That's That Big Ol' Soccer Tournament, Right?

Americans are a funny lot. Not funny ha, ha. Weird. Strange. And apparently they don't like football very much. Or foreigners. Or anything that isn't American.

At least that's the popular impression of our, um, cousins across the pond. So if all this is true, why is it that more tickets for the South Africa 2010 World Cup have been bought by Americans than by anyone else.

Viduka Sits On Beach...No One Is Surprised

Having had such a busy season eating pies and occasionally playing a half-hearted match for Newcastle United, is it any surprise that everyone's favourite football mercenary Mark Viduka has declared himself unavailable for selection by Australia.

The Australian coach, Pim Verbeek, gave Viduka extra time to make up his mind whether he wanted to join the Australia squad for their upcoming World Cup qualification matches, but Viduka has opted to sit on the beach, drinking tinnies and having a barbie or whatever it is that out of contract Australian footballers do instead of representing their country.

Verbeek is quoted as saying

"He told me that after a difficult season he needed a break from football to consider his future plans."

"Mark is currently out of contract and, while he is deciding what to do next, it would be difficult for him to fully concentrate on these important matches for Australia."

A break from football?!?!? You've got to be kidding me. Viduka has played about ten minutes of football all season. And even then Verbeek has refused to say that Viduka would never be selected again. Jeez, get a backbone, mate.

Moany Wenger Moaning Again

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has been in the news this week moaning about the fact that one of his players - Theo Walcott - has, unbelievably, actually been asked to play some football.

For those that didn't know, Walcott has been called up into the England squad for World Cup 2010 qualifiers against Kazakhstan and Andorra and will also be playing in England's Under-21 Squad in the European Finals.

Wenger is worried, apparently, that the poor lad will burn out having to play so much actual football.

There might be some validity to this if it wasn't for the fact that Walcott has started all of 25 matches for Arsenal this season and is presumably as fresh as can be. Stop whining, Arsene. It's becoming tiresome.