Picking The Winner

Since 1930, when the Fifa World Cup was first introduced, the most important thing for each World Cup has of course been who will actually play in the finals tournament. This is, after all, what the World Cup is for. To see which nation can rise to the occasion and prove, once and for all (or at least for the next four years), that they are the champions of the world. This is the height of all soccer achievements. Winning the Premier League, the UEFA Champions League, and even beating Man U are nothing in comparison to winning the World Cup !

The journey to glory begins, for most countries, three or four years before the actual event. To acheive their goal teams have to pick the right coach and support staff not to mention picking the right players. And this is before qualifying has even started.

204 teams entered the qualifying process for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The first qualifying match was in 2007, three years before the event!

Teams are separated into continental groups. As time progressed, teams got closer to qualification, or they fell apart, their World Cup dreams going with them. Finally, at the end of 2009, three years of qualifying had finished, and the 32 teams who had fought hardest (or cheated best, in the case of France) had achieved the first step to World Cup glory.

Now that the teams are decided, the next question is how will they do in the finals? This is a common topic at the dinner table. People love to talk about which teams will go far, and which teams, in their opinion, don’t have what it takes.

Being World Cup fanatics, this is exactly what we did one night.

When we first did this, qualification hadn’t finished, so we weren’t sure exactly which teams would be coming to South Africa. This didn’t stop us. We drew up a list each, naming the teams we thought would make the final 16 round. There were three of us. Me, my dad and my sister. Obviously we chose the regulars: Brazil, Italy, Spain, etc. The interesting part came when we had to choose the other teams. This was where our lists started to differ. We had different opinions on what teams would pass the group stages.

My round of 16 list :

South Africa - qualified

Ireland - didn’t qualify

Portugal - qualified

Brazil – qualified

Netherlands - qualified

Spain - qualified

England - qualified

France - qualified

Germany - qualified

Ivory Coast - qualified

Australia - qualified

Italy - qualified

USA - qualified

Argentina - qualified

Tunisia – didn’t qualify

Ghana - qualified

My dad’s round of 16 list:

South Africa- qualified

Ireland – didn’t qualify

Portugal - qualified

Brazil - qualified

Ghana - qualified

Spain - qualified

England - qualified

Ivory Coast – qualified

Italy - qualified

USA - qualified

Cameroon - qualified

Paraguay – qualified

Germany - qualified

Australia - qualified

Netherlands - qualified

France – qualified

My sister’s (Shea) round of 16 list:

South Africa - qualified

Ireland – didn’t qualify

Brazil - qualified

Spain - qualified

Italy - qualified

Argentina – qualified

Portugal - qualified

USA - qualified

Egypt – didn’t qualify

France - qualified

Netherlands - qualified

Germany - qualified

Ghana - qualified

Ivory Coast - qualified

England - qualified

Switzerland – qualified

Okay so our lists were pretty similar. Shea and I had 14 teams qualified, and my dad had 15. The next step was to predict the next rounds. One of the key factors we thought about was how would the African Teams do? We looked at our lists, and chose the 8 teams we thought would carry on from there.

My Quarter Final list:

Portugal

Brazil

Ghana

Netherlands

Spain

England

France

Germany

My dad’s Quarter Final list:

Portugal

Brazil

Ghana

Spain

England

Ivory Coast

Netherlands

USA

My Dad’s already got a problem here as Brazil, Portugal and Ivory Coast are in the same group and only 2 will qualify. No wonder they call Group G the Group of Death.

My sister’s Quarter Final list:

Brazil

Spain

Italy

Argentina

Portugal

USA

Egypt

France

None of us had listed South Africa or Ireland, our two home countries. We had listed African teams though. The question was would they get further?

My Semi Final list:

Brazil

Netherlands

Spain

England

My dad’s Semi Final list:

Brazil

Ghana

Spain

England

My sister’s Semi Final list:

Brazil

Spain

Italy

Argentina

So we had all listed Brazil and Spain. Not surprising, seeing as they are number 1 and 2 in the world. But would they live up to their ranking?

My Final 2:

Spain

Brazil

My dad’s final 2:

Brazil

England

My sister’s final 2:

Spain

Argentina

So the lists were slightly different now. Brazil and Spain made 2 lists, with England and Argentina making 1 each.

From the start, I always wanted Spain, Netherlands or England to win. I have always liked them, and I wouldn’t like to see Brazil win again. Unfortunately what I think doesn’t count. How good they are is what counts. So we had arrived at the toughest prediction yet…who would win the 2010 Fifa World Cup in South Africa, at Soccer City on the 11 July ?

My winner:

Brazil

My dad’s winner:

Brazil

My sister’s winner:

Spain

So once again, Brazil seems to have all the glory with world number 2, Spain, coming in as second choicet. I would like to have said Spain but, after seeing Brazil in the Confed cup, I have doubts as to whether Spain could beat Brazil on African soil.

We devised a point system to see who had chosen the best set of teams.

1 point for each Round of 16 team.

2 points for each Quarter Final team.

3 points for each Semi Final team

4 points for each Final team.

5 points for the winner.

Giving a maximum of 57 points.

No one knows who will win. The World Cup isn’t here yet and no one had ever witnessed one in Africa. We will continue to have the dinner time discussion on the topic, rating teams, dissing teams, and choosing a winner.

We'd love to hear other people's predictions so don't be shy and do send us a post.

This is all formalities of course.

We know South Africa will win.