2010 WORLD CUP TEAMS
Teamwork. That’s what Japan has in South Africa.
Can Honduras’ class give them success in South Africa?
Honduras secured a place in the 2010 FIFA World Cup by finishing third in Concacaf qualifying behind the United States and Mexico after four rounds of qualifying. Along the way, they topped a tricky third round group [...]

2010 WORLD CUP TEAMS
Was it worth the wait?
After 28 long years, New Zealand has finally qualified for football’s biggest stage, earning the right to play in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.
After being crowned Oceania champions, New Zealand is in the World Cup, beating Bahrain in a playoff for a place in [...]

2010 WORLD CUP TEAMS
Cameroon has long been tipped as the nation to bring the World Cup back to Africa for the first time in history.
Anyone taking a quick glance at the final qualifying standings could be forgiven for presuming that the Indomitable Lions’ path to the 2010 FIFA World Cup was comfortable. Following a [...]

Was it worth the wait?

After 28 long years, New Zealand has finally qualified for football’s biggest stage, earning the right to play in the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.

After being crowned Oceania champions, New Zealand is in the World Cup, beating Bahrain in a playoff for a place in the finals. It has been 28 years since they were last part of football’s most important event.

Their results in 2009 were not impressive: two wins, three draws, and five losses, but one of those draws was 0-0 in Bahrain, and one of the wins was 1-0 over Bahrain in New Zealand, and that is what counts. It is what got them to South Africa 2010.

Not much is expected of the All Whites. That’s not surprising as New Zealand is a hot bed of rugby and the highest ever ranking achieved by the national football team is 47th in the world. As recently as September 2007, the Kiwis ranked a shockingly low 156th.

The All Whites used to battle with Australia for top honours in the Oceania Football Confederation. But with the Socceroos switching the Asia for World Cup qualification, the Kiwis faced less formidable opposition in an attempt to reach the finals for the first time since 1982.

Their white strip, incidentally, was originally based on…

Can Honduras’ class give them success in South Africa?

Honduras secured a place in the 2010 FIFA World Cup by finishing third in Concacaf qualifying behind the United States and Mexico after four rounds of qualifying. Along the way, they topped a tricky third round group also featuring Mexico, Jamaica and Canada.

2009 was a busy year for Honduras. They played 24 matches, winning 15 of them, losing eight and drawing only one. They had particular problems with the USA, playing the Americans four times and losing all four.

The Hondurans have some real class up front, with Genoa forward David Suazo and the very experienced Carlos Pavón whose record by the end of 2009 stood at an astonishing 57 goals in 96 internationals.

In midfield, Captain Amado Guevara will be one of the most experienced players in the tournament, with over 130 caps to his name. He is also a useful goal scorer in support of the strikers. Together with Torino’s Julio Leon and Wilson Palacios of Tottenham Hotspur, Guevara gives Honduras a strong midfield.

In their only previous visit to the World Cup finals in 1982, Honduras surprised by drawing 1-1 with Spain and eventual group winners Northern Ireland before a 1-0 loss to Yugoslavia sent them out of the tournament. Once again, in 2010, they have a defense that is usually miserly and concedes on average…

Cameroon has long been tipped as the nation to bring the World Cup back to Africa for the first time in history.

Anyone taking a quick glance at the final qualifying standings could be forgiven for presuming that the Indomitable Lions’ path to the 2010 FIFA World Cup was comfortable. Following a surprise 1-0 defeat to Togo and a 0-0 stalemate with Morocco, in came Paul Le Guen, the French manager who himself has endured a less than glorious few years after unsuccessful spells at Rangers in Scotland and PSG in France.

He made an immediate impression on the Cameroon squad, stripping Rigobert Song of the captaincy in favour of Inter Milan striker Samuel Eto’o and leading the side to four consecutive wins to secure qualification for South Africa. Le Guen will be relishing the chance to restore his tarnished reputation this summer with one of the most fancied of all the African nations in the tournament.

Carlos Kameni, who plays his club football in Spain with RCD Espanyol, will be the man between the sticks for Cameroon. He has been a consistent performer for club and country for several years and Le Guen will have little worry about pitching him into high pressure matches.

Despite being stripped of the captaincy, Rigobert Song remains Cameroon’s most-capped player and will be hugely important as they look to keep the likes of the Netherlands at bay in the group stages. Song has bags of experience to spare in a career that has seen him enjoy stints at Liverpool, West Ham, Lens and Galatasaray. He is currently playing his football Trabzonspor and, provided he can stay fit, will be a pivotal member of the Le Guen’s squad. Followers of French football will be familiar with the name Jean II Makoun.

