2010 FIFA World Cup

[shariqq]

The 2010 FIFA World Cup starts with the first match on 11^th June and concludes with the Final a month later on 11^th July. For the first time, in its 19 edition history, the tournament is being held in Africa, South Africa being the hosts.

The most popular sporting event on the planet, the 2010 World Cup will be keenly followed by most football playing nations, and with extra vigor in South America, Europe and the Arab world. We will follow the tournament with updates and opinions here too, just like our Euro 2008 coverage.

4^th December marked the day when the qualified teams were drawn into eight groups (Group A through Group H) for the first-stage of matches. Each of the four teams placed within each group will play a match against the other three teams within their group. At the end of the First round, the top two teams of each group then qualify for the play-offs Round-of-16, winners play Quaterfinals, progress to Semifinals, then clash for the trophy in the finals.

[shariqq]

Groups & Standings.


Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Uruguay	3	2	1	0	4	0	+4	7
Mexico	3	1	1	1	3	2	+1	4
South Africa	1	1	1	1	3	5	-2	4
France	3	0	1	2	1	4	-3	1

Group B

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Argentina	3	3	0	0	7	1	+6	9
South Korea	3	1	1	1	5	6	-1	4
Greece	3	1	0	2	2	5	-3	3
Nigeria	3	0	1	2	3	5	-2	1

Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
U.S.A.	3	1	2	0	4	3	+1	5
England	3	1	2	0	2	1	+1	5
Slovenia	3	1	1	1	3	3	0	4
Algeria	3	0	1	2	0	2	-2	1

Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Germany	3	2	0	1	5	1	+4	6
Ghana	3	1	1	1	2	2	0	4
Australia	3	1	1	1	3	6	-3	4
Serbia	3	1	0	2	2	3	-1	3

Group E

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Netherlands	3	3	0	0	5	1	+4	9
Japan	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
Denmark	3	1	0	2	3	6	-3	3
Cameroon	3	0	0	3	2	5	-3	0

Group F

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Paraguay	3	1	2	0	3	1	+2	5
Slovakia	3	1	1	1	4	5	-1	4
New Zealand	3	0	3	0	2	2	0	3
Italy	3	0	2	1	4	5	-1	2

Group G

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Brazil	3	2	1	0	5	2	+3	7
Portugal	3	1	2	0	7	0	+7	5
Côte d'Ivoire	3	1	1	1	4	3	+1	4
North Korea	3	0	0	3	1	12	-11	0

Group H

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Spain	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
Chile	3	2	0	1	3	1	+1	6
Switzerland	3	1	1	1	1	1	0	4
Honduras	3	0	1	2	0	3	-3	1

Second Round

URU 2 - 1 KOR
ARG 3 - 1 MEX
USA 1 - 2 GHA
GER 4 - 1 ENG
NED 2 - 1 SVK
PAR 0 - 0 JPN (5-3 on penalty shoot-out)
BRA 3 - 0 CHI
ESP 1 - 0 POR


Quarterfinals

NED 2 - 1 BRA
URU 1 - 1 GHA (4-2 on penalty shoot-out)
ARG 0 - 4 GER
PAR 0 - 1 ESP


Semifinals

NED 3 - 2 URU
GER 0 - 1 ESP


Third Place

URU 2 - 3 GER



F I N A L S

NED 0 - 1 ESP

[shariqq]

First look at the Group table:
- England, Germany, Italy & Spain seem to have it relatively easy.
- Brazil seems to have it toughest. for one, they're drawn to face the team that matches their playing style and brilliance the most: Portugal. If just that team wasn't enough, they've got the strongest African nation in their group too: Côte d'Ivoire. Korea DPR seems to be the only team they can breathe better against. But considering the way Brazil is known to play their first-round matches, don't be too surprised if even Korea DPR manages to make something out of  those 90-minutes.

[madali]

Oh look, aside from Algeria, no Muslim country made the list.

[ayaa1977]

Oh look, aside from Algeria, no Muslim country made the list.

And what is more painful the fallout of Algeria vs Egypt game made us the laughing stock of the whole world.

[animatedude]

i really wanted Bahrain to make it to the world cup... i support ENGLAND bitches!

[shariqq]

Oh look, aside from Algeria, no Muslim country made the list.

In a more sad case: None of the more populous Asian countries make it, even though Honduras and Slovenia did. Can't countries (China, India) with over 1 BILLION people come up with 15 decent footballers?!

i support ENGLAND bitches!

Braaaaaziiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiil, la la la la la la la laaa.

