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Wooot!!! Congratulations goes out to the US Soccer Team today because they *just* defeated the Algerian Soccer Team by a score of 1-0 to advance to the second round of 2010 World Cup soccer tournament action. Team USA has advanced to the “sweet 16″ elimination round of the World Cup, winning their competitive group for the first time since 1930 … and it’s all thanks to LA Galaxy captain Landon Donovan who scored the winning goal in the 91st minute of play:

Landon Donovan scored in the first minute of stoppage time off a rebound, advancing the United States to the second round at the World Cup with a 1-0 win over Algeria. With the U.S. perhaps three minutes from elimination, Jozy Altidore was stopped on a breakaway by goalkeeper Rais Bolihi. Donovan hustled in and kicked in the rebound to win Group C Wednesday. After his U.S. record 44th international goal, Donovan joyously ran to the corner flag and his teammates ran down the touchline to mob him. Donovan was in tears when the game ended and the United States had moved into the second round. With just its fifth shutout in World Cup play, the United States (1-0-2) won a World Cup group for the first time since 1930 and will face the runner-up in Group D this weekend. England (1-0-2), which beat Slovenia moments earlier, also had five points but finished second because the U.S. scored four goals to two for the English. Slovenia (1-1-1) was third with four points, missing advancing because of Donovan’s heroics. and Algeria (0-2-1) was last with one. Until Donovan’s goal, it appeared the officiating would again be the focus. Clint Dempsey put the ball in the net in the 21st minute off the rebound of Herculez Gomez’s shot. But the goal was called offside, just as Maurice Edu’s late goal was disallowed against Slovenia last week, a score that would have given the Americans a victory. Replays appeared to show Dempsey was onside. Dempsey had another great chance in the 57th minute when Michael Bradley stole the ball and sent Altidore streaking down the right side. Altidore crossed, but Dempsey’s hit the goalpost. He shot wide on the rebound.

Boy, what I wouldn’t give for a vuvuzela right now. Oh what the hell, ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzZZZZZZZZZZ!!! Now y’all know I’m not a huge soccer fan but I have to be damn proud of Team USA for pulling out this literal last minute win. Now we advance to the next round of the World Cup … and they won their group for the first time in 70 years! Landon Donovan has proved to be the US’s #1 soccer stud … I think he should run for president ;) Congrats USA! Let’s take this thing all the way to the finals!!

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David Beckham and Charlize Theron were on hand in Cape Town, South Africa this weekend to participate in the random draw to select the match-ups for the 2010 World Cup soccer championship tournament. Because soccer (or fútbol) is such a huge sport in most of the world, the World Cup Draw is a major televised event … as a result, the big guns had to be brought in to help make the selections. The US team was selected to go up against the Algerian team, the Slovenian team and the English team … which means that if Becks gets picked to be on the English team (as he is dying to) then he will be playing against some of his US soccer teammates. Here are a few photos from the World Cup Draw event and some deets about the results:

English football fans will feel they got off lightly this evening after their team was handed a relatively easy group for next year’s World Cup Finals. At the star-studded draw in Cape Town, England was placed in Group C with USA, Algeria and Slovenia. Bookmakers William Hill immediately installed England as second favourites after their easy draw. The draw means that if David Beckham is picked, he will come up against some of his old teammates when England face USA in their first game in Rustenberg, around 60 miles north-west of Johannesburg, on June 12. The top two teams in the group progress to the second round and so England supporters will be hopeful that their team will make it through unscathed – at least until they meet possible opponents Germany. Hollywood star Charlize Theron oversaw the draw at Cape Town’s packed 20,000-seater International Convention Centre while David Beckham – England’s figurehead for their 2018 World Cup bid – and England manager Fabio Capello looked on. Beckham, who is still hoping he will be part of Fabio Capello’s squad for South Africa, said: ‘It is a very interesting group. They are all hard games and it’s very exciting to be a part of it.’ England beat Slovenia in a friendly at Wembley last March, when Frank Lampard and Jermain Defoe scored in a 2-1 win. And Algeria needed a play-off win over Egypt to reach South Africa, and so they are widely viewed as the weakest of the five African teams that qualified. Former England manager Terry Venables said: ‘They are going to say “there are no easy games” and of course, that is true, but it’s as good a draw as we could have expected. You could have hand-picked that so we’ve got to be very satisfied.’ More than 15,000 people gathered in Cape Town at big screens set up in the city while thousands more gathered around the convention centre where the draw took place. Capello had already said before the draw that he was not worried about which teams England was drawn against. ‘I don’t worry about that, ‘ he said. ‘You have to play against all of the teams at some point, but of course if you play against the best teams it’s not so easy to pass the first round. If we want to win you have to play against all of the teams. It is not important which team we have to play in the group.’ At the main party venue, Cape Town’s trendy Long Street, local and foreign fans, many with flags of their favourite teams painted on their faces, thronged the bars and restaurants. Former South African president Nelson Mandela sent a poignant video message to welcome the 32 World Cup teams to the host nation. His two-minute address was pre-recorded ahead of the Fifa group match draw ceremony in Cape Town. Speaking to the audience on huge screens, he said: ‘In Africa, soccer enjoys great popularity and has a particular place in the hearts of people. ‘This is why it is so important that the Fifa World Cup will for the first time ever be hosted on the African continent in 2010. We feel privileged and humbled that South Africa have been given the singular honour of being that African host country.’ More than 250million people in 200 countries watched the draw live.

