World Cup Corner

Australia play Uruguay in Montevideo on 12 November before hosting the South Americans in Sydney on 16 November. The winners of the play-off will advance to the FIFA World Cup finals in Germany. It is the last time Australia will attempt to qualify for the FIFA World Cup through Oceania, with them joining the Asian confederation for the 2010 qualifiers.

The Australian soccer federation reported that they are satisfied with the security arrangements for the World Cup playoff in Uruguay after previously expressing concern. Australia had threatened to walk off the pitch in next month’s first leg in Montevideo if there was a repeat of the crowd trouble that marred their previous visit four years ago when the players were jostled and spat at.

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What do Zinedine Zidane (France), Luis Figo (Portugal), Alvaro Recoba (Uruguay), Russell Latapy (Trinidad and Tobago) and Sami Al Jaber (Saudi Arabia)? They all made one of the toughest decisions a player can make - retire from international football; but after that they all come out of retirement to help their countries once more.

FIFAworldcup.com has a must read article about a few players who were persuaded to come out of retirement to help their countries’ bids for a finals place during Germany 2006 qualifying.

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England boss Sven-Goran Eriksson has backed up David Beckham after his recent problems when he was sent off on Sunday for applauding the referee in the Real Madrid - Valencia match. He has reassured that Beckham will lead England at the World Cup 2006.

The 31-year-old Beckham has also received a red card for England earlier this month.

Eriksson told the Manchester Evening News:

“I don’t have any problem with him. He will be captain in Germany. I have not spoken to him about the dismissal on Sunday. I don’t know what happened but you do get sent off in football.”

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Get your soccer info from SoccerBlogs.net:

SoccerBlogs.net is an aggregator that summarizes new posts across the growing network of soccer focused blogs. Soccer blogs are really starting to take off and I want to make it easy to find ones you’d like to read. If you know of one I should add, please write to me. I’d appreciate any other suggestions and comments.

This site aggregates posts from a growing database of and present links to them here. I am periodically checking the syndication feeds (either RSS or Atom) for a number of blogs and saving a link to entries.

Former Germany captain Lothar Matthaeus has been invited by FIFA to draw the World Cup final groups in Leipzig on December 9.

Matthaeus, 44, is Hungary’s coach. He was bypassed for the Germany job in 2004 that later went to Juergen Klinsmann, a former Germany team mate and rival.

Matthaeus said he and Klinsmann had overcome their differences:
‘By and large he is doing a good job,’ Matthaeus said. ‘But at the moment he’s causing himself some problems. I’m sure he’ll have it all sorted out. Germany will rise to the occasion at the World Cup.’

England Captain David Beckham has been sent off during Real Madrid’s 3-1 loss against Valencia on Sunday evening in an exact replica of the circumstances that saw Wayne Rooney sent off recently. David Beckham was given his marching orders by referee Arturo Dauden Ibanez for two moments of petulance to the match official.

The England captain applauded the referee, exactly the way Rooney saw red for his club side Manchester United just weeks ago.

Maybe it’s time for Sven Goran Eriksson to look for a new Captain, Chelsea’s John Terry for example, who is exemplary both on and off the field, one of the best Captain’s in the English Premiership.

The closing stages of the 2006 FIFA World Cup Germany qualifiers, with a total of 77 matches, are causing more than a few ripples in the FIFA Coca-Cola World Ranking.

Brazil and the Netherlands continue to reign supreme while, coming up behind, the Czech Republic swap places with Argentina, and France with Mexico. England, for their part, break back into the top ten. Of the 27 teams that have qualified so far, fourteen feature among the top 20 and another eleven are ranked between 21 and 50. Ghana (51st) and Angola (60th) are the only two qualifiers not in the top 50.

Top 15 teams on October 19, 2005:

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Beside play-offs for the FIFA World Cup 2006 there will also be played some friendly matches in October and November. Some matches still need to be confirmed.

October 23, 2005:
Madagascar - Mauritius 2:0

October 25, 2005:
Oman - Syria 0:0

October 26, 2005:
Mexico - Uruguay 3:1
Bahrain - Panama 5:0

October 30, 2005:
Puerto Rico - Guadeloupe 1:3

November 9, 2005:
France - Costa Rica 3:2

November 11, 2005:
Tunisia - Congo 2:2 (Suspended)
Paraguay - Togo 4:2
Iran - Rep. of Macedonia 1:2

November 12, 2005:
Netherlands - Italy 1:3
South Korea - Sweden 2:2
Argentina - England 2:3
Scotland - USA 1:1
France - Germany 0:0
Portugal - Croatia 2:0
U.A.E. - Brazil 0:8
Romania - Ivory Coast 1:2
Liechtenstein - Rep. of Macedonia 1:2

November 13, 2005:
China - Serbia & Montenegro 0:2
Iran - Togo 2:0
Paraguay - Rep. of Macedonia 1:0
Ecuador - Poland 0:3

November 15, 2005:
Northern Ireland - Portugal

November 16, 2005:
Cyprus - Wales
Japan - Angola
South Korea - Serbia & Montenegro
Jordan - Georgia
Syria - United Arab Emirates
Egypt - Tunisia
Ivory Coast - Italy

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After a nightmare start to their UEFA Champions League campaign, FC Porto resurrected their hopes of progress from Group H with an impressive win against FC Internazionale Milano.

UEFA Champions League results from matchday 3 - Wednesday, October 19:
E Fenerbahçe - Schalke 3:3
E Milan - PSV 0:0
F Lyon - Olympiacos 2:1
F Real Madrid - Rosenborg 4:1
G Chelsea - Betis 4:0
G Anderlecht - Liverpool 0:1
H Rangers - Artmedia 0:0
H Porto - Internazionale 2:0

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Thierry Henry, the French international player, made a spectacular comback from injury to score both goals for Arsenal FC to beat AC Sparta Praha 2-0 in UEFA Champions League.

Henry had not played since France’s winner in the FIFA World Cup qualifier against Ireland on September 7. The second goal made him Arsenal’s all time record scorer with 186 goals in all competitions.

UEFA Champions League results from matchday 3 - Tuesday, October 18:
A Bayern - Juventus 2:1
A Rapid - Club Brugge 0:1
B Ajax - Thun 2:0
B Sparta - Arsenal 0:2
C Panathinaikos - Barcelona 0:0
C Udinese - Bremen 1:1
D Man. United - Lille 0:0
D Villarreal - Benfica 1:1

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