Scissors Kick

“UEFA Champions League comprises of three qualifying rounds, a play-off round, a group stage and four knockout rounds.” (UEFA)

Standings
(UEFA)

“The murder of Sarajevo supporter Vedran Puljic in violent clashes before a premier league match between Siroki Brijeg and Sarajevo has badly shaken a country where three different nationalities – Bosnians, Serbs and Croats – live an uneasy life together.” (WorldSoccer)

“For all the concern that South Africa, the country, will not be prepared to host the 2010 World Cup, it was South Africa, the team, that took action. The Bafana Bafana fired its Brazilian coach, Joel Santana, on Monday after losing eight of its last nine games. The enthusiasm South African fans felt after the team’s one Confederations Cup victory last summer was erased many times, most recently by Iceland.” (NYT)

“Upon hearing the news I was quite calm. In fact I was quite nonchalant about the whole thing. Had England done their usual trick of struggling and plodding their way through the group stages, leaving themselves reliant on earning a point from a trip to a little known eastern European state then the game would obviously be of greater importance and the news that England’s World Cup qualifier with Ukraine is only being streamed online would be harder to swallow.” (Three Match Ban)

 
Eustache Le Sueur (1616-1655), La Nuit des noces de Tobie et Sarah
“‘There are two teams I love to see lose more than anyone else,’ a Galatasaray-supporting friend said to me the other day. ‘Real Madrid and Chelsea.’ He said it with firm conviction, and wearing a semi-smile filled with genuine relish at the very thought of such results. And for all its faults, you have to thank the Champions League for heightening one aspect of following football that can never be over-rated – the sheer joy of another team’s defeat.” (WSC)

“We received this in the ol’ inbox last week, presumably the first trailer for a documentary looking at next summer’s World Cup through a rather Michael Moore-esque lens. FIFA is constantly proving itself to be crooked and money-hungry, and we suspect this analysis of South Africa from behind the glossy, PR-heavy spin of soccer’s ruling body should prove to ruffle a few feathers. Or merely tell us what we already thought to be true. Either way, it seems to be worth a look.” (unprofessionalfoul – YouTube)

“France coach Raymond Domenech has heaped unnecessary pressure on his own players ahead of the World Cup play-off with the Republic of Ireland by referring to Giovanni Trappatoni’s team as ‘a sort of England B side’. (Examiner)