Chelsea, by tabling a £25 million take-it or-leave-it offer with Santos in the next 24 hours, the club plan to step up their pursuit of highly rated Brazilian striker Neymar.

Attempting to resolve an escalating row over the 18-year-old who recently made his debut for the Selecao, representatives of Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich are currently in Brazil.

For Neymar, Chelsea had a £17 million bid which was rejected last month and are set to follow it up with a £25 million final offer. As Santos is holding out for the £29.6 million buyout clause in his contract, that £25 million still might not be good enough.

Despite Neymar had publicly expressed doubts about leaving – privately informing his club that he wishes to join Chelsea, the Brazilian giants won’t budge from their stance

Because Neymar value has already soared to beyond his buyout price, therefore the economic rights of the player are owned by investors, who believe that they need to persuade him to sign a new contract.

One of the reliable sources said, “There is a big fight still on to convince Santos to part with the player. There is strong pressure on the boy to stay. In the next few days we shall know one way or the other whether a deal with Chelsea can be achieved.”

For Neymar, Chelsea has been caught up in an amazing tug-of-war with Santos threatening to report them to FIFA for tapping up the striker.

He added, “The President of Santos had dinner with agent Pini Zahavi and the people from Chelsea. How can that be tapping up? The boy was forced to go onto Brazilian TV to say he wants to stay with Santos, when the truth is that he wants to go to Chelsea.”

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.