2010 World Cup Qualifiers
So, anyone else following that?
In Europe, the surprise seems to be how badly Portugal is underperforming, probably even missing out on the 2nd seed playoffs. It seems Scolari was more important to that string of good results they had than previously thought.
Other than that, England and Spain seem to be the top teams in the region, but both have a history of severely underperforming when it counts.
In Africa, there is the mild surprise of Cameroon and Nigeria doing poorly, but this time around there doesnt seem to be a team likely of advancing deeply into the world cup, like Nigeria, Cameroon or Senegal.
In Asia, the surprise seems to be North Korea, and the fact that Australia moved confederations and is in. None of these teams seem to be good enough to move past the first round.
In North America, despite the performance in the confederations cup, the US team doesn't look very good to me, with the "put 8 men in the box, hope for an amazing performance by Howard and hope to score on a counter attack" style of play being very hit and miss. Mexico seems underwhelming.
In South America, the surprise seems to be how far Argentina has fallen, even though they are loaded with talent. Brazil, on the other hand, seems unstoppable. Unfortunately, Dunga has Brazil playing a very unattractive, defensive minded game. They are clearly the favorites, but that defensiveness puts me off.
I still haven't decided who Ill be rooting for next year, but Im leaning towards the Netherlands right now. A more creative style of play, combined with a history of having amazing teams and losing to ugly defensive machines makes them a very attractive underdog.
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