draw a lot of attention and limelight,would Queiroz come through?

Les Blues stick to Domenech

French Football Federation to stick to Raymond Domenech.


The French football federation today decided not to terminate Raymond Domenech's contract despite calls for his head by many fans and media for a poor show in the recently concluded Euro 2008 where France couldn't make past the group stages with a dismal show as they could only manage a single goal against 6 conceded.

His contract had been extended prior to Euro 2008 for two years which might have been the reason for not sacking the Frenchman who proposed to his long time girl friend after France were knocked out causing further public dismay to Domenech.

His situation would be reassessed after the first three World Cup 2010 qualifiers of which the third is against Romania,who were France's opponents in their first game of the Euro 2008 which was a rusty 0-0 draw.

Some of the former players like Zizou,Lizarazu,Dugarry called for him to be replaced by Didier Deschamps.However,Domenech had the backing of his current players including Ribery,Viera,Govou.

Even the likes of Michel Platini(UEFA chief) and Bordeaux boss,Laurent Blanc said the FFF should stick to current manager.
Will it turn out to be a good decision?Would he perform finally?Would France give away their defensive mindset and be able to come out all guns blazing in the qualifiers,remains to be seen.

FIFA Rankings : Spain are número uno

Spain climb to number one spot after Euro 2008 win.

Spain broke their 44 years long jinx of no trophies despite an array of talent.They beat Germany in the final.The rankings see Spain move up from 3rd place to the top slot which was earlier taken by Italy.
England on the other hand,who failed to qualify for the Euros slipped six places to the 15th position only a month after entering the Top 10.
The top 6 sees Spain on top followed by Italy,Germany,Brazil,Netherlands and Argentina.

UEFA fines Croatia

UEFA has fined Croatia for racism.

UEFA has fined Croatian Football Federation 10,000 pounds following racist banners and showing racist conduct in their game against Turkey.
The federation had 3 days to appeal but they didn't make any and have been fined following it.Croatia lost that game 1-1 and then 3-1 on penalties.

Ljungberg says bye bye!

Fredrik Ljungberg has bid goodbye to international football.

He notified a Swedish newspaper about his decision of quitting international football but will continue playing for West Ham,his London based club.
Sweden's trip was cut short after they lost to Russia in the final group game and eventually failed to make through.He has played for the national side for the past 10 years and earned 71 caps in the process where he scored 14 goals.He made his first appearance against USA in 1998.
He has also been linked to a move to Italian side Roma but that rumour is still to be confirmed.

Marcello Lippi appointed Italy manager

Italy has officially sacked Roberto Donadoni and put in charge,Marcello Lippi again.



Donadoni was "sacked" on Thursday but the calmer version being specified is that no new contract extension has been offered.Italy lost to Spain in the Euro 2008 quarter finals after they only made it past the group stage with extra effort.Italy had a very negative approach with defensive mindset.

Lippi had earlier guided Italy to World Cup success in 2006 in Germany and had been out of work since but this appointment doesn't come as a surprise as he was the main man for the job and has all the right credentials to manage a top national team as the Azzuri.

Aragones new Fenerbahce coach?NO?

Spain's national team coach,Luis Aragones has been named as the new Fenerbahce manager.


The confusing part is that the Turkish clubs' official website claims the appointment but the man himself denied having signed any new deal.However,he looks set to join the club after Zico left his post as a new contract couldn't be agreed to.The contract is expected to be of two years.

Spain are currently preparing for their semi final clash with Russia.

Trio retire from Les Bleus

After the loss to Italy in the final game of Euro 2008,French trio of Sagnol,Thuram and Makelele have said "Au Revoir" to international game.


France went down to Italy 2-0 in Zurich and failed to progress to the next stage in the group of death with a disppointing campaign which saw 1 goal scored and 6 conceded for the French side who lacked the cutting edge to win at the highest level.
Of the three players only Makelele took to the field in the final game with the other two only to find comfortable space on the bench.


Thuram is out of contract after he was released from Barcelona.Sagnol didn't have a great season with German champions,Bayern Munich.Makelele is currently under contract at Chelsea.


Patrick Viera and Gregory Coupet had also considered retirement but have said nothing to confirm the reports,yet.Patrick Viera failed to take to the field in any of the games due to injury.
What next for the Les Bleus would be interesting..

International Friendlies

Russia(Konstatin Zyryanov, Andrei Arshavin, Roman Pavluchenko and Vladimir Bystrov) 4 - 1 Lithuania (Mantas Savenas)

Spain(Xavi Hernandez) 1 - 0 USA
[Video(highlights)]

NOTE : Check back later for Videos for Russia-Lithuania game,if I find any I mean.

