French national team before deciding
not to practice on Sunday in Knysna
(REUTERS/Charles Platiau)

I think we can all agree that the French national team have gone through a meltdown.  What was funnier was seeing (and imaging) the US media covering the World Cup having to deal with the international media outlets.

I guess you can call it culture shock.  It is a clash between the really inhibited US media and the more liberated European model.

When these two collide, the aftermath is comedy gold.   Ok, you have to use your illusion so you just think what producers and staff are doing behind the scenes.

I guess I should show you the video.  You can come to your own conclusions and let me know what you think.

Coverage of French debacle

VS.
The second match of the opening day of the 2010 FIFA World Cup featured the other teams from Group A and two former champions as Uruguay battled France 0-0 in a tough, hard-fought match.
(MEXSPORT/ETZEL ESPINOSA Photo via Newscom)

The French controlled the possession throughout the first half, Les Blues started dangerously in the seventh minute when Franck Ribery centered a pass from the left to Lyon forward Sidney Govou which Govou deflected wide past Uruguay keeper Fernando Muslera. In the 18th minute, Yoann Gourcuff almost surprised Muslera with a curling free kick from 20 meters outside the left side of the box but Muslera did well to knock the ball out.

Uruguay's best chance in the first half came in the 16th minute when star striker Diego Forlan got the ball on the left side of the box, cut inside his marker and blasted a tricky shot that was well handled by French keeper Hugo Lloris.

The second half started much the same as the first half with the difference being a better organized and tighter Uruguayan defense. France midfielder Jeremy Toulalan blasted a low, grass-cutting shot from outside the box in the 55th minute that was easily saved by Muslera.

Uruguay did manage to put some pressure on the French defense with Forlan making the noise. In the 63rd minute, the Atletico Madrid striker bent a freekick that was just missed by second-half sub Nicolas Lodeiro and controlled by Lloris. In the 72nd minute, Uruguayan midfielder Alvaro Pereira threw a ball into the box to Luis Suarez who fought off his marker and found Forlan open in the box, but Forlan's one-time blast went wide.

Nine minutes later, Lodeiro got his second yellow card and was expelled after a bad cleats-up tackle that caught French defender Bakary Sagna on the ankle. Lodeiro played only 18 minutes and left Uruguay with 10 men for the last nine minutes of the match, but France could not capitalize.

In the 89th minute with France attacking there was a scramble in the box in which second-half French sub Thierry Henry shot toward goal. The ball appeared to have deflected off the arm of Uruguay defender Mauricio Victorino but it was unintentional and Japanese official Yuichi Nishimura silenced his whistle and play continued to its scoreless end.

Group A play continues for Uruguay on the 16th when they face South Africa in Tshwane/Pretoria and France looks to get three points from Mexico on the 17th in Polokwane.

Click here to see FIFA's official match report

Uruguay vs. France - Match Wrap

The day we've all been waiting for is finally here. The World Cup kicked off in South Africa on Friday with the inaugural game between the hosts and Mexico ended in a 1-1. That match will be followed by Uruguay vs France at the Green Point Stadium in Cape Town and it promises to be just as exciting as opening match.

Oscar Washington Tabarez already announced the starting lineup for the Celestes, who will look for just their second win a World Cup match since 1970. Uruguay will play in 3-4-1-2 formation and will lineup Muslera; Lugano, Godin, Victorino; Perez, Alvaro Periera, Arevalo Rios, Ignacio Gonzalez, Maxi Pereira, Diego Forlan, and Luis Suarez.

Uruguay has a powerful tandem at the forward position with Atletico Madrid star Diego Forlan, who won the European Golden Shoe award in 2009, and Ajax's Luis Suarez, who was the highest goal scorer in the world this past season according to the IFFHS.

France, meanwhile, heads into the World Cup with much uncertainty after looking flat in recent international exhibition matches. The 1998 world champions, however, have one of the world's best players in Frank Ribery leading their attack. Ribery will have Chelsea striker Nikolas Anelka next to him in the middle while Lyon’s Sidney Govou will be on the left. You also can’t ignore the fact that Thierry Henry is on the bench although conditioning issues have been a concern for the Barcelona striker.

