You can find the draw information by federation tucked away near the bottom right hand corner of the page . As I mentioned at the end of the show last night it is seems curious that UEFA seeding is based on the FIFA rankings from November 2007.
Concacaf however, has opted to use May 2007 which is prior to this past summer’s Gold Cup. Anyone smell a rat? (Africa is using July 2007).
Country (May-Nov) Mexico 1-1 USA 2-2 Costa Rica 3-7 Honduras 4-3 Panama 5-5* Trinidad & Tobago 6-10 Jamaica 7-12 Cuba 8-8 Haiti 9-5* Guatemala 10-13 Canada 11-4 Guyana 12-11 St Vincent & Gren. 13-9
* tied for 5th. (Should the tie breaker not have been the respective penalty kick shoot out records?)
I’ve never put any credence into the FIFA World rankings but if there are to be used for seeding purposes surely then the most current version should be used.
I dont get it? why are they all using different rankings? That doesnt make any sense. whats the point of having the rankings if everyone is just going to choose the month theyed like to use? Canada got the screw. I feel for them. they should be up in the top four in the region.
May I be the second person to say (the commentator beat me to it) ,where was that on Wednesday Gerrard? in what I'm sure will be a repeating theme today.
And I hate to admit it ,but Liverpool didn't look bad ,although they might want to play all their games away.
Quote of the day..."The 3-0 scoreline flatters Newcastle" or "This is the most one-sided premiership contests I've ever seen". Great performance. The only possible negative is what missing a boatload of chances will do on Torres' confidence.
RINGO: You shouldn't be surprised, Gerrard has always played better for Liverpool than for England (as has most of England's players). It's either better managing, playing with technically better players or a combination of the two. And your missus must be smart if I sound like her!
Ringo-Get a manager who knows the game and how to use Gerrard and you'll see that...Sven at least had some idea which he got production out of the young man.
As for the Liverpool performance, sheer class. As the squad becomes fit again this team is showing it has depth at every position.
Two things that should be interesting is how they follow up this performance against a good Porto side and see if they can string of wins together in the League that should see them in good stead when the New Year rolls around.
Managers don't trap balls, pass, shoot, defend or dribble during a football match.
How to use Gerrard?
It won't be the last time that a player like Gerrard will show more commitment to his club side than to his country. It's a shame really, performing better where the money is. Follow the money trail.
Congrats to Pool.
Last edited by gongatore on November 24th at 7:43 AM.
Bizarre! I didn't know federations can choose which version of the rankings they want to use.
BBC Live-text cracked me up a few minutes ago:
"Here's a thing. How good must Spain's squad be if Mikel Arteta can't get in it? The Everton winger's just shown off some lovely tricks on the touchline. Can he play for England?"
Gongatore-Nope they don't...they just put the players into positions to get the job done.
The manager is very important and influences the game very much.
Again, if you don't think managers mean much look at the difference Rafa has had on Liverpool. In one year Liverpool went from being not threatening for any trophies to winning the Champions League.
Look at England. As soon as Eriksson leaves England go from being a team that can beat the best teams in the world to a team that can't even beat Macedonia.
If managers don't mean much then why is there such drastic differences in styles of play between the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea or Liverpool and Man U.
Since when did that Irishman Costigan (who started out as some sort of 'bartender') get promoted to out-and-out commentator (with a suit and tie to boot)?
Congrats to the Scouse contingent, that was a very impressive performance.
Verbal hit it on the head -- Roy Keane made the same observation about why Paul Scholes could never reproduce his United form for the Three Lions -- he was playing with better players with his club.
atleti -- Spain suffers from an embarrassment of riches in terms of creative midfielders -- they have Fabregas, Iniesta, and Xavi. If they can sort out their back line, they'd be worth a flutter in Euro 2008. Arteta is a cracking player -- I read somewhere that your club has made an approach for him.
Off to watch the second half of Arsenal-Wigan. The boys looked a little unsettled in the first half. Walcott is playing very well and, on form, would have helped England mid week.
Is Benitez asking for trouble? He once again feels the need to 'educate' the new owners publically (during the post- Newcastle press talk):
"I think they don’t understand the transfer window in Europe. They need to know and understand how to sign players who are free, that we have to do it early and quickly."
First it was about money for the January window. Now he's complaining that they don't know anything about the transfer window.
Is this proper conduct, indirectly airing his frustations about the very people who supplied him with a little less than 50m a few months ago?
He may have a point that the American owners aren't familiar with how the transfer market works. On the other hand, the two Americans are surrounded by a board that DO know how it works.
Last edited by atleti on November 24th at 8:18 AM.
It's this elementary, you ostensibly float that it's the gaffer's fault for a player's poor performance.
I suspect that a remarkable overwhelming majority of sports fans around the world would respectfully disagree with that canard.
Who will get fired first Allardice or Keane??? This one is a tough call.
I believe both should be given the chance to finish the season. Allardice should get fired only if Newcastle finish below 15 at the end. Keane if Sunderland go down. I say give them time.
