We are one day away from the heavily-anticipated 2010 World Cup Final Draw, an event that will be watched by hundreds of millions of people around the globe. Instead of waiting another 24 hours to find out what the groups will look like next June in South Africa, I've held a mock draw of my own. The results were as follows:
Group A: South Africa, Honduras, Uruguay, Serbia
Group B: Brazil, North Korea, Chile, Portugal
Group C: Argentina, South Korea, Nigeria, France
Group D: The Netherlands, Australia, Ghana, Slovenia
Group E: Spain, Mexico, Cameroon, Slovakia
Group F: England, Japan, Algeria, Switzerland
Group G: Germany, United States, Paraguay, Denmark
Group H: Italy, New Zealand, Cote d'Ivoire, Greece
- The United States was drawn into Group G along with Germany, Denmark and Paraguay, ranked 6th, 26th and 30th, respectively.

The 32-team field is set for the 2010 World Cup and for the next two weeks until the World Cup Draw on Dec. 4 you will see plenty of sample draws to give soccer fans around the world a sense of where teams just might wind up.

SBI isn't going to miss out on that fun.

For years, the tabloid newspapers in England have been renowned for overhyping the expectations of England's chances in the World Cup. Those wheels have already been set in motion and now The Sun newspaper, which has a daily readership of 7.9 million, have declared that England's group which includes the United States will be easy.

Where will this all end?

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You just knew it, everyone in the stadium knew it, everyone watching from home knew it, everyone who has any interest in the game of football knew it, so why the hell are FIFA seemingly doing nothing about it?

Remember Madin Mohammed? So yesterday. To the extent that there's already a new version. Meet Soufiane. He's seven years old - only just seven at that - and he's better at football than you. Like Madin and that Zidane character (along with Nasri, Benzema, etc), Soufiane was born in France of Algerian parentage, which begs the [.

First, let me be the millionth person to say what an amazing draw for the USA. It's about as good as we could've hoped, and for the first time actually we're a favorite to advance. What exactly are the odds of us advancing after this lucky draw? Well, it depends on who you ask. It seems like everybody has a national team rating system these days, so let's take a look at how each of them rate our chances.

The FIFA World Rankings were released today with little change in the top ten. The one exception is Russia dropping several spots, and Portugal moving into the top 10. The top 2 remain unchanged with Brazil on top and Spain close behind. The rest of the top ten is the Netherlands, Italy, Germany, Argentina, England, Croatia, France, and Portugal.

The latest FIFA World Rankings are out and Brazil has overtaken Spain for the top spot with their win in the 2009 Confederations Cup. The United States saw their ranking improve with a strong performance to reach the finals but the biggest mover into the top 20 were Australia (moved up 13 spots) and the Ivory Coast (moved up 20 spots).

The draw for the 2010 World Cup is complete.
A couple of the groups contend for the "Group of Death" label. Group D with Germany, Australia, Serbia and Ghana and Group G with Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast and North Korea. England got lucky paired with USA, Algeria and Slovenia in Group C. Hosts South Africa have a tough draw but will remain hopeful home advantage can lift them out of the group stage.

The United States drew a potentially positive group for next summer's World Cup on Friday. The group as described by some European papers "is wide open" below the runaway favorite, England.

This group creates more possibilities of going forward for the United States than any of the potential draws that naysayers, so blatantly shouted on about all week.

The games didn't really have everything, did they? The results did some upsets, some heroics, a few of the expected teams going in but outside of the one game which forced a playoff (Egypt 2 Algeria 0), some of these games were completely zapped of the necessary drama.

(Not, of course, that one played in the Stade de France.

It's as good as the US men's national team could have expected for the World Cup draw, and no doubt, USA fans will trot out the "1950" chant, recalling the massive upset by the USA against England in that year.

It's time we started getting to know the 32 teams who will compete at World Cup 2010, and what better way to get familiar than with a nickname? Below you'll find a list of the 32 teams, followed by their most common nickname or nicknames.

Team nicknames usually refer to the colour of the shirt (eg the Azzurri or Les Bleus) or some element of the football association crest (eg The Three Lions).

Honduras became the 12th team to qualify for the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Nigeria from Oct. 24-Nov. 15. They joined the U.S. and Mexico in representing CONCACAF, with one bid from the region still outstanding - that will be either Guatemala or Costa Rica and we'll find out tomorrow (Sunday).
New Zealand won the Oceania bid on Friday afternoon.

Antar Yahia became the hero of Algeria as they beat Egypt. His superb volley off a Ziani cross in the first half made the difference. The Fennecs enter the World Cup for the first time since 1986.

This needs a comment.

Afterward, Donovan was dismissive of Rossi, saying, "If the guy doesn't want to play for us, then I don't really care about him."

Really. Are we going to get our knickers in a bunch if Vedad Ibisevic scores against the team? Because Bosnia might be in the same group in the World Cup.

Courtesy of FIFA:
Victory on all fronts for Brazil: after winning the FIFA Confederations Cup in South Africa, the Seleção have regained the top spot in the FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking, thus relegating European champions Spain (2nd, down 1) to second place. The South Americans last topped the ranking in August 2007, a position to which they have climbed six times in the history of the ranking.

It was an important day in all the regions as the final spots for the 2010 World Cup Finals in South Africa are being deteremined. In UEFA there are eight teams competing for four spots in two legged ties. The first leg was on Saturday with the second coming on Wednesday, November 18, 2009. There are two playoff matches between regions including the AFC/OFC Playoff and CONCACAF/CONMEBOL Playoff.

