The angry players swarmed Italian referee Roberto Rosetti after they saw the replay on the screen at Soccer City in Johannesburg. Argentina went on to win the game 3-1 and knock Mexico out of the tournament.

Nicolas Maingot, a FIFA spokesman, said on June 28 that it was a mistake to show the incident on the screen inside the stadium. He added that he hopes it doesn’t happen again for the rest of the tournament and FIFA will introduce tighter controls on what can and can’t be shown. Maingot stated that the screens are supposed to show football-related programs as well as some replays from the games.

South Africa’s 2010 World Cup organizing committee is responsible for what action is broadcast on the screens and are in charge of the tournament’s 10 stadiums. Jermaine Craig, a spokesman for the committee, said the matter has been discussed with the stadium broadcasting team. He added the goal was scored and allowed pretty quickly, but looking back on it, they probably shouldn’t have shown the replay, but there’s nothing they can do about it now.

Maingot stated that FIFA hasn’t received any feedback from the game officials about a mass protest between players and coaches behind the Mexican bench when the teams left the pitch at half time.

However, television broadcasts showed Rosetti was in the middle of the gathering and was trying to separate those involved, including Argentina manager Diego Maradona.

Claim your bonus at Sportsbook here!

Valcke added that FIFA aims to talk to managers and players after the tournament is over and then discuss its findings with German company Adidas, which makes the controversial ball. It’s not unusual for goalkeepers to complain about the ball every time a World Cup starts, but this time mangers and players are getting into the act.

Brazilian manger Dunga even got into an argument with Valcke about the ball prior to the tournament as he suggested Valcke go out onto the field and try it out for himself. There are also worries that the ball will have a greater affect on the games if they happen to go to penalty kicks in the knockout stages.

Former German goalkeeper Oliver Kahn stated that the balls definitely have undergone changes over the past few years as they are now faster, and that playing in the high altitude of South Africa they are even more unpredictable.

Adidas has been manufacturing World Cup balls for the last 40 years and is under contract to do so until 2014. The company said it’s not sure what the problem is as all of the teams that qualified for the tournament were supplied with the balls to test out before it began.

Italian goaltender Gianluigi Buffon, who was injured in Italy’s first game and will be out of action for four months while needing back surgery, said he doesn’t know why the players can’t just play with a basic black and white ball as they did when they were kids.

Claim your bonus at SportsInteraction here!

Ghana took a 1-0 lead just five minutes into the contest as Kevin Prince Boateng scored with a long, low left footer from the edge of the box after midfielder Ricardo Clark lost the ball. Forward Robbie Findlay almost leveled the score 30 minutes later after midfielder Clint Dempsey set him up, but Ghanaian keeper Richard Kingson pulled off a fine save.

The Americans, as usual, didn’t panic though, and slowly clawed their way back into the game. They equalized it in the 62nd minute after the referee ruled that Dempsey was brought down by defender John Mensah as the American burst into the box with the ball. However, television replays showed Mensah got the ball first. Captain Landon Donovan calmly walked up to the penalty spot and placed his shot into the net off of the right goal post while Kingson dove the other way.

Claim your bonus at SportsBook here!

The rest of the second half provided both teams with opportunities to win the game, with the Americans coming the closest. However, Kingson made some fine saves on forward Jozy Altidore and midfielder Michael Bradley and it ended 1-1 after 90 minutes. Ghana jumped out to a 2-1 lead in the third minute of extra time as Asamoah Gyan held off two defenders and smashed the ball past American keeper Tim Howard for his third goal of the tournament.

This seemed to deflate the Americans and their usual comeback wasn’t produced as they couldn’t penetrate the Ghanaian defence for an equalizer. They kept pumping the ball into the Ghanaian box, but couldn’t produce any scoring chances. They looked tired and lacked their usual imagination, and time ran eventually out on them.

The World Cup was bittersweet for the USA as they brought hope to their nation and then ultimately broke its heart with the defeat. Manager Bob Bradley instilled a good fighting spirit into the squad and their never-say-die attitude was appreciated by American football supporters, as they watched the World Cup in record numbers on television. The team also received excellent live support as American fans bought the most tickets to games after South African supporters. Donovan proved he is one of the brightest players on the world scene and the USA should have a bright future ahead.

