Archive for May, 2010
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
World Cup legend and winner Diego Maradona named a 23-man squad on Wednesday ahead of the World Cup in South Africa, dropping seven players from the provisional list that he named last week. The seven players dropped from the provisional squad are Napoli forward Ezequiel Lavezzi, Newell’s Old Boys defender Juan Manuel Insaurralde, Jose Sosa of Estudiantes, Newcastle defender Fabricio Coloccini, Olympiakos midfielder Jesus Datolo, , Lanus’ Sebastian Blanco and Juan Mercier of Argentinos Juniors. Argentina won the 1978 and 1986 World Cup tournaments, with Maradona captaining the side in 1986.
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Posted in South Africa 2010, South America, WC Squads, World Cup | No Comments »
Thursday, May 20th, 2010
Spanish forward David Villa has signed for Spanish Champions Barcelona from Valencia in a £34Million transfer, which will see him link up with international team mates Xavi, Iniesta and possibly Cesc Fabregas. Villa has played for Valencia for five seasons now, scoring 108 goals in 164 appearances. However, his scoring record for Spain is even more impressive, with the striker finding the back of the net 36 times in just 55 appearances. Villa is closing in on Raul’s 44 goals – which is currently the highest in Spain’s history.
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Posted in Europe, La Liga, South Africa 2010, Transfer | No Comments »
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Former Montpellier, Barcelona and World Cup winner Laurent Blanc will be the new manager of France after the World Cup finals and will replace Raymond Domenech. Blanc was part of the 1998 World Cup winning side, although missed the final through a controversial suspension. Blanc scored a vital golden goal winner against Paraguay and has since led Bordeaux to the French Championship in 2009. Blanc is replacing Raymond Domenech, who has been extremely unpopular with the Les Blues crowd, especially considering France scrapped through the playoff stage after a controversial handball from Thiery Henry.
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Posted in Europe, Managers, South Africa 2010, World Cup | 2 Comments »
Sunday, May 16th, 2010
Lord Triesman has stepped down has head of the FA and chairman of England’s 2010 World Cup big after he made comments to an undercover reporter regarding the conduct of Russia and Spain, with regards to bribing referees at this year’s World Cup finals. The Mail on Sunday reported that Lord Triesman that Spain would end its bid to host the 2018 World Cup if rival bidder Russia helped them to bribe referees in South Africa. Triesman has now embarrassingly stepped down from his post as the England bid team desperately try to patch things up.
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Posted in Europe, FIFA, International, South Africa 2010, World Cup | No Comments »
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010
There were a few shocks yesterday when the preliminary 30 man World Cup squads were released – with a number of experienced players looking like they will miss out on this summer’s tournament. World Cup winners Patrick Vieira and Francesco Totti, in 1998 and 2006 respectively, are both absent, whilst Diego Maradaona has overlooked the vastly experienced Javier Zanetti and Esteban Cambiasso.
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Posted in International, Players, South Africa 2010, World Cup | No Comments »
Friday, May 7th, 2010
Between them they have won eight World Cup Tournaments and have appeared in twelve of the eighteen World Cup finals – but who will be the first nation to reach one hundred World Cup games? Surprisingly, Germany have played one more game than Brazil since they first played in the 1934 tournament, hosted in Italy. Germany played their final game (93rd) against Portugal in 2006, whilst Brazil lost 1-0 to a Zinedine Zidane inspired performance from Les Blues.
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Posted in Europe, International, South Africa 2010, South America, Statistics, World Cup | No Comments »
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
Real Madrid and French forward Karim Benzema has declared that he is ‘hungry’ again following an extremely disappointing season with the nine times European Champions. Benzema signed from Lyon in the summer, but has failed to make the desired impact at the Bernabeu – scoring only seven goals in 25 appearances for Los Blancos. Former Arsenal captain William Gallas is also confident that he can make an impact this summer as he declared himself fit for the tournament after suffering a number of injuries.
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Posted in Injury News, International, Players, South Africa 2010, World Cup | No Comments »
Thursday, May 6th, 2010
Brazil coach Dunga has taken a sly dig at group G opponents Portugal by stating that his side will be playing against “Brazil’s ‘B’ team” when both sides meet in Cape Town on June 25th. The comment was a reference to the Brazilian born players who are representing Portugal this summer. Two of Portugal’s players, Deco and Liedson, could have turned out for Brazil this summer – which some may claim wouldn’t have been possible, due to the quality of the Brazilian side.
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Posted in Europe, International, Players, South Africa 2010, South America | No Comments »
