England World Cup Blog 2010

Written by Tony Concannon Monday, 31 May 2010 11:17

alt This will be Ivory Coast's second World Cup. They qualified in 2006 but were paired in a 'Group of Death' with Argentina, the Netherlands and Serbia. They lost their first two games (to Argentina and the Netherlands) 2-1, and looked to be heading for three defeats when they found themselves 2-0 down to Serbia. However, they roared back to win 3-2 to finish third in the group.

They've not had much luck with the draw this time round, and will have to overcome Brazil and Portugal to advance to the knockout stages. North Korea are the other team in Group G. It's possible, and the key game will be when they meet Portugal.

Milner should be given freedom in South Africa

Written by James Beckett Friday, 28 May 2010 12:12

The news that Gareth Barry has been given another week to prove his fitness ahead of the World Cup, has opened the door for the likes of Michael Carrick, Tom Huddlestone and Scott Parker to prove they have what it takes to replace the Manchester City man. But if you believe rumours, James Milner is the man Fabio Capello has earmarked to fill in for Barry, should he not recover in time.

Ghana World Cup Squad Preview

Written by Tony Concannon Friday, 28 May 2010 10:58

Ghana could well surprise a few people at this World Cup. Arguably, the strongest squad in Africa, the Black Stars were the only African side to progress beyond the first round in the 2006 World Cup, before losing to Brazil. This is only their second World Cup and they were the first African side to make it to South Africa, qualifying with ease.

Barry running out of time to prove fitness

Written by Matt Pitt Friday, 28 May 2010 10:22

Time is running out for Manchester City defensive midfielder Gareth Barry to prove his fitness to Fabio Capello. The 29-year old has until Tuesday 1 June to show he is fully fit otherwise he will miss out on a place in the final 23-man squad travelling to South Africa.

Barry is an integral part of Fabio Capello's side, having started in 19 of the Italian's 22 games in charge but an ankle ligament injury sustained in the 1-0 home defeat

Funniest WC moment ever

Written by Kris Mole Thursday, 27 May 2010 17:29

Someone in the office earlier was asking everyone what their funniest World Cup moment of all time was, and it didn't take me long to be certain I had the winner in my mind.

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England World Cup stars banned from Twitter

Written by Matt Pitt Thursday, 27 May 2010 15:39

The Football Association has announced that the 23 men chosen to represent England at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa will be banned from using social networking sites Twitter and Facebook.

All players will also be forbidden from writing articles for magazines and columns

Ledley King

England Player Profiles

Written by Tom Wakefield Thursday, 27 May 2010 11:36

Ledley Brenton King was Born on 12 October 1980 in Bow , London.

Argentina World Cup Squad Preview

Written by Tony Concannon Thursday, 27 May 2010 10:54

I have a strange feeling that we will be hearing a lot about Argentina in this World Cup. Whether it will be about the eccentric selections and behaviour of manager Diego Maradona leading to an early exit, or the goals and skills of an attack that should scare the living daylights out of opposition defences on the way to becoming world champions, I'm not exactly sure! Either way, watching Argentina this summer promises to be an extremely interesting and exciting adventure. alt

They nearly didn't make it to South Africa. A torrid qualifying campaign saw them finish fourth, which meant a play-off against Peru. In one of the most dramatic finishes to a game of football I've seen in a long time, Martin Palermo came off the bench to bundle in the winner in injury time as the heavens opened. Cue crazy celebrations, which included a front belly slide from Maradona. Amazing scenes.
Argentina have qualified for every World Cup bar one, in 1970, and have won the tournament twice, in 1978 and 1986. The current squad of players don't seem as strong as in past years, especially in defence and midfield, but they boast an amazing array of talent in attack.

Ok, are you sitting down? There is Barcelona's 2009 Ballon d'Or winner Lionel Messi (over 40 goals for Barca this season), Atletico Madrid's Sergio Aguero (Maradona's son-in-law), Inter Milan's Champions League hero Diego Milito, Carlos Tevez of Manchester City and Real Madrid top scorer Gonzalo Higuaín. There is also £40m rated winger Angel di Maria of Benfica, and big Boca man Palermo to throw on if things get really desperate.

