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
Uruguay’s last World Cup win came sixty years ago, twenty years after their first World Cup win back in 1930. Eighty years have passed since that historic first World Cup, when Uruguay beat neighbours Argentina to win the first ever World Cup, which was then known as the Jules Rimet trophy, named after FIFA’s longest serving president. So can the South American’s beat Ghana in the quarter finals and advance to the semi finals for the first time since the 1930 World Cup (the 1950 World Cup had a unique group format, without a knockout phase)? Uruguay have been a breathe of fresh air at these finals, playing a high pressing game and alternating between a three and four man defense. Is it their time again?
Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Brazil and Argentina all qualified for the knockout stages. There wasn’t a South American team that didn’t advance past the groups. Why have they been so successful?I’m not really sure what the answer is to this, so I’m quite hoping that this will trigger some suggestions (type away in the comment box at the bottom of the page).
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.
Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuaín scored the first hat-trick of the World Cup as Diego Maradona’s Argentina overcame South Korea in Soccer City today. Argentina went 2-0 with goals through Higuaín and an own goal from Park, CY. However Argentina notched their first goal from open play as Higuaín scored his second and third from moves inspired by Ballon D’Or winner Lionel Messi and Maradona’s son in law Sergio Agüero.
World cup winner and Brazilian coach Dunga believes his side are capable of so much more after a nervy 2-1 victory of minnows North Korea. The five times World Champions found it tough going against a side that have only qualified for one finals before, over forty years ago. Korea lined up in a 5-4-1 formation, although did counter attack well at times in the first half.
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.
In his first season with a ‘big’ club, Diego Milito has excelled. After yesterdays Champions League final he has now brought his tally to 30 goals for the season; a very healthy return bettered only in the current Argentine squad by Lionel Messi. Yet, it is feasible that Milito may not feature at all in Diego Maradona’s plans.
World Cup legend and winner Diego Maradona named a 23-man squad on Wednesday ahead of the World Cup in South Africa, dropping seven players from the provisional list that he named last week. The seven players dropped from the provisional squad are Napoli forward Ezequiel Lavezzi, Newell’s Old Boys defender Juan Manuel Insaurralde, Jose Sosa of Estudiantes, Newcastle defender Fabricio Coloccini, Olympiakos midfielder Jesus Datolo, , Lanus’ Sebastian Blanco and Juan Mercier of Argentinos Juniors. Argentina won the 1978 and 1986 World Cup tournaments, with Maradona captaining the side in 1986.
Between them they have won eight World Cup Tournaments and have appeared in twelve of the eighteen World Cup finals – but who will be the first nation to reach one hundred World Cup games? Surprisingly, Germany have played one more game than Brazil since they first played in the 1934 tournament, hosted in Italy. Germany played their final game (93rd) against Portugal in 2006, whilst Brazil lost 1-0 to a Zinedine Zidane inspired performance from Les Blues.
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