2010 World Cup Futures

I'm calling Argentina to win it all (priced +630 at PinnacleSports) with my gut pick - I've called the last two World Cup winners and the last European Championship winner, only losing the Euro 2004 pick when Greece surprised everybody after starting out the tournament as +15000 outsiders.

This is going to be my only bet to win it all; I had it down to Argentina and Spain. Spain (+400 at Bodog) would have been my "square pick" since they are the most in-form team coming in to the tournament. There really isn't any country looking as good, and coming from winning Euro 2008, it's Spain's tournament to lose. They really look good for it - but there is still the matter of Argentina.

With Argentina, there is a huge uncertainty to this team - the local fans are naturally supportive but they don't know what to expect. What Maradona has done is to go for in-form players, whether they be it experienced or not, or whether they have prior experience of playing in Europe or not. Angel Di Maria is a possible break out star, maybe going to Real Madrid next season, and if they get a couple of players clicking together and the team gel as a whole they have a real chance of winning this. At the feet of Veron (as we have seen in Estudiantes) I think there's a huge possibility this could happen.

Now Brazil (+450 at PinnacleSports) completes the final of the three obvious choices and what manager Dunga has done is to go for European experienced players only. He absolutely ignored some great in-form players, like Paulo Henrique Ganso, considered the next Kaka and the future Brazilian #10, without a doubt a future world football phenomenon (remember that name for the future). And it's not just Ganso, there are at least a half a dozen players that could have easily been in the squad. There are a lot of unhappy people in Brazil as there are lots of adequate European based players; none of them really shone, they just got the job done. The only bet I'm making in the Top Goal Scorer is Luis Fabiano of Brazil (+1050 at PinnacleSports).

Now we go to the eternal contender Italy. Italy (+1700 at PinnacleSports) are just not that good, as the odds suggest, with a combination of a lack of experience and a lack of talent. I have little trust in Lippi and the high of the winning generation is long passed. Having spent a good chunk of last season in Italy, I got the distinct feeling that the public and the press are not enthusiastic about their possibility of winning. As a fan of The Azzurri I would love to be surprised though and see them go through as far as possible and they are always considered eternal contenders although Bodog have them listed at +200 to be eliminated in Round Two.

Similar to Italy, Germany (+1600 at Bodog) are always considered to be in the running and it would be unwise to discount them. And, again similar to Italy, the Germans are in a bit of disarray and without identity with their main problem being that they are not a purebred team, rather looking more like a Bundesliga selection more than a German national team. They have lost a lot of what makes "Germany" Germany so it is hard to picture them being successful in 2010.

Two underdogs that I like very, very much are England (+725 at PinnacleSports) and Chile (+8500 at PinnacleSports) and the major reasons for this are their master strategists at the helm in the form of Fabio Capello and Marcelo Bielsa respectively. Argentine Bielsa has Chile playing so smooth that I consider them the second most in-form team entering the tournament after Spain. I easily see this two able to go deep and even reach the final, especially so when considering how well South America teams do in World Cups held in the Southern Hemisphere.





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