I am not an American but I am Serbian. On Sunday in Rio de Janeiro, the United States became World Volleyball Champions as they beat my Serbia 3 Sets to 1 (26-24, 23-25, 25-23, 25-22). This was the United State's first every FIVB World League title and I thought it would be a big deal; I guess I was wrong.

On none of the major US Sports sites did they bother to make this a regular headline, instead just leaving the AP article on their site. I understand that Volleyball is not a popular sport in North America, but I would assume that a victory of this kind would be good considering that these same players will be taking part in Beijing and should now put the US Team as slight favorites going in.

I wish American sports site would take more pride in this. It might not be a TV sport in the United States, but everywhere else in the world they are taking notice. Considering how they even managed to beat Serbia and Brazil, both of which are recent power-houses in the sport this should be worth mentioning, and not just a simple AP posting.

In my short life, I have gone to about 6 soccer/football matches.  Of those, I watched in person: a friendly between Chelsea and AC Milan in Foxboro; a World Cup Qualifying Match in Belgrade between Serbia and Montenegro vs Belgium. The 2005 Champions League final in Istanbul between AC Milan and Liverpool; two Champions League qualifiers involving Red Star Belgrade (against Cork City from Ireland and AC Milan) and finally a Czech League matching involving Slavia Prague against Sigma.
As you can tell, a pretty varied amount of games. The best game of the list of course was the Champions League final while the most boring/uneventful one was the World Cup qualifying match between SCG and BEL. The matches with the most atmosphere was the Liverpool v Milan and the Red Star v Milan matches but the one with the least was the Chelsea v Milan match at Foxboro.

I am a big Premier League fan and a strong supporter of Chelsea. I was in London in 2002 but didn't get to watch them (as I went in early July), so I was unable to see a match at Stamford Bridge but I'd like to go one day and watch them regardless of the location (as long as it's in Europe). In my eyes, while the idea of the Premier League having matches outside of England is nice, I don't like the idea since it is essentially a cheap knock-off of the original product. Regardless of the fact that they are bringing regular-season matches that actually have meaning to them, I think the experience will not be the same.
In order to enjoy a sport, you need to be enjoy it in the proper atmosphere. To watch a soccer match involving British teams, you have to watch it in a British atmosphere. When I was in Istanbul, while I supported and cheered for AC Milan, I spent my time before the match with the English speaking Liverpool fans and it was incredible. Yes, a good chunk were ####s towards me (when they found out I was a Chelsea supporter and I fan of AC Milan) but it was the best way to watch the match and to discuss the sport.

I feel this way about the Premier League. If given the chance to watch a match in person, I would rather travel to London (again) or Manchester or Birmingham and sit in Stamford Bridge, Old Trafford or Villa Park and absorb the atmosphere with the dedicated fans, singing the songs and cheering like mad when our team scores. The matches that will be played abroad will be over-priced (while Premier League matches are not cheap to begin with) and hard to find. They are going to play them in areas which are not close to me at all (except if they decide to play a match in Vancouver, Seattle, San Fran or Los Angeles) so getting to the match won't be easy. Chances are for the same amount of money, I can catch a charter flight to London for about 500 dollars, pay another 40-50 dollars for match tickets and a couple of hundred for hotel and food and still have a lower total cost.

Unlike the NFL, who really need to branch outside of North America for the product to be international, the Premier League and European Football in general has been extremely popular around the globe. The league doesn't need help in marketing themselves.
If the Premier League really wants to get viewers, they should have started lower and moved either the Community Shield or the FA Cup final to a neutral venue. I wrote back in November of 2006 about the possibility of bringing the Champions League final to New York (link) so why not take that idea and use the Community Shield or the FA Cup have them played overseas. In that situation, you are almost ensured that at least one top class club would be involved and considering the magnitude of the match, the over-priced ticket prices would be justified (although, still too high for most people).

