Family of Country People, Le Nain brothers
“After an embarrassing string of results, George Burley’s reign as Scotland manager has come to an end, costing the SFA an estimated £300,000 after he recently signed a contract extension. The vast problems with Scottish football are not down to George Burley. Granted he hasn’t had the most fruitful of terms in charge, but give him some credit, he was better than Berti Vogts. The problems in Scotland are evident at all levels.” (SoccerLens)

“This is a guest post from Ben Woolhead, co-founder of the esteemed Newcastle United Blog, Black and White and Read All Over. Ben turns his attention to the ongoing furore surrounding the naming rights to St. James’ Park.” (thetwounfortunates)

“A step away from reaching the 2010 World Cup, two-time champion Uruguay has the opportunity to return to the elite of world soccer. After beating Costa Rica 1-0 in San José in the first leg of their playoff last Saturday, la Celeste knows it’s more than capable of getting the job done when the teams meet again in the return leg in Montevideo on Wednesday.” (SI)

ESPN – Nov 18

“As we reach the end of World Cup qualifying in Europe, Africa and the intercontinental play-offs, we look at each of the qualified teams and how they got there. France v Ireland | Ukraine v Greece | Bosnia v Portugal | Slovenia v Russia | Algeria v Egypt | Uruguay v Costa Rica” (ESPN)