World Cup Quarterfinals Predictions!

So here we are with our final eight teams. Two extremely formidable duos and two... somewhat less than stellar matchups.

Argentina-Germany, obviously, could (and has been) a Final pairing. A shame one of these has to exit so soon. (But then, Portugal had to leave after the second round, due to facing Spain so soon.)

The Netherlands, as seemingly always, run up against Brazil. I can scarcely think of a Dutch World Cup run that did not end in defeat to Brazil, though I'm sure it's happened more than I'm remembering. Definitely in 1994, and at least one other time since then. (Scotland, oddly, suffers the same fate in their occasional appearances-- though usually it's the Group phase in which Brazil dispatches the Tartan Army.)

So-- two Semifinal- or Final- quality matchups... and then... we have...

Spain vs Paraguay. Okay. After misfiring in their opening match against the ever-stoutly-defending Swiss, Spain managed to get it together and win their group, and then score a great goal (in what was destined to be a 1-0 win for somebody) to defeat Portugal. But... Paraguay?

I've seen Paraguay over the years. They are one of those teams that knows how to grind out a point from a match. They always seem to play excellent defense and, like the Swiss, seem to get through on low-scoring draws. They were due for a decent run deeper into the tournament, and this year --with its South American success stories-- is the perfect year for it.

But does anyone think Paraguay is going to be able to contain Spain for 90 minutes? Really?

And then there's the most bizarre matchup of all: Uruguay vs Ghana.

This is the spot the USA should have held, but for some odd managerial decisions and a couple of fantastic goals by Ghana.

Instead, we're going to see yet another South American side that plays tough defense, but also manages to score here and there-- a sort of Paraguay with more firepower-- against a smooth and athletic side in Ghana that has been able to play surprisingly good defense and score when it really counted.

A nice matchup, sure-- but Quarterfinal-quality? Hmmm.

So: Predictions.

Argentina 2-1 Germany
(Though I have a weird feeling this one could end 1-1 and go to PKs, at which point no one in their right mind would bet against the Mannschaft.)

Uruguay 1-0 Ghana
(Too much tough defense from Uruguay.)

Spain 2-0 Paraguay
(I respect the Paraguayan defense, but David Villa and co. will penetrate it multiple times before all is said and done.)

Brazil 2-1 Netherlands
(I'd love to see the Dutch make the Final game, or even win it all... but not with Brazil in the way... Again.)

So look for Argentina to face Spain in one semifinal, and Brazil to face Uruguay in the other. Three out of four semifinal foes from South America-- not bad!

World Cup of Beer: Group B Draw and Results!

Group B in the World Cup of Beers drew as follows:

• Mexico (Pacifico Clara)


• Jamaica (Red Stripe)


• Japan (Asahi Super Dry)


• England (Newcastle Brown Ale)

Group B Results:

Northern England celebrates! The England qualifier, Newcastle Brown Ale, swept through group play like..., well, like Brazil through actual World Cup soccer group play, winning all nine possible points on three victories to win Group B easily.




Pacifico Clara, the shock Mexican qualifier, collapsed at crunch time. Unable to compete on the big stage, it exited quietly with only a single point, earned in a tough drawn match against Japan's Asahi.



The Japanese qualifier, Asahi, managed to grind out two draws but, with only two points earned, exited quietly.



Second place in Group B went to Jamaica's Red Stripe, who took down Mexico's beer and eked out a draw with Japan's to earn four points, thus moving on in the competition to the knockout phase.



GROUP B RESULTS:

England (Newcastle) 3 3 3 __ 9

Jamaica (Red Stripe) 3 0 1 __ 4


Japan (Asahi) 0 1 1 __ 2

Mexico (Pacifico Clara) 0 1 0 __ 1



Group C coming soon!

Could the USA be in an easier bracket?

Just a quick note to point out, before the Second Round gets underway....

Can you believe the teams in the USA's bracket??

We have Ghana and then the Uruguay-South Korea winner.

Now-- not to disparage to any of the teams above. But-- think about this:

No Germany.

No Argentina.

No Netherlands.

No England (again).

No Spain.

No Portugal.

No Brazil!

In fact, the USA might well be the highest-ranked side in our quarter of the brackets. I realize that Uruguay has looked very good of late-- but this was a team that barely qualified! Meanwhile, the USA won CONCACAF (for whatever that might be worth).

So-- am I saying the USA should win this bracket and make the Semifinals? Am I saying the USA will win it?

NO.

