World Cup? Bitte Ja.

Stop the revolution of the Earth. It’s World Cup time. Forget the Olympics; the World Cup is by far the biggest sporting event in the World. Right now, I’m listening to the Yankees vs the Red Sox online, watching the first game of the NBA Finals between 2 teams that have never been there before, and writing a blog post about The World Cup. You might say I’m getting my sport on. The World Cup starts in approximately 11 hours. I’ve got money on the US beating the Czech Republic at 2.5 to 1, money on France winning it all at 10 to 1, and money on Spain winning it all at 16 to 1 (Yes I know they choke more than Karl Malone scarfing down a plate of hot wings, but at 16 to 1, they’re worth a shot). I’ve got 10 pubs within a mile that will be showing the games. I’ve got a cable tv housesitting gig for ½ the Cup locked up. I’ve got, well, I guess I’ve got the fever.

Here are some good articles if you’re looking for some reading material:

- I read this blog religiously during the 2002 World Cup, and it looks to be a good one again this year.

Here are some places to watch the games for you Boston volk. Fortunately it doesn’t mention my little haunts where I plan on watching the World Cup matches – The Field and The Druid. Shit. The cat’s out of the bag. Surely all of eastern New England will be headed there now.

This is a guide for American sports fans unfamiliar with international soccer (football) - comparisons of World Cup teams to American sports teams and players from an irish junk ball pitcher.

[that link came from dewy24. if any of you soccer fans out there have good articles, please pass them on and I'll post them.]

Clearly written by an American, but interesting nonetheless, 5 players to watch, 5 teams to watch, 5 storylines to follow can be found here.

And if you'd like to be culturally sensitive and sprechen ze deutsch, here's a handy German to English translation guide of soccer terms.

FIFA World Rankings are currently looking like this. Which brings me to my predictions:

Round 1
Group A: Germany, Costa Rica
Group B: England, Sweden
Group C: Argentina, Ivory Coast (as in March Madness, you gotta pick one well documented dark horse)
Group D: Mexico, Portugal
Group E: USA, Czech Republic
Group F: Brazil, Japan
Group G: France, Switzerland
Group H: Spain, Ukraine

Round 2
Germany beats Sweden
Argentina beats Portugal
USA beats Japan
France beats Ukraine
England beats The Ticos
Mexico beats Ivory Coast
Brazil beats Czech Republic (1 v 2 in FIFA rankings)
Spain beats Switzerland

Quarterfinals
Argentina beats Germany
France beats USA
Mexico beats England
Brazil beats Spain (losing me money)

Semifinals
Argentina beats France (losing me money)
Brazil beats Mexico

First All South American Final Since 1950
Brazil beats Argentina

And finally, just to get you extra extra psyched up, I went through a handful of youtube clips and selected three beauties for you:

1. Here is a recap of the top 10 goals of the 2002 World Cup.
2. Here is a highlight reel of one of the greatest player's alive, Ronaldinho.
3. And you didn't really think a former keeper like myself would end the official Von Trapper Keeper World Cup Post on anything other than a sick sick sick montage of keeper saves, did you? Enjoy.