“If the auto industry can do it, why shouldn’t football? Germany and the Netherlands have been waiting for a big trophy for 16 and 24 years respectively. Both will travel to South Africa with ambitious and quality teams. Both teams have to deal with a few understrength positions too, though. So I decided to follow Uli Hoeness’ and Louis van Gaal’s example at Bayern Munich and see what a Dutch-German hybrid national team could look like and what it could achieve.” (World Cup Blog)

“In his first game after rejoining Flamengo, Adriano’s presence put an extra 50,000 on the gate. “The emperor has returned,” they chanted – and the 27-year-old striker was looking imperious from day one. His 19 goals – making him the competition’s joint-top scorer – and his all-round attacking play were vital to the Rio de Janeiro giants ending a 17-year wait to win the Brazilian Championship.” (World Soccer – Tim Vickery)

“My football team, Burridge AFC, occupy the 13th tier of the pyramid system, playing their home games a punted clearance away from the River Hamble in the senior division of the Drew Smith Group Southampton League. The consistent absence of spectators leaves referees to tolerate various degrees of abuse alone. I haven’t always been nice to them myself. I followed one off the pitch after the final whistle of a game with Ordnance Survey Reserves, to continue remonstrating about his decision to give Survey a late penalty, but a brisk step suggested his main concern was getting to the sanctuary of his dressing room rather than repeat the answer he’d given me several minutes earlier.” (WSC)

“With the World Cup nearing, 2010 will be South Africa’s year. The self-proclaimed Rainbow Nation will receive a rainbow crowd of visitors, the largest and most diverse group of tourists in its history. The spotlight on the country’s progress since apartheid will be more intense than ever. The World Cup host, President Jacob Zuma, will bring Britain his message of success with a state visit here in March. Eight months in office, he has surprised his critics. He is more accessible to ordinary South Africans than his aloof predecessor, Thabo Mbeki. He is more willing to listen to colleagues than Nelson Mandela who, according to former ministers, could be brutal in cabinet, shutting speakers up by saying he had already taken his decision.” (Guardian)

“When Arsene Wenger was appointed Arsenal manager back in 1996, the London Evening Standard ran a headline that said ‘Arsene Who?’ ‘Right away they told me I would never win anything, not just because I was unknown, but because I was a foreigner,’ Mr. Wenger later recalled. ‘The papers were full of articles illustrating exactly why a foreigner would never win the Premiership.'” (WSJ)

“Financial and football journalism have long been distant cousins. And since the formation of the Premier League in 1992, that has largely not mattered. This year, however, it has. Give or take a Norman Lamont-inspired week or two during its inaugural season, the Premier League has lived through economic boom times allied with a bottomless pit of broadcast revenue from that bottomless pit of broadcast evil, Rupert Murdoch. The burning monetary question for most fans has been ‘what comes after billion?’” (twohundredpercent)