Squandrous

Tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow.

Tomorrow, the greatest sporting tournament in the world kicks off, and I am unabashedly going to be screaming in Dutch and wearing inordinate amounts of orange for the rest of the month.

(Confused? Here.)

While everyone knows I’ll be cheering on The Netherlands this World Cup (as I have in every World Cup since 1990, except for 2002 when they didn’t make the tournament but still wore orange through the whole thing), I’ve had a few people ask me for some other predictions for the tournament. So here goes, my predictions for World Cup 2010:

Group A
1st: Uruguay
2nd: Mexico

Group B
1st: Argentina
2nd: Nigeria

Group C
1st: England
2nd: USA

Group D
1st: Germany
2nd: Serbia

Group E
1st: Netherlands
2nd: Cameroon

Group F
1st: Paraguay
2nd: Italy

Group G
1st: Brazil
2nd: Ivory Coast

Group H
1st: Spain
2nd: Chile

Round of 16
Uruguay def. Nigeria
Argentina def. Mexico
Serbia def. England
Germany def. USA
Netherlands def. Italy
Paraguay def. Cameroon
Brazil def. Chile
Ivory Coast def. Spain

Quarterfinals
Netherlands def. Brazil
Uruguay def. Serbia
Argentina def. Germany
Ivory Coast def. Paraguay

Semifinals
Netherlands def. Uruguay
Argentina def. Ivory Coast

3rd Place
Uruguay def. Ivory Coast

Finals
Netherlands def. Argentina

That’s all of them, from top to bottom. I’ve never been remotely close in my predictions before, so don’t use these to try and make some money, okay?

Enjoy the beautiful game!

(Photo from the amazing set of World Cup preparation photos on The Big Picture earlier this week.)

If you’re not reading The New Republic’s blog about football (soccer), The Goal Post, you really should go and subscribe, right now. Amazing writing, coverage. And join their bracket contest, if only to say that your picks are better than mine.

Oh, and if you’re in Canada, every game is being streamed live on CBC.ca. Oh yeah.