BAHAMAS

Nassau is the capital of the island of New Providence, which is one of the many islands of the Bahaman archipelago that extends for almost 1000 kilometres between Cuba and Florida in the Atlantic Ocean. New Providence is the commercial and political centre and is more commonly known as the Bahamas. Built between 1805 and 1813 in typical American southern style, the pink -colored buildings of Parliament Square are the headquarters of the Bahamian government. In front of the white columned Neo-Classical parliament building is a noble statue of the English queen, Victoria, as a young girl. The colorful Caribbean Straw Market is a lively place. There are lots of fascinating things to see including skillful craftsmen who carve traditional objects from mahogany. Bags, baskets and hats made of straw are offered as souvenirs. Along the coast there are several caves in which pirates once hid their ill- gotten gains or argued over buried treasure. During the Stone Age, the Arawak Indians lived in the caves. Cable Beach boasts a multitude of exquisite modern hotel complexes that cater to every need and several of them possess a casino. Naturally, each has its own lavish bathing areas and a vast choice of exciting entertainment. Thus it's not too difficult to understand why British secret agent 007 often chose these islands for his investigations! The Bahamas, the very name conjures up remote sandy beaches and turquoise blue water, romantic sunsets and tropical nights. A place where ...

Après Match: What happens in the ad break, stays in the ad break...Didi

Bill puts Didi in his place when he reveals what Bill gets up to when the cameras are off. To catch up on all the World Cup 2010 action go to www.rte.ie

At Least We're Not As Bad As France - Dave Henson

My third World Cup 2010 song as heard on BBC Radio Five Live (World Cup Express: 21/06/10). Thanks to Lady Gaga. Follow me on Twitter @davehensonmusic. #20 - Most Discussed (This Month)) - Comedy - United Kingdom #99 - Most Viewed (This Month)) - United Kingdom #6 - Most Viewed (This Month)) - Comedy - United Kingdom #61 - Top Favorited (This Month)) - United Kingdom #7 - Top Favorited (This Month)) - Comedy - United Kingdom #9 - Top Rated (This Month)) - Comedy - United Kingdom

IRB Sevens official highlights - 2010 Adelaide

Watch the full 26-minute official highlights programme from the 2010 Australia Sevens in Adelaide, where Samoa won their second Cup title in as many tournaments, their first ever back to back victories.

World Cup 2010 - Kenya Lays Strategy For Marketing

Kenya has put herself in a strategic position for marketing as stop over point for South African bound world cup teams. The announcement that the country will be hosting the 2010 African athletics championship has put the country in an ideal position to market itself.

The African athletics championship are held in early May, just before the conclusion of world leading soccer leagues. That means that when they are held in 2010, the national teams will be preparing to convene in camps before traveling to South Africa. The event is covered live by most television networks, hence publicity will be assured.

With only a little marketing, the country can be able to showcase its venues as ideal for practice ahead of the games in South Africa. Kenya enjoys almost identical climatic conditions with south Africa, though the later can be colder especially in winter. It has excellent infrastructure both in transport networks and communication.

Apart from the known soccer stadiums, institutions and clubs in Kenya have excellent pitches that can be used for soccer practice. The stadiums that are normally used for hockey, rugby and cricket if converted to temporary soccer pitches will make the teams wishing to train in Kenya have a wide variety to choose from.

Kenya is an athletics powerhouse. It is unlikely that any team in Africa would want to miss the meet in Kenya. It is also likely that sports analysts will be keen to see the new crop of athletes come to the scene and of course the replay of rivalry between Kenya and Ethiopia. This will present an ideal opportunity of showcasing the country as a stopover en route to South Africa.

Two of Africa's soccer powerhouses Nigeria and Cameroon have preferred to use Nairobi as a base before major tournaments. But the catch will be the other world beaters, from South America and Europe. Just before the last world cup, the practice camp of Brazil national team in Switzerland generated so much interest that every minute of their practice sessions was beamed worldwide.

With their tradition of winning cups outside Europe, Brazil will definitely begin as favorites to win the world cup in Africa. Wherever they go to pitch camp in Africa, they are likely to stir much more interest than they did in the last world cup. It will be in the interest of the host country to attract the best country in soccer for obvious reasons.

