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Today, Spain and Netherlands will play the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final in the Soccer City Stadium, in Johannesburg.

In November of 2009, Spain already was the main favorite to win the 2010 World Cup (along with Brazil), whereas the Netherlands was in the fourth block of favorites (with the same odds as Italy and France). In the very first day of the World Cup, Spain was still top favorite, with Netherlands a few notches up from previous standings.

Spain, the current European Champion, did their job. A surprising defeat in the first match against Switzerland, followed by winnings against Honduras, Chile, Portugal, Paraguay and Germany.

The Dutch are very far from being considered an underdog. They come from a flawless campaign in the Qualifying (8 winnings in 8 matches), and continued with 6 winnings in the finals (Netherlands is the only team to have won all their matches in these finals), against  Denmark, Japan, Cameroon, Slovakia, Brazil and Uruguay.

So, the two best teams deserved to reach the final. Spain have more skillful players, resembling Brazil from other times. Netherlands have a stronger tactical preparation, with a tradition of also playing skillfully.

It looks a 50/50 chance for each team.

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Read news about the FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

Brazil will face Ivory Coast on June 20th. That will be the first official match between the countries.

Brazil have  respect for Ivory Coast. When the groups were drawn, all Brazilian journalists agreed that Ivory Coast was the strongest African team in the Cup. Brazilians know that Didier Drogba is a successful player in English Chelsea and deserves attention.

This respect should only increase, after Ivory Coast tied their match with Portugal, and even more after Brazil won North Korea by just 2 x 1.

However, nobody in Brazil expects Brazil to loose this match. Brazil expects to win by a tight margin, but even a tie will be considered a surprise.

Back in November 2009, we published a post called who’s favourite to win the World Cup 2010.

Well, the ball started rolling today. Below, the more current odds, according to traditional online brokers.

In London: Ladbrokes.

Spain is still top favorite and Brazil is second (but both are paying higher – meaning their favoritism is smaller); Argentina was fourth, now is third (is Messi causing a good impression among betters?); England was third, and fell to fourth, below Argentina; another switch over was Holland passing Germany and Italy (Germans lost Ballack, and betters seemingly didn’t like the Italian roster); the USA Team odds were 66/1, and are now at 67/1.

In the USA: William Hill.

Again, some minor changes. Brazil and Spain were tied, now Spain is leading at 4/1 and Brazil is second at 5/1; also among Americans, Argentina became more favorite than England; and also among Americans, Holland has now more chances of being champion than Germany and Italy.

In one month time, we shall see how well betters could predict the winner of World Cup 2010.

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Read also: Netherlands in the World Cup 2014.

Koninklijke Nederlandse Voetbalbond : Royal Netherlands Football Association.

Main players: Arjen Robben (main striker of Bayern Munich) and Joris Mathijsen.

FIFA ranking (April 2010): #3

The Dutch Team finished first in their Group of the European Qualifying 2010, with a flawless campaign of eight winnings in eight matches, against Norway, Scotland, Macedonia and Iceland.

Holland is seed of Group E and will play the first three matches against Denmark (June 14th), Japan (June 19th) and Cameroon (June 24th).

Holland players for World Cup 2010:

Goalkeepers: Maarten Stekelenburg (Ajax), Sander Boschker (Twente), Michel Vorm (Utrecht)

Defense: Vurnon Anita (Ajax), Khalid Boulahrouz (Stuttgart/Germany), Edson Braafheid (Celtic/Scotland), Giovanni van Bronckhorst (Feyenoord), John Heitinga (Everton/England), Joris Mathijsen (Hamburg/Germany), Andre Ooijer (PSV), Ron Vlaar (Feyenoord), Gregory van der Wiel (Ajax)

Midfield: Ibrahim Afellay (PSV), Otman Bakkal (PSV), Mark van Bommel (Bayern Munich), Wout Brama (Twente), Orlando Engelaar (PSV), Nigel de Jong (Manchester City/England), David Mendes da Silva (AZ Alkmaar), Stijn Schaars (AZ Alkmaar), Wesley Sneijder (Inter Milan/Italy), Rafael van der Vaart (Real Madrid/Spain), Demy de Zeeuw (Ajax)

Forward: Ryan Babel (Liverpool/England), Eljero Elia (Hamburgo/Germany), Klaas Jan Huntelaar (Milan/Italy), Dirk Kuyt (Liverpool/England), Jeremain Lens (AZ Alkmaar), Robin van Persie (Arsenal/England), Arjen Robben (Bayern Munich)

Coach: Mark van Bommel (former Holland team player).

