Most of the best players are concentrated on the old continent, and the club sides and national sides rarely stray away from their home grounds, bar a friendly or two in the United States.

In this new era in which football has become such a cash cow, South America has largely been left behind, but now European countries are finally making the trek south.

Portugal went to Brazil in 2008, and were thrashed 6-2, and now Spain is going to Buenos Aires to face Argentina.

The World Champions were greeted by a capacity crowd when they faced Mexico at the Estadio Azteca last month, and they will face an equally anxious crowd at El Monumental, the historic home of River Plate.

For many of Spain’s players, it will be the first time they go to Argentina, which is not only the country colonized by Spain, but also the home of many of their club teammates.

“They are very excited to see how the fans here express themselves,” commented Barcelona’s Rosario-born superstar Lionel Messi when asked what his club mates were excited about seeing in their trip to Buenos Aires.

Playing in front of crowds where the fans sing for 90 minutes without pause is certainly a sight to behold, especially in a stadium such as El Monumental, where Argentina lifted the World Cup in 1978.

So many of Argentina’s best players came through the ranks at River Plate, and many of them now ply their trade in Spain, which means the likes of Iker Casillas will get to see where his good friend and teammate Gonzalo Higuain played before crossing the Atlantic.

The large Barcelona contingent in the Spain squad hardly know their recently acquired teammate Javier Mascherano, but they will get to know each other in Buenos Aires, where Mascherano also played for River Plate and won the league title in 2004.

It is very interesting because Argentines and Spaniards have many things in common from culture and language, and many Argentines are descended from Spaniards.

This close bond will leave no one surprised to see the two sides spending time together away from the pitch, perhaps taking in a match this weekend in the Argentina Apertura.

Inter of Brazil’s Andres D’Alessandro was in the stands to see his beloved River battle out a scoreless draw against Argentinos Juniors last weekend, while Diego Milito saw Racing Club fall 2-1 at the hands of Colon de Santa Fe in Avellaneda Friday night. Carlos Tevez was in attendance when Boca faced San Lorenzo in Saturday afternoon’s Clasico.

Spain will also be training at Boca Juniors’ Casa Amarilla practice ground, where so many of Argentina’s current stars, such as Carlos Tevez and Walter Samuel, played early in their careers.

Former Barcelona star Juan Roman Riquelme will also have a chance to see his ex-teammates and good friend Andres Iniesta, the hero of the World Cup Final.

During Riquelme’s stay at the Catalan club, the Boca No. 10 built a great relationship with the young man from Albacate and the two still speak quite frequently.

Although out injured, Riquelme will be present at the match, as he has already stated he will be in the stands to watch the match Tuesday night (7 September).

The occasion is especially important for Argentina’s fans, who will see the World Cup holders play in El Monumental for the first time since Argentina beat Brazil 3-1 in 2005, thanks to two goals from Hernan Crespo and a wonder strike from Riquelme.

The last time Argentina faced a European World Cup holder was in 1977 when West Germany took on Argentina at Boca’s La Bombonera stadium.

Such is the occasion, that Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner will welcome Vicente Del Bosque’s side to the Casa Rosada.

For South American fans in general, this could be a growing trend over the next few years, as the World Cup returns to South America for the first time since Argentina 1978.

Many European teams will want to get used to the climate and hostile crowds they will encounter in Brazil in four years’ time.

Climate-wise, Buenos Aires is very similar to the south of Brazil, where World Cup matches will be played in Porto Alegre, and it would be no surprise to see European or African teams play warm-up matches in Argentina or Uruguay.

On the field, the game promises to be a wide open attacking contest between two sides who want to play good football.

Argentina manager Sergio Batista has been experimenting with three-man front line with D’Alessandro pulling the strings from midfield.

Del Bosque has brought along a full-strength squad that thrashed Liechtenstein 4-0 on Friday thanks to a double from Fernando Torres and a goal each from David Villa and David Silva.

Probable Spain Lineup: Casillas; Ramos, Marchena, Pique, Capdevila; Busquets, Alonso, Xavi; Iniesta, Villa, and Torres.

Probable Argentina Lineup: Romero; Zanetti, G.Milito, Samuel, Heinze; Mascherano, Banega, D’Alessandro; Messi, Tevez, and D. Milito.

Varallo, was inside forward in the Argentina side who lost 4-2 to Uruguay in Montevideo’s Centenario Stadium. In a birthday interview interview last February, he said that Argentina had lost through “a lack of courage” after leading 2-1 at halftime.

Recalling 1930, he added: “I achieved a lot of nice things in my career: I represented the national team and was Boca’s record goalscorer. However, in my whole life I’ve never felt such a bitter pain as losing that World Cup final against Uruguay in 1930. How I cried that day! Even now when I look back it still makes me angry.”

Varallo won the league title with home town club Gimnasia y Esgrima in 1929 during the amateur era before joining Boca Juniors. He won three professional league titles between 1931 and 1936 but was forced to retire through injury aged 30 in 1940. He became a youth coach with Boca and with Gimnasia.

Varallo’s 194 goals for Boca set a record broken only this year by Martin Palermo.

With the last kick of the game in the third-place playoff against Germany, Forlan’s free kick cannoned off the crossbar and Germany held on for a 3-2 win.

Inches lower and Uruguay would have taken Germany to extra time and Forlan would have become outright leading scorer at the tournament.

It wasn’t only Forlan’s five goals that were inspirational, he led his team with dignity – never falling to the whining ways or dives of many of today’s superstars.

Forlan and the Uruguayan squad should be proud of their African endeavours.

The results mean three European sides and Uruguay will contest next week’s semi-finals. South America had dominated the early stages of the World Cup, but Germany’s 4-0 crushing of Diego Maradona’s side was the second time in two days that a European power had sent home one of the two Latin American favourites, following the Netherlands’ shock defeat of Brazil on Friday.

