Germany 4-0 Australia

One of the most entertaining matches i ve sn in the recent past!! Germans were written off by nost of the critics... wat a way to prove that germany s a force to reckon with... Fantastic display by german forwards.. their defense was never put to test by the socceroos.. Germany took off from the word go!! the first goal was all abt power but my fav s the Muller's goal(3rd goal).. Cahill's sending off added to aussies woes! Aussies wer turned into mere jack asses in the end..

England 1-1 USA

Wat it takes to win the world cup? Star players? Manager with reputation? state of the art training grounds? none of the aforesaid r required.. wat do u need is to play raw football with passion!! tat s wat s lackin in England team.. with all the pre tournament predictions taken into consideration the three lions shud ve breezed thru the USA but wat happened was the opposite.. With the opening goal comin less than 5 min 4m kick off everyone wud ve thot it wud be goal fest.,, unfortunately it was not to be.. England went into a shell n never came back.. there was no creativity in mid-feild, gk was pathetic n the wingers esp shaun wright phillips was so pathetic.. capello has gone horribly wrong in his team selection.. as for usa they played a waiting game irritatin the english with their defensive display n occasional outburst of attack.. howard the american goal keeper had a grt outing.. Landon Donovan was the pick of the players!! English think tank now needs to seriosly re-think their strategy to live upto the expectations!!!

Argentina 1-0 Nigeria!!!

Go Maradona go!! Wat can i say, the man is jz a live wire!! wen he s around there s no shortage of entertainment!! coming to the match.. it was Argentina all the way.. except for a certain hitches in defense they played flawless football.. messi was magnificent thru out!! Pity that he din score!! first goal was beautifully worked set piece heinze took it so spectacularly... nigerians wer mere spectators!! nigerian keeper Vincent Enyeama was the busy of the two keepers he kept messi @ bay.. overall it was a gud outting for Maradona's Wildcats!!

RSA 1-1 Mexico

Goal scorers- Siphiwe TSHABALALA(RSA)& Rafael MARQUEZ(Mex)
Wow wat a start to the tournament!!!! The opening ceremony was a spectacle n the opening match was much spectacular!! Fisrt hlf was dominated by mexico with their possessive n composed play. RSA had a nervy start but as the game progressed they started to get their stratergy ryt... second half started calmly once tshabalala opened the scorin the game sprung up to lyf. the crowd went beserck. the game was end to end action there on.. Mexico equalised thru marquez shattering the hearts of the south africans.. modise came extremely close to score the winner only to be denied by the cross-bar.. the game was the perfect start to the tournament!!!

The Men who matter - part 2!!

The host nation South Africa, carrying the hopes of the ppl of SA, wil be lookin to outperform their rivals with their fans behind them. The man who can take SA the distance is Pienaar, the heart of SA's mid-feild. with the absence of Benni McCarthy Pienaar has bigger role to play both in holding the mid feild n orchestrating an attack..
Another african nation who can spring up a few surprises r Ghana.. Ghana with Sulley Muntari n Boatang can cause some worries to the rival defense
Nigeria on of the talented nations with a good depth have a few players who cud deliver at the big stage.. obafemi martins in attack n yobo in defense r the men to watch.
With return of Didier drogba imminent, Ivory coast, with the Toure brothers n soloman kalou can go the distance.
The Mid-african nation of cameroon has got a huge talent in the name of samuel eto'o, sebastian bassong n their GK kameni..
the last of the african nations to take part in the tournament Algeria ve not got a lot of names( tat means i knw nothing abt tis team.. HeHe!!) but i hope they give a scare to their rivals.. (to be contd...)

The Men who matter!!

In less than 24hrs the greatest spectacle on earth is gonna kick-off!! Here i try to bring out the men who matter the most in this world cup.. u ppl r well aware abt rooneys, ronaldos, messis n other star players but i wud lyk 2 bring out the other players to watch out for in this world cup who'll make tis wc interesting...
I'll start up with the reigning champions ITALY- everyone who saw the last wc wud knw wat the Azzuris r capable of but their current form is pretty pathetic with loss against mexico n tame draws against swiss n the cameroonians.. but italians r never short of players who can perform when needed the most.. De Rossi, Genera Gattuso n Cheillini are the men to watch!! De rossi potential sucessor of Fabio Cannavaro,with his pile drivers n defensive capability is defly the man who can carry the azzuris on his shoulders.. Genera Gattuso according to me is the player who wears his heart over his sleeves. The man whom Lippi(italian coach) considers as the king pin s an amazing all ronud player.. his passes r imaculate n his selfless play r always an added plus.. Coming to Cheillini, he has taken over the place of one the greatest defenders of all time, alessandro nesta so gracefully.. he along with Cannavaro hold the key in guarding the post along with Gigi Buffon..
We'll move on to the runners-up, France. Les Blues wudn't ve boarded their flyt to SA if it wasn't for the controversial hand ball goal by their captain Theirry Henry., nevertheless french r formidable atleast on paper.. current french side r largely depleted of services of veterans lyk zidane, veira, n other veterans r in a spot of bother.. France noe has nxt generation of grts lik frank ribery, govou, gourcuff, malouda, benzema n the lot.. as far as i am concerned if the above players come together as a tema France r a force to reckon with.. personally i feel Ray Domenech needs to re think his stratergy n turn france into an attacking team rather than to hold back.. ( to be contd...)

The Theme for FIFA WC 2010 is Shakira's waka waka..

