Wednesday, June 09, 2010

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

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