FIFA CC 2009 Squad lists

Group A
Iraq
Goalkeepers: 1-Noor Sabri (Al Talaba), 12-Mohamed Kassid (Al Zawraa), 21-Oday Talib (Duhok)

Defenders: 2-Mohamed Ali Kareem (Al Jazeera, United Arab Emirates), 3-Basem Abbas (Al Talaba), 14-Salam Shaker (Al Khor, Qatar), 15-Ali Hussein Rehema (Al Wakra, Qatar), 16-Dara Mohammed (Sulaymaniyah), 19-Abbas Isam (Al Amana), 22-Muayad Khalid (Al Quwa Al Jawiya)

Midfielders: 4-Fareed Majeed (Al Talaba), 5-Nashat Akram (Al Gharafa, Qatar), 6-Salih Sadir (Al Ahed, Lebanon), 9-Abdul Wahhab (Sepahan, Iran), 11-Hawar Mulaa Mohammed (Anorthosis Famagusta, Cyprus), 13-Karrar Jassim (Al Wakra, Qatar), 18-Mahdi Kareem (Al Khor, Qatar), 20-Samer Saaed (Al Ahli Tripoli, Libya), 23-Halkard Mulla Mohammed (Sulaymaniyah)

Forwards: 7-Emad Mohammed (Sepahan, Iran), 8-Luay Salah (Arbil), 10-Younis Mahmoud (Al Gharafa, Qatar), 17-Alaa Abdul Zahra (Al Khor, Qatar)

New Zealand
Goalkeepers: 1-Mark Paston (Wellington Phoenix), 12-Glen Moss (Melbourne Victory, Australia); 23-James Bannatyne (Petone)

Defenders: 2-Aaron Scott (Waitakere United), 3-Tony Lochhead, 5-Ben Sigmund (both Wellington Phoenix), 6-Ivan Vicelich (Auckland City), 17-Dave Mulligan (Wellington Phoenix), 18-Andy Boyens (New York Red Bull, US), 19-Steven Old (Kilmarnock, Scotland)

Midfielders: 4-Duncan Oughton (Columbus Crew), 7-Simon Elliott (San Jose Earthquakes), 8-Tim Brown, 11-Leo Bertos (both Wellington Phoenix), 13-Andy Barron (Petone), 14-Jeremy Christie (Wellington Phoenix), 16-Chris James (Tampere United)

Forwards: 9-Shane Smeltz (Gold Coast United), 10-Chris Killen (Glasgow Celtic), 15-Jeremy Brockie (North Queensland Fury), 21-Kris Bright (Panserraikos), 20-Chris Wood (West Bromwich Albion), 22-Jarrod Smith (Seattle Sounders)

South Africa
Goalkeepers: 1-Rowen Fernandez (Armenia Bielefeld), 16-Itumeleng Khune (Kaizer Chiefs), 22-Brian Baloyi (Mamelodi Sundowns)

Defenders: 2-Siboniso Gaxa (Mamelodi Sundowns), 3-Tsepo Masilela (Maccabi Haifa), 4-Aaron Mokoena (Portsmouth), 14-Matthew Booth (Mamelodi Sundowns), 15-Innocent Mdledle (Orlando Pirates), 19-Bryce Moon (Panathinaikos), 20-Bongani Khumalo, 23-Morgan Gould (both SuperSport United)

Midfielders: 5-Benson Mhlongo (Orlando Pirates), 6-MacBeth Sibaya (Rubin Kazan), 7-Lance Davids (SuperSport United), 8-Siphiwe Tshabalala (Kaizer Chiefs), 10-Steven Pienaar (Everton), 11-Elrio van Heerden (Blackburn Rovers), 12-Teko Modise (Orlando Pirates), 13-Kagisho Dikgacoi (Lamontville Golden Arrows)

Forwards: 9-Katlego Mphela (Mamelodi Sundowns), 17-Bernard Parker (Red Star Belgrade), 18-Thembinkosi Fanteni (Maccabi Haifa), 21-Katlego Mashego (Orlando Pirates)

Spain
Goalkeepers: 1-Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), 13-Diego Lopez (Villarreal), 23-Pepe Reina (Liverpool)

Defenders: 2-Raul Albiol (Valencia), 3-Gerard Pique (Barcelona), 4-Carlos Marchena (Valencia), 5-Carles Puyol (Barcelona), 11-Joan Capdevila (Villarreal), 15-Sergio Ramos (Real Madrid), 19-Alvaro Arbeloa (Liverpool)

