Spain edge South Korea in World Cup warm-up match
European champions Spain eked out a 1-0 victory over South Korea in a World Cup finals warm-up match here on Thursday. The match had promised to be an exciting meeting, with Spain hoping to exorcise the ghosts of the 2002 World Cup, when they were stunned by South Korea in a controversial quarter-final in which the Spaniards had two goals disallowed. But the two sides failed to impress during much of the game, with just eight days to go before the tournament kicks off, despite a late goal by...

Maradona still searching for starting 11 as World Cup opener with Nigeria approaches
PRETORIA, South Africa — Maradona says he's still uncertain about his starting 11 less than two weeks before Argentina's World Cup opener against Nigeria. The Argentina coach held his first news Conference in South Africa on Tuesday and said he would not know his first team until just days before the June 12 opener. Among other things, Maradona is trying to find places for all of his talented forwards: FIFA player of the year Lionel Messi of Barcelona, Carlos Tevez of Manchester City,...

Brazil beats Zimbabwe 3-0 in WCup warmup but has injury scare; Paraguay beats Greece 2-0
Brazil's national Soccer team poses for a picture prior to the friendly match against Zimbabwe, in Harare, Zimbabwe, Wednesday, June 2, 2010. Back row from left: Thiago Silva, Julio Cesar, Gilberto Silva, Lucio, Maicon and Felipe Melo; Front row, from left: Robinho, Kaka, Michel Bastos, Elano and Luis Fabiano. Brazilian team is preparing for the upcoming South Africa World Cup, which gets underway on June 11. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) (AP) LONDON — Brazil easily beat Zimbabwe 3-0 in a...

Maradona still searching for starting 11
PRETORIA, South Africa (AP) - Maradona says he’s still uncertain about his starting 11 less than two weeks before Argentina’s World Cup opener against Nigeria. The Argentina coach held his first news Conference in South Africa on Tuesday and said he would not know his first team until just days before the June 12 opener. Among other things, Maradona is trying to find places for all of his talented forwards: FIFA player of the year Lionel Messi of Barcelona, Carlos Tevez of...

G-20 finance chiefs, central bankers to meet in South Korea amid European financial turmoil
Seoul, South Korea — Europe's Debt woes are set to dominate talks as Finance mandarins from the newly powerful G-20 group of rich and Developing nations meet this week to push ahead with reforms of the Global Economy. The continent's Sovereign Debt Crisis has seemed like an echo of 2008 when a banking System breakdown in the United States pushed the world into its most serious economic Crisis in eight decades and raised fears of another Great Depression. World markets have tanked amid...

England snubs Walcott, Italy drops 2 strikers on World Cup deadline day
London — Germany will bring six strikers to South Africa but Italy dropped two as some of the leading World Cup contenders made late decisions on their teams Tuesday, hours before the roster deadline. England dropped Theo Walcott but kept injured Gareth Barry, while the host Bafana Bafana left all-time top scorer Benni McCarthy off their teams. Germany coach Joachim Loew promised to take an attack-minded squad and his only late change was to take out 23-year-old defender Andreas Beck....

England snubs Walcott, South Africa leaves out McCarthy on World Cup deadline day
London — England dropped Theo Walcott from its World Cup team but kept injured Gareth Barry, while host South Africa left its all-time top scorer Benni McCarthy off its squad Tuesday as final rosters for the tournament came due. Although many of the 32 qualifiers had already named their final squads ahead of FIFA's deadline, defending champion Italy and three-time winner Germany were leaving it until late. Four years after former coach Sven-Goran Eriksson took Walcott, age 17 at the...

Beware Wall Street's World Cup Predictions
Perhaps it's considered good branding for a top-flight Investment Bank to issue its predictions for this year's Soccer World Cup: Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and UBS have all published their own guides to the games. But these Banks would do better to heed their own advice to investors: past performance is not indicative of future results. To the discerning fan, their predictions are unapologetically shackled to the tournament's long history — and ignore major changes to the game over the past...

Can Soccer's World Cup Save Honduras?
Before the final match of the 1938 Soccer World Cup, Italian dictator Benito Mussolini offered his nation's Team a few words of encouragement: "Win, or die." Italy won. While Honduran President Porfirio Lobo took a softer approach when sending off his Team last month, he didn't have to remind players of the stakes in their country's first World Cup tournament since its debut in 1982. The Honduran players are acutely aware of the weight of National expectations on their shoulders when they take...