Sanford's Soccer Net

Bobby McMahon Column

2009-11-23T09:31:00.002-05:00

Not since Zinedine Zidane lined up Marco Materazzi’s chest with his head in Berlin over three years ago have so many opinions, distortions, hyperbole and hypocritical utterances been spewed forth.

The “Henry Incident” has provided an opportunity for outlandish stereo-typing and xenophobia. Opportunists have embraced a platform from which to moralize while others see the chance to advocate the red herring solution of video replay. (When Tony Cascarino lectures on ethics and fair play and isn’t laughed out of town then the apocalypse must be at hand.)

Fifa shows Iraqi footballers the red card after Sunni-Shia struggle

2009-11-23T09:24:00.001-05:00

Iraqi football teams have been banned from all international competitions after sectarian infighting among the country’s sports officials.

England: Top 10 Drubbings

2009-11-23T09:22:00.001-05:00

Goals fly in from all angles, with scoreboards threatening to blow a fuse and reporters racing through pencils as they frantically scribble away in an effort to keep up with the action unfolding in front of them.

These are the games which really capture the imagination - at least for the players and supporters of the side in the ascendancy.

Tottenham followers enjoyed one such afternoon on Sunday, with Spurs putting nine past hapless Wigan, so here skysports.com takes a look at a few other top flight fixtures which have seen the netting take a pummelling.

Monday MLS Breakdown: RSL's MLS Cup Triumph Is No Overnight Success

2009-11-23T08:59:00.002-05:00

Few gave Real Salt Lake much of a shot to defeat Los Angeles and win its first MLS Cup. Kyle McCarthy explains how RSL positioned itself for glory and grasped the opportunity in the Monday MLS Breakdown.

MLS Final Player Ratings

Spain: La Liga Weekend Round-ups

2009-11-23T08:53:00.000-05:00

Real Madrid have moved to the top of the Liga table after beating Racing Santander while Barcelona were held at Athletic Bilbao.
Saturday

Valencia moved back into the Primera Liga's top four on Sunday with a convincing victory on their travels.
Sunday

Italy: Serie A Team of the Week

2009-11-23T08:52:00.004-05:00

Ronaldinho (Milan): Arguably the former Barcelona star’s best match this season. A full ninety minutes of ingenuity and creativity. His one-touch assist for Pato was sublime and his penalty was dispatched with confidence. He is thriving in Leonardo’s system and enjoying his football again.

The Rest

Italy: Serie A Weekend Round-ups

2009-11-23T08:51:00.001-05:00

Inter Milan stretched their lead at the top of the table as Parma prevailed in a five-goal thriller at Fiorentina.
Saturday

AC Milan edged a seven-goal thriller against Cagliari, while Francesco Totti was the hero for Roma.
Sunday

England: Premier League Weekend Review

2009-11-23T08:29:00.002-05:00

Tottenham Hotspur went scoring bananas in a humiliation of Wigan Athletic, their North London rivals Arsenal saw their title aspirations suffer a blow while struggling pair Hull City and West Ham United played out a six-goal thriller.

Review

England: Premier League Special Reports

2009-11-23T08:18:00.002-05:00

Kevin McCarra at Anfield
Liverpool 2 - 2 Manchester City

Richard Jolly at Old Trafford
Manchester United 3 - 0 Everton

Kevin Palmer at Stamford Bridge
Chelsea 4 - 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Dominic Fifield at White Hart Lane
Tottenham 9 - 1 Wigan

Weekend previews

2009-11-20T12:03:00.003-05:00

Shockingly there's a full weekend of soccer action about to start. I know, how can that be?!?! Have the authorities lost their minds? With Thierry Henry roaming the streets, handling a ball, destroying a nation's economy, causing cancer and eating children, it's hard to believe European governments are allowing people out of their houses. Madness. It'll end in tears, especially as he's now got Roy Keane on his side.

The Times EPL preview
Sky Sport's EPL preview
Lawro

Goal's Bundesliga preview

ESPN's Serie A preview

ESPN's La Liga preview

Argh -- been busy today

2009-11-20T11:22:00.003-05:00

Blame it on my Liverpool supporting Uncle who is in from his retirement compound in Thailand. Hopefully I'll get some previews up later today. Thankfully countries playing countries is behind us for a spell and we can focus on the true beautiful game: club football. -Sanford

His fault...

Roman Abramovich's Tab at Nello's

2009-11-19T09:50:00.001-05:00

2010 FIFA World Cup: Line-up For The Finals

2009-11-19T09:28:00.002-05:00

Hosts South Africa

Europe England, Spain, Italy, Germany, Holland, Serbia, Slovakia, Switzerland, Denmark, Greece, Portugal, Slovenia, France

Africa Ghana, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria

Asia Japan, Australia, South Korea, North Korea

Oceania New Zealand

Concacaf United States, Mexico, Honduras

South America Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Chile, Uruguay

Interactive Guide

International Friendly: Denmark 3 - 1 United States

2009-11-19T09:19:00.002-05:00

Take one look at the scoreline from the United States' 3-1 defeat by Denmark, and it's tempting to assume that the more inexperienced elements of manager Bob Bradley's lineup were to blame. But closer inspection reveals that some veteran performers should bear most of the responsibility.

