The 2014 World Cup will cost a staggering minimum of 10 billion US dollars for Brazil to organise, the majority of which will be borne by the public sector.

It has been a long time since Brazil hosted a major tournament, and a lot of the stadiums require work, including of course the legendary Maracana, which was built for the last World Cup that Brazil hosted, 53 years ago.

The tournament is expected to be held across 18 cities, and so the money spent on World Cup development will greatly improvement infrastructure all over the country (hence the decision to make it a largely public sector undertaking).

The outcome of the tournament will be interesting, since it was only after hosting their last World Cup that Brazilians went football crazy, and the tournament will return now to the country which produces some of the sport's finest moments and people, both on the field, and off it. 

When Sven Goran Eriksson's Manchester City announced that they would be signing the Brazilian Elano, most thought of him as being a gamble - an undoubtedly talented player, but one who would be expected to struggle, and take time to adapt to the Premiership (as many Latin Americans do). His dalliances with injuries, and slightish frame were also factors for doubters, as was the fact that he was basically untested at the top level apart from some apperances for the Brazilian national team.

Well, the outcome so far has been quite spectacular. Right from the start of the season, Elano has been the focal point of City's attacking play, and a big part of everything good that they're doing. He was instrumental in setting up their first goal of the season, and currently leads the Premier League's assist charts with 5 assists (tied with Cesc Fabregas). He's also scored 3 goals, and as a result, Man City have been flying - they're currently third in the league, 3 points behind leaders Arsenal, and just 1 behind bitter rival Man United (but with a game in hand).

Elano's story is an interesting one. Born in Iracemápolis, São Paulo, he joined Santos, and was an instrumental part of their title winning sides, although very much an unfeted player. Whilst Robinho, Diego, Ricardinho and Alex stole the limelight, Elano went about doing his work efficiently, achieving a reputation as a talented goalscoring midfielder with 32 goals in 3 years. Whilst his more "illustrious" teammates took off to Real Madrid and Porto, Elano saw a good opportunity to further his career at Shakhtar Donetsk, one of the many newly-rich clubs in Eastern Europe, that played in the Champions League, and where he wouldn't be too homesick with a host of other Brazilians around him. Although he struggled at first, he worked his way into the team, and became the first Ukraine-based player to be called up to the Brazil national squad when Dunga took charge. Elano started off very brightly, scoring against Argentina at Arsenal's Emirates Stadium. He has since been a fixture in the Brazil squad, although not always in the first XI.

Elano's excellence as a player has a lot to do with his versatility and intelligence, as well as his willingness to work hard. While he is not Gennaro Gattuso (thankfully), he doesn't shirk his share of the work, and is more than happy to put in tackles, and stand up to them as well. Most Man City/Premiership fans might only have seen him operating on the right or in a free role, but I had the chance to watch him train and play up-close at this year's Copa America, and he's perfectly capable of playing on the left, in the middle or in a wing-back or full-back role. Had Maicon not managed to recover from a shoulder injury at the Copa, then it's very likely that Elano would have deputised. And nevermind his passing, movement. intelligence and workrate, he is also a very, very good finisher. In training, he would slot the ball crisply past the keeper almost 9 times out of 10, producing exactly the kind of finish that the situation demanded. Man City have signed the "complete" attacking midfielder.

No one should get too carried away though - the English winter still awaits (although Elano is more than well prepared for this after his sojourn in the Ukraine), but there is also the surprise factor that is still working in his favour; once opponents get to know him better, they will start to target him, and people like Robbie Savage, Lee Bowyer, and Frank Lampard are more than happy to "strategically" kick lumps out of certain key players.

Elano is lucky to have a manager of Sven's intelligence. One of the reasons that the team has gelled well, and that the new recruits have settled in almost immediately, is that Sven knows how to arrange teams to maximise their strengths, and minimise their weaknesses. He's well educated with the English game, and the first thing he did was to pair Michael Johnson and Dietmarr Hamann together in central midfield. Both of them are fighters, good defensive midfielders, and organisers and passers. When there's a fight to be had in the middle of the park, they take care of it, and when going forward, they keep it simple and basically give Elano a platform on which to showcase his talent, which he has done in abundance.

After already emulating Diego Maradona with his brilliant goal against Getafe, the littler little man has gone a step further by emulating the the infamous Hand of God against Zaragoza in the most recent round of play in La Liga. Some might even say that without it, Real Madrid might have won the title today, and if they lose it next week, then Messi's "goal" will be even more crucial and controversial. Video below:

Have to say that Messi, despite his brilliance must go down as a quite brazen, dirty little cheat after this, and questions must also be definitely asked of the referee, who had a good enough view of the incident (in my opinion).

Since Kaka, Ronaldinho and Robinho/Ronaldo (can't remember which one) aren't going to be at this year's Copa America, a bit of the gloss will be taken off the competition, but it also leaves room for other teams and players to impress.

So I was wondering what people's thougts were on which teams and players would impress at this year's Copa?

Wouldn't bet against Argentina winning. Last time around they outplayed Brazil in the final, but still lost. 

Hello... since the season is almost over (FINISHED if you're an Arsenal fan) and, quite frankly, not much is happening in the summer apart from International Football (yes, I used CAPS), I thought maybe it would be cool (fun?) to pick up the Copa America and really follow it from start to finish.

Of all the tournaments this summer (Gold Cup/FIFA U-20s/Pan-American Games), it's probably going to be the one with the best football and the best players, but as usual it will probably not be given much attention by the English-language media. I've noticed we have loads of Brazilians and Argentines on here, and more than a few USAians, so there's no reason why we can't make ourselves the best English source for the Copa America this summer. Anyone interested? I promise I won't keep talking about Denilson.

Anyways, if you have a blog and feel like keeping an eye out for the Copa, then have a go, and if you're interested in writing but aren't a member, then sign up!

This past Club World Cup (which NOBODY cares about outside of South America), OleOle probably had the most (and best) coverage of the event, and i'm sure we can generate a fair amount of buzz about the Copa America. This is after all the "World Cup of the Americas"... but I guess that doesn't make much sense. I'll stop now.