FIFA are looking into whether this is the fastest goal in competitive football history.

The main questions being asked before the match kicks off, is, who will start up front for England? Yahoo Eurosport put up a poll the other day, and take a look at the resutlts.

So, Defoe should be starting right? I wish there was a bookies which would take bets on this NOT happening, I’d bet my whole life savings on the fact that Heskey starts. England need someone like Heskey up there, or Crouchy. Why? Because the second Croatia put any pressure on us, we’re going to be blasting the long balls ALL night. I must say, Heskey is rather good at keeping the ball up there. Defoe, on the other hand, is a whole other can of beans.

Anyway, thats it for now. I’m planning on writing my next article on why I think Owen should at least still be in the squad. C’MON ENGLAND!

Only 10 teams were competing in the Oceania zone, and have only been allotted 0.5 tickets to SA. The winner from this zone will compete with the 5th placed Asian zone team over two legs, for the ticket. The play offs are scheduled to be played on the 10th October and 14th November.

6 tickets have been allotted to the 54 participating teams in the African zone. But only 5 will be up for grabs, as one has been allotted to the host team, South Africa. Of the 53 teams, 33 have already disqualified through round of qualifying. The remaining 20 teams have been divided in five groups and the teams that finishes top will get a ticket to the 2010 finals.

North, Central American and Caribbean zones have a total of 35 teams who will compete for 3.5 tickets to SA. The top 3 finishers will get a ticket to the 2010 finals, but the 4th placed team will contest in another two legged playoff against the 5th placed team from the South American zone. The South American zone has been allotted 4.5 tickets for the 10 teams that fall into the zone. The top four finishers will qualify for the 2010 finals automatically.

A total of 53 teams are in the European zone which is allotted 13 tickets. These teams have been divided in 9 groups. 8 of these 9 groups consist of 6 teams, and the 9th group consists of 5 teams. The top 9 finishers of the 9 groups will qualify for the 2010 finals, the 2nd placed teams from the first 8 groups, will play in a two legged play off with a designated team, the winner of which will qualify for the 2010 finals. As of now only Netherlands has qualified from the European zone.

All the teams have been divided into zones according to their geographical location. So in all there are 6 zones from which the teams will advance into the 2010 finals. The 6 zones are as follows;

Africa
Asia
Europe
North, Central America and Caribbean
Oceania
South America

Each zone has been allotted different number of tickets to the finals. Asia has been provided with 4.5 tickets. This means 4 teams out of 43 teams of Asia zone will qualify for sure but the 5th team will have to play two legged play offs against the winner of Oceania zone.

Japan, Australia, Korea DPR and Korea Republic have already qualified for the 2010 finals from the Asia zone. The third placed team from both the qualifying groups of the Asia zone Saudi Arabia and Bahrain will contest in a two legged play off. The first leg will be played on 5th September in Bahrain and on 9th September the second leg will be played in Saudi Arabia. The winner will play against Oceania zone winner New Zealand over two legs. The winner will get a ticket to the 2010 finals.

Wenger also stated that, to play football the way United played against them, was a bigger crime than Eduardo’s diving. Such tactics can ruin the fun of the beautiful game, he believed. The good news for Wenger, was that his two key players, Nicklas Bendtnar and Denilson have successfully signed contracts with Arsenal. The details are not known but it is to be believed that the contracts will keep the two 21 year olds, at Emirates for at least another five years.

There was also sad news from the Manchester City camp, as they lost their best defender on the last day of the summer transfer window. The new summer arrivals forces 29 year old Richard Dunne, an Irish player, to leave the club for Aston Villa.

England were again the top spenders for the 2009 summer transfer window with a total spending of $715.1 million. Spain came second with $676.6 million, of which $355 million were spent by Real Madrid alone.

Still, the top agenda of the Executive Committee is the choice of host cities in Brazil.  At the beginning of the year, a FIFA funded inspection team, visited all seventeen cities of Brazil. Last year,  in December, the executive members came to the conclusion that the matches should be spread across twelve staidums instead of the previously decided ten. The capacity of  all potential stadiums is a minimum of 40,000 spectators.

The final match of the 2014 World Cup will be held in Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro. The stadium has the capacity to hold at least ninety thousand fans.

The cities which showed interest were: Sao Paulo, Belo Horizonte, Rio de Jaaneiro, Porto Alegre, Brasilia, Belem, Campo Grande, Cuiaba, Curitiba, Fortaleza, Florianopolis, Goania, Manaus, Natal, Recife/ Olinda (sharing a single stadium), Rio Branco and Salvdor.

Brazil won the right to host the World Cup on October 30, 2007. After 1950, this is the second time the country is the host to the World Cup, and fifth to host it twice after; Mexico, Italy, France, and Germany.

Other important topics of the agenda that will be discussed in the meeting are:

• An update on the agenda of the FIFA Congress will be given.  This will be taking place on 2nd and 3rd of June in Nassau.
• A report of the inspection tour will be submitted and also preparations for FIFA Under-17 World Cup this year in Nigeria will commence.
• Updates of the other FIFA competitions’ preparations taking place this year and also next year.
• A review of pending cases will also be made in relation to the member associations.
• Receive reports on other meetings of the committee since the last FIFA Executive Committee this year in March in Zurich.