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In a little over three months time, more than 300 million sets of eyeballs will be glued to their television sets for the world’s most popular sporting event. Yes that’s right, I’m talking about the 2006 FIFA World Cup of Soccer, where the world’s top 32 soccer nations will meet in Germany to compete for soccer’s most prestigious award. Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)
The host country has won the tournament six out of 17 times, which is good news for Germany which won the World Cup last time they hosted the event back in 1974. But Germany doesn’t rank as the favorite to win; that honour belongs to the defending champions from Brazil, who sit at 16/5 odds to repeat. Brazil currently sits atop of the FIFA rankings and has appeared in the championship game in the last three tournaments, walking away victorious twice. With stars on their team like Ronaldinho, Adriano and Robinho, bookmakers have more than good reason to believe Brazil will go the distance again. One thing that should be kept in mind is that only one non-European team has won the World Cup when a European country has been the host, but predictably that team was Brazil back in 1958. According to bookmakers, England has the next-best chance of winning the World Cup, sitting at 6/1 odds. The English team, captained by midfielder David Beckham, hasn’t won the World Cup since 1966 which was their one and only appearance in the final. Whenever England appears in the World Cup there are always high hopes for their squad, but they always seem to find a way to disappoint. If they are unable to win their group, which consists of Sweden (a team they haven’t been able to beat since 1968), Paraguay and Trinidad Tobago, Germany would more than likely become their opponent in the second round, which could spell another early exit for the English. Host Germany, which returns as three-time winners and 2002 runner-up, comes in at 7/1 odds to win the tournament. The Germans, who are ranked 19th in the world and couldn’t even make it out of the group stage in Euro 2004, may have the weakest squad out of all the favorites, but with a history of success and the home crowd behind them, don’t underestimate Germany. After failing to make it out of the group stage in 2002, Argentina comes in with high hopes to win their third World Cup. Currently ranked fourth in the world, the Argentineans sit at 8/1 odds to become 2006 champions. Stuck in the “Group of Death” with the Netherlands, The Ivory Coast and Serbia and Montenegro, Argentina will likely just be concentrating on getting out of the group stage. The Italians round out the top five favourites, sitting at 10/1 odds to win. Italy is always a favourite to win the tournament but the Azzuri often find a way to lose in heartbreaking fashion, getting eliminated via shootout or extra time in the last four World Cups. With uncertainty concerning whether or not star striker Francesco Totti will recover from his broken leg in time to suit up in June, and the possibility that Brazil could be their opponent in the second round, it could be another tough World Cup for the Italians. Discuss this article on the forums. (0 posts)
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