Kenya has already made a name over the years as a stable and developed country by African standards. Outside South Africa, the country has a head start as an optional practice site due to its weather. With the new strategic opening for publicity, the country should aim to attract only the top guns in the world of soccer.

James G. Kamweru is a tour operator and has been organizing and reporting on Vacation, Travel and Tours for years. For More Information Visit his site at Sports Tourism [http://www.nguyosafaris.com/parks.html] I Will Also Highly Appreciate Your Comments Kenya Travel On My Blog Here Sports Tourism [http://www.nguyosafaris.net/?cat=20]

2010 World Cup - Full List of Preliminary National Team Squads

The 32 qualified teams participating in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa have provided a preliminary list of up to 30 players. The teams have till June 1st to provide a final list of 23 players. Provisions are made where players with serious injuries can be replaced up to 24 hours before their team's first game.

The highlight in any footballer's career is without a doubt, playing for his country in the World Cup. This week was "a dream come true" for many players and a massive disappointment for others. Thousands of fans in the 32 countries will contest their coach's controversial decisions to include certain players while omitting others.

World Cup Group A (France, Mexico, Uruguay, South Africa)

Raymond Domenech, the French coach announced a preliminary list of 30 players for the 2010 World Cup. The big surprises are the absences of Benzema (Real Madrid), Nasri (Arsenal) and Patrick Vieira (Manchester City). France and the host country South Africa will face in the opening match of the tournament on 11 June.

In this same group Mexico have chosen a very young squad and will play without the talented Miguel Sabah due to injury. Bafana Bafana's Brazilian coach Carlos Alberto Parreira, also sprang some surprises for South Africa, like Israel-based defender Bevan Fransman and prodigal son Benni McCarthy.

As for Uruguay, Oscar Tabarez announced a list of 26 without any major surprises except for the non inclusion of Cristian Rodríguez, possibly for the fact that he would have missed the first two games of the World Cup due to a red card suspension.

World Cup Group B (Argentina, Greece, Nigeria, South Korea)

Diego Maradona's selection provided some surprises for the Argentines, by picking the unknown trio of Ariel Garce, Sebastian Blanco and Juan Insaurralde, contrasting with notable absences like Javier Zanetti, Cambiasso, Gago, or Lucho Gonzalez. Argentina is drawn in Group A along with Greece, Nigeria and South Korea.

The Greek coach, Otto Rehhagel, named 30 players without any surprises, bringing in Seitaridis and Patsatzoglou after an injury filled season.

Lars Lagerback, the Nigerian coach, made no notable surprises in the 30 man list, maintaining veteran striker Kanu in the squad.

South Korea' coach Huh Jung-Moo also made no surprises in the 30 choices, maintaining 2002 FIFA World Cup hero Ahn Jung-hwan who will play for a third consecutive appearance on World Cup.

World Cup Group C (England, USA, Slovenia, Algeria)

England were surprised by call-up of uncapped Michael Dawson, and the talented Adam Johnson. Jamie Carragher and Ledley King return to the squad. The two big names that Fabio Capello will not go to South Africa's World Cup are David Beckham because of injury and Pal Scholes, retired from the England Squad.

The other teams in this group include the USA, Slovenia and Algeria. Coach Bob Bradley did not include Freddy Adu in the US team even though he went for the Confederations Cup. Another absence due to a serious car accident is Charlie Davies.

There were no big surprises from Algeria coach Rabah Sadaane whose team is dominated by a strong Europe based contingent. No surprises from coach Matjaz Kek after chosing 30 for Slovenia bringing in young striker Tim Matavz. This is Slovenia's second participation in a World Cup.

World Cup Group D (Germany, Serbia, Ghana, Australia)

Joachim Löw of Germany picked his 30-man provisional squad with a few surprises. Two uncapped players, Holder Badstuber and Dennis Aogo, were chosen, while the most notable omission was that of midfielder Thomas Hitzlsperger, as well as Simon Rolfes, Aaron Hunt and goalkeeper René Adler.

