Spain 0 - 2 Brazil The final matched up Brazil against Spain, in what was predicted to be quite a tight affair. Spain, who were yet to concede a goal in the tournament and had won every game on their way to the final, were going to have to be at their best defensively to stop a Brazil side that boasted two of the tournaments biggest talents, Ricardo Alves and the player of the tournament Jeferson Goncalves. Spain Alvaro Gonzalez (GK), Jose Luis Giera, Carmelo Garrido, Adolfo Acosta, Antonio Martin, Alfredo Cuadrado, Pedro Villa, Vicente Aguilar, Marcelo Rosado, Raul Diaz (GK) Alfredo Cuadrado, Vicente Aguilar Brazil Fabio Vasconcelos (GK), Scharles Santos, Damiao Souza, Marcos Felipe, Jeferson Goncalves, Sandro Soares, Joao Silva, Ricardo Alves, Severino Silva, Antonio Carvalho (GK) Jeferson Goncalves, Ricardo Alves Match Officials: Mariano Trvaglino, Germinal Lubrano, Paul Leversuch, Craig Grundy Attendance: 703 Third Place Playoff China 1 - 0 England The first game of the last day saw the clash for third place in the tournament between England and China. The game got off to a good start for England with Jonathan Gribbin and David Clarke both having chances to give them an early lead, but the Lei Niu saved well on both occasions. The England defence was well marshalled by Will Norman and they limited China to only speculative long range efforts which didn't trouble Skyres in goal.

Football Handicapping

Article Outline: One of the most popular events in the United States of America is the NFL Football League or NCAA College Football. Whether it’s a pro football game or a college football game, sports handicapping has become a common feature and an integral part of these games. This article lists some of the best tips to make loot out of football handicapping.

College and Professional handicapping (NFL):

Football is a popular sport in colleges as well as at the pro level. It’s in college that players learn the sport that assures them a passport to the national football league or the known as the NFL. Football in America came into the limelight, after a match between the Harvard University and McGill University at Montreal in 1874. At that time football handicapping was almost nonexistent. Since then football in America has caused many heartbreaks, but created some legends like Sammy Baugh (QB for Washington Redskins), Johnny Unitas (QB for Baltimore Colts), Bronko Nagurski (RB for Chicago bears), O.J. Simpson (RB for Buffalo Bills) and Gino Marchetti (DE for Dallas Texans).

Football over the years has won many hearts and has been a team game played with an interesting combination of power and strategy. As the game has climbed greater heights, football handicapping too has followed in its footsteps and is considered to be a common occurrence before and after every game. There are many key factors that create an advantage or a disadvantage in terms of sports handicapping in NFL. It all depends upon the picks made by a team, the players form, the defenders and the quarterbacks. Let us look at the key factors that are essential to football handicapping.

Football Handicapping Statistics: The first and the foremost is statistics. A team’s future performance can be judges based on the current statistics. When we say future, it means the next game in the league. Whether it is college football handicapping or pro football, you need to consider the statistics related to offense and defense put up by each team. Some of the details would include the total number of yards in each game, passing yards per game, rushing yards in each game, number of points scored, total number of yards allowed etc. All this needs to be considered in professional football handicapping. Another aspect that plays an important role is the strength of the team as it enters the league or the conference season.

Handicapping advantage:

There is a distinct advantage of playing on home field and this is not just valid for football or NFL but also for NBA, MLB and even the small inter college games. For example, in 2003, LSU destroyed Auburn completely by 31-7 and most of this was due to the home crowd advantage. In this game people had laid only 3 ½ points. A similar incident was where Florida State team traveled to Clemson. It was the hot favorite with 17 points but Florida lost in front of a Clemson home crowd of 86,000 voices. So you need to weight the home field advantage before jumping to a conclusion in football handicapping.

Football handicapping and Trends: Every team has its own story and in sports handicapping, you need to also focus on the trend followed by each team. This will lay open each team’s advantages, disadvantages, weaknesses and strengths. Whether it is a college football team or a pro football championship winner, trends, like some teams following a certain pattern in the dying minutes of the game, can prove useful and lead to effective football handicapping. Then there are trends followed by certain coaches who use a particular strategy with only a particular team like the strategy used by Colorado squad coached by Gary Barnett against Texas Tech Red Raiders.

These are the three key areas that will ensure that you are at an advantageous position during football handicapping.

There are several reasons why you may want to network with online football fans. For example, if you are running a football related blog, having a network with these fans could help you increase the web traffic to your website substantially.

Participate In Online Football Fan Forums

One of the easiest ways to find these online football fans is to participate in football fan forums. There are hundreds of such forums available on the World Wide Web. These forums provide a platform to the football fans from all over the world. On the forum they share their thoughts on the game of football in general and on their favorite teams as well. Considering the countless number of such forums, it is very important for you to narrow down your search on the basis of a specific region or certain teams.

Social Networking Websites

Various social networking websites also make great places to find online football fans. Whether it is Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, or any other social networking website, you can easily find various groups of people dedicated to the game of football. You can even find those passionate fanatics who eat football, drink football, and sleep football.

Football Blogs

A football blog is another great place to network with online football fans. This idea can be more effective if you are running your own football blog. This way, you will not only be able to connect to the huge groups of football fans but you will also be able to attract them to visit your own blog.

What is more, even the official websites of NFL teams can help you network with online football fans. But in order to do this; you will have first register yourself as a member. Once you are a registered member, you can access the “fan zone” and start communicating with other fans.

Nowadays, there are numerous diehard fans of football that collect everything related to their favorite team; they buy scarves, caps, flags, armbands and most importantly, football shirts. Most of them are completely hooked in collecting memorabilia, and in some cases there are people who marvel at anything related to football, even if it's not strictly related to their favorite team. There are many collectors today, who tend to collect shirts and items of other teams as well, simply because they fancy the world of football more than anything else. That is why football shirt websites and online stores exist today in abundance.

Whether you are a diehard fan yourself, or you simply want to give a gift to a friend who likes football, these shirt websites are great resource. For people who are indeed crazy over football, there is no better gift than a football shirt or kit. These people can appreciate the gesture and the value of such a gift, more than anyone else. Websites make this easy; you can find what you need online, in really competitive and reasonable prices.

If you are looking for a football shirt website, there are some factors to consider.

First of all, you need to determine the reason for which you are buying a shirt. Is it for you or for someone else? Is it a gift for fun, or is it a gift to someone who is playing football as an amateur or professional player? This can help you determine which website is most likely to meet your needs. Football shirt should fit the person well, so as not to feel any kind of discomfort, especially if playing a match. If you are buying for a friend of yours who will use it to play, then you need to consider weather as well. If weather is usually cold, or chilly, buy a long sleeved shirt, but if weather is fair, an airy shirt is highly recommended. If you are buying a gift for someone who is a football enthusiast, then you probably want to buy a new shirt, which is trendier and belongs to the latest football season. Most teams tend to change their uniforms every now and then, so make sure that you buy the latest one, provided that you can afford it.

Most of the football shirt websites and stores offer authentic shirts that come directly from the big football clubs from all over the world. Some teams are definitely more popular; Real Madrid, Barcelona, Milan, Manchester United, are teams with fans from all over the world, who go online and buy the shirt of their favorite team and player. Since the original ones are somewhat pricey, it's recommended to do some research before buying; not all football shirt websites sell original shirts, so you need to make sure that the one you purchase is a good value for money.

Online stores offer a great variety of football shirts and in some cases of the entire kit; caps, shorts, goalkeeper gloves and footwear can also be found. Browse the football directories online and find the football shirt website that can meet your needs to the full.