A 12-year-old boy collapsed and died at a soccer camp at Wachusett Regional High School yesterday, according to Holden police.

The boy was transported to UMass Memorial Medical Center in Worcester with his parents, where he was pronounced dead.

He was identified as Joshua Thibodeau, by the Worcester District Attorney’s office.

He was attending the Zalgiris Soccer Camp, with locations in Holden and Ashburnham, as well as holding conditioning programs, individual lessons and a men’s summer soccer league, according to the Camp’s website.

Holden police and state troopers are investigating.

MIAMI — The World Cup, the amazing event that has a big portion of the world going crazy for a full month, had its origins in the Olympic football (soccer) tournaments. After the popularity of the sport was noticed, FIFA decided to start its own international football tournament back in 1924. On July 13th, 1930, the first FIFA World Cup took place on the Centenary Stadium in Montevideo, Uruguay. The first World Cup was held in Montevideo because Uruguay had already won the two previous Olympics football tournaments in 1924 and 1928. Uruguay won the first World Cup after an amazing final match against Argentina: the final score was 4 — 2. After the enormous success that the FIFA World Cup brought to the world, the Olympics decided to get rid of their football tournaments. Although they brought the games back in 1936, the ratings weren’t nearly as good as previous years or as good as the FIFA World Cup ratings were, and still are. After that Italy won the following two world cups that took place during the World War II in Europe, where the only South American team willing to travel was Brazil. The FIFA World Cup was cancelled for the next twelve years because of WWII. In 1950, it was restarted, taking place in Brazil, and again Uruguay won its second World Cup in an intense match against Brazil beating them 2 — 1. From that date, countries have been getting together for one month every four years to enjoy of the FIFA World Cup, giving all the support to their corresponding countries people can possibly give.

The Miami Impact

Miami is a city with an abundant, thriving culture, a place where people from all over the world reside and develop an attachment towards their home countries. After a long football season, we are currently down to the quarterfinals: out of the eight countries left, four are from South America. Miami is known to be the capital of Central and South America; therefore this has understandably created a lot of impact. People go crazy in the streets every time a game goes on. One starts to realize not only how many individuals care deeply about football, but also how many want to show the world their pride toward their home countries. It’s a time when neither politics nor teams matter: people are simply from a country no matter what supporting them from wherever they are to be able to take the World Cup home, forgetting about any possible differences. Whether it is by flying a fluttering flag out of the windows of their cars; or the hosting of parties to watch games; going to bars and restaurants serving foods typical of a particular country to have a meal and/or drink to give a stronger support to their fellow brothers who are now in South Africa playing for the World Cup, everyone finds a way to let their rivals know there are there supporting, and also to let their own realize they’re not alone. Living a party.

Now in South Africa

This past week a lot of important games took place: Uruguay beat South Korea 2 — 1; the Netherlands beat Slovakia 2 — 1; Brazil beat Chile 3 — 0; Spain beat Portugal 1 — 0 and Paraguay beat Japan after having to go to penalties 5 — 3. After those games FIFA South Africa 2010 became a battle between South America and the world. The quarterfinals look like this:

Brazil vs. Netherlands

Uruguay vs. Ghana

Argentina vs. Germany

Paraguay vs. Spain

Whoever wins the game of Brazil against Netherlands goes against whenever wins the game of Uruguay against Ghana for the semi-finals, and whoever wins the game of Argentina against Germany goes against whoever wins the game of Paraguay against Spain.

Then, the moment that we’ve all waiting for, the final, the most important game of all, is reached: the game that will define who deserves the World Cup. Although all the countries remaining are already considered the best football players in the world, they are all already winners.

Still, for those who do not know who to cheer for, cheer for Uruguay.

Here are some events happening all over the city during the 2010 World Cup

June 12 – World Cup Boston 2010 House Of Blues Viewing Party (10 a.m. to 5 p.m. House of Blues

The entire New England Revolution team will celebrate the kick-off tournament action of USA v. England with meet & greets, raffles & more.

June 11-12 — One Africa, Many Countries: Celebrate African Diversity Weekend (June 11, 6-8 p.m., June 12, 10a.m. to 4 p.m., Boston Children’s Museum)

Join The Children’s Museum as we explore some of the many countries and cultures of the African continent in celebration of the kickoff weekend of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. Taste samples of food from several different countries, dance to the rhythms of Senegal and Cape Verde, and show us your moves with a homemade soccer ball as we celebrate the diversity of African cultures right here in Boston. One Africa, Many Countries is sponsored by World Cup Boston 2010 and Boston University’s African Studies Center.

