World Cup 2010: Africa Round 3 Draw

Further to our recent World Cup 2010 Update, here's news of the draw for Round 3 of the Africa qualifying tournament which took place yesterday (the draw, that is - not the qualifying tournament).

Sepp Blatter was on hand to make sure everything went to plan at FIFA headquarters in Zurich where the remaining twenty teams were allocated to one of the five groups in this last stage of the competition.

Here's how the draw panned out - top seeded teams are shown in orange:



As ever, we're contractually bound to indicate the 'Group of Death' © at the outset, and here it's Group 1 featuring 2008 African Nations Cup runners-up Cameroon along with Togo, Morocco and Alain Giresse's Gabon team.

Gabon are making something of a comeback having failed to qualify for the African Nations Cup in five of the last six attempts, their last appearance being in 2000. Since Giresse took the reins two years ago, however, the Black Panthers have turned things around and qualified for Round 3 of the 2010 World Cup qualifiers having finished level on points with Group 5 winners Ghana.

Cameroon's German coach Otto Pfister was understandably wary of the opposition his team faces in the last round, commenting "It is indeed a very difficult group. We are the favourites on paper, but this doesn't mean too much… Togo have two or three really good players, and of course they have the experience of being part of Germany 2006. Morocco has great potential and also a very good coach. Gabon have proved lately how strong they are and what they are capable of. We need to prepare very seriously for this group."

According to the FIFA World Rankings, Group 4 is the weakest group of the five. It contains the winners and runners-up from Group 10 in the last round, Mali and Sudan along with Ghana and Benin - both group winners from the last round.

In Group 2, Nigeria will be particularly keeping an eye on the ever-present threat of Tunisia while in Group 3, African champions Egypt will be more than well aware of the resurgence of Algeria. Having missed the last two African Nations Cup competitions and the last five World Cups, Rabah Saadane will be keen to make the most of this rare chance for success.

The draw for Group 4 looks deceptively kind to Ivory Coast, but two of their opponents, Guinea and Burkina Faso won their Round 2 groups. As Senegal and Angola will tell you, reputation counts for nothing when the level of competition is so high, and the team from Ivory Coast won't for a moment be thinking they'll have a straight run through to the Finals in South Africa.

Speaking of which, those all-important Round 3 matches begin in March 2009 and last all the way through to November, a month before the draw for the 2010 World Cup Finals. As ever, Some People Are On The Pitch will be there to bring you all the latest news, match previews and lots more besides.

Beijing 2008 - First Round draw

Further to my recent article 'Beijing Bound' which told you all about the countries that had qualified for the 2008 Olympic Football tournament, here's news of how the First Round groups were drawn out in the official ceremony which took place on Sunday.

Group A
Ivory Coast, Argentina, Australia, Serbia
Defending champions Argentina might be forgiven for thinking they've got a relatively easy path through to the next round. Though none of their three Group A opponents are pushovers in any way, Argentina should nonetheless secure a safe passage to the quarter finals where they'll play the runners-up in Group B.

That means the runner-up spot in Group A should make for a more interesting fight. For my money, I'd have to go for Serbia as the team to take the remaining place, purely because (in general) the youth development setup in Europe is of a higher quality than elsewhere. I'm prepared to admit I'm wrong, however, as African teams do tend to do well in this competition.

Schedule:
Aug 7 - Australia v Serbia, Ivory Coast v Argentina; Aug 10 - Argentina v Australia, Serbia v Ivory Coast; Aug 13 - Ivory Coast v Australia, Argentina v Serbia.

Group B
Netherlands, Nigeria, Japan, USA
This is arguably the most open group of the lot, but if any team has some sort of pedigree to go all the way, it's Nigeria. The 1996 Olympic football champions and 2008 African Cup of Nations quarter finalists will be strongly backed to do well in Group B, and I feel they'll do that support justice by finishing top.

The team finishing as runner-up in the group (and facing the unwanted task of almost certainly meeting Argentina in the next round) is not easy to identify. Japan have been known to reach the quarter final stage before and in the Netherlands and the United States you have two sides with promising young players ready to catch the eye. For me though, I'd have to go with the Netherlands.

Schedule:
Aug 7 - Japan v USA, Netherlands v Nigeria; Aug 10 - Nigeria v Japan, USA v Netherlands; Aug 13 - Netherlands v Japan, Nigeria v USA.

Group C
China, New Zealand, Brazil, Belgium
This group should be completely wrapped up by the time the final round of games are played on August 13th. Hosts China and many people's favourites Brazil have two relatively weak opponents in the shape of Belgium and New Zealand, therefore I see no other outcome than the former pair taking the two qualification places ahead of the latter.

China will no doubt have vociferous home support, but Brazil, looking to capture their first Olympic title, should overcome that. I'd guess they'll have attained the more superior goal difference by the time they meet in the closing pair of games in Shenyang, so my money's on Brazil to finish first, China second, Belgium third and New Zealand fourth.

