Technology is so advanced that unlike a few decades ago one does not have to wait for the news to get an update on any sporting event. Apart from live coverage on television there are web sites devoted exclusively to the event. The official website http://fifaworldcup.yahoo.com/06/en/w/sc/index.html is comprehensive and has news, views, as well as a live scoreboard that displays when a match will be held, the pre-game line ups, and information about the previous as well as next day. The organizers have ensured that where you go football will follow. They have made arrangements for soccer fans to receive live updates on mobile phones too. All you have to do is access the site from your phones browser. Sites like ESPNs soccernet , CNN.com, and the BBC sports website among many other news sites have the World Cup as their prime feature. Here there are great articles on each team, performance projections, as well as gossip galore. Who is undergoing treatment, which player has injuries, how did x, y, or z perform last season, and much more is there for you to read and understand. Radio is not far behind and most major channels are all set to broadcast the matches and happenings. And, there are blogs where experts, fans, interactive journalists, and others will present insights into the mega event. You can post your comments and thoughts too. The teams have their own blogs as well as RSS feeds, the links to these are at: http://www.worldcupblog.org/world-cup-blog-rss-feeds/ . The World Cup brings other interesting devices like the World Cup 2006 Tournament Calendar which is a spread sheet. It details the complete schedule and automatically calculates the standing of each team. You can use this to keep tabs on your favorites and be up-to-date with all events. The popularity of your team can be gauged by the odds being offered by betting sites. These sites are comprehensive and present current as well as past trends. This year, the orchestration of events for the world Cup 2006 is at an all time high. If you are a fan of the Australian team then you can choose to cheer your team along with other supporters at many venues all over the world from Melbourne to Paris, take your pick. Followers of Brazil or the US team too have sites devoted entirely to their teams and you can keep a tab on happenings by reading daily updates. It is not just the World Wide Web there are entire newspapers as well as daily, weekly, and monthly magazines devoted to the World Cup with in depth articles written by experts. You can read about where your team is staying, the training, the hospitality, how to get there, special interviews, as well as columns written by a few football heroes themselves. So, raise a toast to your team and cheer them to the championship all the way enjoying yourself in the bargain. |
