Korea Republic national football team profile

The Korea Republic national football team represents the Republic of Korea in international football competitions. The team, also known as South Korea, is recognized as Korea Republic by FIFA.South Korea has participated in seven World Cup final tournaments.The first and only Asian team to reach the semi-finals, doing so when it co-hosted the 2002 FIFA World Cup with Japan.It has qualified for its eighth World Cup final tournament, the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, having been the only unbeaten team during the AFC qualification tournament. It won the first two editions of the AFC Asian Cup.Since the 2000s, South Korea has emerged as a major football power in Asia, winning several prestigious Asian football championships, including the first two Asian Cup tournaments. The South Korean national team has also played in six consecutive World Cup finals from 1986, making a total of seven World Cup finals in all. It recently qualified for its eighth World Cup finals by qualifying for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.2002 FIFA World Cup, which it co-hosted with Japan, the South Korean team was unable to garner a single win at any of the tournaments. Despite spirited play and good effort, South Korea has lost or drawn all of its matches except for in the last two tournaments which were held in 2002 and 2006.The 2002 FIFA World Cup was hosted jointly with Japan. Led by Dutch coach Guus Hiddink and assistant coach Pim Verbeek, South Korea defeated Portugal as well as European powerhouses Italy and Spain. The relative skill shown by the Korea Republic national football team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup brought fame and drew the attention of many different countries worldwide, which further led to scouting from several European Premier Leagues.During the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany, South Korea achieved their first World Cup victory outside of Asia by beating Togo 2-1 in Frankfurt on June 13. Against France, the team managed a late equalizer from Park Ji-Sung to end up with a 1-1 tie and this put them tied with Switzerland on top of their group. However, they were knocked out of the tournament after a controversial 2-0 loss against Switzerland, while France advanced with a 2-0 win against Togo.In the final round of South Africa 2010 World Cup qualifying, South Korea won the Group B with 16 points and qualified for the tournament finals.
Provisional squad list:
GK JUNG Sung Ryong
GK KIM Young Kwang
GK LEE Woon Jae
AHN Jung Hwan
CHA Doo Ri
CHO Won Hee
CHO Yong Hyung
HWANG Jae Won
KANG Min Soo
KI Sung Yueng
KIM Bo Kyung
KIM Chi Woo
KIM Dong Jin
KIM Hyung Il
KIM Jae Sung
KIM Jung Woo
KIM Nam Il
KOO Ja Cheol
KWAK Tae Hwi
LEE Chung Yong
LEE Dong Gook
LEE Jung Soo
LEE Keun Ho
LEE Seung Yeoul
LEE Young Pyo
OH Beom Seok
PARK Chu Young
PARK Ji Sung
SHIN Hyung Min
YEOM Ki Hun

source by-wikipedia.org

New Zealand national football team profile

The New Zealand national football team is the national association football team of New Zealand and is governed by New Zealand Football (NZF).The team played in the 1982 FIFA World Cup and on 14 November 2009 qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Because of the lack of a high-quality domestic league, most top New Zealand footballers play in the leagues of Europe, in the United States, or in the Australasian A-League.
New Zealand formerly battled Australia for top honours in the Oceania Football Confederation (OFC). This is no longer the case as Australia now plays in the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), leaving New Zealand as the only seeded team in the OFC. New Zealand has won the OFC Nations Cup four times in 1973, 1998, 2002 and 2008.

Provisional squad list:
GK James BANNATYNE
GK Glen MOSS
GK Mark PASTON
GK Jacob SPOONLEY
Kosta BARBAROUSES
Andy BARRON
Leo BERTOS
Andy BOYENS
Kris BRIGHT
Jeremy BROCKIE
Tim BROWN
Jeremy CHRISTIE
Aaron CLAPHAM
Chad COOMBES
Simon ELLIOTT
Rory FALLON
Chris KILLEN
Tony LOCHHEAD
Michael McGLINCHEY
Dave MULLIGAN
Ryan NELSEN
Steven OLD
Cole PEVERLEY
Winston REID
Aaron SCOTT
Ben SIGMUND
Shane SMELTZ
Tommy SMITH
Ivan VICELICH
Chris WOOD

