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“I felt that Puyol did everything to stop me . So from his point of view Puyol has done well. Only the referee is not so.” – Arjen Robben

“It is a shame for the sport. Iniesta should have red for natrappen , it was a pure corner and the goal by Spain was offside beforehand. In one minute , the competition thus decides.” – Wesley Sneijder

“There you are evil , but it happened. In the game we had chances , they also . We can do it , but have not done . If you want to be world champion , you have to do and that we have not.” – Joris Mathijsen

“We are angry because we were so close. The referee was slightly more for them than for us. That ultimately cost us the cup.” – Dirk Kuyt

“If you later think back to this tournament , this group, the atmosphere , you can only be proud.” – Van Bronckhorst

“Why ? That everyone can see it ? He has clearly affected the finals.” – Van Bommel

“The best team won.” – Van Marwijk

It has been a remarkable two years for the Spanish football side. After decades of underachieving they have won both the European and World Championship. Not bad for a side who struggled to get past the World Cup quarter finals.

They lost their first game of the 2010 World Cup and immediately people thought it was the same old Spain but they got through to top their group and then got past the knockout stages with four 1-0 wins. Their victories came against Portugal, Paraguay, Germany and the Netherlands.

None of these teams really challenged the Spanish. They played a defensive style of football and in each case it caught up with them. Spain is too good a team to try and hold out for a draw. With David Villa, Carlos Puyol, Xavi and Andres Iniesta Spain just had too many big guns.

Netherlands had a great tournament and will be kicking themselves for the way they played in the final. Had they tried to play football, they may have won. As it was, they basically threw it away. Making a World Cup final is near on impossible and to have got there and then wasted the chance was pretty poor. Still they are only human and most likely let the occasion get to them.

The two semi-finalists, Uruguay and Germany had really good tournaments, especially Uruguay. No-one would have thought they would have been the last South American team standing especially when all five of them made the knockout stage.

Going down to the quarter-finalists, Brazil will figure that a second successive loss at this stage is simply unacceptable. Maybe they aren’t as good as they thought they were. Likewise Argentina fell as this hurdle to Germany for the second straight World Cup. They were playing fantastic football until Germany demolished them 4-0. Diego Maradona got his structure wrong and this came back to bite him. Live betting was pretty even until the first German goal in the third minute.

Uruguay got past Ghana is very controversial circumstances. People are still talking about the Luis Suarez handball as they will be doing so for another 50 years. At the end of the day, he was punished for it and Ghana missed a penalty. They have no-one to blame for this but themselves.

Paraguay topped their group and then needed penalties to get past Japan. Making the last eight was good but Spain was just too good.

Darren Albert writes for this blog. He also writes about sport betting.

Heres Paul again!...The Oracle Octopus that lives at the Oberhausen’s Sea life Aquarium has predicted Germany's exit from the semifinal of the world Cup 2010. This Octopus has been giving accurate predictions of every Germany's match in this World Cup. Paul, now forecasts that the Germany will lose to Spain in the semifinals.

How does he make predictions? Everytime they wanted to know about Paul’s forecast, they randomly place two boxes of food in the octopus’ tank. One is with the German flag; the other with the opponent’s. To tell the psychic’s prophecy, they must see what box does Paul’s legs crawl and eat the food on it. Paul predicted Germany's win over Australia, Ghana, England and Argentina. Paul also forecasted Germany’s loss to Serbia.

It is hard to believe that the 2010 World Cup is already winding down. The truth of the matter is that we are already three weeks into the tournament. Now just three matches are left to decide who is going to be the 2010 World Champions.

The exciting thing about the remaining teams is that there is a great chance that there will be a new first time champion. This will be guaranteed if Germany are defeated by Spain and Uruguay by the Netherlands.

The Netherlands flew under the radar coming from an easy group and then only needing to defeat Slovakia to make the final eight. Suffice to say this isn’t the case once they defeated Brazil. All live betting was favoring Brazil especially after they raced to a 1-0 win. This changed though when they equalized and then once they took the lead. The Brazilians imploded and panicked and paid the price.

Now they face a resurgent Uruguay. Uruguay haven’t been this far in the World Cup since 1970. They came from another light group because of a failing France and then got by South Korea. They should have lost against Ghana but survived a penalty and then the shoot-out. The two time winners are dreaming of returning to an era of their previous dominance.

Coming into the tournament, the favorite was Spain. This changed after their loss in their opening game to Switzerland. In hindsight, this could have been the best thing that happened to them. They regrouped, topped their group and then got by Portugal and Paraguay with a pair of 1-0 wins. Now they face Germany in the semi-final.

No doubt that Germany has the experience but Spain know they beat them in the final of the 2008 European Championships. For Germany it has been another solid tournament. While everyone else has been losing their head, they have kept theirs. They made the final in 2002 and lost in the semi-finals four years ago. They would love to keep going.

With so much on the line, they should be two fantastic semi-finals. One only hopes that the games are marred by refereeing controversies. There have been too many in this tournament to date; too many wrong red cards and penalties. Too many cases of players trying to con the referees and them falling for it.

Darren Albert writes for this blog. He also writes about betting online.

So in the end the Socceroos finish on the same amount of points as they did in 2006. Except then they were making their way to the Final 16. Now they are on their way out. Of course goal difference is the big factor. Now it was the four goal loss that blew them out of the water – this provided a huge mountain which they just couldn’t overcome.

