Ignoring England’s ridiculous, money-spinning, injury-ravaged jaunt to Brazil; and the baffling decision to put the first friendly anyone might have given a toss about for ages firmly out of physical reach of the average fan, there are some actually important games going on this weekend.
The World Cup 2010 UEFA playoffs start tomorrow, complete with added seeding-system nonsense, as eight European teams fight it out for four of the remaining nine places. Who will take a first leg advantage?
Ireland vs France
Shots have been fired by players and diplomats alike, prior to this weekend’s marquee clash. Raymond Domenech’s job rests on the outcome, which in turn rests the surety of his centre-back pairing - currently Gallas plus ‘whoever wants a go’. This one may be closer than the French team care to admit.
You may not have much luck watching England’s World Cup Qualifier on Saturday, but our friends at Sporting Index would like to help you make some money from it…
Save for last-minute injuries, Fabio Capello is expected to field a full-strength side against Ukraine, giving spread bettors and armchair fans – not to mention Croatia manager Slaven Bilic – the hope of seeing a competitive game in England’s penultimate World Cup Qualifier. Although effectively a dead-rubber for the visitors, the partisan home following will ensure a lively encounter at the 31,000-capacity Dnipro Arena, in the country’s third-largest city, Dnipropetrovsk. The newly built stadium may not have the tradition of Ukraine’s regular home, the Olympic Stadium in Kiev – which fits over 80,000 and is currently being renovated to host the 2012 European Championships final – but it is sure to provide an intimidating atmosphere for the Three Lions’ first trip to the country, and a new challenge for Sporting Index’s football spread punters.
Watching the match will seem more like being at work than ever
As a gesture of support for online streaming, Shevchenko has changed his name to make it more ‘web’ friendly
After none of the major broadcasters could be bothered to buy the rights to England’s relatively meaningless trip to Dnipropetrovsk, the game will now be exclusively shown on the interwebnet. Sign up with one of the many sites showing the pay-per-view stream today, and you will pay £4.99, but (alcohol-fuelled) last minute subscribers will have to fork out a whopping £11.99.
Will you pay to watch the game online? Or will you watch one of the many international games available on normal TV (Russia/ Germany; Denmark; Sweden; Ireland/ Italy) instead? Let us know your opinions below…
Those who were hoping to watch England’s October 10th clash with Ukraine from the comfort of their sofa or the local public house will now find themselves crouched over a computer instead.
The Ukrainian FA appointed the rights to the game to an agency named Kentaro, who in turn did a deal with Setanta. Since their collapse, only one broadcaster has put in a bid for the rights, and it was deemed ‘very low’. In light of this, the match is set to become the first England game to be shown exclusively over the interweb for a one-off fee.
Kentaro head honcho Philipp Grothe says:
“We have spoken to every traditional UK broadcaster and currently have no offer on the table. We therefore feel the internet delivers the most viable option to deliver an important England game directly to the fans.
“It will be the first time in history that an England game has had an exclusive web broadcast.”
The game will be broadcast by internet TV specialists Perform, who happen to be the handsome devils who provide the banner adverts on this site. Just look at those lovely banner adverts promoting goods and services that will make your life better. They just look so damn clickable, don’t they?
England/Andorra, World Cup Qualifier, 8.15pm, ITV1
The Three Lions are ever-so-slight 1/200 favourites to make it seven wins out of seven in the World Cup qualifiers against an Andorra side who have never won away from home. This is how The Spoiler would line up.
We disagree with the idea of playing Gary Neville ahead of Glen Johnson, who is a yellow card away from suspension. Fabio Capello wants everyone available to face Croatia at home but we feel having players ruled out for the game after that away to Ukraine could prove just as dangerous.
The biggest talking point is who will partner Frank Lampard in midfield with Gareth Barry suspended and Michael Carrick, Owen Hargreaves and Scott
England 2/ Ukraine 1
It was far from a vintage performance, but last night England continued their 100 per cent success rate in World Cup 2010 Qualification, a feat that only Spain and Holland can also boast.
Premiership flop Andriy Schevchenko (or “ShevSHenko” as David Pleat insists) made the Three Lions regret sitting back on a one goal lead, but thankfully John Terry saved the day with his 85th minute effort.
Spoiler bonus: Wondering why Fabio’s least favourite striker celebrated with a ‘rope pull’ manoeuvre? Smithy told him to do it…
England fans have a reputation for fickleness, but the antics of the Wembley crowd must seem refreshing to Fabio Capello when compared to the actions of some supporters in his homeland: Italy fans in Bari are expected to boo Marcello Lippi, the man who won them the World Cup, tonight and cheer his predecessor Giovanni Trapattoni, the man who twice flopped in international tournaments. The reason? Lippi refused to call up their favourite son Antonio Cassano.
Capello, on the other hand, can expect a hearty applause this evening despite trying to pick even Darren Bent ahead of Michael Owen. Here’s ten stats about tonight’s game with Ukraine, courtesy of our hombres at chickendinner:
1. Both teams are unbeaten in Group 6, with England winning all four of their games. Ukraine have won two and drawn one of their three.
2. Ukraine are unbeaten in eight games and have won four consecutive away games.
3. However, they have been seen off easily on their two previous trips to England - losing 2-0 in 2000 and 3-0 in 2004.
4. Besides those two trips to England, Ukraine have played in the UK
Here’s a great spot from the handsome devils at Off The Post. At first glance, it looks like a performance by a phenomenally untalented boyband. Take a closer look at the chap who snatches a Polaroid from the lady in pink, and you will see a Ukrainian who failed to impress in the Premier League.
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