England dumped out of Brazil 2014

The three lions of England have been knocked out of this year's FIFA World cup that is currently going on in Brazil. The 1966 champions lost their first to games to Italy and Uruguay by 2-1 on both occasions.

The exit of England was confirmed when Costa Rica defeated Italy by 1-0 on Friday afternoon. The CONCACAF team recorded the upset at the Arena Pernambuco in Recife. England were hoping that the 'Azuri' of Italy were going to beat the Central Americans, but the 2006 champions succumbed to a shocking 1-0 defeat.

England cannot go beyond the group stage of Brazil 2014 because Uruguay and Italy have three points each while Costa Rica are ahead with 6 points.
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Roy Hodgson came to this soccer fiesta with the hope of going far, but inexperience of a major tournament has ended their World cup campaign.

Their last match will be against Costa Rica on Tuesday.

World cup qualifier roundup

Cameroon has joined Nigeria and Ivory Coast at the 2014 World cup in Brazil. The indomitable lions of Cameroon defeated the 'Carthage Eagles' of Tunisia by 4-1 in Yaounde. The 2nd leg third round qualifier turned out to be a bad fixture for the North Africans.

Tunisia were forced to a goalless draw in the first leg. The 2004 African champions needed a score draw or an outright win to qualifier, but Cameroon confirmed their place at Brazil 2014 world cup on Sunday. Webo gave the hosts the lead after 4 minutes of action. A sloppy defending by the visitors gave Samuel Eto'o Fils' team mates the chance to jubilate. On the half hour mark, the Central Africans doubled their lead.

After the restart,Tunisia pulled a goal back,but the Cameroonians added two more goals through John Makoun.

On Saturday,Nigeria and Cote d' Ivoire booked their places at the2014 FIFA world cup.

In the European zone, France were shocked by Ukraine in Kiev. The 1998 World champions were lost 2-0 on Friday night. Their array of stars like Loic Remy,Oliver Giroud,Frank Ribery and Samir Nasri couldn't save them from suffering a loss.

In Lisbon, Portugal defeated Sweden by 1-0. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a beautiful header in the 82nd minute. The Real Madrid star almost scored a brace when his 84th minute effort came off the crossbar.

Greece defeated Romania by 3-1 in Athens,while Iceland and Croatia settled for a 0-0 draw in Reykjavik.

The return leg of the play-offs will be played on Tuesday.

Uruguay and Mexico are expected to confirm their place at Brazil 2014 when they meet Jordan and New Zealand respectively. The South Americans defeated Jordan 5-0 in the first leg while New Zealand were crushed 5-1 by Mexico.

Montevideo and Auckland are the venues for these two games.

New World youth champions

The French under 20 national team are the new World champions for the first time ever.
France won all their matches at the three-week long tournament in Turkey. The team started with a 3-1 demolision of Ghana before cruising past teams like USA,Uruguay and Ghana(again.)

In 2001, France won the under 17 world cup,but they failed to build on that success and

France vs Uruguay preview

The final of the FIFA under 20 world cup will be played this weekend in Turkey. The French under 20 side defeated Ghana 2-1 in the semi final while Uruguay overcame Iraq after extra time.

France finished fourth at Colombia 2011,but they've gone a step forward by making it to the final.

Uruguay's under 20 team had to play the extra time of 30 minutes before they overcame Iraq. The match ended 1-1 during regulation time.

None of these countries have ever won the biennial tournament. These two teams have played series of draws at the senior level. France and Uruguay played goalless draws in the 2002 and 2010 World cups.

Based on the superlative performance of the French team, they are the favourites to win the final.

Our prediction: France 2-1 Uruguay

Buffon leads Italy to third place finish.

Gianlucci Buffon was the hero for the 'Azurri' of Italy in the FIFA confederations cup that was played in Salvador. The Italians defeated Uruguay by 3-2 on penalties after a pulsating 2-2 draw.

Andrea Pirlo and Mario Balotelli were not part of the starting line up due to injuries. The latter returned to Italy last week.

