The European World Cup Qualifiers for the 2010 South Africa World Cup Tournament were held in various parts of Europe over the weekend.

In Group 1, Albania drew with Sweden 0-0, Hungary drew with Denmark 0-0 and Portugal defeated Malta 4-0.

In Group 2, Latvia defeated Moldova 2-1, Israel drew with Switzerland 2-2, and Greece defeated Luxembourg 3-0.

In Group 3, Poland drew with Slovenia 1-1, Slovakia defeated Northern Ireland 2-1, while San Marino and the Czech Republic have yet to play their first European World Cup qualifying match.

In Group 4, Germany defeated Liechtenstein 6-0, Wales defeated Azerbaijan 1-0, while Russia and Finland have yet to play their first European World Cup qualifying match.

In Group 5, Turkey defeated Armenia 2-0, Belgium defeated Estonia 3-2, and Spain defeated Bosnia Herzegova 1-0.

In Group 6, Ukraine defeated Belarus 1-0, England defeated Andorra 2-0, and Croatia defeated Kazakhstan 3-0.

In Group 7, Lithuania defeated Romania 3-0, Serbia defated Faroe Islands 2-0, Austria defeated France 3-1.

In Group 8, Republic of Ireland defated Georgia 2-1, Italy defeated Cyprus 2-1, Bulgaria drew with Montenegro 2-2.

In Group 9, Macedonia defeated Scotland 1-0, Norway drew with Iceland 2-2, while the Netherlands have yet to play their first European World Cup qualifying match.

Eight groups of six teams and one group of five will contest the European qualifying competition for the 2010 FIFA World Cup to be held in South Africa. The nine group-winners will qualify directly, while the highest ranked eight of the nine second-placed teams will contest home and away play-off matches for the remaining four places.

The favorites to qualify directly by becoming group winners in the 2010 World Cup European Qualifiers are Portugal for Group 1, Greece for Group 2, Czech Republic for Group 3, Germany for Group 4, Spain for Group 5, England for Group 6, France for Group 7, Italy for Group 8 and Netherlands for Group 9.

Check out the latest odds, game prop bets and betting lines for the 2010 World Cup and visit the 2010 World Cup Sportsbook.

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A lone goal by Spanish striker Fernando Torres was the only goal that mattered as Spain ousted Germany 1-0 to bring them their first major title in 44 years. Spain are now the Euro 2008 Champions, and look forward to carry that streak into the coming 2010 World Cup to be held in South Africa.

Spain’s head coach Luis Aragones will look to retire as the team’s manager, but it seems that Spain might maintain its key players like Fernando Torres, Sergio Ramos, Andres Iniesta, David Villa and Xavi Hernandez in their quest to become the 2010 World Cup Champions.

Oddsmakers consider Spain as one of the big favorites to win the 2010 World Cup. Of course, other considerations include South American teams like Brazil and Argentina.

Bet on Spain to win 2010 World Cup.

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Fabio Capello, the former manager of Italian Serie A club AC Milan and the previous manager of Spanish La Liga champions Real Madrid, will be now in charge of the England national football team on a four-and-a-half year contract as confirmed by the Football Association just recently.Fabio Capello replaces Steve McLaren, who was dismissed from his post as head coach when England failed to qualify for the UEFA Euro 2008 finals which will be held in Austria and Switzerland. Fabio Capello, a 61 year-old Italian, becomes England’s second foreign manager. Prior to Fabio Capello, Swedish football manager Sven-Goran Eriksson once coached England.

Fabio Capello’s latest achievement includes leading Real Madrid to the 2006-2007 Spanish La Liga championship. However, Capello was sacked despite the achievement. Apart from that, Fabio Capello once led AC Milan to four Italian Serie A championships and a UEFA Champions League title. He also won an Italian Serie A championship with AS Roma in 2001. Cappello also helped Juventus capture two Italian Serie A championships before the club was stripped from their titles following the 2006 match-fixing scandal.

Capello hasn’t had any employment since then, but certainly his successful career is something that England fans hope will rub off on their national team. Fabio Capello’s first test as the new coach of the England national football team will be a friendly against Switzerland this coming February 2008 at the Wembley Stadium in London. The first real competitive action for England though will be for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers which will kick off on September 2008.

