2010 FIFA World Cup

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is the 19th FIFA World Cup, the premier international association football tournament, being held in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July. It is the first time the finals of the tournament have been staged in an African host nation. South Africa was selected as host in May 2004 over Morocco and Egypt, following a bidding process open only to African nations. The previous World Cup finals were held in 2006 in Germany, while the next World Cup is due to be held in Brazil.
The finals tournament sees 736 players representing 32 qualifying teams compete in games held in ten stadiums across the country for the World Cup trophy. The 32 qualifying teams were selected from a pool of entrants comprising 204 of the 208 FIFA national teams in a qualification process that began in August 2007. With 204 initial entrants, the 2010 World Cup equals the 2008 Summer Olympics as the sports event with the most competing nations.
The finals began on 11 June with the group stage, in which the 32 qualifying teams were reduced by half by playing in groups of four teams for points over three matches per team. The 16 remaining teams advanced to the knockout stage, beginning on 26 June. Ties after normal time are settled using extra time or a penalty shootout if necessary, up to and including the World Cup Final, scheduled for 11 July at Soccer City stadium in Johannesburg.

Indian court dismisses cases against Shoaib

HYDERABAD DECCAN: The Andhra Pradesh High Court dismissing all cases against Pakistan cricketer Shoaib Malik has ordered the police to return his passport.

According to an Indian TV, the judge said that Shoaib and Sania Mirza can go to Pakistan at any time.

Shoaib Malik’s lawyer Mohammad Javed told that the lower court return the passport after receiving the application and it is hoped that Shoaib would get back his passport tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Shoaib’s brother-in-law Imran Zafar Malik has said that date of Shoaib and Sania’s valima reception would be finalised today.

He hoped that Shoaib and Sania would come to Pakistan in two or three days.

Arsenal meet Barcelona in Champions League quarters

LONDON: Arsenal will meet defending champions Barcelona and Manchester United take on Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League.

Lyon will play French rivals Bordeaux and Inter Milan face CSKA Moscow in the other quarterfinals set by Friday’s draw in Nyon, Switzerland.

The Arsenal-Barcelona and Bayern Munich-Manchester United matchups will be replays of recent Champions League finals. Barcelona defeated Arsenal 2-1 in 2006 and United beat Bayern by the same score in 1999.

“We owe Barcelona one, for want of better words,” Arsenal Secretary David Miles said in an interview with Sky Sports. “We’ll certainly be up for it.”

The quarter-finals will be played March 30 and 31 and April 6 and 7 with Lyon, Bayern, Arsenal and Inter at home for the first games.

Barcelona defeated Manchester United 2-0 in last year’s final to take Europe’s elite club competition a third time.

The Spanish club is the 2-1 favorite with UK bookmaker William Hill to retain its title and become the first team to win the Champions League in consecutive years. AC Milan in 1990 was the last repeat champion when the competition was known as the European Cup.

The matchup pits Barcelona’s Thierry Henry against his former club. The Frenchman scored a club-record 226 goals for Arsenal before leaving for Spain in 2007.

“He loves Arsenal,” Barcelona Vice President for Sport Raphael Youse told Sky Sports. “He is a guy who remembers the good times he spent at Arsenal.”

Bayern Munich and Manchester United last met in the Champions League in the second group stage in 2001-02 with both teams advancing to the quarter-finals after two draws.

Their most famous meeting came in the 1999 final in Barcelona when late goals from Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer gave United a comeback victory.

“It’s a tough but extremely attractive draw,” Bayern Chairman Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said on the club’s Web site. “Manchester rate as one of the very biggest clubs around. We’ll have to go to our limits and very probably beyond if we’re to get through.”

Lyon and Bordeaux have won nine of the past 11 French league titles. Defending champions Bordeaux lead Ligue 1 this season with Lyon two points back in fifth place.

“We did think it would happen, we were hoping it wouldn’t,” Lyon President Jean-Michel Aulus, whose team eliminated Real Madrid in the last round, told Eurosport.

CSKA is in the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time after beating Sevilla, while Inter Milan defeated manager Jose Mourinho’s former team Chelsea in the last round.

The winner of the Arsenal-Barcelona match will play the Inter-CSKA winner in one semifinal and Bayern or United take on Lyon or Bordeaux in the other. The semifinals are scheduled for April 20 and 21 and 27 and 28, with the final being played May 22 at the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid.

FIFA latest updates of TEAM RANKINGS

PCB consulting with Afridi for T20 matches

LAHORE: The selection committee of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has started consultations with national T20 captain Shahid Afridi for the Twenty20 Internationals to be played against Australia and England.

PCB selection committee chairman Iqbal Qasim told Geo News that the consideration of names of players for the T20 matches against Australia and England has been started and T20 team captain Shahid Khan Afridi has been contacted on telephone in this regard.

Shahid Afridi is playing domestic cricket in Australia these days.

Pakistan will play their only T20 match on the tour of Australia on February 5 at Melbourne while they will play two T20 matches against England in Dubai on February 19 and 20.

The Swiss world number one took a while to warm up as clouds gathered over Arthur AsheStadium but once he had the first set in the bag, Federer wasted little time putting Robredo into the shade and secured his ninth straight win over the Spaniard.

Federer, winner of a record 15 Grand Slam titles, sealed victory with his ninth ace in one hour 48 minutes.

Federer next plays Sweden's Robin Soderling, whom the Swiss beat en route to the French Open and Wimbledon titles this year.

Roland Garros runner-up Soderling became the first man to reach the quarter-finals of the US Open when his eighth-seeded opponentNikolay Davydenko retired with a leg injury.

Russian Davydenko hobbled around court with his left leg heavily strapped but after losing the third set, he shook his head and informed the umpire he could not continue.The retirement would also have been a relief for Soderling, who had suffered a dizzy spell during the 7-5 3-6 6-2 win.

Fourth seed Novak Djokovic moved up a gear as he beat Czech 15th seed Radek Stepanek 6-1 6-3 6-3 to reach the quarter-finals.

The Serb, runner-up at Flushing Meadows in 2007, was never tested as he raced to victory in one hour, 46 minutes to set up a clash with 10th seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain.

Stepanek was woeful in the first set and Djokovic took it in just 23 minutes before easing through the second.

The Czech put up more of a fight in the third set but a brilliant lob gave Djokovic the break in the sixth game and he marched into the last eight for the third straight year.

Djokovic will next face Fernando Verdasco, who killed off American hopes in the men's singles, beating John Isner 4-6 6-4 6-4 6-4 to make it the worst home showing in the professional era.

The towering Isner, who knocked out American number one Andy Roddick in a five-set epic on Saturday, started well against 10th seed Verdasco but was eventually overpowered from the baseline by the classy Spaniard.

Isner banged down 13 aces to no avail against Verdasco who reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open this year.

Verdasco will face either fourth seed Novak Djokovic or 15th seed Radek Stepanek in the last eight.