September 8th promises to be a great day for football. Lots of games and some great classics: France v. Italy (no Materazzi?), England v. Insrael, Netherlands v. Bulgaria, and Portugal v. Poland are a few of the 21 matches going on on this date.

The Polish team is playing safe. Coach Leo Beenhakker, has selected a squad of 25 men for the EURO 2008 qualifying matches against Portugal, on September 8th, and Finland, on September 12th.

Ernst-Happel-Stadium, the host of EURO 2008 finals, has opened his doors to the public. Over 4000 visitors stopped by to take a look at the amazing new stadium, which now has new VIP areas, refurbished changing rooms, an up-to-date security center, and even solar panels.

As a welcome to the 2010 World Cup Qualifiers, let’s take a pic at Fifa’s fascinating facts, star names and peculiar oddities of the history of World Cup Qualifier games. Here are my favorites:

UEFA EURO 2008™ co-hosts Austria will host a friendly against England on 16 November at the Ernst-Happel-Stadion in Vienna. The 2 teams last met in 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying with a 2-2 draw in Austria followed by a 1-0 win for England in the return match.

After serving as landing ground for a Hungaryan player, Materazzi has suffered thigh bruising and general trauma, which even made him vomit after the game. The tough italian cookie probably doesn’t want to miss the revenge match against the French (who beat Azurri 3-1 in the earlier fixture in Paris), which could bring Italy [...]

Oh, how we love days full of international matches. Lots of good players, good plays, teams who play great, and teams who should be playing better.
Here are some of today’s matches. Join the line and lets review what went on on pitches around the world.

[TABLE=10]

DATE
GROUP
HOME

AWAY

8/22
A
Finland
19:00
Kazakhstan

8/22
E
Estonia
19:00
Andorra

8/22
F
Northern Ireland
19:45
Liechtenstein

8/22
A
Belgium
20:45
Serbia

8/22
D
San Marino
21:00
Cyprus

8/22
A
Armenia
21:00
Portugal