Both of these sides met in the 2002 World Cup with the match ended in a scoreless draw.

France’s probable lineup: Lloris; Sagna, Gallas, Abidal, Evra (c); Gourcuff, Toulalan, Malouda; Govou, Anelka, Ribéry

URUGUAY - FRANCE PREVIEW

It took 105 minutes for Paris-St. Germain to score the only goal of the match against Monaco in the Coupe de France final.

Claude Makélélé fed Christophe Jallet and the ensuing shot was saved by Stephane Ruffier. Fortunately for the Parisian Guillaume Hoarau pounced on the rebound and headed the ball into the empty net.

For PSG this is their eighth Coupe de France title and their first piece of silverware since they won League Cup (equlvalent to the Carling Cup ) back in 2008.

PSG win French Cup in dramatic fashion over Monaco

With the 2010 FIFA World Cup just a few weeks away, its time to breakdown the 32 teams that will be participating in The Great Tournament. Next up is the European nation of France.

Official Name: Fédération Française de Football


Nickname: Les Bleus

FIFA Confederation: UEFA (Europe)

FIFA Code: FRA

How They Qualified: Def. Ireland 2-1 agg. extra time in UEFA playoff.

World Cup Appearances (Including 2010): 13

Best WC Finish: Champions, France 1998

World Cup Record (MP: Wins - Draws - Losses): 51: 25W - 10D - 16L

Head Coach: Raymond Domenech

Most Capped Player (# of caps): Lilian Thuram (142)

All-Time Goal Scoring Leader (# of goals): Thierry Henry (51)

Brief Footballing History:
The French were perpetual underachievers until their 1998 World Cup title when Les Blues lifted the trophy on home soil. Great players like Just Fontaine, Raymond Kopa, Michel Platini, and Eric Cantona couldn't get France the World Cup trophy. It was the genius of Zinedine Zidane and his 2 goals in the '98 Final against Brazil that finally took France into the realm of champions.

France is one of 2 nations to have a World Cup trophy, Confederations Cup trophy, and Olympic Gold Medal, the other is Argentina. 1998-2003 was the Golden Age of French football, having captured a World Cup, a European Championship, and 2 Confederations Cups. In the last 15 years, only Brazil has more major international tournament hardware than the French.

Player To Watch:
France is rich with talent and there are a number of well known players to keep an eye on but Yoann Gourcuff is the present and future of the French attack.


Purepeople.com

The 23-year old playmaker played a massive part in Bordeaux breaking Lyon's 7-year hold on the Ligue 1 championship. The former AC Milan prospect has found a home with Bordeaux and has flourished in the system of his club coach, Laurent Blanc. Gourcuff has the talent to be the next in the line of great French midfield maestros.

Outlook:
France's controversial qualification for this World Cup has cast a lot of doubt about the quality of this team and more so the abilities of coach Raymond Domenech. How Domenech has managed to stay in his post is one of modern football's great mysteries.

There will be no Zidane in this tournament so Domenech will have to institute a total team effort for the French to duplicate their run to the final in 2006. France has the most talented team in the group but talent alone does not win matches.

Final 23-Man WC Roster:
Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Lyon), Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Cedric Carrasso (Bordeaux)

Defenders: William Gallas (Arsenal/ENG), Eric Abidal (Barcelona/ESP), Bakary Sagna (Arsenal/ENG), Patrice Evra (Manchester United/ENG), Gael Clichy (Arsenal/ENG), Marc Planus (Bordeaux), Anthony Reveillere (Lyon), Sebastien Squillaci (Sevilla/ESP)

Midfielders: Abou Diaby (Arsenal/ENG), Alou Diarra (Bordeaux), Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), Florent Malouda (Chelsea/ENG), Jeremy Toulalan (Lyon)

Strikers: Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea/ENG), Djibril Cisse (Panathinaikos/GRE), Andre-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse), Sidney Govou (Lyon), Thierry Henry (Barcelona/ESP), Franck Ribery (Bayern Munich/GER), Mathieu Valbuena (Marseille)

WC Group Schedule:
June 11 vs. Uruguay
June 17 vs. México
June 22 vs. South Africa

That concludes the Group A Teams, next up are the teams in Group B

France - WC Team Breakdown

France's Ligue 1 is in full effect and its hottest team is Olympique Lyonnais. Brazilian playmaker Michel Bastos scored the game winner in Lyon's 1-0 home win against Lorient. Claude Puel's team have won 4 straight matches to move into 2nd place behind Bordeaux on goal differential. Lyon have been doing it with defense allowing only 1 goal during their winning streak.

