South Africa’s Success Story

The World Cup can be hailed as a success for South Africa, partially for effectively hosting an exciting tournament but also for opening the door for the continent of Africa to host major tournaments and events, such as the Olympics.  The country proved that it was more than capable of handling the issues that often [...]

World Cup Referees- A Yellow Card to FIFA

It is not uncommon to hear players, coaches or fans complaining about the quality of refereeing at sporting events, quite often venting their frustration to the media.  It is often the case, such as in American sports, that players and coaches are fined for rants directed at officials.  Referees are a very important part of [...]

World Cup Update- June 20th

As the world cup continues on through father’s day, so do questions, concerns, and talk about the teams involved in the tournament.  Along with Cameroon being eliminated in the first week of the tournament and Nigerian player Kaita receiving death threats following his sending off against Greece, we experienced upsets, close calls, surprise teams emerging [...]

World Cup Injury Crisis

Even though the World Cup will go on as planned in South Africa, fair play and unity may not proceed very far past the opening ceremony.  In an increasingly violent football arena, injuries are now as common and frequent as yellow cards.  The disciplinary records for teams look quite different now than they did 15 [...]

Group G- Brazil, Korea DPR, Ivory Coast, Portugal

Brazil- Brazil is a nation that has the depth to field 3 different national squads, with each team being as good as the next.  The amount and level of talent the Brazilians possess is unmatched on the world stage.  The advocates of the Beautiful Game are ready to put on a show with their 23-man [...]

Group F- Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

Group F- Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia Italy- The reigning World Cup champions Italy are entering the tournament ranked 5th in the World.   After a relatively easy qualifying campaign, the Azzurri have an easy group schedule in the World Cup group stage as well.  The team’s 23-man roster has a number of players that have [...]

Group E- Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

Netherlands- In any tournament they enter, the Dutch are seen as a powerful competitor, with one of the most talented selection of players on their roster.  This year’s Dutch World Cup team needs to live up to its enormous talent and expectations after several years of coming close to winning a major tournament but ending [...]

Group D- Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana

Germany- Germany is one of the top dogs of the tournament and is more than capable of making the final, as they did in 2002.  After breezing through the group stage of qualifiers, Germany are expected to perform under coach Joachim Low, who is entering his 4th year as head coach.  Germany have an outstanding [...]

Group C- England, USA, Slovenia, Algeria

England- The ’66 World Cup winners come into group play as a heavily debated and talked about team.  Under the guidance of Fabio Capello, the English are favored to win the group but are under a lot of pressure to perform after a stellar group-stage performance where they scored 34 goals and ran away with [...]

Group A- South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

South Africa- The host nation always has much to prove with home field advantage in any tournament in sport.  The case is not any different for the hosts of 2010, South Africa.  Head coach Carlos Alberto Parreira in no new comer to the World Cup, having won the entire tournament with Brazil in ’94.  Bafana [...]