Italy's Giampaolo Pazzini reacts near New Zealand captain and former DC United defender Ryan Nelsen

Is this the changing of the guard or world parity? Have the many surprising and even shocking group play results so far been unusual or does the quadrennial break give us upset amnesia?

OK, I'm going to mix my sporting metaphors here for a bit. We've gone once through the lineup at World Cup 2010 with each team having played at least once and it's time to play "What Have We Learned So Far?"

• Not enough has been reported and commented about the weather in South Africa and its impact on the matches.

So, one of the most exciting things about the World Cup is that you can compare all the best countries in the World and decide just how good everyone is. As the teams play in the Group/Knockout format however, most of that is conjecture. Except, now it isn't.

Some call him a saint. Others consider him a god. But to me all Bono really should be recognized as is a complete jackass.

Now I have no beef with celebrities giving back to society and helping fight poverty in third world countries. And to be honest in the modern day it is hard to find many celebrities who truly do care more about such things then their own tweets and TV spots, but has there ever been a humanitarian as inhuman as Mr.

Ghana lost 1-0 to Germany on Wednesday at Soccer City Stadium, but within seconds of the final whistle, the Black Stars were celebrating. A group of players ran to the stands, grabbed a Ghanaian flag from some fans and did a victory lap. The loss mattered little to Ghana. Once the Black Stars received the news that Australia had defeated Serbia 2-1, they knew they were through to the Round of 16 as the first (and likely only) African team to advance.

Algeria performed well at the African Nations tournament finishing in 4th place. The team will be hoping to take this form into the 2010 World Cup and as part of their preparations for the tournament they have released the new Algeria away jersey. Algeria have been drawn in Group C alongside ...

African nations were late entrants into the World Cup. Morocco participated in 1970, and Zaire in 1974 with pathetic results. In 1978 Tunisia was the first African team to win a match in a World Cup when they defeated Mexico 3-1, and in 1982 two African teams, Cameroon and Algeria, had extraordinary results but without qualifying to the second round.

I've been following some of the African Nations drama on the box and t'internet over the last week & of course Dexy's outstanding previews, but I must say I was appalled as the news reports came in on Friday night regarding the devastating machine gun attack on the Togo team bus, resulting in 3 deaths and numerous injuries.

Another original video of FIFA's official theme song "Waving Flag" from Somalian-Canadian Artist K'naan. This video has great images highlighting Africa's natural beauty and the beautiful animals that inhabit the continent. I am hoping the African football nations do well and perhaps get past the quarterfinals, as only Sengal and Cameroon have been able to achieve that milestone.

By Eric Beard

With recent news coming out of South Africa that England captain Rio Ferdinand will miss the World Cup due to a knee injury suffered in training and Ivory Coast national hero & captain Didier Drogba is questionable for the cup as well thanks to an elbow fracture suffered in a friendly match against Japan, it seems like the right time to recognize a few truly special players that fans from all around the world would have loved to see partake in this summer's festivities.

An African-themed shirt quiz today and not an easy one at that.

So, all of these footie shirts have been worn by African nations. Simply name them, feel great about yourself...

Good luck with those. As I said, not easy so many green kits in Africa.

I found this extremely interesting article on how African nations use over-age players in tournaments. The author thinks this is preventing the development of players and could be the reason why African countries seemingly underperform at major tournaments.The argument he puts forward is that: because African nations use overage players in Under 21 and Under 18 tournaments, they are not

The Desert Foxes began the Cup of African Nations in the worst possible fashion. A three to nill thrashing at the hands of Malawi squarely placed under fire Manager Rabah Saadane close to the sack. In the match Algeria, was terrible for the first forty minutes and then simply poor for the final fifty minutes.

We're over the halfway stage now in Angola and it has proved to be everything I hoped for; excitement, bags of goals, ridiculous refereeing, gravity defying longshots and abysmal defending. What I didn't hope for was the terrible Togo shooting incident that overshadowed the earlier part of the tournament.

Sunday's mildly shocking result in the Cup of African Nations Quarterfinals reinforces what we wrote about on Friday here at MLS Talk: Algeria will be no pushover for the United States in the World Cup. The Desert Foxes eliminated pre-tournament favorite Ivory Coast 3-2 after extra time.

Drogba Out - Big Blow to Africa

The 2010 World Cup created quite a lot of excitement, mainly due to the fact it was the first World Cup to be hosted in the continent of Africa, and the most suitable venue was South Africa, due to it having a rather strong economy. There are always hiccups in the process, and the odd scare thrown out by the media in order to sell a few papers, but in terms of building the stadiums, promoting the tournament and creating an exciting atmosphere, South Africa has done itself proud and with one week to go, we are ready for the World Cup.

BY ADAM SERRANO

Group E is one of the deepest groups in the World Cup as each nation will believe that they have the ability to advance to the knock out stages.

The Netherlands have always relied on their attacking flair and in 2010, the story remains the same as Wesley Sneijder and Robin Van Persie lead a fierce dutch attack.

By Eric Beard

I know, there's one more game left to be played. But now that South Africa are sitting in last place of Group A with 1 point and a -3 goal differential, the Bafana Bafana, sadly, are finished. It was a tough match to watch because, like most neutrals, I am cheering on all of the African nations in this World Cup.

So here we are in 2010, a year that will again provide us with another month of top quality entertainment, our eyes stuck to the screen as we see great names perform to the highest levels of peak perfection until there can be left just one standing at the final whistle.........my money is on Vinnie Jones.

Group C – Benin, Egypt, Nigeria, Mozambique

Benin
Not a lot of people have heard of Benin and less have seen it, the gaff is tiny and the squad is tinier but they definitely have the best nickname, The Squirrals! Most of the ickle Benin team make Shaun Wright Phillips look like Crouchy on stilts.