“official” World Cup song has been named by FIFA and this time it is from the Colombian born singer Shakira. She was recently given the title of official song for the 2010 World Cup. In fact, Shakira will perform the song with South African band Freshlyground at the World Cup. But if you ask anyone else what the official World Cup song is for this year’s event they will tell you it is K’naan’s “Wavin Flag”. The Canadian hip-hop artist song has been featured in numerous FIFA promotional videos and commercials as they led everyone to beleive that it was the official song. Apparently, Wavin Flag is Coca Cola’s official anthem for the World Cup and Shakira’s track is FIFA’s official song. I’m a little disappointed to say the least, as I think K’naan’s song is not only superior in every way it more embodies the feel of this year’s event in South Africa. Shakira’s latin flavor should have waited for when the event goes to Brazil.

The Jabulani- the most criticised match ball ever!!!

The Adidas Jabulani is the official match ball for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The ball was unveiled in Cape Town, South Africa on December 4, 2009. Jabulani means "rejoice" in Zulu, and was developed at Loughborough University, UK.

The ball was also used as the match ball of 2009 FIFA Club World Cup in the United Arab Emirates, and a special version of the ball, the Jabulani Angola, was the match ball of the 2010 African Cup of Nations. This ball is also used in the 2010 Clausura Tournament of Argentina as well as the 2010 MLS season in the USA in the league's colours of blue and green.


Design
The ball is constructed using a new design, consisting of eight (down from 14 in the last World Cup) thermally-bonded, three-dimensional panels. These are spherically-moulded from ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) and thermoplastic polyurethanes (TPU). The surface of the ball is textured with grooves, a technology developed by Adidas called GripnGroove that are intended to improve the ball's aerodynamics. The design has received considerable academic input, being developed in partnership with researchers from Loughborough University, United Kingdom.

Colouring
The ball has four triangular design elements on a white background. Eleven different colours are used, representing the eleven players on a football team, the eleven official languages of South Africa, and the eleven South African communities. The Jabulani Angola, used at the 2010 African Cup of Nations in Angola, was coloured to represent the yellow, red, and black of the host nation's flag. For the final to be held in Johannesburg on 11 July, a special match ball will be used with gold panels. The ball will be called the "Jo'bulani", playing off the Johannesburg nickname of "The Golden City".

Manufacturing
The balls are made in China, using latex bladders made in India, thermoplastic polyurethane-elastomer from Taiwan, ethylene vinyl acetate, isotropic polyester/cotton fabric, glue, and ink from China.

World Cup Final Ball
A gold version of the Jabulani ball, the Jo'bulani, was announced as the ball for the World Cup Final. The name of the ball inspired by the city of Johannesburg, which is often nicknamed Jo'burg and will be the site of the 2010 Final. This is the second World Cup Final ball to be produced, the other for the 2006 World Cup. The only teams able to use it will be the two teams in the final.

Reception
Following recent tradition, as with the Adidas Fevernova and Adidas Teamgeist at the two previous tournaments, the ball has received pre-tournement criticism primarily from goalkeepers. Brazil goalkeeper Júlio César said the ball felt horrible, comparing it to a "supermarket" ball that favored strikers and worked against goalkeepers. Giampaolo Pazzini from Italy labelled it "a disaster". Chile's goalkeeper, Claudio Bravo, complained about the ball, saying "it was made to prejudice goalkeepers." Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas also branded the ball "appalling". Italian keeper Gigi Buffon said, "it is very sad that a competition so important as the world championship will be played with such a horrible ball." Brazilian striker Luís Fabiano called the ball "supernatural", as it unpredictably changed direction when travelling through the air, adding that none of the players of the Brazilian squad reacted in favor of the ball. In the same interview, Brazilian Júlio Baptista said the ball worked against strikers and goalkeepers, as it moved in different and unintended directions after a kick. Joe Hart of England, after training with the ball for a number of days, said the "balls have been doing anything but staying in my gloves.". He did, however, describe the ball as "good fun" to use, even though it is hard work for goalkeepers to cope with. It was suggested the ball behaved "completely different" at altitude by England coach Fabio Capello. Denmark coach Morten Olsen after their 1-0 friendly defeat at the hands of Australia: "We played with an impossible ball and we need to get used to it." Brazilian striker Robinho stated, "for sure the guy who designed this ball never played football. But there is nothing we can do, we have to play with it." English goalkeeper David James said that "the ball is dreadful. It's horrible, but it's horrible for everyone." Marcus Hahnemann replied to the ballmaker Adidas saying that "Technology is not everything; scientists came up with the atom bomb, doesn't mean we should have invented it."

On the other hand, the American Striker Clint Dempsey has spoken in favor of the ball, declaring that "If you just hit it solid, you can get a good knuckle on the ball (...) you've just got to pay a little bit more, you know, attention when you pass the ball sometimes".

Adidas has said that the ball had been used since January of 2010, and that most feedback from players had been positive. A spokesperson said the company was "surprised" by the negative reaction to the ball, and highlighted that the frequent pre-tournament criticism a new ball receives inevitably dies down as the tournament proceeds

Let's play!!!

HI ppl...
i started tis blog exclusively for those who luv football as much as i do... the gr8 football extravaganza is about to kick off in a little over 24hrs from now.. lets jz share our veiws n thots abt the world cup... don miss my column were i post my veiws on each n every match i see.. i'm not an expert in football but i hope my posts will be a fans' perspective of the grt game.. so jz hop in n have fun!!
Thank u!!!