South Korea and Japan faced off in the final round of game at the East Asian Cup, with both teams level on four points, knowing a win would guarantee some silverware. They shared one fantastic goal each - check out Yeom Ki-Hun’s Klinsmannesque opener for South Korea, and Koji Yamase’s long range equalizer - for [...]

It was a satisfactory six days for new South Korean coach Huh Jung-moo in the sprawling city of Chongqing. South Korea lifted the East Asian Championship trophy for the second time in three occasions. The opening day dramatic 3-2 victory over China was followed by 1-1 draws with North Korea on Wednesday and then Japan on Saturday. The trophy is not a big deal but the performances of a young and inexperienced team have been encouraging. There is still much work to do but a number of players have emerged from the haze of the polluted megapolis with reputations and confidence enhanced. Former Korea, and current Australia, coach Pim Verbeek was at the tournament to check out China. The Socceroos will be in the Middle Kingdom in March for a 2010 World Cup qualifier. The Dutchman was keeping quiet on the Chinese but was happy to see some familiar, and some not so familiar, Korean faces in action. "It was good to watch Korea again and it was good to see them win,” he told me. "I was quite impressed against China - I thought that they did a good job and played well." "There were lots of young players in the team. I am happy that Park Chu-young is fit and he scored two great goals. The first goal, he showed fantastic timing to head the ball into the net...hopefully he will be fit now for a whole season." That is unlikely. The striker has already been ruled out of FC Seoul's season opener on March 9 and will play no part in the game with LA Galaxy and David Beckham on March 1. As well as Park, Yeom Ki-hoon, who was handed his national team debut by Verbeek, showed his versatility in attack. The Ulsan forward scored the goals against North Korea and Japan and is starting to look like he may fulfill his undoubted potential. There is potential in the team that lifted the oversize trophy last Saturday but some of them are not yet, and perhaps never will be, good enough for international football. That is the whole point of these kinds of games however; it’s a time for testing and trying. March’s World Cup qualification game in Pyongyang will feature a very different line-up. There is virtually a completely new starting eleven that Huh could call on. English-based stars such as Park Ji-sung, Lee Young-pyo and Seol Ki-hyeon will be certainties for the game. With that match due to played out in front of over 100,000 fans in the North Korean capital, Huh may go for experience. Other 2006 World Cup stars are also likely to be recalled - Lee Chun-soo of Dutch giants Feyenoord, Kim Dong-jin and Lee Ho of Russian champions Zenit St Petersburg and Kim Do-heon of West Bromich Albion. Cho Jae-jin is another likely recall. The powerful striker ended his three-year stint in Japan last December and since then has spent much time in England trying to do deals with three English Premier League clubs, in order, Newcastle United, Portsmouth and Fulham. All came to naught and last week the powerful striker joined Jeonju team Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors ahead of the new season that kicks off on March 8. After three seasons and dozens of goals in Japan, Cho needs to show that he can score goals on the Korean peninsula. He struggled to do so in his first spell in the K-League prior to 2004 but a goal or two in Pyongyang at the end of March, wouldn’t go amiss. Copyright: John Duerden & Soccerphile Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

