World Cup 2010 – The Final Stages and Winner

We have come to crunch time. The Group Stages have been sorted, the Round of the last 16 has been sorted and now we have the full line-up for the Quarter Finlas of the World Cup 2010. If you have all been paying attention and following your wallchart, you will know that we have the following line-up for our Quarter Finals.

Mexico v England

Italy v Brazil

Argentina v Serbia

Paraguay v Spain

Again we shall be looking at each one in turn.

Mexico v England -  aah we are through to the quarter finals at least. Back home the expectation will be at fever pitch. The bunting will be out and 3 Lions on my Shirt belting out everywhere but the boys will be concentrating on getting past the Mexican Hat Dance. This is one game where I think England will have no problem. The Mexicans are a hard working, tough tackling side, that all the English lads play against every week in the Premiership. They will suit England down to the ground and they will stroll through the game to beat Mexico 3-0 and go on into the Semi Finals.

Italy v Brazil  – World Champions against the current FIFA ranked No. 1 team, a mouth-watering clash, the winners of which, will play England in the Semis. Neither of them are the team they used to be and perhaps they will never get back to that gulf in ideology that they used to have. The Brazilians are now so adept and solid at the back but so weak up front, whilst the Italians are now so weak at the back but have more of a cutting edge than they used to. One of them will go out and I think the Italians will find the Brazil nuts too tough to crack. Brazil to go through 1-0.

Argentina v Serbia  – the White Eagles will be up against it here. Vidic and Ivanovic will really have to put a shift in to get past the crafty Argies. The best attack in World football against a very tough and stubborn defensive outfit, just what the World Cup is all about. Would love to see the Serbs do it but then reality hits home and you look at the attacking power Argentina have at their disposal and you can only see one winner. I think the Serbs will take them to extra-time though, before Argentina run out winners by 3-2.

Paraguay v Spain  – the only chance Paraguay have is by attacking Spain. If they stand off and let them have the ball they will get passed to death. It will be death by a thousand cuts, so Paraguay have got to come out with attack in mind and then of course they will get hit time and again on the counter. In other words, Paraguay have no chance and it will be like a training session to the Red Fury. They will be able to conserve their energy for later matches but Spain will still run out 2-0 winners.

It is Semi-Final time and we have:-

England v Brazil

Spain v Argentina

An ideal Semi-Final line up, Europe v South America, I only wish England had been playing Argentina.

England v Brazil  – I’m sure we’ve been here before, please don’t remind me what the score was. Alright, for those that don’t remember, 2002 in the Quarter-Finals Brazil beat England 2-1, I can still remember that Rivaldo goal right on half-time that killed us. England looked to be going in at half-time a goal up but sloppy play allowed Rivaldo in to equalise right on the whistle. Brazil then went and scored right after half-time and it stayed 2-1 to the end. Do you remember that film, Groundhog Day, well here it comes again. Brazil to win 2-1.

Spain v Argentina -  I am going to enjoy this one. The two true footballing sides in the competition coming up against each other in the Semi-Final. Should be a ding-dong game. Unfortunately, it won’t be. Argentina have had their day in the sun and they will get caught out big style here. Their defence will go AWOL, their midfield will be cut to shreds and their attack will become irrelevant. Spain will boss it from the off and will be 3-0 up by half-time, before going on to win 4-1 in emphatic style.

So we are left with,

the 3rd/4th Place Play Off    England v Argentina

and the Final will be   Spain v Brazil

England v Argentina  – please do not let Messi put the ball in the net with his hand. This is usually a nonentity of a match, with nothing riding on it and it invariably makes a poor spectacle. The only saving grace would be the identity of the two teams taking part. Whenever England and Argentina meet, there will always be an intense rivalry, which heralds back to 1966 and the Quarter-Final, with the Rattin sending off thrown in. Then the Beckham era with his sending off in 1998 and losing on penalties. Beckham’s revenge in 2002, when his penalty defeated Argentina and so the show moves onto South Africa and it will be England’s turn again to beat the Argies, 3-1 with a couple of penalties thrown in. This will mean that England finish 3rd in the World Cup 2010.

Spain v Brazil  – the final that everyone had hoped for, well everyone in Spain and Brazil that is. A fitting final to grace the World stage. The two sides ranked 1 and 2 in the latest FIFA rankings. The Final that the Books didn’t want. The question will be, can Spain break down the imperious defence that Brazil has thrown up in the tournament? If Brazil do go a goal down, will they revert to type and throw caution to the wind and attack from all areas? If Brazil did get going, would the Spanish defence be good enough? Intriguing questions, all of them. Remember this is the World Cup Final, it will be cagey, it will be steady, it will be slow, slow, quick, quick, slow but at the end of the dance it will be Spain lifting the Jules Rimet Trophy, after a dour and tepid final, with a winning goal 10 minutes from time by Torres.

So there we have it, the full and final result from the World Cup 2010 in South Africa.

Winners                 Spain

Runners-Up            Brazil

Third Place             England

Fourth Place           Argentina

So congratulations to Spain, Winners of the 2010 World Cup.

Roll on Euro 2012.