Major companies like Nike, Adidas and Sony Electronics are purring in millions of dollars in World Cup Soccer advertising. Nike is the official sponsor of World Cup and is providing most the shoes to the players. One of their ads has been getting a buzz even before World Cup started and can be viewed below. The ad features many famous soccer players such as Wayne Rooney of England and Christian Ronaldo of Portugal. It even features Kobe Bryant.

Adidas provided the soccer ball, which has been very controversial so far. The ball is supposed to be the latest in ball technology and is made of one piece.  It is said to be 5% faster. Players have complained that the ball acts weird or is too slippery. Several goalies also blamed the ball for their loss.

Sony Electronics has been displaying banners around the court, which can be predominately viewed when watching the games.

It has been said that 3 seconds of World Cup advertising on TV costs around $250,000.

A survey of the Social Media sites by Melwater Buzz, showed that the users are getting involved with the major advertiser brands. The most conversation in May 24th to June 20th were as follows: Nike 27%,  Adidas 23%, Sony 11%, Coca-Cola 9% and Hyundai and Kia at 7%.

Today USA beat Algeria 1-0 in the last 3 minutes of the game (91st minute) in extra time. This win put US through to the round of 16th since the first time in 1930. US needed to win this game in order to get through as on the other deciding match of the group England beat Slovenia 1-0. Both US and England have advanced to the next round, with US getting the first spot in their group.

In today’s game, US actually scored goal in the first half, but it was ruled offside by the referee. A replay of the play showed that the refs made the wrong call. This is not the first time US has gotten a unlucky call like this in this year’s world cup. In the match against Slovenia, a goal by US was called off due to a fault, but again a replay showed no fault had been committed.

Today, US played very well and had several chances to score and controlled the ball most of the time. They were almost eliminated from advancing to the next round, if they had tied the game, but a stunning goal in the 91st minute, put the through. The goal came through as a result of Donovan passing the ball forward to Jozy Altidore who tiped the ball to Clint Dempsey, who attempted a shot to the goal but was deflected by the goaly. Donovon then made his way to the rebound and shot the ball into the net.

“Clint made a good run in the middle, the ball fell to me … time kind of stopped,” Donovan said. “You can’t miss from there.”

At the end all the players celebrated n emotions along with US fans. The US fans were still in the stadium celebrating 30 minutes after the end of the game.

It is not known yet who US will face in the next match. It could be Germany, Australia, Ghana or Serbia.

Guest blogger Rick Meriss wrote this.

Spring might mean the start of the baseball season to some people, but in my house it’s the kick off to the Major League Soccer season. Nothing makes me more excited than turning on Direct tv and seeing that the Columbus Crew are back for another dominating season. With so many of the players returning from last year’s second straight Supporters Shield winning team, it seems like it will be impossible to stop us this season!

Guillermo Barros Schelotto’s return has been secured as the Crew’s first ever designated player and continues to help the team produce. Sure David Beckham sells more tickets and Cuauhtémoc Blanco might be a little more well known, but neither one of them have affected the landscape of the MLS as much as Schelotto. With him helping lead a team full of potential US National team players, the club can only go up.

Speaking of international play, the competition for the World Cup will be starting soon. Needless to say soccer fever will fully consume my house by the time America takes the pitch against England! It’s going to be a great year for watching soccer.