What a week! The reason I haven't posted in over a week is I have been moving to DC for my summer internship. I figure since I have yet to have a follower its not that big of a deal. Going forward I'll try and be more consistent.
Even though I played soccer growing (or at least until the 3rd grade) like most Americans I have never really followed the game. However, my admiration for the game has been steadily growing lately (largely due my watching the masterpiece that was the Argentina-Germany match from the 06 Cup). With that being said, here are my totally uneducated picks for who will make the Round of 16 (Sweet Sixteen?) in South Africa.
Group A- France, South Africa- Both these picks will probably turn out to be wrong, still I love picking against the grain (that is why I am awful at picking NCAA brackets). France is going to be driven by a desire to prove that they, and not Ireland, belong in South Africa. Plus, I really like Thierry Henry. And South Africa is going to ride the home crowd to upsets of Mexico and Uruguay (Probably not, but its a fun pick to make).
Group B- Argentina, Nigeria- Despite their struggles in qualifying, Argentina should dominate this group based on superior talent alone. Plus they have mega-star Lionel Messi to carry them over the top. I'm picking Nigeria over South Korea or Greece for no real reason other than that I really would like to see the African teams do well.
Group C- USA, England- This pick was pretty easy as both of these teams should make the Round of 16 fairly easily. However, my shocker is that I'm picking America to upset England in the opening game. Why? England has a lot of in-house problems and it would be awesome to see us win that game.
Group D- Germany, Ghana- Germany always make the Round of 16, so that pick was easy. Beyond that, it was a toss-up between Ghana and Serbia. I'm picking Ghana because they are African and they won the U-20 Cup in 2009. I always like young teams in the NCAA tourney, so I might as well do it in the Cup too.
Group E- Netherlands, Cameroon- There is no reason for either of these picks, so I just went with my gut. It just seems logical that the Netherlands would have a good team. And Cameroon is African, so I might as well go with them. Plus, I can't imagine Japan being very good at soccer.
Group F- Italy, Slovakia- Italy is the defending champs and are better than any of their other group mates, so they should advance without too much trouble. Sports Illustrated says Slovakia should also make it out of their group, so thats why I picked them.
Group G- Brazil, Portugal- Even though this is the Group of Death, Brazil should make it through fairly easily. With the other pick, I was going to pick Ivory Coast (I was considering picking them to win overall) until they lost Drogba. If he plays, I still think they will advance. If he doesn't, superstar Cristiano Ronaldo should lead Portugal to the next round. Poor North Korea, if I didn't no better I would say they ended up in this group by conspiracy.
Group H- Spain, Switzerland- Spain has only last once since the last World Cup (America, F*** Yeah!) and they shouldn't start now. I have no real reason for picking Switzerland over Chile or Honduras, but its just a feeling.
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