Radomir Antic named seven players, based in England to a very strong looking Serbia squad, with no notable surprises.

For Ghana, Coach Milovan Rajevac picked Chelsea's Michael Essien who is still recovering from knee surgery. In a similar situation as Essian is John Mensah.

Australia coach Pim Verbeek named 31 players including star forward Harry Kewell still recovering from his latest injury before July's FIFA World Cup. One surprise call-up was 18-year-old Tommy Oar, who only made his international debut in March this year.

World Cup Group E (Denmark, Netherlands, Cameroon, Japan)

Denmark's goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen was included by Danish coach Morten Olsen, despite suffering a dislocated elbow two weeks ago. Patrick Mtiliga was the surprise inclusion even though he had not played for his country since November 2008.

Netherlands coach Bert van Marwijk, left out 33 year old Ruud van Nistelrooy who admitted he was "greatly disappointed" in his rejection. On the other hand its worth taking note of 23 year old Eljero Elia who many believe is Hollands hidden gem.

Cameroon coach Paul Le Guen included Sebastien Bassong, Benoit Assou-Ekotto and Alexandre Song who play in the Premier League. Surprise is the call-up of teenager Joel Matip and the exclusion of Ngom Kome. Only three players from the Cameroon League are included.

Japan coach Takeshi Okada's only surprise was including Yoshikatsu Kawaguchi, the Portsmouth goalkeeper who has not played in the national team for 18 months after recovering from a broken leg.

World Cup Group F (Italy, Slovakia, Paraguay, New Zealand)

Marcello Lippi reserved some surprises for the "azzurri" squad when he left out Mario Balotelli, Antonio Cassano, Nicola Legottaglie, Luca Toni, Simone Perrotta, and most notably Francesco Totti, while American born Giuseppe Rossi was called up for Italy, the World Cup holders.

Paraguay coach Gerardo Martino called Argentine striker Lucas Barrios who recently became a naturalized Paraguayan. No surprise was the inclusion of strikers Nelson Haedo Valdez and Oscar Cardozo who are in great form, while Salvador Cabanas didn't make it due to injury.

Slovakia coach Vladimir Weiss is hoping that Martin Skrtel, Filip Holosko and Robert Vittek recover from their injuries in time for the World in South Africa. Curious is the fact that this is Slovakia's first World Cup appearance, as well as the inclusion the coach's son Vladimir Weiss into the squad.

New Zealand coach Ricki Herbert did not pull off any surprises, except for the inclusion of midfielder Aaron Clapham. This is the Kiwis second World Cup appearance, the last one being in Spain back in 1982

World Cup Group G (Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast, North Korea)

Brazil coach Dunga probably had the biggest pool of talented players to chose from. This inevitably led to some surprises like the omission of Ronaldinho, Adriano, Ganso, Pato and Neymar into the Selecção (squad) Surprise inclusions were Michel Bastos, and Grafite.

Portugal coach Carlos Queiroz also upset many Portuguese fans by not including goalkeepers Quim and Rui Patrício as well as midfielders João Moutinho and Carlos Martins. Queiroz also picked Pepe even though he is still recovering from knee surgery. Surprise call-ups were Beto, Daniel Fernandes and Zé Castro.

Sven-Goran Eriksson of the Ivory Coast had no surprises in the 29 players to represent their country. Didier Drogba will lead the powerful attacking "Elephants".

North Korea coach Kim Jong-Hun will count with some J-League players like Jong Tae-Se, Ahn Yong-Hak and Ryang Yong-Gi. This will be North Korea's second participation in a World Cup.

World Cup Group F (Spain, Chile, Switzerland, Hunduras)

Spain coach Vicente del Bosque had no surprises in his provisional 30-man squad and included injured stars Andreas Iniesta, Cesc Fabregas and Fernando Torres for South Africa 2010. Also included in the list is naturalized Brazilian Marcos Senna.

Chile coach Marcelo Bielsa surprised many, when he picked Luis Marin, Jaime Valdes and Charles Aranguiz. Notable names missing are Claudio Maldonado, Hans Martinez and Osvaldo Gonzalez.

