Bet on these 2010 FIFA World Cup Games
Sunday, April 4th, 2010
We only have a couple of months left before the biggest tournament of the year gets going.
That’s right, the 2010 FIFA World Cup, the premier international football tournament in the world, will run between June 11 to July 11 in South Africa. It will be the culmination of a qualification process that began in August of 2007 and involved 204 of the 208 FIFA national teams.
As expected, there are some intriguing matchups to see in the 19th FIFA World Cup and one fixture that football fans shouldn’t miss is this one between Italy and Paraguay. Italy and Spain are the top two teams in continental Europe. Italy faces Paraguay, Slovakia, and New Zealand. If they lose one of those games it will cause a national crisis, and quite possibly yet another governmental collapse. Luckily, it shouldn’t be too much of an issue for them.
Playing Paraguay is arguably one of the biggest challenges to Italy, it’s also one of the most exciting fixtures in the tournament. Both teams focus on defense first, and neither scores a lot of goals. But Paraguay isn’t as strong as they seem in my eyes.
Another matchup to watch out for is Portugal vs. Brazil. Fans are so looking forward for this matchup that tickets for the match were already sold out four and a half months before it takes place.
The game between Portugal and Brazil has proven to be one of the most in-demand matches of the whole tournament. The matchup between the cross-Atlantic rivals is generating so much interest for a variety of reasons. The two countries have strong historical and cultural ties, as well as sharing a common language.
Portugal beat Brazil in their only World Cup meeting so far, in 1966, contributing to an early exit for the South Americans. In recent years there has been the added spice of Portugal’s naturalized Brazilian players donning the shirt of the Seleccao. Injury permitting; Pepe, Deco and Liedson are all likely to line up against the country of their birth in Durban.
Another matchup to look forward to is the match between Chile and Spain on June 25. Spain will face Chile as the European champions. Spain was held to be the favorite in the lead up to the World Cup finals qualifications, at least until a hiccup against the USA in the semis of the Confederation Cup saw them finish third runner-up.
La Roja, the No.1 ranked outfit in the FIFA world ranking…
2010 FIFA World Cup is 2 months away
Saturday, April 3rd, 2010
South Africa is the place to be come June.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup is scheduled to take place in ten different South African stadiums between June 11 and July 11, 2010. It is a historic undertaking because it is the first time that the famous series of matches will be hosted by an African nation. It is expected that more than one billion fans will tune into many of the games and follow all of the events that happen during this time.
The new stadiums in South Africa are some of the most spectacular venues in the world and they will collectively seat more than 570,000 people. The Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban has a steel arch 105 m above the middle of the pitch, and by using a cable car, spectators will enjoy a stunning view of the Indian Ocean.
Soccer City in Johannesburg takes the form of a calabash, a traditional African drinking vessel. The outer skin area spans 43 000 m2 and will be constructed from wholly natural energy-efficient material. It is the biggest stadium in Africa, seating almost 95,000 people.
The Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit is situated in a region known for its wild beauty and animals, close to the Kruger National Park. Its signature feature is the 18 roof supports that resemble giraffes. Stadiums in townships are being upgraded, some as training venues.
These include; Orlando Stadium, which has been completed ahead of schedule, and Dobsonville Stadium in Soweto, Rand, Cecil Payne, Rabie Ridge and Ruimsig stadiums in Johannesburg, HM Pitje, Super and Giant stadiums in Tshwane/Pretoria, Sesa Ramabodu Stadium in Rocklands, Cape Town, Princess Magogo, King Zwelithini and Sugar Ray Xulu stadiums in Durban and Olympia Park Stadium in Rustenburg.
In terms of transportation, around R11.7-billion is being invested in the transport infrastructure program to ensure the smooth movement of fans, teams and media. The 2010 FIFA World Cup transport projects are an integrated part of the government’s overall investment in transport, which is revolutionizing the transport system for the long term benefit of commuters and the economy.
The roads, rail and bus-route upgrade will…
England plans big for the World Cup
Monday, March 1st, 2010
The World Cup, which is played every four years, never fails to capture the imagination of the English people.