Ligue 1's next hottest team is the surprise side of the league, Montpellier. Argentine midfielder Alberto Costa scored his team leading 3rd goal by converting a PK in the 39th minute to give Montpellier a 1-0 home win. La Paillade have won 3 straight shutting out their opponents in each of their victories as they have ascended into 3rd place.

Monaco ended PSG's 3 game winning streak with a 2-0 home win over the Parisians. The game was headed for a 0-0 score until the 85th minute when South Korean forward Park Chu-Young put Monaco in the lead and then 3 minutes later Nenê finished PSG with Monaco's 2nd goal. PSG fell to 5th place while Monaco climbed to 7th place in the standings.

Here are the results and standings from 5ème Journée:

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 12

Lyon 1 - 0 Lorient
LYO: Michel Bastos (72')

Montpellier 1 - 0 Lens
MON: Alberto Costa (pen 39')

Le Mans 1 - 2 Marseille
LMN: Modibo Maiga (61')
MAR: Mamadou Niang (14') & Brandao (69')

AS Nancy 0 - 0 Toulouse

Valenciennes 1 - 1 Boulogne
VAL: Grégory Pujol (75')
BOU: Daniel Moreira (83')

Lille 1 - 0 Sochaux
LIL: Pierre-Alain Frau (71')

Bordeaux 1 - 0 Grenoble
BOR: Yoan Gouffran (18')

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 13

AJ Auxerre 2 - 0 Nice
AUX: Cedric Hengbart (30') & Daniel Niculae (78')

Stade Rennes 1 - 0 St Etienne
REN: Sylvain Marveaux (62')

AS Monaco 2 - 0 Paris Saint-Germain
MON: Park Chu-Young (85') & Nenê (88')

STANDINGS

French Ligue 1 Wrap - Round 5

The 4th matchday of France highest level of club football featured a matchup of the top two teams from last season. Last season's runner-up Olympique Marseille hosted champions Girondins Bordeaux. It was a back and forth affair that ended up in a 0-0 draw at Marseille's Stade Velodrome. Both sides remained unbeaten on the season as Bordeaux stayed on top of the standings.

PSG moved into 2nd place with their 3-0 home win against Lille. Jeremy Clement scored his 1st goal of the season as PSG extended their winning streak to 3 games and sent last season's 5th place team down into the relegation zone.

Lyon remained unbeaten on the season as they notched their 3rd straight win with a 3-1 home win against AS Nancy. Lyon's new 3 headed attacking force of Bafetimbi Gomis, Lisandro Lopez, and Michel Bastos each scored to give Lyon its 2nd straight match of 3 goals scored and a 3rd place position in the standings.

The surprise of Ligue 1 so far has been newly promoted Montpellier. Last season's Ligue 2 runners-up are in 4th place after their 3-0 road win against Nice. Geoffrey Dernis, Victor Hugo Montano, Lilian Compan each scored their 1st goals of the season as Montpellier stayed unbeaten and have yet to be shutout this season.

