World Cup 2006 Final

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Friday, June 02, 2006

Spain's Soccer Team Profile


Post Ranking: 8
Region: Europe
World Cup History: 12th appearance, made semifinals in 1950
Top Player: F Raul
Lowdown: Spain has appeared in eight consecutive World Cup finals but has never placed higher than fourth. Hopes for a better finish in 2006 were tempered when the team failed to qualify by winning its European qualifying group and had to secure a spot in the finals by beating Slovakia in a two-game playoff. Posted by Picasa

posted by ias at 2:32 PM | 0 comments

Togo's Soccer Team Profile



Post Ranking: 29
Region: Africa
World Cup History: First appearance
Top Player: F Emmanuel Adebayor
Lowdown: Adebayor, 21, plays for Monaco in France and was the leading goal scorer among the African nations in qualifying, with 11 of the team's 22 goals. The bad news? Togo's next-highest scorer had only three. Posted by Picasa

posted by ias at 2:18 PM | 0 comments

Switzerland's Soccer Team Profile


Post Ranking: 17
Region: Europe
World Cup History: Eighth appearance, made quarterfinals in 1934, 1938 and 1954
Top Player: MH Raphael Wicky
Lowdown: The Swiss played their last game in the World Cup finals in 1994 at RFK Stadium (a 3-0 round-of-16 loss to Spain). Switzerland scraped through qualification this time, defeating Turkey for one of Europe's final spots.  Posted by Picasa

posted by ias at 1:32 PM | 0 comments

World Cup Betting

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Trinidad & Tobago Team's Profile

Post Ranking: 32
Region: North/Central America and Caribbean
World Cup History: First appearance
Top Player: F Dwight Yorke
Lowdown: The Soca Warriors had to defeat Mexico on the final day of regional qualifying and edged Bahrain in a playoff to advance. Several players boast British links, including former Manchester United striker Yorke.

posted by ias at 7:40 AM | 0 comments

World Cup Betting

Friday, April 07, 2006

Security, synonimous of a happy World Cup


In Berlin on Thursday morning, Federal Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble opened a two-day security conference with over 300 participants from 36 countries. In his opening speech the head of the Federal Ministry responsible for leading the World Cup preparations pointed to the challenges and opportunities of the 2006 FIFA World Cup in Germany.

"Security is an essential pre-condition for a happy World Cup. Sport, especially football, has the power to make people enthusiastic and brings them closer together in a peaceful and relaxed atmosphere. I can assure you that we will do our utmost to guarantee the necessary level of security during the Word Cup. The World Cup is a great opportunity for our country."

At the opening of this event, the last in a series of conferences held over recent years, the Federal Ministry of the Interior had the pleasure of welcoming the FIFA President Joseph S. Blatter, the President of the German Organising Committee (OC) Franz Beckenbauer and the OC Vice-President Horst R. Schmidt. It was the first time that experts from the 31 countries whose teams had only qualified in 2005 had gathered together.

Blatter stressed the importance of the close and trusting co-operation between the OC and the Federal Government in preparing for the World Cup that kicks off with the game between Germany and Costa Rica on 9 June. Blatter declared, "There couldn't have been any better co-operation. We have complete confidence in the Organising Committee and Federal Minister of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble, and appealing to the experts and some 200 media representatives he added: "Let's make the world a little better with the help of football."

In his opening remarks Franz Beckenbauer described his own experiences of the increasing importance of security at football World Cup. "At the World Cup in England 40 years ago the police just controlled the traffic, four years later in Mexico our allocated police officer nodded off in the midday sun under his huge sombrero. In 1974, two years after the events in Munich, we were under police protection round the clock. Teams and fans both need security," Beckenbauer commented.

In the two days of the conference the agenda included expert discussions on the subjects of national and international security structures, stadium security and hooliganism amongst other issues. During the conference dinner on Thursday evening the experts were able to gain an impression of the Olympic Stadium which will be the stage for the crowning of the new World Cup winners on 9 July.


For more information about the World Cup check the IAS Sportsbook website and when you'll be there take a moment to make some betting..!

posted by ias at 10:28 AM | 0 comments