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FOOTBALL great Diego Maradona says corruption and match-fixing scandals that have hit Fifa will continue as long as the sport's governing body is run by 'dinosaurs.' The Argentine is in Dubai to sign a two-year contract to coach the local Dubai Al Wasl club. Maradona said Fifa had been badly run over the years and attacked Wednesday's re-relection of President Sepp Blatter 'who has never kicked a football.' Maradona, 50, said an ex-footballer should be in charge but did not suggest anyone. Maradona hasn't coached since leading his country to the World Cup quarterfinals last year. The Dubai club has...

Bribery charges upset Qatar's soccer field of dreams - News Britain's Sunday Times newspaper earlier this month alleged that two members of the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) took bribes of $1.5 million to back Qatar's 2022 bid.

When FIFA announced that the 2022 World Cup would be held in the tiny Middle Eastern country of Qatar, a resounding “Whazah?” reverberated throughout the world....Qatar is a Muslim country, and although their laws are considerably more liberal than other parts of the Middle East, under Qatar’s Sharia it is illegal to show alcohol or be drunk in public. Which is a problem, because fans at the Word Cup like to be drunk in public. Furthermore, there is only one liquor store in the entire country (yes, 2022 is going to be a good year for the Qatar Distribution Centre),...

Stil doubting the 'power' of the ARAB LOBBY, after the giant U.S. lost to 'bad sportsmen' of Qatar? Think again! US World Cup snub shows Qatari lobbying power | ProSports Colorado Dec 2, 2010 ... In Qatar, FIFA officials saw an opportunity to accomplish two goals in ... The reality is that Qatar is the uber-elite of the Arab world, ...http://www.prosportscolorado.com/2010/12/02/3839-us-world-cup-snub-shows-qatari-lobbying-power/ And this is just a tip of the iceberg of global Arab lobby. Of course it's not just about sports. Now, understand how the [international arena, like: the] United Nations and Amnesty work, and for whom - most of...

Are Qatar and the World Cup ready for each other? By Richard Spencer Leaving aside England’s woe, it is another amazing triumph for the anglophile Emir of Qatar and his glamorous wife Mozah. But are Qatar and the World Cup ready for each other? If it all comes off, it will be a major breakthrough not only for the Gulf but also for East-West, Muslim/Non-Muslim relations. If not, it could be a disaster. First things first. Will Israel be allowed to play if they qualify? Remember, Israelis and those with Israeli stamps in their passports are banned from nearly all...

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder will join former President Bill Clinton and Academy Award winner Morgan Freeman on Wednesday at the final presentation to FIFA's executive committee of the U.S. bid to host the 2022 World Cup.

Officials of the Qatar bid team for the 2022 World Cup stand with members of the FIFA inspection group at a showcase stadium in Qatar in September. For most of the past two years, Qatar's bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup has been a punch line in global soccer. The small desert kingdom has just one fully functional soccer stadium, average summer highs of 108 degrees and a population the size of San Diego. But as FIFA prepares to select sites for the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, Qatar's quixotic bid, powered by its royal family's willingness to...

JOHANNESBURG — Players from the Netherlands and Spain should have behaved better during the World Cup final, FIFA president Sepp Blatter said Monday. "It was not exactly what we have, or what I have, expected for fair play on the field of play in the final," Blatter said at a news briefing to mark the end of the tournament. English referee Howard Webb showed 14 yellows cards — a record for a World Cup final — and one red for Dutch defender John Heitinga as Spain won 1-0 in extra time on Sunday night. ...Five Spain players were booked, and...

Among the headlines in Dutch newspapers was "Not Again" above pictures of dejected Dutch players following the final whistle. The Netherlands also lost to hosts West Germany and Argentina in 1974 and '78. The Algemeen Dagblad daily's headline was "Orange tears." For Chris Nielen, 38, a sales manager who watched the match at a bar in a crowded square in The Hague, it was the third loss of his lifetime. "In '74, I was in diapers. In '78, we were closer when we hit the post in the second half," he said. "Now, we have to wait another 32 years."

Germany's 20-year-old midfielder Thomas Muller captured the Golden Boot on Sunday as the top scorer at the FIFA World Cup. Muller was also honored as the Best Young Player in South Africa. Muller had five goals and added three assists, beating Spain's David Villa and the Netherlands' Wesley Sneijder for the honor. Muller beat Villa and Sneijder for the award on a tiebreaker on assists. Villa and Sneijder each had just one assist, although both played one more match than Muller.