And after failing to qualify for Euro 2008, it has been a long four years for England fans to wait and remember what it feels like to get behind their team in a major international competition. Now that England is in the 2010 FIFA World Cup, English football fans couldn’t be any happier.
England head to South Africa confident, having easily secured their place for this year’s World Cup. And for the first time in quite a long time, English fans can finally look forward to the World Cup with a sense of optimism.
With players such as Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard ranking amongst the best in the world, together with the other members of the talented England squad, Fabio Cappello could well be the man to guide England to World Cup glory for the first time since 1966.
The draw for the 2010 World Cup took place in Cape Town and with the way the countries have been drawn, it looks like lady luck is really smiling on England. They got a great draw coming up against USA, Slovenia and Algeria in Group C, making the English team as the clear favorites to win the group.
Looking back at England’s history in the World Cup, England has entered all 14 post-war competitions. They qualified through play in the preliminary competition on nine occasions (1950, 1954, 1958, 1962, 1982, 1986, 1990, 1998 and 2002), as host country once (1966) and as reigning champions once (1970).
England have had only moderate success in the World Cup, and that is perhaps a fair indication of their standing in the world game. They won the tournament once, in 1966, when it was held on their own soil and they played all their matches on their home ground, Wembley Stadium, an advantage extended to no other team in World Cup history.
Their 4-2 extra-time victory against…
2010 FIFA World Cup Betting Tips
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
The rest of the world will be watching South Africa soon.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup is fast approaching and eyes will be set on South Africa with matches held in nine cities across the land. The world’s greatest footballers will be on display too as football fans around the world are eagerly anticipating a month of football bliss.
On that note, here’s an early rundown of the top five countries to watch out for in this year’s World Cup, starting with the country that won the last biggest tournament in football, the Euro 2008 champions Spain.
Though Spain has never won the World Cup, this may be their best chance ever. Their forwards score goals and their midfield is among the best in the world. At goalkeeping, Iker Casillas is equally very impressive, helping them to engineer a 15 game winning streak to set an international record earlier in 2009.
Although the United States‘ victory over Spain late in the year was one of the biggest upsets in a long time, Spain remains the team to beat. They are in Group H along with Switzerland, Honduras and Chile.
Another team to watch out for is Argentina primarily because they have on their roster the best footballer in the world right now in Lionel Messi. Argentina also has the best defensive midfielder in the world, Javier Mascherano along with a number of very talented youngsters, including Sergio Aguero.
Their manager knows what it takes to win. While they did suffer a bad loss, 6-1, to Boliva, at extreme altitude, Argentina will not have the same problems in June. Argentina is in Group B facing Nigeria, Korea and Greece in the first round of play.
Italy is also one of those teams…
USA plays for 2009 Confederations Cup
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
The United States defeated Spain, 2-nil. How about that.
In case you didn’t know, the United States just qualified for the final of the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup by doing the unthinkable, holding Spain scoreless en route to a shocking 2-nil victory.
You read it, the United States soccer team just beat a bona fide football-crazy nation, beating Spain 2-0 in the Confederations Cup semifinals. Oh yeah, Spain is not just a football-crazy country by the way, Spain IS considered as the top-ranked country in the sport and for an American soccer team to go copping their asses like that was, fucking unbelievable, to say the least.
What’s even more shocking is the fact that the Americans were ready to go back home last weekend. Nobody saw that these guys will be able to come up with probably the biggest upset in sports since that United States hockey team shocked the Soviet Union at the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics.
The Americans’ win over the Spain football team enabled the Red, White and Blue to reach it’s first FIFA final since starting play in 1916. Yup, it took them that long to finally stop making a fool of themselves on that pitch.
Jozy Altidore kicked it off with a goal on the 27th minute before Clint Dempsey added another on the 74th minute to help the U.S. become the first country to beat Spain since Romania back in 2006.
‘’It goes to show what hard work and commitment to each other can bring,’’ said U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard, who made eight saves as he frustrated David Villa and Fernando Torres.
‘’Sometimes football is a funny thing.’’
The United States will face either defending champion Brazil or…
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