Winners and Losers

Lessons learned from Denmark and Slovakia

2010 World Cup Qualifying: France 1 - 1 Ireland

2009-11-19T07:31:00.009-05:00

Trap's dreams denied by missed chances and underhand tricks

Cascarino: Henry is an insincere cheat

Richard Williams: How Henry could have handled it all so differently

Maher: Ireland hard done by

Barclay: Lucky Domenech spared trial by video

Lee Dixon: Henry has tainted his reputation

Amy Lawrence: Trap finds no luck

Bitter Keane blasts FIFA, UEFA & Platini

Fifa rejects calls for replay after Henry handball

2010 World Cup Qualifying: Slovenia 1 - 0 Russia

2009-11-19T07:24:00.000-05:00

Slovenia reached the 2010 World Cup finals at the expense of nine-man Russia thanks to Zlatko Dedic's 44th-minute goal on a dramatic night in Maribor. Russia, who had Aleksandr Kerzhakov and Yuri Zhirkov sent off in the second half, were left to rue some poor defending and an overall disjointed performance.

Hiddink tight-lipped about future after Russia fail to qualify

2010 World Cup Qualifying: Bosnia-Herzegovina 0 - 1 Portugal

2009-11-19T07:23:00.000-05:00

Portugal belatedly secured their place at next summer's World Cup with an impressive performance in Zenica. After scraping a 1-0 win in Lisbon at the weekend with a laboured showing on home turf, Carlos Queiroz's side upped their game to close out the qualifying play-off and book a ticket to South Africa.

2010 World Cup Qualifying: Ukraine 0 - 1 Greece

2009-11-19T07:22:00.000-05:00

Dimitris Salpigidis scored the only goal as Greece clinched a place at the 2010 World Cup courtesy of a narrow victory over Ukraine at the Donbass Arena in Donetsk.

Agony for Sheva...

2010 FIFA World Cup Qualifying: Uruguay 1 - 1 Costa Rica

2009-11-19T07:21:00.003-05:00

Uruguay struggled to tame Costa Rica before booking their place in the World Cup finals with a 1-1 draw at home in the second leg of their South America/CONCACAF play-off on Wednesday. The match was held up for nearly five minutes near the end because of fighting between a Uruguay camera crew near the touchline and the Costa Rica bench amid a nervous denouement.

2010 World Cup Qualifying: Algeria 1 - 0 Egypt

2009-11-19T07:21:00.002-05:00

Algeria qualified for the World Cup for the first time since 1986 with a disciplined if patchy display, in a match as testy as it was tense. Antar Yahia's winner emphasised the commitment to attack the Algerians have shown throughout qualifying: the scorer was a right-back on a far from unusual foray. "We played good football throughout the qualifiers and we showed great fair play," said Algeria's coach, Rabah Saadane. "I want to thank the supporters – it is an immense joy to have qualified for the World Cup for them."

Twittering...Tweeting...Twitting?

2009-11-18T15:21:00.003-05:00

Forgot to mention that I'm all a twit today as the matches progress. Here's my name:

Sanfordssoccer

I think that's all you need, but I might be wrong.

-Sanford

2010 FIFA World Cup Playoff Previews

2009-11-18T09:26:00.006-05:00

Bloody hell. It finally all comes down to this. After today, we're done.

CAF
Egypt vs. Algeria
12:30 EST
Khartoum Stadium, Khartoum, Sudan
Preview
Preview II
Battle for final African spot at fever pitch

UEFA
France vs. Ireland (1-0 agg.)
3pm EST
U.S. TV: Setanta
Stade de France, Paris, France
Preview
Preview II
Ireland ready to turn belief into historic result
Last chance for Trap's plan to pay off

Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Portugal (0-1 agg.)
2:45pm EST
U.S. TV: Setanta
Bilino Polje, Zenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Preview
Preview II

Ukraine vs. Greece (0-0 agg.)
1:00pm EST
Donbass Arena, Donetsk, Ukraine
U.S. TV: ESPN2, ESPN360
Preview
Preview II

Slovenia vs. Russia (1-2 agg.)
2:45pm EST
Stadion Ljudski, Maribor, Slovenia
U.S. TV: Setanta
Preview
Preview II

Intercontinental
Uruguay vs. Costa Rica (1-0 agg.)
6pm EST
Estadio Centenario, Montevideo, Uruguay
Preview
Preview II

Top 10 Worst Players To Ever Wear The No.10 Shirt?

2009-11-18T09:23:00.001-05:00

Carlo Garganese runs down the Top 10 list of players who should never been allowed to wear the sacred No.10 shirt…

Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher risk film row

2009-11-18T09:15:00.001-05:00

Liverpool have risked a furore over a film starring Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher that portrays Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, as a whisky-guzzling drunk and Gary Neville, the club’s captain, as a rat who “hates Scousers”.

Gerrard and Carragher were joined by Rafael Benítez, the Merseyside club’s manager, at the premiere of Fifteen Minutes That Shook The World in Liverpool on Monday evening.

Samuel Eto'o rewards winning Cameroon squad with £29,000 watches

2009-11-18T09:12:00.001-05:00

The Internazionale striker Samuel Eto'o has celebrated Cameroon's qualification for next summer's World Cup in South Africa by buying every member of the squad a £29,000 watch.

Nice watch...