Schedule:
Aug 7 - Brazil v Belgium, China v New Zealand; Aug 10 - New Zealand v Brazil, Belgium v China; Aug 13 - China v Brazil, New Zealand v Belgium.

Group D
South Korea, Cameroon, Honduras, Italy
An intriguing range of teams line up for Group D. Cameroon and Italy have both won gold in previous competitions and may very well be the two qualifiers here ahead of Honduras and South Korea who in themselves should be a tricky obstacle to overcome.

Honduras managed to stop Mexico from reaching the Beijing games and South Korea, like Japan, have proved they have the ability to progress beyond the first round, but without doubt it'll be Italy and Cameroon that set the pace in Group D. While Italy will be wanting to improve on the bronze medals they won in Athens four years ago, Cameroon will be aiming for the top step of the medal rostrum which they occupied in 2000. It shouldn't be too far beyond their reach, and if nothing else I favour them to top the group at least.

Schedule:
Aug 7 - Honduras v Italy, South Korea v Cameroon; Aug 10 - Cameroon v Honduras, Italy v South Korea; Aug 13 - South Korea v Honduras, Cameroon v Italy.

Don't mention the draw...

After the heady excitement of seeing several Premier League teams knocked-out by smaller opposition in Round 3, today we had the draw for the Fourth Round of the FA Cup (sponsored by E.On).

Not that you'll see it on this site, oh no. Nope, we had our fingers burnt once before where that sort of thing's concerned and we won't be falling into that trap again.

It was back in June 2007 when we gazed in awe at the fixtures that had just been announced by the FA for the opening weeks of the new Premier League season. How we drooled at the prospect of all those top teams waiting to do battle again after so many weeks of Summer inactivity.

We couldn't wait to share that initial batch of fixtures with you, so we did the only decent thing we could think of: we published them on our site. That's what set the alarm off in the FA boardroom.

Within a couple of days, we were contacted by a company who shall remain nameless (for reasons which will become clear) who, it was claimed, were acting on behalf of the aforementioned governing body. They said they'd noticed we'd published details of the opening weeks' fixtures, and as we'd done so without asking for permission (or paying the extortionate sum of money they were asking for) we should remove them from our site or face the consequences.

As we didn't want a gang of henchmen banging on our door demanding to be let in so they could detach a certain dangly collection of objects from our bodies with a blunt knife, we agreed to do what they said.

And apparently we weren't the only ones. I've been on other blog sites that were also contacted for this so-called breach of the law, and they had to face the same unreasonably heavy-handed attitude as well.

Now at this point I could surely go on for hours about why you have to pay thousands of pounds for a license to use the FA's fixture details when various newspapers and TV companies are displaying them to a worldwide audience of millions, but I won't. I'll leave that for you to contemplate.

Instead, as we always try to provide the best news service we can for you, our loyal visitors, here ARE the key fixtures from today's draw for the Fourth Round of the FA Cup using as much detail as possible without crossing the boundaries of illegality:

• The Gooners v That team Stanley Matthews played for at the end of his career or The Magpies from St. James' Park
• Dave Whelan's relegation-cheating JJB-ers v a team from West London that call themselves The BluesThe team that used to be supported by Eric Morecambe or Rafa's Rotating Reds v A club that went from the Fourth Division to the First almost as quickly as they went from the First Divison to the Fourth or Yet another non-league team that were formed as a result of a merger of two local sides that haven't reached this round before
• Ronaldo & Co v Ossie's Army or Steve Coppell's blue-and-white-army
• Pompey v The only team you know in English football that wears green shirts
• The club that thinks it can sue its way out of trouble v The team that gave them such an inferiority complex by signing a couple of Argentinean stooges who inadvertantly caught the wrong train and ended up in East London or Manchester City. (Bugger...)
  

Winter draws on

As always with cup competitions, it was a very 'mixed bag' of an affair for British clubs in todays Champions League and UEFA cup draws.

The stand out tie of the Champions League has to be Arsenal v AC Milan. Milan arent as strong as they have been in recent years and have yet to win at home in Serie A, but their techincal ability against Wengers attacking side should prove to be a very interesting 180 minutes of football.

As for the other Milano side, well its a trip to Merseyside for them for another great looking tie. If you look up the phrase 'in-form' on wikipedia it has an image of the Inter Milan badge. Thats because Inter have won 12 and drawn 4 of there 16 Serie A games, conceeding only 8 goals.

The Champions League draw in full
Celtic v Barcelona
Lyon v Manchester United
Schalke v Porto
Liverpool v Inter Milan
Roma v Real Madrid
Arsenal v AC Milan
Olympiakos v Chelsea
Fenerbahce v Sevilla

As for the Wafer Cup, well some clubs got lucky... others *cough*Aberdeen*cough* didnt. Aberdeen face Bayern Munich, Bolton face Athletico Madrid and Rangers face Panathinaikos. Everton and Spurs have the comparatively simpler tasks of SK Brann and Slavia Prague respectively.