[shariqq]

MS Excel for the FIFA 2010 World Cup: <<780kb Zip file>>

[shariqq]

Dunga, the coach of the Brazilian national team, has not named Ronaldinho in the 23-man squad for the Cup. Ronaldinho's only chance of coming in now is as a replacement for an injured player. This is strange, knowing his caliber. But then, there is little chance that anyone will challenge Dunga's decisions, considering his track record as coach. He's been, head-coach since Mid 2006 (after the last world cup), and in the 53 match the Brazilian national team has played since, it has lost only 5, the last loss coming on 15th June '08, the winning streak bringing them the Confederation Cup in 2009 (3rd time winners).

Dunga's record as Brazilian coach: Played: 53, Won: 38, Drawn: 10, Lost: 5

The final 23 are:

No.	Pos	Player	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Júlio César	47	0	Internazionale
12	GK	Gomes	9	0	Tottenham Hotspur
23	GK	Doni	10	0	Roma
2	DF	Maicon	56	5	Internazionale
3	DF	Lúcio	89	4	Internazionale
4	DF	Juan	73	6	Roma
6	DF	Michel Bast	3	0	Lyon
13	DF	Dani Alves	33	3	Barcelona
14	DF	Luisão	40	3	Benfica
15	DF	Thiago Silva	6	0	Milan
16	DF	Gilberto	32	1	Cruzeiro
5	MF	Felipe Melo	16	2	Juventus
7	MF	Elano	41	6	Galatasaray
8	MF	Gilberto Sil	86	3	Panathinaikos
10	MF	Kaká	76	26	Real Madrid
17	MF	Josué	26	1	VfL Wolfsburg
18	MF	Ramires	11	0	Benfica
19	MF	Júlio Baptista	45	5	Roma
20	MF	Kléberson	31	2	Flamengo
9	FW	Luís Fabiano	36	25	Sevilla
11	FW	Robinho	73	20	Santos
21	FW	Grafite	2	1	VfL Wolfsburg
22	FW	Nilmar	15	8	Villarreal

[kaytee]

Wow even Adriano gets the boot. And Heurelho Gomes gets a chance...cruel world...

[kaytee]

The Argentinian squad:

No.	Pos.	Player	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Diego Pozo	3	0	Colón
21	GK	Mariano Andújar	4	0	Catania
22	GK	Sergio Romero	6	0	AZ
2	DF	Martín Demichelis	25	1	Bayern Munich
3	DF	Clemente Rodríguez	12	1	Estudiantes
4	DF	Nicolás Burdisso	29	2	Roma
6	DF	Gabriel Heinze	64	2	Marseille
12	DF	Ariel Garcé	4	0	Colón
13	DF	Walter Samuel	54	5	Internazionale
15	DF	Nicolás Otamendi	7	0	Vélez Sársfield
5	MF	Mario Bolatti	5	1	Fiorentina
7	MF	Ángel Di María	8	1	Benfica
8	MF	Juan Sebastián Verón	70	9	Estudiantes
14	MF	Javier Mascherano	57	2	Liverpool
17	MF	Jonás Gutiérrez	16	1	Newcastle United
20	MF	Maxi Rodríguez	36	12	Liverpool
23	MF	Javier Pastore	1	0	Palermo
9	FW	Gonzalo Higuaín	5	2	Real Madrid
10	FW	Lionel Messi	44	13	Barcelona
11	FW	Carlos Tévez	52	9	Manchester City
16	FW	Sergio Agüero	21	8	Atlético Madrid
18	FW	Martín Palermo	14	8	Boca Juniors
19	FW	Diego Milito	20	4	Internazionale

[kaytee]

English squad:

No.	Pos	Player	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	David James	50	0	Portsmouth
12	GK	Robert Green	10	0	West Ham United
23	GK	Joe Hart	3	0	Manchester City
5	DF	Michael Dawson	0	0	Tottenham Hotspur
3	DF	Ashley Cole	78	0	Chelsea
6	DF	John Terry	60	6	Chelsea
18	DF	Jamie Carragher	36	0	Liverpool
2	DF	Glen Johnson	22	1	Liverpool
20	DF	Ledley King	20	2	Tottenham Hotspur
15	DF	Matthew Upson	19	1	West Ham United
13	DF	Stephen Warnock	1	0	Aston Villa
4	MF	Steven Gerrard (captain)	80	16	Liverpool
8	MF	Frank Lampard (vice-captain)	78	20	Chelsea
11	MF	Joe Cole	54	10	Chelsea
14	MF	Gareth Barry	36	2	Manchester City
17	MF	Shaun Wright-Phillips	31	6	Manchester City
22	MF	Michael Carrick	22	0	Manchester United
7	MF	Aaron Lennon	17	0	Tottenham Hotspur
16	MF	James Milner	8	0	Aston Villa
10	FW	Wayne Rooney	60	25	Manchester United
21	FW	Emile Heskey	58	7	Aston Villa
19	FW	Jermain Defoe	39	11	Tottenham Hotspur
9	FW	Peter Crouch	38	21	Tottenham Hotspur

[shariqq]

On paper, England's got a solid team. But their team performance is much like the Indian Cricket team's. They *can* beat the best on their best day, but that day doesn't come too often.

