Warming up for the World Cup

In the 10 days leading up to the World Cup Denmark were defeated 1-0 by Australia and their hosts South Africa while Australia went on to lose 3-1 to America. Italy lost 2-1 to Mexico and drew 1-1 away to Switzerland who had been beaten 1-0 by Costa Rica. The Costa Rican would go on to lose 3-0 in Slovakia. Honduras drew blanks in the draw with Azerbaijan and 3-0 loss to Romania in Austria while Serbia who could only draw 0-0 with Poland in the Austrian rain, returned home to get the better of Cameroon in a 4-3 thriller. Cameroon had already lost 3-1 to Portugal who ended their warm up matches with a 3-0 win over Mozambique in Johannesburg. Germany registered a 3-1 home win over Bosnia & Herzegovina while France were stunned 1-0 by China in Reunion and Ivory Coast defeated Japan 2-0 in Switzerland where Paraguay beat Greece by the same score line. A single goal gave Algeria a win over the UAE in Germany while Slovenia beat New Zealand 3-1 in their farewell match before travelling to South Africa where Nigeria defeated North Korea 3-1. Ghana beat Latvia 1-0 in England while Brazil played 2 matches away to African opposition winning 3-0 in Zimbabwe and 5-1 in Tanzania. Spain could only manage one goal in the win over South Korea in Austria before returning home to pulverise Poland 6-0 in Mercia. The Dutch showed good form putting Ghana to the sword 4-1 and hammering Hungary 6-1 before flying out to South Africa.

Big times for Blackpool

Blackpool 3 Cardiff City 2 (Wembley Championship play-off final)

Blackpool earned a place in the Premier League with a 3-2 play-off win against Cardiff in the heat of Wembley. Michael Chopra who touched the ball onto the woodwork in the 3rd minute got behind the Blackpool defence in the 9th minute to tuck away (pictured) a pass from Wittingham and put the Blue Birds ahead, but only 4 minutes later Charlie Adam curled in a free-kick for the Tangerines. Joe Ledley picked up a great pass from Whittingham in the 38th minute to slot the ball past Gilks, but once again Blackpool responded swiftly with Taylor-Fletcher hitting the post and then heading the ball over the line within 2 minutes of the Cardiff goal when a corner-kick caused problems in the Cardiff defence. In first-half stoppage time DJ Campbell dribbled his way into the box and slipped but poked the ball to Brett Ormerod who put the Tangerines ahead for the first time in the match, and with no further goals in the 2nd half Blackpool celebrated promotion to the Premier League.

Party time for Chelsea

A convincing 4-0 home win for Manchester United against Stoke was overshadowed by Chelsea ripping Wigan apart 8-0 to claim the Premier League title at the Bridge with Didier Drogba netting a hat-trick to finish top scorer in the league with 29 goals. Tottenham surrendered a 2 goal lead to lose 4-2 at relegated Burnley and finish 4th while Arsenal ended the season with a 4-0 win at home to Fulham guaranteeing them a spot in the Champions League. Manchester City had to be content with 5th place as they could only draw 1-1 at West Ham for whom Luis Boa Morte scored after returning from injury. Aston Villa suffered a 1-0 home defeat to Blackburn but finished 6th with Liverpool unable to overtake them ending their poor season with a goalless draw at Hull, but finishing ahead of their local rivals Everton who finished with a 1-0 home win against Portsmouth thanks to a Bilyaletdinov belter deep into stoppage time. Portsmouth who had long been relegated to the Championship will be joined by Burnley and Hull City.