The Best World Cup - Ever (And the Hand of Frog)

"We will show the world what they have been missing for the past one hundred years by making this World Cup, the first in FIFA's one hundred year plus history in Africa, the best ever." Danny Jordaan - CEO of the 2010 World Cup - 19 November 2009

As the day approaches for the draw for the 2010 World Cup, football aficionados around the world wait with anticipation to see where and who their countries' teams will play. Soccer websites like BigSoccer.com are already busy theorising who will play whom well before the FIFA draw for World Cup football teams on 5 December 2009.

Cape Town will be the scene for the December draw. It was the clear favourite for this FIFA event, and you just have to look at the breath-taking scenery around which Cape Town was build to understand why. Cape Town is the mother city, the place where the country that became South Africa was born, so it is only fitting that an event of this magnitude should centre around Cape Town.

Yet there have been a couple of hiccups in regards to the chosen teams who will appear in the World Cup next year in South Africa. Most notably, in regards to the Algerian win over Egypt and the French win over Ireland, both matches which put the other side out of next year's Football World Cup.

According to a UK website, the following countries qualified for the 2010 Football World Cup:

South Africa (hosts), Japan, Australia, South Korea, Holland, North Korea, Brazil, Ghana, ENGLAND, Spain, Paraguay, Ivory Coast, Germany, Denmark, Serbia, Italy, Chile, USA, Mexico, Switzerland, Slovakia, Argentina, Honduras, New Zealand, Cameroon, Nigeria, Algeria, Greece, Slovenia, Portugal, The Cheating French, Uruguay

As an aside, it is good to see the English supportive of their neighbours across the Irish Sea in relation to the French "hand of frog", though those with a sensitivity towards profanity should avoid reading the comments below the video. To be fair to the French, one French football support said this:

"I'm French and I hope that we will ask to replay this game! In fact, all French football fans want to replay this game! Because, for us, it's a (real) shame and we could NEVER accept this ! We wanted to win but not in this way! It's only the fault of arbitrator and FIFA !! everybody has seen the hand except the arbitrator!"

But it's all over now, and the French are in the World Cup, along with hosts South Africa and thirty other teams. If you want to see the final matches that helped determine the field of 32 teams that will be in next year's World Cup, visit FIFA's website.

Now, if your team got into the World Cup, maybe it's time to start planning your trip to South Africa, and look into accommodation in Cape Town ...