Ghana, which is the youngest team in the tournament, also put the USA out of the World Cup tournament at the same stage and by the same score four years ago in Germany. They will now take on Group A winners Uruguay at Soccer City in Johannesburg in a quarterfinal match in on July 2. They are the only African nation left in this year’s World Cup.

Venue: Johannesburg – JEP, South Africa

Group B are back in action for their second round of group stage games on the 17th of June. Argentina meet South Korea at the Johannesburg JSC stadium, kicking off at 13:30 local time.

Argentina are, as you would probably expect, the favourites by far to win this game. South Korea are a good enough team, but with the strength of the Argentina squad this looks like a fixture they will really struggle to get any points from. Betfred will offer you the best odds on an Argentina win, but even then it is only 4/11.

If you like to champion the underdog or think South Korea might pull some dark horse stuff out of the bag like they did in 2002, then you can get some pretty long odds on them winning this game. Bodog (US Friendly) or Victor Chandler will both give you 9/1 on this eventuality.

The draw here fetches 15/4 with Victor Chandler who offer the best price.

As there isn’t a lot of money to be made backing Argentina, if you think they will win you may want to take a look at the correct score or first goal scorer markets.

2-0 to Argentina has the shortest odds of any score prediction, with Bodog and Victor Chandler among others offering 5/1 on this. 1-0 to Argentina is 6/1 with Bet365.

If you fancy Korea to score you can get Argentina 2-1 for 11/1 and 3-1 for 12/1, in both cases these are the best prices at the time of writing and are offered by Bet365.

For first goal scorer, the name that comes up as the favourite will come as no surprise – Lionel Messi is 11/4 with William Hill. You can also back Milito, Tevez, Aguero or Higuain at 3/1. For South Korea, you can take Manchester United’s Ji-Sung Park at 14/1, though the favourite South Korean player is Dong-Gook Lee who is 8/1.

Prediction

It is hard to see Argentina failing to win this match, and with the number of strong potential goalscorers on their side they should win by a reasonable margin. For this reason the prediction for this match is 3-0 to Argentina, which will fetch you 7/1 with most of our favourite bookmakers.

Bodog offers some of the best odds on this match. Claim your bonus here!

Most of the 32 teams have announced their squads of 23 players who will play the World Cup and think that their squads are good enough to get over the line. But big teams like ones discussed above are waiting for the final ring to come out with surprises. Fabio Capello is almost sure of his 23 players after the victory over Japan but is not announcing names as yet. Next few hours are crucial for England players and football fans. This approach of Capello has put question marks on the future of Darren Bent, Michael Dawson, Tom Huddlestone, Michael Carrick, Scott Park, Shaun Wright Phillips and Stephen Warmock. It is uncertain that these players will go back or fly to South Africa for the World Cup.

The defending champion Italy has to think about dropping 5 players from the provisional 28 players and select the final 23. Marcelli Lippi has some tough decisions to make in next few hours. The Italian coach has not given any clues as he wants to leave the team as champions. Lippi is going to be replace by Cesare Prandelli after the World Cup. The players that are firing line of Lippi are Giuseppe Rossi, Marco Borriello and Fabio Quagliarella

Germany is going into the World Cup without its captain but is doing well as in the warm up match. Germany beat Hungary by 3 goals to nil. Podolski, who scored a goal in that match, looks sure and told that none of the players are sure that they are in and none have to fear that they will be going back.

Marcell Jonsen has joined the team after long layoff due to injury and played against Hungary for about 30 minutes and that was not a good outing for him. Leow is looking for some fit players and Jansen is quite useful as defender and midfielder. Leow has tested almost all the players and midfielder injury may just keep Jenson an option.

Top contenders like Spain, Brazil and Netherlands have announced their final squad already and they will stick to that. France is sure about its 23 as well. Surprises are expected in next 24 hours so keep coming back for more hot news.

Sign up at Sportsbook here to claim your Free Bets

And according to former Germany captain Lothar Matthaus, Lahm of Bundesliga club Bayern Munich is an excellent choice to take over the armband. Matthaus has let it be known that he thinks Lahm will prove to be a strong captain in the tournament due to his fine leadership skills.

