Brazil still has more than one year to go before the 2014 FIFA World Cup kicks off, but it has a ton of work remaining before the stadium that’ll host the opening match will be completed.

This is How the Stadium That Will Host the Opening Match of the 2014 World Cup Looks Like Right Now is a post from World Cup News from World Cup Buzz.

Photos of Ireland’s new away jersey for 2013-14 have been leaked on the Internet.

Designed and manufactured by Umbro, the new shirt design features the classic green color of the Republic of Ireland. Footballers James McClean, Robbie Brady and Shane Long teamed up with team sponsors, Three, to launch the new Umbro Ireland Away jersey and give their thoughts on that important upcoming qualifier against Sweden.

The new Umbro Ireland Three sponsored kit will replace the current white and green Away kit and will be available to pre-order online from March 11th and be available to purchase in sports retailers from Thursday 21st March.

Ireland Away Football Jersey for 2013-14 [PHOTO] is a post from World Cup News from World Cup Buzz.

As every football fan knows, Fernando Torres has not nearly lived up to Chelsea’s expectations after signing him in January of 2011.  For £50 million, Chelsea was expecting the world from Torres.  After a fantastic career at Liverpool, the Spaniard’s time at Chelsea has been completely different.  The Spaniard definitely has the skill to be a star in the English Premier League (as he has proved in his time at Liverpool), but he has not displayed it yet while at Chelsea.

With Didier Drogba’s departure to China in the summer, Chelsea owner, Roman Abromovich felt the need to bring in another top striker to try to fill Drogba’s shoes.  Since Torres was not scoring goals, Chelsea felt the need to bring in another high-level striker.  Chelsea inked former Newcastle star, Demba Ba for £7 million, leaving doubt in many people’s minds that Torres would be the club’s main striker for the future.  And incase you forgot, Chelsea will bring back the 19-year old Belgian superstar Romelu Lukaku, who is on a season long loan at West Bromwich Albion.  The young, left-footed striker is having himself quite a season at The Hawthornes scoring 10 goals in 24 league appearances.  With Lukaku coming back to the Bridge next season, he surely will see some playing time as he has proved he can score in this league at such a young age.

Chelsea’s new interim-manager, Rafael Benitez, was the coach at Liverpool when Torres was there.  There was hope that his Torres’ Liverpool scoring days would come along with Rafa, but to no avail, the goals still haven’t come.

So, what should Chelsea do with Fernando Torres?

In my opinion, Torres’ time with Chelsea has come and needs to go.  He has been at Chelsea for three years and hasn’t lived up to the club’s expectations.  He isn’t scoring goals and that is what this team needs, a player who will come in and score goals every game.  That is why Ba was brought in so he can be that main target up top and score goals.  Demba scored his first goal for Chelsea 697 minutes quicker then Torres.

Bringing in Ba, most definitely put a damper on Torres spirits if they weren’t down enough already. As a striker, it can’t feel good to see another striker of Demba Ba’s talents come in.  While Demba Ba is still getting accustomed to playing with his new teammates, Torres is still getting some playing time.  But the goals expected of him are not coming as Chelsea fans and the front office would like.

Last season, Torres only had just six goals in 32 league appearances and so far this season he has seven goals through 26 games.  Both of those numbers do not nearly compare to what Torres was accomplishing at Liverpool.

Chelsea doesn’t seem to be the right place for Torres.  Maybe it is because so much talent surrounds him, maybe it is because he has lost his form or maybe he isn’t being coached correctly.  Certainly there is something wrong with Fernando Torres at Stamford Bridge and something needs to be done about it because he isn’t getting the job done.

What To Do With Fernando Torres? is a post from World Cup News from World Cup Buzz.

The current international break has brought my attention to the upcoming World Cup in Brazil. So far the front runners are Brazil, Argentina, Spain and Germany. It is certainly a chance for the world to see some of the finest footballing talent that there has been for a long time with the likes of Messi, Ronaldo and the wonderful Spanish team that just keeps on giving. The problem is will these players perform on the biggest of all stages or will they find themselves with a touch of stage fright?

First of all we begin with the hosts, Brazil. They are always up there with the pre-tournament favourites and as the samba boys will be playing on home turf they can be counted as firm favourites to lift the Jules Rimet cup. There is no doubt that they have the attacking flair required of a winner and they have the home advantage but, as seen against England, their defensive frailties mean that they are vulnerable especially with the maverick tendencies of David Luiz at the heart of their defence. A lot is also expected of Neymar who is no doubt immensely talented, but lacks the ability to grab a game by the scruff of the neck and really inspire others around him. Flair oozes out of every pour in his body yet he lacks the guile that Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo possess in order to win tightly contested semi-finals and finals. The Brazilians are sure to be in and amongst the final stages of the competition but whether they have the bottle to go on and win the cup remains to be seen.

