Nana na na ... nana na na ... heeeeeey! You know the rest. It's inevitable that just about every team (all except one, to be precise) will be knocked out of the running for the World Cup at some stage. Yet it still never fails to surprise - and maybe hurt just a wee bit - when the big guys and our favourites get knocked out. Today we check out the events that led to the cheers and tears in the round of 16 for World Cup 2010.

Uruguay          2:1       Korea Republic

Korea dominated possession but certainly didn’t dominate goal scoring. They also dominated yellow cards ...

USA                 1:2       Ghana

Much has already been said about this match, in football circles and the mainstream media! The USA were the better team on stats, although they did get 3 yellow cards to Ghana's 2. Andre Ayew from Ghana was elected man of the match.

Netherlands     2:1       Slovakia

Netherlands have now won all 14 of their matches so far.

Brazil               3:0       Chile

Chile had plenty of shots and plenty of possession time, but unfortunately not plenty of goals.

Argentina        3:1       Mexico

This game outcome led Javier Aguirre to quit as Mexico's coach. People are describing it as a very fair match, with a couple of unlucky goals from Argentina.

Germany         4:1       England

Goal powerhouses Germany did it again! This was a pretty predictable score, actually ... but poor England are suffering in the press.

Paraguay        0:0       Japan

Paraguay won on penalties, after a fairly even possession-shots match. Japan did cop four yellow cards though ... nasty!

Spain               1:0       Portugal

The parent has knocked their child out of the World Cup at their own expense. A sad but predictable result.

Tweeter's Cup

The World Cup's really getting into people's heads now...

--- finestcom: thought he had a #vuvuzela in his kitchen but turns out it was a fly, too much #World Cup?

--- taxhelprightnow: #BRA, #PAR, #URU are my favorite soccer teams in the #World #Cup I hope one of them get to the finals =) Go South America!

--- DanielaFSU: is wondering how many times today i've thought about #Harry Potter and/or the #World Cup... it's probably pretty sad

The 2010 World Cup's upcoming matches are looking a lot less messy, now that many of the long-odds teams such as Australia and New Zealand have been cut from the lineup. A few pundits have noted that figuring out who will go through to the Round of 16 in the World Cup is easy ... as long as you have a Masters Degree in Pure Mathematics! So it will be a relief for those of you who like to enjoy sport without actually having to work your math-muscles, that we are now at the stage of World Cup 2010 where if you win a game, you stay in ... if you lose a game you go out. Simple! Today we check out the matchups for the (mostly!) upcoming Round of 16.

World Cup matches 26^th of June

There were no shocks in the first two (already played) matches of the Round of 16 - Uruguay knocked out the Korean Republic 2:1 (who truthfully, did extraordinarily well to get to the Round of 16), and Ghana beat the USA 2:1.

World Cup matches 27^th of June

Today we have Germany playing England ... two strong teams, but in the Round of 16 only one can go through. England has a slight advantage in the stats, but their performances in the Knockout stage left a lot to be desired. Argentina also play Mexico in a game that may well end up drawing, as over 40% of these two teams' games have.

World Cup matches 28^th of June

Today the Netherlands play Slovakia, and while Holland has much shorter odds to win the entire World Cup, they don't have the best record against the Slovakian team. Brazil will also play Chile, and odds and stats say that it will probably be a clean sweep by Brazil.

World Cup matches 29^th of June

If Japan manages to stand up against Paraguay, there'll be a lot of happy punters ... though it isn’t likely! In the main game of the day, Spain has twice as many goals and three times as many match wins as Portugal in their World Cup head-to-head record ... but there have been 12 draws.

Who'll win the 2010 World Cup?

Well, we haven't quite got the Delorien repaired yet to go grab that books of sports results from the future! Neither is Wikipedia obliging publishing such information, though you can find out just about anything else on there. Here are the current bookies odds (and also our best guesses!) on who'll win the 2010 World Cup.

