More from the African Cup of Nations held in Ghana earlier this year. Ghana fans get God on their side with this nifty little two-step and hand clap routine. Video by Ross Clegg Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football African soccer Ghana Betting

He came, he saw, he danced and drove his one direct free-kick into the wall. Overall, David Beckham’s trip to Seoul with LA Galaxy was a success though not quite a complete triumph. The former Manchester United and Real Madrid star is, of course, big news in South Korea. However, not enough to fill more than half of Seoul’s 65,000 capacity World Cup Stadium when the MLS took on FC Seoul in an exhibition match on March 1. Organisers were disappointed with the turnout and put it down to cold weather. It is true that the American team arrived in a city blanketed by snow four days previously but the temperature had risen a few degrees above freezing on Saturday afternoon. Ticket prices were a bigger problem. The cheapest was around $32 – more than three times more than what entry to a K-League match would set you back. The player did his promotional duties as professionally as one would expect and was followed around the city by a host of reporters. He gave most of them the slip last Thursday evening when visiting a Seoul nightclub on Thursday evening. The 32 year-old headed to ‘Circle’ in the trendy Cheongdam district. The following day, 'Seoul Sports' described how “girls competed against each other to dance sexily” in front of him. Refusing to head to the VIP section, he was regaled with shouts of “sexy Beckham” to which, the reports went, he shyly said “thank you". Beckham wasn’t quite so polite on the pitch after being caught late by Lee Chung-yong. The ex-England skipper gave the young winger a mouthful and later exacted revenge by chopping Lee down. The referee went as if to produce a yellow card before realizing that it the day was all about Beckham. Lee, a player with a bright future, mostly outshone the LA Galaxy star on the pitch though Beckham played well. His crosses and set pieces created a number of chances for his team-mates, especially in the first half. All but one were wasted. Alan Gordon managed to smartly chest down and volley home one floated free-kick in the first half but new strike partner Carlos Ruiz was guilty of a missing a couple of sitters. As the game progressed, the visitors looked tired. Beckham looked tired for most of the week. Seoul can be a draining high-energy city especially when there are many media and sponsor events to attend. FC Seoul didn’t impress too much a week before the start of the new season. New big-money signing Dejan Damjanovic somehow missed from two yards as the K-League team enjoyed the better of the second half. But as most FC Seoul games tend to do, the match finished in a draw. The tv broadcasters didn’t even bother to show the subsequent, slightly-pointless, penalty shootout. Beckham wellied his shot high into the net but four of his team-mates saw their shots saved by stand-in goalkeeper Kim Ho-jun, who looked increasingly bemused by his success. Then it was all over. Perhaps it was telling that there were a lot more reporters in the post-match press conference than in the press box during the match. Becks and the boys then headed onto Shanghai where he has to do it all again. 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

Signed football shirt auction in bid to raise money for Prostate Cancer Charity Kier Partnership Homes, part of the Kier Group, is working to support the Prostate Cancer Charity by entering six teams into this year’s Real Man Cup, a football tournament held at the Goals Centre in Beckenham, Kent on Saturday 8 March. We have chosen to support this charity as prostate cancer can affect any man regardless of age, race or build. We feel that this devastating disease is very poorly publicised considering that one man dies from prostate cancer every hour and there are 35,000 new cases every year. Our fund-raising target is £10,000 and we are well on the way to reaching that through sponsorship of our football teams, kind donations, a raffle and auction. We have been in contact with the Professional Footballers Association’s chief executive Gordon Taylor, who has agreed to support our campaign with the following donations: One genuine football shirt signed by all of the current players at Manchester United football club. One genuine football shirt signed by all of the current players at Tottenham Hotspur football club. One genuine football shirt signed by all of the current players at Charlton Athletic football club. These shirts are completely authentic and can be viewed on our auction website www.kierauctions.com where bidding will begin at noon on Tuesday 26 February and close at noon on Friday 7 March. All of the money raised will go to the Prostate Cancer Charity, anyone can bid, so please take the chance to get your hands on some fantastic football memorabilia and support a worthy cause at the same time. Bet with Bet 365 World Soccer News Soccer betting tips Soccer Books & DVDs Tags Soccer News soccer football Charity Auction Betting

Finger clickin’ good links from World Cup Blog, The Offside and elsewhere. Everything but the coach (Iran Blog) Corner flags fight back! (Italy Blog) Euro 2008 victory or nothing (France Blog) Keeping an eye on Polish hopefuls (Poland Blog) A football game with no winners (The Offside) Chris Waddle = skills (Who Ate All the Pies?) Beckham-mania hits South Korea (The Offside [...]

Manchester United scored an impressive win against Fulham over the weekend with their biggest guns on the bench. This gave an opportunity for Nani to show some of his skills and he didn’t disappoint. Now for me, Paul Scholes was the best player on the pitch Saturday, the diminutive red-head’s passing was stunning and his awareness on the pitch something to behold, but in terms of creativity and ‘up-and-coming-ness’ it was Nani’s show . There were some glimpses early on in the season, but in recent weeks Nani is starting to look really impressive. At Sporting Lisbon, his previous club, Nani was the star of the team and was playing much better than you have ever seen him for United. It’s taken some time for him to adapt to the Premiership and his new team and we are starting to see dividends. Nani’s movement was excellent against Fulham. His trickery was purposeful, sending the Fulham fullbacks into knots. His crossing was precise and his shots on goal forced saves. What else can you ask from a winger? The only downside to all of this is a touch of petulance. Nani fakes injury which is very annoying to watch and brought out boos from the crowd every time he touched the ball after an incident with Paul Konchesky intended to draw a yellow card. Konchesky set him straight moments later when he deservedly dumped him out of bounds in a heap. From that one Nani bounced up and moments later tested the keeper yet again. He’s a determined chap, that much you can say for him.

The Dutch players will now go into Euro 2008 knowing exactly who their next boss will be. Marco van Basten is stepping down after the tournament and taking over at Ajax, so Bert van Marwijk has now inked a two year deal that takes him through World Cup 2010 qualifying and (he hopes) to the [...]

This is Austrian defender Martin Hiden. OK, so it’s not a very flattering picture, but the Austrian defender deserves some credit. Hiden is apparently the world’s first carbon neutral footballer after agreeing to compensate for all his carbon emissions with investments in Austrian projects to tackle global warming. He’s 35 years old, nearly 36, but [...]

You know an international tournament is approaching when people start worrying about their sex lives. And you know it for sure when that information is revealed in survey form. And here’s the proof: 30% of Austrians surveyed by Vienna University expect to be have less sex than usual during the three weeks of Euro 2008. [...]