Argentina have arguably the greatest player to have ever played the game but Messi alone cannot win the World Cup for them. The only complaint with Lionel Messi’s career to date is that he has failed to emulate his club form on the international stage and he will be hoping to prove all his doubters wrong come 2014. La Albiceleste have the likes of Gonzalo Higuain, Sergio Aguero and Carlos Tevez amongst their ranks along with the defensive steel of Zabaleta and should be sniffing around the trophy; however the problem lies with fitting the attacking prowess that they have at their disposal into a fully functional and efficient team. There is a distinct lack of midfield when analysing Argentina with Fernando Gago and Javier Mascherano the only notable holding midfielders that could allow for a front 4 to go and get the goals.

The reigning world and European champions are hoping to well and truly establish their team as the best that has ever been, but could 2014 be a step too far for Vincente del Bosque and his men. The Spaniards have achieved immeasurable success with a golden generation of talent but will they be able to continue with their attractive Tiki-Taka brand of football that they are renowned for? It is all looking positive for La Furia Rojo at the minute with Jordi Alba firmly establishing himself as the left-back replacing Joan Capdevilla and the consummate ease at which the team has adapted to the False Number 9 formation.

Offering a completely different footballing approach are the Germans. Germany’s strengths lie not in the player’s ability to get bums off seats and attacking prowess but their capability to keep goals out at the other end. Typically the Germans are efficient, clever and productive. With Phillip Lahm and Manuel Neuer just part of a world class defence and the protective capabilities of Sami Khedira and Bastian Schweinsteiger in the midfield, it is very rare that the Germans concede more than 1 goal. Combine this with the predatory instincts of Mario Gomez and creative influence of Mesut Ozil and the men in white are in with a shot of their 4th World title. Their weaknesses lie in not only the ageing Per Mertersacker who has underperformed for Arsenal and who is prone to mistakes, but also their ability to adapt to the climate and temperature change that playing in Brazil holds.

This article wouldn’t be complete without the bias inclusion of England as a team capable of winning the trophy. A win over Brazil is nothing to get carried away with but the impressive Jack Wilshere and progression of Theo Walcott it is pointing in the right direction for Roy Hodgson and his disciples.

Who’s Going to Win FIFA World Cup 2014 in Brazil? is a post from World Cup News from World Cup Buzz.

So, with the end to another eventful January transfer window, who really came out on top with the best bargains? And more controversially, who came out of it looking weaker than ever?

The biggest spenders in the transfer window were QPR, Newcastle and Liverpool. It was expected that QPR would have a big spend with them being rock-bottom in the Premier League. Liverpool, with the signings of young Brazilian prospect Philippe Coutinho and England striker Daniel Sturridge, were looking to strengthen the attacking line by finding players who could support Luis Suarez who has been outstanding this season.

QPR came out of January with two very impressive signings which caught the headlines. Harry Redknapp was up to his old tricks in January with the signings of Loic Remy from French side Marseille. This came as a surprise to many. Harry also sealed one of the signings of the window, Congolese giant Christopher Samba. The ex-Blackburn Rovers defender made a swift return to English football after joining Russian big spenders Anzhi Makhachkala in the summer transfer window in 2012. The giant defender arrived at Loftus Road on deadline day after a fee of £12.5m was agreed between the two sides. Tony Fernandes, the QPR owner is forking out over £100,000 a week in wages to keep Samba at the club. Incredibly, he was earning £120,000 at Anzhi making him one of the highest paid defenders on the planet. Loic Remy is already a fans favourite after scoring on his debut against West Ham on the 19th of January. Incredibly, clubs in the Barclays Premier League over the last 10 years have spent over a billion pounds in Transfers.

Newcastle were also busy bringing in a number of new signings. After losing Senegalese Demba Ba to Chelsea for just £7m, they became reliant on his fellow countryman Papiss Cisse. Despite scoring since Ba left Newcastle, it was clear that Newcastle needed to strengthen the side and more importantly its attacking players. It has been a poor season for Alan Pardew’s Newcastle side this season so far with them sitting dangerously above the relegation zone. Newcastle brought in six players in January. Incredibly, all six of the players brought in had French connections. Mike Ashley, the Magpies’ owner, forked out over £19.5m for the new signings. Debuchy, who had impressed for the French national side, was brought in for around £5m from French giants LOSC Lille. In my opinion, the signing of Debuchy is great business, he impressed a number of high profile sides during Euro 2012, and has had a good season for Lille this season. Debuchy is destined for big things, already putting in some great performances since joining Newcastle. Pardew also brought in Moussa Sissoko from Toulouse. He made an instant impact by scoring 2 wonder goals for Newcastle to rescue a point against European champions Chelsea. Another player that impressed against Chelsea was Yoan Gouffran signed from Bordeaux. Many fans of clubs around the country joked at the fact that Newcastle almost have enough players to field an all French side. In my opinion, the signings made by Pardew and Mike Ashley, will be enough to take Newcastle away from the danger zone and push forward.

