Who’s the boss?

Yet again FIFA and UEFA have found themselves in a little bit of what someone may call a conflict. How much of this is actually true is unknown, but what is certain is that FIFA are continuing to place their noses in what you may think UEFA could manage to cope with on their own. I am talking about the match between Atletico Madrid and Liverpool this coming week and its move back to Madrid.

The match had originally been moved to a new venue over 200 miles away from Madrid because of crowd trouble in the match between Atletico and Marseille, and had a lot to do with the pressure from FIFA and their stand on racism although they do not want to claim the reward (not that the Spaniards or scousers were going to give them anything that Joseph S. Blatter could put up proudly on the mantelpiece at home).

This has prompted Platini to come up with another one of his classic speeches that just make you wish he had just stuck to playing football and retired without going into this role. Therefore we would not have to remember him as the one who proposed to make the goalposts wider and taller in order for us to see more goals being scored, and hence taking away the feeling of a goal, the exhilaration on behalf of the fans and the players. If we did not have such ‘classic’ proposals of his we would be able to remember him as a wizard with a ball rather than a ‘politician’ with a DUNCE cap on. This is probably why FIFA keep stepping in. They probably see what we see. A governing body unable to govern what they are supposed to. A governing body that is taking football away from the fans and to the sponsors. The only very evident example of this is the fact that since Platini has been in charge, the winners of the Champions League get the cup and lift it… with the sponsors and the V.I.P’s. Not in the middle of the stadium: where they won it and where their fans can actually see and admire them. Little Johnny that had gone to watch his favourite Manchester United team win the Champions League in Moscow last year could not see Rio Ferdinand lift the cup. Where as Mr. Michel Platini was in the pictures and in the midst of all of it, and he did not do anything.

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Live World Cup Qualifying Scores

Here, the latest scores from the latest round of 2010 World Cup and African Cup of Nations qualifiers…

The joint qualifying campaign will decide which five teams will join hosts South Africa at the World Cup in 2010.

The qualification process will also decide the 15 teams who will join host Angola to take part at the 2010 African Cup of Nations.

From FIFA, some results from today …. Is South Africa out of the Cup of Nations already??

The already-qualified Nigeria maintained one of only two 100 per cent records in African Zone qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa™, and made it five clean sheets from as many outings in Port Elizabeth. Ikechukwu Uche scored the only game as the Super Eagles inflicted a 1-0 defeat on South Africa, who, although through to the next world finals as the Host Nation, are all but out of the running for a place at the CAF Africa Cup of Nations 2010.

Burundi kept their faint hopes of reaching the final phase of regional qualifying for South Africa 2010 alive, at least until later today, by eking out a 2-1 victory away to Group 9 tailenders Seychelles. Henry Mbazumutima and Claude Nahimana put the Swallows firmly in control, before a 63rd-minute Philip Zialor goal ensured a nervy finish for the visitors.

Burundi now need leaders Burkina Faso to beat Tunisia at home in the seciotn’s other Matchday 5 game to have any chance of progressing. Seychelles, meanwhile, remain pointless with just one game left to play.

Kenya went three points clear of Guinea, who play in Zimbabwe tomorrow, at the Group 2 summit courtesy of a 1-0 reverse of Namibia, who are unable to advance.

Mauritius and Tanzania may have entered their Group 1 game with no chance of progressing to the next phase of African Zone qualifying for South Africa 2010, but that did not stop them serving up an enchanting first half at the King George V stadium in Curepipe. It produced five goals, all of them in a frenetic 22-minute period and four of them in favour of the Taifa Stars.

African Zone Qualifying, Matchday 5 results
Saturday
South Africa 0-1 Nigeria
Kenya 1-0 Namibia
Seychelles 1-2 Burundi
Mauritius 1-4 Tanzania

Friday
Djibouti 0-3 Malawi
Libya 1-0 Ghana
Algeria 3-2 Senegal

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Blatter to Visit South Africa Next Week

While most of the world is in qualification mode for the 2010 World Cup, the host country South Africa is also in ‘qualification mode.’

