This week sees footballing nations from all over the world play qualification games for next years World Cup in South Africa. However five countries have already qualified for the greatest show on earth. Those countries are Australia, Holland, Japan, North and South Korea.
Here is a profile of two of those teams who have already qualified for World Cup 2010, Australia and Holland.
Australia
How they qualified
The Australians were impressive in qualifying finishing top of group 1 in the Asian section. They won six, drew two and lost none in the group and only conceded one goal in the eight games. It will only be the Socceroos third ever World Cup finals appearance after appearing at Germany 1974 and again in the last World Cup in 2006.
The Boss
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International football is a really strange game. Fabio Capello has apparently transformed the England side from a bunch of clueless individuals with little team spirit and even less confidence, into a well organised side that play for each other and expect to win.
Impressive
England went into last night’s game against Croatia knowing that a win would see them safely through to the World Cup finals in South Africa next summer with an impressive qualifying record, although it has to be acknowledged that much of the opposition has been sub-standard..
They had a pretty strong squad to choose from with only Rio Ferdinand and Theo Walcott missing and they had the recent memory of a comprehensive 4-1 win in Croatia earlier in the campaign.
Ins…
Ajax midfielder Lasse Schone is being linked with a January switch to Stadio San Paolo, .
It is no secret the Azzurri are on the lookout for an attacking midfielder in the light of Lorenzo Insigne s injury, with the Denmark international the latest player on their hit-list.
Napoli officials have been impressed with Schone s performances for Ajax and they had him watched in midweek s Champions League clash against Paris Saint-Germain, while teammate Ricardo van Rhijn was also on their radar.
The Azzurri would be able to get the 28-year-old on the cheap considering that his contract at Amsterdam ArenA is due to expire in June 2015.
Lasse Schone joined Ajax from NEC Nijmegen back in 2012 and has since managed 29 goals and 25 assists in 101 Eredivisie outing…
Sevilla striker Ciro Immobile has accused former club Borussia Dortmund of a lack of support during a difficult year in Germany.
Immobile joined Dortmund for €19million last year after ending the 2013-14 campaign as Serie A s top scorer with 22 goals. He failed to adapt to life in the Bundesliga, however, and moved to Sevilla on a year-long loan in July.
The 25-year-old is in the Sevilla squad for Tuesday s UEFA Super Cup clash with Barcelona as he looks to put his Dortmund disappointment behind him a spell he claims was exacerbated by a lack of help from those at the club.
He told El Pais: [We received] no help, neither me nor my family.
We must share the blame. I did not know German and I expected more help from my team-mates. But hey, you cannot exp…
Arsenal have announced the signing of Lille forward Nicolas Pepe in a club-record deal reported to be worth £72million (£80m).
Pepe was linked with Paris Saint-Germain, Napoli and Champions League winners Liverpool after a breakthrough 2018-19 season.
The Ivory Coast attacker scored 22 Ligue 1 goals last term and supplied 11 assists to catch the eye of Europe s elite clubs.
But it is Arsenal who have landed the 24-year-old, who eclipses Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang as the club s record signing.
Nicolas is a highly-rated and talented winger who was wanted by many of the top teams in Europe, Gunners head coach Unai Emery told his club s official website.
Signing a top-class winger has been one of our key objectives in this transfer window and I m del…
Cesc Fabregas is hopeful of earning a Spain recall after the World Cup following the departure of previous head coach Julen Lopetegui.
Lopetegui, who has since been announced as Zinedine Zidane s successor at Real Madrid, was dismissed two days before the World Cup after failing to disclose the negotiations with the Spanish F.A.
Fabregas has been working as a pundit in Russia and has not played for Spain since Euro 2016, but the 31-year-old Chelsea midfielder hopes there will be another opportunity to represent his country.
When Lopetegui renewed [his contract in May 2018], I practically said goodbye to the national team, he told Marca radio.
Having passed what has happened, the doors are reopened for all the players Lopetegui did not believe in. Hopefu…
Serie A side Roma are among the favourites to sign Tottenham striker Roman Pavlyuchenko after the Russian revealed he wants to leave the club.
The former Spartak Moscow star has revealed his frustration at falling behind the likes of Defoe, Keane and Crouch in the starting line up and with Roma sending director Daniele Prade to London this week for talks it seems the Italian side are in pole position to sign the Russian.
However, Spurs boss Harry Redknapp has warned that Pavlyuchenko will not be allowed to go on the cheap and the club hope to recoup most of the £14 million they paid for him in September 2008.
Redknapp said: That would be up to the chairman but he s not a player we want to lose.
He wants to play regularly but it s been difficult becau…
Barcelona have failed in their quest to sign Kalvin Phillips from Manchester City in the January transfer window, according to . The report has claimed that Barcelona want to sign a midfielder for the short term to cover for the absence of the injured Gavi.
The report has claimed that Barcelona head coach Xavi personally wanted to sign former Leeds United midfielder Phillips from City, but they could not match the offer on the table from West Ham United. So, Phillips is on his way to the Hammers on a loan deal until the end of the season, with the London club having the option to make it permanent in the summer of 2024.
Barcelona are third in the La Liga table at the moment with 44 points from 20 matches, eight points behind leaders Girona, who have played 21 games. Mea…
The English Premier League said Friday it had terminated its contract with troubled Irish broadcaster Setanta and would sell off the broadcaster s 46 live matches for the 2009-2010 season.
The pay-TV company failed to make a scheduled payment of 30 million pounds (35 million euros, 49 million dollars) to the Premier League by an evening deadline.
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Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar will be out of action for two months after surgery on a broken finger and bone in his left hand.
Van der Sar suffered the injury saving a penalty from Danijel Pranjic in United s shoot-out defeat to Bayern Munich in a pre-season friendly in Germany.
United have been dealt a blow ahead of the 2009-10 season after confirming that Edwin van der Sar has been sidelined for the start of the campaign, a statement on the club s website confirmed.
The 38-year-old is not expected to be back until late September, meaning United boss Sir Alex Ferguson will have to use either Ben Foster or Tomasz Kuszczak for the opening weeks of the season.
Foster is more likely to get the nod from Ferguson after the Scot recently clai…