Ladies and gentlemen, the World Cup officially starts tomorrow – Friday, 11 June 2010. The kick-off match is between the host country of South Africa and Mexico.
Living in Europe, football (or soccer) is of great importance. And I like that. But, unfortunately, living in Belgium, it is not as important as say in Germany, the Netherlands or Spain, since Belgium has not had a good team in a while. But maybe that is a plus so that we can still enjoy the World Cup but it not become the overwhelming experience that it could be. Of course, visiting England for a few days in mid-June, the climate could easily change.
The teams I will cheer for are in this order:
- America (Of course, my home country.)
- England (Of course, my wife’s home country. And I lived in the UK for 3 years, so I began to like them during that time.)
- Spain (I like Rafael Nadal. He is a tennis player, but that makes me cheer for his football team.)
- Netherlands (The closest country to Belgium. Well, don’t tell the French-speaking Belgians that.)
- Brazil (I have some close Brazilian friends in Belgium. So I will pull for them.)
Who are the teams that I believe have the best chance of winning it?
- Brazil
- Spain
- Argentina
- Germany
- Italy
Who are my favourite players?
- Frank Lampard (He didn’t have such a hot World Cup in 2006 for England. I hope for better.)
- Landon Donovan (Gotta pull for the American.)
- Lionel Messi (He is so smooth and a great man up front for Argentina.)
- Kaká (The soft-footed, intelligent Brazilian. He is supposedly a believer as well.)
- Fernando Torres (Like Messi, a talented wonder-boy up front for Spain.)
Who are my least favourite players?
- Christiano Ronaldo (I mean, doesn’t it go without saying? How could anyone like this guy? I want Portugal to lose every match because he is on their team.)
- I really cannot think of another player in league with Ronaldo. Maybe some mean Italian player that I don’t know there name.
We shall see how it all plays out over these next few weeks. I know I will enjoy the time. It all starts for me on Saturday with a barbeque with my Brazilian friends – picanha steak, sausage and chicken hearts on the grill!
Just for a chuckle, I post this nice little SportsCenter commercial/advert. Enjoy.
The Prodigal Thought 
I’ll be surprised if Germany do well. They’ve lost some of their best players to injury and haven’t performed well recently. They are always a threat in these competitions, but I’ll be surprised if they get past the second round.
Why are England not in your list of likely good performers? I know they are quite well fancied in some quarters, largely because it may not be until the quarter finals that they face a really threatening team. Plus, we have the best manager we’ve had since the late 90s. There is a lot of confidence in Capello over here right now. England’s ultimate performance will depend a lot on Rooney, though, and if he plays as well as he has all season. If he does, I think we have a good chance.
Argentina are a funny one. They have an excellent squad, but having Maradona as the manager makes them very, very unstable. They will either do very well, or they’ll flop I reckon.
I agree that Brazil and Spain are the favourites.
I didn’t realise Germany had lost some top players. I would pick England because, on paper, they look good (as usual). But they never seem to do what is expected of them. But this might be the year. I would love to see them get to the semis, and even win it all.
Any thoughts on the advert? Too cheesy for your taste? 😉
I liked it Scott. Landon acted surprisingly well for a footballer. They’re usually awful.
BRASIL, BABY! 😉
or maybe argentina. my pick.
Shouldn’t you vote for Japan Chach? Oh hang on something is happening to me ..ol ol what is it i can’t sto…
ole ole ole ole England England,
ole ole ole ole England England….
Come you Spurs… I mean England… well they’re nearly the same i guess!!!!
I’ll support Japan, but they’re not one of my main teams for the win :-).