King of Ah Mengs

Since I've managed to whet some of your appetite, I'll continue with some more features:

How well does a host nation fares?

1930 Uruguay – Champion
1934 Italy – Champion
1938 France – QF
1950 Brazil – 2nd
1954 Switzerland – QF
1958 Sweden – 2nd
1962 Chile – 3rd
1966 England – Champion
1970 Mexico – QF
1974 Germany – Champion
1978 Argentina – Champion
1982 Spain – 2nd round
1986 Mexico – QF
1990 Italy – 3rd
1994 USA – 2nd round
1998 France – Champion
2002 Korea/Japan – Korea 4th, Japan 2nd round

% of champions who are host nations: 33% (6 out of 18)
% of teams who made it to Quarter-Finals: 83% (15 out of 18)

Looking at the teams, it does seem that the home ground advantage will push Germany straight through to the Quarter-Finals. Whether the trophy remains in Germany is another question.

(I'll love to continue, but I've been playing on <a href="http://weikiat.ikueb.com/thewicked/">The Wicked</a>…so no time until I get to level 40. )

With the World Cup looming in 74 more days time, and with our sole legal betting source, Singapore Pools, revealing the odds at such an early stage, perhaps it’s time to take a good look at some past histories to build-up on the greatest sporting event in 2006.

1^st, the current odds from Singapore Pools:

 

The New Paper had a great article on who should you place your money on, so go ahead and read it instead.

I know it’s extremely early to predict, but here’s my take on the Group Stage. Let’s go from the top, and analyze each group:

 

Group A: Nothing surprising in here. Germany is in an easy group, thus should make it way into the top spot. Poland takes the likely 2^nd position, as Ecuador and Costa Rica isn’t much of a threat.
Prediction: Germany, Poland, Ecuador, Costa Rica

 

Group B: Yes, England should top the group, even though I predict they’ll end up the same points with Sweden. But with Wayne Rooney, they should be able to score more goals, thus getting a better goal difference compared to Sweden.

Paraguay and T&T will provide token resistance, but should just be a minor speed-bump.
Prediction: England, Sweden, Paraguay, Trinidad & Tobago

 

Group C: S&M should be pleased if they’re able to get 1 point from this tough group.

Dogba can boast all he wants. Ivory Coast won’t make it into the final 16.

Now comes the top 2: Netherlands will beat Argentina when they meet up. Their away form in the South American qualifiers ain’t great (3 wins, 2 draws, 4 losses), and considering that they’re in Europe rather than home ground, I don’t have high hopes of Argentina qualifying as Group Champions.
Prediction: Netherlands, Argentina, Ivory Coast, Serbia & Montenegro

 

Group D: Another straightforward group with no explanation needed. Iran should get more points than their debacle in Korea, (0 wins, 0 goals) with the help of Angola.

Prediction: Portugal, Mexico, Iran, Angola

 

Group E: Take Ghana out of the equation, and you have 3 teams in the world’s top 20 ranking. 2 main questions awaits Italy:

1) Will playmaker Totti recover in time, be 100% fit, and lead

2) Known to be slow-starters, will they burst out of their blocks this time round?

I’ll say no to both. But they’ll make it past USA, just barely though.

Prediction: Czech, Italy, USA, Ghana

 

Group F: The main question is who will be SECOND? If Singapore can lose only 1-2 to Japan, then they don’t deserve to go into the 2^nd round.

Croatia fought off qualified as top 2^nd placed team, but their qualifying group had Bulgaria, Iceland, MALTA…yes, they beat Argentina 3-2 in a friendly, but I’ll consider that as a one-off result.

So that leaves Australia, who fought their way through Uruguay, and a magician in the form of Guus Hiddink, who transformed South Korea into World Number 4 in 2002. That should give the Waltzing Matilda more chance to move into the 2^nd round.

Prediction: Brazil, Australia, Croatia, Japan

 

Group G: Hello Togo, thanks for coming to World Cup.

France, despite their aging squad, should breeze past an easy group. That leaves the 2^nd spot between semi-finalist in 2002 & a team which needs to beat Turkey in a violent play-off European game.

With experience in the last World Cup, and some of their star players plying their trade in Europe, I’ll give the slight edge to S.Korea.

Hey, I’m Asian. It’ll be nice to see an Asian representative in the 2^nd round.

Prediction: France, South Korea, Switzerland, Togo

 

Group H: If Spain doesn’t top this group, they should just leave the competition right away.

For 2^nd spot, let’s see…Tunisia top player is Francileudo dos Santos Silva, Saudi has Hamad Al Montashari, and Ukraine’s top player is Andrei Shevchenko.

I guess that simplify matters.

Prediction: Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia

 

2^nd Round

(Bold to win)

Germany – Sweden

Netherlands – Mexico

England – Poland

Portugal – Argentina

Czech – Australia

France – Ukraine

Brazil – Italy

Spain – South Korea

Germany should take care of Sweden with home support, while Netherlands cruise past Mexico.

England and Poland meet once again ala 2002, and the 3 Lions should come out tops again. The classy Argentina will meet up with Portugal, and the South Americans will teach Ronaldo & co. a lesson in stylish passing play.

Despite Gus Hiddink’s help, the Aussies should be heading back while facing the Czech, and France ends Ukraine’s debut in the World Cup in the 2^nd round.

The mouthwatering clash between Brazil-Italy is the highlight for round 2, and it’s a pity that one of the giants would be out in such an early stage. The samba boys should nick it with individual brilliance. South Korea will not continue with their heroics from the last World Cup, as Spain should take revenge from what happened in 2002.

 

Quarter-Finals

(Bold to win)

Germany – Netherlands

England – Argentina

Czech – France

Brazil – Spain

The Orange Army shall prevail, as they sent the host nation out in the Quarters. Another 2002 matchup takes the form of England-Argentina. Unfortunately, I think England’s luck will run out in this stage yet again.

Czech will finally send Zidane into retirement for good, and without another chance of a international trophy, and Brazil should find themselves dealing with Spain much easier than with Italy.

 

Semi-Finals

(Bold to win)

Netherlands – Argentina

Czech – Brazil

Argentina rarely does well on European soil, and they should be proud to reach such an advanced stage in the Finals. Too bad they’ll meet with their legendary rivals, Holland.

As much as I would like the Czech to win the tournament, I can’t see a way for them to get past the Samba masters.

 

Finals

(Bold to win)

Netherlands – Brazil

It all boils down to individual talents. And in Brazil, there’s plenty of match-winners: Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Adriano, Robinho…the list is endless.

 

 

Of course, nothing is predictable in the World Cup. There’s bound to be upsets and such…but judging from the last 16 stages, there seemed to be a few teams that have it easier compared to others.

Hope you’ll be able to guess which teams they are. Good luck with the bets!