Sepp Blatter and the FIFA Luddites have gotten their first serious challenge.

The FIGC chairman Giancarlo Abete came out against FIFA's decision to do away with goal line technology in the name of keeping it "human."

"That doesn't take away that experimenting can be possible. If we don't test, there is a mistake in the method."

The real agenda appears to be FIFA's controlling nature, to keep clubs and countries bickering with one another and slapping them with fines and suspensions. It's quite medieval.

The decision came on the day when the FA suspended goal line technology and the referees failed to spot Liam Ridgewell's clear goal. Talk about immediate proof.

More voices like Abete need to be heard. There has been a lot of teeth gnashing from pundits but the silence from national federations and leagues has been deafening.

Lars Lagerback: Big beer ambitions

The salary of Lars Lagerback, the Swedish coach now the helmsman for the Super Eagles has become a controversial issue.

The amount is said to be in the region of $1.5 million although Lagerback himself is said to have asked about half that. Nigeria has a history of hiring coaches with sign on bonuses, bloated fees, and little responsibility. Berti Vogts virtually coached the team from Germany only coming down to Nigeria ten days in the month while collecting his salary. His player agent acted as the de facto coach deciding which players would play on the team.

With the terms of his contract murky, the arrival of Lagerback has not entirely generated optimism from some quarters with the period of time too short for Nigeria to expect miracles. The NFA has set a semi-final berth as a mandate which appears to all purpose pie in the sky.

Thierry Henry can hope that Martin Hansson officiates one of France's matches. This time he might be able to get away with a volleyball spike.

Shaibu Amodu will now coach Nigeria's homegrown players

Shaibu Amodu has been sacked as expected. The Super Eagles were suffering a crisis of confidence in Amodu and even with their third placed finish in the CAN, looked far from self assured.

Jay Jay Okocha reflects a growing consensus that a foreign coach needs to replace Amodu. To this end Ronnie Shehata with his successful tenure as Pharoahs coach was sounded out about taking over. But the problem may not be Amodu as much as a dysfunctional NFF that interferes with every facet of football including player selection.

Be that as it may, Guus Hiddink has proven exemplary in providing short term shock therapy. So it is natural that he is on top of Nigeria's list to replace Amodu.He is also being courted by Turkey but unlike that country, Nigeria is going to the World Cup. The Super Eagles also have extremely talented players but not neccesarily the work ethic and the defensive intensity. Hiddink has an established reputation in these areas. After Russian complacency cost them a World Cup spot, he might be looking to burnish these credentials elsewhere.

An option is yet another Dutchman, Clemens Westerhof, who coached Nigeria to their 1994 Africa Cup of Nations title and to the second round that year in the World Cup. He now works as a administrator of a Nigerian football academy. Most Nigerians see him as their best coach. But Westerhof seems to have grown wary of the corrupt and sectarian nature of Nigerian football and has refused such calls.

Another candidate is Ghana's former coach Ratomir Dujakovic who took that country to the 2006 World Cup and the second round. Others mentioned are Bruno Metsu who coached Senegal to the 2002 World Cup, former England U-21 manager Peter Taylor, and Bayern Munich's Louis Van Gaal.

The rush to foreign coaches is not unanimous as there are others in the Nigeria camp like Lawrence Orairo who believe that Amodu should have been strengthened by adding assistants like Samson Siaisia and Stephen Keshi.

. ,. .

The oldest surviving player of the 1930 World Cup final celebrates his 100th birthday. Happy birthday, Francisco Varallo! The Argentinian goalkeeper striker still remembers vividly the day Argentina lost to Uruguay in the inaugural World Cup.

"I achieved a lot of nice things in my career: I represented the national team and was Boca's record goalscorer," said the man of the moment. "However, in my whole life I've never felt such a bitter pain as losing that World Cup Final against Uruguay in 1930."

Egypt's fantastic CAN campaign vaulted them from 24th position in December 2009 to the 10th position in FIFA's latest rankings. They earned 237 points in this period.

The recently concluded CAN saw some strong gains for the top African countries. Nigeria was also a big mover skating 7 places from 22nd to 15th position bagging 108 points. Ghana defeated by Egypt in the CAN final earned 76 points to move to 27th position and Gabon moved to 44th position. Cameroon dropped 9 positions to 20th position. Cote D"Ivoire's disappointing campaign saw them fall six places to 22nd position. The banned Togo team moved one spot to 70th position.

The biggest mover upwards was Yemen moving 25 places to 105th position. In the opposite direction, Nicaragua slipped 29 positions to 162nd position. The conflict zones Iraq, Palestine and Afghanistan lay in 86th, 172nd and 194th position.

The USA remained in 14th position unchanged from last time. Its World Cup group rivals England retained its 9th spot while Algeria and Slovenia slipped to 31st and 33rd position respectively. Mexico was in the 17th position. Australia ranked 24th, the top Asian zone entry with Japan in 40th position, the second ranked country from that zone.

San Marino, Europe's favourite whipping post registered no points remaining on 203rd position along with Anguilla, Monserrat, American Samoa, and Papua New Guniea.

Spain continued on the top followed by Brazil and Netherlands.

The Top Ten:

Ranking Team Pts +/- Ranking +/- Pts

1 Spain 1627 0 Equal 0
2 Brazil 1568 0 Equal 0
3 Netherlands 1288 0 Equal 0
4 Italy 1209 0 Equal 0
5 Portugal 1176 0 Equal 0
6 Germany 1173 0 Equal 0
7 France 1117 0 Equal 0
8 Argentina 1082 0 Equal -3
9 England 1076 0 Equal 0
10 Egypt 1069 14 Up 237

For the complete FIFA table >>

No time to lose. Check out Partners in Health >>

In addition to providing emergency relief, these organizations are providing the following aid to those in need:

From Pele’s Telstar in 1970 to the Jabulani for South Africa 2010, the History of the Ball:

The first one of these that I owned was the Tango from 1978 - that was Mario Kempes‘  World Cup.

Good beer too.