Germany manager Joachim Low confirmed the appointment of Lahm as captain on May 28 and he’s also confident that the 26-year-old defender has what to takes to lead the team in the World Cup.

Matthaus noted that Lahm is well respected in the German squad and has also filled in as captain for Ballack previously during several recent international games when Ballack was out because of injury.

Matthaus added that Lahm has always played well for his club and country and is a very experienced player. He said the new captain has already played in several important football tournaments and that he represents the opinion of his teammates well. Matthaus also feels Lahm should feel at home on the pitch as he’s joined by six of his Bayern Munich teammates in the squad.

Keeping that in mind, Matthaus is certain that the manager made the right choice by choosing Lahm before his Bayern teammates Bastian Schweinsteiger, and Miroslav Klose as Lahm is an excellent role model to the other players. The appointment by Low means that Lahm is now the youngest player to ever captain a German national team during a World Cup.

Matthaus believes that a captain needs to lead the way for the squad’s inexperienced and younger players and Lahm fits the bill perfectly.

Lahm joined Bayern Munich’s youth team in 1995 and made his senior debut in 2001. He was loaned to VFB Stuttgart for a period of time between 2003 and 2005 and played 53 games for the club, scoring two goals. He went back to Bayern in 2005 and has been a steady fixture ever since with a total of seven goals in 201 matches.

He played three games for his country’s Under-21 side in 2003 and then made his debut for the senior national team just a year later. Lahm has played in 64 games for Germany and managed to score three goals along the way.

Lahm has already played for his nation in Euro 2004, the 2006 World Cup, and Euro 2008. He was also named to the Mastercard All Star Team in the 2006 World Cup as well as the UEFA Team of the Tournament at Euro 2008. Even though he’s only 5 foot 7, he’s well known for his defending, dribbling, and crossing abilities and is now considered to be a vital part of his club and country reams.

Sign up at Sportsbook.com here to claim your 50% Bonus

The 27-year-old midfielder was injured back in December while playing for his club team Chelsea in the English Premier League. However, manager Milovan Rajevac hoped Essien would be fit in time for the World Cup and included him in his preliminary 29-man roster. But the Ghana Football Association announced the bad news on May 27. The Ghana Football Association and Chelsea both diagnosed the player and came to the same conclusion. Defender John Mensah was also named to the squad despite being out with a calf injury.

Essien sustained a hamstring injury in a European Champions League match six months ago, but then played in Ghana’s second game during African Nations Cup in January. He then suffered a knee injury during training as he partially tore a medial ligament. This led to several operations to try and repair the damaged knee. Knee injuries are nothing new to the player as suffered a serious one in 2008 and was out of action for six months.

Midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng, who was born in Germany, was named to the squad after he decided to switch nationalities. He played for Germany at the under-21 level, however his father is Ghanaian father and an uncle of his also played for Ghana. Inter Milan’s star midfielder Sulley Muntari was named to the squad even though he was dropped from the team in January for the Africa Cup of Nations after he said he wouldn’t play in a friendly match against Angola. It’s not sure how the news of Essien’s injury will affect the betting odds, but Ghana was listed at 50/1 by expect.com to win the tournament.

Expekt offers great odds on all the World Cup group games. Sign up here to claim your bonus!

Meanwhile, Ivory Coast manager Sven-Goran Eriksson has a talented 30-man squad to choose his 23-man roster from and his team looks to be the strongest African contingent in the tournament. The Ivory Coast faces Portugal, Brazil, and North Korea in Group G, and has one of the world’s top strikers in Didier Drogba at their disposal along with his Chelsea teammate Salomon Kalou. The midfield is equally as strong with Yaya Toure, Guy Demel and Cheick Tiote. On defence, the squad features Emmanuel Eboue, Abdoulaye Meite, Steve Gohouri, and Kolo Toure. The team is listed at 10th favourite to win the Cup with odds of 33/1 at expekt.com.

Rigobert Song may take part in his fourth World Cup for Cameroon as the 33-year-old defender was selected to the 30-man squad. He is joined by midfielder Geremi, and Benoit Assou-Akotto, who missed the Africa Cup of Nations with an injury. Defender Sebastien Bassong is also in the squad after being left out for the Cup of Nations. Striker Samuel Eto’o will captain the team after replacing Song last year. Cameroon, who faces Holland, Denmark, and Japan, in Group E are 50/1 to win the Cup.

