The race to host the two World Cups following the next one in Brazil has began, and FIFA officials will now start visiting a number of the candidate countries to take a look at their sports facilities. This is perhaps the most important stage of the process, as it gives the judges a direct insight into the strengths and weaknesses each country possesses. For all of FIFA’s problems, I think they have shown great judgment in picking the host nations and giving new ones a chance, as the recent tournaments in South Korea, Japan and South Africa turned out to be a big success.

As a reminder, the candidates are South Korea, Australia, Netherlands/Belgium, Russia, England, Spain/Portugal, Qatar, Japan and the United States. Half of those have never hosted the WC before, and it would really be interesting to see the competition in a country like Qatar or Australia, although, to be fair, I expect them to have the smallest chances too. South Korea and Japan may also be at a little bit of a disadvantage, having hosted the competition last decade, but they did it so well that they might still be in the running. England are being placed as favorites for the 2018 WC, but then we all know how the story goes when the English have big expectations.

The final decision for both tournaments will be made in December of this year, so interesting times are ahead.

As the investigation to find out what really caused France’s grave problems at the World Cup continues, the most capped player in their history, Lilian Thuram, has come out claiming that the revolt underlines the racism still existing in society.

He resigned as board member of the football federation after the scandal, but has continued to be a harsh critic of the squad, and has asked for those responsible to be heavily sanctioned. He fears that to let them go unpunished would put a stain on the country that will be hard to wash out. Thuram has said that many people blamed the fact that there are too many black players in the French squad, and that they do not fully represent French society.

That is a rather silly accusation in my books, as it is nothing new, and shouldn’t be a contributing factor anyway. Yes, France have for some time been one of the most colored teams in Europe, but that has not stopped them from achieving unity in the past, and even winning the World Cup in 1998. It would be absurd that after such glory petty differences like this would still resurface and cause such problems, but you never know. At the end, I think the only thing that can help the French move on is if they get to the bottom of the problem and try to eliminate it – be it racism, player egos, or whatever.

The World Cup Golden Ball, which is awarded to the best player of the competition, has gone to Diego Forlan. FIFA had submitted 10 nominees, but by all accounts the favorites to win it were 3 – Forlan himself, Wesley Sneijder and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Sneijder and Schweinsteiger have done very well in this World Cup, and have probably been the main reason their sides have done so well. Schweinsteiger has marshaled German’s midfield, creating many chances on those devastating counters that saw Germany crush good sides like England and Argentina. He has no goals to his name, though, so it’s not too hard to see why he didn’t get the award. Sneijder has done much of the same job for Holland, but he has no fewer than 5 goals to boast about. He almost single-handedly beat Brazil and took his country to their third-ever final, so he would have definitely deserved the prize should he have gotten in.

My man of the tournament, and rightful winner, however, has been Uruguay’s Diego Forlan. In a competition which has been more about team-work than stars, few have shined as brightly as the Atletico Madrid star-man. Besides his 5 goals, he has inspired and carried on his back the entire team in some games, creating something out of nothing and never allowing them to give up. He lead Uruguay to another great achievement for such a small nation, and will be the biggest hero for some time back home.

Spain’s hero at the World Cup final, captain and goalkeeper Iker Casillas, sure knows how to celebrate. He saved two clear-cut chances by Robben during the game, burst into tears as his team won in extra-time 1-0, became the first Spaniard to officially lift the golden trophy, and then went over for a short interview with his girlfriend Sara Carbonero, which he quickly ended with a kiss.

It was the perfect way to bring things full-circle, as the tournament had started so differently for Spain and Casillas. They lost their opening game 1-0 to Switzerland, with the captain making a mistake in the game’s only goal. After that, he was interviewed by Carbonero, where he didn’t have any answers for the defeat, and looked quite downbeat. The reporter was even blamed for “distracting” Casillas and costing Spain the game, as she was allowed to stand close behind the Spanish goal during the game.

It really was a ridiculous accusation, and Spain and Casillas responded in style. They won every single match after that, not allowing a single goal in any of their knockout matches. Casillas had a big part to play in that, stopping a crucial penalty against Paraguay, and of course his saves vs. Robben in the final. Spain rarely gave the ball away in any of their remaining matches, waited patiently to score their goals, and can now deservedly call themselves World Cup champions. And Casillas can celebrate in any way he wants.

The study took a look at video replays of important decisions such as free-kicks, penalties, bookings and goal-line incidents. It is, however, entirely curious and maybe a little bit alarming how they have decided that very few mistakes were made. I think when it comes to penalties and free-kicks there actually weren’t too many errors, which is an improvement on previous World Cups, but most of the red cars alone have been ridiculous decisions that should push the error rate easily beyond 4%. Not to mention how many yellow cards were given for next to nothing.

I’m fairly certain that Lampard’s clear goal for England vs. Germany is part of that 4%, and possibly Tevez’s wrongly given goal vs. Mexico, which was an offside. It begs the question though if there really is much of a point of video replays, if even when using them FIFA can barely spot any of their mistakes. That robot-referees idea really isn’t sounding that bad right now.

Say what you will about the calls in this tournament, though, at least it hasn’t been as bad as the previous two World Cups. So we can be thankful for that at least.

The octopus Paul has made his World Cup Final prediction and chosen Spain to win the trophy, and I have to say I agree with him. He has been right about everything so far in this tournament, and after Spain’s convincing win over Germany, I think they are definitely favorites for this match.

