2010 World Cup Brackets/Pools/Picks

Have you read over my previews? Think you'll do a better job picking who comes out of the group stage and who makes it through the knock-out round?

I've created a group on ESPN Soccernet's Bracket Predictor, which is a simple/quick predictor. You pick the top 2 out of each group and, based on those picks, choose your winners through the knock-out round to the championship.

The ESPN Soccernet group is a public group and is located here: http://games.espn.go.com/bpredictor/en-us/group?groupID=29193

The Yahoo! predictor is a lot more intricate. You predict each game result. I've turned off predicted scores to make things a little simpler. These predictions can be changed up to 5 minutes before the predicted games' kick-off. I believe the knock-out predictions will be available after the knock-out round has been finalized.

The Yahoo! Sports World Soccer 2010 group is a public group and is located here: http://us.wc.fantasysports.yahoo.com/world-cup/register/join-private-group-assign-team?GID=18055

Watch me be right!

2010 World Cup Preview - Group G & H

On the last day of the 2010 World Cup Preview, I'll introduce to you Groups G & H. In my opinion, Group G stands out as my "Group of Death," but its not nearly has harsh as previous years. If you're just tuning in, here are the links to the Group A & B, Group C & D, and Group E & F previews.

Group G
Brazil - World Ranking: #1. Everyone's favorite, the "Yankees" of the World Cup is searching for their 6th World Cup Title. Their roster is an all-star list of players including Kaka, Robinho, and Luis Fabiano.

Portugal - World Ranking: #3. Despite Cristiano Ronaldo's goal drought throughout qualifying, I see these guys putting up a fight. I highly recommend watching their matchup with Brazil (for obvious reasons). Ricardo Carvalho will be working the back line, too.

Ivory Coast - World Ranking: #27. A late pick-up of a Sven-Goran Eriksson to manage and hopefully save this team after it has already qualified could be risky. It doesn't help that Didier Drogba has a hernia injury that he won't have operated on until after the World Cup, so Eriksson might have his hands full. Other players that should stand out include Salomon Kalou, striker, and, Emmanuel Eboue in the midfield.

North Korea - World Ranking: #105. This team is a long shot. In this Group, all they have is a prayer. If you end up watching these guys, I assume its really to watch Brazil, Portugal, or Ivory Coast, but Hong Yong-Jo might stick out.

PICKS: Its hard to not have Brazil and Portugal coming out of this group. Brazil #1, Portugal #2, thanks to the goal differential tie-breaker.

Group H
Spain - World Ranking: #2. Despite being ranked #1, this team did lose to the US during semifinals of the Confederations cup last year. Fernando Torres has a nagging knee injury, Cesc Fabregas is also nicked up. I'll probably keep an eye on Xavi feeding crisp passes to David Villa up front.

Switzerland - World Ranking: #24. If the Swiss play their cards right, they could be heading into the knock-out stage. Watch out for midfielder, Tranquillo Barnetta.

Honduras - World Ranking: #38. Nabbing the 3rd spot out of CONCACAF, they'll have a tough time if their star striker, David Suazo, doesn't recover from a muscle injury in his right leg.

Chile - World Ranking: #18. Despite getting hit by a devastating earthquake at the end of February 2010 and a little drama between FIFA and the Chilean league, it looks like they'll be there, though I can't see them going far. Player to watch: Humberto Suazo, Striker.

PICKS: Spain will be the clear front-runner out of Group H. Who follows them is a tough call. I see a lot of the world hoping that Chile makes, but this isn't a fairy tale. The Swiss is my pick. Spain #1, Switzerland #2.

2010 World Cup Preview - Group E & F

The World Cup Preview continues with Groups E & F. These groups should bring some exciting match-ups. Here are links to Groups A & B and Groups C & D, if you need to catch-up or want a recap.

Group E
Netherlands - World Ranking: #4. Oranje has been my adopted World Cup team for the past few tournaments after the USA blows it and I'm not exactly sure why. Regardless, these guys are good. Some say the best national team to never have won the World Cup. They should finish first in this group and be a hassle for everyone in the knock-out stages. They are loaded with overlooked players from the world's best leagues like Arjen Robben, Wesley Sneijder, and Robin van Persie (assuming he can stay healthy long enough).

Cameroon - World Ranking: #19. This team has every reason to be excited. They're in a competitive, but manageable group. It's easy to see how Cameroon makes it to the knock-out round; however, it's also easy to see how they won't. Samuel Eto'o leads this team in scoring and is a force at Inter Milan.

Japan - World Ranking: #45. They finished 2nd in the Asian Football Confederation's Group 1 behind Australia, but these guys will have an uphill battle the entire group stage. Team captain Yuji Nakazawa will have his hands full on the back line with the strikers in this group.