June 11-July 11 – Local Viewing Parties

Throughout the month, Boston establishments will toast the tournament with World Cup Boston 2010, including events at Game On!, Kings and the Lansdowne Pub, amongst others.

June 26-27 — World Cup Boston 2010 Mini World Cup Youth Soccer Tournament (9 a.m. to 5 p.m., Moakley Field, South Boston

Two-day soccer celebration featuring clinics, entertainment & tournament play for area youth, with appearances by Boston soccer professionals

July 9 — World Cup Boston 2010 Service Learning Day (9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Harambee Field & Grove Hall)

Help complete revitalization work in two vital city spaces

July 11 — World Cup Boston 2010 Citywide Jumbotron Celebration (Noon to 6 p.m. City Hall Plaza)

Watch the excitement of the World Cup finals & cheer on your team in the heart of Boston. For the culmination of the World Cup Tournament, more than 100,000 soccer fans are expected to join the celebration, featuring vendors and player appearances from the New England Revolution and Boston Breakers, as well as entertainment and enriching activities, fulfilling the initiative’s goal of uniting Boston’s diverse communities through soccer with a massive citywide celebration.

While soccer may not receive the praise and recognition it does in other regions of the world, the sport is about to get rammed down the global population’s throat, as the once ever four years tournament, the World Cup, is upon us.

On top a World Cup branded FIFA title that released two weeks ago, Electronic Arts has today announced a soccer title for Facebook.

The game is called FIFA Superstars, and while the details, stemming from EA Sports boss Peter Moore’s blog, on the project are extremely vague, we do know a few things.

It’s a result of EA’s purchase of casual game maker Playfish and is said to be an “engaging interactive football experience.”

Moreover, Moore said the game is a combined effort of EA Sports’ knowledge of the game and Playfish’s “social gaming expertise.”

That’s it for details. Moore promised “more details soon” and hopefully he delivers, because I know when I’m on Facebook, instead of staring at faces, I’d much rather play soccer!

Well .. we suppose that football is football.

Reggie Bush is out of the picture for Kim Kardashian, but it looks like she’s not “enjoying the single life,” as everyone advises their best friends when they go through a breakup.

Kim was spotted being hot and heavy in Madrid with soccer icon Cristiano Ronaldo.

According to reports, the two were seen kissing at a restaurant called El Dorado.

They met a while back in Los Angeles, and reconnected in Europe. Not sure how serious this is, but time will tell.

Ubisoft today announced an entirely new soccer title by the name of “Pure Futbol” for Xbox 360, PC and PS3. It takes the action from the stadium to the local field, ditches the referees but keeps the professionals. Weird, huh?

The game will be played from an over-the-shoulder camera angle which Ubisoft promises will place the gamer in the heart of the action instead of the feeling of watching a television broadcast.

What’s more, the game is, according to Ubi, a “new and unique vision of soccer video games, emphasizing the intense, physical and spectacular aspects of the sport.”

In the game will be 230 professional soccer players, 17 international teams and 17 legendary players. Gamers can play the game locally with up to three others and can even play 1v1 online.

Sound like a clusterf*ck of madness? Enjoy the debut trailer below, which hopefully makes some sense of the thing.

EA Sports has produced an Interactive Training tutorial that uses EA Sports technology to train young soccer players. The resource employs the EA Sports soccer game engine to illustrate the U.S. soccer’s coaching book “Best Practices for Coaching Soccer in the U.S.”, the definitive player development guide. Youth and Junior level soccer coaches are provided a fundamental tool to help teach young players in ways that celebrate the sport’s spontaneous qualities.

The specific features of EA Sports Interactive Training include:

‚· Six videos focused on drills “"‚  Passing, Dribbling, Heading, Shooting, Receiving and Defending

‚· Three levels of complexity for each video module

‚· Expert instruction from John Hackworth, U.S. Soccer Development Academy Technical Director and U.S. Men’s National Team Assistant Coach

The soccer guide is available for download here. Comment with thoughts/opinions below.

Stud winger Cristiano Ronaldo, considered by many to be the best soccer player in the world, continues to try to work his way out of Manchester United and into Real Madrid of the Spanish league. He talked to the media after his Portuguese team got ousted from the Euro Cup by Germany on Thursday.

“I will talk with Manchester and we will try to reach a deal,” said Ronaldo, who has insane talent yet dives more often than Greg Luganis. “The possibilities to go to Madrid are great, but it doesn’t depend on me.”

Ronaldo also mentioned that he would “need surgery” for a “small problem” on his right foot.

Manchester United won the Champions League recently in a shootout against Chelsea, which is another team lined with studs. So, of all the reasons he would want to leave, it’s not because Man U. stinks. Whether you like soccer or not (and chances are, if you are an American, you don’t), this would be the biggest sports transaction in recent memory.