But I am saying: We have as easy of a path to the Semis as it is possible to imagine.

The door is wide open. It only remains for Team USA to seize the day and run through it.

World Cup: Looking Back After the First Two Go-Rounds

Two-thirds of the way through Round One already!

Once again I must revise my Power Rankings. The new listing:

1. Brazil
They're not quite as overpowering as we're used to, but they simply exhude "victory."

2. Argentina
Getting by on natural ability.

3. Netherlands
But I'm waiting for the collapse.

4. Chile
Possibly overrated by me here, but they scored on the Swiss when no one else had in forever.

5. Portugal
But how much can we really take from 7 goals against a weak team?

Teams that have become a puzzle:
Germany (awesome in their first game; fizzled out in their second)
Italy (they have the ability, but...)
Spain (are they really that different from past Spanish teams?)
France (we knew this was their year to do poorly-- they only do well on European soil-- but my goodness!)
The African teams (uniformly failing to impress)

Teams that have very much impressed, but aren't quite in the top five:
Paraguay
Switzerland
Denmark
Slovenia
Ghana

World Cup Power Rankings: Revised Already?!

Well, when I predicted yesterday at the end of the first go-round of Round 1 that things might change in a hurry-- and particularly with regard to South Korea-- I didn't really know the half of it, did I?

It's all smiles with the Albiceleste today!


So just a quick little update to bring my rankings (slightly more) in line with reality:

1. Germany

2. Netherlands

3. Argentina

The Albiceleste (my other favorite international side besides Italy) make their debut in the Power Five and looking powerful against a well-regarded South Korean sie-- and now with the Golden Boot leader... who is NOT Lionel Messi!

4. Brazil

Wouldn't it be great to see the two South American powerhouses meet in the semis? Honestly, at this moment I don't know which one looks more impressive. We need to see another game from Brazil to learn more-- and against someone other than the "Stealth" North Korean side.

5. Switzerland

Keep hanging in there!

Aaaannnnd we say goodbye (at least for now) to:

South Korea

World Cup Power Rankings: My Top Five

As of noon today, the first go-round of round-robin play in the books. So here are the top five teams as I see them thus far.


I will attempt to take the quality of opposition into account, of course-- but it's difficult to say much about some of the teams we've seen so far. For example, are the Australians really that bad, or is Germany that good?


So, with that in mind, here are my TOP FIVE POWER RANKINGS at the one-third stage of Round One:


1. Germany
The ol' Mannschaft looks as tough as ever. When have they ever not looked deadly in the first round? We will know more after they play Serbia (in a sort of 1914 World War re-match).

2. Netherlands
Yeah, I know they're likely due for a flameout in the second or third round... but, for now, just like in Euro 2008, they look like a Clockwork Orange Machine.

3. Brazil
It's not so much that Brazil looked great-- but they did what they had to do to win.

4. South Korea
Yeah, this probably won't last... but they looked remarkably tough and resilient. And still they run and run. I would love to see them face their northern counterparts in a game. If only.

5. Switzerland
Say what you will, but knock off the pre-tourney favorites and refuse to concede a goal for the second World Cup in a row, and you get a top spot in my rankings. At least for now.



It totally figures that the team the US will most likely face if we make it out of group play in second place would be the Germans. *sigh*


Also impressing so far:


Chile

North Korea

Japan

Paraguay



Disappointing so far:


Italy

Argentina

Serbia

Ivory Coast

Portugal


On to the second go-round!

World Cup of Beers: Group A Draw and Results

WORLD CUP OF BEERS: Group round-robin play begins with the first draw and the first blind taste test.

GROUP A DRAW:

• Australia (Foster's Lager)


• Scotland (Belhaven Ale)


• Brazil (Xingu)


• China (Tsingtao)

Group A results:

Australia (Foster's) defeats all three of the others to earn first place with 9 points. This beer was smooth enough to defeat rival light pilsners / lagers such as Tsingtao as well as richer beers such as Xingu.

Brazil (Xingu Black Beer) defeats China and Scotland to grab second place and move on as well. It was quite stout but smooth enough to hold its own, and with no negative aftertaste.

Scotland (Belhaven) fell just short against Brazil (Xingu) to miss second place and a ticket out of the group. It had a lot of body but the hoppy aftertaste was too much.

And China (Tsingtao) failed to score a single point. Not good.

