FIFA have praised Japan's 2022 World Cup bid after looking at the infrastructure and plans in place. The FIFA inspection team, headed by Chile Football Federation president Harold Mayne-Nicholls, toured stadium and broadcasting facilities in Osaka and Tokyo from Tuesday to Thursday.

"We must say that it is a very balanced product," Mayne-Nicholls said at a press conference on Thursday. "It mixes football traditions with modern stadiums, new technology and environmental projects integrated with the world."

Ghana have an admirable reputation in football, having been the only African side to get out of the group stage at the 2006 FIFA World Cp Germany and this year becoming the first to qualify for South Africa 2010.

Having gained experience since their 2006 attempt, when they lost to Italy and Brazil but beat the Czech Republic and USA, Ghana could be a major threat at Africa’s first FIFA World Cup. As seen on the free bets uk site, the odds for Ghana to go far in the World Cup 2010 is looking good.

If you’ve been more than a little disappointed by England’s performance in the World Cup so far and think that perhaps Fabio Capello should’ve let the WAGs go to South Africa so we could at least be distracted by some fabulous fashion, then you’ll love the World Cup fashion face-off that’s going on at Very.co.uk.

Fifa has admitted that its World Cup finals ticket sales strategy was flawed but said that stadiums will be at least 95 per cent full for all matches after a late surge in purchases by South Africans. beacuase of the press speculation over ticket sales, fans can even place a world cup bet on the percentage of seats full in each game. Fifa are confident it each match will be full though.

FIFA president Sepp Blatter welcomed North Korea's qualification for the 2010 World Cup, saying it showed the game's development around the world was continuing unabated, though the online betting suggests otherwise.

"I think to have the Democratic Republic of Korea at the World Cup is a confirmation that the development of football will not stop, and North Korea has always had good footballers," Blatter told a media briefing on Monday.

"In the past they have been in FIFA's women's competitions, they have had great players in the women's Under-17 and Under-20 teams."

JAPAN
Takeshi Okada's Japan became the first team to book their place after earning a hard-fought 1-0 victory against Uzbekistan in Tashkent, becoming the first team through on sports bet coupons.

Shunji Okazaki grabbed the only goal of the game after nine minutes to book a fourth successive finals berth.

Takeshi Okada: "We played very well. I think we should continue playing this style in the remaining matches."

AUSTRALIA (6 June, 2009)