FIFA World Cup 2010 - Facts and Stats

WINNING FACTS

• Spain became the first side ever to win the World Cup after losing their opening match.
• First time to win outside their continent since Brazil in 1958.
• Managed only 8 goals in 7 matches, 3 fewer than the previous lowest total in a winning campaign.
• Only the second reigning European Champions to lift the World Cup after West Germany, who won the 1972 Euro and 1974 World Cup.
• Didn't concede a single goal in all 4 knockout matches, becoming the first team to keep a clean sheet en route to winning the Trophy.
• The 2 goals conceded by Spain in the entire Cup equaled the joint fewest allowed in a World Cup by the winning team (France in 1998; Italy in 2006)
• 32 years after Argentina's Daniel Bertoni scored the last extra-time goal against Holland in a World Cup final, Iniesta repeated the feat

ROLL OF HONOUR

• Golden Ball (Best Player of the World Cup) - Uruguay's Diego Forlan
• Golden Boot (Top Scorer) - Germany's Thomas Mueller
• Golden Glove (Best Goalkeeper) - Spain's Iker Casillas
• Best Young Player - Germany's Thomas Mueller
• Fair Play Award - Spain

WORLD CUP IN NUMBERS

• 16 - Most goals scored, by Germany
• 00 - Fewest goals scored, by Algeria and Honduras
• 01 - Fewest goals conceded, by Portugal and Switzerland
• 12 - Most goals conceded, by North Korea
• 37 - Oldest scorer, Mexico's Blanco vs France
• 20 - Youngest scorer, Germany's Mueller vs Australia
• 13 - Number of times team beating 3rd placed team has won Cup
• 164 - Total goal scored in 64 matches 
• 03 - Mins, Fastest goal scored from kick off, by Thomas Mueller vs Argentina 

Who Won The World Cup - Spain, South Africa or Octopus Paul?

FIFA World Cup 2010 just ended yesterday. World got their new champion - Spain. Yesterday Spain played their first world cup final and they just made it to one out of one... 100% record of winning world cup final match against the Netherlands' 0% record (zero out of three - 1974, 1978 and 2010). - it's like BULLS EYE . Spain became the first European team to win the world cup outside their continent. Espana el genador.

  

Another winner of this world cup is the host South Africa. They are simply superb in organizing the biggest tournament of the world football. They proved whole world wrong by their modern and technologically advanced show. "The world has seen this country in a different light" - said South African President Jacob Zuma.

  

The third and final winner is Paul the psychic German Octopus. He won by 8-0. He predicted the winner of seven matches played by Germany and the final between Spain and Netherlands and every time he was 100% correct. Aquarium employees presented him with a golden cup.

Mark Webber Collides With Team Mate And Misses The Hat-Trick

Mark Webber missed the hat-trick of victories; He had been heading for his hat-trick after starting on pole position, but unfortunately collided with his team mate Sebastian Vettel 18 laps from the finish. Vettel started the race level on points with Webber at the top of the standings but paid the price for trying to pass the Aussie down the inside on lap 40. The two cars collided, Vettel's right rear tyre deflated and he spun off into retirement while Webber went off track but managed to come back. McLaren completed the one-two finish after that incident. McLaren's Lewis Hamilton celebrated his first win of the season in Turkey on Sunday. Seven time world champion Michael Schumacher missed the podium finish by only one positon, in the next race we could see Schumacher on the podium after a long time. Lets hope for the best.

To see the result of Turkish Grand Prix:
Turkish Grand Prix Result

Driver standings after seven races:
Drivers' Point Table

Team standings after seven races:
Constructors' Point Table

Next Race:
Canadian Grand Prix (Montreal) : 11-13 June'2010

Mark Webber - On A Hat-Trick Of Victories

Aussie Mark Webber's excellent form continues; he completed an impressive hat-trick of pole positions on Saturday when he clocked the fastest time for Red Bull in qualifying for Sunday's Turkish Grand Prix. The 33-year old drivers' championship leader, winner of the last two races in Spain and Monaco, in the best form of his career and looking forward to complete a hat-trick of race win on Sunday. He has now claimed four pole this season, and the Red Bull team have taken all seven pole this season.
Michael Schumacher claimed the 5th position in the starting grid for the first time this season, may be we could see Michael on the podium on Sunday.