Argentina        5.0 - 6.0

Brazil               4.0 - 4.33

Chile                41.0 - 51.0

England           10.0 - 12.0

Germany         11.0 - 15.0

Ghana              23.0 - 26.0

Holland           7.5 - 8.0

Japan               81.0 - 101.0

Mexico            61.0 - 81.0

Paraguay         34.0 - 46.0

Portugal           21.0 - 23.0

Slovakia          151.0 - 251.0

Spain               5.0 - 5.5

Uruguay          11.0 - 13.0

Tweeter's Cup

A few good ones that we couldn't resist including:

--- sreevass #worldcup has created a record high tweet rate of 3283 tweets/second #omgfacts @omgfacts

--- jelanigreenidge RT @davidlerner75 I think I just heard a vuvuzela being blown in B-natural. Tune that thing! #worldcup Dude that's hilarious.

--- CaptDankMorgan #worldcup .... #usa lost & i hope you're finally happy #fifa officials

We have settled into the swing of the World Cup now ... re-learned how to program the DVD recorder so that we don't have to get up at 4am, and learned to mute the insane buzzing noise of the vuvuzela and re-familiarised ourselves with the competition format and progression rules. We've had a few surprises, upsets and controversial results in the second week of the World Cup's group stage - here's an overview of what's happened, and what is to come.

 Punters' Cup

There have been a couple of subtle changes in World Cup betting odds based on the outcomes of the Group Stage matches so far ... subtle, but telling! Here's how the only numbers that matter are currently looking:

• Spain are no longer clear favourites - they are currently placed pretty evenly along with Argentina and Brazil at around 5.50 - 6.0
• North Korea is now the only team with odds above 1501.0 ... some places are offering 2001.0 to 1
• Australia's odds have lengthened to around 750 at most betting centres, although some sports books are still offering 101.0
• Two of the biggest teams that are actually seen to be living up to expectations are Argentina and Holland ... hint, hint!

 Reporter's Cup

Wooo ... people are getting angry at some of the controversial and disappointing occurrences in the World Cup! Here's what they're reporting:

• Many Tweeters are reporting the vuvuzela has been banned. Not yet ... they are just trying to get you to click their links. Don't fall for it!
• The referee in the recent US-Slovenia match that failed to award a goal to the US where many feel it was due is likely to be dropped by FIFA for the remainder of the tournament ... although there is no recourse for the US.
• Patrice Evra,  the captain of the French team, described their 2-0 loss to Mexico as a 'punch that we never saw coming'. Nicolas Anelka has been discharged from the French team after making, and then refusing to apologise for, a massive verbal rant at the Mexican captain.
• The final round of World Cup group stage matches is considered at highest risk of match fixing, and will be scrutinised by FIFA.

Tweeter's Cup

Since I don't speak Spanish, Italian, French or Japanese, I can't guarantee that these are the funniest, most relevant and thought-provoking World Cup tweets available. But they would have to come close...

~~~ patsch06 RT @Rove1974: Why can't we just win? Now I have to use maths to work out if we can make it or not. Maths! This is sport for crying out loud! #worldcup

~~~  _ abeer61aj RT @theunlikelyfan: I am the guy at the barbecue/party forcing you to talk about the #WorldCup. Three more weeks is all I ask. Shhhhhh. Just give me this.

~~~ ScoreHints #WorldCup #Sweden Only want to watch the delayed telecast if your team wins? WWW.SCOREHINTS.COM

~~~ serenosaur Will probably miss #worldcup tomorrow due to #warriordash! I can't wait to get my viking hat! >:D

Despite having slightly longer odds at most betting agencies, the LA Lakers have taken out the 2010 NBA finals crown ... woo hoo! It was an ultra-close final 7, and an ultra-close final game to top it all off. For those that like the feeling of sitting on the edge of the seat, the NBA playoffs finals provided plenty more excitement than those disappointing conference semifinals. Here's how it went down!

