Out of the 208 members that make up FIFA, Palestine who are ranked at 167 in the world, is the only that isn’t recognized by the United Nations as a state. The Palestinians will now take on 123rd-ranked Thailand in the next preliminary round.

It was the first ever World Cup qualification match held on Palestinian soil and the aggregate win sparked off celebrations after the game in the crowd of 9,000. The game took place at the Faisal Al Husseini Stadium which was officially opened in October of 2008, which was also the 10th anniversary of Palestine joining FIFA.

After the game, Palestine manager Moussa Bezaz stated that Afghanistan was an excellent team and it was a tough match, but the most important thing is that Palestine advanced to the next round of World Cup qualifying. He also said it was important that Palestine showed the world that it could host a qualifying game in a safe and secure environment and he hopes it opens the door for Palestinian sport in the future.

Palestine’s next qualifier is in Bangkok, Thailand on the 23rd of July with the return leg at home on July 28th.

Meanwhile, 163rd-ranked Bangladesh also made it through to the next Asian qualifying round after drawing 169th-ranked Pakistan 0-0 in Lahore on July 3rd. The soccer game was the first time a major international sports event took place in Pakistan since 2009 when the Sri Lankan National cricket team’s bus suffered a fatal attack. Bangladesh had beaten Pakistan 3-0 at home in the first leg on June 29th.

Romario has been touring the 12 Brazilian host cities as a congressman recently and told the press on June 20th that he previously believed his home nation could put on the greatest World Cup showcase in history, but he now seriously doubts it after visiting the host cities.

Romario said the nation celebrated like there was no tomorrow when FIFA announced Brazil would host the 2014 WC tournament. He originally said Brazil would easily be able to host the event and thought that it would also be the greatest of all time. He told a Brazilian newspaper that he still believes Brazil will be able to host the Cup, but doesn’t think it’s going to be all that special when it takes place.

He said that after touring the country he doesn’t think things are going to run as smoothly as they should. He feels there are going to be problems with hosting the event and it’s not going to be the spectacle that he believes it could and should have been .

This will be Brazil’s second crack as putting on a World Cup as they also hosted it back in 1950. However, the country has been criticized over its preparations this time around as there have been numerous delays when it comes to the building of stadiums and the transportation infrastructure. It’s also been reported that the spending for the event is getting way out of hand.

New stadiums need to be built and others have to be renovated, but the costs just keep on increasing. In fact, the country’s budget for the 2014 World Cup has already doubled and officials are worried that the costs will rise even higher as the deadlines for stadiums and transportation get nearer.

Romario said that the host cities are struggling to meet the demands and requirements of FIFA for the event. But while government officials in Brazil admit that there have been some delays, they said most of the work is still on schedule and that everything will be ready on time when 2014 rolls around.

Romario also told the press that he thinks Ricardo Teixeira, the president of the Brazilian football federation, should step down from his position as the as leader of the organizing committee. Romario, in his role as a Brazilian lawmaker, has asked Teixeira for an explanation regarding allegations of irregular activities in the organizing committee. However, Teixeira has said that he and the country’s federation haven’t done anything wrong.

It probably comes as no surprise that Will Hill have put the host nation Brazil as the number one favorite to win the entire 2014 World Cup. The second favorite is currently defending champion Spain.

What is very surprising though is that France is one of the top 10 rated teams according to Will Hill and so is Italy. Considering how these two teams performed this year they have a long way to go before they will even manage to qualify for the 2014 World Cup.

2014 World Cup Betting Odds from William Hill

Brazil – 4.50

Spain – 5.50

Argentina – 7.00

Germany – 12.00

Holland – 13.00

England – 17.00

Italy – 21.00

France – 21.00

Portugal – 21.00

Russia – 41.00

Chile – 41.00

Uruguay – 51.00

Croatia – 51.00

Mexico – 51.00

Ivory Coast – 51.00

Ghana – 51.00

Serbia – 51.00

Paraguay – 67.00

Turkey – 67.00

Czech Republic – 67.00

Sweden – 67.00

USA – 67.00

Denmark – 81.00

Ukraine – 101.00

Cameroon – 101.00

Romania – 101.00

Switzerland – 101.00

Colombia – 101.00

Ireland – 101.00

Poland 101.00

Japan – 151.00

Egypt – 151.00

Norway – 151.00

Nigeria – 151.00

South Korea – 151.00

Australia – 201.00

Slovakia – 201.00

Slovenia – 201.00

Scotland – 251.00

Algeria – 251.00

Austria – 251.00

Bulgaria – 251.00

Belgium – 251.00

Hungary – 251.00

South Africa – 501.00

Honduras – 501.00

China – 501.00

Northern Ireland – 1001.00

Wales – 1001.00

New Zealand – 1001.00

North Korea – 1001.00

Even though the 2010 World Cup opened at a very slow pace with a lot of low scoring games it offered a lot more in terms of entertainment once we hit the round of 16.

We would like to thank all of our readers that have been visiting this site throughout the World Cup and we hope that you will join us again once the qualifiers are starting for the 2014 World Cup.

We are still going to keep this site active with the latest news regarding the World Cup so make sure to check back every once in a while to make sure you are kept up to date on all the latest news regarding the 2014 World Cup.

Thanks again to all our readers and congratulations to the new World Champions, Spain.