Category — FIFA World Cup 2010

Australia qualified for the FIFA World Cup in 2006, for the first time in thirty-two years, and immediately made a huge impact on the competition. They made it through to the knockout phase, where they faced Italy. The latter scored a last-minute goal to eliminate the Socceroos, and end their World Cup dream. However, their 2010 squad looks much stronger than it did four years ago, and coach Pim Verbeek will be hoping that his charges can go far in this competition. Their best player is arguably Tim Cahill, the Everton target man who enjoys a great fan following at Goodison Park – Australia will be hoping he plays with the same grit and determination that he shows week in week out for his club side. Other notable players for the Socceroos include winger Harry Kewell, and Blackburn stalwart Brett Emerton.

The midfield pairing of Vince Grella and Jason Culina will be looking to keep the likes of Klose, Ozil, Appiah and co. at bay. However, it’s in defence where the team really shows world class form — centre back Lucas Neill, and Premiership goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer are essential to the Socceroos’ success. Their qualifying campaign was hugely successful, finishing first in Group One, however, their initial group in the finals will undoubtedly be much more of a test however. The team have been drawn against Germany — a team who rarely disappoint in the competition, and who always seem to do well at the World Cup. They also have Serbia, who forced France into qualifying via the playoffs and Ghana, who finished second in the recently concluded African Cup of Nations, in their group.Visit Betfair to find out the latest world cup betting odds on Australia for the World Cup 2010.

Video goals and highlights from England’s first ever internet only World Cup qualifier against Ukraine.

England are bidding to make it nine wins in a row, while Ukraine will overtake Croatia if they beat the Three Lions. [Read more →]

Video goals and highlights from the Russia vs Germany World cup 2010 Qualifieron October 10, 2009.

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Scotland manager George Burley has called up Cardiff midfielder Gavin Rae and West Brom striker Graham Dorrans to the squad for the crucial World Cup qualifier against the Netherlands at Hampden Park on Wednesday night.

Rae’s last appearance for Scotland was against Iceland in April this year. Dorrans have 5 U-21 appearances to his name, but has never played for the senior squad.

Burley made the call ups after Scott Brown limped out of the Macedonia game with a hamstring. Influential forward James McFadden is suspended for the Holland game.

Ukraine crushed minnows Andorra 5-0 in a World Cup qualifier in Kiev on Saturday to keep their hopes of qualifying alive. With the result, Ukraine now have 14 points from 7 games, while second placed Croatia have 17 points from 8 games.

Andriy Yarmolenko gave the Ukraine the lead on 9 minutes, and it was doubled by Artem Milevskiy just before half time. Andriy Shevchenko scored the third from the spot on 72 minutes, and the Andorrans gave away two other penalties in second half injury time, which were converted by Milevskiy and Yevhen Seleznyov respectively.

Final score :-

Ukraine 5-0 Andorra ( Andriy Yarmolenko 9′, Artem Milevskiy 45+2′, Andriy Shevchenko 72′ pen, Artem Milevskiy 90+1′ pen, Yevhen Seleznyov 90+5′ pen)

Croatia’s disappointing start to their 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign continued as they were held by Ukraine in Kharkiv.

Nine of the eleven that Slaven Bilic fielded were regulars in the starting lineup at Euro 2008, but Croatia were unable to find a way past Anatoli Pyatov, who produced some fine second half saves to keep Croatia at bay. The two unfamiliar faces were Ivica Krizanac, who was deputising for the suspended Robert Kovac, and Ognjen Vukojevic.  Croatia’s 36 game unbeaten run at home in World and European qualifying had been broken by England last month, with Theo Walcott scoring a hat trick in the 4-1 win.

Ukraine’s best chances came in the first half, but Stipe Pletikosa was up to the task of stopping Andriy Shevchenko.

The result leaves Croatia in third place in Group 6, five behind leaders England, and three behind Ukraine.

Croatia’s next game is against Andorra on Wednesday.

North Korea to meet South Korea in FIFA World Cup qualifier.

North Korea will meet South Korea in a third round Asian Football Confederation match in Shanghai today. Yes Shanghai, not Pyongyang.The match is a qualification game for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to be held in South Africa.

The two Koreas are part of the 20 teams that have made it to this stage. The qualifiers initially started off with 43 teams in the fray, competing for 4.5 spots. ( One spot will be determined by the winner of the playoff between an AFC team and an Oceania team). They are in Group 3 along with Jordan and Turkmenistan. South Korea, by virtue of being one of the top five seeds, were given direct entry into the third round. North Korea had to get past Mongolia in the first round, which they did comfortably, winning 9-2 over two legs.

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