The only thing stopping the Premier League from doing their proposed matches is getting approval from the countries that were mentioned. Japan, Australia and The United States have already stated that they'd like to avoid these matches as all three have still young soccer leagues and that this could stun their growths. It is a valid point and also differs greatly from the NFL's European match project. There, they had nothing competing against them and it was an open market, but here, if you bring the Premier League and it succeeds (which it will) then these leagues will suffer. Fans will have been spoiled with the riches of England and will not want to force themselves to settle with the '2nd-rate' soccer they have available.

In my eyes, the best course of action the Premier League should take is the welcome attitude. I would rather see them offer cheap flight, hotel and match options to people who would like to travel to England to watch a footie match. They already have a partnership with Fly Emirates, so they could agree something with them or any other airline carrier to offer discounted prices on selected flights. Not only would this help the airlines with added business, but it would boost the economies of these English cities. Also, have the clubs save a section of decent (not the best but not the worst) tickets for fans from abbroad so they get the chance to watch a live match. London and Manchester probably wouldn't need this, it would help 'smaller' or lesser visited cities like Birmingham, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, or even Portsmouth in boosting their tourism industries. Heck, you could even offer better deals to people who want to watch The Coca Cola Championship. Watch QPR, Southhampton or even a Leeds United match for an even better deal and still get a great deal out of it. This would help the clubs even more so, since fans will want to take a tour of the stadium and would more than likely would not leave without a purchase or two from the club-store, once again, helping the team in more ways than one.

**Please understand that this is just an editorial in no way am I endorsing the actions of those who commit these actions. I am trying to give a fair view of the problem that exists in the sport**

 

Depending on where your focus is on the wonderful world of soccer/football: you are either slowly preparing  for the upcoming seasons after some really wonderful finishes in Europe or you are getting ready to watch more of the tournaments that are in focus in the Americas. If you have heard about the Under 21 tournament, the talk is about the way in which an England player,  Nedum Onuoh, was a victim of racist attacks from fans from Serbia. While I do not think what these fans did was right, I just hate that it's only when a Black player that is attacked that we take notice. My view is that while racism in the sport of Soccer/Football exists everywhere: England, Spain, Japan, Serbia, Australia, etc...we only hear about racism when the victim is black and not other forms of prejudice.

For example, in England, there is a lot of racism/prejudism towards Western Asians (those people from Pakistan, India, etc...) There is a lot of hate and ridicule made towards people from those regions, but no one makes any mention of it. British people are probably just as racist as everyone else, but they keep their mouths shut and then turn around when they are the victim(s). Just look at the history of Tottenham Hotspurs. The Spurs are known throughout the world as the Jewish Club along the same lines as Ajax Amsterdam. The Club has a lot of historical connection with the Jewish community in London and both their fans and players are attacked by other supporters because of this. But again, the situation is kept under-wraps and for a lot, it's never heard of.

It continues on, while there haven't been any key players who have 'out'ed themselves in terms of sexual orientation, but you know quite well that if there was a player on any team that came out of the closet, he'd be attacked based on that and chances are by fans and players.

The question still remains: Why is it that only race brings up the issue?

Here in North America, the stadiums are privately owned and fans can be ejected at anytime. A few weeks ago, fans during a China Friendly in the states were removed for having banners that brought up the connection China has with issues in Asia. The stadium removed these fans and that was that. Since the stadium is private property, people do not have the right to protest and can be removed at the digressions of the stadium and the event coordinators.

Why can't they do the same thing in Europe? Because it would create more chaos. UEFA and FIFA still have not found the best way to handle fans during matches to remove them without creating further problems. You bring in regular security, the drunk fans will laugh it off and/or ignore the ushers. Bring the police and a riot will ensue and the threat of more injuries and victims is increased. The only way that the governing bodies can control the situation is to do nothing at that moment then fine the association who these fans come from and hurt future events.