JOHANNESBURG — A spectator ran onto the field and tried to grab the World Cup trophy Sunday, moments before the Spain and Netherlands players were due to walk out at Soccer City for the tournament's final match.

Sami Khedira scored in the 82nd minute to give Germany a 3-2 victory over Uruguay and third place for the second straight World Cup.

Hey it's the third place game This applies to Germany and Uruguay, warning bad language.

TV stations spend thousands hiring people with impeccable records of footballing achievement to clue us in on what's going on and still we sit on our sofas and proclaim them idiots. Yet the opinion of Paul le Poulpe – he might have been born in England and adopted by Germans, but like pretty much everything else he just sounds better in French – is considered of such importance that it makes the evening news. It took until yesterday for anyone to emerge who had a better record than Paul at predicting events in South Africa and, with exasperating inevitability, that...

Mathematicalsymmetry operators have predicted Germany to win the 2010 World Cup. According to Goal.com Korea, using 1982 as a centre point, a pattern can be created as in the image below. One World Cup before and after 1982, Argentina took the coveted trophy (1978 and 1986); two World Cups before and after 1982, Germany were crowned champions (1974 and 1990); and three World Cups before and after 1982, Brazil were winners (1970 and 1994). As deviation in time increases from the centre point, the symmetry pattern starts to lose its shape. There pattern does not hold for World Cups that...

Diego Maradona is set to quit as coach of Argentina, according to reports. Maradona and his squad arrived home on Sunday following their World Cup exit at the hands of Germany. Argentina had been considered one of the favourites for the finals, but they came up short as they were hammered 4-0 by Germany.

Thousands of Paraguayan men depressed by the nation's heart-rendering defeat to Spain in the World Cup have been given something to cheer about with the news lingerie model Larissa Riquelme is to honour her pledge to strip naked.

As reported yesterday, Paul, a giant octopus residing in the Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany has become a legend of sorts for properly predicting each of Germany's matches. Sunday night, the story broke throughout the blogosphere that the creature had picked Spain over Germany for their World Cup semifinal match (as usual, by eating a mollusk out of a flag marked. Unlike past picks though, no video evidence on Youtube was available to corroborate the report.

Germany marched into the semifinals of the World Cup after destroying Diego Maradona's highly-rated Argentina side 4-0 in a rematch of the 1986 and 1990 title matches on Saturday. Veteran striker Miroslav Klose celebrated his 100th international appearance with two goals in Cape Town, taking him level second in the tournament's all-time scoring list alongside compatriot Gerd Muller. Thomas Muller, one of the finds of the month-long football showpiece, headed the opening goal inside the third minute, his fourth of the in South African tournament, while Arne Friedrich bundled home his first in internationals to make it 3-0. The star-studded...

Ghana bowed out of the World Cup in the most heartbreaking circumstances in one of the most amazing finishes to a match the World Cup has ever seen. In this tournament's 80-year history, surely there has never been such agony for a country, and a continent. Luis Suarez had used his hands to keep out a header in the last minute of extra-time but his red card will be no solace to the Black Stars after Asamoah Gyan's spot-kick hit the bar and Uruguay triumphed in the shoot-out. Soccer City was deathly silent as Ghana players collapsed in tears, while...

BERLIN — An octopus in Germany who has shot to fame by correctly predicting the outcome of the country's World Cup matches should be set free, an animal rights group said on Friday. "Paul has forecast that Germany will beat Argentina. In order that Paul too can celebrate on Saturday, and not just football fans, PETA Germany ... is now asking for him to be set free," PETA said in a statement. The organisation called for the seawater soccer soothsayer, currently in Sea Life in Oberhausen, western Germany, to be released into a national park in waters off the south...

Germany head coach Joachim Loew, front, watches his players during the training session of the German national soccer team at the Green Point stadium inCape Town, South Africa, Friday, July 2, 2010. Germany will play against Argentina in the quarterfinal of the soccer World Cup in Cape Town, Saturday, July 3, 2010.

The Brazil coach Dunga has said he will not continue in the job after his side lost 2-1 to Holland in their World Cup quarter-final today.