source by-wikipedia.org

Mexico national football team profile

The Mexico national football team represents Mexico in international football competition. It is managed by the Mexican Football Federation.The team is currently ranked 17th in the FIFA World Rankings.Mexico has qualified for thirteen World Cups and has qualified consecutively since 1994. Mexico's best progression was reaching the Quarterfinals in both the 1970 and 1986 FIFA World Cups, both of which were staged on Mexican soil. Mexico holds one FIFA Confederations Cup, five CONCACAF Gold Cups, three CONCACAF Championships, one North American Nations Cup and two NAFC Championships. Although Mexico is under the jurisdiction of CONCACAF, the national football team has been regularly invited to compete in the CONMEBOL Copa América since Ecuador 1993 finishing as runner-up twice and obtaining the third place medal on three occasions.Mexico did not appear again in a World Cup tournament until the 1950 FIFA World Cup. Before 1970, Mexico struggled to make much of an impact in the World Cup when competing against European and South American teams. However, goalkeeper Antonio Carbajal has the distinction of being the first player ever to appear in five consecutive FIFA World Cups.Mexico failed to qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup and did not appear at the world stage until the Argentina '78. Mexico suffered an early exit after three defeats: 0-6 against West Germany, 1-3 against Tunisia, and 1-3 to Poland. Mexico failed to qualify for Spain 1982.In 1986, Mexico again hosted the World Cup. Coached by Bora Milutinović, Mexico was placed in Group B where they defeated Belgium 2-1, draw 1-1 with Paraguay, and defeated Iraq 1-0. With this performance, Mexico won the top spot in its group and advanced to the next round where Mexico faced Bulgaria in a 2-0 win. In the quarter-finals stage, Mexico lost to West Germany 0-0 (1-4 pens). They won the first championship game.Mexico was disqualified from the 1990 FIFA World Cup (and any other international competition) after using players over the age limit allowed by FIFA in the qualifying round for the Olympic Games in Seoul 1988.Mexico hosted and won the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup. Mexico won its first official FIFA tournament trophy by beating Brazil with a final score of 4-3. Mexico's star, Cuauhtémoc Blanco, shared the tournament's Golden Shoe award as top scorer with Ronaldinho, he was also awarded the Silver Ball.
Provisional squad list:
GK Luis MICHEL
GK Guillermo OCHOA
GK Oscar PEREZ
Paul AGUILAR
Adrian ALDRETE
Pablo BARRERA
Adolfo BAUTISTA
Cuauhtemoc BLANCO
Israel CASTRO
Giovani DOS SANTOS
Jonathan DOS SANTOS
Guillermo FRANCO
Andres GUARDADO
Javier HERNANDEZ
Efrain JUAREZ
Jonny MAGALLON
Rafael MARQUEZ
Alberto MEDINA
Hector MORENO
Ricardo OSORIO
Francisco RODRIGUEZ
Carlos SALCIDO
Gerardo TORRADO
Jorge TORRES
Juan Carlos VALENZUELA
Carlos VELA

source by-wikipedia.org

Japan national football team profile

Japan national football team is the national football team of Japan.Japan, winners of three of the last five editions of the AFC Asian Cup, have high hopes for the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa.Their fourth appearance at the global showpiece.South Africa 2010 will be Japan's fourth FIFA World Cup finals, and their fourth in a row. Their best finish came as hosts at Korea/Japan 2002, when they topped Group H ahead of Belgium, Russia and Tunisia to advance to the knockout stages for the first and so far only time. Once in the Round of 16 they put in a brave fight only to go down 1-0 against eventual third-place finishers Turkey, the goal coming after 12 minutes from Umit Davala.
Provisional squad list:
GK Yoshikatsu KAWAGUCHI
GK Eiji KAWASHIMA
GK Seigo NARAZAKI
Yuki ABE
Yasuhito ENDO
Makoto HASEBE
Keisuke HONDA
Junichi INAMOTO
Naohiro ISHIKAWA
Daiki IWAMASA
Shinji KAGAWA
Yuichi KOMANO
Yasuyuki KONNO
Ryoichi MAEDA
Tomoaki MAKINO
Daisuke MATSUI
Takayuki MORIMOTO
Yuto NAGATOMO
Kengo NAKAMURA
Shunsuke NAKAMURA
Yuji NAKAZAWA
Mitsuo OGASAWARA
Shinji OKAZAKI
Yoshito OKUBO
Keiji TAMADA
Marcus Tulio TANAKA
Tatsuya TANAKA
Yuhei TOKUNAGA
Atsuto UCHIDA
Kisho YANO