I think the events in Holland with these Serbian supporters should not fall solely on the responsibility of the FSS (Serbian Football Association). It is unfair that they should be the only one punished when these fans may or may not even be citizens of the country of Serbia. At a neutral venue event like this, the organizing committee should also be held responsible as they are the ones who are supposed to ensure the safety of both the players and the fans. You heard about how people were complaining about how Athens handled the UCL Final, it should be the same way here. If the organizers cannot control those people who enter the stadium, then they are failing to do their job correctly. Had this been an event in Serbia, then by all means, fine the FSS for not controlling the home crowds. It's done in Club competitions, so it makes sense to do the same here.

In truth we are all guilty of prejudism at any sporting event. You 'boo' the opposition or yell 'you suck', that is technically a form of assault, regardless of the means and in North America, you can be removed from the stadium if it is deemed to be overly excessive. Those people who call Cristiano Ronaldo a '####' are also doing the exact same thing and should not be allowed to watch matches in the stadium.

I was at an Red Star v AC Milan match last August in Belgrade. It was an important Champions League Qualifying match between the two and during warm-ups and throughout the match Red Star fans (including myself) were constantly whistling and shouting at Milan's keeper Dida. Why did we do this? To rattle him up. You want the opposition's keeper to slip up so that your team scores. Dida is a great player, and if he's not playing against our team, chances are these same players are cheering him on. Serbs love the country of Brazil and their national team. In fact, Red Star's Stadium is nick-named 'Marakana' as an Homage to the same stadium in Brazil. But is whistling and shouting considered racism because he's dark-skinned, no, but some might view it that way. It is technically verbal assault and should not be allowed, but it is tolerated. It wouldn't really matter what color he was, we want our team to win and we try our best to rattle the player enough so that they might actually screw up. If that was Oliver Kahn and it was Bayern Munich, you'd still see these fans screaming and shouting with the same objective.

Look at what the Gremio fans did in the hopes of helping their team win the Copa Libertadories. They tried to affect Boca player's sleep so that they'd be too tired to play the next day. While it's not racism, it still a tactic, and as you saw, it didn't work.

The best players take the insults and use it to their advantage. Onuoh and all players from all walks of life (Black, White, ####, Straight, Muslim, Jew, etc...) needs to learn to take the abuse and then transform it into a goal/incredible performance. You score a goal and those fans will know that the attacks don't work, and will likely give it up.

In the end, this situation will never change. While soccer governing bodies will say they will do their hardest to prevent racism in the sport, there will also be insults regardless of color because there are more issues than color: Religion, Beliefs, etc... While fans might stop attacking a person based on color, they'll still attack their beliefs or backgrounds in the hopes of rattling them up. If the players want it to stop, they need to learn to ignore it and let their work on the pitch answer the insults...just like in a classic Simpson's Episode: 'Just don't look' and they'll go away.

Chances are if you are reading this you are either 1) From Serbia or Croatia 2) A Tennis Fan or 3) Unaware of what happens during a Grand Slam Tournament.

First things first. Unless you're online early on the east coast (or late depending on how you look at it) on Monday (03:00 EST) you might have heard reports about Serbian and Croatian Tennis fans clashing during the first day of Tennis action at the Rod Lever Stadium and the Australian Open. During the first day, more than 150 Serbs and Croats fans actually got into a large-scale scruffle that mirrored British Hooligans fighting before their favorite clubs took to the field. In this case, two unknown players Ilia Bozoljac (Serbia) and Marin Cilic (Croatia) sparked the clash. While their match is to be played today (Tuesday) the clash occured outside any matches as the two groups met a field and began to attack one another with flags and sticks. No one was injured but the event came as a surprised to everyone as you would never expect such behaviour to occur.

It's no surprise that these two groups got into it. Whenever our two nations face off in any sport, be it Soccer, Basketball, Water Polo, etc, you are bound to find passionate fans who want nothing more than to 'bust some skulls.'

This action has caused Melbourne police to place more security during the Open because of fears of further clashes. While it's unlike our tennis players will meet again, it wouldn't surprise if another clash occurs for no apparent reason.

At the same time, although being a proud Serb, I definately do not support this action. I find it stupid to waste time by fighting. But considering there is more than 17 years of aggression between the two countries, it will be a long time before this behaviour stops.

