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South Africa is the first ever African nation to host the FIFA World Cup.

That’s probably why they are one of the sentimental favorites to win the 2010 FIFA World Cup.

As hosts, they qualified automatically marking their 3^rd appearance overall after making it to France in 1998 and then again in 2002 after being banned from entering qualification from 1966 until 1994.

Despite the automatic qualification, South Africa played World Cup qualifiers mainly because World Cup qualifiers also serve as qualifying for the African Nations Cup.

Unfortunately, South Africa was eliminated from the qualifying. They are, in some way, playing in a World Cup even though they lost in the qualifying stage.

South Africa also played in the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup. They played well, advancing from the group stage before being eliminated by the No.1 ranked team, Spain, in overtime, 3-2.

South Africa plays Mexico, Uruguay, and France. All three will be tough matches. France is ranked in the top 10, while Mexico and Uruguay are in the top 20. South Africa is ranked 88th.

It has been a turbulent few years for South Africa, but a creditable performance at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup, the prelude to this summer, has set expectations high going into their Group A matches.

Their semi-final loss to Brazil followed by a succeeding single-goal, extra-time defeat by Spain in the third-place match, show that the hosts can compete at the highest level.

And though they have fallen at the group stage in…

Oh yes, after 50 years, they meet again.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is almost here and South Africa is ready to take over the world as they play hosts to the biggest football tournament in the world.

As always, countries participating in the 19^th FIFA World Cup are all looking forward for a fantastic campaign. England for one, is a country still trying to dominate the sport they introduced into the world. The United States on the other hand, is still trying to stay respectable in this sport since, let’s face it, they are still not known as that good of footballers.

And as stated, England and the United States will meet on June 12. This will be their first meeting since the Americans earned a shocking win over England back in the 1950 tournament in Brazil. And since the Americans did beat England the last time they faced on this stage, you can’t blame them for being confident coming into the tournament.

”American fans are thinking we should advance out of the group, and I like that. I like how they’re thinking,” United States team captain Carlos Bocanegra said. ”We feel confident as well that this is a group we can get out of.”

After advancing to the quarterfinals in 2002, the best finish the Americans had since the initial World Cup in 1930, there were high expectation for the Americans at the 2006 tournament in Germany. But they were eliminated in the first round with losses to the Czech Republic and Ghana.

The U.S. famously upset England 1-0 in the first round of the 1950 tournament in Brazil, still considered by many as the greatest American victory in football. That makes their meeting this June one fixture football fans can’t afford to miss.

After playing England, USA will play Slovenia at Johannesburg’s Ellis Park on June 18 and completes the first round on June 23 against Algeria in Pretoria. The U.S. has never played either nation.

Odds on the U.S. winning were lowered from…

Can the El Tri continue to ride on the momentum that carried them where they are right now?

Mexico qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup by finishing second in CONCACAF qualifying, just one point behind the United States. They were undefeated at home but inconsistent on the road. They won impressively in Costa Rica 3-0 but fell in Honduras 1-3.

In the Gold Cup, Mexico was impressive as they advanced rather easily through the group stage and defeated Haiti 4-0 in the second round. In the semifinal, they drew with a tough Costa Rican team but advanced on penalties. In a memorable final, Mexico crushed the host United States 5-0. Though the United States did not field their best players, it was still an impressive victory.

Coming to the World Cup in South Africa, Mexico is the eight-time and current CONCACAF Gold Cup champions. They also won a FIFA Confederations Cup in 1999. The Mexican team is currently ranked No.17 in the world. They have a long, storied soccer tradition and have the nickname ”El Tri.”

One of the key players team Mexico has is Giovani dos Santos. Dos Santos is an intriguing player that has been hyped for years, and his first World Cup may be the time he finally breaks out as a legitimate star. Reared in Barcelona’s youth division, he played for the senior team at the tender age of 18.

Mexico is coached by Javier Aguirre, who has been a calming presence for the team. Mexico can attack from the wings and from set pieces and can be quite dangerous offensively. The 5-3-2 formation has some tradition in Mexico and Aguirre has been willing to use this formation as it accentuates the wing play.

The first eight seeds in the World Cup consist of the top seven ranked teams and the host nation. Mexico got lucky because they drew the host nation, South Africa. Instead of having to play a top-ranked team, Mexico is playing the second-lowest ranked team in the tournament.

Mexico has gone on to the second round in the past…

That’s almost half of the season.

When a guy gets suspended from the NFL with still a few more months left before the 2010 NFL football season begins, you can’t help but wonder what moves will that guy’s team make to save themselves from limping out of the gates come September.

That is the dilemma the Pittsburgh Steelers are in these coming months as they prepare to start their campaign this coming season without their prized quarterback who already led them to two Super Bowl titles in four years.

That’s right, the NFL finally suspended Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger for six games after rape allegations were thrown at the young NFL star. In a letter to Roethlisberger, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said that Roethlisberger must adhere to any counseling or treatment that is recommended by the professional evaluators to help him make better decisions and avoid situations that can cause legal or other problems. A professional behavioral evaluation is mandatory for anyone that has violated the personal-conduct policy.

Also according to the letter, Roethlisberger may not attend any team offseason activity until he has completed the evaluation and the evaluating professionals confirm with the commissioner that Roethlisberger may resume football activities. If so cleared, Roethlisberger will be able to participate in training camp and preseason games this summer.

”The personal conduct policy makes clear that I may impose discipline ‘even where the conduct does not result in conviction of a crime’ as, for example, where the conduct ‘imposes inherent danger to the safety and well being of another person,”’ NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated in his letter to Roethlisberger.

”As the District Attorney concluded, the…”

Now we know why Fernando Alonso hated his guts so much.

In case you missed the fourth race of the 2010 F1 season which pretty much concludes the Asian leg of this year’s campaign, McLaren scored a dominant one-two finish to put them in the lead for the constructors’ title.

Thanks to Jenson Button scoring his second win of the season, McLaren Mercedes took the lead from Ferrari in this year’s race for the constructors’ championship. McLaren now has 109 championship points to Ferrari’s 90.

However, the story was Lewis Hamilton, who finished second fastest behind his teammate to give McLaren the one-two finish. How come? Well, he was back to his old antics that estranged former teammate Fernando Alonso a couple of years ago and although Hamilton and Button haven’t banged heads yet, trust me when I say that it’s only a matter of time.

Perhaps the most intriguing stunt Lewis Hamilton pulled was when he and Red Bull driver Sebastian Vettel went wheel to wheel in Shanghai over the weekend. There’s nothing wrong with that when you do it on the race track but when you do it on the freaking pit lane?!? There’s something terribly wrong with you.

Coming in for new tires, Sebastian Vettel was well on his way to the pit lane when Lewis Hamilton all of a sudden, jumped in front of him to have his new set of tires as well. It didn’t end there though.

As soon as Vettel left his pit box, Hamilton tried to jump in again in front of him, only this time, he caught the right side of Vettel’s car as Hamilton went wheel to wheel with the Red Bull driver, putting everybody’s pit crew in jeopardy.

Refusing to yield to Vettel, Hamilton continued to…