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AUSTRALIA!! Actually, I'll be happy if we even score a goal.
The hype for England has been surprisingly low-key in the media. Usually there's so much expectation on England to do well and media predictions of glory, with multiple references back to 1966. But I think there's been a reality check and everyone knows that England will do well to progress beyond the group stage.
In the double sweepstake at work I got Algeria to win the tournament and a player from Belgium to win the golden boot award. I won't start spending my winnings just yet ...
I think goalies will matter a lot more than usual in this Cup. Thus, Belgium will go farther than one might expect because Courtois is the world's best young goalie in probably the world's best form, and I fear for Brazil, since David Luis' nonchalant play is likely to let a lot of shots come at Julius Caesar. Big Phil might have a lot of confidence in him, but I don't think the aging Julio sees many world class strikes at Toronto FC.
Of course, the rest of the Brazil team can score goals without even trying, especially with the fans behind them, so they're still the favorites.
Spain have a silly good team. All the starters play for La Liga's top three, and the bench guys who aren't at Real, Barça, or Atléti play for Bayern, Chelski, City, or the Arse. Talk about stacked.
Fuck Germany, but they're good.
England have for the past while had the misfortune of being built around Wayne Rooney, who is a hell of a player but not that kind of guy. I think if the last several years had been concentrated around a Gerrard-Lampard core and not around vain attempts to squeeze charismatic leadership out of a moody forward, things would be better now. I'm a big fan of Sturridge and Sterling, and Leyton Baines is my kind of player. Wilshere and Oxlade-Chamberlain show so much promise. But here's another team with goalie problems. Hart and Foster will be hard pressed. Baines is an ace at upfield defense and Glen Johnson is a stud, but they're vulnerable to counterattack and I just don't think Albion's keepers will stand up under fire.
I would love to be proved wrong because I'm steeped in BPL and Championship footie, and since the US ain't going nowhere (see below) I'd like to give my fellow anglophones a shout in the later rounds.
The US don't look like they'll get out of the group stage. I think Ghana could upset Portugal or Germany.
I could see Chile advancing. Electric Sanchez and Arturo Vidal are studs, and the Netherlands seem to have trouble getting their shit together. Spain will certainly advance.
Japan have a surprising number of players in top European leagues. Perennial overachievers Greece will probably advance, but Colombia and Côte d'Ivoire are stiff competition too.
There's a lot of well-deserved hype over Uruguay because Luis Suárez, Diego Forlán, and Edinson Cavani are such studs. But they're vulnerable at the back. Italy will probably advance, but Uruguay's defense might just slip enough to let England through.
Without Ribéry, France won't win the Cup, but they're still strong, and they start out in a soft group. Argentina are also in a weak group. I'm looking for good things out of the world's best player, Lionel Messi. Maybe the golden boot, but that requires being in a lot of games. A lot depends on the rest of the team.
I would love to see Korea and Belgium advance and Russia left behind, because even more than Germany, fuck Russia.
Also I predict that hosting the World Cup will enrich few and impoverish many, and that FIFA will continue its vampiric ways, the Qatar cup will be held at a horrifyingly bearable human cost, and that Sepp Blatter may look forward to a barefoot, backbreaking eternity kicking giant gold soccer balls to and from the profligate in the fourth circle of hell.
Yeah, I could watch that goal thirty times in a row. That ball in from Danny Blind's son was amazing, and the header was perfect.
Also, the fans from the Netherlands are the best. All the costumes, and they're all having fun! Male valkyries in pig masks skipping along in conga lines through the upper deck. It's like one of my dreams.
Yes, that's as much due to a perfect voorzet as to the header itself.
The orange dress up can get quite outrageous. In some neighbourhoods whole streets are rebuilt with orange tents decked out with orange flags. Large screens, kegs etc. And the neighbourhood gets together, dressed up obviously, to watch the matches. A lot of beer is consumed.
'Conga line' sounds so much more exotic and interesting to me. When I realise that we refer to that as 'walking in polonaise' the phrase gets a certain disdainful tone.
photo by splunge
photo by TheophileEscargot
photo by Kronos_to_Earth
photo by ethylene