FIFA president Sepp Blatter visits South Africa next week and organizers of the 2010 World Cup are confident the head of football’s organizing body will like what he sees.

There’s been talk of moving the World Cup from South Africa to another country more prepared to handle it, like the United States or Germany. So this visit by Blatter and his cronies takes on a significant measure of importance.

Will they like what they see? Will they deem the country fit to host the biggest sporting event in the world?

Blatter begins a four-day visit to South Africa September 14, during which he’ll visit World Cup facilities in Johannesburg and Cape Town, World Cup Local Organising Committee (LOC) chief Danny Jordaan said.

“We have made tremendous progress and we hope to showcase this progress to him during his visit,” Jordaan told journalists while wiping sweat from his brow.

While the news that FIFA might move the World Cup startled the local organizing chiefs, they’re sure FIFA will like what they see this week.

“We are confident that we can host the competition. Long before 2010 all the (10) stadia for the competition will be ready,” Jordaan said, adding that an expected change in government next year will not affect the game hosting.

General elections are scheduled to be held next year in South Africa.

Approximately three million tickets will be sold for the 2010 World Cup in which 32 teams will participate, the LOC head of legal and tickets department, Leslie Sedibe, said.

A total of 120,000 complimentary tickets will be handed out to FIFA and LOC officials as well as “builders” of the stadia, he said.

The World Cup, will be preceded next year by the FIFA Confederations Cup, to be staged in four stadia across South Africa from June 14 to 28 next year.

The draw for the Confederations Cup, will be made on November 22 this year and the tickets will be put on sale five days later, he also said.

An estimated three million people will be at the stadia for the World Cup’s 64 matches while 30 billion people across the globe will watch the matches on the television, organizers said.

South Africa, which budgeted 30 billion rand (3.8 billion dolllars/ 2.6 billion euros) to host the World Cup, has recently requested a supplementary budget of three billion rand to meet the rising cost of materials from the government, Jordaan said.

“We have engaged government on a 10 percent increase on the World Cup budget. The increase is due to the effects of the global economy and the rising costs on our budget, including the rising cost of diesel” he stated.

MY POV: As I’ve stated before, it would be devastating to African football should FIFA move the Cup from South Africa. I’m more than confident Blatter and his henchman will like what they see next week. They better … why wouldn’t they??
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2010 African Qualifiers Are Confusing!

Interesting article from the Bangkok Post about how confusing the 2010 African World Cup qualifiers are. As they put it, ‘FIFA and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) are on course to score an own goal’ with their qualifier rules.

Basically, there’s a situation where South Africa may have to lose or draw to make it to the next round (weird, I know. Play along).

South Africa spokesman Sipho Nkumane said the situation was strange, to say the least. “It is a difficult situation. How can we tell our players that they are not allowed to win a game? We will have to look at all the permutations after our game against Nigeria and then see what we have to do. The same situation could, of course, also arise in other groups.”

A FIFA spokesman said that they worked on the premise that all teams would have to win games to ensure that they finished first or second.

“Teams have to win their matches if they want to make sure of winning their groups or finishing second. If South Africa do not win their game against Equatorial Guinea and Sierra Leone beat Nigeria, then they will probably not finish second at all.

“We will have to see the results of all the games to know all the different possibilities,” he said.

So how did this happen? Here’s the South Africa scenario.

In Group 4 of the qualifiers, where South Africa is close to being knocked out of the African Cup of Nations (the World Cup qualifiers also serve as the 2010 African Cup of Nations qualifiers), the 2010 hosts could be in a situation where they’ll be eliminated if they win their final game against Equatorial Guinea.

After drawing and losing to Sierra Leone, Bafana Bafana face a do-or-die game against Nigeria this weekend. If they fail to win, they will certainly be eliminated from the 2010 Nations Cup.