The Dutch have one of the best teams ever assembled, with a truly world-class attacking line of Kuyt, Robben, Sneijder and Van Persie. Some have said they’re not really playing as smoothly as previous Holland “total-football” sides, but I’d argue some of the football they’ve produced has been just as good. The difference is they are also being cautious in defense, which is the reason for their success.

Much like Germany, however, they will find it very hard to take the ball from Spain. The Spanish are simply the masters of possession football, and if Xavi and Inniesta don’t want to give you the ball, there’s little that can done about that. Holland will have few chances to score, and that will decide matters – if they make it count when the time comes. The problem is Spain have captain Casillas standing on goal, who certainly will be their biggest obstacle so far. He is the best goalkeeper in the world in my opinion, and if he has a good game, Holland are done for.

I would actually like to see a surprise if Holland can produce some real magic and get the victory, but right now my World Cup Final prediction is a 2-1 win for Spain.

The Germans have surprised everyone with their results at the world cup, and their animals seem to trying to match that achievement too. One aquatic sea-creature that has been getting more and more attention is Paul the octopus, who lives in the Sea Life Aquarium in Oberhausen, Germany.

No, its skills do not lie in kicking (or squeezing) a soccer ball, but with the amazingly accurate predictions it has made, accurately guessing every one of Germany’s results at the tournament. This includes 4 wins and only one defeat at the hands of Serbia.

The octopus makes it predictions by selecting a mollusk, or snack, from one of the two boxes in its tank – one box that carries the picture of the German flag, and one of their opponents. The workers at the aquarium prepare the flags before each game, and Paul makes his pick.

Is there really anything prophetic going on with this octopus? Probably not, even though 5 straight correct predictions is more than what 90% of the analysts have managed so far at this surprise-filled competition. It should be noted, though, that this is not the first time Paul has been asked to make such predictions. The workers claim he has also guessed matches from the Bundesliga correctly, with a more than 80% success rate.

For Wednesday’s huge semi-final against Spain, the octopus predicted Germany will lose, which is one time I‘m sure their fans will be hoping he’s wrong.

Following Nigeria’s unfortunate, yet deserved elimination at the group stages of the World Cup, their nation’s president, Goodluck Jonathan, has suspended the national team from competing at international tournaments for two years. This move was done not simply out of anger, but as an attempt to reorganize and restructure the team for when the 2014 qualifications begin.

Such government interference is not allowed by FIFA, and they risk being thrown out of the organization all together. However, I’m not sure FIFA’s strict no-interference policy is always for the good of the sport. Sometimes, you need help from the very top to breathe life back into team, something which the current football officials may be unable to do.

That being said, I do think the president’s decision is a bit of an overreaction. Yes, Nigeria’s results were disappointing, but they definitely showed determination. They took the lead in two of their games, and not many were expecting such turnovers. This is more than what a lot of other teams did, none the least the two finalists from 2006.

Nigeria’s football organization president and vice-president have already been fired, which might convince Jonathan to change his mind after all. If he does not, I don’t think FIFA will show much mercy. It would be really sad if the current Nigerian squad, which still boasts some very talented footballers, many of whom play in the Premiership, is frozen and not allowed to compete.

Football drama really does not get much higher than the conclusion to the Ghana – Uruguay quarter-final clash. With the score tied 1-1, in the very last seconds of extra time, Ghana have a header that looks certain to go in and win them the tie – until Uruguay striker Suarez sticks out his hand and stops the ball on the line. He got sent off, Ghana got the penalty. But somehow they missed it, and immediately went on to lose at the penalty shoot out.

There are those that say what Suarez did was ethically wrong, and that he “cheated” to keep Uruguay in the game. But I whole-heartedly disagree. Suarez did not cheat the referee, he did nothing that went unpunished. Usually, stopping a goal but getting a red card and conceding a penalty isn’t that good of an exchange. But in the last seconds of your side’s world cup hopes, there is nothing else you can do. You have to sacrifice yourself even for the smallest hope to rage on, and that’s just what he did. It was a self-sacrificial act in the most dramatic of circumstances, and it worked. Ghana had the world cup semi-finals at their feet, or more specifically at the feet of their main striker Gyan, but he missed it.

It’s as cruel as you can get for Ghana, but that’s football. Meanwhile, Suarez should be greeted as a hero back home in Uruguay, regardless if they beat Holland or not.

Despite the surprising turnarounds during this summer’s World Cup, FIFA Secretary General Jerome Valka has confirmed that there will be no change to the number of teams who get to qualify from each continent for the competition in Brazil in 2014.

As a reminder, currently 13 teams from Europe get through, 5 from Asia/Oceania, 5 from Africa, and 7 from North/South America. The European teams have greatly struggled at this tournament, though, with less than half progressing to the knockout stages, while in the past they have dominated their groups. As this is the first World Cup that takes place in Africa, expectations were high on the African teams as well, but only Ghana managed to survive the group stages.

I think that despite these outcomes, the decision from FIFA is the right one. I am in favor of preserving the quotas as much as possible, as it gives a good balance of quality and diversity at the World Cup. Maybe the European continent can afford to lose one or two places in the future if the sport gets bigger in Asia, but Africa’s teams definitely should not be reduced. In order for football to continue to grow and help out the economy there, they need all the chances they can get. Plus, it’s not like they played that badly in the groups, but they just couldn’t face up to tougher opposition.

Would be interesting to see if it’s possible for South America to improve on their showing so far in Africa when 2014 comes along, but that will take something special.