Wales World Cup Qualifying Preview 2010...

Typically it would seem that Wales found them selves in a hard World Cup qualification group. The group they were in contained Wales, Germany, Finland, Liechtenstein, Azerbaijan and Russia. John Toschack and the youthful Welsh have to bout with Germany. So then who are the other teams Wales needs to worry about when they start up on 6th September with Azerbaijan?

The biggest threat excluding Germany is Russia. The Russian players make great money playing football in the Russian league. Its unsure if manager Gus Hiddink will remain in the helm when the qualifications start, but this extremely talented team can win against any team. After Germany and Russia is Finland. They have some great youthful players that mix well with the seasoned professionals.

There is a rising feeling in Wales that the youthful generation of footballing talents could give the Wales national team a boost. The two teams remaining are Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein . If Wales is to make it to the finals it will be important that they make good points against these smaller teams. The Russian playmaker, Andrei Arshavin, is earning great reviews in the Euro 2008, and for Germany, the usual well known players will catch the attention and Welsh fans will be counting on their captain, Craig Bellamy to motivate the Welsh team.

Liechtenstien, Azerbaijan and Finland all have very good players, and there will be new talent that comes from these teams. Wales will need to rise above their norm in order to make it to the South Africa World Cup 2010. Welsh fans will be hoping for a successful campaign.

Wales Football Post War...

Wales, and four home nations, came back to the FIFA in 1946 and participated in the qualifier bouts for the World Cup in 1950. The two top teams would make it to the finals held in Brazil, but Wales didn’t make it. The 1950s were a great time for Welsh football with the stars like Alf Sherwood, John Charles, Jack Kelsey, as well as Ivor Allchurch. In 1958, Wales made its one and only World Cup. Having finished 2nd to Czechoslovakia in the qualifying Group 4, the Welsh had thought that their chances of going to Sweden were over. Welsh football had gone with out the politics in the Middle East.

Egypt and Sudan would not play with Israel and Indonesia required meeting Israel in a neutral location. Because of this Israel was announced winners of their group in Asian/African area. FIFA didn’t want to let a team qualify for the World Cup finals with out even playing so lots were drawn for the second place teams in the UEFA. Belgium was pulled but wouldn’t play, so then Wales was pulled and given a two legged play off with Israel and a place in Sweden for the winning team.

After beating Israel 2-0 at the Ramat Gan Stadium and 2-0 at Ninian Park, Cardiff, Wales ended up at the World Cup Finals. The Welsh made their point in Sweden, pulling all the matches for their group against Mexico, Hungary, and Sweden before winning against the Hungarians in a play off bout to get to the finals. There the Welsh lost to Brazil 1-0, with Pele getting the sole goal of the bout for the South American. Wales’ chance of winning was capped by an injury of John Charles.

Wales Football – The Early Years...

The real first match Wales played was in March of 1876 against Scotland, which was is the 3rd oldest football team in the world. Although Scotland did win the first bout, another bout was scheduled in Wales the next year. That was the first in the international football bouts in Welsh at The Racecourse Ground at Wrexham in March of 1877. Scotland won 2–0.

The first match for Wales’ and England was in 1879 a 2-1 win at Kennington Oval, London and then in 1882 Wales played Ireland succeeding 7-1 in Wrexham.  The associations of the four Home Nations gathered in Manchester in December of 1882 to create the rules. This meeting was the creation of the International Football Association Board and the ability to make change to these rules is a job that they still do.

The British Home Championship began in the 1883-1884 season, which was a tournament that was played once a year with England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. Wales was the winner on 12 different occasions, winning seven times and sharing the win on five.

The FAW joined FIFA, world football’s governing unit, back in 1906, however the relationship with FIFA and the British associations was not good and the British nations left the FIFA in the 1920s in an argument over payments to it amateur members.

The result was Wales didn’t join in the first 3 World Cups.

Ryan Giggs...

Ryan Giggs was a Welsh footballer who had played for Manchester United throughout his entire career. He started out in a left winger position in the 1990s and remained there far into the 2000s however,recently he played in a more in depth role in playmaking.

Giggs holds several records, even as the most honored player in the English football history.  He was the first to collect the 11 English league medals. Giggs was even the very first to win 2 PFA Young Player of the Year awards consecutively and is also the only one to have both scored and played in every season of Premier League since its creation.

Giggs has a long continental and domestic career and is the very first player within the UEFA Champions League to score in 12 seasons back to back, as well as being elected to the PFA Team of the Century back in 2007, the English Premier League Team of the Decade back in 2003, also the FA Cup Team of the Century. Ryan is the only Man United player to play in all 11 Premier League teams that won and all 3 League Cup teams that won. In the UEFA Champions League Final of 2008, Giggs beat Bobby Charlton’s record of over 757 appearances in the Manchester United and became the all time club leader.

Internationally, Giggs played on the national Welsh team before he retired from football on, and he was the youngest player to epitomize his country. As well as many honors Giggs has gotten in football, he was appointed OBE for the Queen’s 2007 Birthday Honors List, and inducted to the English Football Hall of Fame.

Ian Rush Media Career...

At 43 years old in 2005, Ian Rush thought about re-entering the game in order to play for The New Saints, just after the Welsh side was drawn tight against Liverpool for the opening Champions League qualifying match. Ian Rush has also been deeply involved with media work in the game since November of 2005, including a spell as an analyst with Entertainment Sports Programming Network (ESPN). Also, he appears as a reporter for the Sky Sports News and the Sky Sports. Also he has done work on Liverpool Football Club Television.

Rush was also involved with the Marina Dalglish charity match that took place on April 27th, 2006, which pitted the FA Cup final teams of Liverpool and the Everton against each other in 1986 to aid Breast Cancer Research. Marina, Kenny Dalglish’s wife, suffered from breast cancer. So the proceeds were given to the charity. In 2006 Rush was inducted to the English Football Hall of Fame due to all of his achievements in the game and in life.

Regularly appearing for the Masters five a side team, it’s not uncommon to see Ian dawning the red colour of Liverpool since he’s one of Liverpool’s ‘old boys’ for public relations tours intended for the club. The media announced that Ian Rush had been appointed as the Elite Performance Director for the Welsh Football Trust on September 7th, 2007, a role that is part time and  that he’ll help to develop the next generation of players for Wales’ national teams.

Football League and Premier League of 1888-2009...

The Football League has professional football clubs from both Wales and England. Created in 1888, its the worlds oldest. The Championship, League One, and League Two have 72 clubs in total that are evenly divided into these 3 divisions.

After 4 years of arguments, The Football Association finally allowed professionalism. Before that most clubs just made unlawful payments to their players to raise the competitiveness of the teams.

William McGregor, the Scottish director of Aston Villa, was the first one to bring order where clubs set up their own stuff. In March of 1888, he wrote to Bolton Wanderers, Blackburn Rovers, Preston North End, West Bromwich Albion and the secretary of Aston Villa regarding the creation of a league.

Anderson’s Hotel located in London the night before the FA Cup Final in 1888 was the first meeting and they named the Football League was chosen at another meeting held at Manchester’s Royal Hotel.

They played one another two times, one time at home and one time away. Two points were given for a win and one for a tie. The points system was not agreed on until after the season had already started; the alternative was one point for a win only.

When you look back through the history of the league, you’ll find that each football league has one relegation somewhere in their history but other countries like Ireland, Scotland and Spain do not. However, the fact remains that the English Football League is one of the most admired in the world.