Qualifying For World Cup

Posted by betensured02 on October 20th, 2017

Iceland continue magical football run by qualifying for World Cup

Every World Cup tournament, since its creation, has seen at least one team making its first appearance in the tournament and after Iceland secured their ticket to Russia this evening, the trend continues.

Having beaten Kosovo 2-0 on home soil this evening, Iceland, boasting a mere population of 334,000, have topped Group I and become the smallest nation to ever qualify for a World Cup.

Their first appearance in an international tournament altogether came in Euro 2016, when they were the complete surprise package and famously knocked out England before being beaten by France in the quarter finals. And now, they’ve gone one better by finishing first on 22 points, following victory in their final qualifier tonight.

Goals from Everton midfielder Gylfi Sigurdsson and Berg Gudmundsson got the job done, and sparked typically incredible scenes after the final whistle.

The players and supporters all performed their trademark ‘Viking’ clap in stereo and it was utterly incredible.

Christian Constantin gets 14-month ban for slapping Rolf Fringer

Sion president Christian Constantin has been given a 14-month ban for striking former Switzerland coach Rolf Fringer.

The incident happened after Sion’s 2-1 Swiss Super League win in Lugano on 21 September.

Constantin, who was also fined 100,000 Swiss francs (£77,804), was filmed slapping Fringer, who is now a television pundit.

The 60-year-old is prohibited from entering all football-related venues. He can appeal against the decision.

Fringer said he had been hit several times before the blow caught on tape.

The Swiss Football League said: “The violent behaviour of Christian Constantin against Rolf Fringer, which (Constantin) doesn’t deny, is clearly a violation of the rules of conduct.”

The Final Shortlist For The 2017 Puskas Award Has Been Released

The 2017 Puskas Award voting has now been narrowed down to three goals.

And now we are down to three, with voting now open to determine who scoops the gong when 23 October rolls around.

Olivier Giroud’s sublime scorpion kick against Crystal Palace on New Year’s day is undoubtedly the most high-profile go in the final three and you can bet your house on Arsenal fans doing their usual voting sabotage.

On the goal, the Frenchman started off the move with a glorious flick on the halfway line and after being picked out by Alexis Sanchez in a cross that didn’t have too much pace on it, Giroud adjusted his body position superbly and managed to pull off an outrageous finish that looped over Wayne Hennessey in the Crystal Palace goal and went in off the crossbar.

But, you’d be wrong if you didn’t think Giroud had some serious competition for the Puskas Award.

South African goalkeeper Oscarine Masuluke is in the running thanks to his sensational 96th minute overhead kick scored back in December.

Masuluke went up in the sixth minute of stoppage time with his side Baroka FC on the verge of losing to Orlando Pirates.

He was thrown into the mix for a corner with the aim of making a nuisance of himself but when the ball was cleared and fell into his path, with his back to goal, he netted an utterly outrageous overhead kick that flew into the top corner.

He then thrusted his hips with his teammates around the corner flag in the wild, but perfectly acceptable celebrations for a goal of this ilk.