Here are the results & standings from 4eme Journée:

SATURDAY, AUGUST 29

Lens 2 - 2 Stade Rennes
LEN: Yohan Demont (pen 21') & Issam Jemaa (72')
STR: Ismael Bangoura (4') & Asamoah Gyan (90'+2')

Sochaux 1 - 0 AS Monaco
SOC: Vaclav Sverkos (pen 20')

Lorient 1 - 0 Le Mans
LOR: Marama Vahirua (63')

St Etienne 1 - 0 Grenoble
STE: Christophe Landrin (23')

Nice 0 - 3 Montpellier
MON: Geoffrey Dernis (4'), Victor Hugo Montano (49'), Lilian Compan (77')

Boulogne 0 - 0 AJ Auxerre

Lyon 3 - 1 AS Nancy
LYO: Bafetimbi Gomis (37'), Lisandro (49'), Michel Bastos (67')
NAN: Youssouf Hadji (57')

SUNDAY, AUGUST 30
Paris Saint-Germain 3 - 0 Lille
PSG: Jeremy Clement (27'), Pegguy Luyindula (78'), Christophe Jallet (90'+1')

Toulouse 0 - 1 Valenciennes
VAL: Mamadou Samassa (87')

Marseille 0 - 0 Bordeaux

STANDINGS

French Ligue 1 Wrap - Round 4

There is a surprise leader early in the 09-10 French Ligue 1 season. AS Nancy has been on fire offensively in rising to the top of the Ligue 1 standings. This week, AS Nancy defeated Monaco 4-0 in their home opener at Stade Marcel Picot. Cameroonian forward Paul Alo'o Efoulou scored twice to stand out in the win. That's 7 goals scored to only 1 allowed to open the season for Nancy.

No suprise in who is tied for 1st with AS Nancy, its defending champions Bordeaux. Moroccan forward Marouane Chamakh's 2 goals cancelled out 2 goals from Sochaux's American striker Charlie Davies as Gerardo Wendel's goal in the 42nd minute proved to be the difference as Laurent Blanc's men remained perfect this season.

Last year's surprise team, Toulouse bounced back from a disappointing loss to defeat St. Etienne 3-1 in their home opener. Last season's leading goal scorer André-Pierre Gignac scored his 1st of the season to highlight Toulouse's first win of the season.

Here are the results & standings from 2ème Journée:

SATURDAY, AUGUST 15

Paris Saint-Germain 3 - 1 Le Mans
PSG: Mevlüt Erding (34'), Frederic Thomas (og 60'), Ludovic Giuly (83')
LEM: Thorstein Helstad (21')

Lens 2 - 0 AJ Auxerre
LEN: Kevin Monnet Paquet (14') & Abdoulrazak Boukari (59')

Lyon 1 - 0 Valenciennes
LYO: Bafetimbi Gomis (37')

Sochaux 2 - 3 Bordeaux
SOC: Charlie Desmond Davies (59' & 90')
BOR: Marouane Chamakh (31 & 80') & Geraldo Wendel (42')

Lorient 2 - 2 Montpellier
LOR: Kevin Gameiro (69') & Laurent Koscielny (90'+ 3')
MTP: Alberto Costa (60') & Emir Spahic (67')

AS Nancy Lorraine 4 - 0 AS Monaco
NAN: Issiar Dia (31'), Andre Luiz (pen 42'), Alo'o Efoulou (49' & 80')

Toulouse 3 - 1 St. Etienne
TFC: Paulo Machado (10'), André-Pierre Gignac (66'), Moussa Sissoko (80')
STE: Emmanuel Riviere (25')

SUNDAY, AUGUST 16

Boulogne 2 - 1 Grenoble
BOU: Gregory Thil (34' & 38')
GRE: Danijel Ljuboja (46')

Nice 1 - 1 Stade Rennes
NIC: Chaouki Ben Saada (44')
STR: Asamoah (pen 45')

Marseille 1 - 0 Lille
MAR: Brandao (11')

STANDINGS

French Ligue 1 Wrap - Round 2

Ladies & gentlemen in an attempt to expand Mad About Futbol's reach we are going to start giving you roundups of the France's Ligue 1. France's top league of football is one of the most important in the world and deserves more attention than it currently receives. Therefore, MAF will give you a weekly roundup of Ligue 1 including the scores & standings from the most recent round.

The defending champions, Bordeaux got off to an impressive start with their smashing 4-1 home win over 08-09 Ligue 2 champions Lens. Yohan Gourcuff scored twice to lead the France's best club side the 3 points as they gave Lens a harsh introduction into 1st division football.