Manchester City came away from January a striker down. After an unimpressive season at the Etihad, which has included a bust up in training between Roberto Mancini and Balotelli, he was on his way to AC Milan. The move was seen as controversial having played for Inter Milan before he joined Manchester City. However, he was famously pictured wearing an AC Milan shirt while playing for Inter, sparking rumours that he wanted to join the side. The two clubs agreed a fee of around £19m to take the Italian to the Seria A giants. A couple miles away at Old Trafford, Wilfried Zaha arrived from Crystal Palace for a total fee of around £15m. Zaha was immediately loaned back out to Crystal Palace to play the remainder of the season and Federico Macheda was sent out on loan to Stuttgart.

Elsewhere, David Beckham made a return to European football by joining PSG on a 5 month deal. This means that Beckham will be able to play in the champions league for the rest of the season. The highest amount spent on any player came from PSG, spending £37m on Lucas Moura from Brazilian outfit Sao Paulo. Arsenal had another quiet transfer window with only one signing coming on deadline day. Arsene Wenger spent £10m on Nacho Monreal from Malaga. The spanish international has played 9 games for the national side since 2009. Moroccan striker Marouane Chamakh was loaned out to West Ham, who also brought in Joe Cole from Liverpool for a second spell at the club which started his career off.

West Brom were the only side not to bring anyone in. However the biggest transfer window controversy came from West Brom striker Peter Odemwingie. He left The Hawthornes after reportedly being offered a deal at QPR, he drove to London with the hopes of joining QPR only to be turned away at the gates of Loftus Road. This was not only very embarrassing for the striker but also very public as the news quickly spread all across the nation leaving him red-faced and resulted in him being dropped for West Brom’s game against Tottenham Hotspur on Febuary 3rd. It will be a moment that will not be forgotten in a hurry.

Looking back on the transfer window, the teams that came out the best in my opinion has to be QPR and Newcastle, I believe they have done enough to escape the drop zone, though QPR have a lot to do. An eventful transfer window that will determine the futures of clubs and players everywhere.

January Transfer Window: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly is a post from World Cup News from World Cup Buzz.

Betting on an England match is an easy task if you know what makes the national team tick – pressure and the form of one or two key players. For other international teams, you may look at injuries, fatigue, club form, etc etc. With England, it’s much simpler for the watching pundit – see who’s under pressure.

England take on Brazil in a friendly next week at Wembley (part of the FA’s ’150′ celebrations’) which should show us how far Roy Hodgson’s men have come in handling the intense pressure that comes with playing for England. It’s a good bet that they haven’t, or that the media hype surrounding the game (Brazil, five time world champions, are always a big draw) will get to the players. And would you back any of the current England players on international form? Put another way, would you bet on Rooney to score a penalty against Brazil? At Wembley?

Squad strength is likely to be an issue. Brazil have no competitive fixtures leading up to the 2014 World Cup, given that they are hosts and thus exempt from qualifying. For Brazil, this is a chance play their best possible team. The players themselves will be keen to impress in a country with the richest football league in the world. England on the other hand are unlikely to field a full strength team for the friendly match as numerous players are bound to withdraw from the squad with injuries which appear at the last minute. As if the odds on a Brazil win weren’t already very good…

However, England wouldn’t be England without a twist. This is (largely) the same team that beat reigning world and European champions Spain 1-0 despite overwhelming odds, and are capable of hanging on to another 1-0 win if luck goes their way. At the very least a draw looks to be a possible result for England. Unless Neymar decides to show us why he’s the next best thing, in which case all bets are off.

Given the difficulties in predicting an England international result, you may want to try your hand at an online casino where the odds are surer and the process not so damaging for your health. The ability to play for free is another big selling point for casinos like http://www.onlinecasinoaustralia.com.au, as it allows users to get some practice in at card games like poker or blackjack before dedicating some money to the cause.

Perhaps recognising that tapping into the online sports betting audience would be a good way in which to gain more popularity, most of the online casinos now offer football variants on traditional casino favourites, like the slots game Soccer Safari. This is a genuine football game, with animals like lions, deer and rhinos playing each other in a jungle World Cup complete with stadium background, elephant commentator and plenty of chance for a cash payout. This game is available at a casino site like Online Casino Australia and can be played at a mobile casino as well, meaning fans can even try it out during half time. A good alternative to placing a bet on a second-half turnaround if your team really are behind, not to mention a momentary escape!

