World Cup

On the eve of the World Cup we are at the point every four years where anticipation meets reality. The usual suspects Italy, Germany, England, Argentina, and Brazil are around to compete for the exclusive trophy. This is one of the truly global sporting events everyone watches. I have met people whose national team wasn't even in the tournament who cared. Among the teams that can be considered as candidates to win the world cup are Spain, France, Ghana, Cameroon, and the United States. Every analyst who claims that the US and England should qualify from Group C could be in for a suprise. I am calling this group the group of surprise. The US and England with extensive World Cup experience are the favorites, but Slovenia and Algeria are very strong teams and could easily knock one of the favorites out of the tournament at the halfway point. This group in some ways reminds me of the 1998 World Cup for America where it was an absolute nightmare coming off the '94 World Cup. The American squad is a very good team with plenty of good players, but we will be missing the speed of Charlie Davies from last years Confederations Cup runner-up team. Hopefully in four years he will be there to help our title defense. If Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey, Michael Bradley, Ricardo Clark, and Oguchi Oneywu are playing well success should follow. I don't even think we have to worry about Tim Howard in goal as he could easily be the best net minder in the Worlds top domestic league.