Ottmar Hitzfeld, the Switzerland coach announced 30 names without any surprises. One curiosity is Johan Vonlanthen, 24, who was born in Colombia but has lived in Switzerland since he was 5 years old.

Honduras coach Reinaldo Rueda had no surprises but was forced to replace the injured Carlos Costly by Georgie Welcome. The experienced Wilson Palacios, Hendry Thomas, Maynor Figueroa, David are part of the list.

You can find and view the FULL provisional list in PDF form, of all the players of all 32 teams.

Gil Santos is the author and the owner of a Soccer website that provides news and information about South Africa and the 2010 World Cup

3 Favorites to Win the 2010 World Cup

The World Cup is a worldwide event. The process leading up the 2010 World Cup started in August 2007 and finished in November 2009. During this time there were over 2,337 goals scored and 848 matches. In the end, the series of tournaments held by the six FIFA confederations covered the globe. The AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North America), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oceania), and UEFA (Europe) provided for the opportunity for 32 teams to play for the Cup; this is out of 204 teams that entered the qualification process. The only exception is the South African team that automatically qualifies as the host of the World Cup.

Out of these 32 teams, there are three favorites who are best poised to win it all.

Argentina - Leo Messi simply put is the best player in the world. While his stature is small, his play is massive. Argentina also has the best defensive midfielder in the world. Javier Mascherano is athletic and can read the field as good as anyone in the world. Another key piece of the puzzle is their coach. He understands how to win and has proven that over and over.

Italy - There is arrogance about that team, but it seems to work for them. They typically play down to their competition until the later stages of the Cup. They seem to need pressure and the threat of elimination before they play their best and up to their potential. There are four players who are crucial to Italy raising the Italian flag in victory. These include Rossi, Chiellini, Balotelli and De Rossi. If these four step up, the Italian flag will be hanging on the rafters.

Germany - This team is about team chemistry. They play efficient futbol and know how to leverage each teammate's gifts and skills. There are several players who are important to their team including Ballack, Podolski and Schweinsteiger.

Kevin Dare is an American excited that the US has qualified for the World Cup. Kevin is a freelance writer whose interests are soccer, Vexillology including buying US Flag and Italian Flag.

' PENALTY SHOOT OUT LIVE COMMENTARY ' England v Germany Fifa World Cup 2010

TWITTER www.twitter.com Link to buy game on amazon for £13 www.amazon.co.uk Fifa UT new series starts saturday. Thanks as always Anto

Lost Civilisations: How Plausible?

Stories of secret or lost civilisations have captivated our imaginations for centuries - from Atlantis and Shambhala in the Old World, to the search for El Dorado in the Americas. Hard evidence for the existence of such lost civilisations seems thin, and their existence is generally dismissed by the academic community. However, is it plausible to suggest, more generally, that civilisations may have risen and fallen before the beginning of the historical record?

The finding that Neanderthals interbred with modern humans, published in 2010, must mean that we are the same species. In fact, the ability of two organisms to breed and produce fertile offspring is the definition of a species. This pushes back the speciation of Homo sapiens to somewhere around 600,000 years ago.

We have been walking the Earth for over half a million years, and yet our historical knowledge goes back just 6,000 years at most. The prehistory of our species encompasses 99% of our past. The hypothetical existence of long lost civilisations lurking within that time frame is a tantalising possibility, and worthy of investigation.

The Rise of Civilisations

The last ice age ended around 12,000 years ago. Almost immediately after this, agriculture began to simultaneously develop in several locations around the globe. This led to more settled populations, which, in turn, led to the first cities and the emergence of civilisation.

In the Old World, civilisation developed in the Middle East (Mesopotamia), Ancient China and the Indian Subcontinent (the Indus Valley Civilisation). All of the subsequent Eurasian and north African civilisations can arguably trace their heritage back to these three ancestral cultures.

In the New World, civilisations arose in Mesoamerica (the Olmecs, Mayans, Aztecs, etc.) and South America (Norte Chico, the Incas, etc.). The great significance of these cultures is that they arose completely independently from all similar developments in Eurasia. This implies that civilisation was not just a fluke - humans will likely develop civilisation wherever conditions allow them to do so.