TEHRAN — Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has said the United States, England and France deserved to be eliminated in the World Cup for imposing nuclear sanctions on Tehran, newspapers reported on Wednesday. "In this World Cup you see a meaningful correlation between politics and diplomacy and football," Mottaki was quoted as saying by Tehran Emrouz newspaper. "Those who played a key role in new sanctions against Iran such as America, England and France were eliminated in the early stages and some countries that were somehow involved in sanctions did not get into higher rounds," he said. Iranians are fervent...

Netherlands vs. Brazil - Jul 2 10:00am (ET) on ESPN Uruguay vs. Ghana - Jul 2 2:30pm (ET) on ESPN Argentina vs. Germany - Jul 3 10:00am (ET) on ABC Paraguay vs. Spain - Jul 3 2:30pm (ET) on ABC

JOHANNESBURG (AP)—FIFA will look again at introducing video technology to assist referees after president Sepp Blatter apologized to England and Mexico for the officiating errors that helped eliminate them from the World Cup. Blatter said Tuesday that FIFA will reopen debate on high-tech methods to improve decision-making on the pitch following mistakes in Sunday’s matches in Bloemfontein and Johannesburg. “Naturally, we deplore when you see the evidence of referees’ mistakes,” said Blatter, adding it would be “a nonsense” for FIFA not to look again at goal-line technology with its rule-making panel. “After having witnessed such a situation,” Blatter said, referring...

An octopus with possible psychic powers, who has correctly picked the winner of Germany's four World Cup matches so far, on Tuesday tipped Germany to beat Argentina in their World Cup quarter-final match on Saturday. Paul, a two-year-old octopus born in England now living in a German aquarium, has a 100-percent winning streak at the World Cup -- and even accurately predicted Serbia would beat Germany in their Group D match-up earlier in the tournament. The eight-legged octopus, a denizen of Sea Life in the western town of Oberhausen, has turned into a celebrity oracle for getting all four picks...

FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa - Day 19 - Live Thread: Paraguay V Japan; Spain V Portugal.

FIFA on Monday continued to resist calls for goal-line technology, a day after match officials failed to see Frank Lampard’s shot go over the line in England’s 4-1 loss to Germany. I have no authority to comment on refereeing decisions,” Nicolas Maingot, a FIFA spokesman, said in response to questions about whether soccer’s world governing body would adopt sensors or video review to determine if balls crossed the goal line. He noted that matters pertaining to the rules of the game were handled by the International Football Association Board. FIFA holds four votes on the eight-member board. The other members...

Cameron described watching the match with Merkel on Sunday as “exquisite agony.” The two leaders snuck out of the G20 talks in Canada to watch England’s 4-1 defeat by Germany in South Africa together — a result that Cameron admitted had been “heartbreaking”.

FIFA has reacted to the controversy in the game between Argentina and Mexico - by censoring match action shown on giant screens inside stadiums.

FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa - Day 18 - Live Thread: Netherlands vs. Slovakia then Brazil vs. Chile

The Prime Minister said he was a keen tennis and cricket fan and had seen how modern technology was now routinely used to eliminate refereeing mistakes. Mr Cameron admited that England lost to a better team and that the inexplicaple decision to rule out what would have been an equalising goal should not be used as an excuse for the disappointing exit.

Germany's Thomas Mueller scored twice in the second half to seal a 4-1 victory that put Germany into the quarterfinals and sent England packing with the sting of its most lopsided loss in a World Cup. That was a severe blow for Cameron who earlier had told journalists he was "desperate for us to win." England has not beaten Germany since it won the 1966 final.

Germany's thrilling strike force tore apart old rivals England to reach the World Cup quarter-finals on Sunday in a 4-1 win marked by an extraordinary blunder from the Uruguayan referee who ruled out a good goal. - In an incident-packed game at Bloemfontein's Free State Stadium, Miroslav Klose and Lukas Podolski took advantage of some shambolic defending by the Three Lions to put Germany 2-0 up after 32 minutes before Matthew Upson headed one back Minutes later, a shot by England's Frank Lampard went over the goalkeeper, hit the bar and bounced behind the goal-line. But neither referee Jorge Larrionda...