Midfielders: 6-Pablo Hernandez (Valencia), 8-Xavi (Barcelona), 10-Cesc Fabregas (Arsenal), 12-Sergio Busquets (Barcelona), 14-Xabi Alonso (Liverpool), 20-Santi Cazorla (Villarreal), 18-Albert Riera (Liverpool), 21-David Silva, 22-Juan Mata (both Valencia)

Forwards: 7-David Villa (Valencia), 9-Fernando Torres (Liverpool), 16-Fernando Llorente (Athletic Bilbao), 17-Daniel Guiza (Fenerbahce)

Group B

Brazil
Goalkeepers: 1-Julio Cesar (Inter Milan), 12-Victor (Gremio), 23-Heurelho Gomes (Tottenham Hotspur)

Defenders: 2-Maicon (Inter Milan), 3-Lucio (Bayern Munich), 4-Juan (AS Roma), 6-Kleber (Internacional), 13-Daniel Alves (Barcelona), 14-Luisao (Benfica), 15-Miranda (Sao Paulo), 16-Andre Santos (Corinthians)

Midfielders: 5-Felipe Melo (Fiorentina), 7-Elano Blumer (Manchester City), 8-Gilberto Silva (Panathinaikos), 10-Kaka (AC Milan), 17-Josue (VfL Wolfsburg), 18-Ramires (Cruzeiro), 19-Julio Baptista (AS Roma), 20-Kleberson (Flamengo)

Forwards: 9-Luis Fabiano (Sevilla), 11-Robinho (Manchester City), 21-Alexandre Pato (AC Milan), 22-Nilmar (Internacional)

Egypt
Goalkeepers: 1-Essam Al Hadari (FC Sion), 16-Abdelwahed El Sayed (Zamalek), 23-Mohamed Sobih (Ismaili)

Defenders: 2-Mahmoud Fathallah (Zamalek), 3-Ahmed Al Muhammadi (ENPPI), 4-Ahmed Said (Haras Al Hodoud), 5-Ahmed Khairy (Ismaili), 6-Hani Said (Zamalek), 14-Sayed Moawad (Al Ahli), 15-Ahmed Farag (Ismaili), 18-Ahmed Abdelghani (Haras Al Hodoud), 20-Wael Gomaa (Al Ahli)

Midfielders: 7-Ahmed Fathi (Al Ahli), 8-Hosni Abd Rabou (Al Ahli, United Arab Emirates), 10-Ahmed Eid Abdelmalek (Haras Al Hodoud), 11-Mohamed Shawky (Middlesbrough), 12-Mohamed Hommos (Ismaili), 13-Abdelziz Tawfik (ENPPI), 17-Ahmed Hassan, 22-Mohamed Aboutrika (both Al Ahli)

Strikers: 9-Mohamed Zidan (Borussia Dortmund), 19-Amr Zaki (Wigan Athletic), 21-Ahmed Abdoul Raouf (ENPPI)

Italy
Goalkeepers: 1-Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), 12-Morgan De Sanctis (Galatasaray), 14-Marco Amelia (Palermo)

Defenders: 2-Davide Santon (Inter Milan), 3-Fabio Grosso (Olympique Lyon), 4-Giorgio Chiellini, 5-Fabio Cannavaro, 6-Nicola Legrottaglie (all Juventus), 13-Alessandro Gamberini (Fiorentina), 19-Gianluca Zambrotta (AC Milan), 22-Andrea Dossena (Liverpool)

Midfielders: 8-Gennaro Gattuso (AC Milan), 10-Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma), 16-Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), 18-Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), 20-Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), 21-Andrea Pirlo (AC Milan)

Forwards: 7-Simone Pepe (Udinese), 9-Luca Toni (Bayern Munich), 11-Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), 15-Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli), 17-Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal)

U.S.
Goalkeepers: 1-Tim Howard (Everton), 18-Brad Guzan (Aston Villa), 23-Luis Robles (Kaiserslautern)

Defenders: 2-Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas USA), 3-Carlos Bocanegra (Stade Rennes), 5-Oguchi Onyewu (Standard Liege), 6-Heath Pearce (Hansa Rostock), 11-Marvell Wynne (Toronto FC), 15-Jay DeMerit (Watford), 16-Danny Califf (FC Midtjylland), 21-Jonathan Spector (West Ham United)

Midfielders: 7-DaMarcus Beasley (Glasgow Rangers), 12-Michael Bradley (Borussia Moenchengladbach), 13-Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), 16-Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), 19-Freddy Adu (Monaco), 20-Jose Francisco Torres (Pachuca, Mexico), 22-Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus)