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Angel Di Maria - Players to star in South Africa –

Written by James Beckett Thursday, 27 May 2010 10:33

Assessing Argentina's prospects this summer looks to be a difficult task, as they are one of the most unpredictable nations that will travel to South Africa. However there is no doubting that they have several players of immense quality, and of these players is young winger Angel Di Maria.

The 22 year old is one of the hottest prospects in World football, and Benfica will do well to keep hold of their wonderkid, with reported interest from Real Madrid, Manchester United and a host of other top European clubs.

Di Maria started his career in his native Argentina, with Rosario Central, but several sparkling displays at the 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, had European clubs calling, and Di Maria turned his back on an agreement to sign for Russian side Rubin Kazan in favour of signing for Benfica.

Maradona to get naked

Written by Kris Mole Thursday, 27 May 2010 10:26

Dirty Argentinian drugs cheat Diego Maradona has made a quite disgusting promise should Argentina go all the way next month and lift the World Cup.

He'll run completely naked through the streets of Buenos Aires.

Now, I've already seen Maradona's tiny bit of manhood (back in 1998 on Skinner and Baddiel's Fantasy World Cup show, I think), and it's certainly not something I wish to see again, unless I'm in need of a good chuckle. But that hasn't stopped the fat man making the promise.

"If we win the World Cup, I'll get naked and run around the Obelisk in the centre of the city," said Maradona. And when explaining to star player Messi why he'd left him out of the friendly win over Canada earlier in the week, Maradona said, "If something would've happened to you in that match, I'd have been kicked. You can imagine where."

Argentina have an easy group of Nigeria, Greece and South Korea, but after that hopefully things will become a lot more difficult and we won't have to see Maradona's promise fulfilled.

Interview with Slovene manager

Written by Kris Mole Thursday, 27 May 2010 10:08

Slovenia manager Matjaž Kek has given an interesting interview to Fifa.com in which he talks about qualification to the World Cup, team spirit, hopes and expectations for the finals, and being grouped with England, amongst other topics.

Enjoy......

Mr Kek, your team’s qualification was one of the great triumphs of the South Africa 2010 preliminaries. What was the secret to your success?
Matjaz Kek: It was down to the amazing self-confidence, bravery and decisiveness of our team. We qualified, not because we had luck or anything like that, but simply because of our performances on the field.

England World Cup Squad Preview

Written by James Beckett Wednesday, 26 May 2010 13:19

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England will once again be looking to make up for years of disappointment this summer. Every tournament The Three Lions squad arrive with their usual over confidence, but every tournament they disappoint. Could this summer be different?

After failing to qualify for Euro 2008, England needed a major overhaul of international football, and Fabio Capello was the man given the job of overseeing this process. Capello saw a vast improvement in results, as England comfortably qualified for South Africa, with 9 wins from their 10 qualifying games. But in truth Capello didn't inherit a bad squad, it was just a new method that was needed.

Capello's mission was quite simple, find a way of getting the best out of England's talismanic figure Wayne Rooney. Capello adopted new formations, with Rooney regularly the focal point. The Manchester United man thrived under the pressure, scoring nine times in qualifying games, and if England are to perform in South Africa, Rooney will need to be at his best once again.

Slovenia World Cup Squad Preview

Written by Kris Mole Wednesday, 26 May 2010 12:07

Slovenia will arrive in South Africa to take part in only their second World Cup finals, which is actually more impressive than it sounds if you consider that the country has only been independent since the early 1990s and has a population of just two million.

While they might have asked for an easier group than the one they share with England, USA and Algeria, surely the Slovenes will be feeling confident of progression after a successful qualification campaign that saw them finish above the likes of Poland and Czech Republic in the group before overcoming the highly rated Russians in the play-off.

Serbia World Cup Squad Preview