It wasn't the prettiest and it wasn't without controversy but South Korea's 2-0 win over Saudi Arabia in qualification for the 2010 World Cup in Riyadh was one of the team's best results in years and a seventh successive appearance at the World Cup looks a good deal closer.

It had been 19 long years since the Taeguk Warriors last defeated the Sons of the Desert in a competitive match but late goals from Lee Keun-ho, his fifth in three games for the national team, and Park Chu-young in the early hours of Thursday morning Korean Time, gave the visitors the three points. Click to continue reading...

Football eyes have been fixed on the K-league in recent weeks but Wednesday's 2010 World Cup qualifier in Saudi Arabia has been casting a large shadow over the domestic scene for weeks. Wednesday's game in Riyadh is the first big test in South Korea's bid to qualify for South Africa.

Until now, the obstacles on that road have been provided by the likes of Turkmenistan, Jordan, North Korea and UAE. Click to continue reading...

Not that they're the same player. They're not even from the same confederation. But here's what Yasser Al-Qahtani has in common with Amr Zaki: both have crazy good international goalscoring records. Zaki's is an impressive 29 goals in 44 games for Egypt, while Al-Qahtani's strike rate with Saudi Arabia is currently a ridiculous 46 goals [. Click to continue reading...

The Indonesian kids have arrived in Tashkent to prepare for the AFC Under 16s which kick off 4 October. The planned friendly in the UAE was ditched when someone discovered the coffers were dry but a game has been lined up against Saudi Arabia tomorrow.

The Indoneisans, who finished bottom of the AFF Under 16s in July, are grouped with Syria, India and South Korea. Click to continue reading...

Asia. Football is teaching me all about the Asian cities and countries. If it's Tashkent it must be Uzbekistan and THREE Canberrans, including Goulburns favourite player Chris Bush are included in the Australian Under 16 side. FFA Release below.

Qantas Joeys Head Coach Martyn Crook has selected a 23 player squad to compete at the upcoming AFC U16 Championships which will be held in Uzbekistan from 4-18 October 2008. Click to continue reading...

Group A:Singapore,Bahrain,Iran,Uzbekistan Group B:Korea Republic,India,Indonesia,Syria Group C:China,Australia,Turkmenistan,Saudi Arabia Group D:Japan,Malaysia,UAE,Yemen Our boys have been drawn alongside giants Bahrain,Iran and Uzbekistan.I think we are in the hardest group of all.The team will be training in Japan to toughen up themselves for the competition. Click to continue reading...

I'm not giving England the picture 'cause it's easy, it was actually the most compelling match-up of the day.

Holy freakin' Theo Walcott. The teenager with a hat trick, are you kidding me? Dang kid.

England 4-1 over Croatia.

Other highlights? Denmark beats Portugal. Sweden, Israel and Greece pick up much needed wins. Click to continue reading...

South Korea restarts its journey on the road to South Africa and the 2010 World Cup tonight in Shanghai. Pyongyang was supposed to be the location but the qualifier against North Korea has been moved to China as the communist authorities in the DPRK capital refused to fly the Taegukki or play the Aegukga. Click to continue reading...

UEFA
Sweden 0-0 Albania; Portugal 4-0 Malta; Hungary 0-0 Denmark; Latvia 2-1 Moldova; Israel 2-2 Switzerland; Greece 3-0 Luxembourg; Poland 1-1 Slovenia; Slovakia 2-1 No. Ireland; Wales 1-0 Azerbaijan; Germany 6-0 Liechtenstein; Turkey 2-0 Armenia; Spain 1-0 Bosnia-Herzegovina; Belgium 3-2 Estonia; Ukraine 1-0 Belarus; Croatia 3-0 Kazakhstan; England 2-0 Andorra; Lithuania 3-0 Romania; Austria 3-1 France; Serbia 2-0 Faroe Islands; Ireland 2-1 Georgia; Italy 2-1 Cyprus; Montenegro 2-2 Bulgaria; Macedonia 1-0 Scotland; Norway 2-2 Iceland. Click to continue reading...

On a busy day of World Cup 2010 qualifiers around the world, there were mixed results for teams from the British Isles. England, Wales and the Republic of Ireland all won, while Scotland and Northern Ireland lost tough matches in the heat of Eastern Europe.