The A-League's showpiece finale was a tale of match-costing errors of judgement - and not all of them from the vanquished Central Coast Mariners. Newcastle's worthy 1-0 win has been somewhat overlooked in the wash-up of a match which unlike previous grand final episodes was decided by individual errors rather than flashes of brilliance. Topping last season's five-goal haul from Melbourne marksman Archie Thompson was always likely to be a pointless exercise - and so it turned out as the Jets, the better team on the day, carved out a hard-working although ultimately fortunate victory to scoop their maiden domestic title. Fortunate not because the Mariners had a player, goalkeeper Danny Vukovic, sent off nor because retiring veteran defender Tony Vidmar made a meal of clearing his lines and gifted possession to Australia under-23 striker Mark Bridge who curled a second-half winner. Fortunate because for consecutive weeks the league's top officials made a perplexing penalty decision in stoppage time. Only this time it irreversibly altered the destination of the championship. We live in an age where those who admit their wrongdoings are usually absolved if given the floor to explain and seek forgiveness. The typically upfront Vidmar came clean straight after the match. "A mistake from myself has cost us the game and I'm going to gave to live with that," the third-most capped Socceroo of all-time admitted afterwards. "I'll put my hand up on that." It would be a particularly vindictive individual to hold that moment of hesitation against the departing Vidmar, one of Australian football's truest champions. But what of those possibly career-damaging choices made by Vukovic and referee Mark Shield? Vukovic's heat-of-the-moment decision to manhandle Shield made little difference to the result but its consequence will reverberate around the domestic game for some time. The affable Central Coast custodian faces missing two-thirds of next season after the FFA handed him a draconian 15-month suspension for striking Shield as he, and his Mariners team-mates, protested the decision not to award a penalty when the ball struck Newcastle substitute James Holland in the box. TV replays vindicated Vukovic's protests if not his actions. The 22-year-old, gagged by the Mariners while the club gather an appeal, reportedly later apologised to Shield for losing his cool although that apparently held little sway. The FFA came down on him like a ton of bricks and have almost certainly punctured his dream of representing Australia at the Beijing Olympics by serving such a exorbitant sanction. Vukovic's contact with Shield was nowhere near Paolo Di Canio's petulant shove on EPL referee Paul Alcock for which the Italian received an 11-match ban. And while it's clearly no defence, the protest had plenty of legitimacy. It arose from an unusually poor piece of officiating from the country's top ref when only he and his assistant failed to notice Holland's arm colliding with Tom Pondeljak's corner. Shield waved away the Mariners' desperate claims, booking John Aloisi and then sending Vukovic packing. Sasho Petrovski is also under investigation for an unwelcome gesture while the club have been invited to explain why they shouldn't be punished for losing control of their players. The FFA are asking plenty of questions of the Mariners but outsiders are pondering Shield's part in the sorry story. Vukovic's moment of madness reopens the various debates about the standard of refereeing and the possible introduction of technology. What needs saying is that the A-League's top officials are considered among the best in Asia and will make as many mistakes at work as anyone else. That, however, should not shield them from scrutiny. Let's remember that Vidmar put his hand up, and so too did Vukovic but they'll still continue to pay a heavy price in the months ahead. Copyright © Marc Fox and Soccerphile.com Australian Soccer News Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football J-League K-League Betting

Lyon striker Karim Benzema is as hot a property as world football has ever seen and Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson has been snubbed in his bid to sign the 20 year old revelation. Benzema played a starring role for Lyon as they secured a surprise 1-1 draw in the Champions League against United in France. Benzema scored the opening goal with quick feet and deadly precision and was a constant menace to United’s defense. He has been a menace all season, leading all scorers in France. But United won’t be seeing Benzema at Old Trafford as Lyon have slapped a whopping 70m pound price tag on the player and Benzema quoted as saying he will be in Lyon next year. To compound the decision Benzema has claimed that the Premier League is not of interest to him and that Spain and Italy are. Regardless, Alex Ferguson has officially notified Lyon of his interest.

Football links from around World Cup Blog, from over at The Offside and from everywhere else. IRIFF in no rush, to do anything (Iran Blog) Potential Euro 2008 Poles (Poland Blog) And potential World Cup 2010 Scots (Scotland Blog) Atlas Lions get domestic(Morocco Blog) “I am teaching it what to do” (The Offside) What might have been for Gazza (Extra Time) There’s [...]

Eduardo da Silva’s horrendous leg break over the weekend when Arsenal faced Birmingham has rekindled interest in what was probably the worst injury in the history of the Premiership. David Busst suffered a severe leg break during a corner when Coventry played Manchester United back in 1996. Busst lay in agony after a collision with Denis Irwin as he charged the back post after a flick on. The crowd was shocked into silence as Busst required his legs strapped together before being stretchered off. Players from both teams were visibly shocked at the event. Most couldn’t bear to watch as the blood stained pitched required the grounds keepers to clean up scene. He required a total of 20 operations, but the injury ended Busst’s career because of complications after the fact. See the entire worst moments in football series

Pascal Chimbonda has probably played his last Cup final for Tottenham Hotspur as he was fined a week’s wages as punishment for his reaction to being substituted during the Carling Cup Final against Chelsea. Chimbonda was replaced by midfielder Tom Huddlestone in the 61st minute after playing out of position on the left as a tactical change. With the match finely poised and Tottenham trailing, Chimbonda took his sweet time leaving the pitch and further reacted by going straight down the tunnel and into the dressing room.

Alessandro Del Piero hasn’t played for Italy since the 0-0 draw with France on 8th September 2007. He was completely overlooked for the recent friendly against Portugal, where Italy claimed an impressive enough 3-1 win. So at 33 years old it’s possible he might not wear national team blue again, but he’s planning to. The [...]

Over at The Offside recently, Chris filled us in on the Andy Webster ruling and how it was going to turn football upside down. The historic ruling means players can buy out the remaining years of their own contract, provided they’ve already completed three years (if they’re under 28) or two years (if they’re over [...]

Ghanaian tabloid Graphic Sports recently ran a story about a Ghanaian family claiming kinship with Barcelona and Cameroon superstar striker (and all time Africa Cup of Nations top scorer, I might add) Samuel Eto’o. This wouldn’t make Eto’o any less Cameroonian, because that’s where his mother is form. But it would make him half-Ghanaian. The tabloid [...]