Superfluous Rants

Just finished watching the draw of groups for next year’s World Cup in South Africa. The ceremony was co hosted by Charlize Theron and featured legends from the past and today such as Eusebio, Roger Milla and David Beckham. Anyways, this is how the groups stack up:
Looks like Group G is the proverbial “Group of Death” with Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast and Korea DPR. I feel sorry for Kim Jong Il’s men, returning to the World Cup after some 40 years….they will be torn apart. Argentina got grouped with familiar foes:- Nigeria (94 & 02 World Cups) and Greece (94 World Cup) while the hosts will play with former winners France and Uruguay and the perennial underachievers Mexico. The rest of the groups look fairly balanced out.
The first game of the World Cup will be between the hosts South Africa and Mexico on June 11, 2010  at Soccer City, Johannesburg.
The full schedule of the 2010 World Cup can be found by here.

Here are my picks:
Winner of the 2010 World Cup: SPAIN
Sentimental pick: ARGENTINA
Darkhorses: ENGLAND, NETHERLANDS
Underdogs to create upsets: SERBIA, IVORY COAST
Teams with good chance to win (but I don’t want them to): BRAZIL, GERMANY

What of the defending champs Italy? Well, I predict they will flop around and make it to the round of 16 where they will exit via shootout.

[FIFA] | [ESPN Soccernet]