Great finish by Gallas and nice counterattacking move to kill off the match. I'm pretty choked by the dangerous and reckless challenges by Bent and Heskey basically went unpunished. Bent was a scissor tackle from behind -- he would have seen red in any other league. For all the ####ing about diving by foreigners, purging this kind of garbage from the domestic game can only help England internationally.
Nice finish by Kalou.
Keane deserves another season. Allardyce is getting found out.
Arsenal didn't look fab but Helb missing was also a big loss. But Gallas was amazing today.
Overal performance not so good but a win is a win, especially with ManUre loosing. Fergie understimated Bolton why would he leave Donkey home when Shrek is already missing. No wonder he was pissed off.
Injuries are piling up at the wrong time. Hope Theo isn't out for long. I'm wondering whether Wenger has a plan of changing the team around come next year and that is why he's using Eduardo and Bendter so sparingly. It's the only explanation I can come up with.
Rosisky played very well in the absence of our 2 other creative mids.
The seedings are kind of strange in all these draws. Even though UEFA clearly mentioned that it is based on qualifying matches it makes no sense to have Greece and Holland as the top seeded for Euro 2008. Infact I think the pot 3 should have been the top seeded. Anyway I think same will reflect in World Cup 2010. However I feel the seeding s of WC 2010 is little better than Euro 2008.
Hey Bobby, with the addition of Montenegro into the qualifying mix, I think it is safe to say that you can add them to the group of "minnows" who can deal some damage to the more talented teams. Their ranking does not reflect their talent as they haven't played many games. As you may or may not know, their talisman is Mirko Vucinic, who has scored in every game he has played in for Montenegro so far. The beat Hungary in their first ever game and Hungary is in the fourth pot (I know it is just one game). I think they are at the very least, a fifth pot team that is in the sixth pot.
That world cup draw isn't stupidly complex or anything.
A manager is not responsible for one bad performance o####reat player, but many bad performances that look worse and worse, and the question has to be asked.
They all liked McClaren b/c they could push him around.
H14- Keane had a Championship side while Bolton and Boro were safely in the EPL with quite a few star players. Birmingham had many leftovers from the EPL. Add that to the fact that Birmingham and Boro will probably go down and I bet you right now that Sunderland stay up and that measly 26M doesn't look like too much. 2 years ago Sunderland were the worst ever Prem team. Then came Derby.
Keane keeps his job and gets a better one, although it was funny to hear him talk about big egos in the England side.
I love Gallas, it looks like he'll stay fit for awhile(no jinx) I'll have to add him to my fantasy team.
I thought Eduardo earned himself a start with his Croatia play.
SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN SEVEN
I feel like the Count from Seasame Street, "VUN, VUN wonderful goal for the blues, TWO, TWO WONDERFUL goals from the Blues.....ahhahahahahaha!"
OOOHHHHHHHHHH KEANO! Sung to a Dexy's Midnight Runner tune!
Yes I know the Black Cats are hardly setting the Premier League alight, but whose put SEVEN past them. ?
Pompey have scored seven but they let in four.
The result does wonders for out goal difference, now for our poor clean sheet record.
You just gotta love Bolton
We'll see what Ramos has done during the international break when they visit Upton park tomorrow!
Ringo - obviously you've got over that dissapointing draw then. ;)
That isn't out full strength first team! Tough game away to Pompey next week.
Everton had two Englissh goals today, how many others in the Premier League?
Keane may or not see his side relegated but Sunderland would be mad to sack him, look what Bruce did when Birmingham showed him loyalty.
The Irishman will get better and you can't fault the application, grit and determnination from his players. You can however question the awful defending and shockingly bad finishing.
Cole, Keane, Neville, Yorke, Higginbotham, makes you wonder where Rooney, Hargreaves, van Nistelroy and Fletcher will be in a few years time?
Last edited by craigy_f on November 24th at 3:26 PM.
Tevez has his future planned out: he wants to spend the next five years with Utd before returning back to his boyhood club, Boca Juniors.
"At 28, I want to be in Boca [...] I have another year on my contract with Manchester & I could extend it for four years more then return."
"But I want to return to Boca at my peak not as some ####. Imagine if you cannot move — they’d scream insults at you. If I return it will be to get stuck in and play!"
Nice links and commentary as usual, Bobby. Thanks.
FIFA rankings and World Cup seeding and qualifying? Wake me up when it's over.
Arsenal looked flat, much like they did last season. The only difference this time is that they are beating the weak teams somehow. Granted, they were without three-quarters of their standard midfield first choices and even second choice (Diaby and Gilberto), but injuries are part of the game.
I was hoping Wenger would have put Bendtner in earlier; I still would like to see what he can do on THIS squad.
Ugly wins are what make champions, right? If that is the case, I could see Arsenal or Chelsea winning the league.
The table is looking mighty tight, isn't it!?! And who wrote off Liverpool? They are 3 points behind Manchester United with a game in hand!
I am not sure what will be more exciting, the title race or the relegation battle.
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