The_2006_World_Cup_Soccer_Outlook

							Title:
The 2006 World Cup Soccer Outlook

Word Count:
1126

Summary:
From the 9th of June to the 9th of July, the excitement and fan frenzy
builds to a deafening crescendo. Soccer fanatics are on high alert. It is
time to defend to no end the pride of Region and Country. This is big.
No, it’s bigger than big. Considering the fact that soccer is the most
popular sport in the world today, it is no jaw-dropping surprise that
Soccer's World Cup is actually the largest sporting event on the planet.
Based on sheer numbers, fan attendance, television...


Keywords:



Article Body:
From the 9th of June to the 9th of July, the excitement and fan frenzy
builds to a deafening crescendo. Soccer fanatics are on high alert. It is
time to defend to no end the pride of Region and Country. This is big.
No, it’s bigger than big. Considering the fact that soccer is the most
popular sport in the world today, it is no jaw-dropping surprise that
Soccer's World Cup is actually the largest sporting event on the planet.
Based on sheer numbers, fan attendance, television ratings, number of
viewers, travel revenue, ticket sales and media coverage; there is no
sporting event that even comes close to this one. If you take the NCAA
Basketball Tournament, the World Series, the Super Bowl and the Olympics
and add them all together, it would still not be as big as the World Cup!
Three and a half billion people will be watching this tournament unfold
in at least a dozen locations in Germany in 2006. Strangely enough, the
past World Cup events have been all but ignored in the United States.
This is rapidly changing as Americans get more familiar with this action -
packed sport.

The Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was
established in 1904 and they are the ultimate authority when it comes to
anything that has to do with International Soccer. For those of you that
don't know, the United States is the only Country in the world that calls
this sport "soccer". Every other Country calls it "football". The FIFA
is, of course, overseeing the qualifying of teams into the World Cup
Tournament. This is an extremely lengthy and complicated process that is
several years in the making. The process of a team qualifying is too
complicated and lengthy to go into here, but suffice it to say that the
teams that make the cut are well qualified. Individual team statistics
considered for the qualifying starts two years before the World Cup
begins. For this year, the host country team, in this case Germany, gets
in automatically, as does the reigning Cup holder from four years prior,
in this case Brazil. The rest of the field is chosen from 150 possible
candidates spread out all over the globe. The FIFA analyzes endless
streams of data from the two years of competition leading up to t his
prestigious event. They eventually whittle the field down to 32 teams.
These 32 well represent not only the best soccer teams from around the
world, but the will represent the regions of the world.

Certainly, no other sport unifies and assembles so ma ny different
cultures from each of the 7 continents. But it also can cause friction
and even violence between some fanatical groups. Soccer fans are among
the most passionate (and expressive) of any sports spectator group and
needless to say; security considerations are always very high as an
explosive situation could arrive at any given time. This is true even in
the early rounds of the competition. Heck, this is even true in the pre-
competition games known as the “International Friendlies” matches, which
start up early in March. These games are held all over the world and
include more practice and a chance for teams to “feel out” their
potential competition. They work on their conditioning and strategy more
than anything else. Nevertheless, the competition is very fierce. There
doesn’t seem to be anything “friendly” about this phase of the World Cup.
It is indeed taken very seriously. Getting respect from opponents in the
pre-competition match-ups can be a huge psychological edge going in.

Some luck is involved in the final groupings. The top 8 teams are
separated as #1 seeds for groups A through H. Germany and Brazil get
their free pass as top seeds and the rest are drawn at random from a
bowl. So the draw is now set and in order of their group seeding, they
look like this:

Group   A;   Germany, Costa Rica, Poland, Ecuador
Group   B;   England, Paraguay, Trinidad-Tobago, Sweden
Group   C;   Argentina, Ivory Coast, Serbia-Montenegro, Netherlands
Group   D;   Mexico, Iran, Angola, Portugal
Group   E;   Italy, Ghana, United States, Czech Republic
Group   F;   Brazil, Croatia, Australia, Japan
Group   G;   France, Switzerland, South Korea, Togo
Group   H;   Spain, Ukraine, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia

SOURCE: The official site for the 2006 FIFA World Cup™ Germany

Keep in mind, only one team emerges victorious from each group when we
get to the final eight. The teams that have to be the most hopeful with
their draws are England, Mexico, France and Spain. Although the Sweden
draw for England historically has been a problem, England is looking
forward to putting to rest the thousands of critics that will remind us
all that Sweden has not lost to England in 37 years. Beyond that, there
is little hope for Paraguay and Trinidad-Tobago.

The two toughest groups to predict a winner out of is obviously Group A,
Group E and possibly Group C. In Group A, Germany is, indeed a tough
opponent and they are on their home turf, which makes them tougher than
usual. However, Costa Rica, Ecuador and especially Poland have a
legitimate shot at the final. In Group E, the Italians are good, but
overall this group has parody. The United States has as good a shot as
anyone coming out of this division, but all four of these teams are
evenly matched. For good measure, the two toughest powerhouse entities in
a single group are Argentina and the Netherlands out of Group C. One of
these two will no doubt emerge victorious.

The best bets in the win market are Brazil (odds to win it all ~ 3/1),
England (~ 6/1), Germany and Argentina (~ 8/1), Italy (~9/1), France
(~10/1), Holland (Netherlands) (~ 12/1) and Spain (~13/1). The odds are
changing every few minutes so consult your favorite sportsbook for up-to-
date numbers. If you feel like the soccer universe is about to be turned
on it’s head, bet on Trinidad-Tobago (~1000/1). The best long-shots may
be placed near the middle of the field by the odds -makers: Portugal
(~22/1), Sweden and Mexico (~40/1) and the Ukraine (~50/1). There are
many other ways to wager on this epic event including final pair, most
goals and continent of winner. You could also look to fatten up your
wallet with fairly good odds on the elimination stage, single match, team
qualifying and which two teams will reach the final game.

Of the 32 outstanding teams representing regions from all over the globe,
only one will stand on the podium with cup in hand. Come July 9th, 31 of
the competing countries at the World Cup will experience a range of
emotions from mild disappointment to broken hearts. However, one region,
one country and one aspiring championship team will exp erience the
elation of overcoming incredible adversity to win, what some would call
the greatest sporting event on the planet; The 2006 FIFA World Cup.