Last year's runners-up Marseille started the their campaign strong as well with a 2-0 road win over Grenoble. Senegalese forward and Marseille captain Mamadou Niang opened the scoring for l'OM in the 2nd minute and Benoît Cheyrou scored late in the 2nd half to give new coach Didier Deschamps an important 3 points to the start of the season.

As for Lyon, the former 7-straight titlists, they needed a 2nd half injury time goals from newly acquired Argentine forward Lisandro Lopez to salvage a 1-1 road draw against Le Mans.

Here are the results & standings from 1ère Journée:

SATURDAY, AUGUST 8, 2009

AS Monaco 1 - 0 Toulouse
MON: Anderson Luiz Nené (43')

AJ Auxerre 0 - 1 Sochaux
SOC: Vaclav Sverkos (40')

Montpellier 1 - 1 Paris Saint-Germain
MON: Emir Spahic (90'+4')
PSG: Ludovic Giuly (71')

Stade Rennes 3 - 0 Boulogne
STR: Ismael Bangoura (7'), Abdou Mangane (45'), Jerome Leroy (90'+1')

St. Etienne 0 - 2 Nice
NIC: Mahamane Traore (39') & Loïc Remy (87')

Le Mans 2 - 2 Lyon
LEM: Modibo Maiga (20') & Mathieu Coutadeur (pen 59')
LYO: Mathieu Bodmer (28') & Lisandro López (90')

Grenoble 0 - 2 Marseille
MAR: Mamadou Niang (2') & Benoit Cheyrou (81')

Valenciennes 1 - 3 AS Nancy Lorraine
VAL: Mamadou Samassa (9')
ASN: Julien Féret (17'), Jonathan Brison (60'), Bakaye Traore (pen 71')

SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, 2009

Lille 1 - 2 Lorient
LLE: Olivier Monterubbio (og 66')
LOR: Kevin Gameiro (33') & Marama Vahirua (52')

Bordeaux 4 - 1 Lens
BOR: Wendel (12'), Yoann Gourcuff (54', 90'+3'), Marouane Chamakh (90'+2')
LEN: Issam Jemaa (40')

STANDINGS

French Ligue 1 Wrap - Round 1

The 2008-09 season was the end of Lyon's dynasty with their 3rd place finish in Ligue 1. Maybe a new jersey will get them back on the title winning track as Umbro has released the new Lyon home & away jersey for the 2009-10 season.The big difference with the home jersey is the horizontal blue & red stripe as opposed to the vertical stripe pattern from the 08-09 kit. The horizontal stripe looks like its underlining Novotel's sponsorship logo and Apicil's logo in the upper left corner under the Umbro logo looks too crowded. Lyon's color scheme makes up for the crowded sponsorship on the top part of the jersey so that the home jersey still looks good but they should have kept the vertical stripe.

The road jersey has that rising red color that blends into the traditional road black on the top. Its much different from the solid black road jersey from 2008-09. The outlined Lyon logo on the upper right corner looks like the press operator forgot to add the Lyon colors to the machine. However, its a unique design and it works with black color scheme of the upper part of the shirt.

Overall, Lyon's new 2009-10 kit is still one of the Top 5 best looking kits in Ligue 1. You can check out more new 2009-10 jersey here.

2009-10 Lyon Kit

Franck Ribéry scores for FC Bayern and celebrates his triumph. Are Real Madrid still hot on the heels of French international Franck Ribéry? Well according to presidential advisor Zinedine Zidane who spoke with Le Parisen they are, “I am not in Madrid at the moment, but there are meetings being held at the moment regarding this matter. The negotiations are on the right track,”

“I am all for Ribéry joining Madrid and I will do everything to make it possible.”

The following is a short video of the scoring genius of Frenchman Ribéry while at his current club Bayern. Rumour in Spain is if-ee on the Franck leaving Baryern for Real Madrid but one can still hope Florentino Perez waves his magic wand and presto one Franck Ribery enters the Primera.

The Genius Of Franck Ribery Will We See It In Spain?

June signifies the end of the busiest part of the football season, we at Mad About Fútbol would like to salute & list some of the newly crowned champions from recently ended tournaments. Congratulations to you that support these great clubs.

