2010 FIFA World Cup Draw:

Group A
South Africa (host)
Mexico
Uruguay
France

Group B
Argentina
Nigeria
South Korea
Greece

Group C
England
USA
Algeria
Slovenia

Group D
Germany
Australia
Serbia
Ghana

Group E
Holland
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon

Group F
Italy
Paraguay
New Zealand
Slovakia

Group G
Brazil
North Korea
Ivory Coast
Portugal

Group H
Spain
Switzerland
Honduras
Chile

Battle of Both Ends of the Table

Sunday evening will see a battle between both ends of the table take place as low lying Catania take on an inform Milan side at the Stadio Massimimo.

Leonardo's side has certainly undergone a huge transformation as they are unbeaten since their travels to Udinese in week 5. Their fine form lies in total contrast to their preseason form which saw them win only one game.

The Sicilians however, lie at the opposite end of the table to the rossoneri. As they are stuck in 19th place and are second from the bottom. Nevertheless, the elefanti are used to tough situations and they certainly know how to make the most of them, as they can remain quite calm when facing Milan, as they have often been able to pull out results against therossoneri.

There will be several important faces missing for both teams at the rossoblu will be without Fabio Sciacca, Pablo Barrientos, Gennaro Delvecchio and Giovanni Marchese. Leonardo will also have to make do without several players as Daniele Bonera, Marek Jankulovski, Oguchi Onyewu, Matheiu Flamimi and Massimo Oddo are all out with injury while Andrea Pirlo will be missing due to suspension.

Despite these missing faces both teams have a lot to play for as Milan hope to maintain a close fight with Inter and Juventus while Catania hope to work their way out of the relegation zone.

Green Point Stadium Tour: 24 Days Until Completion

On Saturday I had an amazing opportunity to do a tour of Green Point Stadium. This stadium will host several group stage games, along with a game in the last sixteen as well as a quarter final and semi-final game.

Green Point Stadium is a great spectacle that is nestled in the heart of Cape Town's most beautiful areas. It position is just several hundred metres away from the coastline and lies just under one of Cape Town's trademarks, Signal Hill.

The stadium is said to be 24 days away from completion and is looking well on track to it's completion dates. Here are pictures of the tour. Pictures of the changing rooms will follow following the second tour on Friday 4 December.

Pirlo and Pato bring down the Bernabeu

It was a game that had everything as Pirlo's long range shot caught Real Madrid unaware, Pato's rise to maturity saw him net a brace while Casillas and Dida had a contest to see who could make the worst mistakes between the sticks, as the rossoneri came out 3-2 winners in Madrid.

With Gattuso and Storari adding to the latest list of injury woes many where not expecting Leonardo's team to deliver a thriller quite the way they did. However, Pellegrini had his own injury problems to worry about too as Cristiano Ronaldo, Guti, Fernando Gago, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Christoph Mertzelder were all sidelined. Though with the type of squad at Pellegrini's disposal a few absentees shouldn't have been a problem.

The game could have taken a turn for the worse for the rossoneri as Zambrotta's foolish fould on Benzema in the box could have resulted in a penalty but luckily for him the referee awarded a goal kick.

But minutes later the first of the goalkeeping errors occured as Dida gifted the ball back to Real Madrid for Raul to score his 68th European goal. This typical 'Didastro' (as the Italian Media are calling it) shows why he has been third choice goalkeeper all season and rightly so.

The first half ended with just the one goal to Madrid and the Galacticos started the half with a few possibilities to extend their lead as Kaka and Raul forced Dida into making a few saves.

But football iss a game of two halves and Milan proved that is just after the hour mark Pirlo turned a ball into the net to make a spectacular goal out of nothing. Casillas was totally caught off guard by the thirty metre drive that dipped so ruthlessly.

Five minutes later the Bernabeu was silenced as the rossoneri turned the game on it's head as they found the lead through Pato. The Brazilian latched onto an Ambrosini ball, which saw Casillas come running out the box only to pull his arm back, to avoid getting sent off, and miss the ball. Allowing Pato to slot it into the back of the net.

Though Real were up for a fight as Raul turned the corner to Drenthe who cutted it under the Milan all and into Dida's far post to bring both teams level.

