Writing in ignorance, I would say that France, Spain, Argentina, and Netherlands have the easier Groups and the more straightforward trips to the Round of 16. Group D (Germany, Ghana, Serbia are all good) and Group G (Brazil, Portugal, Ivory Coast) are the most likely to be messy, surprising, and take a top seed (Germany or Brazil) out.
Brazil winning would make me unhappy, as usual. I'm not entirely fond of Germany, France, and Argentina, either - but at least they're not Brazil. I'd like to see England or one of the African teams make a run.
US chances? Good by our standards, below-average by international standards. We are assigned a medium-difficult group with England, but have a reasonable chance of making it out because neither of the other two - Slovenia and Algeria - are that strong. Consistency remains a problem. We can beat nearly anyone, and may have an upset or two. But historically, we also rack up draws or even losses with teams we should put away. Even without Charlie Davies (I could just smack him) and with Altidore not at full strength, we have more scoring threats than any previous national team, I think.
We would face either the first or second place team from Group D if we move through our group. That would be most likely Germany, or Ghana/Serbia if we outperform England in Group C.
2 comments:
I think you may be dramatically underrating Australia, who might be the winner of Germany's group... and our likely opponent if we make it out.
Really. I'll have to look them up.
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