As you all know, the World Cup is starting in a few weeks in South Africa. I spent a few minutes today identifying some world class players from popular teams and this is what I found out.
Spain
According to me, Spain has the quality to win the World Cup: the goalkeepers, midfielders and strikers are fantastic even though the defense is not as good as the rest. David Villa and Fernando Torres play excellently together but, for me, Andrés Iniesta will be the key player.
- Iker Casillas
- Pepe Reina
- Sergio Ramos
- Xabi Alonso
- Cesc Fabregas
- Xavi
- Andrés Iniesta
- David Villa
- Fernando Torres
Brazil
Brazil has a lot of talented players but not as many as the other top teams. Alves is arguably the best right wingback in the world and, well, Kaká is magic (most of the time.) Most pundits say that Brazil will play in the final because Dunga, the coach, has managed to build a very fluid team using innovative tactics.
- Dani Alves
- Kaká
Argentina
A lot of people have already discounted Argentina but I’m not so sure. Mascherano is a formidable defensive midfielder and captain of the team (yes, I know, he gets booked too many times… but he is just being like Roy Keane) who can protect and let Messi, Agüero, HiguaÃn and Tévez do their usual magical stuff in front.
- Javier Mascherano
- Sergio Agüero
- Gonzalo HiguaÃn
- Lionel Messi
- Carlos Tévez
England
England has crap goalkeepers and will not win the World Cup… But, of course, being Mauritian, I would like England to go as far as possible in the tournament. Maybe England has a slight slight chance of winning if and only if (i) Rooney, who is the best English player this year, stays fit and (ii) Gerrard rediscovers his potency. Interesting how England’s future lies in the hands of two Scousers.
- John Terry
- Steven Gerrard
- Frank Lampard
- Wayne Rooney
Portugal
Can Ronaldo, who is the best player in the world, win the World Cup by himself? No. But he will try nevertheless.
- Cristiano Ronaldo
The others…
Patrice Evra (France), Samuel Eto’o (Cameroon), Didier Drogba (Côte d’Ivoire), Michael Essien (Ghana) are world class players but, unfortunately, they play in somewhat worse teams than the ones I have mentioned above.
The outsider
Every four years, one small country (in the footballing sense) exceeds all expectations. Who will it be this year? Maybe the United States who played against Brazil at the last Confederation Cup final but who lost by a slight 2-3.
Moi mo dir liverpool fc pou gagne coupe du monde.. :P
Nice to see u blogging about football again..
:-)
What I can definitely tell you is that no European team has won the World Cup outside Europe.
And since the 1960s, the trophy has always been switched between 2 continents: Europe and Latin America. So, my money is on Argentina to surprise everyone this time… just like Brazil did in 2002.
4 World class player dans Liverpool LOL!!!! HA HA HA!!!
@Ashvin Enfin. Seki FIFA dire sa. En passant, condoléances pou hier.
Hi
I’ve been trying to email Week-End to tell them that this Bob Harris is crap. He is supposed to be an “independent” sportswriter for the newspaper but he stinks Man Utd all the way. He does not leave any stone unturned to dump Liverpool, Arsenal or even Chelsea. At least David Meek has the decency to state that he is Man Utd’s official columnist. Now, two Man Utd columnists in one newspaper, that’s far too much. This week, he proves that either he has a very bad knowledge of football or he has become too old to be in the business. Here are some excerpts from his article:
1. “Much of it could do with Villa players looking forward to their Carling Cup Final against Manchester United at Wembley.” – Poor old Bob seems to forget that the Carling Cup Final has already been played on 28 February 2010 with a win by his beloved Man Utd 2-1. There are two more references to this “forthcoming” Carling Cup Final in his article.
2. “…Eidur Gudjohnson who popped up with his first goal for literally years.” – For your info Bob, Eidur scored a wonderful volley just the week before to put Spurs on the way to victory against Stoke City.
3. “…anxious Chelsea who resumed their title race with a 5-0 victory to put them level with United at the top of the table, not only on points but also on crucial goal difference.” – Now that one is too hard to swallow, Bob. Anyone in Mauritius who has even a small interest in the Premier League knows that Chelsea lagged Man Utd by one point after thrashing Portsmouth.
Final whistle has been blown Bob. Time to go for a long awaited retirement now.
Vik
PS: grateful if you could forward this to Week-End, Avinash. You’ll Never Walk Alone.
I’ll see what I can do, Vik. I, too, don’t like reading two 100% ManU articles each week…
i always loved italy and italian team, but this seems almost impossible for italy to win wc this year. I hope now to see old cannavaro in defence! he’s no more quality…
Brazil is my favorite, dunga is a great coach N took decisive decisions, just like not to select ronaldinho
* correction : i hope NOT to see old N slow cannavaro…