World Cup Preview 1

The biggest football event is about to begin this June. Before the World Cup starts in less than a month, this blog will have a weekly four-part special about this year's competition every Friday. For today which is the first post, the topic would be on "How/Why can the following countries win the World Cup?"

Brazil

Of course Brazil will win it. They have all the "Rs" in their team. Players with names that start with "R" never fail to dazzle the crowd at the World Cup. Although there is no more Ronaldo or Rivaldo in 2010, Brazil still have Robinho, Ramires and Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (which is also Kaka's real name). Even Ronaldhino might get a suprise call up

Every World Cup, there is definitely one "R" player that will be the star of the tournament. With a star star player in your team, it would be unacceptable if you finish as runners-up

In the future, there will be another "R" player called Raymond. He is from Singapore and he will take the international football fraternity by storm and you are reading his blog right now

France

Brazil are the kings but they got knocked out in the quarter-finals four years ago and it was the French who did it. Forget about Zinedine Zidane and his headbutt, that is so "out". The latest trend is to use your hand to control the ball on the pitch like what Thiery Henry did against Ireland in the qualifiers

Imagine if Henry teaches Franck Ribery, Nicolas Anelka and Djibril Cisse to all use their hands to control the ball to win a game. If seven different players make a crucial touch to the ball with their hands in separate matches, France would have won the World Cup

If this really happens, we can conclude three things. First, there is something kelong with the referees. Second, the French players should take up basketball as their careers instead. Third, nobody would eat french fries again

North Korea

You might be shocked to see this Asian country's name. North Korea definitely have a chance to bring home the World Cup and the plan is simple

Kim Jong II just have to tell Barack Obama, Nicolas Sarkozy, Angela Merkel, Juan Carlos I etc. to have their national teams play "fake ball" to let North Korea win or else he will fire nuclear rockets anywhere on earth

Do not ever underestimate a small team. Their team may be small on the football's international stage but their leader is a big (and demanding) one

It's so simple

South Africa

Omg, South Africa will win it for their people. They are the hosts, they are playing at their home. There is no reason to lose

Let's see, they did no not enter from 1930 to 1962, were banned by FIFA from 1966 to 1990, were not qualified for 1994 and finally made their debut in 1998. 16 years later, there are the hosts of this event and they will be eager to prove their worth

Yes, this means that they have to work hard and gain people's attention. Or else, people will only pay attention at their yellow-green jerseys which look like some African reptile

England

The country which is home to the world's most popular league and some of the most popular footballers. It is a superstar team. See, they have David Beckham, oops he's injured erm, Michael Owen, oops he's also injured plus outdated and David Seaman, oh sorry already retired long ago

Ok, they have Wayne Rooney and Frank Lampard. Names that ring a bell in any football fan. If Beckham wasn't injured, England would have a perfect team for this World Cup but even in his absence, many younger players can still fill in his boots

It's the legendary Three Lions that we are talking about here, not the Kallang Roar Singapore Lions (oops). A traditional English 4-4-2 formation would suit this bunch of English players perfectly. Everything is so "perfectly-English" about the squad except for Fabio Capello

But he's a freaking good coach anyway

Spain

Another perfect team and their coach is Spanish too. Deadly strikers like David Villa and Fernando Torres, talented midfielders like Xavi, David Silva, Cesc Fabregas, goalkeepers which include Iker Casillas and Pepe Reina, defenders like...

What else can you ask for?

A World Cup to add to their pretty empty and embarrassing honours record

Portugal

If Portugal were to win the World Cup, there can only be one reason. Cristiano Ronaldo. And he definitely have the ability to take his national team to the finals

Never mind that his dribbling and running may not be effective all the time, he can still use his trademark move-diving. Just dive in the penalty box a couple of times in separate matches and make sure that the one taking the kick gets the ball in and mission accomplished

That's the beauty of the game or the ugly side of it. Who cares? Ronaldo looks so handsome anyway, only the jealous men will hate him

There are many more other teams like Netherlands, Argentina, Italy etc. who also have a good chance of winning the World Cup. However, these teams still lack a little something

Coming up next week, Why will the following countries not win the World Cup? It'll all be explained then