Well, the long awaited World Cup is finally here and it's time to dust off the crystal ball and do some gazing and see what floats to the surface.
I will be doing the predictions for the first round and subsequently add entries for the Round of 16, Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and the Finals.
So without further ado, here are my predictions for Round 1.
As much as I am still sore about them cheating the Irish of a legitimate place in the World Cup, the cheater-bugs French will top the group with maximum points. Mexico will take second spot after winning the very crucial tournament opener against host South Africa.
Argentina taking maximum points is a given here. But the remaining 3 teams will pose a very interesting situation where they are unable to break the deadlock with each other.
As a result, 3 of the 6 games in the group that do not involve Argentina will all end with a draw. So the second spot will go to the team that loses to Argentina by the smallest margin which I predict Greece to go through as I see Nigeria and Korea Republic both losing to Argentina by more than 3 goals each.
England to take full points as they have done as always while USA takes second spot.
Algeria will fail to score even a single goal.
Germany tops this group without question.
The situation is exactly identical to Group B and I predict Ghana to qualify for suffering the smallest defeat against Germany compared to Slovenia and Australia.
Australia did surprisingly well in the last World Cup but I say it's just beginner's luck. Australia to exit at the bottom of the table, although having same number of points with Serbia and Ghana, but having the worst result against Germany.
Netherlands will continue their winning streak since 8-0-0 in the qualifiers and take this round 3-0-0 for 9 points.
Cameroon takes 4 points to qualify as Denmark fails to win against a stubborn Japan on the final day of the round with a draw.
New Zealand will be the whipping boy of the group and go home without a goal nor a point.
Italy takes this group with all 9 points while Paraguay edges out Slovakia on goal difference with both teams level on 4 points.
The two Portuguese-speaking nations will advance with Brazil ahead of Portugal.
North Korea are putting the goalkeeper's gloves on their striker as a result of manpower shortage. The guessing game here is not if North Korea is able to repeat their historical upset but rather how many goals they are going to concede.
I say the magic number is 11. Brazil will hit them for 6 in their opening match.
Group H: Honduras, Chile, Spain, Switzerland
Spain as always will go 3-0-0 to top the table. Chile upsets Switzerland on goal difference on account of a bigger victory over Honduras.
Switzerland fails to capitalise on Honduras' weakness with a meek 1-0 victory on the last day of the round which costs them a place in the Round of 16.
With that, the Round of 16 will look like this.
France vs Greece 
England vs Ghana 
Germany vs USA 
Argentina vs Mexico 
Netherlands vs Paraguay 
Brazil vs Chile
Italy vs Cameroon 
Spain vs Portugal 
I will be doing the predictions for the first round and subsequently add entries for the Round of 16, Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and the Finals.
So without further ado, here are my predictions for Round 1.
Group 1: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France
As much as I am still sore about them cheating the Irish of a legitimate place in the World Cup, the cheater-bugs French will top the group with maximum points. Mexico will take second spot after winning the very crucial tournament opener against host South Africa.
Group 2: Argentina, Nigeria, Korea Republic, Greece
Argentina taking maximum points is a given here. But the remaining 3 teams will pose a very interesting situation where they are unable to break the deadlock with each other.
As a result, 3 of the 6 games in the group that do not involve Argentina will all end with a draw. So the second spot will go to the team that loses to Argentina by the smallest margin which I predict Greece to go through as I see Nigeria and Korea Republic both losing to Argentina by more than 3 goals each.
Group C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia
England to take full points as they have done as always while USA takes second spot.
Algeria will fail to score even a single goal.
Group D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana
Germany tops this group without question.
The situation is exactly identical to Group B and I predict Ghana to qualify for suffering the smallest defeat against Germany compared to Slovenia and Australia.
Australia did surprisingly well in the last World Cup but I say it's just beginner's luck. Australia to exit at the bottom of the table, although having same number of points with Serbia and Ghana, but having the worst result against Germany.
Group E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon
Netherlands will continue their winning streak since 8-0-0 in the qualifiers and take this round 3-0-0 for 9 points.
Cameroon takes 4 points to qualify as Denmark fails to win against a stubborn Japan on the final day of the round with a draw.
Group F: Slovakia, Paraguay, Italy, New Zealand
New Zealand will be the whipping boy of the group and go home without a goal nor a point.
Italy takes this group with all 9 points while Paraguay edges out Slovakia on goal difference with both teams level on 4 points.
Group G: Brazil, Ivory Coast, Portugal, North Korea.
The two Portuguese-speaking nations will advance with Brazil ahead of Portugal.
North Korea are putting the goalkeeper's gloves on their striker as a result of manpower shortage. The guessing game here is not if North Korea is able to repeat their historical upset but rather how many goals they are going to concede.
I say the magic number is 11. Brazil will hit them for 6 in their opening match.
Group H: Honduras, Chile, Spain, Switzerland
Spain as always will go 3-0-0 to top the table. Chile upsets Switzerland on goal difference on account of a bigger victory over Honduras.
Switzerland fails to capitalise on Honduras' weakness with a meek 1-0 victory on the last day of the round which costs them a place in the Round of 16.
With that, the Round of 16 will look like this.
France vs Greece England vs Ghana Germany vs USA Argentina vs Mexico Netherlands vs Paraguay Brazil vs Chile Italy vs Cameroon Spain vs Portugal 
2 comments:
erm, Australia or Austria har?
Oops... Wrong flag. I was coding the page via old skool html text and so I didn't see the graphics. Who would know au-t.gif is Austria? All along I thot au = australia.
Oh well, thanks for spotting the mistake!
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