Denmark - World Ranking: #36. The Danish have high hopes, and for good reason. They finished 1st in the UEFA Group 1 World Cup Qualification above powerhouse Portugal. This team will need to rely on Arsenal striker, Nicklas Bendtner, for success. Hopefully that is a good thing.

PICKS: The Netherlands are money and they should be able to take the #1 spot here. Cameroon will have the "home continent" support, but I'm taking Denmark to finish 2nd. Netherlands #1, Denmark #2.

Group F
Italy - World Ranking: #5. Come on, its Italy. They're the defending World Cup champions. If you're going to watch any World Cup, it'll probably include these guys or Brazil at some point. They're good and they've got 4 World Cup Titles. Gianluigi Buffon between the sticks is a great place to start with these stars.

New Zealand - World Ranking: #78. I came across an interesting article on ESPN Soccernet, which discusses New Zealand's links to US collegiate and MLS teams. It was mentioned that the New Zealand squad could feature more MLS players than the US team, which makes me think watching New Zealand will be a great way to see how far the MLS has grown. The player to watch has to be Ryan Nelson, who played for my hometown DC United before jumping to the EPL.

Paraguay - World Ranking: #31. This national team is looking young and confident, which is a scary combination. There will be huge disappointment if Roque Santa Cruz and Oscar Cardozo can't figure out how to get this team to the knock-out round.

Slovakia - World Ranking: #34. Slovakia won their group coming out of UEFA. This team will probably fly under the radar. Their best player is midfielder Marek Hamsik, who has been described as one of the better young attacking midfielders in the game.

PICKS: The first pick is pretty simple. Yeah, Italy. They'll take 1st in this group. The two-spot is a bit trickier, but with all that youth in Paraguay and Slovakia qualifying out of UEFA, I'm going to lean on Slovakia as the #2 into the knock-out round. Italy #1, Slovakia #2.

2010 World Cup Preview - Group C & D

Welcome back for day 2. If you need to catch up, here's a link to yesterday's post about Group A & B. Group C is clearly the one I'm most excited about, so lets get into it:

Group C
United States - World Ranking: #14. This is a huge tournament for the USA. It's an international stage to give the individual players a chance at huge transfers to better teams across the pond. It's also a team on the ups. Their Confederations Cup run last summer shocked the international soccer world, beating Spain (then ranked #1 in the world) and losing to Brazil in the finals after having a 2 goal lead on them. It'll be an exciting team to watch this summer and with the draw of England in Group C, it makes things even more fun and exciting. If you haven't been keeping up, here are the players to watch: captain Landon Donovan in midfield/forward, Tim Howard between the posts, locally raised Oguchi Onyewu, Clint Dempsey, forward Jozy Altidore, and personal favorites, midfielders Michael Bradley and Benny Feilhaber.

England - World Ranking: #8. Ah... the Three Lions... in the same group as the USA. How fun is this going to be? Especially since their game is on Saturday, June 12th. Don't miss that one, it'll be a blast to watch. England likes to be known as the place where soccer was invented. I'm not sure how true that is, but for all the soccer history, they only have one World Cup title, all the way back in 1966. David Beckham is injured, Wayne Rooney is banged up and is on the roster, but questionable about whether he'll have an immediate impact or not. John Terry has stirred up all kinds of controversy with his off-the-field affairs (literally). I could go on and on about this squad, but I'll tell you to keep your eyes on: Rio Ferdinand in the back, Frank Lampard in the middle, and Peter Crouch up front. Oh yeah, and one of my favorite players, Steven Gerrard will also be in the midfield.

Algeria - World Ranking: #30. The Desert Foxes from Algeria made things happen against their rivals Egypt to take the top spot in the CAF qualifying and a spot in the tournament. They got a difficult draw though, and will need some shock moments against some excellent teams to make the next round. Players to watch: captain and midfielder Yazid Mansouri and forward Karim Ziani.

Slovenia - World Ranking: #25. Slovenia is the tiniest country participating in this tournament. Add to that they only qualified after beating Russia in a play-off, and you're looking at some solid underdogs. They'll have a tough road, but captain Robert Koren in the midfield and Milivoje Novakovic up front should at least keep them in games.

PICKS: Slovenia and Algeria just won't have enough to overcome England and the USA. England #1, USA #2.

Group D
Germany - World Ranking: #6. Germany took a blow when its captain, Michael Ballack, went down with torn ligaments in his ankle. He was voted to the World Cup all-star teams in 2002 and 2006 and will be unavailable for the tournament. This team is still talented and are trying to get over the heartbreak of not winning the last tournament in 2006 as the host nation. With Ballack down, the others to watch are Miroslav Klose, Philipp Lahm, and Bastian Schweinsteiger.