To see the result of Monaco Grand Prix:
Monaco Grand Prix Result

Driver standings after six races:
Drivers' Point Table

Team standings after six races:
Constructors' Point Table

Mark Webber Wins Spanish Grand Prix

Mark Webber secured his first victory of the season and the third of his career on Sunday when he cruised to a magnificent triumph for his team Red Bull in the Spanish Grand Prix.
Webber crossed the checkered flag 24 seconds ahead of home hero two-times champion Spaniard Fernando Alonso of Ferrari. Briton Lewis Hamilton of McLaren looked certain to finish second until he crashed due to a tyre puncture on his penultimate lap of the 66 laps contest.
Michael Schumacher finished fourth, his best performance of the season so far.

To see the result of last weekend's Spanish Grand Prix:
Spanish Grand Prix Result

Driver standings after five races:
Drivers' Point Table

Team standings after five races:
Constructors' Point Table

Next Race:
Monaco Grand Prix (Monte Carlo): 13 -16 May

Chennai Becomes The Super King Of IPL

Chennai Super Kings have become the king of IPL-3, they did an upset to win over favorites Mumbai Indians in the final. Starting from the toss, everything was favoring CSK. The date of final was 25th (Numerological number 7), 7 is the lucky number for CSK's captain MS Dhoni... whatever Dhoni did that day was clicked. Dhoni won the toss, elected to bat first. After 12 overs struggling at 68/3, then Dhoni came and with Suresh Raina put up a very good partnership of 72 runs from just 35 balls. Finally they finished the innings at 168/5, the highest score ever in an IPL final. Despite Mumbai Indians' captain Sachin Tendulkar's responsible 48 off 45 balls with an injured finger and Kieron Pollard's late storm (27 off 10 balls), MI finished their innings 22 runs behind CSK. When everything was working perfect for CSK, on the other hand nothing was going MI's way. They dropped Suresh Raina twice, finally he finished with an unbeaten 57 off 35 and took the match away from MI. Opener Shikhar Dhawan played eight balls before falling for a duck. Abhishek Nayar, promoted to No.3, slammed 27, but took up too much time. Harbhajan Singh at No.4 lasted for two balls only. In form batsman Saurabh Tiwary out for a two ball duck. Kieron Pollard, in the most bizarre decision of all, finally came out to bat at No.8 when MI needed 55 off 18 balls. He tried his level best and smashed a whirlwind 27 in just 10 balls before falling to a trap planned by Dhoni and bowler Morkel. What was Pollard doing in the dugout for 17 overs???    
Chennai Super Kings, the most consistent team of IPL, finally lifted the trophy in the third attempt.
Final Positions of the teams as follows:
Winner : CSK
Runner Up : MI
No.3 : RCB
No.4 : DC
No.5 : DD
No.6 : KKR
No.7 : RR
No.8 : KXP
IPL3 is over, we will have to wait for almost a year for IPL4... it will be bigger than this, 10 teams, 94 matches.

        

Who Will Be The King Of IPL 2010

Finally, after six weeks of exciting cricket, we've come to the final day of IPL-3. Countdown has begun for the grand finale between Mumbai Indians and Chennai Super Kings on Super Sunday. It's a battle between two champions, two gladiators, Sachin Tendulkar and Mahendra Singh Dhoni. Billions of people across India and other cricket loving countries of the world are getting themselves free for three hours and fifteen minutes to watch the final encounter of this extremely popular tournament. 

Chance of Sachin Tendulkar to play the final is the million dollar question now. The legend, who turned 37 on Saturday, had split the webbing of his right hand during the semi final clash against Royal Challengers Bangalore. Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar's unavailability could put Mumbai Indians one step behind in the race of number one. MI have been the most consistent team of the tournament, losing only 4 matches out of 15, they will be playing their first IPL final. 

On the other hand, MSD's Chennai Super Kings will be playing their second IPL final after 2008. They barely limped into the semi final courtesy a late blitz from their captain MSD against Kings XI Punjab. But after that they just thrashed last year's champion Deccan Chargers in the semi final. Dhoni is a master at playing smart cricket and don't hesitate to take bold & unexpected decisions, and somehow has the knack of making every decision work.

I am also waiting for the big final to watch, it’s almost seven hours to go.