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Federação Portuguesa de Futebol : Portugal Football Federation.

Main players: Cristiano Ronaldo (FIFA Player of the Year 2008).

FIFA ranking (April 2010): #4

Portugal finished second after the first round the European Qualifying. In their (very tough) group, Portugal finished behind Denmark and ahead of Sweden, Hungary, Albania and Malta; in the play off, Portugal won the two matches against Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Portugal is in Group G of the World Cup 2010, and will play the first three matches against Ivory Coast (June 15th), North Korea (June 21st) and Brazil (June 25th).

Portugal team for the World Cup 2010:

Goalkeepers: Eduardo (Braga), Daniel Fernandes (Iraklis/Greece), Beto (Porto).

Defense: Miguel (Valencia/Spain), Paulo Ferreira (Chelsea/England), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea/England), Bruno Alves (Porto), Rolando (Porto), Ricardo Costa (Lille/France), Duda (Malaga/Spain), Fabio Coentrao (Benfica).

Midfield: Pedro Mendes (Sporting), Pepe (Real Madrid/Spain), Ze Castro (Deportivo/Spain), Tiago (Atletico Madrid/Spain), Deco (Chelsea/England), Raul Meireles (Porto), Miguel Veloso (Sporting).

Forward: Simão Sabrosa (Atletico Madrid/Spain), Danny (Zenit St Petersburg/Russia), Liedson (Sporting), Hugo Almeida (Werder Bremen/Germany), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/Spain), Nani (Manchester United/England).

Coach: Carlos Queiróz.

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Federazione Italiana Gioco Calcio : Italian Federation of Football.

Main players: Fabio Cannavaro (FIFA Player of the Year 2006), Gianluigi Buffon, Gennaro Gattuso. All three players were champions of the World Cup 2006, which indicates that Italy has an aging team; it looks like the Champion of a World Cup tends to keep most players to the next Cup, something which happened to France in 2002 and Brazil in 2006. The only country which managed to win two consecutive Cups, keeping the same team basis (with older players), was Brazil, winner of 1958 and 1962.

FIFA ranking (April  2010): #5

Italy finished first of their group in the European Qualifying for the World Cup 2010, ahead of Ireland, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Montenegro and Georgia.

Italy is in Group F of the World Cup 2010, and will play the first three matches against Paraguay (June 14th), New Zealand (June 20th) and Slovakia (June 24th).

Italy players for World Cup 2010:

Goalkeepers: Gianluigi Buffon (Juventus), Morgan De Sanctis (Napoli), Federico Marchetti (Cagliari), Salvatore Sirigu (Palermo).

Defense: Salvatore Bocchetti (Genoa), Leonardo Bonucci (Bari), Fabio Cannavaro (Juventus), Mattia Cassani (Palermo), Giorgio Chiellini (Juventus), Domenico Criscito (Genoa), Fabio Grosso (Juventus), Christian Maggio (Napoli), Gianluca Zambrotta (Milan).

Midfield: Mauro Camoranesi (Juventus), Antonio Candreva (Juventus), Andrea Cossu (Cagliari), Daniele De Rossi (Roma), Gennaro Gattuso (Milan), Claudio Marchisio (Juventus), Riccardo Montolivo (Fiorentina), Angelo Palombo (Sampdoria), Simone Pepe (Udinese), Andrea Pirlo (Milan).

Forward: Marco Borriello (Milan), Antonio Di Natale (Udinese), Alberto Gilardino (Fiorentina), Vincenzo Iaquinta (Juventus), Giampaolo Pazzini (Sampdoria), Fabio Quagliarella (Napoli), Giuseppe Rossi (Villarreal).

Coach: Marcelo Lippi; these words of his: best players don’t always make up the best team could very well have been said by Brazilian coach Dunga.

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FFF: Fédération Française de Football.

Main players: Thierry Henry (who scored the goal which put Brazil out of the World Cup 2006) and Franck Ribery (main responsible for taking Bayern Munich to the final of the Euro Champions League 2010).