Final results for Group A (top two beers move on; bottom two are eliminated):

1. AUSTRALIA (Foster's) 9 points

2. BRAZIL (Xingu) 6 points

3. SCOTLAND (Belhaven) 3 points

4. CHINA (Tsingtao) 0 points

Books: Current Status of Projects

A very quick update on where some of my current writing/editing projects stand at the moment:



* Hand of the Machine (Volume 1): Hawk: Writing first draft of manuscript. This is a sort of heroic action / space opera story that will be told in three volumes. A White Rocket book.



* Sentinels (Volume 7): Stellarax: Developing third draft of outline. This book wraps up the current trilogy, "The Rivals," that began with The Shiva Advent and continued in Worldmind. A White Rocket book.



* Assembled! 3: Awaiting contributions from various writers. Many chapters already in hand and edited. This will be the last of three volumes exploring Marvel's Avengers comics, characters, and creators, and benefitting the HERO Initiative charity. A White Rocket book.



* Sentinels (Volume 8): Order Above All: Developing first draft of outline. First volume in the next trilogy, "Earthwar." Another White Rocket book.



* Baranak: Storming the Gates (The Above, Volume 2): In development. (Sequel to Lucian: Dark God's Homecoming, the first volume of my "Above" series, in the style of Roger Zelazny and Jack Vance.) Likely an Airship 27 publication.



* Gideon Cain: In production with Airship 27 Productions; expected very soon. This is an American version of the "Puritan swordsman on a quest" character, in the style of Robert E. Howard's Solomon Kane. One of the co-creators was Kurt Busiek (Astro City; Marvels; Avengers) and another was Keith R. A. DeCandido (Star Trek novels, etc). I initiated the project, co-created it, and wrote one of the stories in the volume.



* Mars McCoy, Vol. 1: In production with Airship 27. Details coming soon. (I contributed to the character's/world's creation and co-edited this volume.)



* Mars McCoy, Vol 2: In development with Airship 27. (I co-edited this volume as well, and have a 45,000-word novella in this one that I am very excited about.)

More details as I am able to reveal them. Expect the Cain book very soon. Back to writing HAWK now!

Group C: A Few Thoughts

A few thoughts at the end of the first go-round of Group C play:

* I think Algeria might have managed to hold onto a 0-0 draw with Slovenia if not for the knuckleheaded move of having one of their strikers suddenly decide he was Jerry Rice and try to catch the ball like a touchdown pass in front of the goal.

* I don't think I've ever enjoyed a draw as much as I did the 1-1 result with England. What a great victory for the USA. But we should have seen it coming. The USA always plays tougher against the good teams in our group. 1994? Defeated tourney favorites Colombia! 2002? Defeated tourney favorites Portugal! 2006? Drew with eventual champions Italy in another 1-1 war. Know your history and these things aren't quite so shocking.

* The USA is very fortunate to be playing our Eastern European opponent in the second game rather than the third of the group stage-- because we always lose to an Eastern European team in the third game. 1994? Loss to Romania. 1998? Loss to Yugoslavia. 2002, when we made it all the way to the Quarterfinals? Didn't matter-- we still got bulldozed by Poland (Poland!) in the third game of the group stage, even as we moved on to the next round (and they didn't). It's remarkable. The downside to this argument: In 2006 we actually drew an African nation as our third opponent-- and lost to them, too. And now we have another African country as our third opponent: Algeria. Can we break this awful string? I think we'll have to, if we want to advance.

* Who will win and who will advance from this group? While it's not as encouraging now, seeing Slovenia ahead of us, just remember-- we play them next, and then we finish up with the weakest side, Algeria. We've already played the best (by far) team in the group and we took a point from them. Things look very good. We just have to remain focused and get it done.

World Cup: Full Predictions!!

Better (a day) late than never: My overall predictions for the World Cup.

Forget my previous group predictions.... this is going to be full-bore, stream-of-consciousness, too-late-at-night, wide-open guessing!

Group A:
1. Mexico
2. France
Notes: This is a tough one to predict, given today's outcomes. It looks like NOBODY wants to win this group. So I'm going with the two most likely in a normal year. I don't think South Africa advances-- they were extremely lucky to get the draw with Mexico-- but it's a real tossup among the other three. I just don't see Uruguay having enough offense to hang with France and Mexico.

Group B:
1. Argentina
2. South Korea
Notes: Argentina gets nine points in spite of its coach. South Korea out-works Nigeria. Greece surprises and gets third ahead of Nigeria.

Group C:
1. England
2. USA
Notes: Assuming the injury situation for the US works out as well as possible, this is the obvious result.

