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Hehe the latest iteration of Football Manager is out soon. Hot new features include a revised scouting system, increased player interaction with pre, halftime and post match teamtalks. You can also tap up players by praising them or console/berate your own striker who can seem to score. Feeder and parent club relationships are also an interesting new feature in the game, allowing you to send your players to/fro the respective club. For the feeder club, this means a cash incentive and a steady stream of players to loan in. For the parent club, a chance to give your youngsters some competitive action and possibly get the pick of some fresh young talent from another club as well.

The Gold Demo is already out and so far, I find it to be a fresh update on FM 2006. Only things that peeved me were the ball boys' inability to find the players when the ball goes out of bounds and the exaggerated player prices when a club obviously doesn't want to sell.

But the new scouting system might be good enough to actually do away with FM Scout once and for all. Each scout/coach has their own knowledge of various countries' players. So if you want to expand your horizons and discover some hidden Turkmenistani talent, you can send your scouts there, provided your board allows for such extravagances. Little things like watching your bench players warm up during the game are pretty cool as well as the many tips that flash across on loading screens.

The demo also seems to be pretty quick as well compared to older versions but then again, you can only run one country's leagues in the demo. Ease of use has also improved especially with options like multi select, so you can transfer list all the dead wood at once.

What's really great about the game is that all the new improvements come via suggestions from the FM playing community itself, which really helps Sports Interactive come up trumps in the world of football management sims.

22 men kicking a round ball on a pitch really gets people going. I got stuck in ever since I was 6 and woke up to see the then USSR playing some other team in Mexico '86. Obscure as my introduction to football was, it has had a lasting effect and I'm sure a lot of people feel the same, what with all the World Cup tie-ins. Its not just the big companies sponsoring the World Cup or McDonald's advertising their 24hr delivery service.

The Swiss are well represented. (Something to do with their qualification I suspect.) Take for instance, FREITAG's Calcio balls revised for 11 different countries. Each ball is modelled after the nation's flag, so you've got Japan's Rising Sun and Argentina's Sun of May represented on the pentagonal and hexagonal panels. Water bottle makers SIGG are getting in the act as well, with a collection of World Cup related designs planned since May '05. Clever buggers.

You don't need to don a jersey if you don't want to either. Plenty of football related apparel for you to look understated but still represent your fave sport in. The T-1 World Cup is a Tee-off, literally, as creatives as diverse as Stefan Sagmeister, Naoto Fukasawa and Singapore's own Phunk Studio square off to see whose specially designed tee sells the most. (Got this off jeansnow.net and posted on Josh Spear as well.) Plus we have Modell Deutschland's 3D football pitch shirt. Also too late now, but if you caught it, Arkitip's football issue #34 had an ARKITIP x Peter Sutherland x adidas jersey packaged with it.

On the art front, Bora Herke's artballs have been getting lots of blogttention. Each ball made in the likeness of a particular cliche of the country. Jeans for the US, manga for Japan for instance. As with Masked Ball, just one of 24 football themed art works at the Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts. Kendall Geers basically stuffed some political heads onto footballs, which everyone can kick at!

iPod in need some protection against various football hooligans? Vaja has the answer with their World Cup themed releases. (Just don't sport the wrong one is all.)

This solution to typical poor aim when it comes to shooting in the toilet is particularly apt. Via Boing Boing.

So from some blokes kicking around the head of a Danish prince (if you were so inclined to believe) to the Adidas +Teamgeist with its fancy schmancy 14 non polygonal panels, football has come a long way. (Although given that the top searches for the word football on google turns up a rubbish sport and the recent footballing lesson the Czechs gave to the Americans shows that for some parts of the world at least, there's still quite a ways to go as well.)

Not a scoreline Germans are normally related with but still they beat Costa Rica by 4 goals to 2 in what has to be the best opening game in the World Cup I've seen. Usually tenuous and tedious, opening games tended towards the safe and conservative, defensive games where the hosts score one and hang on. Not this German side though. Klinnsman, perhaps as famous for scoring goals as he is for diving has lent some of that flair and artistry into creating an attacking side. Injecting lots of youth and young manhood with the likes of Schweinsteiger, Lahm, Mertesacker, Metzelder and Podolski to name a few, the Germans now look nothing like the aged dinosaurs of previous campaigns.

So on the German front, at least the attack appears to be great and the football easy on the eyes. Their defence though, lacks solidity, with Friedrich responsible for playing Wanchope onside twice for both the Costa Rican goals. Lahm was the unlikely first scorer of the tournament after just 5 minutes, the left back curling in a right foot shot which looped over the keeper, testament to the swervy new ball. Wanchope replied soon after before Schneider's breakthrough found Schweinsteiger, whose cross/shot found the lurking Klose. It was a blistering opening 17 minutes. Then game settled and lost some of its verve, until Wanchope scored again around the 70 minute mark, another simple through ball creating the opportunity. A late strike from 35 yards from Frings sealed things for the Germans who pick up 3 points.

If this is going to be a yardstick for what this World Cup's gonna be, then it's gonna be a great one.

Man of the match - Phillip Lahm. The left back was a constant menace, marauding down the left flank and could have scored more than one.

Germany - Lots of attacking intent, with Klose a key player up front. Having played without Ballack, you'd expect them to be even better in the next game. Mertesacker, Metzelder and Friedrich were awful though, Friedrich culpable for both goals conceded and the two center backs often caught out. Will probably top the group and with home support, they should at least make the quarters.

Costa Rica - Vintage form from the small Central American nation. 5-2 against Brazil last time out and now 4-2. They can score as long as they have the ungainly Wanchope but they haven't got enough quality overall. They'll be deflated after this result and they'll find it hard against Poland and Ecuador, which typically play defensively. Good to watch but unlikely to make it through unless the others slip up.

Highlight - Frings' Gerrard-esque 30 yarder on 86 minutes. Quality strike. 

2 Amazing comeback victories in 2 successive seasons. Words do no justice. Let the videos speak.

Check out the highlights of the Champions League Final 04/05. Compare it with this stunning remake on Pro Evo!

Now check out this year's miracle. Just when you think its done and dusted, Gerrard pops up and turns everything around. Again and again and again. YNWA.

Some time back, Nike Football had this film made by Brazilian director, Fernando Meirelles, who made films like City Of God and the recent Constant Gardener. Entitled Ginga, The Soul Of Brazilian Football, it showcases seven Brazilian footballers from a young kid trying to make the big time to Real Madrid's Robinho and even a one legged footballer chasing his dreams.

On the NIKE football site, you can check out all the brilliant videos as well as a series of ads from Joga TV. Joga Bonito, or play beautiful, showcases a series of short ads, starring former Man Utd and Leeds great, Eric Cantona. Its a semi-spoof like tv show in which Cantona pleads with the viewer to play beautiful. Amongst the ads is a brilliant clip where Ronaldinho bangs the ball against the crossbar repeatedly after trying on a new pair of boots, all the while showing off his glittering array of tricks and flicks. As a riposte, another vid shows Ronaldo saying it should hit the net not the bar after he bangs a shot in.

BEINGHUNTED has a feature on Joga Bonito you can check out.