Who's Gonna Win It?

Right. As you may or may not know, I'm 1/2 English (thx Dad ^^), 1/2 Portuguese (nice one mum ^^) and living in South Korea at the moment (thx Sunah ^^ - life certainly wouldn't be the same without you three ^^). Sooooo, I'll be supporting a few teams this summer. Of course, Portugal & England are my 'home' countries, but I'll still be keeping a close and keen eye on South Korea (as that's where I am now), Australia (as I lived there with Sunah for a year), South Africa (with a v good mate from there ^^) and a host of other countries for different reasons too (mostly good pals!). But also, I'll be trying to update the site with any other bits of gossip or scandal or even crazy tips and unbelievable facts :-) The date today is the 28th and I'm gonna start with a prediction for the semi-finals, finals and winner. It's a bold move but one I feel I'll have to do and stick with if I'm gonna make this blog work. Please note that my predictions AREN'T without a little hint of bias here. Obviously, my heart is close to a few places so it would be hard not to be but I don’t wanna lie to you about that. Still, I'll do my very best to be as honest as possible and will only turn to this bias in really, super-close 50-50 situations. Any comments will be grandly appreciated ;) - good or bad mind you hehe -

Ok. Here we go. The winner of this year’s World Cup will be.... (Drum roll please!), The Netherlands ^^ (!!!) "A Laraja Mechanica" or even "Clockwork Orange" as they’re sometimes referred to, will lift the WC trophy in Johannesburg on the 11th of July! What do you think of that then? I firmly believe that, looking at the draw and taking a good close look at their team this year, The Flying Dutchmen will have what it takes to win their first ever World Cup. Their only slight problem might be in defense and especially in goal. With the retirement of Edwin van der Sar last year, it's gonna be up to Ajax's 27-year-old keeper Maarten Stekelenburg to hold the fort against the likes of Messi & Nilmar, to name but a few of this years super-star attackers that will be firing footballs at him at a million miles per hour! But apart from that, I think they'll have what it takes and they'll prove - similarly to Spain in the 2008 Euro - that they'll also have the best midfield in the tournament with a 4-3-3 or 4-1-2-3 formation. Either way, the 3 key players are gonna be Rafael van der Vaart, Mark van Bommel and Wesley Sneijder. After that, they’ll play Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie coming in from the wings and then they’ll have to choose between Dirk Kuyt and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. Personally I’d choose Huntelaar but I think either one will have a good WC. It's gonna be close, mind you. Lots of extra time matches and probably a few penalty shoot-outs but, after the disappointments of having qualified from the "Group Of Death" in Germany - only to be knocked out by Portugal in what turned out to be the dirtiest match in the 2006 World Cup - and also losing to Guus Hiddink’s Russia and an inspired Andrei Arshavin in the 2008 Euros, I really think it's their turn. This time it'll be quiet though, they'll almost be the dark horses of the tournament and progress mostly unnoticed, plodding through unceremoniously but effectively. They'll reach the final and even then, they won't be favorites, but I think they'll take Argentina all the way to penalties and beat them 4-3 - 2 missed pens by Demichelis & then Messi! Ho! Ho! Ho!

But Argentina will be the ones to watch this year. If you're lucky enough to go to South Africa and watch the matches, those’ll be the tickets to buy. And my predictions for the Semi’s are England vs. The Netherlands in Semi-Final 1 and Argentina vs. Spain in Semi-Final 2.

You don’t believe me? Just wait and see ;-) hehehe