Sound Of Football Podcast 11

And we are back for another blast of premium audio soccer chat.

This week, Chris, Graham and Terry draw a line under the World Cup Qualifiers, dissect the Play Off draw and hope beyond words that Diego does not quit as Argentina boss.

Then we return to our own affairs and review last week's Premier League action. Graham tells us about his trip to the Emirates to see Arsenal beat Birmingham and we discuss the finer points of football law with regards to beach balls .

Finally we look forward to the Champions League and Europa League this week.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking here. Or if you right click on the link, you can download the MP3. Alternatively, you can subscribe via the your reader of choice or via iTunes.

Please leave us a comment and let us know what you think. You can do so right here or on our Facebook Fanpage.

World Cup 2010 Qualifying Update (Part 2)

It's now time for Part 2 of our comprehensive update looking at the World Cup qualifiers that which took place during May and June. Having dealt with the African section last week, we now turn our attention to what's happening in…

South America

Overview
Once again, all ten South American teams play each other twice in a single big round robin group. When all the dust has settled, the top four teams go through to South Africa 2010 while the fifth-place team goes into a home-and-away play-off with the 4th placed team in the North and Central America section.

News
During June 2008, the national teams of South America entered battle once again for the first time since November 2007. When play came to a temporary halt seven months previously, the group table looked like this…

As you can see, Paraguay had a narrow lead over the chasing pack of three teams, but what was apparent from this early stage was that none of the ten taking part had managed to keep a 100% record after just four games. Such inconsistency would be a continuing theme throughout the June double header, especially on the part of those three teams trailing Paraguay at the top - Argentina, Brazil, Colombia.

Paraguay showed they meant business with a 2-0 win over Brazil on June 15th, the goals scored by Roque Santa Cruz and Salvador Cabanas. Brazil were sorely lacking the ingenuity and skill of Kaka, was recovering from recent ankle surgery, while Ronaldinho's current lack of form didn't help the five-time world champions either.

Paraguay, on the other hand, seemed much more capable of taking the game to their opponents, although defender Dario Veron nearly jeopardised their position when he got sent off for a second bookable offence after the second goal went in. The home side, however, held on and were no doubt delighted to see their lead at the top of the table grow to three points when Argentina could only draw 1-1 against Ecuador.

Alfio Basile's men almost came a cropper against the Ecuadorians and were it not for Rodrigo Palacio's equaliser four minutes into injury time at the end of the game, Argentina would have suffered their first defeat in a qualifying match since 1993.

As it is, they should have wrapped the game up much earlier. Though lacking any real spark, the Argentineans had plenty of chances to score but failed to hit the back of the net. Ecuador, meanwhile, managed to bide their time well and when Joffre Guerron and Carlos Tenorio linked up skilfully to set up Patricio Urrutia, the away side found themselves 1-0 up.

Sadly for them, Argentina never gave up and Ecuador's goal only served to wake them up when they most needed to. Finally when Ecuador appeared to have done enough to hang on for an historic win, goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri launched a long goal kick which beat their defence and landed neatly for Palacio who promptly scored. Argentina had survived but Paraguay were now further ahead in the group.

Elsewhere on Matchday 5, Colombia leapfrogged Brazil into third place with a 1-1 draw against lowly Peru while Chile beat bottom-placed Bolivia 2-0. Uruguay and Venezuela completed a trio of 1-1 draws in Montevideo to ensure the middle order stayed much as it was.

Three days later, Matchday 6 threw up a few surprises. For a start, Paraguay lost their first match of the campaign against a Bolivian side that had lost four of its first five games. Once more, the issue of altitude came to the fore as Paraguay looked a shadow of the team that had recently beaten Brazil 2-0, but the pitch in La Paz was also a hindrance as Bolivia took control of the game.

Two goals in three minutes from Joaquin Botero and Ronald Garcia meant the home side were nicely settled after half an hour and Paraguay seemed stunned. No reply of any sort came until the 66th minute when Santa Cruz scored for the second successive match, but even then the Bolivians hit back hard with another brace, this time scored in a seven minute spell thanks to Botero (again) and Marcelo Martins.

The Paraguayans scored a consolation goal through Nelson Valdez eight minutes from time, but by that stage they were well and truly beaten. Lucky for them, perhaps, that two of the teams trying to catch them up in the group, Brazil and Argentina could only draw 0-0 in Belo Horizonte.

Though Argentina played the better football, they were forced to settle for a second draw on-the-trot while Brazil also suffered a second consecutive game without a win - a fact not appreciated by their home fans who jeered throughout the contest and even applauded Lionel Messi when he was substituted late on.

That result meant Chile were able to take fourth place in the group above Brazil thanks to a 3-2 away win against Venezuela. A ding-dong battle resulted in all five goals being scored in the last 35 minutes, the first of which went to Chile's Humberto Suazo from the penalty spot before Venezuela's Giancarlo Maldonaldo equalised five minutes later.

Gonzalo Jara got on the end of a Chilean free kick to put his side back in the lead with 17 minutes remaining, but Juan Arango squeezed home another equaliser seven minutes later. Venezuela pressed hard for a goal to give them the lead late on, but it was Suazo again who claimed all three points for Chile two minutes into stoppage time with a low, accurate shot.

So, Chile now find themselves level on points with third-placed Colombia who could only manage a 0-0 draw away to Ecuador. Brazil are also now feeling the heat from Uruguay, whose 6-0 home thrashing of Peru means they're just a point behind the 2002 world champions, too.

What next for Brazil, then? Ah yes - a nice trip to Santiago on September 7th to play in-form Chile. That should be nice… A day before that, the top two are in action as Argentina play host to Paraguay while Uruguay hope to catch the Brazilians by beating Colombia in a tough match in Bogota.

