Search: ' Conference North'

Australia missed out on the World Cup finals yet again. Matthew Hall watched them succumb to mild paranoia – and a better team – in Montevideo

Three strikes and you’re out, and a triple lash from Uruguay in Montevideo was enough to send Aus­tralia crashing out of the World Cup without qualifying for the finals for the seventh time in succession. The first and last time the Socceroos made it to the finals was in 1974. On the past five occasions Australia have been eliminated in sudden death play-offs, ag­ainst Scotland, Israel, Argentina, Iran and now Uru­guay. Con­spiracy theories, administrative blun­ders, plain bad luck and the comeback of Diego Mara­dona have all contributed to past failures.

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Wednesday 1 Villa and Newcastle are both through to their respective “finals” in the Intertoto. John Gregory seems underwhelmed by his side’s away goals win over Rennes: “If we’ve got to play in the competition then qualifying for the UEFA Cup is what it’s all about.” Barry Town beat Porto 3-1 in the second leg of their Champions League tie. The Football League deny reports that Celtic and Rangers may be invited into this season’s Worthington Cup, although League chairman Keith Harris hopes to see them included next year: “They would help spice up the competition for our sponsors and improve its appeal to the television audience.” Celtic’s 4-3 win at Old Trafford in Ryan Giggs’s testimonial is enlivened by several near-fights, most featuring David Beckham. Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar is the subject of the first-ever transfer deal between Fulham and Juventus, moving for £7 million. Portsmouth sign 1998 World Cup star Robert Prosinecki from Dinamo Zagreb.

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Where does the future of football on the internet lie? Bob Roberts believes big clubs hold the whip hand, while general, free-access sites are in trouble

On Tuesday May 14, 2001, Celtic made internet foot­ball history by transmitting Tommy Boyd’s testimonial game against Manchester United as the first ever live broadband broadcast. The broadcast on their official website was the first “free-to-air” football match available on the internet, with pic­ture quality allegedly comparable to television.

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Sunday 1 Liverpool might enter the Vieira bidding war – “Of course we’d be interested in a player like him,” says M Gérard – though Arsenal continue to insist through collectively gritted teeth that he’s not for sale. Man Utd chief executive Peter Kenyon denies claims that United have been snubbed by several transfer targets. “Listening to all the speculation you'd think we were a club on the precipice. We’ve not had one rejection.” Brazil lose another World Cup tie, 1-0 in Uruguay, which leaves them barely hanging on to South America’s fourth automatic qualifying place.

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The Football League has suffered by comparison since the Premier League began. But, says Roger Titford, in many ways the lower echelons are in rude health

“Are you lot all still here?” Surprisingly, almost ten years after the hugely successful launch of the Premier League the remnant Football League is still going – all present and correct. The FA’s Blueprint for Football, which incorporated the essential ideas for the Premier League in 1991, said little and seemed to care less about life in the Football League in the new era. Prospects were “not encouraging” and “radical action” was needed, though the only measures suggested were the fam­iliar ones: a reduction of four clubs, much ground-sharing and a return to reg­ionalised lower divisions. This pes­simism about the state of the Football League is still widely present among fans and the media today.

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