1. Top 10 Highest Paid Footballers At The 2010 World Cup - http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/140/world-cup-2010/2010/06/03/1956312/top-10-highest-paid-footballers-at-the-2010-world-cup
2. Top 10 Biggest World Cup Wins - http://www.goal.com/en-india/news/140/world-cup-2010/2010/06/22/1989294/top-10-biggest-world-cup-wins

Interactive Calendar: http://www.marca.com/deporte/futbol/mundial/sudafrica-2010/calendario-english.html

Lionel Messi is the best pound-for-pound soccer player in the world, and perhaps of all time. At 22, Messi has won just about everything there is to win, both individually and in club soccer. Missing is any sort of hardware with Argentina, aside from an Olympic gold medal. Messi's game relies on its unpredictability and magnificent control of the ball, which seldom demurs to anything Messi asks it to do. Listed at a charitable 5-foot-7, he's even a good header. While transcendent with his club, Barcelona, in the last few years (his 17 goals this season are tied for the most in Spain), the knock on Messi has been that he doesn't match that dominance for Argentina.

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"Buy that kid," Manchester United players told manager Alex Ferguson after an 18-year old Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, whose middle name allegedly honors Ronald Reagan, had torched Man U in a friendly in the summer of 2003. Ferguson obliged his players' wishes, shelling out some $20 million and handing Ronaldo the No. 7 jersey, previously worn by legends George Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona and David Beckham. Ronaldo responded by outdoing all of the aforementioned in a six-year romp during which he scored 118 goals and won three Premier League titles, one Champions League and one Club World Cup, swiping 42 individual prizes, including the 2008 FIFA World Footballer of the Year, along the way. Last summer, Ferguson sold him to Real Madrid for a record $132 million. Ronaldo has become a lethal dribbler, superlative header and long-distance shooter and one of the better free-kick takers on the planet and will anchor an aging Portugal looking to shine one last time.

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When Wayne Rooney broke through internationally at just 17 years of age and took his place next to then-England striker Michael Owen, a British journalist referred to them as "the baby-faced assassin and the assassin-faced baby," with Rooney accounting for the less flattering of the descriptions. An England side without him has become unimaginable, as the Liverpool-born Rooney developed into a world-class striker in a country starved for them. The highly athletic Rooney has reinvented his position, swerving all over the attacking half of the field to drop back into midfield when needed or provide the final tap on a goal. With former teammate Cristiano Ronaldo now in Spain, Rooney has carried the scoring load for Man U, leading the Premier League with 23 goals. Rooney sports a tattoo that says, "Just Enough Education To Perform." While this may be generous, his on-field intelligence is off the charts. One half of another British power couple, Rooney and his wife Colleen have taken England by storm, he as a soccer player and she as a fitness guru/fashion commentator of some sort.

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Kaka belongs to Jesus. The T-shirts he has shown underneath his jersey say so. An oxymoronic principled soccer player, Kaka also happens to be the rare Brazilian star who comes from an upper-middle-class background. Money couldn't tear him away from Milan and its fans. Kaka said he wasn't interested in the heaps of money offered him by Manchester City and Real Madrid. So long as Milan would have him, he would be staying. Milan needed his transfer fee to stay afloat though, so after Kaka won everything there is to win for club and self, Milan sold him to Real Madrid for about $95 million in June. So now Kaka also belongs to Real Madrid. Kaka has become a central figure in manager Dunga's new Brazil, masterminding its lethal counterattacks

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When Chelsea splashed out $37 million for him in 2004, Didier Drogba seemingly came out of nowhere, uncommonly late in arriving on the world scene at 26. Now 31, he nonetheless has become one of the world's foremost strikers, and probably the most athletic one. Both captain and all-time leading scorer of Ivory Coast, he will be relied upon to debunk the stereotype that for all their ability, African teams never perform. This robust striker both takes up and covers a lot of real estate, often requiring several opposing defenders to keep him in check -- although Premier League opponents haven't been too successful at that this season, as Drogba ranks second to Wayne Rooney with 19 goals. Known for his big personality and intense looks, Drogba is spectacular to the eye.

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There's a reason they call him "El Illusionista" -- "The Illusionist." Andres Iniesta is a whimsical playmaker who transcends position and role to create a steady flow of chances for whoever is lucky enough to be playing in front of him. So multifunctional as to be capable of slotting into just about any midfield or attacking job, Iniesta is the creative counterpart to Xavi's pragmatism in Barcelona's and Spain's golden tandem. Coming up as Ronaldinho's understudy, Catalunya and all of Spain now shudder at the thought of life without Iniesta. Luckily, lithe as he may be, he has an uncanny ability to play through injury.

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A man who once pronounced himself ugly and OK with that, Franck Ribery led a nomadic soccer existence until the day his Turkish club Galatasaray could no longer pony up his salary and Ribery moved to Marseille. There he became a star and was appointed the successor to France star Zinedine Zidane, even though Ribery is more a winger than a playmaker. Establishing himself as one of the finest of his craft at Bayern Munich, the bite-sized and injury-prone Ribery has yet to confirm that status with France, for which he has been a regular since its surprise run to the final of the 2006 World Cup.

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Ever since Real Madrid, which had signed him at 16, deemed him unfit for its ranks four years later, Samuel Eto'o has played soccer with a meteorite-sized chip on his shoulder. Eto'o's wrath led him to score 108 league goals for Barcelona in just five seasons, helping Barca win the league three times in that span. Incredibly, Eto'o (pronounced ay-TOH-oh, not ay-TOO) made his debut for Cameroon's senior team when he was 14 and, had Cameroon qualified in 2006, would be making his fourth World Cup this summer, despite still being younger than 30.

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As gifted as he is brittle, Arjen Robben has tormented as many defenders with his darting runs as he has team physicians with his myriad leg injuries -- blamed on supremely poor running technique. The slouching winger, belying his 6-foot frame, has, when healthy, proved the sparkplug to many famed attacking lines, including those of some marvelous PSV, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Holland teams (the latter most notably at Euro 2008). His outsized value to clubs is best illustrated by the cumulative $113.7 million that clubs have spent on the 26-year-old in transfer fees over the years.

Spain!! all the way baby

Who Will Win The FIFA World Cup 2010?