The Beginning

World Cup 2010 started on 11 June 2010, and after 2 weeks of good matches, 16 teams has made it to the knockout stage. However, both final duo in World Cup 2006, Italy and France were  disqualified and eliminated  from the game. if you miss one of the group matches, you can still catch up with the highlights from here.

Last night, Uruguay and Ghana has beaten their opponent with the same score, 2-1, and take up 2 seats in the Quarter-Final. They will play each other next week,on 2nd July 2010. Two more seats will be determined after today, from the matches, Germany vs England and Argentina vs Mexico.

I am also playing with Castro FIFA World Cup Predictor Challenge, and so far, I manage to score 1278 points. Take a screenshot and save my record here… Hopefully, can work harder and get more points!!!

Some Photos searched from the web or taken from Sinchew Gallery :-

Brazil fans and the famous Vuvuzela~~

Argentina – Giant Maradona

celebrating for Spain – after qualified to Round-of-16

Korea is out, no more Korean girls~~

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Snow, I have not seen any snow in the past 20+ years until December 2008. I missed the chance when I was having my internship in Busan, Korea. Lucky me, I got the chance to see the white snow when I travelled to Milan in year 2008. During my stay there, it snowed for several times, and it was really fantastic!! Photos taken and I really missed those days…even the weather was cold, but it was fun

AC Hotel (Milan)

snapped from my room…

Early in the morning, in front of AC Milano Hotel

Assago – Milan

This is a small town located about 10km southwest of Milan city centre. Sometimes, I was required to come here for work. Nothing much, it looks like another Cyberjaya to me… :P

DHL Delivery – anywhere in the world

Muddy road – bad thing after snow…

Castello Sforzesco Milan

is this a pine tree? XD

After a heavy snow for the whole night…

Kidz playground

Maybe i should try to ski here ~~

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Picture taken from FIFA.com

Adidas Jabulani is the official match ball used in FIFA World Cup 2010. According to Wikipedia, the ball produced by Adidas is actually developed at Loughborough University in UK, unveiled in Cape Town, South Africa on December 4, 2009.  So, what does Jabulani means? It means “rejoice” in Zulu.

Oh, there is another golden version of this ball, Jo’bulani, which will be used in World Cup 2010 Final. How they get this name? It is actually inspired by Johannesburg, often nicknamed as Jo’burg will host the final match. Mix and Match, here comes the name Jo’bulani. Only the final two teams will be lucky enough to use this ball.

If you are following the games in World Cup 2010, probably you will fall asleep because of the dull matches. And, a lot of star players actually criticize the ball, giving a lots of negative feedback. Let’s see what they said (adapted from Wikipedia) :-

Brazil goalkeeper, Júlio César  said:

    It’s terrible, horrible. It’s like one of those balls you buy in the supermarket.

Spanish Goalkeeper Iker Casillas:

    It’s a little sad that in a competition as big as the World Cup to have such a poor ball. It’s not just the goalkeepers complaining, but the outfield players as well.

Brazilian striker Robinho:

    For sure the guy who designed this ball never played football. But there is nothing we can do, we have to play with it.

Argentina striker Lionel Messi stated:

    The ball is very complicated for the goalkeepers and for us [strikers].

England striker Wayne Rooney said:

    We’re starting to get used to it eventually,’ he said. ‘I can imagine it’s been a nightmare for goalkeepers but for forward players when you get your shot off it’s an advantage I feel. So I think we’re getting more used to it with every day that goes by.

However, a number of Adidas sponsored players like Kaka, Lampard, Ballack think the ball is just good and nice to play. Adidas also claimed that the ball had been used since January of 2010, and that most feedback from players had been positive. Regardless of what ball they are using, I believe the result speaks everything. So, let’s see which two lucky teams will use the Jo’bulani in the final.

Will try to update the World Cup 2010 Fans Gallery in the next few posts :D

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