South African manager Carlos Alberto Parreira chose striker Benni McCarthy to his 29-man squad after he was dropped by former manager Joel Santana. McCarthy and has had to deal with injuries since he joined England’s West Ham in January. It’s also been reported that he’s overweight. Parreira selected 10 European-based players. These include captain Aaron Mokoena, as well as midfielders Steven Pienaar and Kagisho Dikgacoi. However, Nasief Morris wasn’t named. Even though South Africa is the host, their odds of winning the tournament are listed at 100/1. They will play in Group A against Mexico, Uruguay, and France.

Nigerian manager Lars Lagerback selected 33-year-old striker Nwankwo Kanu to his squad and if he makes it, Kanu will be playing in his third World Cup. Kanu’s teammate at Portsmouth, John Utaka was also named after being dropped by former boss Amodu Shaibu. Midfielder Jon Obi Mikel was included even though he missed the end of the season with Chelsea after a minor knee operation. The only Nigerian-based players were goalkeeper Bassey Akpan and Peter Suswan. The team is listed at 100/1 to win the Cup and will meet Argentina, South Korea, and Greece so start make your Group B predictions.

Algerian manager Rabah Saadane selected five more players to his initial 25-man roster to cover himself in case of injuries. The additions are Lazhar Hadj Aissa, Khaled Lemmouchia, and Hocine Metref of Algerian team ES Setif, along with Mohamed Meftah and striker Chadli Amri. Defender Nadir Belhadj and goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi were both chosen even though they’re suspended for the opening match against Slovenia. Belhadj is eligible to play the second match, but Chaouchi is banned until the last group game. Midfielder Mourad Meghni will miss the tournament due to upcoming knee surgery. Algeria will play in Group C against England, the USA, and Slovenia. Their odds of taking the Cup home are 300/1. Need more World Cup betting tips?

Sign up at Sportsbook.com here to claim your free bets

However, it appears the tide is slowly turning as many French-born Algerians are now more interested in playing for the African nation than over in Europe. While it would be unrealistic to say all of the Algerian players over the years would have made the French team, there are quite a few who have impressed lately.
These include Madjid Bougherra, Mourad Meghni , Hassan Yebda, and Nadir Belhadj, who have all been honoured with youth caps from France. Yebda and Meghni have also won Under-17 World Cup back in 2001. In addition, Antar Yahia, made history back in 2004 when he became the first player to suit up for a different senior national team than he played for at youth level. The French-born defender played for Algeria in the 2004 Olympics after representing France at the uner-18 level.

The Algerian football federation had urged FIFA to change the rules regarding French born players who have Algerian parents, as many of them emigrated from the African nation to France over the years, as was the case with Zidane’s parents.

Because of the political ties and French colonial control over Algeria, the European country has been using Algerian-born players for decades. However, in the mid 1950s this changed as many European-based Algerians opted to play for their home country. In fact they joined the Front de Libération National (FLN), which was a political party aimed at gaining Algerian independence from France. The most notable of these players were Mustapha Zitouni and Rachid Mekloufi were guaranteed to be on the French squad for the 1958 World Cup, but joined the FLN instead.

Many experts consider the FLN squad to be the strongest side Algeria ever fielded. The team won 65 games and drew 13, while only losing 13 out of the 91 total games they played. They could also put the ball in the back of the net as they outscored the opposition 385 to 127, and they never played a game at home.

Algeria finally gained independence in 1962 and make their World Cup debut in 1982 by stunning the world with a 2-1 win over West Germany and a 3-2 victory over Chile. The country made the tournament again in 1986, but could only manage a draw with Northern Ireland. They hit their peak in 1990 by winning the African Nations Cup at home. While things were looking up for the national team, the country deteriorated into civil war and was hit by terrorism during the 90s.

By 2000, the football program was more or less decimated and had no elite players. However, after recruiting those who were Algerian by origin, the nation was able to field a decent side. The sometimes confusing situation has led some fans to say that Zinedine Zidane should be considered as Africa’s greatest footballer because he’s Algerian. However, cynics state that he would never have reached the elite level by playing with Algeria.

