June 8th - Day 2

THE KINGS WILL RULE AGAIN

Repeat after me…Brazil will win the World Cup…Brazil will win the World Cup…

Now this…there are no surprises at the World Cup…there are no surprises at the World Cup…

And this…that’s why there have been only seven champions in its history…that’s why there have been only seven champions in its history…

And try this one a couple of times…it’s better to be good than lucky at the World Cup…it’s better to be good than lucky at the World Cup…

It won’t be a surprise to anyone when Brazil wins their unprecedented sixth World Cup in a short few weeks. They don’t need any luck in doing so. They simply have players that are arguably the best at their positions in the entire world, and play better soccer than anyone they will face.

The formula is so simple. There aren’t any gimmicks when it comes to Brazil. They are just better than everyone. And they seem to enjoy it all (the soccer and being better than everyone). But do we all stop what we’re doing and adapt the Brazilian way of soccer as our own? No. And why not? Because we’re all stupid.

Why don’t we all have our kids playing futsal or playing for hours on end at the beach? Why do we even let our players wear a pair of nice cleats before they become teenagers? Why do we let coaches run our kids into the ground before they ever really learn how to play this game? Why do we suck all the individualism out of our kids before they ever have the chance to express themselves in a way that might just lead them on the path to greatness? Again, it’s because we’re all stupid.

But it’s impossible to make kids give up what they have to learn this way of soccer, you say. And I say it’s the only way to ever have a chance of catching the Kings, because you can’t expect them to wait for all of us to catch up to them anytime soon. In the meantime, they’ll keep winning World Cups and we’ll all be forced to watch that gap between us and them just keep getting bigger and bigger and bigger.

Now repeat after me one more time…when it comes to soccer, I wish I were Brazilian…when it comes to soccer, I wish I were Brazilian…

The way it’ll play out:

Germany and Sweden meet in the second round after Germany walk through their group. The Germans get past a talented and feisty Swedish side. Then the Germans meet Argentina who squeaked through the true “Group of Death” in the quarters. Argentina win and meet Italy in the semifinal after Italy gets past Croatia and France respectively. With their world famous bunker-style defense, the Italians grind out a win to get into the Final.

Serbia & Montenegro surprise everyone by advancing out of the “Group of Death” and leaving Holland as this tournament’s biggest underachiever. Serbia & Montenegro meet England in the quarterfinals but lose. The English are forced to face the defending champs who breezed through the Czech Republic and Spain to get there. Brazil get past England and meet Italy in the Final.

Both teams have been there plenty of times to know what it’s all about. Unfortunately, the Brazilians lift the trophy again, while the Italians and everyone else are forced to wait another four agonizing years for another shot at it.

Tomorrow: IT’S ABOUT TIME!