Forwards: 4-Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids), 8-Clint Dempsey (Fulham), 9-Charlie Davies (Hammarby, Sweden), 10-Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), 17-Jozy Altidore (Villarreal, Spain)

I would have to say Spain are definitely favorite to win this tournament judging from their current form. Unbeaten in 33 games is one of the reason why they are the no.1 rank team in the world now.

qspn wrote:

I would have to say Spain are definitely favorite to win this tournament judging from their current form. Unbeaten in 33 games is one of the reason why they are the no.1 rank team in the world now.

i couldnt agree more. watching torres scored the fastest hatrick, a new record. partnering with villa, midfield with Alonso, Fabregas, Xavi, Riera..but Brazil and Italy looked good as well.

Spain does look the favorites to win... But I hope Italy can put up a good show. They have a few young players that might want to prove a point and stake a claim ok the wc squad next year. Brazil will always be there so we arw back to the top european and south american teams again. But knowing competitions there are bound to be some surprises..... I hope

will go for my favourite team.. FORZA ITALIA!!!!

spain ftw

spain got lucky against Iraq last nite.. thank to david villa 55th minit goal.. huhu.. Well DOne to spain.. but iraq played well in that match as well.. credit goes to them as well..

Yup Iraq did well last night as they defended in number. Gave very little space for the Spanish to play their game. To be honest I think Spain was abit sloppy last night with possesion especially at the final third of play. It goes to show a good organization is the way to go although Iraq is not a big footballing nation.

Saw this photo in the newspaper yesterday. Nothing unusual.
It shows the Brazilian players appealing for a penalty which won them the match against Egypt in stoppage time.
However, my version or what I see in the photo is:
The Brazilian players doing the macarena dance as soon as they learned the referee awarded them the penalty in stoppage time.
Sorry, just joking.





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Why isn't Ryan Nelsen of Blackburn in the NZ squad?
Was he injured? They could've used his defensive experience avainst Spain.

Iraq had no ambition at all, content in soaking up pressure and maybe counter-attacking Spain every once in a while. Having said that, Iraq is most probably playing to their strengths, given that the opposition is of such quality as Spain.

Vicente tried out another def pairing yesterday, Pique and Marchena in place of Puyol and Albiol. Expect to see wholesale changes for the last match, maybe Llorente to get a place in the starting line-up, as well as Guiza, Cazorla and Silva.

hm they are eyeing for the record of consecutive wins and unbeaten streak, that may prompt them to field a relatively strong side?

Yes Del Bosque in dilemma whether to maintain the unbeaten streak or resting his key players for the semis clash. I believe even a fringe Spanish side is capable of beating the host. After saying that the host would only need a point to qualify to semis.

Spain and Bafana Bafana qualify to the semis for Group A.

Tonight will Brazil's and Italy/Egypt's turn.

It doesn't favor the Italian if I have to be honest after their shocking defeat to the hands of Egypt. They need to scored ensure that the Egyptian doesn't outscore them by more than 2 goals as they could leap frog them although if the Italian managed to beat Brazil.

brazil vs italy tonite.. i will never ever gonna miss it..

GO Brazil!! My favourite national team hehe!!

What a turn of event. No one fancy USA to make it through after losing their first 2 games. Kudos have to be given to them. It goes to show that anything can still happen in football.

USA managed to sneak in with an extra goal scored as opposed to Italy, with USA having scored 4 times, and Italy scoring only 3 times. USA and Italy both have -2 GD, with USA letting in 6 goals, and Italy 5 goals. If Italy had managed to score once, or even restrict Brazil to only 2 goals, then they would be in the SFs!

Again, Italy has flattered to deceive, not living up to the pre-match hype of being World Champions. Maybe the fact that the squad has been too reliant on the oldies like Cannavaro, Buffon, Pirlo, etc and a slow back 4 made them too vulnerable at the counter-attack, of which Brazil exploited to the fullest this morning. Anyway, one pre-tournament favourite is gone, leaving behind only Brazil and Spain to contest being the winner of CC 2009.

No one voted for SA or USA?

it gonna be Brazil vs Spain in the final.. nice!!! huhu..

haha USA knocking Spain out! Who wouldve thought?!

Got to fancy Brasil to win it now.

unless there's another big upset, Brazil will be the winner...

USA is on form...maybe Beckham is starting to have an impact on their play