Game recap

Final score:

Boston Celtics 79

LA Lakers 83

Point scorers:

• Kobe Bryant, 23 points
• Paul Pierce, 18 points
• Pau Gasol, 18 rebounds
• Paul Pierce, 10 rebounds

The Lakers were constantly struggling to get ahead in the game ... but in the end Artest, Gasol and Bryant hit a dream run of points and free throws to clinch the match and the NBA finals.

Odds On, Odds Off…

The Lakers odd were around 1.87 - 2.16 when they won their final match ... so congrats to all that cleaned up on the team with the longer odds!

Cheers and Jeers

• Apparently the Lakers aren't content with their two wins in two years ... everybody, the team included, is talking abut a 'three-peat' already! Sit back and enjoy for a bit, people!
• Apparently many business owners in blocks surrounding the arena where the Lakers played the winning game woke to mornings of smashed windows, minor arson and motor vehicle damage ... sigh.
• Much of the talk around the Lakers now surrounds the upcoming draft, who'll be staying and who'll be going. Derek Fisher may leave the Lakers (although the pundits don't think that's wise), while Andrew Bynum's injury run may spell seeing his backside from the Laker's office door.
• The Celtic's performance is still being lauded - they had a surprisingly good run through the playoffs, and many are reporting it as 'just one win short'.

The Tweet-Offs

Twitter hasn't run as hot with NBA news since the World Cup matches started (which is a bit of a pity for the Lakers and the Celtics!). But people have been pretty quick to jump on the Lakers bandwagon ... Celtics fans are strangely quiet on the micro-blogging platform!

--- kikibby562 Q:LA LAKERS! A:NBA Champions<3.

--- DavidLMcConnell Lakers beat all the haters and Boston bean-loving Celtics. (Truthfully they were worthy adversaries.) But we now expect a "three-peat"!

--- gastonia2695 Waking up with disgust, Lakers won - how unhappy it makes me

--- traditionalbill So La celebrates Lakers victory with rampaging violence and burning taxi's. In other words, like a typical liberal protest march...   (Party pooper!)

Given the record in the conference finals, it looks as if tonight's game will be the last one of the NBA Playoffs ... and it also looks very much like Boston will probably create a repeat version of the conference finals history. However, the Lakers have the home court advantage for this match, and that's made a difference in the past ... it'll be a nail biter, and today we check in to see which way it might go!

Will this face start to become a familiar sight?

NBA Finals Games So Far

There was a lot of nastiness in the reporting over the conference semifinals - it seems that a bit of bad luck in basketball can break whole careers. Then we saw what desperation to avoid that situation could do for a team in the conference finals. Will that spill over into the Lakers' performance tonight? Hmmm...

Current standings:

NAB Finals

Boston Celtics: 3

LA Lakers: 2

Odds On, Odds Off…

There's certainly a range of opinions expressed in payout terms over what tonight's outcome will be.

Boston Celtics vs LA Lakers

Lakers: 1.87 - 2.16

Celtics: 1.74 - 1.97

Cheers and Jeers

• Okay ... perhaps we can concede to the wisdom of the Associated Press, who last time we met were predicting a Lakers-Celtics final. Perhaps they should just let the journalists decide who's going to win the NBA Finals, and skip the games altogether?  
• If you haven't yet seen it, check out the video of Paul Pierce accidentally punching the referee in the face during game 4, instead of punching the air in celebration. As Mastercard would say ... Priceless!
• It seems that massive advertising airplay time during the NBA Finals does not always a box office hit maketh ... Grown Ups with Adam Sandler and Co has been drilled during the Finals ads, but Brandfreak reminds us what was in the same position last year - it was Year One.  What? Exactly.

It could be the last games of the conference finals coming up very soon … yikes! There's one thing to be thankful for, though, and that is the fact that the conference finals weren't as much a clean sweep as the semi-finals were for most teams. Heads rolled after those performances - and I for one felt terrible that a couple of piece of bad luck out of quite good playoff performances could have such harsh repercussions for so many!