Group D:
1. Germany
2. Serbia
Notes: Germany without Ballack is still Germany. They are a machine. I know Serbia is a trendy pick. I don't care. Sets up an interesting matchup with England, though.

Group E:
1. Netherlands
2. Denmark
Notes: The Dutch should rock and roll. Cameroon has the potential to nab the second spot, but for some reason (history?) I tend to favor the methodical European sides over the athletic but often disorganized African teams. But I'll cheer for the Indomitable Lions.

Group F:
1. Italy
2. Paraguay
Notes: Italy lucks into the easiest group in the field. If they fail to advance-- heck, if they fail to win this group-- it is a scandal.



Group G:
1. Brazil
2. Portugal
Notes: Ivory Coast is a chic pick, but with Drogba injured (even if he plays), I just don't see them getting ahead of either of the two Portuguese-speaking teams in this group.

Group H:
1. Spain
2. Switzerland
Notes: I may be giving the Swiss too much credit and respect, but I remember how solid their defense was in 2006. Can even Spain score on them? Should be interesting.

Round of 16:

Mexico over South Korea
England over Serbia
Notes: Congrats on finally getting to the Quarters when not playing at home, Mexico! Now get ready for Rooney and Co.

Netherlands over Paraguay
Brazil over Switzerland
Notes: Once again, as seemingly always, the Dutch must face Brazil. Ouch.

Argentina over France
Germany over USA
Notes: Yet another Argentina-Germany matchup coming. Do the Argentines ever play anyone in Europe other than Germany and England??

Italy over Denmark
Spain over Portugal
Notes: My Azzurri have no business getting to the Quarters, and they'll pay the price with the matchup they're getting-- Espana!

Quarterfinals

England over Mexico
Brazil over Netherlands
Germany over Argentina
Spain over Italy
Notes: Do you really want to tell me that if Argentina couldn't beat Germany in 2006, with a competent coach, they can beat them this year, with HIM as coach? Right. The Italy game will not be pretty; I suppose the Roja finally exact some revenge for the 1994 quarterfinal loss to the Azzurri.

Semifinals

Brazil over England
Spain over Germany

Finals

Brazil over Spain

Pretty pedestrian, I suppose. But the World Cup rarely provides major upsets. It's pretty much a done deal in the later stages.

GO USA! GO ITALIA!!

COUNTDOWN: Group H-- Spain and the Mighty Mites!

GROUP H: SPAIN, CHILE, SWITZERLAND, HONDURAS

The final group of World Cup 2010, Group H, includes a fascinating array of teams.

This is supposed to be "Spain's group to walk away with"-- the group they dominate before heading along their inexorable path to their alleged finals clash with Brazil.

But I like the other three teams in this group, too.

We all know about Spain, so I'm going to spare the (virtual) ink and just say "They're really, really good." Yes, yes-- they've lost only one match in like four years (to the USA! Wooo!). Yeah yeah, their midfield and forwards are telepathically linked together and benefit from the preternatural passing of Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas.

But just remember-- they are Spain.

They are the Buffalo Bills of soccer.

They are (if you will recall my earlier column) the Auburn Tigers of soccer.

In other words, SOMETHING ALWAYS GOES WRONG.

Surely they'll get out of the group, at least-- right?

Before you lump these other three teams into the junk pile, let's take a look at just who they are:

Chile has a lot of potential. They play fiery offense and can put points on the board. Against a Spain that still might be suffering lingering effects of fragile team psyche, an early goal by Chile could cause a meltdown. Is such a thing likely? Probably not. I'm just sayin'...

Switzerland.... Oh, man. I've been waiting a while to point this little juicy tidbit out. Bear with me here, as we flash back:

In the 2006 World Cup, Switzerland failed to score a goal. That's right-- they did not score a single goal in the entire tournament.

And yet-- get this!-- they missed making the Quarterfinals by losing in penalty kicks in the second round.

Only in soccer could a team come within a whisker of making the Final Eight without ever scoring a single time.

How was this possible?

Old school SEC fans gather 'round, and let me spell it out for you:

DEFENSE.

Not only did they not score-- they did not give up a single goal during the entire tournament.

That's right-- not a single time did an opponent put a ball past the Swiss keeper.

Swiss cheese? More like (cuckoo) Clock-work Defense, or just plain stabbin' 'em with their Swiss Army knives. (groan...)



Every Switzerland game finished 0-0. In group play, with no extra time, that was that-- and so the holey-cheese guys accumulated three points--enough to get them into the second round. (A goal differential of zero didn't hurt, either.)