Raul thought he had brought his team into the lead again as Dida's poor handling saw the ball slip out of his hands and to the feet of Raul who tried to place it into the back of the net. Though Nesta was equal to the challenge and cleared it off theline while the linesman raised his flag for offside.

Another corner brought more action to the game as Thiago Silva thought he had extended the lead as his header saw the ball perfectly placed into the back of the net. However the referee blew for a foul on Casillas and disallowed the goal rather controversially, as replays show there was no contact between the rossoneri defender and goalkeeper.

Though the rossoneri where to have their revenge as Seedorf placed the ball to a perfectly onside Pato who volleyed it into the back of the net, gifting Milan an amazing win.

This is the real Milan the fans know and love. After last Sunday's fightback over Roma, which saw Pato break his duck (no pun intended) and the rossoneri gaining a new sense of urgency, they have finally found a bit of spark to set the stage of football alight, and heck did they do it at the Bernabeu.

Who is really to blame?

I have done some thinking. Well, quite a bit in fact since I haven't been able to write, and the main question that has stuck in my head is; Who is really to blame for Milan's faults? Now it is so easy to point the figure at Leonardo, as he is young, inexperienced and has basically a handful (if that) of decent players at his disposal. And lets face it he has more players that are closer to his age than under the age of thirty.

Yes, part of the blame can be put on Leonardo but he cannot be made out to be the sole scapegoat in this crumbling rossonero side. Blame, if not the majority of it, has to go to management. Galliani and co. have done nothing to improve this Milan side since their 2007 Champions League victory in Athens.

That Champions League campaign alone, despite the win, saw Milan struggle and it was only in the latter half of the year did Ancelotti manage to reawaken his side with the return of Pippo Inzaghi from injury. However, Pippo is three years older and three times more susceptible to injury, there is no way he can carry this team on his shoulders for a whole season.

Returning to Gallaini and Braida; their transfer policy in recent years has been shocking to say the least. Seeing them get rid of the likes of Gilardino and Gourcuff and bringing in players like Ronaldo, Ronaldinho and Shevchenko to solve problems was never going to work. The only decent signing has been Pato and even he has been struggling to set the stage alight this season.

Leonardo has not been able to get the best out of Pato and has left questions about whether or not he will be able to. Leaving no surprise as to why 'the duck' could possibly want to rekindle his partnership with Ancelotti, as it seems that only Carletto holds the power to get the best out of this young Brazilian.

Which leads me to my next thought. If Leonardo is struggling with Pato- who knows how the team works, knows the players and the different environments in Italy- how does anyone expect him to bring the best out of Huntelaar who spent most of last year warming the Real Madrid bench? The Dutchman's confidence level undoubtedly took a knock and it will most likely take an even bigger knock as he struggles to score in a team that can barely provide him and Pato with a decent ball!

Now the latter problem does relate to the coach but it doesn't have to. Leo is still using the same system as his predecessor and it's the same team as last year except for the addition of Storari and Huntelaar; ironically the goalkeeper being Leonardo's best player this season. But there should be no excuse as to why the players are failing to score and letting in goals like it's going out of fashion. No excuse what so ever.

Personally, and I think most can agree, Leonardo was not the right man for the job and in actual fact isn't even qualified to coach a team in Serie A. This again goes back to my point about the poor management of the club. Milan should have hired a proper, qualified and experienced coach. There is no reason why Milan couldn't have got a proper coach to begin with as the likes of Edy Reja, Walter Mazzarri, Claudio Ranieri and probably for a few brief hours Walter Zenga were without jobs. While Luciano Spalletti was looking ever so close to being shown the door by the Sensi's too.

This just goes to show that fewer people have the desire to work and be associated with this club, as their fading reputation precedes them. Milan are no longer able to tempt the big names to the club, leaving them stuck with the same team just a year older.

Even if this is the case and Leonardo was the only option, Ancelotti and Galliani knew that his time had come to an end and that they had to call in someone new. They knew for at least a month before Carlo's departure that Leo would be named the new coach so why did Milan not make him Ancelotti's understudy?

There has been no sign that Leonardo sat in on training camps, worked on tactics with Ancelotti or anything coach like and this is where I believe Milan went wrong. To throw Leo in to the deep-end with no armbands to help him float has brought this team down by itself and this is management's problem. Despite the lack of new faces to the team the current team is still capable of producing results, yet they are not, and that is the reason why.

