Theirry Henry handball: International Football Latest

The Republic of Ireland exited in drammatic style last night as ex-Arsenal favourite Thierry Henry handled the ball in his assist to William Gallas who equalised in extra time to make the match 1-1 in extra time.

Robbie Keane had put the Irish into the lead after 33 minutes and then Trapattoni's team came close on numerous occasions. In particular Damien Duff missed a one on one with the French 'keeper which would have got them to South Africa but it wasn't to be.

Are the Irish right to feel cheated? Well, yes but the rules of the game are that we have a referee who makes the calls with no assistance from tecnhology. So from time to time, teams will not get the result they believe they 'deserved' because of human error. Some of the player quotes show that the Irish boys feel a bit bitter and that is to be expected. However, the bit I can't stand is when people like Platini use these incidents to spring board new arguments for technology as opposed to encorporating viablity studies in the overall World Football strategy.

World Cup Latest : England 3 Belarus 0

World Cup Group 6 Qualify group result : England 3 Belarus 0

England striker Peter Crouch opened the scoring after only 4 minutes with a opportunist's tap in from a great Glen Johnson cross to put the home team 1 nil up on Wednesday 14th October. Great possession for England in the first half but Belarus looked comfortable on the ball too but struggled to push England in the final third. It has to be said that Spurs striker Peter Crouch was England's best player, making a nuisance of himself as well as providing genuine goal threat.

In the second half, it was Frank Lampard that took the opportunity to impress Capello with a free kick that was tipped over the Belarus cross bar. Aaron Lennon had his moments as gooner Theo Walcott watched on from the Wembley stands.

Sean Wright-Philips hit the second from a Frank Lampard corner with a well placed drive in the 60th minute. After an industrious game, the Man City man deserved a result from the match which was nice to see.

Glen Johnson looked good defensively as did Wayne Bridge at left back. Ben Foster also had a decent match in between the sticks which is a position not yet confirmed in terms of a starting XI.

England then got their third in the 75th minute when a long ball went to Carlton Cole who struck it nicely across the Belarus 'keeper who managed to stop it, only for the ball to fall to robotic dancer Crouchy to slot home his second of the night.

In the 86th minute James Milner hit the post and then LA Galaxy midfielder David Beckham tried to place a shot outside of the box to shave the post.

Nice solid result for England after an unfortunate sending off against the Ukraine on Saturday. Great competition for places; Crouch strengthened his bid for the 'big man' striker and also Beckham looked sharp for the last 20 mins proving that he must be in the squad if he's fit when the time comes for World Cup 2010.

Online Broacast England World Cup qualifier away match

Due to Setanta's demise, Kentaro and Perform have teamed together to broadcast Saturday's away match against the Ukraine on Saturday 10th October 2009 online via ukrainevengland.com. Perform also negotiated deals with Sun Online, Mail Online, Virgin Media and Orange to allow their visitors to pay to view the match.

If a football fan wants to watch this match, they ahve to pay a premium of £11.99 on the day or £4.99. A recent poll conducted by the BBC showed 3% of the UK would actually contemplate watching in this way. Despite the internet offering an interesting future for football consumption, this is quite a departure from terrestrial television. Not only is it pound for pound exploitation but for most people with small computer monitors this kills the social nature of watching a football match. We are in the early stages of this transition but it will be underpinned by threats of online piracy and the potential negative impact on Premier League attendance.

We all know our beloved England have already madethe World Cup 2010. However, if we hadn't have made the grade by now, surely the percentage of people cramming themselves behind their PC or laptop would have been much higher than a mere 3%. This would bring in millions of pounds of revenue and football fans would moan but in the same breath enter in their credit cards to tune in.

Football lovers, these are worrying times. We all know that the football fan is the most important stakeholder in the game but football supporters are being taken advantage of and without boycotting matches marketed in such crude ways, watching great football will just cost more and more money.

England World Cup qualifier online odds 1st April 2009

Hmmm, as an after thought I might also have a couple of first goalscorer bets, on Rooney (4/1) and Terry (18/1) first to score. You can place bets online on tonight's England match with SkyBet.com by clicking here.

Even as a Spurs fan I'll be happy to see no Darren Bent in the starting XI tomorrow evening at the Wembley stadium. He is a true professional, very likable but....in Premier League terms I can't see him ever being a 20+ goals per season forward. That's not to say he can't contribute in a high level Premier League team but in the England set up we are already assuming that Rooney overall will never be prolific (that said under Capello he has scored in 8 in 5) so can we make allowances for other low scoring strikers? Unfortunately we have to, especially with the unfortunate fitness problems that Michael Owen suffers from. So Heskey/Crouch would be ahead of Bent due to experience and possibly confidence in front of goal.

So, England 4/9 on...is it worth it? I don't realy think so. 3/1 for the draw highlights some value I think - if you fancy it, click here to bet on England's qualifier against the Ukraine.

My prediction: 0-0 bore draw, potential for Capello's first slip up.

