FIFA Worldcup 2010

Players and Teams in FIFA Football WorldCup 2010

The FIFA football 2010 WorldCup is going to be one of the greatest sporting events and is rightly known as a festival of football. In recent weeks the qualifying stages of the competition have been completed with all 32 teams that are to take part now being known. The draw for the initial group stages of the tournament has also taken place and all countries now know who their opponents will be in the initial stages of the competition. The stage is now set for the build up to South Africa 2010 and the teams and superstar players who will show their football skills include the following.

South America

Five countries from South America qualified for the WorldCup 2010, organized by FIFA These are Brazil, Chile, Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay. Brazil is generally considered by most people to be the favorites for the tournament and they qualified as group winners in South America. They have some of the best and most skillful players in the world including Kaka, Dani Alves and Robinho and these should make an impact in the finals.

Argentina is the other country from South America generally considered as one of the teams capable of winning the tournament. However they struggled during qualification and only confirmed their place in the finals with a last game victory over Uruguay. The manager is Argentina legend Diego Maradona, who has little managerial experience and he may lack the tactical know how to get the best out of the team. In Lionel Messi they have one of the world’s best players and with the other excellent players they have you cannot rule them out, although I would think unless their form improves they are an unlikely winner.

Chile and Paraguay ended the qualifying stages only a point behind Brazil and this shows that they have strong sides, with Chile in particular scoring a lot of goals in their qualifying games. Uruguay qualified for the finals after a play off win against Costa Rica.

Europe

In Europe, thirteen countries gained qualification for the World Cup and this included the four teams from this continent that have been successful in the tournament previously Italy, Germany, France and England. However of the thirteen qualified teams Spain was the most impressive of these, winning all 10 of their group games, and with strikers such as Fernando Torres and David Silva they have a realistic chance of winning the competition. The current players also have recent experience of winning a tournament, having been victorious in the 2008 European Championship.

Other countries who impressed in the qualifying stages were England and Holland. Holland won all their qualifying games and England only lost one of theirs. Both teams have good records in the World Cup and currently have players who are proven match winners. This includes Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard of England and also Dirk Kuyt and Robin van Persie of Holland.

Italy and Germany have impressive World Cup records with Italy having won the trophy four times and Germany three. They generally play well at the World Cup and have a chance of winning with Italy players such as Andrea Pirlo and Germany’s Michael Ballack being world class players.

France had a tough time qualifying with a controversial extra time victory needed for them to guarantee their place in the tournament. However in Thierry Henri they have one of the best strikers in the world and will have a chance in South Africa.

Other teams that qualified from Europe included Portugal, Greece, Slovenia, Serbia, Denmark, Slovakia and Switzerland. Portugal is probably the best team of these and in Cristiano Ronaldo they have one of the best players in the world.

Africa

South Africa is the hosts and they automatically gain a place in the finals with the other teams who have qualified from Africa including Algeria, Cameroon, Nigeria, Ghana and the Ivory Coast. An African nation has never won the World Cup, but the Ivory Coast will go into the tournament in confident mood. In Didier Drogba they have one of the best strikers in the world and they also have other players, such as Kolo Toure, playing at the top level in European football.

North, Central America and Caribbean

Three countries gained qualification from this zone, these being USA, Mexico and Honduras. Of these, Mexico is probably the one with the best World Cup history and they have some excellent players.

Asia and Oceania

Four teams qualified from the two Asia groups with Australia, Japan, Korea Republic and Korea DPR earning their place in the finals. New Zealand, who won the Oceania group, sealed a place in the World Cup with a play off victory over Bahrain.

So there you have it, 32 teams qualified and some of the best payers in the world with an opportunity to show their skills at the biggest football tournament in the world. The WorldCup 2010 final in South Africa should be a spectacular event and football fans around the world will be looking forward to it.