I believe it's time, not only for a team change, but a management change starting with Galliani and Braida and quite possibly even Berlusconi whose political career has put his Milan priorities to a stand still.

Just SomeThoughts...

Due to the fact that the writer's block looks set to be a long occurrence I have decided to try write various snippets on my opinions about the games being played as well as Milan's game. These will be just basic thoughts that pop into my mind. Hopefully this will help break the high wall that is preventing me from writing. Hoping for the best! The first post will start during today's Sunday's games that are about to kick off :)

Atalanta- Milan 1-1
* If Milan don't win this game, then they really don't deserve to be in Serie A. A must win for Leonardo's career and for Milan!
* Had such a feeling Tiribocchi will come back to haunt Milan and he has. 1-0. Huntelaar had a goal ruled out for offside... at least he got the ball at the back of the net I guess.
*Some hope for Milan? Radovavonic is sent off. Milan need to capitalise on this.
*Ronaldinho comes on for Flamini, not so sure that is going to make a difference...
* Where are Milan's forwards?? It seems as if only Seedorf and NESTA are trying to attack!
* The irony, Ronaldinho scores a goal... and a good one at that! 1-1
* The game ends in a draw... was this Leo's last game?
Bologna - Genoa 1-3
* Penalty for Genoa. Kharja scores! Bologna players continue to protest.
* A genoa player was down but they continued to play and managed to double their lead through Sculli. Good work.
* Di Vaio brings Bologna back into the game.... 1-2
*Zapater makes it 3-1
Cagliari - Chievo 1-2
*Matri breaks the deadlock for Cagliari.
*Marcolini scores a cracker of a goal for Chievo.
* Marcolini continuing to make a name for himself. 2-1 to Chievo with Cagliari down to 10 men.
Fiorentina - Lazio 0-0
* Should be a mouth watering game to watch. One of the many great games this weekend.
*Disappointed that there has been no goals so far and there is less than 15minutes left to go until the end of the game...
Sampdoria - Parma 1-1
* Good game for Sampdoria to regain their position at the top of the table.
* Great goal by Pazzini! Watch out Mourinho!!!
* Galloppa hands Parma a draw. This youngster is a real talent.
*As much as I like Parma, Sampdoria need to get back into this game to over take Inter. Who would have thought that Milanisti will be relying on the Doriani to keep Inter at bay?
Siena - Livorno 0-0
* Always great to watch a Tuscan derby :)
* Maccarone's penalty is saved under the curva San Domenico
Roma- Napoli 2-1
* Vucinic claiming a penalty, strong shout for a penalty. Napoli let off there
* Wow! Perrotta close to making it 1-0. Roma pushing hard.
* Motta substituted off within the first 10mins; right Calf Injury. Hard luck for him.
* Donadoni not looking to confident on the sidelines. He has to get a result today.
* Roma 0 Napoli 1. Lavezzi scores. Donadoni finally breathing a sigh of relief but for how long? Roma look like they can come back.
* Vucinic and Cannavaro bickering at eachother. Both recieved yellow cards and rightly so!
* Il Capitano does it again. 1-1.
* This is why he is a legend. Totti makes it 2-1 and over takes Batistuta's goal tally.
*Totti has a calf problem... oh no
* Huge problems for Roma. Ranieri has used up all their substitutions and Totti is not looking good.
* Four forwards on for Napoli... You think Donadoni is going on the attack? You can see the fear on his face...

Tonight's game:
Palermo - Juventus

Last Night's Games:
Bari - Catania 0-0
Inter- Udinese 2-1

Blog Break

As one can tell the articles have been few and far between and I only feel that it's right to call for a blog break. I am experiencing a horrible case of writers block and haven't been able to write or finish any article I begin with.

Hopefully this blockage is only temporary but I cannot tell when I will be back. I do hope that a win against Marseille in the Champions League will inspire me to write some more but the lack of winning- amongst other things- has left me uninspired and at a loss for words.

Regular updates on the scores and logs will still occur on Milan's Curva Sud but there will be fee articles. Hopefully this won't discourage the faithful readers of the Curva Sud. Best of luck and may the best team win.

A presto...