Conference Finals Games So Far

Thank Dog the conference finals have turned out to be more interesting than the pundits expected! Jameer Nelson scored 24 of Orlando's 113 points in the last Eastern conference game, and Dwight Howard got 32 for the Magic in the previous matchup. Westside, Amar'e Stoudamire took the Suns to their first wins of the Conference finals, but in the last matchup Kobe Bryant's points and assists proved too much for the Suns.

Current standings:

Eastern Conference

Boston Celtics: 3

Orlando Magic: 2

Western Conference

LA Lakers: 3

Phoenix Suns: 2

Odds On, Odds Off…

Nobody wants to call the Lakers and Suns game! There's a bit more of variance in odds for the Magic/Celtics game … does your gut feeling match up with the bookies'?

Orlando Magic v Boston Celtics

Magic: 1.90 - 1.97

Celtics: 1.87 - 1.92

Los Angeles Lakers v Phoenix Suns

Lakers: 1.91 - 1.91

Suns: 1.91 - 1.91

Cheers and Jeers

• So, despite the fact that even the Associated Press were anticipating a Lakers-Celtics final last time we posted, there have been some interesting developments. Told you it wouldn't be that straightforward!
• Apparently Tom Thibodeau's future rests on a game six win for the Celtics. Gosh, basketball writers can be drama queens!
• People may not like the Cavaliers, but they love Lebron James… Bleacher Report published 10 reasons that Lebron James should becomes a New Orleans Hornet (rather than heading to New York or Chicago), including 'Most loyal and jubilant fans in sports', 'Chilling with Dwayne Carter', and because the next playoffs would then echo this years Saints win at the Superbowl :-)

The Tweet-offs

The Phoenix Suns have a lotta love in the Twittersphere … 'Suns lost' even made it into the Trending Topics list for today. Here's what the rabble thought…

--- OT3PLUT RT @flymrwhite: The Suns played hard but the #LAKERS won...Period. Get Over It and stop hatin. You look dumb if your makin excuses

--- jacemck @RealGranthill33 LA's gotta be terrified of a game 7 after that one. Go Suns

--- lanova33 Gonna get a 60 minute full body massage RIGHT NOW!! Need it after that Suns game...\

--- hydro88wr The score for the lakers-suns game is tickin me off

I don't think anybody (even the Bayern Munich players ;-)) could begrudge Inter Milan this UEFA Champions League Cup. It's their first UEFA Champions League Cup in 45 years, and also special because they achieved a continental treble (winning their domestic league competition, domestic cup competition, and also the UEFA cup). Inter Milan will go on to challenge Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup soon enough, and have guaranteed themselves a spot in the semi-finals of the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Lets check out how it all went down!

The High Points

• There was no clear favourite before kickoff time … despite a slight shift in the odds in favour of Inter.
• The first goal was scored by Diego Milito, with help from Julio Cesar (Inter's unusually active goalie) and Wesley Sneijder.
• Hamit Altintop's near goal attempt was stopped by Julio Cesar early in the second half
• Milito again scored a goal, this time assisted by Samuel Eto'o.
• Bayern visibly lost their drive after the second goal

The Gossip

• Diego Milito is being widely reported as a 'Rocky lookalike'! I'm not sure if he'd consider that a compliment… but am guessing that since he just won Inter their first cup in 45 years, he doesn’t really care :-)
• Next year's UEFA Champions League will have 2 extra assistant referees, just as the Europa League did this year.
• Jose Mourinho threatened to cry if the journalists made him talk too much about leaving Inter … I'm surprised nobody took up the challenge!

The League of Tweeters

At least some people are taking a bit of time to rejoice, instead of rushing ahead to the next title…

--- keletsomayisa Inter milan has won the uefa champions league yeeeeaaaahhhhh!!!......

--- Kareem1993 Milito owned bayern munich's ass last night inter milan won the italian cup, uefa champions league and italian league :)

--- nkashokbharan Inter Milan have won the UEFA Champions League after beating Bayern Munich 2-0 in the finals. It's the Jose effect! - great manager, he is!