Given that within the 1% of human history that we are aware of, civilisation has developed in five separate locations, why should we not assume that there have been hundreds of lost civilisations in the prehistoric past?

Lost Civilisations - Possible Objections

One limiting factor is the Earth's cycle of ice ages. Within an ice age, there are glacial and interglacial periods. Agriculture is known to have only developed with the beginning of the current interglacial period, 12,000 years ago.

However, within our 600,000 year time frame, there have been a number of other interglacial periods: the Günz-Mindel interglacial (620 to 455 kya), the Mindel-Riss interglacial (380 to 200 kya) and the Riss-Würm interglacial (130 to 110 kya).

Given that agricultural development began as soon as the current interglacial period began, it seems plausible to suggest that similar bursts of agricultural development occurred with the beginnings of these prior three phases. In fact, the intervening glacial periods seem like a good explanation as to why no records of any prehistoric civilisations would have survived to the present day.

Another point to take into consideration concerns human migration patterns. Modern humans are only thought to have left Africa around 60,000 years ago. However, the ancestors of the Neanderthals are thought to have left Africa around 600,000 years ago. If we are the same species, then this dates the first Homo sapien exodus from Africa to the beginning of our prehistoric time frame.

Archaeology

Another objection comes from archaeology. Behavioural modernity is often associated with a leap in technological innovation which occurred around 50,000 years ago. This marks the boundary between the Middle Stone Age and the Later Stone Age.

In the Middle Stone Age, tools were simplistic, and had barely changed for hundreds of thousands of years. However, from 50 kya onwards, there was a rapid increase in the diversity and complexity of the human tool kit. This would suggest that, prior to this time, humans lacked the skills necessary to develop agriculture and, subsequently, civilisation.

However, this assumption is based on archaeological findings. Prior to the European discovery of the Americas, many of the indigenous tribes who lived in the areas surrounding the Meso- and South American civilisations were using relatively primitive stone age tool kits (although admittedly still significantly more modern than Middle Stone Age implements). At the very least, this demonstrates that civilisations can develop in the midst of technologically primitive cultures.

In addition, I suggest that there are reasons to suppose that little archaeological remains would exist of any lost prehistoric civilisations even if they had developed more complex technology.

Fallen Civilisations - What Would Remain?

Bob Holmes, a writer for New Scientist magazine, has speculated as to what would happen to our modern civilisation if all human beings were suddenly wiped off the face of the planet by some mysterious, hypothetical disaster.

Holmes states that modern buildings are engineered to last around 60 years, while bridges and dams are respectively built to last 120 and 250 years. Although ruins may remains for hundreds of years, many structures would vanish remarkably quickly. In addition, Brad Stelfox, a land-use ecologist in Northern Canada, estimates that 80% of urban areas in that region would be enclosed by forest within 50 years without human intervention.

Atmospheric carbon dioxide levels would be reduced to 15% of current levels within a thousand years, and return to pre-industrial levels within 20,000 years. After 50,000 years, most glass and plastics would have degraded. Following this, the only remains of our worldwide, post-industrial civilisation would be a burst of radio waves spreading outwards from Earth across the universe. All archaeological artefacts on the planet itself would long since have disappeared.

Given this, it seems unreasonable that we should expect to find any archaeological remains of any civilisation which may have existed prior to the beginning of the last glacial period, 110,000 years ago.

Conclusions

There is an important distinction between civilisation and industrial civilisation. Although civilisation itself is known to have arisen in multiple places (and arisen quickly, once conditions were right), industrialisation is only known to have occurred once. Equally, many claims of long lost civilisations are blatantly spurious.

However, our historical knowledge has been drastically changed by new findings numerous times in the past. The Indus Valley Civilisation was unknown of until the 1840s. The discovery of the Antikythera mechanism in the early twentieth century revealed that humans had been creating clockwork mechanisms around 1.5 thousand years earlier than previously thought. Göbekli Tepe, discovered in the 1990s, revealed that hunter-gatherer peoples had been constructing large stone temple complexes before the advent of agriculture and civilisation itself.