DOMESTIC LEAGUES

FRENCH LIGUE 1
Football Club des Girondins de Bordeaux

ENGLAND PREMIERSHIP
Manchester United Football Club

ITALIAN SERIE A
Football Club Internazionale Milano

SPANISH LA LIGA
Futbol Club Barcelona

GERMAN BUNDESLIGA
Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg-Fußball GmbH

DUTCH EREDIVISIE
Alkmaar Zaanstreek

SCOTLAND PREMIER LEAGUE
Rangers Football Club

PORTUGUESE LIGA
Futebol Clube do Porto

TURKISH SUPER LIG
Beşiktaş Jimnastik Kulübü

GREEK SUPER LEAGUE
Olympiacos F.C.

MEXICAN TORNEO CLAUSURA
Club Universidad Nacional Pumas

INTERNATIONAL CLUB TOURNAMENTS

UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Futbol Club Barcelona (ESP)

UEFA CUP
FC Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)

UEFA SUPER CUP
Football Club Zenit Saint Petersburg (RUS)

CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Atlante Fútbol Club (MEX)

CAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Al-Ahly Sporting Club (EGY)

AFC CHAMPIONS LEAGUE
Gamba Osaka (JPN)

COPA LIBERTADORES
Liga Deportiva Universitaria de Quito (ECU)

COPA SUDAMERICANA
Sport Club Internacional (BRA)

RECOPA SUDAMERICANA
Club Atlético Boca Juniors (ARG)

FIFA CLUB WORLD CUP
Manchester United Football Club (ENG)

While the summer isnt the busiest time of the footballing calendar its still loaded with action from MLS, Brazilian Championship, World Cup Qualifiers, Copa Libertadores, Confederations Cup, CONCACAF Gold Cup and some exciting local tournaments from some of the lesser known footballing nations. Keep logging on to Mad About Fútbol to get latest info.

Roll Call Of Champions: 2008-09

French coach Raymond Domenech named his squad for the February 11th friendly versus Argentina in Marseille. The big news is the surprise call up of Toulouse keeper, Cédric Carrasso. He has been a part of Toulouse's surprise 6th place standing and is the key component of a defense that is the 2nd stingiest in France's Ligue 1. Carrasso will be the 3rd keeper.

Les Bleus have been hit hard with injuries as Manchester United's Patrice Evra, Inter's Patrick Vieira, Lyon's Sidney Govou, and Arsenal's Mickael Silvestre are all out for the match. Also missing from the squad are the top 2 scorers in Ligue 1. Toulouse's André-Pierre Gignac & PSG's Guillaume Hoarau. Both of them have 13 goals on the season and were overlooked in favor of Rennes' Jimmy Briand & Milan loaner Yoann Gourcuff of Bordeaux. Here is the complete squad:

Goalkeepers: Steve Mandanda (Marseille), Hugo Lloris (Lyon), Cédric Carrasso (Toulouse)

Defenders: Eric Abidal (FC Barcelona/ESP), Gaël Clichy (Arsenal/ENG), Julien Escudé (FC Sévilla/ESP), Rod Fanni (Rennes), William Gallas (Arsenal/ENG), Philippe Mexès (AS Roma/ITA), Bacary Sagna (Arsenal/ENG), Sébastien Squillaci (FC Sévilla/ESP).

Midfielders: Alou Diarra (Bordeaux), Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid/ESP), Jérémy Toulalan (Lyon).

Forwards: Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea/ENG), Karim Benzema (Lyon), Jimmy Briand (Rennes), Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), Thierry Henry (FC Barcelona/ESP), Samir Nasri (Arsenal/ENG), Franck Ribéry (Bayern Munich/GER).

France Squad Named For Argentina Friendly

Diego Maradona called up 22 players for his upcoming friendly against France. Five players that earn their bacon in Spain were called up by El Diego. As promised, Lio Messi was part of that list. Gabriel Heinze and Fernando Gago were the two players that were called up from Real Madrid and Maxi Rodríguez and Sergio Agüero for Atlético.

Former Mallorca man Jonás Gutiérrez came back to the Argentine lineup.

