I’m cranking away on the one-entry-per-day 2010 South Africa Countdown blog.

This week, I’m taking closer looks at several of the big qualifying matches coming up this weekend.

Also, of late, South American expert Armando Varela contributed his thoughts on the CONMEBOL qualifiers on tap Saturday.  And we did some serious research on the prevalence of Brazilian nationals on teams that are not Brazil.

England, Germany, Spain, Denmark, Croatia, Serbia. Three of those six leading soccer countries now have a native Brazilian on their roster.  Go to the countdown blog to see which three — under the headline “Brazil Exports Soccer Talent.” You might be surprised.