In a very exciting pre quarter final fixture of the ongoing FIFA World Cup, Holland and Mexico will be up against each other at Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza this Sunday.

The qualification of these two teams for the knockouts is not a surprise for anybody. While, Holland is one of the best teams in the world at the moment, Mexico also doesn’t lack skills.

But, the real picture starts from here. This is the time for the players from both sides to show what they are made of and they would surely be up for it.

Neither of these two teams has suffered a defeat in the tournament so far. The Dutch won all their matches in the group round, while, El Tri won two and drew one.

The good news for the Holland fans is that the star player and skipper of their team, Robin Van Persie, is back after remaining on the sidelines during the last group game. He had not featured against Chile because of suspension. His return would strengthen the Dutch attack big time.

Van Persie has already made big impact in the two games that he has played in this competition. He has three goals under his belt.

As far as Mexico is concerned, the key man for them will be their veteran Rafael Marquez. His performance in the group round was brilliant and the El Tri management would hope that he keeps that up in this big game as well.

There have been a lot of upsets being created in the FIFA World Cup in the past, but, it’s pretty hard to imagine that the Oranje would let the Mexicans get better of them. They look just too strong to be beaten by El Tri.

Mexico needs to take care of one thing that they don’t leave any hole in their defence because Holland will have a very dangerous attacking line up.

The Football Association (FA) has established new rules regarding soccer betting that will ban all professional players in English football from betting in any matches anywhere in the world starting from the next season.

This decision was made during an annual meeting from the members of the Football Association and will affect any player in the top 8 tiers of the English league system.

There already have been scandals involving certain players in the Premier League with Andros Townsend and Dan Gosling from Tottenham and Newcastle respectively being just some of the players which have been found to breach betting regulations.

The new rules will also prohibit players from transmitting details to a third party who utilizes that information for betting and it was confirmed by the FA that these new regulations will also cover betting on new managers or player transfers.

It said in a statement: “A worldwide ban on betting on football will come into force from 1 August 2014 for certain participants in English football. Participants covered by the ban will be prohibited from betting, either directly or indirectly, on any football match or competition that takes place anywhere in the world’’.

“The changes to FA rules from the start of the 2014-15 season will also effect a worldwide prohibition on betting on any other football-related matter. For example, the transfer of players, employment of managers or team selection. The passing of inside information to somebody that uses the information for betting remains prohibited.”
The former rules and regulations allowed players to gamble and bet as long as it did not involve their own team but these new guidelines are expected to change things around and help try to shut down the scandals which seem to have been escalating recently.