FIFA ranking (April 2010): #8

France finished second in the first round of the European Qualifying, second to Serbia. France then had to go to a play-off against Ireland; France won the first match and was loosing the second one, until Henry scored an irregular goal and France qualified.

France will be in Group A of the World Cup 2010, and will play the first three matches against Uruguay (June 11th), Mexico (June  17th) and South Africa (June 22nd). France was not considered a seed for the drawing of groups (Netherlands took their place) but, luckly, was drawn to play against the weaker of the seeds, South Africa.

France team roster for the World Cup 2010:

Goalkeepers: Hugo Lloris (Lyon), Steve Mandanda (Olympique de Marseille), Cedric Carrasso (Bordeaux), Mickael Landreau (Lille)

Defense: Bacary Sagna (Arsenal/England), Patrice Evra (Manchester United/England), William Gallas (Arsenal/England), Eric Abidal (Barcelona/Spain), Rod Fanni (Rennes), Sebastien Squillaci (Sevilla/Spain), Adil Rami (Lille), Marc Planus (Bordeaux), Gael Clichy (Arsenal/England), Anthony Reveillere (Lyon)

Midfield: Lassana Diarra (Real Madrid/Spain), Alou Diarra (Bordeaux), Jeremy Toulalan (Lyon), Florent Malouda (Chelsea/England), Yoann Gourcuff (Bordeaux), Abou Diaby (Arsenal/England), Yann M’Vila (Rennes)

Forward: Thierry Henry (Barcelona/Spain), Nicolas Anelka (Chelsea/England), Andre-Pierre Gignac (Toulouse), Franck Ribery (Bayern de Munique), Sidney Govou (Lyon), Djibril Cisse (Panathinaikos/Greece), Hatem Ben Arfa (Olympique de Marseille), Mathieu Valbuena (Olympique de Marseille), Jimmy Briand (Rennes)

Coach: Raymond Domenech.

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Asociatión del Fútbol Argentino.

Main players: Lionel Messi (FIFA player of the year 2009); in recent World Cups, though, the countries with the Player of the Year have not been successful.

FIFA ranking (April 2010): #9.

Argentina finished 4th in the South America Qualifying, behind Brazil, Chile and Paraguay; more than the aprehension with not qualify, what Argentina felt most, due to Historic rivalry, was to be beaten by Brazil by 3 x 0 playing at home.

Argentina will be in Group B of World Cup 2010, and will play the first three matches against Nigeria (June 12th), South Korea (June 17th) and Greece (June 22nd).

Argentina Team roster for World Cup 2010:

Goalkeepers: Sergio Romero (AZ Alkmaar/Holland), Mariano Andujar (Catania/Italy), Diego Pozo (Colon)

Defense: Gabriel Heinze (Olympique de Marseille), Martin Demichelis (Bayern de Munique), Nicolas Otamendi (Velez Sarsfield), Walter Samuel (Inter de Milão), Juan Insaurralde (Newell’s Old Boys), Clemente Rodriguez (Estudiantes de La Plata), Nicolas Burdisso (Roma/Italy), Fabricio Coloccini (Newcastle/England), Ariel Garce (Colon)

Midfield: Javier Mascherano (Liverpool/England), Jonas Gutierrez (Newcastle), Angel Di Maria (Benfica/Portugal), Mario Bolatti (Fiorentina/Italy), Juan Sebastian Veron (Estudiantes de La Plata), Jose Sosa (Estudiantes de La Plata), Javier Pastore (Palermo/Italy), Jesus Datolo (Olympiakos/Greece), Juan Mercier (Argentinos Juniors), Sebastian Blanco (Lanus), Maxi Rodriguez (Liverpool/England)

Forward: Lionel Messi (Barcelona/Spain), Gonzalo Higuain (Real Madrid/Spain), Carlos Tevez (Manchester City/England), Sergio Aguero (Atletico Madrid/Spain), Diego Milito (Inter de Milão/Italy), Martin Palermo (Boca Juniors), Ezequiel Lavezzi (Napoli/Italy)

Coach: Diego Maradona. Maradona is the undisputed best player in History of Argentina. His career as coach, however, has been very controversial; some in Argentina say he is the worst coach ever.

