World Cup draw! Surge in bookings means 2010 trips may be sold out by Christmas

Tour operators have reported a surge in bookings over the weekend since the draw for the 2010 World Cup was made on Friday.

Football fans keen to catch England playing in South Africa are snapping up packages offered by official tour operators nominated by FIFA.

One company has reported a manic three days saying they are receiving ten times as many calls as before the draw and other companies expect to be sold out by Christmas.

Getting the ball rolling: The World Cup draw on Friday caused a surge in bookings from fans over the weekend

Tom Miller, senior sales operator for BAC Sport said: 'We have already had to buy new stock this morning as we have been selling out.

'Luckily our bases are in Cape Town and Rustenburg which are both destinations where England are playing.'

Thomson Sport has had an equally busy weekend, mainly down to the fact that it will also be basing fans in Cape Town.

Managing director Nathan Wilson said: 'We took a risk basing ourselves in Cape Town as the other official tour operators chose Johannesburg as their base near many of the 2010 stadiums.

'But now they are increasing the prices of their packages to fly England fans to the matches and our accommodation is in the heart of it all. Cape Town is not only the best place for England fans to be based but a safe and interesting tourist destination as well.

'As a result we have sold well over 50 per cent of our stock and the majority of our packages for the later stages.

'Group stage packages are definitely still available costing around £2,450. But if it continues like this we could be sold out by Christmas.'

United States qualify for South Africa 2010 as they beat Honduras 2-3

The talented Conor Casey scored his first international goals and that was exactly what the United States needed to book a place in next year's World Cup. The american team made an excelent comeback to defeat Honduras 3-2.

Almost 45,000 Honduran fans arived at the Estadio Olímpico in San Pedro Sula, uniting behind their national team despite the domestic political strife dominating international headlines. After a scoreless first half that saw both sides shooting off-target, the second half turned into an instant classic with the U.S. getting the deciding goal in the 71st minute from a free kick by midfielder Landon Donovan.

The strong Conor Casey provided the heroics for the U.S., scoring the first two goals of his international career in the 55th and 66th minutes, and setting up the Donovan freekick. It was Casey’s third appearance in the 2010 qualifying cycle, and the 15th of his career.

The central american team faithful thought their side would draw even in the 87th minute when the referee awarded a penalty kick in their favor. The veteran Carlos Pavon, the all-time leading scorer for Honduras with 55 career goals, shockingly blasted his penalty over the crossbar. Despite the bad luck, the Honduran crowd showed their class by offering the U.S. team a warm ovation at the end of the game.

Argentina qualify and Maradona blasts acid words against journalists

Argentina suffered too much to qualify for the World Cup but they finally got their ticket by beating Uruguay in Montevideo. The game score: 1-0.

However, the most polemic moment of this argentinian odissey happened after the match. Diego Armando Maradona, the most talented player in history and now coach of Argentina, said crude phrases against argentinian journalists.

"They can suck it and carry on sucking it," Diego spitted in the press conference after the dramatic triumph. "This is for all Argentines, minus the journalists. I want to thank my footballers for qualifying because they played like men and today they consecrated me as a coach."

"I also want to dedicate this to the whole of Argentina, to my family too, but there is one group who do not deserve this because they have treated me like rubbish. We were careful in this match since there were two results needed, but we won against a great team and achieved our objective."

Many players like Juan Veron and Mascherano didn't want to stand for his words. "Experience told me that sometimes you must be calm and careful" Veron said the next day.

Argentina is not a favorite for the next World Cup. At least not with their current game style (is there a style at all?) but many members of AFA think that this could improve if Maradona leaves his charge.

World Cup Draw: Charlize Theron announced Ireland for Group A in funny stunt

There are just a few hours left before the Word Cup Groups Draw takes place, and there are already interesting news.
South African famous actress Charlize Theron was smart enough to make an statement in a funny way, during the rehearsal of the 2010 World Cub bir that will take place on Friday.

The famous actress announced "Ireland" as she took the firs ball of the bowl. As we know, the Irish team was eliminated by France in an extremely controversial game that the Bleus won with Thierry Henry's hand ball. What many don't know is that Theron is a big supporter of the Irish squad. What's more, she actually has an Irish boyfriend: Stuart Townsend.

FIFA directors admitted the joke to the press, however, they are a little concerned that she might repeat it at the official draw tomorrow.

World Cup Draw: South Africa 2010 Groups

South Africa proved to be a great host for the next World Cup by organizing the Ceremony for the Official Draw. These are the Groups for the Cup:

Group A: A tough job for the hosts. They will face two world champions and the traditional leader of the CONCACAF.

• South Africa
• Mexico
• Uruguay
• France

Group B: Messi's team will have not an easy zone, but it's not the hardest one either.

• Argentina
• Nigeria
• South Korea
• Greece

Group C: Beckham will face Donovan in the most interesting duel of this group.

• England
• USA
• Algeria
• Slovenia

Group D: Ballack's team will have an easy first round. Only a really good day of their rivals would cause them little harm.

• Germany
• Australia
• Serbia
• Ghana

Group E: Eto'o will have to prove his class against a really strong dutch team.

• Netherlands
• Denmark
• Japan
• Cameroon

Group F: The current champions are not playing well but they should mark a big distance from the rest of this teams.

• Italy
• Paraguay
• New Zealand
• Slovakia

Group G: This is the "Death Group", with super stars like Kaka, Cristiano Ronaldo and Drogba among others.

• Brazil
• North Korea
• Ivory Coast
• Portugal

Group H: Fabregas and Torres have an easy group to prove their quality.

• Spain
• Switzerland
• Honduras
• Chile