The biggest surprise of the list was the return after a two-year absence of former Real Madrid defender Walter Samuel. After a long streak of injuries and instability defending the Inter backline, Samuel has once against earned an opportunity to wear the Albiceleste.

Argentina Callup

Goalkeepers: Juan Pablo Carrizo (Lazio-Ita), Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar-Ned)

Defenders: Javier Zanetti (Inter-Ita), Martin Demichelis (Bayern Munich-Ger), Gabriel Heinze (Real Madrid-Esp), Daniel Díaz (Getafe-Esp), Nicolás Burdisso (Inter-Italia), Walter Samuel (Inter-Italia), Javier Mascherano (Liverpool-Eng), Fernando Gago (Real Madrid-Esp), Maximiliano Rodríguez (Atlético Madrid-Esp), Jonás Gutiérrez (Newcastle-Eng), Luis González (Porto-Por)

Forwards:Lionel Messi (Barcelona-Esp), Sergio Agüero (Atlétic Madrid-Esp), Carlos Tevez (Manchester United-Eng), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli-Ita), Lisandro López (Porto-Por), Germán Denis (Napoli-Ita), Ángel Di María (Benfica- Por).

Maradona Divulges Call-Up List

The Top 5 Things Learned From The Previous Round of WC Qualifying:

GHANA ON THE BRINK

The Black Stars could be out of qualifying. In Group 5 of Round 2 WC African Qualifying, Ghana sits in 3rd place behind 1st place Libya and 2nd place Gabon only trailing Gabon on goal differential. Their talisman Michael Essien is out for that last crucial match vs. Lesotho and they will have to produce at least a 3 goal victory margin in that game to have a shot of advancing to the next stage. Let’s hope they go through cause they are arguably the most talented team in Africa and fun to watch.

DOMENECH HAS TO GO

Why does this man still have employment? What has he done to earn his continued place as national team coach of France? Let’s see. France looked horrible in Euro 2008, they have been erratic at best in matches following the Zidane embarrassment of the ’06 WC Final. He’s consistently left off the team arguably the best French striker right now in David Trezeguet deciding on Nicolas Anelka instead and they just got whipped 3-1 by AUSTRIA. With all the talent France has they should not be losing to AUSTRIA. Les Bleus need to bring back Aime Jacquet.

PARAGUAY IS THE BEST TEAM IN SOUTH AMERICA, RIGHT NOW

La Albirroja has been the most consistent team in FIFA’s toughest qualifying region. Paraguay has 5 players that have scored at least 2 goals meaning that there isn’t one person to key on. That makes them more dangerous offensively than supposedly more dangerous offensive sides like Brazil and Argentina. By the way, results vs. South America’s 2 Giants: 1-1 draw vs. Argentina in Buenos Aires and a 2-0 win vs. Brazil in Asuncion. Impressive, if Paraguay’s key players can avoid injury over the next months, Paraguay will not only make it to The Great Tournament but will be a serious contender for the title.

NO CARIBBEAN RIDDIMS IN SOUTH AFRICA

This one hurts the most because of my roots in the Caribbean and my desire to see a Caribbean nation progress deep into the World Cup. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look good for the Caribbean nations in CONCACAF. The Caribbean Champions, Haiti have 1 point after 3 matches and a –7 goal differential and tragically a lot more on their minds than football. Jamaica just fired its coach after only 1 point and a –6 goal differential. Cuba has 0 points. Trinidad & Tobago are the last hope. The Soca Warriors have 4 points and are tied with Guatemala for 2nd in Group 1. I think us Caribbean folk will have to wait till Brazil 2014. At least we got Usain Bolt.

SEPP BLATTER IS THE SHIZZLE!!!!

FIFA President, Sepp Blatter announced that all workers would get two free tickets to a WC match at the stadium they are working on. That is FREAKING SWEEET!!! (To quote Peter Griffin). If I didn’t have a job, I would find my way to South Africa and get me a job at Ellis Park or any of those stadiums. I can install the toilets for all I care. I will deal with sewage pipes for some free WC tickets.

Mad About Fútbol Top 5: #1