The World Cup is nearly here. Its wild, its been coming for so long but its now on our doorstep. 3 days and counting! i am pretty stoked to be going to 3 games.

While BBC and ITV have yet to release the apps that will stream games and video highlights, here are a couple to keep you going while we wait.

World Cup Countdown

So like me, you have been counting this thing down FOREVER waiting for 11 June to get here. This app counts down the excitement by the days, minutes, hours and seconds. The app also has an interactive photo slideshow with a series of cool pictures of South Africa. You can click on the photos to learn more about each scene.

There are video and audio options, like a  overview of the countryside and some local music and dance moves. It’s a great way to learn about the our beautiful country, especially if you are lucky enough to be here for it.

ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup

This one is pretty cool. You can select your favourite squad(s) and keep track of any news surrounding them. It also has full biographies and stats for each player for all 32 teams. Oh, and a fixtures list.

It also has a rad history section that dates back to the 1st World Cup in 1930, complete with overview, trivia and controversies for each year. If you have a myESPN account you can sign in to the “Fantasy Bracket Predictor,” and have a go at predicting some results.

AP 2010 World Cup Coverage

When the tournament starts, this app will hook you up with up-to-the-minute news from over 100 journalists covering the action based right here in South Africa. Obviously it has a multi-language platform, so those interested can receive their updates in either English, Spanish, French or Portuguese. 

There is an easy to follow schedule feature as well. Also, a photo and video feature will be updated once the tournament starts. The app also has a “venue” feature and lists a bit of history and interesting facts about all 10 stadiums where the games will be played. It also has customisable skins which is a nice little touch. Yes the skin above is USA, but I got these images online @mashabe, I will be supporting South Africa.

World Cup Factoids and History

This one is for the purists. With lists of every winner, host nations, past champions and player appearances since 1930.

History buffs will love the detailed chronicles of pre-tournament dates, starting with the world’s first international soccer match between Scotland and England in 1872. The app also connects you to news from BBC, ESPN and the official FIFA site. In short, a wicked cool little app.

World Cup Trivia Challenge Lite

So you have used some of the other apps to brush up on your football history and general knowledge or you just know about football in general now to test ur footi mettle. This one as you can see is set on a football pitch and the light version comes with 50 questions and you will have 90 seconds to answer.

3 correct answers scores you a goal, get one wrong and your opponent, who doesn’t actually answer any questions, scores a goal. There are 3 stages of questions and a penalty shoot out if the match cant be settled in normal time. If you can handle this one, try out the paid version for $1.99 or about 14 ZAR!

I rekon you will have some fun with these. I know I am.

UPDATE

The ESPN app doesn’t seem to be available in SA. The AP app is, I am using it & it is pretty sweet. A bit buggy if you have a 3GS running the Spirit jailbreak on OS 3.1.3.