Given the time that the human race has spent on the planet, how limited our historical knowledge is, and how quickly we have developed agriculture and settled populations where able, it seems difficult to imagine that there have not been at least a handful of - and perhaps innumerable - lost civilisations in our prehistoric past.

Copyright © Dan Haycock 2011. For similar articles and information about Dan's forthcoming book, visit http://www.DanHaycock.co.uk

[HQ] USA for Africa - We are the World (Original 1985) | Michael Jackson Stevie Wonder...

www.usaforafrica.org RIP Ray Charles & Michael Jackson USA for Africa (United Support of Artists for Africa) was the name under which forty-seven predominantly US artists, led by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie, recorded the hit single "We Are the World" in 1985. The song was a US and UK Number One for the collective in April of that year. This super group was inspired by Bob Geldof's Band Aid. The considerable profits from the enterprise went to the USA for Africa Foundation, which used them for the relief of famine and disease in Africa and specifically to 19841985 famine in Ethiopia; critics, however, claim that this money went directly to the (often military) governments of the affected countries rather than the people. USA for Africa also held a benefit event, Hands Across America, in which approximately seven million people held hands in a human chain for fifteen minutes along a path across the continental United States. Participants paid ten dollars to stand in line and the money raised was used to fight hunger and homelessness in Africa. The combined revenues raised from the sales of "We Are the World" and Hands Across America was almost $100 million. Chronological order of presentation * Lionel Richie (There comes a time, When we heed a certain call) * Lionel Richie & Stevie Wonder (when the world must come together as one) * Stevie Wonder (there are people dying) * Paul Simon (oh, and its time to lend a hand) * Paul Simon & Kenny Rogers (to life, the greatest ...

How to Purchase England Tickets For the FIFA World Cup Finals in South Africa 2010

England Football fans have always had problems following their national team, not least being the ability to obtain tickets to major tournaments like the FIFA Football World Cup. With a regular hundred thousand travelling soccer fans and the global popularity of the English Premier League, tickets to all England's games in World Cup Final Tournaments are always grossly oversubscribed, with demand at the last 2006 games in Germany exceeding supply by a factor of 20 with over 20 million requests from around the world on the official FIFA website, for just 750,000 available tickets. The tournament in June 2010 in South Africa will be no different and the demand for tickets for England matches will be exaggerated by the large number of English ex-pats that live and work in the Republic.

So how do England fans get tickets to see their team in South Africa this summer? Fortunately for this World Cup there are various alternative methods and means of obtaining tickets, however most of these come at a premium.

If you wish to purchase England World Cup tickets at face value, then there are two official channels; FIFA the tournament organising body and the English Football Association, known as the FA.

The first port of call for fans should be the official world cup ticket website at FIFA.com. You need to register on the site and confirm your identity before being guided through the ticketing application process where you can submit your request for England tickets. You can apply for a maximum of four tickets, for all seven England matches, which assumes they will reach the finals. You will need to supply valid passport details and hold a credit card. You can apply for tickets in categories one, two or three, which once you have applied, your name will then be entered into a lottery and if successful, you will be informed by email at the end of each draw. The tickets will only be available for collection at FIFA offices in South Africa, from April 2010 onwards, to deter people from buying tickets, with no intentions of travelling. The last FIFA lottery sales phases begins on Feb 9 and this will be followed by a first come, first served basis sales in April.

The second method of obtaining England World Cup Tickets at face value is to apply through the English FA official England Football Supporters Club. You will need to register an England fan and pay the annual membership fee. The FA has a limited World Cup ticket allocation, has preferential ticketing arrangement for long term members and is usually way over-subscribed. However, it is worth joining because the supporters club provide valuable assistance to members when travelling abroad and is often the source of last minute returned tickets.