Antori gave Cesare Prandelli's men towards the end of the first half. His shot came off the crossbar before hitting Fernando Muslera's back.

The Italians were the better side in the first half of the match. Diego Forlan and his team mates were unable to break down the rigid Italian defence.

After the restart,Edinson Cavani equalised for the Copa America champions with a sublime left foot finish that beat Buffon at the far post.

Diamanti restored the lead for the Italians with a superb free kick that was curled over the Uruguay wall after 73 minutes of action.

Cavani scored a spectacular free kick in the 78th minute.

The match ended 2-2 after extra time. Ricardo Montolivio was dismissed in the second period of extra time.

Penalty shoot out.
Diego Forlan took the first penalty kick of the day, but Buffon dived to his right to make a save. Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez scored their spot kicks,but two other players missed their kicks to hand Italy the bronze trophy.

Italy will need to work on their defence ahead of Brazil 2014. The four time World champions scored 10 goals and conceded the same number of goals in five matches.

Messi fires Argentina to top of World cup group

Lionel Messi scored a brace while Sergio Aguero continued his sweet return to goal-scoring form against the reigning South American champions.

Argentina's Lionel Messi scored twice in the second half of the match that was played in Mendoza. The first half was largely dominated by the 1986 World champions, but Uruguay were very resolute in their defence. They didn't allow the flurry of Argentine attacks to bother them. The reigning Latin America champions thwarted the attacking moves of Messi and his team mates. Fernando Muslera was superb in goal for the visitors during the first half. Muslera tipped a free kick over his crossbar. Messi's superb run left two of the visitors kissing the grass, but his shot hit the woodwork.

Martin Cacares' header found Luis Suarez who's volley was calmly saved by Romero towards the end of the first half. Edinson Cavani also had an effort from a far distance, but it wasn't a threat to the Argentine keeper.

Lionel Messi

Second Half
After the break, Ezequiel Garay failed to score an easy goal after a good work by Messi. The second half was very rough as the visitors decided to show the ugly part of their game. Gonzalo Higuain and Sergio Aguero's effort were unproductive within the first 20 minutes of the second half.

The first goal
Angel Di Maria was a the end of a brilliant build up by the hosts in the 65th minute, the Madrid player supplied a sublime pass for Messi to put his country ahead.

Few minutes later, Sergio Aguero doubled Argentina's lead.  Angel Di Maria provided the assist for 'El Kun' to make it 2-0 to the Albiceleste.

In the 80th minute, Messi made it 3-0 when his trademark free kick flew into the corner of the net. Argentina are now on top of the CONMEBOL group with 17 points.

Liverpool makes Ramirez's bid

Liverpool Football Club have made a £12.5 million bid for Gaston Ramirez. Although, his club are anticipating a fee of around £16 million. Some other add-ons could see the fee rise to about £14 million.Ramirez's agent, Pablo Bentancur has ascertained that his client will not stay in the Serie A when the new season begins in September. The Bologna winger has been on Liverpool's radar even before Brendan Rodgers took charge of the Anfield side on June 1st, 2012. Uruguay's participation in the football event of the on-going London 2012 Olympic Games could be considered as a stumbling block towards his move away from the Italian side. After the South American nation failed to go beyond the group stage of the competition, the 21 year old can now concentrate on his club career. Inter Milan and Manchester City are some other clubs that are interested in signing the youngster. The Reds won their first competitive game of the season by beating FC Gomel of Belarus in the third round of the Europa League on August 2.

Gaston Ramirez

Team GB plots Ururguay's fall

Great Britain will tackle Le Celeste of Uruguay in today's final group match at the men's Olympic football event. Uruguay came from a goal down to claim a 2-1 win over United Arab Emirates on Thursday before losing 2-0 to Senegal on Sunday. The South Americans have three points from two games while Great Britain amassed four points from the same number of games. The host nation played a one all draw against Senegal before they claimed a 3-1 win over UAE on Sunday night. Gaston Ramirez, Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez are the three players that Stuart Pearce's men have promised to stop in Wednesday's clash. A draw will be enough for Team GB to advance to the last eight of the competition.