Has the lucrative Premier League killed the international game

As a life long Spurs fan, I always feel proud when any of our players get an England call-up. When I first heard that Tottenham central defender Ledley King had been given the nod by Cappello I really was delighted for a fantastic player who has fought hard against physical limitations with his knee injury and delivered great appearances this season alongside Jonathan Woodgate. This call-up then created a bit of a mess, with King leaving training after a rant from Spurs boss Harry Redknapp. This was possibly a reaction aimed at chairman Daniel Levy who the FA allegedly approached for permission for King to train. Now, this one is tricky because of the player's physical condition but even as a Spurs fan I fail to see what the club's form has to do with him representing his country. I think that if Cappello is demanding that he is available for these matches that he is well within his rights and also operating correctly in his role as England manager. The moment he bows down to Premier League managers whinging about their key players are being over played is the moment when our international game truly dies.

Alex Ferguson clearly has no interest in England's progress in European Championship tournaments or World Cups. His attitude to it is a reflection of what is at stake in the modern game, but has how has this affected our national team's chances of winning anything?

Spain 2 England 0

European Championship holders gave a great display of total football last night with a 2-0 win against England.

Yes, it was a friendly and England did have key players missing but what was evident was the Spaniard's ability to retain possession and generate continual off-the-ball movement. Between Alonso and Xavi the England midfield were left chasing shadows at times. That said, we maintained our shape and worked hard. The 2 goals that Spain scored were down to defensive errors, with Rio Ferdinand returning to the back four you would hope that we could push teams like Spain in the 2010 World Cup.

Then there was David Beckham. Returning to the England squad from his new club AC Milan, Becks looked fitter and more focused than he has done in years. His passion for Three Lions is a great example for the whole squad and his through ball to Charlton Cole was great quality that 7 times out of 10 would lead to an England goal. This subsitute performance equalled Sir Bobby Charlton's record of 108 caps for England, in my view Beckham has proved to be an England legend that will hopefully prove this at the highest level - World Cup 2010.

England coach Fabio Capello admitted there was a lot to learn from this game, however isn't that what friendlies are for? As an England fan, I am very pleased about our development under Capello and think that this friendly will only assist this progress because it gives us the yardstick that we will need to meet in the next 18 months.

Maradona set to be named as Argentina's new coach

48 year old Diego Maradona may be confirmed as Argentina's new coach next Tuesday by the Argentina Football Association. If Maradona gets the post, then he will be travelling to the UK when Argentina play Scotland in a friendly. Argentina are struggling in their World Cup qualifying group and are currently third. Undoubtedly Maradona is a player that the Argentinian squad have idolised but the drugs ban that he had does not make him best placed to be a role model for youngsters interested in football.

Head of the Olympics Jacques Rogge has stated that London's new 2012 stadium doesn't need to have an athletics track and therefore could be used in the future for other forms of recreation. The IOC boss said: "If the best solution is to transform the track into something else then we would be in favour of that."

Tottenham's Daniel Levy said that he did consider this as a potential option for Spurs and West Ham United have been rumoured to be interested in the proposition.

Paolo Maldini looking forward to teaming up with Beckham

AC Milan veteran Paolo Maldini backs Beckham's imminent loan move to the Italian club as not just a means of keeping fit but that he is still hungry for success at the very highest level. Despite the deal being not completely signed and sealed it looks on the cards that he will be joining Kaka, Ronaldinho and other big footballing stars.

"Beckham is coming here to train, to remain in good form and to still be an important part of his national team," Maldini said.

"Milan has no reservations signing veteran players and has always taken into account the image and communication factors.

"As long as you have image and technical values together, all is well."

Beckham joins AC Milan on loan

David Beckham has agreed a loan move from LA Galaxy to AC Milan. His season in the US Major Soccer League ends this week and after being selected for the England squad in consecutive World Cup qualifiers Becks is clearly looking to boost his ftiness and club playing profile.This is a short term move as the MLS starts again in April 2009. He will join great players such as Ronaldinho, Kaka and Alexandre Pato in the AC Milan squad. AC Milan will have the option of playing Beckham in the UEFA Cup aswell as Serie A.
Beckham's club history
Manchester United - 1994 - 2003
Real Madrid - 2003 - 2007
LA Galaxy - 2007 - 2008
AC Milan - 2008 - ...

Coach Carlo Ancelotti said: "For me, it will be a pleasure. Beckham is a serious athlete, a great professional," he said. "If he'll be available for us, we'll be very happy."

2008 African players award contenders

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced that 4 premiership players - Amr Zaki, Emmanuel Adebayor, Michael Essien and Didier Drogba have been shortlisted for the 2008 African Player of the Year award.

THE CONTENDERS...

Zaki
What a year 2008 has been for Zaki. The striker scored 4 goals in the African Nations Cup in Ghana this February for Egypt in their successful defence of this trophy.

Didier Drogba
The Ivory Coast striker is a big face in the Premiership. Drogba has already won the award in 2006 and has been in the top 3 over the last 5 years. Drogba has a distinct achievement in that he is the only professional footballer to have scored in 3 League Cup finals, in 2005, 2007 and 2008.

Michael Essien
Chelsea midfielder Michael Essien finished second last year to Sevilla striker Fredi Kanoute and has made the top three for the last three years. The Ghanian midfielder is nicknamed 'the Bison' and has played for Chelsea for 3 years having moved from Lyon in 2005 for £24m.

Emmanuel Adebayor
Togo striker Adebayor is in his second season at the Emirates and made a big impression in te 2007/2008 season by coming joint second with Fernando Torres for the Premiership golden boot.

The results of the African players award will be announced in December after 53 managers of the international associations have voted.