We’re mere days away from the launch of the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, which means you’ll need a good way to keep track of all the news, scores and statistics! As always, we’ve got you covered.

Today we’ll compare three of the best apps we could find to help you become the most informed fan around. The best part? They’re all free!

ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup

To start off, let’s take a look at an app from the most well-known sports network around: ESPN. The ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup app is free with an optional $7.99 in app upgrade for additional features.

ESPN 2010 FIFA World Cup

Features

Even in its basic free iteration, this app has plenty of features to keep you on top of your game. As a pre-tournament bonus, there’s a handy countdown to the first game. Other features include a news ticker along the bottom of the screen, schedules, live scores, audio and video clips for every team, a soccer power index, team profiles, social media sharing and more.

The GameCast feature is a particularly nice for staying informed on games that are in progress. There’s even a neat little 3D field illustration that shows you the plays.

Video and GameCast

The $7.99 upgrade essentially gives you better live coverage with full audio commentary and in-game video clips.

How Was It?

I was really impressed with this app. The interface is beautiful, intuitive and smooth to navigate and the feature set is as robust as you’ll find in a free app. I’d definitely recommend it to any World Cup fan, whether you’re mildly interested or completely addicted.

My one complaint is the fairly persistent pop up urging you to upgrade the app. This window is quite annoying and really screws up an otherwise great experience.

AP 2010 World Cup Coverage

The AP 2010 World Cup Coverage app is also free and quite impressive. The interface is really sharp and a lot simpler to navigate than the ESPN app above.

AP 2010 World Cup Coverage

True to the spirit of the tournament, AP 2010 World Cup Coverage is available in English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Features

The app starts off by having you select your favorite team, it then places the team’s flag in a button at the top of the screen so you can have quick access to the team’s upcoming games and other information from anywhere in the app.

After this it takes you to a home screen with icons for various features. From here you can access news, photos, videos, schedules, tournament info, teams and venues.

Tournament Info Screens

As you can see, everything is displayed nice and large with easily tappable icons and rows. You probably also noticed that Visa has a strong presence in the app. I didn’t mind this at all as I actually like the consistent look of a sponsored application much better than the cluttered feel of changing ads on every screen.

How Was It?

As with the ESPN app, I really enjoyed using “AP 2010 World Cup Coverage.” Everything was very straightforward and easy to find and there is plenty of content to keep dedicated fans busy. I loved the idea of always having a quick way to check on your favorite team.

It didn’t seem quite as fully featured as the ESPN app but it benefits from a leaner, simpler experience with less fluff. My biggest complaint here is that each section you tap takes a few seconds to load. For one screen it’s not so bad but after using the app for a while it gets old fast.

South Africa tracker 2010

The final app we’ll look at is South Africa tracker 2010 from Mubaloo. This app is geared more towards those looking for stats and scores than news.

South Africa tracker 2010

Features

As you can see, the app’s main functionality lies in the button strip along the bottom. Here you can check on upcoming matches, look at specific rounds, and follow the tournament’s progress all the way to the final game.

By tapping the little icon in the top right you can see venue information and group tables. You can also see team rosters and team facts. Finally, turning the app horizontal gives you a nice bracket graphic.

Team Facts and Stadium Info

How Was It?

Overall, this was my least favorite app of the bunch. The interface wasn’t as polished and contained a few vague icons that didn’t do a very good job at conveying what they were for.

Further, the lack of news updates and additional information really made it seem lacking after trying the previous two apps. Again, if you’re only interested in rankings and scoring and don’t need all the distracting extra features, then this app might be your best bet. Otherwise, I’d recommend trying the ESPN and AP apps first.

Conclusion

There you have it, these apps should keep you equipped with enough free information to have you yelling “Gooooaaal!” at frequent and random intervals for the next month. I’m personally torn between the ESPN and AP apps. Though it seems contradictory, I liked the robustness of the ESPN app and the simplicity of the AP app.

Use the comments below to let us know what you think of these apps and how you’ll be staying up on all the latest World Cup stats and information. Also be sure to give a shout out to your favorite team!