The world cup started with a wonderful African ceremony that really embraced the African culture. At that time we could only speculate on who was going to be in the finals. Nearly three weeks on and there has been countless disappointments for various teams. Many blame the referee, others blame the ball -Jabulani while others blame it all on the fans with their thundering cheer. But all was done in the name of football. The Jabulani has been blamed for the downfall of many teams. Players claim that unlike other balls, the Jabulani cannot be curved around a wall. Spanish players are quickly learning a few tricks on using the Jabulani and might have something to show in the quarters.
Fall of the Titans.
The FIFA 2010 world cup in South Africa has had a lot of disappointments especially for the defending champions who were eliminated in the early stages of the tournament. France, the 1998 world champions did not even qualify for the round of sixteen. The biggest disappointment of all was England. England was put out of action by Germany by a convincing 4-1 score that saw the great Capello consider other career options. Capello rues the lack of talent in his English side but critics a disappointed with the performance of the manager despite the huge salary he gets. The USA came in as underdogs but performed very well before they were eliminated sighting mistakes made by the match officials.
The Pride of Africa.
African teams failed to impress in South Africa despite this being the first world cup to be held on African soil. The black stars of Ghana gave Africa hope as they shone through the round of sixteen to qualify for the quarter finals by beating Denmark 2-1. Ghana will now face Uruguay on Friday 2nd July for a place in the semi finals. Other African teams in the tournament that failed to impress with Algeria, South Africa, Nigeria, Cameroon and Ivory Coast all making an early exit. The Black stars now carry the hope of an entire continent that bought world cup tickets in large numbers in anticipation of promising show.
The Quarter finalists.
Teams that have secured a date in the semi finals include Brazil who will face Netherlands, Ghana face Uruguay, the mighty Argentina face Germany, while Spain will face Paraguay. Spain beat Portugal by a one goal seeing them through the finals and ending the dreams of the likes of Christiano Ronaldo. The match between Paraguay and Japan went into extra time then penalties where Paraguay won unconvincingly on penalties.
The quarter final promises to be very exciting as Spain hopes to win the cup. Maradona's Argentina are the crowds' favourite to win the cup but Cafu's side, Brazil are in pretty good shape plus they want to prove that they are the best team in the world after an embarrassing exit in the 2006 world cup. Germany has shown that they are serious contenders for the title but they will have a hard time against Argentina on Sunday.
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