Soccer Rules

Newcastle and Arsenal kick off their 2011-12 Premier League campaigns at St. James Park, as both teams split two league meetings before the Gunners enjoyed a 4-0 success in the Carling Cup. Transfer news has run rampant around both clubs

Liverpool FC and Sunderland AFC will kick off the 2011-12 Barclays Premier League against each other Saturday. Fans at Anfield will be adjusting to the new rosters for each side, as both teams were busy during the offseason

Manchester United has enjoyed its United States summer tour by winning four exhibition contests versus Major League Soccer opponents, but the trip ends with a monumental

It’s not every day that the Seattle Sounders get the opportunity to host the defending English Premiere League champions, but that’s exactly what’s going to occur on Wednesday night at CenturyLink Field. The game will be televised on Fox Soccer with the first kick

The English Premier League was launched in 1992 amidst a blaze of publicity. Live football was beamed into our living rooms on a much more regular basis and the face of football was changed forever. More money came into the game

There will be a new World Cup winner come July 11th in Soccer City, Johannesburg. After beating Germany 1-0, Spain are heading into their first final as the favorites over the Netherlands. They are listed +110 at most sports books, while the Netherlands

Group C is one of the more interesting groups for soccer fans paying close attention to the World Cup, and is not limited to England and United States fans. For the U.S., win and they are in

No matter what happens in the other game in Group C, the match up between Slovenia and England is simple: whichever team wins is advancing. A loss would keep Slovenia with four points and would give England five; a win for Slovenia would put them at seven points and keep England with two

Chile should come into this match up as the favorite, especially after Honduras struggled mightily to qualify for the field. For Honduras, Carlos Pavon (Real Espana) and Wilson Palacios (Tottenham Hotspur) lead the way, while Chile is a more balanced team and stronger on both sides of the ball

If there was ever a mismatch in soccer, this would be it. Brazil is the strongest team – along with Spain – to make this year’s World Cup, while North Korea is not only the weakest team in the field by far, but also the weakest team to ever qualify for the World Cup

Any team that is stuck in the same group as Italy will be fighting for second place, and that is the case with both New Zealand and Slovakia. Realistically, New Zealand is not very good and does not have much of a chance of advancing, which makes this game much more important for Slovakia

Quite possibly the most important match up of the first round, both Ivory Coast and Portugal are trying to fight to determine who moves on to the next round as Brazil is a shoo in to move on, and North Korea is getting knocked out no matter what.

Italy will move on in this group, and is looking to repeat as champions from the previous World Cup in 2006. The Italians are the best team that nobody is really talking about, and seems to be somehow flying under the radar this year, ready to take some of the top dogs off guard

Cameroon is a solid African team who will be relying on one of the world’s best players in Samuel Eto’o of Inter Milan. On the other side, Japan is not particularly strong, relying mostly on domestic players and no real European talent

Don’t look now, but Netherlands is a dark horse to win the World Cup, and one of the five or so best teams in the field. While Denmark is a solid team, they won’t be able to compete because of a lack of star power. Denmark’s best chance at an attack is through Nicklas Bendtner, a big, strong forward for Arsenal

Even with the loss of Michael Ballack because of an ankle injury, Germany should win this game fairly easily. Germany is the stronger team, although Australia is riding high from their last World Cup performance

This is one of the most even match ups in the first round. Both Serbia and Ghana have a few world class talents, and Serbia is especially strong on defense, with Newmanja Vidic, Branislav Ivanovic and Nevan Subotic on the back end

Slovenia is one of the most underrated teams in the field, while Algeria is one of the weakest teams. Expect a 1-0 or 2-0 win for Slovenia, because of their tough defense. Algeria barely qualified, as did Slovenia

In another one of the most intriguing match ups of the first round, England should be a favorite over the United States and is likely to win, probably 2-1. Wayne Rooney is by far the best player on either team, and if the United States can stop him, this game might be close

Argentina’s Lionel Messi could single handedly beat any team in the World Cup by himself. As such, Argentina should beat an over matched Nigeria team by a goal or two. The Argentinians are head and shoulders better than anyone that Nigeria will provide, so expect Messi to score

This is one of the more evenly matched games in the opening round of the World Cup. While South Korea has World Cup experience, having been in the last seven events and reaching the semifinals in 2002, Greece is a team that will not go home easily, especially because it is their second ever World Cup appearance

Coming into this game, France is the big favorite, not only because they are one of the better teams in the World Cup, but also because Uruguay struggled to qualify for the field. Though France struggled to qualify, which surprised people, they should still win this game 2-0, 2-1 or 3-1

Heading into this match, Mexico is the better team, hands down. But you can not list them as favorites, because South Africa is the home team, even if it is their first World Cup appearance since 2002, and their third World Cup appearance ever. From a talent perspective, Mexico is overwhelming, but every host team in the World Cup has made it to the second round.

As one of the favorites to win the whole World Cup, Spain should have no problem beating up on Switzerland, who was embarrassed in the 2008 Euros and has made no strides toward improving as a club

With the 2010 World Cup in South Africa in the not so distant future, teams are trying to qualify at a frantic pace for the first ever World Cup in Africa. As of the first round, 23 of the 32 teams have qualified for the world’s most prestigious soccer event, most notably Brazil, Germany, Italy, Argentina and Spain, who have all qualified for at least nine straight World Cup events. Both Spain and the Netherlands had cake walks to their qualifying process, finishing a combined 19-0-0 to earn their spots. Both teams are serious contenders to win it all in South Africa next year. At +500