The World Cup

This blog was written by my discipler from San Diego, sir Erick Gomez, who knows a ton about soccer, and I know next to nothing. That would be the reason why he;s writing this and not me. He also did an excellent job of writing, as I had to make very few grammatical mistakes. If I missed some, apologies.


OK, so in a few short weeks, the greatest sports tournament begins, the World Cup. Now, I realize here in the states, that soccer isn't a major sport. However, to the rest of the world, it can mean life or death. How so? Countries have ordered cease fires, while their country was competing in the Cup. And in 1994, after scoring an own goal while playing against the USA, Columbian defender Andres Escobar was gunned down and killed in his country...his own goal prevented the Colombians from advancing in the tournament.

There are 32 nations, broken up into 8 groups of 4 (A-H), the top 2 teams in each bracket will advance to the next round, where it becomes single elimination. I will name the teams in the groups, give their current world ranking in ( ), tell you who I'm guessing to move on, who should move on (with a *), along with a few random facts thrown in. My picks are based on nothing scientific, and I will be using my pick, not the * when I get to who will advance to the next rounds.

Group A

South Africa (83)

Mexico (17)*

Uruguay(16)

France (9)*

My picks for group A are Mexico & South Africa. I'm looking for France to be upset, and I hate France. With a few French players facing allegations of hiring prostitutes, who knows where the focus will be. Also, the host nation of the World Cup has never failed to advance to the next round, so hopefully the South Africans can continue that tradition, and lets face it, they have the 12th man, an entire country supporting them.

Group B

Argentina (7)*

Nigeria (21)

Korea Republic/South Korea (47)

Greece (13)*

Based on rankings, it should be Argentina & Greece. However, I going with Argentina & Nigeria. Nigeria plays a fast paced game that the Greeks can't match. The South Koreans have the speed to keep up and they did upset a lot of teams in 2002 to reach the semi finals. However, I'm giving the edge to Nigeria, playing in front of a Pro-African crowd.

Group C

England (8)*

USA (14)*

Algeria (30)

Slovenia (25)

My pics are England & the USA, I agree with the standings, England looked shaky in a recent tune up match against Mexico, but their set plays helped them pull off a win. England's John Terry was stripped of his captain's role after it was discovered he was sleeping with former teammate Wayne Bridge's now ex-girlfriend. Bridge withdrew from the English National Team. With Beckham out of the cup & rumors of Rooney being "worn out & tired," it could spell trouble for them in the later rounds. The Americans are looking to rebound from a last place finish from 4 yrs ago, led by Donovan, the USA has only a handful of MLS players on this years team, most are playing overseas. Which is a good thing as the MLS is a far weaker league than those overseas.

Group D

Germany (6)*

Australia (20)

Serbia (15)*

Ghana (32)

The Germans suffered a major blow with their captain Michael Ballack injured & unable to play in the Cup, as well as their starting keeper & a midfielder. They should have little problem advancing from this round & are one of the hardest teams to knock out of the Cup, as they have a ton of depth. I'm calling for another upset here, as Ghana isn't separated from Serbia by that many points in the ranking system. But, will be without star Michael Essien, due to a knee injury.

Group E

Netherlands (4)*

Denmark (36)

Japan (45)

Cameroon (19)*

My picks here are the same, the Netherlands & Cameroon. The Netherlands are a technical, attack minded team, and Cameroon is the only African team expected to get to the elimination round.

Group F

Italy (5)*

Paraguay (31)*

New Zealand (78)

Slovakia (34)

My pics are Italy & Paraguay. Italy is one of the top teams in the world, and while Slovakia is making its World Cup debut here in 2010, it won't be enough to get out of the 1st round.

Group G

Brazil (1)*

Korea DPR/North Korea (105)

Ivory Coast (27)

Portugal (3)*

Some are calling this the "Group of Death" with 2 of the top teams in the world here, and the 2nd highest ranked African team. All 3 of these teams have some of the top players in the world. Ivory Coast has a lot of European based players and are exciting to watch. However, the Brazilians & Portugese teams are going to be hard to overcome. North Korea is the lowest ranked country in the Cup, and they will face an impossible mountain of talent. So, thanks for showing up. Brazil left aging stars Ronaldhino & Ronaldo (the tournament goal scoring leader with 15), and isn't fielding as flashy a team as in years past. My picks are #1 ranked Brazil, and Portugal

Group H

Spain (2)*

Switzerland (24)

Honduras (38)

Chile (18)*

My picks here are Spain & Chile.

Going off my picks, the next round will be England v. Ghana, Mexico v. Nigeria, Argentina v. S. Africa, USA v. Germany, Brazil v. Chile, Netherlands v. Paraguay, Spain v. Portugal, & Italy v. Cameroon.

The following round will be England v. Mexico, Brazil v. Netherlands, Argentina v. Germany, & Spain v. Italy. I will admit that Argentina & Netherlands are my 2 favorite teams, and Ideally that would be my dream final, which could happen, & I'm hoping it does, but I'm not going that route with my picks here.

The Semi-Finals will be Argentina v. Spain, & Mexico v. Brazil. Mexico has a good chance to get this far, but the Brazilians will be too much. I'm hoping Argentina upsets Spain (after all, the US did).

The finals will be Brazil v. Argentina, with Argentina coming out on top. However, with Maradona as the coach, it's his way or the highway & he doesn't take advice from his assistant coaches. The man who was once Argentina's savior, could end up being their downfall if the players can't overcome his coaching mistakes.

After the 1st round is completed, I'll update it again, or if something major happens before then. and if you don't know who's playing, here's some nicknames used by the anouncers for some of the countries, who may refer to those names instead of the country from time to time.

Algeria - Les fennecs (the desert foxes)

Argentina - Albicelests (white and Sky Blue)

Australia - The Socceroos

Brazil - Selacao (the selection). also Canarinhos (little canary) & Verde e Amarelo (green & yellow)

Cameroon - The Indomitable Lions

Chile - La Roja (the red)

Denmark - Olsens Elleve (Olsen's eleven)

England - The Three Lions

France - Les Bleus (the blues)

Germany - National Manschaft (national team), DFB Elf (dfb eleven), National Elf (national eleven), Die Mannschaft (the team) is only used by non-german media

Ghana - The Black Stars

Greece - To Piratiko (the pirate ship)

Honduras - Los Catrachos

Italy - Azzuri (sky blues)

Ivory Coast - Les Elephants (the elephants)

Japan - Blue Samurai

Mexico - El Tri

Netherlands - Oranje (orange)

North Korea - Chollima

New Zealand - All Whites

Nigeria - Super Eagles

Paraguay- La Albirroja (the white-red), Guarani (an indigenous people)

Portugal - Seleccao das Quinas (team of the 5 shields)

Serbia - Beli Orlovi (white eagles)

Slovakia - Repre

Slovenia - Zmajceki (dragons)

South Africa - Bafana bafana (the boys)

South Korea - Taeguk Warriors

Spain - La Furia Roja (red fury)

Switzerland - Scheizer Nati

USA - The Yanks, MNT (men's national team)

Uruguay - La Celeste (the sky blue)