Well the last international games of 2006 were completed last night and while there were a ton of friendly matches played, looking at any of them to justify the way a team is playing is unfair. A friendly is a practice match where both teams are trying out new players, formations and tactics; and more than likely the coach doesn't concern himself with the result.

Even though Spain lost another game last night, this time to Romania in Cadiz, I don't think the home supporters really needed to 'boo' their team off the pitch. Yes, Spain is in a slum and in some serious trouble to qualify to the only tournament they have ever won (back in the day), but the match was only a friendly and you can't judge a team on friendlies alone.

There were seven important matches last night, all part of EURO 2008 qualifying.

In group A we saw what in my eyes is one of the better groups (not only because Serbia is in it) as Finland, with a 1:0 win against Armenia  took first place from Serbia. This group is extremely tight as the two other contests saw Poland win a road game against Belgium and Portugal winning an easy contest against Kazakhstan. In this group you have Finland leading with 11 points (5 games) followed by Serbia with 10 points (4 games) and Poland also with 10 points(5 games). Portugal and Belgium are right behind with 7 points each (4 and 5 games played), so the group has 5 teams fighting for the two spots. I still like Portugal and Serbia to advance but what hurts Portugal is their loss in Poland last month and for Serbia it's the fact that three of their first four games were all in Belgrade. Poland struggled at first, losing at home to Finland and a draw against Serbia, but have picked it up as well. But the problem that Serbia has is also a problem from Poland who have played 3 matches at home and only 2 away. Only getting 4 points out of a possible 9 at home is not going to be very helpful down the road, but at least they did get full points against Portugal.

The key matches here are the first games back from the winter break. When Serbia hosts Portugal on March 28th both teams will have played five matches and the winner should be in the driver's position for a spot in the finals. With Portugal playing a tougher match three days before agaisnt a desperate Belgium side, a draw would not be out of the question, Serbia will be looking for maximum points in Kazakhstan in order to space themselves from the rest of the group when these two nations meet.

 

Group D got a bit interesting, but only a bit with the strong Germans only earning a road draw in Cyprus. To be honest, it's a fair result considering that Germany played without their number #1 keeper and were playing on the road. Germany is still in a top position with equal points with the Czech Republic so there is no need to sound any alarms just yet. The Republic of Ireland finally managed to win a match, but when it's against San Marino, is there really any reason to boast? The Republic is still too far back in this group and their only chance of getting back into the hunt is to pull off victories against both Germany or Czech Republic and Slovakia. If they can't do that, then this group is pretty much already decided.

If people are saying that Serbia's group is a tight contest, then Group E is a riot as you have 5 countries all withing 3 points of each other and all have a chance to take one of two qualifying spots. Last month, I said the match between Israel and Croatia in Tel-Aviv would be important for both teams and that a win would essentially give that team the control to advance. In all honesty, I thought Israel was the team that would win here, but I have to say the Croats have impressed me a lot. Yes, they got three goals from a Brazilian, but they went into hostile Tel-Aviv and were able to score 4 road goals and leave with 3 points. England has to travel here in March and they know how important this game will be. But what really makes this group interesting is that Russia is now back into the mix with a 0:2 win in in Skopje against my cousin's FYR Macedonia. The Russians are now within striking distance but the the fact that they've played 3 matches on home-soil is going to hurt them as they still need to travel to Croatia, Israel and England. I think that Russia are going to face an up-hill battle if they wish to make the finals, but in my eyes Croatia is in great control but have to keep the momentum up otherwise their lead can slip away really quickly. As for the English, I hope that those staff members who weren't watching the Holland game were glued to the other group matches and took notes because they will need to beat Israel, Russia and Croatia to stay in the hunt for a berth in the tournament in 2008.

---

The MLS and their new 'Beckham Rule'. It only took them ten years to finally agree on having a special stipulation that allows teams to have one team that doesn't count on their salary cap. What is really interesting is that while they have dubbed this the 'Beckham Rule' there is still no word that David Beckham will even join the league next year.