The third way of getting to see England in South Africa is to purchase a tour package through an official FIFA backed tour operator. There are four official England Travel Agents partners for the 2010 World Cup; Keith Prowse, Thompson Sports Holidays, Thomas Cook, and BAC Sport. All offer a variety of travel and ticket packages, from single England match trips against USA, Algeria and Slovenia at around three to four thousand pounds per trip; to a four day trip to the World Cup Final starting from around six thousand five hundred pounds for the experience. However despite the tour operators insistence that they do not make a profit on England tickets, it is often much cheaper to buy the equivalent travel and accommodation services and World Cup Tickets yourself.

Another source of England World Cup tickets, often the very best seats in the Stadia, is from Corporate Hospitality. FIFA have announced that the full allocation of 308,000 seats has been reserved for corporate hospitality. However expect to pay a hefty premium for these services with hospitality starting from approximately double the price of tour packages for England games.

The final method of obtaining England World Cup tickets is to purchase online through a reseller, where tickets will be exchanged at four or five times face value. Due to the distribution methods employed by the organisers, a majority of England tickets will eventually find their way to these Internet resale sites, especially from football authorities around the world, individual touts or hospitality ticket sellers who have a surplus. You can guarantee that if you see two thirds of the stadium at an England World Cup game filled with England fans, that the majority would have obtained their tickets through an Internet reseller. eBay should be avoided as many scammers operate there, as should websites that operate in the UK where it is illegal to resale World Cup tickets that you do not possess. If you apply through these you run a serious risk of not receiving your tickets.

The safest way to buy England Tickets online is to purchase them from an established reseller. Check out on the Internet how long the reseller has been in business and if they are experienced in selling Football World Cup Tickets [http://www.footballworldcuptickets.com]. Certain World Cup ticket companies such as the USA based Razorgator, operate offices at all the venues and source England tickets exclusively from FIFA official sources, guaranteeing delivery and authenticity.

K'Naan - Waving Flag. World Cup 2010 Highlights

K'Naan - Waving Flag. World Cup 2010 Highlights

Now That the 2010 World Cup is Over, What Next?

The 2010 FIFA world cup in South Africa has come and gone, and everyone's attention is now focused on the next host, Brazil. All satellites are now directed toward South America where the action would be, come 2014. Everyone expects Brazil to perform better than South Africa.

The expectations are quite high because Brazil is the home of football; in fact, football is a culture in the South American nation. Having won the world cup more than any other country (has won 5 editions) and being the only country to have participated in all editions, the world expects to see something unique come 2014. Besides, they have won the U-17 cup for keeps; they have won the U-20 and have also won several editions of CONCACAF nations' cup.

It is also the home of the popular Maracana stadium; and boasts of a well organized league with teams like Corinthians, Santos, Sao Paolo, Vasco Dagama, etc that have always given a good account of themselves at the club world cup tournaments. They have a population advantage (over 200 million people) and a lot of football enthusiasts.

South Africa has surprised the world by organizing a hitch-free tournament; they provided world class facilities - 8 standard stadiums, smooth roads, standard telecommunications system, 5 star hotels, tourist attractions, adequate security, etc thereby setting the pace that would be difficult for the next host to equal.

They provided something that was unique and in a sense African - the Vuvuzela, that would never be forgotten in haste; and the Jabulani football that was both problematic and fun. What should we expect in Brazil? Would they give us something that would make the Samba dance a thing to remember? What kind of football are we going to see there? I am sure FIFA now knows that the idea behind the Jabulani ball did not really work - the ball did not lead to more goals being scored; rather, it led to most of our stars failing to perform and score goals. It made Lionel Messi, Wayne Rooney, Aguero, Fernando Torres, Frank Lampard, Osaze Odiwingie, Obafemi Martins, Cesc Fabregas, etc. unable to score at least a goal, because of its slippery and directionless nature.

We hope the 2014 host would be able to provide adequate security to players, officials and fans. They confirmed at South Africa that they had started preparations for the next edition. Let's therefore hope we shall be seeing better stadiums, better roads, better communication systems and nice hotel accommodations. Brazil cannot afford to perform less, because the world expects much from her.

Joseph Ezie Efoghor is a sports analyst and professional nurse with years of practical experience. He writes on variety of topics which you may find beneficial to you. For more on his write-ups visit http://efoghorsportsarena.blogspot.com