I have to be honest – there is little of international football with England that I find entertaining. That could be attributed to my being part of a generation of supporters that could probably now be best defined as passive supporters of the national team after a series of high profile campaigns by the media to consistently single out Manchester United players and identify them as the villain of the piece for their various exits from the competitions.
England’s Italian manager Fabio Capbello would love to see an ‘England vs. Italy’ World Cup final this summer. Capello took over from Steve McLaren after England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, losing 3-2 to Croatia at Wembley in November 2007. Marcello Lippi has recently claimed that he would like to see the Anglo Italian clash so that he can see his rival’s reaction to the Italian national anthem.
FIFA have stated that they are not worried about the lagging demand of World Cup tickets for this summer’s tournament in South Africa. There have been reports that FIFA are willing to ‘give away’ tickets to South African’s in an attempt to fill stadiums. World Cup organisers also slammed critics of the tournament who insist that South Africa’s crime rate will be a major problem.
The groups were drawn yesterday in South Africa for next year’s World Cup Finals, the nineteenth World Cup. FIFA general secretary Jerome Valcke and South African actress Charlize Theron drew the teams out and placed hosts South Africa in a group with 1998 World Cup Winners France, 1930 & 1950 World Cup Winners Uruguay and Mexico. The opening match will be between South Africa and Mexico on June 11th 2010.
1998 World Cup winners France have qualified for their fourth successive World Cup finals after a controversial 2-1 victory (on aggregate) over the Republic of Ireland, who last qualified for the tournament in 2002. Thierry Henry appeared to stop the ball with his left hand before brushing it back into his path to cross for William Gallas to score.
Internazionale striker Samuel Eto’o scored in a 2-0 victory over Morocco to secure Cameroon’s place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Cameroon, who reached the quarter finals in 1990, are joined by Ghana – who are celebrating the second successive qualification for the finals – and Nigeria, who last qualified for the finals in 2002. Ivory Coast are the other African nation to qualify for the finals.
France take a 1-0 lead to Paris for next week’s playoff second leg after Nicolas Anelka scored in the 71st minute to give Les Blues a priceless victory in Dublin. France will be without Barcelona defender Eric Abidal and Lyon midfielder Jeremy Toulalan due to injury, however the French Football Federation announced that there won’t be any replacements called up.
Former World Cup winner Carlos Alberto Parreira has been appointed national team coach for the host nation South Africa – as he bid to participate in a record six World Cup finals. Parreira won the tournament in 1994 with his home country Brazil. Parreira returns to a job that he left 18 months ago after being named coach to succeed compatriot Joel Santana.
Cristiano Ronaldo-less Portugal slaughtered Malta 4-0 to reach the playoffs of the World Cup qualifying stage. Sweden and Portugal went into the final game with a chance of reaching the playoff stage – with Denmark qualifying on Saturday having beaten their Scandinavian rivals 1-0. Sweden last failed to qualify for the finals in 1998.
England, Spain and Paraguay booked their place at the 2010 World Cup Finals last night after victories in their qualifying groups. England thrashed Croatia, which many touted as a revenge mission – after England failed to qualify for Euro 2008, 5-1 with goals from Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and a tap in Wayne Rooney. Spain cruised past Estonia whilst Paraguay beat Argentina who have now dropped outside the qualifying spot.
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