Beckham would do well in this league. He's extremely marketable since he has name recognition and he endorses Adidas (who also sponsor the league) so most teams would benefit. He alone would increase attendence but will people look at this as Beckham's swan song. In Europe, people look at the MLS as a retirement league as plenty of players in the beginning of the MLS were coming from Europe to finish their careers in the states. A lot of them had already moved there or wanted a reason to move so they played a season or two of some forgetable soccer and then called it a day. The problem here is that while some fans will welcome the chance to see Becks in wearing L.A. Galaxy kit or playing on the same line-up as Freddy Adu (unless he goes to Man Utd, which probably won't happen) there will be others who will feel that this is only about money and that his performance on the pitch will not be as good as it was in Europe.

Also, there have been no other rumored players who have shown interest in going from Europe to the MLS who would be able to also bring added star-power to the league. When Pele played in the 70s, he at least at Beckenbauer and George Best in the league to help with the marketing. Here it would be Beckham alone until someone else joined.

I think that until David Beckham or another higher-class player joins the MLS, we need to keep mum on the topic. It would be nice for fans to see him play, but don't get their hopes up that he is coming when at this moment he is still a member of the White Angels of Real Madrid.

 

In the 70s, 80s and up until the break-up of Yugoslavia, the Yugoslavian Soccer/Football League was among the top in Europe. The climax of this was the 1990-91 UEFA Champion's Cup (Champions League) win for FK Crvena Zvezda Beograd (FC Red Star Belgrade in English). Back then, the league was extremely competitive with great clubs like: Zvezda and Partizan (both from Belgrade), Hajduk Split, Dinamo Zagreb (Croatian Clubs) FK Sarajevo (BiH), Vardar Skopje (Macedonia) and Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia); not to mention that there were so many good middle-tier teams that made this league really interesting. But as Yugoslavia disappeared and the Bosman Ruling allowed players to leave more freely, the quality of soccer in all the leagues of these newly formed countries began to go into free-fall. While Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia have all had teams play in the biggest Club Competition in the World (Champion's League) since the break-up, these appearances were relatively short-lived.

Like the problem suffered in Belgium, Holland, Switzerland and Austria with players leaving clubs for greener pastures in England, Spain, Italy and Germany, Eastern European nations also see a lot of their best domestic players leave too early in their careers looking for better pay in leagues which could pay their players reasonable amounts. Since the quality has decreased so much in these leagues, fan attendance has slumped to pitiful numbers and clubs cannot hold on to these players for long enough to develop them and to get possible hardware out of them. With domestic players leaving it has opened the door for players from S. America, Africa and Asia to apply their skills first in Eastern Europe with the hopes of a better club in Western Europe to pick them up.

Now leagues in Eastern Europe have players from Brazil, Cameroon, Ecuador, ####ia Senegal and other countries playing some fairly attractive soccer. Most clubs have welcomed these players with open arms but unfortunately some have not.

On Saturday in the Serbian Town of Cacak (which is located in the Western-Central part of the country), fans of the local team Borac Cacak were conducting racial chants and wearing #### attire aimed at one Mike Tamwanera. Usually when you have fans chanting or hissing at a player he usually plays for another team, but Tamwanera who is from Zimbabwe, plays for Borac Cacak. While arrests were made by Cacak police and the club has stated that these fans will be banned from future games, the act itself is extremely disgraceful. It is extremely disapointing to see Serbian people do this type of action The problem lies in the fact that these small group of fans who donned the garments known for extreme racism do not realize that the Ku Klux Klan have also been known to hate all minority groups including Slavic people who we Serbs are a part of. By wearing the white-cloth attire, these fans are showing that they support the hate done to their own people; it's the same if Serbs wore #### uniforms and paraded around the town.