But the country has shown it can produce some excellent players with Lakhdar Belloumi and Rabah Madjer being prime examples. Still, local talent isn’t being developed at the rate it should be and the best players are still learning their trade in France.

It appears Algeria is going to have to play as well as they did in 1982 if they have any chance in this year’s World Cup as they’re listed at 300/1 to win the Cup by expekt.com and 16/1 to win Group C against England, USA, and Slovenia.

Signup at Betfred here to claim your free bets

What might be puzzling to some fans and bettors is how most odds makers around the world have the reigning World Cup holders Italy ranked so low for South Africa, considering they’re also the second most successful team in tournament history after Brazil.

It could be because most experts see the Italian triumph over France in 2006 as a one-off win as they hadn’t lifted the Jules Rimet trophy in 24 years before that. However, Italian sides have proved over the years they are capable of winning any time if they get on a roll.

But on the other side of the fence, Italy has struggled somewhat since 2006, most noticeably at the 2008 Euro Cup in Austria and Switzerland, where they lost their opener 3-0 to Holland before earning a 1-1 draw against Romania. They did revive themselves in time to beat France 2-0 in the third group game. But eventual Euro winners Spain sent them packing with a 4-2 penalty shootout win. This didn’t look good on the World Cup holders and manager Roberto Donadoni was soon sacked and replaced by Marcello Lippi, who had guided Italy to their World Cup win in 2006.

Italy was once again in poor form the following year as they were knocked out of the 2009 Confederations Cup in South Africa during the group stage after losses to Egypt and Brazil. They got stronger after that embarrassment though, and sailed through their World Cup qualifying campaign by going undefeated with seven wins and three draws, and only gave up seven goals in their 10 matches.

They also received a favourable draw for this World Cup as they share Group F with New Zealand, Slovakia, and Paraguay, who aren’t exactly world beaters. In fact, Paraguay is the only one of these three teams ranked in the top 16 when it comes to the odds as they sit at 80/1 on expekt.com. Slovakia is 100/1 and New Zealand brings up the rear at 3000/1.

Italy would have to suffer a complete collapse to not make it out of the group and if they make it as predicted, they’ll take on either the winner or second-place team from Group E, which consists of Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, and Cameroon.

The Italians will be led by 36-year-old captain Fabio Cannavaro, a former FIFA World Player of the Year, and the most capped player in Italian history. His leadership qualities could take Italy a long way, especially considering their group, which also means the team’s betting value is actually better than the odds would have you believe. They could be worth putting a wager on to equal Brazil’s record of five World Cups this summer.

Signup at Expekt here to claim your free bets

Australia is one of 32 teams that made it to finals and is placed in group D which one of the toughest group. Australia will have to face Germany, Ghana and Serbia in its group matches and will have to put up good performance to prevail in the next round. All of these are dangerous teams as Germany is 3 time champion and Ghana did some amazing upsets in the last World Cup.

Germany has lost Michael Ballack, German captain, and their goalkeeper as well and Australia can cash this opportunity as German team will not be as strong as it would have been in the presence of Ballack. It will be important to see the strategy Socceroos adopt against these 3 teams as playing styles will be different.

Australia is going into the World Cup with lots of ageing players and expectations are high this time as well. The Australian goalkeeper said in an interview that the team lacks a bit in different areas and the element of surprise will not be as huge as it was in the previous event. He also said that he is working harder than he ever did in his career and also mentioned that it will not be easy for Australia to move to the next round. Australians have acquired Dutch coach whose defensive tactics have been strongly criticized because Australians are known for their aggressive strategy and attacking style of play.

Preliminary squad announcement deadline is coming near and Australian team is going to play its practice match at Melbourne against New Zealand, their neighboring country, on 24th of May. This will be a strict test of fitness for all the players as team has to leave for South Africa on 26th of May.

Football World Cup history is well over 80 year old and it is the first time that it is going to be held in Africa. African nations love football and many of them will feature in the upcoming event. The tournament will begin on 11th June and will last for a month. Preparations have all been done and celebrations will be like never before during this World Cup of Africa.  

Signup at Sportsbook.com now for a great bonus and huge odds selection