For the 2010 FIFA World Cup, England will be in the European Qualifying Group 6 along with Croatia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra. Croatia and England are favorites to top the group.

Meanwhile, 2010 FIFA World Cup betting odds on who will win the 2010 FIFA World Cup are as follows:

Brazil +400

Argentina +525

Italy +900

Spain +1000

Germany +1000

England +1100

France +1400

Netherlands +1400 

To find out more about 2010 FIFA World Cup futures betting odds, then visit the Betus sportsbook and look under the Futures/props heading then look under the soccer futures tab to see the latest 2010 FIFA World Cup futures betting odds .

The 2010 World Cup qualifying draw was held and some interesting matchups will take place. The United States has a first-round bye before they play the winner of an opening-round series between Barbados and Dominica. The U.S. team will be heavily favored to make the semifinals, where they will probably face Cuba. Cuba will play the winner of the Aruba-Antigua and Barbuda opening series.

Mexico leads CONCACAF Group Two and will play the winner of Belize vs. St. Kitts and Nevis in the second round. Six teams will make the CONCACAF finals, with the top three in round-robin play during that round moving into the World Cup field. The fourth-place team from the regional finals will play the fifth-place club from South America for another spot in the tournament.

In Europe it will be Croatia and England in the same group. “Everyone in Croatia was saying ‘Give us England again,’ but I wanted to avoid England,” said Croatia coach Slaven Bilic, “It is a very, very hard draw because they are by far the best team from the second pot. The only team I wanted to avoid was England. We are not afraid of them, but they have got a terrific team and brilliant players. They should jell and they are going to jell.” Other soccer betting teams in the World Cup Group 6 are Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Andorra.

Italy has an easy grouping of Bulgaria, Ireland, Cyprus, Georgia and Montenegro. “Bulgaria, Ireland, Georgia and Montenegro are countries that do not have a great soccer tradition, but they are difficult teams,” Italy coach Roberto Donadoni said. “On paper, Bulgaria could be the one that competes with us for qualification. Like all countries from the former Yugoslavia, Montenegro is a stubborn team. Let’s not even talk about Ireland. We are familiar with Georgia, having faced them in qualifying for the European Championship.”

Germany has Russia, Finland and Wales in their group. France is in a tough group with Romania and Serbia. Only the winners of each of the nine European groups are guaranteed spots in the finals. The eight best runners-up will move on to playoffs for the other four spots. Greece has Israel, Switzerland, Moldova, Latvia and Luxembourg in Group Two.

The Asian part of the draw has the five winners and five runners-up moving to another stage of group games to decide four Asian qualifiers for the tournament. Host South Africa doesn’t have to qualify, but was still in the draw because it qualifies for the African Cup of Nations. Five African group winners will advance to the championship.

Australia and China were not happy with the World Cup 2010 qualifying draw as they were put together with Iraq and Qatar in a “group of death”.
Only the first and second in each group from the third round make it to the fourth and final round which means one of those three will not advance. “It is one of the toughest groups but at the same time we have enough information of these countries so we can prepare well,” said Australia’s coach Rob Baan.

China’s manager Wei Shaohui said the grouping was “the worst in the history of the China team.” He does not believe the group is impossible.

“I don’t accept the idea of a ‘group of death’ — one can only say the China team is facing a lot of difficulties,” he said. “I believe our team members will see this as a force of motivation.”

Japan has qualified for the last three World Cups and will take on Bahrain, Oman and Thailand in Group 2 when qualifying starts on February 6. Japan Football Association official Junji Ogura said they were very pleased with the draw. “We have experience against Oman and Bahrain so they are very familiar to us and we are very lucky. This draw is very good for us,” he said.

South Korea has qualified for the past six World Cups and will face arch-rivals North Korea in Group 3. The good news for South Korea is that the other two in their group are Jordan and Turkmenistan.

Saudi Arabia looks to have an easy group as they face Uzbekistan, Lebanon and Singapore. Another grouping has Iran the favorite against Kuwait, United Arab Emirates and Syria.

The winners and runners up from each group move to round four where they will be split into two groups of five with the first and second placed teams qualifying for South Africa.