World Cup Blog - Euro 2008 Championships

Dijkshoorn: Van Vossen can suffer, Huntelaar can't...

Jan — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

I keep translating Bert Dijkshoorn's pieces. I love them :-) It's weird. Men who work in factories and have to sort apples all day... Put them in the right color box. I don't care, really. Or girls at the supermarket, sitting on their knees to fill up the shelves with new

Calls for replay seem to be going nowhere

jeff — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

The France-Ireland match and the aftermath have been extremely emotional for all involved. The Match France humiliated themselves with a pathetic performance, arguably the worst of the Domenech era, which is saying something. Ireland played very well, but blew multiple goal-scoring chances that would have booked their spot in the World

FIFA & UEFA rankings

Miguel — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

Thanks to winning both matches of the play-offs Portugal climbed up FIFA's ranking to a surprising 5th place. This might stir up talks on whether we should go into the 1st pot of the WC2010 draw next December. I don't think it will happen, but... A day before UEFA released their

Post-Game Recovery, OR: "But I'm SAD!"

Laurie — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

A few years back, when my daughter was maybe three, she did one of those things which, before you have kids, you swear your little darling will never do. I can't even remember what it was. Bit her brother, maybe? And so I chastised her, causing

Hugo Borst: Oranje winning the WC? Fat chance...

Jan — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

Hugo Borst's column in the AD People ask me often - while the WC is still seven months away: "Do you think Holland will win the cup in South Africa?" Does God exist? Is there life on Mars? Does Oranje Angel have a Brazilian wax? There's a good chance, but how do we

Lars Lagerback weighs in on how to stop Titi (aka. Irony at its best...)

Peter Katsiris — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

On an unrelated note, I was browsing uefa.com in hopes of finding some love "Greek-loving" publications when my an video on the side panel caught my eye... "How to deal with pace" Lars Lagerback on stopping the threat of quick strikers like Thierry Henry. Suggestion: Cut his hands off.

And what did we learn from these two games?

Jan — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

I don't care about friendlies. Whether we win, lose, play new players, old players, no players... It doesn't work for me. Too much factors in play to seriously come to conclusions... How motivated were the players? What were the special tasks the coach gave them? How motivated was the opponent? The

Pame Moundial: Greece qualifies for South Africa

Peter Katsiris — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

On a chilly night in Donetsk, the Greek National Team warmed the hearts of its supporters as Dimitrios Salpingidis netted a quality strike to post a 1-0 win over Ukraine at the Donbass Arena on Wednesday. After a score-less draw in Athens on Saturday, Greece secured their spot in next summer’s

Poland-Canada 1:0. Maciej Rybus Makes A Name For Himself.

tomasz — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

So, that’s what a victory tastes like. After five games without a win and four without a goal the Bialo Czerwoni finally managed to defeat their opponents, though we had to wait for a game against the mighty Canada for them to do that. Mind you, what I find more important is that two 20 year olds, Maciej Rybus and Maciej Sadlok, showed some national team promise.

France through to World Cup - Henry handball sets up decisive goal - Poor performance from France

jeff — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 -0600

If you're only going to have 5 players play well, make sure they include at least three defenders and the goalkeeper. I'm writing in a vacuum - I did have the Setanta commentator who rightly pointed out how poor France were, but I have to say that I thought