This tournament has been historic. It will always be remembered as the first World Cup to go to Africa, in particular, to South Africa – a country that has suffered so much oppression, that has fought to show the world that it is safe and that has shown the world that white people and black people are co-existing in peace.
We now know from which eight countries the winner of the World Cup will come. There are four South American nations, three European nations and one African nation.There is the prospect that all four semi finalists could be South American with the draw shaping up like this:
Netherlands vs. Brazil
Uruguay vs. Ghana
Argentina vs. Germany
Paraguay vs. Spain
That weekend felt draining. I don’t think I’ve experienced so much footballing information in such a short space of time. Saturday started with the England hangover. Everyone has their own opinion as to why England continued their poor form with another failure. England fans weren’t the only ones feeling angry. The USA’s fans awoke to their own frustrations. They felt, quite rightly, that their side had been denied a 3-2 victory against Slovenia which would have capped an excellent turnaround having been two goals behind. Maurice Edu’s late goal was harshly ruled out by the referee.
Cameroon have become the first nation to be knocked out of the World Cup. Boasting a strong squad made up of a lot of European-based players more was expected of Paul Le Guen’s side. After a 1-0 loss to Japan they lost 2-1 to Denmark yesterday to sit rock bottom of Group E. They will play merely for pride in their final group match against the Netherlands later this week.
So with the World Cup kicking off later today I thought I would stick my neck out and make some predictions (which I should point out, usually turn out to be very very wrong!). Also, if you are interested in finding out when the World Cup is on the TV you can check out the following World Cup TV Listings Guide.
Chelsea and Ivory Coast’s top marksman Didier Drogba looks set to miss the World Cup finals after sustaining an elbow injury in the 2-0 victory against Japan. The injury comes as a massive blow to the tournament with a number of key players either doubtful or injured. Michael Ballack, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Essien, Rene Adler and Salvador Cabanas are only a few of the stars that will not be featuring this summer and with Fernando Torres, Andrea Pirlo and Lionel Messi all considered ‘doubtful’ in recent weeks – the tournament didn’t need another major star to drop out. Both Didier Drogba along with Samuel Eto’o are unmistakable icons of African football and it will be a major blow to CAF.
Former Russia manager Guus Hiddink will be heading to the World Cup after all as he will lead Ivory Coast in South Africa. This will be Hiddink’s fourth World Cup finals tournament after leading his country of birth Holland in 1998, South Korea in 2002 and Australia in 2006. Russia failed to qualify for what would have been their third World Cup finals (as Russia) after their defeat to Slovenia in the playoff round last November. Hiddink had recently been linked in a move to Liverpool, however the 1988 European Cup winner will now manage Turkey as they build for Euro 2012.
Togo have pulled out of the African Cup of nations following the tragic events of yesterday when the team’s bus was ambushed by machine gun wielding terrorists. Two people have died; the coach driver and in the last few minutes a player has also died. The tournament will still go ahead, although Togo will play no part due to this awful tragedy.
Internazionale striker Samuel Eto’o scored in a 2-0 victory over Morocco to secure Cameroon’s place in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. Cameroon, who reached the quarter finals in 1990, are joined by Ghana – who are celebrating the second successive qualification for the finals – and Nigeria, who last qualified for the finals in 2002. Ivory Coast are the other African nation to qualify for the finals.
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