The Endline

Real Madrid announced today that Brasilian midfielder, Kaka has undergone a successful knee surgery in Belgium. The playmaker will have a rehabilitation time of 4 months before he sees the pitch for Real Madrid.

To pass the time during rehab, Kaka will be playing as his virtual self in FIFA 11. EA Sports announced today that Kaka will be the global cover athlete for the game due out on September 28th.

I saw a couple interesting articles about World Cup tickets and safety, or lack there of, that I thought I would pass on.
This article says that ticket brokers and travel agents can’t sell the World Cup tickets that they have, but they had to buy theirs from Sepp’s friends.
This article says that gang leaders in South Africa threatened to rob World Cup visitors, and lucky for the police some the suspects they were looking for were dead when they found them.
 Are any of you going to South Africa?  Anyone passed …

These gamers may not win the Puskas, but EA Sports have selected their best goals of the year. If you want to enter the competition, you can go to EASportsFootball.com

I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking, “What is a Puskas? And should I be offended?” Well, the answer is “no.” The Goal of the Year Award is named after the late Ferenc Puskas and the first annual FIFA Puskas Award went to Cristiano Ronaldo for his long range bomb against FC Porto in the Champions League.Here are all the goals nominated.Who do you think should have won? Let us know in the comments.

What came as a surprise to no one, Lionel Messi and Marta were named the World Players of the Year. Players from Argentina and Brasil…take that you Eurosnobs.

Last week Oh Danny Boy brought you the original video, and now I’m dropping the behind the scenes on ya.

On Saturday night, (at least here on the west coast) Barcelona came from behind to defeat Estudiantes in the final of the FIFA World Club Championship. That brought their trophy count to six for the year. Not too shabby if you ask me.

The first video is an overview with the emphasis on which group is the Group of Death. The following videos break down each group individually.

The U.S. received a great draw in Group C drawing England, Algeria and Slovenia. You can see the Groups here. Thanks Charlize for the draw…and your sense of humor.

Watch live video from FIFA WORLD CUP DRAW on Justin.tv