Australia - World Ranking: #20. The Socceroos are entering their 2nd World Cup in as many tournaments. Before that, their first appearance was in 1974. They made it to the Round of 16 in the previous World Cup. The Everton midfielder, Tim Cahill, returns to help motivate one of the more experienced rosters. The only catch here is that this squad's best players are over the age of 30.

Ghana - World Ranking: #32. Lead by Chelsea's Michael Essien, this team is probably Africa's best bet for making the knock-out round (the other being the Ivory Coast in a tough Group G). This team has a chance if it can get past an aging Australia and a mysterious Serbia.

Serbia - World Ranking: #15. This nation's World Cup history comes mostly when they were Yugoslavia. This will be their 2nd World Cup appearance as Serbia and they've been playing excellent football. Coming off WC qualifying over France, this team sounds like it has what it takes to progress. I've seen this team described as unspectacular, but efficient. We'll see how Milan Jovanovic and Nemanja Vidic fare with that strategy.

PICKS: Despite the injury to Ballack, its hard to see Germany doing anything less than winning the group. The next spot is a lot harder. Ghana will have a "home team" crowd, Serbia has improved, and Australia has the experience. So, with a shot in the dark, it'll be: Germany #1, Australia #2.

2010 World Cup Preview - Group A & B

It's been 4 years, which means its time for another World Cup. This is probably the only soccer event to which a majority of the United States gives any attention, which probably is part of the reason why it's one of my favorite sporting events. Over the next four days, I'll be posting a quick-hit preview of each team and my predictions for their respective group. Let's start with the hosts in Group A:

Group A
South Africa - World Ranking: #83. The host nation. We'll see how they perform being the home team. Being host, they essentially had a free pass to the tournament, and they have a steep slope ahead of them facing off against some excellent teams in the group. Usually host nations tend to surprise; however, its hard to picture this squad outside the group stage. Their player to watch: Steven Pienaar.

France - World Ranking: #9. Where do we start with the French? They barely qualified for the tournament, stealing a seat at the table from Ireland after a "Hand of God-ish" goal by Thierry Henry. That luck continued with an excellent group stage draw. Recent news of a scandal, where key team players like Franck Ribery were called as a witness, may impact the team's performance on the pitch, but with this group, anything but advancing would be a huge disappointment.

Mexico - World Ranking: #17. Before the firing of their manager, Sven Goran Eriksson, El Tri had a rough time qualifying. Led by the aging forward of the Chicago Fire, Cuauhtemoc Blanco, and Barcelona's defender, Rafael Marquez, this team should put up a tough fight.

Uruguay - World Ranking: #16. The Celeste, believe it or not, have two World Cup titles to their name. They hosted and won the first World Cup ever in 1930 and won again in 1950. They did just barely squeeze into the tournament though, winning a play-off against Costa Rica. Atletico Madrid's striker Diego Forlan will have to have his best stuff to move on.

PICKS: It's pretty easy to see France getting over their qualification woes in this group. They won't win all three of their games, but they'll take the group. The second spot will be close, probably another goal differential with Mexico moving on. France #1, Mexico #2.

Group B
Argentina - World Ranking: #7. I'm not sure what to make of this squad. Diego Maradona has somehow coached this talented team into barely qualifying for the tournament. Like all the powerhouses, this team has depth, but if Lionel Messi, arguably the best player in the world today, can't perform up to those standards, this team will struggle like it did during qualifying.

Greece - World Ranking: #13. It was only 6 years ago when Greece knocked out the Euro 2004 hosts to win their first major international title. While their two stars, Theofanis Gekas and Georgios Samaras, struggle for playing time with their club teams, you get a sense that this team as a whole is greater than its parts.

South Korea - World Ranking: #47. The Asian Tigers have already peaked. When they hosted the World Cup with Japan in 2002, they made it to the semi-finals and finished 4th in the tournament, beating Portugal, Italy, and Spain during their Cinderella campaign. In Germany, they finished 2nd to last in their group above Togo. This team knows it can compete, which should add drama, but Manchester United's Ji-Sung Park isn't enough to get them out of the group stage.

Nigeria - World Ranking: #21. Nigeria sounds like they can play, and they'll need to in order to qualify for the next round. Mikel will be required to live up to the big stage hype that he's known for from Chelsea's Champion League matches in order to push this team along.

PICKS: In a bold decision, I'm picking Greece's team philosophy to overtake Argentina's "Lionel Messi show." Argentina has enough skill to qualify, but with Maradona, they won't finish better than the Greeks. Greece #1, Argentina #2.