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The 2010 World Cup begins on Friday, June 11th as the host country South Africa takes on Mexico. A total of 32 teams will be competing for the World Cup title with Spain and Brazil the two favorites. There have been a total of 18 World Cups in history and only seven teams have ever won the title. Four years ago it was Italy winning the World Cup as they defeated France in a penalty shootout.
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There are really only five teams that are serious contenders to win this year's World Cup. Spain is loaded with talent and they have an easy group with Switzerlands, Honduras and Chile. With players like Fernando Torres, David Villa, Xaba and Cesc Fabregas, the Spanish team has the talent to win their first World Cup. The only concern for Spain is that they could face a tough round of 16 match against the second place team from Group G which should be Brazil or Portugal. Brazil is the likely winner of Group G but if they somehow slip and finish second, wouldn't it be a huge shock to have the two favorites, Brazil and Spain playing in the round of 16? Brazil has won the World Cup a total of five times and they are a real threat to win it again this year. They play in a tough group with Portugal and Ivory Coast but they should not have any trouble advancing to the round of 16 especially since Ivory Coast probably has no chance now that leading scorer Didier Drogba is out with an injury.
England is the third choice in the betting odds behind Spain and Brazil. They are well coached with Fabio Capello and they have Wayne Rooney. Whether their goalkeeper is good enough is the question. Argentina is in the mix because they have the best player in the world in Lionel Messi. The team is coached by Diego Maradona and that is probably more of a negative than a positive. The Netherlands is the other contender to win the World Cup. They might have their best team since 1988.
Italy is the defending champion and has won the World Cup four times but they look to be far weaker than they were four years ago and have no real scoring threats. Germany has won the title three times but they are less of threat this year without captain Michael Ballack who is injured.
If you are looking for darkhorse candidates then France, Portgual and the United States could be interesting choices. France still has Thierry Henry, Nikolas Anelka, William Gallas and Franck Ribery while Portgual has Cristiano Ronaldo. The Untied States has Tim Howard and Landon Donovan so they can't totally be discounted.
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