Poll: Who Will Advance From Group F in World Cup 2010

Italy holds the defending world champion and they also have four World Cup titles. Paraguay played strong due to their struggle in 2009. Slovakia has a very average showing last year and New Zealand is hungry for the title.

Italy has 16 appearances in the World Cup and has previous played in South Africa. They played in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. The team also relies on its defense and that is a good start. In 2009 they had nine wins, two losses and four draws.

Paraguay fought hard to qualify in the World Cup 2010. They had to get a good start since they struggled a lot in 2009. They had a sound defense since they never lost more than two goals. But they also never scored more than two goals in a game.

This is Slovakia’s first time to making it to the 2010 FIFA World Cup finals. As Czechoslovakia they got to the finals eight times. They are a team of hard workers and have improved every time they qualified in the World Cup.

New Zealand after 28 years will be playing in South Africa in 2010. They are even crowned Oceania champions. They are great with rugby and the highest rank in the world is 47the by their national football team. Given the data, you can have an estimate of Who Will Advance from Group F in World Cup 2010.

Amauri not playing for Brazil

The Juventus forward, Amauri has been waived a call-up by Brazil to play against Italy when the two top national sided meet head to head in the upcoming friendly match on 10th February in Emirates, London.

Amauri will soon get his national passport for Italy too and he is not sure which nationak team he will play for. That depends on the player. Meanwhile, Juventus has denied Amauri the request from Brazil football federation to let Amauri play for Brazil as they filed a request too late. Brazil wanted a replacement for the injured Luis Fabiano but they were late in requestin Juventus to let the player go. Now, Amauri can also play for the Italian team but the fans would like him to play for Brazil which is not possible now. Amauri is intop form in the Serie A. He is scoring goals every week in the league. He is  also ready for the clash against Chelsea.

Lippi gives Amauri some hope

Italian national coach has given some hope to Juventus’ Brazilian born striker Amauri, after he was snubbed by Brazil’s coach Carlos Dunga for the friendly against Italy.

Amauri has declared his intention to play for his adopted home, Italy. However, problems with his passport application have meant that Lippi has been unable to call him up for the Italian team.

Lippi assured Amauri that if his application is approved, he has a chance of playing for Italy: “When he gets his passport and he will be available for selection then I will speak about him,” Lippi told media.

“I know Amauri was not called up by Dunga, but I cannot really say anything on this, and I will only be speaking about Italian players.”

Italy play Brazil in a friendly game next month, their first meeting since the World Cup Final 1994.

Amauri still not picked by Dunga

Brazilian national coach Carlos Dunga has announced the 22 man squad for the friendly against Italy, and he has continued to ignore Juventus striker Amauri.

Earning a recall are AC Milan’s Ronaldinho and Inter’s Adriano, who has enjoyed a return to form of late. Also, Fiorentina’s Felipe Melo is a surprise inclusion, as Julio Baptista is also included as a reward for some fine performances in a Roma shirt this season.

Here is the full list of players who will be avaliable to Dunga for the game.

Goalkeepers: Julio Cesar(Inter), Alexandre Doni(Roma)

Defenders: Maicon(Inter), Daniel Alves(Barcelona), Lucio(Bayern Munich), Juan(Roma), Luisao(Benfica), Thiago Silva(Milan), Marcelo(Real Madrid)

Midfielders: Gilberto Silva(Panathinaikos), Adriano(Sevilla), Elano(Manchester City), Anderson(Manchester United), Josue(Wolfsburg), Ronaldinho(Milan), Julio Baptista(Roma), Kaka(Milan), Felipe Melo(Fiorentina)

Forwards: Robinho(Manchester City), Luis Fabiano(Sevilla), Alexandre Pato(Milan), Adriano(Inter).

Dunga spoke at the press conference about the upcoming game: “Italy are a respected opponent. The have a great tradition and great quality players. They always play decisive football too, whether it’s the world cup or a friendly.”

Domenech lashes out at Mourinho

French national coach Raymond Domenech has continued his attack on Italian football, now starting a fight with Inter Milan coach Jose Mourinho.

Domenech has previously criticized Italian football and the Serie A, and has also had a war of words with Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri, Catania and some Italian journalists. He is also remembered for his outburst after the Azzurri beat France to win the FIFA World Cup in 2006.

“Mourinho is like the British tabloids, his best strength is to provoke everything and everyone, and he doesn’t even care about himself anymore,” Domenech said. “There are always farcical situations when Mourinho is around.”

Domenech will not win many friends with these statements, as French striker David Trezeguet also had a swipe at the coach this week: “I made the decision to quit Les Bleus in order to leave my place to a player who can work with Domenech’s system. And even if everything goes well with Juventus, I believe that Domenech has other ideas.

“I had the opportunity to play under Tigana, Lippi, Ancelotti, Capello, and Deschamps. These are high-level coaches who have won titles. This is why it is difficult to accept certain decisions from someone who has won nothing.”

Buffon is the best, its official now!

Italy and Juventus goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon has been declared as the best shot-stopper of the last two decades by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics. The fedearation compiled statistics since 1990, and concluded that Buffon was the best keeper over the period.

He comes in ahead of other greats like Oliver Kahn, Peter Schmeichel and current Spanish keeper, Ike Casillas. Buffon also has the most expensive goalkeeper transfer to his name, as Juventus paid Parma 35 million euros for his services in 2001.

The complete list looks like this:

1. Gianluigi Buffon (ITA) 78 points
2. Peter Schmeichel (DEN) 69
3. Iker Casillas (SPN) 63
4. Oliver Kahn (GER) 62
5. José Luis Chilavert (PAR) 58
6. Walter Zenga (ITA) 55
7. Edwin van der Sar (HOL) 53
8. Petr Cech (CZE) 44
9. Michel Preud’homme (BEL) 43
10. Claudio André Taffarel (BRA) 40
11. David Seaman (ENG) 38
12. Fabien Barthez (FRA) 37
13. Andoni Zubizarreta (ESP) 35
. Nélson de Jesus e Silva ‘Dida’ (BRA) 35
15. Rinat Dasaev (RUS) 27
16. Sergio Javier Goycochea (ARG) 26
17. Johannes van Breukelen (HOL) 23
18. Peter Shilton (ENG) 22
. Vítor Baía (POR) 22

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