Spain had to fight long and hard against a tough Paraguay before Spanish hitman David Villa, the tournament’s top scorer, took the only goal – his fifth of the tournament – in the 83rd minute after substitute Pedro’s effort bounced off an upright.

Earlier both sides missed penalties in a frantic spell in the second half. Spanish keeper Iker Casillas saved Oscar Cardozo’s penalty and three minutes later Xabi Alonso’s first try for Spain was disallowed for encroachment. Paraguayan keeper Justo Villar saved the second.

In the semi-finals Spain will face Germany, who handed Argentina their worst World Cup defeat in 52 years, outplaying them all over the pitch despite the presence of World Player of the Year Lionel Messi, who was mostly stifled by defenders.

Germany and Spain will play in Durban on Wednesday while Uruguay face the Netherlands on Tuesday in Cape Town.

The two-time champion Uruguayans advanced to face the Netherlands in the semi-finals after Sebastian Abreu casually chipped the last penalty straight down the middle to secure the win, after a 1-1 draw following 120 minutes of play.

The Netherlands produced a stunning second-half comeback to reach the semi-finals as Brazil’s World Cup imploded in a dramatic game in Port Elizabeth.

After taking an early lead through Robinho’s cool finish, the pre-tournament favourites were pegged back following an awful defensive mix-up early in the second-half and were found wanting in defence again soon afterwards when Wesley Sneijder headed in.

Brazil found themselves in even deeper trouble when Felipe Melo saw red for stamping on Arjen Robben with 17 minutes to go and, although Dunga’s side gave everything in a thrilling finale, they crashed out in the quarter-finals for the second successive tournament.

It is the Netherlands who will go forward to play Uruguay in the semi-finals and they have blown this World Cup wide open.

Two of the best attacking sides in the tournament square off today as Brazil take on Chile. These were the top two teams in South American qualifying, and know each other very well. The thought of Brazil playing at full tilt from the first minute against an attacking Chilean team presents an exciting prospect.

Six out of seven Latin American teams at the World Cup have qualified for the knockout phase in South Africa, compared with just four at the last World Cup in Germany in 2006.

Slick football from teams like Chile and Uruguay as well as traditional giants Argentina and Brazil has seen the region’s teams thrive.

In Buenos Aires, the early exits of fancied European nations such as Italy and France have fuelled hopes that national icon Maradona can coach Argentina to victory.

It is the Brazilians, however, who are brimming with the most confidence. Two-thirds of them believed they would win the World Cup in South Africa, compared to 48 percent of Argentinians, 15 percent of Chileans and 12 percent of Mexicans, according to a survey commissioned by Brazil’s Ibope polling firm.

Argentina produced arguably the performance of the tournament so far to dismantle South Korea and Mexico put France on the brink of an early exit.

Real Madrid striker Gonzalo Higuain scored a hat-trick as Argentina saw off South Korea at Soccer City to all but book their place in the last 16 of the World Cup.

Higuain struck once in the first half and twice in quick succession after the break as Diego Maradona’s side made it two wins out of two in Group B and fired another warning that they are one of the teams to beat in South Africa.

It was the first World Cup hat-trick since Portugal’s Pauleta in 2002 and the first from an Argentine since Gabriel Batistuta in 1998.

Two second-half goals gave Mexico their first ever victory over France to leave El Tri well-placed to make the last 16 and the 2006 runners-up on the verge of elimination.

Mexico were the brighter of the two throughout but were unable to take any of their chances until just after the hour, when Manchester United-bound substitute Javier Hernandez broke the offside trap and rounded keeper Hugo Lloris before slotting home.

Another Mexican substitute, the 37-year-old Cuauhtemoc Blanco, sealed the victory from the penalty spot after Pablo Barrera had been felled in the box.

It leaves Mexico level at the top of Group A with Uruguay and a draw between those two sides in their final game in Rustenburg would put France out of the tournament.

Brazil head to South Africa looking to confirm their position as the best international team in world football by winning the World Cup for a sixth time. Brazil’s World Cup pedigree cannot be disputed, the fact that they have won the competition more times than anybody else speaks for itself. Many critics have questioned the current Brazilian team and whilst it may not be as good as past teams, it is still a collective of world class players that will strike fear in to the eyes of any opponent. We believe Brazil have the pedigree, history and players to make it six of the best come the final whistle of the World Cup final come 11th July.

To win the World Cup you need at least 20 very good players, and if that’s the case, then Argentina, now coached by its most iconic player, Diego Maradona, is well positioned. The team features the current world player of the year, forward Lionel Messi, and the drop-off from there is not precipitous. If they can get it together for six, seven matches, they also have the players to win the World Cup. Maradona and co have a fantastic opportunity to silence all their critics once and for all.

Although Paraguay are long shots to win the World Cup they are a good bet to advance out of Group F into the knockout round. Paraguay beat Brazil and Argentina on their way to South Africa and have reached the last 16 in two of the last three World Cups. The squad boasts huge attacking talent with Cardozo, Santa Cruz and the emerging Barrios. One of the above strikers is a great outside punt for the golden boot if they plunder New Zealand.

Other notable mentions go to Chile and Mexico who should both have enough talent in their line-ups to advance out of Groups A and H. The games between Chile and Switzerland, and Mexico and Uruguay, will play a big part in deciding which Latin American teams advance out of their respective groups to the second round of the competition.

Looking into our crystal ball we see a South American team and a European team in the final on 11 July 2010: Brazil versus Spain. Brazil are a fantastic unit with some exceptional players (Alves, Kaka, Lucio, Maicon, Robinho, etc) and stand out as clear favourites for us.