But in the second round, draws cannot stand-- so they went to PKs and the Swiss lost.

Just think, though-- they could have won the PKs easily enough, and that would have put them through to the Quarters still without having scored.

Amazing.

So, anyway-- the Swiss have the potential to surprise. They play good defense (like Paraguay, as I mentioned in a previous post). And they're tough.

And then there's Honduras. The also-ran entry from mighty CONCACAF, after the USA and Mexico, Honduras is a remarkably resilient team, with the potential to surprise. If any of the other three teams takes Hondo for granted, they may find themselves regretting it.

SO--there you go: My case for how Spain could lose to any one of their group opponents.

Will they, though? Probably not.

But still.... we're still talking about Spain.

Yeah, they won Euro 2008-- so they've finally won something.

But they have to show me they can hoist the big golden ice cream cone before I'll really believe they can pull it off.

Show me what ya got, Espana.

COUNTDOWN: Group G-- The Group of Death!

GROUP D: BRAZIL, PORTUGAL, COTE D'IVOIRE, NORTH KOREA

Every World Cup has its "Group of Death," and this time around it is Group G. Of course it is-- with Group G, you have three very formidable soccer sides in Brazil, Portugal, and the Cote d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast)... and then you have North Korea, which is a sort of charter member of the world's "group of death," if you know what I mean.

Unfortunately, with the injury in training camp to Didier Drogba, what could have been a three-way war has become rather two-sided, with Brazil and Portugal probably now clearly superior to the other two.

(And speaking of Drogba--and hey, I'm a Chelsea fan!-- how long do you suppose it took them to figure out he was actually injured? I mean, was it like, "Oh, look-- Drogba's lying on the ground and rolling around. So what else is new? Wanna grab a pint after practice?")

So this group is fairly easy to predict. Unless North Korea pulls out some kind of secret weapon (not that I'd put that beyond them! Where are the World Police manequins when you need them??), and unless Ivory Coast turns out to be more than a one- or two-man team, we should see a clear separation between the top and the bottom of the group.

Predictions:

Brazil 9

Portugal 6

Ivory Coast 3

North Korea 0

A Revised Take on the Blue (Away) USA Jersey

It could be interpreted that I was cracking on the current USA team jersey-- the blue one with the white "sash" diagonal stripe-- in a recent post.

Well, what with various folks talking that particular shirt design up, I completely changed my mind and decided to embrace my inner diplomat/beauty pageant winner/Latin American club player (ie-- person who would wear a "sash").

So today I bought one of the blue jerseys. I'll wear it to the USA-England match on Saturday at the Old Post Office Plaza outdoor venue in St Louis.

I still sort of prefer the white "home" jersey, but it looks close enough to my 1998 USA jersey that it seems pointless to spend that kind of money on it.

The blue one, on the other hand... well, it doesn't really look much like anything else I own. So there is at least that...!

Group F: FORZA ITALIA!! and some other guys

GROUP F: ITALY, PARAGUAY, SLOVAKIA, NEW ZEALAND

Group F features my other favorite squad in international play: the Azzurri of Italia.

And rarely in World Cup history can I recall the Azzurri coming into the tourney with less hype and fewer predictions of glory.

I mean, these are the defending champions! Surely they have a shot, right?



Ehh, probably not. They're an aging side with a very noticeable dropoff in output from almost every angle.

But compared to the other three teams in their group, Italy represents the cream of the crop and should easily advance to the second round.

The funny thing about that: In most previous World Cups, Italy struggled to get out of their group (the infamous loss to Ireland in '94 and draws to Mexico in '94 and to the USA in 2006 come instantly to mind) but then tended to play well in the knockout stages (making it all the way to PKs against Brazil in 1994 and winning it all in 2006).

This time we may see the opposite-- Italy dominating group play but then crashing out.

The other countries in Group F are at least eyebrow-raising, if not intimidating.

Paraguay has a reputation, similar to recent Switzerland sides, of playing really tenacious defense and wringing out 0-0 results against more talented teams. (Consider that in 1998 their most feared offensive weapon was their goalkeeper! I kid you not-- he would run the length of the field to take free kicks, then scamper frantically back to his goal. Crazy!)

Slovakia has a couple of good players but this is their first World Cup appearance and you have to think they won't go far.

And then there's New Zealand. What, are you kidding? New Zealand, land of hobbits and rugby players, made it to the World Cup? That's impressive, sure. But the most likely result for the hairy-footed Shire-dwellers will be serving up nine points for their three group foes. Better call up Gandalf, Kiwis...

