Ukraine heat a portent of 2022 World Cup

While England
and France slugged out a draw in Donetsk, much
the same occurred two days prior some distance from the Ukraine. The
likes of James Milner appeared totally spent with temperatures
reaching 33o celsius in oppressive conditions.



On Saturday, the Australian Socceroos
played Oman in their first 2014 World Cup Qualifier. The match
was played in Oman, a hope, skip and Ashley Young

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Torres' role reduced again for Spain

The man they miss with the man whose form they miss
courtesy: worldcupblog.org


Spain manager Vicente del Bosque opted to start yesterday's match against Italy with four defenders and six midfielders. Ostensibly, Cesc Fabregas started up front – and indeed found himself forward more often than his midfield counterparts and scored his country's goal.



 It's unlikely Fabregas will start as

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Lookalike: Giorgos Karagounis

This is the kind of lookalike that could only come from a football-loving powernerd who boasts a vast familiarity with the works of deceased Gallic graphic novelists.

Greece captain Giorgos Karagounis scored the opening goal of Euro 2004, has captained his nation many times and is only four caps from becoming Greece's all-time leader in games played.  Despite advancing years, he's still the most

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Euro 2012: Easier to win than the World Cup?

Conventional wisdom suggests the
European Football Championships are harder to win than the World Cup.
There's reason behind this: despite increased familiarity with staff
and styles, all teams come from a strong FIFA confederation and this
means fewer easy wins and more Groups of Potential Fatality.



We can take a look at the final set of
FIFA World Rankings before a tournament to suggest

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Obituary: Remembering Charlie Sutton

Image: Wikimedia commons

Charlie Sutton, the only man to coach
the Western Bulldogs – née
Footscray – to an AFL
Premiership, has
died at the age of 88. A man whose life exemplified pride in
club and origin, he was born during the last of Footscray's
successful VFA years before entering the VFL. Recruited to the Dogs
from Spotswood Citizens, he embodied local and club spirit for seven
decades

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Liveblog: Rocky IV

Also known as Rocky IV: Jumping the
Shark.





Opening rehash: Eye
of the Tiger! In the first montage! The shiny
hammer/sickle and stars/stripes gloves are a really 1980s
idea, cold-war fuelled. Given that Rocky IV is notorious for it's
overt propagandist direction, there's symbolism in the hammer and
sickle glove exploding before the American one. I must admit to
missing the brassy opening,

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Graphic: The most efficient teams in Europe

Following on from our half-season efficiency studies, the following chart demonstrates the each team's offensive/defensive efficiency in a single measure and compares it across all four European leagues.

Each team's defensive stolidity is calculated by finding out how many shots they faced per goal, while offensive precision is calculated by the same means (how many shots per goal).  There's

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