source by-fifa.com

Portugal national football team profile

The Portuguese national football team is governed by the Portuguese Football Federation, finishing 4th at the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The first appearance in the 1966 FIFA World Cup saw them reach the semifinal, losing 2–1 at Wembley to the eventual world champions England.he next two times Portugal qualified for the World Cup were 1986 and 2002, with Portugal going out in the first round both times. In the 1986 tournament, players went on strike over prize-money and refused to train between their first and second games.In 2003, the Portuguese Football Federation decided to hire Luiz Felipe Scolari, the Brazilian who had led the Brazil national football team to win the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Scolari led Portugal to the final of UEFA Euro 2004, where they lost to the Greek national team, and to their second World Cup semi-final in the 2006 World Cup. Scolari left after the Euro 2008 championships to manage Chelsea. Carlos Queiroz was appointed the new manager of Portugal in 2008, with whom Portugal qualified for the 2010 World Cup.Portugal participated in the qualifying stages with new manager Carlos Queirozfor the 2010 FIFA World Cup, which is due to take place in South Africa. The team had a qualifying campaign that almost turned disastrous and just sneaked into second place by a single point over Sweden, a group where Denmark finished first, one point ahead from Portugal. Portugal was drawn to play against Bosnia and Herzegovina in the european zone play-offs. With two wins (1–0 in the first leg, in Lisbon; and 1–0, in Zenica), the team gained its right to participate in the World Cup. Having qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the Selecção das Quinas had its most successful decade to date, having qualified for all the editions of the World Cup and Euro Cup (Euro 2000, World Cup 2002, Euro 2004, World Cup 2006, Euro 2008, and World Cup 2010), along with Spain, Italy, Germany, and France, the only other four teams to have done so.Portugal will first face Côte d'Ivoire on 15 June 2010 at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth, followed by North Korea on 21 June 2010 at the Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town and the last group match will be played against Brazil on 25 June 2010 at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban.
Provisional squad list:
GK BETO
GK DANIEL FERNANDES
GK EDUARDO
GK RUI PATRICIO
BRUNO ALVES
CRISTIANO RONALDO
DANNY
DECO
DUDA
ELISEU
FABIO COENTRAO
HUGO ALMEIDA
JOAO MOUTINHO
LIEDSON
MAKUKULA
MANUEL FERNANDES
MIGUEL
MIGUEL VELOSO
NANI
PAULO FERREIRA
PEDRO MENDES
PEPE
RAUL MEIRELES
RICARDO CARVALHO
RICARDO COSTA
ROLANDO
RUBEN AMORIM
SIMAO
TIAGO
ZE CASTRO

source by-wikipedia

Netherlands national football team profile

The Netherlands national football team is the national football team of the Netherlands. It is controlled by the Royal Netherlands Football Association.It is won Euro '88 and reached two consecutive World Cup finals in 1974 and 1978, but lost both finals to their respective host nations, West Germany and Argentina.At the peak of its success in the 1970s, the team was famous for its mastery of Total Football.It is currently ranked fourth in the FIFA World Rankings and third in the World Football Elo Ratings.
Contents.The Netherlands played their first international match in Antwerp against Belgium on 30 April 1905. The players were selected by a five-member commission from the Dutch football association.The Netherlands made their first appearance at the World Cup final tournament in 1934, and after coming back in 1938, the Dutch national team entered the wilderness of world football.In 1974, the Netherlands beat both Brazil and Argentina in the second group stage, reaching the final for the first time in their history. However, the team lost to West Germany in the final in Munich, despite having gone 1–0 up through Johan Neeskens' early penalty kick before any German had even touched the ball. The Dutch were trying to embarrass the Germans at home while they were only up 1–0. This would prove their undoing. Supported by the crowd, a converted penalty by Paul Breitner and the winner from Gerd Müller led to a victory for the Germans. In spite of losing the final, the Clockwork Oranje and Johan Cruyff had already written a new page in football's history.In 1978, the Netherlands again reached the final of a World Cup, only to be again beaten by the hosts, Argentina.Euro '80 was the last tournament that the generation of Total Football qualified for, but they did not advance past the group stage, despite the tournament format being expanded that year. Veterans such as Krol and Rensenbrink retired soon afterwards and the Netherlands missed the 1982 World Cup, Euro '84, and the 1986 World Cup in succession.
The Netherlands qualified for the 2006 World Cup in Germany and finished second in Group C after beating Serbia & Montenegro (1–0) and the Côte d'Ivoire (2–1) and drawing Argentina (0–0). Both Argentina and the Netherlands finished the group stage with seven points, but the Argentinians had a superior goal difference and finished first as a result.The Dutch team went on to secure a 100 percent record in their World Cup 2010 qualification campaign, winning all eight games and becoming the first European team to qualify for the World Cup. The World Cup Draw in Cape Town on the 4 December 2009 saw the Dutch being placed alongside Denmark, Cameroon and Japan in Group E.
Provisional squad list:GK Sander BOSCHKER,GK Maarten STEKELENBURG,GK Michel VORM,Ibrahim AFELLAY,Vurnon ANITA,Ryan BABEL,Otman BAKKAL,Khalid BOULAHROUZ,Edson BRAAFHEID,Wout BRAMA Nigel DE JONG,Demy DE ZEEUW,Eljero ELIA,Orlando ENGELAAR,John HEITINGA,Klaas Jan HUNTELAAR,Dirk KUYT,Jeremain LENS,Joris MATHIJSEN,David MENDES DA SILVA,Andre OOIJER,Arjen ROBBEN,Stijn SCHAARS,Wesley SNEIJDER,Mark VAN BOMMEL,Giovanni VAN BRONCKHORST,Rafael VAN DER VAART,Gregory VAN DER WIEL,Robin VAN PERSIE,Ron VLAAR.