It was a shame as Australia are a pretty good team and one that could have gone far in the tournament.

So where did it all go wrong for Australia? First of all, they were far too negative against Germany. Not only did they lose the game and not only did they get thumped but it was the manner in which they lost which was the most upsetting. Australia should have backed itself and that could have resulted in a far better outcome. Instead they meekly surrendered. Live betting hammered them in the opening game with no-one betting on them once the game began.

It didn’t help for Australia that they finished two games with 10 men. They only took one point from these two games. Against Ghana they could have won but it was hard with 10 men and hard without the suspended Tim Cahill. Australia did well to take four points from the final two games but like South Africa and Slovenia they will bow out.

The next assignment is for Australia to find a coach. It is alleged that the replacement will be one of the other 31 coaches at the World Cup. The successor to Pim Verbeek needs to be more aggressive and needs to have greater faith in the A-League. Verbeek was ok but he wasted opportunities. Now he heads to Morocco.

Four years ago, following the departure of Guus Hiddink, Australia went to the Asian Cup without a coach. Graham Arnold was the caretaker and Australia paid the penalty. Hopefully they learned that lesson. Australia are in a group containing South Korea, India and Bahrain. Obviously South Korea will be tricky but Australia should have no problem taking maximum points from the other two games. It isn’t an easy tournament and hopefully the new coach will have the reins to steer some of the next generation through.

The thing about tournaments is that you never know what is going to happen next. You can recreate what you had and when they are four years apart they are even more previous.

Darren Albert writes for this blog. He also writes about online betting.

Yesterday, while watching the match between Argentina and Greece, I thought what on Earth did their coach put Samaras in striker position, even Samaras was defending. There were 4 center backs, and add to that 2 full-backs, I mean that was their do or die match and coach Oto Rehegaal made them play such an ultra defensive game? The full backs were sometimes finding it really difficult to pass forward as all the players were in their half and in the same line. There was even a miss kick from their goalkeeper directly to the body of their own defender.

One real chance Greece got though Samaras was miskicked by the player...I mean you know your player's quality and taking that into account, you planned an ultradefensive strategy. Greece, in real sense was playing with 6-4-0 tactics. Even a FIFA 105 Ranked team, North Korea was not soooooo defensive with Brazil or Portugal. They have put North Korea to shame also. Even a 37-year old Palermo scored a goal against that worse defensive strategy Greece.

I think what would be the scoreline if any day Greece plays with Italy? I think all the FIFA ranked nations should appeal to FIFA to give Greece the permission to play 2 goalkeepers in any international match, atleast then the strikers would have some job to do. How on earth Greece made it to the WC finals..God knows!

So, in the end, I would like to briefly summarize the match:

1) Greece was playing with 4 center backs and 2 full backs...and they were playing in a do-or-die game.

2) Their striker was also defending.

3) All nations should appeal to FIFA to make Greece play 2 goalkeepers in a match.

4) Greece was playing 6-4-0 game.

5) Even North Korea was also not that defensive against Brazil or Portugal.

6) With that defensive strategy also, Greece concedes a goal from a 37-year old Argentine sriker Palermo.

7) How on Earth, Greece made it to the WC finals?

8) I want to apply for the position of Greece National Team coach. :D

The above article has been an idea of iPhone Application Development Company [X]CubeLabs

Busiswa Landiso and her 21-year-old boyfriend Samuel Ntshiwa of South Africa named their baby boy 'Ke Nako', a World Cup slogan that means 'it is time'. Another baby girl born at Rahima Moosa Hospital in Johannesburg was named "FIFA". Full name FIFA Ntshinga.

Charl (29) and Riana (26) named their twins after the two teams who played in the opening match. Their names Bafana (South Africa's nickname is Bafana-Bafana) and Mexico Venter. "My wife, Riana, and I knew in December that we would have twins but for them to be born on this day was a wonderful surprise."

I am planning to keep by name of babies (future tense) VuVuzela and Waka Waka :-)

The song "Waka Waka" is based on a Cameroonian hit called Zangalewa by the Golden Sounds.

SONG

You're a good soldier
Choosing your battles
Pick yourself up
And dust yourself off
And back in the saddle
You're on the frontline
Everyone's watching
You know it's seriousv We're getting closer
This isnt over
The pressure is on
You feel it
But you've got it all
Believe it
When you fall get up
Oh oh...
And if you fall get up
Oh oh...
Cuz this is Africa
This time for Africa
Listen to your god
This is our motto
Your time to shine
Dont wait in line
Y vamos por Todo
People are raising
Their Expectations
Go on and feed them
This is your moment
No hesitations
Today's your day
I feel it
You paved the way
Believe it
If you get down
Get up Oh oh...
When you get down
Get up eh eh...
Tsamina mina eh eh
Waka Waka eh eh

The prelude to the WAR. The world came to Soweto on Thursday for a celebration of football on the eve of Africa's first World Cup, with a concert featuring international singers like Shakira, the Black Eyed Peas and Alicia Keys.

Warm-up acts played for hours before the internationally televised portion of the concert at Orlando Stadium began at 8 p.m. with a frenzy of flag waving, drumming and African-inspired dancing.

All the above pictures has been taken from Associated Press