England struggled to overcome the minnows of Andora 2-0 in Barcelona, Wales edged 10-man Azerbaijan 1-0 in Cardiff, and Ireland beat war-affected Georgia in neutral Mainz. Click to continue reading...

We're bad. We're worldwide.

We have 50 World Cup qualifiers Saturday, plus a handful Friday and Sunday, as we welcome Europe to the mix and start the last group stage in Asia. We even have a crucial qualifier in Oceania as New Zealand visits New Caledonia. First challenge is figuring out where New Caledonia is.

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Here at World Club Rankings, you know what we like – Club Football. Unfortunately, we will not get very much of that this weekend as almost every top domestic league in the world goes into a little hiatus for World Cup 2010 qualifiers. That means that only one club form the most recent WCR Top 25 is in action (Gremio) and the only club matches on television here in the States are MLS matches. Click to continue reading...

The most important qualifier for each region during the next week:


AFC: 9/6 - Saudi Arabia vs Iran

Three teams in Group 2 are expected to compete for the two automatic bids; they are these two and South Korea. Iran struggled a bit during the last round, waiting until the final matchday to advance. Click to continue reading...

Sam Munro and Dane Milovanovic featured in the Young Socceroos squad in the SBS tournament in Japan. Results below.

The Qantas Young Socceroos have been defeated by Argentina 0-2 in their final match of the Shizuoka Broadcasting System (SBS) Cup in Japan.

After a scoreless first half, Argentina scored midway through the second half with a well worked goal before sealing the result with a goal from the penalty spot just before full-time. Click to continue reading...

And so to the fourth and final part of our round -up of the May and June World Cup 2010 qualifiers. Today we cover the Asia and Oceania sections...

Asia

Overview
A complicated process here. In Round 1, thirty-eight teams faced each other in nineteen home-and-away matches. Of the nineteen winners, the eleven highest-ranking teams (and by that we think FIFA mean those teams that won by the biggest margins) received a bye to Round 3 while the other eight played out Round 2 as a series of four home-and-away ties. Click to continue reading...

Feeling as inspired as I do, here is a moment of inspiration courtesy of Saeed Al Owairan. He was the player for Saudi Arabia who scored one of the best goals ever in the 1994 World Cup against Belgium.
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Next months sees Indonesia host an Independence Cup competition and they really have whetted the football fans' appetite.

England are coming as are Brazil and Saudi Arabia to do battle with Benny Dollo's men. Ticket prices and match details have yet to be arranged but some domestic games will have to be rearranged. Click to continue reading...

Shamsul Maidin will be the first referee from Southeast Asia to work as referee instructor with FiFa.Three other Asians - from Saudi Arabia, Iran and Japan - will come under the Fifa referee assistance programme, launched by Fifa president Sepp Blatter last December. Shamsul and his colleagues are tasked with raising refereeing standards in South-east and [. Click to continue reading...

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Teamtalk- - Ephraim praise for Dowie regime
QPR winger Hogan Ephraim is feeling the strain of ain Dowie's regime - but is sure the squad will reap the benefit of the manager's methods.
Rangers returned to pre-season training this week with Dowie overseeing what Ephraim believes is a far more professional approach. Click to continue reading...

They are all groups of death.

Group 1 Australia Japan Uzbekistan Bahrain Qatar

In the last round, Qatar beat Iraq and Bahrain beat Japan. Finishing top two will be a mean feat and even top 3 commendable (for the playoff v New Zealand (or other Oceania?). Japan v Australia is always going to be close. Click to continue reading...

The final round of Asian World Cup qualifying has been set. The round will last from September 2008 through June 2009. Group One: Group Two: Bahrain Iran Japan Saudi Arabia Australia North Korea Uzbekistan South Korea Qatar United Arab Emirates... Click to continue reading...

Group: Australia, Japan, Uzbekistan, Qatar and Bahrain. Schedule: Uzbekistan (A), Qatar (H), Bahrain (A), Japan (A), Uzbekistan (H), Qatar (A), Bahrain (H), Japan (H) Other Group: Korea Republic, Iran, Saudi Arabia, North Korea and United Arab Emirates. Australia hasn't been handed an easy draw but it also isn't the hardest group possible either. Click to continue reading...

