Wednesday, November 17, 2010

Rugby!

Folks, enjoy this year's NFL while you can as the league is going to take a year-long vacation next year. There will be a labor and ownership problem. The games will not be played. That's a dark outlook, but it has been brewing and may come to pass.

With this in mind, it is a great time to get into world rugby action.

On Saturday there is a game on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. This is called a 'Test Match.' South Africa visits Scottland. Who is going to win? Place your vote in the poll on the left side of the blog.

Vote today.

Next year the rugby will be better understood if you get into it this year. And next year is a world championship rugby tournament.

Folks will fall in love with international rugby, if you give it a chance.
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Anonymous said...

Bafana eye win against USA
2010-11-17 14:08
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Davide Somma (Gallo)

Johannesburg - South Africa will go in search of a first ever win against the United States of America when they take on Bob Bradley’s team in a friendly international at the Cape Town Stadium on Wednesday evening, kick-off at 21:30.

This match will serve as the 16th edition of the Nelson Mandela Challenge and is the 12th game that USA has played on South African soil in the past three years.

The Americans, who reached the final of the 2009 Fifa Confederations Cup and the last 16 of the 2010 Fifa World Cup, first played in South Africa in the 2007 edition of the Nelson Mandela Challenge, winning 1-0 in Johannesburg thanks to a first half goal from defender Steven Cherundolo.

That match was the second encounter between Bafana Bafana and their American counterparts: the teams first met in a Gold Cup group match in June 2000 in Washington where the ‘Stars and Stripes’ claimed an emphatic 4-0 win.

Both sides are using this match as an opportunity to blood youngsters and untested players ahead of important fixtures next year. South Africa will continue in their quest to qualify for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations, while the Americans will participate in the 2011 Concacaf Gold Cup.

Bafana Bafana coach Pitso Mosimane admits that it will be difficult striking a balance between introducing new faces into the team while also trying to keep up the winning habit that his side have created in recent times.

“This is a friendly match so I will be trying to have a look at other players and for that to happen I had to leave out some of the regulars in the team. But most of them have been with us before, so it’s all about continuity and staying on track with our Vision 2014,” said Mosimane.

“On the other hand, friendly matches are a big challenge because as much as you try to make changes, it means you have to tamper with your winning combinations. But then again these are the challenges that exist in this game, we have to strike a balance but also not to lose focus of our vision of slowly bringing in young players.”

The most notable newcomer to the Bafana squad is English-based striker Davide Somma, who has caught the eye with his goal-scoring exploits for Leeds United in the Championship.

The United States have several first-time call-ups, including teenagers Juan Agudelo and Gale Agbossoumonde, who are the first products of the country’s new development academy to get the nod for the senior team.

“This game is a good opportunity to look at some different players and assess their place in the pool as we continue to build for the next cycle,” said coach Bob Bradley upon naming his squad.

“With our immediate focus on the Gold Cup next summer, this game in many ways is just as much the start of 2011 as it is the end of a great year,” he added.

November 17, 2010 12:35 PM

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