--- YowH final uefa champions league next moring!.bayern v inter.hope inter lost :P

So, all but one of the matchups for the Conference semifinals was a clean sweep … with that disappointing record for three of the teams, there has been a lot of talk of upheaval in the ranks. Here's what we've got to look forward to for the Conference finals of the NBA Playoffs!

Conference Semifinals Recap

After fairly even results from most team in the first round (ALL the Western Conference teams headed into the semifinals with only a two-game win in the first  round), the number of clean sweeps in the semifinals was amazing! Here are the results:

Cleveland 2, Boston 4

Atlanta 0, Orlando 4

Lakers 4, Utah 0

Phoenix 4, San Antonio 0

Odds On, Odds Off…

Here's the magic numbers … or perhaps the Celtic numbers … for the upcoming rounds of the Conference finals!

Orlando Magic v Boston Celtics

Magic: 1.86 - 1.96

Celtics: 1.82 - 2.08

Los Angeles Lakers v Phoenix Suns

Lakers: 1.9 - 2.03

Suns: 1.9 - 1.94

Cheers and Jeers

Nnn, nn, nn! There's still plenty of guessing and gossip going on in the sewing circle of the NBA Playoffs - here's the not-so-quiet whispers:

• Mike Woodson has 'officially' been dumped as the Hawks coach after their unceremonious dumping from the Playoffs this week. Despite Woodson's six seasons with the Hawks, in which the team won more games that the previous year every time…
• In the wake of that dumping, speculation has been flying through the air like dung, wondering if Mike Brown has also been dumped as the Cleveland Cavaliers coach. Owner Dan Gilbert says no … but they are going through an "evaluation process".
• Kobe Bryant says the Lakers' focus has shifted from simply defending their existing title to actually winning another one. Look out!

The Tweet-offs

The Twits of the world have plenty to say about the NBA Playoffs, especially now that the probably winners field is narrowing…

--- CeloJ NBA Playoffs continues tomorrow and this is my last week of high school. And the best days of my life begin now lol.

--- nikitapino NBA Playoffs won't be the same without LeBron and the Cavs! Bummer! :(

--- Soulful_07 Im suffering from withdrawal lol RT @MissTreese: @Soulful_07 Cheer up Charlie...the #NBA playoffs will continue soon enough :)

--- alithegreatest BTW - NBA playoffs resume tomorrow. maybe we can get a break from the LeBron talk

We're past that never-ending stage of the NBA Playoffs, where East battles East and West battles West in a flurry of up to 56 games … all over a period of a couple of weeks! I don't know how the players have time to eat, sleep or go to the bathroom at that stage of the tournament. But now we're into the conference semi-finals, and most teams have played one or two games each. Ignore the Lakers/Spurs run of luck (the finals usually go to the  team you least expect!), and it's still anyone's game. Today we check out the NBA Playoffs story so far.

The teams

The NBA Playoffs commenced on April 17, with the eight teams from each conference set as:

Eastern Conference:

• Cleveland Cavaliers
• Chicago Bulls
• Boston Celtics
• Miami Heat
• Atlanta Hawks
• Milwaukee Bucks
• Orlando Magic
• Charlotte Bobcats

Western Conference:

• LA Lakers
• Oklahoma City Thunder
• Denver Nuggets
• Utah Jazz
• Phoenix Suns
• Portland Trail Blazers
• Dallas Mavericks
• San Antonio Spurs

First Round

The teams that have advanced to the Conference semifinals are bolded above. We saw some pretty one-sided games during the first round of the playoffs - the only matchup that made it to the full 7 games was Atlanta and Milwaukee. The Eastern Conference playoffs were particularly single-team dominated - Orlando had a 4-0 record against Charlotte, while both Cleveland and Boston won their first rounds 4-1. The Western Conference was a bit more exciting - every single matchup yielded a 4-2 result.

