On June 22, Nigeria and South Korea conclude group play, when they face each other at Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, South Africa. At 2:30 p.m. ET, the match will begin. Nigeria and South Korea are members of Group B.

In the first ever World Cup played on the continent, Nigeria is one of teams representing Africa. As a result, they will have a home-field advantage of sorts. No African team has ever made it to the World Cup final and fans will be delighted to see it happen in their own continent.

The game will obviously have important implications, as the final game of group play. They will use this as an opportunity to prove they are for real if one of the two (or both) is able to beat Argentina prior to this match.

This year, South Korea is one of three Asian teams playing for the World Cup. At least, they will look to go as far as they did in the 2002 World Cup, when they made it to the semifinals while co-hosting the tournament with Japan.

With midfielder Ji-Sung Park, South Korea’s success likely begins and ends. By playing in all of South Korea’s World Cup matches in 2002 and 2006 and by playing very well for the globally recognized Manchester United of the English Premier League, the beloved midfielder has made a name for himself.

With the speedy Nigerians, South Korea will have no problem enduring through the game. In the tournament, they are one of the best-conditioned teams. Nigeria appears to be a little stronger with their attackers. The supportive crowd may energize them to victory, if they can get a goal early.

Argentina and Greece face each other in the final game of group play of the 2010 World Cup. The game will start at 2:30 p.m. ET in Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane, South Africa.

The match will start at the same time as the Nigeria-South Korea match, meaning all four Group B teams will be playing at the same time. When the games end, two teams will advance to the knockout round and two teams will be finished competing.
Argentina starts the tournament as the favorite to come out of Group B. They are managed by former star Diego Maradona, who led Argentina to the World Cup in 1986. While Maradona is revered in Argentina and considered one of the greatest players of all time, he has struggled as a coach and has been losing support. This tournament will be crucial in establishing whether Maradona is cut out for coaching at the international level.

Argentina is led by Lionel Messi, the number 1-rated player on ESPN’s list. He led his team with 6 goals in the qualifying games and has been described by Maradona himself as the next Argentinean great. This will be his first World Cup as a regular starter. He has earned the admiration of millions with his brilliant play with his club team, Barcelona. He is currently tied for the league lead with 17 goals this season in Spain’s top league.

If Argentina comes into this game after winning their first 2, they will likely take this one as well. The fear with Argentina is that an early loss will cause Maradona to overreact and shift the lineup around to the point that they lose some of their competitive advantage.

Argentina will need to work hard to prevail against the strong defense of Greece. Their defensive strategy has earned them a reputation as a boring watch but their results have proven that they can succeed. They will be underdogs against Argentina, but they have played that role very well before. They won Euro 2004 despite receiving little attention leading up to the event.

Argentina and Greece have faced each other one other time. It was in the 1994 World Cup, with Argentina winning 4-0.

In both teams’ final game of group play, the United States will face Algeria on June 23. The match will take place at Loftus Versfeld Stadium in Pretoria, South Africa. Fellow Group C teams England and Slovenia will be playing simultaneously in Port Elizabeth.

Both teams will have already played England and Slovenia heading into the match. How each team fared against Slovenia will likely have a big impact on how each team views this match. If both of them pick up wins against Slovenia, this will serve as a tie-breaker with the winner advancing to the next round (assuming they both lose to group favorite England).

The United States will be favored for this game. Slovenia and Algeria are considered to be on the lower tier of World Cup teams, and with England being the clear Group C favorite, team USA has become the number two team by default.

The United States are led by midfielder Landon Donovan. The veteran will be playing in his third World Cup and has spent the past few months on loan for Everton of the English Premier League. He has been solid and will hope to use his international experience to team USA’s advantage.

Algeria represents one of six African teams who have a chance at becoming the first African team to win the World Cup. With the tournament being held in Africa for the first time, expect a good deal of support for any African team.

After qualifying for consecutive World Cups in 1982 and 1986, this is their first World Cup in 24 years. Algeria qualified for the tournament by defeating bitter rivals Egypt in a playoff.

At 10:00 a.m. ET, the United States will play a World Cup match against Slovenia. It is the second match for both Group C teams. It will take place at Ellis Park Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa.

The United States will be the favorites going into the match. They are the consensus number 2 team of Group C after England. They will have played England six days prior to this match. If they lose to England, they will play this match with a great deal of urgency as they will need wins in their remaining two group matches in order to advance.

The United States has relatively high expectations going into the tournament. They upset Spain last summer 2-0 in the Confederations Cup and nearly beat Brazil. They have fallen victim to injuries, however. Defender Oguchi Onyewu is coming off of a patellar tendon rupture and forward Charlie Davies was left off the team after suffering multiple injuries in a car accident in October.

Slovenia’s schedule gets progressively more difficult as they begin the tournament. They open against Algeria and follow up by playing the USA (projected to finish second in Group C) and England (first). A win against Algeria will give the Slovenes a sense of excitement heading into their match with the USA, as another win would likely secure them a spot in the next round.

