HEY! What's up? It's the World Cup season!

Never thought 4 years passed by so fast!





World Cup 2006 in Germany was great, but should we expect something bigger this time?

As always, the tournament will be held in 10 venues, with the opening and final match held at Soccer City in Johannesburg.





This site is historic as it is the place where Nelson Mandela held his first speech following his release from prison.





The 94,700 capacity stadium is designed to have the appearance of an African pot. The total construction costs USD$440 million.

The official mascot for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is Zakumi.






His name comes from "ZA", the international abbreviation for South Africa, and "kumi", a word that means "ten" in various African languages.





We've already seen some big names suffering injuries prior to the World Cup. It's a pity really because this could've been the last world cup tournament they would ever play in for some.

For instance, Beckham is already 35 this year. He'll be 39 by the next world cup.





Probability of him playing in 2014? I don't know.

Rio Ferdinand, the new captain of England, is also out for 4-6 weeks with a knee injury following a tackle on fellow team mate Emile Heskey in England's first training session.





Being an England supporter, it was really heartbreaking for me to hear this news because if England win the World Cup, Ferdinand would've been the one to lift the trophy! But now Stevie G had to cover him up as captain for the time being. Horror.

The latest player to join this injury list is Nani!





Another Manchester United player missing out of World Cup. Sigh.

The rest injured for the World Cup include:

Michael Ballack (Germany) - ruled out of the finals with an ankle injury after a late challenge by Ghana's Kevin-Prince Boateng during Chelsea's FA Cup final win over Portsmouth in May.





Rene Adler (Germany) - Germany's first-choice goalkeeper underwent surgery on a rib injury in May and will play no part in the finals.

Heiko Westermann (Germany) - fractured a bone in his foot during a warm-up win over Hungary.

Simon Rolfes (Germany) - ruled himself out of the World Cup after saying he was short of match fitness following knee surgery in January.

Christian Traesch (Germany) - considered a possible replacement for captain Michael Ballack but is also out after injuring his ankle in a friendly at the squad's training camp in Italy.

Michael Essien (Ghana) – suffered a knee injury at the African Nations Cup in January and has failed to recover in time.





Lassana Diarra (France) – will not play in South Africa after being told he needed an extended rest because of persistent stomach pains which began during France's week-long training camp in the French Alps last month.

Jose Bosingwa (Portugal) – will miss the tournament after picking up a knee injury last October which ruled him out for the entire season.

Jon Obi Mikel (Nigeria) - forced out of the tournament with a badly bruised ankle suffered in Nigeria's first full contact training session in South Africa on Friday.





Miroslav Karhan (Slovakia) - Slovakia's most capped player has a hamstring injury and will miss his country's first World Cup appearance.

Meanwhile....





Players who are doubtful include:
Didier Drogba, Andrea Pirlo, Julio Cesar, Arjen Robben, Harry Kewell, Tim Brown, Humberto Suazo, Lee Dong Guk.

Whereas players who will not be involved in the World Cup are listed here below:
Ronaldinho, Alexandre Pato, Adriano, Hulk, Anderson, Theo Walcott, Darren Bent, Albert Riera, Marcos Senna, Luca Toni, Marco Borriello, Fabio Grosso, Daniele Bonera, Francesco Totti, Ruud van Nistlerooy, Robbie Keane, Andrei Arshavin, Andriy Shevchenko, Dimitar Berbatov, Lucas, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Riquelme, Zanetti, Cambiasso, G. Milito, Lisandro, Lucho, Banega, Aimar, Garay, Samir Nasri, Karim Benzema.

From 11th June - 11th July, don't see surprised to see cafés and restaurants filled with people late night watching the biggest sporting event ever.

What you can do is.. pick a team, don their jersey and support them all the way!

So which team will you be rooting for? I'm going for England.




Rooney! Rooney! Rooney!
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:: Posted by DENCORPORATION at 7:43 PM |

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