Soooo … yeah. The World Cup is the largest world-wide sporting event and it looks like it’s gonna be a doozy next year. I recall when Becks played in the World Cup last time and it was fun following his exploits on the field. But since he then joined the LA Galaxy and started playing here on a regular basis, the novelty of watching him play soccer wore off a little bit. Now I’m really looking forward to the US Team SHOCKING THE WORLD by winning the 2010 World Cup!!! Well, okay … that prolly won’t happen … but I’ll be rooting for them to do their very best and who knows what will happen. I know there are a great many people that are superexcited for the 2010 World Cup … I think it’ll be fun to see how the whole thing plays out. Go USA!!

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Soccer stars David Beckham and Wayne Rooney were on hand at Wembley Stadium in London, England yesterday in order to promote the UK’s bid to be the host city for the 2018 World Cup Championship Match … tho, the UK’s bid also makes clear that they’d be just as happy to host the 2022 World Cup if their 2018 bid falls thru. Here are a few pics of Becks and Rooney at the stadium yesterday posing with scarves, face-painted children and a big ass soccer ball in order to entice the World Cup organizers to choose their city:

World Cup bid leaders will be stressing the quality of the stadiums, the fans in England and the economic benefits. They will also be at pains to avoid any suggestion that it is England’s turn to be hosts. Football Association chairman Lord Triesman, who is the bid chairman, stressed England’s infrastructure and the economic benefits of hosting the World Cup in 2018, or, if that bid is unsuccessful, in 2022. Triesman said: “We in England would be truly honoured to host the World Cup and welcome the world. We have first-class grounds. We’ve got good transport links, domestically and internationally. We’ve got excellent accommodation. A World Cup in England would be a truly memorable event – not only for our nation but for every nation. We’d extend a wonderful welcome to players and fans from across the world. Inside and outside our grounds, we’d share with them our love of the game and our sense of fair play. And they would enjoy our diverse culture – one that means England would provide a home-from-home welcome for every fan and player.” David Beckham, England’s most capped outfield player, said players across Europe admired the atmosphere apparent at stadiums in England. “There is no bigger support than our fans,” said the former captain. “The passion that’s shown in our country every time someone either puts an England shirt on or any time they play for their club, there are full stadiums everywhere. Every time that I played with some of the biggest players in the world – players like (Zinedine) Zidane and Ronaldo – one of the first questions that they all asked me is what is it like playing in England and how much they like the passion that the fans show. The passion does not just stop at Premiership level, it goes from Sunday League level and it goes all the way through every league that we’ve got up to the Premiership.” Lord Triesman also believes the passion for football in England is key to the bid. He added: “We believe that England can stage a fantastic festival of football, one that will engage the whole country and deliver positive change for football in England and across the world. “Now we must persuade our international friends and colleagues of our case. It’s easy to say, far less easy to do. Our starting point is England’s passion for football. It is our national sport, we have a strong football heritage which runs through every town and city. Every week hundreds of thousand of fans watch games and millions of people across the world and millions in this country – men women and children – play from pub sides to school teams to the FA Premier League and all of them -hundreds of million of worldwide know the FIFA World Cup is the global pinnacle of the game.

For some strange reason, some reports indicated that Prince William was also on hand for yesterday’s event but I couldn’t find any photos of the young prince at all … I guess those reports were wrong — or mebbe he was just hiding behind that soccer ball? In any event, I don’t expect that David Beckham will still be able to play soccer at the professional level when 2018 rolls around (despite what he may think) but it’s still very cool of him to use his starpower to help the cause. The World Cup Championship is the biggest soccer event in the world (and soccer, in turn, is arguably the biggest sport in the world) so it’s a big deal to host the World Cup. Good luck, England! Not that I have any stake in which city gets the Cup at all but on behalf of your Becksness, I hope you win your bid (or at least your runner-up bid).

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