We'll have all the news on that in about six weeks time, but we'll be back with our next continental round-up of all the recent World Cup qualifiers in a few days time as we turn our attention to the North and Central American Zone.

The Friday List of Little or No Consequence #67

A funny thing happened on the way to the goalmouth
5 Players Diego Maradona Dribbled Past On His Way To Scoring His Second Goal In The 1986 World Cup Quarter Final Against England

1. Glenn Hoddle
2. Peter Reid
3. Kenny Sansom
4. Terry Butcher
5. Terry Fenwick

Adios Venezuela: Copa America 2007 Final Review

Copa America 2007 is finally over. The Final gave us one last surprise (if surprise it be) as Brazil convincingly beat Argentina 3-0 to win the trophy for the eighth time.

Despite now winning three of the previous four tournaments, Brazil didn't enter the Final as favourites on this occasion. Some muted performances early on, including a defeat at the hands of Mexico, meant that the smart money went on Argentina.

The Albicelestes began their campaign with the sort of confident, skilful football that caught the eye at the start of the 2006 World Cup. They were the only team to win all three of their first round games in the 2007 Copa America and having qualified for the Final they could claim sixteen goals scored and only three conceded.

With players like Riquelme, Tevez, Crespo and Mascherano all on top form, Argentina looked set to win the trophy for the first time since 1993. Sadly the similarities with their 2006 World Cup campaign remained evident right to the end as their strong start ended all too soon.

Julio Baptista gave Brazil the best of starts after just four minutes when he collected Elano's long ball down the right and smashed in a fine shot past Argentinean goalkeeper Roberto Abbondanzieri.

Argentina almost equalised straight after that when Riquelme saw a left-foot strike come back off the near post but a few minutes later Doni in the Brazilian goal had to palm away a curling Riquelme shot to deny the Boca Juniors front man again.

But the game finally swung fully in Brazil's favour five minutes before half time when Ayala stretched out a leg to block a cross from Alves on the right wing and ended up poking the ball past the stranded Abbondanzieri into his own net.

The second half saw a depleted-looking Argentina lacking a little conviction in their attacking play and what did amount to any serious challenges on goal were easily dealt with by the Brazilian defence.

As Argentina opened up more and more in search of a first goal, so Brazil reverted more and more to counter-attacking play and this proved effective when Vagner Love slipped a ball through to Alves on the right side of the penalty area to make it 3-0.

And so it was that Brazil triumphed once again, proving that a slow start is not necessarily a bad thing - so long as you can build on it throughout the rest of the competition. As the old Dorothy Fields song goes, 'it's not where you start, it's where you finish' and as any fan of the Spanish national team at the World Cup will testify, success is nothing unless you can make it happen in the Final.

Copa America 2007: Semi Final Review

Written by Chris (B Squad)

As a prelude to the upcoming Copa America final, I thought I would recap the semi finals. Both matches were incredibly entertaining and well worth the price of admission. It is a bit disappointing to have a Brazil/Argentina final, only in the sense that it seemed predestined. The final is sure to be class in every way. It is just unfortunate that industry has lost out to imagination.

Brazil 2-2 Uruguay (Brazil win 5-4 on penalties)
This match was fabulous. Uruguay worked so hard, but you got the feeling it would never be enough to get over the hump. Brazil, in this game as in all the others of this competition, played lackadaisical with the occasional sprinkle of magic. Each time Brazil scored it seemed to be the end for Uruguay, but to their credit they never gave in.

Forlan was at the top of his game. The first goal was very well taken and the flick on to Abreu for the second was genius. I've never particularly liked Uruguay, but when the ball tumbled over the keeper, I jumped from my couch. It may have been a little schadenfreude, but it was mostly just the culmination of a truly exciting match. And I know Brazil should have had a few penalties calls and should never have been in the position to go to penalties. They may have had some good karma on their side because of it.

As for the shootout, Uruguay had every chance to send Brazil home and failed. Forlan delivered what could be one the worst spot kicks I have ever seen. From hero to goat seems to be his lot in life. And after so many shots off the post, Uruguay stood with one kick for victory, and it hit the post.

Now I don't agree with the way Brazil won, and I wish FIFA would address this (and I'm a Liverpool fan), but as I said, Brazil had some karma in the bank. Maybe the blackout in the middle of the match was foreshadowing for Uruguay. I do have to say that Uruguay have been incredibly poor sports about losing. Both in this competition and in the U-20 World Cup, Uruguay start fights after the final whistle. Overall, though, a very respectable tournament for them. And there is yet another final for the Brazilians.

Argentina 3-0 Mexico
This scoreline is deceiving. The match was much closer than 3-0 and Mexico was unlucky to fall in the way that they did. But football is all about finishing, and that's what separated these two sides. Mexico would have been up 2-0 in the first half but for a few inches and some white posts.

Riquelme was transcendent, despite being hacked down constantly. The free kick that resulted in the opening goal was nothing short of incredible, good finish from Heinze as well. Again in the second half, Mexico had opportunities and went begging.

Then their was the Messi wondergoal, which, for me, was the goal of the cup. He will soon be pressing to be the best player on the planet, if he isn't already. Riquelme put the icing on the cake with a very Zidanesque penalty on a soft foul call at the edge of the box. Nonetheless, considering how he has played, you'd have to say he deserved it.



(Side note: While writing this, I'm watching the '93 Copa Final, which Argentina won over Mexico thanks to a Batistuta brace. It's funny how you remember these players as great, but it's not until you see the replays years later that you appreciate how truly skilled they were.)

So on to the Final, which is destined to be filled with skill, trickery, and bit of histrionics. Brazil has the class to win, but you would have to favor Argentina. Riquelme, Tevez, Messi, and the high-scoring Mascherano (who knew), will just be too much for the Brazilians to contain.