FIFA World Cup 2010 South Africa - Day 17 - Live Thread: England vs. Germany then Mexico vs. Argentina

The thing is, every Englishman desperately wants to play well against Germany. Failure to do so leaves a very bad taste. And it will be no different on Sunday in Bloemfontein. I just hope that Wayne Rooney doesn't meet his Buchwald.

Serbian coach of Ghana, Milovan Rajevac, complained that his side is beset by injuries and may not have enough time to recover after a tough match against Germany. "We don't have enough to refresh, consolidate our team, Rajevac said. "All we can do is pray that our players will be ready for the next game."

Did not notice a thread for today's first 2 round of 16 games. At time of posting, Free Korea down 1-0 to Uruguay. Noticed empty seats on TV. How embarassing for South Africa and FIFA in general.

Bracket A June 26th, 2010 Korea V Uruguay 10am EDT Ghana V USA 2:30pm EDT Winners play in Quarterfinals #1 June 28h, 2010 Slovakia V the Netherlands Chile V Brazil Winners play in Quarterfinals #3 Bracket B June 27th, 2010 Mexico V Argentina Limeys V Krauts Winners play in Quarterfinals #2 June 29th, 2010 Japan V Paraguay Spain V Portugal Winners play in Quarterfinals #4

Today’s matches: Slovakia-Italy Paraguay-New Zealand Cameroon-Netherlands Denmark-Japan If New Zealand wins, Italy needs to win, too. Reportedly, they are getting nervous… Here is Mehdi’s account of yesterday’s matches: AUSTRALIA 2 (Cahill 69, Holman 73) SERBIA 1 (Pantelic 84) An absolutely disgraceful performance by the Serbs. Serbia broke from an Aussie corner, Ninkovic played the ball inside a defender to Krasic who murdered him for pass, rounded Schwarzer then with a goal gaping sent the ball high over the bar. Another attack from the right, another chance, Schwarzer with an excellent save from Ivanovic. Cahill got above Vidic to head in...

PRETORIA, South Africa – Landon Donovan scored in the first minute of stoppage time off a rebound, advancing the United States to the second round at the World Cup with a 1-0 win over Algeria. With the U.S. perhaps three minutes from elimination, Jozy Altidore was stopped on a breakaway by goalkeeper Rais Bolihi. Donovan hustled in and kicked in the rebound to win Group C Wednesday.

Today’s matches: Slovenia-England USA-Algeria Ghana-Germany Australia-Serbia Also, the Frenchies are expected to give yet another press conference. Here is Mehdi’s report of yesterday’s matches: NIGERIA 2 (Uche 12, Yakubu 69 Pen) SOUTH KOREA 2 (Lee 38, Park 49) Odiah muscled his way through two challenges on the right flank before driving in a centre and Uche, who until the 49th minute was the only player at this World Cup to score direct from a free kick, arrived from nowhere to side foot the ball past Jung. Uche almost made it 2-0 with an awesome strike from 25 yards which rebounded...

USA v Algeria 10am EDT USA win, they are in!

Today’s matches: Portugal-North Korea Chile-Switzerland Spain-Honduras This time, North Korea cannot lose: The coach will be talking to Dear Leader on an invisible phone! Here is Mehdi’s account of yesterday’s matches: BRAZIL 3 (Luis Fabiano 25, Luis Fabiano 50, Elano 62) IVORY COAST 1 (Drogba 79) After an uneventful 25 minutes Brazil scored a marvellous, ten pass goal. Luis Fabiano backheeled a Robinho pass into Kaka', Kaka' ran through a sliding tackle, threaded a pass between two defenders to Luis Fabiano, he skipped over Kolo Toure's suicidal red card tackle then from an acute angle on the left belted the...

Today’s matches: Netherlands-Japan (1-0) Ghana-Australia Cameroon-Denmark The Netherlands had some difficulties with Japan, but a fantastic shot by Sneijder won the game for them. Here is Mehdi’s report of yesterday’s games again: ENGLAND 0 ALGERIA 0 And following one of the best games of this World Cup, THE worst. What constitutes a chance? Gerrard with a pass back from 18 yards? Lampard failing to punish a clearance with a tame shot? P*ss poor. Attendance : 64,100 Assists : n/a SLOVENIA 2 (Birsa 13, Ljubijankic 42) USA 2 (Donovan 48, Bradley 82) Birsa scored the best individual goal of the World...