This year, I'm rooting for Brazil, Argentina & England. The advantages of not having your own country play the tournament!

[shariqq]

Big & bad news for German fans: Germany team's captain, Michael Ballack, is out of the tournament with an injusry he sustained during Chelsea's FA cup final match last weekend. The strength of the team in the mid-field drops considerably with Ballack out.

The team still has Schweinsteiger to run the ball up and to feed the plenty strong front of Klose & Podolski. But Ballack not being able to play is a big setback.

Interestingly, all the players in the German squad play for the German League (Fußball-Bundesliga). Ballack was an exception as a Chelsea player.

The squad -

No.	Pos.	Player	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Manuel Neuer	4	0	FC Schalke 04
12	GK	Tim Wiese	2	0	Werder Bremen
22	GK	Hans-Jörg Butt	3	0	Bayern Munich
2	DF	Marcell Jansen	30	2	Hamburger SV
3	DF	Arne Friedrich	71	0	Hertha BSC
4	DF	Dennis Aogo	2	0	Hamburger SV
5	DF	Serdar Tasci	11	0	VfB Stuttgart
14	DF	Holger Badstuber	1	0	Bayern Munich
16	DF	Philipp Lahm (Captain)	64	3	Bayern Munich
17	DF	Per Mertesacker	61	1	Werder Bremen
20	DF	Jérôme Boateng	5	0	Hamburger SV
6	MF	Sami Khedira	4	0	VfB Stuttgart
7	MF	Bastian Schweinsteiger	74	19	Bayern Munich
8	MF	Mesut Özil	9	1	Werder Bremen
15	MF	Piotr Trochowski	31	2	Hamburger SV
18	MF	Toni Kroos	3	0	Bayer Leverkusen
21	MF	Marko Marin	8	1	Werder Bremen
9	FW	Stefan Kießling	4	0	Bayer Leverkusen
10	FW	Lukas Podolski	72	37	1. FC Köln
11	FW	Miroslav Klose	95	48	Bayern Munich
13	FW	Thomas Müller	1	0	Bayern Munich
19	FW	Cacau	7	3	VfB Stuttgart
23	FW	Mario Gómez	33	12	Bayern Munich

[shariqq]

With Ronaldo, Deco, Pepe, Simão and even Ricardo & Miguel, you can't deny that this team is strong. Unfortunately, they've always played the bigger games with more passion than skill. But with a new coach (Carlos Queiroz) and lacking the genius of Luís Figo, this may not really be the year for the Portuguese.

Portuguese squad:

No.	Pos.	Player	Caps	Goals	Club
1	GK	Eduardo	14	0	Braga
12	GK	Beto	1	0	Porto
22	GK	Daniel Fernandes	2	0	Iraklis
23	DF	Fábio Coentrão	3	0	Benfica
3	DF	Paulo Ferreira (2nd captain)	61	0	Chelsea
15	MF	Pepe	24	2	Real Madrid
5	DF	Duda	15	1	Málaga
13	DF	Miguel	56	1	Valencia
6	DF	Ricardo Carvalho	62	4	Chelsea
2	DF	Bruno Alves	30	5	Porto
4	DF	Rolando	8	0	Porto
21	DF	Ricardo Costa	8	0	Valencia
8	MF	Pedro Mendes	7	0	Sporting CP
14	MF	Miguel Veloso	11	1	Sporting CP
16	MF	Raul Meireles	33	5	Porto
19	MF	Tiago	50	1	Atlético Madrid
20	MF	Deco	73	5	Chelsea
10	MF	Danny	10	1	Zenit Saint   Petersburg
17	FW	Ruben Amorim	0	0	Benfica
11	FW	Simão	80	21	Atlético Madrid
7	FW	Cristiano Ronaldo (captain)	71	22	Real Madrid
9	FW	Liédson	9	3	Sporting CP
18	FW	Hugo Almeida	25	7	Werder Bremen