Yes, few more hours to go and mother of all battles is about to get underway. After hosting several sports event successfully, South Africa gets to host World Cup Football across Africa for the first time. And they have left no stones unturned for this special event. They have built several new stadiums and upgraded existing venues. They have invested heavily in public transports and safety measures to ensure smooth traffic of fans.
Coming on to the tournament, once again 32 teams are participating in this World Cup. Each of these 32 teams has appeared in at least one of the world cups earlier and South Africa being the host automatically qualified for the final round. Final Draw of the teams happened in December 2009. As the event kick starts on Friday, I would be looking forward to great individual displays from the teams like Brazil, Argentina and England. It would be equally fair to expect great team game from Italy, France and Netherlands. South Africa will have home advantage for sure but I do not see them making it to final four. Mexico and Spain are the underdogs which can be a challenge for bigger teams in knock out stages. I am not sure who will be the surprise package this time from the minnows (Have not followed much recently). Having said this, I would love to see a Brazil-Argentina final match.
Though actual results may differ from my thoughts and may leave me astonished after 35 days, I cannot wait to submerge into the ocean of football and experience outstanding beauty of skill, grace, power and resistance.
Coming on to the tournament, once again 32 teams are participating in this World Cup. Each of these 32 teams has appeared in at least one of the world cups earlier and South Africa being the host automatically qualified for the final round. Final Draw of the teams happened in December 2009. As the event kick starts on Friday, I would be looking forward to great individual displays from the teams like Brazil, Argentina and England. It would be equally fair to expect great team game from Italy, France and Netherlands. South Africa will have home advantage for sure but I do not see them making it to final four. Mexico and Spain are the underdogs which can be a challenge for bigger teams in knock out stages. I am not sure who will be the surprise package this time from the minnows (Have not followed much recently). Having said this, I would love to see a Brazil-Argentina final match.
Though actual results may differ from my thoughts and may leave me astonished after 35 days, I cannot wait to submerge into the ocean of football and experience outstanding beauty of skill, grace, power and resistance.
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5 comments:
As the countdown nears, players are falling over themselves and getting injured - Ferdinand, Drogba, Essien - at this rate the tournament will be full of the walking wounded.
Hey; Spain is not an underdog. Although they have usually underperformed, this time they have to count as one of the favourites .....
@ Ramesh - Yes, players are falling over but I hope this does not affect the excitement much.
I too think that Spain is a very good contender for this time. But precisely for the reason you mentioned, I do not back them up much. In 1998 and 2002, they had a very good team but they did what South Africa does to major cricket tournaments. Hopefully, they should be able to make it to final four this time for sure.
Do watch for USA ..they seems to make some impact by thier game
@ Rahul - yeah they are starting world cup with some very good players, I am hoping they would make it to final 8.
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