This action just shows that the Serbia is still years away from the rest of the world in terms of understanding and social statures. We want to join the European Union but we have people who still think it's 1899 and not 2006. But this action is typical of the smaller towns in Serbia. Unlike Belgrade and to a lesser extent Nis and Novi Sad, a town like Cacak rarely gets to see a person of a different color, so these people do not know how to properly act around them. They see someone from Africa or Asia they automatically assume they are either a '####' or 'Bruce Lee' and the racism begins.

Serbia definately does not have a clean record with Racism in Football. UEFA has fined the national team and local clubs a lot of money over the years because of Racism/Facism. This racism has not been directed solely on black players but of all colors (including whites); it seems that we Serbs hate everyone regardless of where they are from. But these chants and whistles have always been directed to the opposing team in the hopes of distracting the opposition and gaining the upper hand. I was at a match in August between Red Star and AC Milan; the fans behind the Milan keeper Dida were hissing and yelling at him, but it wasn't racially motivated; they were just hoping to distract him so much  that Red Star would score on him.

Big Serbian clubs like Red Star and Partizan have numerous players on their team who are not white-#### (Red Star has players from Ecuador, Brazil, Senegal and Japan; Partizan have players from Cameroon and ####ia)  and you never have their fans dress in white and terrorize these players.

Hopefully UEFA will sanction Borac Cacak and/or the league for not preventing the incident from happening. I know that this is a domestic affair but the European Soccer Body has stated in the past that they would not tolerate racism of any kind and in any form. If they do sanction you wil see a lot of backlash, but it will be directed at Borac Cacak and their fans.

---

 Mateja Kezman. To some, he is one of the best Serbian strikers in Europe; to other others, he is a good player who has never been a great player when he needs to be. Kezman was the go-to guy for Serbia (and Montenegro) during its World Cup Qualifying; he led the team in scoring and was considered the one who would be responsible for the goal-scoring in Germany. He failed miserably in Germany not scoring a goal, injuring star defender, Man Utd's Nemanja Vidic and getting a red card against Argentina. This isn't the first time Kezman has been disapointing for Serbia/Yugoslavia in the past. Serbs will remember clearly his subbing on against Norway. It only took young Kezman a mere 60 seconds to get on the pitch and to get a Red Card and end his performance in Belgium/Holland.

He went from being a star in Holland with PSV to getting a huge contract with Chelsea. He played only one forgetable season there, being dubbed the worst transfer of that season, he left for Atletico Madrid (the only good thing Kezman did for Chelsea was that he was the only player during the Russian led era of the club to post a profit from his sale (Chelsea bought him for about 8 million and sold him for 8.5)). He had a decent season for Atletico but did not stay very long there either (one season).

Kezman started the 2006 season in Turkey playing for Fenerbahce. Since coming to Istanbul he has been able to finally score the kind of goals that got him a lot of attention for PSV. But after the World Cup, Serbia's coach Havier Clemente has not called up Kezman, opting for younger players Marko Panetlic (Hertha Berlin), Danko Lazovic (Vitese Arnheim) and the giant Nikola Zigic (Racing Santander). For the first two games under Clemente, Kezman was suspended (for his WC Red card) but when he was available, Clemente did not bother to call Mateja onto the team, opting for Hamburg's Daniel Ljuboja as the forth striker. The question everyone is asking is should he be brought back onto the national team?

My answer without hesitation is no! Right now on Serbia's striker depth chart, Mateja would be in forth spot. Pantelic is a key member of the Berlin squad, Lazovic has found consistency after mediocre performances with Feyenoord, Partizan and Bayer Leverkusen (he is among the leading goal scorers in Holland right now) while Nikola Zigic, the go-to guy for Serbia, was incredible for Red Star Belgrade and having only recently been signed to Santader, has been their leading scorer.

Kezman does not stand out like other players. Zigic is over 2 metres tall (taller than England/Liverpool striker Peter Crouch), Pantelic is one of the most dedicated players who never gives up and always fights for the ball and Lazovic is young and has been solid when called in as a substitute (scoring the tying goal against Poland during qualifying). Serbia right now needs better midfielders, especially holding-central midfielders. We do not need a player like Kezman. While he has been scoring in Turkey, he would not be a starter for the national team, and unfortunately, he would expect to be one. I wouldn't object to Clemente calling him onto the squad for the friendly against Norway in November, I just do not see him getting much (if any) playing time.