The deal would most certainly have to exceed the world transfer record $90 million that Real paid for Zinedine Zidane in 2001.

The United States soccer team began its quest for a berth in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa the right way Sunday. Scoring their first goal just 53 seconds in off the foot of Clint Dempsey, the U.S. tacked on seven more in a downright thrashing of Barbados, whose team looked wildly over matched.

“It’s good to get the whole thing underway," said U.S. Men’s National Team head coach Bob Bradley, whose son Michael netted the second goal in the 8-0 destruction. "We spent a lot of time thinking about just getting off on the right foot, and a goal early like that certainly is getting off on the right foot. From there, it’s just an exercise of staying sharp, trying to play the right ball, the right timing, and finish off some of plays so we could have a margin. We were able to do that, so in those ways it was a definite success.”

Granted it was Barbados, who looks terrible even to a novice soccer fan, but the U.S. answered some critics who were concerned that they couldn’t score after they were blanked in their last three friendlies.

Dempsey’s goal was the fastest goal ever scored by the U.S. in a World Cup qualifier and the 8-0 rout was their largest margin of victory ever in the qualifying round.

The team travels to Barbados for a re-match on June 22nd. Barbados should just pray to keep it under a five-goal differential.

After getting their heads handed to them in the first game of the Euro Cup by Holland 3-0, Italy inched closer to elimination Friday with a 1-1 draw against the Romanians.

The Italians should consider themselves lucky. Zambrotta made a bone-headed play in the second half, heading the ball back to his netminder while allowing Adrian Mutu to slip in and score. Not too bright.

With the game tied at one and destined to be a draw, Panucci committed a terrible penalty in the box. The announcers called it questionable, I say no way. In most sports, it’s a foul to wrap your forearm under another player’s neck and drag them down. You do that in the box in soccer, and it’s a PK.

But, as has happened numerous times in the past, Jean Luigi Buffon saved the day, punching and then kicking the ball out of the net to save the tie.

Still, Italy is in trouble.

FIFA Street 3 is another arcade sport game aimed at cheap thrills with a host of characters doing unreal acrobatics while playing their sport.

The odd thing about this is it actually turns out to be a lot of fun. Street 3 creates a new world combining the biggest stars from real world soccer and mixing them with unique venues around the world. Add in some pulsating techno music and you have a sense that this game is not something of this world.

The game has an impressive cast with over 250 of the world’s best players from 18 of the top international teams. Each player has been rendered into a stylized body form loosely based on his actual physical attributes. This stylization helps further the arcade experience, but more importantly helps streamline gameplay as a players body type is usually indicative of their style of play.

There are four styles of play that a character can be. Tricksters are known for their ball handling ability. Enforcers are defense oriented. Playmakers have good awareness and are easily able to set up their teammates to score a goal. Finishers have a high ability to shoot and can score easily from mid court.

The graphics engine delivers beautiful visuals and special effects. FIFA Street 3 delivers a multitude of animations and ball control that lets you take complete control over the ball in a very intuitive manner. The analog control sticks allow you to seamlessly control the ball and passing and shooting is extremely easy.

The learning curve is very slight and the intuitive controls allow for hundreds of different ways to handle the ball, shoot, juggle, etc. The final feature, which is new to the series, is the Game Breaker that allows you to power your ultimate abilities and give you a competitive edge when needed.

The only downside is that it gets old, fast. It’s fun to play with friends, but when going solo the unchallenging AI and repetitive game modes don’t have much to offer. I recommend trying out this game, but be wary of its replayability.

Quick hits:

Publisher: EA Sports
Developer: EA Sports
Platform: PlayStation 3 (reviewed), Xbox 360, Nintendo DS
Genre: Arcade sports
Players: 1-6 (Up to 8 online)
Launch Date: Feb. 18, 2008

Playability: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4 out of 5 stars
Sound: 4 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars

Electronic Arts launched today, the new, free Online Team Play feature, which lets 10 people on 10 different consoles team up online to play FIFA Soccer 08.

Be A Pro: Online Team Play in FIFA Soccer 08 enables up to five friends on five different consoles to select and take control of their own individual players on the same team, supported by AI teammates, to play against up to five rivals playing on five different consoles of another team. You can choose to play as a single, fixed player the entire game, with free roaming players, or teams can have a combination of both. Anyway you choose to play, Be A Pro: Online Team Play challenges you to master the same disciplines as a real soccer player—from positioning and tackling to reading the field and passing.

FIFA Soccer 08 is rated “E” (Everyone) and is in stores now.

Team Play is automatically available on Xbox 360 and the Playstation 3 when connected to the Internet.