World Cup Excitement

It's finally here. Four years is a long time. Especially with no English involvement in the 2008 Euro Championships to help stave off the boredom. But at least now, with two days to go, we can unleash all that English pride and bravado we do so well at hiding away. Although this year most people seem to be starting their predictions with the word "realistically". Which makes a change from blaring out The Lightning Seeds and blindly chanting the affectionate nicknames of our nation's finest. But could this be because we stand a better chance now than we ever have before?

Probably not. These days getting to see the likes of Torres, Anelka and Fabregas strut their stuff in the Premiership means we're more familiar with the world's greatest than ever. We're also hardly unfamiliar with the likes of Messi and Ronaldo in Spain thanks to the Champions League as well. Which means that we have even more reason to do the truely English gesture of being pessimistic from the onset. I wouldn't rule us out, but our knack to capitulate in big tournaments is an outcome more likely than the consistency required to go all the way. A few predictions then, hopefully more successful than my Glasto ones.

Winners: Brazil
Runners-up: Argentina
Third: Italy
Fourth: England (felt very optimistic saying we'd beat France though)

Golden Boot: Van Persie
Silver Boot: Luis Fabiano (covering my bases really with that one)

Surprises:
North Korea won't be shit
Japan and South Korea will prosper through organisation alone
All of the big teams will qualify top of their group

Let downs:
Spain and Holland will both capitulate after amazing starts
African nations will disappoint, Ivory Coast especially
England will go out in the semis/quarters in extra time

Outside bet for winning: Holland
Outside bet for performing well: Serbia/Slovenia/North Korea

Undoubtedly all these will be proved wrong come the end of the tournament.