Here's the setup for those of you who don't know: the top 32 national football clubs have come through rigorous two year qualifying campaigns. FIFA decides who the top 8 teams are, and those teams are seeded (placed at the top of their own group so they do not have to play each other. The other 24 teams get put into groups via random draw. Each team place every other team in its group once. A win is worth 3 points, a draw is worth 1 and no points are awarded for a loss. The two teams with the most points from each group get put into a random draw for the single elimination knock-out rounds (someone must win each game and the loser is eliminated from the tourney). If the second and third place teams in a group tie on points, the team with the best goal difference (goals scored minus goals conceded) goes through.
Without further adieu...the groups:
* Group A
South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
* Group B
Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece
* Group C
England, United States, Algeria, Slovenia
* Group D
Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
* Group E
Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
* Group F
Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia
* Group G
Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal
* Group H
Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile
It is impossible to pick a winner at this stage, but my own favorites are Brazil, Spain, England, and Ghana. I have Brazil winning it all on the bracket I have filled out, but that makes me sound like a band-wagon hopper...plus I really do think the other three have a great chance. Germany, Argentina, Cameroon and Holland should also do well.
As far as my own home country is concerned: if the United States makes it out of their group, we should consider it a success. Clint Dempsey needs to show the form for the national team that he is currently displaying at Fullham, and the U.S. bench needs to miraculously punch above their weight. I would feel slightly more optimistic if Charlie Davies had not been in that car accident and could travel with the squad.
Look for Fernando Torres (Spain) to have a fantastic tournament. I believe this will be his time to really, really shine (he scored the winning goal in the final of Euro 2008). I will stick my neck out and predict that he will be the player of WC 2010. I may be a bit biased, though
. I am a Liverpool fan, and he just happens to be my favorite player, so make of the preceding prediction what you will.I look forward to viewing football history with you guys this summer!