Predictions:
Italy 7
Paraguay 5
Slovakia 1
New Zealand 0

World Cup of Beers: Mexican Qualifying Results are in

We've had the first shock upset in the World Cup of Beers!

The defending champion has been dethroned!!!

In tonight's CONCACAF Qualifying for the Mexican spot in the World Cup of Beers, the prohibitive (pardon the pun) favorite was my 2006 "Official Beer" of my World Cup of Eating and Drinking-- Dos Equis Lager.

But its opponent, a newcomer to my beer menu called Pacifico Clara, pushed Dos Equis all the way to penalty kick drinks-- and then prevailed!

So here's to the outgoing champs, dethroned and not even getting to compete in this year's Cup. While Dos Equis was as always a great-tasting beer, good enough to push Pacifico Clara to extra time and then to PK drinks, it just didn't quite have that extra *oomph* that the newcomer had.

And so here's to the new representative for Mexico: Pacifico Clara!

World Cup of Beers: US Qualifying Results!

The Qualifying Round for the World Cup of Beers 2010, for the CONCACAF region (North and Central America and Caribbean) is complete.

The contenders were:
Fat Weasel Ale
Sam Adams Boston Lager
Schlafly's Pale Ale
Killian's Irish Red

(Yes, Killian's is a US beer, brewed by Coors in Golden, CO, and NOT an import -- despite most bars cleverly sneaking it onto the "Imports" menu so they can charge more for it.)

And after careful judging by our one-judge panel (that would be me), the winner, which will go through to represent the USA in the World Cup of Beers, is:

KILLIAN'S IRISH RED!!!!


Yes, the 3rd place finisher in the 2006 World Cup of Eating and Drinking (behind winner Dos Equis Lager and 2nd place Bass Ale) has won the USA spot in the CONCACAF region for the tournament.

The judges (yes, me) reported that Killian's was slightly "hoppy" (as were all of these, to one degree or another) but had a smoother overall flavor, with a nice warm finish.

Congrats to Killian's for making the Final Sixteen.

Next up: Qualifying for the Mexican, German, and English spots.

COUNTDOWN: Great (??) and Not So Great (!!) US Soccer Jerseys

Today: A quick look at some of the more... dubious.... fashion choices of US Soccer over the last few years, in our AWAY jerseys.

Honestly, the last really good US jersey in my opinion was the 1998 US jersey for qualifying (but then discarded by US Soccer for the actual World Cup!). I bought that one (retail!!) and it's still the only US jersey I own. I will buy a new one when they produce a new one worth buying (though I admit the current home jersey, white with the faint gray "sash," is probably the least offensive since 1998).

First up is the 1994 away jersey from the World Cup. US Soccer told Nike to "Wrap the boys in the flag," and Nike complied. It has a sort of denim look, but was not denim. The "home" jersey that year was an even-more-hideous white shirt with lots of thin red vertical stripes. Eeeek.

Next is the 2010 US away jersey for the World Cup. You're about to see a lot of this one, as the US will probably be the "away" team when we open on June 12 against England. I think it's only marginally better than the denim stars deal from '94.

Ami & Van's WORLD CUP of BEERS: The Draw is Announced!!

I've mentioned a couple of times previously that, in conjunction with the World Cup (which begins next Friday, June 11), Ami and I will be conducting a "World Cup of Beers."

(At left is the beer selected by me as the "Official Beer of World Cup 2006," after a grueling month of drinking fine beers at establishments all over metro Atlanta.)

Here's how it will work: We have purchased adequate (I hope!) supplies of beers from the countries that have been "drawn" into this year's competition. Each participating country will have one beer to represent it. There will be a pre-tournament qualifying campaign this weekend for countries that have drawn more than one beer. Those countries are marked below with an * asterisk.

Ami will disguise the beers and serve them up in code-marked cups, and I will drink them and choose the winner of each match. (It's a tough job, but...!)

We will have 16 beers / nations represented in the final tournament, which begins next weekend. They will be drawn (by Ami) into four "Groups" for round-robin competition.

The top two beers from each Group will move on to single-elimination competition, as in the real World Cup. And so on until the World Cup Champion of Beers is crowned!

The beers were selected by Ami and me based on a combination of factors-- I wanted to include a few "old favorites" along with a few that I was not familiar with at all. We also wanted as wide of a global distribution as possible, based on what was available here in the St Louis area.

Sadly, I could not find any Tiger Beer (Singapore) or Kiwi Lager (New Zealand). But otherwise I think we did very well.