The two groups have been drawn for Asia's final round of World Cup Qualification. Each group has five teams with the top two from each group advancing to South Africa. The third place teams in the groups will meet in a two-legged playoff with the winner playing the champion of Oceania.
Here are the two groups:
Group A
Australia
Japan
Bahrain
Uzbekistan
Qatar

Group B
South Korea
Iran
Saudi Arabia
North Korea
UAE
Although both groups have their difficulties, it looks to me like Group B is the tougher one since three of the teams made it to Germany in 2006 (S Korea, Iran & Saudi Arabia), plus North Korea is always capable of a surprise. Click to continue reading...

Japan, Uzbekistan, Qatar and Bahrain. That's our path to South Africa 2010 World Cup.
FFA's High Performance Manager John Boultbee speaking on FoxSports seemed relatively calm, "It's a pretty even draw. It's a good thing getting Japan in one sense, there's a good rivalry and we'll all be looking forward to the last home game against Japan. Click to continue reading...

Spain 2-1 Greece
Ok, I realize that this was an essentially meaningless game, with Greece already eliminated and Spain having won the group. But I still thought it was great, for one simple reason: Xabi Alonso wearing the captain's armband for Spain. That is awesome. (Yes, I am easily pleased. Click to continue reading...

Anyone who remembers Spain v Saudi Arabia in the last World Cup will recall how positively laissez-faire the boys from the Spanish bench can be in throwaway games. Maybe it was the heat on that particular day, or maybe they had something more to prove in a seemingly no-stakes match against the already-ousted Greeks today, but it was a good game. Click to continue reading...

With the team's 3-0 victory over Thailand, Japan advanced into the 4th round of the Asian Football Confederation's qualifying stage for the 2010 World Cup. Only 4 or 5 nations from Asia will qualify for the next World Cup that will be held in South Africa.

Joining Japan in the 4th round so far are the nations: Australia, Bahrain, both Koreas, Uzbekistan, Saudi Arabia, and Iran. Click to continue reading...

Should we qualify for the next stage of the World Cup, we are seeded one. And with a little luck we could definitely miss Korea Rep (2) possibly Iran (3) and even Japan who could be seeded (5)
>so a likely scenario with a tad of luck could be Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan and Qatar or North Korea. Click to continue reading...

In a recent World Cup qualifier against Lebanon, Saudi Arabia played the Syrian nat'l anthem instead of the Lebanese.

Then after a 2-1 win, Saudi Arabia fired their Brazilian coach Helios dos Anjos despite being on the verge of advancing.

I think the heat is getting to 'em. Click to continue reading...

Another great article from SBS's Scott McIntrye. I am really enjoying his Asian articles, he has really opened my eyes to aspects of our new federation I have never considered.

Uzbekistan is a case in point, I can't say I really knew anything about this team before the Asian Cup last year and they surprised me by the quality of football they played. Click to continue reading...

Asian Player of the Year Yasser Al Qahtani claims he has turned down an offer to join Manchester City.

The Saudi Arabia striker, 25, had been on trial with Sven-Goran Eriksson's side but said in an official press conference on Saturday that he has decided to stay in his home country with Al Hilal.

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ASIAN Player of the Year and Saudi Arabia captain Yasser Al Qahtani will have a trial with Manchester City.

The 25-year-old striker arrived in Manchester with Al Hilal president Prince Mohammed Bin Faisal, with Sven-Goran Eriksson and his City coaching staff preparing to take a closer look at the player. Click to continue reading...

In an effort to better relations between the US and Afghanistan, soldiers dropped loads of balls by helicopter over the Khost province. Unfortunately, some of the balls contained the Saudi Arabian flag which just happens to incorporate the Muslim declaration of faith: "There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God." Needless to say, Muslims weren't too pleased. Click to continue reading...

It's official - the new champions of Asia are Iraq. The Final of the Asian Cup 2007 took place yesterday in Jakarta and it was a day for the underdogs who, until now, have never won the tournament.

Saudi Arabia were undoubtedly the favourites to win the competition but they rarely threatened the Iraqi goal. At the other end of the pitch, however, Iraq played to win as though their very existence depended on it. Click to continue reading...

It's official - the new champions of Asia are Iraq. The Final of the Asian Cup 2007 took place yesterday in Jakarta and it was a day for the underdogs who, until now, have never won the tournament.

Saudi Arabia were undoubtedly the favourites to win the competition but they rarely threatened the Iraqi goal. At the other end of the pitch, however, Iraq played to win as though their very existence depended on it. Click to continue reading...