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Showing posts with label FIFA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label FIFA. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

It looks like FIFA might actually be doing something smart for a change. FIFA president Sepp Blatter said soccer's governing body will reopen the replay issue after the World Cup.

ESPN.com

Blatter said Tuesday that FIFA deplores "when you see the evidence of refereeing mistakes." It would be "a nonsense" not to consider changes, he said.

"After having witnessed such a situation," Blatter said, referring to England's non-goal against Germany, "we have to open again this file, definitely."



FIFA keeps saying they enjoy the human element and all the controversy that comes along with it, but they are severely hurting their sport. When you have a sport like soccer where goals are so valuable, you can’t continue to have bad calls where good goals are continually called off. There are so many technological advances out there that soccer could benefit from. If FIFA doesn’t do something, it could really hurt the sport and the World Cup.

Even if they don’t want to do replay, there is still another alternative, which is to add more referees to the field. Right now you have a head ref and two side judges, why not add another ref to roam the field? Why not add another judge by the goal line? There needs to be some type of change.

Monday, June 21, 2010

FIFA can’t erase the injustice that happened to the U.S. Soccer team last Friday against Slovenia, but at least Koman Coulibaly won’t be around to screw over another country.

Yahoo Sports

Controversial referee Koman Coulibaly was left off FIFA’s list for the next batch of World Cup matches following the error that cost the United States a victory against Slovenia.

Yahoo! Sports revealed on Friday that Coulibaly was “highly unlikely” to take any further part in the tournament after being given a poor evaluation by assessors following his decision to disallow Maurice Edu’s 86th-minute goal. FIFA confirmed yesterday that Coulibaly will not play any part in Tuesday or Wednesday’s matches, which will include Team USA’s critical Group C finale against Algeria.

Obviously this doesn’t erase the fact that a careless referee cost the United States three points, but I am glad to see that FIFA is taking the appropriate measures to make sure they have the best refs possible for every match. Koman Coulibaly is not one of the best referees so he should not be able to participate any further.

Friday, December 4, 2009

The World Cup Draw is final and things are looking good for the U.S. Here is how things played out.



Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece

Group C: England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia

Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia. Ghana

Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal

Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile



The U.S. does have a hard matchup in their first game against England, but the rest of the group is favorable. England always has a solid squad, but they are beatable. The U.S. would be sitting nice if they could at least come out of that game with a draw. Also, if the United States thinks they are a good team, they should take care of Algeria and Slovenia. This has set up very nice for the Americans.

Group G is the group of death by far. Brazil, Ivory Coast, and Portugal are all very good. North Korea really stands no chance.



The World Cup Draw is final and things are looking good for the U.S. Here is how things played out.



Group A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

Group B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece

Group C: England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia

Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia. Ghana

Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

Group F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

Group G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal

Group H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile



The U.S. does have a hard matchup in their first game against England, but the rest of the group is favorable. England always has a solid squad, but they are beatable. The U.S. would be sitting nice if they could at least come out of that game with a draw. Also, if the United States thinks they are a good team, they should take care of Algeria and Slovenia. This has set up very nice for the Americans.

Group G is the group of death by far. Brazil, Ivory Coast, and Portugal are all very good. North Korea really stands no chance.



Thursday, December 3, 2009

The World Cup draw is today, and here are some things you should know about the event. It will all be televised on ESPN 2 starting at 11:00 AM Central time, with the actual draw beginning around 11:45 CT.



The 32 qualifiers are divided into four pots. One country is drawn from each pot to form eight groups of four countries each. After a round-robin Group Stage, the top two teams in each group advance to Round of 16 knockout stage.



Pot 1 consists of 8 seeded teams: Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa and Spain. No unseeded country has won the World Cup since Argentina in 1986.

Pot 2 consists of the three CONCACAF countries, the four Asian countries and the sole representative from Oceania (New Zealand). Pot 3 holds the five other African teams and the three other CONMEBOL teams. Pot 4 contains the remaining European countries.

**The first matches of the World Cup will be on June 11, 2010





DRAW PROCEDURE

* The 32 qualifiers have been divided into four pots.

Pot 1 (seeds): Argentina, Brazil, England, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa (host country) and Spain

Pot 2 (CONCACAF, Asia, Oceania): Honduras, Mexico, United States, Australia, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, New Zealand

Pot 3 (Africa, South America): Algeria, Cameroon, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay

Pot 4 (Europe): Denmark, France, Greece, Portugal, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Switzerland

- Beginning with Pot 1, countries will be drawn from each pot and placed in a group, in order from A to H. (South Africa is already assigned to A1).

- For Pots 2-4, after a country is drawn to a group, that country then draws a slot in that group (i.e. B2, B3 or B4), for scheduling purposes.

- The one exception is that no two teams from the same confederation will be placed in the same group (except European teams). South Africa cannot play the African teams from Pot 3 and the three South American teams in Pot 4 cannot be drawn against Argentina or Brazil. If that is set to happen, the country drawn will then be moved to the next available group.



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