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Soccer, the world game, is most commonly known as 'football' in most countries. The world tournament is run every four years and is officially known as the FIFA World Cup. The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) is the world football governing body.
The 2010 FIFA World Cup will be held in South Africa on Friday June 11 to Sunday July 11, 2010. The opening match will be held in Johannesburg with South Africa playing Mexico.
There will be 32 countries representing 6 soccer confederations in this 2010 year final. Countries in the World Cup divided into 8 groups are:
Group A - South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, and France;
Group B - Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, and Greece;
Group C - England, United States, Algeria, and Slovenia;
Group D - Germany, Australia, Serbia, and Ghana;
Group E - Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, and Cameroon;
Group F - Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, and Slovakia;
Group G - Brazil, Korean DPR, Cote d'Ivoire, and Portugal;
Group H - Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, and Chile.
The teams in each group play one another, with the top two teams from each group proceeding to the final 16 knockout phase to determine the finalists. Games are played over 10 venues in 9 cities being Johannesburg, Durban, Cape Town, Pretoria, Port Elizabeth, Bloemfontein, Polokwane, Nelspruit, and Rustenburg. This is the first time the tournament is held in the African continent after South Africa beat Morocco and Egypt in the bid to host the 2010 World Cup.
The official mascot of the 2010 cup is Zakumi, a leopard with green hair and wearing green and yellow, the national colours of South Africa. The ball manufactured by Adidas and used in this tournament is called "Jabulani", meaning 'joy to everyone' in Zulu.
Italy won the last FIFA tournament in 1996. Who do you think will win 2010 FIFA World Cup?
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