He publicly announced his doubts that the side were strong enough to compete against the likes of England, Brazil, and Spain in South Africa. Ballack’s fears have probably intensified due to the difficult group his team have been handed. They face the Australians who are by no means a walkover – they have strengthened dramatically and could prove problematic for opponents. Ghana will also face Germany, who are perhaps physically the strongest team in the entire competition.

Finally, Ballack’s men will take on Serbia – another stern test for an inexperienced group of players. The team’s said captain is without doubt the country’s finest player, and best hope to progress to at least the second round – his experience of playing at the top level of the Premier League, and with players such as Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba, who his team may well come up against should they advance.

So, if you think Germany are in with a shout of winning the competition outright and you like doing a bit of football betting, then Bwin are currently offering 12/1 odds, decent value for money considering their history in the tournament.

Bobby Robson’s career as a playing footballer spanned out over 20 years , playing at Fulham, West Bromwich Albion and Vancouver. But it will be his career as a manager for which he will be both remembered and recognised. Robson started out as a player manager at Fulham but it was at Ipswich Town that his success as a manager began to flourish. During the 13 year period at Ipswich Bobby Robson bagged the club an FA Cup title and also UEFA.

Perhaps the late Sir Bobby Robson showed his finest managerial skills on the international stage in particularly for his spectacular management of the England squad to the semi finals of the 1990 World Cup. When he learnt his contract for the national team would not be renewed Robson tried his luck at PSV Eindhoven, Sporting Lisbon, Porto and Barcelona. One of the key decisions made by Robson during his reign at Barcelona was the signing of Ronaldo for 19.5 million dollars. In that same period Barcelona went on to win the Spanish Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the European Cup Winners’ Cup. It was at Newcastle where Robson performed his last major role as a manager before retiring and moving on to carry out charitable work in aid of cancer patients and terminally ill children.

Twenty four year old Torres, born in Madrid is a valued player for the Anfield based Liverpool club who after his amazing hat trick against Hull earlier this month he has so far taken his goal tally for the season to eight. Manager Benitez claims that the star is not for sale at any price.

Since signing for Liverpool in 2007 the former Athletic Madrid striker is known as one of the best forwards in Europe. Rumours have it that both Premier clubs Manchester City and Chelsea have been hunting him down in the hope of a possible deal before the start of the 2009/2010 season. However Benitez has made an announcement that any offers would be firmly rejected. When asked how much Torres is worth Liverpool boss answered it would be somewhere in the region of 70 million pounds.

He went on to say, “I’m not saying he’s the best in the world because he is young and can get better, but of course he is one of the best, and he can still improve if he wants to. This year we had some agents acting for other English clubs who were coming to us asking about the price of Torres, with big, big figures, but we said that he’s not for sale. I would say at this moment in time he is not for sale at any price.”

Altidore began his football career playing for the New York Red Bulls but joined Spanish team Villarreal in 2008. This was to make him the first ever American player to score in La Liga when he scored against Athletic Bilbao. However he was soon sent to Xerez on loan for the rest of the season but put in a limited appearance due to a toe surgery.

Despite Altidores limited experience at playing in top league clubs his game was more than impressive in the Confederations Cup in South Africa earlier this year 2009. The USA reached the final but where defeated in a 3-2 by world champions Brazil. The young player will once again represent his country on the forth coming 2010 World Cup.

Hull have signed Altidore in time for their opening Premier League match against Chelsea and all eyes will be on the performance of the young American. Despite his lack of experience Hull City boss Brown, believe he has great potential. As the 2009/2010 season comes to a close Hull City has the option to purchase Altidore for a figure close to £6.5 million, which would break the clubs current transfer record of £5million for midfielder Jimmy Bullard last year. Hull suffered a series of rejections from several big name strikers such as Booby Zamora, Michael Owen, Marc-Antoine Fortune and Frazier Campbell before signing the deal with Altidore.

Already fans across the globe are planning out their trip to the African continent where the World Cup with be held for the first time in South Africa. Preparations are underway and steady progress is being made to complete all work on the sporting venues across South Africa where world class football will kick off next June.

The 2010 World Cup promises to be one of the most exciting and spectacular sporting events in the

history of the game and the host nation is doing just about everything it possibly can to ensure this is the case. Twenty four nations will battle it out to follow the road to glory and return home with the World Cup title under their belt.

With Italian manager Fabio Capello in the driving seat fingers are being tightly crossed that his strategy can lead England to success. Up until now, England’s overall performance has been impressive with a stronger sense of belief being demonstrated on the field. But World Cup giants Brazil are also on the war path, along with Euro 2008 winners Spain. How England will fair we will have to wait and see but one thing for sure is that the excitement is already floating around in the air.

The second largest football stadium in England is Manchester United’s home ground Old Trafford. It has a capacity of 76,000 and is regarded as a football pilgrimage by Man United fans from around the world. It is no surprise that the largest club-owned stadium in England is that of the most successful English football club this side of the millennium.

The Emirates Stadium in London comes in at third place and is a recent addition to England’s football grounds since it replaced Arsenal’s former stadium of Highbury. It has a capacity for 60,000 fans and was built following a ten year success streak by the London club. St James Park in Newcastle is the fourth largest English football stadium and Sunderland’s Stadium of Light is the fifth with capacities of 52,000 and 49,000 respectively.

The world famous stadium of Anfield, home to Liverpool FC is the seventh largest English football stadium but is one of the oldest and most regal of all. Despite a capacity of 45,000 its most famous grandstand the Kop has become a feature known throughout the world. Sadly for many fans Anfield is set to be replaced by a 60,000 capacity stadium at Stanley Park in the near future.

Things have come a long way since the days when football was considered a man’s game and women would never have been seen watching the game let alone playing it. A survey published by Sport England’s Active People showed that in 2008 some 260,000 women and 1.1 million girls play some form of football in England alone. Astonishingly there are over 26 million female soccer players worldwide and of those around 4.1 million are playing affiliated football. Without doubt such figures have grown by a whopping 50%, establishing football as well and truly a game for both sexes.

In addition to the number of women actually playing the game of football there are also over 16,000 females who have successfully attained FA coaching qualifications. Over 1,300 women are now qualified referees, trained by the FA and there are now full-time women’s football development officers employed across the country.

Women’s football has at last become a serious sport or rather a sport for women that is now taken seriously especially by the male counterpart. It has a well regarded player pathway and excellent centres of Excellence in place producing many up and coming national players. There are now 52 licensed FA Centres of Excellence running across England which hold weekly coaching, training and fixtures for skilled players ranging between the ages of 8 to 16.