If they win, much will depend on the result of the other game between Sierra Leone and Equatorial Guinea.

A victory for Sierra Leone will all but guarantee an early exit for the 1996 African champions.

A draw or a victory for the visiting side from Equatorial Guinea will keep alive South Africa’s chances of qualifying for the finals of the 2010 Nations Cup in Angola, on condition they do not win their final game in Equatorial Guinea.

South Africa, who are currently on four points behind the already- qualified Nigerians, would move to seven points should they win. Sierra Leone would remain on four or move to five if they lose or draw to Equatorial Guinea.

Equatorial Guinea would move to four points (with a draw) or six (with a victory).

South Africa then faces Equatorial Guinea in their final game and would finish second if they win that game. In that case, however, Equatorial Guinea would in all probability finish last in the group and the six points that South Africa secured against them would be scratched, leaving South Africa with four points - too few to advance as one of the best-eight second-placed teams.

If, however, South Africa do not win, Equatorial Guinea could finish third and South Africa keep the three or four points they secured against them and as a result could advance to the next round with six or seven points.

Umm, WHAT??

From the BBC, a guide to African qualifying …

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) has detailed a complicated formula to determine which teams progress to the second qualifying group stage for the 2010 World Cup and Africa Cup of Nations.

The 12 group winners in the first group phase and the eight best runners-up will advance to the second stage.

But a fair amount of mathematics will be required to discover those best runners-up.

One of the 12 groups has only three teams, and Caf wants to give the runners-up in that group a fair chance of qualifying.

So rather than simply looking at points gained and goal difference to determine the best second-placed teams, a re-calculation will take place.

The runners-up in Group 11, which has three teams will have their statistics unchanged.

But in the other groups, the points and goal difference that the second-placed teams had against the fourth-placed team will be erased.

These new totals will then be used to determine the eight best runners-up, using points gained and then goal difference, then goals scored.

Caf says that a play-off match will take place in November should there be a tie for the eighth best runners-up spot.

Second stage

The 20 teams that qualify for the second group stage will be drawn in five groups of four teams.

The group winners qualify for the 2010 World Cup, but should hosts South Africa win a group, there will be a recalculation to determine the team that goes to the World Cup.

All results against South Africa would be erased and a new table calculated.

The first three teams in each group will qualify for the 2010 Nations Cup.

If Angola reach the second group stage, the three teams drawn in their group will automatically qualify for the Nations Cup.

MY POV: I dunno about you, but my head hurts reading the above.
How about we just wait and see what happens this weekend, OK??
Why couldn’t they make this more straight forward? Yikes …

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African World Cup Qualifiers

With Europe getting their World Cup qualification schedule under way, I thought it’d be fitting to see where Africa is in their drive to South Africa. Remember, the Africans started their Cup qualification months ago. 

Group 1: Cameroon will make sure of top spot if they beat Cape Verde Islands in Praia on Saturday. But what on paper would seem a routine assignment for a team of the Indomitable Lions’ status is far from a straightforward task. The Cape Verdeans have proven feisty opponents, and also have hopes of making it through to the next phase. Three wins in their four matches to date demonstrate the remarkable progress achieved by Portuguese coach Joao de Deus. The meeting between Mauritius and Tanzania in Curepipe is of academic interest only.

Group 2: The outcome of this group will likely be determined on the final matchday in October, but Kenya and Zimbabwe will be seeking to use home advantage to maneuver themselves into favourable positions. The latter have been told they need to tighten up on discipline if they are to beat Guinea in Harare on Sunday. “This game is like a cup final,” said Zimbabwe’s Brazilian coach Valinhos. Kenya, who share the group lead with Guinea, will expect to beat Namibia at home.