Defense, which is seen by many as one of the USA’s biggest weaknesses, is one of Slovenia’s biggest strengths. They allowed the second fewest goals in European qualifying.

In order for Slovenia to prevail, they will need increased effort from their goal scorers. Goals have been hard to come by for Slovenia, and as great as their defense is, they most likely won’t shut out the US and will need some sort of offensive production to avoid a loss.

The second match of the 2010 World Cup will feature Uruguay and France of Group A. It will take place in Cape Town Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, at 2:30 p.m. ET on June 11.

In the decorated histories, France and Uruguay have faced each other just one other time. Many of the same players will be involved, however the match took place fairly recently. The friendly ended in a scoreless tie.

With no clear favorites, Group A will likely be very competitive. South Africa is the lone “seeded” team featured in the group and has won only received seeded status because they are the host nation. The top team with regards to FIFA’s world rankings is tenth-ranked France. However, to win Group A based on ESPN’s Soccer Power Index ratings, Uruguay is the slight favorite.

Uruguay is led by forwards Diego Forlan and Luis Suarez, and is currently ranked 18th by FIFA. On their respective clubs (Forlan for Atlético Madrid, Suarez for Ajax), both players were outstanding. They have been able to translate that success to international play, with both of them placing in the top five in goals and assists.

Finishing second in group behind Serbia, France was unimpressive in their qualifying run. After controversial win over Ireland in which France scored the winning goal after wing Thierry Henry kept the ball in play with his hand before crossing to William Gallas who headed it in, they ended up qualifying.

Oscar Tabárez coaches Uruguay, who usually uses the standard 4-4-2 but will sometimes go with three in the back to keep the ball up field. Raymond Domenech coaches France, who runs a conservative possession-based offense.

Since the retirement of star midfielder Zinedine Zidane, who led them to the 1998 World Cup and was a three-time FIFA World Player of the Year, this will be France’s first World Cup match without him.

Manchester City has risen to the cream of the crop in the Barclay’s Premier League this season thanks to an infusion of cash from their new Arab owners. The club spent millions of pounds in the offseason in a bid to attempt to break up the Big Four and earn the club a coveted Champions League position. For those who are new to football betting, here are some of the football betting tips. With just two matches left in the league campaign, City finds themselves in the thick of the race for fourth place.

City’s big spending during the summer lead to immediate expectations by its fans of trophies and a place in Europe next season. The Manchester club began their season under the guidance of Mark Hughes. After a bright start to the season with five wins from six matches, City hit a rough patch that many thought would doom their European aspirations. The club drew seven consecutive matches, many against overmatched clubs such as Hull City and Burnley.

Despite the club’s Carling Cup successes, where they reached the semi-finals against city rival Manchester United, Mark Hughes was sacked in November just one day after defeating Sunderland in a 4-3 thriller at home. Italian Roberto Mancini was brought in to replace Hughes and immediately turned things around for City. The club won five of Mancini’s first six matches in charge including the first leg of their Carling Cup semi-final against Manchester United.

City continued to sway back and forth between success and failure, but the club remains just one point behind Tottenham for the final Champions League position from the Barclay’s Premier League. The overall success of the club’s campaign is likely to be determined during the next five days as they face Tottenham during the midweek and finish the season against West Ham United.

In 2009-2010, Tottenham Hotspur F.C. are having a much better season than the previous year. Tottenham finished eighth in the Barclay’s Premier League, as they compiled a total of 51 points with a record of 14-9-15 in 2008-2009. This season, Tottenham already walks into May with 64 points.

Tottenham is in the race for finishing the year in the top four of the English Premier League table, as this season comes to an end. For next year the team has already secured a spot in European cup football, but it’s still to be determined which cup they’ll compete in. If Tottenham finishes the season third or fourth, they’ll play in the UEFA Champions League. They’ll compete in the less prestigious Europa League cup, if the team finishes fifth, sixth, or seventh. With only three matches remaining on schedule in May, Tottenham still needs a few points to guarantee a trip to the UEFA Champions league.

Tottenham had solid performances in English cups as they came close to bringing home some trophies, this season. They lost to Manchester United 2-0 in the quarterfinals of the Carling Cup in December 2009. Tottenham’s hopes for a domestic title also ended when they lost to Portsmouth 2-0 in the semifinals of the FA Cup in April 2010.

For the 2009-2010, Tottenham’s success can be attributed to the arrival of several new players such as Jermaine Defoe, Peter Crouch, Roman Pavlyuchenko, and Robbie Keane. As they combined to score dozens of goals, these strikers added some real firepower at the front of the pitch. At the defensive end, young defender Sébastien Bassong and veteran Goalkeeper Heurelho Gomes played a crucial role. This season the bet on football will be much higher than usual.