What do all those results mean for what really matters to us now … the bookies' odds?! They mean that it is an amazingly even spread for a lot of games … if the punters have an opinion, they're keeping it well out of the numbers. For most teams, the spread is only a few cents apart; Moneyline is offering odds that definitely favour the home teams, but most others are keeping it perfectly even!

Cheers and Jeers

Everybody's got an opinion … what are those opinions saying about the upcoming week of the NBA playoffs?

• Mike Ventre of NBC Sports says there are NO good teams in the NBA Playoffs this year … Lebron James and a couple of others are good players, but the team magic just isn't there … even for Orlando ;-)
• In many internet avenues, the NBA dancers have been getting more attention than the games of the Playoffs themselves! Given Mike Ventre's opinion, perhaps that is to be expected…

The Tweet-offs

One place where there is plenty of opinion to be found, though, is Twitter! Here are some of the 140-character soundbytes about the playoffs this week:

--- joeyjumpshigh Nary a great team to be found in NBA playoffs: msnbc.com Check out some of the dancers from the NBA.

--- mr2RaW4TV #Attention all teams left in the playoffs #justgiveup dnt prolong the inevitable #LAKERS will win the 2010 NBA Championship   (ROFL! Pretty clever Tweeter - we might have to award him the Tweet-off Trophy right now)

--- Woxel0r I think, the playoffs need a new system. Soo many great teams in east (cavs,magic,boston,miami) and in west? Lakers...#NBA

--- 31Murray RT @frankenteen: Ive tried, but the NBA playoffs just isn't a bandwagon I can jump on    (naw - party pooper!)

--- Lk4mRrItE79 What would life be like without the NBA playoffs?

The Bayern-Lyon match was quieter in some ways, with Bayern the 1-0 champions … but with two red cards and a few yellows popping up, it was also a little more controversial! We saw (another!) of our 'Players to watch' from last week scoring a goal. Arjen Robben scored for Bayern, rating our prediction skills at ¾ so far. If only we were game enough to say who was going to win overall :-). Here we look at the recap, the preview, and the bookies ideas.

The Odds

For two clubs that were reasonably evenly placed before this match, the odds have certainly changed substantially. Bayern's odds are now almost as low as Inter Milan's and Barcelona's … but don't forget, Lyon has a much smaller gap to make up to get into the finals than Barcelona does. Your Lyon bet may end up being the best decision of the week!

Bayern odds: 3.50 - 3.50

Lyon odds: 12.00 - 13.00

Bayern vs Lyon - The Recap    

Recent statistics showed two pretty evenly matched clubs playing last week. In many ways, they remained quite even throughout the game, despite the ever-widening gap in the bookies' opinions. There was only a 1-goal gap rather than the 2-goal gap we saw in the other match. There were 2 red cards for the match - one for Lyon, and one for Bayern. In other ways though, Bayern dominated - with twice the possession time of Lyon (66%-34%), a third of the number of yellow cards (1-3), and five times as many shots on target (10-2).

Peering into the future…

There are quite a few different factors that will go into tomorrow's match and help determine who will reach the 2010 UEFA Champions League final:

• Cris, Lyon's coach, says his side are determined not to let their chance at a first UEFA Champions League final slip.
• Bayern's match record in the 2009/10 Champions League has been checkered - with just as many wins as losses, and a few draws sprinkled in there.
• Lyon has the home ground advantage in this leg … that may make all the difference. Especially considering that the volcanic eruption last week forced them to travel the entire distance to Bayern by road.

Gossip of Champions

What is the football community saying about the upcoming Bayern-Lyon match for tomorrow? Despite a big gap in the odds, they know that the match is fairly even.

• Cris, the Lyon coach, said that "We are 90 minutes from the final and the 22 players on the pitch will give everything", and "The final is a dream for everyone. We have to take advantage, our time has come".
• Lyon have been described as 'fearless' and 'lying in wait' for Bayern (but also as 'weary'), while Bayern's match has been reported as 'tipping the balance' in their favor,