But regardless of what happens against Brazil, it’s England’s World Cup 2014 qualification campaign that really matters and while they were betting favourites to top the group when the draw was made, England go into 2013 two points behind surprise Group H leaders Montenegro who are yet to lose a match. The Three Lions can be confident in their stats as so far they have only conceded two goals in four matches while scoring 12.

England have six qualifying matches remaining (with the return match against Montenegro a potential decided and bookmaker’s dream) and the Brazil test will be Hodgson’s rare chance to fine tune his team’s ability to withstand the pressure of a big occasion.

Ultimately, the result against Brazil – betting favourites despite their lowly 18th FIFA ranking – is not going to have any real bearing on England’s World Cup qualification process, it will just simply highlight their current progress. They should qualify for Brazil 2014 comfortably and it will take some bad performances and a catastrophic run of results for them not to at least finish second in Group H.

Betting on England – back Brazil to dazzle at Wembley is a post from World Cup News from World Cup Buzz.

Diving or embellishment has been an issue in soccer for a long time.  FIFA have started to hammer down on diving recently by issuing yellow cards to players who embellish a foul.  In North America, Major League Soccer implemented fines and suspensions in 2011 for diving. The league’s Disciplinary Committee reviews possible embellishments after games and can distribute fines or suspensions accordingly.

In a match against Stoke in October, Luis Suarez fell to ground extremely theatrically to attempt to draw a penalty, although nothing was given.  Suarez has been notorious for diving as the Uruguayan has been a culprit of it many times in the past. In an interview with Fox Sports Argentina, Suarez admitted to diving in the scoreless draw with Stoke in October of 2012. After Suarez’s admission, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers said: ” I think it’s wrong. It’s unacceptable. I’ve spoken to Luis and it will be dealt with internally,”

“Diving is not something we advocate. Our ethics are correct. [It's] not something we associate with as a club of this standing” Rodgers added.

The vice-president of FIFA came out after the Suarez dive to say that it was “nothing less than cheating.”He went on to say it was a “cancer” to the game and that it is ruining football.  The FA did not issue any suspensions or fines for Suarez, much to the disliking of Stoke manager Tony Pulis who voiced a very strong opinion towards the subject.  Pulis stated: “They should look at it on a Monday after the games have been played at the weekend, and people who have been caught simulating should be punished.

“I think if you do that – if you give them three, four or five games or whatever – then it will take it out of the game. Pulis Added.

“What you would find is that it would soon stop, and that is what we all want, because it is, on a lot of occasions, cheating.”

Brendan Rodgers hopes that the referee’s knowledge of Suarez’s tendency to embellish wont sway their decisions in matches and ultimately hinder the team.  It may be more difficult for Luis Saurez on the pitch as referees may be a bit reluctant to call a foul on him.  Unfortunately for Brendan Rodgers and his men, it could have dire consequences further on in the season.

The FA must look deeper into this issue because if there is not more severe consequences given out then the problem will not be solved.  The FA should definitely look at what Major League Soccer is doing as an example and start to hand out suspensions and or fines to players involving in diving or embellishment.

Let me know what your opinions are on diving and embellishment in world football today on Twitter @jakevendramin.

Diving in Soccer and What Needs to Be Done is a post from World Cup News from World Cup Buzz.

We can now confirm that France’s away shirt for 2013 will be the one pictured above from Nike.

France’s new away shirt is a beautifully designed shirt with a polo-shirt style collar. Plus it features a red, white and blue trim on the end of the sleeves, which is quite classy.

What are your thoughts about France’s new away shirt?

H/T Todo Sobre Camisetas.

France Away Shirt for 2013 Revealed [PHOTO] is a post from World Cup News from World Cup Buzz.

Uruguay’s new home shirt for the 2013 Confederations Cup this summer looks like a classy design.

The most prominent feature of Uruguay’s new home shirt is the beautifully designed collar by Puma, which combines a smart rounded collar with a shoelace design forming the centerpiece of the jersey.

Everything about this shirt says class.

H/T Todo Sobre Camisetas.

Uruguay Home Shirt for 2013 Confederations Cup [PHOTO] is a post from World Cup News from World Cup Buzz.

A photo has been leaked on the Internet showing Brazil’s new home shirt for 2013, which will be worn in this summer’s Confederations Cup tournament in Brazil.

By Nike’s standards, the shirt design is quite good and much better than their current track record. The shirt collar is certainly a throwback, while the thick green cuffs are ugly. The shirt has the word “Brasil” embroidered on the front in case anyone forgets. Overall, I like it.

What’s your opinion about Brazil’s new home shirt for 2013?

H/T Todo Sobre Camisetas.

Brazil Home Shirt for 2013 Confederations Cup Leaked [PHOTO] is a post from World Cup News from World Cup Buzz.