Group 3: It is a crunch weekend for Angola, whose dreams of a second successive trip to the sport’s showpiece event will end if they lose in Benin on Sunday. Black Antelopes coach Luis Oliveira Goncalves departed for Cotonou in determined mood. “We will throw away caution, we are going for victory,” he declared. “It is going to be a hard game and Benin are difficult adversaries, but our objective is to win.” Uganda’s hopes of staying in contention also rest on avoiding defeat when they visit Niger, who have yet to collect a point in the campaign. Benin lead on nine points, two clear of both Angola and Uganda.

Group 4: Nigeria have already banked pole position, but still have pride to play for when they meet South Africa in Port Elizabeth. The Super Eagles squad for Saturday’s game has been depleted by injury, while South Africa have doubts over the fitness of key striker Benni McCarthy. Sierra Leone will strive to unseat the South Africans from second position when they entertain Equatorial Guinea in Freetown on Saturday. Equatorial Guinea lost three successive qualifiers in June, and have appointed former Spanish international Vicente Engonga as their new coach.

Group 5: The top-of-the-table battle between Libya and Ghana is one of the main attractions of the weekend’s packed programme, pitting Faouzi Benzarti’s ambitious charges against the formidable Black Stars. The Ghanaians have recalled Stephen Appiah after a nine-month absence, although they will be hindered by the absence of defender John Mensah, which could dictate that Michael Essien operates at the back. Libya have put in extensive preparation for Friday’s match in Tripoli, scoring nine goals in two friendlies last month. Gabon, three points behind the top two, will keep their hopes alive if they beat Lesotho.

Group 6: Algeria may be former continental champions and two-time FIFA World Cup participants, but their reputation has suffered in recent years. Failure to win at home to Senegal in Blida on Sunday will sharpen their decline, and all but end hope of reaching South Africa 2010. Rabah Saadane has assembled his strongest squad in years, largely owing to the returns of Brahim Hemdani and Nader Belhadj, but the coach admits it will nevertheless be tough against the Lions of Teranga. “The quality of our play and our behaviour on the field must be at the highest level,” said Saadane. Gambia are still eying a ticket to the next phase, and will be fancied to beat Liberia in Banjul on Saturday, a result which could move Paul Put’s impressive squad joint-top of the section.

Group 7: After a slow entry into the qualifying rounds, Ivory Coast have steadily gathered steam. With 8 points in 4 games, Ivory Coast is 3 points better than Botswana, who reside in the second spot. Mozambique, with 4 points and Madagascar, with 3 points, still have a chance with two playing days to go.

Group 8 : The group top spot is being contested between Morocco and surprise package Rwanda, each with 9 points. Ethiopia with 6pts can still hope but Mauritania, with 0 points have been eliminated. Rwanda are turning heads, rivaling the North African giants in what was seen as a group Morocco would easily win when the draws were made.

Group 9 : The Stallions of Burkina Faso are surprising group leaders with 12 points, outsmarting 2004 African Champions Tunisia. The North Africans are 3 points shy of the Stallions, who may be determined to go all the way. Burundi (3 pts) and Seychelles (0 pt) are already eliminated.

Group 10 : After the disqualification of Chad by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), the group has been thrown wide open. Leaders Mali (6 pts) as well as Congo and Sudan (3 pts) could still make it to the next round. Frédéric Kanouté’s side seem to have the better option in the group.

Group 11 : This is another group of three teams, which is maintaining its suspense. Swaziland (4 pts), Zambia (4pts) and Togo (3 pts, with a delayed match) are locked in a struggle. The team that better manages the situation will surely come out on top.

Group 12 : The Democratic Republic of Congo sparked some life into African football after their satisfactory performance at the 2006 African Cup of Nations in Egypt. The Simbas are in good form and are topping the group (as a result of a better goal advantage than Egypt). Both nations have 9 points. Malawi is still in the running with 6 points but Djibouti are out with 0 points and a –21 goal advantage after 4 playing games.

For full group standings, please click here. 
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