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READ: USA Team in the FIFA World Cup Brazil 2014.

U.S. Soccer Federation.

Main players: Landon Donovan and Clint Dempsey.

FIFA ranking (April 2010): #16. The USA Men’s Team gained many points for being runner up of the Confederations Cup 2009; US lost to Brazil in the final match, after winning then favorite Spain in the semi-final. It is also interesting to notice that the USA Women’s Team is usually at the top spot of Women’s FIFA ranking.

USA finished first in the last round of the North America Qualifying for the World Cup 2010, ahead of Mexico, Honduras, and Costa Rica.

USA will be in Group C of World Cup 2010, and will play the first three matches against England (June 12nd), Slovenia (June 18th) and Algeria (June 23rd).

USA Team roster for the World Cup 2010:

Goalkeepers: Brad Guzan (Aston Villa/England), Tim Howard (Everton/England), Marcus Hahnemann (Wolverhampton/England)

Defense: Carlos Bocanegra (Rennes/France), Jonathan Bornstein (Chivas/Mexico), Steve Cherundolo (Hannover/Germany), Jay DeMerit (Watford/England), Clarence Goodson (IK Start/Norway), Chad Marshall (Columbus Crew), Oguchi Onyewu (Milan/Italy), Heath Pearce (FC Dallas), Jonathan Spector (West Ham/England)

Midfield: DaMarcus Beasley (Rangers/Scotland), Alejandro Bedoya (Orebro/Sweden), Michael Bradley (Borussia Monchengladbach/Germany), Ricardo Clark (Houston Dynamo), Clint Dempsey (Fulham/England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy), Maurice Edu (Rangers/Scotland), Benny Feilhaber (Aarhus/Denmark), Stuart Holden (Bolton/England), Sacha Kljestan (Chivas USA), Robbie Rogers (Columbus Crew), Jos Torres (Pachuca/Germany)

Forward: Jozy Altidore (Villarreal/Spain), Edson Buddle (Los Angeles Galaxy), Brian Ching (Houston Dynamo), Robbie Findley (Real Salt Lake), Herculez Gomez (Puebla/Mexico), Eddie Johnson (Aris Thessalonica/Greece)

Coach: Bob Bradley.

READ: USA Team in the FIFA World Cup 2014 Brazil.

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Read also: England in the FIFA 2014 World Cup Brazil.

The Football Association. Notice that there is not any mention to the nationality (English, British) of the Association; this is supposed to be THE Association.

Main players: Rooney, Lampard, Gerrard. Main popstar David Beckham got injured and was ruled out of 2010, but he said he hopes to play World Cup 2014 in Brazil.

FIFA ranking (April 2010): #7

English finished first in their European Qualifying Group, with 9 winnings in ten matches, against Ukraine (which won England), Croatia, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra.

England is in Group C of World Cup 2010, and will play the first three matches against United States (June 12nd), Algeria (June 18th) and Slovenia (June 23rd).

England Team Roster for the World Cup 2010:

Goalkeepers: David James (Portsmouth), Robert Green (West Ham), Joe Hart (Manchester City)

Defense: Ashley Cole (Chelsea), John Terry (Chelsea), Rio Ferdinand (Manchester United), Glen Johnson (Liverpool), Ledley King (Tottenham), Jamie Carragher (Liverpool), Matthew Upson (West Ham), Michael Dawson (Tottenham), Leighton Baines (Everton), Stephen Warnock (Aston Villa).

Midfield: Steven Gerrard (Liverpool), Frank Lampard (Chelsea), Michael Carrick (Manchester United), James Milner (Aston Villa), Theo Walcott (Arsenal), Gareth Barry (Manchester City), Joe Cole (Chelsea), Tom Huddlestone (Tottenham), Scott Parker (West Ham), Aaron Lennon (Tottenham), Adam Johnson (Manchester City), Shaun Wright-Phillips (Manchester City).

Forward: Wayne Rooney (Manchester United), Peter Crouch (Tottenham), Emile Heskey (Aston Villa), Darren Bent (Sunderland), Jermain Defoe (Tottenham).

Coach: Italian Fabio Capello, the coach with the highest salary in the World Cup.

Read also: the English Team in the World Cup 2014 in Brazil.