Article by frenchparkpat

With 27 days to go before the big kick off in South Africa, thoughts are already turning to future tournaments. This very morning David Beckham has handed in England’s official world cup bid book for the 2018 competition. The document is over 1750 pages long and also contains a bid for 2022 just in case. As I said yesterday, it should have been back in England long ago. Beckham spoke of his passion for football and the passion of the country for football and the diverse cultural background which would probably see every game sold out with supporters from England alone. Sepp Blatter thanked him and said he had received a call from new Prime Minister David Cameron to tell him his government were fully behind the bid and also fully behind World Cup 2010 in South Africa. What was that song again? Oh ye. Footballs coming home, its coming home, it’s coming……. Sing along now. Beckham may now take a coaching role with England for the tournament since his hopes of playing were dashed by an achilles injury.Back to today and Fabio is reported to have said he may switch to a 3-5-2 formation if Gareth Barry isn’t fit for the start of the competition, which would be a big switch as he has favored 4-4-2 during most of his managerial career. It probably would give him options in the middle with regard to playing Gerrard and Lampard together, a combination that most fans haven’t been happy about as it doesn’t seem to work out. Some high profile stars have decided to call it a day on the international front with Dimitar Berbatov saying he concentrating on club football. The 29 year old won 74 caps and scored a record 48 goals for the Bulgarians, who didn’t make it to South Africa this summer. Ruud Van Nistelrooy feels his Holland career is probably over after 64 caps. He didn’t make the Dutch squad and he will be 34 this summer. He hasn’t made an official announcement yet.On the home front transfer speculation is off and running with news that Man United are preparing a 45m bid for David Villa and others saying he will reject it in favor of Barcelona. Cesc Fabergas is said to be considering his future at Arsenal with Barca ready to pounce if he decides to go. Inter Milan are looking to land Steven Gerrard with a view to keeping Jose at the club. Carlo Ancelotti would like to sign Fernando Torres, but who wouldn’t, and Spurs are trying to land Sulley Muntari and David Silva. Finally for today Roy Hodgson is said to be favorite to land the managers role for the Great Britain team at the second biggest show on earth, the Olympic Games in London in 2012. See what spread betting odds you can get on some of those stories.

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frenchparkpat