Start practising for the World Cup!

Get in the mood of the upcoming World Cup 2010 by playing 010 World Cup Prep. You stand towards the goal and attempt to score by a header, ground shot or a volley. I am expecting plenty of that in this highly anticipated tournament! We might as well start getting practising already! There are many other addictive flash games available to play there too! Give it a shot! (Pun intended)

The World Cup Draw is Here!

The draw for the World Cup has just finished in Cape Town and all the games, locations are set! The World Cup is just around the corner.

Hosts South Africa have a tough group and England will be more than happy. In all likelihood, Fabio Capello is possibly one of the happier managers after the draw. There is no real stand out group and overall, it is set up for a very exciting tournament but not many teams, even England, will fancy they are going to win their group. Maybe, just Brazil.

All the footie stats you wanted in one site!

Just came across this neat site (My football Facts.com - Link is on the right) which I have to say contains football statistics in a very user friendly interface. Whether it is to know the latest score of a Super Sunday Premier League Clash (Chelsea V Man Utd that just passed us), or a brief analysis of legends of the beautiful game.

The likes of the former talismatic Brazilian defender Cafu or even the "Gentle Giant" John Charles, who is Wales' greatest player all have a story to tell in their brief but influential footballing careers. I was mesmerised even by players who I have never heard of and was appealed by the information of all the unsung heroes that the world may not even be aware of.

I was also struck by the sheer amount of data of the majority of domestic footballing leagues in the world. My best friend supports Benfica and as a Brit, the only awareness I have of Benfica is when they have qualified for the Champions League. I was easily able to access where they were positioned in the Portuguese League and can keep myself updated whatever their status is.

A highly recommended site indeed!

Multiplayer football management, with a difference!

Simsoc Web Soccer Game is a free online football management game in which you control one or more clubs in soccer tournaments based on scenarios from England, Spain, Italy, the World Cup and other great football leagues.

You do this by selecting your team - I picked Manchester United when I had a go (no booing please!). Once you have done that, you can research the opposition, trade players within the transfer window and add strength and depth to your side by customisation. Much like the popular console football games like PES and FIFA, I was able to select my formation, tweak defensive rate and position my players how I wanted them to!

My favourite aspect of the game is the ability to sign yourself in as a star player for your selected team! Imagine playing alongside living legends of the game, or even representing your favourite side for glory, no matter how big or small they are!

But the icing on the cake is to watch the match highlights in 3D in the free Soccer Game Viewer! This added a lot of excitement and rewards you with a visual of your victory (or loss)! Either way, I thoroughly enjoyed this free online football management game and I certainly recommend it to football fans worldwide!

Youngest football manager takes charge of 'world's worst team'

Paul Watson, 25, is the coach of the tiny Pacific island of Pohnpei, which boasts a population of 34,000 - less than half the capacity of Wembley Stadium.

Their national football team has never won a game and the closest they have come to victory was losing 5-4 on penalties to rival island Yap.

However, despite a recent 16-1 thrashing at the hands of Guam, sports writer Paul and his student friend Matthew Conrad, also 25, believe they can turn things around.

The pair, who are from London, will begin training the Pohnpei team for no pay starting September 17 and friendly games are scheduled to take place in early 2010.
Paul, a freelance sports journalist who grew up in Bristol, revealed that one of his players has to walk over six miles to reach the training ground - and does not even own a pair of shoes.

He said: "By chance we heard the country didn't have a coach at the moment and were looking for someone to take over. Like idiots we said we would consider it.

"Their players have a lot of raw talent but they have never won a game, they lost on penalties once so I guess that almost counts as a win.

"Unfortunately they are the worst team in the world but I don't think they will be for much longer. With training they'll improve dramatically.

"They are really enthusiastic and one of the players who walks one hour and a half just to get to training without wearing any shoes. That's why we are so keen to help them out and why we are appealing for sponsors to donate shoes and kit."

Pohnpei is one of four states in the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), and among the Senyavin Islands in the Western Pacific, around 1,800 miles north of eastern Australia.

Yeovil Town, Norwich City and Tottenham Hotspur have kindly donated 2008/09 team strips to Pohnpei, which has the third wettest climate in the world.
However, Paul and Matthew are now appealing for sponsors to help fund boots, gloves and protective gear ahead of their coming trip.

Showdown: FIFA vs Pro Evo

The biggest showdown of the new footie season is nearly upon us. Not the Premier League, but FIFA v Pro Evo. Anyone who has ever pressed the "on" button on a video game console knows what I'm talking about.

You know how it goes. For years Pro Evo was the nuts, Fifa was the big money licensed game but paled in significance against its Japanese rival.

Then Konami got lazy.

Pro Evo slackened off, made some schoolboy errors and, bang, Fifa performed a nutmeg here and a stepover there and before you know it they were 2-0 up.

Getting a Pro Evo lover and a Fifa football devotee in the same room isn't dissimilar to getting a Rangers and Celtic fan together.

They disagree on how a footie game should be played. And it's not a trivial thing because football games are big business. Last year Fifa 09 sold ten million copies around the world.

To put some perspective on that, Coldplay, probably the biggest band in the world, have sold eight million copies of their last album.

Pro Evo notched up millions - it was a way behind but not bad going.

This is a big year for both . . . so SFTW took a good look at them ahead of their October releases.

FIFA

How do you improve on such a majestic experience as FIFA 09? It's a tough call.

EA has gone about as far as they can with licenses, graphics and commentary, so this year they are overhauling the controls.

Football games have always let you run in eight directions, up, down, left, right and the diagonals. Not this year.

EA have created a system where you can now run in 360 different directions. Every possible angle has been mapped so you can make any run and play any ball.

It's disconcerting to start with but the more you play the more natural it becomes.

Very talented players will thrive, duffers will be punished.

Players also accelerate to their most effective speed and position themselves properly for headers and volleys to optimise shooting.

As long as EA maintain their adequate servers, the advantage is with them.

PRO EVOLUTION SOCCER 2010

Pro Evo's biggest problem for the last four years has been their horrendous online problems.

Anyone who has tried to play a friend over the net since Thierry Henry graced the cover of Pro Evo 4 back in 2004 may as well have been using a Spectrum 48k. It has been terribly laggy.

But this year they have promised to assemble a dedicated team in Japan to look after making sure games run smoothly. And the best news is they are dumping Konami servers and handing over power to Sony & Microsoft. A wise choice.

Elsewhere, Pro Evo is looking tasty - graphics are amazing and almost photo-quality.

The pace has been slowed considerably, a good thing, to make the game more realistic.

New additions to the Master League mean a deeper, longer-lasting experience and new power gauges in game let you set out exactly your attacking and defensive stances.

Offline, it still plays a cracking game, arguably better than Fifa. But Konami's big challenge is online. It's simple, get it sorted and you can win back your crown.

The boys are back... and then some!

Am I the only one chuffed to bits by the BBC's decision to show League One and League 2 analysis AFTER its Premier League big brother? Its about time too you know. It will impact on my sleep if I am to stay in and watch the results of my local team.

In case you wonder, I'm not going to mention who they are but they were proudly promoted up a league last season and I am rooting for them to do the same this time round too. Go figure! :-)