The 5 Best Games of the First Round-worldcup 2010

4 days left and the 2010 World Cup gets underway!

There's SO much news on the internet, magazines, newspapers, television, etc.
I'm but a lowly blogger trying to carve his niche in the big, bad soccer media world.

Having said that, I'm BEYOND excited for the Cup, even if I can't make it to South Africa.
I'm making lemonade out of lemons, looking forward to enjoying the Cup in New York City!

So what are the 5 biggest matches of the first round?

1 - USA vs. England (June 12, 2:30pm)

Call this the teacher vs. the student, if you wish. It's the colonial power against the formerly subjugated. The football powerhouse against the budding superstars.

USA-England has all the drama of a Spanish soap opera.

Most prognosticators give USA little chance against the magic of Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard.

Having said that, USA's not as bad as many pundits think. They're scrappy, they're quick and with Landon Donovan and Michael Bradley, they have pace and vision.

Expect a tough one before the USA succumbs to the English brawn and power.

2 - South Africa vs. Mexico (June 11, 10 a.m.)

Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg will be rocking for the opening match of the 2010 Cup. South Africa's not a strong team, but Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira has provided the squad with much needed structure.

Mexico is consistently one of the quickest, most offensive sides in the world, so this should be a show stopper and a fancy way to open the Cup.

3 - Argentina vs. Nigeria (June 12, 10 a.m.)

The unstable Diego Maradona guides the likes of world player of the year Lionel Messi and Gonzalo Higuain into a match against one of Africa's powerhouses. Who knows what'll happen here?

Expect a raucous atmosphere. It's one of Africa's best hopes of advancing out of the first round against a perennial power, coached by the greatest player of all time.

Must See TV, anyone?

4 - Brazil vs. Portugal (June 25, 10 a.m)

Brazil is the co-favorite to win it all. Portugal boasts the world's most expensive player in Cristiano Ronaldo and a fast, loose style.

Both teams will be looking to finish first in the group, as the second-place side settles into a likely match with co-favorite Spain. So expect a knockout, drag-out fight by these two Portuguese-speaking nations

5 - Ghana vs. Germany (June 23, 2:30 p.m)

Who will feel the injury bug the most: Ghana, who is missing Michael Essien? Or Germany, who is missing Michael Ballack?

The Ghanaians will be hard pressed against the efficient Germans, but their freewheeling style may cause fits of anxiety for the former World Champions.

The pro-African crowd may play a part in this.


All in all, five games that will entertain and excite. What do you think?

Beckham and Ghana's Us

2010 World Cup, football, soccer, USA, Portugal, Japan, Denmark, Uruguay, Paraguay, Italy, Côte d'Ivoire, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Ghana, Brazil, Germany, France, England, Slovenia, Korea Republic, Mexico, Netherlands, Serbia, Slovakia, South Africa, Korea DPR, Cameroon, Chile, Côte d'Ivoire, Denmark, Italy, Japan, Portugal, USA, Uruguay, Switzerland, Honduras, Greece, New Zealand, Spain, Nigeria

'Tomorrow in Los Angeles, the U.S. mainstream world is going to be introduced to the biggest soccer star to come to America since Pele in the 1970s when David Beckham is announced as a new member of the Galaxy in Major League Soccer.'

So says Orlando Sentinel journalist Brant Parsons concerning the move of football's most recognizable player to the United States.

This blog doesn't deal with American issues too often, but this story is huge and deals specifically with the burgeoning football market in the United States.

Beckham's move is huge and I've dealt with the issues and complications of it in previous posts.

What's intriguing to me as far as this blog goes is the mainstream coverage of soccer in the States.

You don't see anything about the sport most days. 'Copa America semifinals? What's that? Champions League? Who?'

But Beckham's arrival is front-page news. It could be the shove America needs to make football a mainstream sport as this article suggests.

Let's hope so. The article makes some valid points and is an interesting read.
The only thing we can do is wait and see. The American sporting public is quite fickle. Once they figure out Beckham is not a scoring machine, the backlash to 'that boring sport' could be brutal.
***************

The first African representative to play in the Under-20 World Cup has crashed out. Gambia's 'Young Scorpions' were beaten by Austria 2-1 last night in Edmonton.

Substitute Erwin Hoffer scored the late match-winner to put the Europeans through to the quarter-finals.

Gambia's fortunes in its debut tournament took a blow when midfielder Tijan Jaiteh was sent off for a second yellow card in the 43rd minute.

Two minutes later, Austria scored when the free kick was headed in by Sebastian Proedl.

Austria will now go on to meet the United States, who beat Uruguay 2-1 in extra time to progress to the quarterfinals on Wednesday.

The Czech Republic and Spain have also qualified for the quarter-finals.

Africa's hopes now lie with Zambia, Nigeria and Congo.

Zambia play Nigeria this afternoon while Congo meets Mexico tonight.