This weekend was the World Cup qualifying climax in Africa, and there was plenty of qualification drama to go around. The winners of each of the five groups qualified for World Cup 2010, and everyone else missed out. But there was a pretty decent consolation prize for the ten second and third placed teams, as World Cup qualifying doubles as Africa Cup of Nations qualifying and the top three in each group qualified for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations (also known as the African Nations Cup, ACN and CAN) in Angola.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC-pF3OHY1c

Following the controversial decision to allow France's goal to stand as Thierry Henry clearly handled the ball prior to assisting William Gallas, it is only normal to have increased complaints and ever growing displeasure at the level of refereeing.

The World Cup draw earlier today was one of the better scenarios US fans could hope for. While getting to see the great match up England vs USA, Americans fans are liking their chances against Algeria and Slovenia. I'll try to post some more of my thoughts on the draw a little later, but feel free to leave your comments here.

In October, Puma unveiled the 2010 football kits for the eleven African teams it sponsors: Ghana, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Mozambique, Egypt, Tunisia, Namibia, Morocco, Angola, Senegal and Togo. At that time, Puma also announced the signing of Algeria FA with Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes) becoming part of the Puma football portfolio from January [.

Who Will Advance From World Cup Group C?(opinion)

Group C of the 2010 World Cup is one of the most interesting ones for several reasons, most of which revolve around who will have win the bragging rights after the United States competes against rival England. But who do you think will advance from Group C?

Madin Mohammed is said to be the new Zinedine Zidane after he attracted the attention of top level talent scouts with his soccer skills and you can see it in the video below.
The boy's family moved to France from Algeria when he was three, while the French soccer legend Zidane was born in France to Algerian parents.

Remember this name My old scouting mate Philbert McTavish reckons he has spotted the next world superstar, all be it on YouTube. Algerian-born Madin Mohammed age 6, who has been hailed the new Zinedine Zidane after showing his "superb" skills on the website.

The latest FIFA World Rankings were released on Wednesday August 5, 2009 as there was little change in the top 20. Brazil remains on top followed by Spain, Netherlands, Germany, Italy, Russia, England, Argentina, France, and Croatia rounding out the top 10. The United States remains at number 12 while Paraguay was able to move up to 2 spots to 20.

World wide world cup match days are the next best thing to the actual world cup, particularly when we are in the last throes of the schedule. It's like a 1st round March madness day, but twice as long. A few more tickets were punched, and a few other have the porter in the next cabin. Others are starting to feel a little too uncomfortable.

Good weekend for the USA, as none of Argentina/France/Portugal could win.
1) In Africa, this weekend's results mean that Cameroon and Tunisia should now be considered clear favorites to qualify. If Gabon can't beat Cameroon at home, then how they can hope to get a result on the road? Togo let in a last second equalizer against Morocco which probably ended their hopes.

Hosni Abd Rabou scored a crucial winner as Egypt's win puts maximum pressure on group leaders Algeria.

1st Half Highlights

0-1 Hosni

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In 1989 all hell broke loose when Algeria and Egypt met for a World Cup place - the stakes will be just as high when they meet again.

Although there were four big play-off games in Europe for us all to watch along with numerous friendlies, possibly the biggest game of the day was held in Cairo between Egypt and Algeria.

A rivalry that goes back to 1989, the intensity leading up to the game today reached fever pitch only a few days ago when the Algerian team bus was attacked by fans with rocks.

In honour of today's Algeria vs Egypt showdown in Sudan, had planned on putting together a Top 10 Biggest International Rivalries post. But halfway through I realized it wasn't a great idea. Your own national team's rivalry will always feel bigger than anyone else's, so why include some in a Top 10 but not others?

Algeria, Greece, Portugal and Slovenia all won their playoffs and qualified for the World Cup today. Uruguay vs Costa Rica is happening as I type. But there's one story that will be dominating the World Cup playoff headlines, and I think you already know what it is: Thierry Henry's handball for France vs Ireland.

The 32-team field is set for the 2010 World Cup and for the next two weeks until the World Cup Draw on Dec. 4 you will see plenty of sample draws to give soccer fans around the world a sense of where teams just might wind up.

SBI isn't going to miss out on that fun.

The Egyptian ambassador to Algeria was recalled by Cairo as the soccer feud between the two countries has now escalated into a full scale diplomatic row.

It is also believed that Hosni Mubarak himself called the Algerian ambassador, Abdel Qader Hadja hours before the recall of the Egyptian envoy, to voice his grievance over the assaults on Egyptian citizens who went to Khartoum to support the Egyptian team.

The groups for the Africa Cup of Nations 2010 were drawn today, which should go at least some way to cheering up teams like Egypt and Tunisia who very narrowly missed the World Cup 2010 boat.

The tournament takes place in Angola from January 10th to January 31st, 2010. We've got blogs and bloggers for 12 of the 16 teams involved in the tournament.

Despite the terrible WC qualifying campaign and despite everything else that's gone wrong, Argentina will be a top seed in the World Cup.

momento24.com

Argentina among top seeds in World Cup 2010

Finally, Argentina is one of the seeded teams in the upcoming 2010 World Cup, FIFA said today.

The U.S. Men's National Team was placed in Group C with England, Algeria and Slovenia in today's World Cup draw in Capetown, South Africa. The allocation is a fortunate one for the Yanks, who face quite possibly the easiest of the eight groups. Pressure will be on Bob Bradley's side to advance to the elimination round perhaps even as group winners.

The draw for the First Round of FIFA World Cup 2010 is complete. Probably the biggest winner of the draw was controversial qualifier France who were unseeded but drawn with hosts South Africa, Mexico and Uruguay in Group A. England and USA were drawn together in Group C along with Algeria and Slovenia.

The U.S. men's national team avoided being drawn into a Group of Death, and will now face a very favorable path in the 2010 World Cup.

The Americans were drawn against a strong England side, but the rest of Group C is filled out with beatable opponents Algeria and Slovenia to give the U.