Without further ado, then, here are the countries represented in the 2010 World Cup of Beers:

UEFA (Europe -- 9 spots available)
Belgium: Stella Artois
Czech Rep: Pilsner Urquell
England: Bass Ale and Newcastle *
Germany: Beck's and St Pauli Girl Lager *
Ireland: Harp Lager
Italy: Peroni
Netherlands: Heineken
Scotland: Belhaven Ale
Spain: Estrella Galicia

CONCACAF (North & Central America & Caribbean-- 3 spots available)
Jamaica: Red Stripe
Mexico: Dos Equis Lager and Pacifico Clara *
USA: Fat Weasel Ale and Killian's Red and Sam Adams Lager and Schlaffly's Pale Ale *

AFC (Asia and Pacific -- 3 spots available)
Australia: Foster's Lager
China: Tsingtao
Japan: Asahi Super Dry

CONMEBOL (South America -- only 1 beer available)
Brazil: Xingu Black Beer

So there you have it-- the 22 beers that will enter a final weekend of qualifying before being narrowed down to 16 for the big competition.

I hate not having, for example, an Argentine beer... and surely there are another dozen Mexican and English and German beers (each!) that would have been worthy. I don't feel as bad about leaving out the big, bland, watery US major beers-- I don't drink them anyway.

Tune in later this weekend for the announcement of the Final 16 Countries/Beers!

Group E: Orange & Blue, Danishes & Cameroons

GROUP E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

Quick notes about Group E as the unbelievable wave of injuries continues to riddle the sides preparing for the tournament-- latest victims are Drogba of the Ivory Coast and Rio Ferdinand of England.

I'll talk about C'ote d'Ivoire when we get to Group G, but as far as Ferdinand goes-- go ahead and lower your expectations for England just a tad. This is a major boost for the USA's chances of at least getting a point out of the June 12 clash with England, though we all hate that it came at such a cost to a great player like Rio.

Now-- Group E.

Clockwork Orange meets Samurai Blue meets the Great Danes meets the Indomitable Lions.

Certainly some great nicknames in this group, if nothing else.

The Netherlands looked like world beaters (and future World Cup champions) during most of Euro 2008, but then tripped up when it counted and didn't even make the finals.

Even so, you have to rate them as the likely winners of this group, putting them on a collision course (as usual!) with Brazil in the Quarterfinals. Even with the loss of Edwin Van Der Saar at goalkeeper, they have the firepower and the talent to get it done and grab nine points from the group if they're on their game.

Cameroon is a popular choice among those looking for an outside team to squeak through, but I don't buy it. I'm not big on the African teams-- they have to show me something before I'll predict one of them getting to the Quarters or Semis.

Denmark can be impressive but the pundits don't seem to think as much of them as their record would indicate they should. My goodness-- they won their group in qualifying, and they've advanced to the second round in each of their last three World Cups. I'm gonna go nuts here and put them through to the second round ahead of Cameroon and Japan.

Samurai Blue has lots of speed and athleticism but they, like the African teams, have to show me something in a World Cup (and one not played on their home soil) before I start advancing them deeper into the field in these tourneys. They don't bring a lot of offensive firepower to the table and I think the Dutch in particular will light them up.

Predictions:

Netherlands 7

Denmark 5

Cameroon 2

Japan 1

Group D-- Injury-Riddled and Inscrutable!

GROUP D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana

I know one or two key things about each of these sides. Allow me to expand upon that:

Germany has lost their Captain (and my Chelsea jersey guy) Michael Ballack, but they remain a very formidable force.

Australia did very well in 2006 but are allegedly not quite up to the same level as the team that very nearly made the Quarterfinals that year.

Ghana could have been a surprise team in the field, but the injury to (yet another Chelsea star) Michael Essien may have irreparably set them back.

And Serbia is a complete mystery to me-- but that is the one key thing I do know about them: that I don't know anything about them.

Some experts are predicting that Serbia will roar forward and swipe the second (or even first!) spot in the group. Maybe so. The Eastern European teams are so hard to predict.

So I will make today's column short and sweet:

Germany will still prevail in the group. Ghana without Essien will lose all three matches. Serbia and Australia will fight it out for the second spot, with Serbia prevailing. There you go, short and sweet.

Hey, you want deeper analysis, go elsewhere. After all, as soon as I'm done predicting all the groups, this column will be back to talking about what food and beer I'm consuming while watching the Cup, and what restaurants and bars I'm doing that at-- and you all know that's the real reason you read this column, anyway! :-)

It is, after all, officially called "Countdown to Van's World Cup of Eating and Drinking."