That's Richmond Forson, midfielder for Togo's national team, commenting on being attacked on the way to the Africa Cup of Nations tournament in Angola. Here's the story from Sky Sports, Dossevi reveals Togo horror, and from Al Jazeera, Togo footballers attacked in Anglola. The Guardian story is here.

Dimitar sulked after the kitman refused to sew pockets into his shorts

Rumour No.1: Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson is set to put a number of his star players up for sale in an attempt to rejuvenate his squad in the wake of a number of stale performances this season, not least the toothless outing against Leeds last week.

Angola and Mali played out a thrilling 4-4 draw to open the Africa Cup of Nations and take some attention away from the unnerving events of Friday's act of violence against the Togo national football team.

Many notable figures in the world of football have called for the tournament to proceed despite the brutal attack on the Togo team bus, which reportedly left four people dead.

While most EPL fans saw the African Cup of Nations as a distraction, the continent's showpiece tournament actually had amazing potential.
An in-form Didier Drogba, perhaps the greatest striker in the world, a coming together of African nations, on the "up" on the world stage, in the same year that South Africa will host The World Cup.

Bayern Munich v TSG Hoffenheim
Bundesliga
Friday, 15 January 2010
Kickoff: 20:30 CET

Friday night sees the return of the Bundesliga after the winter break, and we couldn't have asked for a more mouth-watering clash. Bayern will go top of the table if they win, but it won't be that simple.

Host Kartik Krishnaiyer is joined by Set Piece Analysts' Richard Farley to break down the needs of all 20 Premier League clubs in the transfer market.

We also discuss which Premier League players have made the biggest impact thus far in the Cup of African Nations.

Don't forget that the EPL Talk Podcast is the only Premier League interview and analysis podcast available for free.

Algeria has been drawn into England's group in the upcoming World Cup tournament. Kartik Krishnaiyer and Richard Farley look at the Cup of African Nations performance for Algeria, who defeated Ivory Coast on Sunday in Quarterfinals.

Don't forget that the EPL Talk Podcast is the only Premier League interview and analysis podcast available for free.

Drogba.Some great news for us Chelsea fans, not so for the Ivory Coast in this years African Cup of Nations, is that Didier Drogba and Salomon Kalou will be returning to the Chelsea squad early after their exit in the Quarter Finals to Algeria. This is great news for us as it bolsters the squad in time for a run of games we have in the next two weeks which can go a long way to define our season.

The 2010 African Cup of Nations provided a political appetizer to Africa's first World Cup. A stubborn stain remains, but it should not distract from Egypt's remarkable three consecutive African Nations Cups.
Props to the Pharoahs! Hassan Shehata had them playing some seriously penetrating football.

It's very easy to fall back into lazy racial stereotypes, particularly when dealing with African nations.However, the fact is that there are still many thousands of people on that continent who believe in the 'old ways' and that includes magic and voodoo.Now, we might very well suspect that host nation South Africa has literally no chance at the 2010 World Cup Finals but, luckily, they have a

This is the seventh in a weekly series of World Cup history lessons brought to you by our very own "Professor" Guy Bailey. He is not actually a professor; the only professor on staff is Jamie Clary. Well, sort of. The 1966 World Cup England was awarded the 1966 World Cup Finals in 1960 in honor of the codation of rules – football finally came home.

photo credit: manbeastextraordinaire

THE PAST

Cameroon is considered the most successful team in African football history and the side has advanced to six of the last eight World Cup tournaments. The Indomitable Lions have not advanced past the first round of the event since 1990 and in their last three Cup experiences the squad has only won a single match and lost four.

COS contributor Oliver Davies compiles his list of the best players who will be in front of the box and not inside the TV during this summers showpiece tournament. In other words, the players who won't be playing in the World Cup!

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How much do you know about the history of the World Cup? Who won the tournament in 1938? Where was the final played in 1974? Who was the top scorer in 1966? Download the pdf file below, answer the questions and fill in the crossword. There is also an online version and of course there are answers provided.

COS contributor Aódhan Donnelly thinks the World Cup could be set for its first African winner.

Win the Club Shirt Of Your Choice Simply by Speaking Your Mind!

It is not easy deciding every 4 years as to who you are going to put your money on in the world's most prestigious tournament.

Continuing my look at the World Cup here is my opinion on who will make it through Group B, which contains one of the favourites in the World Cup 2010 betting, Argentina, as well as Nigeria, South Korea and Greece.

Argentina

Any side containing Carlos Tevez, Leo Messi and Sergio Aguero should go far, but the appointment of the talismanic but erratic Diego Maradona as coach nearly backfired spectacularly and they only just made it through qualifying.

Another day, another brilliant Puma kit for the African nations.

Ghana's nickname doesn't have quiet the ferocity of an indomitable lion, the mystical grandeur of an elephant of the precociousness of a fennec in short, they ain't an animal but Puma has still done more with a simple black star than most kits at the World Cup have done with twice as much.

After all the anticipation leading up to the kick off of the World Cup next month it is time to take an impartial look at the twelve other European teams that will also be heading to South Africa with England next month.

A look at the World Cup winners throughout the history of the competition shows that Italy have won four times (and are the current holders), Germany have won three times, France triumphed once, and then there was 1966.

Ahead of the World Cup in South Africa, a spate of books on African football was to be expected. Africa, after all, has traditionally been underserved as far as football writing goes. Until last year, the genre could more or less be summed up in three books: Peter auf der Heyde's Has Anybody Got a Whistle?

President Barack Obama, a self-professed soccer fan, looks set to turn down an invitation from FIFA President Sepp Blatter to attend the 2010 World Cup, as the White House announced late last week that Vice President Joe Biden will be traveling to South Africa to represent the United States at the tournament's opening ceremonies.