The Lyon midfielder’s dynamic performances since joining the…

According to Cristiano Ronaldo, the balance of power in European football has shifted to Spain.

You read it, Cristiano Ronaldo, the former Manchester United winger, suggested that the Spanish La Liga is now THE league to be in European football and he claimed that one of the reasons was that star players enjoyed greater protection from referees in La Liga.

The Portuguese, who just set a record by singing a £80m contract with Real Madrid, made no secret of his dissatisfaction at what he perceived to be rough treatment from Premier League opponents during his six years at Old Trafford. Sir Alex Ferguson, his manager at Old Trafford, had even hinted that Ronaldo might be driven away from England if he was not better protected from bad challenges.

Ronaldo, the world footballer of the year, has switched to Real together with Kaka from Milan to play for a league that he claims will protect its stars better.

While Ronaldo may have a point in saying that the Spanish La Liga should now be superior, he knows that it isn’t just about the officiating. La Liga should now be superior because of the fact that it now has the two greatest footballers in the world too.

”The Premier League is a very good competition,” Ronaldo said, ”but I think that the Spanish league is going to have a little more…”

And they did just that by beating two powerhouse teams from the English Premier League, Chelsea FC and Man-U.

Giant killers, that is exactly what FC Barcelona has become after winning the 2009 UEFA Champions League. Nobody thought this team would even make it to the final game but after shocking Chelsea FC and following that up with a comfortable win over Manchester United to win the cup, I guess nobody would question this team’s resolve form now on.

In what has become another scintillating showcase of the finest footballers in the world, FC Barcelona dethroned Man-United to become the new champions of the UEFA Champions League, controlling the game from start to finish to beat the defending champs, 2-nil.

It was a disappointing end to what has been a promising campaign for Manchester United, looking to become the first side to retain the trophy in the Champions League era.

For some reason, Man-U just couldn’t get through the defense of the Spanish football giants and for the first time in quite a while, Cristiano Ronaldo couldn’t get his team going. Instead, he was getting more and more frustrated as the clock continued to tick away with defeat looming.

Barcelona jumped on Man-U right from the get-go, coming up with the first goal of the game in the 10th minute after…

No wonder why everybody supports Man-U these days.

Federico Macheda scored the game winner as Manchester United got a 2-1 win at Sunderlund last weekend to remain on top of the order in the 2009 English Premiere League season.

The win kept Manchester United one point clear of Liverpool at the top of the standings with a game in hand. Man-U’s win came with Ben Foster filling in for Edwin van der Sar and with Cristiano Ronaldo resting for much of the match.

Cristiano Ronaldo did came into the match at the 69th minute but it was Macheda’s arrival as a 75th-minute replacement that turned the tide for United.

Liverpool crushed Blackburn 4-0 to keep pace with United and they did so without Steven Gerrard who was rested. Fernando Torres scored twice for Liverpool in the 4-0 win.

Third-place Chelsea beat Bolton 4-3 to stay within four points of Man-U.

In the race for fifth place, it was Aston Villa getting a 3-3 draw with Everton as Gareth Barry scored on a penalty in the 66th minute. ”It was a harsh decision,” Everton manager David Moyes said. ”I thought it might have been an indirect free kick because all Joleon has done is put his foot up to try and get the ball.”

Everton is nine points ahead of Fulham in…

Of course, he knows more than anyone else, that nobody can get it right in Stamford Bridge but him.

And since Chelsea FC, after firing Luiz Felipe Scolari, would now have their third manager in the post Jose Mourinho era, Mourinho expects that he’ll return as manager of the Blues one day.

Currently, Jose Mourinho is doing a solid job as boss of Inter Milan but because of the successive failures all these managers have been experiencing with Chelsea FC, the ”Special One” ain’t shutting the door on his former club just yet. Hell, Blues fans want him back anyway once new manager Guus Hiddink steps aside.

”If you are asking me if you think one day I will return to Chelsea, I tell you ‘yes, I think so’, although I’m not saying when,” Jose Mourinho said.

”We were so happy together. Chelsea fans have a different feeling for me. It’s a different emotion with them. I always wish them well because they are a special club for me and I have special friends there. I belong to their story and they belong to my story. I hope they get back to what they were because the club has changed.”

Mourinho believes his former club is still suffering from the after effects of his departure. And although…