Okay, Group D. Predictions:

Germany 9
Serbia 6
Australia 3
Ghana 0

Group C -- America's Group!

GROUP C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia

Alexi Lalas has called this the "easiest group" the USA has ever been drawn into in a World Cup. I think that actually says more about the difficulty of most of the groups the USA has been drawn into over the previous five World Cups than it says about the "easiness" of this group.

England is playing as well as it has since its semifinal run in 1990. With a combination of solid veterans (my Chelsea FC boys Terry, Cole and Lampard, plus Steven Gerard, Rio Ferdinand, and so on) and younger guys rounding into top form (particularly "the Boy," Wayne Rooney), the lineup is very strong, experienced and formidable.

Algeria is something of a mystery. By all rights, Egypt should have secured this African spot in the Cup. But a combination of events led to Algeria grabbing it. Capable of decent football on occasion-- such as when they face the US, given our luck!-- this is a team that should not be overlooked. But if all goes as expected, the Algerians should serve up 9 full points to their foes.

Slovenia is a sort of stealth team as well. Just as Algeria snatched away Egypt's spot, the Slovenes grabbed Russia's. (This group would be a lot scarier if it was England, USA, Egypt, Russia!!) A capable side of the mold of other historic Eastern European teams such as Romania and the Czech Republic, they pose a particular threat to the USA, which never does well against teams from that region. (Examples: Czechoslovakia 1990; Romania 1994; Yugoslavia 1998; Poland 2002; Czech Republic 2006-- all defeats for the US.)

This brings us to the USA. Two factors work in our favor this time around: 1. The USA tends to do well every other World Cup-- and 2006 was a bad one, so we're due. 2. The USA always does much better in Cups held outside of Europe. In fact, the USA has never won a game in a World Cup played in Europe. Meanwhile, in Cups played outside of Europe, we've made the Round of 16 and the Quarterfinals (1994 and 2002).

The main factor limiting the USA this time around is injuries. Charlie Davies, who provides desperately needed speed and scoring threats at the forward position, was injured in a car accident a few months ago and is out. Several other important players, particularly midfielder Clint Dempsey and defender Onyewu, MUST overcome their injuries and play well if the USA is to advance. Aside from that factor, the USA side is actually in pretty good shape, with a seasoned lineup of veteran players experienced in European club play as well as in an improving MLS. And they're the only team to take down mighty Spain in quite some time, in last year's remarkable Confederations Cup run.

Playing in that tourney, by the way, also allowed the US team to gain some experience playing in South Africa as well as playing in the same stadiums they'll be seeing this time around. That's a factor that should not be overlooked.

Predicting what will happen with injured players is never easy. Assuming they are able to perform to something like their capabilities, the USA has a chance to make the second round--which would be considered a success and which is about as far as we can hope for this bunch to advance.

In 2006 I predicted the USA would NOT advance out of its group-- a statement that was not very popular with my soccer friends. But I was right. I don't want sentiment to cloud my judgment, but this time I think we just might squeak through.... IF the injured guys can play to their potential. So I'll say:

Predictions:

England 9

USA 4

Slovenia 4

Algeria 0

USA advances on goal differential over Slovenia.

Breaking Down GROUP B

GROUP B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece

This group appears to me to be the most difficult to predict of all the groups. The reason? Because Argentina and Nigeria are both powerful, physically gifted sides that nonetheless have somewhat underachieved in recent years, while Greece and South Korea are less talented teams that have overachieved in the recent past.

A quick history lesson: While Argentina and Nigeria have failed to live up to their promise in World Cups (Argentina not making the final match since 1990's loss to West Germany), South Korea rode their co-hosting gig in 2002 all the way to the semifinals-- and Greece actually won Euro 2004, a feat akin to Vanderbilt winning the SEC Championship!

And so, given what is very likely to be.... questionable managing of Argentina by Diego Maradona, and what is likely to be a par-for-the-course chaotic swirl around Nigeria, I could actually envision both those teams failing to advance to the second round, believe it or not. It's not quite as far-fetched as it sounds. Greece can play excellent defense and South Korea is the best and most successful team in eastern Asia, with lots of speed and scrappy skills.

But surely Argentina's prowess will be able to overcome even Maradona's gargantuan ego and make it through. So I'll predict:

Argentina 7
South Korea 5
Greece 4
Nigeria 1