France beat Colombia 1-0

Euro 2000 winners France won their final preparatory friendly before Euro 2008, against Colombia 1-0 at Stade de France.
Thiery Henry won his 100th cap in this game and is the sixth Frenchman to achieve this feat.Henry was instrumental in setting up the only goal of the game when he was brought down in the box and Riberi scored from the penalty spot.
[VIDEO]
Henry is the all time leading scorer for France with 44 goals.He made his first appearance for Les Blues in 2007 and scored his first international goal against South Africa.The other five French players to have more than 100 caps are;Lilian Thuram,Marcel Desailly,Zinedine Zidane,Patrick Viera,Didier Deschamps.
France further went on to miss many chances and Henry was taken off in the 76th minute.
They will play Romania on the 9th of July when their campaign for the "Group of Death" begins.

Sven goes to Mexico

Former Manchester City and England manager,Sven Goran Erikkson has been confirmed as the new coach of Mexico national team.
Sven had parted ways some days back with the Eastland club and had been one of the candidates for the job along with the current Portugal manager,Luis Felipe Scolari.
The decision was unanimous as one selection committee official stated.
Sven replaces Hugo Sanchez who had earlier been sacked over the disappointment of Mexico not qualifying for Olympics 2008.Sven's task is now to take Mexico to South Africa for the World Cup in 2010.
I think he can do a good job with the Mexican national team as he has great credentials with whichever place he goes.

International friendlies

These are the following scores for the international friendlies played on 1 June,2008 :

Brazil (Diego,L.Fabiano,Robinho) 3-2 Canada(Friend,D.Guzman)

Holland (Robben,Sneijder) 2 - 0 Wales

Poland (Krzynowek) 1 - 1 Denmark (Vingaard)

Sweden 0 - 1 Ukraine (Nazarenko)

Armenia 0 - 0 Greece

Trinidad and Tobago 0 - 3 England (Barry,Defoe Defoe)

Capello cuts squad short for T&T

England coach Fabio Capello has named his squad for the trip to Trinidad & Tobago,last friendly of the season.The exclusions are all part of the Manchester United - Chelsea game which contested the Champions League in Moscow.
England had won their friendly last night 2-0 (read here) against USA at Wembley.

The excluded players include John Terry,who had started the proceedings against USA with a magnificent header is joined by Wayne Rooney,Owen Hargreaves,Ashely Cole,Wes Brown,Frank Lampard and Joe Cole.All have been given an early break with England not part of the Euro 2008 is Austria-Switzerland.
Rio Ferdinand has been named for the squad as he has links with the Caribbean and Wayne Bridge,Chelsea full back who didn't play in the final have been included in the 20man squad.

The final squad for the friendly on 1st June is:

David James (Portsmouth),
Joe Hart (Manchester City),
Joe Lewis Peterborough),
Wayne Bridge (Chelsea),
Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United),
Phil Jagielka (Everton),
Glen Johnson (Portsmouth),
Stephen Warnock(Blackburn),
David Wheater (Middlesbrough),
Jonathan Woodgate(Tottenham),
Gareth Barry (Aston Villa),
David Beckham (LA Galaxy),
David Bentley (Blackburn),
Stewart Downing (Middlesbrough),
Steven Gerrard(Liverpool),
Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham),
Theo Walcott (Arsenal),
Ashley Young (Aston Villa),
Gabriel Agbonlahor (Aston Villa),
Dean Ashton (West Ham),
Peter Crouch (Liverpool),
Jermain Defoe (Portsmouth).

England vs USA,Review

England win the friendly 2-0 against USA with goals from John Terry and Steven Gerrard.

John terry,captain of the day, who had missed the penalty which could have won his club Chelsea the title had been reeling under the effects of it for the past week and it was clearly visible when he headed in from a typical England play with David Beckham taking charge of the dead ball situations.John Terry, who could barely hide his emotions ran toward Beckham and hugged the usual England captain.England were up 1-0 after 38mins.

The second goal came in the second half,when Gareth Barry who had come on for not more than 2minutes made a fantastic pass for Steven Gerrard who easily tucked it in the left bottom corner from his right foot.

Other parts of the game were dominated with substitutions with manager,Fabio Capello having a look at almost the entire squad.

USA had chances few and far between.They had an attacking spell on the start of the second half with Johnson who came very close to squaring the game from 10yards out as David James was completely beaten.

England had a great game with many chances being created and in my view Jermaine Defoe was top notch.He hit the target on so many occasions and should have made the scoreline much more promising.Another positive out of the game would be a clean sheet for England.England players who on the close of season didn't look to be exhausted and tired for this friendly.
Overall,England get 8.5/10 stars but it remains to be seen how they perform with a stronger opposition with USA not proving to be a match for England's dominance in the midfield.