Soccer's ruling body FIFA has anointed the latest set of World Cup hosts, and the choices may strike people in the West as frustrating and strange: Qatar and Russia!? In Qatar, it was a historic choice: The tiny emirate will be the first Muslim nation to host the largest sporting event of the globe. We're joined by Stephanie Hancock, reporter for our partner the BBC in Qatar, joins us for more on the story. 

Brazil has it in 2014, England in 2018. Is the U.S. next? That's what we'll find out in about two days time, as governing body FIFA announces the next locale for the largest sporting event in the world. Our partner the BBC has alleged that three current members of FIFA have taken millions of dollars in bribes, but they'll still vote on the current bids on Thursday. We're joined by the BBC's Alex Capstick from Geneva.  

In an intense overtime match, Spain prevailed over the Netherlands to win their first World Cup 1-0. Fans have been celebrating all through the night in Spain and South Africa. BBC correspondent, Piers Edwards was at the final match in Soccer City. He describes the overall effects of the World Cup on South Africa.

On Sunday, Spain's soccer team will go mano a mano against the Netherlands, in what should be one of the most exciting World Cup finals in recent history. Neither team has ever won the World Cup, and members of both the Spanish and Dutch teams attended the exclusive Ajax soccer training academy before the age of ten. That training led to very similar impulses on the field, explains our guest, The New York Times Magazine contributor Michael Sokolove. 

The Netherlands defeated Uruguay in the semifinals yesterday, 3-2, to advance to their third World Cup finals ever, and their first since 1978. For the championship, they'll face the winner of today's match between Germany and Spain. Takeaway sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin looks ahead to the final World Cup game.

Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams are taking home Wimbledon titles. And in the World Cup, Germany handily beat Argentina 4-0 and moves on to play Spain. Takeaway sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin recaps a big weekend in sports and says that The Netherlands is the team to beat in the World Cup

It was a sad weekend for U.S. soccer fans, as they watched the Americans fall to Ghana in the World Cup for the second consecutive time.  Ghana scored the game-winning point in the third minute of extra time, beating the U.S. 2-1. The Takeaway sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, reflects on Team USA's perfomance and tells us if the 2010 World Cup can be seen as a successful one for the Americans, and looks at whether it raised the profile of U.S. soccer. However, the tournament isn't over, and Ibrahim says that the great matches are still to come.

Not all college graduates are struggling to find jobs this year. The 2010 NBA Draft was last night and the Washington Wizards were given the first pick. The Wizards surprised no one when they used their first pick to choose John Wall, from the University of Kentucky. Other college players who graduated to the pros last night included Evan Turner, who went to Philadephia, Derrick Favors, who was picked by the Nets, and Wesley Johnson, who will be joining the Timberwolves.

It’s been an exciting World Cup for the U.S. soccer team so far, but today's match is the crucial one. The winner of today's match against Algeria will advance to the second round while the loser will be eliminated. "The U.S. is ranked 14th and Algeria is ranked 30th and it really doesn't matter," says New York Times sports columnist, George Vecsey.

Americans are not exactly known as the world's biggest soccer fans, but as the rest of the globe is consumed with World Cup mania, we at The Takeaway have been wondering, who are the world's biggest soccer fans? The Afghan people may not come to mind, but Rahmatullah Qureshi, a civil servant in the Ministry of Education in Kabul, just might be Afghanistan's biggest soccer fan.

Its time for the U.S. soccer team to take the field again. Riding high off their (lucky, by all accounts) tie with England last week, they now enter their match against Slovenia as favorites and a real shot to make it to the Round of 16. 

So the excitement is high for soccer fans around the country. Our own Femi Oke reports live with some die hard boosters as they prepare for today's morning match at Nevada Smith's bar in New York City. Jack Keane, director of football for the bar, has World Cup-proofed the place for the masses expected for the 10:00 a.m. match. 

It might be that not everyone in the world is following the World Cup. But the sheer numbers of people tuning into the games show that a lot of people are seriously rooting for their favorite teams. FIFA recently came up with new (wide) estimates that say from 250 million to half a billion people tune in to watch.

The U.S. managed a shocking 1-1 tie against England when English goalie Robert Green let an easy shot from Clint Dempsey bounce off his hands and into the goal. George Vecsey, sports columnist for The New York Times, tells us how this miss will affect Green's fate. He also reports on U.S. goalie, Tim Howard, who suffered a rib injury during Saturday's match, and looks ahead to today's games.

Investment giant Goldman Sachs has faced mounting public disapproval and an ongoing civil fraud suit by the SEC this year, but that hasn't stopped their tradition of analyzing the FIFA World Cup and the countries playing in it.

Takeaway correspondent Femi Oke spends the morning at the South African restaurant, Madiba, in Brooklyn, New York, where owners and patrons are preparing for the biggest South African World Cup party in the city. Restaurant owner, Mark Hanegan says there are already 120 breakfast reservations from South Africa fans, coming to eat the home-style food and watch the game. Femi checks in with enthusiastic soccer fans at the bar, like Tiffani Knowles, who was the first to arrive at the restaurant this morning.

What are you watching for in this World Cup? A favorite team? Hoping for upsets? Our sports contributor, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin says we might see some young talent emerge while older leaders have to sit out with injuries. 

The FIFA World Cup is just two days away. Thirty-two teams will face off in 65 games over the course of one full month of soccer madness in South Africa. For those of us back here in the USA, we'll have to settle for clustering around television screens or surreptitious web feeds on our work computers. 

Sports Illustrated's Jen Chang tells us the most essential games to watch and, ahem, how to do it at work.

The 2010 FIFA World Cup kicks off on June 11th in South Africa. This is the first time an African country is hosting the Cup, and the entire continent has caught soccer fever.

The U.S. men's soccer team lost to Mexico 2-1 yesterday. Mexico came back from a short-lived 1-0 lead by the U.S. team with Miguel Sabah kicking in the game-winning goal. The American men still have a chance to qualify for the FIFA World Cup, however. The Takeaway’s sports contributor Ibrahim Abdul-Matin talks about the match, his hopes, and his continued frustration.

For more from Ibrahim, read his blog post, U.S. Soccer: Older but not yet Wiser.

Here are some of the match highlights:

Here's the truth behind my visceral disgust at watching the U.S.A. lose to Mexico in Mexico: it's not as if anyone in the U.S. really expected them to win ... besides me, really. I wanted to will them to win. But soccer in the United States needs its own Lake Placid "Miracle on Ice" moment; they need to do the unthinkable — but yesterday, as has been their fashion, they lost. ...(continue reading)