The Monday night game wasn't too bad. Yes there was very little action for the first three quarters, but the 4th was pretty good. Steve McNair essentially lost the game for Baltimore with three cost picks that should have resulted in at least 9 points. The air-ball in the end-zone before the half could have really changed the outlook of the 2nd half; while the final interception in the 4th was desperate, but again, Baltimore were close to scoring. They still might have loss, but at least narrowing the margin would have been benficial to some degre.

Next week's Monday night match of Chicago and Arizona will be interesting as we know there will be still two undefeated teams after that game (considering that The Colts have the bye this week).

---

I live in Canada and the hockey season has begun, unfortunately, while Hockey is loved by almost everyone here I still haven't hit the hockey rush. I think it's more because of the mild weather than anything else. The NHL season is too long and because of that it hurts the sport to some degree. I still think they should reduce the amount of regular season games from 82 to a more reasonable number.

The numbers I like are either 76 games (play teams in your division 4 times (16 games), teams in your conference 3 times (30 games) and teams from the other conference 2 times (30 games). The other number is 66 (this time the only difference is you play teams in your conference 2 times (16+20+30). If teams play an average of 3.5 games a week (Monday,Wednesday,Friday and Saturday or Sunday) you can start the season the first week of November and finish by the end of March. The playoffs should only take a month and a half and you'd be finished before the end of May. Players would like the extra time off and the fewer games would make matches even more important.

Ultimately this won't happen because most NHL owners would see fewer games as being less profitable for NHL teams. But I counter this claim by asking people to view other sports that play fewer games. Take a look at the NFL and European Soccer. Both have limited amount of games and both have sell-outs. I think that fans would rather watch a game and know that it has heavy implications on both teams rather than a game that their team can still lose and make the playoffs. Ticket prices are already high to begin so they wouldn't hesitate to raise the price of matches a couple of bucks to balance the difference.

 

---

Euro 2008 qualifying continues on Wednesday. A lot of important match-ups occur on Wednesday. In Group A (where my Serbia plays) the biggest match is definately Poland hosting Portugal. After already losing five points to Finland and Serbia in home soil the Poles cannot afford to lose this game. They have one more game in November in Belgium and if they lose this game they put any chance of finishing in the top two in serious doubt. Portugal don't have a lot of pressure on them, so they will go into this game relaxed but should still end up leaving with at least a point. My Serbia played a very mixed game against Belgium on Saturday. They played well for the most part, but near the end let their guard down and almost gave up the win again Belgium. They play Armenia tomorrow in Belgrade and a win (which should happen) will keep Serbia in the top two going into the New Year (Serbia doesn't play until next March)

In group B, the match to watch there is Scotland hosting Ukraine. The Scots have maximum points after three games while the Ukraine are near the bottom with only 3 points. In a group that also contains Italy and France, every point you can get counts.

Group E has Croatia hosting England. This is a group I like to watch because in the beginning I thought for sure it would be England and Russia going through, but with Russia only get 2 points at home against Croatia and Israel it has really opened up the group. At this moment I'd love it if Israel can advance. They've played well and in the past have always been a decent side who only just miss out. If they played in the Asian confederation they'd be among the best; I would not want to be a team that has to play in Tel Aviv. If there are no sanctions in place or if England don't request a neutral venue for their match there, I could see them getting almost maximum points from those matches.

Group F match of Iceland and Sweden (which is on FSC and FSWC on Wednesday) should also be interesting. Sweden is a team I also cheer for and if they can win this game it will really make things much more difficult for Spain who only have 3 points in three matches. Denmark and N. Ireland also play on Wednesday and if both teams win they would also add to the pressure.

I'll give a report on on Wednesday evening about these matches.