Rafa Márquez made his public farewells to the club this evening in the Sala Paris – a fitting location for the adieu of one of the heroes of the 2006 Champions League winning team.

Just after six o’clock this evening, Rafa Marquez, flanked by club President Sandro Rosell, made his appearance in the Sala Paris at the Nou Camp. The Mexican bid farewell to the club where over seven seasons he has become the eighth foreigner to make most appearances. Meeting with the President Márquez had previously been received by the President in his office and was accompanied in the Sala Paris by Josep Guardiola, club captain Carles Puyol and Andoni Zubizarreta, as well as Director of External Relations Manel Estiarte and the boss of the Football training area, Jordi Mestre, all of them keen to show their respect for the departing Mexican. Standing ovation Rafa Márquez is not known for wearing his heart on his sleeve, but he was close to tears after his farewell speech when he received a long standing ovation from all present. Márquez also admitted that his most special memory at the club was the 2006 Champions League win in Paris and the huge mural celebrating that win on the wall of the Sala Paris proved a fitting backdrop to the farewell of a player who gave so much to the club.

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Barça have started the preseason with a win away to Norwegian side Valerenga. Víctor Sánchez, Maxwell, Benja and Keita scored the visitors’ goals. Adriano Correia made his debut in the second half.

Barça have got off to a great start, with a line-up containing mainly reserve team players, but that was still able to show the Scandinavians just what Barcelona’s football is all about. They played lively and effective football, and went ahead twice in the first half thanks to exquisite goals from Víctor Sánchez and Maxwell. Valerenga scored in between from the penalty spot. The second half saw the game grow in intensity, with Adriano coming on at half time. Barça sentenced the game with goals from Benja and Keita. The home side, with fresher legs, kept fighting and managed to pull one back to make it 2-4. Making tests Pep Guardiola used all five of the first team players in his starting line-up: Pinto, Milito, Maxwell, Víctor Sánchez and Bojan, who was made captain and played wide on the left. The manager also used Jonathan dos Santos in midfield. The Mexican added fluidity to a dominant Barça side, and it was he who shot first, but saw his effort turned away by stopper Hirchfeld (min 11). Víctor Sánchez scores first The opening goals came soon after. In the 12th minute, on a damp surface, Víctor Sánchez had the honour of scoring the first goal of the preseason, following a one-two with Jonathan Soriano, and finishing off with a devastating strike. Valerenga, who are second in their league, replied with confidence. Singh soon pulled level with a penalty blown somewhat rigorously against Milito. Maxwell puts FCB ahead again As if nothing had happened, Barça kept pushing forward, trying with a series of long efforts that came close to finding the net. The Norwegians, meanwhile, allowed Barça to dictate the possession and hoped their strikers could deliver the goods. José Manuel Pinto was called upon on several occasions, before in the 35th minute, a powerful drive from Maxwell from the edge of the area went straight into the top left corner of the goal defended by Hirchfeld. Change of team in the break The Barça eleven was completely changed at half time. Guardiola even switched from 4-3-3 to a 4-2-3-1. The majority were reserve team players (8), while the captain’s armband was passed on to Keita, and Adriano came on for his debut on the left. There was a particular cheer for the entrance of Ibrahimovic. The second half started strong, in the 52nd minute Benja took advantage of a defensive error by the home side to make it 1-3. Raining goals Barça were feeling more and more comfortable, and Keita then scored the fourth with a delightful header in the six yard box, following a cross from Edu Oriol (min 64). Valerenga once again showed their capacity to react and bounced straight back through Zagic, who beat Miño with a terrific strike from twenty metres (min 65). They could have even come back to within one goal, but Fellah’s free kick hit the bar. Great Adriano The Valerenga changes and tiredness on a rainy evening meant the pace eased towards the end. Miño made up for the goal conceded previously by making two great saves. The Oslo based side made good of their stronger physiques and continued causing problems for a Barça side that had eased off in attack. The most active Barça striker was certainly Adriano. Hirchfeld was called on to stop him from scoring his first goal for his new club on several occasions. A good debut.

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While many star players like Drogba and Adebayor come from Africa, the teams of their continent have never really performed in the World Cup finals. But what better time will there ever be for an African team to be successful in the competition? The World Cup is in their continent, so maybe their teams will finally step up onto the world stage.

Africa has 5 teams in the world cup and so far only one of them has won a match. Ghana seems to be Africa’s best hope of leaving the group stage as they currently lead Group D with one point more than Germany. The two teams meet in two days to decide the winner of the group, Germany have odds of 8/15 with to win the match whilst Ghana have odds of 11/2.

Things looked grim for Africa when its highest ranking team, Egypt, missed out on a world cup spot to Algeria after they both got the same number of points and the same goal difference in the qualifiers. Algeria won the play off 1-0. After drawing with England, Algeria has only one point in Group C, making qualification very unlikely.

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This are our predictions using Goal Fanatic FIFA World cup Simulator

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Fantazzle Fantasy Sports and Goal Fanatic are proud to announce the 2010 Free World Cup Bracket Game. Enter for free at Fantazzle.com for your chance to win up to $1,000 in cash prizes.

Fill out your bracket by the start of the World Cup on June 11 to be qualified to win the cash prizes. The most accurate bracket wins $700, while second most accurate wins $150. Cash prizes are also rewarded to the most friend referrals ($100) and the most tiebreaker points earned ($50). It takes less than a minute to sign up for a Fantazzle account. All you need to do is enter your email address and create a password. If you win, the cash prizes will be immediately into your account after the championship match on July 11th. Enjoy the World Cup!

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So Fabio has announced his final 23 for South Africa. Has he made the right choices....only time will tell.

What do others think of his choices and who would you have left at home?

The roster:

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The World Cup is fast approaching and now with all the major European seasons coming to an end fans of rival clubs all join together to support their nation as they attempt to win the World Cup. Football is indeed a national obsession and also a religion to many die hard supporters.A lot of places in England, which is where I am from is full of houses with the national flag hanging from the windows and usually when the tournament kicks off many fans wearing the national strip and you also see fans with the flag painted on their face.

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www.GoalFanatic.com is going to give away one original replica of the Brazilian team! (worth $70) In order to participate you must register and participate on GoalFanatic! The user that scores more goals ( participates the most) is going to win the jersey!

In addition to the Brazilian jersey GoalFanatic.com is going to give away one of the following country jerseys: England, Italy, Spain, Brazil, Argentina, France, Germany, South Africa or Mexico!! The First and second top Goal Scores (top contributors) are going to win the prices!! :) Register now and Start participating!!

Winners will be announced on June 26!!

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It is almost football tradition that Germany never ‘fail’ at the FIFA World Cup. They seemingly always make it to the latter stages, and often to the semi-finals, or indeed the final.


They’re a dogged and consistent team, that always have strong squads, with solid defences, and potent centre forwards.

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