2010 FIFA World Cup Breakdown
by
Dan Krier
May 26, 2010
On June 11th, the FIFA World Cup begins in Johannesburg, South Africa, with 32 teams vying to become champions of the world’s most popular sport. While we here in America are accustomed to quicker, more high-scoring sporting affairs (and therefore subsequently find soccer to be “boring” or too repetitive, some would say), the rest of the globe has developed a love for the strategic build-ups and adept athleticism the game of “football” provides; a 90-minute chess match where a 1-0 game can go down as a classic for the remainder of history.
According to the current FIFA rankings, nine of the top 10 teams in the world will be competing in the tournament (all but 9th-ranked Croatia). World #5-ranked Italy will be defending its 2006 Championship – won on a 5-3 Penalty Kick score after a 1-1 regulation tie versus France – while 2002 Champion Brazil and 1998 Champion France will also be participating.
Other fan favorites such as England, Spain, Argentina, The Netherlands, Mexico, and Germany will all be there too. And yes, so will the United States. “Uncle Sam’s Army” brings a mixed team of youngsters and veterans (Jozy Altidore and Landon Donovan, respectively, as examples) to South Africa, along with a World #14 ranking. Unfortunately, and astutely, oddsmakers have the USA as longshots at 80-1 to win the tournament, but then again, I don’t think winning the crown will determine if this year’s showing is a success or not for our boys in red white & blue.
Coming soon will be a breakdown of each of the eight preliminary groups, along with each team’s world ranking and current betting odds to win the Cup. The format of the tournament works as such: The four teams from each group will play three preliminary-stage games in round-robin fashion against one another, the top two teams (16 total) advancing to the one-and-done knockout stage, leading up to the World Cup Final on July 11th in Johannesburg. Teams are awarded three points for a victory, one point for a tie, and zero for a loss. Tiebreakers, if necessary, are determined by aggregate number of goals scored and number of goals conceded. Once the knockout phase begins, tie games will go into a non-sudden-death overtime and eventually penalty kicks if necessary.
