Box Score

The Sven Goran-Eriksson era in Mexico will kick off on August 20 with a home World Cup qualifier against Honduras. Mexico have been drawn into a tough group featuring Honduras, Canada, and Jamaica. It could be argued that all four teams would advance out of the other two groups, particularly the weak Group C. As it stand, however, only two teams will advance from the group and a few bad performances could see Mexico in some real hot water. Sven Goran-Eriksson acknowledged that Mexico has an obligation to qualify for the World Cup and hopes the Mexicans' superior ability will see them through the difficult group. Eriksson also complained about the short time he would have to work with the players before his first game, only three days. Sven has watched several of Mexico's games since signing on and will have familiarized himself with the players available to him, but the short time afforded him will no doubt provide challenges.

Myself? While I'd love to see Mexico fall short and fail to advance to the Hexagon, I am looking forward to the US handing Eriksson his first American Patented 2-0 loss.

The President of the German Football Association, Theo Zwanziger, has confirmed my suspicion that Germany was not one of the countries Sepp Blatter spoke to about hosting the 2010 World Cup should the plans for South Africa fall through. Zwanziger admitted it would be a tough ask of Germany to host the World Cup again, especially on short notice, saying, "Our country is fundamentally not ready to host the 2010 World Cup if the problems in South Africa are not resolved in time...We would be barking up the wrong tree if we tried to repeat the fantastic summer fairytale of 2006." A German Football Spokesman echoed the sentiment, "Mr Blatter has not yet contacted the DFB with regards to this and has not informed us of his intentions either." Despite Germany's fantastic performance as hosts in 2006, it wouldn't have made sense for FIFA to immediately return to them when other nations are perfectly capable. Though, the situation isn't unprecedented. FIFA asked the United States to host the 2003 Women's World Cup on short notice due to the SARS outbreak in China, this despite the fact that the US had just hosted in 1999.

An intrepid journalist today questioned Newcastle owner Mike Ashley over suspicions of his being a closet Tottenham Hotspur fan. Ashley's reaction? To affirm his undying hatred for everything blue and white. He's probably just bitter about losing out on Luka Modric. Well, rest easy Mike. You're still in charge of the hugest club in the Universe. Until the Bin Ladens take over, that is.