3-5-2 FOOTBALL

Wesley Sneijder could not contain his excitement after scoring in Netherlands' 3-2 victory over Uruguay to help his side reach a first World Cup final since 1978. Sneijder put the Oranje 2-1 up in the second half, after goals from Giovanni Van Bronckhorst and Diego Forlan had sent the teams into the half-time break on level terms. Arjen Robben netted a third to seemingly put the game beyond doubt before Uruguay rallied late on, scoring a second goal courtesy of Maxi Pereira. But Bert van Marwijk's side held on and Sneijder admitted he was still having to pinch himself at the thought of playing in the World Cup final on Sunday against either Germany or Spain. Van Marwijk echoed Sneijder's sentiments regarding grinding out the result regardless of performance, and admitted his pride at the achievments of his players in reaching the final. BOLA BOYZ    WORLD CUP     3-5-2 FOOTBALL   Anywhere… Everywhere… We'll Deliver! - NOBLE STAR

Maarten Stekelenburg has joked that Luis Suarez deserves the title of the World Cup's best goalkeeper following his infamous handball against Ghana, but is glad his Ajax team-mate will be suspended when Netherlands face Uruguay on Tuesday night. Suarez is banned for the World Cup semi-final in Cape Town after his deliberate handball on the line in the dying seconds of extra-time against Ghana saved Uruguay from elimination at the quarter-final stage. Asamoah Gyan missed the subsequent penalty and Ghana were then defeated in a shootout. Suarez has been under intense scrutiny since his red card, with debate raging as to whether he is a saviour of his country or a cynical cheat, and the forward himself has likened the incident to Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' in 1986. Stekelenburg says he has contacted Suarez to press his claims to be named the finest goalkeeper of the World Cup, but, from a serious perspective, is pleased to see Uruguay deprived of a man who has score...

Holland coach Bert van Marwijk has jumped to the defence of Arjen Robben over claims that the winger is a diver. Robben has come under-fire from some quarters for his conduct on the field after being accused by a number of Brazil players of diving during the quarter-final win last Friday. The 26-year-old has been accused of going to ground too readily throughout his career, but van Marwijk insists Robben is not a cheat and that he has cleaned up his act in recent years. Van Marwijk is refusing to look too far forward as he prepares his side for Tuesday's semi-final with Uruguay. The Dutch are heavy favourites to reach this Sunday's final, but van Marwijk is refusing to take anything for granted. BOLA BOYZ    WORLD CUP     NOBLESTAR   CLICK HERE for more WORLD CUP 2010 updates!

Spain striker Fernando Torres believes the best is yet to come from his team as they prepare to take on Germany. The European champions face the Germans in Durban on Wednesday in the semi-finals of the World Cup, a repeat of their final in Euro 2008. Spain lost their first game in the competition to Switzerland but have since bounced back and beat Paraguay 1-0 in the quarter-finals on Saturday. Liverpool striker Torres, 26, admits he is proud to lead the line in Spain's first ever World Cup semi-final, and is expecting a tough game. Torres has not been on best form this summer as the Liverpool forward is struggling for fitness after only recently recovering from an injury. His strike partner David Villa, meanwhile, has been firing in the goals and sits top of the scoring chart with five strikes to his name so far. Torres is unconcerned by his recent dip but insists it is the results that count, not individual performances. BOLA BOYZ     3-5-2 FOOTBALL      LIVERPOOL Anywhe...

Dunga has been axed as coach of Brazil after their defeat in the quarter-finals of the World Cup. Brazil were one of the tournament favourites, but they were knocked out by Holland earlier this week as they went down 2-1 to the Dutch. Now after Dunga and his staff arrived back in South America, he was relieved of his duties - although upon his arrival back in the country he insisted he was set for talks about his future. But the Brazilian Football Federation (CBF) said that Dunga and his technical staff had been dismissed. A statement from the CBF, said: "Ending the cycle of work that began in August 2006, and ended with the elimination of Brazil from the World Cup in South Africa, the CBF announces that the technical committee of the national team has been released. Dunga had been in charge of his country since 2006, succeeding Carlos Alberto Parreira. Mano Menezes, Leonardo and Wanderley Luxemburgo are seen as the early favourites to be named as Dunga's successor.   WORL...

England's World Cup captain Steven Gerrard has called for goal-line technology to be introduced to football. The Three Lions were victims of a questionable decision in their last-16 encounter against Germany in South Africa when a potential equaliser from Frank Lampard was disallowed despite clearly crossing the line. Gerrard really hope that the failure of the linesman to see Frank Lampard's goal will opens the debate up again about goal-line technology. Though, he can't understand why there is so much opposition to the goal-line technology because it is about decisions that can decide things as big as the World Cup. He fear that the decision will be made by people who don't play the game and who aren't affected by these mistakes. UEFA experimented with extra officials behind the goals during the Europa League and, after experiencing that system with Liverpool,Gerrard believes a similar strategy should have been employed at the World Cup. He added that if there h...

An 83rd minute goal from David Villa defeated a dogged Paraguay as Spain unconvincingly booked a World Cup semi-final tie with Germany. Villa scored with seven minutes remaining at Ellis Park to save his country's blushes following an unusually lacklustre performance and send them to the last four for the first time in their history. The winning goal came after Oscar Cardozo and Xabi Alonso both missed penalties, the latter following a re-take. Spain head coach Vicente del Bosque name an unchanged starting XI, despite pressure to remove the mis-firing Fernando Torres. Chile, meanwhile, made six changes to the team which beat Japan on penalties. Among those alterations, forward trio Roque Santa Cruz, Lucas Barrios and Edgar Benitez all dropped to the bench.   3-5-2 FOOTBALL    NOBLESTAR     LIVERPOOL   Not enough FOOTBALL ??? Click HERE!