Draw for the last 32
Aberdeen v Bayern Munich
AEK Athens v Getafe
Bolton v Atletico Madrid
Zenit St Petersburg v Villarreal
Galatasaray v Bayer Leverkusen
Anderlecht v Bordeaux
SK Brann v Everton
FC Zurich v Hamburg
Rangers v Panathinaikos
PSV Eindhoven v Helsingborg
Slavia Prague v Tottenham
Rosenborg v Fiorentina
Sporting Lisbon v Basle
Werder Bremen v Braga
Benfica v Nuremburg
Marseille v Spartak Moscow

Draw for the last 16
Anderlecht/Bordeaux v Aberdeen/Bayern Munich
Rangers/Panathinaikos v Werder Bremen/Braga
Bolton/Atletico Madrid v Sporting Lisbon/Basle
Galatasaray/Leverkusen v FC Zurich/Hamburg
AEK Athens/Getafe v Benfica/Nuremburg
Rosenborg/Fiorentina v SK Brann/Everton
Slavia Prague/Tottenham v PSV Eindhoven/Helsingborg
Marseille/Spartak Moscow v Zenit St Petersburg/Villarreal

Roll on February when it all kicks-off again.

Euro 2008 Draw

Earlier today in Lucerne, Switzerland, the draw was made for the Euro 2008 Finals and one group stood out more than any other - Group C, containing France, Italy and the Netherlands, along with Romania.

The term 'Group of Death' is perhaps used too often in situations like this, but we're inclined to think it's a worthwhile epithet this time around. The average FIFA Ranking for all four teams involved is 8, and they're all inside the world's top 15.

Elsewhere, the two co-hosts (ironically the lowest-ranked teams of all sixteen taking part) face tough tests if they're to progress beyond the first round. Switzerland open the competition in Group A against the Czech Republic in Basel on June 7th 2008, while later that day Turkey and Portugal finish off the action in Geneva.

The following day sees Austria begin their campaign against England's victors Croatia in Vienna, while the other pairing in Group B sees Germany face-off against Poland.

June 9th will no doubt be the most eagerly awaited date of all as France and Russia meet in Zurich and the Netherlands and Italy play each other in Berne, while the following day Group D begins with defending champions Greece playing Sweden in Salzburg and Spain playing Russia in Innsbruck.

Further eye-catching dates for your diary are as follows:

June 11: Czech Republic v Portugal (Geneva)
June 12: Croatia v Germany (Klagenfurt)
June 13: Netherlands v France (Berne)
June 14: Sweden v Spain (Innsbruck)
June 17: France v Italy (Zurich)

Somewhat interestingly, Austria play Germany in the final round of games in Group B, but unlike the World Cup of 1982 there'll be no underhanded shenanigans going on as they'll be playing at the same time as Poland and Croatia.

There are plenty of opportunities for old acquaintances to be renewed throughout the first round. Portugal will be playing Turkey for the third time in four Euro finals over in Group A, but Group C will be full to overflowing with old scores waiting to be settled as Italy and France stage a repeat of the 2000 Final and Italy and the Netherlands re-enact the semi-final from the same year.

All in all, I think it's quite an interesting draw and some good games should ensue. Here for those who've not yet seen them are today's Euro 2008 First Round groupings in full:

Group A: Switzerland, Czech Republic, Portugal, Turkey.
Group B: Austria, Croatia, Germany, Poland.
Group C: Netherlands, Italy, Romania, France.
Group D: Greece, Sweden, Spain, Russia.

FA Cup Third Round Draw

The draw for the Third Round of the FA Cup was made yesterday and as ever there was one tie in particular that caught everyone’s attention: Liverpool v Arsenal.

The holders face a stern test if they’re to retain the trophy this season with Arsenal always capable of putting together a good run in the FA Cup.

Elsewhere, there were two other all-Premiership ties. Manchester United will have it all to do at home to a tricky Aston Villa side led by Martin O’Neill while 1995 winners Everton host Blackburn Rovers.

Paul Ince takes his Macclesfield Town side, currently bottom of the entire Football League, to the team second from the top of the Premiership – Chelsea. Macclesfield have seen a change in fortunes for the better since the former Manchester United star took over, but they’ll surely have their work cut out if they’re to even get a sniff of Round 4.

As for those teams outside the Football League that are hoping for a chance of glory, Salisbury stand the greatest chance of achieving it. They drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest in the second round, so a win in the replay will ensure them a third round tie at home to Charlton.

Salisbury City are managed by Nick Holmes, one-time Southampton player and member of the team that won the 1976 FA Cup Final. To have come so far as to end up playing Nottingham Forest, European champions not so long ago, is achievement in itself but a place in the next round will no doubt eclipse even that.

Here’s the Third Round draw in full...

Ties will be played on the 6th and 7th of January 2007.