Asia backs England to host World Cup

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Asia backs England to host World Cup It does appear that the ‘soccer wars’ will be heating up in the coming months before FIFA announces the winner of the bidding to host the 2018 World Cup.  The announcement will come in December, and until then the race is on.

England got a boost from Mohammed Bin Hammam, president of the Asian Football Confederation, with his comments in an article for the Premier League’s season review.

Bin Hammam praised the League’s work with the Asian soccer community, referencing coaching clinics in India and speakers from the English league who share their knowledge at AFC seminars.  He certainly gave the strong impression that he’ll cast his vote for England in December.

However, it’s going to take more than the Asian vote to land the World Cup on British soil for the first time since 1966.  Since this year’s win by Spain, the Spanish contingent, in a joint bid with Portugal, is focusing on the challenge with renewed vigour, but Russia and the U.S. are both strong contenders, and both have a lot of positives to offer in the venue department.

Depending on who you’re listening to at any given time, the odds on the favourite keep changing, and there may be even more surprises before the winner is declared.

New goal line technology delayed

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New goal line technology delayed Sepp Blatter might have indicated that football goal line technology will be debated in Wales at a football law makers meeting, but it now seems that the subject will not be discussed until October.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) technical sub-committee is due to meet on Wednesday but plans to only discuss one thing that was agreed to be on the table back in May.

Thus, the debate about the new technology will not take place until autumn.

A spokesman for the FIFA told reporters that this week will be focused on ratifying requests that have come about as a result of the assistant referees’ experiment which was started last year within the Euopra League.  The spokesman added that the formal meeting will take place in October.

In March the IFAB first rejected the idea sating that it would be too disruptive and expensive to introduce.

However, after a series of high profile incidents that occurred at the World Cup finals, the matter was once again brought to the centre of attention.  One of these events was a goal made by Frank Lampard in the game against Germany that was wrongly disallowed.

The president of FIFA had made comments that implied the debate would happen during this week even though it is now apparent that it has been pushed back.  During the World Cup, Blatter stated that it would be silly not to discuss the allowance of technology at the FA Board meeting in July.

Wrapped Up: World Cup 2010 | 4: The Semi Finals

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Ben Shires and the Wrapped Up team are back to wrap up the round in which four teams became two – the 2010 FIFA World Cup semi finals. There’s a trippy recreation of the Van Bronckhorst goal with commentary from a couple of Dutch stoners, PLUS we see why nobody would refuse an offer from Fabio Capello…

Teenage football fan shot dead for blowing vuvuzela

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Teenage football fan shot dead for blowing vuvuzela A teenage football fan was shot dead by his neighbour who was irritated at listening to him play the vuvuzela horn. Police stated that Asanda Cele, aged 14, was shot twice in the head and one time in the arm and left in the neighbour’s back garden until he was found and rushed to the hospital.

The teen’s father, Sandile Cele, claimed that Asanda was on his way home to Durban when he was shot by a resident that was known to hate the horns since they have become popular alongside the World Cup.

The boy was viewing the Bafana Bafana game from two weeks ago on video when he was killed.

His father said that his son loved watching soccer and his favourite teams were Bafana Bafana and Manchester United.

He continued to explain that he always blew his vuvuzela regardless of whether his team was winning or not.  He added that the neighbour had just moved in and was known not to like the horn which is why he thought his son was killed.

Captain Thulani Zwane the police spokesman from KwaZulu Natal force stated that the suspect was arrested on the day of the murder and formally charged.

He was then released on bail and will appear next month in front of the magistrates.

Zwane said that the man stated he thought the teen was a robber and shot at him.

The boy’s father stated that he did not believe the claim given it was not dark and the neighbour would have clearly known who he was shooting at.

Wrapped Up video guide to latest World Cup News

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Wrapped Up: World Cup is an online comedy series that wraps up each stage of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in a unique and lo-fi style.

In this episode… As Germany’s unstoppable run continues through another stage of the tournament, their manager Jogi Löw hits the streets of London to give his Fashion Löwdown. PLUS we take a look at some of Brazil’s goals courtesy of Brazilian channel El Loco Televizione…